31/07/2009 by Barry.

As you may know earlier in the week the site and the blog went down.

After many hours using a hammer and spade trying to kickstart the website we got it back up a day later.

The forum has a redirect link and this didn’t work either but if there is any issues in future there is a backdoor link. http://glasgowwho.phpbbhosts.co.uk. Keep a note of it for the future just in case.

This message is also on the forum.

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20/07/2009 by Barry.

Don’t worry guys I’m still here, things are getting a little busier for me thats all…

I have been busy on the forum this morning and to see the latest photo from the BBC Website Karen Gillian looks stunning in her 60’s style clothes and Matt Smith is looking very old-style professer.

They’ve started filming this morning so they’ll be lots to talk about on the Forum

 Speaking of the forum, The Randomiser is gearing nicely. Ok Ambassadors of Death is not a story I can actually watch but I’ve already put my review on for Destiny of the Daleks so I’m more involved this week on a story I can actually talk about at length!

A rather short post from me ‘cos apart from that there’s not much I can really comment about this week. 

Till next time.

 Barry

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20/07/2009 by admin.

Well, today`s the day we `ve all been waiting for!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/misc/galleries/matt_and_karen_01

Not only do we get our first look at the 11the Doctor in costume, we also learn that Karen Gillan`s Character is called Amy Pond, there are some desert fatigues in the costume truck behind the two actors [possible future UNIT involvement?] and filming starts on Series Five TODAY!

Well, dunno about you lot but I discovered all this just about tennish in my local library [my own PC is on the blink] and rushed over to the Forum to post on my discovery - only to find that Uncle Alan had beaten me to it!

I dunno about the new look, a bit Troughton, a bit McCoy TV Movie.

But then I`m full of [hopefully unfounded] misgivings about Series Five so let`s just wait and see… 

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14/07/2009 by admin.

With the imminent re-release of Remembrance of the Daleks I was wondering what the state of play was with the DVD releases. Did a bit of checking and, if you disregard the titles that have already been announced then what we have left to look forward to for each Doctor [other than Colin] is as follows:

Bill - 8

Pat - 3

Jon - 13

Tom - 13

Peter - 6

Sylv - 6

I think it`s safe to assume that DVD will follow the VHS release pattern in that the incomplete stories will come out towards the end of the schedule, but given that we`ve already had The Invasion, you never know!

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14/07/2009 by Barry.

In what has been an absolutely quiet week for me on the forum I have been watching from the sidelines and there are a few things I want to talk about in this blog.

Firstly, Torchwood. What a FANTASTIC week. I think I only rated episode 1 as 4/5 the rest were 5/5. The best piece of telly I’ve seen in ages.

The Randomiser has been plugging away rather nicely and for it’s first week it went OK, although it’s a little less response than I’d thought. This week is already looking better although my knowledge of Ambassadors of Death is patchy at best. Next week is Destiny of the Daleks and that it will be a different story. It was the first story I got on VHS so I’ve probably watched it the most and can pick holes in it from memory without having to refresh my memory like I did with Tooth and Claw.

It’s been over a week since the last meeting and more people have been adding themselves to the forum so the momentum is building. I’ve still to post over 100 messages and Alan is sneaking past Bryan in the posting stakes, abliet very briefly.  As I write this blog we’re waiting on post 800 but it might be me with my Blog plug…

So what’s next for Glasgow Who? Well some of us are going to see Katy Manning on August 2nd and then back to The Crystal Palace in the evening for our monthly meeting.

I am really dissapointed with one thing though, Bryan’s not doing a quiz next month!

Never mind

Till next time my friends, keep posting and most of all have fun on this little corner of the internet we call Glasgow Who

Barry

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13/07/2009 by Alan McWhan.

Hello, hello, hello, my fluffy little fellow fans.

I trust you’re all feeling better than I am today. (Bit of a stomach bug. Quite nasty. I’ll spare you the details.)

The more observant of you may have noticed the start of our new Randomiser section last week on our forums. I suspect possibly I’m feeling a little timesick, having travelled all the way back from Tooth and Claw to Ambassadors of Death in under a week.

“What’s the Randomiser?” I hear you all cry in unison. Or whichever trade union of which you are currently a member. Ho ho.

