Author: Vinnie Bartilucci

Doctor Who Series 9 To Premiere September 19

In a continuing torrent of news and excitement from a regional comic convention on the west coast, BBC America announced the premiere date of series nine of Doctor Who – September 19th.

Having filmed in Cardiff since January, Peter Capaldi said:

“Soaring through all of time and space, series nine sees the Doctor throw himself into life with a new hunger for adventure. The Cosmos is there for the taking, thrilling, epic and enticing, and his to play in. But he’s almost reckless in his abandon. It’s almost like he’s running from something, something that if it ever catches him will turn his life upside down.”

Michelle Gomez will return as Missy, the latest incarnation of The Master, in the season’s two-part premiere The Magician’s Assistant / The Witch’s Familiar. Highlights of the series so far revealed include the return of Kate Stewart, U.N.I.T., Osgood, and the Zygons, an episode featuring Vikings in space, a city of Daleks, and a new race of mercenaries known as The Mire.

Mark Gatiss returns to writing for the series, as well as new contributors including Sarah Dollard and Catherine Tregenna.

Lego Unveils Doctor Who Playset

After numerous teases and sneak peeks, Lego released the official video for the Doctor Who playset for their contribution to the “Toys to Life” video game category, Lego Dimensions.

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It’s happening! Oh my God it’s happening!

In addition to the interaction with the starter set characters of Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle, the trailer features a tantalizing crossover with fellow Doctor Emmett Brown and the town of Hill Valley from Back to the Future. With the Daleks, the Cybermen and a few other friends at the end, the best advice for watching this video is…don’t blink.

At San Diego Comic Con, an event with the cast of the show revealed that not only will Peter Capaldi lend his voice to the game, but Jenna Coleman will appear as Clara and Michelle Gomez as The Master.  The playset as shown in previous photos features The Doctor, the TARDIS, and Baker-era companion K-9. No product information has been shared concerning physical figures of Clara or Missy, though Dalek and Cyberman figures will be made available as a Fun Pack, currently scheduled for January.

Of all the properties appearing in Lego Dimensions, none more than Doctor has the potential to feature additional figures and playsets.  So far only the three-figure Dimensions set has been announced, and along with Portal, will be featuring a stand-alone playset through their Lego Ideas line.   An article at Gamespot.com reveals a staggering amount of screenshots and potential gameplay, suggesting that there may be more game available than first expected.

Lego Dimensions will be released on September 27.

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Old-fashioned heroes don’t just exist in old-fashioned storybooks. Peter Capaldi will be reprising his role as the Twelfth Doctor in ‪LEGO Dimensions. Find out more July 8. ‪#‎SDCC‬

Lego Dimensions To Feature Doctor Who & More!

Quick lesson on how to change a new video game from “mild interest” to “Why isn’t this in my hands already” … add Doctor Who!

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Lego Dimensions, the new entry in the interactive collectible mash-up videogame category has just fired a shot across the bow of amiibo, Skylanders and Disney INfinity by adding a timelord to its ranks of playable (and purchasable) characters.

While the game had already announced inclusion of its most popular licensed lines like Batman, Jurassic World and The Simpsons, it was quite a surprise when they announced the inclusion of properties they’d only licensed for their limited run Lego Ideas line.

Lego Ideas allows people to design their own suggestions for building kits, which Lego reviews and approves once they achieve the required 10,000 upviotes from the user community.  Sets for Back to the Future, Portal 2 and Doctor Who have already been approved, with the Doctor Who set not even released yet.

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One must assume these license contracts included the ability to add the characters into videogames in future, because included they are. In addition to figures from their Lord of the Rings, and Scooby Doo  lines, as well as their in-house properties Chima and Ninjago, Lego release photos of figure sets for the Ideas-only properties.

The Lego series of video games are already staggeringly popular, with titles based on worlds like Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, and Harry Potter.  Dimensions will allow players to do what kids have been doing for years – play with them all together.  More details are popping up every day, but the sheer number of character lines they’ve negotiated to appear dwarfs any other.  Disney Infinitiy’s recent announcement of the Star Wars line being included has got some serious competition.

Lego Dimensions will be released on September 27, 2015.

Osgood Lives! Ingrid Oliver returns to Doctor Who

B2A3LDbCcAAX9MhUNIT scientist Osgood, played by Ingrid Oliver, returns to Doctor Who for season nine. Having been killed by Missy (Michelle Gomez) in the show’s season eight finale ‘Death in Heaven’, Steven Moffat decided to bring back the Doctor’s biggest fan.

Steven Moffat, lead writer and Executive Producer, said: “Osgood is back, fresh from her recent murder at the end of last series. We recently confirmed that Osgood was definitely dead and not returning – but in a show about time travel, anything can happen. The brilliant Ingrid Oliver is back in action. This time though, can the Doctor trust his number one fan?”

This time she’s back in action and comes face-to-face with the shape-shifting extra-terrestrial Zygons, as they also return for the new season. They last appeared in ‘The Day of the Doctor’ for the show’s 50th anniversary episode.

One of the most popular fan theories about Osgood’s not-deadness involves the events of the anniversary episode.  She was impersonated by a Zygon, but as the episode progressed, they seem to achieve some sort of mutual understanding.  Many have clung to the hope that the Osgood we saw reduced to particulate matter was the Zygon duplicate.

Of course, we also saw Missy’s device perform a number of functions – who’s to say one of them wasn’t a teleporter, like the shredders in Time Heist?  How will she ever come back?

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Speaking on set, Ingrid Oliver commented on her reappearance: “As every actor who’s worked on Doctor Who will tell you, there’s always the secret hope you’ll get the call asking you to come back. To actually receive that call is both unexpected and brilliant. The word ‘honour’ gets banded about a lot, but it really is, it’s an honour. Especially because I was so sure Osgood was a goner after the last series!”

The two-part episode is currently being filmed in Cardiff, Wales, and is written by Peter Harness (Doctor Who – ‘Kill the Moon’, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Wallander), produced by Peter Bennett and directed by Daniel Nettheim (Line of Duty, Glue).

Also joining Peter Capaldi (The Doctor) and Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) and confirmed for guest roles in the double episode is Jemma Redgrave, Jaye Griffiths, Cleopatra Dickens, Sasha Dickens, Abhishek Singh, Todd Kramer, Jill Winternitz, Nicholas Asbury, Jack Parker and Aidan Cook.

REVIEW: Thunderbirds are Go

tbirds1I’m giddy as a schoolgirl, and I don’t know what to do with my hands.

I should explain.

Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds is as major a lynchpin of my childhood as M&Ms, my Big Jim collection, and faking sick to stay home from school…usually to watch Thunderbirds. The Tracy brothers, launching rescue missions from their secret island, was filled with edge of the seat action, staggering special effects and miniatures, and engaging character work.  This is made more impressive that the characters were played by marionettes.  Electronically keyed to the dialogue and incredibly detailed, but marionettes nevertheless.  The show is as well-loved and respected worldwide, but most so in England, where it’s as beloved as other Sci-Fi touchstone Doctor Who.  So it was rather a given that they’d go for a remake of the series eventually, and the 50th anniversary is just too tempting for anyone to pass up. (more…)