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Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy Who Year from all of us (that's me and my news'bots) to each and everyone of you out there. Thankyou for visiting and supporting Kopic's Doctor Who and Torchwood News over the past year. Stay with us over the next year and see Freema Agyeman's debut as Martha Jones, see Liz Sladen return as the fantastic Sarah Jane. Maybe we'll see K9's promised cartoon debut? Maybe we'll see Ice Warriors in Dr Who? Maybe it will be Sea Devils? Maybe we'll learn just who Capt Jack really is...?

One thing's for sure... Whatever the news is, Kopic and his news'bots will be here to scavenge it from around the universe and bring it directly to you!

Here's to 2007 and beyond!

--Simon.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Dalek Nativity Scene!

Courtesy of The Guardian...

Picture 1 and Picture 2

You see, even the most evil beings in the universe need to believe in something!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Toy DALEK could cause child deafness

Thanks to Eye of Horus for bringing this to our attention. Read their story here.

Deafness Research UK has found that the CHARACTER OPTIONS DALEK BATTLE PACK (£29.99) could potentially damage your child's hearing. More info...

Note that this is only one of many other toys that pose this risk. It's not like the Daleks are trying to invade by making future generations deaf or anything!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

RTS Award Win for Neill Gorton's Millennium FX

The Royal Television Society Design & Craft Innovation Award goes to Neill Gorton and the team behind the prosthetics for Little Britain and Dr Who!

The following is quoted from http://www.rts.org.uk

“This winning team have worked across many genres in our industry but in the past year have been particularly responsible for two quite different and highly successful shows.

In 2004, the producers of the comedy show Little Britain came to the prosthetics team with the challenge of coming up with a convincing Fat Make-up for Matt Lucas to play the part of Bubbles de Vere. This resulted in the hilarious fat suit that was such a success in series 2 of Little Britain. For 2005, the bar was raised even higher. Not only did the suit have to be taken off and put on again the next day, but, learning from the previous year's experience, it had to be ventilated so that Matt could wear it all day long without collapsing from heat exhaustion. Our winners designed a system of running iced water to cool Matt down which worked very successfully. But this was just the beginning. It was decided that Bubbles de Vere would be joined by a new character called Desiree to be played by David Walliams. She would be as fat as Bubbles, but twice as tall...and black. Many of you will have seen the results on screen and I am sure will agree that the challenge was more than adequately met.

In the same year a BBC drama was being shot in Cardiff which also required significant input and innovation from the prosthetics team. The fabulous creations designed and produced by our recipient are a major contribution to the successful return of Doctor Who to our screens. Our team, with their amazing imagination and consummate skill were the perfect choice to realise the weird and wonderful creatures encountered by The Doctor. Millions of children across the world owe their nightmares to our recipients - a fact which we suspect they relish!

Doctor Who is a relentless machine, as a show it eats people’s creativity - in the last three years we have pushed this team to their limits and they have never let us down. The Doctor Who producers tell us that they are delighted that this talented, hardworking genius of a team are being recognised tonight.”

Congratulations to Neill and his team!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Torchwood, Dr Who and GEOS

I received the following email today regarding the Global Episode Opinion Survey...

---
The Global Episode Opinion Survey (GEOS) is a worldwide episode
survey of nearly 90 current and classic genre TV shows. The aim of
the survey is to determine the average score of each episode for a
series as determined by fans.

There are currently over 11,000 registered voters participating in
the survey. Results are also broken down by season, as well as
different demographics such as age of each GEOS member, sex, and
country of origin.

It is known to us that writers and producers of the shows often use
GEOS to gauge how storylines have been received by fans.

Torchwood (and the new Doctor Who) is a recent addition to GEOS, and
while fan interest is high, participation in the survey has been slow
to gain momentum. A message of support and a link to us on your web
site would encourage fan participation and ensure the Survey results
have some meaning. The URL is:

http://www.geos.tv/

We appreciate any support you can provide Torchwood in the Survey.
---

So, go and check out the Doctor Who and Torchwood pages and remember to vote! I know I will...

http://www.geos.tv/index.php/index/tor
http://www.geos.tv/index.php/index/dw2

Friday, November 10, 2006

Any moment now...

The new version of Kopic's Dr Who and Torchwood News Service is almost ready for launch. Any time now... As soon as I've done some backups and final tweaks! You'll now see Amazon UK _and_ Amazon US shops as well as a new eBay page which shows you the latest Doctor Who and Torchwood items that are up for sale on eBay UK. This will expand soon to include eBay US. I will also be working on shops and eBay listings for other countries in the not too distant future and also plan to have a "find the best DVD prices" search page.

