Planet Skaro News Archive - 2007
The Christmas Gnomes concludes!
posted Wednesday 19th December 2007 at 00:02 by Pip
The fantastic third and final episode of our Doctor Who Christmas Special is now online!
I made this one, you know, woo for me. :-)
The Christmas Gnomes continues!
posted Wednesday 12th December 2007 at 00:20 by Pip
The Doctor, Vera and Father Christmas are being menaced by a Robot Fridge - what happens next? Well you'll just have to download episode two and find out for yourself! This episode is written and produced by Steven Alexander.
Doctor Who and the Christmas Gnomes debuts!
posted Tuesday 4th December 2007 at 21:00 by Pip
The time has almost come - episode one of the PS Audios Christmas Special, Doctor Who and The Christmas Gnomes will be available to download tomorrow morning! Episode one is written by Steve Alexander and produced by Si Hunt. We hope you'll enjoy it, and feedback to us in the forums. Also, check out the cover artwork!
Brief Encounter #6
posted Monday 2nd December 2007 at 06:34 by Pip
The final Brief Encounter in our current run, the Paul Clement-penned Seventh Doctor tale "Final Days" is now online! Please let us know what you think in the forum!
Christmas Gnomes Trailer & Covers!
posted Saturday 1st December 2007 at 09:03 by Pip
Go look in the Centre of Leisure forum!
Brief Encounter #5
posted Tuesday 27th November 2007 at 08:00 by Pip
Si Hunt presents a Brief Encounter with Planet Skaro's very own TARDIS team!
"The Fun Doctor" is ready for you. Enjoy! :-)
Brief Encounter #4
posted Tuesday 20th November 2007 at 08:00 by Pip
Another gem from Jon Masters called 'New Recruit', is now available to read!
Thanks for coming!
posted Monday 19th November 2007 at 22:00 by Pip
Thanks to all of you who came along to the Willow Walk on Saturday for the big PS meet, particularly those who like Ralph and Ian who travelled a fair distance to be there. It was a great night, one of the very best meets we've ever had many have said! Check out the photos in the members-only Centre Of Leisure forum...
Brief Encounter #3
posted Sunday 11th November 2007 at 20:03 by Pip
This week's Brief Encounter comes from PS member Nathan Cooke, and features Melanie Bush - it's a cracking little piece, have a read tomorrow and let us know what you think in the forum!
Planet Skaro supports Children In Need
posted Sunday 11th November 2007 at 20:00 by Pip
As most of you are aware, it's nearly time for the annual BBC Children In Need charity appeal. In 2006 the BBC Children in Need Appeal raised over £33 million to fund projects helping disadvantaged children in the UK. Every year, thanks to public donations and the amazing efforts of fundraisers, schools, businesses and corporate partners, the charity is able to provide support to thousands of youngsters aged 18 and under.
This year, BBC Children In Need are giving us a very special episode of Doctor Who featuring not only our current Doctor David Tennant, but PETER-bloody-DAVISON as the Fifth Doctor! It's possibly the most exciting thing to happen in Who circles since Tom Baker told the story about his eyes getting smaller. But seriously, it's a fantastic treat that's only being made so that you'll dig deep into your pocket and give a little to charity. PS fully supports CiN and we want all our members to do their bit. So, for the whole month of November, every penny of the money that we make in commission from your affiliated online shopping will go straight to Children In Need. We hope this will not only get you all into the habit of using our affiliates page whenever you shop online at ASDA, Amazon, CD-WOW, DVD.co.uk, Game, HMV, Play & Waterstones, but you'll make an extra effort to make sure some of your shopping money goes straight to Pudsey. If you don't do much online shopping, then we ask you to consider donating anyway, you can find out about the various ways here at the BBC CiN website.
Your support will help to change the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK, supporting those with experienced mental, physical or sensory disabilities; behavioural or psychological disorders; are living in poverty or situations of deprivation; or suffering through distress, abuse or neglect. That's gotta be a good reason to affiliate, right? :-)
PS London Meet Up on Saturday!
posted Sunday 11th November 2007 at 19:57 by Pip
We hope you can make it! Full details here if you need them!
