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Well chaps, this may seem pretty poor form for Christmas Day, but I'm afraid the forum is again out of action.

At the moment I don't know the precise cause of this, but rest assured I am doing everything I can to resolve the issue, which is kind of mucking up Christmas Day for me...

Also at this point in time, I wouldn't like to apportion blame; however I will be making huge efforts to avoid this situation in future. As such this may result in some scheduled downtime over the coming days.

So if you've come online to chat about Voyage of the Damned and how wonderful it was, please accept our apologies. Feel free to contact me on MSN (atomickarma@hotmail.com) if you're desperate for some Christmas Doctor Who-themes interaction.

Other than that, I hope you're enjoying Christmas Day in the best way possible.

Come On!

Well that was a strange few days, with David Tennant leaving, then staying, then not being asked yet to stay for Series 5... And all down to Catherine Tate saying too much to overpaide celebrity kiss ass Jonathan Woss.

I'm delighted that Tennant has confirmed that he is staying on for the 2009 quartet of specials, for many reasons.

Main amongst these however is the way in which he plays the Doctor, illuminating every scene with his presence. Having rewatched Human Nature this week and re-evaluated his turn as Dr John Smith, I can't help but be impressed by the differemces between Tennant's two characters in that story.

When the time really does come for him to leave, I suspect mischief makers like Catherine Tate will see a real reaction of fan upset and sadness. Tennant has done stirling work in doctor Who both audio and television, and long may he continue to do so.

We're Jammin'...

Ohhh I hope you like a-jammin' too...

Welcome indeed to the Kasterbaraoke Evening, our annual get together with drinks, food, song - and not a mention of Doctor Who to be heard!

Next up is your friend and mine, Brian Atticus Terranvova with his very own version of Talking Heads' "Psycho Killer", which has to be beter than Anthony Horatio Dry's earlier attempt at "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls.

Later on, we'll be taking a tour of Kasterborous Towers and unveiling a new vidkast that we've been planning for months now... It's set for a release on Kasterborous in due course, so you lucky, lucky guests, enjoy the rest of the evening.

Brian - take it away!

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.

Editorial Change...

Due to a variety of reasons, regular readers will notice a change to the Kasterborous news pages - indeed the changes have already occurred.

While not something that will cause a major shift, it is worth reporting to our readers as something that will impact on Kasterborous' performance, and hopefully improve our positioning with the search engines still further.

Traditionally, news items have comprised of one (on occasions two) main items, to be followed by a pile of other less important news items. Of course, this isn't perfect...

Readers miss information, and to get it all they need to make an effort to read a whole page of text... not a perfect way to dig out the relevant details, is it?

We've also used this approach until now in order to even out the page layout, but thanks to the upcoming Kasterborous redesign, we don't need to worry about this fact too much.

So from now on (well, for a few days, in fact), news items are about what they headline reports (unless otherwise titled as "Roundup", etc).

I and the rest of the Kasterborous triumverate are sure this will improve your experience of our news page, and hope you have a nice weekend.

podKast 4 is available to download if you haven't heard it yet, with podKast 5 due very, very soon... Forum members can listen here, or visit our FanZone

podKast 4 Is HERE!

That's right, Brian Terranova and Christian Cawley are back for the fourth Kasterborous podKast (with a "K")!

The fourth podkast is clad in a pair of checked trousers, a shirt, scarf and brown jacket, and the whoel ensemble is completed with a soft brown hat and unfeasibly long scarf.

It has big, mad, bulging eyes.

Starring in podKast 4 are:

Christian Cawley & Brian Terranova - podKasting from a creepy dark castle near you
Their trusty butler, Gerald Slitheen
And this week's very special guest star...

Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth!

That's right! Scaroth will be in the studio casting his eye over Series 3 episodes 42, Human Nature/Family of Blood and Blink, as well as revealing his hand in the making of some of Doctor Who's greatest ever stories!

You can download the fourth Kasterborous podKast (with a "K")! here, or visit our Fanzone for older podKasts!

Sarah... Is that really you?

And so one wonders after two episodes of Sarah Jane Adventures - it's definitely for kids, you know - exactly who this new Sarah Jane is...

Such character development on television is rare. The only place that comes close is Soapland, in which people swing from alcoholics to vicars that sleep with call girls and then decide they'd rather cruise public lavatories (ok I'm exagerrating; but if I ever see that storyline on TV we'll know where I came from...)

