[Craig @replies Emperor]

@thane15 / Puro If you still have the recorded version maybe you could take a quick clip on your phone and email it to me.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@wolfweed I tried that out and I like it! Will pass it on to my mate who does the music.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@mudlark I think you’re just going to have to grab yourself a street urchin to help you. They all have smart phones these days! 🙂

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Shameless self-promotion time. The new tracks released tomorrow on my record label (because I don’t have enough to do!). If you like electronic dance music let me know what you think. If not, no worries. Although “Pokey” is kinda novelty fun, using a sample from someone who called the police pretending he was about to be murdered while playing Pokemon.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@mudlark I watched it on TV but missed that. Do you have any way of recording a sound file? Maybe plug it in to your computer’s microphone jack and use Audacity to capture it? Or even just video it on your phone from the TV, it doesn’t need to be high quality. Then you can email it to me (address on home page) and I’ll post it.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@mudlark @janetteb The costumes are discussed in quite a lot of detail in the aftershow that I posted on page 1 of this thread. Costume Designer Hayley Nebauer describes the research and attention to detail that was involved. But for Bill’s costume she says they felt less bound to historical accuracy as in the story Bill picks it herself from the TARDIS wardrobe.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Here’s the official aftershow, with the writer Sarah Dollard and, quite appropriately I think, costume designer Hayley Nebauer.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@pedant Odds on there will be a multi-billionaire descended from him at some point. Also might discover Bill is descended from the girl. Butterflies, and all that… A lot was made of that, but could be a red herring, or a glowy alien fish.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Just back from the west coast of USA after just over 16 hours travelling and I’ve finally got to watch it and read your comments – I was checking in while away but didn’t want too many spoilers.

All the observations are great. One thing that stuck out to me that I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet is that, for two weeks in a row, the point has been made quite strongly that the “monster of the week” is not evil, it just has a different perspective.

In “The Pilot” there was the quote along the lines of “nothing is evil, it just depends what side of the fork you’re on…” etc. (apologies if I have got that all over the place – I’ve only had 3 hours sleep in the last 24).

This week, again, the Vardi just “think differently” and think they are doing the right thing.

No one thinks they are bad or evil – Al Capone thought he was doing a great service to the citizens of Chicago, for example. I wonder if that might be a theme that could be developed this series. Especially if there is something supposedly “evil” in the vault.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@pedant @jimthefish I’ve checked the spam and there’s nothing new in there, apart from obvious spam. No members’ posts. Hmmm.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@zeyra Your English seems great to me, but then I’ve had a few drinks tonight and have been busy setting up the site for tomorrow’s episode as I will be travelling all day! So don’t trust me. But you were right first time, it’s won’t not wont.

Feel free to write a tribute on the “Faces of the Doctor” thread if you want – you don’t have to, just if you’d like to. We love that kind of stuff, hearing from proper fans.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

This is the special place you come if you’re sad about Ten @zeyra. But he didn’t die, he just regenerated into Eleven and now Twelve. He’s the same person, just different body and different personality! It makes perfect sense.

I’m from the UK (I think most members still are) but we have people here from USA, Canada, Australia, Germany etc. And those are the ones that comment. We get visits from people who just want to read what we write from just about every country in the world.

If you want you could write something about Ten on the’Faces of the Doctor’ thread.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@zeyra Yes you have found the right place. We are all friends here (most of the time). There are a lot of lovely people here who love Doctor Who and they will be very nice to you, including me. We have people from all over the world. Feel free to say anything you want about the show, or about other shows, or films, or music, if you visit our other threads.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I don’t know how I managed to miss this on my YouTube visits as it was posted 6 days ago. But here’s almost an hour of Capaldi, Moffat, producer Brian Minchin and new companion Pearl Mackie talking about the new series. I have to admit I haven’t watched it yet – just about to – but I’m already assuming it’s good.

Edit: forgot to add, don’t watch if you don’t like even mild spoilers!

