The Wall of Lies Number 133 Newsletter established 1991, club formed June first 1980 The newsletter of the South Australian Doctor Who Fan Club Inc., also known as SFSA Final FINAL Adelaide, November--December 2011 WEATHER: Summer Free Gone Postal! by staff writers Tragic loss, stop motion service to be announced. An upset “Postman” Pat Clifton has wounded seven other puppets in a spree shooting, before turning the shotgun on himself. The BAFTA nominated BBC Children’s entertainer was reportedly distraught at being forced to relocate from London to Salford in the current BBC shake-up. Television Centre was formally placed on the property market on 13 June 2011. Friend and colleague “Fireman” Sam Peyton-Jones said “People thought he really lived in Greendale Village, which of course is fictional. He had a flat right in White City and couldn’t face having to move North.” Long time partner Jess the Cat had recently joined O Pat in a civil union, not recognised outside of ut t N No France. Calls to his agent were not immediately ow Pat announcing the loss of returned. ! Royal Mail sponsorship in 2000. Dr Who in crisis for 2012 by staff writers While the brand is strong, ratings are thinning and the future uncertain. The average ratings for Doctor Who on ABC have fallen from over a million in 2008 Chameleon Factor # 80 to 689,000 in 2011 (five capitals, rounded to nearest thousand). ABC has declined to circulate ratings information for the show this year. The BBC refused to comment and O u were unable to clarify there wouldn’t be a full series next year, but ABC said they did N t No ow not expect any more content until 2013. ! ABC wants to repeat their Christmas special success of 2010, with a spokesperson saying; “We are planning to screen it (The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe) Boxing Day.” Despite expressing an interest in the Red Nose Day specials Time and Space, they have not bought the rights to them. Sci Fi Channel say Doctor Who is rating well, and the run will end when they finish the Tom Baker episodes. They do not have any other Doctor Who material. Ten confirmed Torchwood: Miracle Day will screen on Eleven, but have not scheduled it yet. They said it would not be broadcast until the new year. Ten intends to purchase K-9 series two, but have no current information on its completion or repeats for the SFSA magazine # 28 second half of series one. q Continued Page 2 First Carpenter scare, page 2. Archive, page 3. Dr Who in crisis for 2012 q from Page 1 Ratings Date Title 5 City Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth O E S 3/9 Let's Kill Hitler 792,000 221,000 250,000 137,000 75,000 109,000 M C : 10/9 Night Terrors 660,000 199,000 185,000 114,000 79,000 82,000 t i 17/9 The Girl Who Waited d e 513,000 155,000 149,000 89,000 59,000 61,000 r C 24/9 The God Complex 591,000 187,000 141,000 89,000 83,000 91,000 1/10 Closing Time 691,000 194,000 219,000 121,000 60,000 96,000 8/10 The Wedding of River Song 708,000 231,000 180,000 138,000 67,000 91,000 2011 average 689,000 Chinese government illustration of Tiangong 2010 average 920,000 1 (left) and Shenzou 8 docking. 2009 average 834,000 (specials) 2008 average 1,097,000 2007 average 846,000 Sky Watch 2006 average 933,000 2005 average 938,000 Source: TV Tonight (2011), all others ABC First Chinese docking Preservation Issues ON 2 NOVEMBER 2011 the Chinese space program successfully automatically docked two craft for the Horrible film sees light of day first time. The Tiangong-1 station was launched on by staff writers 29 September, and is intended to be visited by three Contacts missions. The first of these was the remotely con- JUST IN TIME FOR Halloween, an trolled Shenzhou 8, launched 31 October. Jamie Stidiford archivist at the University of Southern California has recovered The stated intent of the Tiangong program is to (President) horror director John Carpenter’s launch a large modular space station for long term [email protected] student film. Captain Voyeur (1969) habitation by 2020. has an eight minute duration, with a The first successful American docking was similar plot to Carpenter’s later fea- between Gemini 8 and an Agena missile on 17 Martin Dunne ture Halloween (1978). March 1966. The first successful Soviet docking (The Wall of Lies editor) Dino Everett told The Hollywood was between Soyuz 4 and 5 on 15 January, 1969. [email protected] Reporter he had heard rumours Carpenter had stolen his films from Are physical laws inconsistent? the archive, so went to check. One Tammy Vogel negative print bore a handwritten A DECADE OLD quasar survey has suggested a sur- credit for Carpenter, so he knew he (Magazine editor) prising challenge to conventional assumptions had made a valuable discovery. [email