New Who Talk

Friday, 19 February 2021 - Reported by Marcus

Warriors of the Deep (Credit: Fantom Publishing)

Who Talk is back with the series from Fantom Publishing providing new commentaries for Doctor Who stories.

The first covers the often derided 1984 serial Warriors of the Deep, the season opener of Peter Davison’s last year as the Time Lord.

Producer Paul W T Ballard explains

Warriors might not be the most obvious of choices, given its standing in fandom. However, what we have produced is actually a really affectionate and positive commentary, which not only goes some way into explaining what ended up on screen, but also celebrating it too. Even the Myrka!

Warriors of the Deep is moderated by Toby Hadoke, and features Mark Strickson, Vincent Brimble, Tara Ward, Michael Darbon and Eric Saward.

The second release of the month is a selection box collection featuring Sontaran episodes. Sontar-Ha! is available as a standard version or special edition with a bonus disc.

We’ve got a good variety of Sontaran episodes on this release, both classic series and new. A Good Man Goes To War was actually the first new series episode we tackled, although Empress Of Mars ended up being released first. Although it’s alarming quite how long ago even a ‘recent’ episode can be!

We quite often double bank recordings based on availability, which means we have a track on here that we recorded some time back. Whilst covering The Space Museum, we also took the opportunity to show Jeremy Bulloch an episode of The Time Warrior, and that is a fitting tribute on this disc to a lovely and much-missed man.”

For the special edition, there is also a very unique commentary for The Sontaran Experiment.

Anyone can get people actually in the episode to watch it, but what we’ve done is to sit Dan Starkey with Toby Hadoke for both episodes of The Sontaran Experiment. And it works really well; there’s a lot to be discovered about their fan experiences, and even more about Dan’s approach to the Sontarans on-screen and audio.

Sontar-Ha! is moderated by Toby Hadoke and features Dan Starkey, Frances Barber, Jeremy Bulloch, Chris Tranchell and Marcia Wheeler.

The limited-edition sets are available to purchase exclusively online priced at £39.99. Limited edition sets come with a bonus CD and covered signed by Tara Ward and Dan Starkey.

Individual CDs are also available at a discounted price of £10.99 each ahead of their trade release in a few months time.

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Fantom Films

Fantom Events over the Spring Bank Holiday week

Monday, 25 May 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Time Space Visualiser (Credit: Fantom Events)

Fantom Events have planned a number of online activities for Doctor Who fans over this Spring Bank Holiday week:

Monday: Time Space Visualiser 7. This will be the usual mixture of brand-new interviews and features, with a variety of guests from all eras of the programme,including Philip Hinchchliffe, new series director Keith Boak and costume designers Louise Page and Hayley Nebauer. Commencing from 5:00pm.
Tuesday: The Unsung Heroes of Doctor Who. As well as new episodes of Alex Moore’s ongoing series acros the week at 6:00pm, Tuesday will also live streaming of a further three episodes at 8:00pm.
Wednesday: Time Space Visualiser 8: The Enemy Within. A mini presentation celebrating the 1996 television movie, which will be broadcast after TARDIS Monkey’s anniversary Tweetalong at 8:45pm. For more information about the tweet along follow the hashtag #ItsAboutTime.
Thursday: Another Fantom Zoom Pub Quiz for everyone to join in with; the questions will be fiendish, but the faces will be friendly! The quiz will start at 8:15pm, to pre-register contact the Fantomteam.
Friday: Time Space Visualiser 9: The Wilderness Years. A mini presentation taking a look at what happened during the period between Survival and Rose, from 8:00pm.
Saturday: Time Space Visualiser 10. Join Dexter and Paul, and Jason in Social Hub from 5:00pm.

All their online events can be watched via their YouTube channel.

FILTER: - Fantom - Online Events

The Unsung Heroes of Doctor Who

Tuesday, 19 May 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Fantom Events have announced a brand-new lockdown project celebrating the “unsung heroes” of Doctor Who.

Hosted by Alex Moore, this series of YouTube videos aims to tell the behind the scenes story of those members of the cast and crew whose perspective might normally go untold.

The series will be launched with a special live stream from 8pm BST on 20th May with four episodes featuring Lee Sheward (stunt co-ordinator for Doctor Who and Torchwood); Shaunna Harrison (provided the make-up for Terror of the Vervoids, The Ultimate Foe and Paradise Towers); Philip Brown (who played the Seventh Doctor double in The Day of the Doctor) and Gareth Milne (who played George Cranleigh in Black Orchid and stunt doubled for both Michael Cochrane and Peter Davison. Other credits include Warriors of the Deep, The Caves of Androzani and Vengeance on Varos).

Each subsequent episode will go live weeknights at 18:00 from 25th May and will occasionally feature as part of our regular virtual conventions Time Space Visualiser.

Series highlights include:

Nick Joseph (Supporting Artist on The Creature from the Pit, The Leisure Hive, Black Orchid, Terminus and The Mark of the Rani)
Ralph Wilton (Production Assistant for Shada and Production Manager on Arc of Infinity)
Jim Dowdall (Stunt Performer on Day of the Daleks, The Sea Devils, The Time Monster, Genesis of the Daleks, Frontios)
Rocky Taylor (Stunt Performer on The Idiot’s Lantern. He also has uncredited roles in The Daleks’ Master Plan and The Curse of Peladon)
Alan Spalding (Designer for Revelation of the Daleks)
Damon Jeffery (The Curse of Fenric and Survival)
Matthew Savage (Design assistant for series 1 and 2 of Doctor Who. He was also an associate designer and assistant art director for series 1 of Torchwood)
Mickey Lewis (Dalek Operator in Asylum of the Daleks and Into the Dalek, an alien in The Rings of Akhaten, the Third Doctor’s body double in The Day of the Doctor and a cyberman in The Doctor Falls, Ascension of the Cybermen and The Timeless Children)

Host Alex Moore said:

It is wonderful to speak to so many people about the making of Doctor Who and their wider careers. We can bring new perspectives from different voices.

The interviews will be available for free at the Fantom Events website, where you can also find all of their weekend online Time Space Visualiser events and a host of other new and archive material created during the pandemic.

FILTER: - Fantom - Online Events

Doctor Who Collection range discussion

Monday, 11 May 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

An interview has been released online featuring Chris Chapman, one of the main contributors to the ongoing range of Doctor Who seasons being released on Blu-ray. The producer/director chatted about the challenges of creating fresh features and insights for the stories previously released on DVD, including those on the latest release, Season 14, and hinted about existing/potential developments planned for the future of the range.

The interview is available courtesy of Fantom Events.

Doctor Who Newscast: Season 14 Bluray Secrets! With Chis Chapman, via Youtube

FILTER: - Blu-ray/DVD - Fantom - Online

Power Of The Daleks: special edition details discussed

Monday, 4 May 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Animation director and producer Charles Norton appeared as a guest on last weekend's Time Space Visualiser convention organised by Fantom Events online, during which he discussed the new special edition of The Power of The Daleks with Toby Hadoke. The interview is available to watch online from the Fantom Events YouTube channel.

Charles Norton interview on YouTube, courtesy of Fantom Events

The Power of the Daleks: Special Edition is due to be released in July.

FILTER: - Animation - Blu-ray/DVD - Fantom - Online

Double up on Doctor Who event viewing this Saturday

Saturday, 25 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

There's not one but two Doctor Who related online events taking place today. Starting at 10:00am BST, the Doctor Who Appreciation Society present The Capitol: CONtact has been made, and from 2:00pm BST Fantom Events present their fourth online event, Time Space Visualiser. Both will be broadcast on the organisations' respective YouTube channels and can be viewed afterwards for those in different time zones to the UK, as well as a host of other archive material from previous events also available to enjoy.

The Capitol - CONtact has been made (Credit: DWAS)

The Capitol: CONtact has been made
Presented by the Doctor Who Appreciation Society (via YouTube)

We're delighted to announce The Capitol CONtact has been made, a virtual event that will launch at 10.00am BST on Saturday 25th April. We have specifically chosen this time and date as it’s when The Capitol FIVE was originally scheduled to get underway.

CONtact has been made will be available at our You Tube Channel DWASonline, and features panels from the first four Capitols in their entirety. We are very grateful to our wonderful guests for giving us permission to make them available in these troublesome times as we continue to battle against the invisible enemy.

Panels will include Steven Berkoff talking about Shakespeare, Sylvester Stallone & Hitler, and Jon Culshaw trading blows with Terrance Dicks in a unique double header.

Time Space Visualiser 4 (Credit: Fantom Events)

Time and Space Visualiser
Presented by Fantom Events (via YouTube)

We are back this Saturday with our fourth online convention, bringing you a hectic mixture of brand new interviews, special features, competitions, and archive material, broadcasting live and direct on YouTube… all completely for FREE.

This week we are honoured to have our first Doctor joining us; the seventh Doctor SYLVESTER McCOY is taking part in a specially recorded interview for the event.

Of course any Doctor needs his loyal companions, and we have three of his fabulous friends. KATY MANNING (Jo Grant/Jones), JOHN LEESON (K9) and DAN STARKEY (Strax) will also be joining in the fun.

And if that wasn’t enough, we have brand new interviews with a trio of wonderful guest stars. GRAHAM COLE is best known to Doctor Who fans as The Melkur, but is probably more familiar as PC Tony Stamp in The Bill. JESSICA MARTIN was Mags (and also the voice of the Queen) and also read one of our new stories recently. And finally, JASON WATKINS, one of the most recognisable faces on television right now, who was also a guest star in NIGHTMARE IN SILVER.

FILTER: - Conventions - DWAS - Fantom - Online - Online Events - Sylvester McCoy

Time Space Visualiser: Cyber Saturday

Thursday, 9 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Fantom Events will be presenting their third online convention this coming weekend (11 Apr), this time focussing on the Doctor's silver nemeses, the Cybermen!

Time Space Visualiser: Cyber Saturday runs from 2pm to 5pm, and once again will feature a mix of new and archive interviews, and other specially recorded features, as well as live interaction with fans through YouTube and Twitter:

Interviews include Gregg Palmer, who was an original Cyberman in The Tenth Planet, as well as Matt Doman and Matthew Rohman, who have played Cybermen in the new series, including the recent series finale with Jodie Whittaker.
A special reunion for the classic serial Earthshock; we span the continents to reunite James Warwick and Clare Clifford.
And as if that wasn’t “excellent” enough, Cyberleader extraordinaire David Banks joins us for a chat.
Archive footage includes interviews from Kevin Hudson, Adam Sweet and Daz Parker, as well as Kevin Clarke who wrote Silver Nemesis. We will also be showing a panel from 2011 reuniting three cast members of The Tomb of the Cybermen; Deborah Watling, Clive Merrison and Bernard Holley.

The event will be broadcast on the Fantom Events YouTube channel, where you can also find both of their previous events and additional interviews that weren't included on those afternoons.

As with last week, Time Space Visualiser will be followed in the evening by another shared viewing of a story, this time the 25th anniversary adventure Silver Nemesis. As is usual with these viewings, fans worldwide can join in to discuss the story on Twitter, and this time will be joined by 'ace' companion Sophie Aldred!

To join in, simply pop in your DVD of Silver Nemesis, or access a streaming service such as iTunes or Britbox, and then hit play at 6:00pm BST / 1:00pm EDT / 3:00am AEST / 5:00am NZST and share your viewing experience!

Tweet #SilverNemesis

FILTER: - Conventions - Fantom - Special Events

Time Space Visualiser: Missing Episodes

Saturday, 4 April 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

After the success of their first online convention last weekened, Fantom Events will be presenting another this afternoon (Saturday 3rd April), this time focusing on the missing episodes of Doctor Who.

Running from 2pm to 5pm, Time Space Visualiser will include a mixture of new interviews archive material and some specially recorded features for the afternoon, with each hour following a theme:

The first hour looks back at the making of The Savages, with a 2013 stage interview with Andrew Lodge (First Assistant) and Peter Thomas (Captain Edal) together with an interview recorded this week with Kay Patrick (Flower).
The second hour looks at family connections with a specially recorded interview with David Troughton, and an archive interview with Carole Ann Ford and Jessica Carney looking at the parallels of being and playing the Doctor’s Granddaughter.
The final hour sees Andy Futter talking to Peter Purves in a brand new interview shot for this event, followed by an archive stage panel with William Russell and Anneke Wills from 2013.

You can watch the event live from the Fantoms Events YouTube channel, where you can also find the complete event from last weekend, plus individual interviews including its own "missing" recording with Nicola Bryant!

Time Space Visualiser will be followed in the evening by what's becoming a regular pasttime for Doctor Who fans, a planned worldwide simulcast viewing of a story to tweet along to; tonight's will be the most recently recovered complete story, The Enemy of the World, which will also includes tweets from Philip Morris, the discoverer of the long-lost Patrick Troughton adventure in Nigeria.

To join in, simply pop in your DVD of The Enemy of the World, or access a streaming service such as iTunes or Britbox, and then hit play at 6:00pm BST / 1:00pm EDT / 3:00am AEST / 5:00am NZST and share your viewing experience!

Tweet #Salamander

To tie in with the 'watchathon', Fantom have also made the first episode of their alternative commentary for the story available for free to listen to this weekend via YouTube.

FILTER: - Broadcasting - Conventions - Fantom - International Broadcasting - Patrick Troughton - Special Events - William Hartnell

Time Space Visualiser: a free worldwide online event

Tuesday, 24 March 2020 - Reported by Chuck Foster

Time Space Visualiser, by Fantom Events (2020) (Credit: Fantom Events)

Fantom Events are planning a special event to take place online this coming Saturday, 28th March from 2:00pm. Time Space Visualiser will be streamed over the Internet for free, enabling any fan around the world to join in. Company Director Dexter O'Neill explains:

The show must go on... Unfortunately, due to the social distancing measures advised by the government we have had to postpone a couple of events, however the moment has been prepared for!

It is important to stay together and socialise as a community – and this platform will allow us to come together and experience rarely seen and new material, interacting with each other through live hosted segments.

Activities will include a mixture of pre-recorded and live interviews, plus some specially commissioned and performed short stories, a dip into the Fantom archive for some convention panels, and a couple of surprises too! Guests participating include Sophie Aldred, Bonnie Langford, Nicola Bryant, Mark Strickson, Katy Manning, Annette Badland, Ian Hallard and Mark Gatiss - with a few still to be revealed.

You can follow the event via the Fantom Events website on Saturday, and further news about the event can be found on social media using #timespacevisualiser and #tsv, or by joining their mailing list.

FILTER: - Conventions - Fantom - Special Events

Who Talk - March Releases

Sunday, 3 March 2019 - Reported by Marcus

This month's Who Talk releases feature the legendary Daleks and the reptilian Ice Warriors.

First up is a new selection of commentaries for stories featuring the Ice Warriors, in the form of Mars Attacks!

Producer Paul W.T. Ballard explains

I literally couldn’t resist the title, even though I’m sure a lot of people will groan. This is the first time we have released a new series commentary track, and we were thrilled to be joined by Adele Lynch and Richard Ashton, who are the most recent Ice Warriors, to have a look at the Peter Capaldi episode The Empress of Mars, little over a year after it was first broadcast.

Such is the way of recording these things, as Adele and Richard were leaving the studio, Wendy Gifford was coming in, and we shot back fifty years to look at the very first appearance of the Martian invaders!

Rounding off the set are commentaries for episodes two and five of The Seeds of Death, with guest star Louise Pajo.

Louise was over on a rare visit from Down Under, so we took the opportunity to grab her for a commentary track. She isn’t featured on any of the BBC releases, and is a very outspoken commentator… especially when it comes to Miss Kelly’s ‘three balls’…!”

Mars Attacks! is moderated by Toby Hadoke, and features Wendy Gifford, Louise Pajo, Adele Lynch and Richard Ashton.

The second release this month comes in the form of 1980’s Dalek blockbuster Resurrection of the Daleks.

I think Resurrection is one of those stories which has such a vast and dynamic cast, that there was plenty of scope to invite people who hadn’t spoken about it before. Amongst those joining us are Sneh Gupta, who fitted us in on a quick UK trip, and Rula Lenska, who had some choice words to say about her outfit… but I won’t spoil it. I also won’t reveal which contributor wore their Dalek socks especially for the recording!

Mark Strickson makes his Who Talk debut on the special edition of Resurrection.

As is a seemingly a theme with these two releases, Mark was working in the UK and we obviously made him sit through a variety of his episodes on his day off. For this release we get to hear his thoughts on Resurrection and Frontios, and discover which guest star he snuck into the TOTP studio to have a dance to Karma Chameleon with!

Resurrection is moderated by Toby Hadoke, and features Rula Lenska, Jim Findley, Sneh Gupta, William Sleigh, Brian Miller, Roger Davenport, Mike Mungarvan and Eric Saward, and the special edition also features Mark Strickson.

Please note: these commentaries contain no BBC copyrighted elements and do not feature audio from the episodes themselves - these are designed to be played alongside the official DVD releases.

FILTER: - Classic Series - Fantom

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