SFW Magazine - Mission Two - March 2024

MISSION TWO

WELCOME TO SFW MAGAZINe

4. Introduction

6. Sci-Fi Weekender 15 Guest Appearances

12. Alien Fodder

- Interview with Cynthia Scott, Daniel Kash & Ricco Ross

17. Having a Bite

- Interview with Dana Fredsti

20. Photo Gallery: Area 51 Spotlight

22. Film Reviews

- Wonka

- The Boy and the Heron

- Poor Things

- Godzilla Minus One (Gojira 1.0)

- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

- The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

- Argylle

28. Photo Gallery: SFW Cosplay Highlights

30. At Childhood’s End: Interview with Sophie Aldred

32. Jurassic Park Retrospective: 30 Years of Dinosaurs

38. Photo Gallery: SFW Awards - Red Carpet Moments

40. Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary

48. Photo Gallery: SFW Over The Years

52. Spotlight Feature: Graham Humphreys

58. Book Reviews

- Hung, Drawn and Executed: The Horror Art of Graham Humphreys

- The Little Town of Marrowville

- At Childhood’s End

- Conan The Barbarian: Official Story of the Film

- Rose: Illustrated Hardback - Pull to Open

61. A Reflection: Sci-Fi Weekender Over The Years

The Team

Company Owner & Director: Jonni Davis

Literary Editor: David J Howe

Designer: Charlotte Hooper

Photography: David J Howe, John Ford, Russell Cook

Contributors: David J Howe, Graham Humphreys, Karen Woodham, Dominic Hopkins, Peter Ray Allison, Sara Smith, James King

Thanks to: Sophie Aldred, Korero Press, Dana Fredsti, Cynthia Scott, Daniel Kash, Ricco Ross

As always, a huge thank you to ALL the hardworking photographers and writers

The SFW XV Cosmic Presser A Glorious Odyssey The 15 Year Journey of the Sci Fi Weekender

Fantasy Allies, this legendary event has evolved into the biggest sci-fi and fantasy festival in all of Europe, attracting throngs of passionate geeks and fans from across the galaxy.

The journey of the Sci Fi Weekender began in a humble corner of the universe (Camber sands to be specific or was it Stalag 13), where Jonni Davis, a lifelong devotee of science fiction, envisioned a space (Geek Camp) where fellow enthusiasts could come together to celebrate their shared love for the genre. With a spark of cosmic inspiration, Jonni and his SFW Warriors embarked on a mission to create an event unlike any other, one that would unite fans in a galaxy of creativity, imagination, and pure joy.

As the first Sci Fi Weekender unfolded, it became clear that something truly extraordinary was taking place. Fans from far and wide descended upon the event, eager to immerse themselves in a world where dreams and reality intertwined seamlessly. From cosplay competitions to panel discussions with renowned authors and filmmakers, the Weekender offered an unparalleled experience for fans to indulge in their favorite fantasies.

One of the crown jewels of the Sci Fi Weekender or SFW as it is now known was the creation of the renowned Geek Camp, where attendees can take their love for science fiction & fantasy to the next level with immersive experiences, workshops, and interactive activities. Through SFW ’s Geek Camp, Jonni and his team have created a space where fans can bond over their shared passions, forge lifelong friendships, and explore the depths of their imaginations.

As SFW prepares to celebrate its 15th anniversary, Jonni Davis reflects on the incredible journey that has brought the event to its current cosmic stature. “From our humble beginnings to becoming the biggest sci-fi and fantasy festival in Europe, the Weekender has been a vessel of creativity, friendship, and pure magic,” says Jonni. “I am endlessly grateful to the fans, volunteers, and creators who have made this journey possible. Here’s to another 15 years of adventure, discovery, and boundless imagination.”

In a galaxy brimming with wonder and possibility, the SFW Experience stands as a testament to the enduring power of science fiction and fantasy. As fans prepare to embark on another unforgettable year of cosmic festivities, one thing is certain - the legacy of the Weekender will continue to shine brightly in the vast expanse of the universe for years to come.

Jonni Davis

SFW Mission Control

SCI-FI-WEEKENDER 15 GUEST APPEARANCES ARTISTS

We’re delighted to welcome to SFW two of the top artists in ...

NEIL FRAZER

Neil Fraser is a multi award winning poster, key and book cover artist, working with companies such as The Horror Collective, The Willard Price Estate, Yellowcard, Fright Rags, Sky Cinema, Shudder and many others, a huge supporter of indie films he has worked with some of the best up and coming film makers around, including the teams behind Host, Manfish, The Cleansing Hour, The Dare and Scare Package.

GRAHAM HUMPHREYS

Graham cut his teeth with the original film posters for The Evil Dead and A Nightmare On Elm Street and has gone on to create poster art and covers for a wide variety of books, events and DVD/Blu-Ray releases. He’ll have original prints and posters and books of his work for sale at the event, and will be talking horror and art at every opportunity .....

MEDIA GUESTS

PETER DAVISON

SFW wouldn’t be SFW without a Doctor on standby, and we’re delighted to welcome along Fifth Doctor PETER DAVISON who joins us for the Friday Only. Peter Davison’s television debut came in three episodes of children’s sci-fi series The Tomorrow People (ITV, 1973-9) where he played a space cowboy but his big break came with the romantic period serial Love For Lydia (ITV, 1977) before being cast as Tristram in All Creatures Great and Small (BBC, 1978-80; 1988-90). There followed two successful sitcoms, Holding the Fort (ITV, 1980-82) and Sink or Swim (BBC, 1980-82). He also hosted the children’s lunchtime storytelling show Once Upon a Time (ITV, 1979-82) and, a keen musician, he provided the theme tune to another children’s lunchtime series, Button Moon (ITV, 1980-88), and also wrote and sang the theme to the sitcom Mixed Blessings (ITV, 1978-80). Alongside the two sitcoms, he was also cast as the actor to replace Tom Baker in Doctor Who, and was the subject of This Is Your Life (ITV, 82) aged just 31. With several high-profile roles already behind him the spectre of typecasting often associated with roles like Doctor Who seemed to avoid Peter. He next appeared in the period drama Anna of the Five Towns (BBC, 1985) and then playing Dr Stephen Daker in Andrew Davies’ satire A Very Peculiar Practice (BBC, 1986-88; 1992) this show pushed Peter from the family entertainment bracket into something edgier without damaging his bankability as a ‘TV star’, as shown by his casting as 1930s detective Campion (BBC, 1989-90). Revivals of All Creatures Great and Small re-established his nice guy image but it was At Home With the Braithwaites (ITV, 2000-03), a drama about a family of dysfunctional lottery winners, that finally broke the mould of genial types with Peter playing the distinctly flawed and unlikeable David Braithwaite. He has since played an out-and-out villain as a stalker in Too Good To Be True (ITV, 2003), down-on-hisluck cop Dangerous Davies in The Last Detective (ITV, 2003-) and the curmudgeonly Dr Bill Shore in Distant Shores (ITV, 2005- ). Not to mention

guest spots on many shows like Toast of London, Thunderbirds are Go, Good Omens and Murder They Hope. Recent shows as a regular include The Larkins and The Gold.

MICHAEL TROUGHTON

We are delighted to welcome the amazing MICHAEL TROUGHTON to SFW. Actor and writer Michael Troughton, son of the late Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, is best known for his roles on TV including Testament of Youth (1979), Minder (1984-89), The Heart Surgeon (1997), The New Statesman (1987-92) and the film Enigma (2001). Other notable television appearances include playing Professor Albert in the Doctor Who Christmas special ‘Last Christmas’, as well as the series Birds of a Feather, Jonathan Creek and Breathless. He has written two books about his father: Patrick Troughton: The Biography, and Smile on Your Face, chronicling Patrick’s long career through photographs and words. More recently, Michael has taken to producing audiobooks for Amazon Audible, and voiceovers and narrations from his own studio, becoming an Audible Approved Producer. He has enjoyed working on a number of projects with Big Finish Productions, including most recently taking the role of the Second Doctor in the audio adventures.

LEIGH GILL

LEIGH GILL is best known for his role as Gary, Arthur’s co-worker in Joker. He also starred as Bobono in the HBO series Game of Thrones. An outgoing and lively personality has seen Leigh become a regular on Keith Lemon’s Celebrity Juice. Other credits include Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Witcher and Scorpion Ling 4.

Leigh is currently looking forwards to reprising the role of Gary on the forthcoming Joker: Folie à Deux.

NEIL MARSHALL

One of the very best purveyors of horror and science fiction on both the big and small screens, top director NEIL MARSHALL joins us for SFW XV. Neil is an English film and television director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. He directed the horror films Dog Soldiers (2002) and The Descent (2005), the science fiction action film Doomsday (2008), the historical war film Centurion (2010), the superhero action film Hellboy (2019), and the adventure horror film The Reckoning (2020) and most recently The Lair (2022). Marshall has also directed numerous television series, including Lost In Space, Westworld, Hannibal, Constantine, Black Sails and two episodes of the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones: ‘Blackwater’ and ‘The Watchers on the Wall’, the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series.

MARK RYAN

We also welcome to SFW actor MARK RYAN. Mark is an English actor, author, singer, and action director. He portrayed pirate quartermaster Mr Gates in the Michael Bay/Starz production of the pirate show Black Sails, Nasir in the British TV series Robin of Sherwood, and is known for his work as Bumblebee and Lockdown for the Transformers film franchise. He has also appeared in the TV show Alias. In June 2015 Mark’s autobiography Hold Fast was published, detailing his life, in which he has combined his acting career with a secret existence as an operative of British Military Intelligence.

ENTERTAINMENT

SFW XV features an incredible roster of evening entertainment …

LOST VOICE GUY - LEE RIDLEY

LOST VOICE GUY Lee Ridley may not be able to talk but he definitely has something to say and his comedy will leave you speechless. Lee won Britain’s Got Talent in 2018 and the BBC New Comedy Award in 2014. Lee’s other credits include America’s Got Talent: The Champions (NBC), Live At The Apollo (BBC Two), The Royal Variety Performance (ITV), I Just Called To Say… (Sky Arts), Comedy Central At The Comedy Store (Comedy Central UK) and four series of Ability (BBC Radio 4). Lee went on a massive nationwide tour of the UK in 2019, performing 103 shows and selling out venues up and down the country. He’s also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, Latitude, Comedy Central Live, Galway Comedy Festival, Brighton Fringe, Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival, Nottingham Comedy Festival and Liverpool Comedy Festival. Lee’s first book, I’m Only In It For The Parking, was published in May 2019 by Transworld. Lee has told jokes/given motivational speeches for a range of charities and organisations including Sainsbury’s, Barclays and The Royal College of Nurses. He is also an ambassador for Scope as well as being a patron of Smile For Life, Find A Voice, Communication Matters and The Sequal Trust.

VICTOR AND THE BULLY

VICTOR AND THE BULLY Armed with a steampunk aesthetic and bringing in a thunderous twisted sound of Guitars, pianos, violins, trumpets and

anything we can throw in the mix, ‘Victor and the Bully’ create a carnival blend of music inspired by pop, punk, swing, mariachi, classical and metal to blow the cobwebs away and get the feet tapping! Victor and the Bully have entertained from small stages, large public festivals, to sold out 2500 cap venues playing to all types of audiences from UK, Lithuania, Czech Republic and USA!

POP UP PUPPET CINEMA

POP UP PUPPET CINEMA – AND QUIZ! Ever popular, SFW wouldn’t be the same without em. Your fav Horror movies but in puppet form – this time featuring a brand new show The Shining and A Nightmare on Elm Street! Not only that – SFW are also in for a real treat as the puppets premiere a brand new interactive quiz!

MADAM MISFIT

MADAM MISFIT AND HER B.A.P.S. Straight outta Lincoln – UK, Madam Misfit is the maestro of mischief, where comedy meets chaos. This ball of energy gives a ladylike spin to Chaphop and Electroswing with vim, vigour, and vaudevillian vocals. Rapper, singer, and rabble-rouser, her witty remixes and parodies, along with original works, unite audiences through humour and self-belief. And that’s not all! She’s bringing her B.A.P.S. along to gather some new recruits! As she explains: ‘Here at the British Aeronautical Piloting School I can take any individual and train them in to a fully fledged pilot – Quicker than one can say… “Up diddly up – Down diddly down!” so don your best flying outfit and come join me!’ Signups on the day; Family friendly silliness: imagine wacky races, catch the pigeon, Carry On, Monty Python and

Lord Flashheart all rolled in to one big adventure.

PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL

PROFESSOR ELEMENTAL ‘HELLO CHUMS! Professor Elemental here – I’m a Neo Victorian Hip Hop Emcee with a knack for making songs to keep people smiling. But you knew that already!’ The Prof will be gracing us with his presence for the weekend once more, ably assisted by Maxwell – but will he bring Geoffrey this time?!

LEVEL UP LEROY

To keep the party rocking, we welcome back LEVEL-UP LEROY with his own special blend of music and video to keep the night jumping!

GEORGE COPPEN

After GEORGE COPPEN’s triumphant comedy set at last year’s event, we’re delighted that he is back! George is an actor and comedian who appeared in the Netflix film The School For Good And Evil playing Cupid, and also in the new Willow television series. He’s a regular in Pantomime, and will be performing his stand-up on the main stage.

PAUL ECCENTRIC AND THE ANTI-POET

Another acclaimed returnee from last year is PAUL ECCENTRIC AND THE ANTI-POET. Paul is a published author, songwriter, poet and playwright who’s probably best known as being one half of the comedic beat poetry combo, The Antipoet. He has played hundreds of festivals including Glastonbury, The Edinburgh Fringe, Camp Bestival etc. After over 40 years of writing and performing, and having several books published, Paul is now thoroughly enjoying writing in his favourite genre, that of Steampunk. His series, The Periwinkle Perspective is published by Caffeine Nights and has been very well received, with a comic series coming later this year. Volume five of the series, The Brotherhood of Man will be launched at Waterstones Milton Keynes on 8th May, 2024. Paul lives in Aston Clinton, Bucks, with his wife, Donna, from where they run three telephone box libraries and a farm school library, whilst looking after cats; a goat; various chickens and Samantha, the very naughty Herman tortoise. ‘The Antipoet’, Paul Eccentric and Ian Newman, are comedic beat poets with a double bass and a triangle. They have become somewhat successful over the last fifteen years, tirelessly touring the poetry, comedy, Steampunk and music circuits, and appearing at countless festivals including: Glastonbury, Bestival, Camp Bestival, The Edinburgh Fringe, and Brighton.

IT’S A TRAP!

IT’S A TRAP! A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… The Improvised Star Wars Show brings you the hilarious, untold, and completely unofficial

tales of the Star Wars universe! Taking a title suggestion from the audience, It’s a Trap! fills in the gaps between the films, exploring old characters and inventing new ones, showing us the locations and real stories neglected by Star Wars canon. Every show is a unique chapter of Star Wars, complementing and breaking the universe in new, unexpected and ingenious ways. Truly geeky, hilarious entertainment – whether or not you’re a fan of Star Wars – this IS the show you’re looking for. Nominated for Best Improv / Music Show at Leicester Comedy Festival 2022!

EXPERIMENTAL SONIC MACHINES

EXPERIMENTAL SONIC MACHINES A triumphant return for SFW’s cult hero. Grab your tin foil hat and get ready to Conga. Everything used on stage is completely fully homemade. Bonkers and truly brilliant!

THE JUNKOACTIVE WASTEMAN AND THE TIN CAN

THE JUNKOACTIVE WASTEMAN AND THE TIN CAN TWINS The Junkoactive Wasteman, self proclaimed junkophile. World’s 1st ever Tinphonia player. Playing chopped up samples and live breaks. Whilst working as a freelance bin man, relentlessly picking litter in the backstreets, he drowned in a barrel of toxic waste but was saved by tin cans which fused to his body. No longer a bin man, but part man, part tin can. Unbeknown to The Junkoactive Wasteman, two rival freelance bin men followed his tin can trail and fell into the very same barrel of toxic waste. In so doing, they became the mega dance duo they are today . . . ‘The Tin

Can Twins’. Now outcast from polite society and rejected by those they once called friends, the tinny trio are feted to travel the wastelands. Mouth and skin now bound to the tin, the Wasteman can barely speak an understandable sentence, so is forced to communicate via the use of breakbeats and gnarly bass lines, whipping audiences into a frenzy wherever his Tinphonia contraption is brought to life!

GRAHAM GRAHAM BECK

GRAHAM GRAHAM BECK He’s not been the same since he found SFW – the Action Man With a Giraffe’s Head has been busy working on some new material especially for SFW, so get ready to boogie to some inexplicably catchy tunes about everyday household objects … and UFOs. Graham has recently been featured on Radio 6 Music as he continues his rise through a parallel Universe of Pop

TO KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST SCIENCE FICTION RELATED NEWS, STORIES AND REVIEWS, BE SURE TO VISIT WWW.SFWMAGAZINE.COM

AUTHORS

PETER V BRETT

We’re delighted to welcome American author PETER V BRETT as part of his UK tour promoting his current novel. Peter is the internationally bestselling author of the Demon Cycle series, which has sold more than three and a half million copies in twenty-seven languages worldwide. Novels include The Warded Man, The Desert Spear, The Daylight War, The Skull Throne, and The Core. He lives in Brooklyn. Peter joins us on the Saturday Only to meet everyone and sign copies of his books.

ELIZABETH MORTON

ELIZABETH MORTON was born and raised in Liverpool, spending much of her formative years either at convent school, or playing her piano accordion in Northern working men’s clubs. When she was 18 she trained as an actress at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and went on to work in TV, film, and theatre. She is known for the Liverpool sitcom, Watching, playing Madeleine Bassett in the ITV series, Jeeves and Wooster, and performing in Willy Russell’s plays, including the role of Linda in the original cast of Blood Brothers in the West End. She began writing after winning The London Writers Competition and has written plays as well as

episodes of Doctors, the Radio 4 drama series Brief Lives, and CBeebies. She was shortlisted for the Bath Short Story award in 2014, also shortlisted for the Dragon’s Pen competition, Fish Short Story Award, and in 2015 won prizes in the Exeter Short Story competition, and the Trisha Ashley Most Humorous Short Story. In 2016, she was one of six shortlisted in the CWA Marjorie Allingham award. Recent books include The Girl from Liverpool, The Orphans from Liverpool Lane (as Eliza Morton) and, in July 2024, the paperback of The Children Left Behind (as Eliza Morton).