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Cheers @wolfweed love Connolly (and Tennant of course). Been a bit busy over the weekend but can I also add my voice to those welcoming you back. Hope the internet issues are all sorted now. Your contributions are always great.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Now this IS The Mirror. But if it’s true it will fit with the route we’re taking with the Mondasian Cybermen etc. The first Doctor will supposedly appear in the Christmas special.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/first-time-lord-joining-peter-10244835

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@pedant Thanks. For some reason they were put in the spam folder. Have unspammed them now so that the authors are not tarred with that brush. I have no idea why. Algorithms! I’ll keep an eye on it.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@pedant Can you give me the number of the post that went missing? Should be in the URL. That’ll help me track down what happened to it.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Apologies if this has been posted before. I forgot there is now an “aftershow”. This isn’t too bad.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

And finally (well, before Saturday), a trailer for the first episode. Moffat has said he wants this to almost be like a reintroduction to Doctor Who (or at least an introduction for newbies) so it’s cheekily called “The Pilot”.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

And here was me thinking someone would beat me to it this time. Yet another trailer. And the last shot of this one is, eh, interesting!

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@ichabod They announced today that it will be set up in the very first scene of the new series.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39444025

I think it’s great too, for all the reasons you mention. I really hope we don’t get a female Doctor now that Bill fancies. That would be a retrograde step.

But I know where you are coming from @joshamus. Does it need to be news in this day and age? I would have liked if they hadn’t made a thing about it but, having worked in PR, whatever gets you in the news is almost always good news. This is the work of the press office, I’m sure the Doctor Who team were not interested in it being a big deal.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Just as a follow up, here is John Barrowman, with Broadway legends Victor Garber and Jesse L. Martin.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I know I’ve posted several times about the CW shows “Supergirl” and “The Flash” and how they may not be classic but they’re a lot of fun. I’m going to do it again. Stealing from “Buffy”, they had a musical crossover episode last week and it helped that most of the cast come from Broadway or Glee. Our very own John Barrowman was in there singing and dancing his heart out. But this was my fave moment.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@pedant I saw Arrival twice when it came out and thought it should win all the Oscars. Is a piece of brilliance. Got it on DVD on Frday and watched it again yesterday. It really is something else. Can’t believe it hasn’t got more praise.

The extras on the DVD are pretty good too.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

American Gods starts in April too, from the fantastic book by Neil Gaiman. So far it’s looking pretty damn good. The tale of Shadow and the mysterious man who claims Wednesday is his day!

Is on Starz in the US, and Amazon Prime in rest of the world, from what I can tell.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Brand new trailer, with some blink and you’ll miss them villains (including those from Mondas). Plus maybe the odd twist on some of the old favourites and new.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I didn’t know this existed, but if you want a bit of Capaldi before next month you can hear him read “The Further Adventures of the First King of Mars” from 2008.

BBC Radio 4 are having a bit of a Mars month (for March – surprise) and are rebroadcasting some interesting stuff.

Episode one is here – follow links for more:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00cqgf9

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Hi all,

Today I updated the site from http to https which means that any info inputted will now be encrypted as it is sent over the web. You used to really only have to do this for e-commerce because credit card data was being sent over the web, but it’s now best practice if you accept passwords as well. So I’m protecting you.

The site should work like normal but if you spot anything weird, please let me know.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@janetteb @thane15 (and Puro) @nerys @cathannabel @missy @ichabod and anyone I may have missed.

Many thanks for all the very lovely comments. I’m sure Nicola would have enjoyed them. You really are a wonderful bunch given this is an internet forum!

I’m sorry if I gave the impression Nicola died recently, she died 14 years ago, but listening to Steve Hewlett reminded me of what we went through and reminded me of my time with her. Which, believe me, is a very good thing.

It has been announced today that Hewlett has been awarded a Royal Television Society Award (which he was told about before he died) and a scholarship has been set up in his name.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39139570

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@juniperfish @thane15 @ichabod Yes, sadly I arrived back in the UK on Monday to hear the news about Steve Hewlett. Eddie Mair did a lovely tribute, I thought. I’m told there is a special award waiting in the wings for what has been an extra special piece of radio.

