Recording Sunday

The next episode of Traveling the Vortex will be recorded on Sunday night. If you’d like to provide questions or feedback, you can send it to travelingthevortex@gmail.com, or leave audio feedback on our Google Voice at (913) 890-3025. You can also find us on Twitter – @travelvortex, or on Facebook. Submissions should be in before 10pm CST.

Also be sure to vote in our poll on the blog on whether we should go back and review some older Silurian episodes from the classic era after our review of “The Hungry Earth” and “Cold Blood”.

Classic Doctor Who Releases For 2011

The Doctor Who News Page reported recently that the folks over at 2entertain have confirmed the classic Doctor Who stories currently being worked on for release this year.

“Planet Of The Spiders” – Jon Pertwee
The third Doctor’s swan song story as he faces off against the Giant Spiders.
Extras include: Commentary, 90 minute compilation edition, Jon Pertwee on Wogan, John Kane remembers, The Final Curtain – Documentary, Directing Doctor Who: Barry Letts, Now and Then: Locations

“Spearhead From Space” / “Terror Of The Autons” – Jon Petwee
A double release of the third Doctor’s introduciton story re-issue, along with the debut of The Master.
Spearhead Extras include: Regenerations: Documentary, UNIT Recruitment film, Down to Earth: Documentary, New Commentary
Autons Extras include: Extra Footage, Commentary, Plastic Fantastic: Documentary, The Doctor’s Moriarty, Life on Earth: Documentary

“Frontios” – Peter Davison
The fifth Doctor’s TARDIS is apparently destroyed druing a meteorite bombardment on Frontios.
Extras include: Commentary, Isolated Score, Driven to Distraction

Earthstory Box Set – “The Awakening” / “The Gunfighters” – Peter Davison / William Hartnell
The fifth Doctor watches a Civil War re-enactment turns real from the affecting influence of an alien war machine, and the 1st Doctor lands in Tombstone.
Awakening Extras include: Commentary, Outakes, On the Cutting Room Floor, Kamelion deleted scene, Barry Newbury – Designer: Documentary, Location Footage, Now and Then
Gunfighters extras include: Commentary, End of the Line: Documentary, Tomorrow’s Times, The First Doctor

“Paradise Towers” – Sylvester McCoy
The seventh Doctor battles the inhabitants of a run-down apartment tower.
Extras include: Commentary, Girls Girls Girls: 1980’s, Horror of the High-Rise: Documentary
Rejected Score, Jigsaw

Revisitations 3 – “Tomb of the Cybermen” / “The Three Doctors” / “Robots Of Death” – Patrick Troughton / Jon Pertwee / Tom Baker
Three stories released near the start of the DVD range now get revisited with additional restoration work and special features. Tomb of the Cybermen – In this once thought to be lost forever second Doctor story, an Earth archaeological expedition attempts to uncover the lost tombs of the Cybermen. It’s the earliest surviving complete story with the Second Doctor, and has now been through the VidFire process designed to restore the look of the print to its original condition. In the 10th anniversary episode The Three Doctors must unify against renegade time lord Omega. The fourth Doctor must find a murderer on board a giant sandminer, who may not be human in Robots Of Death.
Cybermen Extras include: New Commentary, Tomb and the magic of VidFIRE: Documentary
Sky Ray promo, Lost Giants Documentary, Curse of the Cybermen: Documentary, Cybermen: Documentary
The Three Doctors extras include: Making of Documentary, When Doctor Who was Uncool: Documentary
Robots of Death extras include: Sandmine Murders: Documentary, Robophobia Documentary
Girls Girls Girls 1970’s

The Solar System Box – “Ambassadors of Death” / “The Sun Makers” – Jon Pertwee / Tom Baker
The third Doctor has been restored to full color as UNIT investigates Mars Probe 7, while the Fourth Doctor and Leela join forces with rebels on Pluto, where there are now six suns.
Ambassadors extras include: Battle for Mars Probe 7: Documentary, Tomorrow’s Times, The Third Doctor.
Sun Makers extras include: TX Trail, Running from the Tax Man: Documentary, Doctor’s Composer: Dudley Simpson

Day of the Daleks (Special Edition) – Jon Pertwee
No details available at this time.

Commissioning Editor Dan Hall revealed the sixth Doctor story Vengeance on Varos with Colin Baker was considered for re-visiting, but was dropped after review. He indicated he would be willing to reconsider this decision should there be increased demand favoring the re-release.

Time to get those emails and Twitters going!

The Dangers Of Knitting Fat?

Special thanks to co-worker and friend Sarah Hollis for bringing this tidbit to my attention…

As I have expressed previously, I have a very long, very heavy knit Doctor Who scarf. I love it, and I deeply admire the craftsmanship that went into it. Not everyone it seems, falls on the same side of that admiration.

A Doctor Who fan with a screen name of Mazzmatazz has a webstie featuring photography and knitting. One of her creations was a knit Adipose, featured in the Fourth Season opener, “Partners In Crime”. The response was overwhelmingly positive, so Mazz posted her patern on line for free, so that others could knit thier own fat baby.

Enter the BBC, and in a strange case of corperate dictatorship, they sent a Cease-and-Desist letter, requiring her to quote, “remove from your site any designs connected with DR WHO.” Now I completely understand wanting to get paid for your work. I have no issue with BBC cracking down on people who are manufacturing illegal copies of the episode DVDs and selling them, but a knit pattern? A FREE knit pattern?

At what point do we turn the corner from fandom to copyright infrengment? Surely an aspiring comic book artist, who draws a portrait of Batman which someone likes enough to offer him money for isnt infrenging on Warner Bros. Dark Knight? Surely someone who constructs a replica of the U.S.S. Enterprise bridge and charges $5 to take pictures in the Captain’s chair isnt creating a financial hardship for Paramount? And surely a fan who posted a FREE PATTERN to knit a Doctor Who monster (not even one of the main ones, a mobile ball of fat) is a threat to the profits of the BBC?

Stealing fat? Sounds like something from “Fight Club”.

I am against illegally making money off someone elses work. But I also understand that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. To BBC Worldwide, I say can’t we find some middle ground here for a fan who loves your product?

New Poll

This week we are asking you to vote on whether or not we should go way back and review “Doctor Who and the Silurians”, “The Sea Devils”, & “Warriors of the Deep”… after our review of Series Five’s “The Hungry Earth” & “Cold Blood”. Let us know what you think in the poll on the right hand side of the page.

Episode 3 – The Angels Have the Podcast!

In this episode Shaun, Keith, and Glenn discuss the Weeping Angels and River Song story arc. We also show our love and appreciation for the writing of Steven Moffat. To send us feedback you can contact us at travelingthevortex@gmail.com, leave a comment on this blog post, or call our Google Voice number at (913)890-3025. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter – @travelvortex.

Weekend Wonderings…

Up late on Saturday night and thinking deep thoughts…

Matt Smith maybe the first Doctor who didn’t need an “adjustment period”. I warmed to him immediately.

Of course, Matt Smith was the first Doctor who I knew in advance was coming, the rest of the regenerations had taken me by surprise.

I love Amy and Rory. Their dynamic is just so darned… cute.

Of course, if this were an American show, now that the couple had gotten married, the producers would be trying to shoe horn in a baby to raise ratings.

Although it would be kind of interesting to see Matt Smith’s Doctor react to a baby…

Steven Moffat: we do NOT want a baby.

I cant wait to see more of the inside of the Tardis. The wardrobe, the library, the pool.

With all of the classic series to mine, I wonder what villains have yet to rear their ugly heads on the new series? If the Sontarans are still around, does that mean the Rutons are as well? How about the Rani? Surely she survived the Time War. And if she did, she and the Doctor are the last two Time Lords in the universe….

I think there’s a bar joke in there somewhere.

Not that the original monsters haven’t been good. On the contrary, I have found the monsters created for the new series to be awesome, from the Ood, to the Slitheen. Even those aquatic fishmen with the aqua breathers were great. And most of these (I hate to say it) have been about a gazillion times more interesting than the “let’s put a piece of latex over this part of your face” Star Trek villains.

Glenn got me some authentic Jelly Babies for Christmas. I have now run out, and can feel the shakes starting.

The Sonic “Swiss Army” Screwdriver may be the most overused plot device since dumping the warp core.

Slightly Psychic Paper may be the best. So much of the classic series was spent trying to convince the guards they really should listen to you despite the fact that you’re dressed like a Rock Band character. Scripts were cut in half by this convention.

I wonder if we are doing a bit of a disservice to those WHO have come before, by calling it “Classic Series” and “New Series”? Isn’t that kinda like New Coke? I used to get upset with people for calling Star Trek “Classic Trek” or “The Original Series”. Uh-uh. All those that came after have monikers. Next Gen, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise. Star Trek is just Star Trek, leave it at that.

I love that the show has worked so hard to remember it’s roots. This is NOT a reboot.

I cant wait for Doctor Who: The Movie (or as I’ll always think of it, “Doctor Who: 1996”) to come out on DVD. They were lucky to get Paul McGann, and foolish to squander him. I watch it and think oh, what might have been…

But then I think about what might not have been. No new series for us if the “Americanized” Doctor had taken off. And surely he and Grace would be married and have five kids wandering the halls of the Tardis by now, probably still looking for the pool.

They should check in the library.

Recording on Sunday!

We will be recording a new episode of Traveling the Vortex on Sunday! So if you want to send us any feedback do it before Sunday night! You can email us at travelingthevortex@gmail.com or call our Google Voice Line at 913-890-3025.

Lauren Ambrose Joins Newly Renamed Torchwood: Miracle Day

According to Spinoff Online

Six Feet Under star Lauren Ambrose has signed on for the highly anticipated fourth season of Torchwood, newly retitled as Torchwood: Miracle Day.

Entertainment Weekly reports that she’ll appear in seven of the 10 episodes as Jilly Kitzinger, “a sweet-talking PR genius with a heart of stone who’s just cornered the most important client of her career … and maybe of all time.” Ambrose joins returning stars John Barrowman and Eva Myles, recent additions Bill Pullman, Mekhi Phifer (Lie to Me, ER) and the just-cast Alexa Havins (All My Children) and Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse).

Previously called Torchwood: The New World, the co-production of Starz and BBC Worldwide tried on its new title last week as creator Russell T. Davies revealed the first plot details during the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

“The premise is a miracle happens in the world,” Davies said. “One day, on Earth, no one dies. The next day, no one dies. The day after that, no one dies. The [people who are] dying, keep dying … but don’t actually die. The possibility of death ceases to exist. Which is great for some people. But it’s an instant overnight population boom. The earth relies on people dying … What is society going to do now? Some of the answers are beautiful and brave. Some of the reactions are terrifying.”

Torchwood: Miracle Day began production this week, and will debut on Starz and BBC One on July 1.

River Song / Weeping Angels 101

Well, it looks like Keith will be delving all the way back into Weeping Angels lore (at least all that we fans know about them, anyway.)

This weeks poll asked if Keith should watch “Blink” and “Silence in the Library” / “Forest of the Dead” duo-logy before tackling “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone”. You spoke and Keith listened, so he has begun his crash coarse on the origins of both story lines.

Fortunately for him there is little of Ten to worry about in “Blink” to add to the confusion, however, he is about to get a double dose of Tennant’s Doctor AND Donna Noble in Season Four.

We are still discussing whether or not to split this week’s discussion in two. I guess you’ll have to wait to find out in the next episode of Traveling the Vortex, coming very soon!

Poll Closes Soon!

There are just a few hours left to vote on our web poll on whether Keith should watch “Blink” and “Silence in the Library” / “Forest of the Dead” duo-logy BEFORE “The Time of Angels” and “Flesh and Stone”. You can find the poll on the right hand side of the blog. Happy voting!

Two Doctors landing in Middle Earth?

It was just confirmed that Sir Ian McKellan and will be returning to the role of Gandalf in director Peter Jackson’s two part upcoming Hobbit film. He joins returning alumni of Andy Serkis (Gollum), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), Christopher Lee (Saruman) and Elija Wood (Frodo).

Seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy has also been cast as the wizard Radagast the Brown. While the character mainly appears in The Lord of the Rings (he’s the one who, unwittingly, lures Gandalf into Saruman’s trap in Fellowship of the Ring) it appears Peter Jackson may be taking some liberties with the book’s material to expand on several themes.

Linked to the production by muliple sources is the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, who may be up for the role of Thranduil the Elvenking, who Bilbo (Martin Freeman) will meet on his journey to destroy Smaug, the dragon.

Two Doctors in one film? Pinch me. Filming starts next month, with The Hobbit: Part 1 hitting theaters on December 19th, 2012. Part 2 comes out in December 2013.