News Roundup (04/03/12)

It’s been a busy week for Series X news. If you’ve not yet had a look, it’s well worth going back over the last few days news updates on this site, as well as Ian and Cappsy’s articles on G&T here and here, for an interesting insight into the production. For everyone else, here’s the news roundup with a summary of that news as well as other bits and pieces that have emerged this week.

Series X News

Over the course of the week this site has tried to keep track of the various pieces of news coming from Doug & Richard Naylor on Twitter. It started with Doug asking for opinions on the length of the titles, as well as what kind of titles people would like to see, and you can read this site’s opinions on the matter here. The big news being discussed at the moment though is the problems the production has run into in terms of music and models. We discovered from Doug that somewhere along the line provision wasn’t made in the budget for music cues. Now that’s obviously a bit of a problem, but it really isn’t one for fans to panic over. As we said at the time, the series won’t go out without music, and the fact that Richard Naylor has been reviewing the cues from previous series should be taken as a positive sign of the direction they are going in.

Doug also revealed that the first model shoot had been a bit of a disaster with most of the shots and models proving unusable. However, with a reshoot that has brought the talents of Bill Pearson and Steve Begg back to the show, this problem could actually prove to benefit the production and look of the series overall. If you’re still concerned though, I highly recommend reading this excellent piece by the offical site’s Seb Patrick on why everything will be fine, as well as Richard Naylor’s comment on Twitter that:

Btw music/model news is not negative, only going to benefit production. Having BP and SB on board will add tons. Music will be sorted.

Following speculation that the large amount of scenes not shown to an audience could warrant a screening to get the extra laughter required, Doug confirmed that the plan is to hold screenings next month for an invited audience. No details yet on dates or venue, but we’ll let you know more when of any more details.

The Man In The Rubber Mask Update

As you may be aware, Robert Llewellyn has been giving his book ‘The Man In The Rubber Mask’ a bit of a touch up recently, and recording an audio version released as it is completed. The original dealt with his time on the show up until the making of the US pilot and offered a great look behind the scenes of the show as well as going into detail about what else Robert was up to in his life at the time. With series X on its way, Robert is taking the opportunity to write a second part to this book that will bring the story up to the present day, and has been using the studio recordings to get a hold of the rest of the cast to verify or expand on his memories.

Having already released the audio of the book as was, this week saw Bobby upload the first part of the books expansion. This update deals with the recording of series VI, with particular attention given to the episodes Psirens, Gunmen Of The Apocalypse and Out Of Time. Chapters covering VII, VIII, Back To Earth and X will follow over the coming months. You can listen to a preview of the section on Psirens here, and you can download the update by making a one off subscription here for £4.99 for what will eventually amount to over 10 hours of audio.

Back To Earth: Back On Dave

Now, chances are that if you are reading this then you probably already own Back To Earth. Hell, let’s be honest, most of you probably own it in more than one format. But if you don’t or you’re looking to while away the long dark tea time of the soul, then you might be interested to know that the Director’s Cut is being broadcast on Dave and Dave HD at 9PM, Sunday 4th March. While this particular cut of the specials (which joins the three episodes into one piece as well as making various alterations,) was shown on Dave last year, this marks the first occasion that it has been available to see in HD without buying the Blu-Ray.

Documetary Snippets

Gazpacho Soup is making excellent hay of all the Twitter news coming out. Not that I ever get quoted…

Andrew Ellard there. Well as it happens, I do actually have cause to mention him this week, and because I’m feeling generous, there’s a quote and even a picture too. I’m assured the cheque is in the post. Andrew has been uploading snippets of his excellent documentaries, covering each series on the DVDs, onto YouTube. There’s a clip covering an episode from every series, and if you have the Just The Shows box sets and haven’t seen them before then they are well worth a look as they document the show in a detail that only the classic series Doctor Who DVDs can rival. You can watch all eight clips here.

Dwarf Meets Futurama

A quick one here from Shortlist magazine, who brought this picture from Robin Meyer of the cast drawn in a Futurama style to everyone’s attention.

Craig’s Funk & Soul Club (Bristol)

For anyone out Bristol way, Craig will be hosting a funk and soul night at The Lane on Friday. The night runs from 8pm to and 3am will feature live music from Giant Steps,Ben Daley, Bobby Speed & Sir Funk, as well as a DJ set from Craig. Tickets are £7.00 on the door, or £5 when booked in advance here.

Here’s the blurb:

The 9th of March brings the king of Funk and Soul back to Bristol. Yes you heard it here first folks, Craig Charles is back in town, hosting and playing at his own party. Expect the best of Funk, Soul, breaks, hip hop and a number of other genres thrown into the mix for good measure. Get your ticket nice and early for this one because like the last two it is bound to sell out and you don’t want to be left in the cold when the rest of your Bristolian brothers and sisters are funking it up in Nelson St’s…. The Lanes.

The live funk band for your entertainment and Craig’s support are Giant Steps: A female fronted funk and soul quintet playing vintage and modern material with a classy stage act.

The Giant Step’s playlist contains “get up and dance” classics and original material. With vocals by a soulful tour de force in the form of Freya Estreya, along with a wild and “get-down” groove provided by a totally funked up rhythm section and keyboards straight out of Philadelphia soul, Giant Steps will get you dancing, romancing and shouting “take it to that funky bridge” again and again.

And with the funkiest residents in town – Ben Daley, Sir Funk and Bobby Speed, your hosts will be spoiling you Awooga style.

And Finally, Shameless Self Promotion.

My apologies for such a blatant bit of attention grabbing, but with a new site it seemed worth sharing as I’ve previously only put it up on G&T. This is my recent recording of Lunar City Seven, the song Craig wanders around singing to himself in the early series of the show, which as far as I’m aware has not been recorded or fleshed out before. It’s just a bit of messing about really, and was put together in Garage Band on the iPad for fun using a mini MIDI keyboard, so please excuse the demo-like quality as it was done while out and about and wasn’t really done with the good gear I’d normally use. I’ve taken certain liberties with the tune hummed by Craig, but tried to keep it relatively close to what people know. So on the off chance it’s of interest then fill your boots. It’s also worth having a look at this radically different version of the same song by G&T user HelloMabel.