THE INFINITES - Strip 56

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As I've mentioned before I've been digging around Merlin's history for Loose Canon. The biggest surprise so far is that in Merlin's appearance in The Neutron Knights (a 4th Doctor comic) he doesn't say anything that rules him out of being the Doctor. Quite the opposite in fact. Also the 4th Doctor's memory was quite fuzzy afterwards, almost as if he'd just met a future version of himself.

I've also uncovered evidence that the Muldwych Doctor isn't just an older version of the Battlefield Doctor, but I'm keeping that under my hat until Loose Canon comes out. Got to keep some surprises.

IN PRINT - 99

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Yes as it happens I had watched 'The Zeppo' shortly before I wrote this strip, but you have to admit that Jim makes this work. One more week and we hit 100, I'm still processing that one.

So, Zygons huh? I seriously enjoyed that. Got quite a kick out of seeing one of the Osgoods in 'Curse of Fenric' get up, such a nice touch.

And we get to add Basil to the list of possible names for the Doctor. Well that and Doctor John Disco who I'm fairly sure is a relation of DJ Foo. What ever happened to that guy?

We'll be back next week with our 100th In Print strip which features a couple of guest stars that I'm quite looking forward to seeing. Should be a blast.

IN PRINT - 'SOMETHING' NATURE Part 7

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And we're done.

"Emotionally vulnerable Science Teachers" made me giggle somewhat, mostly because I work with Science Teachers and none of them are what I would term emotionally vulnerable.

Jim quite often surprises me with these strips. That last panel, for example, didn't have the other Doctors in the background in the script, but I think we can all agree that they belong there. In all the years we've been doing this I can only think of two occasions where I've asked Jim to alter something he's done for, although it's possible Jim'll recall more. Given that we're coming up to the 100th main strip and multiple side strips I think that says something about our working relationship.

Next week we have a guest strip, either from Jesse Lax or Paul Salvi, we're still working on scheduling. But both of these gentlemen are providing guest strips  help Ness catch up to my late writing. So, yeah, guest strips for the next couple of weeks, but you guys know the quality of our guest contributors, you won't be disappointed.

IN PRINT - 'SOMETHING' NATURE Part 5

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The first time we saw the Doctor diving through the sky was during Lance Parkin's 'The Dying Days' in a scene so intense and exciting that it could have come straight out of a series finale, which is perhaps why it felt slightly familiar when the 12th Doctor did something similar in the last finale we had. We've also had the Shalka Doctor, as written by Paul Cornell, free falling in what remains the best TARDIS entrance in any medium. It's not hard to to imagine that the current Who team had those two scenes in mind when 12's free fall was put together.

Of course it's also possible that they'd been watching 'The End of Time', but then today's strip kind of falls apart if we go down that road.

In other news I'm still working on fixing the navigation links, unfortunately my plan to do them last Sunday was foiled by my five minute nap lasting significantly longer than planned. Soon though.

Maybe even tonight if I can shake this hayfever.

IN PRINT - EPISODE 87

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He just can't catch a break, can he.

Having said that I do kind of get why Big Finish are doing these two releases, it's pretty hard to beat as a team. That and to be honest I'm pretty excited that Big Finish are 'reprinting' the 91-05 books like this. It's a dream come true to be able to hear Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy acting out their roles in these books.

'Lungbarrow' soon please? Or Paul McGann and John Simm performing 'The Infinity Doctors'.

Actually....

Dear Big Finish, could we please have 'Cold Fusion' done with the cast from 'Damaged Goods' and Peter Davison and Co? Adapted by Lance Parkin from his own book of course.

I might have asked for Colin Baker doing 'Spiral Scratch' a few days ago, but quite frankly with this announcement they've essentially created their own version of the 6th Doctor's regeneration. Between those two and 'Time's Champrion' and 'Time and the Rani' we don't have a shortage of 6th Doctor regenerations these days.

Although I do have to admit to being pretty excited to have one that involves Colin Baker himself. Of course the fact that the Valeyard is involved makes this a must listen to me.