The point is, although different - radically different in some ways - she is still Sarah. This has only been mde possible however by 30 years of cultural memory, reappreciation of classic Who and of course her appearance in School Reunion, as well as the vrious audio plays Lis Sladen has appeared in giving the character a new leqase of life.

Frankly, you couldn't have done "Leela Adventures", anymore tan you could have done "Rose Tyler: Earth Defender."

I want Billie!

Yep you guessed it - I changed my mind.

As I have a thing for Billie Piper - a very successful young actress who is set to marry later this year - I've decided that I can't wait to see her back in Doctor Who.

Let's face it, it's a year for returns, with Donna and Martha confirmed along with the Sontarans, so why not go the whole hog and bring back Rose, Mickey (as hinted by Noel Clarke in the summer), Jackie and Pete?

We could also bring back Captain Jack, Sarah Jane and K9.

I wouldn't be surprised either to find out that the Master, Daleks and Cybermen are all returning as well as the Fifth Doctor.

In fact, why don't we just get Terrance Dicks to write the whole lot...?

Eternal War!

With the news that Doctor Who fan are set to welcome a return to the Whoniverse by the Sontarans, it has to be said that this really is a case of "Not before time".

Robert Holmes' finest creation found themselves underused and slightly underwhelming, particularly in their last 2 (of 4) appearances in the clssoc series.

For me, the Sontarans are the only alien race that comes close to the Daleks in terms of culture, single-mindedness an design, and it's a shame the Doctor didn't come up againt more of them and more often.

In fact I'd even go so far as to say that had the Daleks not made it in S1 and we'd got the Toclafane instead, then we would hve been sold short.

The Sontarans would have been a better option.

Tamm-tastic 2

Oh yesh, if there was som sort of duel for the top rated Doctor Who actress, it would be settled with a jelly fight between the two finalists, Mary Tamm and Nicola Bryant.

Bonkers fantasies aside, Mary Tamm is a smashing looking (Time) ladyand I for one am looking forward to the upcoming Key To Time season boxset, which features commentaries from Ms Tamm and he costar (some bloke called Tom).

She's had a varied and diverse career, surprisingly successful compared to most Doctor Who actresses, and of course she still looks fantastic. And she's got huge following among straight Doctor Who fans (there's more of us you know, we're just not as noisy as the other lot), headed by Kasterborous' own Anthony Dry, who even has a Mary Tamm tattoo!

Oh and visit www.marytamm.com, you know you want to.

Sarah Who

So - a result of the Time War was that the Doctor was left without any other Time Lords to talk to other than the Master, the Daleks somehow survived (three cases so far) and Sarah Jane Smith (or Sarah as we used to call her, regardless of her Sunday name) turned into a female version of the Doctor.

Sarah Jane Adventures is with us from Monday 24th September, and it's interesting to see how the series is being marketed. First off, let's look at the obvious bit - Lis Sladen returns to play Sarah Jane Smith, who has gone from companion of days of yore to a female microcipher of the Doctor. How has this happened? Why does she need a "Sonic Lipstick"?

Then we've got "Mr Smith" the battle computer which plays such a part in the BBC's Sarah Jane Adventures website. That must have been like a dream come true at first for the website designers, until they realised that the site would have to be redesigned as a web based Mr Smith is just too unwieldy.

SJA is part of the CBBC imprint of BBC One, which also has it's own channel, so don't expect to miss any of it - although the CBBC budget may well begin to tell by episode 3.

Of course, placing the Slitheen into their rightful home is a masterstroke by Gareth Roberts and RTD, who seems to be having better luck in measuring the tone of this series than he did Serioes 1 of Doctor Who.

Try to ignore the fact that a 57 year old lady playing what is basically a female version of the Doctor completely laughs in the face of Davies' assertion that an over 40 male couldn't lead Doctor Who in this day and age...

The Doctor's Rocket

Since Doctor Who returned, it has been repeatedly suggested that he had a "thing" for Rose Tyler.

Without stepping on the toes of the chaps who debunked the asexual nature of the Doctor following the TVM, the Time Lord has ben a long term fan of nookie.

