Today is marked by many faiths as the beginning of Advent and once again, the BBC’s official Doctor Who website has their Advent calendar now live. Today’s treat is a video message from David Tennant and something new will be available between today and Christmas.
VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), has announced several eagerly awaited new manga series scheduled for release throughout the Fourth Quarter of 2008.
Seven new series are set to debut, beginning this month, and feature a variety of captivating stories designed to appeal to Teen and Older Teen readers. The new series include BLANK SLATE, NORA: THE LAST CHRONICLE OF DEVILDOM, SOLANIN, CAPTIVE HEARTS, GABA KAWA, WE WERE THERE and ST. ♥ DRAGON GIRL.
“We are looking forward to bringing a diverse range of titles in Q4 which will range from slice-of-life stories to romance and more!” says Evelyn Dubocq, Sr. Director of Public Relations, VIZ Media. “As the 2008 holiday season approaches, manga fans will have multiple strong VIZ Media releases to choose from in every genre.” (more…)
Add one more name to the Doctor Who sweepstakes: Robert Pattinson. The star of this week’s Twilight feature film told the Chicago Tribune’s Rob Elder, “That would be quite cool. I didn’t know [David Tennant] he was leaving. The Doctor is great…yeah, maybe. I did grow up watching it. I loved it when I was a kid. In fact, I met one of them the other day, Sylvester McCoy [the seventh Doctor]. He’s one of the few people I’ve asked for an autograph.”
Pattinson has been under the harsh glare of the publicity spotlight and he’s clearly been uncomfortable with it, preferring to just be himself. He’s proven to be a deep-thinker, obsessing about his character and his motivations almost to the point of paralysis on the set.
He thought Edward’s choice to remain in high school, for example, “was one of the most difficult things to figure out. You think he’d stay in college, or be a street kid. It’d be way cooler. But I think the whole concept of it is: He’s like an addict. I think he wants to make his life really, really, really boring. He always does all his homework. He just doesn’t want to get into a situation where he’ll kill someone.”
In addition to acting, he’s also a musician with a song on the best-selling soundtrack album.
Big Finish reports that 2009 will feature new audio adventures of Doctor Who, starring Paul McGann, the eighth doctor. He will be joined by Sheridan Smith as Lucie, his companion in the weekly series.
“This time, though, the stories will be released for download every Saturday night in half-hour episodes, for 16 consecutive weeks from Saturday 7th March,” the company posted on their website. “Each complete two-part story will subsequently be available on CD as normal, with one a month being released from March. Plus, there will be a bonus ninth adventure which will be released as a Christmas special in December 2009.”
The site went on to outline the serials for the coming year:
Orbis by Alan Barnes and Nicholas Briggs, picks up from the previous season’s cliffhanger in The Vengeance of Morbius. Guest stars for this story include Andrew Sachs (Manuel in Fawlty Towers) as Crassostrea and Laura Solon (Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul) as Selta.
The Krynoids (The Seeds of Doom, 1976) return in Hothouse, a cautionary ecological tale by Jonathan Morris. Nigel Planer (The Young Ones, The Color of Magic) plays Alex Marlowe, while Lysette Anthony (Dark Shadows, Dracula: Dead and Loving It) is Hazel Bright.
There’s death and mystery in a small German town in the year 1827 in The Beast of Orlok by Barnaby Edwards. The impressive guest cast includes Miriam Margolyes (Being Julia, Happy Feet, the Harry Potter films) as Frau Tod and Samuel Barnett (The History Boys, Beautiful People) as Hans.
If you’re wondering where Freema Agyeman went after leaving Doctor Who behind, you will be pleased to know she became a Survivor. She was cast in the remake of the Terry Nation Survivors series from the 1970s. The new incarnation will be debuting on the BBC this fall in a six-episode inaugural season. She is joined in the cast by Nikki Amuka–Bird (No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) as Samantha Willis; Max Beesley (Hotel Babylon) as Tom Price; Shaun Dingwall (Doctor Who) as David; Julie Graham (Bonekickers) as Abby Grant; Paterson Joseph (Jekyll) as Greg; Phillip Rhys (24) as Al; Zoë Tapper (The Last Van Helsing) as Anya and newcomer Chahak Patel as 11-year-old Najid.
Agyeman was written out of the third season of Torchwood in a feud between rival production channels.
