For this week’s Friday Night Who we return to the 3rd Doctor’s era for Frontier in Space! It could be part of an upcoming archive….**SPOILERS**

Join us at Midnight CDT and look for the hasttags #FridayNightWho #& #FrontierInSpace

Then stick around after our portion for a look at the music of these two stories, brought to you by Dr. Phil from Adventures In Time, Space and Music Podcast.

Also, a look at this week’s news, and lots of feedback from our listeners this week.

Enjoy!

As mentioned in Mark’s feedback, the Marmite Rice Cakes!

We press play at Midnight CDT! Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun & @vortexkeith and look for the hashtags #FridayNightWho and #TimeandTheRani on twitter for all the fun!

Also, it was superhero day for Keith and Shaun with a weekend trip to Omaha, Nebraska for Comic Book Day to meet “fake” Adam Baldwin (they swear he was real, but I’m still skeptical) then back to Topeka for a screening of The Avengers on the night of the “Super Moon”.

Also, a little spoiler action, as we talk Daleks in the new series. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!

And of course your (er, Holly’s) feedback. Enjoy!

Links mentioned in the show:
AnimeNebaskon Novemeber 2-4, 2012
Gareth Roberts on Twitter – @OldRoberts953
Clark Gregg on Twitter – @clarkgregg

Oh, and maybe we should beg @SawbonesHex and @thenicolabryant for a few re-tweets since they’re both on twitter? Be nice!

Friday Night Who this week on 5/4 is “The Mark Of The Rani” featuring the sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, and Peri.

Show number 71 is a comprehensive review of The Sarah Jane Adventures, Series 2.

5/11 sees Sylvester McCoy’s seventh Doctor return to Friday Night Who in his first story, “Time And The Rani”.

Our show that week (#72) is an Adversary Archive on The Rani, as we cover “The Mark Of The Rani”, “Time And The Rani”, and… sigh… I suppose we’ll feel obligated to mention that “Dimensions In Time” thing… again.

FNW on 5/18 jumps back to the third Doctor Jon Pertwee with “Frontier In Space”, the first story from the “Dalek War” box as it’s billed in North America.

And finally, our true discussion of all these Rogue Time Lords gets underway with Traveling The Vortex #73 as we discuss the life and times of The Meddling Monk, The War Chief, Omega, The Rani, The Master, and the Doctor himself in our adversary archive on Rogues and Renegades.

The last Friday Night Who of May, (5/25) concludes the Dalek War box with Jon Pertwee in “Planet Of The Daleks”.

And of course, what would episode 74 be without a horde of homicidal robots running amok? Our fourth Adversary Archive on the Daleks will cover “Frontier In Space”, “Planet Of The Daleks”, and Big Finish #7 “The Genocide Machine”

And beyond May?  Well, if all goes well expect a discussion on all things Shada, the return of Tom Baker to the schedule, our first Doctor Who book reviews, and more…

Read more about it on the Gally website.

And no, Shaun does NOT have his reservation yet. Sadface.

Also, we get a tad off topic (what else is new?) and ponder a curious dichotomy in the Pooh-niverse. Plus, a peek at the news going on this week surrounding our favorite series.

And, of course, your feedback.

Enjoy!

Links mentioned in this week’s show:
Brits – Lawrence, KS
Dalek atop MIT

Please join Traveling The Vortex in wishing Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures creator Russell T. Davies a very happy 49th Birthday today.  Huh, he’s the same age as that OTHER show he worked on for a while!

And apparently today is also the birthday of NEW Doctor Who companion Jenna Louise-Coleman. (Can someone PLEASE update the Tardis wiki page with all these new series birthdays! LOL) Happy 26th birthday!

For this week’s Friday Night Who we continue our look at Rogues and Renegades with Peter Davison’s Arc of Infinity.

We hit play starting at Midnight CDT!

Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and  @vortexglenn for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #ArcofInfinity hashtags.

On this week’s show we continue to look at renegade Time Lords as we focus our review on the final Second Doctor story – The War Games. We’ll talk about the departure of Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, as well as a goodbye to his two faithful companions, Zoe and Jamie.

Also, in feedback we get a little off track to answer some very insightful questions from one of our devout listeners.

And a look at the news… albeit a very slow week in the Doctor Who universe.

Enjoy!

Links mentioned in this week’s show:
James Hance: Relentlessly Cheerful Art
Adventures with the Wife in Space

John Travolta – Time Traveler?

Nicolas Cage – Vampire?

Surely there’s a FACE/OFF joke to be made here somewhere?

And now, Matt Smith playing with his hair…

And Matt Smith playing with the Beatles?

Steven Moffat’s reaction on Twitter:

]]> http://travelingthevortex.com/?feed=rss2&p=2504 2 2:54:17 The wait is over, this week’s episode is finally released! Thank you for your patience. On this week’s show we continue to look at renegade Time Lords as we focus our review on the final Second Doctor story – The War Games. We[...] The wait is over, this week’s episode is finally released! Thank you for your patience. On this week’s show we continue to look at renegade Time Lords as we focus our review on the final Second Doctor story – The War Games. We’ll talk about the departure of Patrick Troughton’s Doctor, as well as a goodbye to his two faithful companions, Zoe and Jamie. Also, in feedback we get a little off track to answer some very insightful questions from one of our devout listeners. And a look at the news… albeit a very slow week in the Doctor Who universe. Enjoy! Links mentioned in this week’s show: James Hance: Relentlessly Cheerful Art Adventures with the Wife in Space John Travolta – Time Traveler? Nicolas Cage – Vampire? Surely there’s a FACE/OFF joke to be made here somewhere? And now, Matt Smith playing with his hair… And Matt Smith playing with the Beatles? Steven Moffat’s reaction on Twitter: Podcasts Traveling the Vortex no no http://travelingthevortex.com/?p=2499 http://travelingthevortex.com/?p=2499#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:35:58 +0000 Glenn http://travelingthevortex.com/?p=2499 Due to circumstances outside our control, episode 69 will be delayed this week. Unfortunately life sometimes get in the way, causing us to put our projects on hold temporarily.

Shaun had a unique opportunity this weekend that he could not turn down, and other work commitments have put Keith out of pocket for the next few days. So, we will be recording this week’s show on Tuesday. Unfortunately that means with editing, we will not be able to turn the show out onto the feed until sometime Wednesday.

We hope this doesn’t inconvenience our listeners too much, especially those with commuter heavy schedules tho rely on the show to pass the time.

Thank you for your consideration in the matter.

~Glenn

Join all of us at Traveling the Vortex in wishing a very happy 61st birthday to Louise Jameson!

Louise of course played the 4th Doctor’s companion Leela in seasons 14 & 15, having 9 stories with Tom Baker.

For this week’s Friday Night Who we’re finishing Patrick Troughton’s swan song The War Games as we continue our look at Rogues and Renegades.  We hit play on episode 6 starting at Midnight CDT!

Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and  @vortexglenn for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #TheWarGames hashtags.

Both are expected to be 1 disc releases and priced at $24.98 SRP each.

