Ben Paddon

Category: Dalek Gary

  • Gallifrey One Panel – “The Next Doctor”

    If you’re in the LA area for the Doctor Who convention Gallifrey One, I’ll be there all weekend dressed (hopefully) as the Eleventh Doctor. Hooray! I’m also participating on a panel called “The Next Doctor”. From the Gallifrey One website:

    We all know it’s coming… some day, whether next year or a few down the road, Matt Smith is going to leave the show. So, who would be the best actor to take his place? Should it be another youngster, or is an older actor worth looking at? What sorts of companions would be a bonus for these actors? And, let’s just face the question: should it, in fact, be a woman? What does the future of Doctor Who really hold?

    This panel takes place in the Program D room on Sunday from 11:30am-12:30pm, and it should be a blast. See you there!

    Oh, and this weekend we’re shooting a top secret Dalek Gary project. Don’t tell anybody!

  • 2013: The Mayans Were Wrong

    So! So. Lots to do in 2013. Launch PortsCenter. Write and film Dalek Gary. Commence work on at least two other webseries, and polish off a sitcom idea I’ve been sitting on since 2007. That’s not to mention the project I’m pitching to a production company this month – which reminds me, I need to actually start putting together my pitch. Wow. This year is looking pretty busy.

    I want to get out of some bad habits, which means I need to let go of some things. This includes webcomics. I’ve been webcomicing since 2003. My first webcomic, Fried, ran for three years and updated sporadically – even moreso once I realized I actually hated drawing. The second webcomic, Jump Leads, has come to an unceremonious end in part due to troubled art schedules, and Deadlong is on hiatus for similar reasons (though we’re filling the hiatus hole with some new material starting later this month). Other attempts to start webcomics, including a project with my friend Ray, have not been particularly successful.

    It’s taken me a while, but I’ve realized webcomics isn’t where I want to be and it’s not what I want to do. Not to say I don’t enjoy webcomics, but I’ve been focusing my energy in the wrong place, and it’s time to reassess. Once Deadlong is finished, I’m done. Out of the game. Deadlong will be my webcomic swansong.

    I think, truthfully, that I’d prefer to pour my energy into video content, and I want 2013 to be the start of that. I plan on trying to produce original video content throughout the year, starting with PortsCenter , then moving on to other projects. I’m developing a webseries with Mac Beauvais that should be a lot of fun, and I’ll be working with Michelle Osorio on new projects for Kill9 including Dalek Gary and at least one other thing that’s still sort-of in the woiks.

    Another thing I want to do that’s important to me is to the stand-up into a proper paying gig. I need to do that, which means I need to get serious about it. I need to hone my craft, I need to get better at working off-book, and I need to actually book some actual gigs. In addition to this, I want to develop an hour of material over the course of the year which I’d like to debut at GMX Vol. 5, assuming they want me back.

    Time to stop being passive. Time to stop expecting the new year to be a better one, and time to start making it so. Here’s to making things, and here’s to you. Happy New Year.

  • Of Plums and Puddings

    Michelle recently told me that I use name-calling far too often on But, Sir…, which undermines the entire point of the blog. She is not wrong. It used to be that I would use insults sparingly, but recently I’ve been using them a lot. A lot of a lot, actually. It’s lazy, and I’m sure I could justify it all by saying “I’ve had it with these motherfucking morons on this motherfucking petitions site”, but if that were true why bother writing the blog at all? Why half-heartedly consider the possibility of putting a book together at some point in the next twelve months?

    This week Andrew and I had a lovely email conversation with a man who objected to me calling him a “fucking plum”, and then changed his position so that he’d only objected to me using the word “fucking”, and then threatened to call the Police. It highlighted two very important points – that there’s nothing wrong with name-calling, and that I really should tone it down a little. So I have done. I posted a bunch of petitions on But, Sir… today and there’s nary an insult amongst them. Considering one of those petitions came from recurring problem petitioner Keith Jones, I think I did rather well.

    Jump Leads is updating again, and I have to say it’s a bit of a relief. JjAR had taken a month off to try and work on becoming a freelance artist, but the work just isn’t out there in Russia so he’s stuck behind a desk still. I’m hoping I can pull from my exhaustive list of contacts to try and get him work on this side of the pond – maybe even a Work Visa. We’ll see what happens.

    There’ll be a new episode of Ben Paddon’s Feeble Excuse going up hopefully tomorrow featuring an awesome interview with the Grand Daddy of Nerdcore himself, MC Frontalot, and I’m once again collaborating on a project with Kill9 Studios that should be oodles of fun to write and shoot provided we don’t all get exterminated in the process.