protected] He also noted the film was made about the universe. James Webb et al suggest the from the perspective of the stalker, value of alpha, or the fine-structure constant which describes the strength of electromagnetic interac- Postal address: who wore glasses over his mask and the victim strongly resembled tion, may change across space. This was first PO Box 3227 Jamie Lee Curtis, all similar to defined by Arnold Sommerfeld in 1916. Rundle Mall SA 5000 Halloween. Webb’s survey suggests alpha is slightly weaker in The National Film Preservation ancient quasars, where a later study suggests it Foundation has given the University may be strnonger in another region. If alpha were a $1,000 grant to restore the print. 4% stronger, stars would be unable to produce car- Mailing list John Carpenter had not been bon, and life could not be based upon this element. subscription: informed of the recovery by USC at The paper, ‘Indications of a spatial variation of the the time of printing. fine structure constant?’ was published in Physical [email protected] Review Letters on 31 October 2011. This is a publication of SFSA: the South Australian Doctor Who Fan Club Inc., a non profit organisation. No attempt has been made to supersede the copyright of any holders of trademark or copyrighted 19/11, 21/1/2012, 18/2 images, text, or information. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure that the contents of the newsletter is accurate at the time of printing, SFSA cannot accept any liability for inaccura- cies that may appear. Meeting details are subject to change at short notice. 2 www.sfsa.org.au November-December 2011 Printed by the Federal Printing House Wall of Lies No 73 December 01/January 02 [Editor: Matthew Fazakerley] Transmission schedule From Watcher to Warlord! November to December 2011 Anthony Stewart Head, Giles Doctor Who 2011 Christmas special from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is set to appear in three new Archive Doctor Who audio plays. Head, ~ The Doctor, the Widow and the Chameleon 2, November 1981 who auditioned for the part of Wardrobe 26/12 Chamelleon 2, November 1981 the Doctor in the 1996 TV [Editors: Paul Snarksis/Grant Whittingham] Movie of the series, will play Double episodes daily on Sci Fi Channel Warlord Grayvorn in three 19th SEASON audio plays in the upcoming Check local and daily program listings Excelis trilogy. Story #1 - “Castrovalva” Story #3 - “Kinda” [Head had already been in the Club Story #5 - “Black Orchid” audio Death Comes to Time,and Story # 6 - “The Sentinel” went on to narrate the BBC Membership Story # 7 - “Xanadin” Radio 2 Project: WHO?, and the Annual membership rates are $15. third and fourth series of Doctor This entitles you to one year’s subscrip- Who Confidential. In 2006 he tion to the club’s publications: bimonthly NEWS-SHEET appeared as Mr. Finch in the The Wall of Lies and SFSA magazine, [News-Sheet 10 is missing. Can you help?] episode School Reunion. In and the Doctor Who themed yearbook NO: 11 DECEMBER OF 1991 2007 he played Baltazar in the Chameleon Factor. Also included are [Editors: Jarren Gallaway & Glen Smith]] animated Totally Doctor Who discounted entry fees to SFSA meet- segment The Infinite Quest.] ings, and discounts at various stores OTHER NEWS around Adelaide. The BBC radio collection are planning next year to release audio recordings of lost sto- ries from the 60’s era, similar to the Discounts “Genesis of the Daleks” and “Slipback” Pulp Fiction tapes. The first two likely to be released are 10% off comics and graphic novels “Tomb of the Cybermen” and “The Macra Terror”, with linking segments by Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker respectively. Events [The planned release of the Tomb audio was delayed until 1993 due to the recovery In September we played Apples for of all four episodes from Asia Television, Hong Kong, in late 1991.] Apples and Carcassonne. In October we SFSA 5, Summer 2001/2 enjoyed Doctor Who: Closing Time. Fandom November 5 Pub meeting 17.00 Culture Shock Events Venue: Buckingham Arms Hotel presents November 19 General meeting 15.00 Venue: Adelaide High School Mark Sheppard Live December 3 Pub meeting 17.00 February 2012 Venue: Buckingham Arms Hotel Two shows :Sydney and Brisbane December picnic TBA Check dates and times close to January 7 Pub meeting 17.00 the event Venue: Buckingham Arms Hotel January 21 General meeting 15.00 Tickets via Venue: Adelaide High School cultureshockevents.com SFSA 5, Summer 2001/2 www.sfsa.org.au November-December 2011 3 Subscription due if Noodle Warriors, SFSA 5, 2001 a red dot appears [Fazakerley/Cooke] in this box Art by Steven Cooke, Script by Cooke and Matthew Fazakerley 4 www.sfsa.org.au November-December 2011.