Brief Encounter #2
posted Friday 2nd November 2007 at 22:34 by Pip
The second in our series of Brief Encounters, "Eviction" penned by Jon Masters, will be exclusively available here at PS from Monday. You are expected to read it! :-)
Brief Encounters
posted Saturday 27th October 2007 at 01:00 by Pip
Look out on Monday for the start of a new series of short stories written by our forum members, kicking off with the Andrew Curnow-penned 'Never Had A Lot Of Cabinets To Put Up?'. It's great, and we hope you'll enjoy it.
Doctor Who Storybook Winners!
posted Monday 22nd October 2007 at 01:00 by Pip
Congratulations to Stephen Morgan, Wayne Jefferies and Paul Ballard, who have all won themselves a copy of the 2008 Doctor Who Storybook! Look out for a new PS competition in November. :-)
The Final Episode of MHT is online!
posted Saturday 13th October 2007 at 07:00 by Pip
The exciting final episode of Magical History Tour is now available for download, along with the 25-minute making of documentary 'Making Magic', plus trailers and deleted scenes. We hope you've enjoyed the show and you'll come back for more PS Audio fun in a couple of months!
MHT Cover Artwork Revealed!
posted Thursday 4th October 2007 at 07:23 by Pip
Check out the MHT thread in the members-only) Centre Of Leisure forum! Go on, off with ya.
STOP - It's Banner Time!
posted Wednesday 3rd October 2007 at 01:23 by Pip
Not much gets updated in The Archive section of the website, I must admit. Since ezBoard decided to delete the old forum, the plan of archiving old threads came a cropper. Anyway, we've updated the Past Banners bit, sprucing it up and adding new ones from this year. Have a look!
Competition Time!
posted Monday 1st October 2007 at 00:28 by Pip
Want to win something Doctor Who-ey? Click here to find out more...
The Tour Continues!
posted Saturday 29th September 2007 at 08:12 by Pip
The goodies I mentioned on Thursday (see below) are now online! Go see!
Magical History Tour CD & Bonus Content
posted Thursday 27th September 2007 at 01:12 by Pip
First off, thanks to everyone who did us proud and downloaded episode one of MHT - we hope you're enjoying the story and are eager to hear what on Earth has happened to dear Rob!
Now this time round, as you're probably aware, we're offering the episodes online, rather than posting them as lovely CD sets. But that doesn't mean you can't have it on CD if you want it on CD! The relevant CD artwork will be uploaded for your enjoyment on October 4th, we encourage you to print it all out and keep PS Audio #4 on your shelf along with the previous adventures.
As for bonus content, we've gone to great effort to give you some entertaining extras - so over the next weeks, you'll be able to download the special documentary, a cast interview, trailers and more! Some will only be available online, so that's an extra incentive to visit the micro-site. But if you do wish to burn the story to disc, here's what your set should look like...
MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR - CD ONE:
Episode 1 Part 1 (7.37)
Episode 1 Part 2 (7.12)
Episode 1 Part 3 (5.39)
Episode 1 Part 4 (6.39) [total Episode 1 length - 27.16]
Episode 2 Part 1 (6.12)
Episode 2 Part 2 (7.26)
Episode 2 Part 3 (6.25)
Episode 2 Part 4 (6.54) [total Episode 2 length - 27.06]
CD Extras - Lost Interviews (10.35)
"Magical History Tour" Trailer (1.49)
Trailers (4.18)
MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR - CD TWO:
Episode 3 Part 1 (5.47)
Episode 3 Part 2 (7.09)
Episode 3 Part 3 (6.00)
Episode 3 Part 4 (4.19) [total Episode 3 length - 23.25]
Episode 4 Part 1 (6.18)
Episode 4 Part 2 (5.49)
Episode 4 Part 3 (4.53)
Episode 4 Part 4 (10.05) [total Episode 4 length - 27.14]
"Making Magic" documentary (25.01)
The Lost Interview that makes up part of disc one will be available to download this Saturday, along with the second thrilling episode. We hope you enjoy them both!
