February 28, 2025 • 38 mins
Hey, Who fans and welcome to Episode 418.
Hey, Who fans! It's been a minute since we last put an episode out and this one is a Garry-solo, news-focused episode with an update on the latest Doctor Who news and how the weekly episodes here at The Big Blue Box will work moving forward.
Firstly, the main episodes that you've enjoyed for over a decade on a (nearly) weekly basis will now change to a seasonal format. Yep, we are no longer going to try and put episodes out every week. The two main reasons for this are: we've reviewed nearly everything apart from a couple of animated stories, and when there's no new Who going out and not much news, Doctor Who is a bit light on stuff these days. Secondly, Adam and I, when our schedules allow, don't want to force putting content out as you guys will notice it and drift off. I've seen it happen on other podcasts and it's the last thing I want for The Big Blue Box.
So in a nutshell - we aren't going away, we're not going on hiatus and we're not locking the doors to the TARDIS. We're sensibly putting the show on a seasonal format so when we do put content out, we're enthusiastic and have stuff to talk about. You'll next hear from us in April for our first proper season with our reviews for Season 2, then for the spin-off and our next season etc. Lastly, the monthly Round Table episodes will continue as normal, as the writing team have such interesting and entertaining views on all things Doctor Who.
Who fans, thank you, it's been amazing and a privilege for Adam and me to waffle to you all (again, nearly) every week for the last 10+ years and we hope you stick with us as we transition into a different format.
Also as a reminder - we set up the Cosmic Echoes podcast network this year, and although the amount of content for this podcast will be scaled back, we're bringing you more content overall! Our first new podcast - Federation Strike: A Journey Through Blake's 7 - has gone down a treat so check that out if you're a Blake's 7 fan or you've heard of the show but not dived in.
Phew, with that being said, the rest of the episode is rounding up the latest Who news including the start date for Season 2, a casting announcement for Season 2, The Sun newspaper progressing their "the show is being axed" story with the Christmas Special now under threat, a ton of money raised at auction for Children in Need, Chris Eccleston and Billie Piper back together for more 9 and Rose stories at Big Finish, and you can still grab the Season 7 blu ray collection from a couple of online retailers.
Links to the stuff we mentioned:
- Season 7 blu ray collection at Amazon and Zavvi.
- 9th Doctor and Rose adventures from Big Finish
This is The Big Blue Box Podcast
Join us each week for a new episode every Friday from your hosts Garry and Adam. We talk news, reviews, commentaries and general chat on everything Doctor Who PLUS listen to our monthly
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Foreign. Hey, hey, hey whofans and welcome to the Big Blue
(00:21):
Box Podcast. My name's Garryand Welcome to episode 418. It's
been a little while. Of courseit's been a little while. A minute
(00:42):
before we had a podcastepisode out, but welcome back nonetheless.
I hope you're keeping well andsafe and that you've all managed
to do something. Doctor whoreally did it. Sir Garry solo show,
as you might have guessed.Nobody to interrupt me, nobody to
butt in. Try and get therefirst with the related. Normally
Adam gives that a go, but, youknow, due to his wi fi, it's a bit
(01:06):
of a fail most of the timefrom old Adam. But yeah, I hope you
guys are keeping well. Theround table landed last week. Was
it last week or this week?This week, sorry. Yeah, the February
Roundtable landed this week.That was a really good laugh, that
one. So that was myself,Harry, Maria and Matt and we spoke
about just some, someValentine's goodness for Doctor who
(01:30):
as it's the. The month of loveand, and all that stuff. We picked
out some cool companions welove to go on a date with and you
know, all that stuff. It was areal, just fun, silly episode. Good
laugh though. Those guys arealways entertaining, so check that
out. If you've not listenedyet, you can do that by making sure
you're following orsubscribing to the podcast in your
fave podcast app of choice.That way you won't miss an episode
(01:53):
when it lands. Mostly on aweekly basis when there's stuff to
talk about. Which is going tolead me into. Sorry, we're on the
social too, by the way. Finishthis stuff up. We're on the socials
too, and we're on Instagram X,Facebook, Instagram, Blue sky, all
of that stuff. If you justhead over to the website, which is
(02:13):
bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk, thereare links to those things. Give us
a like and a follow on thosechannels. We chat Doctor who all
the time in between episodesand all that stuff. And we have a
really cool free Discordserver. Loads of chat always going
on in there. So you can find alink to that on the website as well.
And while you're on thewebsite, remember to check out all
(02:34):
of the reviews and editorialpieces and all that stuff from the
writing team. Some really coolstuff there. Loads of big finish
reviews, all of that stuff. Goand check that all out. Now before
I get onto the news, just wantto talk to you guys a little bit
about the big blue box movingforward. So a couple of months ago
I put a blog post out on the,on the website which was about what's
(02:59):
going to happen with the, thepodcast and, and everything moving
forward. That was the middleof January. It was a, an announcement
article that went through thenew podcasting network that we've
created called Cosmic Echoes,which Big Blue Box falls inside of
that. Our new podcast forBlake 7 called Federation Strike,
(03:22):
which has been going so well,by the way, if you've not checked
out that show, if you're a fanof Blake 7, then go and check that
out. There's a link to theshow notes in that for that and also
a little bit of what's goingto go on with the Big Blue Box. In
that article. I said that theBig Blue Box is our, still our mainstay
show. It's not going anywhere,don't worry. We're still going to
(03:42):
bring you content, etc. Andwe're still going to do the round
tables and all that stuff.Now, what I'd like to say about the
frequency of, of our episodesmoving forward, Adam and I have made
the decision to move the BigBlue Box to a seasonal format. So
what that means is, and Ialluded to this a little bit in the
(04:04):
article, but instead of ustrying to do a weekly episode all
the time, every which it'sjust a bit difficult when Adam travels
quite a bit. He's over in theUS half the year, he's back here
in the UK half the year. Sotime zones are a bit difficult sometimes
to, to do that stuff. Coupledwith the fact that, like it or not,
(04:27):
there's just not as much newskicking around with Doctor who these
days. And I'm not talkingabout sort of the ramp up news for
when there's a new seriesabout to start like we are now with
season two, that's just aroundthe corner. I'm not talking about
that stuff. I mean in general,when there's no news about spin offs,
there's no news about what'shappening with the show in general,
(04:49):
there's no merch to talk aboutall of that stuff. It's just a little
bit, a bit thin on the groundessentially for Doctor who content.
So as a result of thosethings, Adam and I are not going
to do a weekly podcast anymorefor the Big Blue Box. Now that doesn't
mean that these are goingaway, not at all. We will still come
(05:10):
back and do a block ofepisodes as seasons. So what that
means essentially is whenseason two lands next month, sorry,
in April, we will come backand we will do a weekly episode as
we go through that series. Sowe'll be, I don't know how many episodes
there's going to be in seasontwo. I honestly can't remember. I
(05:32):
did know. I can't remember.But say, for example, if there's
10 episodes, Adam and I willbe back for 10 weeks and we review
every episode and then we'llprobably do a bit of a wrap up show
as a bit of a bonus EP and soon. And then when the spin off arrives,
we'll come back and we'llreview that and that'll be another
season of shows and we'll dothat and then when the Christmas
special comes in and we'll dothat and we're also going to add
(05:52):
in, also as bonus episodes, afew of the little animated episodes
or animated stories. Sorrythat we haven't reviewed yet. So,
as you know, longtimelisteners, the grizzled ancients,
you guys will know that overthe last decade we've reviewed pretty
much everything of Dr. Who,all of, all of classic who, bar some
of the animated stuff for theLost episodes, all of modern who
(06:14):
spin offs, Torchwood class,you know, the whole thing, we've
done it all. But there aresome animated bits left, so we're
going to add those in as bonusepisodes and around the seasons.
So that's the, that's the dealwith the big blue box. It's absolutely
not going anywhere. We're notcanceling the show, we're not doing
any of that stuff. It's just away of us to maintain our enthusiasm
(06:37):
for Doctor who while alsogiving you guys some actual content
to listen to. And don't get mewrong, if there's some really big
news that lands to do with theshow at some point, then Adam and
I will, uh, obviously maketime and hop on and do a sort of
a one off episode to fill youguys in. But for now, that's what's
gonna happen moving forward.So after today, which is Friday 28th
(07:00):
February, then we would, wewould then move to the seasonal stuff.
