Happy Birthday, Tom Baker!
The hat. The scarf. The teeth. The curls. Traveling The Vortex wishes Fourth Doctor Tom Baker a very happy 78th birthday!
Episode 55 – Life On Mars
In this week’s episode we continue our review of the specials, starting with Planet of the Dead and then The Waters of Mars.
Also, an update on Gallifrey 23 – Gallifrey One’s Network 23. We’ll talk about a few schedule changes at this year’s convention.
Plus, we weigh in on the speculation that Sophia Myles may join the cast of Doctor Who sometime next season.
And of course, your feedback.
Enjoy!
Links mentioned in this week’s show:
Gallifrey 23 – Gallifrey One’s Network 23
Moffat and Myles tease Doctor Who plot-point
Traveling the Vortex - Episode 55 - Life On Mars [ 2:04:10 | 113.74 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Friday Night Who 1/13/12
For tonight’s Friday The 13th edition of Friday Night Who, we watch the incredibly scary story, “The Monster Of Peladon” starring third Doctor Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladden as Sarah Jane Smith.
It has to be scary, right? I mean… there’s a monster in it!
Scary or no, be sure to follow @vortexglenn, @VortexKeith, @vortexshaun and @travelvortex for the live tweet-a-long, and look for the #DoctorWho #TheMonsterOfPeladon #FridayNightWho hashtags!
Episode 54 – Little Grey Men
In this week’s episode we start our look at the gap year specials, including the computer animated CBBC outing, Dreamland. Then on to the proper specials starting with The Next Doctor.
Also, our impressions on Music of the Spheres, the mini-episode that premièred at the Royal Albert Hall in London before the Intermission of the Doctor Who Prom on 27 July 2008.
And we play catch up on the wedding news of David Tennant to his fiancé Georgia Moffat (yes, Shaun did forget some big news).
And of course, your feedback. Enjoy!
P.S. As per our debate at the end of the episode, on if the “Attack of the Graske” has ever been released, it hasn’t. From TARDIS.wikia:
“Although the interactive nature of the story would be compatible with DVD/Blu-Ray controllers, as of 2011 no home video release of Attack of the Graske has occurred or been announced. This renders it one of only two David Tennant-era Doctor Who-related productions (the other being the non-canonical Tonight’s the Night skit) that has not, and likely will not, see official home video release.”
Traveling the Vortex - Episode 54 - Little Grey Men [ 1:37:52 | 89.66 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Happy Birthday William Hartnell!
Today marks what would have been First Doctor William Hartnell’s 104th birthday. Please join Traveling The Vortex in celebrating the man who started it all. Happy Birthday Bill!
Complete* Who Timeline
My cousin Matt sent this to me and I’ve been meaning to get it posted for a while. (Nearly complete, *Does not include the new Christmas Special “The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe) A very fun and cool info graphic. Info graphics are cool.
Friday Night Who 1/6/12
The first Friday Night Who of the new year belongs to Jon Pertwee, as we watch the third Doctor story “The Curse Of Peladon”.
Join @vortexglenn, @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith and @travelvortex and look for the #FridayNightWho and #TheCurseOfPeladon hashtags for the tweet-a-long, we push play at midnight, CST!
Side Trip 2 – Dr. Phil’s Big Finish Companion
As promised in Episode 53, here is Dr. Phil’s Big Finish Audio Companion. It’s a guide to some of the best Doctor Who audio plays that Big Finish has produced in the last decade.
This is a piece that we had hoped to include in our first review of Big Audio episodes, but as Phil told us, the project “ballooned” as he began editing it and putting in the trailers to the referenced stories. We felt that it was too long to include in this week’s episode in it’s entirety, but agreed that it was too good to edit down. So, it debuts as our second Short Trip.
To hear Dr. Phil’s own podcast – Doctor Who: Adventures in Time, Space, and Music, be sure to visit his website at http://adventuresintimespaceandmusic.phillipwserna.com/.
And as always, enjoy!
Traveling the Vortex -Side Trip 2 - Dr. Phil's Big Finish Companion [ 1:12:36 | 66.53 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Movie Review – Real Steel
Caught this one at the dollar theater last week, and I must say, wow.
No really, I must say it. Wow.
Yes, I was one of those who scoffed initially at the trailer. “They’re making a Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots movie?” I asked incredulously. “Gee, can’t wait to see Hungry Hungry Hippos.” But I’ll admit I was curious. Mel, more so than me, and she’s been pestering everyone to go see it while it was still in that so-affordable-you-cant-complain-if-it-does-suck price range. So we went.
Admittedly, the story is very formula, about a dead beat dad who abandoned his son early on, and now only wishes to scrape enough money together to purchase a new fighting robot, by waiving his fatherly rights for a price. Of course the kid has to spend the summer with him, and they take their budding relationship on the road, going from one robot boxing match to the next. Mix the basic story of OVER THE TOP and ROCKY with the truck stop atmosphere of ANY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE and throw in generous helpings of robots mashing each other to a pulp and you get the basic idea here.
