All Whovians, pay attention!

Culture Shock Events is hosting two Doctor Who conventions in April this year, one in Sydney and one in Brisbane. The current guests will include:

• UPDATE! Janet Fielding - played Tegan Jovanka, companion of the 4th and 5th Doctors from 1980 to 1984.
  

• Nicholas Briggs - voices many of the new series monsters, and has starred in and written several audio plays.

• Frazer Hines - played the 2nd Doctor's companion Jamie from 1966 to 1969.

• John Leeson - voiced the robot dog K9

• Peter Davison - played the Fifth Doctor from 1981 to 1983

• Colin Baker - played the Sixth Doctor from 1984 to 1986

• Sylvester McCoy - played the Seventh Doctor from 1987 to 1989

• Paul McGann - played the Eighth Doctor in the 1996 television movie

Yes, that's right, FOUR Doctors will be in Australia in a couple of months! For more information, head to the event's website, located here. Dates for the convention are: Sydney - April 7, Brisbane - April 14.

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Tardis001 commented below that:

The Doctor Who Club of Australia is also running a 50th anniversary convention next weekend (22-24 February 2013) at the Bankstown Sports Club (Sydney). The guest celeb is Louise Jamieson, who played Leela in Classic Who in the early 1970s.

Weekend, VIP dinner and single day tickets are available. Details and tickets are available from the Whovention website: http://whovention.dwca.org.au.

Thanks for the info, Tardis!

UPDATED 12th April 2013: Australia's Favourite Doctor Who Story Results

Since we announced the top twenty favourite Doctor Who Stories as voted by you, we have had a considerable number of new votes (with each new member of ABC WHOVIANSbeing given a link to the survey).

I'm pleased to publish the new Top Twenty, and announce Australia's New Favourite Doctor Who stories:

1. Blink
2. The Doctor's Wife
3. Genesis of the Daleks
4. The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances
5. Vincent and the Doctor
6. The Girl in the Fireplace
   
7. Asylum of the Daleks
8. Turn Left
9. Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead
10. The Caves of Androzani
11. The Talons of Weng-Chiang
12. Pyramids of Mars
13. Eleventh Hour*
14. End of Time Part 1 and 2
15. Human Nature/ Family of Blood*
16. City of Death
17. School Reunion *
18. Inferno
19. Dalek
20. The Girl Who Waited
    

    *Denotes new story in Top Twenty list.

    Thanks to everyone who took part in the survey! Previous results announced in January are below:

Original Post: Posted 2nd January 2013 at 7.30 PM by Site Manager:

Over the last month ABC Whovians has been conducting a poll of visitors to our website on what their favourite Doctor Who stories are. I thank everyone who responded to the survey and am pleased to announce the results.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the clear favourite among poll respondents was Steven Moffat's series 3 episode "Blink", with more than half of those polled ranking it in their top ten. The number two spot was a pleasant surprise to me- The Classic Doctor Who story- "Genesis of the Daleks".

All in all, Classic Who stories took up 8 places in the Top 20, 3 stories from the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), 5 from the 10th Doctor David Tennant and 4 from the current Doctor Matt Smith.

The top twenty as voted by you is as follows:

1. Blink
2. Genesis of the Daleks
3. The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances
4. Vincent and the Doctor
5. Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead
6. Asylum of the Daleks
7. The Doctor's Wife
8. The Talons of Weng-Chiang
9. The Caves of Androzani
10. Turn Left
11. The Girl in the Fireplace
12. Inferno (7 episodes)
13. Dalek
14. Pyramids of Mars
15. The Girl Who Waited
16. End of Time Part 1 and 2
17. The Tomb of the Cybermen
18. The Seeds of Doom
19. Bad Wolf/ The Parting of the Ways
20. City of Death

Since 2005, annual Christmas Specials have become a tradition for Doctor Who. During Russell T Davies' tenure as showrunner, these specials tended to be exciting, fast paced episodes with the Christmas theme tacked on at the end. When Steven Moffat took over, the specials were more Christmassy than ever, due to the fact that the episodes were adaptations of classic Christmas-themed novels. However, 'The Snowmen' sees a return to the RTD style Christmas special, and the result is something distinctly underwhelming.

