Journey's End...

I'm still finding this very difficult, seeing as it is the last thing that I will be writing for the site. I, the owner, have had a wonderful and amazing time over the last nine months, but I had originally thought that it would last longer. For some of you, this might be completely new information, others hints, and a select few heard the story from behind-the-scenes. I don't know how much I'm going to write here, but I am not aiming for it to be very long at all.

If you didn't already know, I put a very large amount of time and effort into the site, and look at what has become over this time. Now, you may think that all this hard work would be silly to just leave behind me. The truth is, that if I did carry on, I would have to put that same amount of work into it, and there is a lot of pressure to keep on going. Of course, I could do less, but I don't really want to continue if it isn't as good as it used to be.

The Christmas break made me realise. When I first stopped for the short amount of time, I still wanted to carry on. I kind of still do now, but I picture a life without it, and it seems so free. I enjoyed that break so much that it is actually very hard to get into it again. The break gave me an opportunity to end. Of course, no updates, like they said they would, occured just before the new year and into 2009, and I just left it. Now, I change my mind every ten minutes "Yes, I want to do it" ... "No, I can't do it".

This closure of the site is not an easy decision, but, at the moment, is a final decision. What has kept me crawling back are the many positive comments about the site. Thanks You so much to absolutely everyone who evryone who did this. It's also very hard to do this because it's so popular! I'm amazed at the number of visitors we had each day, and that just makes it all the more disappointing to stop. Oh, how do I thank everyone! Should I list the main people? Oh, this is hard, there are so many. Here goes (in no particular order);

• Brad
• Mark
• Kyle
• Lee
• Bex (TOCS)
• Axlart
• Zobles
• Ro Lean
• Aryton
• thedoctorwho07
• Patar
• Redevil 987
• Miss Gallifrey
• The Powerful Boy
• Toys
• Jamie
• Luke
• deicario
• TA
• Alex (Whovian Rift)
• Alexander (DWDU)
• Ash (MDWM)
• SJA
• Dave (The Doctor)
• Cybershade/Cyberking
• Life-On-Gallifrey
• Bigwhofan
• Ryane
• Will and Seb
• Combom
• The oncoming storm

I know you will all hate me, because I know you couldn't think of the internet without this site ;). And, wow, first ever smiley! Please, anyone, if there is anything you would like to say, put it in the cbox. I should respond.

But, the good news... The chat page is still open! And a page that was never completed, Classic Series, can be found here!

Well, hasn't it been fun! I hope you have had a brilliant time. I will still be around, so don't think you're rid of me. But the site may come back in the future. (And before you ask, TA, no you cannot have the site) We will have to see...

Thank You, Everyone! It's not goodbye really, but anyway!
Have a fantastic life...

Alex (Adv)

The Last Post of 2008...

I told you about this yesterday, and yes, it is still going to happen. Adventures Through Time and Space will be closed until 2009, with no updates. Christmas is a big thing in the year, and, to be honest, the least thing I would like to be doing is sitting in front of a computer on the day, rather than having all these festive things I want to do. I don't want the site to spoil my day, but not that it will of course. You may have thought that it would be a better idea to close it from 24th to the 26th, but now I will tell you why not. Early tomorrow morning, I will be going away to London for two days, and so obviously I won't be able to update. Then, on 23rd, I'm sure I won't want to, but just have a really fun day, two days before the day. Then, the 24th is a big day, as well as the 26th, and of course the 25th is too, not saying why. The 27th will probably be a bit like the 23rd. And then, on the 28th, the site will be closed with no access at all. This means that you will not be able to view anything, as I want to make it ready to re-open for 2009, all tidied up, and fresh for a new year. I hope you feel that this is the right thing to do, as I certainly do! I do need that long-awaited break!

With this temporary closure, it means no more Competitions until the New Year, no site reviews, nothing updated, apart from one thing, that would be silly to close. The Advent Calendar will be running as normal, but don't expect a big thing on Christmas Day. It will probably just be a 'Merry Christmas!' message, but I doubt you'll want to visit the site on that day, and you should have too many other things to be doing! So a thing you might quite enjoy will be on the 24th. There isn't really much else to say really. I may still be able to talk a little bit on the chat page and so on, but not much really. I will still read comments, and please, please vote on the awards. And if you can vote on every section, that would be great!