So you won't hear from us nowin terms of the weekly episode until
season two lands in April,which will be. So what I'm gonna
do is all of the content thatwe've done Thus far since March 2014,
(07:21):
believe it or not, everythingthat we've done up to now, I'm just
essentially going to lump intoa bucket and call it season one.
And that's going to be all ofour content up to now. When we Come
back in April to review shoothis new season. I'll call that the
big blue box. Season two.We'll review all that when the spin
(07:42):
off arrives. The war betweenland and the sea will come back.
That will be season three.Etc. Rinse and repeat. So that for
us that feels like a muchbetter way of still being into Doctor
who but not having to forcethe content. And it's the same with
some other Doctor who podcaststhat I've listened to over the years.
I used to listen to loads ofDoctor who podcasts, but nowadays
(08:04):
I think I only listen to aboutfour, three or four podcasts and
I can hear it in some of thehosts voices as well. There's that
kind of, you know, the bigstory that's been doing the rounds
over the last week that's inthe press at the moment. I've heard
other podcasts who have spokenabout that and given their opinions
on it and what the potentialrepercussions if those rumors are
(08:27):
true within that story. I'veheard those guys talk about it in
a kind of. Somebody mentionedit on our discord the other day that
one of the podcasts it wasjust a sense of apathy rather than
kind concern or being toobothered about it. So I've heard
the tone and the way thatother hosts have talked about Doctor
who over the last couple ofmonths that it's just not. There's
(08:51):
not enough meat on the bonesto. To really do a, you know, a quality
weekly Doctor who podcast inmy opinion. You know, for other podcasts
who are still rocking androlling on a weekly or fortnightly
basis, whatever, you know, I'mnot saying anything that your show
isn't quality. That's what.Not what I meant. But for Adam and
I specifically and our opinionon Dr. WHO at this moment, there's
(09:14):
just not enough to dive intoand give you quality content every
single week. So before Iwaffle on any further, in a nutshell,
the Big Blue Box is moving toa seasonal format. And after today's
episode we will be back toreview season two in April. And also
lastly, I think I mentionedit, but the roundtable episodes,
(09:35):
they will continue to go outevery month though. So I love doing
that show with those guys andthe writing team. That's always really
fun and entertaining. So. Andthose guys love doing it. So we're
not going to do anything withthat. That's still going to be a
monthly thing with those guys.So that's an update on the blue box.
But having said that, becausewe haven't spoken to you guys in
a while, we have got a bit ofnews to go through. So first up we
(09:58):
have the, the announcementthat you probably, you guys probably
won't really know this, butjust to recap, Doctor who season
two has now got the start datewhich is Saturday 12th April. It's
going to go out here in the UKat 8am on BBC iPlayer and then later
on in the day it will be airedon BBC1. So that's just in the UK.
(10:19):
The time for BBC1 we're notquite sure yet. It will probably
be around around 7pm ish. Iwould say somewhere between half
six, half seven, even in thattime window somewhere. And it will
also go out obviously onDisney plus. So just convert whatever
(10:39):
time zone you're in, just do aconversion from 8am in the UK to
your time zone. That's likelywhen it's going to land for Disney
plus in your area. So that'sthe, that's the headline news I would
say, is that we now have aseason two proper time now for when
it's gonna go out the 12th ofApril, 8am here in the UK on iPlayer,
(11:01):
later on in the day on BBC Oneand Disney plus internationally in
your time zone. The other bitof news that dropped with alongside
this was that the, if youremember back in the trailer that
they land that they droppedfor this last month, there was that
little snippet of the, thecartoon based episode where it's
got that old school SteamboatMickey cuphead video game old school
(11:26):
animated style thing where itlooks very retro and very cool. We've
now learned that the, that theguest star that's going to play the
character Mr. Ring a ding isgoing to be Alan Cumming, which is
very cool and it's kind of notreally a surprise. I would say they
needed somebody quite, youknow, quite flamboyant and quite,
(11:51):
and quite funny but also veryentertaining at the same time. So
Russell T. Davies says on thisparticular new story that only Alan
Cumming could give a runawaycartoon such wit, malice, danger
and fun. He makes the wholeuniverse of Doctor who wilder and
madder than ever and it's anabsolute honor to welcome him aboard
the tardis. So Alan Cummingwill be starring as that animated
(12:13):
character Mr. Ring a ding,which is cool. A little bit of waffle
for, for that character. He'sa happy, funny, sing along cartoon.
He lives in Sunnytown and hisfriend Sunshine Sally. However, in
1952, after years of repeatsin cinemas across the land, Mr. Ring
(12:33):
A Ding suddenly looks beyondthe screen and sees the real world
outside and the consequencesare terrifying. So that actually
sounds like quite aninteresting concept. I imagine it's
going to be like a RogerRabbit style thing with live action
stuff mixed with animated bitsand bobs. We'll wait and see. But
anyway, season two, set yourcalendars and your times for. For
(12:57):
that sort of stuff. I'd loveto hear your thoughts, actually,
guys, on the time shift onthis one. So with season one here
in the UK, they did themidnight release on BBC iPlayer and
then it went out on BBC Onethe following day and now they've
shifted it. So I'd love your.Your thoughts on what you feel is
a better time to put Doctorwho out. If you, if you love 8am,
(13:19):
if you're an early bird, ifyou want to catch it before work
or whatever, and that's cool.Or did you really like the anticipation
and that if you're a bit of anight owl, did you like the whole
staying up until midnight andchecking out then? So let us know,
hit us up over on the. On Xand there's a link in the show notes
for our social stuff. So,yeah, let us know what you think
to that before I move on withsome of the other stories. And they
(13:42):
are short and sweet. This oneis a follow on from a story that
was in the sun last week. AndI won't go into too much detail because
I've commented on this acouple of times in our Discord and
on some other places where, asyou know, we don't really dwell on.
(14:02):
On big negative stories from,from media outlets such as this,
like the sun, the mirror, thatkind of thing. Now, I will caveat
by saying that in the past,these guys have been correct on a
few things in the past. Sothat's not to say that what these
guys are saying is completelyfalse. There could be some truth
(14:23):
in this stuff, I don't know.But, well, I don't want to dwell
on it too much. It's a bit ofa negative story. It's a follow on.
So last week the sun basicallysaid that Dr. WHO is on the verge
of being cancelled. I saycancelled on a very, very long hiatus.
They've had some, some insiderpeople, some people that worked on
the show who are now a littlebit disgruntled, a little bit miffed
(14:47):
because there doesn't seem tobe any movement forward to season
three and onwards beyond that.So we know that season two was filmed
a while ago. It was filmedvery close, if not directly on from
season one, it was all donetogether and there's just been no,
no progression for seasonthree. We know that Russell T. Davis,
(15:10):
I think is probably got abunch of ideas for season three,
but certainly I don't again,what could be wrong. We don't really
know the ins and outs of it,but I don't think anything's been
put to paper yet for anyspecific stuff for season three.
And we know that Disney havenot committed to Doctor who yet past
season two. So initially, whenthe whole deal was done between the
(15:31):
BBC and Bad Wolf and Disneyplus, we know that they were commissioned
for, I believe it was 26episodes of Doctor who, as in Doctor
who as a whole, not just theshow. So that includes Christmas
specials, spin offs, all thatstuff. So I believe, and I think
somebody did the maths in ourdiscord the other day, that when
(15:52):
you have season one and twotogether, plus the Christmas special,
plus the upcoming spin off theWar Between Land and the sea, that
equals 26 episodes. So that'sit. So we've not heard from Disney
plus or the BBC about a seasonthree, anything beyond that. So the
leaks that the sun newspaper,they printed it earlier on, was that
a load of crew members were abit miffed because Bad Wolf had supposedly
(16:16):
taken down all of the sets forDoctor who, stuck it away in storage
and then started to advertiseon socials and some other media that
they've got loads of studiospace. And the way that they worded
Doctor who was very pasttense. It was like, you know, we've,
we've, we've produced andfilmed, you know, Doctor who here,
blah, blah, blah, basicallysaying that the sets are now gone
(16:38):
and we've got all the studiospace. Any production companies that
want to make a TV show, we'vegot all, everything here that you
need. And then the actualleaks themselves from the staff members
were, excuse me, that they hadnot been told they were going to
be working on Doctor who andsome of the upper management people
had said that. Prepareyourselves for a bit of a break for
(17:02):
Doctor who. The show is goingto go on a bit of a hiatus. It's
going to be anywhere from afive to a ten year break for Doctor
who. To follow on from this,the Sun Today has just put an article
out that's titled Last Doctor,Doctor who set to cancel the Christmas
special episode for the firsttime in six years as show faces being
(17:25):
axed. And again it saysdisgruntled crew are worried for
their jobs. I won't read allof it, but he goes on to say Doctor
who Christmas Special 2025 isset to be scrapped as the show's
future hangs in the balance,it looks very likely the site the
Sci Fi show's festive episodewon't air for the first time in years
(17:45):
after a plunge in ratings.I'll get onto that in a second. So
they go on to say that the BBCfinally confirmed the Doctor who
will return in April, butSchutty is already believed to have
filmed his regeneration exitscene and the crew now fear the BBC
will axe the show altogetherafter 62 years. A source I love that,
(18:08):
a source told the Sun. Thereis a lot of uncertainty surrounding
Dr. WHO at the moment and itlooks like the beloved Christmas
special won't be happening. Itjust seems the EP wasn't commissioned.
