The latest issue of Starburst Magazine has a lovely interview with SJA producer Matthew Bouch, and on top of that a Sarah Jane cover too! The interview delves deep into the production of the series, from as far back as summer 2006. Bouch is clearly proud of his show, and what his production team have managed to achieved. But enough of me, here's a few snippets for 'ya all:
"We're very happy with it. We set out to make a show that had at its heart a very simple proposition, which was just great adventure stories - they were ripping yarns. And that's a phrase that's been used by several people who've seen it. I think we achieved what we set out to do."
"It seemed to me there was an opportunity to make something that, even if it's a spin-off show from Doctor Who, felt quite fresh and original and exciting. To be honest I didn't know the Sarah Jane character particularly; I'd obviously seen her in School Reunion, but her era is not a period of Doctor Who I was aware of - I came in a bit later. It was an opportunity to get to know the character."
"I felt, as Russell did, that those stories that hark back to classic fantasy had kind of disappeared from children's TV and we wanted to get that back."
"We've removed the character of Kelsey and have brought in a new character called Clyde. We wanted to slightly change the gender balance. It felt like a rather feminine programme... so we decided to take Kelsey outand put Clyde in, and that's paid real dividends over the course of the series because we've been able to explore masculine friendship and boys growing up."
"The Slitheen had actually been leant out to an exhibition, and one of the things you learn as a producer on this show is that latex degrades very quickly. We had to get new Slitheen suits constructed at fairly significant costs, but the fantastic Millennium FX still had the original moulds. We used the same performers who had played them in Doctor Who, so the cost to us was somewhat less than it could have been!"
"There is one villainous character that does come back in episode seven. Doctor Who fans will recognise this character, but it is not a particularly big feature."
"We're talking about a second series now, although, as with anything in this day and age, it depends on how it performs with the audience - and rightly so. There are many other stories out there that we want to tell..."
Bouch also offers us some previews of the 10 part series and what we can expect:
1: Revenge of the Slitheen
"One of the discussions we had at a very early stage was whether we wanted to start in a school. In the end we decided to go with a school for episodes one and two because it was a very familiar and natural environment for kids to recognise and empathise with."
2: Eye of the Gorgon
"It features a slightly bizarre group of women who go around dressed as nuns but it's much camper and more overblown - it's less rooted in everyday life. It's probably the most effects-heavy of all the episodes, because it's quite out there."
3: Warriors of the Kudlax
"That is more of a classic Sci-Fi story, in the sense that there's laser gunfire and running around and being pursued by dark suited guards and things. It's more in the mould of Star Wars."
4: Whatever Happened to Sarah-Jane?
"It does touch upon Sarah's childhood and one childhood friend in particular and a tragedy that has taken place in her past that comes up from the meddling of a particular evil alien character called The Trickster. He sort of exists to create chaos. We hope it has a flavour of Back to the Future, the idea that you can have alternative realities where you see how characters could have developed with different influences."
5: The Lost Boy
"That is a fitting and surprising climax to the series where various twists happen."
The issue also reviews "The Time Warrior" DVD (4 stars out of a possible 5) and the Elisabeth Sladen narrated "Doctor Who @ the BBC- The Tenth Doctor" audio release (an average three stars. Away from the Doctor Who universe there's an interview with Heroes creator Tim Kring, and a look behind the scenes on both Resident Evil 3 and the all new American import, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles".
You can pick up Starburst issue 354 from all good newsagents priced £3.99. Bargain!
UPDATE: There's some cool new publicity pictures over at Doctor Who Online which you can access by clicking here, here and here.
"We're very happy with it. We set out to make a show that had at its heart a very simple proposition, which was just great adventure stories - they were ripping yarns. And that's a phrase that's been used by several people who've seen it. I think we achieved what we set out to do."
"It seemed to me there was an opportunity to make something that, even if it's a spin-off show from Doctor Who, felt quite fresh and original and exciting. To be honest I didn't know the Sarah Jane character particularly; I'd obviously seen her in School Reunion, but her era is not a period of Doctor Who I was aware of - I came in a bit later. It was an opportunity to get to know the character."
"I felt, as Russell did, that those stories that hark back to classic fantasy had kind of disappeared from children's TV and we wanted to get that back."
"We've removed the character of Kelsey and have brought in a new character called Clyde. We wanted to slightly change the gender balance. It felt like a rather feminine programme... so we decided to take Kelsey outand put Clyde in, and that's paid real dividends over the course of the series because we've been able to explore masculine friendship and boys growing up."
"The Slitheen had actually been leant out to an exhibition, and one of the things you learn as a producer on this show is that latex degrades very quickly. We had to get new Slitheen suits constructed at fairly significant costs, but the fantastic Millennium FX still had the original moulds. We used the same performers who had played them in Doctor Who, so the cost to us was somewhat less than it could have been!"
"There is one villainous character that does come back in episode seven. Doctor Who fans will recognise this character, but it is not a particularly big feature."
"We're talking about a second series now, although, as with anything in this day and age, it depends on how it performs with the audience - and rightly so. There are many other stories out there that we want to tell..."
Bouch also offers us some previews of the 10 part series and what we can expect:
1: Revenge of the Slitheen
"One of the discussions we had at a very early stage was whether we wanted to start in a school. In the end we decided to go with a school for episodes one and two because it was a very familiar and natural environment for kids to recognise and empathise with."
2: Eye of the Gorgon
"It features a slightly bizarre group of women who go around dressed as nuns but it's much camper and more overblown - it's less rooted in everyday life. It's probably the most effects-heavy of all the episodes, because it's quite out there."
3: Warriors of the Kudlax
"That is more of a classic Sci-Fi story, in the sense that there's laser gunfire and running around and being pursued by dark suited guards and things. It's more in the mould of Star Wars."
4: Whatever Happened to Sarah-Jane?
"It does touch upon Sarah's childhood and one childhood friend in particular and a tragedy that has taken place in her past that comes up from the meddling of a particular evil alien character called The Trickster. He sort of exists to create chaos. We hope it has a flavour of Back to the Future, the idea that you can have alternative realities where you see how characters could have developed with different influences."
5: The Lost Boy
"That is a fitting and surprising climax to the series where various twists happen."
The issue also reviews "The Time Warrior" DVD (4 stars out of a possible 5) and the Elisabeth Sladen narrated "Doctor Who @ the BBC- The Tenth Doctor" audio release (an average three stars. Away from the Doctor Who universe there's an interview with Heroes creator Tim Kring, and a look behind the scenes on both Resident Evil 3 and the all new American import, "The Sarah Connor Chronicles".
You can pick up Starburst issue 354 from all good newsagents priced £3.99. Bargain!
UPDATE: There's some cool new publicity pictures over at Doctor Who Online which you can access by clicking here, here and here.
1 comment:
the date and time of the First episode has been released.
Monday 24th September, 5-5.25pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tv/wk39/mon.shtml#mon_sarahjane
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