Included in the player above is a video made by the production crew of Doctor Who during the last few months of the Russell T Davies era. It was shown at the wrap party for The End of Time and has not been seen in public, until now! Included, amongst many others, in the video are: David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Elisabeth Sladen, Bernard Cribbins, Noel Clarke, Billie Piper, Timothy Dalton, John Barrowman, Freema Agyeman, Camille Coduri and John Simm.
ETA:In case you're outside the UK and can't watch the video, I have included it below (it's blocked in some countries apparently).
Included for your listening pleasure is the Blogtor Who audio commentary for the Doctor Who episode, World War Three. Recorded by Cameron K McEwan and Alexander J McKinnon, the commentary can be enjoyed whilst watching the story - though, that's not essential. Also featured on the podcast are some of your comments left here and on Twitter including some EXCLUSIVE remarks from composer MURRAY GOLD! You can download the first part of the Slitheen story HERE.
Series One is currently being screened by UK digital channel, Watch - Sundays at 12pm (and at various points during the week). The whole series is available on Sky Plus Anytime.
Included for your listening pleasure is the Blogtor Whoaudio commentary for the Doctor Who episode, Aliens of London. Recorded by Cameron K McEwan and Alexander J McKinnon, the commentary can be enjoyed whilst watching the story - though, that's not essential. Also featured on the podcast are some of your comments left here and on Twitter. You can download the second part of the Slitheen story HERE.
Series One is currently being screened by UK digital channel, Watch - Sundays at 12pm (and at various points during the week). The whole series is available on Sky Plus Anytime.
Actress Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) was a guest on the BBC Radio 2 show, Graham Norton - listen to her interview in the player above. In it she briefly discusses the Christmas Special and regarding her return to Doctor Who she says:
"I think that's all up in the air at the moment. I know that I'm gonna be coming back but I'm not sure when."
Silva Screen have announced, via Twitter, that the soundtrack to Doctor Who: Series 6, composed by Murray Gold, will be released as a two~disc set on Dec 5, 2011. More news and details as and when we get it.
Nov 5 sees the release of the Blogtor Who audio commentary for the 2005 story, Dalek. We are looking for your comments, thoughts and questions on the episode for inclusion on the podcast (read out after the commentary). Tweet HERE, Facebook us HERE, leave a comment below or email us HERE.
ETA: The commentary has now been recorded.
We are also looking for your comments, thoughts and questions on the next story after that, The Long Game. You can Tweet Blogtor WhoHERE, Facebook us HERE, leave a comment in the section below, or email us HERE. The audio commentaries for Aliens of London/World War Three will be released on Saturday.
Also, as endorsed by an issue of Doctor Who Magazine, you can keep up to date with all the posts from BLOGTOR on the social networking site, Twitter - go HERE and follow! There's often links and news that don't get posted here.
This one day event on November 23rd will feature guest speakers including people who have worked on the show (in front of and behind the camera), journalists, writers and academics. At the time of writing, Blogtor will be involved with this event and we'll keep you up~to~date on the guests, etc...
Actor Bill Bailey was a guest on the BBC television "programme", Something For The Weekend, and on it he discussed his role in the Doctor Who 2011 Christmas Special - watch a clip in the player above. Bailey plays Dorxil in the story.
The BBC have issued new images from the forthcoming installment in the Doctor Who Adventure Game series, The Gunpowder Plot - click on them for bigger versions. The game is released Oct 31.
Former Doctor Who David Tennant was an interviewee in the last episode of Fry's Planet Word, which aired in the UK earlier tonight - watch his segment in the player above where he chats about Hamlet with Stephen Fry.
Included for your listening pleasure is the Blogtor Whoaudio commentary for the Doctor Who episode, The Unquiet Dead. Recorded by Cameron K McEwan and Alexander J McKinnon, the commentary can be enjoyed whilst watching the story - though, that's not essential. Also featured on the podcast are some of your comments left here and on Twitter, including one from the story's writer Mark Gatiss!
Series One is currently being screened by UK digital channel, Watch - Sundays at 12pm (and at various points during the week). The whole series is available on Sky Plus Anytime.