Well, it’s quite simply a random journey through the entire history of Doctor Who, discussing each story in turn, spotting connections to other stories and letting everyone know our favourite bits. (Who said, “you’ve knicked Enlightenment from Doctor Who Forums?” Get out! We haven’t knicked anything… it’s an homage…)

The difference between Doctor Who Forum’s Enlightenment section (and, for that matter, the new Timelash section at the equally lovey Gallifrey Base) is just as simple as the idea itself - The Randomiser is a chance for Glasgow Who to throw its own opinion together and hurl it into the face of fandom’s “received wisdom” (with which we as a group seldom seem to agree…) or what Charlie Brooker slightly less charmingly describes as “another belch in the swirling online guffstorm.”

Well, we can belch away with the best of them here at Glasgow Who and we’re aiming to prove it.

All we need is for YOU to join in the posting over at our fabby forums, where the sky is made of diamonds… Oh, hang on a sec, that’s Utopia.

Never mind, I’m sure our sky is made of something equally lovely. Like Anthea Turner.

Now, I’m not saying for one second that we’ve kidnapped, killed and skinned Anthea Turner just to make a roof for our forums. That would be mental.

That’s what felt’s for.

(And I’m not talking about Vanessa Feltz, although I’m pretty sure there’d be a little more material available from that particular source, if you know what I’m saying.)

Anyway, I’m drifting.

What I’m trying to say is get yourself over to the Glasgow Who forums and illuminate us with your own thoughts on Doctor Who.

We’re on Ambassadors of Death this week, with Destiny of the Daleks coming next week. If you have any thoughts at all on either of them, we’d like to hear them.

So I’ll see you over there. Just watch out for the radioactive blokes and mind you don’t fall in the weir…

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13/07/2009 by admin.

War Games edit

Well, I finally finished my re-edit of The War Games and it came in at three 45-minute episodes. That`s the equivalent of a six-part story, which means I managed to lose around 4 episodes worth of padding! It`s been an interesting exercise as it highlights the difference between how much time you really need to tell a story and having to tell a story over a pre-determined length.

Any other budding re-editors out there? Why not knock up your own version of the Troughton to Pertwee regeneration for us to enjoy at one of our upcoming screenings!

And am I the only one who thinks that The War Chief is really The Master? And speaking of Edward Brayshaw…

Poirot & The Professionals

Last Friday I was channel-hopping [as you do] and caught an episode of Poirot on ITV3. The episode was “Problem At Sea” and featured real-life husband-and-wife Caroline John & Geoffrey Beevers as Mr & Mrs Tolliver, along with Ben Aris from Invasion of the Dinosaurs. He was Leiutenant Shearer in episode one, the officious army bloke who convicts the Dr & Sarah as looters.

Meanwhile over on ITV4 David “Poirot” Suchet was in an episode of The Professionals called “Where The Jungle Ends”. He was the leader of a gang of mercenaries, one of whom was Del Henney from Resurrection of the Daleks. He was poor Colonel Archer, who got cloned by The Daleks.

As I think I`ve mentioned before, the funny thing about what DWM called The Pip Torrens Factor is how this recognition thing only works one way. I spot actors who`ve been in Who in other things but I never spot actors that I`ve seen in other things in Who. I never say “oh look, it`s that bloke from Casualty!”

It took me ages to realise that Edward Brayshaw was Mr Meaker from Rentaghost but if I`d caught a re-run of it, I`m sure I would have said “oh look, there`s that bloke from The War Games!”

In honour of dear departed Ed I hereby christen these actorly observations as Mr Meaker Moments.

Stand by for the Forum Thread!

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09/07/2009 by admin.

War Games

Well, is that a stonker of a DVD or what? [or maybe you think it`s a stinker!] Great upgrade in picture and sound quality as always from the RT and a nice package of extras. OK, the Sylvia James interview is a bit of a filler and the easter eggs are a bit bizarre but overall this is one of the most enjoyable DVDs 2E have put out in ages.

