Off the top of my head

I would suspect that the locals of East Hagbourne are a bit tired of Doctor Who fans on location pilgrimages stopping here:


and taking pictures of each other pretending to be tied to the monument in the intersection here, just like the Doctor is in The Android Invasion.

Ambassadors of Death Location

After trying to escape a couple of baddies Liz Shaw ends up dangling from a weir:

You can see it here.

I challenge myself for the new year

Off to the side, you can see that the labelling scheme that I've chosen will create a handy episode list, but only after I've posted on every single episode at least once.

So my new goal: Fill the list out by the start of the new season. Expect lots of short posts.

Rollright Stones

Just about here, by my estimate.

Here's the location from Stones of Blood


And today (well, a year-ish ago):


You can learn much more from the official Rollright Stones Website.

A sentence I never thought I'd see:

From icWales:

THE nation's obsession with Doctor Who and a love of 10-pin bowling and films has established the Red Dragon Centre in Cardiff Bay among the nation's pre-eminent beacons of tourism and entertainment.

Here's the link to the Doctor Who Exhibition. And here's one to the bowling alley.

I think the person who is in charge of the publicity for the bowling alley deserves a large cash award.

A unique Numeracy Trail ties learning in with the family fun of bowling - who said maths couldn't be a laugh!

They are operated by a group called Hollywood Bowl. Hollywood bowl seems to be running some sort of contest/event called "The Pirates of Pinzance" where (if I am understanding this correctly) they dress the bowling pins up as pirates and instead of rolling the ball at them, you get to fire it down the lane from some sort of cannon. Or it's a scratch-off game. I am certain that I am not alone in hoping for the former.

Location Spotting

I figured that if I was going to go location spotting in earnest, I would probably like to start at the beginning. The Totter's lane junkyard in An Unearthly Child was all on set, but it has been seen as an outdoor location a couple of times, the first being in Attack of the Cybermen, filmed around Shepherd's Bush and Hammersmith.

The alleyway that the Doctor and Peri are seen walking down to get to the junkyard is here:


The junkyard entrance that the Doctor uses is here, a few blocks away:


I'm not sure if the yard is on the north or south side of Cobbold Road, the old fan-desiminated directions presume that the user will be on foot and able to recognise the location. It looks like there is a yard of some sort on both sides of the street, but from what I recall of the episode, the yard on the north fits better.

A different location was used as the entrance when the evil fake policemen show up, and most of the actual junkyard filming was done along this street. Once again, I'm not entirely sure where.

Not all spiders lie on the back...

Technorati Profile

Of course, it's a holiday today.

And a happy forty-third birthday to all of you at home.

Finally - the new soundtrack CD

From Silva Screen, or Amazon.

I have now figured out the Wales Millennium Centre

In an earlier post, I was trying to make sense of this image from Google Maps:


I was guessing that the building in the upper portion of the image was the Wales Millennium Centre, as it was the only building in the area to have the correct curve in the front. But it didn't seem right to me.

A helpful reader named Jamble popped by to say:

These satellite images are well out of date, the Wales Millennium Centre is on that patch of bare ground below the large building - which is the Red Dragon centre, home to the Doctor Who exhibition.

More Torchwood locations can be found via www.visitcardiff.com/torchwood.html

Well, that clears that up.

I took a poke around the Visit Cardiff site, and they have a nice little Google maps interface with a fair number of Torchwood locations, including one of the buildings that Captain Jack stands on to sulk! They put it here:

If my memory serves me correctly, he was standing on the beam on the right side of the building in the lower left, but the marker is pointed at a different building. Is the real building another one that wasn't built when the satellite went past?

Oh Google Maps, you are a harsh mistress.

the start of it all

There have been rumors bouncing around the web for the last couple of days that Nigel Kneale had died, and now confirmation.

Sad.

I haven't yet figured out the Wales Millennium Centre

As Doctor Who is now being produced in Wales and Torchwood is set there, It seems appropriate to add a link to the Wales Millennium Centre, as it is popping up a lot. (It was also used for interior shots in New Earth.) This looks to be the view from Google Maps:


I think that the large curved front with the lettering is the lower left side of the large building at the top of the shot there, and the tall water sculpture is at the bottom of the shot - the semi-circle that casts a long shadow.

