Glasgow Who | Doctor Who Blog

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!

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

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…

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!

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… 

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

It just keeps getting better and better.

Well, you know I was saying I hoped that more local groups would have their own sub forums. Mark from the Manx Anorax group contacted me asking if it was OK to setup a own thread for his group. I suggested one better and like the Taysiders, the Manx group now have their own sub forum under the World Community Section. I’ve still been posting and keeping an eye on threads in Gallifrey Base, Outpost Who and Outpost Gallifrey. I’ve also joined the Doctor Who World forum. I’m gonna put up a link on our website to theirs after they contacted us with a request to do so.
 You’ll have noticed that some of the users on the forum have become moderators. They’re special mods and all I can say is that “The Randomiser” that Alan has been promoting, cryptically, is part of it.

Finally, a couple of congrats are in order, both for Bryan McCormack. He’s been working to try and get some Scottish users of Outpost Gallifrey to come over and he’s done quite well to get what he has so far. Also Bryan is the first person to post over 100 times.  Great job Bryan!

Anyway, thanks for posting and keep doing so, there’s plenty to talk about.

Barry

Wow! What a first week.

There has been a lot going on in the forum and the site has been getting a good number of hits this week.
There has also been a good chunk of guys who have come over from the Yahoo! Group and there’s still a lot more of you to come over so join ASAP.
 You’ll have noticed a few other things on the forum of particular interest.
The TARDIS in Tayside group have their own sub-forum and I’ve been posting on their threads in Outpost Gallifrey and on the new Gallifrey Base Forum. This generosity has been reciprocated by a front page plug for our site on theirs. Hello to Alan and the gang and they are the first group to get their very own sub forum.  I hope that there will be a few groups residing in their own sub forums over the next few weeks making the forum truly an internet community.
I’ve made the first steps in building links with Highland Who. Hello Liam and the gang and I hope your first meeting goes well next month and sorry I won’t be able to come. I’ve even posted on their forum saying hello.
Clarkie from the Aberdeen Sci Fi Association posted a hello on the forum and he is fortuitously in Glasgow at the next meeting and will be joining us. As a gesture of good faith he’ll be bringing some Merchandise for us to raffle. It might be an idea to bring your pennies as we might raffle some stuff on the night!
Finally the Manx Anorax headed by Mark Owen have also joined the forum and are posting. Already we have a bit of a multi-club forum going on and you never know we’ll be changing the forum’s name next!

All in all it’s been a busy week and with the Reviews and Fan Fiction sections of the site and forum about to rev up there’s a lot more on the way.

Keep posting and keep the momentum going:

Cheers

Barry Stanton
Online Coordinator, Glasgow Who- The Glasgow Doctor Who Society!

So this morning I`m checking my emails and catching up with the latest goings-on in the online Whoniverse when I come across THIS:

http://io9.com/5283524/a-funeral-for-a-time-lord

A very touching story and how great of his friends and family to organise something like that, right down to a Tardis-coffin. Nice to know that, even in death, someone can inspire people.

When I go, I`d like to a send-off like that please.

Condolances to Seb`s family and friends.

Welcome to the Glasgow Who blog. This is where Bryan, Barry, Rintu & Alan will post their throughts, feelings and articles for your pleasure.