Monthly Archives: March 2015

Autographs, Convention, Cosplay, Doctor Who, Fun stuff

Southampton Comic Con 2, Totton, Hampshire – March 2015

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Showing off the Peter Capaldi pictureHello!
Welcome to Southampton Comic Con!Welcome to my review of Southampton Comic Con 2 which I went to yesterday and I had a great time! This convention was organised by Nerdageddon, who organised DEF Con 3, and the event raised money for CLIC Sargent for children with cancer. It was held at the Empire Hall in Totton near Southampton.

Hello Matthew Dale aka Little John

When I arrived I went straightaway to meet Matthew Dale who played Little John in Robot of Sherwood  (2014).  It was very easy to recognise him because he looked just like he did in the episode! I told him that Project Indigo readers had chosen Robot of Sherwood as the best episode of Series 8 and he was really chuffed to hear that! I told him my favourite part of the episode was

This is my spoon!

He told me that Peter Capaldi and Tom Riley didn’t enjoy falling in the river for that bit as the water was very cold and everyone laughed at them. Matthew told me that Sherwood Forest was actually filmed in Fforest Fawr in Wales so I will go there one day and tell you all about it.

Here's what I got from Matthew DaleI asked Matthew one of my golden questions – if he could go anywhere in time and space, where would he like to go? He found it very tricky to decide but said that he would like to have seen the Titanic sail off from Southampton – but obviously not collide with an iceberg. Matthew was a very nice chap and I was chuffed to meet him.

After I met Matthew I explored the convention and watched the amazing Cosplayers.

I met the cutest Cybermen ever, River Song, Emmet from the Lego movie, a Silent (but I don’t remember that) and many more. Brigadier and Woolly K9!When I had lunch I bumped into Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart with Woolly K9. K9 has met many Doctor Who actors so check out his Facebook page to find out who!

After lunch I enjoyed a Duff beer on the sofa with The Simpsons and my companion. Cheers!

Der der der, der der der der, der dnana da. Dnanana dnader der!

Then I returned to the Empire Hall and a Stormtrooper stole my hat! I had to play tug-of-war with him but I used the force and won it back. Take that Stormtrooper!

Stormtrooper stole my hat!!!

After my Tug of War I explored the stalls and met Kris Carter, a comic book creator who colours titles such as Transformers and Doctor Who and also writes ‘Lou Scannon‘ which has been nominated for an Eagle Award. I bought a picture he had drawn of all the Doctors and the TARDIS captioned ‘Who Knows’. It is a really fun picture!

Next to Kris was Kev F Sutherland aka Kev F! I was very excited to meet Kev as he draws for my favourite comics The Beano and Doctor Who Adventures. I posed for a ‘Lightning Fast One Minute Caricature’ and it was great, I can’t believe I have been drawn by a Comic Book artist.

When Kev found out I was a Doctor Who fan he did a drawing especially for me of the Twelfth Doctor coming out his TARDIS shouting ‘Tom, Tom Who?’ I love it! I am going to put my pictures in a frame on my bedroom wall. Kev teaches Comic Book Masterclasses, I would love him to teach me to draw like that one day.

Look at my fab Peter Capaldi picture from Kev F!

At the grave of Alice LiddellAfter all that I left for home and stopped off at Lyndhurst in the New Forest and visited the grave of Alice Liddell who was Lewis Carroll’s inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.

While I was there I looked in some shops and look what I found in a window – a tiny TARDIS! Maybe the Boneless survived the trip after all and shrunk the TARDIS again…..

Look what I found in Lyndhurst!

Southampton Comic Con 2 was great and I had a smashing Sfi Fi Saturday – thank you to Nerdageddon for organising it and I can’t wait for the next one – DEF Con 4.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my review – don’t forget to enter my competition to win a Limited Edition Fourth Doctor Audio Adventure whilst there is still time!

See you soon for a Classic Doctor Location report – goodbye!

Competition, Doctor Who, Fun stuff

1st Anniversary Competition – win a Limited Special Edition Doctor Who Audio Adventure! Now closed.

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Hello,

Wow, look at the prize!

First things first, it is Project Indigo’s 1st Anniversary on March 25th 2015 and to celebrate I am giving away an amazing prize –

A Limited Special Edition Doctor Who Audio Adventure ‘The Romance of Crime and The English Way of Death’!

The prize - A Big Finish Audio Adventure!

This audio book features the Fourth Doctor, Romana and K9. Starring Tom Baker, Lalla Ward and John Leeson, this is a five-disc limited Special Edition which includes a behind the scenes interview disc and a cover exclusive to this release. This edition also comes in deluxe limited edition packaging, which features a stunning array of professional photos of the cast. These stories are based on the novels by Gareth Roberts, adapted by John Dornet and directed by Nicholas Briggs.

Thank you so much to Big Finish for donating this very special prize which one lucky reader will win! I am very grateful.

To be in with a chance of winning , here is the question that you must answer!

What would you like to give to the Doctor as a gift?

Please leave a comment on this post with your answer and one winner will be picked at random. Only one entry per person please. I will e-mail the winner to confirm the delivery address.

Closing date is 11.59 pm on April 30th 2015.

Good luck!

This has been an awesome year! Since I started Project Indigo I have had many adventures of my own. I have travelled the British Isles and visited many Doctor Who locations. I spent some time in Wales over the summer and visited around 30 different locations – from ancient castles to beautiful beaches. I even got to attend the Doctor Who World Tour 2014! That was a red carpet event and I was in the audience for the World Premiere of Deep Breath, the first episode of the latest series.

