Twitter Achieves 20 Billionth "Tweet"

No, it's not Who-related, but it's an interesting story. As the BBC earlier reported:

Twitter, the social networking site which lets users say something in up to 140 characters, has had its 20 billionth message posted. The landmark and rather opaque tweet was sent at 1544 GMT Saturday by GGGGGGo_Lets_Go. It said: "So that means the barrage might come back later all at once."

Twitter took four years to reach its 10 billionth tweet, in March this year, and less than five months to double it. . . . The Japanese send nearly 8m tweets a day, about 12% of the global total and second only to the US, according to the San Francisco-based micro-blogging service.

Don't forget to check out Steven Moffat's new Twitter, and you can always follow this blog on our successful Twitter account.

The Continuing Story of Neil Gaiman's Doctor Who Script — The "Empire" Strikes Back

Neil Gaiman (far right, next to the Moff) has recently posted again on his blog, and he has once more updated us on the progress of his Doctor Who script for Series 6, thought to be the third episode (remember that Moffat will be writing more).

As of 2:30 this morning I was certain I'd be blogging again today. I'd just sent off the finished draft of the Doctor Who script, and I was done.

Then I got up somewhat later this morning, and read an email from my script editor at the BBC a) giving me a thumbs up for all the new stuff [which I wrote for practical and budget reasons, but which will, I think, actually be much cooler than the stuff it replaced] and b) having formatted everything correctly according to BBC rules, letting me know that the script's actually a good ten pages too long.

So there will be another draft, over the next couple of days. By the end of it, all redundancies, slow bits, things that can be thrown overboard, or lines of dialogue that the author is particularly proud of will have gone, and it will be ten correctly formatted pages shorter.

And I will keep them in reserve in case they call to tell me that the episode's coming in short, and can I write three pages of sudden conversation?

Then, on the next post, the incredible author referenced his (at that time) upcoming trip to Australia.

If you are on a plane to Australia today and you hear the sound of weeping coming from a nearby seat, it will be me, fighting to lose ten pages from a pretty tight script. (I bet I will lose two or three pages easily. Then the pain will start.)

Don't forget to keep up with more of Neil Gaiman's humorous blog posts such as this one. But to answer his earlier question: it might be a bit awkward if the Doctors just suddenly bursts into conversation at the end of the episode. Though, of course, even if it's overtime, you can't just it off mid-sentence, right in the middle of

Doctor Who of the Day - The Shakespeare Code

The Shakespeare Code working titles was Theatre of Doom and Loves Labours Won.

Doctor Who's Tom Baker in "Demon Quest" — Part One: "Relics of Time"

We seem to have missed this piece of news, but as you might have already heard, Tom Baker is returning for a new series of audiobooks as the Fourth Doctor, following up on the incredible success of the Hornet's Nest series. This time we will be impressed by Demon Quest, in which he will once more be joined by Richard Franklin as Captain Mike Yates, and Susan Jameson will return as Mrs. Wibbsey, though her capacity in the series is as of yet unknown. Paul Magrs, who also wrote the Hornet's Nest series, has written all five episodes of Demon Quest, which are listed as such:

• Part 1: Relics of Time - Released 2 September
• Part 2: Demon of Paris - Released 7 October
• Part 3: Shard of Ice - Released 4 November
• Part 4: Starfall - Released 2 December
• Part 5: Sepulchre - Released 2 December

That first part, Relics of Time, is expected for imminent release this September in the UK and on November 16th in the US.

The Doctor returns to Nest Cottage but lands in trouble when a key component from the TARDIS disappears. Mrs. Wibbsey is inadvertently responsible, but all she can offer in recompense is a bag containing four curious objects. It seems that each one is a clue, and the beginning of a chase through Time. In ancient Sussex they are apprehended by primitive tribesfolk, and mistaken for wizards. Can the revered goddess Wibbsentia get them out of hot water? Who is the fearful wizard in the neighbouring village, and why is the countryside littered with bodies? The Doctor and Mrs Wibbsey are about to discover that all is not right with history.

As well as Tom Baker and Richard Franklin, this series features Nigel Anthony as "the Wizard", Rupert Holliday Evans and Kate Sachs as "the Warriors", with Steven Pacey, Jan Francis, Richard Coyle, Finty Williams, and Rowena Cooper.

Source 1, Source 2 (Both from the Doctor Who News Page.)

Doctor Who Series 5: Volume 4 Cover Released

There's a flood in Pakistan, Chelsea Clinton is getting married, and the iPad is now a weapon; but none of that is anywhere near as interesting as the newly released cover for Series 5: Volume 4. Amy and the Doctor put on their best expressions of fear for the DVD and Blu-Ray collections of "Vincent and the Doctor", "The Lodger", "The Pandorica Opens", and "The Big Bang" as the Stone Daleks stands coldly in the background. Though once again including "The Monster Files", this volume has also been packaged with an exclusive card from Top Trumps. If you enjoy them, that is. Series 5: Volume 4, the final volume for this series, will be priced for DVD and Blu-Ray at £15.99 and £19.99 respectively.