BBC Drama Productions pursued the remake rights for some time before finally obtaining them in 2007 and handing production over to Adrian Hodges (Primeval). Nation’s original novel is being republished by Orion Publishing, hitting shops this past Thursday. Also, the BBC is releasing the original series on DVD, comprising all 38 episodes, in a 12-disc box set on November 24.
According to press material from the BBC, the series is described this way:
Imagine being the only survivor of a disease that kills every member of your family that kills lovers, strangers, friends, nearly everyone you’ve ever met. You are among the lonely few to live and now you must start over in a strange new world where everything that was once safe and familiar is now strange and dangerous.
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The British media has been in overdrive since David Tennant announced last week that the four specials in 2009 will be his final year as The Doctor. He appeared this week on BBC Breakfast and said, “Who knows what might happen in the future? The door isn’t necessarily closed forever.
“I actually think it’s one of those parts that any actor could bring something very valid to, because he can be anything and because it’s a sort of blank canvas every time.
“In fact, the difference is the virtue with each doctor, it’s not like recasting Tarzan, where you have to got someone who looks good in a loin cloth. It can sort of be anything.”
After all, his predecessors have managed to reprise their incarnation of the Time Lord for the annual Children in Need charity special and audio books.
When pressed, he refused to join in the speculation for a successor, saying, “It’s not down to me. I’ve got nothing to do with it.” Then he lightly suggested if they wanted to go with a female doctor, Billie Piper, who played the beloved Rose Tyler, would get his nod.
He also mentioned that when incoming producer Steven Moffat outlined his thoughts on the doctor, Tennant was tempted to reconsider his decision which he apparently made some time back with current producer Russell T. Davies.
The odds continue to favor James Nesbitt (Cold Feet)as receiving the key to the TARDIS. When asked, Nesbitt said it would be career suicide to follow Tennant and said his competition, Paterson Joseph, “would be great”.
Reuters notes that “Bookmaker William Hill has made 44-year-old David Morrissey, who starred in BBC dramas State of Play and Blackpool its favorite to get the job, while the Daily Mirror is tipping former Eastenders actor Tom Ellis.” (more…)
Warner Home Video announced Doctor Who – Key To Time: Special Edition will be released on March 3, 2009. This was the series’ 16th season and featured a year-long storyline that saw the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker, seek the six segments forming the Key to Time. Although previously released on DVD, this will be a thoroughly upgraded edition for collectors and fans.
The seven-disc set will collect all six serials as a box set ($99.98) or six separate serials (first five for $24.98 each, the sixth is a two-disc affair for $34.98).
Over 450 minutes of new extras are being packed into the mix along with remastered episodes.
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David Tennant announced his departure from Doctor Who during the National Television Awards broadcast.
The BBC’s Doctor Who website confirmed the news mintues later complete with a video from the actor.
The website went on to report:
David Tennant first appeared as The Doctor in 2005 and has gone on to star in three series and three Christmas specials as the tenth incarnation of the Time Lord. The BBC has confirmed that David will continue to play The Doctor in the four specials that will make up the 2009 series before a new Doctor takes over for Series 5. Tennant will also star in the Doctor Who Christmas Special titled The Next Doctor this year.
David Tennant comments "I’ve had the most brilliant, bewildering and life changing time working on Doctor Who. I have loved every day of it. It would be very easy to cling on to the TARDIS console forever and I fear that if I don’t take a deep breath and make the decision to move on now, then I simply never will. You would be prising the TARDIS key out of my cold dead hand. This show has been so special to me, I don’t want to outstay my welcome.
"This is all a long way off, of course. I’m not quitting, I’m back in Cardiff in January to film four special episodes which will take Doctor Who all the way through 2009. I’m still the Doctor all next year but when the time finally comes I’ll be honored to hand on the best job in the world to the next lucky git – whoever that may be.
"I’d always thought the time to leave would be in conjunction with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner who have been such a huge part of it all for me. Steven Moffat is the most brilliant and exciting writer, the only possible successor to Russell and it was sorely tempting to be part of his amazing new plans for the show. I will be there, glued to my TV when his stories begin in 2010.
"I feel very privileged to have been part of this incredible phenomenon, and whilst I’m looking forward to new challenges I know I’ll always be very proud to be the Tenth Doctor."