I hope you all do have a wonderful, jolly Christmas! Get lots of presents from Santa, enjoy your Christmas Lunch, sing carols and whatever else you may do. And, of course, don't forget the Christmas special at 6:00pm on the day. Don't miss it! Thank You for a wonderful eight months with the site, and I will see you in 11 and a bit days!

Oh, and one last thing, there are so many other sites to visit over Christmas which will be having all the news you need, and so here is a list of some of the great sites for news, in no order, and sorry if I have missed anyone out!

• Tardis and Torchwood Treasures
• Doctor Who Mad Online
• Doctor Who Fansite
• The-Oncoming Storm
• Gallifrey Vortex
• Tardis Base
  
• Doctor Who Hideout
• Tardis Newsroom
• The Bad Wolf TV
• Timelords Vs Daleks
• Children of TARDIS
• WhoviaVortex
  
• And many others...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Until 2009...

~ Adv (Owner and Editor)

Dervla Kirwan Interview

Yesterday, the evil Miss Hartigan was interviewed on Paul O'Grady's chat show. If you didn't already know, behind the female villian that will star in this year's Christmas special, The Next Doctor, is an actress known as Dervla Kirwan. The video of it is now on Youtube for you all to watch, and has an extra-special, brand spanking new clip from The Next Doctor. On top of that, Derval does her M&S voice! Exciting? Then watch it below!

Site Awards and Articles

A couple of things about the site here, that have just recently happened. We have just won another two awards on two different sites! How splendid! The first is from Tardis Updates, as it is now called, which used to be Doctor Who - The Blog. We won the award for 'Most Up To Date Blog'. Thank you very much Sylar for this, and you can see the site's award page, here! The other award is from the site called 'Whovian World'. For that we won 'Magnificent Blog of 2008'. Well, that is... Magnificent! You can see this site's award page, here! Thank you so much to both owners, Sylar and The Powerful Boy, and you can see the actual awards made here and here. The second thing is that ATTS is in Via the Void Magazine! For the magazine, I, the owner, answered some quick fire questions, and the site was 'Site of the Month', and there is a little article of the site in the magazine. It is a lovely piece of writing, and left me feeling really happy after reading it. You can read the latest issue of Via the Void magazine, the online magazine of The-Oncoming Storm, here.

More Pictures!

Even more promotional pictures have surfaced online. Radio Times have got thirty-two images, some new and some ones that we have already seen. I'm not going to put them on here, because there are quite a few of them, but you can see them all on the Radio Times website, here. There are images of the Doctors, Rosita, Miss Hartigan, the Cybermen and many other characters appearing in the Christmas special. There are also a few other images. The first is from The Next Doctor's press screening, and has the stars Dervla Kirwan (Miss Hartigan), Velile Tshabalala (Rosita), Russell T. Davies and a Cyberman with a Doctor Who logo background. The second is an alternate image to one of the standar promotional pictures, and has both Doctors, Miss Hartigan, Rosita and the Cyber Leader. The last one is a picture of just the Cyber Leader. You can see all three below, and click to enlarge. There may be more pictures leading up to Christmas Day, but, unfortunately they will not appear here.

The Next Doctor First Reviews

Carrying on with more Christmas news, two reviews have already been posted online for The Next Doctor. The special is due to air on Christmas Day, but there was a press screening event held very recently, but we actually did not hear any news about. But here they are, and thankfully in these reviews, nothing much 'spoilery' is told. The first is from SFX, which you can see here, or view a short snippet below;

Morrissey is great, and there's a lot more to his role than just pastiching the Doctor. The Cybershades are also surprisingly effective - they may look a bit naff in the trailers, but they prove worthy successors to the Cybermats. The Cybermen themselves aren't exactly on top form; they're more like Ciphermen much of the time, and come across a bit stupid. They also seem a lot weaker than usual. What happened to their super strength? And if you've heard that there's an Oliver Twist element involving lots of kids, well, there is, but don't worry - it's more Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom than the Baker Street Kids.