As for the story itself, it doesn`t really drag that much over the ten episodes although there are a lot of what are referred to as “loop stories” [captured, escape, captured again]. But it`s a very enjoyable way to pass 4 hours… I`m working on a re-edit at the moment to see how quickly you can actually tell this story. So far I`ve managed to condense the first 5 episodes into 1 hour 15 minutes. That`s not bad when you consider that that`s the equivalent of losing two whole episode`s worth of padding! Try it yourself, just as an editing exercise, and see how much you can lose and just how much you have to keep. It`s not as easy as you might think! 

Next - The Black Guardian Trilogy!

Old Familiar Faces

Caught old Rog M yesterday on ITV4 in a colour ep of “The Saint“. The episode was “The Scales of Justice“, written by Robert Holmes and featured Jean “Masterplan” Marsh and Victor “Fury” Maddern. It`s always fun spotting Who actors in other things and straight after The Saint it was The Prisoner and “It`s Your Funeral” featuring that Marco Polo double act of Mark “Polo” Eden and Derren “Tegana” Nesbitt. Surely there must be a database somewhere on the Net for this sort of thing…?

Torchwood

Well, three episodes in and so far #2 is my fave. Nice mix of action, adventure and banter. Can`t really watch Peter Capaldi`s Mr Frobisher without thinking he`s suddenly going to switch into full-on Malcolm Tucker Mode though… 

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06/07/2009 by Barry.

Weeks 3 and 4? I needed to post 26 entries to seal posting a weekly update as a habit, I’ve broken it in 3 weeks!

I suppose I could give an update on the Forum, but apart from the launch of The Randomiser, it’s really been ticking over.

The meeting last night (5th July) was only the second such outing where I’ve consumed Alcohol in 3 months so to match Rintu’s sentiments on the forum I was one of the more intoxicated ones. Saying that I have to admit if it wasn’t for that Alan McWhan fielding a team on his own for Whoniversity Challenge my team might have won. Oh well…

After getting a new phone I’ve managed for the first time to upload a photo on Twitter taken on the camera phone to our twitter profile. This photo is with Clarkie and his wife and with the magic of a laptop I can upload the picture here for all to see. I’ve also posted the picture on the website and I might do the same on the forum later but I just think it’s so cool.

Speaking of the Forum, you’ll of noticed I’ve rearranged the layout a little. It just tidies it up a bit.

That’s me for now, unlike Bryan I’ve not got the War Games DVD, not yet anyway…

Barry

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06/07/2009 by admin.

Yesterday 

Well that was fun last night wasn`t it? I`ve posted my thoughts on last night`s meeting in the Forum so head over there and check it out!

The Crystal Palace was like an oven last night and they really need to do something about it. I was sweating like a pig, never mind the nerves of having to be Bamber Paxman for Whoniversity Challenge and hoping that the whole thing didn`t fall flat on it`s arse! Luckily it didn`t.

Bit disappointed that John Hughes & David Cherry weren`t there you naughty,naughty boys tsk tsk - but great to meet Clarkie and his missus. Let`s hope we get to see some new faces next month!

Today 

Well my copy of The War Games arrived bang on midday today so as soon as I finish this I`m off to watch all ten episodes! Really looking forward to this and a bit surprised that only me, Clarkie and Raymond were looking forward to getting this today. I got mine from Play.com for only £12.99, which for three discs is a bargain and a half!

Unlike the previous three-discer Lost In Time, WG is in a normal sized case with the two discs covering the story either side of one of those hinged flippy things. [Ok a poor description I know, but you`ll know what I mean when you see it]. The great thing about this is it means you are saved the hassle of taking out one disc to get to another, a great layout idea so bonus points to 2E for that. Don`t forget you can post your reviews over at the Forum.

Tonight

Torchwood: Weans O` The Errth is oan the nicht oan BeeBeeSeeWan at nine o`cloak. Mind and tell ua a` whit ye think oh it ower oan thu forum, ken.

 Next Time

The next meeting is Sunday August 2nd, same time and place as usual. Under discussion will be :

• The Edinburgh Katy Manning event earlier in the day
• Torchwood: Children of the Earth
• War Games/Remembrance of the Daleks on DVD
• The start of filming for Series Five
• Matt Smith in costume
• The name of Karen Gillan`s character
• Whatever is in the latest DWM
• Anything else we can think of!

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