Russell T. Davies Executive Producer of Doctor Who comments "I’ve been lucky and honored to work with David over the past few years – and it’s not over yet, the Tenth Doctor still has five spectacular hours left! After which, I might drop an anvil on his head. Or maybe a piano. A radioactive piano. But we’re planning the most enormous and spectacular ending, so keep watching!"
Doctor Who returns to our screens on BBC this Christmas. The Next Doctor starring David Tennant, David Morrissey and Dervla Kirwan will be screened on the 25th December on BBC1.
Let the speculation over the next incarnation of the Time Lord continue.
For more than a decade, writer Michael A. Burstein has been publishing tales of speculative fiction in the anthology magazine [[[Analog]]]. Several of these stories have been nominated for various Hugo and Nebula awards, including Best Short Story, Best Novella and Best Novelette. In 1999, his short story “[[[Reality Check]]]” was nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. “[[[TeleAbsence]]]” won the 1995 Analytical Laboratory Award for Best Short Story and “[[[Sanctuary]]]” won the 2005 Analytical Laboratory Award for Best Novella.
These works and more have now been collected into one large volume from Apex Publishing entitled I Remember the Future: The Award-Nominated Stories of Michael A. Burstein. The book will be published on November 1, but you can pre-order at Amazon.com if you so wish.
The stories collected here cover a wide range of topics and emotions. There’s the murder mystery involving a killer who targets students while they’re online. There’s the deeply emotional tale concerning the dying wish of the last living holocaust survivor. There is the “[[[Broken Symmetry]]]” series, a trilogy of short stories concerning the consequences that occur when a breach opens between two parallel universes and the events that grow out of it.
Even if you’ve read these works before, this collection offers you new insight into old favorites. Every single story has an afterword by Burstein as he explains what went into it and what may evolve from it in the future. He also discusses changes made in editing, such as when he presents an alternate ending to “Kaddish for the Last Survivor.”
Along with these tales are two brand new stories. There is “[[[Empty Spaces]]]”, a continuation of the aforementioned trilogy, and the titular tale “I Remember the Future”, which gives us a present tense narration from a retired writer who fears that humanity has forgotten how to truly dream.
These stories are all heartfelt and entertaining and each one appeals to a different taste and preference. If you enjoy science fiction, pick it up. If you don’t normally go for sci-fi, hey, still pick this up. These stories are, at their core, about people and the world we all deal with. And who can’t find something to enjoy about that?
Alan “Sizzler” Kistler has been recognized by mainstream media outlets such as the New York Daily News as a comic book historian, and can be seen in the “Special Features” sections of the Adventures of Aquaman and Justice League: New Frontier DVDs. His personal website can be found at: http://KistlerUniverse.com. One of these days he’d love to write for DC, Marvel or Doctor Who.
Big Finish, the British audio producer, announced this week that four new Doctor Who pastiches will be released featuring their own character, Iris Wildthyme. She was created by writer Paul Magrs and she’s described as “Bracing the temporal winds in her trusty bus and accompanied by the ever-loyal Panda (a ten inch tall stuffed bear), Iris travels from the depths of space to the gates of Wonderland and beyond. Iris and Panda will bamboozle and befuddle a host of new friends and enemies while always having time to mix a sharp Gin and Tonic.”
Katy Manning, a former companion of The Doctor, will reprise her role as the voice of Iris in this second season of adventures. David Benson also returns as the voice of Panda.
The new season kicks off in February with The Sound of Fear, written by Mark Michalowski. “Iris and Panda encounter the deadly Naxians aboard space station Radio Yesterday, along with Iris’s ex-husband, Sam.”
The second installment, Land of Wonder, from Magrs, features “Iris exiled to Earth and working with top-secret organization MIAOW to investigate dark happenings in the Underground.”
Simon Guerrier writes The Two Irises and “Panda has not only the return of the Naxians to deal with, but there’s a new Iris aboard the bus – an Iris who is decidedly male…”
The concluding escapade will be Mark Margs’ The Panda Invasion. “As San Francisco celebrates the millennium, Iris must save the world from destruction, while Panda faces his evil twin, and all because somebody spilt their gin and tonic…”
Big Finish intends to release the four dramas as single CDs, available monthly beginning in February, or a single box set.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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