DARREN SHAN

DARREN SHAN is also back with us. Darren’s first children’s book, Cirque du Freak, was published in January 2000. It was the beginning of The Saga of Darren Shan series, which went on to become a much-loved global phenomenon, making bestseller charts in the UK, USA (New York Times Top 10), Japan, Taiwan, Hungary, Norway, the Netherlands, Dubai and elsewhere. The first three books were adapted into a movie by Universal in 2009. Darren followed up his vampiric saga with The Demonata, which saw him enjoy similar chart success worldwide. That has been followed by three more series, The Saga of Larten Crepsley, Zom-B, and most recently Archibald Lox. He has also published a few stand-alone books for children, and there was a much translated manga adaptation of The Saga Of Darren Shan, drawn by the Japanese artist, Takahiro Arai. Darren writes novels for adults too. Some of those were released under the Darren Shan name, but now he releases his books for older readers under the pseudonym of Darren Dash. Darren’s books are on sale in every continent, in 40 countries, in 32 languages, and have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The Saga Of Darren Shan, Zom-B and short novel Koyasan are all currently under option for TV or film adaptations. He lives in Ireland, with his wife and two children, where he continues to write, read and watch far too many movies and TV shows.

MAXUM JAKUBOWSKI

MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI published his first book at the age of 16 and has worked for several decades in book publishing. He has written 21 novels, 5 short story collections and edited over 100 anthologies in the Sf & fantasy, erotica and crime genres. A winner of the Karel, Anthony and Red Herrings awards, he has also featured regularly in the Sunday Times bestseller lists under a pseudonym. He was until recently Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and ran Crime Scene, London’s mystery film festival for 10 years while reviewing crime for Time Out and The Guardian. He once wrote a Doctor Who outline, which Douglas Adams rejected. Maxim has recently sold his noir thriller novel Just A Girl With a Gun, and this book will be launched at the event.

SARAH PINBOROUGH

SARAH PINBOROUGH also joins us for the event. Sarah is a New York Times bestselling and Sunday Times number one and internationally bestselling author and screenwriter who is published in over 30 territories worldwide. Having published more than 25 novels across various genres, her recent books include Behind Her Eyes, now a smash hit Netflix limited series, Dead To Her, now in development with Amazon Studios, and The Death House in development with Compelling Pictures. Sarah lives with her dog Ted and is currently adapting her most recent novel Insomnia for Left Bank Pictures amongst other film and television projects.

NOELLE HOLTEN

NOELLE HOLTEN is an award-winning blogger at www.crimebookjunkie.co.uk. She is the PR and Social Media Manager for Bookouture, a leading digital publisher in the UK, and worked as a Senior Probation Officer for eighteen years, covering a variety of risk cases as well as working in a multi-agency setting. She has three Hons BA’s –Philosophy, Sociology (Crime and Deviance) and Community Justice – and a Masters in Criminology. Noelle’s hobbies include reading, attending as many book festivals as she can afford and sharing the booklove via her blog. Dead Inside, her debut novel with One More Chapter/Harper Collins UK is an international Kindle bestseller and the start of a series featuring DC Maggie Jamieson. 6 Ripley Avenue, a stand-alone thriller is her first standalone and is out now. A new stand alone novel is coming in Spring 2024.

RAVEN DANE

RAVEN DANE is a UK based author of dark fantasy, alternative history, steampunk novels and horror short stories. Her first books were the dark fantasy Legacy of the Dark Kind trilogy. These were followed by a High Fantasy spoof, The Unwise Woman of Fuggis Mire. Her steampunk novels are the award-winning Cyrus Darian and the Technomicron and Cyrus Darian and the Ghastly Horde. She has also had many short stories published. In 2013, her collection of Victorian ghost stories, Absinthe and Arsenic was published and in 2015, the alternative history/supernatural novel, Death’s Dark Wings. Novellas include The Bane of Bailgate, a horror tale, and The House of Wrax, set in a

chaotic, dystopian future. A lifelong Doctor Who fan, Raven was delighted to be part of the script team on a spin off film, The White Witch of Devil’s End released by Reeltime Pictures in 2017. She also contributed to the novelisation of the film. Her next work is a folk horror tale, Dwrg Stones, which will be launched at SFW XV.

R S MOULE

R S MOULE (‘Roger’) lives in South London with his wife Eloise and their cat Tinks. He has a passion for writing epic fantasy grounded by human flaws and desires, set in worlds inspired by a childhood divided between his home in the soft, rolling hills of the Cotswolds and summers spent exploring the rugged coastline and deep glens of the Isle of Man. When not reading or writing, he can often be found playing guitar or watching football.

BRYONY PEARCE

Stalwart of SFW BRYONY PEARCE returns! Bryony is a multi-award-winning novelist (including the SFW best sci-fi author award) writing for readers of ages 9-12, 13-19 and adults. For young adults she has penned a mixture of dark thrillers, paranormal adventures, science fiction and horror. Her most recent young adult novels are Cruel Castle (the sequel to the award-winning, Savage Island) and Raising Hell, an urban fantasy with a Buffy vibe. For the adult market she writes thrillers focused on missing children. Bryony works as a consultant and mentor for Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and teaches the Writing for Children course at City Uni-

versity. Among other events, she has performed at the Edinburgh Literary Festival, YALC (twice) and MCM Comicon (twice). She also appears regularly at the Sci Fi Weekender, her favourite place to hang out. She currently lives in Gloucestershire and, when she isn’t working or providing a taxi service for teens, can usually be found reading, writing, drinking wine or playing the cello (badly)

BEN ALDERSON

BEN ALDERSON is a #1 Amazon bestselling author. His stories are set in fantasy worlds filled with magic, adventure and MM romance. Ben lives in Oxfordshire and, when not writing, can be found reading, taking Winston – his Labrador – out for long walks, or obsessing over Marvel’s The Scarlet Witch.

AND THE REST …

We’ve not even mentioned the annual COSPLAY COMPETITION, ADAM’S BIG FAT QUIZ (please bring pens!), PANELS and WORKSHOPS, BOARD GAMES, ROYALTY MEET N GREETS, VIP SIGNINGS, READINGS, the annual craziness of JUST A MINUTE, some FILMS and probably a lot more shenanigans yet to be confirmed … Add to this a panoply of fun and geekiness, camaraderie, partying, cosplay, as much as you can eat and drink on tap, on site, and your very own spacepod just a stagger away, and we’re hopefully set for another amazing Weekender!

FODDER

In Aliens, Cynthia Scott played the colonial marine Corporal Dietrich, who was responsible for providing first aid in the field. She fell in the line of duty during the colonial marines’ assault on the atmosphere processing station on LV-426, after being grabbed by a Xenomorph. Following Aliens, Scott appeared in a few films, before vanishing from Hollywood.

Daniel Kash studied at the Drama Center in London. His first feature was Aliens, as the ill-fated dropship weapons officer Private Spunkmeyer. Since then, he has amassed numerous credits in films such as The Tuxedo, Lucky Number Slevin and On the Road. He has also starred in the television series Nikita, Alphas and The Event. In addition to his film and TV work, Kash has had a prolific theatrical career, including Macbeth, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Cruel and Tender.

Ricco Ross has a looming presence that contrasts with his easygoing demeanor and ready humour. Ross’ first role was as an extra for The Young and The Restless, but it was a small part on Hill Street Blues that raised his profile and opened new doors for him. One such door was the role of Private Frost in Aliens. He’s also appeared in films such as Mission Impossible and Fierce Creatures, with guest appearances on Doctor Who and Babylon 5.

What first attracted you to the script of Aliens?

[CS] It was written with very naturalistic dialogue, which is obviously attractive to me, and it had such strong female characters, which of course is phenomenal – it is almost a ground-breaking film in that way – and it was

the sequel to Alien. So how could you turn it down?

[DK] I was living in London and it came up. If it had been a small TV show that had come up, I would have gone for it anyway. But it happened to be something that was known, as Alien had come out already, so it was intriguing. I wasn’t that thrilled about it originally, as I had just come out of drama school – The Drama Center in London - and my room-mate as well as one of my best pals was Colin Firth, so I wanted to be a Shakespearean stage actor. So this commercial event came up and I didn’t care. In fact, I wrote a letter to my agent saying I didn’t want to do this part, but then I decided to do it – so that was a good decision!

[RR] What first attracted me was talking to James [Cameron] about it. I was fortunate enough to be offered a part in Full Metal Jacket at the same time. Every actor wants to work with Stanley Kubrick, and at that point the biggest thing James Cameron had ever done was The Terminator. I really wanted to work with Kubrick, but he didn’t have the whole film written out, and when I spoke to James he said ‘I’ve written the script and you can read it. It’s going to be a great shoot, as I have some good people, and it’s gonna be special,’ and he just convinced me that it was gonna be a special project, so in the end I chose to do Aliens. I would have done both of them, but they overlapped one week. James said he was okay with me coming a week late, but that Kubrick would have to release me, but Kubrick wouldn’t release me. I had to choose, and I chose Aliens, and it’s been a good choice.

Were you originally approached for the role of Dietrich?

[CS] I read for the role of Vasquez initially, and I was then given the part of Ferro - the dropship pilot - but then James switched me to Dietrich. He explained to me that it looked as if Ferro might be a larger part, but Dietrich had a much longer shooting schedule, and I would actually be on-screen the whole time. I was like: ‘you’re giving me a job and you think I’d make a fuss about it?’ As it turned out it was quite a long shooting schedule which was great.

[CS] Before the film started, he [Cameron] said that I’m hiring you on the condition that you agree to train, and do weight training, before the film starts: ‘We can’t afford to pay you for that time, but we’ll give you a gym as well as a trainer to work with.’ They even gave us clothes. I trained with Mark Rolston [Private Drake], and we drove out to Pinewood Studios five days a week before the shooting started. ‘We trained for a good half day, five days a week, and we had one of the stunt men with us. He was the one inside the power-loader and moved Sigourney around. He was this huge Yorkshireman and wouldn’t let us go until he was done with us.’

You mentioned the naturalistic dialogue.

[CS] As I recall the hypersleep scene was all scripted, and we might have been allowed a little tweak if we felt the dialogue was a little weird, but Jim was pretty keen for us keeping to his script. Occasionally in groups – like rehearsals – we’d throw something out there, and if he liked it he would put it in the script. But the final shooting script was pretty strict.

Any regrets?

[DK] The thing about it was that it was loads of fun. It was my first job ever on screen. In fact, that scene where I am eating at the table, was

Actress Cynthia Scott and actors Daniel Kash and Ricco Ross talk to Peter Ray Allison about their work on the seminal science fiction horror film Aliens

the first thing I ever filmed, and I was crapping my pants. Everyone was improvising the whole script, as that is the sort of thing they do often on that sort of scene on film, and I was used to theatre where they do everything word-to-word and dot-to-dot - I was just frightened out of my mind. So that aspect of it was a good education for me.

[DK] The first day we got here, James Cameron took us around, and showed us the land that they’d built on a huge sound stage for the planet, and showed us all the intricate design things, as he loved that so much. What’s more fun than that? This is basically cowboys and aliens in space, so it was huge fun! As it was at Pinewood, I was picked up from my old broken-down house by a chauffeur and driven there every day, so it was the most amazing thing - it was great!

We were all gutted when Frost died!

[RR] [laughs] How do you think I felt? I had a conversation with James [Cameron] when I first read the script and said: ‘Y’know, I’m taken out pretty fast here?’ He said: ‘That is the idea, we’re trying to make this a female vehicle, and we can’t have some big marine hanging around when the action gets crazy, as you wouldn’t be picking your nose – you’d be out there doing it.’ He wanted to create a situation where there was nobody else left, and she has to do it, even though she’s afraid. She has to conquer that fear and take on the task.

[RR] One of the strong points of the film was that the action didn’t start for a while, and so it gave the audience a chance become attached to the different characters. Then, when Frost – or whoever – got taken out, you felt for that guy. You’d think, ‘Oh no, not already.’ So, I think even though as an actor I would have liked to have been in it longer, in terms of the total project it was a good thing.

How much of the Mess Hall scene was improvised?

[DK] As far as dialogue goes there was a lot of messing around. There was a landmark of reference points to it, but other than that I don’t know. That is what I asking Ricco [Ross, Private Frost] about earlier when he said [assumes Ricco Ross’s deep baritone] ‘I don’t think she liked the corn-bread either,’ I think he just made that up, and it became a line that everybody loves.

[RR] The way I remember it, was that we had a thing going, and James would say, ‘have fun with it.’ We went in there, and we were doing the lines as well as improvising, and then after rehearsing and filming a few takes, the improv’s that worked we kept and those that didn’t we left them out. It was a combination of improvisation as well as script.

[DK] There are a couple of pictures of me in that scene, and I am quite proud that they look like I am relaxed because I wasn’t. Al Mathews [Sergeant Apone] was all over the place with his lines, and just about everyone was saying whatever the hell

they wanted. I think that Lance [Henrikson, the android Bishop] had originally decided to do the knife thing on just his hand, and then he decided – and I am not sure if it was in the moment or if he had talked about it – to put his hand over Hudson’s [Bill Paxton], as an idea to change it up.

[RR] The scene with Lance doing the knife trick was in the script as Lance doing it to himself, but he came up with the idea of going over there and grabbing Bill’s hand and putting his hand on top. James said ‘Yeah, we’ll do it!’ We had the other guy, Mark [Rolston, Private Drake] come around and hold him so he couldn’t get away, and so that is how that scene kind evolved, as it was never really written that way. There was a lot of spontaneity and improvising. That is why the scene felt so natural, as it really was just regular guys fooling around.

There seemed a natural sense of cohesion amongst the marines?

[DK] I think the veteran actors had done a bunch of film at that point, which set the tone for that, and then you quickly got the idea that James was cool with it, so you rolled with it, saying ‘Okay, we’ll ride this wave,’ and like Top Gun just pretend we’re here, but I was freaking out.

[CS] We became really good friends. I won’t say all of us, because the actors who were flown in from Hollywood stayed wherever they were staying. The exception was Bill Paxton, as he hung out with us. We would get together at dinner parties, and he would hang out with us.

[CS] The android Bishop – played by Lance Henriksen, who’s very much a method actor – was separated from the rest of us, and he maintained that distance throughout, as it was important to him for keeping in character. It was the same for Paul Reiser (Carter Burke), as he was playing the bad guy, and couldn’t be seen for him being all chummy with us. First of all, I think he is a very private person. I shared the car in with him every morning, as I was living in South West London at the time and he was staying in Chelsea, so we would drive to Pinewood every day. He was very self-contained. I think it was his second film role, as well as his first non-comedic role in a long time and he really wanted to focus on it.

[RR] By the time we had got to the mess hall scene, we had been together for a while. The whole film had taken three months of shooting, and about two weeks of boot training beforehand. So we really were a group of guys, almost like a real squad. By the time we got to the mess hall scene, we knew the different characters on screen as well as off, and we felt comfortable with each other.

Did you ever realise the strength of the movie?

[CS] I had no idea. We all knew it would be a big show, but we just figured it would be a summer blockbuster where it would make a big splash until the next blockbuster would come along and replace it. We knew it was big, although we hadn’t heard of James Cameron as he was still very young, but we had all seen Alien, and we knew the sequel had to be something, and it was 20th Century Fox. We knew it would be big, but we had no idea that it would last for twenty-five years.

[DK] For me personally, I really liked in particular the first half of Alien: Introducing the garbage can in space, real people in space, the face hugger and the other thing, and the male and female parts coming out of people - I thought that was very creative. Aliens is much more subtle in the reasons it works.

[DK] One of those reasons, is that he [James Cameron] made a sequel, but the design of it was to not look like the future with what the machines would be like or what the garb would be like on soldiers – he actually decided to go retro on that. I do not know if that was a piece of genius in his mind, that meant it would forever be an acceptable visual – it was almost a homage to Vietnam, or something.

[DK] In that way it is more subtle, as it is more like a chase movie, much more than the first one, which was intriguing in the way of the relationships actually. So it was the design element and visual, as well as James Cameron’s ability to deal with tension and make it hold – I’m impressed with that. Surprised actually. Surprised that Cameron’s craft is so strong that it upholds. Outside of Alien as well. Some people like Alien and not Aliens. That it has that sort of strength, I am surprised.

[RR] I had no idea. I thought it was different, but by then I had worked on a number of projects, where some people thought they were going to be really be big and did nothing whilst others people didn’t think much of and they did something. At that point – like now – when I go to a project I try to have fun and do the best I can I do, go prepared, and when the project is over with it’s out of my hands and we’ll see what happens.

[RR] Aliens is a great film, but you have to give credit to the fans of the film, because it is the fans who have given it the impetuous for its longevity. I went to a screening of Aliens with Lance, Michael Biehn and Jenette Goldstein, and after the screening we were to have a twenty-minute Q&A session. Two hours, and it went by like that, because the fans were so excited about the film and they had so many interesting and intelligent questions about the film. We just had a ball for two hours talking about it.

[CS] I had moved from London to LA and lived there after Aliens came out, as I was acting there. When I left LA and the industry I thought to myself ‘that’s another chapter in my life and I am going to do something different now,’ until I was rediscovered in New Orleans where I live now by some visiting special effects guys who had been on Aliens, as they are making a lot of films in New Orleans. When they ran into me they said I should sign up with this agency who sends us to all these conventions. I said ‘Really? I’m not acting any more, would they really be interested in me?’ So they said give them your name and see what happens; and it turns out that he was very keen to sign me up because I was one of the missing space troopers, as I had dropped off the scene.

[CS] My first convention was DragonCon in Atlanta, and I’m sitting on a booth with people from Star Wars, a Shakespearean actor, and all these illustrious actors, and the very first day of the conference, the colonial marines came up in their full garb and shouted ‘Cynthia Scott! Do you have any idea how long we’ve been waiting for you?’ I was: ‘But there’s this guy from Star Wars and this guy from the Royal Shakespeare Company, and you want me?’ and they came every single day of the convention for three days, and each day they would bring me presents. It was a lot of fun - I had no idea that there was this second life out there!

Aliens has been and gone, Spunkmeyer has sadly departed … [DK] Maybe, you never saw him die – he might well have run out of the back door. If there was a backdoor on those things [dropships] I can’t remember. In fact, I remember that there never was a backdoor, just a huge one at the front. [laughs]

Cynthia, what are you doing now?