It doesn't feel quite right to me from the way the location looks on television, so I am worried that I might not have the location completely correct. Of course, it looks like there is a lot of construction still ongoing in the satellite shot, so that could account for the difference.

Next project for the obsessive fan: list all the buildings that Captain Jack stands on when he wants to go for a sulk.

Linkage

The pre-Beta version of this blog had a list of links under the heading "Links into the Land of Fiction."

Most of these were created by the BBC for cross-marketing, but a couple were made by fans who were joining in on the fun.

For the time being, I'll just dump the list here:

Defending the Earth

UNIT

Bad Wolf

British Rocket Group/Project Guinevere

Geocomtex

Leamington Spa Lifeboat Museum

Millingdale Organic Ice Cream

Torchwood House

Deffry Vale High School

Deffry Vale

Flydale North

Cybus Corporation

Powell Estate Tenants and Residents Association

Henrik and Son Department Store

Label Mania

A glance to the side will indicate that I've come up with a scheme for labeling posts on this blog.

Whooo!

And the coming attractions just keep on coming

Torchwood starts October 22. Enjoy the teaseriest of teaser promos:

Another addition to the walking tour.

Location filming for the as yet untitled "Shakespeare Episode" seems to have concluded at The Globe. Here's the link to Google maps, and look - there's a crowd in the penny pit taking in a show!



And scoot down the river to the east a hair to see the location for Resurrection of the Daleks.

If you're going to Edinburgh this year...

Info here

And now, an inside joke!

Look! It's Useless Kilt Guy!

A sign of the times

Doctor Who is now as important as the World Cup...

Doctor Who is garbage

When folks who know that I am a big Doctor Who fan ask my wife what she thinks of the show, she is happy to say "I think it's garbage!"

Here's the story. As a child, she lived for a time in Scotland. She was quite young and this was at a point in the mid seventies when Doctor Who was considered so frightening to children that it was discussed in the House of Commons. So she was not allowed to watch Doctor Who.

She was allowed to watch Blue Peter.

So her only contact with Doctor Who was those segments on Blue Peter where Doctor Who scenes were made from household scraps. So -- to her mind (and still to a point) Doctor Who was something you make out of garbage.

I start to dabble with the forces of darkness.

I'm experimenting with adding links to Amazon, so that I might start getting a small return on my investment of time here.

I decided to sign on with this blog instead of my main blog as here I have more directed subject matter, so I can try some of the more arcane services.

So to start - here are the links for the Genesis of the Daleks DVD: Doctor Who - Genesis Of The Daleks from Amazon UK, and here it is from Amazon.com: Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks

Invasion Release

This November will see the release of The Invasion with missing episodes 1 & 4 restored by adding full animation to the existing audio tracks. A preview can be found here, but I have to ask why it is full of images that come from the existing episodes? Will there be an animated version of the existing material? If it looks this good I would not mind at all.

The London Review of Books

Of all places.

Next Companion Rumors

Apparently it will be Freema Agyeman, who is in the final two-parter of the current season.


No official announcement, yet.

Big news day

Billie Piper is leaving at the end of the season.

Certainly not the first companion to leave the series, but as so much of the flavor of the first two new-era seasons is related to her, sometimes at the expense of the Doctor, I'm interested to see what the next companion will be like and how the show adapts to accommodate him/her/it.

In other news, perhaps the most spit-take worthy headline in a while: "Stephen Fry Pulls Out."

Even though reports have been that his script has been punted from the first to the second and then to the third season due to the expense of the special effects involved, he now has withdrawn his submission because he doesn't have time to write it. This will be one of those production stories that will be told in excruciating, yet constantly shifting, detail for years to come.

Take me out to the ballgame

Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays. Bottom of the second. Bases loaded for the major league debut of a young Boston pitcher. The pitching coach visits the mound to calm the young pup down.

So what is playing on the stadium sound system?

The Doctor Who theme.

Starting point for the Eighth Doctor's Audios

Via GoogleSightseeing we see the hanger that was used for the R-101.

Eldrad MUST Live.

Rumors are floating around that the next DVD release will be the Hand of Fear.

New New Location

The location used at the beginning of New Earth:


Filming occurred on the penninsula to the right, and the island on the left was composited into the image of New New York.

So tell me about the catering...

One of the new tie-in websites is the Torchwood House site (from Tooth and Claw).

I particularly like the Weddings at Torchwood page:

"I cannot thank you enough for making my last hours with my Tiffany some of the happiest of my life."
George Prohonset, Leeds

Perhaps we have destroyed my willing suspension of disbelief

From the Christmas Invasion. This is meant to take place in a council estate, which I am led to understand, is a budget construction job so it can be a budget living space.


Note the wall that the comedy attack tree has cartooned through. Insulation! In an interior wall. That's not how you cut costs when you are building a low cost high rise.

The mainstreaming continues

Here's an image from an electronics company's new product press release:

A good scare

I see that Tooth and Claw gets a "5" on the BBC Fear Factor Panel. Last year there was only one episode that recieved a "5" (The Empty Child), so that bodes well.

And it's the same kids. They're a year older. They are harder to scare!

"(9 [minutes in]) As things beging to get scary, Harry adopts the foetal position."

I'm looking forward to this one.

to clarify

This is an intelligent man. He is kind and charitable. Children look up to him. Women swoon at his handsome features. Grown men weep at the thought that they might be compared to him. Puppies trudge through driving rainstorms just for the opportunity to lick his nose.

When an apex such as this chooses to sneer at people who are just off enjoying themselves, it is undoubtedly done in the best of faith. He merely wants to help his fellow man achieve the greatness that he enjoys. And who can blame him. He is truly content. His life is perfect. He basks in his position as God's favorite.

I, as an imperfect person, must work to correct the flaws in my character. One of these flaws is the nagging suspicion that he is a sad, humorless gargoyle who reflexively slashes at anyone who does not expend all of their energy on whatever trifles he enjoys, just so he can feel that his worthless, rapidly ending life was in some way worth the effort that he may have spent on it.

See what a wretch I am? The man is a Hercules and I am unworthy to breathe his air.

Oh well.

A Changeable Klutz

American Doctor Who Fandom attracts the notice of Time Magazine, 1984.

TARDIS 22

This is the flyer for the Chicago convention. I recieved it because I was on the list after attending in previous years.


I can't remember if I actually went to this one. I believe that I did not.

Leaping from the archives!

I was under the impression that all of my Doctor Who stuff pre-1987 had been stolen.

No!

I've been going through my old files and found a few goodies that I had filed with my role-playing stuff by mistake. (Ghu, I am a nerd).

I shall scan and post soon.

Everyone loves a flying car!

How can you go wrong with flying cars!

Thank God we invented the blue ashtray!

A couple of times in the past week, I've seen a clip from the new film version of Christopher Buckley's Thank You For Smoking. In the clip, Aaron Eckhart and Rob Lowe discuss adding cigarettes as product placement to a science fiction film.

Lowe: Sony has a futuristic sci-fi movie they're looking to make.
Eckhart: Cigarettes in space?
Lowe: It's the final frontier, Nick.
Eckhart: But wouldn't they blow up in an all oxygen environment?
Lowe: Probably. But it's an easy fix. One line of dialogue. 'Thank God we invented the... ' you know, whatever device.

From Resurrection of the Daleks.

The smoking in space presented here was supposed to have been a directorial decision - it shows that the sense of professionalism has broken down. The episode was targeted by parents' groups who felt that the smoking was glorified (the argument being, as it often is, that if something is shown to exist then it is being glorified).

I like how the ashtray sticks out on the console, the sole bit of color in a sea of grim and oppressive technology. Also the design; I'd hate to be in the control room in some emergency when the gravity gets shut off and the great big cloud of spent ash and squished out butts comes flying at me.

I am beset with bugs

The one thing that I was worried about with the premiere of Doctor Who on the Sci-Fi channel was all the garbage that they tend to put on the screen. All in all, not as bad as I've seen before, but I really have to say how much I hate those little corner bugs:

Let's just hide in here until it's over

The blogspot server troubles seem to not be affecting this blog in the least, so if things get really cock-eyed I might have to re-think my dual blog set-up.

Another thing about today...

It's Saint Patrick's Day!

The best Doctor Who connection that I can think of off the top of my head is that portions of The Invasion were filmed at the Guinness Brewery in Park Royal, Acton.

It's D-day in America

Don't forget to set the Tivo.

Future advances in penmanship

Look at how Mavic Chen holds his futuristic writing implement in The Daleks' Masterplan:

In the DVD commentary, Kevin Stoney is asked who came up with the idea of holding a (for lack of a better word) pen this way. He can't remember, which is sensible as forty years have passed.

Still, I love that somebody, whomever it was, decided that they needed to come up with a clever new way to hold a pen, just to show that it is the future.

A sense of fashion will run screaming as you approach

A Dalek Tie. It even has a little sound chip that says "exterminate!"

Perfect for that important sales meeting or first date.

Everything I learned, I learned from Doctor Who

Here is what I consider to be the "unified field theory" of the show, two thoughts that I've taken to heart:

1. The universe is a huge, magnificent, wonderful place. It is filled with amazing things, that often go unnoticed. The best way that anyone can live their life is to spend as much time as possible enjoying all the little things that you would be inclined to ignore.
2. The best case scenario is to die screaming.

Anybody up for a trip?

Welcome to Cromer

Cromer (seen here) is a seaside resort town on Norfolk's northern coast. It is a Victorian-era resort town, and I believe that the pointy thing sticking into the water is the amusement pier, pictures of which can be found here

To my knowledge, the only intersection between Doctor Who and Cromer is The brigadier's remark about mistaking an alien landscape for the beach nearby the town in The Three Doctors.

Many American fans have interpreted the line as being "I think that's chroma." They use this as an example of the show's willingness to break the fourth wall - chroma-key is the American term for what the British call CSO (Colour separation Overlay). They find this to be even funnier than the original intended joke. Such is life.

I was asleep when I visited Cromer. I was having a nap in the back seat of a car when all the awake people decided to take a detour along the coast, instead of heading straight back to the house we were staying at. Later on, when I was shown all the places I had slept through, I remarked that I would liked to have been woken up for Cromer.

"Why Cromer?" I was asked.

"It's supposed to look like the interior of a black hole."

"Oh."

It was at this moment that there was a silent agreement that we all should drop the subject.

In the ghetto

This blog has a self-destruct button.

I want to point that out right off the bat.

Like all the blogs on blogger, in the first tab of the "settings" there is a dark blue button that says "delete this blog." If I start to feel like it's silly for me to be having two separate blogs, then this one will be nuked.

So why am I doing this?

It all started with my other blog. I decided that I wanted to try having a blog for a couple of reasons:

1. In my life, I have accumulated a lot of things. I decided that it would be interesting to talk about them someplace.
2. I enjoy poking around and discovering things. Answers to questions that I didn't know anyone wanted to have asked.
3. I wanted to have a place where I could pass along news and information that interests me to a venue that I thought would find it of value.

I've discussed a wide number of things on my blog, from wine to kangaroo meat, from the history of Cricket to Aquaman. There also a number of almost posts - things that I have held back on:

A post on an underground city in Moldavia is still sitting in the queue, waiting to be completed - which I am starting to suspect it never will. Reviews of CD's by folks as diverse as Al Stewart and The Boomtown Rats are waiting for my attention as well. A post on the new (then upcoming) Harry Potter movie was posted and then deleted moments later, as I felt that it really was saying nothing that hadn't already been said all over.

The one thing that seems to happen is my wanting to say something about Doctor Who, and then I don't because I don't want that one subject to start to dominate the focus of the blog.

So here we are - my first spin-off.

I have some misgivings about doing this - in some ways it's almost like I'm banishing a part of my life into some dark alley, like I'm ashamed of it. But in another way I'm getting a bit of breathing space.

I could use a bit of that.

and now we meet in an abandoned studio

A little while ago, Tom Baker recorded just about every word in the dictionary so he could be the voice of text messages.

I think everyone saw this coming..

Don't mind us, we're still testing