Dalek Cake

Stacked Cakes have posted an article about a Dalek shaped cake. Not sure what else I can add to that, I think it pretty much sums it up! Check it out, it looks absolutely fantastic and I kinda really want to eat it!

Torchwood: The New World Synopsis

The Doctor Who News Page has posted a brief synopsis of The New World, the upcoming 10 part Torchwood story. It’s quite vague, but it does sound cool.

When C.I.A. agent Rex Matheson investigates a global conspiracy, he finds himself unearthing a threat which challenges the entire human race. The answers seem to lie within an old, secret British institute, known only as Torchwood. But Torchwood was destroyed, years ago, and the keys to the institute are held by its only two survivors – former Police Officer Gwen Cooper, who has long since disappeared along with her husband and child, and the mysterious Captain Jack Harkness, a man whose history seems to stretch back centuries.

With Rex under attack from all sides, in both the US and the UK, he soon discovers there are forces at work within every level of society, determined to stop Torchwood’s return. As a chain of events across the world links together the most disparate and unlikely individuals – including a surgeon, a killer, senators and CEOs – a new Torchwood team takes shape. But this time, the threat is much closer to home, as they realize that their greatest enemy is mankind itself…

I just really hope it comes close to being as amazing as Children of Earth, which was easily the best Torchwood story ever.

Torchwood Season 4 Writers

According to the Chicago Tribune (via The Doctor Who News Page), Russell T Davies has announced the writers he’ll be working with on season 4 of Torchwood. They are John Shiban, Doris Egan, Jane Espenson and John Fay.

I’ve not heard of the first two, but have seen some of the shows they’ve worked on, John Fay wrote episodes of Children of Earth and is therefore awesome and Jane Espenson…well she was involved in my favourite TV show of all time, so I’m REALLY happy she’s involved. The idea of someone who has worked on Battlestar Galactica doing something equally as dark in Torchwood is really cool.

New iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpapers

I’ve added a couple of new wallpapers that can be used on the iPhone and iPod Touch. To use them, just put them in a folder and sync that to your device.

Christmas Special Guest Stars

The BBC have announced that the 2010 Christmas Special will guest star Michael Gambon, best known for…well…loads of movies and a corner on the Top Gear track and Katherine Jenkins; who is best known for singing!

In the same press release, Steven Moffat commented on the special itself:

Oh, we’re going for broke with this one. It’s all your favourite Christmas movies at once, in an hour, with monsters and the Doctor and a honeymoon and – oh, you’ll see. I’ve honestly never been so excited about writing anything.

The Christmas Specials are nearly always an excuse to have a bit of fun and not take thing seriously. The only exception of course is The End of Time Part 1. What this also means is that there’s a good chance that if you’re wandering around Cardiff in the near future you’ll be seeing Christmas trees!

Sonic Screwdriver…Screwdriver

So there I was, randomly looking at things on the Forbidden Planet website when I came across something that clearly should have existed years ago…a Sonic Screwdriver shaped screwdriver! This particular one is in the shape of the 11th Doctors sonic and has removable heads so that it can be used on various types and sizes of screw.

It’s pure genius and I’m totally getting one when it’s released! Question is, how has it taken this long to create this?!

Doctor Who: Simpsons Style

Springfield Punx have been working on Simpsonising Doctor Who, and the results are just fantastic. The Doctor with Fez and mop and the TARDIS are great, and Amy just looks adorable as a Simpsons character. It’s a shame there aren’t more, I’d be interested in seeing a Cyberman and even a Sontaran being given the same cartoon treatment!

Retro Review: Genesis of the Daleks

I decided to re-watch Genesis of the Daleks as I have not seen it in years. It was interesting to revisit the creation of the Daleks and witness their initial steps in becoming the most feared species in the universe.

The first this that is striking is how much the Kaleds are like the Nazi’s. It’s not surprising considering the Daleks want to wipe out all non-Dalek species but it could be seen as a bit too obvious. From the black SS style uniforms to the saluting, it was clear from the start that these were the bad guys. Nyder was a perfect example of the slimy, untrustworthy and downright evil character we’d expect to appear in a Nazi-analogy, and while he seemed more of a stereotype than a fully fleshed out character, I did like watching him scheming the entire time.

Davros makes his first appearence in this episode, and I have to say he has a great presence. His Dalek-like voice barking orders and the creepiness of his deformed hand make him a very effective villain. At times he went a bit too far into the classic madman but overall he remained surprisingly calm, and this made him a great bad guy and foil for the Doctor.

Speaking of the Doctor, Tom Baker is awesome. He is particularly impressive when he’s about to blow up the Daleks. He has in his hands the ability to stop billions of people dying in the future, but still struggles with the implications of this. It really goes to show that the Doctor, no matter what face he has, has the same moral core. Something I noticed about the 4th Doctor in this episode is his willingness to punch people and judo chop them into unconsciousness. The more recent Doctors seem less inclined to physically hurt anyone, so it was interesting to see a younger Doctor being more physical.

Overall it was a great story. It took me some time to get used to the serial format and having the story play out over 6 episodes, but I did enjoy each part individually as well as the overall story. The acting was a little cheesy at times and the production values weren’t exactly perfect, but the characters and story made all of that irrelevant. Genesis of the Daleks is a classic Dalek story and really shows that they were evil from the start.

Americanised Doctor Who

Ctrl+Alt+Del has published it’s latest comic, which is a depiction of an Americanised version of Doctor Who…it’s awesome. Check it out!

I also recommend the comic in general, it’s always clever, hilarious and features some great characters.

Doctor Who Movie Rubbish

According to various reports, Tor.com published a story today that suggested that Russell T. Davies was panning on making a Doctor Who movie that would star Johnny Depp as the Doctor. In this movie, the Doctor would travel around curing diseases…ya know, like a Doctor!

It’s clearly rubbish and not true. I doubt RTD would even think about making a movie without it linking to the show. However, part of me thinks Depp would be a very interesting Doctor. He has proven in various films that he can pull off many different characters and the idea of a a Doctor a bit like the other Captain Jack is kinda awesome!