Exhibit A - his granddaughter, Susan
Exhibit B - his reaction at Jo Grant leavinghim for a "younger version". She'd hardly be so hot for Clifford if the Doctor had no idea how to set himself to vibrate, would she?
Exhibit C - Sarah Jane Smith and the Fouth Doctor were best friends - but she would hardly have hung about on busy busy Earth for 3 decades if he wasn't givn her regular tours of his fluid links.
Exhibit D - Romana II and the Fourth Doctor were clearly at it, as evidenced in Warriors Gate, and going all the way back to City of Death.
Exhibit E - we jump forward to the Eighth Doctor, the dashing, girly poet looking one who just wanted that pretty blonde Doctor to hold his hand. And his neutron ram.

Rose wasn't the first, and she won"t be the last...

The 11th Doctor

It's that time of year again - guess the 11th Doctor!

With no confirmation of David Tennant appearing in Series 5 coming from the BBC, the press have been tossing names around.

But what do they know? That's right! Nothing!

We on the other hand are a Doctor Who website so we can answer all of the important questions - and this is one of he biggest. So hold on to your hats for our Top 10 choices for the 11th Doctor...

10. Roland Rat - already has a trademark pink Ford Anglia, his catchphrase "Yeaaaahhh!" would be preferable to "That's IMPOSSIBLE!"

9. Edward Scissorhands - early screen tests revealed that the stainless steel fingered one had difficulty with the TARDIS door, the TARDIS controls, the sonic screwdriver...

8. Lis Sladen - appears to be playing a female Doctor in Sarah Jane Adventures...

7. Paul Daniels - only joking.

6. David Beckham - his posh sidekick would be a major diversion for a companion since... well, Rose.

5. Jeremy Vine - the BBC news man would be excellent in the TARDIS, with his strong opinions and complete lack of technical nuance the time machine could end up anywhere

4. Tony Blair - unfortunately, the former PM has a date with history/destiny/bible prophecy, and is thus too busy.

3. Benny Hill - sadly now deceased, if ever there was a time for more naked lady flesh in the TARDIS, it was now. That closing titles speeded-up chase around the TARDIS console would be the highlight of the week.

2. Jon Bon Jovi - the gobsh*ting rock singer with the crap hair, I don't know why the two-faced, lying little nob is in this list. Bed of Roses my arse - you take girls firmly up the rear.

1. Sean Connery - the former James Bond has already played an immortal in Highlander, and his aging take on the ancient Time Lord would be the stuff of legends.

So there you have it. Sean Connery for Doctor Who!

Well we got our wish...

That's right, the BBC have finally come clean and although I'm desperately unhappy about 2009, at the moment it isn't disastrous.

However how fans can claim to be "happy" is beyond the pale. 10 episodes short in 2009 and you claim to be satisfied. What the hell is wrong with you people?

It's nothing to be happy about. Having the show back from the abyss is great, sure, but that doesn't mean Russell T Davies and the BBC are necessarily serving us and Doctor Who well. The very notion of reducing the series to 3 specials in 2009 is ridiculous. It places the subsequent series in jeopardy before scripts are even written.

So have a bloody word with yourselves. Wake up and smell the coffee, open your eyes and stop living in the insane, blinkered world where TV execs are gods and you are their blind followers.

The world doesn't work like that, it works on a foundation of power and money, and with three episodes of Doctor Who in 2009, how is a high media profile going to drive merchandise sales?

If no one is buying the toys, then the core audience has evidently stopped watching - do we want that?

I suspect it is too late to ask for a rethink, but I can at least ask all you half-full fans who insansely label this as "good news" to actually try thinking about it, what the news actually means and be honest with yourselves instead of pretending it is A Good Thing.

It is A Bad Thing.

Rusl? I that you?

As you might have seen in the news section, we've found a letter in an old copy of DWM that appears to have been written by Russell T Davies back in 1981. He signs it "Rusl Davies, Glamorgan" - evidently a shortform or Welsh spelling of the name.

So in effect Russell T Davies uses a pseudonym - as we know the T is made up to distinguish him from the radio presenter Russell davies - but how many other Doctor Who personalities over the years have used nom de plumes?

Most obvious would be current Doctor David Tennant, who is of course really called David McDonald, and Fifth Doctr Peter Davison, known to his family as Peter Moffett.

Conversely, Lalla Ward (Romana II) was of course a Lady, and used her family name rather than title on stage and televsion.

And of course my real name is Bigby Marilyn...