Elisabeth Sladen To Appear at ChicagoTardis

As of June 11, 2008, Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane of Doctor Who) has been added to the guest list for ChicagoTardis. The convention, to be held November 28-30, 2008, is located at The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois.

Go Here For More Details

For fans of both the classic and new series, the Sarah Jane character is a “bridge” between past and present. Compare her first entry into Doctor Who via The Time Warrior to the new series second season episode School Reunion and you will see just how far Doctor Who has come.

In the new spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures, we also get a glimpse to the past in Sarah’s attic stocked with bits and pieces of her travels in the TARDIS. Apparently, at least some companions remember and cherish their time spent with the Doctor. Will we see anyone else come out of “hiding”? I hope so. I like reunions and get-togethers of past characters.

Keep your eyes open when viewing Season 4 Doctor Who. More surprises await. (Even the Doctor is not allowed to see his own spoilers.)

Come and help celebrate 45 years of Doctor Who. Register for ChicagoTardis today! Our club will be there, as usual, to greet convention attendees at our fan table.

New SF Datalink Added

Do you like your science fiction news in a brief digest format, separated by general category? Perhaps you missed an announcement or did not have time to read the details until now. Or it was just a rumor and you want to hear it from an official source.

SF Datalink is our club’s science fiction news resource that has been there since the early days of our Relative Times newsletter. From our founding year up though a few years ago, a team of dedicated members researched through magazines and newspapers to find items of interest to science fiction fans devoted mainly to media science fiction (tv and movies). Currently, SF Datalink is edited by Dan Giese, one of our club’s founding members and most frequent submitter of content to our site. As fans, we want to know about the current productions as well as how our favorite SF celebrities are doing professionally (and sometimes personally). Some of us do not have time to sift through media magazines or websites for just a few tidbits of interest. SF Datalink offers a brief and concise view of the current state of the industry.

The online version of SF Datalink is the same as what is printed in our Relative Times newsletter. Milwaukee Time Lords members receive eight issues per year that contain a review of recent science fiction events in a handy, digest format. While we have had to reduce the dimensions of our newsletter to help reduce postage costs, we still produce a paper-based newsletter for those who prefer something they can hold and read wherever they are.

I have tried different formats for the online version, now settling with the one that is least time-consuming to implement. Please read through our new columns and post here your comments. We may not have today’s news, but at least we cover the previous month, including items that may have slipped by you.

Website Updates

I have spent today editing our site.  My main goal is to increase activity and make the site a resource for you the member.

MAIN PAGE

I have retired the Tardis image that was on the upper left menu.  When I clicked it, I found that it opens the file directory of our site (not good).  I have replaced it with the Java clock, which I had before below our main page logo.

I have replaced the gray ads with Amazon cloud keyword field.  It’s half size because it takes some time to load.  It uses page text to find related keywords.  There’s room for more ads.  If you have a favorite product to recommend, I’ll look it up at Amazon and post an ad.

I have edited the left menu with a new indented style.  There are four main categories:  info about the club, communications pages, submissions by members and external links pages.  This blog is accessed with the “Communications” link.  The left menu could be a little wider.  I would like a different, more gradual style.  If I used the script version, I could have full control of the blog page and put other content.  Many sites use the blog as the main page.  (such as Bad Astronomy, as an example)

I changed the main page introduction to relate more to our club and its mission.  The second paragraph covers a broader concern that the industry continues to deliver us programming we enjoy viewing.   We can be a part of that by working to grow our club and attract “online-only” fans while taking advantage of “new media” resources we could only dream about in our early days.

DATALINK

I reconfigured the latest Datalink with an Amazon ad and placed the news text within a table.  The text is now nicely separated from the left menu.  The news column is the place to put context ads with all those keywords to grab onto.

LINKS

I have reconfigured the links page.  External links take lots of extra time to manage because they are other people’s sites, which can disappear, leaving broken links that have to be removed.  It is one of the best resources of a website because it’s a convenient list of sites to visit.  I have refined the categories a bit and reordered them. There are new ads.  Two that caught my eye while looking for Doctor Who products to display are a new Doctor Who guide and a John Barrowman book.

Please try out the site today and see what works for  you.

Milwaukee Time Lords Website

Virtual Conventions

Have you always wanted to attend a science fiction convention, but never had enough funds or it was too far away?  Perhaps you have attended conventions in the past and want to know if there are video clips available that you can view right now.  Good news! Here’s your chance to be an “armchair” convention-goer, provided you have broadband access.