The fact that I'm currently reading 'Time's Champion' and listened to 'Trial of the Valeyard' recently only add to the excitement.

Exciting times.

IN PRINT - Curation Part 8

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Round about this time last year I asked Jim if there was anything he'd like to see appear in the strip in 2014.

"More Tom Baker."

There we go Jim. That's more Tom Baker than I ever banked on including in the strip. Four fours. A Fantastic Four if you will.

That's a Tshirt right there.

Right, well it's Christmas and I have my kids to look after so I'm going to be going. I will however linger long enough to apologise for the lack of a Christmas Special this year. We'll have one next year.

Probably.

Hopefully.

Maybe...

See you next week for some Infinites.

IN PRINT - CURATION Part 7

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Dun! Dun!! Dun!!!

You didn't think we were done with all the wig related surprises did you? For those of you who don't recognise this version of the 4th Doctor, it's from when he was prematurely aged in 'The Leisure Hive'. I'm fairly sure it's a wig and false beard, but you just never know with the 4th.

We're bringing you the final part of Curation next week, but we're still working on what follows. Nesshead's laptop is still down, but we do have the first strip in the new Infinites arc. We'll see, we've not missed a Saturday since we started and we're not about to miss one now.

Nesshead's laptop fund is still open.

I only mention that because in the last few weeks both Jim and myself have had close calls with our Turing machines. We can just about get by if one of us loses our IT, two would be pretty awkward, but if all three of us went down at the same time it'd mean a short break for the strip. Hopefully we can keep struggling on with our current tech.

Right I'm off for just now. See you all next week for the conclusion of Curation.

UPDATE:

"But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,

In Proving foresight may be vain;

The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft agley,

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,

For promis'd joy!"

This is what I get for talking about it. Jim's computer took a massive hissy fit this morning. Which is why you've been looking at a substandard, reduced in 'Paint' type strip today. Jim's hoping to get on and post it properly when his machine starts working again. 

If it starts working.

So, below Jim has his own button now. Same deal as with Nesshead's, no pressure, no obligation. But it would help bring you regular In Print.

Thanks and apologies.

IN PRINT - CURATION Part 4

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I think my favourite thing in that room is the Adric monument done in a Robin style. You can pick the other details out for yourself.

Of course all this begs the question just how long has the Curator been around and where's the real 4th Doctor? Or is the Curator the real one? Has Tom Baker ever really stopped being the Doctor?

These are questions that I'm probably never going to answer in strip, but it's fun to ask them nevertheless.

The finale tonight. I, for one, enjoyed last week's episode quite a bit and just so you all know I don't have a problem with the Missy reveal. In fact it opens up an old relationship to be explored in different ways which is never a bad thing.

I hope you're all still reading 2ndFade's reviews of the series. They've been hugely entertaining and thought provoking. I mean the man referenced Nietzsche this week. Pretty sure no other review did that.

And speaking of contributors; we need to talk about Nesshead.

Nesshead had just started prepping the next round of Infinites when his laptop failed him. He's been trying to get it fixed, but these things take time and money and sadly he's not in a position to repair it any time soon. Which means, dear reader, that we'll have to stall the Infinites segment of the site temporarily.

We don't make much money from our store, pretty much enough to cover the running costs of the site, so we're not really in a position to pay for Nesshead's laptop to be repaired.

So we're just going to leave this donate button here:

There's no pressure or compulsion to donate if you don't want to. But the simple fact of the matter is that the sooner Nesshead raises the funds to replace his laptop the sooner we all get the Infinites back up and running. Every penny donated via the above button goes into Nesshead's laptop.

Thanks for your time.

IN PRINT - CURATION Part 3

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Yeah, that was a Star Trek reference. There are other Science Fiction shows out there you know.

And of course we couldn't have a wig arc without having Hartnell's wig making a cameo of some description. If you don't recognise him you need to be reading 'The Prop Cupboard of Obscure Doom'. It's a throwaway gag that's taken on a life all of it's own. Literally. 

