Trials & Triumphs – A Review of the SFX Weekender 3 Event

The dust has settled, the hangovers faded and the cosplay has been packed away for another year. But was this year’s SFX Weekender – one of Britain’s biggest sci-fi and fantasy conventions – worth the trip?

It’s safe to say that not everything went according to plan, but did the stellar guest list make up for the freezing temperatures and interminable queues? P.G. Bell shares the high and low points with Caleb Woodbridge and Sarah Burrow. PLUS! a report on the inaugural cosplay competition and interviews with a few of the participants. Click on the jump below to find photos of some of the people we spoke to, but head on over to our Facebook page to see a complete gallery of the weekend’s events!

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P.S. The excellent ‘Transdimensional Mix’ of the Doctor Who theme music comes courtesy of HardWire.

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Points of Who #3: Doctor Who, Sherlock, The Hunger Games

In the third episode of Points of Who, we take a wide-ranging discussion of the latest news about Doctor Who and the wider worlds of science fiction and fantasy:

Caleb and Swithun discuss:

  • (from 1 min) The recovery of missing episodes of Doctor Who from Galaxy 4 and The Underwater Menace: celebration or disappointment?
  • (from 19 min) How should the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who be marked by the BBC, by fans, and by us as a podcast?

Sarah and Caleb discuss:

  • (from 29 min) The Sherlock finale, The Reichenbach Fall, including just how did Sherlock survive that fall?
  • (from 39 min) The Hunger Games trailer – how will the film compare to the book?
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Video Game Review – ‘Doctor Who: Worlds in Time’

For such a diverse show, Doctor Who has always stuggled when it comes to video games. Could Worlds in Time be the one to buck the trend? Olivia Cottrell takes her virtual TARDIS for a spin…

Pity the Doctor Who fan who also happens to be a video game geek. While the Doctor might initially seem a perfect fit for the video game world – his universe of strange aliens, dramatic stories and quirky characters is already one with a touch of the virtual about it – the franchise’s attempts to cross into video games have so far been decidedly lacklustre. While perfectly decent for free titles, a clunky control system and broken AI meant that the recent range of downloadable 3D Adventure Games were frequently frustrating experiences.  As someone who considers herself both a video games nerd (I’ve spent too many hours shouting at dragons over the past month to successfully argue otherwise) and a Doctor Who fan, I was ready for something more satisfying.

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Doctor Who Commentary – 5.01 ‘The Eleventh Hour’

Remember all those commentaries we never got round to in Series 5? Well, here they come!

The team take advantage of Doctor Who’s extended leave of absence to fill in some of the gaps in their back catalogue, starting with Matt Smith’s debut adventure. Click below to find out what Caleb Woodbridge, Swithun Dobson, Sarah Burrow and P.G. Bell make of the newly regenerated series. Does the shadow of Russell T. Davies still loom large? How does Amy keep up her mortgage repayments on a kiss-o-gram’s salary? And when will the show ever get round to a Groundhog Day episode?

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Points of Who #2: Doctor Who movie rumours and series 6 DVD review

In the second Points of Who, we go beyond our commentaries to catch up on the Doctor Who news and rumours.

In this episode:

  • Caleb and Sarah discuss David Yates’ original comments on making a Doctor Who film.
  • Swithun and James discuss Steven Moffat’s response and what they’d like to see from a Doctor Who movie.
  • Caleb and Sarah discuss the Night and the Doctor mini-episodes.
  • Caleb gives his in-depth review of series 6 as a whole.

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Should Doctor Who go to Hollywood, or is it better suited for the small-screen? How does series 6 hold up now it’s out as a box-set? Let us know your thoughts below!

Doctor Who Commentary – 7.0 ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’

Merry Christmas! Caleb Woodbridge, Sarah Burrow and P. G. Bell go through the wardrobe to discuss this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe!

In our latest podcast commentary, we discuss the influence of C S Lewis on Doctor Who, whether Matt Smith should have a child as a companion, the criminal underuse of Bill Bailey, Steven Moffat’s gender politics, the place of fairytales in Doctor Who, the extraordinary in the everyday and much more.

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What did you think of this year’s Christmas special? Did it enchant you, or did you feel it could have been better? What other classic Christmas stories would translate well to Doctor Who?