I have some Doctor Who rumors, kinda, and one big spoiler I have to share. If you want your Doctor Who fanboy/girl squeeishness to remain intact, then go find something else to look at, like this gallery of science in scifi movies.
OK, so, with that I’ll do the standard SPOILER ALERT and give you some breathing room…
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All the riffraff gone? Good.
First, the news: in late January, Billie Piper (like I need to say she played Rose Tyler) did a radio interview where she said that a Doctor Who movie is in the works! Hard to say how reliable this info is, but there you go. I’d like to see a full-length movie where they have the time needed to tell a solid, deep story. And yes, I’ve seen previous movies (including the abominable one with Paul McGann) and know they are not, um, all that great. Still, as a DW fan, I live in eternal hope.
Second, a spoiler for the upcoming series 5: the Blogtor Who blog has a lot of pictures from the filming, including this one showing the return of an old friend. River Song! Yay! I was wondering if Steven Moffat, the new show runner who wrote the "Silence in the Library" two-parter, would tackle this storyline again. To say he is a great writer is to seriously undercompliment him; he wrote "Blink" and "The Doctor Dances" two-parter, too (as well as the UK comedy "Coupling", still one of my all-time favorites).
I just hope that at the end of the episode with her, when she and the Doctor are sharing that last melancholy time together she mentioned last season, he hands her a photo of himself as played by David Tennant. She recognized him, after all.
Anyway, the photos are fun to go through, if you don’t mind spoilers. I don’t mind mild ones, but I dislike ones that reveal major plot points, so I may just avoid any DW sites for a while now.
There’s no official word I can find on when the new season will air, but it should be in the next few months. Yay!
February 16th, 2010 at 11:33 am
Moffat also wrote the creepy/awesome “Jekyll” miniseries. Definitely work seeing. Pretty sure Netflix has it.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Already have my DVR set up to record the shows as they hit the airwaves. I’m going to miss David Trennant as the Doctor. While Tom Baker is my all time favorite Doctor, David comes in a very close second. He leaves behind some very big shoes to fill. I’m willing to give Matt Smith a fair try at filling them. Heres hoping.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
hey, what was wrong with McGann?
February 16th, 2010 at 12:02 pm
“I just hope that at the end of the episode with her, when she and the Doctor are sharing that last melancholy time together she mentioned last season, he hands her a photo of himself as played by David Tennant. She recognized him, after all.”
This wouldn’t be enough. When she first saw him in SitL, she wanted to compare notes to figure out where in their time-line he was relative to her. If she only knew him as Tennant from a photograph, then she would have known instantly.
February 16th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Miko:
I was thinking maybe The Doctor married her before his final quest. (Much to the Ood’s constrnation.)
February 16th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
At the risk of pedantry, let me correct your French. It should be “ALLONS-Y”.
And sorry drow, but the McGann movie was awful. How much of the blame he deserves for that is up for debate.
February 16th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
>hey, what was wrong with McGann?
Yep, the tv-movie was mediocre at best , but Mc Gann is fantastic in the audio plays by Big Finish. (As is Colin Baker (I would even go so far as to say that Big Finish 6 is my favorite doctor). Even Mel and Peri are not bad in the audio plays. (Though personally i don’t understand the hate for Mel in the first place).
February 16th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Doctor Who movie.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
February 16th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I’ve been paying attention to the Who blogs and I’m pretty excited about the new season. I’d love to hear some good Torchwood news, too. I heard one rumor that RTD was looking at making the next Torchwood series US based…which I don’t know how I feel about. But I would certainly give it a chance.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
We don’t have BBC America, but we have SyFy (what a stupid name for the SciFi channel). So far all I see us getting is come Caprica (on the DVR, will watch when not busy), and Ghost Hunters International. Big Whoop.
One the bright side, I discovered that my local library has ordered the DVDs of “The Next Doctor”, “Waters of Mars” and “The Planet of the Deadc” I put a hold on all of them. Woo Hoo!
So even if I have to wait for two other people to watch them (I am about 30th to 40th in line for 12 copies), I’ll still see them before SyFy decides to broadcast them.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
River Song is hardly a spoiler, she’s in the trailers BBC America has shown since the start of the new year.
February 16th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I think revisiting River Song is a big mistake. We didn’t need to see how Anakin became Darth Vader and we don’t need to see how the Doctor met River Song. We already have a touching and mysterious first meeting/reunion/ending to their relationship. Going back to before that will be as big of a mistake as the Star Wars prequels and just as unnecessary.
Also, haven’t we had enough of the Daleks?! Let us explore new enemies please!
February 16th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
I would be shocked if River Song was NOT in Season 5; Steven Moffat created her as a future love interest and now he’s the executive producer.
I expect Dr. Who will get scarier and stranger with him in charge, and do lots of complicated mindbending things with time. Need I remind you that (****SPOILERS!****) Moffat’s first entry was “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” where they miss an alien cargo ship by a few weeks; his next one was “The Girl in the Fireplace” where the Doctor skips (forwards) through Madame de Pompadour’s life (apparently he wanted to skip around at random); then “Blink” where the timeline was completely confused, and finally “Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead” where the Doctor meets his wife, River Song, for the first time for the last time (maybe? I wouldn’t discount him finding some way to get her out of the computer).
I like it, Doctor Who rarely used time as a plot device in the original series, and Steven Moffat’s eye for unsettling situations is pretty well established by now.
February 16th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Not a Doctor Who fan (but my sister is), but this sounds like great news for the fans.
Phil, not to nitpick, but if your spoiler tag missing an “l”. It’s allons-y, roughly French for “let’s go”.
February 16th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
I have to agree with CyberCecil about the Daleks. They’re getting a bit overused in the new series. Didn’t the old series sometimes go several seasons without any Dalek stories? I’m withholding judgment on bringing back River Song. I do have some qualms, but Moffat has written some of the best episodes of the new series so I’m willing to wait and see what he delivers.
One thing I hope that Matt Smith is able to portray is just how dangerous The Doctor can be. Sure David Tennant played him with a certain…goofy…is that the right word…air, but when the situation called for it, you could easily believe that he was the most dangerous being in the universe. Christopher Eccleston (sp?) could do that as well. I hope Matt Smith can as well.
February 17th, 2010 at 4:22 am
My information says that the first Doctor Who Season 5 episode will air March 13th in the UK. Can’t wait, for it.
The return of River Song is rumored to be in Episode 4 of the new season.
Have heard the news about the Who movie with Tennant’s Who and Piper’s Rose Tyler, but it is still very early to tell. I don’t know whether a US movie will work well; if they try to “americanize” Doctor Who, it is going to go down the hill. They need to keep the English/European view of Doctor Who, the fact that he hates weapons and prefers to solve problems by thinking, the fact that he likes company, and is not exactly the “lone” hero, as many tips and solutions come from his companions. The Doctor is a hero and an anti-hero at the same time.
February 17th, 2010 at 6:33 am
Phil,
If you are coming to Dragon*Con again this year, bring a 320GB Drive and I will provide you with my Doctor Who Collection from Hartnell to Tennant. It is complete and even has episodes reconstituted from old scripts and stills for some of the “Lost Years”. It leaves off before the three specials that aired. It is a good collection
February 17th, 2010 at 6:34 am
New Promo picture for the new season.
http://community.livejournal.com/doctorwho/5633204.html
February 17th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Re: Daleks
My understanding is that the copyright to use the Daleks in held by their creator, who developed them back in the 60s. In order to use the Daleks at all, BBC needed to negotiate with him. (These facts are pretty solid). I have heard that part of the agreement between BBC and the Dalek creator was that the Daleks must appear once in every season. (This is more iffy, but it sounds plausible).
February 19th, 2010 at 2:15 am
Why oh why do I always feel compelled to read the spoilers? Even The Doctor himself was wary of them…
Still, I cannot wait for the new series to start. Thanks for the update, Phil!
February 20th, 2010 at 8:05 pm
[...] [Doctor River Song! I mean spoilers.] [...]
May 21st, 2010 at 11:44 am
the dalek creator was terry nation and yes they did have a series without the daleks
infact 3 or 4 series from 1969 to 1971 but ratings did drop a bit. i think pandorica has something to pandoras box as im playing professor layton and pandoras box and the unverise is to end in dr who on 26 june 2010 the day before my birthday