Jim's had an idea for keeping track of the wigs, you'll see the results of that in a few weeks.

It's the beginning of the end tonight. Trailer spoilers ahead and then some speculation.

Still here?

Really?

Right, on we go.

Last weeks trailer seemed to indicate that Clara was going to turn and that perhaps Clara was never really Clara. If this plays out the way I think it's going to then Steven Moffat is a bona fide genius and a master of the long game.

Think about it; when did we first see Clara? Well technically it was 'Asylum of the Daleks', but we'll come back to that. What we all thought was going to be 'The Snowmen' although that turned out to be a shard of Clara against the Great Intelligence. Nope we first met the 'real' Clara in 'The Bells of St John' when the Doctor went up against the Great Intelligence. Apart from linking Clara and the Great Intelligence and having Clara's personality up and down loaded at varying rates of success what this episode really did was show us that the Intelligence could have a false personalty installed for most of a persons life.

I think Clara has been an invention of the Intelligence the whole time. It would explain his apparent lack of planning in jumping into the Doctor's timestream in 'Name of the Doctor', it was all a bluff to allow Clara to jump in as well and planting the ultimate sleeper agent into the Doctor's life. 

If this is right then what we'll find the Doctor with a companion with a familiar face, but different personality. Which is what Madame Vastra was foreshadowing all the way back in 'Deep Breath'. Let's see if the Doctor can handle the same kind of change he usually inflicts on others....

IN PRINT - CURATION Part 1

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I don't understand people that say they miss Tom Baker playing the Doctor. As far as I'm concerned he's never really stopped. With the exception of 'The Five Doctors' he's never passed up an opportunity to step back into the TARDIS. So as far I can tell it's the same character that appeared in every panel in today's strip including the character we've come to know as the Curator. It just fits for me.

Sometimes you can't bring things into alignment as much as you'd like to and other times things just slot into place without any effort whatsoever.

Today for example. Jim left me a message in the blog draft, he's never done that before. Hold on, here it is:

Jim says: The Image of the I.M Foreman gate doors in frame 2 of today's strip is provided curtsy of Alan Watson-Henry who actively makes his own sets for Doctor Who figures and has a great interest in stop-motion animation.

Thanks, Jim.

He even left a few photos of Alan's work for you to admire.

As for myself, well I'd been planning on sharing a photo I received from one of my Kasterborous co-contributors, Joe Siegler, on a modification he'd made to one of his TARDISes to update it prior to tonight's episode.

It amused me no end, but it also got me thinking about an old subject; custom figures.

For a while now I've thought about dipping my toe into the model game. I figured I'd like a set of figures to reflect the Doctors that appear in In Print and it's easy enough to get Doctors 1-11, but no where does any of the Infinites. Which means you're relying on commissioned models to get a full set and not only is that pricey it's a bit of a lucky dip as well.

So, any advice you guys would like to offer about how to make up such a collection would be very much appreciated.

IN PRINT - Place holder

The final stage of Con Wars will be with us very soon.

In the mean time you can enjoy a place holder strip that Jesse came up with.

Back soon...

IN PRINT EPISODE 70

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And........... cut!

That's 'Paradox Now' done. For now at any rate. There's still a few unanswered questions and that's not accidental. Feel free to speculate in the comments section.

The next few arcs drawn by Jim are considerably shorter, but will still help set the stage for the coming year. But first we return you to Nesshead and the 'Grand Tour'.

Which raises a point. We've started doing the arcs in blocks rather than swapping week about between Jim and Nesshead. What do you guys think? Do you prefer it this way or did you like alternating? Let us know!

That's all I have to say just now. My eldest daughter was up most of last night and I'm not nearly as awake as I would like to be.

Hope you guys enjoyed the arc and we'll see you next week.

Don't forget that we have Twitter and Facebook pages and that you can support us by visiting our store and buying something.

IN PRINT GUEST STRIP Curation Prelude- PAUL SALVI

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One last guest strip before we return to regular service. This time it's another of our recurring guest artists, Paul Salvi, on art.

