I guess there's a character limit as it wouldn't let me post the whole thing all in one go.
March 2011
1: Leslie and I went to the Fitzroy Tavern on the first Thursday of the month when Doctor Who fans meet regularly. We have been to the Tav before but only for the Flashing Blade Winter Warmer. We couldn't stay for long but we met Glenn who has contributed to a past issue of TTZ and become friends on Facebook plus Ollie, the editor of fellow fanzine Panic Moon (highly recommended) and Lea who does the Tav zine Venusian Spearmint
2: Also this month we had Tea with Nyder! Read TTZ10 for the full interview with actor Peter Miles who very graciously gave his time to Leslie and I. I still intend to write up in more detail the madness of that day but for now I'll highlight the most surreal moment which was watching DVDs of Colditz (The TV series not the Big Finish play!) whilst Sturmbannfuhrer Schmelling himself sat next to us grinning!
3: More Doctor Who memes on Twitter, this time #doctorwhotvmashups or which I've contributed
* Holby City of Death
* Terrynation Street
* The Greatest Peep Show in the Galaxy
* Sec's in the City
* Love in the Time of the Rani #oktechnicallyitsabookslashfilm
* The Pandorica Opens All Hours
* Primeval of the Daleks #thesewordsareblasphemy
* Bok the Week
* Spitting Image of the Fendahl
* That Mitchell and Webb of Fear
* Rising Damp of the Cybermen
* The True Naked Civil Servant of Sutekh the Destroyer
* Button Moonbase
* Brass Eye of Harmony #wherenextformanraisedbymacra
4: Actual conversation between me and Leslie
Me: "...Suhtek's bum hand aka Scratchy"
Leslie: "Why Scratchy?"
Me: "Cuz he was for scratching Suhteks bum!"
Leslie: "Nooo, he was there to prop him up!"
5: Leslie and I went to Swansea for the book launch of Another Country, a collection of Welsh haiku in which she's published (Get your copy here).
Whilst there we went to Swansea Uni library which doubles as the Royal Hope hospital in Smith and Jones and the Kardomah cafe where they filmed the 10th Doctor and Wilf's conversation in The End of Time.
In the evening we ate in Pizza Express and were amazed to find a quote from Russell T. Davies emblazed in big letters across the wall!
We were in Swansea the same night as comic relief and I pledged £11 which was a quid per Doctor. I also promised to pledge a further quid for every retweet of my message and by the end of the night we'd raised £69.
There you go, I think that more than made up for not writing in so long. I leave you with some links to other cool folk and Doctor Who goodness!
Den of the Rothwoman
The Doctor Who Book Podcast
Gallifreyan Pancakes
The Patient Centurion
The Search for the Truth
Staying In Watching 'Doggie Who'
Who Mix
Sunday 15 May 2011
What Happens on Raxacoracofallapatorious Stays on Raxacoracofallapatorious
As usual folks I begin with an apology that I suck at updating this blog. So to compensate here's a bumper update. In keeping with being TTZ's Sales & Marketing Manager lets justify that impressive made up title by producing 2011's first quarter Doctor Who report! I've had to pretty much rely on the zines Twitter to remember everything I've rabbited on about in that time, some of which I'd even intended to turn in to blog entries. I still might. (Yeah right!)
So here goes:
January 2011
1: I started out the year in Florida and the evidence that Doctor Who has gone global is the fact I was able to watch A Christmas Carol on 25th December on BBC America. The ad breaks were annoying sure but that's the way TV is over there. (More here)
The show is also starting to be referenced in popular culture. My cousin Felipe and I were watching an NCIS marathon and in one episode (Power Down) out of the blue McGee suddenly makes reference to it.
My fanboy gene went squee purely because here's my favourite show being referenced in a mainstream US show. Ok so it's an odd reference, for those who haven't seen Doctor Who they probably don't get that McGee thinks the storage unit is bigger on the inside and so they may be left with the impression that the TARDIS is full of guns but oh well, it's something!