For details on bonus features check out their write up here.

This show marks the return of a certain TTV mascot.

Also, Karen Gillan joins the Twitterverse.

And of course your feedback!

Enjoy!

Links mentioned in the show:
Karen Gilian on Twitter
The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists Wikipedia page

For Beatles buffs “Lennon Naked” may be a refreshing look at one of the members of the band. However if you aren’t very well versed in the lives of the Beatles, it can be a little tough to watch and follow along.

Lennon Naked is a televised bio-pic that aired on BBC-4 then PBS focusing on the life of John Lennon between 1967 and 1971. Christopher Eccleston plays the titular character and does a decent job. There are moments when I was watching that I was aware it was Eccleston, and others where it could have been Lennon himself. The biggest asset for Eccleston selling the role, is that he always has long hair covering his distinguishable ears. Overall he does a decent job encapsulating Lennon.

The real standout in this tele-movie is Naoko Mori (Who and Torchwood fans will know her as Toshiko Sato or Tosh) as Yoko Ono. At first I didn’t like her portrayal of Yoko, but then the more she was on screen the more I liked her in the role.

As for the rest of the cast, I was very disappointed by Andrew Scott (he played Jim Moriarty in Steven Moffat’s “Sherlock”) as Paul McCartney. He had the look down of Paul, but his voice didn’t have enough of the Liverpool accent that Paul has. Perhaps it’s because Scott’s voice is much lower than McCartney’s was at that time period. Everyone else did decent jobs, for as small of roles as they were given. The men who played Ringo and George looked like the actual men from a distance, but on close ups they didn’t match the look very well. Overall, seeing the 4 Beatles together in a far shot (which wasn’t very often) it looked like it could have been actual footage. Another unfortunate thing was that the other 3 members of the Beatles had only a couple of scenes in the whole movie. I would have liked to see more of the interaction of the band.

As for the plot of “Lennon Naked” there isn’t much of a coherent story line. There were many points during “Lennon Naked” that I was confused as to what they were talking about. It is an interesting character study of a very enigmatic man, who isn’t portrayed in a very good light, he comes across as brash, rude and unpleasant. There is a lot of focus on John reflecting on his childhood, and his abandonment from his dad. While a large part of the film focuses on his and Yoko’s relationship, something seemed lacking. I appreciated that they explored the couple’s struggle conceiving, and the impact that had on John.

One thing to consider on if you want to watch “Lennon Naked” is that as the title suggests, there is some nudity in the movie. There is a scene where John and Yoko take the “Two Virgins” album cover, and several afterwards where John remains naked. This isn’t partial nudity. Seeing Eccleston’s “Sonic Screwdriver” is something I didn’t necessarily need to see, and now something I can not un-see.

For major Beatles fans this could be a must watch. For a casual fan I wouldn’t suggest it without doing more research into John’s life first. And if you have any preconceived ideas that John was overall a nice fun loving guy, this film will shatter those images of Lennon for you.

Lennon Naked – B-

On 4/20 we’ll finish up the remaining 5 parts (6-10) of “The War Games” with second Doctor Patrick Troughton on Friday Night Who.  We push play at midnight if you’d like to join us…

We’ll spend episode #69 covering the epic “The War Games”.

Friday Night Who on 4/27 will see us jump forward to Peter Davison’s fifth Doctor era for “Arc Of Infinity”.

And show number #70 will cover “Arc Of Infinity” and Big Finish #47 “Omega”.

On 5/4 our Friday Night Who will feature sixth Doctor, Colin Baker in “The Mark Of The Rani”

Here’s a milestone to set your clocks for, TTV #71 will be our reviews of series 2 of The Sarah Jane Adventures.  This means you have 3 weeks to watch them!

FNW on 5/11 features seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy in “Time And The Rani”

Episode #72 will be an Adversary Archive on The Rani, including our reviews of “Mark Of The Rani” and “Time And The Rani”

On 5/18 we’ll start the Dalek War box set on Friday Night Who with “Frontier In Space” staring third Doctor Jon Pertwee.

And Traveling The Vortex episode #73 brings all of the previous week’s villains back for an encore discussion of Rogues And Renegades in our Adversary Archive.

FNW 5/25 will be the second part of the Dalek War box, “Planet Of The Daleks” also featuring Jon Pertwee

Daleks on Friday Night Who?  That can mean only one thing! Episode #74, Adversary Archive: The Daleks IV! Covering “Frontier In Space”, “Planet Of The Daleks”, and Big Finish #7 “The Genocide Machine (Dalek Empire 1)”

and on the horizon?  All things Shada…

and here’s a few photos of Keith and I trying Glenn’s fish fingers and custard…

The books are an amazing read, and deal with subject matter far beyond their “young adult” tag.  If you’re expecting Twilight, keep looking.  This is a far better written and entertaining series.  The movie follows suit, cramming a lot of information into it’s nearly 2 and a half hour running time, but entertains first and foremost.  If you’ve read the books (which I highly recommend on their value alone) I don’t believe you’ll be dissapointed.  If you’ve never read the books, You can certainly jump into the film without worry of missing anything, (though the ride is MUCH more enjoyable with that backstory).

An outstanding cast brings wonderful characters to life, including Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, and Lenny Kravitz.  Of particular stand out is Donald Sutherland as President Snow, who manages to govern Panem with fear and intimidation and keeps the nation in a stranglehold under the Capitol, and gives his portrayal of President Snow as almost frail, and yet utterly ruthless.  Also in fantastic if supporting roles are the Dream Lord himself, Toby Jones, and Stanley Tucci as Caesar.

Once the games begin, they unfold like a teenage version of Survivor as they battle the elements and each other.  And this part of the film is outstandingly well made, it looks like a documentary crew was turned loose in the middle of a war zone.  Unfortunately it matches the first half of the film.  Director Gary Ross uses a lot of shaky cam to drive home drama, and in the first half of the film, it’s totally not necessary.  In fact, it detracts from the rising climax of the end of the movie.  I also wish that Haymitch and Cinna had been given more to do, as they are two of my favorite characters in the novel.  It may not be the breakout film the media have built it into, but these are all small complaints in an overall well made film.  It’s entertaining and certainly lays the groundwork for the two sequels to follow.  May the odds be ever in your favor…

The Hunger Games – A

The adage “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it” has never been more apt than it is here.  The idea of giving Puss his own movie is genius, the actualization fails somewhat in execution.  A backstory dealing with his troubled youth and the poor influence of Humpty Dumpty (voiced by a surprisingly flat and low key Zach Galifianakas) and a quest for fabled magic beans should be a fun romp.

Unfortunately, it isn’t.  The jokes fall flat, the anthropomorphized animals are beyond anything we’ve seen so far in the Shrek universe, and the plot feels like a forced attempt to squeeze in a few storybook characters that have been left out of the adventures so far.  Admittedly, there was a fairly awesome joke that almost sailed over my head in regards to the identity of the final baddie.  When I got it, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to laugh or groan.  I won’t spoil it just incase someone wants to watch, but I can’t say I recommend it….