'The Snowmen' has the Doctor acting very Scrooge-like, still very much affected by Amy and Rory's departure in 'The Angels Take Manhatten', and has decided to retire from saving the universe, living in the TARDIS, which he's parked up in the clouds. Fortunately, he has the help of Madam Vastra the Silurian and her wife Jenny, as well as Strax the Sontaran (all last scene in 2011's 'A Good Man Goes to War'), and later on, Clara Oswald, a Governess and part time barmaid. Together, they have to save the world from the schemes of Doctor Simeon and his giant snow globe...sorry, an alien Intelligence.

Firstly, the good:

Unfortunately, most of the good in the episode isn't to do with the actual story itself, rather, elements that the story introduces. The new title sequence, for one, is really, really good. It's energetic, it’s exciting, and it's red. Tick, tick and tick. I love the fact that it has elementsof most, if not all, of the classic title sequences, and shows that the production team is getting geared up for the 50th Anniversary. As for the theme arrangement, well, it hasn't changed that much, not that it matters, as I liked the old one in the first place, but I liked the echoes of the 1986 version. The TARDIS redesign is also excellent, harking back to the original console, while at the same time, updating it for the modern audience. Is it strange that I feel happy when I see and hear the Doctor flicking actual switches in theTARDIS again? It takes me back...

More links are made with the past, as this episode is an origin story for the Great Intelligence, a being who menaced the Second Doctor twice, in Tibet and the London Underground (it’s implied that it was the Eleventh Doctor who gave the Intelligence the idea in the first place). In the lead up to the 50th Anniversary, it was a very nice and welcome touch to the episode.

With the introduction of Clara, I can now see what the story arc of the next eight episodes will be: the Doctor trying to work out what the relation between Clara and Oswin (from ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ is. My current theory is that Clara/Oswin was, at some point in her life/lives, splintered into different segments and scattered throughout time, similar to what happened to Scaroth, last of the Jagaroth, from 1979’s City of Death (does this mean that Clara/Oswin is a green, one eyed alien from the dawn of time?).

I liked the Doctor’s Scrooge-esque behaviour in the first half of the episode, showing us that he’s still mourning the loss of the Ponds, and has subsequently decided to isolate himself from the universe (though one has to wonder why he’d do that in Victorian London when he could have easily parked the TARDIS somewhere in space).

The bad:

First up, and following on from the previous paragraph, I found the Doctor’s subsequent recovery to his usual persona to be extremely spontaneous and contrived, and this applies to his giving a TARDIS key to Clara as well. Why did he do it, he only just met her! And, as if the universe wanted to show the Doctor why he shouldn't be so impulsive, the Ice Governess grabs Clara and pulls her off the cloud about two minutes later. I think we’ve a record for the shortest tenure of any companion here!

Also, if someone is going to fall from a cloud, I’m pretty sure that they’re going to, you know, receive visible injuries, at the very least some broken bones. Yet Clara seems to have magically escaped injury (apart from death), and is subsequently revived (albeit briefly) in a very contrived way: so her tears can melt the snow, thus miraculously saving the day, and to provide the Doctor with some clues as to her identity.

Also, why did Clara kiss the Doctor? It happened spontaneously, with no character development to lead up to the big moment (and does this mean the Doctor’s cheating, as he’s married to River...?). I really don’t want to see another companion fall in love with theDoctor, so hopefully any potential romance will have died along with this version of Clara/Oswin.

The monsters do nothing, absolutely nothing. The snowmen grow and snarl, the ice lady chases the Doctor and Clara, pulls Clara off the cloud, then is shattered upon hitting the ground (come to think of it, why don't the villains just pick up a piece of her, they controled the grounds, so it wouldn't have been difficult). Doctor Simeon stands around with one expression on his face, and the Intelligence is confined to a giant snow globe (reducing Ian Mckellen’s fantastic voice to an extended cameo). I must emphasise this: there is no threat here whatsoever. I can only think of one point in the episode where I genuinely thought a character was threatened, and that was when the Doctor was being frozen by an Intelligence-controlled Simeon. Other than that, the villains and monsters were all pointless.

