2003 news archive
27 November 2003
coming soon ...Those of you who've worked things out bear with us whilst we wait for the rest of you to catch up. We'll have some news, pics and an insight into something rather special in the not too distant future.
25 November 2003
Happy Birthday WhoJust a quick word to say thanks to all at 10th Planet for their hospitality in hosting a great celebration for the Doctor Who 40th! Thanks also to Big Finish for making a great series of audios that has kept the flame alive since the tv series and movie. Excellent! Here's a shot of Paul McGann trying to avoid celebrating the 41st anniversary !!!
15 September 2003
Location location location?For all the best filming you need a location. Well researched and available. So who do you get to choose this ideal spot? Well, none other than our own Stephen Cranford, it seems! Yes, Stephen from the team has been busy (as always) and was recently involved in filming one of the "extras" for the recent "Two Doctors" DVD release...
... so he's now automatically also the "Locations Manager" for "Devious" as well. However we've already decided on our locations, and are using them too, so this particular credit may be a little superfluous, but we'll keep reminding him of it for the future.
If you see him at the upcoming Panopticon Convention in November please remind him of it !!! If I (Ashley) get to go too, as I'm hoping to, then I shall report back for the website on the intense media frenzy Stephen's new role has generated. I should be able to write a few words whilst acting as his bodyguard and agent...
14 September 2003
We're still at it !!!ooh err! Yes - we're still going! Just because the website's a bit quiet it doesn't mean nothing's happening! Ashley is still set-building - having the task of building both in 5th-scale and full-scale for the main control room. A full summer including a 3 week trip to West Africa (for work) has meant that filming is intended now to be mid to late October rather than September to allow for family commitments as well as the set construction to be completed in time.
The scene filmed with Peter Tuddenham and Hugh Lloyd as well as the Jon Pertwee scene have been undergoing some re-editing and improvement, especially to the sound - David has been putting in a lot of time with these, combining this also with investigating software, such as suitable ways of providing the dalek voices. Oh for the use of a Moogerfooger - we hope to provide the same quality of dalek voice with software alternatives but we appreciate that most of the effect is in the initial interpretation by the actors of the dalek voice. If any of you known to us are good at dalek voices then send us a .mp3 of your attempts!!
27 June 2003
pottering aroundFor those of you who like to know we're still busy - well we are. It's all in the preparation, and with that in mind there's been set construction, prop mending and editing over the past few weeks. The church-crypt Tardis external door frame and door are half-finished now (think "Warriors Gate" for the look) and it's been driving Ashley half-mental (the final half). The hand-held dalek gun used by someone in the film has finally been mended (it had an annoying habit of falling apart only during a take) and is now a fearsome lump of plastic, metal, wire, fake circuitry etc etc (i.e. standard prop). Woe betide anyone who breaks it now...
The Peter & Hugh scene (Voix and Scribe) has been edited and is undergoing a few small changes before the sound is tidied and some music and effects added so we can hopefully show it back to our guest actors in a few weeks. It's looking quite good even though we say it ourselves (!) - it was great to finally use our own tardis set walls lit as per Comic Relief. The website has also had filmographies added for the Peter and Hugh pages for those of you unfamiliar with their work (shame on you).
Ashley has also been working on some of the 5th-scale modelwork needed for the final episode, whilst David is plotting to use an entirely new (for us) method of planning the action in our next batch of filming - i.e. 3d modelling the scenes to aid in camera positions and shots - this will aid greatly in the choreography of our eight daleks plus 2 cast. We have a couple of new dalek operator volunteers, and if you are in Sussex, England in September/October we could well make use of your ability to sit crouched in an airless container whilst moving around propelled only by your feet (not full leg movement) with your arms crossed working three appendages with only the two hands. Anyone with three arms or dextrous nasal ability need apply.
And finally, in what must be the death knell to any film project (like making the title sequence first) Ashley has finally built a clapperboard (we lost the original a decade ago). With any luck we'll forget to use it - we've managed so far by David calling out "scene x take y" so doubtless things won't change. We'll never be a proper film unit!!!!
More news soon
25 May 2003
Guest Stars revealed !!!Ooh err! Seriously though, we thought it best to end our crazy "guess our guests" competition as we had such a flood of entries. One of you half got it right, and so to put you out of your misery we can reveal that last weekend we had the pleasure to work with Peter Tuddenham and Hugh Lloyd! In the next few weeks we shall add content to the "filming" section so you can see some shots from the weekend. At present we're just putting a few stills taken during the filming, and the setup day the day before.
We'd like to thank Peter and Hugh for their time, and would say again that we had an enjoyable and productive day.
22 May 2003
May 2003 filming a success !Well - we did it! Our little two minute scene with our guest stars was completed on the day as planned. The scene featured Tony as the Doctor in a scene from the last episode. Here's a shot from the Saturday just after we had test-lit the podium part of the set. Here we see Tony out of costume (for once). We've only lit part of the walls and the room wasn't lit, so he does appear a little dark, but we just wanted to gauge the effect.
And as for our mystery guest stars... well - here's a little competition for you. They've both been seen or heard in Doctor Who. The aptly-named "Voix" was played by someone who was heard in Ark in Space, Masque of Mandragora and Time and the Rani, and more famously in Blake's 7. The actor playing "The Scribe" is a famous comedy and serious actor, whose sole appearance in Who was in Delta and the Bannermen...Feel free to email us at mysteryguests@doctorwho-devious.com if you think you know. There are no prizes. We have no money (just look at the sets!).
