Rediscovered episodes of Doctor Who

Thanks to a certain Philip Morris of Television International Enterprises Archives, nine episodes of Doctor Who were recovered and are now available on itunes. These are episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Enemy of the World and episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 of The Web of Fear. This means that Enemy of the World is now complete and Web of Fear is only missing Episode 3.

My first experience of The Enemy of the World was reading the telesnaps in Doctor Who Magazine, way back in 1999. It seemed like an interesting story with the Doctor disguising himself as an evil human lookalike called Salamander. While the still images made the story look fascinating, it will be great to see those images moving, as they should be. Not only can we now see more scenes of Patrick Troughton playing Salamander, but for the first time we will be able to watch Patrick Troughton playing the Doctor pretending to be Salamander, which should be good. This is also the first opportunity to watch Episode 4, which did not even exist in telesnap format. Fans may not consider this story to be one of the best but I enjoy it regardless.  And who really cares if it's iconic or not? It's great to have it back and and maybe now it will get more appreciation?

The Web of Fear is a straightforward army vs monsters story and not without its problems. The Great Intelligence has no reason to be using the Yeti again other than the fact that the writers wanted to bring back their old monster. There's also the dodgy Jewish stereotype in episode 1. Fortunately,  Douglas Camfield's direction saves it, making it look pretty atmospheric. And regardless of the quality, the return of any missing episodes of Doctor Who is better than none - unless it's The Celestial Toymaker. 

This has been one of the largest number of episodes to be found in ages and one of the best anniversary presents yet. I still don't know why the BBC bother with these midnight news releases when it's inevitable that someone will break the embargo. They should just release the news first and then have a press conference. Anyway, thanks once again to Philip Morris. Only 97 episodes left to find now. 

Ben Affleck cast as Batman

So...Ben Affleck is going to be playing Batman in the Man of Steel sequel.

Well he's already played Daredevil, so this it's not a great leap to imagine him playing Batman. He did a decent job in what was a pretty standard movie.

I think he's a fairly decent choice. Some people might not be okay with his casting, but then again, people didn't like it when Michael Keaton was cast for the 1989 movie and he turned out great.

It'll be interesting to see what he does with this role.

Peter Capaldi is The Twelfth Doctor

Well, this was a surprise. I'd heard Peter Capaldi's name being mentioned in connection with the role but thought it sounded too good to be true. I'm glad I was proved wrong.

I think he's a brilliant choice. He was excellent as John Frobisher in Children of the Earth and I've heard good things about his performance as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of it. He's also the first older Doctor that we've had in ages and should make a good contrast to Matt Smith. My only concern is what the kids will make of him. Will they be willing to accept an older actor as the Doctor? Time will tell, and he has my support either way.

I admit I was gutted when Matt Smith's departure was announced and didn't really care who his successor would turn out to be. But this piece of casting has renewed my interest in the show's future.

Is it time for a new type of companion on Doctor Who?

Neil Gaiman supposedly wrote his first draft of Nightmare of Silver with the Victorian version of Clara from The Snowmen.  Steven Moffat obviously changed his mind about this and went for another modern day girl.  But what if he had stuck to his guns? Would this have made Series 7 better?

Since the modern series began in 2005, every companion from Rose Tyler to Clara Oswald has originated from 21st century Earth. The producers argue that this is because the companion must be someone that audiences can relate to.  They are our viewpoint into a crazy world of space and monsters. The best examples of this from the original series are Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. They were just ordinary school teachers in an unremarkable London comprehensive. There were many scenes in the early episodes focusing on their reactions to unusual situations.

But  as the classic series went on, the producers tried out different variations such as a jacobite from the past, an alien maths genius from a pocket universe and even a robot dog! Some of these risks paid off, some of them didn't, but at least the producers were trying to make things interesting. By playing it safe, the show may in danger of becoming predictable.

And being from modern day Earth is no guarantee that the companion will be well defined. I don't think fans of the classic series would have complained if the resourceful and intelligent 16th century serving girl Anne Chaplet had joined the Tardis crew at the end of The Massacre instead of the contemporary but dull Dodo Chaplet. A similar situation applies to the modern series. There is little in Series 7 that defines Clara as a modern woman. She has no family, hobbies or anything that ties her to the modern world. She might as well be a Victorian. There is certainly nothing in the adventures that requires her to be modern. It's easy to imagine that Bells of St John could be first trip in the Tardis for the Victorian Clara. Through her eyes we could see the wonder in the modern world that we take for granted. The computer skills download that she gets from the Spoonhead could have been a useful plot device to enable Victorian Clara to learn about the modern world very quickly.

