FrightFest & Doctor Who Magazine Are Here

FrightFest, the annual London horror-and-fantasy-and-stuff festival, kicks off tonight in Leicester Square and continues over the whole Bank Holiday weekend. It's always a fine event, run with character and a sense of humour. As with last year, I can't seem to face an entire weekend of films any more (these days, there's always the nagging feeling that I should be at home, writing my own), but will be dipping in and out, catching the likes of P2, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, Wrong Turn 2 (yes, I liked the original) and Disturbia.

Perhaps the finest testament to FrightFest's appeal is this: James Moran likes it so much, he's ensured that he's finished all his work by today. No mean feat, given Moran's usual resemblance to an octopus with a medical condition which makes each of its tentacles divide into eight more tentacles.

The new Doctor Who Magazine is out today, and features no less than two features of mine. There's a nice chat with the show's production designer Edward Thomas (who says, "The day Doctor Who goes High Def, that'll be the day you see me running off along the road, screaming") and a bit of fly-on-the-wall action about the day Barry Newbery visited Who's Upper Boat Studios. Barry was the show's designer across no less than three decades, serving on its very first story, An Unearthly Child, in 1963. That was a remarkable day, watching the great man - now a nimble 80 years old - being led around the TARDIS and Torchwood sets by a gleefully hooting Russell T Davies.

You know, I like to think that in 40-odd years' time, I'll be invited back to Who Studios to see how they're making it in 2050, in recognition of my vast contributions to the show. I'll nod and gasp as I'm shown the updated neuro-digital designs for my vintage 2014 creations, the Blargg, which will now be able to appear directly in front of viewers' retinas, frightening the merry Christ out of them.

12 comments:

DAVID BISHOP said...

Arghh, not the Blarghh!

By the way, I've just tagged with you a meme. Get out of that, sonny Jim...

http://viciousimagery.blogspot.com/2007/08/she-memed-me.html

Jon said...

I liked Wrong Turn as well: a decent throwback to the Deliverance-Chainsaw-Hills Have Eyes school... Scary without being splattery, the exact opposite of that Roth...

I had to give up buying Dr Who magazine a few years ago... there was no new Who on the horizon, the price was going up and they seemed to have got to the stage where they were having to interview JNT's neighbour's cat! (Though there were two nice issues on Nicola Bryant... )

Might buy the latest issue out of Solidarity. Though I shall curse you mightily if I get hooked again!

Good Dog said...

The thought that Doctor Who will still be going in forty years is very frightening.

Anonymous said...

Jason.
I'm very envious, but also happy, that you have got to be a part of the new Doctor Who.

Tegan's bra

Jason Arnopp said...

Mr Bishop: Arghh, I'm memed! Thankyou, sir. I shall ponder it.

Mr Peacey: You'll love it, I tell you.

Mr Dog: Don't you worry, sir! By 2050 there'll be over 10,000 TV channels. So you'll have even less reason to keep watching the show and writing about it on your blog.

Mr Turner: Thanks, but you do realise I'm not actually writing for Who yet, don't you? The day I am actually commissioned, the blog post's title will be something much more explicit, like 'Fuck me, I'm writing for Doctor Who'...

Jon said...

10,000 channels!?!?!? That's 1 channel for every 6,000 viewers. Unless the population keeps going up as is... in which case it's a channel per million!

The Good news: with that many channels there'll be enough work for every aspiring script writer.

The Bad news: they'll be getting about 10 pence per script. (It'll actually be more like 30k but I'm adjusting for inflation!)

I have seen the future and it's full of numbers!

Jon said...

Hasten the day that the blog title becomes 'Fuck me, I'm writing for Doctor Who'!!!

Anonymous said...

Indeed.. i mean, just being in the orbit of people like Russell davies is pretty exciting.
The day you're writing Doctor Who I will raise a glass of bubbly to the screen and smile, doff my cap and utter the word "c*nt"

in the nicest possible way, of course...

Anonymous said...

I'm not merry you fool, haven't you seen my picture everywhere?? Pain!!! For that you go to hell.

Jon said...

You were very merry after that wedding at Cana! Water into wine ring any bells? Or were you too 'merry' by that point?

Anonymous said...

That's it. Jason and all his followers will spend eternity with toasting forks up their jaxies. The 4 Horsemen of The Apocoalypse will collect you next Friday at 7. Enjoy your last week on Earth, Heretics. I bid you all good day.

Jon said...

Can I have this week-postponed time-specific retribution in VHS format so I can pass it on to some unsuspecting innocent?