Saturday's Pick of the Blogs and Reviews

DWAS Online has Regenerations, Swansea 18/19 September, "If you are not here with us, then greetings from the Regenerations convention in Swansea. The wonders of free wifi mean that I can post a blog part way throughout the day. Sitting as I am on the DWAS table I cannot really say what the panels are like, but I have seen David Warner a number of times down here in the hotel foyer, and Julian Glover boosted by fragile ego massively by greeting me like an old friend in front of lots of people! I also saw Terry Molloy nodding off in front of an empty pint glass last night..this hotel (The Village in Swansea) is a nice venue and the team running the event are doing it because they enjoy it rather than to make money like some other events these days. I guess that Regenerations will be back next year and if so it is worth a visit."

Who Fix has The Red Kangs Sing the Blues, album designed by Andrew Orton for an abandoned Tachyon TV project.

Tim's Take On has Episode 35 (Cardiff Volume 1), "this week I jump in my TARDIS (didn't you know all Dr Who podcasters have one?) and take you back to 2008, this was my second visit to Cardiff but the first podcast I'd recorded there, before that there'll be a brief bit of Sarah Jane Adventures news."

The Oodcast has Guide to… Doctors 5 – 8, "the second of three instalments on our intrepid hero…"

Doc Oho's Big Finish audios reviews has Excelis Rising written by David A. McIntee and directed by Ed Salt, a thousand years after his first visit to the planet Artaris, the Sixth Doctor returns. As the city of Excelis spreads her Empire throughout the globe, death follows a mysterious Relic through the halls of the Imperial Museum. As the Doctor helps the Curator and the local authorities with this mystery, he finds himself crossing paths with a familiar face from Excelis' history - but no-one lives for a thousand years, do they?

The Daily Drew has "World War Three", on the one hand, this episode (and the last one) is packed with little nods to the history of the program, designed to provide a sense of familiarity. This story is doing what "Doctor Who" does, providing an exciting adventure involving aliens trying to invade the Earth. But not quite. While references to UNIT and so on serve to connect this story to the history of the show, the story puts a distinctly 21st century twist on what we're seeing. The Pertwee era (which remains, for a certain type of classic series fan, the pinnacle of what "Doctor Who" is and should ever be) used then-current political and social issues as themes underpinning the stories. The story announces that the Davies era will continue in much the same vein.

Unreality SF reviews The Cradle of the Snake, The Whispering Forest, The Ring of Steel, and Echoes of Grey.

Tea with Morbius has The Gun Fighters, this story has a really bad reputation among fans for some reason. When I viewed it, I was preparing for the worst. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely. Perhaps because I quite like westerns or just because I like Doctor Who stories that are light, camp and fun.