I have met lots of lovely people at Sci-Fi events, including many famous Doctor Who actors and I have collected lots of autographs and made many friends. I have even been shown on TV – Project Indigo was shown on Blue Peter and I was given a Blue Peter badge, which was really cool!

One day I met the Doctor and his companion Clara, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, completely by accident! I bumped into them doing a photoshoot in Parliament Square. I was lucky enough to be given a wristband to get into the press area where I could take lots of photos. I was introduced to Peter and Jenna who were both very kind and friendly. It was the best day of my life!

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to chat with me including :

Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman
Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman

Thank you to my friends and family, my blog friends and followers and Twitter friends and followers, competition entrants and winners,  the friends I have made at conventions and everyone who has featured Project Indigo including my school magazine, Blogtor Who, Blue Peter, Jump! Mag, Kids’ Blog Club, The Local Eye, MAD Blog Awards, Mumsnet Bloggers Network,  thisisFoxx, Whoogle News, and Kate and the team at Who Wars.

Thank you to everyone else who has supported me in my first year of blogging including Big Finish for donating an amazing prize, BU Whovian Society for the welcome, Dan and George for the match in Victoria Park, Doctor Who Locations Guide for helping me find out more about the filming locations, Explore Learning for the encouragement, Mango Frog for the Dalek all the way from New Zealand, Professor Ian McCrury for the talk at Bournemouth University, Peter Mole and the staff at Aggregates Industries UK for the wonderful tour around Warmwell Quarry, Catherine Smith for the fantastico Peter Capaldi portrait and Red Bee Media and BBC Worldwide for helping me meet the Doctor and Clara! Sorry if I have forgotten anyone 🙂

I look forward to the future and seeing how Project Indigo gets on in 2015! Thank you for reading.

I’m Tom. Join me on my adventure through time and space!

More competitions can be found at ThePrizeFinder.

Doctor Who, New location

Llandaff, Cardiff – August 2014

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Llandaff Cathedral GreenHalloooo,

lately  there has been a lot of grotty weather so lets go back in time again and go to yet another Welsh location – Llandaff! My holiday in August 2014 was so much fun and I love to remember and tell you all about it!

Llandaff is north of Cardiff City Centre, beside the River Taff. It is famous for being the birthplace of Roald Dahl, the author of children’s books and Terry Nation – the creator of the Daleks!Look at the Roald Dahl plaque!

I arrived there on a nice tranquil summer’s evening. I picked a great night to go as I was there on the day of the 100th Anniversary of the outbreak of the 1st World War, and the Welsh National Service of Remembrance was being held that night in Llandaff Cathedral.

Look, they're waiting for the action!

This location was used in the episode The Eleventh Hour (2010) under the name of Leadworth, the home of Amelia Pond.  This was where the newly-regenerated Doctor first met Amy and he investigated the village to find Prisoner Zero to save the world from incineration by the Atraxi!  When he met young Amy she was worried about the crack in her wall. Did you know that Steven Moffat came up with the idea after looking at a crack in his ceiling?

Once I got to the middle of Llandaff I saw some  kids playing football in the cathedral green where the Raggedy Man first met Rory. I asked them if I could play and I got a match! I didn’t score any goals but I got an assist, so that was good. It was a great match that I really enjoyed playing even though the team that I was on lost.

Any sign of Prisoner Zero?

The green seemed much smaller than on the TV. There was no sign of the duck-pond without any ducks! That was just built for the episode and is not there in real life. There was no exploded phone box either – lots of details were added to make Llandaff look like a typical English village.

No ducks in the duck pond. Or a pond!

At one end of the green is a very special statue which is the Llandaff War Memorial created by Sir William Goscombe John. It is called The Memorial Group,  and used to be called ‘The Departure’. There are three stones with a female figure in the middle, which represents Llandaff, and beside her is a workman, representing the village, and a cadet representing the school.  You will recognise this statue from The Family of Blood ( 2007) when Tim Latimer attends a Remembrance Day Service as an old man, watched at a far distance by the Tenth Doctor and Martha.

The Memorial Group

After the match I went to walk around the cathedral whilst the World War 1 Commemoration preparations went on inside! I saw some people filming outside of the church for BBC  and ITV News as I walked around to tire my feet out. It was fun exploring about the grounds and watching the guests arrive for the service.

ITV News. Woooh!

There was no sign of Prisoner Zero or a giant Atraxi eye floating above the spire! Llandaff Cathedral is also the location of the wedding of John Smith ( the Tenth Doctor) and Nurse Redfern in the Family of Blood ( 2007) and of course is it the Church of Auvers from Vincent and the Doctor (2010) where the Eleventh Doctor, Vincent and Amy confront the lonely Krafayis. Luckily there was no sign of the Krafayis either!

Llandaff Cathedral

After I left Llandaff I returned to my hotel to watch the church service that was broadcast live on S4C. It was led by the Archbishop of Wales. We kept our lights out along with the rest of the nation as a mark of respect because 100 years ago the Foreign Secretary sadly said

“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time.”

My heart goes out to all the people that fought and lost loved ones in the war.

The Eleventh Hour White House

My first anniversary of blogging will come soon and to celebrate Project Indigo’s first birthday I will be holding a mega epic competition; please don’t miss it!I’m welling up with excitement and can’t wait to tell you about it!

Thanks for reading ! Gooooodbuy!