Puss In Boots – C

For this Friday the 13th edition of Friday Night Who we’re watching the first half of Patrick Troughton’s swan song The War Games as we continue our look at Rogues and Renegades.  Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and  @vortexglenn for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #TheWarGames hashtags starting at Midnight CDT!

Also, our review of the first outing for Big Finish in it’s Doctor Who main line adventures, The Sirens of Time.

Plus, the BIG news of the week was the leak of a MAJOR spoiler from the shooting set of the Seventh Series. Don’t worry, we won’t spoil anything for you, we talk about outlets being responsible when it comes to spoilers leading up to Fall.

Oh, and of course, your feedback!

Enjoy!

Links mentioned in the show:

One Kansas Author – Robert Collins’ blog
The Preachrs Podcast

For tonight’s Friday Night Who, we go all the way back to the William Hartnell story The Time Meddler as we begin our look at Rouges and Renegades.  Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and  @vortexglenn for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #TheTimeMeddler hashtags starting at Midnight CDT!

The Beeb also encouraged people to try the conglomeration of two flavors for themselves, and post their experiences online. So, I thought I’d try it and share my results with our listeners.

First of all, it is nearly impossible to find custard in a prepackaged form, anywhere in Topeka. After three different stores, a kind lady at the Dillon’s store found that “flan” which is a dessert featured in many Latin American countries is actually custard that is sometimes topped with a sauce like caramel or a fruit. We found a box in the “imports” section under the brand name Royal.

Realizing that I wasn’t going to find any “ready made” products here, I quickly went to work preparing the custard on the stovetop.

Following the directions on the box, the process was fairly simple. I had never had custard before let alone preparing it, so I was glad for its ease in making.

I found, however, that after letting the custard set up in the refrigerator made it much more solid than what Amelia and The Doctor make in the episode, so I had to bring it back to room temperature for a runnier consistency, to allow for easy dipping of the “fish finger”

By the way, fish fingers are called “fish sticks” in America.

I was a bit nervous when it was nearing time for the taste test. For one, I had never tried custard before (besides the frozen kind) and I have never been a fan of mixing savory and sweet.

Finally I sat down to my challenge and…

I have to say, I LOVED IT! I am not making this up just because I am a Doctor Who fan and feel some necessity to enjoy something for sheer fandom. I actually liked it. The two flavors really complement each other well.

So, I say give it a try you may like it. And now I can say that I share something in common with the Eleventh Doctor. Our love of fish fingers and custard.

Oh, and don’t worry. i made enough custard for the guys to try when we record next week’s show.

~Glenn

Also, this is our second Companion Archive in which we take a look at two Leela stories, The Face of Evil and Robots of Death.

Plus our reaction to the Series 7 trailer, the latest news, and of course, your feedback.

Enjoy!

Whovians of Wichita

Simon Fisher-Becker Website

Tonight’s Friday Night Who is the John Pertwee story, The Sea Devils. Join us as Shaun finally watches this story, and Keith finishes it.  Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and  @vortexglenn for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #TheSeaDevils hashtags starting at Midnight CDT!

The next was part of the Radio Free Skaro intro panel, done by Chip from the 2 Minute Time Lord podcast…

And a reminder that tickets for next year go on sale late this month… Are you ready?

We’ll talk about our experiences at the con including the special meet up with other fans from the area who also love Doctor Who. And our own Keith, dressed as the 11th Doctor for the program. We’ll tell you about his experiences at this year’s convention as well.

Also, we’re talking new companion, and a little on the Official Doctor Who Convention that went on in the U.K on Saturday and Sunday.

Oh, and of course, your feedback.

Enjoy!

Planet Comicon
Official Doctor Who Convention
Slugcast
Kansas City Time Lord Society

Tonight’s Friday Night Who is the Tom Baker story, The Robots of Death.  Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and  @vortexglenn for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #TheRobotsofDeath hashtags starting at Midnight CDT!

(Thanks, Mr. Sullivan!)

Friday Night Who this week is the just released in North America “The Robots Of Death – Special Edition” staring Tom Baker.

Show #65 is a big one.  We’ll discuss new companion Jenna-Louise Coleman, our experiences at KC Planet Comicon, and hopefully have some live reports from The Official Doctor Who Convention in Cardiff from roving Traveling The Vortex reporter Philip Malkin.

For the One Year Anniversary of Friday Night Who on 3/30 we return to Jon Pertwee’s era with “The Sea Devils” (which means Shaun will finally get a chance to see it.)

Our planned companion archive for Leela gets bumped to the following show, #66 as we’ll review “The Face Of Evil” and “The Robots Of Death”

Then in APRIL we see the start of the Renegades, as our 4/6 Friday Night Who is “The Time Meddler” with William Hartnell.

Traveling The Vortex #67 will review “The Time Meddler” AND Big Finish #1 “Sirens Of Time”.

4/13 for Friday Night Who will be the first part of “The War Games” with Patrick Troughton. We’re only doing Parts 1-5 this week!

More Big Finish on the way for episode #68, a companion archive for Evelyn Smythe.  Big Finish #6 “The Marion Conspiracy”, #9 “The Spectre Of Lanyon Moor”, and #22 “Bloodtide”.

On 4/20 we’ll finish up the remaining 5 parts of “The War Games” on Friday Night Who.

We’ll spend episode #69 covering the epic “The War Games”

Friday Night Who on 4/27 will see us jump forward to the Peter Davison era for “Arc Of Infinity”.

And show number #70 will cover “Arc Of Infinity” and Big Finish #47 “Omega”

That’ll take us all the way to May, so you’ve got your assignments outlined!

What’s that?  You wanna know what’s up in May?  Hmmm… More Renegades, Sarah Jane,  and the return of everyone’s favorite pepper pots…

Jenna-Louise Coleman was announced as the new companion to the Doctor today by the BBC and Steven Moffat.  We’ve known since Christmas that Amy and Rory would be making an exit from the show sometime this season, and that the Doctor would find a new companion.  Well the details are here (at least some of them, so wait no longer.)

The 25 year old from Blackpool has already made a name for herself on the soap Emmerdale, having been nominated for a National Television Award, British Soap Award, and TV Choice Award.

More details can be found here, from the official BBC Doctor Who Page, and BBC America has a fun selection of clips of some of her other work.  An interview with the actress about being chosen for Doctor Who can be found on the BBC News page.

Here’s the tweet stream from the official BBC Doctor Who Twitter Page:

Jenna-Louise Coleman announced as the new Doctor Who companion. More to come….

“I want to get started already” says Jenna. “I’m a huge fan of the show”. Of her favourite companion “Between Billie Piper & Karen Gillan”

“Matt Smith did my audition with me. It was fun and I felt like we were in it together” says Jenna.

Steven: “We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt – he had to keep up!”

There will be 6 episodes this year, including the Xmas Special. Then 8 next year. Jenna’s character will first be seen at Xmas.

No announcement on plans for the 50th anniversary given today.

