Jon Pertwee & Tom Baker Doctor Who figures

Obviously the new version of Doctor Who has commanded the lion's share of recent BBC-licensed merchandise, but over the last year or so they've been slowly adding action figures from the classic Doctor Who (including Tom Baker and Peter Davison figures - Tom's figure is currently grinning those big teeth on my desk, I couldn't resist it). The latest one to be announced is the late, great Jon Pertwee from the mid 70s Who era, possibly the finest dandy Time Lord ever to rock a velvet jacket and frilly shirt :-) This one is from the episode The Green Death, set in Wales, the one where Katy Manning's Jo Grant left the show and has Pertwee's flamboyant Who complete with some of the giant maggots that grew out of the toxic green waste.







Of course, these days the title 'The Green Death' would probably be a thriller about fundamentalist eco warriors assassinating people like Jeremy Clarkson, but hey, that would probably be an enjoyable film... Sticking with the mid 70s Who there is also a Pyramid of Mars era Tom Baker figure coming soon; robotic mummies murdering, Sarah Jane, Mars and Sutekh the Destroyer, one of my favourite Baker stories.

The Ukulele Lady

Amanda Palmer warming up in the basement of Forbidden Planet in Edinburgh this afternoon before a signing (and singing!) session for her and Neil Gaiman's book "Who Killed Amanda Palmer". Amanda has a music gig later this week as part of the Edinburgh Fringe (and is doing smaller gigs during the week as well), Neil is in town shortly for the Edinburgh International Book Festival, we're helping her sell the book while she's here and today was a nice chance for the fans to come and meet her - really good turnout, city centre buzzing with Festival goers plus a big line of fans waiting to meet Amanda adding to it all. This was Amanda getting into her zone before meeting the fans by performing a song for us all; I've videoed her performance (with her permission) and will add it here once I have time to sort it and upload it to YouTube.

Alan Moore speaks

I was kept very busy this week finishing editing and setting up my mate Pádraig's incredibly Massive Mega Moore Marathon - its a new (15, 000 words or so, phew!) interview with Britain's Wizard in Extraordinary, Mr Alan Moore. In fact its so big I had to break it into three sections across three days on the Forbidden Planet blog - part one is mostly concerned with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, especially the new third volume Century, the first volume of which comes out this month (Century 1910), the second next year (Century 1969) and a final part which is set in the present day after that.

It will surprise no-one who knows Alan's work to learn that the subjects and themes and references covered are diverse, from the Threepenny Opera to Jack the Ripper and Monty Python. Part two is where Alan talks about future projects and other works (including doing some work for a local youth culture mag which included Alan telling the kids the truth about drugs! Brilliant), taking in magic and James Joyce along the way, with the third and final part, which I posted up yesterday, is where Alan graciously agreed to take some selected questions sent in by readers of the FP blog. Its enormous but fascinating reading - many thanks again to Alan and for it.

On a related note, earlier this week we found out that media analysts Cision had posted a list of the top fifty blogs in the UK. As you might expect its dominated by politics blogs and blogs from established traditional media like the BBC and the Guardian. And in there at number 31 a solitary entry from the worlds of comics and science fiction - the Forbidden Planet blog. Needless to say I am surprised and delighted - I started that blog just over four years ago, now we have several contributors and its grown a lot (so much so that its a real juggling act for me to balance keeping the blog fires stoked and working on the main webstore; usually that means I end up doing a lot in my own time to keepit going, as do some of the contributors). And its nice that its grown so much since I started it and that a lot of folks in comics and SF communities check it out, but to see that its in the top 50 of all UK blogs? That its up there with Guardian blogs? Wow. Just goes to show that if its done correctly (and honestly) a good blog presence can be more effective (and cheaper and more enjoyable for you and your readers) than huge amounts of advertising. That's the sort of thing that can happen when you embrace blogging culture as a company instead of screaming hysterically at it.

Happy 4th birthday, Forbidden Planet blog

The Forbidden Planet International blog I set up a few days after starting work there turned four years old today. Its vastly jumped up the Technorati rankings since it started, had some nice things said about it by a lot of folks, we've posted a ton of reviews on all sorts of comics, graphic novels and SF&F books, news and interviews with authors and artists from those who create in their spare time at home right up to the giants of the medium like Alan Moore, and hopefully we've done something I've always enjoyed doing and that's introducing readers to books and graphic novels they might not have picked up otherwise. I've been a bookseller for years and written about books and comics (and movies for that matter) for about as long but that's still one of the best feelings, when someone tells you they picked up something new that they might not have read because the saw it mentioned and as a result they found something new that they discovered they loved. I still get a buzz from that.

Classic Doctor Who figures

William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton figures from the new classic Doctor Who range - I so want these, especially the Troughton one, I've always had a soft spot for the second Doctor going right back to when I was a kid and reading the old Target novelisations (the only way to get the older stories in pre video and DVD days)

Cool Doctor Who figures

I'm seriously liking the latest Doctor Who action figures range. You have no idea how hard it is to resist the urge to buy more of them when I see them at work! I couldn't resist adding a Tom Baker figure (complete with his manic grin) from the Classic Who range to stand next to my David Tennant figure on my desk though. Yes, I know, I'm a big kid, so what? One of the best things about being grown up is being able to buy yourself some fun toys from time to time. And I know my friend's wee boys will go mad for these too, think I know what to buy for at least two of my Christmas presents this year...

Cool Indy stuff!

At long last the fourth (and I'm guessing final?) Indiana Jones movie - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - is coming this summer. I'm already readying my Fedora and oiling my whip. There's some very cool merch coming out to tie in with the film, including some beautifully detailed statues:



And I spotted my colleague sticking up some (rather more affordable to the pocket money) action figures. Why weren't there Indy action figures when I was a kid? Sure we had the original Star Wars figures (and the even better Micronauts, which were more posable, with more joints, plus you could take them apart, always a plus for a kid) but no Indy figures. I may have to get a couple of these to keep the Doctor Who and Captain Scarlet figures on my desk company. What do you mean I'm too old for toys? Cobblers to that, you're never too old for toys! In fact one of the best things about being grown up is being able to buy toys when you want!

Heroes

If like me you've been following Heroes and thinking it is one of the best things on TV right now (whether you are a comics fan or not) you've probably been wondering when they might start creating some tie-in material to go with it. Well, DC has a graphic novel collection coming up soon which collects the comics material created online to go along with the series, available in two different cover editions, one by Jim Lee and one by Alex Ross, so if you're trying to think on something for a Heroes fan for a present, here's a big, fat, superpowered hint!