[CS] I’m a visual artist and exhibiting sculptor. I use a lot of recycled material and found objects, as I have deep interest in ecology. I feel, certainly in American culture, that we produce far too much waste. You cannot believe the amount of packaging there is, as everything you buy is encapsulated in some kind of plastic vac-u-formed shell that is thrown away, and it creates horrific amounts of waste.

[CS] I collect waste to make it into art, and combine with other materials. I don’t just stick garbage together, as I also crochet things together, stitch fabric, welded steel or fabricated wood. I combine a lot of materials and you can see my work at cynthiascott2000.com.

Interview by Peter Ray Allison

Peter Ray Allison talks with actress-turned-horror author Dana Fredsti

‘The men in my life have also always had a strong streak of geekdom running through them, as they tend to be smarter, funnier and much more attractive than the jocks.’

Thus, horror author Dana Fredsti explains how she is undeniably a geek, something which is evident in her zombie-horror Ashley Parker trilogy (Plague Town, Plague Nation and Plague World). The first chapter in Plague Town had at least ten geek references and each novel opens with a quote from the classic John Carpenter film Big Trouble in Little China. Unlike some zombie fiction, which seeks to intellectualise zombies as a metaphor of the human condition, there is no such baggage in the Ashley Parker books, making for a far more entertaining read.

Dana had already established herself as a writer of thrillers and erotic fiction (the latter under the pseudonym of Inara Lavey). However, Plague Town was her first zombie-horror novel, with none of the thriller (but is a thrilling read) or erotic (that would be weird) elements.

Since then, Fredsti has recently finished writing the final book in her urban fantasy trilogy Lilith, as well as releasing the conclusion to the science fiction trilogy Time Shards,

HAVING A BITE

which she co-wrote with her husband David Fitzgerald.

To say Dana Fredsti is unconventional is an understatement, as she is not your typical writer. For starters, Dana is a trained swordswoman and former actress, who starred in the sci-fi fantasy Princess Warrior and appeared in Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness as a deadite.

When did you first begin writing?

I started writing back when I was first old enough to string words together. I think I was about five or six when I wrote my classic sweeping epic, The End of the Sun. Let me read it for you; ‘One day the sun came out. The next day the sun did not come out. It was the end of the sun.’ I still have this somewhere. So, as you can see, the writing bug – and an innate sense of three act structure – started at an early age.

Plague Town was not your first novel, but was this the first time we meet Ashley Parker? Ashley Parker, yes. but you might have seen Ashley Drake, Zombie Hunter in an eBook out with Ravenous Romance. That version was heavily revised when the series was sold to Titan Books and is no longer for sale. Farewell, Ashley Drake and hello, Ashley Parker!

In the Ashley Parker novels you balance humour with horror; how did you blend these two disparate elements together?

Humour is something that comes naturally to me

and seems to just emerge in my narrative voice, regardless of what genre I happen to be writing at the time. It actually takes more effort for me to write 100% seriously, so I don’t do it very often. Maybe this is because the only way I’ve stayed sane in rough times was by trying to find the humour in any given situation, so I’m pretty much hard-wired that way, both in real life and in my writing.

You mentioned how humour is in your writing – how does that factor into your erotic fiction? I have only written one story in my adult life that didn’t have humour in it. And it was hard work doing it, but I really wanted to try something different and see if I could change my narrative style. I’m really happy with the result, but it was tough going. All of my erotic romances (written as Inara LaVey) have humour in them. One of them, Ripping the Bodice, is a romantic comedy, so that’s a bit obvious, but the other two, Champagne and Fixation, are (respectively) a ménage a trois story and a paranormal romance. The pop cultural references aren’t as prevalent, as those just lend themselves to zombie novels, but there are some and there is definitely a vein of humour throughout the narratives of both. I can’t help myself!

In the acknowledgements to your Ashley Parker novels, you referenced Buffy as being a source of inspiration, but what else influenced them?

This seems like a good place to address the pop

cultural references in the book, which seem to resonate with some people and irritate others. I swear upon the lives of my felines I do not consciously try and put these in at set intervals. Like the humour, they pretty much just pop out when I’m writing and it would take more of a conscious effort to not put them in.

A reviewer referred to Plague Town as my ‘love letter to the geek world’ and while I love that’s what they took away from the book, I didn’t actually set out to do that. While the most obvious pop cultural influence aside from Buffy would be George Romero’s films, I’d have to say pretty much anything and everything I’ve seen, read or experienced influences my writing. People in my real life as well.

For instance, the bit where the character of Tony is listening to ‘March of the Dead’ from the Army of Darkness score on his iPod while watching the zombie swarm advance on the college was totally inspired by someone I know, who carries his iPod everywhere and pretty much has his own life soundtrack going. He would absolutely do what Tony does in the book. Never underestimate the fact that real life is weirder than anything we can make up, or the fact that people do indeed do very odd things in the face of stress or danger. And yes, I would go back for the cat.

One of these references includes Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness, which you were involved in – could you tell me more about that?

Working on Army of Darkness was a lot of fun and the fact it turned out to be such a huge cult hit makes it even more fun in retrospect. Lots of late nights, early mornings, and tons of ‘hurry up and wait’ in between takes. I had several jobs on the film, the first being one of the on-set armourer’s assistants. I helped distress (make it look real and as if it’d been worn) the plastic armour for both Deadites and soldiers, as well as repair broken straps and buckles and help dress the extras. When it was time for the Deadite scenes, I switched over to sword-fighting Deadite and sword captain, which meant I helped teach the extras the basics of theatrical combat (mainly broadsword and shield) and choreographed my own fights. I also did a couple of days as random village extra and ended up being used as Sheila’s stand-in along with another extra who doubled for Bruce when they were setting the lights for the kiss in the blacksmith’s shop scene.

Did your sword-fighting experience help you mentally choreograph the actions scenes in Plague Town?

I can visualise things in my head pretty clearly thanks to years of theatrical combat and martial arts, and what I can’t visualise, I get my boyfriend to play demo-dummy for me while I see if certain moves would work or not.

Earlier you mentioned saving the cat, which in Plague Town highlights the difference between living and being able to live with yourself. Could you elaborate about this? People either really relate to this element or think it’s totally stupid/crazy/unrealistic, but there are people (like me and many of my friends and family) who would not be able to live with themselves if they abandoned their animals during a time of crisis.

One of the worst nightmares I’ve ever had in my life had zombies attacking and I knew if I didn’t do something, they would rip my cats to pieces. My choices were to let that happen or take care of it myself so they didn’t suffer. I shot them each in the head so they’d die quickly. I woke up in hysterical tears from that dream.

My biggest fear about dying isn’t the actual death part of it (although I hope it doesn’t hurt), but what will happen to my cats if my boyfriend and I both die suddenly. There’s no way in hell I would NOT go back for the cat. I call it the Ripley Syndrome. A lot of people just hate the fact she bothered with Jones, but it’s one of the actions that made me love Ripley so much.

I’d do my best to rescue my cats under whatever circumstances even if it meant putting my life in danger. As I say in the book, “If you want to live, don’t go back for the cat. If you want to live with yourself, go back for the cat.” For people like me, there is no other option. They count on their humans to take care of them. It’s like taking an animal to the pound because it may not be perfectly behaved. Would you dump your kid in a shelter if it wet the bed? Well, some people would… but we’ll leave it at that.

As well as zombies, you add a gruesome alternative to the walking dead. Could you tell me your thoughts behind this?

I wanted to add a new dimension to what could happen if a person gets infected and I’m really looking forward to exploring how various characters are going to deal with it in the next two books. It opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of plot and character development.

Many had considered zombie-fiction to be a fad, yet it remains popular. Why do you think that is?

We hard-core zombie fans have been waiting a long time for our horrific monster of choice to get equal screen/page time as vampires and shape-shifters. I hear a lot of people complaining about it, that they’re sick of zombies and that there’s a lot of crap out there, but they don’t have to read or watch the stuff.

As far as there being a lot of crap out there, that’s true of any genre/sub-genre. There’s plenty of good stuff too and some really interesting takes

on the subject, along with the classic Romero flesh-eating ghoul. Bring it on, says I! There’s also the intellectual answer to that question, somewhere along the lines of how zombies are the perfect metaphor for just about any fear or issue a person can think of, but my take on zombies is not particularly intellectual and I’ll leave it to the more articulate authors and filmmakers who have a more intellectual subtext to their work. And I’ll also add that as long as the stories/ books/films have interesting and compelling characters and aren’t just survival porn, zombies will continue to hold their own with readers and audiences.

What do you think of the current zombie films/books/television/video-games?

There are so many fun new films/books/TV shows and games out there. My current favourite film is The Dead and I’m definitely a Walking Dead fan, as well as a fan of the British mini-series Dead Set. As far as video-games, (I used to be a Doom and House of the Dead junkie), but I sadly do not have time to play them. If I did, I’d be all over Dead Island.

As far as books, there are so many great authors out there (Jonathan Maberry and Joe McKinney spring to mind immediately), as well as publishers devoted to the genre. I’m really fond of everything I’ve read from Tomes of the Dead so far, and books from Permuted Press are generally reliable too.

How do you enjoy your spare time and relax?

I love to read, walk on the beach, surf when I get the chance, wine taste, and roller skate, as well as watch bad movies. I have cats that require a certain amount of time and attention, so I pretty much feel like spare time is non-existent.

Given you have limited free-time, how do you manage/schedule your writing?

Well, once I get over angsting over the fact I have no free time, I set myself a schedule, making sure I allow for exercise, eating, interaction with husband and felines. Basically, during the week, I’ll take care of whatever needs taking care of around the house, do tae-bo if I haven’t already exercised that morning, eat dinner, and get to work on the writing for as long as I can manage to stay awake.

I’m not a night person and have to get up at 6am, so I tend to go narcoleptic around 10pm. On the weekends, I have my early morning beach walk/rollerblading time until around 10am, then do household stuff (I’m still working on getting the cats to clean up after themselves, but no luck so far), errands, email, etc. 2pm is my ‘must start writing no later than’ time and I’ll write until it’s time to sleep.

Interview by Peter Ray Allison

SPOTLIGHT

Bringing the glitz to SFW

Photo Credit: Simon Dunkerley

FILM REVIEWS

Wonka

Oompa loompa doompety doo

I’ve got a perfect puzzle for you Oompa loompa doompety dee If you are wise you’ll listen to me

Wonka has had good reviews.  From the makers of the Paddington movies, a good pedigree, and as it started felt like a possible future classic.  We’ve done alright with sequels to classics recently, Mary Poppins Returns comes to mind.  This is also a full on musical and whilst its new numbers are pleasant, none are particularly memorable.  As indicated by the trailers the highlight of the film is Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa, alas he’s not in it much and most of his scenes are in the trailers.

Why Hugh Grant?  The Director Paul King states, “I was enchanted by the idea of these impossibly tiny beings, far smaller even than the child-sized me. The voice and the attitude of the Oompa Loompa came from revisiting the books – long songs full of humour, sarcasm, superiority and scorn. So it was really just thinking about that character – someone

who can be a real sh*t. And I went, ‘Ah, Hugh [Grant]!’ Because he’s the funniest, most sarcastic sh*t that I’ve ever met! We’d been there before with Paddington 2. I had to write him this awkward letter, saying, ‘You’re good at playing washed-up, old hams…’”  This however caused controversy as both previous films had cast actors with dwarfism in the role.  Perhaps an actor with dwarfism should have been cast in a different role to compensate?

The Oompa Loompas are not new to controversy.  In the original novel they were miniature pygmies from “the very deepest and darkest part of the African jungle where no white man had ever been before.”  Grandpa Joe used to work for the Wonka factory before being laid off, replaced by their slave workforce.  Before the film came out in 1971 the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) threatened to boycott American cinemas and Producers, worried about a negative portrayal of black characters.  Our beloved orange skinned, green haired Oompa Loompas were born.  Author Dahl agreed to change the characters in his book and when Charlie and the Glass Elevator was published in 1973 a new version of the original was printed.  There is currently controversy about publishers making changes to Dahl’s books, so whilst nothing new, it’s different when the author rewrites themselves.

Although a bit racist by today’s standards, Roald Dahl is a better writer than this film’s screenwriter.  Whilst there are Dahl-like concoctions, he knew how to ground the story.  Charlie for instance comes from poverty and we feel that from seeing his household and his desperate attempt to collect chocolate wrappers in his desire for a proper life.  Wonka turns up in this film similarly destitute, having lost the little he has at the start, with townspeople preying on the naive, Wonka is happy to see it go and is never shown to feel its loss.  We see him end up in a workhouse but again it doesn’t rattle him, he is like a visitor to real life who doesn’t feel its effects.  This is an issue.  Confounded by the fact in the original we are viewing the world through a powerless protagonist, but Wonka is a powerful figure who

can produce magic chocolates seemingly out of thin air (at least in this film).  From the start Wonka has this power, so although there is some darkness in the film, obstacles to be overcome, he should be able to deal with them effortlessly as he’s the most powerful character in the film.  For Wonka, except for one aside where he has run out of giraffe milk so has to go and milk one, ingredients are all always easily available in his magic case.  I suspect Roald Dahl would have shown you him struggling to get them. These underlying issues lead to my problem with the film, its overlong at 2 hours (1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was just over 90 mins, Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is also around 2 hours).  When you are making a two-dimensional confection, you want to keep it short.  I did not feel the hero was in peril at any moment, if he is drowning, for instance, he only needs to produce an ‘underwater breathing chocolate’ to eat.  It’s the same risk that modern Doctor Who flirts with, making the character too powerful and thus any element of threat is diluted.

The songs whilst enjoyable do not advance the narrative so there are built in toilet breaks.  It has an impressively stellar cast, Timothy Chalamet, although dull at the beginning of Dune, acquits himself well here.  Tom Daly plays his usual oafish goon.  Most of the cast of Ghosts seem to be present, not surprising, as the film is co-written by one of them, Simon Farnaby, who also cameos as a security guard.  Olivia Colman is as usual superb and is turning out to be this generation’s Emma Thompson. It’s the perfect concoction for Christmas being colourful and cheery and a pleasant enough watch, although Rowan Atkinson felt somewhat wasted.  It does not however live up to the Director’s standard of the two Paddington films.  Wonka at the outset makes clear this is a fantasy where real life rules don’t apply, a mis-step as it limits relatability.  Paddington got away with it having a feeble protagonist, but Wonka is invariably powerful.

Review by Cliff Homewood

The Boy and the Heron Miyazaki. No, not a bike.  For the uninitiated, Hiyao Miyazaki’s a Japanese filmmaker, spoken about in revered tones.  His work being high art and we should grovel profusely for each masterpiece.  Called the Japanese Disney, though his success rate is not as good as Walt’s.  Co-founder of Studio Ghibli that’s made highly charming films such as Kiki’s Delivery

Poor Things

Poor Things is a highly anticipated upcoming film, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray and follows the story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by an eccentric scientist. As she navigates her new life, she becomes embroiled in a complex web of love, deceit and tragedy. With its darkly comic tone

Service  and The Cat Returns.  Miyazaki peaked in 2003 with Spirited Away, which won the Oscar for best animated feature that year and a serious contender for best animated feature of all time.  He followed this up with the great Howl’s Moving Castle which felt like a sequel.  His films haven’t quite been to the same standard since.  Ponyo was passable.  Arrietty is delightful, but familiarity with the source material, The Borrowers, gave me a sense of déjà vu.

From Up on Poppy Hill can stay up there.  His last film, The Wind Rises, was a dull biography, so was glad to see he has come out of retirement (Hiyao was 83 on the 5th January) to make another fantasy, more his style.  He’s already working on his next film.

The Japanese title for this film translates as How Do You Live, which is also the title of a 1937 novel, which the hero’s mother gives him at the beginning of this film.  Perhaps it explains what the hell is going on.  This is Japan’s most expensive film according to its Producer and it opened at number 1 in Japan.  The heron in Japanese myth symbolises transition and for decades we never saw a Studio Ghibli film as Hiyao Miyazaki felt translations were butchering originals, only when Disney got involved with top class talent were they released in the West.  For this film they wanted a subconscious link with Howl’s Moving Castle so the same voice actor was used for Shoichi as played Howl, Takuya Kimura, Christian Bale in the dub.  Both versions have been released to

and unique style, Poor Things is a captivating and thought-provoking cinematic experience.

Now I have to say that I went to the Cineworld Unlimited Screening without knowing too much about Poor Things which I have to say I think is the best way to go in to see the film at the cinema. One thing I knew was that the film wouldn’t be my usual cinema trip and I was hoping for something extraordinary from director Yorgos Lanthimos right from the start of the film, I knew that I wouldn’t be disappointed. Opening with Bella (Emma Stone) on a bridge you can see from this scene that the cinematography and style of the film was going to be something that would have me glued to Poor Things from start to finish.

The story is as strange as the film itself, but it’s such a joy to watch as we are introduced to a cast of characters that bring this bizarre and charming book to life on the big screen. Willem Dafoe is somewhat scary and extremely watchable as Dr. Goodwin Baxter who in his strange way has taken Bella under his wing. As the story unfolds we learn so much more about this strange relationship between Dr and the patient that had me shocked in a good way.

Ramy Youssef is great to watch as Max McCandles who is brought in to help Goodwin keep a record of Bella’s changes and reactions, as the story unfolds Max starts to fall in love with Bella. But adding to the mix of their start of falling in love, Goodwin brings in a solicitor Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) and this certainly throws in the cat among the pigeons.

the cinema.

As usual the film looks beautiful, but like My Neighbour Totoro I found it a slog to get through the first half.  It was slower than Roger Lloyd Pack’s funeral.*  It picks up in the second half when we enter the world of fantasy.  A little ‘i’ makes all the difference, changing it to The Boy and the Heroin and it’s like a drug dream.  The film does not sufficiently explain what’s happening.  I felt this dream logic missed the clarity of a story throughline like Spirited Away has.  From amusing old washer women-type characters to warawara floating around like a cross between soot sprites and Doctor Who’s Adipose, characters reminded me of Spirited Away.  There is, as usual with Miyazaki, great imagination on display but the film is confused instead of enlightened.  When it ended I wasn’t quite sure of what had happened and why. It feels like a near miss instead of a hit**, especially with its laborious first half.

*Roger Lloyd Pack played Trigger in Only Fools and Horses. You shouldn’t get the mental acuity of the character mixed with that of the actor. This has been your Trigger warning. [Groan, Ed]

**Some people are going to say a near miss is a hit. My mum says I’m worth my weight in gold, but the Bank of England doesn’t agree, what are you going to do?

Review by Cliff Homewood

A new adventure starts for Bella and we are taken on a wonderous journey across the world, I must warn you there is plenty of “furious jumping” going on and I released at this point why the film was given an 18 certificate, but all the sex etc is all done brilliantly and keeps in with the tone of the film.

Emma Stone is superb as Bella, throughout the film her performance is amazing to watch as her character develops through the story, I have to say that this is one of the finest performances from Stone that I have seen in years, she is perfectly cast as Bella.

As I mentioned earlier the cinematography in Poor Things is stunning, with its wonderful black and white tones for the first part of the film, we are later treated with some amazing colours and shots that work brilliantly giving the film a feel of something magical, look out for various scenes that give us different styles of lens shot that look amazing such as a round view like looking through a pinhole.

Poor Things is one of those films that you don’t want to know too much about before you go and see it, just go and bathe in wonder of the overall production. It’s been a while since I’ve sat through a film and just wanted to start watching it again as soon as the credits started to roll.

Poor Things opens in UK cinemas on the 12th of January, my recommendation is to go see it on the big screen.

Review by Karen Woodham

Godzilla Minus One (Gojira 1.0)

Thanks to a Cineworld Unlimited Screening I had the chance to preview Godzilla Minus One a movie that I have been so excited about since I first heard about its release sometime back, so I was hoping that the new movie from Toho would be as good as I hoped. The new Godzilla movie is set in post-occupation Japan, made to commemorate the franchise’s 69th and 70th anniversaries, and is the second Reiwa Era instalment since Shin Godzilla (2016). Godzilla Minus One certainly doesn’t hold back by bringing us an opening scene that sets us on the path of a superb monster movie as we are introduced to the main character and Godzilla in a stunning sequence that looks amazing on the big screen.

We are then taken on a journey through a few years as Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) who is a failed Kamakazi pilot returns home and faces not only the destruction of his home town but also the dishonour of not performing his duty to die in the role as a Kamakazi.

But he soon meets up with Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe) who taking care of a small child, the two come together and in turn, we get a wonderful, if somewhat strange, relationship between the two. But Koichi doesn’t want to commit as he still feels a failure for not performing his duty in the war. But after some time Godzilla returns and pure devastation is caused by the creature that has since grown since Koichi’s first contact with it previously. Now Godzilla is destroying everything in its path and it’s down to those that have survived the war to save Tokyo from annihilation.

I’ve been a big fan of Godzilla since seeing 1954’s Gojira back in the late 70s, I’m sure it’s the fascination with dinosaurs that pulled me into the movie or that the 1954 movie was just something that grabbed my attention and from that point onward Godzilla has stuck with me. One of the many things that I love about Godzilla Minus One is that it seems such a powerful story that is not just about Godzilla it’s about the struggles of the characters who not only have to fight for their lives but also have to try and rebuild them after World War II was over.

It’s the characters that pulled me into this movie, I found myself wanting them to survive, find their place and be able to defeat a monster that usually I’d be cheering on. But let’s not forget that Godzilla is a force to be reckoned with and this new movie

certainly has some amazing scenes that have you on the edge of your seat as the gigantic and most famous Kaiju in cinematic history.

Godzilla Minus One looks stunning on the cinema screen, the cinematography looks fantastic and the set designs pull you into a 1940s Japan. The costume design also looks great in every scene. When it comes to the special effects I really couldn’t fault them, the scenes on the sea with Godzilla attack stood up on the big screen, plus the sound effects boom out of the speaker system especially Godzilla’s raw and when the heat ray kicks in.

The music from Naoki Satô is perfect for the atmosphere during the movie, we also get an amazing rendition of Akira Ifukube‘s original theme that I have to say gave me chills, it reminded me of when I first saw the 1954 movie when the theme did the same to me then. If you are a fan of the Toho movies then Godzilla Minus One will certainly be for you, I’m just glad that the movie wasn’t dubbed and that it kept its original Japanese language and with subtitles, with a lot of movies that are dubbed they lose gravitas, so seeing the movie with the subtitles gives you all the emotion from the original actors and makes it a far more enjoyable movie to watch.

Writer and director Takashi Yamazaki has brought a movie that must be seen on the big screen and to be honest I would say the bigger the screen the better. After last night’s Cineworld Unlimited Screening, I’m hoping to get to see it again but this time in all its IMAX glory.

Review by Karen Woodham

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

The Lost Kingdom is obviously where DC got their good films from, they just can’t seem to get back there.   This is possibly their worst.  My Uncle has a phrase for big budget action movies, ‘they are just a bunch of fireworks’.  A friend reviewed this film as ‘Bright colours and loud noises’.

It has a good rock soundtrack, however when you have Aquaman spouting neutered unnatural sounding dialogue, as he’s not allowed to swear, and follow this with ‘Born to be Wild’ …

It starts promisingly enough, with a domesticated Aquaman, albeit similar to the potbellied Thor, which did it better.  Aquaman’s baby son weeing is funny and the film highlight.  It goes on to rip off Star Wars as he enters a Pirate’s Den, complete with a band containing a creature with a trunk and that’s before we meet the Jabba the Hutt-esque Pirate King.  For the finale we find ourselves entering Mordor complete with treacherous passage.  It’s like the plot has been written by a 12-year-old using story ideas like stickle bricks.  When Amber Heard appears can’t help but think her life is more interesting.  Bored for most of it, dragging myself through for sake of review (we all must suffer for our art!)  You know the acting standard isn’t great when it includes Dolph Lundgren, perhaps a bit harsh but his character felt just a bit off to me.  Jason Mamoa overacts, although fine previously, I think he felt the loss of a good script to imbue emotion.  Brian Blessed gives voice to a comedy sidekick that isn’t funny.  The film sets up sniping banter between Jason Mamoa and Patrick Wilson that falls flat.  Each character seems to be too much in his world for it to work, the shared warmth isn’t there. Jason Mamoa is funny getting chucked out of a pub.  Is Patrick Wilson too serious an actor

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I loved The Hunger Games films, they came on the back of a trend, started by Battle Royale, of people battling to the death movies, but did it decently, with emotional and story heft.  Now

we have the prequel, again based on a Suzanne Collins novel.  I’ve never read the books and never needed to until now.  This was The Longer Games, 2 hours 38 mins, and did I feel them.  I didn’t realise The Hunger Games was played on an audience’s endurance.  It has a 3-act structure and the end of part II felt like a natural end, but you have another hour to sit through.  The Games being played are as usual riveting and when it ends feels like the film should.  It’s the final third where it’s felt the worst, readers of the books state it is rushed and I agree, character motivations are changed without good reason, I can surmise why, but the film didn’t tell me or make me feel it.

The plot twist was not earned.  Book readers inform of motivations which were not explained on film. The lead’s a singer, we see her singing, fair enough.  But I did not expect the film to turn into a musical, waiting for songs to end so the film could continue.  The music is folksy, not my style.  The leads, Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler, do have good chemistry and its always nice to see Peter Dinklage.  This tells the story of how Coriolanus Snow created the Games.  Named after Shakespeare’s play, Coriolanus, and its plot is paralleled in The Hunger Games.  Viola Davies playing a harridan who set up the games before him.  This feels like passing the buck, what next a prequel for Viola revealing another

or can Director James Wan not do comedy?

The fact that Brian Blessed is normally funny indicates the latter.  This is the film series where you can tell they are underwater because the actors look like they are in Timotei commercials.  This film has a lot of continuity, so if you don’t know what happened previously, it feels like you are watching half a film.

Think of Aquaman as his proper English name, Wetman, and you get more of a feel.  When Marvel Head Honcho realised the upcoming Daredevil series wasn’t to scratch, he scrapped it and reshot.  James Gunn should have done this.  The first time DC have released four films in a year (Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash & Blue Beetle being the others) they need to take a note from Marvel’s aspirations and move to quality over quantity.

I enjoyed the first Aquaman movie, although not particularly memorable.  Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom looks pretty and has the usual story beats as they travel through exotic locales but lacks something, a couple of scenes even look like matte paintings.  There’s a reason why it’s not being shown in 3D much, it’s two dimensional.

Review by Karen Woodham

character behind The Hunger Games before her?  There seemed to be a continuity issue with what Hunger Games we were shown.

The film starts with ‘3 years before the Hunger Games’.  The Host announces ‘I’m glad to be the first host of the first ever Hunger Games’ but then later refers to it being the eighth Hunger Games. Coriolanus’ family at beginning of the film add nothing and could easily be excised.  Existing only as a tick-box exercise.  The heart of the film is when he’s paired with a contestant and the sooner you get to where it soars, the better.  Whenever it leaves the arena it becomes leaden.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is as long as its title.  It’s The Hunger Games equivalent to the Star Wars prequels showing Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader, but not doing it well enough.

Review by Karen Woodham

ARGYLLE

Argylle is the latest film from Matthew Vaughn, a director who works best with screenwriter Jane Goldman.  She did not write this film.  Together they’ve given us Kingsman, Kick Ass, X-Men: First Class and Stardust.  They also gave us Kingsman: The Golden Circle, nobody’s perfect.  The third, The Kingsman, a return to form, didn’t involve Goldman.  A history lesson with jokes.  Now with Argylle, also set in the Kingsman universe I’m suspecting the Star Trek rule applies, only every other film is good.  There’s mystery around who wrote the book the film is based on.  The credited author, Elly Conway, is a suspected pseudonym.  And Matthew Vaughn nixed the Taylor Swift rumour.

I wasn’t sure whether to review this film at all, although a speculative fiction remit covers the fantasy genre, spy films usually do not count.  They are the fiction we like to pretend is the reality.  Unless the film includes a sci-fi element like Mission Impossible’s face masks (that also seem to change

body builds!) Such is the case here, even referencing an old classic that is regarded as science fiction.  Although many would not class it as such.  It’s our accepting of fantasy as reality (if the fantasy is a piece of pseudo-science it then falls in the realms of SF).

Espionage is a network of moles doing boring paperwork deep-seated in various positions and feeding us information.  Lest us forget Boris Johnson, who refers to Africa as Bongo Bongo Land, was Foreign Secretary for a while and the country went to war over a student paper showing WMDs.  The whole thing is a mess.  Getting involved does not help, we either do imperial rule or we get back out and the country returns to the state it was in before.  We don’t help Palestine as Israel is an ally.  And we just provide Ukraine with weapons.

We ignore that the UK and the US are two of the world’s biggest arms dealers.  We will happily sell weapons to countries but if they then use them, we condemn them.  The CIA have been known to run drugs to make money to support or depose foreign regimes.  We don’t care if they’re Dictators as long as they’re West friendly: allowing access to oil.  The real life spy’s environment is complex and interesting but we prefer to portray the simple fantasy of we are good, others are bad.  Instead of asking, “excuse me, are these our good guy drug dealers or bad ones?” Or “is this one of our terrorist cells trying to topple a foreign regime please?” (Fidel Castro, after yet another failed attempt is purported to have written to the US President, please stop these assassination attempts otherwise I will do it to you and I will do it properly.)  With the exception of films like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Bridge of Spies and Tom Cruise’s American Made we prefer the fantasy.  Bond can run on water, via conveniently placed crocodiles.  They feed us dumb entertainment and we like it that way.

Argylle’s trailer was not impressive, it felt old hat.  We’ve recently had the ‘fight on a train’ trailer with Bullet Train.   Argylle’s story of a writer being stuck

with the real life equivalent of her romanticised hero feels too clichéd.  Recently we’ve had The Lost City with a very similar plot.  It’s not surprising Argylle has flopped, it seems to go out of its way to riff off underperforming movies.  Henry Cavill is stuck with a bad haircut as the idealised hero, and Henry Haircut is hardly in the film.  Dallas Bryce Howard, who like her dad Ron Howard, can effortlessly carry the lead, is stuck with the real-life equivalent Sam Rockwell.  It feels like it could be a Hitchcock thriller with its twists and turns, but he would have made it more believable.  Matthew Vaughn can direct great action sequences, the smoke filled finale is impressive, but he is not good at grounding a story.

The film starts promisingly with Henry Haircut in a bravado Bond-style chase.  It’s unbelievable but fun, the secret to Bond is that we enjoy his exploits even though we know they’re not realistic.  For the first hour I enjoyed the ride, but then it slowed down.  That’s a risk when doing such a tap dance, you don’t want your souffle to deflate (Hey, did I mix a metaphor?  Go me!)  This changing of pace was coupled with a hard to believe situation; when the Intelligence Agencies turn to our writer hero and say, ‘we don’t know what to do, you’re the one with the imagination, you tell us’.  Once you have lost your belief in a film its hard to get back and I watched the rest through glazed eyes.  There are plot twists later that help explain the earlier situation but by then the harm had been done.  The film is far fetched and the guffaw level unbelievable.  The film has to maintain its exciting edge of your seat pace to keep those plates spinning (I wonder how many metaphors I can fit in?)  Alas although the second half contains some quite impressive twists, ennui had set in.  The film had started to feel like an intelligence test which you’d need a cat brain to enjoy.  A shame, as we don’t get enough films with female leads.

Argylle is a bit woolly.  An enjoyable first half but the second starts to drag as the unbelievability piles up.

Review by Cliff Homewood

COSPLAY HIGHLIGHTS

Photo Credit: Simon Dunkerley

At CHILDHOOD’S END

Interview with SOPHIE ALDRED

Interview by David J Howe

Best known for playing the character of Ace in Doctor Who at the end of the eighties, actress Sophie Aldred talks to David J Howe about the recurring appeal of the character.

Mid-way through Sylvester McCoy’s era as the Doctor, in the BBC’s popular science fiction adventure series Doctor Who, a new female companion was introduced. Initially a feisty waitress on IceWorld, Ace joined the Doctor on his travels and we discovered a lot more about this tomboy schoolgirl from Perivale … Since then, the character has appeared in books and comic stories, has developed into a leather-clad mercenary, and beyond. Indeed, the special trailer for the new Blu-Ray release for Season 26 which stars Sophie, had a special trailer created in which she plays an older and wiser version of Ace, now head of an organisation called A Charitable Earth.

‘It’s so funny, isn’t it?’ smiles Sophie, ‘because when I got the part I thought to myself: Doctor Who girl? Well, they just scream, don’t they? They wear unsuitable shoes for running around quarries. They twist their ankles and they’re generally a bit hopeless … and I thought, why have I been cast? I was a tomboy growing up. My Dad taught me to play football and cricket in the days before girls did that sort of thing. I was totally unsuitable for what I thought a Doctor Who girl would be. Luckily that wasn’t what they were looking for, and in many ways I fitted their ideas for this new character perfectly.

‘For me in that era, Ace was an extraordinarily different character on television. There wasn’t really anyone like Ace there. Sylvester and I got on with the work like with any other job. I read the scripts, I took the character from the scripts and did what I could with it. She was very realistic including her language. Andrew Cartmel,

the script editor, was always in search of words that young people were using in those days, expressions that people had. “It was wicked!” that was the one wasn’t it!

‘It’s funny how Jodie Whitaker says “Ace” on television at the moment. Obviously something in the show is carrying forward!’

Sophie is a total bundle of energy to talk to, and she’s always busy. Since leaving Doctor Who she took some time out to raise a family, but returned to voice work, creating and developing characters from Tree Fu Tom to Dennis the Menace on television. More recently she’s turned her hand to writing, and her first novel, At Childhood’s End, was published on 6 February 2020. This wasn’t the first writing that Sophie had done, as in 1996 she co-authored, with visual effects designer Mike Tucker, a factual book looking at her time on Doctor Who called Ace: The Inside Story of the End of an Era. But the penning of a novel is a whole different thing.

‘It’s been an extraordinary last six months or so for me,’ explains Sophie. ‘First of all the there was the trailer for the blu ray set. This featured Ace as a businesswoman and head of A Charitable Earth. I was just so delighted with that. It was very moving, the dialogue and narration written by the brilliant Pete McTigue was really evocative.

‘Then, out of the blue, Steve Cole, who is a talented freelance writer and commissioning editor for BBC Books at Penguin, called me and said, “Can I have a meeting with you please, and Mike Tucker, about an idea that Penguin have had,” and we got together. We live reasonably near each other. So we met in a very nice little chocolate shop in Wendover, and Steve explained that the Tom Baker book, Scratchman, had been an enormous success. That was an idea that Tom had in the ‘70s when he was doing Doctor Who and it never got made, but Penguin commissioned him to work on a novel-length version of it with writer James Goss, and it was such a success that Penguin said, “Okay, we’re going to do another one. And we want to do one with Sophie …”

‘I was absolutely blown away. It was really fantastic. Stephen had come up with this idea about Ace being a businesswoman, based on what Russell T Davies had written as a one liner in The Sarah Jane Adventures. And I added, because the blu-ray trailer hadn’t come out at that point, “Well, funny you should say that …” And I told them about the trailer and about the ideas that we had for Ace running a company within this building that she’s had built opposite the Tower of London, which is where UNIT are meant to be now. So she could kind of keep an eye on what’s going in and out of UNIT. And I shared various ideas that Pete McTighe (who also writes for New

Who) and I had talked about as well.

‘All this culminated in nearly 300 pages of a book! It’s very much about Ace at the beginning, and then there’s a point in the book where she meets the 13th Doctor … I thought it should be one of the most important moments in the book.

‘It’s been incredible working on it. I like working collaboratively and that makes it much easier for me as some of the pressure is shared and I like working with people. It’s a huge process and a massive undertaking. And writing is not my background, I’m a performer, but being able to collaborate on something has been really wonderful, especially with Steve Cole and Mike Tucker, both of whom I’ve known for years and get on with so well.

‘The deadlines were short because they wanted to release the book while the next series of Doctor Who was on television … And I’ve done the audiobook of it as well!

‘I’ll be doing signings and podcasts and there’s a Radio 2 interview with the wonderful Graham Norton. It’s exciting! I still love watching the show. I think that Jodie’s not only a fabulous Doctor for a new generation of Doctor Who fans, but I also just love her as a person. I don’t know if you’ve seen the new Children In Need thing she’s just done where she sings the Coldplay song “Yellow”? Oh, if you get a chance, look on YouTube. But you can just tell: she’s the most genuine generous person.’

Retrospective: 30 Years of Dinosaurs

Jurassic Park… Where do I begin with this one?

The film is set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, located off Central America’s pacific Coast near Coasta Rica. There, wealthy businessman John Hammond and a team of scientists have created a wildlife park of dinosaurs. When business related sabotage leads to catastrophic shutdown of the parks power, a small group of visitors and Hammond’s grandchildren struggle to survive and escape the island.

There have surprisingly been few good dinosaur movies, despite a timeless fascination people continue to have with them. Dinosaurs haven’t been too well represented on film, it also doesn’t help matters when the attempts to bring them to life on screen have been comical or inadequate due to ignorance and the limits of special effects at the time. This is obviously no longer a problem thanks to technology we can bring these animals back to life with more believability than ever before, and there’s one movie that we have to thank for this, and everyone should know what that movie is.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the book of the same name by Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park took the world by storm when it was released in the summer of 1993 becoming the highest grossing movie of that year. It’s made believable by its game changing effects, making the dinosaurs feel real in a way they hadn’t been before. After Jurassic

Park no dinosaur movie has ever matched its greatness and it still remains that way today, but why? What is it about Jurassic Park that specifically makes it the king of dinosaur movies? The Jurassic franchise has had five sequels and yet none of them are as good as the original. There of course are obvious reasons as to why this is: Spielberg’s direction, John Williams iconic score, and the ground-breaking effects all play a large part when it comes to what makes Jurassic Park a great movie. Upon further reflection I think it’s more than this. It takes the science seriously. The three main leads are doctors, this automatically frames the story with an academic context. The film isn’t about an ordinary person seeing these dinosaurs it’s about people who have dedicated their lives to the studying of these extinct beings, the very thing they are passionate about coming to life right in front of their eyes. Jurassic Park takes its science so seriously that they took the time to show how they brought dinosaurs back to life with the characters, the fact that the movie goes out of its way to explain the science oddly makes the story feel more magical. It’s the magic of science. It’s also a warning of man’s arrogance no matter how well our intentions may be. Although Jurassic Park does have the dinosaurs eating people it actually fits the theme of the story, be careful what you wish for. Nature doesn’t care about your feelings or intentions; it’ll lash out and not comply with your demands. It’s a force greater than ourselves that we can’t control, and the dinosaurs are a manifestation of that force. Every shot of the dinosaurs is focused

and commands your attention.

It doesn’t just have people running from dinosaurs, it has ideas, themes, scientific curiosity and the dangers that lie with it. It works as a fun adventure movie but has layers to it if you want to look for them. There isn’t a movie like it and its possible there never will be again.

It stars Sam Neill as palaeontologist Alan Grant, Laura Dern as Ellie Satler a palaeobotanists and the charismatic Jeff Goldblum as chaos theorist Ian Malcom. However, the stars are the dinosaurs who are a combination of CGI and animatronics. The dinosaurs are realistic, lifelike, beautiful and completely terrifying with my favourites being the T Rex and the raptors.

The dialogue and acting are so good that you start to relate to the characters, you care for these people. Because of this, by time they are going to the island you feel as though you’re going with them. The same goes for when they are in danger, you feel that threat. The different cast members in this film are great. The children’s reactions to the dinosaurs are very believable, especially in the raptor kitchen scene.

Entire scenes are dedicated to characters discussing whether or not technology gives us the control we have as a species, and when they aren’t scenes will take their time to establish atmosphere, tension, mood, character personalities and motivation and it

all combines to make each scene iconic and stand out from the rest. There is a two-minute scene where a lawyer talks to a palaeontologist about investors wanting a thorough insight inspection of their investment and as boring as that sounds its incredibly well handled. It directly contrasts the dark and chaotic scene that proceeds it. Characters aren’t just standing still but walking through a wide dig sight with builders’ voices echoing throughout the scene, and lastly it takes you deeper into the world and pulls you in with mood, intrigue and mystery leaving you with the impression that something bigger is at play. That we, as an audience, are only getting small glimpses at what this story has in store for us. It’s a whole journey and it’s just a two-minute scene. Every scene is like this, taking its time to entice the viewer into the world and even though it doesn’t look like this on the surface, the subject matter might not be the most thrilling but by giving it some thought it makes you even more curious. So many movies today don’t do this, instead they interrupt the flow of dialogue with jokes. In Jurassic Park tension is maintained and never sacrificed for jokes and if there is a joke it’s enough to make you laugh but not enough to make you distracted by what’s happening on the screen.

It’s clear from re-watching the movie that the movie is most impressive because of its screenplay. While the film is filled with exciting action sequences and amazing visual effects, it’s also populated by its characters that are used to explore an important modern theme.

When thinking about who would be able to pay for something like this became a challenge to Crichton, the theme of Jurassic Park being an entertainment park became

the proposition and buried inside this proposition he would find the DNA of the story. Its theme. Is it a good idea to bring back dangerous extinct creatures? Just because we have the technology doesn’t mean that we should, and is everything we call progress actually progress? This is the theme of Jurassic Park, but Michael didn’t think it had a simple answer, so he and screenwriter David Koepp used the theme as a blueprint for creating two characters with opposing viewpoints. When we first meet Dr. Alan Grant, he’s anti-progress in two ways. We see that he is completely mistrusting of technology, we also see that he isn’t compatible with a more significant representation of the future: Grant doesn’t like kids and doesn’t want to have them. Throughout the first half of the movie, we see examples of Alan’s dislike of children and his disdainful relationship with technology again and again and again. Grant clearly represents the anti-progress side of the theme but someone with an opposing viewpoint comes barging into his world: John Hammond. John is so pro-technology and progress he doesn’t even think that bringing dinosaurs back to life might be dangerous, when a worker is killer by a raptor Hammond’s only concern is that it might delay the parks opening. In fact, John’s favourite catchphrase ‘spared no expense’ is an expression of this mindset, forward at all costs. The first act of the movie establishes Grant and Hammond’s opposing takes of the theme of progress. Just doing this isn’t enough, to truly explore a theme we need to find ways of testing the character’s beliefs. In act 2 the screenplay splits these two with an entire island between them, this separation allows each of them to come across situations uniquely designed to attack their beliefs. When the power goes out all over the island Grant finds himself responsible for the lives of

Hammond’s grandchildren, throughout the second half of the movie Alan’s story is about looking after the kids, eventually he even acknowledges that he has been resisting progress in his own life and he’s ready to change. Meanwhile Hammond is dealing with the fact that the dinosaurs he created are destroying everything he has built but even worse they are now threatening the lives of his grandchildren. By having to witness the disaster unfold John is forced to realise that he only loved progress when he thought he had control over it. But it’s not just the situations that are designed to attack Grant and Hammond’s beliefs. The script uses Dr. Ian Malcom to test Grant by flirting with his partner. In his interactions with Alan, we see that he might have qualities Dr Satler wants that Alan lacks. It hints that if he doesn’t evolve, he could lose Ellie. Malcom tests Hammond by spelling out the exact problem with his pro-progress obsession. Once Malcom entered Ellie also steps in to test John’s beliefs for weaknesses. The screenwriter even reminds us of Hammond’s catchphrase highlighting how Hammond’s progress at all cost viewpoint has failed in the face of disaster and now sits around him.

Ian Malcom, Ellie Satler, Dennis Nedry, and Robert Muldoon are fun additions to the story each with their own moments, but more importantly these characters exist to sharpen the films focus on theme by challenging the thoughts of Grant and Hammond. Because their beliefs are challenged throughout the film by the end, they have both learned to evolve. The fact that they both change their beliefs is proof that the question that is being asked doesn’t have a neat easy answer.

Jurassic Park is a great example of how to use theme at the design of the screenplay. It celebrates the miracles the technology can provide while also warning of the dangers of irresponsible progress. This commitment to theme elevates the film above any monster movie, helping it become one of our most beloved cinematic experiences. It allowed

one meaningful adventure to wait inside the gates of Jurassic Park.

Something else that I think makes Jurassic Park great is its ability to build emotions through cinematic techniques. The music is cheery, and our excitement grows, suddenly the music stops as Ellie looks in confusion and wonder at a plant that shouldn’t exist anymore and Alan looks at something in the distance, mouth agape as the camera zooms in on him. He takes off his hat and glasses and stands up as if he can’t believe his eyes. Its only then when Alan gets her attention that Ellie takes off her glasses and rises out of the roof of the car with subtle suspenseful music and then we hear it and in the same moment see it as the enormous Brachiosaurus towers over them emitting a beautiful animal call then the iconic music kicks in again sealing us in a sense of wonder and magnificence as the main characters stumble out of the car and walk up to the creature in bewilderment. This animal they have admired their entire lives, which Alan in particular has spent his whole career studying stands next to him. Every character gets their own moment showing what it means to them, and Alan gets so overwhelmed that he gets dizzy and must sit down. This is where John Hammond joyfully exclaims ‘welcome to Jurassic Park’. We then see a wide shot of the full majesty of the park with herds of dinosaurs together wondering across the field and lake. This is what I mean by building emotion. Speaking about Williams’ incredible score, the main theme has this warm regal feeling and lives up to the audiences’ expectations of seeing dinosaurs for the first time. The score just adds to everything. John Williams’ instantly recognisable score couldn’t be any more of a perfect match for this movie, from its iconic theme to its more ominous feeling tracks that reflect the feeling of discovering something ancient but also forbidden, a Pandora’s box of power that can’t be controlled. When they arrive at the island this brilliant triumphant music plays and it’s so happy and grand and then it turns into this enchanting little adventure but then it gets quiet and it builds and builds and builds and then there’s this beautiful majestic music plays hand in hand with characters in awe of this incredible life in front of them and you can’t help but share in their wonder, but then you get to the T Rex scene and the music is gone. Rain, thunder, and silence replaces the score that was once comforting until the park goes from this wonderful destination to this very real and terrifying island full of extinct wild animals destroying the barrier between fantasy and reality. Just hearing this music sends you back into this world where it compliments it perfectly.

Based on the Dinonicaus, Steven Spielberg’s Velociraptor became an overnight hit after being the “big bad” of Jurassic Park. One of the many things that Spielberg did fantastically in this movie was set up and pay off, so many scenes and lines serve to set up another moment or reveal later on. When Alan is frightening the kid about the raptors, he says about the ability of T Rex’s not being able to see you if you don’t move, this scene pays off when Rexy escapes and he tells Lex the same thing. The scene where Hammond telling Alan and Ellie how fast the T Rex can run then brings us to the scene where she chases the car. But when it comes to setting up a villain nothing comes close to the Velociraptor. The opening, Alan’s monologue, the baby hatching and the feeding scenes are all crucial in getting the audience to fear the inevitable raptor reveal.

Jurassic Park opens with the workers eagerly anticipating a delivery, many with weapons drawn, whatever is being delivered is really dangerous. Just a few short moments later someone becomes lunch, although we haven’t seen what dinosaur did this a sense of uneasiness lingers over the audience. A few seconds forward and we’re at a dig site in Montana where they are digging up a Velociraptor skeleton. Alan then informs us how these creatures would’ve hunted. This third moment is subtle but is the best. Alan’s reaction to the baby raptor. The dialogue in this scene has pointed to dinosaurs being warm blooded making the carnivores far more active predators like lions and wolves who produce their own heat as opposed to crocodiles and reptiles who use the sun and can only attack in short bursts, this means they were quick and energetic instead of slow which is how dinosaurs were portrayed previously in other Dino media. So extra deadly. This isn’t what I was going to originally reference though, Dr Grant’s reaction to learning about the Rex made him go into shock but when he hears Dr Wu say it’s a Velociraptor, he gets frightened. Lastly there’s the feeding scene. It’s here we witness what kind of damage Velociraptors can do. A lot more set up also comes from this

scene, it’s here that Robert Muldoon explains to Alan what the raptors are like. Alan knew they were deadly predators but not this deadly. Next, we learn about the alpha of the pack ‘The big one’ as she’s referred too. And finally, the intelligence is brought up, Velociraptors aren’t just fast and armed with deadly claws. They are smart, thinking, problem solving intelligent. At the end the raptors break out and are revealed to us in full and are as terrifying as they are hyped up to be. All the set ups get paid off. This coupled with their chilling sounds, special effects and great performances really sell the intimidation and helped the Velociraptor to be a truly menacing on screen presence.

Which brings me to something not many people talk about. Jurassic Park is a thinly veiled horror movie, one that doesn’t have a definitive villain, we have quite a few things to blame: the dinosaurs themselves, the scientists who brought them back to life, John Hammond and Dennis Nedry. Short answer is all of the above. But this allowed the film to be a lot less predictable than horror movies like Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street when it comes to blaming and establishing who or what to fear. Real horror comes from how the film is staged and how each scene connects. Not many people believe me or think I’m looking too much into this movie when I say this so I’m going to explain why I think this, starting with the T Rex breaking out.

Most of the main cast is on the tour when the computer systems malfunction and the park go offline, characters are split between two of the cars with the two kids and the lawyer in the front car and Alan Grant and Ian Malcom in the second car. Weather on the island is getting worse as a storm strikes their visit. There’s no music, no tension, just the sound of thunder and rain. A sound everyone will recognize. The scene sets itself up with a goat inside of the fence that was left as food

for something big. That’s when we hear our first unfamiliar sound that echoes from the distance. A cup of water ripples whenever the sound is made. The rain fades out as we focus on the lawyer who is focused on the sound. The thunderous noise gets louder, Tim looks through the night vision goggles and notices the goat is no longer on the chain and right when Lex asks where it is the goat’s leg lands on the sunroof of their car. We cut to a dinosaur’s arm slowly pulling away from the fence with a danger 10,000 volts sign, clearly showing us that the power is out. But it doesn’t tell us that, it shows us. Then from the view of the car we see the large head of the T Rex slowly rise as she eats the remainder of the goat with one bite before turning directly towards the car. The lawyer then runs out the car in a panic, abandoning the kids, heads for the bathroom. The next sound we hear on top of the rain is the creaking of the fence, the kids look around, and in full view we see the massive T Rex has escaped and proceeds to walk onto the road before giving a victorious roar.

All this tension and build up with nothing but sounds, slow plotting visual cues and the feeling of knowing something’s about to happen. No idea when, how, or why. All of these elements are exactly what makes the most tension filled scenes in slasher movies. Silence, sound, slow realisation and terror in that order.

During this scene Alan states that Rexy’s vision is based of movement and to stay absolutely still. The camera then cuts back to the kids frantically moving around and turning on a torch. The dinosaur focuses her attention on them and goes to investigate what’s moving. Tim notices the front door is open from the lawyer leaving them and quickly slams it shut. This causes the T Rex to snap her head to the car and eventually gets the light from the torch shone directly into her eye. She roars, the kids move again, and she violently begins to attack the car. Breaking the sunroof glass, the piece of it becomes the only barrier between the kids and the Dino. The car is then flipped over and stomped on, and it slowly sinks into the mud.

Good horror does what we’ve got here, it quietly builds tension, shows the threat, shows the power of the threat and lets you fear it before finally exploding. This is horror 101, not action movie 101.

Alan and Malcolm both take turns distracting Rexy with flares, she chases Malcom, crashes into the bathroom that breaks apart completely revealing the lawyer and to show that there are real consequences to the horror

that’s been built up and not everyone will make it out alive, the danger is serious and to amplify this fear the T Rex eats the lawyer. Not hidden by anything, no camera cutting away, we get to see it. And from there the chaos really begins. As Rexy spins the jeep around and attempts to eat children, we have the excitement of watching this dinosaur go to work while also fearing for the lives of the kids.

Another scene that is similar but less impactful is the raptor scene. Jurassic Park has proven time and time again that the raptors might be an even bigger threat then the T Rex.

We have Ellie and Muldoon going to see if they can fix the power, at the start of their journey they find out that the raptors have escaped and moments before reaching the power station they notice that something is stalking them. Muldoon is fixated on what appears to be a raptor that is tracking their movements. He instructs Ellie to run to the power station as he takes on the threat. Classic action movie cliché of distract and accomplish. Once in the station she turns on the power catching the attention of a rapture that bursts through the pipes behind her. She manages to escape and traps it, she’s then greeted by a hand on her shoulder which we know belongs to Ray Arnolds, we then find out it’s no longer attached to his body.

This time we got the reverse. Action, pause, horror.

Cutting back to Muldoon, before he can pull the trigger, another raptor peaks its head from the bushes before proceeding to jump at him and kills him. I love this scene as in the beginning Alan tells the kid how raptors hunt, you see the first staring at you and expect to get dived on, but since you were so focused you never knew there was a second raptor that attacked your side. Which is exactly what happened to Muldoon, and knowing this in the beginning, the audience can watch in anticipation since the guy who says to know everything about raptors is surprised by their hunting behaviours.

This is what Jurassic Park does brilliantly with the T Rex and the raptors. One hunts in packs and is fast, the other is alone and hunts at their leisure. They are two different enemies, and they are treated differently. The T Rex has a slow build of terror and tension, the raptors are fast jump scares. Again, another scene written like a slasher.

The last scene I’m going to use as an example is what sums up the horror of Jurassic Park

better than any other scene.

This raptor scene takes place after the previous one, we have the kids in a supposedly safe environment. While eating some jelly Lex is struck silent while shaking uncontrollably noticing a silhouette which happens to be a dinosaur approaching on the wall behind Tim. There’s a drawing of a raptor where the silhouette is symbolising the threat. The kids run to the kitchen and hide behind one of the counters, we see through the circular windows on the door the snout of a raptor breathing. We’re then told by Ellie that there are two raptors out there left as, one is contained unless it can open doors. Here’s another horror cliché. We establish what our villain’s weakness is, what they are not able to do, then sometime during the end of a movie horror is created by breaking that rule. We cut back to the kitchen where we see the handle of the door slowly turning and eventually opening, establishing that the element of safety isn’t there anymore. Now we have the classic raptor scene in the kitchen. The scene plays out as Ellie and the kids try rebooting the computer system of the park while Alan holds off the raptors from getting into the room. Ending in a near death, action escape, while raptors knock down the door and Lex hanging while having raptors dive for her feet. This leads to the final showdown with the humans being cornered by the raptors before being recused by their first dangerous encounter Rexy. Ending horror with action.

From the great action scenes to the beautiful scenery shots, there is nothing not to like in this movie. Every scene has been put together with care and it really shows. It was the dawning of believable CGI effects in movies, illustrating what could be done with the technology. It is also responsible for the death of animatronics. A considerably more time consuming and expensive form of special effects and far more constricting at what can be done. It is arguable that this shift was inevitable but Jurassic Park was a catalyst in this transition. Fortunately for all of us it is also a triumph. As smart as it is technically inventive and as harrowing as it is emotionally resonating. Jurassic Park is Spielberg at the top of his game. If you are a person who loves horror, sci-fi, adventure, dinosaurs or Spielberg movies in general then I can’t recommend Jurassic Park enough. The 1st T Rex encounter, Velociraptors in the kitchen and the T Rex fight at the end are some of the greatest scenes in the franchise. Overall, a great, influential work of art that was ahead of its time. A true masterpiece.

Words by Chlo Hickson

RED CARPET MOMENTS

Photo Credit: Simon Dunkerley

You can notice the quality of writing instantly throughout the three 14th Doctor specials. It has massively improved, and I have really missed this level of writing. It’s crazy how much more alive the show feels under Russell T Davies (RTD).

Not to belittle the last few years of Doctor Who, because I loved Jodie Whittaker, but these specials gave us characters we cared about, emotions we had forgotten that we had for this show, and a happy ending for the fan favourite of new Who Doctors. Something I have come across while on X is people being divided on these specials. As usual I’m going to state my opinion, what else is an overview for?

What I have to say to this is … Since when do anniversary specials have to be all about fan service rather than an even split between things for die hard fans and having elements to get new/casual viewers interested? The people who are complaining are missing the point.

I think it was a brilliant idea to prioritise the show being Doctor Who and not about fan service.

Something that I enjoyed was that they used these specials to bring back the past – not to stay rooted in nostalgia, as some people want or even feared, but to reflect on the time that’s passed, to grow, to actually see how the show and characters have progressed. It doesn’t just keep moving and regenerating, it carries the past with it, and the past does have an impact that’s often forgotten as soon as we change showrunners.

I hope these specials put the show back into the limelight that it was in when I was younger! Let’s see what the future holds.

The 14th Doctor

I love how caring 14 is, what an amazing development. His constant surprise at his own affection was a nice touch.

I think I prefer this incarnation to the 10th. I love how they both share traits, but this Doctor has the wisdom of three more incarnations in him. Tennant did so much with the material. Our familiarity with 10 and the subtle but present differences are part of what makes him better, he is the superior incarnation because we had Tennant as the 10th Doctor as well.

I am a bit annoyed that he didn’t go during the regeneration, even though it gives us more to talk about, however I really hope this doesn’t end up being one of the spinoffs that is rumoured. I’m probably going to get hate for this, but I think they are overusing Tennant just because of his popularity: he’s literally the Tom Baker of New Who. I do think that the 15th Doctor should’ve chosen to reverse the affects of the Flux as his Toymaker prize.

The Sonic Screwdriver

I love how mad this show is? Having a trailer for a single prop in the show like it’s a new character is brilliant. It was such an epic reveal.

This is such a masterpiece! I absolutely love the design of the 14th Doctor’s sonic. It’s a beautiful device with references to previous sonics. There’s the quartz-like body of 9/10th’s, the black leather midsection

of 11th’s, a shape similar to the 12th’s, the bottom of the Master’s twisting dials. It lights up blue, red, green and yellow like the 9th right through to the 13th Doctor’s and also the War Doctor’s.

It’s literally a combo of all the New Who sonics. Perfect for the 60th. It’s honestly a shame how little we saw of this sonic screwdriver, especially now that the 15th Doctor has a new one.

The New TARDIS Interior

I absolutely loved the reveal of the new interior. This scene absolutely blew me away. It’s better than I thought it was going to be. From Tennant running around the room to Donna exclaiming ‘It’s gorgeous!’ I loved every element, but Gold’s score was just the icing on the cake. The music as he runs around makes you feel as though he is falling in love with the Old Girl all over again. This felt like the abandoned joy that has been missing from the show for many years.

Also, the ‘Oh my God, I did it again’ will never not be funny! Though I can find fault that it is a little bit stupid that a bit of spilt coffee damaged the console to that extent, but a Cyberman’s gun caused no apparent damage at all.

This isn’t necessarily to do with the TARDIS but it happened in this scene so I’m writing it in this section. The ‘it killed me’ was brilliantly done. I think it’s really good for Donna to hear how much it hurt the Doctor to be parted from her. She’s still a bit insecure and he does wonders for her confidence.

Disability Inclusion

Welcome to the 21st century Doctor Who! I always wondered how K9 got into the TARDIS in the classic series without a ramp. I think the disability inclusion has been good in these specials, but some lines directed to or about Ruth’s character Shirley felt unnecessary. If this continues, and it should, I hope they get help from actual disabled people or get a disabled writer to write those scenes. Representation matters but so does how we’re represented. It’s an easy fix and doesn’t have to be patronising like RTD was when he was talking about Davros on Doctor Who Unleashed.

I do really like the fact that they made the new scientific adviser for UNIT a wheelchair user. It’s as awesome as the Doctor being a wheelchair user in my eyes. But what happened to Osgood?

Tales of the TARDIS/Destination Skaro

Even though we got a heck of a lot of new content for Whovember with the launch of the Whoniverse on iPlayer (pretty much every existing Doctor Who episode available to stream) to celebrate Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary, I’m just going to talk about Tales of the TARDIS and the Comic Relief skit Destination Skaro before I get into the actual specials.

I’m going to only review my favourite TARDIS team as I feel like this overview is long enough and I will be writing a separate review just for Tales of the TARDIS so I can focus on this little series as a whole which I think it deserves.

This is the kind of thing that makes me smile from ear to ear. Every actor has slipped so easily back into their characters it’s honestly magical. I’ve literally cried through some of these episodes because of the amazing acting between the cast, these are just absolutely amazing.

This was such a fantastic addition to celebrate the 60th anniversary. RTD has been doing a fantastic job paying tribute to the past and bringing back as many of the original cast as possible. I honestly think it was such a creative way to honour the classic series and a fun way to introduce the younger generation to the earlier episodes. After watching ‘The Giggle’ I’ve come up with a theory that the 14th Doctor created the memory TARDIS so maybe his old companions and part of himself – maybe a splinter like the Watcher just more manifested or the Curator – could meet up again, the majority of these episodes are about the Doctor

running and leaving people behind. I think the idea of a Memory TARDIS is brilliant and I’m excited for what other doors it opens. Now the TARDIS team I’m going to be focusing on is the 7th Doctor and Ace. I can finally say that they definitely got the send-off they deserve. As did the others.

It’s awesome that there is progression from the 1st Doctor finding joy in the mysterious to the 5th Doctor where he’s figuring it out to the 6th Doctor already knowing a bit, to finally the 7th Doctor having fully explored it. Only one Doctor recognises the Memory TARDIS, and knows what it is, knows its joys and its downsides …

Andrew Cartmel’s legacy as script editor on the show lives on in many ways. I love every Doctor and their companions, but this duo is special to me. The 7th Doctor and Ace make a great team and they still do today.

This was so well written, these two had amazing chemistry. Their dynamic in the show was unique. With some TARDIS teams we had a family, with others we had best friends, but with this one we got a father-daughter dynamic which is so heartwarming.

‘I loved you; you know. Like the father I never had’ ‘I love you too’ No words can describe the feeling I had in that moment. There’s this scene, and the moment they shared in ‘The Power of the Doctor’ ‘So, we’re good?’ ‘We’re more than good. We’re ace!’ Honestly gives me chills. I’ve already mentioned their chemistry, but I’ll say it again, these two have such incredible chemistry and delivery.

McCoy’s transition from silly to serious is unmatched by any other Doctor, the gravity of his performance gives me chills. There were these minor facial changes and tones that said everything. When I think of the Doctor, Sylvester’s face comes into my mind. He still embodies everything about the character. It’s like the time never passed.

I still love that Ace calls the Doctor ‘Professor’. I can’t think of another companion who called the Doctor a substitute name of ‘Doctor’. But that’s why it’s special, because she’s the only one who does it, if everyone did it then it wouldn’t be memorable. I’m not just saying this because she’s my favourite companion, but I think that Ace is one of the smartest decisions the show has ever made. The character is instantly likeable and very distinct from all prior companions. I mean … She took on a Dalek with a baseball bat!

London, Canada rather than London, England would seem to be a worse departure error than Sarah Jane’s and I never thought I’d say that! The Doctor and Ace are discussing an adventure with the Rani which appears to be unknown … but then Ace has ‘fractured timelines’ and there are multiple versions of her in various dimensions … so maybe this explains the comments in the ‘Tales’ segment.

Can I just say, reprising the final lines from their last story and then Ace presenting the spoons felt like not only a reunion, but an echo. Their story didn’t and doesn’t end with the cancellation of the show.

I was never happy that the BBC ended things so abruptly with these two. Out of the 6 episodes, this one is special. The Doctor and Ace’s time was cut short, not just because of the cancellation, but because Ace left the Doctor angry. Rightfully so given the Doctor’s frequent manipulations, and while they briefly got to reconcile a little in the ‘Power of the Doctor’, this was their chance to reflect and understand what exactly led to them falling out, come to terms with it and forgive each other. In everything I’ve seen they split on rough terms, so as short as these new scenes are, it feels great seeing my favourite Doctor and companion ending on a high note. After 30 years, the fandom finally has closure.

Even though for this look at Tales of the TARDIS I’ve only looked at the Doctor and Ace, I thought I’d share the references that I caught throughout the six episodes:

First, I’ll address the consoles I noticed.

There are probably loads that I’ve missed as this set is a fan’s dream, I’d honestly love to visit this set to see what I can spot without the interference of the camera.

Now that was my thoughts on the Tales of the TARDIS, I’m going to share my thoughts on the Children in Need special Destination Skaro and sadly it didn’t go down as well with me as the other new content did.

All I see when watching Destination Skaro is RTD’s hilarious logic of saying that Davros is an evil wheelchair user.

Let me just breakdown the character’s backstory for a second: Davros was in an accident. An explosion that nearly killed him. He was then put into a life support chair which he was in while creating the Mark 3 travel machines in order to allow his people to live beyond the mutations that the nuclear war on Skaro had created, making the casings in his new image.

Now, I don’t have a problem with going into the character’s past, in fact I think it’d be interesting. Seeing him in this sketch was a nice surprise, it’s inaccurate as he’s not had his accident and they’re building a Dalek but, watching it, I had accepted that this was Davros pre-accident. Until I heard RTD’s interview.

By his own comments, RTD feels Davros is defined by his wheelchair and not by his ability to make Daleks nor his continual survival and being able to constantly outwit the Doctor.

Davros is a genius. He is undeniably a clever and powerful character, even if his ends aren’t. He is a character with an indomitable wish to survive, which fits with the Daleks. He uses his own devices to do this. Davros taking what was his symbol of frailness and making it a symbol of domination, all of that psychology will get lost if you retcon him. When did it become necessary to make characters with differences always good?

There’s the original TARDIS hanging from the ceiling, 11’s first console is on the left, the 11/12th Doctor’s console is on the lower right. A piece of Whittaker’s TARDIS is the fireplace. There’s the 1st Doctor’s pocket watch, the Monk’s TARDIS dimensional control, a variety of TARDIS keys, Sarah Jane’s plush owl, the Doctor’s helmet from Sanctuary Base 6, a Veron puzzle box, River Song’s red high heels, a fez, Handles, the History Of The Time War book, Jo wears the 3rd Doctor’s red jacket, Adric’s badge, the WHO 1 licence plate, a clockwork droid’s mask, a Metebelis 3 crystal, the TARDIS ‘out of order’ sign from ‘The War Machines’, the 6th Doctor’s coat, a Viking helmet – or is it a space helmet for a cow? – a drawer full of sonic screwdrivers – 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 11th, both of 12’s and 13’s – the 2nd Doctor’s recorder, the device-thing that the 2nd and 3rd Doctor was going to give Omega, the dolls that little Amelia made are lying in a suitcase, the Happiness Patrol poster, a kite from ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy’, a jukebox and Ace’s baseball bat.

As a differently abled person RTD clearly thinks he has the right to speak for every community without stopping to think about the irony of his decisions. Disability doesn’t mean we don’t have all the same personality traits as the rest of humanity. He is actually doing what we hate, which is perceiving us as our disability. If I’m being honest, I find this whole situation to be ableist and insensitive.

If Davros is now a problem, then retire him instead of retcon him.

I’m sad that I didn’t enjoy this as I was really looking forward to it, I loved the previous

skits Born Again and Time Crash which were both written by RTD. Maybe he felt like he had to catch up with the new world we’re living in, but just missed the mark?

RTD didn’t need to make controversial comments or justifications here, he just needed to leave it as it was.

The Star Beast

And on to the the three 14th Doctor specials.

We finally have some ‘good’ trans representation in Doctor Who, its honestly about time, however, they decided to make Rose’s entire personality that they are transgender. I want to know about this character, I’m interested to get to know their personality instead all we know about them is what they do to try and help their parents and their gender. That is it. There’s a small line in ‘The Giggle’ that says they are bad at drama and they are vegan but again that is it.

This isn’t the right way to go about it. If you want proper representation, you include it organically into the story. I think Rose is a brilliant character and I hope they return but I hope we get to see some of their personality rather than them just being labelled as trans and that’s it.

That end scene did more harm to trans representation than not having a trans character at all.

Is it weird that we’ve started having digs at men in general in Doctor Who since 2016 but it was always played for laughs? As a woman I find it offensive, I’m sick of having sexist rubbish being directed at men in our name. We need to lose this ‘lets bash men’ vibe we’ve picked up.

I truly don’t understand why a male presenting Time Lord wouldn’t understand the concept of letting go, as let’s be honest here, women hold grudges for years!

What especially doesn’t make sense about the whole thing is that the Doctor essentially being genderless because of their regenerative abilities means the comment about ‘male presenting’ rings a bit hollow. The fact that the Doctor is male rarely played a pivotal role in the narrative, it just wasn’t important, and he was always saying he’s an alien/Time Lord.

It would’ve been much, much, more clever if they played into the fact that the Doctor sucks at letting people go. 10’s last words were about not wanting to go after all. If they leaned into that rather than some

demeaning stereotype it would’ve been great.

Something that also grinds my gears about the whole situation is that they treat the presumably very dangerous meta-crisis energy as nothing more than a puff of smoke! I carried the emotional damage caused by Donna’s fate for 15 years and it gets resolved like a snap of your fingers?!

In the words of the Doctor ‘What!?’

There’s a lot of criticism going on already for this scene and I don’t have anything new to say that hasn’t already been said, but what if the meta-crisis was slowly killing Donna and Rose throughout the three specials. This would’ve added a lot of tension as these two characters are essentially living on borrowed time. Maybe then the Doctor’s prize from the Toymaker could’ve been to save his friends.

This is why it lost a star in my review; I honestly don’t know what they were thinking.

Wild Blue Yonder

I think the mysterious promotion both helped and hurt this episode. People speculated so wildly about cameos that they ended up being disappointed. But it was also fun knowing nothing going in. After this episode, I felt reassured that RTD had realised that we really need the Timeless Child and Flux situation addressing. Not necessarily resolving, but we had been left feeling unsatisfied, not knowing how the universe stands, what the Doctor is feeling, whether this will matter in the future etc … It feels like these specials are the perfect place to do this with Tennant as the ideal actor to deal with it. We can see more clearly just what effect this has had because we are so familiar with how the 10th incarnation was affected and dealt with things previously. This episode did some pretty significant work for the show. I’m not particularly a fan of the Timeless Child storyline but if this is how it’s going to be handled then I am no longer feeling annoyed about the effect on the show.

I know that the not-things are their own creature but it’s not hard to look at them as an evolved form of the entity from ‘Midnight’. It’s basically a sequel and I have no problem with that.

It’s so different from the 50th anniversary special, but this is why Doctor Who is the best show on TV! It changes, grows, and has decades of history and nostalgia. This episode also perfectly summed itself up in

the scene where they say ‘humans can be two things’. Doctor Who can be two things at once: it can be scary and funny, it can have huge epic stories or small intimate ones. It’s an excellent metaphor for Doctor Who as a show.

Saying that, this episode was an excellent character piece. I felt way more invested watching these three specials as a whole than watching the 50th anniversary offering. I love the parallel with the slow process and the consequence of the Flux. Donna even asks 14 ‘when will you be okay?’ And he responds, ‘In a million years’. This says that some things need time to be dealt with, and can’t be solved immediately. It’s brilliant. The characters are well written and express all the emotions that everyone goes through, and this is why RTD’s writing is special, it taps into what makes us human. 14 highlights a common thing with any trauma. You start blaming yourself for everything that’s gone wrong in your life. When you do this, you buckle under all that emotional weight. Letting go and accepting what happened is a process. It’s easier said than done to just get over it.

When RTD said these specials aren’t for kids he wasn’t kidding, there was some nightmare fuel especially in specials two and three.

The Giggle

Honestly this is how you make a real Doctor Who episode. My faith in this show is completely restored.

‘The Giggle’ was absolutely what it needed to be, a fitting goodbye to the 2005 era of Who and getting ready for Ncuti’s era.

I love the line ‘I made a jigsaw puzzle of your history’. As RTD himself stated in the commentary, it’s a way to canonise all the official Doctor Who media we have whether that be books, audio-books, the TV movie, the show itself etc … Contradictions don’t matter if the Toymaker rewrote elements of the Doctor’s history to be contradictory.

Let’s just take a moment to say how brilliant an actor Neil Patrick Harris was as the Toymaker. He took this role and ran with it. The Toymaker was a top tier villain, and his domain was really creepy.

Regarding the bi-generation, one of the funniest things I’ve seen someone say about it is that it’s made up nonsense. I’m sorry to take the mickey – actually I’m not – but was Doctor Who a documentary all this time?

I think it’s a brilliant way to help the Doctor

heal from the trauma by being able to take comfort from the only person who truly understands him – himself.

The Doctor’s ultimate reward is the life he could never have. I think the Doctor was always heading this way, even if he didn’t take a break in-universe, the show would have ended up taking a break due to some hiatus eventually. It’s a fantastic idea to tie up all these chapters and start from scratch.

People are going to complain but I enjoyed it. High stakes, winner takes all and the start of something new and exciting!

Regeneration

When the bi-generation happened, there’s no place allowed for sadness in this moment only excitement at seeing the old Doctor and the new Doctor together. And I’m honestly so grateful that I didn’t have to watch this Doctor die again, that I didn’t need to grieve for him again. This character that has brought me so much joy since I was 6 – 10 (6 when he started, 10 when he left).

The reason that this face came back was that the Doctor, as in the whole Doctor, knows somewhere inside them that they deserve some rest, and this was the Doctor that wrestled with that the most.

In ‘The Giggle’ he is taunted with how he can never just part ways except with tragedy and grief, and he carries all this loss as if he’s to blame for it. But the moment he sees himself with a new set of eyes, he finally accepts the truth which is obvious to everyone else. He is a hero, and he can’t save everyone. Donna offers him the chance to stop running, to stop replacing each lost friend for another. To trust that some things in life can be constant, to process his grief with people who love him.

The 60th anniversary specials aren’t just ‘they lived happily ever after’ as some people have suggested, there’s plenty of those to go around. What I found from them is that they show the emotions RTD wants to evoke.

He has written joyful stories with the Doctor, and he has written dramatic and hopeful stories with this character. Given that he’s got a do-over limited to three episodes here – obviously just talking about the specials –RTD decided to choose joy. There’s absolutely nothing but happiness in this ending. The Doctor literally says, ‘I’ve never been so happy in all my life’

Even though I love the 14th Doctor, I hope that is the last time we see him. Hear me out on this as I know there are already people

asking for Tennant back, which in my opinion is rude to the current person playing the role but never mind. I feel if they bring him back it’ll cheapen the effectiveness of this beautiful scene. Let the Doctor, and not just this incarnation – remember we’ve essentially started again – rest.

I’ve really enjoyed Doctor Who with David Tennant again as it really gives me memories of my childhood. Comfort and joy are the perfect words to describe it. It’s like having an old friend back. I’ll miss him.

The New Doctor

The weight the Doctor carries on their shoulders is a weight of unimaginable loss and immense guilt over choices made and not made. It’s a weight that has caused the Doctor to break down more than once. But they always found the strength to pick themselves up and carry on like before. However, sometimes carrying on isn’t the best option. Sometimes it is necessary to step aside and take time for yourself. To heal and not soldier on over the pain. I like how one Doctor gets to have that time while another is the result of that time taken.

It’s a nice way to ‘finish’ a story we’ve been following for so long. I don’t think 15 has forgotten everything but he should be less dependent on his companions unlike all the new Who Doctors have been. It’s time to see something new.

I had no reference for Ncuti Gatwa but he already owns the part. He managed to introduce his incarnation of the Doctor so well in the time we saw him. I think it helps that he could bounce off of the 14th Doctor so we can see his personality. The way he immediately felt like the authority figure when the two Doctors spoke to each other was great! The two of them played really well off each other.

I really liked Gatwa. I love his positivity and his enthusiastic nature. I think he’s going to bring so much to the role of the Doctor and I’m really looking forward to his adventures. What I’ve seen of his incarnation he is giving major Peter Davison vibes. Wholesome, a bit emotional, warm and kind to everyone around him. Like all the other Doctors you feel his age and you can see that perhaps he’s not as freshly healed as he lets on. I honestly love him already. Welcome to the Whoniverse Ncuti Gatwa.

The New Sonic Screwdriver

I can’t believe we went from one of the best-looking designs we’ve ever had to this. A couple of things I can think it looks like is

a computer mouse, the thing that helps you out of your shoes or even a remote control. Sonic screwdriver isn’t what comes to mind when I look at it, maybe they’ll re-name it or have it as another device but a sonic screwdriver isn’t what it is.

I’d definitely take it over Whittaker’s sonic though, I think anything is better than that design.

It’s going to take some getting used to, but I don’t watch Doctor Who for the sonic screwdriver so I’m sure I’ll get over it.

New Series

This is the last time I’m going to mention it in this post I swear, but finally we get to see the Doctor forgive and reassure himself as well as giving himself permission to rest.

Like I mentioned before the weight of increasing emotional burden and pain that the Doctor has been carrying since the Time War, never mind classic Who, would make it less and less possible to have the Doctor continue to be positive and optimistic.

So, thank you RTD, for finding a genuinely beautiful way to allow 14 to set the burden down plus to acknowledge that struggle and start his recovery. There’s an important message here: if we don’t look after our own well-being – emotional or physical – then we aren’t equipped to look after anyone else and this might lead us to more mistakes, regret, misery, and so the burden increases.

It makes sense that we have a burden free Doctor, and gives Ncuti the opportunity to play the Doctor with charisma and optimism.

It’s completely wild that we have so many things set up already:

• The Boss

• The One Who Waits

• The Toymaker’s legions

• The Master being in the tooth

• Who is Ruby’s mum?

• Who is Mrs Flood?

I think the Boss and the One Who Waits might be the same person/entity, it would be a bit weird to tease two big bads back to back like they did if they are in fact two separate beings.

Here’s a few theories I’ve come up with at the moment, I’m hoping with some re-watches of the 60th and when the new series comes out I’ll have some new ideas to add to my list: The One Who Waits – Fenric (or even the Boss), the Meddling Monk (also could double as the Boss), Omega (also could double as

the Boss), Sutekh (also could double as the Boss). There’s a theme going here.

Who is Mrs Flood – the Rani (obvious answer), the woman who picked up the tooth, Ruby’s mum or maybe even Iris Wildthyme (from the books and audios).

References

It reminds me of the 25th anniversary episodes in the McCoy era. It was definitely a subtler anniversary than some, with no obvious single story celebrating the time, but it felt like a successful celebration to me. I’m honestly shocked how some of the fanbase was disappointed. I do understand the other half of the fandom that was disappointed as I can see why ‘The Power of the Doctor’ is seen as the better 60th celebration due to it having all the classic Doctors in it, that said I’m going to go through each incarnation of the Doctor and see what references I noticed in the three specials.

1st Doctor: There’s a pretty major thing celebrating the first Doctor’s era and that is the return of the Toymaker. There’s a comment reminding us that the Doctor won the game last time so its now best of thee. The fifteenth Doctor mentions Mavic Chen: another villain who teamed up with the Daleks in ‘The Daleks’ Master Plan’ story.

2nd Doctor: I only caught one reference for the second Doctor and that’s being exiled. Technically you could say this goes to the 3rd Doctor but the Time Lords gave the sentence to the 2nd Doctor.

3rd Doctor: A minor reference would be the 14th Doctor mentioning that he was scientific advisor number one. Speaking of UNIT, which actually started with the 2nd Doctor but was featured as a more prominent part of the 3rd Doctor’s adventures, features in two of the specials.

4th Doctor: ‘The Star Beast’ was adapted from a Tom Baker 1980 comic that was published in Doctor Who Weekly, also contained in ‘The Star Beast’ is a callback when the 14th Doctor pulls out a judge’s wig just like the 4th Doctor used in ‘The Stones of Blood’. The 15th Doctor mentions a few other things from this era; The Key to Time, the devastation of Logopolis and remembering Sarah Jane Smith.

5th Doctor: I only caught two references for the 5th Doctor and that’s the mention of Adric. The 4th and 5th Doctor’s companion. There’s also the 14th Doctor comment-

ing ‘something feels different this time’ as he’s regenerating which is a reference to the 5th Doctor’s regeneration in ‘The Caves Of Androzani’.

6th Doctor: There isn’t much to say for the 6th Doctor other than the return of Mel Bush, though you could include her for the 7th Doctor as well. There’s also 15’s mention about being put on trial, but again, you could say the same for the 2nd Doctor. As there was a whole season about it, I’m going to give this one to Colin Baker.

7th Doctor: Like I mentioned, there’s the return of Mel. She was in a whole series of McCoy’s era so I’m thinking about giving this reference to him. We also get the backstory of what happened to Glitz, who Mel stayed with when she left the Doctor, he died when he was 101 years old, falling over a whisky bottle. So how old is Mel? 15 also mentions fighting the Gods of Ragnarok.

8th Doctor: There seems to be a callback to the 1996 TV Movie in the theme tune. Other than this I can’t find any references to the 8th Doctor in the specials.

War Doctor: The 15th Doctor mentions the Time War, this could reference any of the New Who Doctors but seeing as there aren’t any more callbacks for the War Doctor’s incarnation, I’m going to give it to him.

9th Doctor: It’s been mentioned by multiple Doctors since, in the court scene in ‘The Star Beast’ 14 mentions the Shadow Proclamation which was first mentioned by the 9th Doctor. Rose Noble chooses the name Rose because of her shared meta-crisis and shared memories of past adventures.

The 15th Doctor also mentions Rose Tyler at the end of ‘The Giggle’. The 14th Doctor resonates concrete (even though Shaun points out that its mortar I’m including it) in ‘The Star Beast’ just like the 9th Doctor tried to do in ‘The Doctor Dances’. There’s a final reference to 9 as before the Doctor regenerates Mel says ‘Fantastic!’ and you can hear the music from ‘The Parting Of The Ways’ (as 9 turns into 10) play.

10th Doctor: There’s obviously Tennant and Tate returning to play their roles, clips from their time together in series 4 at the beginning of ‘The Star Beast’ and the conclusion of the Doctor-Donna plot. There’s also 14th’s reaction to Rose’s name, there was a few name drops of Donna’s frenemy Nerys and Suzie Mair. References to Donna

winning the lottery, Sylvia slapping the Doctor – the 10th Doctor having had a habit of getting slapped by the mum’s of the companions – and I might be stretching with this one but there’s the psychedelic living sun. The Doctor has met a living sun and had got possessed by it so this is possibly a reference. Donna calls the Doctor by some familiar nicknames. There’s Rose’s toys she’s made that resemble creatures the Doctor and Donna have met. There’s the line ‘It’s not like the old archangel network’ that the Master took advantage of back in series 3. Galvanic radiation which powers the beam at UNIT is the same type of radiation which is found on the surface of the planet Midnight. Donna mentions the Adipose, Davros, Daleks and the Ood. We have someone with red nail polish picking up the gold tooth in which the Master is trapped, a reference to when the woman with red nail polish picked up the Master’s ring in ‘The Last of the Time Lords’. Speaking of the Master, I can hear the laughs of Ainley, Simm, Dhawan and Gomez. There’s another female laugh that I can’t identify so I take it that that’s the current incarnation? The last one I noticed for the 10th Doctor was the amount of times they mentioned one of his catchphrases ‘What?’. Someone has counted it to being said eleven times throughout the three specials. Speaking of catchphrases, ‘Allons-y’ was also mentioned three times throughout the three specials.

11th Doctor: There’s the fourteenth Doctor mentioning his 11th incarnation, there’s a bit of ‘I am the Doctor’ playing when Donna starts going full Doctor-Donna mode on the ship, there’s the Amy puppet in ‘The Giggle’ and 15 mentions River Song. He also mentions the Pandorica. Kate Lethbridge Stewart herself is technically a callback to the 11th Doctor as, although she first appeared in the Wilderness years, she first appeared in the television show with the 11th Doctor.

12th Doctor: There’s the 14th Doctor remembering his 12th incarnation and then he gives Kate permission to use the Galvanic beam which is a reference to him being the president of the world. There’s also mention of the fates of Clara and Bill.

13th Doctor: There’s the psychic paper showing up as grand mistress instead of grand master, there’s also the final line the Doctor says to Shirley about all the incarnations he’s been since being the 10th Doctor. Rose also made a toy of Karvanista. There’s the Timeless Child reference in ‘Wild Blue Yonder’, and the Flux is mentioned a couple of times first in ‘Wild Blue Yonder’ and then in ‘The Giggle’.

This isn’t bad for a celebration as it’s got something from pretty much every era and yes, I will acknowledge that the celebration of the 10th Doctor’s era is bigger than the rest, but as I’ve proven, these specials manage to celebrate the show as a whole.

Conclusion

Something that I’ve noticed while scrolling online during the specials premiering is people exclaiming that Doctor Who has a woke problem. Going on YouTube I then found loads of videos about this subject and for many this might be the first exposure to the show.

Do you know what? I agree, Doctor Who has a woke problem. The problem is the haters. The ones too snow-flakey to shut up. It makes me genuinely angry that those fans call others snowflakes for liking the representation that those people deserve – ie transgender and people in wheelchairs – so that is the problem.

But what’s the solution?

Stage 1: Ignore. Those videos and tweets/ comments: just ignore them. Cut their attention and they will soon move on to something else.

Stage 2: Replace. Replace that negative content with positivity. Make positive reviews like myself, that doesn’t mean you have to say you love everything about the show. I always make sure to give viewpoints around all angles and give a balanced review. You do your part to move those bigots aside.

Ignore and replace, it’s that simple. If you’re a bigot it’s even easier, be quiet.

If you think Doctor Who is too woke, you need to open your eyes and grow up. I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who since 2005 and whenever I see haters’ comments they make me feel ashamed when I say I like Doctor Who and it starts to put me in a negative state of mind.

Honestly people are wrong for thinking that a TV show wouldn’t have a realistic view of society. The world is filled with all kinds of people, so why shouldn’t Doctor Who? Do you know what bigots stand for? Big(idi) ots. Am I right?

So, after all of this, what did I think of the 60th anniversary? I loved it. It has definitely defined the new era and what to expect. Obviously, it’s not the same as it used to be but that’s the point, it’s a new era for a new generation of kids to enjoy and love. RTD has really managed to bring back some life into the show. The 60th anniversary celebrations have been nothing short of amazing. We got to celebrate the past, see it in a brand-new way and usher in a beautifully cosmic new future!

I am so so happy right now. I feel like I have Doctor Who back. This is one satisfied Whovian.

Long live the Doctors, all of them, and all the best for what comes next with Ncuti Gatwa!

Words by Chlo Hickson

OVER THE YEARS

PHOTO GALLERY

Photo Credit: Simon Dunkerley

GRAHAM HUMPHREYS Presentingworkfromtheverybestcoverartists,thisissuewefocusonthehorrorworkofGrahamHumphreys.

Born 1960, in the West Country of England, Graham Humphreys trained as a graphic designer, but nevertheless found that solutions to many projects gravitated towards illustrated versions, thus illustration became his specialised subject.

Influenced by his love of the horror genre and the music and lyrics of the emerging UK punk scene, he sought a style and approach that encapsulated both. Moving to London in 1980, a chance contact brought him to the office of Palace Pictures and a commission to create a UK poster for their second theatrical release, The Evil Dead. Such was the success of the film that further commissions resulted in numerous VHS sleeves, thus establishing Graham’s career as a genre artist. Palace Pictures commissioned the A Nightmare On Elm Street poster for the UK release. This opened up new possibilities with its marked difference in style and technique. In 1992, Palace Pictures fell into administration but Graham found work with the emerging Tartan Films.

Though the majority of his work for the client was not illustration, over the following ten years he worked on a vast catalogue of titles, either adapting existing designs or creating new images using photography and Photoshop. This period saw many theatrical release posters, but also marked the move from VHS to DVD, particularly through his work on the ‘Tartan Asia Extreme’ brand. Tartan fell victim to market forces and closed their doors in 2008. Interestingly, one of the final commissions from the company was the only illustration they had asked of him, a painting for Jodorowsky’s El Topo (ultimately unused).

In 2010, Arrow Video contacted Graham with a commission to illustrate their reissue of the 1986 film Slaughter High. Seeking a link to the period of the film’s original release, this marked a move away from the established Photoshop conventions of DVD marketing. Arrow provided a suppor tive platform for illustration, an enduring strategy that has brought a new generation of film fans to the possibilities of the painted image. Whilst most artists now work digitally, Graham remains dedicated to the medium that has supported him throughout his professional career: paint on paper.

Whilst firmly embedded in the world of horror, current projects include vinyl LP sleeves, posters, private commissions and work with some of the UK’s premiere horror festivals.

Graham Humphreys

Graham Humphreys

The Void:

Commissioned as one of collection posters by different artists, this surreal Lovecraftian film straddles the genres of horror and science fiction, it’s no coincidence that the makers are fans of Phantasm. With no specific brief, other than some early effect designs and a number of teaser trailer production shots, I opted for an enigmatic approach that ignores any narrative element.

Century Of Horror (Vol 1):

With the seminal Denis Gifford book A Pictorial History of Horror Movies, one that has become proven to be a touchstone for many of us of a certain generation, our entry into the world of horror movies, this painting is a homage to Tom Chantrell’s memorable cover. Armed with a short list of characters to be represented, I was able to highlight my own preferences, the only extra addition not on my own list, the Zenomorph from Alien –added as a more contemporary reference.

Oakley Court Film and Memorabilia Fair: Intended as a promotion for the third event at the hotel, the poster celebrates some of the memorable films that featured the building. Located next to Bray Studios, many of the early Hammer films were shot around Oakley Court, often featuring its exteriors.

The Lost Boys:

The cover for the Paul Davis’ book Lost In The Shadows: The Story Of The Lost Boys, came with some art direction from the author. The image had to feature the Keifer Sutherland character at the top centre with the two other leads, intended to recreate the layout of original UK quad poster – with further unspecified elements at the bottom (for instance, the figures hanging from the bridge – a well known sequence from the film). I felt it would be good to ramp up the vampiric elements and deliver a full fanged image depicting the entire ‘roost’.

Halloween:

It’s always daunting approaching a classic of the genre. Expectations have been set high and so many interpretations leave little room for anything new. I knew that there was one scene rarely (if ever) represented, the raising of the tombstone. I also wanted to portray the young Myers in the clown suit, as well as the monster he becomes. Never forgetting the title, I decided to make the pumpkin the dominant foreground element, creating a layered effect. I took some timer photographs of myself holding a piece of wood for the main Michael Myers pose, although I wanted the grave marker held high, it was clear my final option was going to work best.

In The Mouth Of Madness:

A film I’d always liked and found extraordinarily unsettling. This group commission gave me a chance to explore that creepiness. The only constraint was to keep the blue hues, but I’m happy with the overall effect.

The Thing:

A commission from an individual, much like Halloween (the same client) I was intimidated by attempting to capture a film that has been a part of cinema history, loaded expectations and wide protective fanbase. Also represented by many different versions, it was difficult to find any original way through, so I just used my instincts and decided the ‘flying saucer’ had been unrepresented in most versions. Once I’d decided to make it a prominent feature, the rest fell naturally in place. In essence, it’s a religious icon – a haloed saviour surrounded by hellish visions.

Tales From The Lodge:

Both quad and 1 sheet formats were required by this client. With a brief that only consisted of a lodge, woods, lake and spider … it was also clear the characterful cast would have been foolish to ignore. Because of the dramatically different formats, I realised that the only way to get a full width of portraiture for the quad and yet paint a full depth image to fill the 1 sheet (and retain the best possible

quality of likeness) would mean creating two separate paintings. The cast are one section, the background and skull are another. I used Photoshop to patch together the two poster formats, also adding extra lake at the base of the 1 sheet. As the film is an anthology with a wraparound story, the skull motif was a nostalgic nod to the Amicus anthology posters that often incorporated this horror staple.

Weekend Of The Dead 2020:

The third poster for the annual event that pays homage to George A Romero’s zombie series. At the centre of each event, key actors are invited guests. Both the first and third posters portrayed all the guests in that year … the second, with the largest number of guests, I decided to simplify by not using portraiture. However, with The Day Of The Dead featuring heavily at February’s 2020 event, plus the promise of a recreation of the wall of hands that feature in the film, this became my theme. I used the colours of dead flesh and blood for a stark disturbing effect.

The Evil Dead:

This, my first notable entry into the horror business, I depicted the tape reels as the evil catalyst central to the narrative. With many scenes utilising the windows of the cabin, it seemed reasonable to create a poster that was itself a window. The colours were simply my attempt to make it as gleefully ‘horror’ as possible.

A Nightmare On Elm Street:

Rapidly pigeon-holed into video sleeve repetitions of the ‘Evil Dead’ style, it came as a relief to be entrusted with a project that demanded a completely different feel. At the time, nobody guessed that the two posters were by the same artist. I created a dreamlike poster, breaking the tradition of eye contact with a single portrait that is clearly a sleeping person, the other character relegated to a shrunken silhouette. Of course, nobody knew the ‘Freddy’ character before seeing this first in the franchise that followed. I wasn’t going to give it away here!

“Graham Humphreys’ art is at once beautiful and transformative.”

Clive Barker

“I found The Evil Dead poster scarier than the film!”

Mark Gatiss

Hung, Drawn And Executed:

The Horror Art of Graham Humphreys

Author: Graham Humphreys

Publisher: Korero Press

BOOK REVIEWS

I’ve always loved artwork. The skill and talent that artists have in working in their chosen media to create imagery which transcends that of simple photography. It’s why I like to use actual artwork wherever I can on the covers of the Telos Publishing books that I publish … and also why a book like this thrills me so much.

Graham Humphreys may not be a name that immediately springs to mind, but his art has graced horror film posters and DVD and Blu-Ray covers for three decades now. Hung, Drawn and Executed is his second collection of work (the first is called Drawing Blood), and covers art produced since 2015. From a fascinating introduction where Graham explains his themes and influences, and also takes us step by step through the creation of a single painting (for a Christopher Lee character montage), the book steps into Book Covers (for titles such as factual tomes on The Lost Boys,

An American Werewolf in London, A Century of Horror and Return of the Living Dead), DVDs and

Blu-Rays (covering films such as The City of the Dead, The House that Dripped Blood, Phantasm and Body Melt), Film Posters (including Hallow’s Eve, Fantasma, The Void and The Slayers), Miscallaneous (covering, images to aid fund raising, comic books and the like), Posters (for event posters, films and television including HorrorCon, FrightFest, Blood Drive, Hammer Glamour and more), Private Commissions (including Poltergeist, The Evil Dead, The Thing and Halloween) and finally record covers (for soundtracks and music including The Zero Boys, Caltiki the Immortal Monster, The Evil Dead, The League of Gentlemen live, ‘Ticket to Rock’ by Daxx Roxane and The Beast in Space).

As you can tell, the subject matter is eclectic and varied, but Humphrey’s style and enthusiasm pours from every page. The book is very well produced, with excellent reproduction and colour work and if you are a fan of horror in all its many forms, then this is essential for your bookshelf.

Review by David J Howe

The Little Town Of Marrowville

Author: John Robertson

Publisher: Puffin

Easily a household name, at least for those who attend Sci-Fi Weekender, John Robertson is best known for his equally entertaining and flamboyantly outrageous stage show – The Dark Room. Therefore, it was unsurprising to find his foray into the world of children’s literature to be anything but more of the same goodness.

The Little Town of Marrowville is a wonderfully gross but satisfying tale suitable for those aged 9 to 99 (Screw those 100-year olds! They have a letter from the Queen to keep themselves entertained). After their father is turned to mince by a mysterious couple with a black pram full of tentacles, Aubrey and his sister – named Aubrey’s Sister – set off on appropriately ridiculous adventure fuelled by a belly-full of not-so-dear

old dad. It is fantasy in the very best sense of the word, with hints of Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman and Tim Burton. Robertson constantly leaves you wondering how he’s going to top what he’s already written and somehow manages to do exactly that. Throughout the book there are delightful illustrations by Louis Ghibault to help coax the most non-fervent reader in your life into partaking and if that wasn’t enough, I have recently discovered that the audiobook is narrated by none other than Robertson himself.

This is a book crying out a for a sequel and I, for one, cannot wait to pick up my string-sword, don my fight-boots and head back into the brutally barmy world that Robertson has created. Review by Dominic Hopkins

Doctor Who: At Childhood’s End

Author: Sophie Aldred

Publisher: BBC Books

Publishing can be a progression of ideas … and sometimes they lead in unexpected directions. BBC Books

(part of Ebury, part of Penguin) gained agreement from the estate of Douglas Adams for James Goss to novelise Adams’ Doctor Who scripts, and thus novelisations of ‘City of Death’, ‘The Pirate Planet’ and the unfinished story ‘Shada’ were released … this led them to consider other unmade and unreleased ideas, and thus Tom Baker’s Scratchman film concept was dusted off and novelised by Baker with the help of Goss. With that book going great guns, the BBC looked for other ideas to combine together, and hit on the idea of actress Sophie Aldred, who played Ace in the TV series, to create and write an original novel in collaboration with novelist and visual effects designer Mike Tucker, and BBC range editor Steve Cole (himself a novelist of some note).

Thus we have Doctor Who – At Childhood’s End (check out those initials …). The novel is in two halves. The first follows the character of Ace, now grown up and billionaire head of an organisation called A Charitable Earth (those initials again) which has made their base in a modern building overlooking the Tower of London (where UNIT has/had its base) so she can observe any interesting comings and goings … Ace has some alien tech called a ‘Squidget’ which can link and communicate between various forms of alien equipment, and also has a ‘batcave’ a secret lair from which she operates … As the novel progresses we learn of something that happened to Ace while travelling with the seventh Doctor – an encounter with a Quantum Forge which allows her to

Conan the Barbarian:

Official Story of the Film

Author: John Walsh

Publisher: Titan Books

I remember seeing Conan The Barbarian when we first got a VHS player back in the 80s and loved every minute of it, so when John Walsh’s new book Conan the Barbarian the Official Story of the Film arrived I couldn’t wait to rip off the cellophane seal and check out this blast of the past.

The official retrospective hardback book tells the story of the making of Conan the Barbarian and includes interviews with cast and crew members and features behind-the-scenes photography during the shooting of the movie.

In 1982, Robert E. Howard’s iconic hero, Conan, slashed and hacked his way from page to screen after a long journey. The movie is packed with epic shots of the landscapes and contains some bloody battles which entertained cinemagoers around the world and the movie also launched the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger  Now over 40 years on from the release of what has now become a cult classic the movie is celebrated in the new book, Conan the Barbarian – The Official Story of the Film and what an amazing read this book is. John Walsh has brought us not only a fascinating and in-depth book about the 1982 cult classic movie but also a book that looks amazing from page to page with illustrations, and behind-the-scenes photography, even the dust cover looks amazing with its art and underneath that is a faux leather look cover brandishing a shiny silver sword.

I found myself not being able to put the rather hefty book down once I started reading it and continued reading well into the early hours. John Walsh has certainly brought fans a book that grabs the attention just by looking at the art on the dust sleeve and it sets you up for a journey into the world of filmmaking and what was done to get this epic 80s movie on the big screen with

see every possible future in store for her (which neatly explains all the various incarnations of Ace seen through novels, comic strips and audios since she left the show on television).

Ultimately this leads to an encounter with the thirteenth Doctor, Yas, Graham and Ryan and the whole book then unfolds into adventures across space and time with centaur-like horse creatures, the Astingr, humanised rats called Ratts, and an entire quantum-locked race called the Wraiths … all stirred by someone or something intent on brokering war.

It’s fast and furious and in amongst all the action there’s also a theme of redemption as Ace makes her peace with the Doctor, as the various alien factions also discover that peace is better than war. It’s a well written piece but the second half suffers from too many characters and that Ace herself gets somewhat sidelined as a result. As a melding of characters and concepts across the history of Doctor Who it does very well indeed and the pace and excitement throughout is excellent. Well worth a look.

Review by David J Howe

an actor that has become one of the biggest names in the business.

John Walsh’s Conan the Barbarian the Official Story of the Film takes us through the process of the movie being made including the origin of the story, development, casting, the shooting of the movie and a look at Conan’s world. There is so much packed into the 176 pages that it will keep you reading and reading until you finish. Conan the Barbarian the Official Story of the Film also works very well for those that may be studying film and may have picked the movie as their course work, it has so many great references that many of us maybe wouldn’t know about.

If you are a lover of film or you are a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger or even of the works of Robert E. Howard, then this is certainly a book that you will want to check out and add to your library.

All images Conan Properties International LLC (“CPI”) CONAN, CONAN THE BARBARIAN and all related logos, characters, names, and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks or registered trademarks of CPI. ROBERT E. HOWARD is a trademark or registered trademark of Robert E. Howard Properties LLC. Review by Karen Woodham

Rose: Illustrated Hardback

Author: Russell T Davies / Robert Hack

Publisher: BBC Books

Pull to Open

Author: Paul Hayes

Publisher: Miwk Publishing Ltd

I loved Paul Hayes previous book The Long Game, an expose of the BBC behind the scenes in the 90s and Doctor Who’s fortunes during that time.  This time he has tackled the creation of Doctor Who and the BBC of the 60s.  A period I’ve always been interested in and covered before in well regarded books like David J Howe, Mark Stammers and Stephen James Walker’s The Sixties (cited as a source).  Can one man write that which three men missed?  As time goes on knowledge accumulates so a more up to date retelling of this story with his own

Following on from 2022’s acclaimed illustrated novelisation of the first Dalek story, Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure With the Daleks, illustrated by artist Robert Hack, the same team have come together to present a new edition of Russell T Davies’ novelisation of his script for the opening episode of the revived series in 2005. Rose follows the same pattern: an oversized hardback edition containing the original text of Davies’ novelisation, but augmented with many new illustrations from Hack which complement and augment the story wonderfully.

Among the gems here are a selection of very creepy shop mannequins, gorgeous imagery from the show itself, and, possibly my favourite, two double page spreads showing, first, all the Doctors we know about, and second, all the ones we don’t know about, or which might just be as a result of Clive misunderstanding or getting the wrong end of the stick (ie not Doctors at all). Even the pages which don’t have obvious imagery, have a colour wash to the pages, and sometimes there’s a faint hidden image in the wash too ... it’s all beautifully done

idiosyncratic choice of detail. Could Paul Hayes shoot lightning from his fingertips twice?  Not quite, Pull to Open is meticulously researched and made me feel quite nostalgic, reading quotes from old sources like DWB.

It feels like he’s read every source imaginable.  With most involved no longer with us restricting him to reading biographies as opposed to interviewing.  I felt the BBC became alive in his previous book in a way it never quite did in this.  It was the sort of flavour of what colleagues were like to work with, that bought The Long Game to life.  This dragged slightly when going into the mundane back stories of some of the key players.

The book starts by positing when did Doctor Who start? Air date? Filming date? Title sequence starting date? For me with the initial idea.  The book then tells how the BBC came into being!  Very interesting, a load of radio companies got together and formed it so that people would have something to listen to on their radios. His best writing here is probably where he covers the Kennedy Assassination, unrolling in minute detail how the information hit the UK during that evening and the day after and the effect it had.

The meticulous research and ability to recreate the evening, making an emotional chapter, showcasing his ability as a writer.  It would fascinate a non-Doctor Who fan, the way he encapsulated the time, I had a manly tear in one eye.

Doctor Who was a flop (hitting position 114 on the chart) because of the news that day, they had the good sense to re-air the pilot a week later.  If they had the sense to do that with other series we may have enjoyed a few more hits.

Doctor Who: The Movie (McGann) for instance didn’t perform as well as the network hoped as it was

and put together, and is a real treat on the eyes as well as the senses, with the smashing dust jacket, thick paper leaves, and general sense and feel of it being a quality item.

After the massive disappointment of the new Whotopia book, it’s right that the BBC have given Rose pride of place as the 60th anniversary publication, releasing it on the anniversary day itself. This is a publication which celebrates quality: a great story bringing Doctor Who to a whole new audience, a cracking adaptation by the original writer, and a quality publication from the BBC, containing some of the best modern art created for the show.

You couldn’t ask for anything else!

Review by David J Howe

up against a significant episode of Roseanne in America (but it still charted as the 9th highest watched show that night). For me the world of geekdom is a safe place with sport replaced by Scifi.  Instead of favourite team we have our favourite sci-fi programme.

Dominated in the UK between the two titans, Doctor Who and Star Trek.  Every now and then I am reminded that some geeks also like sport.  How dare they? The writer of this book is one such geek. I really enjoy his attempt to contextualise the making of Who with what’s happening in the outside world, but sport doesn’t interest me. There was also the odd typographical error.

Not as enjoyable as his previous, full of anecdotes and tales bringing the BBC and its culture to life. This felt more clinical, poring over old documents, suffering from the writer’s inability to speak to those involved to get a real feel of life in the BBC at the time as opposed to the world around.

He states Sydney Newman would ‘have found it far more difficult to gain a senior position in British television.’ Why? One assumes racism as the sentence follows those discussing British racism. Or is it the class system, or is the class system racism in disguise?

In the book the Director Don Taylor having been offered Doctor Who is quoted as saying, ‘I told him I’ve never had the slightest interest in science fiction, and if I wanted to do plays about the past, I didn’t need a time traveller to take me there.’ This is the nearest thing for getting you there, 1963 circa Doctor Who.

Review by Cliff Homewood

The Road So Far Sci Fi Weekender Over The Years

PLEASE NOTE: All guests listed as far as we have been able to ascertain. Apologies if anyone has been missed!

Pontins, Camber Sands

5-6 February 2010

Sponsored by SFX/Gollancz

Media Guests:

Jeff Wayne, James Marsters, Tom Baker, Gerry Anderson, Elisabeth Sladen, Gareth David-Lloyd, Toby Whithouse, Sinead Keenan, Mac Macdonald, Phil Ford, Misfits (creator, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Antonia

Guest Writers / Artists

Ken McLeod, Carlos Ezquerra, John Wagner, Dan Boultwood, Mark Buckingham, Andy Diggle, Al Ewing, Tony Lee, Ben Aaronovitch, Joe Abercrombie, Juliette E McKenna, Graham McNeill, Adrian Tchaikivsky, Gav Thorpe, China Mieville, Sarah Pinborough, Paul Cornell, Adam Christopher, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Maria Dahvana Headley, Pat Kelleher, Stephen Hunt, Robert Rankin, Lavie Tidhar, Jonathan Green, Anne Clark, Anne Lyle, Sam Stone, David J Howe, Benedict Jacka, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Dan Abnett, Gaie Sebold, Guy Haley, Andy Remic, , Nick Setchfield, Sam Sykes, David Tallerman, Ian Whates, Stephen Baxter, Paul Finch, Wayne Simmons, Michael Cobley, Jaine Fenn, Peter F Hamilton, Simon Bestwick, Paul McAuley, Adam Hamdy, Phil Bland, Pat Sharp

Hafan y Mor (Haven), Pwllelli

1-3 March 2013

Jointly organised by Chic Festivals, Area 51, SciFi London, Starburst Magazine

Media Guests:

Brian Blessed, Frazer Hines, Manu Intiraymi, Chase Masterson, Virginia Hey, Peter Davison, Craig Charles.

Guest Writers / Artists

Simon Clark, Robert Rankin, Glenn Fabry, Emma Newman, Gareth L Powell, Paul Cornell, Dez Skinn, Nathan

Guest Writers / Artists

Simon Bisley, Glen Fabry, Simon Davis, William Simpson, Boo Cook, Clint Langley, Victor Wright, Tim Perkins, Chris Mole, Dez Skinn, M Yerolemou, Stephen Walters, Grant O’Rourke, Kerr Logan, Luke Barnes, Dylan Teague, Adam Nevill, Stan Nicholls, Anne Nicholls, George Mann, Sam Stone, David J Howe, Raven Dane, Bryony Pearce, Una McCormack, Emma Newman, Peter Newman, Tom Paton, Bentley Kalu, Jade Fenix-Hobday, Marc Zammit, Adam Bond.

Hafan y Mor (Haven), Pwllelli

17 March - 1 April 2017

Jointly organised by Chic Festivals, Area 51, SciFi London, Telos Publishing

Media Guests:

Nicholas Brendan, Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso, Frazer Hines, Peter Purves, Chris Barrie, Jimmy Vee, Duncan Lacroix, Steven Cree, Gareth David Lloyd.

Guest Writers / Artists

Boo Cook, Simon Davis, Frazer Irving, Laura Lam, Dawn G Harris, Steven Savile, George Mann, Raven Dane, A C Chambers, Bryony Pearce, Mark Cordory, Warlord Games, Samantha Schnitzler, Bentley Kalu, Phoebe

Jeff Cummins, Ian Whates, Dave McCran, Bryony Pearce, Neil Vickers, DJ Fuzzy Logic, Foxdog, Blues Harvest, Level Up Leroy, Pop Up Puppet Cinema.

SSFW X#1 - O2 Academy, Sheffield

29-30 March 2019

Jointly organised by Chic Festivals, Area 51, Telos Publishing

Media Guests:

Sam Jones, Brian Blessed, Simon Fisher-Becker, Ian Beattie.

Guest Writers / Artists

Dacre Stoker, Anna Stephens, Lee Sullivan, Adrian Salmon, Stephen Cox, Bryony Pearce, Samantha Lee Howe, David J Howe, Benjamin Kurt Unsworth, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Raven Dane, Lauren K Nixon, Dez Skinn, Paul Eccentric, Simon Davis, Boo Cook, Ufologists, Pop Up Puppet Cinema, Donna Scott, Professor Elemental, Madam Misfit, Blues Harvest, Nick Maxwell, Graham Graham Beck, Experimental Sonic Machines, Jollyboat, The Dark Room, Level Up Leroy, Death Ingloria, Paul Eccentric and the AntiPoet.