Steven “Amy & Rory will leave in a final encounter with the Weeping Angels in ep 5. Not everyone gets out alive and I mean it this time”

Jenna has asked us to remind you that she does not have and doesn’t plan to have a Twitter account. Beware of imposters!

Today marks what would have been the late Peter Pratt’s 89th birthday.  Pratt was the second actor to play the Master, following Roger Delgado.  He was buried under a lot of make up and ping-pong ball eyes in 1975′s “The Deadly Assassin”.

Also celebrating today is Bruno Langley who played short-term companion Adam Mitchell in “Dalek” and “The Long Game”.  He turns 29 today.

Rounding out the birthday list is Rassilon himself (from End of Time) Timothy Dalton! How fitting that with all our James Bond tangenting of late about the secret agent. One of the 007s himself turns 68. Happy birthday to him!

It’s not everyone who can make a comedy about Cancer.  But that’s exactly what director Jonathan Levine and writer Will Reiser have done with 50/50, inspired by Reiser’s own dealings with the disease.  An original story about best friends (masterfully played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen) whose lives are changed by a cancer diagnosis.  Friendship, love, survival and above all, learning to laugh are the key moments and themes in the story of Adam’s transformation from normal 20 something to cancer patient.  Frequently funny, emotionally moving, a strong script and stand out performances make this one of the years best, if also over-looked films.

I cannot say enough good things about this film.  I was worried going into it. (How, after all, can you make Cancer funny?)  I myself have lost two grandparents to the disease.  But it’s not a laugh riot at the disease, it draws it’s humor from the situation–ultimately life itself–and lets face it, life IS a laugh riot.  I laughed out loud several times, and giggled many more.  And in doing so, saw that Reiser and Levine have managed to pull the teeth from the disease, and downgrade it from it’s capital letter “C”.  Gordon-Levitt is amazing (again) in this film.  I was impressed with him in his last several, (500 DAYS OF SUMMER and INCEPTION come to mind) but really, he’s ALWAYS good, with the ability to embody a role without making it his own.  He becomes the character, as opposed to bending the character to fit his personality, something most of the Hollywood big wigs could stand to learn.  Adam walks a tightrope of depression and despair, but winds up translating it into edgy comedy, and he becomes all the more sympathetic and inspiring because of it.  Rogen goes with his typical over-the-top in-you-face raunchy schtick, and while occasionally he can be annoying, here as the best friend and supporting role, it’s just the right amount of his hijinks to counterbalance the stoic Adam.

A great film that reminds us no matter what bizarre turns they take, friendship and love are the greatest healers.

50/50 – A

Join us in wishing former Doctor Who companion Freema Agyeman a happy 33rd birthday.

It’s also Traveling the Vortex’s support member Sarah’s (and Keith’s fiancee) birthday!

A very happy birthday to both of them!

Plus a look at the week’s news in the Doctor Who Universe, and of course, your feedback.

Enjoy!

Well that’s a fine birthday wish if ever I heard one.  Today marks Shaun’s 39th (gulp!) birthday.

March is also the birth month for John Leeson, who famously played the voice of K9.

For some reason, no one knows the actual day of his birth,  (though the year was 1943, so he’s 69 this month) so I figured he could celebrate with me!  Happy birthday, John!

I will always come down in favor of the prequel trilogy.  No, they weren’t necessarily the films I wanted.  Yes, they are full of problems.  The story of Anakin Skywalker’s turn to the dark side of the force and eventual rebirth as Darth Vader should be epic and glorious, and mesmerizing.  Unfortunately, the journey is bogged down by far to much political maneuvering (which believe it or not, I actually enjoy those scenes, as Palpatine is my favorite character in the new trilogy), Scooby-Doo sub plots, annoying animated characters, clumsy dialogue and bewildering editing.  But there are moments of glory, and since I look at fandom through rose-colored lenses, I choose to focus on the glory.

But focusing became a bit tougher through those 3D glasses…

I know everyone is down on up converting movies into 3D, and I’m not a fan of the practice myself.  But I got giddy with anticipation when I heard Lucas was doing STAR WARS.  For all their flaws, these are the kind of movies that 3D was made for.  Big, fast, loud and in-your-face.  So I eagerly plopped down my cash, fit the glasses on and waited for the lights to dim.

The results were mixed.  The opening crawl pops with this real floating effect that was super cool.  Then the film started.  PHANTOM MENACE suffers from the nuts and bolts of that galaxy far, far way.  Two Jedi are dispatched to deal with a trade dispute.  Um… TRADE DISPUTE!?!?  This is STAR WARS, GEORGE!  Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor totally anchor this film as Qui-gon and Obi-wan, and they pop very much to the foreground of their shots on the Trade Federation ship, but the rest of the backgrounds look… well, like backgrounds.  Almost like a flat view screen behind them.  And not a high definition plasma view screen, but a I-just-pulled-the-string-and-un-rolled-this-on-the-wall-of-my-school-for-an-asssymbly kinda screen.  The fights with the battle droids on the streets of Naboo were cool.  Escaping the blockade was cool.

The movie drags when we arrive on Tatooine and get bogged down in the Anakin and the middiclorian plot.  The ship is broke, they meet Anakin, he can help them win the parts they need by racing.  Might as well have yelled “Move along, nothing to see here!”  The pod race however, may be worth the price of admission by itself.  And, this is the DVD / blue ray print of the film, so the race is there in all three laps of orgasmic speed rush.

The arrival on Courriscant was cool, but then we bog down again in the interesting to watch but not fun to look at in 3D political mechanics.  I absolutely love how slimy and manipulative Palpatine is.  I marvel at watching him and his plans and schemes unfold, knowing what is coming, and cant look away anytime he’s on screen.  Ian McDiarmid is an acting wonder.

We return to Naboo to put an end to the blockade and find 3D effects make the lightsaber battle to be cool, but not as good as I would have imagined, the battle with the droid army to be cool, but not as good as I would have imagined, and the space battle to be a downright disappointment.  I was so looking forward to that, but as it un-spooled, I realized that in space there is no frame of reference for the 3D to create a background to pop out of, and the ships fly by so fast that I couldn’t tell if it was 3D or not anyway.  Surprisingly, the best part was Padme and troops fighting their way up to the palace throne room.  Those shots looked fantastic.

All-in-all it wasn’t a waste of money.  ANY excuse to see STAR WARS on the big screen is a worthwhile one.  But watching it in 3D wasn’t the religious experience I thought it would be.  YET.  Because all PHANTOM MENACE did was wet my appetite for the good ones to show up.

STAR WARS: EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE – Film – C+ / 3D – B-

Also, some birthday wishes for five artists who have left their impressions in the Whoniverse, and a look at some of the stories making headlines in Doctor Who news.

Oh, and of course, you feedback.