2: As Leslie and I were both away for Christmas we exchanged presents when were back in London on 3rd January. Who-wise I got her Peter Purves autobiography Here's One I Wrote Earlier and the Companions Chronicle audio The Mahogany Murders. For me Who-wise she got my Andrew Cartmel's diary Script Doctor of his time as script editor on the show, the piano score for the Doctor Who theme tune and she also got me The Mahogany Murders! The pitfalls of being lovers who're both Doctor Who fans haha. In the end we exchanged one copy for another Companion Chronicle Find and Replace because we had really enjoyed Ringpullworld. She also brought her copies of The Dark Path and Burning Heart from home with her.
3: Doctor Who so invades our thoughts that sometimes you'll be talking about something that has absolutely nothing to do with the show but it will nonetheless trigger something to link it back. I had also bought Leslie the DVD of the Victoria & Albert miniseries when it just popped in to my head that I felt Victoria Hamilton would have been a better casting choice to play Maria Jackson's Mum in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Random!
4: I was annoyed at the announcement that Terror of the Autons would finally be released on DVD but only in a boxset with a reissue of Spearheads from Space. Whilst it makes sense, I already have Spearheads so why didn't they just do that in the first place. The whole Revisitations series has given me cause to wonder do fans buy the DVDs for the stories or for the extras? I fall in to the first category and whilst the extras are nice, they're precisely that - extra. Sometimes it seems that The Powers That Be do like to squeeze every last penny out of us.
5: Not that I'm planning too but I sometimes think if I ever did my own fanzine what would I call it? Possible titles so far are: Behind the Sofa, The Pandorica Opens, Anti-Radiation Gloves, Blackpool (With the cover art obscuring everything but the 'b' in the title!), The 'zine of Marinus, Giddy Aunt, Harry Sullivan Stepped In A Clam
6: Whilst my Dad was over here from Colombia we bought some high quality paper and printed out the Logopoly game we did as a free giveaway with TTZ9 (which is also free!). We played a round with my sister and mum doubling up, plus Leslie and my friend Sebby. Sebby won when I landed on Planet of the Cheetah People with a hotel and was bankrupted!
February 2011
1: In the first weekend of February we held a Back2theWhoture viewing. It was the first time the original B2TW had been reunited since my Dad had moved to Colombia. However at the last minute Big Al had to drop out which was a shame as he was also intending to come with his sister Frankie who played Amy's therapist on The Big Bang. However we were joined for the first time by Aya who seemed to have a really great time. We always have so much fun at B2TW, I'm really looking forward to the next one!
Transcript of live tweets of B2TW: The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang
2: Barnaby Edwards who runs the Doctor Who group in New York was over in the UK for one day only. Although Leslie and I were both feeling a bit sick we went out to meet him because he's such a nice guy and he's been a keen supporter of TTZ. Alas we weren't able to see how an issue looks on his ipad but we had a fun time chatting and he pitched us even MORE article ideas! Some are scheduled for the next issue. We didn't stay long which was a shame but hopefully we'll get to Gallifrey one day. (The convention obviously, not the planet!)
3: For Valentine's Day I managed to source a copy of L'abominable homme des neiges for Leslie, combining her love of Doctor Who, French and cryptozoology. I keep joking that we should do a TTZ cover with Igor & Grichka Bogdanoff! Even better maybe we should track them down for an interview!
4: Leslie, as well as my friend Paul, were published in academic essay book The Unsilent Library which focused on the RTD era. Click here to order your copy today.
I submitted an essay when the call went out but I was rejected. To be fair though I only came up with the idea an hour before the deadline so it wasn't very polished. It was about the anthropmorphism of human animals to represent alien species in the revised series. It's still on the do to list as an essay for TTZ one day!
5: In February Doctor Who fandom was dealt a blow with the sad news that Nicholas Courtney aka Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, or more affectionately The Brig, had passed away. I think it was a tribute to how well loved he was that #RIPBrig trended worldwide on Twitter and that on Facebook when recieving the message "X number of friends have changed their profile photos" I was greeted with a sea of Brigadiers.
As I've never been to a convention I've never met the man, and don't have a story to share but from those who were lucky enough to, the message that came across was that he was a true gentleman and loved the shows fans and was always kind and courteous towards them.
Gary Gillatt posted a very moving tribute in DWM with a plea to let the Brigadier continue to have adventures offscreen somewhere in deepest darkest Peru, representing UNIT and I whole heartedly agree.
