Here it comes...

There's a storm brewing... Can you feel it?

Something in the air.

Perhaps it's the impending excitement that is Doctor Who, and the next thrilling installment that we'll be watching (says Ms Perceived Wisdom of Brighon) in just 25 day time.

Being a big fan of Kylie (more looks than musically, of course) and Doctor Who (!) as well being an admirer of many of the cast, I can only expect the following from Voyage of te Damned:

Excellent guest turns
Kylie
Monsters
Some series-long theme or undercurrent being established
Kylie
Inexplicable andoids
Christmas fluff
Kylie

How can it go wrong?

Strange Old Week

It's strange talking about people who have given you such enjoyment, or affected you life in a huge way, with such affection that you feel that you might personally know them to some degree - when of course you don't.

The loss of Verity Lambert this week however at such an untimely point really knocked the wind out of my sails.

It seems strange as to why, and the only reason I can think of is that perhaps a part of Doctor Who itself died. I've never been a huge fan of the Hartnell era in the way that I enjoy the Tom Baker years - although I appreciate the wonderous experimentation and development of the show in the early days, it's rarely an era I revisit on DVD,

Funny too, that Doctor Who fandom might be witness to two passings that have affected the show in such strong fashion, yet at completely opposite ends.

Peter Haining's great Doctor Who - A Celebration was written to celebrate 20 years of adventures in time and space. It contains the odd era, but in the days of Peter Davison and little Doctor Who on VHS it was a vital addition to any fans' collection of knowledge.

It wasn't until recently that I acquired my own copy, having utilised the local library's copy almost constantly throughout the mid 1980s. The book opened up an insane world of regeneration, Time Lords, Daleks and companions in such detail, and it brings a tear to my thinking about the way I used to pour over it on a weekend before and after Doctor Who.

Both sad losses, and both will be missed.

Time Crash Bang Wallop!

Ah you can't beat a bit of Children in Need, newsreaders making complete pratts of themselves, cheesey musical numbers (thank you John Barrowman) and the cast of soap opera's murdering classic Beatles standards.

And of course this year we got Time Crash, a semi-canonical 7 minutes in which a TARDIS malfunction caused the Fifth and Tenth Doctors to share some time together, and break the laws of time (and the plot, folks) in fixing said Time Crash.

Other than the lovely Fearne Cotton and Kylie Minogue's presence in the evening, Time Crash was pretty much the highlight (other than the excellent fundraising figure of £19m - well done all concerned!) of a fast paced evening whose best moments are invariably those points when the West End saunters over to BBC Television Centre to do their thing for free.

And of course Doctor Who's relationship with Children in Need continues, and rightly so.

One other thing:

Massive congratulations to Lord Kopic of Kopic's Doctor Who News Service - this excellent blog-cum-RSS-linkfest pulls all of the Doctor Who news from around the web, from Kasterborous, Doctor Who Online, Outpost Gallifrey and all of the Torchwood and Sarah Jane blogs, as well as media outlets and Google News.

So why the congrats? Well, Kopic's site has moved on to page one of Google for the search term "Doctor Who News". Sure, he pushed Kasterborous off the front page on his way to greatness, but we'll be back up there soon.

Well done Simon.

Gahhh! Technology - I hate it!

Sunday night - happily typing away on developing my wife's website (www.fairytalemail.co.uk - for all you personalised Santa letter needs) when :
"DUUUNnnnnnnnn" The power went off.

All night. Despite an hour hunting around the house with my niece's pumpkin lantern torch I found neither the culprit appliance or the trip switch that would have let me put the power back on...

And then on Monday my wireless routr decided that it didn't like transmitting wifi anymore and would on accept a physical cable connection.

So apologies to all of you for the sparsity of news this week when there is so much to talk about. Normal service will be renewed as soon as Professor Solon repairs the lightning harness above the south parapet of Kasterborous Towers...

Mastering the Myth

You know this thing called "stardom"?

It's all about egos, backslapping, bitching, snorting, fornicating... Or so the press, PR and entourages would have you believe.

And yet here we are, a little Doctor Who website at the center of the cosmos, running an interview with a man regarded as being "difficult".

So who do you believe?

As with so many things, I think the path to truth is to read between the lines. Eric Roberts is real, proud of his work, his family and his part in Doctor Who.

I'm really proud of this website, of the work Nick Brown did in bringing you the interview, and the interview itself, and to discover that Eric Roberts is just a normal guy with respect for his profession and his audience, and not the character of myth that had developed over the years.

Our TV Movie articles continue later this week with a new article from Brian A. Terranova... keep'em peeled!

The TV Movie - Reappraised

In 1996, the culmination of years of development finally hit our screens, as an American production of Doctor Who starring Paul McGann, Eric Roberts, Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso and Sylvester McCoy was broadcast.

Since then, and despite its disappointing reaction, the TV Movie became a template for Doctor Who novels, audio adventures and Doctor Who Magazine comic strips. The Eighth Doctor has had more adventures than any other incarnation, and he's still going strong.

To celebrate the TV Movie, (unofficially titled The Enemy Within), we're going to spend the run up to Christmas looking at what many people consider a failed attempt to bring Doctor Who back; and we will all see by the end that while it was a relative failure on television (despite UK audiences of 9 million) these 90 minutes reinvigorated the franchise for an amazing 9 years, to such an extent that eventually, Doctor Who came back to our screens with a ready made audience.

We kick off this series of articles with our biggest ever interview with the Master himself, Eric Roberts.