Links mentioned in this week’s show:

Reference videos in “Odd Duck Phil’s message:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbqv3MwwVd8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1Oy0oK38gc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxMd93aCvd0

Steven Moffat didn’t have River Song Mapped Out (As mentioned in Andrew’s Feedback)

Alex’s Blog Entry on the Treatment of Cybermen in “New Who”

Doctor Who Podcast Alliance

Dirk Gently on BBC4

Johnathan Nathan Turner & Colin Baker sporting Hawaiian shirts

Sarah Jane Smith – Big Finish

Den of Geek – Top 10 Cybermen Stories

Let’s start with the off-screen birthdays.  First up, today marks what would have been the late great Douglas Adams’ 60th Birthday.  Adams, of course is best known for THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, but he also wrote the episodes “City Of Death”, “The Pirate Planet”, and the never fully produced “Shada”, as well as serving as a script editor for the show.

Also celebrating today is Greame Harper who has been associated with Doctor Who in various capacities since the Pertwee years, but Harper is best known for his directing duties.  He is responsible for “Army Of Ghosts / Doomsday”, “The Stolen Earth / Journey’s End” and “The Waters Of Mars” to name a few, as well as several episodes of the spinoff The Sarah Jane Adventures, but he is renowned for helming ”The Caves Of Adrozoni”.  Today Harper turns 67.

Our two on-screen birthday kids include John Barrowman, who plays everyone’s favorite rouge Captain Jack Harkness on both Doctor Who and Torchwood.  He celebrates birthday number 45 today.

And last but certainly not least is the Doctor’s wife herself, River Song.  Alex Kingston turns 49 today, though we don’t think she looks a day over 29.

Please join Traveling The Vortex in raising a glass to toast best wishes to all of them!

Tonight’s Friday Night Who is the Sylvester McCoy Cyberman story, Silver Nemesis.  Follow @travelvortex, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and (maybe) @vortexglen for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #SilverNemesis hashtags starting at Midnight CST!

1) BUY EARLY – Gally accepted memberships all the way up through Sunday of the con. But if you know you’re going, buy the membership as soon as they are made available (usually mid March) for the discounted price.  Even at full price Gally memberships are a steal ($90 for a whole weekend!?!) but if you know you’re going, why monkey around with paying more later?  That’s an autograph right there!

2) STAY WHERE YOU PLAY – The Marriott sold out this year, it looks to do so again.  Get your hotel reservations made, and made early.  Yes, there are other hotels within easy walking distance.  But the convenience factor AND con discount more than make it worth while.

3) BRING FRIENDS – The con discounted room price was about $100 a night.  If you cram four people into that room and split the costs, you can stay Thursday through Monday (enabling a lobby con experience) and pay a hundo a person.  Worth it.

4) BE PICKY WITH FLIGHTS, BUT NOT TOO PICKY – Mel and I had a great rate on air fare, and waited for the tax return to come in to pay for it.  When it did, the rate had jumped up to FOUR TIMES what we thought it would be, enough to put the kibosh on the trip all together.  We wound up getting last minute tickets booked five days out for LESS than what our original price would have been.  BUT, we had to fly into another airport and rent a car.  This added to the over all cost, but it still wasn’t nearly as expensive as flying into LAX.  While that would have simplified things, you can be picky on how you get to Gally.  LA has like four major airports and a slew of ways to get around.  They may involve taxi cabs, shuttle busses, rental cars, LA traffic and accidental side trips to Pasadena, but if the cost factor makes up for it, don’t rule it out.

5) PLAN TO BUY FOOD – Every trip we think we can scrimp a bit on eating out, by doing the PB&J thing, or only eating two meals, Breakfast and Dinner.  The second one works fine (and really, when the con is in full swing, you won’t want to stop and eat anyway) but the first is an unrealistic pipe dream.  Bite the bullet and plan on spending some dough on food.  The Marriott has a decently priced restaurant, sports bar and a swank steak house, and there are several fast food joints within walking distance (Burger King, Subway, Carl’s Jr.) along with a smattering of restaurants like Denny’s.  This is the airport, after all.

6) MAKE A LIST FOR SOUVENIR SHOPPING – Mel and I did pretty good in the dealers room, and only bought a few things that we really wanted.  But that was because we had a list of items we were looking for, and stuck to it, buying for us and gifts for friends.  The more time you spend IN the dealers room, the more tempted you are to purchase things you may not really want or need, but are dazzled by in the moment.

7) BE SMART WITH DEALERS ROOM PURCHASES – This goes without saying, but at every con, there’s a dealers table with DVD copies of Doctor Who.  REALLY?!?  You know you can get that on AMAZON and have it delivered to your door right?  For less money?  From OUR store?  Buy things you can’t get at home.

8 ) BUDGET FOR AUTOGRAPHS – This is the toughest one to do.  Mel and I again had a list of people that we knew we wanted, but once we got there, wound up getting several more we had no intention of, but everyone was so cool to talk to!  Plan on an average of $25 a pop, (Some were $30, some were only $15) but that includes the photo.  Leave yourself a bumper, so that if you wind up going a little overboard yore okay.  After all, THESE are things you CANT get at home.

9) GOT A PHOTO IN MIND?  BUY EARLY – The way Gally is laid out, you are entitled to a free autograph from certain people.  BUT, YOU HAVE TO PROVIDE THE ITEM FOR THEM TO SIGN! So if you walk up to the table and purchase an autograph, sure, they’ll sign it, but you just cost yourself the cost of the photo, when you could have had one free.  (Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT begrudging the talent’s option to make money.  They have to buy their own head shots from the studio, those are not provided free.  So it only makes sense for them to sell them at a con to make up the cost.) Because of that, if you go up to the table to purchase one, you are at the mercy of whatever the star brought with them, and they may not have the character / show / outfit / pose that you just have to have signed.  Or worse yet, they may run out! (Remember, over 3000 people attend this year).  If know a star is going to be there, and you know what you want them to sign, my advice is to buy it early and bring it with.  My William Russell autograph is not on what I would think of as a true “Ian” photo image.  I still treasure it, but I look at it and go… if only.  Some stars will charge you less for the autograph if you brought your own photo, some stars are free, and some are the same price.  But your happiness should make up for the few extra bucks you spent to get the right item to them, and you could conceivably defer that cost over the course of the year before hand.

10) BRING CASH – Most of the venders / autograph situations at Gally required greenbacks, even in the dealers room.  We made four separate trips to the ATM by the time the weekend was over, (two of them at another hotel because the Marriott one ran out of money by Noon on Saturday).  Firstly, no one wants to pay all those extra nickel and dime ATM fees, and secondly, having the cash forces you to stick to your budget a little bit closer than just pulling more money out of an already tapped checking account.  You still have to get home, remember?

Hope these thoughts help, but even with them, make sure you have some wiggle room.  There WILL be unexpected expenses, opportunities and things to buy.  And if you are serious about going, Mel, myself and the Vortex Boys would love to cram 15 more people into our room!

Also, a look at this weeks news including the never-ending “will he / won’t he leave the series” saga surrounding Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith. And reaction to Steven Moffat’s comment on his liking the new monsters in Doctor Who over the classic monsters.

And of course your feedback.

Enjoy!

