...And Yet Another Doctor Who News Roundup
Just another quick summary of things that have caught my eye recently, to keep the old comm ticking over:
This one could be counted as a SPOILER by some of you (so use caution in clicking on the link), but news from the Grauniad concerning the casting of another villainous Series 8 character. A "storming villain", according to Der Moff, talking up the new actor.
I would think most people in the UK would know who Ben Miller is, but in case he's a mystery to those of you overseas, he's an actor and comedian, one half of the double act Armstrong and Miller, the other half of which is none other than Alexander Armstrong, the voice of Mr Smith in SJA and the missing RAF pilot husband in that rubbish Who Xmas special with the wooden people. You may have seen Mr Miller in the guns-and-CGI-dinosaurs series Primeval, for which I can only apologise on behalf of my nation.
But as to which villain he might be playing, to get into the realms of wild speculation, well, there have been...rumours in recent weeks and months haven't there about an iconic Who villain of both the old and new series possibly making a return opposite Twelve? I'll just observe that that's a nice beard Mr Miller is sporting in that photograph.
Speaking of rumours, did you think the "lost" episodes thing would just go away even after the rediscovery of The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear last year? Don't be silly. Personally, from reading all of the statements at the time of the rediscovery and since, and reading between the lines, I think there's still something waiting to be revealed; call it a hunch, or wishful thinking, or whatever you prefer. Probably nothing as astonishing as a complete Marco Polo, alas. I don't think that the kind of very public BNF bickering displayed in the linked article really helps anybody, though.
Mark Gatiss-penned 50th anniversary making-of drama An Adventure in Space and Time has been nominated for a BAFTA award, and deservedly so I would say. I would also say that it's interesting that it seems to have gone over so well with critics and "casual viewers" since when viewed from this Who fan's perspective it resembles neither a conventional making-of drama nor a William Hartnell biopic so much as an intensely fannish meta statement on what it means to be a longterm Doctor Who fan. Oh well.
While we're shamelessly nicking stories from the Kasterborous site, there's also this on the current issue of DWM's interview with Paul McGann. I like his attitude, to be honest; he doesn't expect to ever be involved in Doctor Who again (by which I take it he means appearing in the actual TV series), but he's willing to be proved wrong in this expectation. I also find his thoughts on that fan-favourite idea an Eight spinoff series quite persuasive and respect-worthy, even if those fans who like the idea might not. A thoughtful man, Mr McGann, I think.
And finally, more sad news. Glyn Jones, writer of The Space Museum and a guest actor in The Sontaran Experiment passed away last week at the age of 82. I wonder, how many people other than Mr Jones and the aforementioned Mr Gatiss have both written for, and acted in Doctor Who over the years? Answers on a postcard (or, more feasibly, in the comments to this post) please.
And that's me for now, although I'm sure I'll be back with more of the same soon enough. In the meantime, if you have anything at all you'd like to share with the comm - news, fanworks, random musings, what have you - please feel free to post. I think if it's at all Doctor Who-related it's probably on-topic. :)
This one could be counted as a SPOILER by some of you (so use caution in clicking on the link), but news from the Grauniad concerning the casting of another villainous Series 8 character. A "storming villain", according to Der Moff, talking up the new actor.
I would think most people in the UK would know who Ben Miller is, but in case he's a mystery to those of you overseas, he's an actor and comedian, one half of the double act Armstrong and Miller, the other half of which is none other than Alexander Armstrong, the voice of Mr Smith in SJA and the missing RAF pilot husband in that rubbish Who Xmas special with the wooden people. You may have seen Mr Miller in the guns-and-CGI-dinosaurs series Primeval, for which I can only apologise on behalf of my nation.
But as to which villain he might be playing, to get into the realms of wild speculation, well, there have been...rumours in recent weeks and months haven't there about an iconic Who villain of both the old and new series possibly making a return opposite Twelve? I'll just observe that that's a nice beard Mr Miller is sporting in that photograph.
Speaking of rumours, did you think the "lost" episodes thing would just go away even after the rediscovery of The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear last year? Don't be silly. Personally, from reading all of the statements at the time of the rediscovery and since, and reading between the lines, I think there's still something waiting to be revealed; call it a hunch, or wishful thinking, or whatever you prefer. Probably nothing as astonishing as a complete Marco Polo, alas. I don't think that the kind of very public BNF bickering displayed in the linked article really helps anybody, though.
Mark Gatiss-penned 50th anniversary making-of drama An Adventure in Space and Time has been nominated for a BAFTA award, and deservedly so I would say. I would also say that it's interesting that it seems to have gone over so well with critics and "casual viewers" since when viewed from this Who fan's perspective it resembles neither a conventional making-of drama nor a William Hartnell biopic so much as an intensely fannish meta statement on what it means to be a longterm Doctor Who fan. Oh well.
While we're shamelessly nicking stories from the Kasterborous site, there's also this on the current issue of DWM's interview with Paul McGann. I like his attitude, to be honest; he doesn't expect to ever be involved in Doctor Who again (by which I take it he means appearing in the actual TV series), but he's willing to be proved wrong in this expectation. I also find his thoughts on that fan-favourite idea an Eight spinoff series quite persuasive and respect-worthy, even if those fans who like the idea might not. A thoughtful man, Mr McGann, I think.
And finally, more sad news. Glyn Jones, writer of The Space Museum and a guest actor in The Sontaran Experiment passed away last week at the age of 82. I wonder, how many people other than Mr Jones and the aforementioned Mr Gatiss have both written for, and acted in Doctor Who over the years? Answers on a postcard (or, more feasibly, in the comments to this post) please.
And that's me for now, although I'm sure I'll be back with more of the same soon enough. In the meantime, if you have anything at all you'd like to share with the comm - news, fanworks, random musings, what have you - please feel free to post. I think if it's at all Doctor Who-related it's probably on-topic. :)