Hello all,

So, I've been working hard with the rest of the team on animating the missing epsiodes of Reign of Terror for, what... eight months now?  Apologies for not posting any new art or anything - it really is a case of waking up, working on Reign of Terror, quick break for a sandwich, more work, then roll into bed and wake up to do the same the next day. It is, after all, a fairly small team with thousands upon thousands of frames of animation to produce, lip synch, composite, etc etc. All in time for deadlines set in stone (set in plaser of Paris, maybe? Did you see what I did there?).

Anyway, I am contractually forbidden under pain of lawsuit from divulging any details of the project, including what software we are using, which animation techniques are employed, how it is being composited, etc. However, I've been reading rumours flying around za internet regarding myself personally and my involvement, and I just thought I'd squash a few of them so people don't go in expecting the wrong thing.
Prepare your eyes for reading..!

First up, nope, the BBC did not see that Doctor Who anime thingy I made on Youtube and hurl money at me to animate missing episodes using my amazing skills which will revolutionise western animation as we know it. I was contacted by and am contracted to Theta-Sigma, who are producing the animation with Big Finish for 2Entertain. The BBC do not know who Paul Johnson is, and most probably have never heard of or seen the fan animation I made, nor do I think would they be especially interested in it (there are a lot of fan animations out there).
In short, it's a team effort, not OMG PAUL OTAKING JOHNSON PRESENTS...!
I'm not famous, and don't get to tell people who have been in TV for 30 years or more how things should be animated.
Rumour one down!

Second, you may want to adjust your expectations a bit if you're thinking that the Reign of Terror is going to look like anime or use styles of animation like the short animation I made, which were of course all extremely 80s anime cliches (well, homages, really).
It's actually much like any other production. I am just a part of a team, following orders from higher up. I draw the backgrounds and animate bits here and there, and I don't dictate the style, animation techniques or direction. So if you go into it expecting some kind of missing Doctor Who episodes drawn and animated in the style of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, you shall be very disappointed! Again, it's not a case of  'The BBC have hired Otaking to make stuff his way!' At all. No company in their right mind would do that based off an animated short some unknown dude on Youtube did. As much as I would love for the mighty William Hartnell to appear in my hosue and say 'Draw me in France in the style of that Macross show, young man, hmm?' such a thing is... well... unlikely.
Damn, that would be cool though...

Go on. Think about the first Doctor in the Macross Movie style with guillotines and muskets everywhere and Oscar from Rose of Versailles as the sidekick...!

ON THE OTHER HAND, if you do actually want an anime Reign of Terror, you can just go and watch Rose of Versailles! The main villain, Max Robespierre, is the same and everything..! Just excuse the terrible fansubs... the last time I checked, people in the French Revolution didn't put -san or -sama after each others' names. Admittedly there's no TARDIS, either. [link]

Johnson out!

PS - go and buy the Tom Baker audio dramas that Big Finish have just released!
Seriously, take a look at this: [link] that doesn't convince you, you have no excitement gland in your brain.
I've been listening to them as I animate, and it's ridiculously cool hearing the 4th Doctor and leela again after 30 years. They sound exactly the same.