Personally, I feel that a one off experiment would be good. I don't want Jenna Coleman to leave for a long time, but when she does, maybe the producer could try something a bit different?

Knightmare Returns!

I’m surprised and excited to hear that Knightmare is being revived as a one off episode to feature in “Geek Week” on YouTube. This episode has been produced by the show's creator, Tim Child, and Hugo Myatt is returning as Tregard.

This is great news! I remember watching some of the later episodes of the show on CITV when I was younger. I was able to enjoy it again recently, during the CITV’s “Old Skool Weekend”, earlier this year. And now, fans will get to enjoy a whole new episode. Good times!

I'm definitely going to try and watch this if I get the chance.

Pandas, Gardening and the colourful lives of artists, at the Lightbox

For any art enthusiasts who are crazy enough to be reading this blog, The Lightbox Museum and Art Gallery in Woking is currently running some very interesting exhibitions.

The main exhibition on at the moment is ‘Gertrude Jekyll: Landscape Gardener and Craftswoman” which, as the title makes obvious, is about the life of garden designer Gertrude Jeckyll. The exhibition itself is very well designed and well worth seeing, even for people like me who are not that enthusiastic about gardening.

Pandamonium is a collection of artworks that are commissioned in support of the World Wildlife Fund. The WWF are building a new centre nearby and their work towards helping wildlife is very important. There are some very humorous works of art, made using the panda collection boxes which were discontinued in 2007.Others might be fascinated by some of the fashion designs, such as a dress of flowers which will become more colourful when water is applied. It is the only dress that women wouldn’t mind spilling liquid over.

Finally, the Ingram Collection includes works from a diverse range of contemporary artists, including Eduardo Paolozzi, John Bratby and many others. I particularly liked the Paolozzi piece.

So, if you’re reading this you like art galleries or museums then come along. And if you have visited before, why not come back and bring someone who hasn’t been yet?

Farewell to Matt Smith

So, yeah, no more Eleventh Doctor after the 2013 Christmas Special.

Damn. I was hoping he would do Series 8, at least. It's a bit of a shame that in his four years of being the Doctor, Matt has only been able to complete three whole series. This also means that the 50th anniversary celebrations are now going to be overshadowed by the gloom of knowing about the Eleventh Doctor’s departure.

Still, while part of me is sad that Matt is going, the more rational side of me knows that I should respect his decision. If he personally feels that now is the right time to go then fandom should support him. It’s better for him to go out on a high and look for new opportunities than to get bored and feel trapped in the same old role

The first time I saw Matt Smith was in 2006 when he played 'Jim' in The Ruby in the Smoke. I thought he was okay in the role but I would never have considered him for the role of the Doctor.
A couple of years later, when he was revealed as the Eleventh Doctor in The Eleven Doctors confidential special, I was one of the doubters. How could this young man possibly play a 900 year old Time Lord? I imagined Series 5 would be full of scenes of him being overshadowed by his older, more experienced, more charismatic fellow cast members and unable to stand up to the villains. The promotional shot of him in the dark suit, standing by the Tardis did him no favours in my eyes. It made him look like an emo Doctor who had been tailored to appeal to the teenage demographic.

Then, in July 2009 we saw the first pictures of Matt in his tweed jacket and bow tie and I really liked it. It was a relief to see that he would not be an emo Doctor after all, and I was fascinated that Matt's had chosen to play the Doctor as a more of a professor than the previous new series Doctors. As the months went by I got more snippets about the new Doctor. Then, on 1st January 2010, the Eleventh Doctor made his screen debut in The End of Time. In only a few minutes of screen time Matt Smith proved that he could be quirky and funny. This new Doctor was starting to show great promise. 

Finally, in April 2010, “The Eleventh Hour” aired and any remaining doubts were dispelled. Matt Smith proved that he could act well with children, be funny and stand up to the enemies. Since then he’s got better and better and now I find it difficult to imagine anyone replacing him.

I became a fan during the Wilderness Years so I never got attached to any particular Doctor as I was watching all of their stories out of order. But once the new series started I was able to watch all of them in order, and Matt Smith is the Doctor that I have connected with the most. It’s going to take me a while to adjust to the notion of a Twelfth Doctor. 

Still, it's not over just yet. Matt is still the Doctor until the end of the year. If I have any message for Matt Smith then it's this: Thanks for being the Doctor, Matt! They said no one could replace David Tennant but you managed it. You made bow ties cool. You’ve been brilliant and I hope you go on to do greater things!