The second is from the Guardian, which you can see here, or again, view a short snippet below;

I would say The Next Doctor is pared down, but it would be difficult for it not to be after the frustratingly busy finale of the last series, which featured Rose, Martha, Donna, Sarah Jane, Captain Jack, Mickey and Jackie (and is surely available in a special And the Kitchen Sink box set). Indeed, the restraint of The Next Doctor – I realise that restraint isn't really a word you'd readily associate with the big, bold visions of Russell T Davies, so let me remind you that context is everything – could perhaps be a sign of things to come in 2009. Davies has said that in the next special the Doctor will be without a companion and without the Tardis – though how David Tennant's back injury will affect filming, which is supposed to begin next month, is anyone's guess.

All this looks pretty exciting already, but you'll be glad to know nothing is spoiled in these reviews. What do you think?

The Next Doctor Guide

The BBC Doctor Who Advent Calendar has opened its twentieth door today, marking the date, the 20th December. Today's feature is the site's guide to the Christmas special, The Next Doctor. The guide has not been up at all until now, and with it comes many new wallpapers, a fear forecast, and all the trailers laid out to get to them easily. There are twelve wallpapers at the moment of the page, and all show many scenes of the special, including some promotional pictures. There are two trailers up at the moment, and the fear forecast you can read below;

• 0 min - This looks familiar. "Perhaps XXXXXX is behind the TARDIS," grins Adam.
• 1 min - The family cheer!
• 2 min - Harry: "Cool!" Samuel: "How?"
• 3 min - Amy's suddenly concerned.
• 4 min - Rosita springs into action. Harry demands an explanation.
• 5 min - Amy whispers to Dad, "Why doesn't he... ?"
• 6 min - Harry's delighted with a vision.
• 8 min - Amy clutches Dad's leg.
• 9 min - Mum harrumphs significantly. Samuel announces that he is a fish.
• 10 min - The kids have never seen the sonic screwdriver used like that before.
• 11 min - Watch and learn. The kids are agog.
• 13 min - The Doctor recalls the night he regenerated. "It makes sense now!" says Samuel gleefully.
• 14 min - A sudden appearance alarms Amy. Adam has his doubts.
• 16 min - Amy feels quite sorry for the Doctor.
• 17 min - The Lady in Red outrages Samuel.
• 18 min - Amy's eyes widen in apprehension. Harry groans in dismay.
• 20 min - Why is Dad talking about his nice cardigan?
• 23 min - The Doctor reveals his favourite personal technology for the very first time.
• 26 min - Samuel's initial reaction reveals something about last week.
• 27 min - Samuel is delighted to see a very familiar face.
• 29 min - Mum and Dad are horrified.
• 31 min - Amy feels musical.
• 34 min - What is the racy nightmare?
• 35 min - Samuel slaps his forehead. "Why did the Doctor do that?"
• 36 min - The kids cheer!
• 38 min - Samuel is impressed.
• 40 min - What makes Amy wriggle in her seat?
• 41 min - The kids debate royal nomenclature.
• 42 min - Samuel whoops. Harry grins.
• 43 min - Harry's advice to the XXXXXXXX is: "Run!" So why are they slowing down?
• 45 min - "He's called what?" asks Adam.
• 46 min - Gasps and cheers. The watching parents are misty-eyed.
• 47 min - The boys are hugely impressed.
• 49 min - "It's like XXXXXXXX!" says Samuel. "It's a scary XXXX with XXXXX-XXXXXX!" says Harry.
• 51 min - Samuel realises something about the Doctor... but which one?
• 53 min - "Wooaaahh!" gasp the kids.
• 55 min - "The cloister bell!"
• 56 min - "This is even better than last year!" decides Adam.
• 57 min - The Doctors have an appointment to keep.
• 60 min - "Very good show!" declares Harry, and the whole family agree.

You can view the guide here, or the fear forecast here!
You can see all days of the advent calendar on the main page here.