People had no doubt be hopingthe next series would be in the bag
and that would include thefestive edition. But things are very
much hanging in the balance asbosses don't even know if Shooty
will be returning at all, letalone if there is time to bash out
(18:31):
a new episode for ChristmasDay, so it's typically filmed a year
in advance. The ChristmasSpecial was expected to be locked
into the schedule, but withthe current 26. Oh yeah, the 26 episode
deal which covered theanniversary specials, the Star Beast,
Wild Blue yonder and thegiggle, plus the 2023, 2024 festive
episodes, two eight episodeseries and five spin offs now nearing
(18:54):
its end. The future show ishanging by a thread, so they're sort
of dramatizing this a littlebit. So as I said, this is a bit
of a knock on and a follow onfrom their previous story about Doctor
who. Now just want to say thatthere was, there's been a few people
that have said in the past,you know, our sources tell us and
blah blah blah, nobody knowsanything about Doctor who at this
(19:18):
point. You can listen toYouTubers talk about this, you can
listen to podcasters say, youknow, we've spoken to people in the
industry, I've spoken topeople at work at Doctor who. Nobody's
saying anything, so don't buyinto that too much. The whole, you
know, it's exactly the same asthis thing with the sun and these
newspaper outlets and mediaoutlets. Nobody knows anything. And
(19:41):
the things that people doknow, it's all the same news. There's
nobody bringing us anythingnew to light here that we don't know
already. So for the pastmonth, maybe more, and Adam and I,
we know people within, if youwant to put it that way, quote Unquote
you know, know on the inside,Adam and I know people involved in
the making of Doctor who andwe have done for years and we've
(20:03):
spoken to those people. It'sall the same stuff. Essentially no
new Doctor who is happening atthis time. Disney plus have not confirmed
publicly that more Doctor whois going to be made conversations
are happening behind thescenes with that stuff. But everybody
just knows the same thingright now, and that is there's just
(20:26):
a little bit of a limboperiod. Now the thing with this is
lots of TV shows have thisthing going on. The only difference
is we're hearing about it dueto supposed leaks and stuff like
that. All of your favorite TVshows that you've ever watched over
the years have all gonethrough this at some point or another.
(20:49):
You just don't know about it.That's the crux of the matter. The
only other time I can think ofthis sort of thing blowing up in
the media was a few years agowhen they were making, when Lucasfilm
was making the Obi Wan series.They, they announced the show, they
announced that filming wasgoing to happen and blah, blah, blah.
(21:11):
And then it leaked that thefilming wasn't going to happen because
the script wasn't right. Theyweren't happy with it and they had
to go back, rewrite some ofthe script that delayed filming,
blah, blah, blah. Fandompicked up on that. Everyone went
nuts saying that the show wasgoing to be cancelled, blah, blah,
blah. And then Ewan McGregorcame out and said, look, everything's
(21:34):
fine. This happens with TV allthe time, where the script will be
done, you'll get to a certainpoint, production's about to kick
off. But then either theproducer, the writer, directors,
combination of people actuallysay, do you know what? This doesn't
feel quite right. We need togo back and tweak the script. We're
going to delay filming, butwe'll come to it, blah, blah, blah.
(21:54):
This is no different to that.All of like your favorite shows that
you speak about in fandom,Game of Thrones, I don't go through
all of them. But, you know,stranger things, all of these things.
They all have delays and limboperiods of some degree. The only
difference is, is that we'rehearing about it through, through
leaks because it's Doctor whoand it's a big franchise, etc. Same
(22:16):
thing happens with Star warsand all that stuff. So what I will
say is, of course there is nosmoke without fire. I get that. You
know, I understand that thereprobably are crew members that are
a bit Miffed at the momentbecause if they don't know what's
going on with the show, ofcourse they are. It's their livelihood,
it's their job. They want tomake sure that Doctor who is going
to be made into the future, sothey have a job, etc. I get that.
(22:38):
And if that's not happeningand there's some frustration there,
then they will speak to mediaoutlets. Media outlets and all that
stuff. So while some part ofme thinks that, yes, there is some
truth to some of this stuff,the other part of me thinks, look,
I wouldn't lose sleep over thefact that the sun newspaper has,
(23:01):
you know, given us the.Through their crystal ball and their
supposed sources and leakshave given us, you know, know, the
concrete update on what'shappening with the future of Doctor
who. I wouldn't go to sleep,you know, on that. But I would say
that, you know, there could besome truth in this stuff. Just don't
worry about it. Just, youknow, carry on, you know, as we always
(23:25):
do with these things. You haveto remember that we've been down
this road before with Doctorwho. And, you know, anytime that
an era of Doctor who is comingto an end and a new doctor is taking
over and all this stuff, wealways have these big stories in
the papers where, you know,something terrible's happened behind
the scenes at the BBC andsomething bad's happening and, and
(23:46):
all that stuff. So anyway, thesun newspaper, following on from
saying that the show is aboutto be axed or put on hiatus now,
saying that as a knock oneffect, the seasonal special, the
Christmas special is nothappening. And I also like to say,
just while on the subject,that as much as it pains me to say
it, and I've said it publiclyfor couple of years now, I honestly
(24:09):
think that putting the show onhiatus is actually a good move. I
do think that's a good, a goodthing. Because, you know, Dr. Who's
not been at its best. I thinkwe can agree on that. It's not been
at its best for a few yearsnow. And I think just because the
show's not had a chance tojust take a breather and just take
(24:32):
stock of what's happening inthe world and all this stuff, it's
just like a steamroller that'sjust constantly going and going and
going and that's fine. Youknow, that's worked for TV shows
that are, you know, like soapsand, you know, things like that and
stuff, you know, you wouldexpect that to just trundle on and
never Take a break and justalways be there. Unless it's Neighbors
(24:56):
or Home and Away, whatever.One was cancelled, but with Doctor
who, I don't know, it doesn'tfeel like. Feels like it's gone on
and on and on and the last fewyears, it's not quite. I mean, I
don't want to get into it.Like, you know, if you love Doctor
who right now, then excellent,you know, that's great. So happy
(25:16):
that you love Doctor who andit's great. I'm not saying that.
And I think Adam and I arealigned on this. I'm not saying that
we. We hate Doctor who or, youknow, or anything like that at all.
