Chicago Base Podcasts

TDP 74: Tennant Thoughts and S4 DVD Box Set

Thu November 06 2008

David Tennant has announced that he will leave the award winning BBC drama Doctor Who when he has completed the filming of four special episodes which... read more

David Tennant has announced that he will leave the award winning BBC drama Doctor Who when he has completed the filming of four special episodes which will be screened in 2009 and early in 2010.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 conti... read more

David Tennant has announced that he will leave the award winning BBC drama Doctor Who when he has completed the filming of four special episodes which will be screened in 2009 and early in 2010.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 honoured 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 honoured 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.TIME CRASHThe 2007 Children In Need scene, written by Steven Moffat.DELETED SCENESA collection of deleted and alternate takes including Howard Attfield's (Geoff Noble) scenes from the S4 opener and the original 'Cybermen' ending from the finale - each scene comes with an explanatory introduction from Russell T Davies. Stories that receive the additional material are: Voyage Of The Damned; Partners In Crime; Fires Of Pompeii; Planet Of The Ood; The Doctor's Daughter; The Unicorn & The Wasp; Forest Of The Dead; Turn Left; and Journey's End.DAVID TENNANT'S VIDEO DIARIESTwo fifteen minute (approx.) segments filmed by David Tennant including the 'turn on' of the Blackpool Illuminations in 2007 and behind~the~scenes filming of the series finale.THE JOURNEY (SO FAR)Half hour documentary charting the return of the show up to the S4 finale. Features interviews with Russell T Davies, David Tennant, Phil Collinson and Julie Gardner.TRAILERSAll teasers and trailers for the episodes including the 'cinema' trailers for Voyage Of The Damned and S4.AUDIO COMMENTARIESThese are all new commentaries recorded especially for this release.VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED: Murray Gold (Composer), Russell Tovey (Midshipman Frame) & Peter Bennett (1st Assistant Director)PARTNERS IN CRIME: Julie Gardner (Executive Producer), Russell T Davies & James Strong (Director)FIRES OF POMPEII: David Tennant, Catherine Tate and Tracie Simpson (Production Manager)PLANET OF THE OOD: Graeme Harper (Director) & Roger Griffiths (Commander Kess)THE SONTARAN STRATAGEM: Julie Gardner, Dan Starkey (Commander Skorr) & Neil Gorton (Prosthetics Designer)THE POISON SKY: David Tennant, RTD and Susie Liggat (Producer)THE DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER: Catherine Tate, Georgia Moffett (Jenny) & Ben Foster (Conductor)THE UNICORN & THE WASP: Felicity Kendal (Lady Eddison) & Fenella Woolgar (Agatha Christie)SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY: David Tennant, Steven Moffat & Julie GardnerFOREST OF THE DEAD: Euros Lyn (Director), Lousie Page (Costume designer) & Helen Raynor (Script Editor)MIDNIGHT: David Tennant, RTD & Alice Troughton (Director)TURN LEFT: Catherine Tate, Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott) & Jacqueline King (Sylvia Noble)THE STOLEN EARTH: David Tennant, RTD and Julie GardnerJOURNEY'S END: David Tennant, Catherine Tate & RTDDOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL Cut-down versions (in some cases less than ten minutes) of all the accompanying episodes with the exception of Time Crash. read less

TDP Special: A Halloween Poem.

Tue October 28 2008

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TDP 73: Writers Tale, Doctors and Kingdom of Silver

Thu October 23 2008

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TDP 72: Doctor Who Ghost Light

Thu October 02 2008

Ghost Light GS_googleAddAdSenseService("ca-pub-3862144315477646"); GS_googleEnableAllServices(); Ghost Light was the second story of Season 26 of Doct... read more

Ghost Light GS_googleAddAdSenseService("ca-pub-3862144315477646"); GS_googleEnableAllServices(); Ghost Light was the second story of Season 26 of Doctor Who. Two stories followed it when broadcast, although it was the last story of the classic series to be produced. It was the last story filmed at the BBC studios in London. window.onload = function() { if (window.showTocToggle) { window.tocShowTex... read more

Ghost Light GS_googleAddAdSenseService("ca-pub-3862144315477646"); GS_googleEnableAllServices(); Ghost Light was the second story of Season 26 of Doctor Who. Two stories followed it when broadcast, although it was the last story of the classic series to be produced. It was the last story filmed at the BBC studios in London. window.onload = function() { if (window.showTocToggle) { window.tocShowText = "show"; window.tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); }}; Synopsis The Doctor brings Ace to Gabriel Chase, an old house that she once burnt down in her home town of Perivale. The year is 1883 and the house is presided over by Josiah Samuel Smith, who turns out to be the evolved form of an alien brought to Earth in a stone spaceship that is now in the basement. Others present include the explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper, who has been driven mad by what he has seen there, and Nimrod, Smith's Neanderthal manservant. Smith intends to use Fenn-Cooper's unwitting help in a plot to kill Queen Victoria and restore the British Empire to its former glory. His plans are hampered by Control, a female alien whose life-cycle is in balance with his own. Ace inadvertently causes the release of the spaceship's true owner - a powerful alien being known as Light. Light originally came to Earth to compile a catalogue of its species but, on discovering that his catalogue has now been made obsolete by evolution, he decides to destroy all life on the planet. He disintegrates when the Doctor convinces him that evolution is irresistible and that he himself is constantly changing. Control has meanwhile evolved into a lady and Smith has reverted to an earlier, primitive form. They leave in the spaceship, along with Nimrod and Fenn-Cooper, heading for new adventure. Plot Part 1 Fenn-Cooper has been driven mad by Light The Doctor brings Ace to Gabriel Chase, an old house that she once burnt down in her home town of Perivale near London. The year is 1883 and the house is presided over by the mysterious Josiah Samuel Smith. It is a most mysterious place, where the serving women brandish guns and the butler is a Neanderthal named Nimrod. Other occupants include Gwendoline, the daughter of the original owners of the house who have now disappeared, the calculating housekeeper Lady Pritchard, the explorer Redvers Fenn-Cooper, who has seen something which has driven him insane, and the Reverend Ernest Matthews, opponent of the theory of evolution which Smith has done much to spread. The TARDIS arrives at Gabriel Chase. It turns out that Ace had visited the house in 1983, and had felt an evil presence, and the Doctor's curiosity drives him to seek the answers. Something is also alive and evolving in the cellar beneath the house and when Ace investigates she finds two animated and dangerous husks. Part 2 Josiah turns into a husk In rescuing Ace, the Doctor releases an evolving creature trapped in the cellar known as Control. The party moves to ground level and Control remains trapped in the cellar for the moment. The cellar is in fact a vast stone spaceship. The Doctor works his way through the stuffed animals in Gabriel Chase and eventually finds a human in suspended animation, an Inspector Mackenzie, who came to the house two years earlier in search of the owners. The Doctor revives him and together they seek to unlock the mysteries of Gabriel Chase. The husks which attacked Ace were the remains of Smith, an alien who has been evolving into forms approximating a human and casting off his old husks as an insect would. For his pains Smith transforms Matthews into an ape and places him in a display case. The Doctor helps Control release the trapped creature from the cellar, a being known as Light who takes the form of an angel. Part 3 Light wakes up Thousands of years in the past, an alien spaceship came to Earth to catalogue all life on the planet. After completing its task and collecting some samples, which included Nimrod, the leader Light went into slumber. By 1881 the ship had returned to Earth. While Control remained imprisoned on the ship to serve as the "control" subject of the scientific investigation, events transpired such that Smith, the "survey agent", mutinied against Light, keeping him in hibernation on the ship. Smith began evolving into the era's dominant life-form - a Victorian gentleman - and also took over the house. By 1883 Smith managed to lure and capture the explorer Fenn-Cooper within his den. Utilising Fenn-Cooper's association with Queen Victoria, he plans to get close to her so that he can assassinate her and subsequently take control of the British Empire. Light is displeased by all the change that has occurred on the planet while he was asleep. While Light tries to make sense of all the change, Smith tries to keep his plan intact, but events are moving beyond his control. Light turns Gwendoline and her missing mother, revealed to be Mrs. Pritchard, to stone in a bid to stop the speed of evolution; while Inspector Mackenzie meets a sticky end and is turned into a primordial soup to serve at dinner. As Control tries to "evolve" into a Lady, and Ace tries to come to grips with her feelings about the house, the Doctor himself tries to keep the upper hand in all the events that have been set in motion. The Doctor finally convinces Light of the futility of opposing evolution, which causes him to overload and dissipate into the surrounding house. It was this presence that Ace sensed and which caused her to burn the house down in 1983. Also, Control's complete evolution into a Lady derail's Smith's plan as Fenn-Cooper, having freed himself from Smith's brainwashing, chooses to side with her instead of him. In the end, with Smith now the new Control creature imprisoned on the ship, Control, Fenn-Cooper and Nimrod set off in the alien ship to explore the universe. Cast The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy Ace - Sophie Aldred Josiah Samuel Smith - Ian Hogg Light - John Hallam Lady Pritchard - Sylvia Syms Redvers Fenn-Cooper - Michael Cochrane Control - Sharon Duce Gwendoline - Katharine Schlesinger Nimrod - Carl Forgione Reverend Ernest Matthews - John Nettleton Mrs Grose - Brenda Kempner Inspector Mackenzie - Frank Windsor Crew Writer - Marc Platt Assistant Floor Manager - Stephen Garwood Costumes - Ken Trew Designer - Nick Somerville Incidental Music - Mark Ayres Make-Up - Joan Stribling Production Assistant - Valerie Whiston Production Associate - June Collins Script Editor - Andrew Cartmel Special Sounds - Dichttp://tardis.wikia.com/index.php?title=Ghost_Light&action=submitk Mills Studio Lighting - Henry Barber Studio Sound - Scott Talbott, Keith Bowden Stunt Arranger - Paul Heasman Theme Arrangement - Keff McCulloch Title Music - Ron Grainer Visual Effects - Malcolm James Producer - John Nathan-Turner Director - Alan Wareing read less

TDP 71: Vervoids, Foe and Steampunk

Sun September 21 2008

Listen past the end credits for spoiler chat!4 Topics!1) Terror of the Verviods2) Ultimate Foe3) Steampunk in Doctor Whoend credits4) Spoiler chat...T... read more

Listen past the end credits for spoiler chat!4 Topics!1) Terror of the Verviods2) Ultimate Foe3) Steampunk in Doctor Whoend credits4) Spoiler chat...The Doctor returns to the courtroom after a recess, given to allow him to mourn Periâs death, shown in the previous block of evidence. The Doctor begins his defence, showing events from his future on the galactic liner Hyperion III, a ship takin... read more

Listen past the end credits for spoiler chat!4 Topics!1) Terror of the Verviods2) Ultimate Foe3) Steampunk in Doctor Whoend credits4) Spoiler chat...The Doctor returns to the courtroom after a recess, given to allow him to mourn Periâs death, shown in the previous block of evidence. The Doctor begins his defence, showing events from his future on the galactic liner Hyperion III, a ship taking a supply of rare metals from Mogar to Earth in the year 2986AD. The Doctor states that many of the passengers and crew will not survive the journey to Earth, for "[someone determined to] protect a secret hidden on the space liner... will become a murderer."ââContinuity The new companion "Mel" is introduced without the typical "meeting" story, as this evidence is supposed to take place in the Doctor's future, after he has already met Mel.Despite references to them having met before, the Doctor has never been shown to meet Commodore Travers on screen before this. Production Serial details by episode: Episode Broadcast date Run time Viewership (in millions) "Part Nine" 1 November 1986 24:56 5.2 "Part Ten" 8 November 1986 24:18 4.6 "Part Eleven" 15 November 1986 24:07 5.3 "Part Twelve" 22 November 1986 24:45 5.2 [1][2][3] Preproduction This story segment of Trial was originally supposed to be written by Peter J. Hammond, creator of the cult science fiction series Sapphire & Steel. Hammond's story outline, titled Paradise Five, was liked by script editor Eric Saward but disliked by producer John Nathan-Turner, who rejected it and commissioned Pip and Jane Baker to do the segment instead.[4] Hammond later wrote two episodes of the Doctor Who spin-off drama, Torchwood. Designed as a typical Agatha Christie murder mystery set on a space liner, the actual structure of the story (and its bubbly tone) are reminiscent of the series during Douglas Adams' tenure as script editor, during season seventeen. In the first episode, Professor Lasky is briefly seen reading a copy of Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Production The Vervoids bear a strong resemblance to the Flatwoods monster, a common template for alien creatures.[citation needed] Post-production This serial marked the last time the BBC Radiophonic Workshop provided a music score for the series. As no individual title was used onscreen or on the final scripts for this story, there has been some confusion over how to refer to the story. It was initially commissioned with the title of The Ultimate Foe. However this title was later given to the novelisation of the 13th and 14th parts of the season. Writers Pip and Jane Baker repeatedly referred to the story as The Vervoids in subsequent interviews, as have other production team members, but this title does not appear to exist on any contemporary documentation.[4] When Target Books published Pip and Jane Baker's novelisation, it was under the title of Terror of the Vervoids, which is now generally used to refer to the story (see The Ultimate Foe and Doctor Who story title controversy). Commercial releases In October 1993, this story was released on VHS as part of the three-tape The Trial of a Time Lord set.It is also due for DVD release on September 29th2008[5], similarly packaged with the other stories in The Trial of a Time Lord season. Special Features include: deleted and extended scenes â "The Making of a Trial of a Time Lord - Part Three - Terror of Vervoids" â "Now Get Out of That - Doctor Who Cliffhangers" (a 28-minute feature) â "The Lost Season" (an 11-minute feature) â Saturday Picture Show archival television footage â photo gallery â and trails and continuities. The Ultimate Foe is the generally accepted title for a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in two weekly parts from November 29 to December 6, 1986. It is part of the larger narrative known as The Trial of a Time Lord, encompassing the whole of the 23rd season. This segment is also cited in some reference works under its working title of Time Incorporated (or Time Inc.). This was the last regular story to feature Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.Continuity Thanks to the paradoxes of time travel, since Mel is from the Doctor's future, she has already met him, but from the Doctor's perspective he is meeting her for the first time. Most spin-off media, including the novelisation by the Bakers, have assumed that the Doctor, at the end of the trial, takes Mel back to her proper place in time and eventually travels to her relative past to meet Mel for the first time from her perspective. That meeting, never seen on screen, is related in the Past Doctor Adventures novel Business Unusual by Gary Russell and also in his audio story He Jests at Scars, which provides a semi-sequel to this TV story. In the new series episode Journey's End, a Magnetron (possibly salvaged during The Time War) is used to move a number of planets to another spot in the universe. Since then, the technology appears to have been modified and/or improved as the planets apparently just teleport rather than being "thrown". [edit] The Doctor This was the last story to feature Colin Baker as the current Doctor. Baker was fired by the BBC and John Nathan Turner was ordered, reportedly by Michael Grade, to recast the lead part for the following season. Baker was offered the chance to appear as the Doctor in all four episodes of the first story of Season 24, but he declined this and the invitation to return for the traditional regeneration sequence in Time and the Rani. Due to Colin Baker's dismissal from the role, it would turn out that the Sixth Doctor's last lines on screen were "Carrot juice, carrot juice, carrot juice!" Although The Ultimate Foe was his last regular appearance as the Doctor on screen, the last story that Baker actually recorded was Terror of the Vervoids. Baker would reprise the role on stage, in 1989's Doctor Who - The Ultimate Adventure, and on screen in the 1993 charity special Dimensions in Time, as well as various audio adventures for Big Finish Productions. [edit] Final appearances This marked the last appearance to date of the Time Lords, apart from a brief flashback in "The Sound of Drums." Coincidentally, James Bree (The Keeper of the Matrix) had appeared in The War Games (albeit in a different role), which was the first serial to feature the Time Lords. The Valeyard has not re-appeared in the television series. His sole appearance in the Big Finish Productions audios has been the Doctor Who Unbound (and therefore outside of established continuity) He Jests at Scars..., where Michael Jayston reprises the role. The character has been featured (usually in dream sequences or metaphors) in the New Adventures and Missing Adventures book ranges from Virgin Publishing and the Past Doctor Adventures from the BBC, however none of these appearances conclusively reveals his origins. The forthcoming unofficial novel Time's Champion, the late Craig Hinton's final novel completed by his friend Chris McKeon, will see the return of the Valeyard and his origins revealed. Whereas previously Anthony Ainley's the Master had appeared in at least one story per year, it would be another three years before he returned in Survival, the final story of the show's original run. [edit] Production Serial details by episode: Episode Broadcast date Run time Viewership (in millions) "Part Thirteen" 29 November 1986 24:42 4.4 "Part Fourteen" 6 December 1986 29:30 5.6 [1][2][3] Robert Holmes was originally commissioned to write the two episodes. Unfortunately, he died from a chronic liver ailment after completing a draft of the first and left nothing beyond a plot outline of the second. The series Script Editor Eric Saward resigned around this time due to disagreements with the producer, John Nathan-Turner, but agreed to write the final episode based on Holmes' outline, and also rewrite Holmes' draft to tie the two together, for which he was credited as Script Editor. The original ending to this segment (and, indeed, the whole Trial story and possibly the series) would have seen the Doctor and the Valeyard in an inconclusive cliffhanger, both (seemingly) plunging into a void to their deaths as an extra "hook". However, Nathan-Turner felt this was too downbeat and believed that it was important that the season did not end on an inconclusive note since it was important after the hiatus to prove the series was back in business. Saward refused to change the ending and withdrew permission to use his script very late in the day, by which point the production team had been assembled and the segment was entering rehearsals. John Nathan-Turner commissioned Pip and Jane Baker to write a replacement final episode. For copyright reasons they could not be told anything of the content of Saward's script (and there were lawyers observing all commissioning meetings). The only similarity between the two is the announcement that the High Council of the Time Lords have resigned, which was a natural development of the earlier scripts. The new script ended on an optimistic note, with the Doctor departing for new adventures.[4] In keeping with this more optimistic stance, Nathan-Turner decided to amend the script at the last minute to show how Peri had not died as shown in Mindwarp but in fact, became Yrcanos's queen. Her "death" was merely a part of the Valeyard's tampering with the Matrix, with a shot from the earlier story used to show this. Nicola Bryant was disappointed to learn how the fate of her character had been changed. Ultimately, the works of Charles Dickens are evident in the story: the fictional landscape in the Matrix resembles Victorian era Britain, and the character (and name) of Mr. Popplewick are strongly Dickensian. The Doctor also quotes the final two lines of A Tale of Two Cities, prompting Mel to chide him: "Never mind the Sydney Carton heroics!" The working title of this story was Time Incorporated.[4] However, this title did not appear in the final scripts or on-screen. Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely usedâusually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era Englandâbut with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles or analog computers; these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or a presumption of functionality. Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Apart from time period and level of technological development, the main difference between cyberpunk and steampunk is that steampunk settings usually tend to be less obviously dystopian than cyberpunk, or lack dystopian elements entirely. Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual craftpersons into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk. read less