Digital Spy Hints

Well, there has been a lot of news popping up lately, all to do with the Christmas special, and I want to get as much in before I close the site for Christmas, so here are some hints. Like usually, Digital Spy have released their exciting hints for the upcoming episode. There are ten overall, but we are not actually sure yet whether any of them are false or not. You can see all of them below;

1. The mysterious Cybershades can jump quite high.
2. Neither the Doctor nor the Other Doctor recognise each other. But the latter doesn't remember much anyway.
3. There are two words that the Doctor never refuses.
4. The Other Doctor has a TARDIS - and it's magnificent.
5. For a while Rosita becomes the Doctor's companion
6. The script includes the customary line "what about the children?"
7. At least one previous incarnation of the Doctor makes an appearance.
8. Miss Hartigan is a very special lady.
9. The Other Doctor's fobwatch is a very important clue.
10. "I suppose ** *** ***, **** ***** ** *****."

Another Velile Interview

Another source has posted an interview with Velile Tshabalala, after proviously doing one for Last Broadcast. Velile plays the characters of Rsita, the other Doctor's companion in this year's Christmas special, The Next Doctor. Velile Tshabalala's talk has been put up on Digital Spy and they talk all about her character, not delving at all into her life, apart from her early life with the show and other television roles. Below you can read a short snippet from the interview;

What are the Cybershades? They look like dogs with cyber-faces.
"They're funny little things, aren't they? They've got robotic faces and they're all covered in feathers. I didn't know what to make of them at first. I thought they were quite nice and thought I might borrow one of their outfits for Friday night! They're quite menacing but they're obviously not as strong or scary as the Cybermen. They pop up quite a lot in the episode - they're always coming out of dark corners and stuff. They're a bit of a nuisance to be honest!"

Jobsworth Judoon

The BBC Doctor Who Advent Calendar has opened its ninteenth door today, marking the date, the 19th December. Today's feature is another fun game to play! The game is called Jobsworth Judoon. The main aim of the game is for the Doctor to use his Sonic Screwdriver to break the security codes made by the Judoon on the Tardis so that The Doctor can escape. It is a game of strategy, where you have to join a link up, and actually requires some skill, rather than just making the Doctor run around everwhere battling monsters. It is a good game, and has three settings; Easy, Medium and Hard, and each has three levels. You can play the new game here.

You can see all days of the advent calendar on the main page here.

Monster and Villain Files Is Back!

Yes, you read correctly. The page devoted to all the creatures and maniacs the Doctor has met over the past four years has now re-opened after a long while. It closed when the site first started its complete update, which was supposed to provide the site with so much more than it used to have, with extra features and new-looks. I have been working very hard over the past month, and mainly the past week in getting as many files as I can written up. I had to re-write nearly every single one, as I did not think they were of the standard they could be. But I have not finished the page yet. I decided to open it, so you can see it, and I will keep on writing them and posting them until all of them are complete. When they are, there will be more than sixty files. They now look a whole lot better, with bigger pictures, clearer layout and more information. Plus, they are all written completely by me. Honestly, no word has been copied from anywhere else, which I hasten to add was not the case before. At this time, there are just over forty files up, ready for you to read, and I hope you enjoy them, and use it as a reference in the future. Please note that all the writing on the page is copyright to this site, and should not be used under any circumstances.

With the new page, brings along a new design of page banner. It is now clearer and looks much better than before, and I will be adding this new design to all the pages in the near future. The Competitions and Chat ones are already up. This is all part of the big scheme of getting the site a whole lot bigger and better for the New Year, and if you just think about what was on the site and what is looked like only a few months ago, you may be suprised with the major, and minor changes that are still happening as I speak. So, until 2009, you can expect changes everywhere, so watch out for them.

There are a few notices also leading up to the New Year. The site will have no updates from the end of tomorrow until the 28th. There will be a bigger notice about this tomorrow. This is the Christmas break the site deserves, and you will not see any posts, unless I schedule them, until then. Competitions will also have no updates. The only page which will is the Advent Calendar, and the days will all be posted for each day. More about this tomorrow. The other thing is the site will completely close just for one day, the 31st of December. You will not be able to access the site, as I will be making it look just right for 2009 on that day! More about this on the 29th and tomorrow, so until then...

~ Adv (Owner and Editor)