Confessions of a Neowhovian

So when the same friend recommended SOURCE CODE I was curious but a bit hesitant.  When Keith pushed me to watch it I caved, knowing his love of time travel meant I was probably in good hands here.  WOW was I ever.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Captain Stevens, a decorated soldier, who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he’s part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.  It’s a government experiment called Source Code, a program that enables him to cross over into another man’s identity in the last 8 minutes of his life.  Captain Stevens must re-live the incident over and over again, hoping to find the key to the identity of the bomber so that he can prevent a second, larger threat that would kill millions. With each run through, he gathers another clue.

Shades of GROUNDHOG DAY and DEJA VU abound in this, along with a healthy dose of “Quantum Leap” thrown in for good measure (I commented to Mel over and over during the movie that it felt like Quantum Leap, and was rewarded with Scott Bakula as a voice on the phone late in the film. Rock On!)  But surprisingly, this ISNT a time travel story. Source Code doesn’t allow for time travel, simply revisiting an event that has already happened.  But in a nifty bit of hard science, they do bring up the possibility of alternate realities.  Intelligent science in a smart science fiction film.  What a concept!

Jake Gyllenhaal is always solid, and he’s becoming one of my favorite actors simply because of the range and versatility he’s shown.  Michelle Monaghan is more than just a damsel in distress, and Jeffry Wright plays the doctor behind the project very believably.  But the stand out performance is from Vera Farmiga as Goodwin.  She infuses a quantifiable Human quotient to the proceedings, (along the same lines as Reginald Vel Johnson’s Al Powell in DIE HARD.)

It’s a brilliant thriller, engaging, thought provoking and well made. And unlike MOON, SOURCE CODE allowed me to think I had it all figured out, then blew my mind in the last twenty minutes.  They don’t get much better.

SORUCE CODE  - A+

He was of course, the first actor to portray the Doctor’s arch nemesis The Master, and while many have come since, his remains the archetype.

You can check out her pertinent thoughts here.

Also, a look at the week’s news…er lack of news today.

And of course, your feedback.

Enjoy!

He would have been 82.

Also, we should note there is some strong (but not too strong) language in this particular episode.

Also, a look at this week’s news, and of course your feedback.

Enjoy!

Gallifrey One’s official website

We’ll record episode #60 tonight, a full report of my experiences at Gally.  Mel will join us in studio, and you can look for this on the feeds tomorrow.

This Friday, 2/24, we’ll complete the Black Guardian Trilogy on Friday Night Who with “Enlightenment”.

Traveling The Vortex episode #61 will be our complete recap of the Black Guardian Trilogy, as we talk about all three Peter Davison episodes, “Mawdryn Undead”, “Terminus” and “Enlightenment”.

Barring such a long winded Gally breakdown that we go two episodes (which I don’t see happening. lol) the following week 3/2 on Friday Night Who, we’ll watch Colin Baker in “Attack Of The Cybermen”

TTV #62 is a review of The Sarah Jane Adventures: Series 1.  This is only two weeks out, so you may want to start working your way through them now!

FNW on 3/9 is Sylvester McCoy’s Cyberman story, “Silver Nemesis”

News to keep Keith happy, TTV #63 will be our second Adversary Archive on the Cybermen, as we discuss “Attack Of The Cybermen” and “Silver Nemesis”.

Taking advantage of the new DVD releases this month, Friday Night Who on 3/16 is “The Face Of Evil” with Tom Baker. (This title releases earlier that week in North America, so we are right out of the gate here!)

Another homework heavy podcast here, as TTV #64 is our second Big Finish block with Paul McGann, covering the next three 8th Doctor stories – #19 Minuet In Hell, #28 Invaders From Mars, and #29 The Chimes Of Midnight

FNW on 3/23 is another new release for this month, “The Robots Of Death – Special Edition” again with Tom Baker.

Episode #65 is, believe it or not, only our second Companion Archive, this one on Leela, and covers the two new releases we’ll have just watched, “The Face Of Evil” and “The Robots Of Death”.

So that brings you up to speed.  As always, the schedule is subject to change.  And because I know some of you are dying to plan out even farther,  let me give you a hint…

Renegades…

TARDIS CONSOLE RESTORATION

McGANN SINGS BACKUP FOR ASHBROOK

MAY DVD TITLES

BIG FINISH SALE

IDW – DOCTOR WHO / STAR TREK CROSSOVER

UPCOMING CONS: Kansas City Planet ComicCon, Los Angeles LosCon 39, San Diego Condor 19, San Diego Gaslight II

Be sure to check the feeds later this week for the next Episode of Traveling the Vortex. Shaun and Mel will join Keith and I for an overall Gally wrap on all of the weekends events.

Just a note, since Shaun and Mel will not return from California until late Monday, we will be recording the show on Tuesday night this week. Look for the show on Wednesday.

Enjoy!

This time they talk about the ribbon culture that surrounds the convention every year and what you might need to do to be prepared for next year’s con.

Another update will follow on the heels of this one so stay tuned!

Enjoy!

I’m sure tonight they will be exhausted, sleeping deeply, and dreaming of the fond memories they have had at this year’s convention. But, we will have more from them when they return on Monday to Kansas.

But here you are, another fine update.

Enjoy!

Gallifrey One’s Network 23 is wrapping tonight in sunny California, and Shaun and Mel are winding down from the big weekend. But there are more updates to come as they continue to come in and we put them together for the feed. Hope you are having fun.

Enjoy!

More on their trip through the autograph lines, and rubbing elbows with the stars of Doctor Who.

Be sure to check back frequently, the updates are rolling in at a fevered pace now that the con is wrapping up.

Enjoy!

Also, a fun story about Mel on a mission to deliver wardrobe to Paul McGann and his son Jake.

My apologies to Shaun and Mel, and you the listener for posting this one so late. Shaun had it sent earlier today, but it has been a hectic Sunday.

Enjoy!

More from today’s cosplayers and autograph lines. It sounds like Shaun and Mel will be a little broke when they return from Gally on Monday.

Be sure to check back soon, Shaun will have more on the Doctor Who: The Movie reunion panel with stars from the 1996 show.

Enjoy!

Today, Shaun gets some pointers from some of the longest running podcast hosts and some first timers as well at the Podcaster’s Panel. Also he’ll touch on some of the cosplaying going on at this years con.

Be sure to check back soon, because upon editing this one for the feed, the 5th update came in as well. It will be posted soon!

Enjoy!

Shaun and Mel recount more of their “official” Day 1 at the premier Doctor Who convention in North America.

And this time, we get to hear a special message from one of the convention guests.

Also, more on the Eighth Doctor’s console which is on display, an a meeting with Eight himself, Mr. Paul McGann.

Shaun is going to be talking about this for weeks I’m sure.

Enjoy!

