10 good reasons why The Web Planet rocks!

I know most of fandom loathes it, but after viewing it *twice* the other week, I decided that I absolutely cherish and adore this story, perhaps even more so than The Chase - which was my favourite Season 2 story. Okay, let's get down to business but keep it simple...

1) The planet Vortis looks wonderful. Seriously - the set design here is magnificent. Lots of thought and imagination here, this was the first time the show had ventured into the territory of pure science fiction/fantasy on another world. And this was all done on such a low budget too! It is a very alien world, this is by far the most psychedelic episode of the 1960s!

2) The Zarbi - giant alien ants, 'nuff said...

3) Venom Grubs - my dad remembered seeing this episode when it aired as a kid and being terrified of them! How cool is that??!

4) Atmospheric Density Jackets (or ADJs) are a neat idea. Who needs oxygen bubbles around the TARDIS? Pffft - these wonderful contraptions allow you to roam and explore the surfaces of planets where there is no breathable air.

5) Thankfully no-one needs to take Aspirin in the 25th Century!

6) The Menoptra invasion force on strings.

7) The Optera are quite amusing to watch - hey don't mock, it was only a kids' show!!!

8) Zombo the Zarbi - 'nuff said... ;-)

9) The Animus - what a strange and dark alien intelligence... GOT GOLD? Hehe. According to Russell T Davies, the 'Greater Animus' perished in the Time War.

10) Oh, I nearly forgot the best scene of them all - the one where the Zarbi runs straight into the camera!!! Love it... ;-)

A few changes...

This blog will be undergoing a major revamp this week - no longer will we be publishing under the title The Hand of Omega as we will know be known as The Time Destructor instead. Please update your bookmarks and note the new URL, thanks! Peace.

FANZINE REVIEWS: Blue Box #1 and Vworp Vworp

Blue Box #1

What a wonderful little fanzine! Black and White A5 publication with some really interesting and in-depth articles. Features in this issue include: Paul Cornell interview, Dark Dimension article, David J Howe interview, Death to the Daleks article (thumbs up, my favourite story!) and much more. All this for only £1.50 - send an email to dalek82@hotmail.co.uk for more information.

Vworp Vworp

The first issue of this wonderful tribute to Doctor Who in the medium of comics takes form as a glossy colour A4-sized publication. Lots of interesting articles, including an interview with Doctor Who Weekly editor Dez Skinn. Includes some free transfers! Grab it now from here!

Coming Soon: Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes

September 2010 sees the release of Richard Molesworth's new book Wiped! Doctor Who's Missing Episodes from Telos Publising. You can order your copy here! I will certainly be grabbing this one when it is out, as I'm a huge fan of 1960s Doctor Who and spend a lot of my time watching the Loose Cannon reconstructions at the moment.

The Ultimate Ginger!

I don't care what anyone says - tonight's episode Vincent and the Doctor was pure television magic! I feel totally satisfied on every level. Quite a sad ending...very deep. Richard Curtis certainly nailed it with this one.

City of the Daleks: Online Now

The Beeb have released their computer game City of the Daleks a few days early....here is a direct link to the installer. This is for Window$ users only though, Mac users have to wait until the 15th for their installer. That counts me out then - I'm a Linux user, and we never get luxuries such as this, until some talented hacker figures out how to make it run in WINE or Cedega.

I have been so looking foward to seeing Skaro in the game, the concept art looks awesome...
I will have to wait until the 15th to play it, I guess my Dad won't be too happy when I spend the day taking over his Mac and fighting Daleks! Peace.

Review: The Daleks' Master Plan Reconstruction

I have dreamed of seeing this story since I was a child, after seeing Daleks - The Early Years when it first came out. The episodes featured on that release never made much sense on their own when I first saw them, until now - having just seen Loose Cannon's wonderful reconstruction of the story (and the surviving episodes 2, 5 & 10 ripped from the Lost In Time box set). After seeing Loose Cannon's wondeful reconstruction of Power of the Daleks, I decided to give this a go...and it delivers! On a grand scale. This is my type of Doctor Who. It is epic - 12 parts in total. This is to Doctor Who exactly what Star Wars is to fantasy cinema. I won't go into too much detail over the plot, or give too much away, but the story oozes atmosphere - Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner at their best!
Many elements in this story also feature in Nation's other Dalek stories, notably The Chase and Planet of the Daleks (alien planets, jungles, invisible monsters, Daleks chasing the Doctor through time & space, invasion forces, etc).
Kevin Stoney is brilliant as the Guardian of the Solar System, Mavic Chen - he also later appeared in the Patrick Troughton story The Invasion as Tobias Vaughn.
William Hartnell is at his best as the Doctor here, he shines in the role - even in the reconstructed episodes. In Episode 7 (The Feast of Steven) the Doctor breaks the forth wall and wishes all of the viewers at home a very happy Christmas!
Episode 12 (The Destruction of Time) is the climatic ending of the saga, the tragic ending of Sara Kingdom was unexpected - must have been shocking for all those kids to watch when it was aired!
I must also give praise to the wonderful soundtrack - eerie to say the least, Murray Gold take note!!!
Again, much praise to Loose Cannon for this wonderful reconstruction, I actually feel as though I have seen this story all the way through now, and the existing episodes make sense like they never did before. This is easily one of my favourite Doctor Who stories now...hopefully in the near future the remaining episodes will be found and given a make-over by the Restoration Team, but until then you can get your copy of the recon from Loose Cannon's website.