Doctor Who’s Breaking the TARDIS Mold: Series 11 Companions Cast

On Sunday the BBC announced via its Social Media channels that the Thirteenth Doctor has her companions for Series 11. For the first time since the series revival, three companions were announced simultaneously.

Yasmin (Mandip Gill), Graham (Bradley Walsh), The Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and Ryan (Tosin Cole).

There are still very few details known about Series 11, other than a new show-runner, Chris Chibnall and the first female Doctor, Jodie Whittaker, who will make her first appearance in this year’s Christmas Special.

Mandip Gill graduated from university in 2009 with an acting degree. She’s a year or two younger than Jenna Coleman. She is best known for a three-year stint on the soap Hollyoaks, which she left in 2015. Interestingly, she’s guest starred on three separate medical dramas before being cast on Doctor Who. 

Bradley Walsh is a former footballer turned actor who had roles in soap Coronation Street and Law & Order: UK. He has also presented for ITV game shows. He is currently 57, which makes him one of the older actors cast for companion roles.

Tosin Cole also starred on Hollyoaks, from 2010 to 2012, meaning his time on the show overlapped with Mandip Gill’s. Before that he was on an internet spin-off of the soap EastEnders. He also had a small role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as an X-Wing pilot.

In the BBC announcement the network also revealed that Doctor Who Series 11 will be a 10-week run of 50-minute episodes premiering in the Fall of 2018. Whether that means the end of August or 10 weeks before Christmas is unknown, but at least we have a general idea of an air date. With such a diverse TARDIS it’s hard not to get excited for Series 11!

Diversity Among Shadowhunters: Cassandra Clare’s Lady Midnight

If you’re looking for a good YA series with bisexual, Hispanic, or autistic representation, it might be time to hop on the Dark Artifices train, as the second book was just released last Tuesday, May 23. From the author who brought us our first Jewish vampire and an immensely powerful gay warlock comes a new spin-off series from her original The Mortal Instruments world. Today I will review Lady Midnight (Book 1 of The Dark Artifices) by Cassandra Clare, particularly focusing on the minority characters Mark, Christina, and Ty.

Tim Burton’s Home For White Actors Only

Rachel Simon for Bustle got to interview Tim Burton for his new movie, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. She asked him about diversity and this gem fell out of his mouth.

Soundless by Richelle Mead Review

You know Richelle Mead from her hugely successful YA Vampire Academy series, or perhaps her adult succubus or faerie series, but her latest work is in an entirely different vein (get it? Veins… vamps…). Soundless entwines an obscure piece of Chinese folklore with the story of the rediscovery of sound by a girl born into an entirely deaf community. Yet while Fei gains a sense, many in her community are losing one as the mines they toil in poison their sight. Only Fei and her ex-fiancé Li Wei have the courage to venture down the treacherous cliff that isolates their community to confront the powerful people below, whose control of food supplies keeps her village under their control.

Guest Contributor: Thoughts on Nerdcon: Stories

Hello Geekettes! I am a long time follower of the Geekette and a first time contributor, but after I got back to my East Tennessee home from Nerdcon: Stories in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I knew I wanted to share about my experience.

Nerdcon: Stories is author Patrick Rothfuss and Vidcon creator/Vlogbrother Hank Green’s bid at establishing a conference to celebrate storytellers and their stories, in all their many forms. Hank Green is one of my favorite people on the internet to date, so as soon as he announced the conference on the Vlogbrothers channel, I bought a ticket and enlisted a friend’s guest room that same day.

Fall TV: You’ve Watched the Pilot, Now What?

I used to be very strategic about starting new shows in the fall. I would carefully watch trailers and read reviews, and only sit down to watch a pilot if I was sure it was a show I might want to follow. I didn’t want to get sucked into something if I didn’t have time to watch it. This year, I decided to throw that to the wind. I’m watching any and all pilots I want and checking out shows that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to watch based off of the promos. That means deciding whether I want to watch a show is saved for after watching the pilot, while knowing that a show can ultimately change a lot from its pilot episode. How then to decide? I use a few different criteria.

Diverse Discussions at the Brooklyn Book Festival

Before attending the Brooklyn Book Festival this summer, I had never attended a true book festival. The closest thing I could compare this to would be BEA/BookCon—the publishing industry event that I and several other Geekettes have been attending together for the past two years. Of course, there are differences between BookCon and BKBF. Most obviously (and sadly), while the books at BookCon are free, most of the books on display at BKBF must be purchased if you want to get them signed and take them home with you—although I did manage to score a free ARC of a book called Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler. Perhaps a more important difference, though, was in the content of the panels and choice of panelists.

Meeting My ‘We Need Diverse Books’ New Year’s Resolution

In January, an organization known as We Need Diverse Books challenged readers to promote diversity in literature by making New Year’s resolutions to read diverse books. They described diverse books as “books where people of color can be first-page HEROES rather than second-class citizens. Books in which LGBTQIA characters can represent social CHANGE rather than social problems. And books where people with disabilities can be just…people.”  I joined their challenge, pledging to read at least fifteen diverse books in the year 2015. And just a few weeks ago, I fulfilled my pledge, with plenty of time left over to read even more!

BookCon Discusses Diversity

Last year, BookCon’s initial line-up provoked a serious outcry regarding the lack of diversity in publishing. This movement grew into a grassroots organization called We Need
Diverse Books that has been working endlessly over the past year to promote diversity, especially in children’s books. One year later, it is clear that these efforts have not been in vain. Diversity was a hot topic at both Book Expo America and BookCon this year. The two events featured at least four panels directly addressing diversity between them. Unfortunately, I was only able to make it to one of these: BookCon’s Saturday morning panel, “We Need Diverse Books Presents In Our World and Beyond.” This panel discussed diversity in the abstract and its relation to the genres of science fiction and fantasy. The panel was introduced by VP of outreach for WNDB, Miranda Paul, and speakers included Saga Press editor Joe Monti as well as authors Daniel José Older, Kameron Hurley, Ken Liu, Marieke Nijkamp, and Nnedi Okorafor.  Highlights from the panel are given below:

5 Games I’m Excited For In 2015

 

More Lara Croft? Yes Please!

2014 saw the release of some eagerly awaited titles, some of which lived up to the hype and others that disappointed (*cough*Assassin’s Creed: Unity *cough*). Games like Super Smash Bros., Dragon Age: Inquisition, Bayonetta 2, and more, showed us what next-gen consoles could achieve and got us itching to see what could be accomplished next. Unfortunately, many of 2014’s games also left us wondering where they put all the women – because they certainly weren’t on the list of playable female characters. 2015 is set to be even a bigger year than its predecessor, with long-anticipated titles like Legend of Zelda for Wii U and Evolve planned for release, but will it take any steps towards righting the gender disparity in the industry? Without further ad, here are 5 games (in no particular order) that not only look fantastic, but also hope to answer that question: