And it just keeps on going. Thanks to my visits to Fopp, my Doctor Who DVD collection has already undergone an unexpected growth burst – and then, I unexpectedly got an entire heap of Who DVDs for my birthday. So this collection of reminscences ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. We continue onwards, with…

The Brain of Morbius, The Time Meddler, The War Machines

Having picked up some more classic Who DVDs thanks to the budget shelves at Fopp, I’m now able to hit the nostalgia trail once again – although the results this time aren’t always favourable…

The Invasion of Time, Time-Flight

Well, the filming is pretty obviously beginning. It’s kind of unfair that while Tennant only had to cope with about six months of “What’s he going to be like?” and being under the spotlight, Matt Smith is getting an even more intense version (considering the popularity of the show has only gotten bigger since Tennant joined), and aside from the immediate post-regeneration thirty seconds or so, we’ve still got just under a year before we find out what his Doctor’s actually going to be like. Which means eveything’ll be under the microscope, and everything will be “How could they!” and “For shame!” and “I hate it!” and on, and on… and the first pictures of the new Doctor’s costume has broken – available here. It’s kind of odd that it’s essentially gotten exactly the same reaction from me that Smith’s casting did – a slightly surprised, bemused “Oh…” followed by a bit of a mull, followed finally by a “Hmm, I quite like it, let’s see how it works in practice.” I’ve already been reading “I hate it” and “He looks too much like an English Professor” on Twitter, and they’ve certainly (as ianjclark quite rightly says here) dressed him older – it’d be easy to make Smith look absurdly young, but this’ll definitely give the impression of a 900-ish year old bounding around in a younger body. They’ve also gone for something that’s very distinct from both Eccleston and Tennant – and okay, it’s not as immediately fashionable as Tennant’s look was, but how would you do that again without simply ending up with something pretty damn close to Tennant? And also, they’ve got to give the Doctor a distinctive look that isn’t just hitting the ‘Edwardian’ button and going for something deliberately Doctor-ish. I’m certain the bow-tie will be a ‘controversial’ point, but again, it’s a distinct look. It’s retro, it’s fifties. It means that the Doctor isn’t going to easily blend into the crowd. And, I can’t help feeling that back in 1974, any dedicated fans of Pertwee looking at pictures of the new upcoming Doctor would have been thinking “What? What is going on with that scarf? The show’s doomed!” I’m not immediately blown away thinking “Yes, that’s ideal…”, but then, I was initially thinking Tennant was going to be ideal from the pre-publicity pics, and it actually took me until S3 until I started liking him in the role. It’s going to be fascinating to see how this works, and I would perhaps have preferred something a little scruffier and a little less buttoned-up, but at the moment, I am going to still reserve any major opinion until we finally see the 11th Doctor in action…

In which the writer hereby continues his batch of Classic Doctor Who DVD nostalgia. (He’d be finishing it if it wasn’t so bloody hot). Part one is here. For part two, read on…

Robot, Destiny of the Daleks

There are certain bargains that I can ignore, and then there are the ones that I can’t. Wandering into budget music/DVD shop Fopp a few weeks back, I was flirting with the idea of maybe being naughty and picking myself up something on DVD – but then what I saw told me that yes, I was in trouble, because they had a fairly significant pile of classic Doctor Who DVDs, and virtually all of them were £3. Within minutes I had a frighteningly large pile of discs, and I did end up being strategic and not simply getting every single one that I didn’t have (I’m not a Who completist – there are stories are love, and there are stories I’ll be happy to never ever see again (Hello, Resurrection of the Daleks…), but I did end up emerging with a pile of ten new Who DVDs (one box set, and six seperate releases). Some of them were the chance to replace stories I previously had on VHS, while others gave me the chance to see stories I hadn’t seen for an absurdly long time, and there were even a couple that I’d never actually seen at all. And naturally, they set off lots of thoughts about storytelling, what the show means to me, and the constantly evolving relationship between classic Who and New Who. And as usual, fear the spoilers…

Planet of Evil, The Keeper of Traken, Logopolis, Castrovalva, Four to Doomsday

Better late than never – and, as usual, fear the spoilers…

This has been circling in my head for a month – and now it’s time to get my thoughts on this Who story from the final year of Classic Who’s 26-year run down in some sort of order. So, here they are, in a rather huge and slightly rambling exploration of Who’s latter days, and what they do (and don’t) mean to me. Fear the spoilers…

Behind the cut- news about Who’s future, and some general musings…

It is amazing what you can find on Youtube, especially thanks to the copyright-baiting lunatics who seem to be having a ball by jumping up and down in front of the BBC and shouting “Na na na!” After a recent wonder, I discovered what appeared to be the majority of 1980s Classic Who on there, and found myself watching a story that I hadn’t properly seen for well over twenty years. For once, you don’t really need to fear the spoilers- the following may be rather stream-of-consciousness, but it’s also an attempt to try an express why I love Who, shoddy effects and all. Enjoy…

‘I think Paradise might be a little too green for me, as well…’