But today takes the cake.  Today I walked into the fan room, and had my breath taken away by the sight of the fully restored TARDIS console from Doctor Who: The Movie.  McGann’s console.  Behind ropes to shield it from the overzealous, (myself included) I watched as the operator explained the process of restoring it, of replacing halogen bulbs with leds, (apparently after five minutes of being lit, the halogens began producing smoke and burning smells from within…) the christmas tree light indicators that allowed the blinking, the sound chip chock full of clips from not only the Movie, but nearly all of Who, (the door lever makes the door noise, a random switch makes the view screen noise, and the dematerialization circuit causes the groan. Or sometimes, stalls out and the time rotor flickers and dies! And all of this is set to a remote control, and the console responds to an aimed sonic screwdriver blast too!) The polished wood gleamed from the flashbulbs of dozens of cameras going off around me, the console the subject of some very exclusive paparazzi.

The room emptied a bit and men came in, carrying suitcases and plastic sacks, announcing they had found “it”.  Intrigued, I leaned in, only to be bustled aside by a man carrying a mannequin body.  ”It” turned out to be McGann’s original costume worn for the movie.  Out of the bag came the shirt, the trousers, the belt, the vest, the waistcoat… And suddenly, there, standing NEXT to the console was the 8th Doctor.  Or at least his clothes.  But they say clothes make the man.

We followed this up immediately with a photo shoot with the 8th Doctor himself.  For a mere $25 bucks, I was hustled into a room, strode up to Paul McGann, shook his hand confidently and said, “I’m a big fan of your work, thank you sir, so much for coming to America to this convention.”  He seemed genuinely touched, and was warm and friendly for the 30 seconds we spent together taking that photo.  Mel melted at his touch and the sound of his voice, but managed to stay upright for the picture.  For a moment, I was afraid we’d have a Beatles moment and she’d have to be carried from the room after fainting!  And of course my confident exterior fell apart later.  I held it together just long enough to leave the room, and won’t bore you with the details of the fanboy squealing that escaped me just after.

But I’m pretty sure they heard me back in Kansas.

We ended with the McGann panel, or interview, conducted by Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Briggs of Big Finish fame.  And the question was asked how did he feel about fan reaction.  McGann paused, and said he’s spent a lot of time frustrated, because he felt (and sometimes still feels) that the 8th Doctor is “tolerated”.  That he’s not “canonical”.  But then Barnaby said “you are to Russell T. Davies, and you are to Stephen Moffatt.”  Let me tell you, the room erupted.  And for someone who has always been a fan of the 8th Doctor, and Paul McGann, and gets frustrated by folks who DON’T feel he’s cannon, well… a more glowing argument can not be made.

Lastly, someone asked about the “new” outfit that he sported at a con long ago.  McGann laughed and said it was partially selfish, because he was tired of all the photos circulating, since the only ones are the promo pics from the Movie.  So he consulted a friend and costumer and put the leather jacket together.  And he’s itching to wear it again.  But BBC is apparently “weird” about it, and can’t (or won’t comment on it.)

We can only hope thats because they want to unveil him wearing it in the 50th anniversary special…

Be sure to check back frequently for updates on the massive Doctor Who convention in California throughout the weekend.

Sounds like Shaun, Mel, and all of the revelers at Gally are having a wonderful time.

Wish I were there.

Enjoy!

Tonight we continue the Black Guardian Trilogy while Shaun parties it up at Gally. Join us for “Terminus” with the 5th Doctor, Peter Davidson for Friday Night Who.  As always, join us on twitter for the live tweet-a-long.  Just follow @vortexglenn,  @VortexKeith and @travelvortex, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #Terminus hashtags.  We push play at midnight, CST.

And be sure to check out Shaun’s blog updates from Gally, also posted here on this feed.

Keith and I are extremely jealous right now by the way.

Enjoy!

This is Gally.

I feel vaguely out of place, not being an over zealous drinker, and new to the party this year.  The fact that I have been up since 4am, operating on a diet of high stress and Coca-Cola for the last three days, cooped up in a plane for 4 hours, then cooling my heels in an airport for two hours, then forced to brave the highways of Los Angeles in a rental car, done a mass of sightseeing before finally arriving at this Meca of the Whoniverse may have something to do with it.  Indeed, I find myself dozing off in the lobby as I type, the victim of this late night (1:30 am now, but with the time change my body still thinks it’s 3:30, so I’ve been up for nearly 24 hours and on the move for half of that.)  And while I am not directly taking part in the conversations around me, I feel them washing over me, and the snipits I gain from osmosis tell me what I suspected all along.  These are good people.

This is Gally.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the weekend holds.  But first…. to sleep…

Naka-Kon is Kansas City’s premiere Anime convention, and while sci-fi influences in Anime abound, and while I enjoy Anime, I really wasn’t sure I needed to go to a con dedicated to it.  Until, that is, I discovered guests of honor Steve Blum and Wendee Lee were in attendance.

For those that don’t know, Steve Blum is a voice actor, (some would say premiere voice actor, he would say, “Voice Monkey for Hire”) with over 1000 voice credits to his name in animation, commercials and video games.  A sampling…

Wendee Lee is regarded as the Queen of Anime voice acting, and has more dubbing credits than any other English voice actor, having been in the biz since 1985. She’s done movies, video games and she is also an accomplished writer, director, ADR director, voice director and more. A very brief sampling of her work is here:

So, knowing that these two were there, I HAD to go. Cowboy Bebop is one of my all time favorites shows and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see them both in person.  And while over all I’m glad I went and had fun (and finally got my autographs from Steve–you rock dude–I can honestly say Naka-Kon left a little to be desired.  Maybe it was the slap-shod way I approached it, maybe it was the hiccups in their schedule, maybe Anime just isn’t my scene.  But the attendees were enthusiastic and great as fans for the most part.

A NOTE TO FANS…

I freely admit that I get a little red eyed dealing with large groups of unattended adults.  I understand that conventions are exercises in patience.  You stand in lines, you get shuffled around, you spend a lot of money, etc…  I also understand that at our core, HomoGeekus is a species with some unfortunate social inadequacies. (And yes, I’m including myself in that statement.)  The stereotypical image of a geek–you know the one, hanging out in his parents basement, playing video games, reading comics and waxing philosophic on any sci-fi topic imaginable–isn’t that far off from truth.  The Big Bang Theory, while perhaps full of exaggerated caricatures, hits the nose on the head most of the time.  So we take these folks out of their comfort zones and put them in large rooms with people of like mindedness and expect them to play nice together.  And most of the time, either through accident, avoidance, or sheer force of will, they behave.  But every now and then you run into “That guy” at a convention and it just throws everything akimbo…

…like the one in the dealers room who was so very proud of the fact that he owned every 3D Blu-Ray release imaginable, and started verbally berating the vendor for not having any to sell.  Hey, Roger Ebert, leave the guy alone.  There are 20 other vendors with videos here, go find your movie at another table and stop causing a scene.

…or the guy who likes to browse the dealers tables at a pace that makes the geriatric chess match look like a caffeine addict watching a 100 yard dash on fast forward.  um… dude?  There’s like 1000 people waiting here, could you please hurry up a bit?  Thanks.

