Louis Trapani's blog

The first two series of Matt Smith as the Doctor has been recreated in a video simulating an old style (I would say 16-bit) video game running just over 4 minutes long. Be warned, there are spoilers pertaining to the these two series (if you are not up to date).

Thanks to @EoghannIrving for the heads up on this one.

Less than a year ago we lost Elisabeth Sladen. At that time, only six of the twelve episodes for the fifth series of The Sarah Jane Adventures were shot. Fortunately, we got to see those six episodes starting last October on the CBBC. In this latest episode of Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi we review this abbreviated and final series. Join Dave, Graeme, and myself as we bid farewall to the series.

Plus other news including Blake's 7 and the new forthcoming Aliens vs. Wizards and more.

The Latest and Final Series of The Sarah Jane Adventures is Reviewed in Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi 20 -

Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi - Episode 20
Running Time: 1:33:49

The latest and final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures (Series 5) reviewed ('Sky', 'The Curse of Clyde Langer', 'The Man Who Wasn't There'), plus news and more.

Hosted by Louis Trapani ~ @LouisTrapani , Dave Cooper ~ @daveac , and Graeme Sheridan ~ @The2ndDoctor

This is just a quick heads up to let you know that a new episode of DW Podshock and Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi have been recorded and are both currently in post production now. They should be arriving in your feeds later in the week.

Included in the upcoming Podshock episode is a review of the classic Jon Pertwee DVD Doctor Who and the Silurians and the conclusion of the Frazer Hines interview.

We review series 5 of The Sarah Jane Adventures in the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi.

Former Doctor Who executive producer and lead writer Russell T Davies who was also responsible for two Doctor Who spin-off series, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures will now be spearheading a new series on CBBC, Aliens Vs Wizards.

This new series consisting of 12 half-hour episodes is being created with Phil Ford who Davies worked with on Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures series. It is set to debut in autumn of this year on CBBC. It is being produced by BBC Wales in association with FrementleMedia.

Doctor Who writer's new aliens series:

It is the season of giving and for Doctor Who fans such as ourselves, we have been given a wonderful gift, news of two previously missing episodes which have been recovered! Two classic episodes from the 1960s include one from the William Hartnell era, Episode 3 of Galaxy 4 and from the Patrick Troughton era, Episode 2 of The Underwater Menace were found.

Both were in the collection of one Terry Burnett who had purchased them in the early 1980s and was not aware he had them.

Until now, all four episodes of Galaxy 4 were considered lost. The recovered The Underwater Menace episode originates from Australia's ABC channel which had been censored for broadcast there. The missing bits will be restored to the episode via scans made of them from the National Archives of Australia.

Expect information about a forthcoming DVD release from 2 Entertain sometime in 2012.

There are still missing episodes... Are you a film collector? Please what are you waiting for, check your attic and crawl spaces! What exactly is in that film canister you bought decades ago stored away somewhere? We have to find these lost treasures.

Waris Hussein, the first director of Doctor Who (he had directed An Unearthly Child back in 1963) turned 73 today. Though you would never guess it if you spent some time with him as he comes across as someone much younger. We had the honour and privilege of spending a little time with him in Los Angeles last February when we introduced him as our special surprise guest in our Doctor Who: Podshock live show on stage at Gallifrey One. He is charming and intelligent.

A couple weeks ago for the 48th anniversary of Doctor Who I once again watched An Unearthly Child (Part One) as I do traditionally on the anniversary. Despite its age, it never gets old.

Happy Birthday, Waris!

To follow up on our panel discussion about the possibility of a Doctor Who feature movie in Doctor Who: Podshock 261, Executive Producer and Lead Writer, Steven Moffat has responded to the David Yates comments about bringing Doctor Who to the big screen. He dismissed Yates comments as speaking off the cuff on the red carpet. He also agreed with my assertion that if a feature movie is produced, it should star the current actor playing the Doctor and it would not be a "Hollywood reboot."