Those of you that have been with us for a while might recognise today's strip as something of a reprise of his last guest strip for us. In fact his last strip acted as something of a prelude for Paradox Now, I wonder what come of this one...?

So, yeah, in the space of a few weeks I've added the War Doctor and the Curator to the cast of In Print. There's two more additions coming in light of the 50th celebrations and I'd love to see if any of you can guess who they might be.

2014 is going to be a fun year.

Jim's back next week folks and you'll get him for 3 continuous strips before he hands over to Nesshead to finish off the Grand Tour. After that we're going to be implementing a chance in the publishing schedule; you'll get one complete arc from Jim before another complete arc from Nesshead. The guys reckon this'll help them with their respective buffers.

IN PRINT EPISODE 63

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Right. Well.

I rather enjoyed that.

Lots to talk about. Lots to discuss. However for various reasons not all the team has seen it yet, so I'm going to wait until next week to tell you what I thought of it.

Short version: I really enjoyed it. It had a few flaws, but they're very easy to forgive given the sheer amount of things they got right.

The only other thing I'll say is that I am totally in love with the character of the curator. One single scene and I already love him.

Oh yeah and there's a strip. Stuff happens, but in 1D rather than 3D. We'll have more for you next week. We'll be releasing them as Jim finishes drawing them so keep your eyes peeled.

I'm off to watch it on my telly now. Won't be as cool as 3D on the big screen, but there are a couple of moments that demand revisiting.

I'm going to file it under research for the strip....



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THE INFINITES Strip 18

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Logopolis this stop and this is where things get interesting. That's a future projection of the Doctor that the Great Intelligence is posing as, you can't do things like that without serious repercussions.

But more on that when we get to the next stop of the tour.

It's a bit of a big week next week, I'm sure you guys might have heard something about it. I'll be posting up the blog next week then I'll be going into hiding, I don't want spoiled. I'm catching it at the cinema an hour or so after broadcast. Well hopefully. My little girl is going for surgery the day before and if she needs me I'll be staying put in the house. Tickets are booked though.

What I'd really like to be doing just now is discussing that Minisode, but given that Nesshead hasn't seen it and is saving it as an intro to the Special we won't be discussing it. I have to say that I really envy him, that Minisode would be an utterly fantastic way of opening the Special and I'm a little sorry that's not going to happen.

It has however given me several ideas for next years arcs for the strip, so I'm going to try and get them written today as well as the guest strips that'll be airing over Christmas and New Year to give our regular guys a break.

Don't forget that we have Twitter and Facebook pages and that you can support us by visiting our store and buying something.

IN PRINT EPISODE 42

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I just couldn't resist some kind of reference to Douglas Adams for strip 42, if you don't get why you then you need to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Seriously.



It also marks a nice point for Jim to sign off for a little while. Before anyone panics I'd like to assure everyone that, like James Bond, Jim will be back. Jim and Mrs Jim are expecting a little Jim in the next wee while and whilst he'll still be drawing the strip it didn't seem fair to expect him to meet deadlines as well as all the fatherly duties he's about to encounter.

And he has plenty to be drawing, scripts for the next 3 or 4 months have been written and sent out with the exception of 'The Propcupboard of Obscure Doom', which needs typed up and sent to 2nd Fade. Once that's done I just need to work a bit ahead on 'Dangling Threads' and 'The Wrong Doctor' and I'll be set for my own Paternity Leave

So, Jim's on Paternity Leave for a bit. He'll still be around on Twitter and suchlike though.

Which brings us onto the other bit of news we have for you today.

While we have some filler strips lined up to fill Jim's slot 'The Infinity Doctors' returns next week. The strip itself has regenerated into 'The Infinites' and are drawn by Nesshead now.

We've been working with Ness behind the scenes now for a while and can't wait to show you the strips he's been producing.

So, we'll see you all next week for Nesshead's first strip and in the meantime you can find us on Twitter or Facebook,