…or worse, the fan who stands at a table and only looks at the stuff I’m looking at, to the point of TAKING THE PRINTS OUT OF MY HANDS TO EXAMINE FOR HIMSELF!?!  Really?  Who does this?  Granted, the giant robot head made from a cardboard box he was wearing on his head probably impeded his vision a bit, but still…

…on the subject of Cosplay, maybe the costume that doesn’t fit through the door was a bad choice for today.  Not saying you shouldn’t have brought it, not saying you shouldn’t enter the costume contest with it, not saying you shouldn’t stand in a hallway and let fans fawn over you and take pictures.  But please, don’t try to sit in a panel with that thing on, cause I guarantee I’m behind you getting ready to hit your ridiculously large headpiece with a chair.

…while the world of your basement is safe and womb like, the outside world is not. There are rules for emerging from the cocoon, and one of them is hygiene.  Please observe it.

…and while we all know that cons are loud, noisy and visually over stimulating, remember to use your indoor voice.  No, I really don’t care that Jimmy just pulled a gold plated Digimon card from a pack and used it as an object of destruction in a Magic The Gathering qualifier since you’re two ballrooms away.

Okay, I’ll get off my soap box.  As I said, MOST of the fans were well behaved.  Some excellent Whovians among them…

Also, a look at the week’s news stories, and of course your feedback. Oh, and be sure to pay extra special attention to a very momentous announcement about one of our hosts.

Enjoy!

Links mentioned in the show:

Naka-Kon 2012
Cowboy Bebop
@blumespew – Twitter handle for Steve Blum
SFX Awards 2012
Gallifrey One’s Network 23
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time, Space, & Music

Oh, and we didn’t really mention her on this weeks show, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t give any credit Julie Gardner’s help in bringing Doctor Who back to T.V. and it’s success throughout the RTD era. Be sure to check out this tribute to Russell and Julie sung by none other than David Tennant, John Barrowman And Catherine Tate.
“The Ballad of Russell and Julie”

We hope he can take a break from his current work as Scotty in Star Trek 2 to celebrate his 42 birthday properly.

Picture courtesy bleedingcool.com

It’s something geeks of all ages have imagined for years, and now it appears to be coming true. Although it won’t be a meeting on the big or small screen, our favorite time team will join the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise, for a crossover story. IDW Publishing has announced that Doctor Who and Star Trek will share the pages of an upcoming comic book crossover.

Radio Times is reporting that Rory and Amy will team up with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of Star Trek: the Next Generation in the pages of it’s popular comics line.

While Star Trek has crossed worlds in the past with such notable characters as the X-Men and the Legion of Superheroes, the Doctor has never shared his world with any outside genre, unless you count the disappointing 1993 Dimensions in Time two-parter that featured characters from the soap opera EastEnders.

I have to say, this news made me squee just a little.

For more from The Radio Times article, click here.

Tonight we begin the Black Guardian Trilogy with “Mawdryn Undead” with the 5th Doctor, Peter Davidson for Friday Night Who.  As always, join us on twitter for the live tweet-a-long.  Just follow @vortexglenn, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and @travelvortex, and look for the #FridayNightWho and #MawdrynUndead hashtags.  We push play at midnight, CST.

Also a look at some of the news from the week surrounding Doctor who.

And of course, your feedback. Enjoy!

May 8th will see the release of “Nightmare Of Eden” starring Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, also featuring Romana and K9, and two Sylvester McCoy seventh Doctor arcs, “Dragonfire” (which shows the departure of Mel and the arrival of Ace) and “The Happiness Patrol” with Ace.  No cover art yet, but what details there are can be found here.

A bittersweet birthday announcement, as today would have been Elisabeth Sladen’s 64th Birthday.  Sladen of course, played quintessential companion Sarah Jane Smith not only on Doctor Who, but also K9 And Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

She continues to be missed, but we would very much like to take a moment to celebrate her life.  Happy Birthday, Lis..

In this week’s show we tackle the epic two-parter The End of Time. Find out our impressions of the last outing of David Tennant. We take a different approach and present our views right along side yours as we read out your thoughts on the story.

Also, our reaction to this week’s news items in the Whoniverse.

Enjoy!

Links mentioned in the show:
moviebozer.com
Planet Comicon
Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock

The end of Russell T. Davies tenure on the show.

The end of David Tennant.

The end of the specials.

The end of an era.

The end of new Who for Keith.

The end of time…

Join @travelvortex, @VortexKeith, @vortexglenn and @vortexshaun for the live tweet-a-long with #TheEndOfTime part one and two for #FridayNightWho.  We push play at midnight, CST.

We will also be taking a 5 minute break between parts so that those watching on DVD/BluRay can switch disks.

This weeks Friday Night Who is the end of the specials, the end of New Who for Kieth, and “The End Of Time, Part 1 and 2″ which we’ll discuss on this week’s episode #57.

Friday Night Who on 2/3 is our first FNW with Christopher Eccleston, as we watch Series One’s “Dalek” in preparation for episode #58, a look at the Time War.

Then, on 2/8 we’ll jump to the Peter Davison era by starting the Black Guardian Trilogy. This week is “Mawdryn Undead”.

Our discussion for episode #59 will be a retrospective look back over Russell T. Davies tenure on the show, and we’ll cover series 1-4 plus the specials.

Friday Night Who on 2/17 falls right in the middle of Gallifrey One’s Network 23 convention, but that won’t stop us from watching “Terminus”.

Episode #60 will be a full report of Shaun’s experiences at Gally, (But look for some Side Trips as Shaun reports live from Gally all that week!)

On 2/24, we’ll complete the Black Guardian Trilogy on Friday Night Who with “Enlightenment”.

And episode #61 will be our complete recap of the Black Guardian Trilogy, as we talk about all three episodes.

And the future?  Well, always in motion is the future.  (But I can let slip that it involves the return of the Cybermen, a companion archive, and more Big Finish audios.)

These titles, likely to be released April 10th, join the already announced slate:

2/14/12

#007 “The Sensorites” – William Hartnell

#136 “The Caves Of Adrozani: Special Edition” – Peter Davison

#226 “The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe” – Matt Smith (DVD & BLU RAY)

3/13/12

#037 “Tomb Of The Cybermen: Special Edition” – Patrick Troughton

#064 “The Three Doctors: Special Edition” – Jon Pertwee

#089 “Face Of Evil” – Tom Baker

#090 “Robots Of Death: Special Edition” – Tom Baker

Matt Smith and Karen Gillan have won National Television Awards for their roles in Doctor Who.
The press may have claimed – not entirely accurately – that ratings for the sixth season of Doctor Who were in decline but it seems the fans were satisfied with and the performances of lead actors Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. The two have picked up awards at this year’s National Television Awards.

To read more click here!

Next, we turn our attention to two Third Doctor stories, The Curse of Peladon, and it’s sequel, The Monster of Peladon. And then Glenn reviews a medium that has not been looked at until now on Traveling the Vortex, as the Tenth Doctor and Donna meet the Ice Warriors in the IDW comic book, Cold Blooded War.

Of course we chime in on the latest news and rumors, and listen to your feedback. Enjoy!

Links mentioned in the show:

Gallifrey One’s Network 23