Tagged: Doctor Who

Hugos for Who?

Hugos for Who?

The 2007 Hugo Awards, most prized of the science-fiction awards, just might wind up in the hands of longest running s-f teevee series of all time

Three episodes of Doctor Who from the past season were nominated in the best dramatic presentation – short form category: "School Reunion," the episode that reintroduced Sarah Jane Smith and written by Toby Whithouse,  Steven Moffatt’s "The Girl in the Fireplace," where the Doctor saves Madame de Pompadour from really neat looking robots, and the season’s two-part finale, "Army of Ghosts" and "Doomsday," written by executive producer Russell T. Davies and featuring the Cybermen and the Daleks in a battle scene that made 300 look like a Disney flick.

These three shows are up against an episode of Battlestar Galactica ("Downloaded) and an episode of Stargate SG-1 ("200."). As usual, the winner will be announced at the World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Yokohama, Japan from August 30th to September 3rd.

The new season of Doctor Who begins in England this Saturday.

JOHN OSTRANDER: Fire-bombing Dresden

I’m a big fan of The Dresden Files. Which is why I can’t take The Dresden Files.

Maybe I should explain.

About a year ago or so I picked up a novel by Jim Butcher about a wizard-for-hire working out of modern day Chicago. It meshes the hard-boiled detective genre with the wizard and fantasy genre. If you know me, then you know I’m already into what I’ve called narrative alloys – the blending of genres. And I’m still a Chicago boy at heart so of course I was drawn to the book series. Butcher, not a Chicago native, sometimes gets his Chicago geography wrong – one book refers to what is obviously Hyde Park as Lincoln Park which is a very different neighborhood – but he generally gets the feel right.

As the series has progressed, the world of his hero – Harry Dresden – gets richer. He has an army of wonderful supporting characters and an overall interlocking story has emerged. While each book can be read on its own (I read them way out of order); they’re all connected and events in one book have ramifications in later books. Butcher has thought out his magic pretty well, its consistent and believable. In short, he’s created not only a wonderfully interesting main character but his own world that just happens to intersect the real world in a city that I love a lot.

In short, I’ve become a fan and I was really excited when I learned that it was going to be made into a series on the SciFi network. I remained excited – up until I started watching it.

(more…)

Who three lined up

Who three lined up

For those in the know, the third season of the revived Doctor Who begins in England this Saturday, and to celebrate the event Radio Times – the British equivilant of TV Guide, only, you know, useful – does up the mandatory double-cover feature. Only both covers are use the same photographs, so we’re only reprinting one here.

They also include a listing of the titles of this seasons’ shows, excluding the between-season Christmas horror fest. Fans can tell quite a bit from these titles:

 

1: Smith and Jones

2: The Shakespeare Code

3: Gridlock

4: Daleks in Manhattan (Part One)

5: Evolution of the Daleks (Part Two)

6: The Lazarus Experiment

7: 42

8: Human Nature (Part One)

9: The Family of Blood (Part Two)

10: Blink

11: Utopia

12: The Sound of Drums (Part One)

13: Last of the Time Lords (Part Two)

The first episode introduces the Doctor’s newest companion, Martha Jones – played by actress Freema Agyeman. She’s the one who is neither Who nor the monster, pictured above. For more, consult Radio Times: www.radiotimes.com. But you would have figured that out.

By the way, from what I’ve seen there’s at least one scene in Saturday night’s episode that would not have been broadcast on American television back when William Hartnell created the role.

MIKE GOLD: The secret Luddite?

MIKE GOLD: The secret Luddite?

Yesterday, I turned on my cell phone for the first time in about two weeks. I was at I-Con in Long Island New York and was waiting to meet up with some friends. I only turn on my cell when I’m out of town or at a convention, and the fact that I didn’t have to have it on in two weeks had made me happy.

First among my 19 voicemails was a message from Harlan Ellison, admonishing me for misspelling Edgar Allan Poe’s name in a ComicMix news story back when. He’s right, and I should have caught it. I’ve been a fan of Poe’s longer than anybody except maybe Jack Kirby. The problem is, when I’m under deadline pressure (and with the Internet that’s 24/7) I over rely upon my spellchecker. Sadly, those suckers ignore words that are misspelled into other real words. I let it do my thinking for me; my bad.