Oh, and why does the Doctor have an 'anti-freeze' setting on the sonic screwdriver? It's sonic, he could easily shatter the ice lady by resonating the ice, all without an 'anti-freeze' option. And I'm pretty sure somthing can't become immune to resonating or the subsequent shattering...

The Average:

The three returning characters fared a little better. Vastra and Jenny were good in their limited scenes, but weren’t as interesting as they were last year. Strax, however, was ruined, being reduced to comic relief (though I must admit it was generally effective). I really liked his character last year, and was moved when he died, but here, he’s been resurrected. How? We're not told, and the subject is simply dismissed, and we are given a weak explanation for Strax’s new found sense of humour instead. I also disliked the way the Doctor treated him,giving him noogies, and just insulting him for no reason at all. This is really out of character for the Doctor, as I can’t imagine him continuously insulting his friends. It also appears as if the Doctor does it because he knows he can get away with it, as Strax just goes along with it. He’s a Sontaran, for crying out loud, he could easily stop the Doctor bullying him!

I don’t mean to be a Scrooge here, but this episode was really disappointing. Steven Moffat has shown he can create a masterful Christmas special (‘A Christmas Carol’;), but his last two have very underwhelming. While ‘The Snowmen’ is most certainly better than ‘The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe’, it’s not great either. While there were good bits in the episode, there was plenty of bad as well. I wouldn’t call the episode bad per se, just average. Therefore, I rate ‘The Snowmen’:

6/10

What did you think of the episode? Comment below to let me (and others) know.

Hi all, Rhys here! You might have seen that I'm now the ABC TV blogger for y'all. Tis exciting! Well, to start off, hello, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Now to my first review (for this site. Don't worry, I've done this reviewing thing before, you're in...pretty good hands), and, no surprise at all to anyone who knows me, it's a Doctor Who review! Starting off I was a little apprehensive of what we might be getting, becuase of the news that was flying around the interwebs. Things like a new TARDIS interior, a new arrangment of the theme, a 'Darker feeling to the Doctor', and other such things that have been washed out of my mind by the brilliant Christas fun we were gifted this year!

That's right, I enjoyed it. Loved it, infact. That's not hard with me and Doctor Who. For most of us I'm sure. So no anti-Christmas Special Bah Humbug here please.

And er, I do think it's needless to say, spoilers (sweeties), don't read this here review if you haven't seen it!

These are my inital thoughts and I'm still sitting here with a sense of "Ah that was good!" and I'm not thinking in a pickie sort of way. So if you want more of a subjective reivew, check in later. BUT, if I've got something that bothers me it's got to be the expletive deleted overuse of the ecpletive deleted "Doctor Who' expletive deleted question! But on th epossitive side, I was very happy seeing the return of Vastra and Jenny (The Victorian Interspecies Lesbian Detectives), Commander Strax and Jenna Louise-Coleman. Or Oswin. Or Clara. Or both. Or... (- no nevermind)  and the first appearnce (in the show proper) of the mighty Richard E Grant (whom I now give the title of Master of Angry Glares, otherwise known as the "I've had it with everything" stare).

Now to the story. Mister Steven Moffat has given us cracking episode that had fun, but with an underlying sense of drama (what with The Doctor's living in his Box In The Clouds that is bigger on the inside, or "Smaller on the outside"), and the idea that a negitave thought that gets thought over and over again can become something big enough to change a person in a very bad way. But it also had the wonderful oneliners perfectly planted throughout at the right points to both make me laugh and love the characters more.

Without going on too long I think I'll just mention Jenna. She's brill! When we first saw her surprise appearance in Asylum of The Daleks I was already sold on her ability(-ies) and she didn't let me down this time! She's a fast talking, fast thinking, Doctor confusing fine young lad. LASS!, I mean Lass. Strax got in the room... I look forwards for finding out more about her. Oh, and notice she's died twice. Moffat's pulling a Rory on us again, but making part of the character.

Anyway, that's about it for my first reivew here, thanks for reading! Let me know what you though of the episode!

Merry Christmas (it's probably getting a little late for that now) and Happy New Year all! Hope to get to know you (and watch some more ABC!)

