The Daleks' Master Plan now streaming

It's Good Friday for Doctor Who fans (myself included). The BBC has released two missing episodes of The Daleks' Master Plan, starring William Hartnell as the First Doctor, on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on the Doctor Who Classic YouTube channel in the US.

The recovery means that the first three instalments of a once totally missing 12-part story now exist. They provide a dark and gritty outing for the Daleks, who were being groomed by their creator, Terry Nation, for their own series, and life outside of Doctor Who. Indeed, The Daleks’ Master Plan was not sold by the BBC to overseas broadcasters.

Film is Fabulous! have collaborated with BBC Archives to enable these programmes to be returned to the BBC. BBC Archives has ensured that the original 16mm telerecordings are restored – meaning viewers will be able to watch them in the best possible condition on BBC iPlayer.

For further information and to donate, visit Film is Fabulous!

Have you watched The Daleks' Master Plan? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below.

Darth Maul character commentary with Dave Filoni

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord debuts this month on Disney+. Not only will Maul have his revenge, but his journey will also continue with a second season.

Lucasfilm has released a Darth Maul character commentary with Dave Filoni.



Read the official synopsis:

"Go behind the scenes with Dave Filoni (President & Chief Creative Officer, Lucasfilm) as he analyzes Darth Maul’s character across S5E16 of Star Wars: Clone Wars and S2E22 of Star Wars: Rebels. Filoni provides a look into Maul’s hunger for power and major fight scenes from his perspective as Supervising Director on Star Wars: Clone Wars and SD/Creator on Star Wars: Rebels."

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is created by Dave Filoni, based on Star Wars and characters created by George Lucas. The series is developed by Dave Filoni and Matt Michnovetz. Brad Rau is the supervising director.

The executive producers are Dave Filoni, Athena Yvette Portillo, Matt Michnovetz, Brad Rau, Carrie Beck, and Josh Rimes. Alex Spotswood is the co-executive producer.

The voice cast includes Sam Witwer as Maul, Gideon Adlon as Devon Izara, Oscar nominee Wagner Moura as Brander Lawson, Richard Ayoade as Two-Boots, Dennis Haysbert as Master Eeko-Dio-Daki, Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario, Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson, Vanessa Marshall as Rook Kast, David C. Collins as Spybot, A.J. LoCascio as Marrok, and Steve Blum as Icarus.

The two-episode premiere of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord streams on 6th April only on Disney+.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord on Disney+? Let me know in the comments below.

50 years of Apple

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Apple. The Cupertino-based tech titan was started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in a small garage in 1976. It was incorporated in 1977.

Dad initially looked at an Apple II for his business, but went with a Commodore PET (the first computer I saw in person). My earliest memory of using an Apple Macintosh computer was during a work experience week at a Cornwall-based design agency that my dad had hired in 1987. Creative work I'd developed was used in GCSE Art.

As an 8-bit Commodore and Sinclair kid, I was instantly smitten with the Macintosh's intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). Years earlier, Apple co-founder Jobs visited Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) and saw the future...

In college, I used Macs to design newsletters, albums, and video covers for Media Studies. With student friends, we taught ourselves desktop publishing (DTP), a skill I use to this day.

However, it would be another decade before I owned my first Macintosh computer, a Performa 5200. This all-in-one machine enabled me to create my first website in the era of dial-up internet. MacWorld and MacUser magazines were my gotos before the advent of broadband and social media.

Over the decades, I’ve owned the following Apple devices:

Macintosh Performa 5200
iMac DV SE
LCD iMac G4
iPod classic
iMac Intel Core 2 Duo
Apple AirPort Extreme
iPod touch
iPad 3
Apple AirPort Time Capsule
iPad Pro (2016)
Apple TV 4K
iPhone SE (2020)
27-inch iMac (2020)
iPad Pro (M1)
AirPods
iPhone 16 Pro
iPad Pro (M4)

Sir Jony Ive's iconic all-in-one iMac design would become a cultural phenomenon, appearing in everything from Jennifer Lopez's iconic pop promo for If You Had My Love to television series, foreshadowing the Cupertino-based company's rise, Lazarus-like, under the auspices of the then returning co-founder Jobs, from imminent collapse into the consumer electronics giant we know today.

Without the iMac, there would be no iPod, iPhone or iPad and quite possibly no Apple.

What are your Apple memories? Let me know in the comments below.