Next Saturday, October 29, sees the release of the Blogtor Who audio commentaries for the first 2005 two~parter, Aliens of London/World War Three. Both will be released at the same time. We are looking for your comments, thoughts and questions on the Slitheen story for inclusion on the podcasts (read out after the commentary itself). Tweet HERE, leave a comment below or email us HERE.
ETA: We have now recorded the commentary, it's too late to comment!
We are also looking for your comments, thoughts and questions on the next story after that, Dalek. You can Tweet Blogtor WhoHERE, leave a comment in the section below, or email us HERE. The audio commentary for The Unquiet Dead will be released later today.
It's seems a bit odd reviewing Miracle Day again as I've spent ten weeks already doing so, and thoroughly in the process I might add, so I have simply included links to my reviews of each episode below. I will say, as a final note, that the television landscape, in the UK anyway, is brightened ten~fold by a show like Torchwood. I'll also add, for those curious, that some of the episodes included here are the, *coughs*, "naughty" versions...
There's nothing else quite like it. Tonally it jumps from death to laughs, from love to porn, from dull CIA characters to a huge gaping vaginal~like~crevasse in the world. Unique. The finale was certainly something: Oswald Danes screaming his paedophilic fantasies as he bombs to his death; beautiful Jilly and Gwen's tantalisingly erotic bitch~fest; and THAT hole (not to mention Rex's own miracle) all made for a fascinating end.
Sure, it may have been a little stretched and some actors were certainly not as engaging as others (Alexa Havins and Arlene Tur), whilst others could have been given more screen time (Ghostbuster Ernie Hudson and Star Trek's John de Lancie) and certain plot elements seemed to disappear, like The Soulless. But, for me, Torchwood: Miracle Day was remarkable. Not to be taken too seriously (how can you, it's got John Barrowman in it!) but to be simply entertained by and enjoyed. Which I did, immensely.
EXTRAS This is a bad bunch. Not only bad, but excruciatingly annoying too. Each episode comes with a one minute introduction from John Barrowman and Russell T Davies where both men describe what's coming up. Why? Seriously, why, on a DVD you've bought and are going to watch (presumably) do you need an intro featuring the plea, "Please watch this episode!"??? Bearing in mind, too, that most people who own this will probably have watched most of the episodes anyway. Do we need a synopsis for a story we've seen or are about to watch? No. Even more annoying is Barrowman's Tonight's The Night style delivery - "Oswald Danes, the man you LOOOVE to hate!" he chimes like a cheap circus barker. But most irritating of all is the fact that these intros are at the start of each episode and you can't just press play and dive into the stories. What were the makers of this DVD thinking?
Well, judging by the rest of the content, it surely was not the fans.
There's ten minutes worth of "character profiles" that barely settle on one character long enough to find out anything about the role (and given how many characters there are, it's a laughably short time to explore them). Only some of the main players are present but more time should have been given over to interviews, letting the writers and actors talk more fully about their creations.
Similarly the two episodes of Torchwood Declassified are nothing but fluff pieces. The first looks at the FX of Miracle Day and, as you may have guessed, features guys in front of their computers explaining how they make the magic happen. Click~click~yawn. The second is a more substantial behind~the~scenes feature but spends a lot of its time (like the first installment) trying to sell the show to the viewer, with cast and crew bashing out superlatives - as if we haven't already seen it or, indeed, bought the bloody box set! An absolute waste of time and an ill~thought exercise. There are also omissions in terms of contributions from writers (no Jane Espenson, for instance) and cast (no Lauren Ambrose). If you're looking for insight and production comment, then these extras will leave you wanting, though, thankfully, the commentaries re~address this. Accompanying episodes one and ten are audio commentaries from Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner, and what a pair they make.
These two gems outshine everything that has come before and reveal much more about Torchwood than anything else contained here. It's a fascinating listen as Davies reveals that episode eight was "not our finest hour", lamenting production issues. It's a lively conversation with honest debate and much humour, as you would expect, throughout. Unmissable. You can read more about what Russell T Davies says in the audio commentaries HERE. Filling out the extras are over seven minutes of deleted scenes (though half of it simply features Esther trying to park her car at an airport) and the full 30 minute motion comic, Web of Lies. Both features are unremarkable but, as reference material, it's appropriate that they're included. Disappointingly, there are no trailers or TV spots for those who like their DVD VAMs to be complete.
It's a wildly frustrating and poor collection of extras that don't befit the ten episodes. A proper documentary should have been produced, featuring everyone and giving all the players time to talk. Being made so close to production doesn't help either as there's no time for reflection (which makes the audio commentaries all the better as they were recorded as the show began to air). Makes me glad we have so many great people working on the classic Doctor Who range of DVDs. It's rare that the extras actually drag down a release but they've managed it here, otherwise the rating below would have been higher.
Former Doctor Who show~runner Russell T Davies has revealed his thoughts and information on the audio commentary for episodes one and ten on the Torchwood: Miracle Day box set. Speaking with executive producer Julie Gardner on the topic of the show's television ratings Davies said:
"So far Britain has transmitted two of these episodes, which has done alright. It's done good. Episode One was good, episode two was alright. So by the time you listen to this we could have been taken off air or shown on Sunday nights for all we know." [UK sci~fi drama Outcasts was "relegated" to Sunday nights after under~performing.]
The topic of aliens was broached and how they "didn't quite fit" in Miracle Day, with the following conversation:
RTD: I kind of thought, do you miss aliens? I do slightly. JG: I do. I do miss aliens. RTD: Oh, now we realise! If there's another series I'd definitely do bigger aliens in it. More alien presence.
Discussing the future of Torchwood, Davies states, "Will we ever come back again? I don't know," whilst Gardner adds, "I hope so." As a final tidbit, and somewhat sensational at that, Russell debates on whether or not Captain Jack was mortal during Miracle Day:
RTD: Was Jack ever mortal, that's what we'll never know. 'Cos I think, by the way, that he was a fixed point in time and space that I'm not sure he was ever mortal during the whole story [Miracle Day]. We never got to prove it because we never killed him. JG: [STUNNED SILENCE] RTD: That's thrown you. JG: Oh my god! RTD: If The Doctor says someone is a fixed point in time and space, then they're a fixed point in time and space. JG: I am horrified!
2|entertain have released the cover art and details for the DVD and blu~ray release of Torchwood: Miracle Day - click on the image below for a bigger version. The four~disc set hits streets in the UK on Nov 14, with a RRP of £30.63/35.73 and includes the following extras:
Torchwood Declassified - 2 eps Character Profiles 10 episode intros Deleted scenes Motion Comic, Web of Lies Audio commentary on Eps 1 and 10 from Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner
The latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine has released more news on this year's Doctor Who Christmas Special, here are some cast details:
Claire Skinner - Madge Arwell Alexander Armstrong - Reg Arwell Maurice Cole - Cyril Arwell Holly Earl - Lily Arwell Arabella Weir - Billis Bill Bailey - Dorxil Paul Bazely - Ven-Garr
Monster performers Paul Kasey and Spencer Wilding also return to the show in, as of yet, unnamed characters. There's more info included in the magazine which is released tomorrow. Here's the synopsis:
The special, set during the Second World War, sees Madge Arwell and her two children, Lily and Cyril, evacuated to a draughty old house in Dorset, where the caretaker is a mysterious young man in a bow tie, and a big blue parcel is waiting for them under the tree. They are about to enter a magical new world and learn that a Time Lord never forgets his debts.
Doctor Who Magazine No. 440 hits news~stands Oct 20
The official site has updated with more videos on the new installment in the Doctor Who Adventure Games series, The Gunpowder Plot. Above you can see a clip from the game and below there is another interview with Ralf Little, who voices Guy Fawkes, and one with Dan Starkey who plays Sontaran, Field Major Kaarsh.
Doctor Who starlet Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow, Blink) was a guest on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night - watch a clip of her above chatting briefly about Matt Smith and David Tennant.
Doctor Who Series 5 and 6 are to be broadcast in Germany on the Fox channel later this year. Starting on Dec 21, there will be a double~bill of episodes each week. Torchwood Miracle Day will also begin in 2012 on RTL2.
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