But the surprise factor is how good the film is. Hugh Jackman is his usual self. Good, but doesn’t act much. (Nearly an identical character to SWORDFISH with different motivation) but I have always liked Jackman and am willing to let that slide. The film sports an impressive pedigree, based on the short story Steel by I AM LEGEND scribe Richard Matheson, which was previously adapted as an episode of “The Twilight Zone”. The idea that in the near future human boxers are replaced with robots–which can take even more brutal poundings and thus create more spectacle–is an intriguing and believable one. It seamlessly bridges the worlds of boxing and WWE and “Battle Bots”. The film is executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, has a fantastic score by Danny Elfman (but doesn’t sound anything like Elfman), features boxing scenes supervised by Sugar Ray Leonard, and is aptly directed by NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM helmer Shawn Levy.
“Sometimes you go into a movie with low expectations and are pleasantly surprised” wrote Roger Ebert about this one. And he’s totally right. REAL STEEL hits all the right moments to be effective, has just enough characterization to flesh these beings out into real people, and of course, impressive special effects and robots. It succeeds as great family entertainment, and would be on my top films of 2011 list just for how enjoyable it was.
Got me all excited to see BATTLESHIP now. (not really, no.)
REAL STEEL – A-
Episode 53 – Beginning the New Year With a Big Finish
Here we are, a day later, but all of us feeling much better.
In this week’s episode, we start the New Year of right with a very Big Finish. We review the Eighth Doctor’s first three audios, Storm Warning, The Sword of Orion, and The Stones of Venice.
Also in this show, at this years Chicago TARDIS Dr. Phil Serna had the chance to sit down with writer Richard Dinnick, who has written for both Big Finish and BBC books. We’ll hear Richard talk about some his work.
And of course, this week’s news and your feedback. Enjoy!
Links mentioned in this show:
Mayan Calendar
http://www.richarddinnick.com/
Big Finish – Doctor Who
Doctor Who: Adventures in Time, Space, and Music
ADDENDUM: The “Big News” that Shaun couldn’t remember during the podcast was the wedding of tenth Doctor David Tennant to his fiancé Georgia Moffat, (“The Doctor’s Daughter”) who happens to be the daughter of fifth Doctor Peter Davison. (Any excuse to bring up that tangle of relationships again!) Traveling The Vortex passes on our congratulations to the happy couple!
Traveling the Vortex - Episode 53 - Beginning the New Year With a Big Finish [ 2:25:09 | 132.95 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Happy Birthday, Deborah Watling!
Today marks the 64th birthday of actress Deborah Watling, who portrayed Second Doctor companion Victoria Waterfield. Join Traveling The Vortex in wishing her a very Happy Birthday!
Happy New Vortex Schedule
Hope 2012 is starting off great for everyone, we’ve got (we hope) some fun things planned for this year, starting with our show tonight, (#53) in which we’ll cover the first three Paul McGann audio adventures from Big Finish, #16 Storm Warning, #17 The Sword Of Orion, and #18 The Stones Of Venice.
There’s been a change in the program line up for Friday Night Who on 1/6, instead of our previously listed “The Seeds Of Death” we’ll be jumping ahead to “The Curse Of Peladon” with 3rd Doctor Jon Pertwee
Traveling The Vortex episode #54 has our discussion of the animated story “Dreamland” and the first of the specials, “The Next Doctor”.
Friday Night Who for 1/13 follows with the Pertwee adventure, “The Monster Of Peladon”
We continue working through the specials with TTV #55, covering “Planet Of The Dead” and “The Waters Of Mars”
Then Friday Night Who on 1/20 will be the delayed Patrick Troughton episode “The Seeds Of Death”
Our 56th episode will be an Adversary Archive featuring the fearsome Ice Warriors, as we go back and recap the last three weeks with “Curse Of Peladon”, “Monster Of Peladon” and “Seeds Of Death”
To round out January, join us on 1/27 for Friday Night Who featuring the last David Tennant story, “The End Of Time Part 1 and 2”
And then we’ll spend a whole episode talking about that epic story, (and the fact that Keith will have now seen ALL of new Who).
As always, thank you for listening!
Episode Delayed
This week’s episode of Traveling the Vortex is going to be delayed a day. Keith was feeling under the weather on Sunday, when we usually record the show, so we decided to wait a day to include him.
We will return to your feeds with our review of the Big Finish audio dramas, Storm Warning, The Sword of Orion, and The Stones of Vinece on Monday.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Friday Night Who 12/30/11
Tonight’s Friday Night Who is our first (and only) with Paul McGann, as we watch “Doctor Who: The Movie”.
Please join us for the tweet-a-long, just follow @vortexshaun, @VortexKeith, @vortexglenn and @travelvortex and look for the #FridayNightWho and #DoctorWhoTheMovie hashtags. We push play at midnight, CST.
Happy Birthday – Bernard Cribbins!
Today marks the 82nd birthday of Bernard Cribbins, who played everybody’s favorite grandfather Wilf, in the new series of Doctor Who, but also was around in the “other verse” WHO movie, DALEK INVASION EARTH: 2150 Happy Birthday Bernard!