Mr. Ellison often refers to himself as a Luddite, disparaging our computer-communications society. I sympathize. Coincidentally, the very night before my wife and I had watched the first half of a Doctor Who serial, "The Mark of the Rani", which was set in 1811 at the birthplace of the British Luddite movement. They did a good job of disclosing the reasons behind the movement, except that I don’t think a pair of Gallefreyan Time Lords encouraged the Luddite movement.

For the history-challenged out there, the Luddites were members of a movement of English workers at the dawn of the Industrial Age who destroyed the machinery that they thought was taking their jobs. It is believed the media named the participants after Ned Lud, one of their ilk, although that might be apocryphal.

You can hardly blame them. The ruling classes always instill such fears in their workers as a means of keeping wages low and discipline high. There are always all sorts of odd ramifications to this philosophy – for example, our marijuana laws were imposed under the belief that they would deter Mexican immigration and take jobs away from the “common man.” If this sounds like our current immigration attitudes, well, that’s no coincidence.

(more…)

Noted UK actor Gareth Hunt dies

Noted UK actor Gareth Hunt dies

Gareth Hunt died of pancreatic cancer on Tuesday at the age of 65.

His résumé reads like a Who’s Who of British television: he starred in The New Avengers as Mike Gambit, played Frederick Norton in Upstairs, Downstairs, and played Arak in Jon Pertwee’s final Doctor Who saga, "Planet of the Spiders". He also played the romantic lead in a long-running series of Nescafé coffee commercials.

Hunt also was known for his work on stage on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in such productions as Twelfth Night, West Side Story, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra, Deathtrap, and Guys and Dolls.

Who four confirmed

The BBC has picked up Doctor Who for a fourth season of its latest incarnation.

According to an interview with series producer and co-writer Russell T. Davies published in the London Telegraph, once again there will be a Christmas special between seasons three and four. However, there is no word as of yet if stars David Tennant and Freema Agyeman will return – or, for that matter, if Mr. Davies will return as well.

The third season begins in England on March 31 and in Canada this summer; the second season has been broadcast in the States on the SciFi Channel and the first season currently is being rerun on numberous PBS stations.

Delicious extermination!

Delicious extermination!

I know ComicMixers Martha and Glenn might disagree, but in my opinion knitted Daleks have nothing on chocolate ones!  Via BoingBoing, here’s how to make a chocolate Dalek.  Decadent and tasty!  I will be assimilated, gladly!

Meanwhile, Series 3 of the new Doctor Who programme is said to begin on the Beeb on March 31, start airing on Canada’s CBC in June, and debut in the US… Who knows when?  No announcements yet from Sci Fi, although they’ve posted a nice interview with star David Tennant.

You – Who!

You – Who!

The BBC has made an arrangement with YouTube to air clips on the popular website, already servicing two of their three planned channels.

Up already and of interest to Doctor Who fans – on-set video diaries from David Tennant, the current Doctor, and from Freema Agyeman, the new companion. Freema makes her debut as Martha Jones when the new season of Doctor Who begins airing in Great Britain the end of this month.

No word yet on the availability of Torchwood, the PG-13 rated (maybe R-rated) spin-off from Doctor Who. The series is being broadcast in much of the English-speaking world, but no arrangements have been made in the United States as of yet. Torchwood‘s Captain Jack will be returning to Doctor Who for the final three episodes of the upcoming season.

Toy Fair photos, part 2

Toy Fair photos, part 2

Continuing from our earlier post.

First, let’s get the obligatory comic book connection out of the way — the playset based on the set designed by Bryan Hitch, the new TARDIS:

Of course,  you’ll need the figures…

(more…)

Doctor Who as Luther Arkwright, Talbot and Lewis Carroll

Doctor Who as Luther Arkwright, Talbot and Lewis Carroll

Pia Guerra reports on her blog, "While doing a little Wiki surfing this evening not only do I learn that one of my favourite graphic novels, Bryan Talbot’s Adventures of Luther Arkwright, has been adapted into a full cast audio production available on CD but that it also stars [current Dr. Who star] David Tennant!" The triple CD is a couple years old but still available from Big Finish. The price is a bit dearer for those out of the UK, and with the exchange rate American fans might think about waiting even a little longer to purchase this gem.

In addition, Mike Netzer passes along the announcement from the Lewis Carroll Society of North America that Talbot will be speaking at their spring 2007 meeting, on April 14 at Columbia University, about his new graphic novel Alice in Sunderland. A Saturday in April in NYC? You can bet ComicMix will be there!