Magical History Tour Episode One... ONLINE!
posted Saturday 22nd September 2007 at 07:00 by Pip
The first exciting episode of MHT is now available for you to download! CLICK HERE now!
The Return To The Willow Walk - PS November Meet 2007
posted Friday 21st September 2007 at 01:49 by Pip
Just a reminder that the annual Planet Skaro November Meet will be taking place on Saturday 17th November at the Willow Walk pub in Victoria, in the heart of central London. All forum members and their families/friends are invited, so come along! Please keep checking the thread in The Centre Of Leisure for more information.
Magical History Tour Microsite Relaunched!
posted Friday 21st September 2007 at 01:47 by Pip
Check out the Magical History Tour micro-site as it's been given a make over (gone are the yellows and oranges, hello purples) - and don't forget to download episode one on Saturday!
The Sontaran Experiment DVD Competition
posted Monday 10th September 2007 at 08:03 by Pip
Congrats to Alex Finch who won a copy of the season 12 story The Sontaran Experiment on shiny DVD disc - look out for another competition in November! It's all hush hush though...
A Couple Of Forum Changes
posted Sunday 9th September 2007 at 17:47 by Pip
Hello lovely faithful PS people,
The Mods and Admins have decided that the return of Sarah Jane in her own brand new CBBC series deserves a space of its own on PS, so we've created THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES forum where you can discuss the series! Remember, it starts in a couple of weeks...
The other major change is the removal of the OUTSIDE THE SHIP forum. Because it was very rarely used, we decided to close it - all the threads posted in there have been redirected to either GENERAL DR WHO or THE RATINGS WAR. Any new Doctor Who spin-off threads can be posted to either forum in the future.
PS. You have until midnight tonight to enter the Sontaran Experiment DVD competition, so if you want to stand a chance, click the PS banner above and enter! The winner will be picked out of a suitably iconic hat, and announced shortly after.
New Affiliates!
posted Friday 24th August 2007 at 20:17 by Pip
After the success of participating in Amazon.co.uk's affiliate scheme, we've taken the step of widening our links to online DVD retailers, so that we can hopefully raise more money towards our running costs. Newly added are Play.com and HMV.com, with other retailers including DVD.co.uk and Waterstones to be added in the next few days. Please see our new affiliate links guide for more details! We hope you'll take them on board and use the links, as the commission we will earn will be invaluable!
Amazon Affiliate Scheme Success
posted Wednesday 22nd August 2007 at 00:39 by Pip
I'd just like to say a big thank you to anyone who has helped support Planet Skaro in the past by going out of their way to affiliate their Amazon.co.uk orders. For those of you who aren't familiar with our affiliate scheme, it's very simple, whenever you buy something from Amazon.co.uk via our website or by using our tracking ID, we get a cut of Amazon's profits (usually around 5-8%). Well, we've just had our 100th affiliated order - and so far you've raised £56.59 towards the running costs of the forum! A fantastic achievement, I think. As a result, unlike in the distant days of ezBoard, we don't need to ask for donations to keep PS going. So on behalf of the Mods and my fellow Admins, thank you, you know who you are. But don't stop! Because we still need your help. We've raised enough money to renew our vBulletin licence for another year, but if we can raise another £25 or so, we can afford to buy our vBulletin licence outright, which means we'll never have to pay them again. Ever.
Magical History Tour debuts next month
posted Wednesday 22nd August 2007 at 00:35 by Pip
Incase you're wondering what's happening, we're currently in post-production on our fourth PS audio adventure 'Magical History Tour', and if everything goes to plan, it should be ready for release at the end of September. Look out for more information on the mini-site soon.
Forum Problems Resolved
posted Monday 13th August 2007 at 20:34 by Pip
With immediate effect, you should notice the forum is much quicker to navigate now. We hope this is the end of the trouble and things can return to normal! Thanks for staying with us.