It's all change around Kopic Towers! :-)

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Site makeover/language filter

It's been at least a few months since the last redesign and what with Torchwood coming along... Everything Changes! :-)

Actually, it's just a small tidy-up and change of colour. I think the orange piping effect is a bit too "in your face" so I'm toning it down to a smaller pipe and making it red in honor of the Torchwood logo. Also making sure that the page will be no more than 800 pixels wide so that people with smaller screen resolutions can view it better. I recently discovered that just over 12% of visitors use the 800x600 resolution which came as a bit of a shock, so to ensure those people can still get their regular dosage of Kopic's Dr Who News Service I am cutting some of the fat out of the window!

I've also implemented a very simplistic filter to try and mask out some of the bad words that people use in their blogs. If you find any links get broken as a result of having *'s inserted please let me know. Thanks!

Friday, October 13, 2006

Torchwood Desktops


A couple of Torchwood desktops I created for fun. If you want full sized copies (1280x1024) then please email me. My address can be found on doctorwhonews.kopic.net

Friday, September 29, 2006

Added DWIN Blog to BlogWatch

Those chaps over at the Dr Who Information Network (www.dwin.org) have a nice little blog going... So I've added it into the mix.

Friday, September 22, 2006

Dr Who Script on Antiques Roadshow

Kopic recommends that you (if you live in the UK or receive UK TV) watch BBC1 at 6.45pm on Sun 24th September where they will be featuring a Dr Who script which was (I think) found in a filing cabinet which was bought at auction.

http://www.radiotimes.com/ListingsServlet?event=10&channelId=92&programmeId=49006127&jspLocation=/jsp/prog_details.jsp

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Kopic's Dr Who Shop!!!

It's long been coming, but you can now do your Dr Who related shopping right here on this web site. Take a look now... you know you want to... ;-)

http://doctorwhonews.kopic.net/shop.php

Friday, June 09, 2006

Added "Behind The Sofa" to BlogWatch page

"Behind The Sofa" is a collective blog dedicated to Doctor Who written by a number of people on the TachyonTV website. Insightful, humorous and sometimes just plain weird! Go on, take a look...

http://tachyontv.typepad.com/waiting_for_christopher/

By the way, Kopic's BlogWatch page collects all the best Dr Who and Torchwood blog postings and indexes them nicely for you to pick and choose what to read...

http://doctorwhonews.kopic.net/blogwatch.php

Monday, June 05, 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

New Look Coming Soon!

Another makeover for Kopic's DWNS is coming your way! This time I wanted to make it lighter, more friendly and easier to read. I think I've achieved it!

Go to http://doctorwhonews.kopic.net/index2.php for a sneak preview of the work in progress (bear in mind that it IS a work in progress and might look broken at times while I'm working on it)

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

SERIES 2 VOL 1 - NEW LOW PRICE - £8.99

£8.99 From Amazon Jersey (look for the "Buy for less...from Amazon Jersey" link for more info)...


http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ESSTB0/202-3148460-8891053


or follow this link to look up other places to buy it...

http://www.find-dvd.co.uk/BBCDVD1960.htm

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Dr Who Online in The Mix

Doctor Who Online now offers an RSS feed for latest news and updates and is now included in Kopic's Doctor Who News Service.

http://www.drwho-online.co.uk

Friday, March 31, 2006

So Much News!

WOW! So much news over past couple of days that the 100 latest news items that Kopic lists only cover two days! That's definitely a first. :-)

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Series 2 Vol 1 - Best Prices

Head on over to http://www.find-dvd.co.uk and search for your favourite Dr Who DVD or follow this link to go to the list of best prices for Series 2 Vol 1 -
http://www.find-dvd.co.uk/BBCDVD1960.htm

Can you beat the £9.95 (free delivery) from ChoicesUK???

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Donate to the NSPCC the easy way

This is not Doctor Who related and I make no apologies for that. Mind you, you could use this to search for that elusive bit of Doctor Who news you were after...

If you go to http://www.clickscount.co.uk/ and perform a search on that site (it's actually run by MSN Search) then the NSPCC gets cash. Simple. Do it. Thankyou!

"Every search carried out on this special MSN Search charity site makes a direct donation to the NSPCC. It doesn't cost you anything. All you do is search as normal, but using the special charity search engine. So get clicking and get everyone you know clicking too! Together, we can raise thousands for children that desperately need help."