But if you haven't been collecting these volumes and would rather enjoy "Meanwhile in the TARDIS . . ." on DVD, don't forget about the Doctor Who Series 5 box set, which we also updated here.

Source

Amazing Facts About Doctor Who That May Not Be True - Amy Pond

Amy Ponds frozen expressionless face was originally chipped from arctic ice.

An anonymous submission.

Doctor Who Season 6 Episodes Confirmed

I thought we knew all this, but perhaps we where assuming, then again its from the Mirror, so are they regurgitating old news?

There will be a Doctor Who Christmas Episode in 2010, then a 13 part season 6 in 2011 as we suspected and believed, is it news? Well its official at least :)

source.

This Blogs Facebook Account Is Returned

As you may have read here, I lost my Facebook account due to failed attempts to access it from abroad, it was never hacked, it was the failed hacks that got it suspended. I have just got it back!

How? Well I kept going through the friend pictures verification, in the end it gave me 6 I recognised (although the Facebook people may have helped with this without me knowing :).

Normal service is resumed! Thanx for your patience!

Doctor Who Illustrations Beyond Imagination

This is perhaps the finest collection of unofficial Doctor Who artwork ever created. Using a Gouache brush on Paint Shop and Photoshop, illustrator Daryl Joyce has made incredible and original pieces based off of this beloved series. His work for magazine articles, books, and DVD and CD packaging has been featured most notably in Doctor Who Magazine, Big Finish covers, and the BBC's official Doctor Who site.

From an illustrator's point of view Doctor Who is a great subject. The concept of a machine that travels through time and space means that the wealth of stories are hugely diverse. Doctor Who isn’t just about monsters; it explores science and history and puts its own spin on so many genres. I have worked for most of the publications associated with the series, including the BBCs official web site and the DVD range.

And there is so much more than just a montage of Series 5. Joyce has provided a broad selection of illustrations based on classic scenes from every Doctor, including some events from arguably canon material, and dozens of your favorite stories through the ages. Here it is, all for your viewing pleasure. Please comment here on your favorite pieces, and enjoy some of Daryl Joyce's other pieces, mostly for science fiction.

No More Facebook Updates From This Blog

EDIT - I NOW HAVE MY ACCOUNT BACK, NORMAL SERVICE IS RESUMED!

I got up this morning to find my Facebook account had attempted access from abroad, because of this my Facebook account has been suspended. To get it back I have to correctly identify photographs of 6 random friends, only I have 360+ friends and many of them are to get blog updates, so I have no idea what they look like. Whats more I am presented with a picture of David Tennant, Matt Smith, Some pies under the grill, a stick figure, someones dog, or an out of focus image that could be anything - how on earth do I know who these are supposed to be?

I have tried emailing Facebook, the only address I can find is disabled@facebook.com, although I'm not sure I will even get a reply. But it gets worse. If I eventually get it back, what guarantee do I have it won't happen again? I have better things to do that chase Farcebook! I was never happy with all the games, gifts and general childishness on there anyhow, but it was handy for people who wanted blog updates :)

So no more Farcebook updates ATM, the account hasn't been hacked, its been disabled by Farcebook, this is not my fault!

Wouldn't it be easy to add a security setting only allow logins from the country I registered from, and instead of photos just email to the address you registered from? Then again what do I know? Even on suspension Facebook is still full of childish fluff, I'm a grown up, I can read text :)

Twitter updates continue of course, so you may like to sign up for that. If anyone has any ideas what can be done, please leave comments :) Thanx

EDIT> I have received email back off FB, it begins... Facebook User Operations has received your inquiry. Stand by as we should be back with you soon... so lets hope :)

Doctor Who & Sarah Jane Readthrough — The Return of Jo Grant

The brilliant people at SFX recently got into the readthrough of an upcoming episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. "Death of the Doctor" sees the reunion of Sarah Jane and the Doctor, their first meeting since the Time Lord regenerated into his eleventh incarnation, as well as an old friend who may or may not be undead. Well, all Katy Manning jokes aside (and there are so many of them), seeing an aged Jo Grant meet the Doctor for the first time in over three-and-a-half decades will be the highlight of Series 4. Now, about that readthrough . . . well, thanks to a certain Icelandic volcano, someone sorta kinda important was held up elsewhere.

. . . The charisma vacuum left by Matt Smith’s absence was effortlessly filled by Katy Manning, the live-wire actress who used to play Jo. When Lis Sladen and Katy hugged at the start of the read-through, it fair brought a lump to the throat. The same happened when they hugged again, at the end. Although come to think of it, that may have been a bit of croissant that lodged in my oesophagus due to trying to gulp down the free food too fast. Look, I pay my licence fee – I was determined to get my money’s worth.

“Enough waffling!” I hear you cry. “Tell us every last, tiny detail of the plot!” Well, I could, but the BBC would probably despatch one of those new Daleks to squish me to death with its hump. However, I can be tantalisingly/irritatingly vague. It’s a very moving script, at times – come transmission, you may need to have a hanky handy. It’s got an absolute cracker of an opening teaser. And it’s absolutely stuffed to the gills with in-jokes and little nods for the fans. There’s some clever riffing on the themes of “School Reunion”, and there are nods to everything from The Green Death to Timelash. No, scratch that – from the Hartnell era right up to "The End of Time, Part Two", and countless points in-between.