Server Change & Forum Upgrade
posted Tuesday 7th August 2007 at 17:30 by Pip
Bear with us for the next couple of days, we've got to perform some necessary maintenance on the forum software, and move across to our new server. Hopefully it will curb the problems we've been having with slowness on the forum lately. :-)
Caption Competitions
posted Tuesday 3rd July 2007 at 15:38 by Pip
Don't forget about the Doctor Who Caption Competitions in the forum - the latest one (The Five Doctors) is there, waiting for you! We want funny. Lots of funny. Meanwhile, the first two competitions have been archived in the Comedy section of our website. Go see!
The Way We Willow Walk
posted Wednesday 27th June 2007 at 00:51 by Pip
Updates coming thick and fast lately, aren't they? Enjoy them while you can. This is a quick note to let you know that all the photos from the Willow Walk meet the Saturday before last are now archived on the PS website, here infact. Looks like it was a good one!
Music Videos section now open, plus more avatars
posted Tuesday 26th June 2007 at 19:55 by Pip
Well, we said it'd be due in 2007 didn't we? :-p So, for your visual stimulation, we've exclusively collected together some Doctor Who-themed music videos produced by our members. Clicky to see! If you're a member of PS and you've made your own music videos, get in touch with us and we'll put links on the website. :-) Elsewhere, we've added a bunch of series three avatars to the site. Feel free to use them on the forum, but no hotlinking elsewhere please!
Apologies for forum downtime
posted Monday 25th June 2007 at 00:12 by Pip
A quick apology to those of you who were affected by the problems we suffered earlier this evening, we had a server error and the forum was unavailable for about 30-45 minutes. Things seem to be back to normal though, and as always, we'll be striving to keep PS running smoothly.
Congratulations to our very own Steve...
posted Monday 25th June 2007 at 00:12 by Pip
Last year, Big Finish launched a Doctor Who short story competition, aimed at previously unpublished new writers. We're very pleased to see that our very own audio drama thesp and forum moderator Steve Alexander (alias Rob McCow) has won himself a place in the shortlist, and his short story on 'How The Doctor Changed My Life' will be published as part of a special anthology in late 2008! So well done to Steve, we're all really proud of you here at PS!
Sorry about the lack of Vortex updates...
posted Monday 25th June 2007 at 00:12 by Pip
Some of you may have noticed that there's not been too much going on in the Into The Vortex section of our website. Well, it's partly due a few stragglers being late with their scores, but also because we're going to do a bumper update with all the scores right up to the latest series, when the time comes. So stay tuned.
Summer PS Meet on June 16th
posted Saturday 9th June 2007 at 12:34 by Pip
Just a quick reminder about the next big Planet Skaro meet up, taking place on Saturday 16th June 2007 at The Willow Walk pub in Victoria, London. Details are available to registered members in the Centre of Leisure forum - all are welcome to come along!
PS brings you fortnightly newsletters...
posted Saturday 7th May 2007 at 12:34 by Pip
Look out in your inboxes for a fortnightly newsletter starting from Monday, updating you with any really important website news, as well as informing you of our recommended threads - the Mods and Admins are taking it in turns to write one, so like Doctor Who, it should be something new each week!
'Keepsake' concludes...
posted Tuesday 17th April 2007 at 09:00 by Pip
Yep, you guessed it, the concluding part of Keepsake is now online, along with some extra goodies! Print off your own cover, listen to the Making Of documentary, and more!
Download episode one of 'Keepsake'
posted Friday 13th April 2007 at 09:05 by Pip
Friday the Thirteenth! Argh! Well, it's a good one, because Part one of the new PS Doctor Who audio 'Keepsake', written by Si Hunt and starring a small cast of our forum members, is ready to download! Visit the thread on our forum for more details, and enjoy!
Easter News Update
posted Thursday 5th April 2007 at 20:35 by Pip
Seeing as Doctor Who is once again on our screens, we're going to have special themed forum banners every week until the end of June, to tie in with each episode as they are broadcast. We promise we'll be careful to hide any spoilerific images! Also, we'll be changing the colour scheme of the forum at the same time, so be prepared each Thursday!
