8 Sep 2010

Tomb Raider: Dr Who book companion Benny Summerfield gets animated for her 18th

Jesus wept, is it really 18 years since Paul Cornell's gamechanging Love and War came out? Oh. Apparently it is. Right, now I really feel old.

For a generation of fans, the New Adventures novels were Doctor Who. And after a fairly shaky start with the Timewyrm and Cats Cradle sagas, they came into their own with Mark Gatiss' Quatermass homage Nightshade (you know, the one Scoopz Johnston insisted Tom Baker would be starring in a TV remake of during the season just past...) and Cornell's Love and War, which temporarily wrote out Ace and introduced the new companion of Professor Bernice Surprise Summerfield, 26th Century archaeologist.

The prof survived 44 adventures with the Doctor, which included possession, infection, seeing her lover killed, meeting her long lost dad, marriage, and even boffing the Doctor before Virgin Publishing lost the rights to continue the TARDIS' adventures.

That, of course, wasn't enough to kill her off though, with Virgin instead spinning Benny off into her own series of novels. Big Finish gave voice to those novels with a range of audios ahead of them getting the Who licence at the turn of the millennium, with former Casualty actress Lisa Bowerman landing the roll of the 26th Century Lara Croft.

And since then they've been merrily plowing away, first in audio, then with new books, and now back to audio again. Fair play to Big Finish - we're not exactly massive fans of some aspects of their work here at The Thumbcast, but they've kept the Bernice Summerfield franchise going very successfully over the last few years, and retained a loyal fanbase who've grown up her over that time.

To mark the 11th series of Benny adventures, and incredibly the 18th anniversary of the character being create, the Big Finish team have created the first animated story for her - Dead and Buried.

Happy birthday Bernice, and here's to many more new adventures in time and space...

8 Sep 2010

How about a sneak peak at what Daft Punk have lined up for the Tron Legacy soundtrack?

Get yourself along to www.tronsoundtrack.com, where a suitably atmospheric sample from the soundtrack to the forthcoming Tron sequel is looping.

It manages to sound both epic and digitally claustrophobic at the same time.  Exactly what you'd want from Tron, really...
8 Sep 2010

Back to the Futura: Quality Doctor Who fonts porn

Sometimes, it's not enough to just catalogue the changes to the Doctor Who opening tiles and theme music over the years.  Occasionally you need to go a bit deeper.  

So thankfully enterprising YouTuber TheOtherKaneda has done just that, creating a wonderfully annonated collection of all the title variants - and exactly what fonts the production team was using.

7 Sep 2010

The Achy Breaky Heart Files: Billy Ray Cyrus lands UFO-hunting SyFy show

SyFy, the channel of Sharktopus, Smackdown and Stargate Universe, has announced its latest earthshattering commission - a UFO-hunting reality series starring Billy Ray Cyrus.

No, we're serious.  Honestly.

UFO: Unbelievably Freakin' Obvious will see the Nashville country star travelling the US with his son Trace - who looks disturbingly like Noel Fielding - investigating paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories.

"The existence of paranormal phenomena is something I've always wanted to explore further.

"Getting the opportunity to take this adventure with my son, who has always had a keen interest in this area, is a dream come true. 

"I hope this series can shine a light on some of the activities we have questioned, and the mysteries that have long inspired us."
Oh god.  

Now, far be it from us on The Thumbcast to be cynical, but Cyrus - as well as penning THAT BLOODY SONG - is the dad of teeny pop sensation Miley Cyrus, probably better known to your kids as Hannah Montana.  

So is a Billy Ray reality show just a cynical grab by SyFy to expand their demographic and bring over the Disney Channel audience?  

Given that SyFy's also commissioned a cookery show this year, rebranded to that ridiculous name, and is about to add WWE Smackdown to its roster, it doesn't seem much of a stretch to think so.

7 Sep 2010

Hi-Low: Organisers confirm 2011 Inverness Comic Expo cancelled

Bad news from the north tonight after the organisers of Hi-Ex, the Inverness-based Highlands Comic Expo announced next year's event has been scrapped.

The event, which was scheduled to run from March 27-28 at the city's Eden Court, was - as we mentioned in today's Thumbcast episode - due to have a digital comics flavour among the rest of the printed content.

It would have been the third year the event was staged up north, but the guys behind the event confirmed that a lack of time, and significantly a lack of sponsorship, had forced them to shelve the 2011 Expo.

However, they do aim to stage a comeback in 2012.

At the moment, we simply don't have the spare time available over the next few months to get things ready on time and to do it justice and give you the event you deserve. Plus we've been struggling with finding sponsorship for the event.

However, we fully intend to return in 2012 (the End of the World not withstanding!), and hopefully that extra time will give us more room to find sponsorship and/or grant money and get things organised!



Sorry for dropping this on everyone, it really is the last thing we're wanting to do, but we have to be realistic with the amount of work required compared to the number of hours we have available to do it!

Good luck to the organisers in their efforts to bring Hi-Ex back in 18 months time.  As we've been saying on the podcast for some time Scotland desperately needs a high profile, successful comics con and Hi-Ex had been getting a lot of positive press.  Here's hoping someone can step into the breech next year to make sure Scotland doesn't go short in 2011.

The Thumbcast's Posterous

The Thumbcast is a grumpy, shambolic, sometimes legally dubious and occasionally inaudible monthly ramble through the good, the bad and the downright ugly bits of pop culture, hosted by Iain Hepburn and Craig McGill.

Click here to download the latest episodes via iTunes or click here for non iTunes users.

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The Thumbcast Podcast Craig McGill Iain Hepburn craigmcgill