Not at all. Just the qualityof the storylines, the. The cohesiveness
of some of this stuff and,yeah, just our enjoyment factor,
which is part of the reasonwhy we're putting the show on. On
(25:38):
a seasonal format, by the way.It's just having to come back every
week and, you know, force thisstuff is not good. So I would say
putting the show on a bit of abreak, a bit of a hiatus is actually
a very good move for the show.You can clean house a little bit,
you can just take a breather,get it back on track to where you
want it to be and. And comeback with a proper, you know, proper
(26:01):
bang and all that stuff. Butwe'll see. We'll see. I'm just going
to close this story out nowbecause I don't want to spend too
much time devoting this stuffto the sun newspaper. But obviously,
if anything does kick off bigNews, if the show gets, you know,
the. The news breaks that it'sbeen commissioned for season three
and four and whatever, onwardsand. And all that stuff. Or if they
(26:21):
go the other way and not axeit, but, you know, put it on a break,
then Adam and I will come backand do a special episode and give
you our thoughts on thatstuff. Right, some other news from
around the Hooniverse. Theninth Doctor and Rose are back for
more adventures. Not on tv, ofcourse. I think Chris Ecclestone
(26:42):
would rather go to his graveat this point in time rather than
having to do the Doctor onscreen anymore. But the Chris Vexant
and Billy Piper are back forbig Finish for audio adventures,
which ties in nicely to theanniversary of those two kicking
off the show back in 2005. So,from Big Finish, the Doctor and Rose
(27:03):
want you to come with themback to the powerless state where
the Doctor's past returns tohaunt him and out into the universe
where enemies, old and new arewaiting. So Chris Eccleston said,
I'm so happy to be backrecording more adventures for the
ninth Doctor with Billy. Idon't think my Doctor exists without
Rose. He's a one man, onecompanion kind of alien. We've explored
(27:27):
him on his own at Big Finishas a loner, but there's resilience,
bravery and a deep empathy forBilly as Rose. That's why I do this.
They come, they complete eachother. Oh, very nice. And Billy Piper
said, I can't think of abetter time for Rose to reunite with
her first doctor than now, 20years after she first ran into the
TARDIS and towards adventure.Here we are again, me and Chris,
(27:50):
ready to have fun facinguniverse and the monsters together.
So this is produced by MattFitten over at Big Finish and they
are going to be available onphysical and downloads. Big Finish
of sort of moved away fromphysical a little bit with certain
stories, but I think this isgoing to be based on. On a. On a
(28:16):
physical release and a digitaldownload. And these are going to
be available in August thisyear. It's just called the Ninth
Doctor Adventures and theCOVID art is very classic. 2005 Doctor
Who. And yeah, there's goingto be some special editions and whatnot.
So you can pick up the thedownload at 9.99 or you can pick
(28:40):
up the the Download plus thecollector's edition CD for 11.99.
Just a note that thecollector's edition CDs are limited
to 1500 copies and you canalso get. Which is quite crazy by
the look of it, you can alsoget a complete series multi by bundle
(29:01):
that will have all 12 releasesavailable to pre order at a special
discounted price of 102 poundsfor downloads, 126 for the download
and the CD again exclusivelyfrom Big Finish. So you can get the
whole lot in one shot as well,which is pretty cool. So, yes, sounds
rather good. The ninth Doctorand Rose back for Big Finish in August
(29:24):
this year. Some TV updatestuff. A little update on the season
two stuff. The actorChristopher Chung will be joining
season two of Doctor who. TheAustralian actor who's in the currently
in the show Slow Horses withGarry Oldman. I think that's on Apple
tv, I believe is apparentlyquite popular in that. And has also
(29:49):
been in the film blitz.There's also a stage actor as well
here in the West End. RussellT. Davis says, I'm a huge fan of
Slow Horses and I was excitedto get Chris involved. He brings
all of his strength and styleand talent to one of the darkest,
toughest episodes we've evermade. As for whether Cassio is an
(30:09):
ally or an enemy of theDoctor, you'll have to wait and see.
But I can promise he's it'sone hell of a meeting. Sounds rather
ominous. And then Chris Jungsaid, thrilled to step into the universe
as Casio for season two. Theshow is legendary and getting to
be a part of this new erafeels surreal. Working with Russell
and Shooty has been a dream.The episode is huge, packed with
(30:29):
everything who fans love,heart, adventure and a touch of madness.
I can't wait for everyone tosee what's in store. It's going to
be iconic. Get ready. Sothey've picked up this episode quite
a lot. Sounds rather good.Anyway, Chris Chung joins the cast
of season two. Some cool stuffhere for Children in Need. Love stories
(30:52):
like this, Daleks and Cybermenhave been sold at auction for Children
in Need. So a special auctionof Doctor who props and costumes
have raised a staggering245,000 pounds for children in need,
which is very cool. So theauctioneer prop store has said more
than 2,000 international fanshave bidded on more than 170 lots.
(31:15):
The biggest earner was a Dalekused on screen for Jodie Whittaker's
final episode that sold for16,000 pounds. We also have the Cyberman
costume from one of PeterCapaldi's stories that went for £15,000.
The Tardis prop used in thebiographical film about the creation
(31:35):
of Doctor who, An Adventure inSpace and time sold for 12,000. Crikey.
The brand director for Doctorwho, Vanessa Hamilton, said, we're
so incredibly proud of theresults of this auction and to support
children need. It's amazing tobe able to share parts Doctor who
with the fan community. Wehope they enjoy owning a piece of
TV history. Several costumeswere on sale as well. The wedding
(31:59):
dress worn by Catherine Tatewas four grand. The highest earner
was was a Whitaker's outfitthat sold for nearly ten grand. The
hand painted recreation of VanGogh's thatch cottage at cord at
Corderville, 1890 that wasused in the the Matt Smith episode
(32:22):
that was eight grand. So loadsof cool stuff, loads of cool stuff
went up for auction. So thatwas a really good cause as well.
And yeah, I love good feelgood stories like that. They've,
they've sold off a load ofprops and raised some good money
for a good cause. So fair,fair play to, to the bee for that
and prop store. Nice one. Andlastly, don't Forget that the Doctor
(32:50):
who Season 7 Blu RayCollection is still available to
order from all the usualoutlets. Now, it's a bit of a weird
one this, because typicallywhen these stories go up, when these,
sorry, these Blu Ray storiesland, Adam and I often say, look,
(33:10):
you have to get in there andpre order these if you want. Now
it has sold out at a couple ofplaces. Rare Waves is one of them.
You can't pre order thatanymore. It's sold out. However,
if you still want one, fearnot, you can still pre order from
today onwards and presumablywhen this lands next Monday, if they've
got any stock, you'll be ableto do that as well. So over at Zavi
(33:32):
and over at Amazon they'vestill got the pre order up for grab.
So it looks like a really goodset. We spoke about this a couple
of months ago when it wasannounced, but it's for season seven,
the John Pertwee era forreally good stories and two amazing
stories. So Spearhead FromSpace, Pertwee's first story, Doctor
and the Solarians, theAmbassadors of Death, and then finishes
(33:53):
off with Inferno. So storiesone and four, absolute classics,
brilliant episodes fromPertwee's era. Really good. And then
the, the other thing that'sreally cool. Adam and I went to the
Spearhead From Space event atthe BFI recently and they played
a trailer for all of thespecial features that are going to
be on this set. It looksfantastic. Really good and a really
(34:17):
emotional one as well. Mostnotably on these Blu Ray box sets,
there's a feature called InConversation where Matthew Sweet
interviews somebody who wasinvolved in the making of that series
and this time he's with JohnLevine who plays Sergeant Benton.
And we got a little uniqueclip of that interview and it looks
(34:37):
really emotional, very, verycool. And then you've got all the
other stuff as well. Behindthe sofa you've got Toby Haydock
doing his usual investigativelittle feature where this time he's
uncovering the story ofMalcolm Hulk. And then you've got
a brand new documentary ormini feature about Nicholas Courtney
(34:58):
and then loads of otherfeatures as well. It looks really
cool. So I know I'm pluggingthis a little bit and I know a ton
of you have already preordered it, but if you haven't yet
go over to I'll put a link inthe show notes to these, go and give
that a pre order and. And it'sout this Monday. And annoyingly I've
already seen people post on,on the Socials that they've got their
set early which is bloodyannoying because I never get my set
(35:21):
early, but there we go. Andthat wraps up the recent news and
what's been going on in theworld of Doctor who. So as I said,
let me know over on X orFacebook what you think to some of
these stories. Have you preordered the box set? Are you looking
forward to it? What are yourviews on this big story about Doctor
who potentially being put onhiatus from the sun and some other
(35:43):
papers? What your views onthat? Come and chat with us in a
discord as well. Would love toknow your thoughts on all this stuff.
And I think on that note wewill wrap there for episode 418.