So this story appears to be one of the better ones, especially if you're a fan of the Classic Series, despite Matt Smith's absence. It seems Katy Manning is already getting comfortable in her old role, and with any luck this will give her the chance to prove herself; after all, it's really quite regrettable that these days she's only remembered for her most, uh . . . revealing encounter with the Daleks.

As for Jo? Well she’s everything you might expect – the dizzy blonde of the Pertwee years grown up, but most definitely not grown old. Davies nails the character the moment she walks through the door – clumsy, babbling, sweet-natured. It’s really good to have her back, and the interaction between the two women is a treat. But my favourite bit of the whole story was a cheeky exchange between Clyde and the Doctor, which puts the lid on a couple of fanboy debates that have been raging for decades in the space of a couple of lines – that is, if you take what the Doctor says seriously. The thought that one of these lines could soon be “officially canon” is extremely amusing…

As we find out more about the story, even more mysteries begin to take shape. But however they are answered, this will certainly be an adventure worth remembering.

Thanks to Nazo for shouting out the source.

Doctor Who From TV Action & Countdown Holiday Special 1972

(Click for Larger Images)

Doctor Who Jigsaw #268 - Torchwood Children Of Earth

Let me know what you think.

Click on image to start.

Doctor Who of the Day - The Shakespeare Code

Near the climax of The Shakespeare Code, the Doctor admonishes Shakespeare that We can all flirt later. Shakespeare coyly replies, Is that a promise? the Doctor, shocked, says And 57 academics just punched the air.

This is reference to current academic theories that claim that many of Shakespeare's sonnets were penned as love sonnets to a man, and that Shakespeare himself was either bisexual or homosexual.

Sherlock 101 A Study in Pink Report

OK, I'm nearly a week late with this, but as my cable package includes iPlayer, and as I have read only good things about Sherlock, I thought I'd better watch it :)

Sherlock is made by Steven Mofatt and Mark Gatiss and stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the man himself, in an updated modern day setting, of course all Doctor Who fans will know all three names, even though Cumberland claims he was offered the job as the Doctor before Smith, and I suspect he will be a regeneration of the Master is season 6 :)

101 A study in Pink involves Sherlock and Watson meeting and 4 apparently linked suicides. Its very gripping, amusing, deep, intelligent, and makes a very interesting show, and a clever update, which ends with what appears to be a Moriaty story arc :) If you haven't seen it, you need to, I can't wait for parts 2 and 3 and certainly won't wait until a week after transmission :)

Here is the web site linked to the TV series, and here is a BBC page all about the series, with lots of links :)

I have found an international download site, but its untested, comments in this thread will help others, and more links too please :) here, and a 720 version of it here, thanx theangelshavebluebox.

Doctor Who The History Hunt

"The History Hunt stars Karen Gillan as Amy in a series of exclusive, specially shot videos. Your challenge is to help Amy unlock the Doctor's safe and you can find out how and what's at stake on Monday. But if you're successful you'll release a special short story by Paul Cornell, writer of Father's Day, Human Nature and The Family of Blood.
Throughout the quest you'll find out more about the Doctor's friends and places he's visited. Plus, you'll get Amy's unique point of view about some of the amazing people she's met during her adventures with the Time Lord.
The History Hunt is not one of the Adventure Games and does not need to be downloaded. You can get a sneak peek of it in the video above and don't forget, it launches here next week!"

Now personally I am not thinking a lot of it however reading this it may be very similar to Torchwoods Mini Mission Games they had during Season 2 which I must admit was quite good.

What Did You Think of the Doctor Who Proms?

Of course they are all positive but what did you think of the Proms?

Personally I thought they were good apart from most of the non doctor who music. What about you?

Amazing Facts About Doctor Who That May Not Be True - The Cybermen

Kit Pedler, the author of the first Cyberman story named his vilains after an old school enemy, Terry Sibermann!

Based in an anonymous submission.

Another Actor Confirmed For Doctor Who Christmas Special

Steve North's website confirms be is playing Older Benjamin, in the Doctor Who Christmas Special.

So who is Older Benjamin? Is there a younger Benjamin? Does the story involve time travel with both characters present?

source.

Thanx to Anon9118 for the Heads-Up.

Steven Mofatt On Writing Doctor Who Series 6

In an interview with Den Of Geek, Steven Moffat reveals he has written the Doctor Who christmas episode (we already knew this), plus 5 episodes of season 6.

Despite Digital Spy making several paragraphs out of this line, we haven't :)

source.

Thanx to Anon9118 for the heads-up.

SFX 199 With Torchwood Cover

(Click for Larger Image)

More here. We are looking for scans of the Torchwood pages :)

TV Action Doctor Who Advert From TV Action Holiday Special 1973

(Click for Larger Image)

Doctor Who of the Day - Freedonia

In The Shakespeare Code, to explain Martha origin to Shakespeare, the Doctor claims that she comes from Freedonia, a country featured in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup.