No new Who until Christmas?!

Came across the following fan video review–first of a series–and was reminded of how our Club entertained itself during Doctor Who’s hiatus. I have not include how to obtain the video as I could not find current information, but you may have some luck just googling it or searching on YouTube. (Isn’t everything out there now?)
From the December 1997 Gallifrey Guardian:
WHILE YOU’RE WAITING FOR THE BBC…
by Julia Langston

If you’re desperate for more video Who, check out your Gallifrey Guardian each month as I review fan videos. This month’s review:

TIMERIFT by Jon Blum

Timerift is a 7th Doctor story, so be warned–you will have to accustom yourself to seeing fan actors playing Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred’s roles. On the up side, their acting is pretty good (especially Jon Blum’s ‘Sylvester’ accent), although Ace’s part would have been more convincing if they had only supplied the actress with a bomber jacket! The story is interesting, with a nice balance of dialogue and action. The acting by the major characters– especially the villains–is very good, but the minor roles are played rather woodenly. This is a full story, running about an hour and a half in episode format. The production values are high and the special effects are well done. Where this production really shines, though, is the dialogue. Jon Blum must have been living in the 7th Doctor’s head, because he has captured the spirit of Sylvester’s Doctor perfectly. It’s no wonder he is now writing professionally with Kate Orman. If you liked Curse of Fenric and Ghostlight, you’re going to enjoy this video; it echoes the ambivalent, sometimes even antagonistic, relationship between the Doctor and Ace to a ‘T.’ When I came to the end of the video, I was left thinking “this is a story the BBC should have done.”

 

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Deja vu

Saw the RiffTrax version of The Five Doctors at the movie theater at Altamonte Mall last Thursday, preceded by a British public service video from the ‘70s. The video was cheesy enough to be funny, but rather grim, about kids who get hurt playing near power lines and substations. The following Sunday at our monthly Guardians of Gallifrey meeting, we watched Ryan Johnson’s fanfilms featuring a female Doctor. One of the episodes had scenes at a power substation (shiver!).

bits and pieces

David Tennant was a guest on The Late Show with Steven Colbert last week, and talked about the newest Doctor.
Saturday at 10 p.m., WUCF Create (24.2) on My Musical – Classical Rewind, played Also Sprach Zarathustra to scenes from Star Trek and Star Wars. I was thinking to myself, “Why those shows? The music wasn’t used for them, but for ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’,” when they cut to a scene of the TARDIS spinning through space, followed by shots of real-life rocket launches.
Brassroots Leather was at Fan Fest @ the Library last month with their steampunk items, including some Doctor Who-themed. They have even made leather items with a customer’s name tooled in Gallifreyan.

Whew!

What a busy month July was:  the 2017 Doctor Who series had its finale; the announcement of the new Doctor came just as we began our monthly Guardians of Gallifrey meeting; Comic Con and SuperCon kept many fans busy (in person and online); and locally, the month ended with the Club tabling at Fan Fest @ the Library. Now we have to kick back and wait until Christmas for new Who…

In The News

1. The casting of a female Doctor made the news, big-time — even CNN covered it!
2. In its “10 Things to Watch at Comic-Con” article, the Orlando Sentinel included the Doctor Who panel.
3. OASFiS and Guardian member Juan S. was the subject of an article in the Orlando Sentinel, due to his long-time attendance at WorldCons.