(36:22):
Thank you. Thank you so muchfor listening to another episode
of the Big Blue Box podcast.That was a our we news wrap up and
a bit of an update on what'sgoing to happen moving forward with
the Big Blue Box. Thank you somuch for staying with us as we've
done this nearly every weekuntil March since March 2014. It's
(36:43):
been so cool to fill you in onwhat's happening with Doctor who
all the time and go throughthe reviews and speak about 60 plus
years of Doctor who. It's beenawesome, but sounds like we're going
away, but we're not. We'regoing to a seasonal format just to
recap and we'll be back inApril to give you our reviews on
season two of Doctor who. Inthe meantime, make sure you're following
(37:06):
or subscribing to the podcast.You can do that in whatever app you
listen to this now on, justmake sure you hit Follow. You won't
miss an announcement whenfuture episodes land. And also just
as a reminder, the monthlyRoundtable chats, they will still
happen as well, every singlemonth. You won't miss those either.
We're on the socials too. X,Facebook, Instagram, Blue sky, all
those things. Head over to thewebsite or just do a search on those
(37:28):
channels. Come and connectwith US and chat Doctor who. You
can check out the websitebigblueboxpodcast.co.uk for those
things. Plus all the articlesand reviews and whatnot from the
writing team. Go and checkthose out. And also don't forget
to remember to check out my cohost channel Adam's YouTube stuff.
It's called the Geek'sHandbag. Loads of cool geekery stuff
(37:49):
there. Grab a tea, grab acoffee and just check out all of
Adam's stuff. It's the Geek'sHandbag and he's on the socials under
the same name. So until nexttime. Take care of yourselves. And
remember.
Foreign. Hey, hey, hey whofans and welcome to the Big Blue
(00:21):
Box Podcast. My name's Garryand Welcome to episode 418. It's
been a little while. Of courseit's been a little while. A minute
(00:42):
before we had a podcastepisode out, but welcome back nonetheless.
I hope you're keeping well andsafe and that you've all managed
to do something. Doctor whoreally did it. Sir Garry solo show,
as you might have guessed.Nobody to interrupt me, nobody to
butt in. Try and get therefirst with the related. Normally
Adam gives that a go, but, youknow, due to his wi fi, it's a bit
(01:06):
of a fail most of the timefrom old Adam. But yeah, I hope you
guys are keeping well. Theround table landed last week. Was
it last week or this week?This week, sorry. Yeah, the February
Roundtable landed this week.That was a really good laugh, that
one. So that was myself,Harry, Maria and Matt and we spoke
about just some, someValentine's goodness for Doctor who
(01:30):
as it's the. The month of loveand, and all that stuff. We picked
out some cool companions welove to go on a date with and you
know, all that stuff. It was areal, just fun, silly episode. Good
laugh though. Those guys arealways entertaining, so check that
out. If you've not listenedyet, you can do that by making sure
you're following orsubscribing to the podcast in your
fave podcast app of choice.That way you won't miss an episode
(01:53):
when it lands. Mostly on aweekly basis when there's stuff to
talk about. Which is going tolead me into. Sorry, we're on the
social too, by the way. Finishthis stuff up. We're on the socials
too, and we're on Instagram X,Facebook, Instagram, Blue sky, all
of that stuff. If you justhead over to the website, which is
(02:13):
bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk, thereare links to those things. Give us
a like and a follow on thosechannels. We chat Doctor who all
the time in between episodesand all that stuff. And we have a
really cool free Discordserver. Loads of chat always going
on in there. So you can find alink to that on the website as well.
And while you're on thewebsite, remember to check out all
(02:34):
of the reviews and editorialpieces and all that stuff from the
writing team. Some really coolstuff there. Loads of big finish
reviews, all of that stuff. Goand check that all out. Now before
I get onto the news, just wantto talk to you guys a little bit
about the big blue box movingforward. So a couple of months ago
I put a blog post out on the,on the website which was about what's
(02:59):
going to happen with the, thepodcast and, and everything moving
forward. That was the middleof January. It was a, an announcement
article that went through thenew podcasting network that we've
created called Cosmic Echoes,which Big Blue Box falls inside of
that. Our new podcast forBlake 7 called Federation Strike,
(03:22):
which has been going so well,by the way, if you've not checked
out that show, if you're a fanof Blake 7, then go and check that
out. There's a link to theshow notes in that for that and also
a little bit of what's goingto go on with the Big Blue Box. In
that article. I said that theBig Blue Box is our, still our mainstay
show. It's not going anywhere,don't worry. We're still going to
(03:42):
bring you content, etc. Andwe're still going to do the round
tables and all that stuff.Now, what I'd like to say about the
frequency of, of our episodesmoving forward, Adam and I have made
the decision to move the BigBlue Box to a seasonal format. So
what that means is, and Ialluded to this a little bit in the
(04:04):
article, but instead of ustrying to do a weekly episode all
the time, every which it'sjust a bit difficult when Adam travels
quite a bit. He's over in theUS half the year, he's back here
in the UK half the year. Sotime zones are a bit difficult sometimes
to, to do that stuff. Coupledwith the fact that, like it or not,
(04:27):
there's just not as much newskicking around with Doctor who these
days. And I'm not talkingabout sort of the ramp up news for
when there's a new seriesabout to start like we are now with
season two, that's just aroundthe corner. I'm not talking about
that stuff. I mean in general,when there's no news about spin offs,
there's no news about what'shappening with the show in general,
(04:49):
there's no merch to talk aboutall of that stuff. It's just a little
bit, a bit thin on the groundessentially for Doctor who content.
So as a result of thosethings, Adam and I are not going
to do a weekly podcast anymorefor the Big Blue Box. Now that doesn't
mean that these are goingaway, not at all. We will still come
(05:10):
back and do a block ofepisodes as seasons. So what that
means essentially is whenseason two lands next month, sorry,
in April, we will come backand we will do a weekly episode as
we go through that series. Sowe'll be, I don't know how many episodes
there's going to be in seasontwo. I honestly can't remember. I
(05:32):
did know. I can't remember.But say, for example, if there's
10 episodes, Adam and I willbe back for 10 weeks and we review
every episode and then we'llprobably do a bit of a wrap up show
as a bit of a bonus EP and soon. And then when the spin off arrives,
we'll come back and we'llreview that and that'll be another
season of shows and we'll dothat and then when the Christmas
special comes in and we'll dothat and we're also going to add
(05:52):
in, also as bonus episodes, afew of the little animated episodes
or animated stories. Sorrythat we haven't reviewed yet. So,
as you know, longtimelisteners, the grizzled ancients,
you guys will know that overthe last decade we've reviewed pretty
much everything of Dr. Who,all of, all of classic who, bar some
of the animated stuff for theLost episodes, all of modern who
(06:14):
spin offs, Torchwood class,you know, the whole thing, we've
done it all. But there aresome animated bits left, so we're
going to add those in as bonusepisodes and around the seasons.
So that's the, that's the dealwith the big blue box. It's absolutely
not going anywhere. We're notcanceling the show, we're not doing
any of that stuff. It's just away of us to maintain our enthusiasm
(06:37):
for Doctor who while alsogiving you guys some actual content
to listen to. And don't get mewrong, if there's some really big
news that lands to do with theshow at some point, then Adam and
I will, uh, obviously maketime and hop on and do a sort of
a one off episode to fill youguys in. But for now, that's what's
gonna happen moving forward.So after today, which is Friday 28th
(07:00):
February, then we would, wewould then move to the seasonal stuff.
So you won't hear from us nowin terms of the weekly episode until
season two lands in April,which will be. So what I'm gonna
do is all of the content thatwe've done Thus far since March 2014,
(07:21):
believe it or not, everythingthat we've done up to now, I'm just
essentially going to lump intoa bucket and call it season one.
And that's going to be all ofour content up to now. When we Come
back in April to review shoothis new season. I'll call that the
big blue box. Season two.We'll review all that when the spin
(07:42):
off arrives. The war betweenland and the sea will come back.
That will be season three.Etc. Rinse and repeat. So that for
us that feels like a muchbetter way of still being into Doctor
who but not having to forcethe content. And it's the same with
some other Doctor who podcaststhat I've listened to over the years.
I used to listen to loads ofDoctor who podcasts, but nowadays
(08:04):
I think I only listen to aboutfour, three or four podcasts and
I can hear it in some of thehosts voices as well. There's that
kind of, you know, the bigstory that's been doing the rounds
over the last week that's inthe press at the moment. I've heard
other podcasts who have spokenabout that and given their opinions
on it and what the potentialrepercussions if those rumors are
(08:27):
true within that story. I'veheard those guys talk about it in
a kind of. Somebody mentionedit on our discord the other day that
one of the podcasts it wasjust a sense of apathy rather than
kind concern or being toobothered about it. So I've heard
the tone and the way thatother hosts have talked about Doctor
who over the last couple ofmonths that it's just not. There's
(08:51):
not enough meat on the bonesto. To really do a, you know, a quality
weekly Doctor who podcast inmy opinion. You know, for other podcasts
who are still rocking androlling on a weekly or fortnightly
basis, whatever, you know, I'mnot saying anything that your show
isn't quality. That's what.Not what I meant. But for Adam and
I specifically and our opinionon Dr. WHO at this moment, there's
(09:14):
just not enough to dive intoand give you quality content every
single week. So before Iwaffle on any further, in a nutshell,
the Big Blue Box is moving toa seasonal format. And after today's
episode we will be back toreview season two in April. And also
lastly, I think I mentionedit, but the roundtable episodes,
(09:35):
they will continue to go outevery month though. So I love doing
that show with those guys andthe writing team. That's always really
fun and entertaining. So. Andthose guys love doing it. So we're
not going to do anything withthat. That's still going to be a
monthly thing with those guys.So that's an update on the blue box.
But having said that, becausewe haven't spoken to you guys in
a while, we have got a bit ofnews to go through. So first up we
(09:58):
have the, the announcementthat you probably, you guys probably
won't really know this, butjust to recap, Doctor who season
two has now got the start datewhich is Saturday 12th April. It's
going to go out here in the UKat 8am on BBC iPlayer and then later
on in the day it will be airedon BBC1. So that's just in the UK.
(10:19):
The time for BBC1 we're notquite sure yet. It will probably
be around around 7pm ish. Iwould say somewhere between half
six, half seven, even in thattime window somewhere. And it will
also go out obviously onDisney plus. So just convert whatever
(10:39):
time zone you're in, just do aconversion from 8am in the UK to
your time zone. That's likelywhen it's going to land for Disney
plus in your area. So that'sthe, that's the headline news I would
say, is that we now have aseason two proper time now for when
it's gonna go out the 12th ofApril, 8am here in the UK on iPlayer,
(11:01):
later on in the day on BBC Oneand Disney plus internationally in
your time zone. The other bitof news that dropped with alongside
this was that the, if youremember back in the trailer that
they land that they droppedfor this last month, there was that
little snippet of the, thecartoon based episode where it's
got that old school SteamboatMickey cuphead video game old school
(11:26):
animated style thing where itlooks very retro and very cool. We've
now learned that the, that theguest star that's going to play the
character Mr. Ring a ding isgoing to be Alan Cumming, which is
very cool and it's kind of notreally a surprise. I would say they
needed somebody quite, youknow, quite flamboyant and quite,
(11:51):
and quite funny but also veryentertaining at the same time. So
Russell T. Davies says on thisparticular new story that only Alan
Cumming could give a runawaycartoon such wit, malice, danger
and fun. He makes the wholeuniverse of Doctor who wilder and
madder than ever and it's anabsolute honor to welcome him aboard
the tardis. So Alan Cummingwill be starring as that animated
(12:13):
character Mr. Ring a ding,which is cool. A little bit of waffle
for, for that character. He'sa happy, funny, sing along cartoon.
He lives in Sunnytown and hisfriend Sunshine Sally. However, in
1952, after years of repeatsin cinemas across the land, Mr. Ring
(12:33):
A Ding suddenly looks beyondthe screen and sees the real world
outside and the consequencesare terrifying. So that actually
sounds like quite aninteresting concept. I imagine it's
going to be like a RogerRabbit style thing with live action
stuff mixed with animated bitsand bobs. We'll wait and see. But
anyway, season two, set yourcalendars and your times for. For
(12:57):
that sort of stuff. I'd loveto hear your thoughts, actually,
guys, on the time shift onthis one. So with season one here
in the UK, they did themidnight release on BBC iPlayer and
then it went out on BBC Onethe following day and now they've
shifted it. So I'd love your.Your thoughts on what you feel is
a better time to put Doctorwho out. If you, if you love 8am,
(13:19):
if you're an early bird, ifyou want to catch it before work
or whatever, and that's cool.Or did you really like the anticipation
and that if you're a bit of anight owl, did you like the whole
staying up until midnight andchecking out then? So let us know,
hit us up over on the. On Xand there's a link in the show notes
for our social stuff. So,yeah, let us know what you think
to that before I move on withsome of the other stories. And they
(13:42):
are short and sweet. This oneis a follow on from a story that
was in the sun last week. AndI won't go into too much detail because
I've commented on this acouple of times in our Discord and
on some other places where, asyou know, we don't really dwell on.
(14:02):
On big negative stories from,from media outlets such as this,
like the sun, the mirror, thatkind of thing. Now, I will caveat
by saying that in the past,these guys have been correct on a
few things in the past. Sothat's not to say that what these
guys are saying is completelyfalse. There could be some truth
(14:23):
in this stuff, I don't know.But, well, I don't want to dwell
on it too much. It's a bit ofa negative story. It's a follow on.
So last week the sun basicallysaid that Dr. WHO is on the verge
of being cancelled. I saycancelled on a very, very long hiatus.
They've had some, some insiderpeople, some people that worked on
the show who are now a littlebit disgruntled, a little bit miffed
(14:47):
because there doesn't seem tobe any movement forward to season
three and onwards beyond that.So we know that season two was filmed
a while ago. It was filmedvery close, if not directly on from
season one, it was all donetogether and there's just been no,
no progression for seasonthree. We know that Russell T. Davis,
(15:10):
I think is probably got abunch of ideas for season three,
but certainly I don't again,what could be wrong. We don't really
know the ins and outs of it,but I don't think anything's been
put to paper yet for anyspecific stuff for season three.
And we know that Disney havenot committed to Doctor who yet past
season two. So initially, whenthe whole deal was done between the
(15:31):
BBC and Bad Wolf and Disneyplus, we know that they were commissioned
for, I believe it was 26episodes of Doctor who, as in Doctor
who as a whole, not just theshow. So that includes Christmas
specials, spin offs, all thatstuff. So I believe, and I think
somebody did the maths in ourdiscord the other day, that when
(15:52):
you have season one and twotogether, plus the Christmas special,
plus the upcoming spin off theWar Between Land and the sea, that
equals 26 episodes. So that'sit. So we've not heard from Disney
plus or the BBC about a seasonthree, anything beyond that. So the
leaks that the sun newspaper,they printed it earlier on, was that
a load of crew members were abit miffed because Bad Wolf had supposedly
(16:16):
taken down all of the sets forDoctor who, stuck it away in storage
and then started to advertiseon socials and some other media that
they've got loads of studiospace. And the way that they worded
Doctor who was very pasttense. It was like, you know, we've,
we've, we've produced andfilmed, you know, Doctor who here,
blah, blah, blah, basicallysaying that the sets are now gone
(16:38):
and we've got all the studiospace. Any production companies that
want to make a TV show, we'vegot all, everything here that you
need. And then the actualleaks themselves from the staff members
were, excuse me, that they hadnot been told they were going to
be working on Doctor who andsome of the upper management people
had said that. Prepareyourselves for a bit of a break for
(17:02):
Doctor who. The show is goingto go on a bit of a hiatus. It's
going to be anywhere from afive to a ten year break for Doctor
who. To follow on from this,the Sun Today has just put an article
out that's titled Last Doctor,Doctor who set to cancel the Christmas
special episode for the firsttime in six years as show faces being
(17:25):
axed. And again it saysdisgruntled crew are worried for
their jobs. I won't read allof it, but he goes on to say Doctor
who Christmas Special 2025 isset to be scrapped as the show's
future hangs in the balance,it looks very likely the site the
Sci Fi show's festive episodewon't air for the first time in years
(17:45):
after a plunge in ratings.I'll get onto that in a second. So
they go on to say that the BBCfinally confirmed the Doctor who
will return in April, butSchutty is already believed to have
filmed his regeneration exitscene and the crew now fear the BBC
will axe the show altogetherafter 62 years. A source I love that,
(18:08):
a source told the Sun. Thereis a lot of uncertainty surrounding
Dr. WHO at the moment and itlooks like the beloved Christmas
special won't be happening. Itjust seems the EP wasn't commissioned.
People had no doubt be hopingthe next series would be in the bag
and that would include thefestive edition. But things are very
much hanging in the balance asbosses don't even know if Shooty
will be returning at all, letalone if there is time to bash out
(18:31):
a new episode for ChristmasDay, so it's typically filmed a year
in advance. The ChristmasSpecial was expected to be locked
into the schedule, but withthe current 26. Oh yeah, the 26 episode
deal which covered theanniversary specials, the Star Beast,
Wild Blue yonder and thegiggle, plus the 2023, 2024 festive
episodes, two eight episodeseries and five spin offs now nearing
(18:54):
its end. The future show ishanging by a thread, so they're sort
of dramatizing this a littlebit. So as I said, this is a bit
of a knock on and a follow onfrom their previous story about Doctor
who. Now just want to say thatthere was, there's been a few people
that have said in the past,you know, our sources tell us and
blah blah blah, nobody knowsanything about Doctor who at this
(19:18):
point. You can listen toYouTubers talk about this, you can
listen to podcasters say, youknow, we've spoken to people in the
industry, I've spoken topeople at work at Doctor who. Nobody's
saying anything, so don't buyinto that too much. The whole, you
know, it's exactly the same asthis thing with the sun and these
newspaper outlets and mediaoutlets. Nobody knows anything. And
(19:41):
the things that people doknow, it's all the same news. There's
nobody bringing us anythingnew to light here that we don't know
already. So for the pastmonth, maybe more, and Adam and I,
we know people within, if youwant to put it that way, quote Unquote
you know, know on the inside,Adam and I know people involved in
the making of Doctor who andwe have done for years and we've
(20:03):
spoken to those people. It'sall the same stuff. Essentially no
new Doctor who is happening atthis time. Disney plus have not confirmed
publicly that more Doctor whois going to be made conversations
are happening behind thescenes with that stuff. But everybody
just knows the same thingright now, and that is there's just
(20:26):
a little bit of a limboperiod. Now the thing with this is
lots of TV shows have thisthing going on. The only difference
is we're hearing about it dueto supposed leaks and stuff like
that. All of your favorite TVshows that you've ever watched over
the years have all gonethrough this at some point or another.
(20:49):
You just don't know about it.That's the crux of the matter. The
only other time I can think ofthis sort of thing blowing up in
the media was a few years agowhen they were making, when Lucasfilm
was making the Obi Wan series.They, they announced the show, they
announced that filming wasgoing to happen and blah, blah, blah.
(21:11):
And then it leaked that thefilming wasn't going to happen because
the script wasn't right. Theyweren't happy with it and they had
to go back, rewrite some ofthe script that delayed filming,
blah, blah, blah. Fandompicked up on that. Everyone went
nuts saying that the show wasgoing to be cancelled, blah, blah,
blah. And then Ewan McGregorcame out and said, look, everything's
(21:34):
fine. This happens with TV allthe time, where the script will be
done, you'll get to a certainpoint, production's about to kick
off. But then either theproducer, the writer, directors,
combination of people actuallysay, do you know what? This doesn't
feel quite right. We need togo back and tweak the script. We're
going to delay filming, butwe'll come to it, blah, blah, blah.
(21:54):
This is no different to that.All of like your favorite shows that
you speak about in fandom,Game of Thrones, I don't go through
all of them. But, you know,stranger things, all of these things.
They all have delays and limboperiods of some degree. The only
difference is, is that we'rehearing about it through, through
leaks because it's Doctor whoand it's a big franchise, etc. Same
(22:16):
thing happens with Star warsand all that stuff. So what I will
say is, of course there is nosmoke without fire. I get that. You
know, I understand that thereprobably are crew members that are
a bit Miffed at the momentbecause if they don't know what's
going on with the show, ofcourse they are. It's their livelihood,
it's their job. They want tomake sure that Doctor who is going
to be made into the future, sothey have a job, etc. I get that.
(22:38):
And if that's not happeningand there's some frustration there,
then they will speak to mediaoutlets. Media outlets and all that
stuff. So while some part ofme thinks that, yes, there is some
truth to some of this stuff,the other part of me thinks, look,
I wouldn't lose sleep over thefact that the sun newspaper has,
(23:01):
you know, given us the.Through their crystal ball and their
supposed sources and leakshave given us, you know, know, the
concrete update on what'shappening with the future of Doctor
who. I wouldn't go to sleep,you know, on that. But I would say
that, you know, there could besome truth in this stuff. Just don't
worry about it. Just, youknow, carry on, you know, as we always
(23:25):
do with these things. You haveto remember that we've been down
this road before with Doctorwho. And, you know, anytime that
an era of Doctor who is comingto an end and a new doctor is taking
over and all this stuff, wealways have these big stories in
the papers where, you know,something terrible's happened behind
the scenes at the BBC andsomething bad's happening and, and
(23:46):
all that stuff. So anyway, thesun newspaper, following on from
saying that the show is aboutto be axed or put on hiatus now,
saying that as a knock oneffect, the seasonal special, the
Christmas special is nothappening. And I also like to say,
just while on the subject,that as much as it pains me to say
it, and I've said it publiclyfor couple of years now, I honestly
(24:09):
think that putting the show onhiatus is actually a good move. I
do think that's a good, a goodthing. Because, you know, Dr. Who's
not been at its best. I thinkwe can agree on that. It's not been
at its best for a few yearsnow. And I think just because the
show's not had a chance tojust take a breather and just take
(24:32):
stock of what's happening inthe world and all this stuff, it's
just like a steamroller that'sjust constantly going and going and
going and that's fine. Youknow, that's worked for TV shows
that are, you know, like soapsand, you know, things like that and
stuff, you know, you wouldexpect that to just trundle on and
never Take a break and justalways be there. Unless it's Neighbors
(24:56):
or Home and Away, whatever.One was cancelled, but with Doctor
who, I don't know, it doesn'tfeel like. Feels like it's gone on
and on and on and the last fewyears, it's not quite. I mean, I
don't want to get into it.Like, you know, if you love Doctor
who right now, then excellent,you know, that's great. So happy
(25:16):
that you love Doctor who andit's great. I'm not saying that.
And I think Adam and I arealigned on this. I'm not saying that
we. We hate Doctor who or, youknow, or anything like that at all.
Not at all. Just the qualityof the storylines, the. The cohesiveness
of some of this stuff and,yeah, just our enjoyment factor,
which is part of the reasonwhy we're putting the show on. On
(25:38):
a seasonal format, by the way.It's just having to come back every
week and, you know, force thisstuff is not good. So I would say
putting the show on a bit of abreak, a bit of a hiatus is actually
a very good move for the show.You can clean house a little bit,
you can just take a breather,get it back on track to where you
want it to be and. And comeback with a proper, you know, proper
(26:01):
bang and all that stuff. Butwe'll see. We'll see. I'm just going
to close this story out nowbecause I don't want to spend too
much time devoting this stuffto the sun newspaper. But obviously,
if anything does kick off bigNews, if the show gets, you know,
the. The news breaks that it'sbeen commissioned for season three
and four and whatever, onwardsand. And all that stuff. Or if they
(26:21):
go the other way and not axeit, but, you know, put it on a break,
then Adam and I will come backand do a special episode and give
you our thoughts on thatstuff. Right, some other news from
around the Hooniverse. Theninth Doctor and Rose are back for
more adventures. Not on tv, ofcourse. I think Chris Ecclestone
(26:42):
would rather go to his graveat this point in time rather than
having to do the Doctor onscreen anymore. But the Chris Vexant
and Billy Piper are back forbig Finish for audio adventures,
which ties in nicely to theanniversary of those two kicking
off the show back in 2005. So,from Big Finish, the Doctor and Rose
(27:03):
want you to come with themback to the powerless state where
the Doctor's past returns tohaunt him and out into the universe
where enemies, old and new arewaiting. So Chris Eccleston said,
I'm so happy to be backrecording more adventures for the
ninth Doctor with Billy. Idon't think my Doctor exists without
Rose. He's a one man, onecompanion kind of alien. We've explored
(27:27):
him on his own at Big Finishas a loner, but there's resilience,
bravery and a deep empathy forBilly as Rose. That's why I do this.
They come, they complete eachother. Oh, very nice. And Billy Piper
said, I can't think of abetter time for Rose to reunite with
her first doctor than now, 20years after she first ran into the
TARDIS and towards adventure.Here we are again, me and Chris,
(27:50):
ready to have fun facinguniverse and the monsters together.
So this is produced by MattFitten over at Big Finish and they
are going to be available onphysical and downloads. Big Finish
of sort of moved away fromphysical a little bit with certain
stories, but I think this isgoing to be based on. On a. On a
(28:16):
physical release and a digitaldownload. And these are going to
be available in August thisyear. It's just called the Ninth
Doctor Adventures and theCOVID art is very classic. 2005 Doctor
Who. And yeah, there's goingto be some special editions and whatnot.
So you can pick up the thedownload at 9.99 or you can pick
(28:40):
up the the Download plus thecollector's edition CD for 11.99.
Just a note that thecollector's edition CDs are limited
to 1500 copies and you canalso get. Which is quite crazy by
the look of it, you can alsoget a complete series multi by bundle
(29:01):
that will have all 12 releasesavailable to pre order at a special
discounted price of 102 poundsfor downloads, 126 for the download
and the CD again exclusivelyfrom Big Finish. So you can get the
whole lot in one shot as well,which is pretty cool. So, yes, sounds
rather good. The ninth Doctorand Rose back for Big Finish in August
(29:24):
this year. Some TV updatestuff. A little update on the season
two stuff. The actorChristopher Chung will be joining
season two of Doctor who. TheAustralian actor who's in the currently
in the show Slow Horses withGarry Oldman. I think that's on Apple
tv, I believe is apparentlyquite popular in that. And has also
(29:49):
been in the film blitz.There's also a stage actor as well
here in the West End. RussellT. Davis says, I'm a huge fan of
Slow Horses and I was excitedto get Chris involved. He brings
all of his strength and styleand talent to one of the darkest,
toughest episodes we've evermade. As for whether Cassio is an
(30:09):
ally or an enemy of theDoctor, you'll have to wait and see.
But I can promise he's it'sone hell of a meeting. Sounds rather
ominous. And then Chris Jungsaid, thrilled to step into the universe
as Casio for season two. Theshow is legendary and getting to
be a part of this new erafeels surreal. Working with Russell
and Shooty has been a dream.The episode is huge, packed with
(30:29):
everything who fans love,heart, adventure and a touch of madness.
I can't wait for everyone tosee what's in store. It's going to
be iconic. Get ready. Sothey've picked up this episode quite
a lot. Sounds rather good.Anyway, Chris Chung joins the cast
of season two. Some cool stuffhere for Children in Need. Love stories
(30:52):
like this, Daleks and Cybermenhave been sold at auction for Children
in Need. So a special auctionof Doctor who props and costumes
have raised a staggering245,000 pounds for children in need,
which is very cool. So theauctioneer prop store has said more
than 2,000 international fanshave bidded on more than 170 lots.
(31:15):
The biggest earner was a Dalekused on screen for Jodie Whittaker's
final episode that sold for16,000 pounds. We also have the Cyberman
costume from one of PeterCapaldi's stories that went for £15,000.
The Tardis prop used in thebiographical film about the creation
(31:35):
of Doctor who, An Adventure inSpace and time sold for 12,000. Crikey.
The brand director for Doctorwho, Vanessa Hamilton, said, we're
so incredibly proud of theresults of this auction and to support
children need. It's amazing tobe able to share parts Doctor who
with the fan community. Wehope they enjoy owning a piece of
TV history. Several costumeswere on sale as well. The wedding
(31:59):
dress worn by Catherine Tatewas four grand. The highest earner
was was a Whitaker's outfitthat sold for nearly ten grand. The
hand painted recreation of VanGogh's thatch cottage at cord at
Corderville, 1890 that wasused in the the Matt Smith episode
(32:22):
that was eight grand. So loadsof cool stuff, loads of cool stuff
went up for auction. So thatwas a really good cause as well.
And yeah, I love good feelgood stories like that. They've,
they've sold off a load ofprops and raised some good money
for a good cause. So fair,fair play to, to the bee for that
and prop store. Nice one. Andlastly, don't Forget that the Doctor
(32:50):
who Season 7 Blu RayCollection is still available to
order from all the usualoutlets. Now, it's a bit of a weird
one this, because typicallywhen these stories go up, when these,
sorry, these Blu Ray storiesland, Adam and I often say, look,
(33:10):
you have to get in there andpre order these if you want. Now
it has sold out at a couple ofplaces. Rare Waves is one of them.
You can't pre order thatanymore. It's sold out. However,
if you still want one, fearnot, you can still pre order from
today onwards and presumablywhen this lands next Monday, if they've
got any stock, you'll be ableto do that as well. So over at Zavi
(33:32):
and over at Amazon they'vestill got the pre order up for grab.
So it looks like a really goodset. We spoke about this a couple
of months ago when it wasannounced, but it's for season seven,
the John Pertwee era forreally good stories and two amazing
stories. So Spearhead FromSpace, Pertwee's first story, Doctor
and the Solarians, theAmbassadors of Death, and then finishes
(33:53):
off with Inferno. So storiesone and four, absolute classics,
brilliant episodes fromPertwee's era. Really good. And then
the, the other thing that'sreally cool. Adam and I went to the
Spearhead From Space event atthe BFI recently and they played
a trailer for all of thespecial features that are going to
be on this set. It looksfantastic. Really good and a really
(34:17):
emotional one as well. Mostnotably on these Blu Ray box sets,
there's a feature called InConversation where Matthew Sweet
interviews somebody who wasinvolved in the making of that series
and this time he's with JohnLevine who plays Sergeant Benton.
And we got a little uniqueclip of that interview and it looks
(34:37):
really emotional, very, verycool. And then you've got all the
other stuff as well. Behindthe sofa you've got Toby Haydock
doing his usual investigativelittle feature where this time he's
uncovering the story ofMalcolm Hulk. And then you've got
a brand new documentary ormini feature about Nicholas Courtney
(34:58):
and then loads of otherfeatures as well. It looks really
cool. So I know I'm pluggingthis a little bit and I know a ton
of you have already preordered it, but if you haven't yet
go over to I'll put a link inthe show notes to these, go and give
that a pre order and. And it'sout this Monday. And annoyingly I've
already seen people post on,on the Socials that they've got their
set early which is bloodyannoying because I never get my set
(35:21):
early, but there we go. Andthat wraps up the recent news and
what's been going on in theworld of Doctor who. So as I said,
let me know over on X orFacebook what you think to some of
these stories. Have you preordered the box set? Are you looking
forward to it? What are yourviews on this big story about Doctor
who potentially being put onhiatus from the sun and some other
(35:43):
papers? What your views onthat? Come and chat with us in a
discord as well. Would love toknow your thoughts on all this stuff.
And I think on that note wewill wrap there for episode 418.
(36:22):
Thank you. Thank you so muchfor listening to another episode
of the Big Blue Box podcast.That was a our we news wrap up and
a bit of an update on what'sgoing to happen moving forward with
the Big Blue Box. Thank you somuch for staying with us as we've
done this nearly every weekuntil March since March 2014. It's
(36:43):
been so cool to fill you in onwhat's happening with Doctor who
all the time and go throughthe reviews and speak about 60 plus
years of Doctor who. It's beenawesome, but sounds like we're going
away, but we're not. We'regoing to a seasonal format just to
recap and we'll be back inApril to give you our reviews on
season two of Doctor who. Inthe meantime, make sure you're following
(37:06):
or subscribing to the podcast.You can do that in whatever app you
listen to this now on, justmake sure you hit Follow. You won't
miss an announcement whenfuture episodes land. And also just
as a reminder, the monthlyRoundtable chats, they will still
happen as well, every singlemonth. You won't miss those either.
We're on the socials too. X,Facebook, Instagram, Blue sky, all
those things. Head over to thewebsite or just do a search on those
(37:28):
channels. Come and connectwith US and chat Doctor who. You
can check out the websitebigblueboxpodcast.co.uk for those
things. Plus all the articlesand reviews and whatnot from the
writing team. Go and checkthose out. And also don't forget
to remember to check out my cohost channel Adam's YouTube stuff.
It's called the Geek'sHandbag. Loads of cool geekery stuff
(37:49):
there. Grab a tea, grab acoffee and just check out all of
Adam's stuff. It's the Geek'sHandbag and he's on the socials under
the same name. So until nexttime. Take care of yourselves. And
remember.
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