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I'm, I'm pretty sure that's not actually the plot of The Hand of Fear. Eldrad regenerates through the use of radioactivity- first from the microscope, then the reactor and finally on Kastria. It's cellular regeneration, not necessarily with bodily change- he patterns himself on Sarah at first, but later adopts his "true form" (male) before dying. I'm struggling to remember any absorbing of the Doctor's DNA or becoming "half timelord".

SBT

What? Eldrad from the Hand of Fear? I don't remember him being "half timelord". Does that come from fan fiction?
And as for the others- yes, but Moffat did it first in Curse of Fatal Death (1999), and they riffed off that. Possibly Lawrence Miles got there first with Interference (dates of TV Curse script and manuscript for novel unknown) but that wouldn't be the only instance of "The Moff" pinching Miles's ideas.

SBT

I must confess that I'm another one who really doesn't want to see a female Doctor, and won't be watching the new series as a result. Dr Who is franchise, a brand, and it's long since stopped being one of which I feel compelled to experience *everything*. In much the same way as I love Marvel Studios movies, but don't see any reason to watch all the ones produced by other license holders, this doesn't feel like the Dr Who I want to watch, so I won't.
See also 'Class' and The Sarah Jane Adventures. And Torchwood Miracle Day. Or the vast majority of the tie-in novels Dr Who has generated along with the audios or the comics.
While I agree the "canon" has been retrofitted to allow for Time Lord gender swaps, this has come largely from the work of Steven Moffat, and frankly I'd much rather he had never gotten his hands on the show in the first place. He ran it into the ground and for me at least, killed it stone dead.
The combination of Chibnall and Whittaker is, I'm afraid, not my bag.

SBT

Regarding that cover, and more specifically that strapline: "flowed", surely?

SBT

Loved the cover- why can't we have David Millgate back on Sinister Dexter, eh Tharg?

Dredd is a good one, but Grey Area is the stand-out Thrill at the moment. Abnett's dialogue is pleasing to the ear and I genuinely care about the characters. This is the best "new" strip of the past few years. How long's it been going now?

Mechastopheles is okay. I'm not 100% sold, but it's not unwelcome.

Survival Geeks has finally found a story I like, so whereas I've hated it with a passion over the past arcs, this one is pushing the correct buttons. More like this, please.

The Order outstayed it's welcome many weeks ago.

Looking forward to the new line-up in 2100, though sad that Grey Area is disappearing for a few months.

SBT

All best wishes to you, Hawk. Losing a cat, after 25 years, is devastating. When my old Spooky went- at 20- it knocked me off my feet.
Hoping you cope with this immensely difficult time and use everything you know to move on through it.
SBT

Really, really enjoyed this. And of the two (this and The Vigilant) this is one of buy on a regular basis.
While The Vigilant LOOKED fantastic due to Simon Coleby's magnificent art, it was confusing as all hell. Sniper Elite, on the other hand, made sense, told an engrossing story and ended at just the right moment for me to immediately want to read more. Lovely art by the Goddard droid too. Yeah, this was £2.99 well spent.
Shame about the massive price/barcode sticker on the front though (did Rebellion forget to put a price on the comic?) and the long delay for my local WHSMITHS to get it- only came in yesterday.
SBT

No problem, sir. Give that linked essay a read and you'll be straight down the rabbit hole. But don't even try to find footage of the melting rotating Peter Cushing bust lit by a lurid green light, that was the ident for the 'Peter Cushing- Master of Terror' 1981 series of films- it doesn't seem to be anywhere!
All this talk has unexpectedly led me to a mental landscape of half-remembered film showings and TV anthologies of the seventies and eighties. Plus all the associated ephemera that kind of goes with the territory.

Friends In Space' (ITV Playhouse, 1980). Doesn't seem to exist anymore.
'Nationwide' feature on the Hexham Heads, Feb 1976- I know the filmed interview footage no longer exists, but what about the location footage, and the filmed werewolf-on-the-stairs sequence?

There's a good thing on British TV horror anthologies-
http://www.thehalloweeninn.com/2014/08/british-tv-horror-anthologies.html?m=1

that people may find also leads them down that bunny burrow on YouTube, etc.

SBT

I've done me research. That sounds like 'The Worst of Hollywood' season on ch4 in 1983, of which I have fond memories.

This is the best thing I've found online about the history of horror films being shown on British TV.

http://www.smguariento.com/invitation-terror-horror-films-british-television-1970s-80s-sim-branaghan/

SBT

For anyone interested, I've found on the BBC Genome site that Horror Express was first shown on bbc1 on 2/1/1980, which was the first showing on British TV. That sounds about right. Now to find out when Creeping Flesh was shown... Sadly I'm informed that it ITV had that one. Be brilliant if it was shown at the same time, and my dad was just switching between the two...

SBT

Thanks for all this. I would have been twelve in when Ch4 started, so I'm thinking I was maybe a bit younger when I was scared by the Horror Express soundtrack resonating up the stairs. I had a feeling it was ITV as well, but have no idea why I thought that...
These old horror double bills/ Twilight Zones on ch4/ bbc2 Sherlock Holmes films on Fridays (?) at 6, they were the stiff of my childhood and teenage years.

SBT

Hive Mind:
Does anyone have a link to any site that details showings of horror films on UK terrestrial TV?

Basically, I've just watched classic Cushing/Lee/Savalas film 'Horror Express'- which I remember being on TV in my youth (between 1978 and 1982 I guess), but which I've always had (I now find) confused with 'The Creeping Flesh'. So now I need to know a) when both those films were shown on TV, and b) were they ever shown in a double-bill. See, I remember my dad watching it downstairs, and the sound of the TV being enough to scare me witless... but from the bits I saw through the crack in the door, it was set on a train (Horror Express) and when my dad explained the plot to me the next day, he told me the story of The Creeping Flesh.
So, did he just get it arse about face? Were they both on that night? Or was he just making shiz up? I need to check listings!

Any links or help gratefully received.

SBT

Avengers: Infinity War
After a dismal presentation at the cinema, where the projection was so awful I could barely make out what was going on, the dvd viewing was sheer unadulterated bliss.
After twenty movies over ten years, I (and the rest of the audience) have taken these characters into my heart and am completely invested in them all. Even Bucky and Sam Wilson. Shove them up against a villain as beautifully rendered and well-rounded as Thanos, and you have what is honestly one of the all-time great film experiences. It doesn't put a foot wrong, is thrilling and funny and absorbing and the end packs a hell of a dramatic punch.

There is no way Avengers 4 can live up to this, and is BOUND to be a crushing disappointment. He says in the same whiny, annoying voice of those saying the superhero bubble is soon to burst, and all these movies are populist crap anyway.

SBT

Put me down for a complete SiniDex too. As far as I'm concerned it's the best thing 2000AD has published in the "modern age", edging out Dante for this reader.
I'd also put it easily in my top ten "of all time" (or since prog one, for those less interested in hyperbole) and the sad fact that it's never been properly collected yet is obviously popular enough to hold a semi regular slot in the comic still, makes me wail and gnash my teeth.

SBT

It's raining today, so I genuinely can't be arsed to go into town and pick up the prog- but, that said, I've been meaning to ask this for some weeks now: why the hell does this "Armoured Gideon" in The Order look ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE the real one? He doesn't even have the same number of eyes, let alone a similar face, body or even build.
It's been a long time since I read the original strips, but did something happen to mank him up at the end? Or is there more to this than first appears. I remember there being more than one giant robot in the series, so why bring back Gideon but not make him look like he should. I mean, one eye? I guess it's just another example of The Order not making a jot of sense.

SBT