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Teaser Trailers and Episode 10 Title

Two juicy updates from the nice people at Doctor Who Online. See http://www.drwho-online.co.uk for more detail...

:: Teaser Trailers to air this weekend?!

DWO have been informed by our contact at the BBC that some trailers are due to air this weekend on BBC ONE, to start the promotion for Series Two of Doctor Who. We are not saying that they will, but we are saying that they are due to air.

Our contact added that they will be short teaser trailers, and that a longer 30-second trailer is due within the next couple of weeks, just like last year.

:: S2 - Episode 10 Title?!

The Bolton Evening News, has confirmed to the This is Lancashire website, that the title for Episode 10 is Love and Monsters.

http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/bury/news/BURYNEWS19.html

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Peter Kay Casting in Series 2 - Press Release

See http://www.drwho-online.co.uk for more detail...

"The BBCi Press Office has issued a press-release to tie-in with Peter Kay's casting in Series 2.

Peter will play the part of Victor Kennedy in Episode 10 of Series Two.

We have the full press release on the site along with the link"

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Doctor Who Online Update

See http://www.drwho-online.co.uk/ for more details...

"Joining us in the DWO Forums, we are proud to announce Doctor Who Actor JOHN LEVENE. John played the part of SERGEANT BENTON throughout the 3rd & 4th Doctors reign in The Classic Series.

Post your questions to him to do with his time in Doctor Who!

We still have such acclaimed guests as NABIL SHABAN (SIL), YEE-JEE TSO (CHANG LEE), PAUL PARSONS (AUTHOR), CRAIG HINTON (AUTHOR), DEZ SKINN (CREATOR OF DOCTOR WHO WEEKLY). If you havn't already done so, post your questions to them now!

Do you have any friends who are Doctor Who fans? Tell them about Doctor Who Online!"

IT'S HERE!

Today sees the relaunch of Kopic's Doctor Who News Service. A new, lighter look with the option to switch colour styles between "Metebelis Blue", "Green Death", "Bessie Yellow", "Stones of Blood" and "Kandy Man". Take a look at the top left of the page banner for the choices. Your choice of style will stay in effect until you change it again due to the magic of cookies (if you allow them on your computer, that is).

We also now have the fantastic BlogWatch! page which watches the best (well, the best that I've found so far!) blogs related to Doctor Who and Torchwood. Please let me know if you find a blog that you think should be included.

Enjoy! And please let me know what you think!

--Simon.

Friday, March 03, 2006

SITE RELAUNCH!

In the next few days, Kopic will be releasing Version 3 of the DWNS. A new look, new links and a new page to watch all the best Doctor Who and Torchwood blogs! We will also be experimenting with a new eBay page to find those latest Doctor Who related bargains!

For a sneak peak of the new site and the new Blogwatch page try http://doctorwhonews.kopic.net/blogwatch.php

Monday, February 27, 2006

Breaking News: Series 2 Episode Titles

Kopic's DWNS has heard that Episode 8 will be entitled "Planet 14" whilst Episode 11 will be "The Eyes that saw Forever".

See Production News at http://www.drwho-online.co.uk/ for details

Friday, February 24, 2006

Torchwood: Eve Myles to play Gwen!

It's official! Eve Myles who played Gwyneth in The Unquiet Dead will be Gwen opposite John Barrowman in Torchwood. Gwen/Gwyneth - spooky, eh...?

For more details...
BBC News
BBC Dr Who Site
Outpost Gallifrey
drwho-online
Torchwood.org
Torchwood.tv
addict3d.org
Digital Spy

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

We'll Always Be Together...

It had to happen. Davros finally gets a love interest!

Go see this heart-warming tale at http://www2.b3ta.com/hawking/

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Doctor Who Theme - The Metal Mix!

As I am also a Metallica and Iron Maiden fan, I found this version of the theme absolutely mind-blowing! Download and enjoy... http://whomix.trilete.net/?wmid=subreadremixreviews&remixid=138

Speaking of Metallica - they're playing the Download Festival in the UK in June. Rock on!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Interesting Statistics

Kopic's DWNS lists the last 100 news items it has found and I've always known that this works out to between one and two weeks worth of news. Currently we're at 10 days, so this means Kopic's DWNS shows on average 10 new items EACH AND EVERY DAY! Isn't that something to be proud of??? :-)

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Welcome to The Gallifreyan Embassy!

Kopic is pleased to announce that the news feed from The Gallifreyan Embassy (home of "Doctor Who: Podshock") has been added into the mix.

And Now For The News...