Misc

Due to circumstances beyond our control, this week’s episode of Traveling the Vortex will be released tomorrow (Tuesday). Thank you for you patience.

Rock Band Challenge

Well, David Tennant has joined our band. No, not really, but as part of our Episode Four challenge, we wanted to see how many Doctors we could create on Rock Band 3. Here’s my new and improved David Tennant in some action shots!
Don’t forget, we want to see YOUR creations! Just create a character, then “Doctor” them up, take a photo and send it too us and we’ll post it!

I’m sure mine will go through a few more revisions as I complete more challenges, thus unlocking more outfit options, (this still isn’t quite the right suit for him) so I’ll definately keep you appraised of my progress.

My gal Mel has even said since I’m doing Doctors, she might try her hand at companions!

Rock on…

In this week’s episode we issued a challenge to Shaun and the listeners to send us your Doctor Who inpired Rock Band characters. Shaun is hard at work on the first draft of Ten, and I have to say, from what I’ve seen it looks pretty impressive.

If you have some images of your DW inspired characters, please send them to us to feature on the blog!

You can send photos to travelingthevortex@gmail.com, or post them on our Facebook page.

Shaun promises me to have some of his own creations up on the blog very soon.

UPDATE – Very rough draft of Ten, but honestly when Shaun sent it to me I knew who it was even before I knew he did it in Rock Band 3. I will update the post when he gets further along.

UPDATE 2 Shaun, with the help of Keith and others has updated his Tenth Doctor character. This one is much closer to David Tennant as the Doctor.

In this weeks episode of Traveling the Vortex, we had a little fun and asked you, the listener, to take a look at Keith’s haircut and tell us if it would be considered “emo hair”.

However, we put Keith in charge of posting this weeks poll and either he remembered it incorrectly, or just didn’t want his picture posted, and he asked if you think Matt Smith has “emo hair”.

So, as it is, we will leave the poll question intact, but we still want to know if Keith has that certain hairstyle.

Below is a picture of Keith. You decide, and leave us feedback on this post.

We are currently experiencing some issues with uploading the latest episode to our server. We have been informed that the problem is being looked at, but in the meantime there will be a delay in getting the next show out on the feeds. Keep checking back, and we will let you know when it becomes available.

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”.

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?

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.

Recording tonight. There is still a little time to get your feedback in. Just email us at travelingthevortex@gmail.com

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.

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.

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!

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!

We are now included on the Doctor Who Podcast Alliance. Be sure to stop by and check out all of the podcasts that have one common theme, their love of the Doctor.

You can find it here! http://www.doctorwhopodcastalliance.org/