In case you missed it (as I had), here is the Doctor Who segment with Matt Smith from this year's Children in Need charity which also includes a 'trailer' preview of this year's Christmas special titled, The Doctor, The Widow, and the Wardrobe. The special is slated for Christmas Day in the UK.

Donate at www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey

It's that time again... Yep, news of a Doctor Who movie is abound again. Though this time the source is coming from Variety. Today the entertainment industry paper has broken the news that director David Yates is working with Jane Tranter of BBC Worldwide to bring the Time Lord to the big screen.

They are looking for writers for the project currently and their sights are not limited to just the UK.

Unfortunately, as I had always feared when this topic comes up as often as it does, the movie would not be in sync with the established television canon (then again, the television series itself is often not in sync with its own canon, but that's another story). Yates who has directed the last four Harry Potter films told Variety, "Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch."

Let's hope they don't rename the Doctor character to "Dr. Who" like the two feature films of the 1960s did starring Peter Cushing.

Today marks the 29th birthday of the youngest actor to play the lead role in Doctor Who, the 11th and current Doctor... Matt Smith. So a big spirited happy birthday wish goes out to Matt who is big spirited himself.

Now I believe he is at the age that Peter Davison was when he took on the role, the previous title holder for youngest actor to play the role in the series. Smith was still 27 when we met and interviewed him in April 2010 which is when I took these photos here of him.

The final touches are being made on the latest episode of Doctor Who: Podshock and should be released later today to supporting subscribers. In the meantime, here are some soothing sounds by the Doctor Who Fan Orchestra with their second collaboration, "This is Gallifrey" / "Vale Decem" by Murray Gold. Another piece of outstanding work and coordination by musically gifted fans and arranged by Stephen Willis.

New York Comic Con is here again! October 13-16th at the Javits Center in New York. It's the largest east coast popular culture convention. Each year, it is growing in size and this year is no exception.

We have been attending each year and last year we recorded an episode of Doctor Who: Podshock live at the event to a standing room only audience with special guest Tony Lee of IDW Publishing (Doctor Who ongoing comic book series). You can listen to our live show from 2010 here: Doctor Who: Podshock 225. We would had done another live show this year at the event, but unfortunately, there isn't a Doctor Who guest there this year. Last year, Alien Entertainment brought over Daphne Ashbrook (Grace from the 1996 TV movie). Word is this year they are bringing Ian McNeice (Churchill) to their booth. You may recall, we interviewed McNeice earlier this year live on stage at Gallifrey One (see Doctor Who: Podshock 240.

Here is a little taste of New York Comic Con in this video from last year (2010):

What a week it has been. Unless perhaps you have been off-world or visiting another time era all this past week, you know we lost Apple co-founder and former CEO, and great tech innovator and visionary, Steve Jobs.

It is a good chance that there wouldn't be a Doctor Who: Podshock show if it were not for Apple under the leadership of Steve Jobs making the iPod so ubiquitous across the world. It certainly wouldn't had been called "Podshock" at least ("iPod" begat "podcast" begat "Podshock"). Now in our seventh year, it has been produced from the beginning using Apple products as it is today.

This is a quick post to let you know that the latest Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi episode is out now reviewing episode 10 of Torchwood: Miracle Day, the final episode of the series, The Blood Line. We reviewed it live on the net with your live feedback.

No live show this Sunday for HHGTBSF, but there will be one for Doctor Who: Podshock at 4pm EDT. HHGTBSF will return (probably most likely with reviews of the latest (and sadly final) series of The Sarah Jane Adventures soon).

I have more to say and post, but it will have to wait until later. Need to get some shut-eye and then wade through 369 new email messages.

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 10 "The Blood Line" Reviewed on Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi -

Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi - Episode 19
Running Time: 1:11:46

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 10 - "The Blood Line" reviewed live over the net with your live feedback.

Hosted by Louis Trapani @LouisTrapani and Dave Cooper @daveac

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Sunday (today) we will be reviewing the final episode of Torchwood: Miracle Day live on the net at 7pm EDT, we hope you will join us (see details here), but first, if you haven't heard our review of episode 9, "The Gathering" it is available now in the latest episode of Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi.