@missy thank you, but no need to be sad for me. She was wonderful and made my life better. And if you will all indulge me I’m just gonna post her pic here, just for myself.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I didn’t know where to put this, so I’m going to put it here, despite it being radio rather than TV. I could’ve started a radio thread but I wondered how much traction it would get.

As some of you may know, my wife died of breast cancer, and being part of that was awful but also very inspiring, in how she dealt with it and the wonderful care she got. In the UK, a very respected journalist, Steve Hewlett, was diagnosed with cancer several months ago and he has decided to document his illness on the radio every Monday.

It is amazing stuff. Tonight’s episode left me in tears. Last week’s episode left me in tears. But every episode also leaves me feeling positive about the strength of the human spirit.

He is interviewed by my fellow Scot, Eddy Mair, who is turning out to be one of the nations best broadcasters. Their conversations are far from maudlin. I would urge you to listen, it truly is remarkable radio and I’m sure it will win all the awards going (although that is very far from the point).

I think iPlayer radio is available in all countries (without a TV licence) so hopefully you can all have a listen. If you want to hear a proper radio event and the story of a genuinely down-to-earth hero, as we probably all are when it comes down to it, check it out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04p07t7

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@phaseshift Glad to see you back. And what a way to come back! Fantastic post, as always. You’ve been missed. Sorry for your loss, and that 2016 was a horrible year. I’d give you a hug if I could (unless you wouldn’t like that) 🙂

[Craig @replies Emperor]

In my posts above I mentioned if you want some lite but fun viewing you could do a lot worse than check out the superhero shows that the CW are doing at the moment. I also mentioned that I was going to check out the spin-off show “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”.

Well, I had a bit of a binge watch, and if you want a bit of Doctor Who-lite before the real thing starts you could do a lot worse. It’s more-or-less a very fun, action packed rip-off of Doctor Who, and they know it. Arthur Darvill, our very own Rory, plays a “Time Master” who wears a very familiar long brown coat. He recruits a team of superheroes, assassins and criminals to stop an evil menace who is, it has to be said, not unlike The Master.

In a recent episode they even met their own version of Dickens or Shakespeare – George Lucas – and inspired him to make both Star Wars and Raiders! It’s light, silly at times, but it’s well written, well made and fun.

Here’s the trailer – you’ll see what I mean:

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@janetteb If you’re about to watch don’t watch that clip until the end. Just the first minute so you know who he is. The rest is a bit spoilery!

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@janetteb Glad it’s up next on your list. You’ll have to tell me if it’s any good (without spoiling of course!). @ichabod glad those reviews made you laugh, I just thought the difference from 1969 to 2017 is so little. No wonder the production team have to just ignore the comments and carry on where their heart tells to to go.

Found a clip of him in the episode on Youtube. He’s in it from the start – the blond, curly haired one. Can’t quite tell he’s Scottish right at the start but the accent quickly comes through. He does look a lot like my grandfather, and my uncle.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Some trivia. For those not in the UK, or those in the UK who don’t watch Celebrity Big Brother (I’m assuming all of you), as I’ve posted before I’m related to James Cosmo, who looks like he might win it on Friday. James Cosmo is one of those great character actors who’s been in tons of stuff (the new Trainspotting sequel most recently) but never been a household name (maybe until now). He even got a profile in The Sun (big UK tabloid newspaper) today headlined “Who is James Cosmo?” His grandmother and my great grandmother were sisters.

Anyway, I was talking to my Mum about him and clicking around on Wikipedia and his father was also an actor, James Copeland (he was my grandfather’s cousin, if you’re keeping up). He was in an episode of “Dad’s Army”, another of “Are You Being Served”. He also had a bit-part in one of my favourite films, Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps”. But he was also one of the main characters in the Doctor Who story “The Krotons”, one of the Patrick Troughton’s stories, written by the great Robert Holmes. I never knew that. Made me proud. Unfortunately I’ve never seen it so must buy the DVD now.

This made me laugh though. According to Wikipedia “the story received a mixed reception from viewers. Some enjoyed the story, describing it as “intriguing” and “compelling”. More critical viewers thought the series was becoming “stale” and “boring” and that it was “too horrific” and “too far-fetched”. A small minority considered it to be “the usual predictable rubbish”, some saying that they only watched the show because their children enjoyed it.”

Nothing ever changes! 🙂

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@thane15 Glad you liked it. 🙂 @missrori Every night of the tour thousands of Americans are singing along to this.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@missrori Know you are not alone and we’re all here for you. You might like this. @thane15 too. A new song by Frank Turner.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

It was announced today that the series will start on April 15th. And there was this…

Attention Whoniverse!@Markgatiss has news regarding ssssssome old friends…#DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/t2RDXavxyC

— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) January 31, 2017

[Craig @replies Emperor]

It’s been announced. The series starts on April 15th in both the UK and USA. In the US they will show Class right after.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

@pedant Many thanks. They’ve been spammed.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Oh, and this is Melissa Benoist (who plays Supergirl) on the march on Saturday. She is very cool.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I don’t know if anyone has mentioned these shows yet, but in these depressing times I find some sort of solace in what they are doing with DC Comics characters on the CW network in the US (which is vastly better than what DC are doing with movies). They have four shows that began with “Arrow”. “Arrow”, which started well, has always taken itself a bit serious, trying to be a twist on Batman, which is what Green Arrow basically was in the comics – another billionaire playboy with a certain set of skills.

Following “Arrow” they developed “The Flash” which has been consistently bonkers and great fun. As I know you like “Doctor Who” I think you might enjoy the tales of Barry Allen – a young man who can run so fast he can time travel and jump dimensions to other worlds. It really is good fun. I read a story about the writers’ room on these shows and they have their three ‘H’s on the wall – heroism, humour and heart. Each story really does try to incorporate all three.

Following the success of “Arrow” and “The Flash” they adapted “Legends of Tomorrow” which is a time-travelling superhero team story, featuring characters from the other two shows. I haven’t watched it much but I should. It gets good reviews and is a time-travel show and they manage to churn out over 20 episodes a year on a budget which is probably less than “Doctor Who”! The BBC could probably learn from it.

Finally, and possibly best, is “Supergirl”. I love it for a bit of escapism. Developed for one of the other networks, it moved to the CW for its second series. It started the second half of series two last night after the holiday break, which is why I’m writing about it. Once again, it is filled with heroism, humour and heart. I love it.

Like the comics, they have crossover episodes where Arrow meets Flash, Flash meets Supergirl etc. At the end of last year they had a TV event when they ran a story over four nights. It started in “Supergirl” on Monday, continued in “Flash” on Tuesday, “Arrow” on Wednesday and ended with “Legends of Tomorrow” on the Thursday. It was a big risk but they pulled it off. A proper TV event for someone like me.

I’m not saying they are great art, but if you want a bit of escapism, that is also well written and well produced, and created with a lot of love for the characters and the audience, you could do a lot worse than watch at least a couple of these shows. I’d recommend “The Flash” and “Supergirl”. As a teaser, here’s Barry meeting Kara/Supergirl for the first time (she lives in a different Universe). It’s just fun. And we need that more than ever.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Mark Kermode has said a few words about William Peter Blatty who died last week. He was the writer of ‘The Exorcist’, which Mark thinks is the greatest film ever made – Dr Kermode’s PhD is in horror movies (that is not a joke).

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Totally bonkers. So I loved it.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I was talking to an old friend last night about stuff I really enjoyed recently and I recommended, again, the Black Mirror episode “San Junipero” on Netflix. So I watched it again today. It totally stands up to repeat viewings and made me cry happy tears. It also somehow manages to make this cheesy 80s poptastic track into a work of art.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

I thought you might like this. I sometimes check out this guy’s stuff on YouTube – The Nerdwriter – I suppose the name is no worse than ‘Den of Geek’. He does videos on all sorts of things and they’re generally of high quality, researched and well made. He’s produced, really quickly, a video about how interestingly one aspect of this week’s Sherlock was made.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

The arc is strong with this one.

[Craig @replies Emperor]

Enjoy a poem from Mark Gatiss about Sherlock.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/jan/04/to-an-undiscerning-critic-from-mark-gatiss

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