Cheers, Rhys (host of the 'Who' - Is The Man Podcast: http://whoisthemanpodcast.com

Being a very music-orientated person, I had always loved the scores of Doctor Who, however, I didn't really start to hone in on this area of our favourite tv show until the BBC Proms in 2010. I remember watching the wholething on youtube, very jealous that I wasn't able to experience Murray Gold's fantastic music. Little did I know that two years later, I had had that chance - twice!

In February this year, I travelled down to Melbourne in extreme fanboy mode to see the first Symphonic Spectacular, and several months later, flew down to Sydney to see the second. This time, instead of being excessively excited for the event, I was much calmer (I was still excited!), and was able to appreciate the music, and indeed the whole event, a lot more. Needless to say, the whole event was fantastic!

Having experience Melbourne, I knew what to expect with the crowd, and I was not disappointed. If anything, my expectations were exceeded, as there was a lot more variety in the costumes. Cardboard cut-outs also littered the foyer, providing many photo opportunities, but the main drawcard was a Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) era dalek standing on a podium, tucked away in thecorner. This, unfortunately, made it rather inaccessible due to unfortunate positioning of stalls. If there's one complaint I have to make pre-show, it's that the foyer was too small, and that moving around was made very difficult.

In Melbourne, I was lucky enough to sit in the centre of the auditorium, in the second row back from the stage. In Sydney, I was way back in the circles at the end of the hall. This enabled me to get a good view of the orchestra in action, a sight which I relished (when I remembered to look down from the big screen!) The auditorium in the Opera House was a lot smaller than the one in Melbourne, therefore meaning that the monsters were mostly limited to moving around at the front, but sitting up the back still granted you a good view, and I had the occasional Cyberman and Vampire Girl walk pass my seat.

Now, onto the music: I loved every second of it, of course, but I do have a few favourites. 'I am the Doctor', 'Amy' and 'Abigail's Song' were the standouts of the first act, whilst 'The Majestic Tale of a Madman with a Box', 'This is Gallifrey/Vale Decem' and 'The Final Chapter of Amelia Pond' were the best of the second. Of course, the two encore pieces 'Song of Freedom' and the 2010 version of the theme tune were marvellous as well. One complaint that I do have to make, however, is that I found the music, particularly in the first half, was played too loudly over the speakers. Most of the time, this wasn't really a problem, as the music was so good it didn't matter, but occasionally the volume became so loud that it rendered the experience uncomfortable.

The two hosts of the event, Mark Williams (Brian Williams) and Alex Kingston (Melody Pond) were fantastic, and showed great comedic timing. Alex even did a brief demonstration of 'Gangnam Style' which warranted a facepalm from me. Murray Gold also made an appearance, making a brief speech before joining the orchestra to play the piano in the two encore pieces, and of course Ben Foster was the conductor. Special mention must also go to Antoinette Halloran and Daniel Bonic-Goodwin, who were the Soprano and Countertenor of theafternoon respectively.

Overall, as in Melbourne, the afternoon was a resounding success. It was fun, moving, exciting, but most of all, musical, and the experience was made even more special by the fact that I attended the show on my birthday, making it one of the best birthday presents ever! Thank you to everyone behind the scenes who made the show work, as well as to the Metropolitan Orchestra, the Sydney Philharmonia Choir, and to the hosts of the show. I hope that the successes of Sydney and Melbourne encourage the BBC and ABC to work together to send the show on tour, where it will hopefully end up in Brisbane (or even better, Townsville!). With the Symphonic Spectacular out of the way, the next big Doctor Who event for us Australians will be the Doctor Who Convention being held in Sydney on the 7th April and in Brisbane on the 14th April next year, featuring Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, John Leeson and Frazer Hines...

PS: The biggest disappointment of the afternoon was that David Tennant got the biggest cheer of all the Doctors when his regeneration scene was shown. Oh well, nothing's perfect.

View our Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular Photo Gallery!

READ SonicR's review of the event

READ my review below, and leave your own in the comments section

Vote for your favourite Doctor Who episodes in our Favourite Episode Poll

Symphonic Spectacular Comes to Sydney! 

Updated by Site Manager 16th December 2012

Well, the show last night was completely awesome. The orchestra, singers, sound and lights were all brilliant. My highlights were Abigail's Song and The Song Of Freedom. Alex Kingston was absolutely stunning, and I would have given a wrap for Mark Williams too if he had of given an autograph to my wife, or accepted a business card and ABC Whovians pen from her as he hurriedly left the Opera House after the show.

i would like to thank the many people who went to the trouble of dressing up in theme for the afternoon and evening performances, and who kindly allowed me to take their photos. I had to travel to Sydney, and won't be back to my computer until Monday night, but will upload all your photos then, but may be able to get some online today at an internet kiosk. It was wonderful meeting you all, Whovians really are the nicest bunch of people in the universe. Looking forward to meeting more of you outside the Opera House before this afternoon's show

Please leave all your comments, reviews, and stories relating to the event in the comments section of this blog page. You can upolad your pictures in our Symphonic Spectacular Gallery .

 Also don't forget to vote for your favourite Doctor Who episodes in our "Australia's Favourite Doctor Who Story" poll, and test your knowledge in SonicR's David tennant era quiz competition 

On Tuesday the 12th of January 1965 the first episode of Doctor Who went to air on The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Perth based televison station ABW-2.

Now, nearly 50 years later, there has been hundreds of Doctor Who stories aired in Australia, with 11 different actors playing the part of The Doctor.

So what is your favourite Doctor Who story? ABC Whovians invites you take part in our online poll, to find the most popular Who Story among Australians.

Just choose up to ten of your favourite stories from the list and submit your entry. Take the survey here

You can discuss your choices by clicking on coments above.

The poll closes at 11.59 on Monday 31st December 2012, and results will be published on this website on the 2nd January.

Please hit the share button or Facebook like button below, to share this poll with your friends.

Love the ABC?

Want a chance to write about upcoming programs, and review shows you have watched?

You can be ABC Whovians official ABC TV blogger, and have access to the website's over 1000 unique monthly visitors.

If you can handle the fame contact me on my profile page

Earlier this week, the official synopsis for the 2012 Doctor Who Christmas Special was released by the BBC:

Christmas Eve 1892 and the falling snow is the stuff of fairy-tales. When the fairy-tale becomes a nightmare and a chilling menace threatens Earth, an unorthodox young governess, Clara, calls on the Doctor for help. But the Doctor is in mourning, reclusive and determined not to engage in the problems of the universe. As old friends return, will the Doctor really abandon humankind or will he fight to save the world – and Christmas – from the icy clutches of this mysterious menace.

What we know:

• Jenny, Madam Vastra the Silurian and Strax the Sontaran (all last seen in 2011's 'A Good Man Goes To War') will return

• The villain, Doctor Simeon, is played by Richard E Grant

• Evil, sentient snowmen are the monsters

• Jenna-Louise Coleman will return, playing a character called Clara. Is she the same person as Oswin Oswald, whom we saw in 'Asylum of the Daleks'?
  

With only 26 days to go until The Snowmen appears on our screens, now's the time for the speculation to start. What do you think will happen in the episode? Will we find out about the relationship between Clara and Oswin (if one exists)? Comment below to share your thoughts!

Summer's just around the corner and for ABC Whovians members there are lots of exciting things about to happen.

December sees the return of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular to Australia- this time to Sydney's world famous Opera House. A number of our members are attending the concerts and we are looking forward to their photos, videos and reviews. On the saturday of the concert I will be taking the opportunity to undertake a membership drive for our website. I will be printing up business cards to hand out to people attending the show. The hook to get people to visit the site will be that our website is a place to share and view photos and videos of the event. In addition, I will be promoting on the business card an ABC Whovians poll that will be on the website in a couple of weeks time, to find "Australia's Favourite Doctor Who Story"

The homepage is due for a bit of a revamp, and I will be working on that over the next few weeks. I'm glad most people seem to like the new chat box in the sidebar. It doesn't have the bugs the old one had, and is thin enough to fit in the sidebar, so you can view it on all pages as you browse the site.

Other than that, we have the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special "The Snowmen" to look forward to on Boxing Day, as well as lots of other great summer programming on the TV and the continuation of SonicR's Doctor Who Trivia Competition.

Look forward to catching up with you online soon!