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 9 "The Gathering" Reviewed on Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi -

Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi - Episode 18
Running Time: 1:04:22

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 9 - "The Gathering" reviewed live over the net with your live feedback.

Hosted by Louis Trapani @LouisTrapani and Dave Cooper @daveac

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Be sure to catch the latest reviews of Torchwood: Miracle Day on Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi. Catching up after Hurricane Irene, we review two episodes, bringing us up to date with the BBC. This Sunday we will be reviewing episode 9 live on the net at 7pm. Join us Sunday and have your say about Torchwood: Miracle Day!

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 7 and 8 "Immortal Sins" and "End of the Road" Reviewed on Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi -

Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi - Episode 17
Running Time: 1:20:53

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 7 - "Immortal Sins" and Episode 8 - "End of the Road" reviewed live over the net with your live feedback.

Hosted by Louis Trapani @LouisTrapani and Dave Cooper @daveac and Graeme Sheridan @The2ndDoctor

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In the latest Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi, we review episode 6 of Torchwood: Miracle Day, "The Middle Men." Due to Hurricane Irene, there was no live show last Sunday, so this Sunday, 4th of September, we will be reviewing two episodes of Torchwood, "Immortal Sins" and "End of the Road" at its new time on Talkshoe at 7pm EDT. This is because at 4pm EDT, Doctor Who: Podshock returns to Talkshoe reviewing "Let's Kill Hitler" and "Night Terrors." We hope you can join us for both live shows!

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 6 "The Middle Men" Reviewed on Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi -

Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi - Episode 16
Running Time: 1:36:06

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 6 - "The Middle Men" reviewed live over the net with your live feedback including Abersoch, Mystery Presenter, and Duckworth.

Hosted by Louis Trapani @LouisTrapani and Dave Cooper @daveac and Graeme Sheridan @The2ndDoctor

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A note about our planned live shows reviewing 'Let's Kill Hitler' for Doctor Who: Podshock and our ongoing review of Torchwood: Miracle Day ('Immortal Sins') for Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi…

The Oncoming Storm: Postponing Live Review Shows for Sunday, August 28th -

Due to the oncoming storm that is Hurricane Irene which is predicted hit here on Sunday. Not knowing if we will have power, let alone internet, it may be best to postpone our two scheduled live review shows for that day. Doctor Who: Podshock and Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi were both originally scheduled for a live-over-the-net review (of Doctor Who and Torchwood: Miracle Day respectively) on Sunday will be postponed to the following Sunday (4 September 2011) when we will double up and review two episodes of each series on each respective show to catch up.

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If you are following the new Torchwood series, Miracle Day, we review episode 5, 'Categories of Life' in the latest episode of Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and join us each Sunday as we review each new episode after it is transmitted on the BBC. We will be reviewing 'The Middle Men' this Sunday. Let us know what you think of this episode or the new series as a whole so far by joining in on our live recording.

Also this weekend, on Saturday it is our seasonal Doctor Who: Podshock / Gallifreyan Embassy Meet Up. We hope you can join us on Second Life for it.

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 5 "Categories of Life" Reviewed on Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi -

Hitchhiker's Guide to British Sci-Fi - Episode 15
Running Time: 1:26:06

Torchwood: Miracle Day - Episode 5 - "Categories of Life" reviewed live over the net with your live feedback including Robert Carrie-King.

Hosted by Louis Trapani @LouisTrapani and Dave Cooper @daveac

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Doctor Who returns on Saturday, 27 August 2011 both on the BBC in the UK and BBC America in the USA. Executive Producer and Lead Writer for the series, Steven Moffat had the following to say about the resumption of the 2011 series in the latest from the BBC Press Office. Some may consider some of this to be a little "spoilery" — so be warned if you rather not know any details about the upcoming episodes for 2011.

What do you think of the Doctor's long coat in the promo image?