6: Occasionally fun Doctor Who memes appear on Twitter. Below are some of my contributions to the #mundanewho meme.
* The Safety Handrail of Destruction
* Powercut of the Daleks
* The Ambassadors of Man Flu
* Thursday of the Daleks
* Cheese Sandwich Before Bed Time on Eden
* The Three and a Half Doctors Plus Some Bloke Who Looks a Bit Like William Hartnell
* The Blow-Holes of Androzani Minor #technicallyaccurate
* An Impartial Inquiry In To Conduct Unbecoming Of a Time Lord
* Tin Nemesis
* Battlemeadow
* Aliens of Doncaster
*My Cousin Vinny and the Doctor
7: I love the madness of the fringes of Doctor Who where all the naff or insane stuff is like Tom Baker underpants, TARDIS roundal wallpaper etc etc.
Spoofing that (Though no where near as well as Planet of the Ming Mongs) here's a couple of additions to the canon
* Black and White Box Girl: The Autobiography of Jackie Lane
* Totally K9 & Company Confidential (Uncensored!)
* Dimensions in Time: The Stage Play (Adapted for Audio by Big Finish)
* Keff McCulloch Live at the Proms!
* New Companion Chronicle starring YOU from Crisis in Space
* Character Options to release new Cedric toy
* Disney to make Doctor Who spin-off starring CGI rendered version of popular robot cat companion Splinx from The Mines of Terror
* Rare telesnaps of Dr Loo and the Filthy F**king Phalleks found on a laptop in Soho
* IDW buy rights to reprint Masterplan Q
So here goes:
January 2011
1: I started out the year in Florida and the evidence that Doctor Who has gone global is the fact I was able to watch A Christmas Carol on 25th December on BBC America. The ad breaks were annoying sure but that's the way TV is over there. (More here)
The show is also starting to be referenced in popular culture. My cousin Felipe and I were watching an NCIS marathon and in one episode (Power Down) out of the blue McGee suddenly makes reference to it.
My fanboy gene went squee purely because here's my favourite show being referenced in a mainstream US show. Ok so it's an odd reference, for those who haven't seen Doctor Who they probably don't get that McGee thinks the storage unit is bigger on the inside and so they may be left with the impression that the TARDIS is full of guns but oh well, it's something!
2: As Leslie and I were both away for Christmas we exchanged presents when were back in London on 3rd January. Who-wise I got her Peter Purves autobiography Here's One I Wrote Earlier and the Companions Chronicle audio The Mahogany Murders. For me Who-wise she got my Andrew Cartmel's diary Script Doctor of his time as script editor on the show, the piano score for the Doctor Who theme tune and she also got me The Mahogany Murders! The pitfalls of being lovers who're both Doctor Who fans haha. In the end we exchanged one copy for another Companion Chronicle Find and Replace because we had really enjoyed Ringpullworld. She also brought her copies of The Dark Path and Burning Heart from home with her.
3: Doctor Who so invades our thoughts that sometimes you'll be talking about something that has absolutely nothing to do with the show but it will nonetheless trigger something to link it back. I had also bought Leslie the DVD of the Victoria & Albert miniseries when it just popped in to my head that I felt Victoria Hamilton would have been a better casting choice to play Maria Jackson's Mum in The Sarah Jane Adventures. Random!
4: I was annoyed at the announcement that Terror of the Autons would finally be released on DVD but only in a boxset with a reissue of Spearheads from Space. Whilst it makes sense, I already have Spearheads so why didn't they just do that in the first place. The whole Revisitations series has given me cause to wonder do fans buy the DVDs for the stories or for the extras? I fall in to the first category and whilst the extras are nice, they're precisely that - extra. Sometimes it seems that The Powers That Be do like to squeeze every last penny out of us.
5: Not that I'm planning too but I sometimes think if I ever did my own fanzine what would I call it? Possible titles so far are: Behind the Sofa, The Pandorica Opens, Anti-Radiation Gloves, Blackpool (With the cover art obscuring everything but the 'b' in the title!), The 'zine of Marinus, Giddy Aunt, Harry Sullivan Stepped In A Clam
6: Whilst my Dad was over here from Colombia we bought some high quality paper and printed out the Logopoly game we did as a free giveaway with TTZ9 (which is also free!). We played a round with my sister and mum doubling up, plus Leslie and my friend Sebby. Sebby won when I landed on Planet of the Cheetah People with a hotel and was bankrupted!
February 2011
1: In the first weekend of February we held a Back2theWhoture viewing. It was the first time the original B2TW had been reunited since my Dad had moved to Colombia. However at the last minute Big Al had to drop out which was a shame as he was also intending to come with his sister Frankie who played Amy's therapist on The Big Bang. However we were joined for the first time by Aya who seemed to have a really great time. We always have so much fun at B2TW, I'm really looking forward to the next one!
Transcript of live tweets of B2TW: The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang
2: Barnaby Edwards who runs the Doctor Who group in New York was over in the UK for one day only. Although Leslie and I were both feeling a bit sick we went out to meet him because he's such a nice guy and he's been a keen supporter of TTZ. Alas we weren't able to see how an issue looks on his ipad but we had a fun time chatting and he pitched us even MORE article ideas! Some are scheduled for the next issue. We didn't stay long which was a shame but hopefully we'll get to Gallifrey one day. (The convention obviously, not the planet!)
3: For Valentine's Day I managed to source a copy of L'abominable homme des neiges for Leslie, combining her love of Doctor Who, French and cryptozoology. I keep joking that we should do a TTZ cover with Igor & Grichka Bogdanoff! Even better maybe we should track them down for an interview!
4: Leslie, as well as my friend Paul, were published in academic essay book The Unsilent Library which focused on the RTD era. Click here to order your copy today.
I submitted an essay when the call went out but I was rejected. To be fair though I only came up with the idea an hour before the deadline so it wasn't very polished. It was about the anthropmorphism of human animals to represent alien species in the revised series. It's still on the do to list as an essay for TTZ one day!
5: In February Doctor Who fandom was dealt a blow with the sad news that Nicholas Courtney aka Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, or more affectionately The Brig, had passed away. I think it was a tribute to how well loved he was that #RIPBrig trended worldwide on Twitter and that on Facebook when recieving the message "X number of friends have changed their profile photos" I was greeted with a sea of Brigadiers.
As I've never been to a convention I've never met the man, and don't have a story to share but from those who were lucky enough to, the message that came across was that he was a true gentleman and loved the shows fans and was always kind and courteous towards them.
Gary Gillatt posted a very moving tribute in DWM with a plea to let the Brigadier continue to have adventures offscreen somewhere in deepest darkest Peru, representing UNIT and I whole heartedly agree.
6: Occasionally fun Doctor Who memes appear on Twitter. Below are some of my contributions to the #mundanewho meme.
* The Safety Handrail of Destruction
* Powercut of the Daleks
* The Ambassadors of Man Flu
* Thursday of the Daleks
* Cheese Sandwich Before Bed Time on Eden
* The Three and a Half Doctors Plus Some Bloke Who Looks a Bit Like William Hartnell
* The Blow-Holes of Androzani Minor #technicallyaccurate
* An Impartial Inquiry In To Conduct Unbecoming Of a Time Lord
* Tin Nemesis
* Battlemeadow
* Aliens of Doncaster
*My Cousin Vinny and the Doctor
7: I love the madness of the fringes of Doctor Who where all the naff or insane stuff is like Tom Baker underpants, TARDIS roundal wallpaper etc etc.
Spoofing that (Though no where near as well as Planet of the Ming Mongs) here's a couple of additions to the canon
* Black and White Box Girl: The Autobiography of Jackie Lane
* Totally K9 & Company Confidential (Uncensored!)
* Dimensions in Time: The Stage Play (Adapted for Audio by Big Finish)
* Keff McCulloch Live at the Proms!
* New Companion Chronicle starring YOU from Crisis in Space
* Character Options to release new Cedric toy
* Disney to make Doctor Who spin-off starring CGI rendered version of popular robot cat companion Splinx from The Mines of Terror
* Rare telesnaps of Dr Loo and the Filthy F**king Phalleks found on a laptop in Soho
* IDW buy rights to reprint Masterplan Q
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