12 May 2003
May 2003 filming preparationsWell, we're nearly at filming time again! This last weekend was spent in minor set construction and costume preparation. Stephen and Ashley are building a raised underlit podium for the Doctor to stand on which should be ready for this Saturday. The usual precision techniques were in evidence - the use of screws were eschewed in favour of the stout nail or five. Yes - "Bodgit and Scarper Builders Inc." were on scene again up to their usual tricks. Still - it'll look okay on camera - we hope!
And on the costume front we have nearly finished three new costumes for timelords - as per the War Games trial. Lynette, Ashley and Stephen were hard at work - with mouthfuls of pins; Lynette on the sewing machine (she fell off twice*); Stephen with his precision cutting techniques and Ashley with his useful comments and modelling ability! With any luck there'll be some pictures next week after the filming so you can see how this lot is turning out! With actor fittings later in the week we hope all will look okay and we don't end up with people looking as if they're wearing an old sack! (which they're not). More news as and when...
* - p.s. crap humour is down to being too long sewing on velcro
24 April 2003
more no news is good news malarkey
Yes, it's waffle time again. fed up with no news? I know I am. So, lets invent some! Actually that'd be unfair, and I think we're probably unfair anyway in the way we show all these shots from the production but give no indication when it'll be finished, or where you the public may be able to see it. As for the seeing it, well, as with all amateur movies we have to be careful, but we'll just do what the others (Timebase etc etc) do when we've something to show. However we are toying with the idea of episode one being available via the web but that may discriminate in favour of the broadbanders amongst you. We'll see.
As for news, we've some filming the weekend of 17th and 18th of May with some mystery guest stars (!!!!) - the plot thickens! This will be for the end of part SIX (yes, there's six parts now). So this weekend we are building a small podium for the Doctor to stand on which will be lit from below. The rest of the set will be the full set of TARDIS walls lit for the first time like the Comic Relief sketch (we've never lit them before for our story since the walls were last used before they had the roundels cut out), although minus the console which is not needed. We'll have plenty of set shots from the filming, and hopefully some from the action!
The console room walls set will be quite large, since we are hoping to use at least seven of the wall units. The script has been prepared and sent out to all concerned, and storyboarding is underway soon. Time will tell. Wish us luck!
14 March 2003
comic relief - give generouslyRight - just a quickie (ooh err) - you've still time to contribute to this year's Comic Relief charity appeal. A few years ago Devious helped out by lending props and sets for the Dr Who sketch made at Pinewood. For a short time here's a special page where you can see some of our pictures from that filming session. After viewing them please then go to the Red Nose Day website and donate some money. After all, it's in a good cause! (Oh yes, and I suppose we'll show these shots on the site someday, but then with our frequency of updates you can never entirely be sure! - so take a peek now before they go!!!) And the web address is ... http://www.ashleyx.com/comicrelief/
Here's one pic to get you started!
07 March 2003
Devious Team mentioned in dispatchesNews reaches us that some of the team have been mentioned in this month's Doctor Who Monthly magazine! This is because they have run an Archive feature on 'The Curse of Fatal Death' - the Comic Relief Dr Who sketch from a few years back. Apparently there's a shot of a Devious Dalek with the Master Jonathon Pryce, and some mentions in the credits. In honour of this we will have to dig out a few new hitherto-unseen behind the scenes shots from that production. More news as and when. For now, here's Mr Pryce in our Tardis set !!
19 February 2003
Dalek at Brighton ModelWorld 25
"Onya" the dalek - i.e. what will be the black dalek - was at the successful ModelWorld show last weekend in Brighton. Now fitted with a voice and working lights as well as the exterminator gun being functional the dalek was a hit at the show. Allied to the Robot Wars section of the show the dalek made a number of tours of the venue during the weekend, being worked by Ian Watts from the Big Brother team, or Ashley from Devious. The dalek's appearance was done for free as per last year. Painted silver with blue balls it sported a silver dome this time, and it managed to be out and about for an hour or two each day from Friday to Sunday and only started to give up the ghost late Sunday - not bad on a single charge! ModelWorld celebrates model-making in all scales, and the Brighton Centre had a wealth of exhibits, from the Robot Wars shows to trains, live steam engines, cars, boats & ships (an excellent Titanic model was on show, complete with iceberg) and of course the dalek! The crowd reaction to the dalek was excellent, still prompting us to wonder why the BBC can't bring them back on regular tv. There'll be some pics when we get round to it! Oh yes, and in other news, we are still planning for the next filming session, which may well still be March!28 January 2003
10 million listeners !!! - and a few pics from the last set of filming ...Devious news received this brief email from Stephen (who now works for Radio 2 as well as occasional Southern Counties)HelloBit of a wheeze.I was doing travel on the Ken Bruce programme this morning, when he read out an email from Paul Hayes (esteemed web columnnist and also a one-off Devious dalek operator!) in which he identified me as one of the main trio behind Devious, and has also been a dalek.A short chat about daleks followed, before I did the travel news.Therefore the name Devious has been broadcast to over 10,000,000 people. Not that many of them probably noticed though?Stephenblimey !! - so to tide you over until we actually have some more news (set-building is slow and painful in a cold shed) here's a shot from Ashley's last scene where he's about to fall to his death at the hands of .... well, at the feet of ... well, that'd be telling!
Needless to say there's a wee bit of post-production to be done here! ... and here's a few others with Stephen and Ashley during the November corridor scenes...