Today, I have added a new feature next to the conventions list in the Links section of our website. This feature makes use of the New Media resource YouTube, which is a huge collection of video clips, both original and captured.  You can find anything you want by typing search keywords that relate to your interests.

I have set up links based upon specific convention names.  For “ChicagoTardis”, I have a link to ChicagoTardis-related video clips.  Likewise, I found collections of clips for MarsCon and DragonCon (really huge collection!).  At our site all you have to do is click the virtual convention link next to the convention name and you’ll get a list of clips you can view.

Some are split into multiple parts, so be sure to view them in order in that case.  You can find all parts by entering the complete clip name into the searchbox.  If you seek a specific guest, you can add the name to the search box and it will narrow it down.

I spent last weekend “attending” DragonCon and other US conventions by searching for interview and panel video clips.

Now, everyday can be science fiction convention day!

To get you started, here’s a special treat to enjoy:  BSG Panel Dragoncon 2007

Top 10 Reasons To View Season 4 Battlestar Galactica

Here is a very funny video clip that features the cast of Battlestar Galactica (in costume and in character) reading top ten list on the Late Night with David Letterman show.

Dr. Who Season 4 Starts April 5th

What better way to get ready for the new season than a view of the cinema trailer that you can see right now at YouTube.

There is much to look forward to in this 45th season. Of course, you don’t want to miss anything Doctor Who-related. Add these links to your bookmarks so you can keep up-to-date with the latest news and events.

http://www.gallifreyone.com/news.php
http://www.chicagotardis.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_serials#Tenth_Doctor

Pirate Day and Doctor Who

Avast me Time Lords!
Today we celebrate Pirate’s Day

Pirate’s Day Official Site

Here are Doctor Who episodes themed in the pirate spirit:

The Space Pirates – Patrick Troughton – Season 6
The Pirate Planet – Tom Baker – Season 16
Enlightenment – Peter Davison – Season 20
Delta and the Bannermen – Sylvester McCoy – Season 24

You can find more detailed Doctor Who episode information at Outpost Gallifrey.

Give us your best Pirate Day cheer!

Intro To Other British SF TV Series

If you are a “newbie” to British television and want to something other than Doctor Who, here are a few examples to begin your exploration.
Highlander Series: Best Of The Best Box Set
Things From Another World
Color, Closed Captioned, Box Set, English Soundtrack, Unrated, Adrian Paul

Complete Patrick Macnee Avengers Saga
Things From Another World
Watch Patrick Macnee and his dynamic partners fight evil masterminds in this complete set of Avengers epsiodes on DVD, including lost episodes and the New Avenger series.

The Avengers

New To Dr Who?

Below are items to help get you started:

Doctor Who Megaset DVD
Things From Another World
Kickstart your travels in time and space with a megaset of over 64 hours from the world’s longest running science-fiction TV series! See all seven Doctors from the original series in 33 top stories, including two by Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy) and nine by Robert Holmes. Doctor… Click for more information

Doctor Who: The Complete First & Second Series DVD
Things From Another World
Ready for an all-new Who? The BBC-produced Sci-Fi Channel hit is reborn for a new generation! This isn’t your father’s Doctor Who – it’s packed with new characters and amazing storylines created by some of Britain’s best television writers, including Steven Moffat (Coupling), Paul Abbot ( State of… Click for more information

Doctor Who Action Figure 12 Pc Season 3 Assortment
Things From Another World
Imported from the UK! Experience all the excitement of Doctor Who’s third season with these action figures taken from the tenth Doctor’s adventures in time and space! The angels may have the phone box, but you can have these cool action figures and choose from The Doctor, Martha Jones, the Judoon…Click for more information

Doctor Who Pocket Essential Book
Things From Another World
by Mark Campbell Who is Who? In this pocket-sized, introductory essay, each Doctor’s era is put under the microscope with facts and informed opinion on all their stories. Included is an in-depth reference section detailing further reading, fascinating and bizarre Doctor Who websites, and a short…Click for more information

Come back for more interesting Doctor Who product highlights!

Doctor Who

Iapetus mosaic

Take a look at this huge mosaic of Iapetus the Saturn moon with the “Death Star” like appearance.  That one crater you’ve seen before in Voyager images shows TWO craters.  Here are two blog posts of this image taken September 10th, 2007 by Cassini.

The Planetary Society

Bad Astronomy

Arm-chair geologists and space explorers have fun with this one!