Everything Changes…

Oh there’s so much I want to tell you, of artists and ghosts and secret meetings and Hallowe’en (or was it Christmas?) – but I’m beginning to read like Russell T Davies’ DWM column, so I’ll refrain for now, save to mention that this week you’ll come across the words “apricot”, “”Royston” and “itchy”.

As you can see the Inferno feature is well underway, with our John Levene interview attracting much attention and Stahlman’s Video Diary already coming first in the “Funniest Article on Kasterborous Top 1”, so well done Brian A. Terranova.

Our special guest contributor Steve Preston (he of Black Scrolls Magazine!) has reviewed parts 1 and 2 of Torchwood for your pleasure – you can see his thoughts in the Reviews section.

Torchwood continues to roll, with Episode 3 providing much suspense, so keep your eyes peeled for reviews on that instalment; incidentally the Torchwood news items are currently our-ranking the Doctor Who news items. You weird lot.

Still to come in our Inferno series is “The Shape of Doctor Who… Inferno” which details how the story affected the direction of our favourite show, as well as a profile on everybody’s favourite Brigadier, um the Brigadier.

Finally… those changes I was on about last week – remember? Well, astonishingly (and I mean astonishingly – they’re about 7 months late!) they are nearly here. Now of course if things don’t work for some reason, then I’ll go all quiet and then remind you in a few months that things didn’t work out… but I’m quietly confident this time.

And thanks to all of you for your continued support over the months. We’re a short step away from our 2nd birthday – who would have though? – so I’m feeling like a proud parent at the moment. Even if the Forum did go under for 24 hours….

Spin City

Well, it has been a long time coming, it’s been part of Doctor Who lore for 18 months now – and finally Torchwood is upon us!

It has put us in a strange position, as a Doctor Who site. “Do we cover Torchwood or not?” was a question we threw around in the early days and while we obviously have and will continue to do so, it has been something of a slow burner in terms of development, and certainly doesn’t have the same coverage in the press and elsewhere as Doctor Who. Of course in covering Torchwood, we need to be fair to the other spin-offs – so watch out for some changes to Kasterborous over the next few weeks as some long-planned additions to the site are finally introduced (yay!).

But more content means more work… and while I’m busy with Kasterborous and a new comedy website, there is room for anyone wishing to contribute anything – but in particular Torchwood-related content – to have their work published on this very website. If you’re interested, drop myself or Brian a line via the Forum.

(Thanks to those who have got in touch so far!)

Finally – it’s taken almost as long as Torchwood, but this weekend sees the long-awaited first instalment of our Inferno feature. What better way to kick it off than an interview with the man behind one of Doctor Who’s best loved characters – John Levene who played UNIT Sergeant John Benton from 1969-1975.

Oh, and don’t forget to vote for Doctor Who at the National Television Awards website -voting closes on the day of the event itself, Tuesday October 31st, 2006.

I’ve already voted – guess what for…?

The Shape of Things to Come…

It is with a huge sigh of relief that I offer you this weekend the final instalment of our 2006 Round Table!

Over the last few weeks we’ve covered the character development of supporting characters, guest actors, returning elements and we conclude this week with a discussion of the Doctor himself…

A massive bunch of thanks must go out to the contributors; if you haven’t yet read any of the pieces (why not?!), then a roll call is required. First off, Kasterborous brothers in arms Anthony Dry and Brian A. Terranova; artist Nigel Parry whose work adorns several articles on this website; Black Scrolls masterminds Gareth Kavanagh and Steve Preston; Daniel Bohm of German Doctor Who website www.doctorwho.de, Simon Mills of the Doctor Who News Service; and Barnaby Eaton-Jones of the OFFSTAGE Theatre Group.

Their comments and observations have been a joy for me to edit, and I’m sure they’ve been just as entertaining for the readers; some of our most successful articles of all time!

And it is with massive amounts of pride that I announce a very special interview to be presented in the next week or so – with Sergeant Benton himself, actor John Levene who took time a few weeks ago to answer our questions!

The interview is the first of our series of articles devoted to the Jon Pertwee classic serial Inferno which will run through to November, so look out for them all!

Shakedown

We’ve heard today that Outpost Gallifrey’s much-loved news page is no more.

I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but that does constitute a big day in Doctor Who fandom. As a common or garden Doctor Who fan, I frequented Outpost Gallifrey back in the days when the banner had a police box in a snowy location. The news page was a nexus, a drip feed and a vital tool for conversation either in the OG forum, the old BBC discussion board or rec.arts.drwho.

As many of our regular readers may know, if it wasn't for the OG news pages, I would never have joined the OG forum, answered Ant's plea for a writer and built this site.

I think the fate of the OG news page has been a direct result of Shaun's success with the site, and it is something that Ant and I have been experiencing to a lesser degree - Ant with his work on the Series 2 DVD and me with my work on a new video games magazine.

I dare say that Outpost Gallifrey will continue to be successful, not least as a forum but as the biggest online repository of Doctor Who on the internet.

So while now is the time to convert your fellow fans to the Kasterborous Doctor Who News Page, it’s also the beginning of an interesting period in online fandom…

The Move

Well, with still a bit of time before Torchwood comes, I’ll keep this week’s editorial on a personal level.

This weekend I’ve moved house (a simple explanation for the lack of coherent news items over the next few days…) and it got me thinking about the whole concept of the Domestic Doctor vs the Alien Adventurer…

A couple of throwaway remarks in The Impossible Planet raised the possibility of the Doctor living with Rose, and experiencing change on a human level. You know when things change for us, people change jobs, move house, get married, have children, and die.

Our friend the Doctor doesn’t need to worry about moving house for starters (even if he does – according to some – have a house in the South East). He certainly doesn’t need to worry about earning money which he evidently sees as an inconvenience and has several neat tricks to get around the fact that he has no means of income. Things which we take for granted don’t attract the Doctor – and if we tried to live our lives in the same set of suits, travelling from one place to the next, doing odd jobs and picking up pretty girls… well, wouldn’t it be nice?

Children? Certainly a Granddaughter, and as for death, well he’s cheated it enough times in the past one way or another, and will continue to do so for a long time – certainly past his twelfth regeneration…

But with a TARDIS would you want to settle down? Would you want to stay in one place with one person doing one thing? Of course not! And that is the wonder of Doctor Who – the variety, the choice of times and places to visit. We wouldn’t hang around a car park in Ealing if we could travel to faraway galaxies.

Which brings us nicely to the topic du jour – should there or should there not be more alien planets in Doctor Who?

The answer must be "yes".