In other news, you may have noticed a change to the front page - we've tidied up the 'Recommended Threads' bit, making it look a bit sexier, and at the same time adding space for a fourth recommended thread. Also, look out in the Vortex section of our website, as I'll be uploading the official guides for seasons 16 thru 18 over the Easter weekend.
And finally, we've also added a proper guide on how to affiliate your Amazon orders and help us get some commission. The thread is stuck to the top of the Ratings War forum if you need it. Happy Easter everyone, and enjoy The Shakespeare Code!
The Soap Has Landed!
posted Monday 2nd April 2007 at 13:11 by Pip
I'm sure many of you already know, but I thought I'd mention it here anyway - our second PS audio adventure "Doctor Who: Soap of Fatal Death" has been released and is OUT THERE! Thank you to all of you who ordered yours and donated to charity, I'm sure Si Hunt will let us know the total amount raised for Cancer Research UK soon. Reviews and feedback are welcome on the forum. If you've not got a copy, don't despair as it may be made available to download for free in the near future. Look out on Friday too, as we'll be updating the mini-site with an exclusive behind-the-scenes video of the recording. Rarity!
Soapy Chit Chat And Pics!
posted Wednesday 14th March 2007 at 12:15 by Pip
Just a little update to let you all know that we've added three interviews featuring the main cast of Soap of Fatal Death to the downloads section, each in WMA format (easily playable in Windows Media Player). Also, there's a selection of some lovely publicity shots, including the lovely Trudi fully in-character as Virginia Purseglove! Check them out! :-)
From Zygons to Vardans...
posted Sunday 11th March 2007 at 19:50 by Pip
Okidoke, all your comments about seasons 13-15 in the Vortex thread have been uploaded to the website for posterity. Not quite the Panoptican archive, but much safer. I've also redesigned the index, and changed a few graphics. Onwards and upwards... :-)
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...
posted Sunday 11th March 2007 at 02:00 by Pip
Update 1: The Vortex thread was so popular, we've had some people joining in late - this of course means that there's more votes to be counted, and some stories have benefited/suffered as a result. Seasons 1-9 have been updated with the new scores, and seasons 10-12 are now online for your perusal. Seasons 13-15 may follow soon, if I can find time - oh, and don't forget, season 16 is currently open for voting.
Update 2: We'd neglected to publish the full cast of 'Soap' on the website, so that's been altered - there's also a few pictures of the cast, so you can put names to faces... don't forget, the story is released on Saturday 31st March, so get your order in now, and help us raise some cash for Cancer Research UK - visit the Soap news page for more details.
Lather up - it's a big Soapy update!
posted Monday 5th March 2007 at 09:00 by Pip
Website updates have been a little few and far between lately, but don't be fooled into thinking we're quiet - the forum is always active, and we've had a lot of interesting new threads that seem to have grabbed your imaginations! Plus, we've been busy working on something very wonderful - post-production on our very special Doctor Who audio adventure Soap of Fatal Death is now complete, and we've uploaded an equally special MP3 trailer of the story for you to listen to! Visit the Soap section without delay to download it, and don't forget to read the news page, and check out my cover! I'm reet pleased with it, and I hope you are too.
Oh, and the Vortex section will recieve a hefty update this Sunday with seasons 10-14 being added... if you're good.
Holy Products of Photoshop, Batman!
posted Tuesday 13th February at 19:20 by Pip
Take a look in PS Creativity.
Full Steam Ahead!
posted Friday 9th February at 18:40 by Pip
Si Hunt, technical wizard in charge of producing Soap of Fatal Death, fills us in on how things are going behind the scenes... clicky to read!
Pertwee arrives In The Vortex!
posted Thursday 1st February at 00:00 by Pip
Seasons seven, eight and nine are now up for your perusal in the Vortex section. Please remember, if you contribute to the thread, we like comments!!! :-)
Soapy News!
posted Wednesday 31st January at 16:18 by Pip
Well, I promised you an update - if you go to the Soap section, you'll find Si Hunt's news round up (with news of forthcoming website content), whilst Si Hart talks about the inspiration for his parts, as well as his feelings about last week's recording session. Enjoy!
Right, let's get on with things...
posted Tuesday 30th January at 12:03 by Pip
I'm back from my travels and the website updates have begun in earnest! You'll have noticed that on the forum you are now entitled to your very own Custom User Title below your username.
To add your own, go to the black toolbar on the forum homepage and click:
User CP* > Edit Profile > Optional Information > Custom User Title
Have fun with yours, but please remember our forum code of conduct - any offensive words/phrases used will not go down well with the mods! We've also replaced the 'Registered User' text with a nifty little graphic, which we think works much better.
An exciting new addition to our PS Creativity section comes in the form of two original short stories from forum member Rob McCow - Hi Sis features the Eighth Doctor, whilst Alex In A Brush With Art is a Benny Summerfield story. Both are, of course, utterly fantastic and deserve a wider audience, so go and check them out! And of course, if you'd like to add to the Fan Fiction section, Paul Monk is the man you need to get in touch with.
On the subject of the Sendit affiliate scheme, It seems a few of you are waiting for Sendit to send them New Beginnings - we're sorry for the delay, but we would appreciate you hanging on a little longer whilst they get more stock in, as the commission you will make us will go towards future costs of running the forum. A very worthy cause, we hope you'll agree!
Website updates will continue throughout the week, as we have the latest In The Vortex results from the Pertwee era to add, not to mention a very substantial news update regarding the recording of our second audio play, Soap of Fatal Death. That'll appear online sometime during Wednesday afternooon if all goes to plan. We've also got a few DVD covers and other bits and bobs to add.
Bear with us next week...
posted Thursday 18th January at 01:40 by Pip
There won't be any main site updates to the PS website from tomorrow till Monday 29th January, because I'm off on my travels! Well, I've got to have a break now and then, haven't I. But keep your eyes on our Dr Who news page though, as Ant may find some time to get that up to date in the week.
Not to worry though, there'll be a full site update on my return, including In The Vortex seasons 7-9, more DVD covers in our Graphic Design area, your reviews of the New Beginnings boxed set, the results of Rate Torchwood and most exciting of all, exclusive photos and gossip from the recording session of The Soap of Fatal Death, so don't miss out... or there'll be words.
Planet Skaro is now a Sendit affiliate!
posted Thursday 18th January at 01:40 by Pip
I'm very excited to announce that our website/forum is now an affiliate of online retailer Sendit.com and their Shared Customer Programme!
The deal is this: when you register a free account atSendit.com exclusively through us and use our affiliate link to shop with Sendit, we make commission on the amount you spend! Not only are they one of the most reliable online retailers of DVDs, games and electronics, but they're also the cheapest for brand new Doctor Who DVD releases, so if you buy with them you'll not only be saving a great deal of money, you'll also be helping out your favourite forum! That's us.
With all the money we make from this scheme, we plan to buy some special prizes for competitions open only to our forum members, as a thank you. So the more commission we get, the more you benefit!
Click here for more details about how you can help support us.
The Soap of Fatal Death comes to PS!
posted Friday 12th January at 17:00 by Pip
This year's aural endeavour from the members of our community, entitled Doctor Who: The Soap of Fatal Death, now has a dedicated area of our website - you can find out more about this exciting production in the Audio Stories section.
The Martin of Doom & The Queering of a Time Lord
posted Friday 12th January at 17:00 by Pip
We're very pleased to be able to host two fascinating, in-depth Doctor Who essays from one of our members, Brendan Jones (forum username: brandynigma). They can be found in the Reviews area of PS Creativity.
Into The Vortex update
posted Sunday 7th January at 22:00 by Pip
Now Christmas and New Year are over with, we're back to updates - so, seasons 3-6 of our ratings project In The Vortex, conducted in the forum by Kenny (MacNimon) have now been added to the website for your perusal - completing the monochrome era of Dr Who. Remember to check back every week and give us your ratings of the Pertwee era and beyond!
click here to read 2006's news updates or return to the latest news