Doctor Who Rumormongering

[JonClarke]

I really like the idea of Donna's grandfather becoming a companion - we would have loved the chance.

An elderly companion 2 really cuts new ground too, and opens up all sorts of new dynamics. Much more interesting than the pan-sexual Captain Jack (bleh!)

So long as the quality of the scripts keeps up... I just watched Blink for the 5th time, and am still alternately moved and chilled.

 

[yevaud]

A few interesting notes:

The first is, Billy Piper will return for the last two episodes of Tennant portraying the Doctor.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... -show.html

The second I'd read a few days ago is, the actress Claire Bloom will appear as Doctor Who's Mother.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvan ... r-Who.html

 

[CalliArcale]

The latest rumor courtesy of the Sun is pretty cool if true. Alas, I cannot read it while I'm at work due to paranoid nanny filters, but the rumor is that Timothy Dalton will appear in one of David Tennant's final shows as the Doctor.

Of course, Dalton is one of the guys who's played James Bond, and we *all* know James Bond is a Time Lord.

Sun story

 

[CalliArcale]

This one isn't rumor -- this one's fact! American viewers will finally get to watch the new Dr Who specials *legitimately*!!!!

'Doctor Who' returns to BBC America

Sci-Fi, which has managed to get first-run rights to the series previously, evidently slept on it too long, and BBC America was able to snag them for a change. The 2008 Christmas special will air on June 27, and "Planet of the Dead" (the Easter special) will air in July. Dates have not yet been set for the remaining three, but it will undoubtedly be sometime after they air in Britain, which means we've probably got to wait until Thanksgiving at least.

 

[CalliArcale]

A few new tidbits....

[*]Karen Gillan will play the companion (name not yet announced) in Series Five. She previously appeared on Dr Who as one of the female seers in "Fires of Pompeii".

[*]Canadian viewers will no longer be able to watch Dr Who on CBC; the rights have now been purchased by Space, which will air "Planet of the Dead" in July. They'll run the other specials, including "Voyage of the Damned" (which never aired in Canada), and they will air Series Five next year.

[*]Fans disappointed to have not seen David Tennant as Hamlet will have a new opportunity -- the RSC and the BBC are teaming up to do a film version of the production, and have signed David Tennant to reprise the title role. In fact, they've managed to keep all of the principal cast, including Patrick Stewart as Claudius. It will be about three hours long. The RSC and BBC have a long history of teaming up to do TV or film adaptations of Shakespearean works; this isn't even their first Hamlet coproduction. (They also did "Twelfth Night" twice, and have involved many Doctor Who alumni in their productions, in large part because they draw from the same extraordinary talent pool.) The film will be broadcast in the UK later this year, and in the US and Japan in 2010. It will also be made available on DVD.

 

[JonClarke]

Planet of the Dead was not bad at all. I will mis David Tennant, he was really become the doctor to my imagination.

 

[CalliArcale]

I agree; I really like him as the Doctor. But he's probably got the right idea. If he doesn't leave now, while he's still got enough willpower to do so, he'll play it until the end of his days (or the end of the series) and they're taking him out of the TARDIS in a wheelchair.

 

[CalliArcale]

io9 has an intriguing behind-the-scenes photo from the season finale. It confirms the presence of Timothy Dalton! It's sure to excite the "James Bond is a Time Lord" folks, because he is evidently playing a Time Lord. Apparently a rather high-ranking one to boot; rumor is that he's playing the Chancellor of the High Council (a very powerful figure, sometimes more powerful than the High President). It's not clear whether the Chancellor somehow escaped, or if they're bringing Gallifrey back to life somehow, or if he's from flashback scenes, or what. But it's interesting!

Also interesting is who *else* is in the picture. It's a spoiler, but you've probably already heard the rumors anyway. Still, in case some folks don't want to be spoiled, I'll let you click the link to find out. ;-)

Your First Look At Doctor Who's Next Big Guest Stars

EDIT: One interesting theory mentioned in the comments for that post is that Dalton could be playing Borusa. Now, Borusa was President when we last saw him, having advanced from the post of Chancellor in the Doctor's absence following "The Invasion of Time". But there is a plausible way he could have survived the demise of Gallifrey. Borusa is immortal -- truly immortal, not just able to regenerate a bunch of times, or able to survive as long as nobody comes along and whacks off his head. The gift of immortality was a trap created by Rassilon; any Time Lord ambitious and powerful enough to claim the gift was obviously dangerous, and so whenever a Time Lord managed to claim the gift, his reward was to be frozen for all time, conscious and aware, as a bas-relief sculpture on Rassilon's tomb. Now, Rassilon's tomb isn't actually on Gallifrey. It's in the Death Zone, the location of which was never made clear except that it's not considered part of Gallifrey. If the Death Zone survived, Rassilon himself (who also was immortal, though resting for eternity) may also have survived -- along with the most devious, ambitious, and powerful Time Lords ever produced. What sort of mood would they be in if they were released from their long confinement, I wonder?

 

[yevaud]

I have that story arc in my video collection: "The Five Doctors."

An aside, Calli; I'm curious what your skew on this odd conundrum is.

All Tardis' utilize the Eye of Harmony to operate and travel through time. Well, the Doctor's (and the Master's) Tardis' both work fine. Is this to mean that Gallifrei is NOT actually destroyed?

 

[CalliArcale]

First off, recall that in Utopia, the Master didn't have a TARDIS. He was therefore forced to steal the Doctor's.

The series has always been a bit cagey on what powers a TARDIS. The 1996 Fox telemovie got the closest to an actual answer in saying that it was the Eye of Harmony. This caused a bit of a stir, as the Eye of Harmony was previously established as a) being on Gallifrey and b) being largely considered a myth by most Gallifreyans (having a poor appreciation for ancient history, apparently). Most fans retconned this by concluding that the Eye in the TARDIS was actually some sort of link to the real Eye on Gallifrey, but officially, there is no explanation. It's in the same bin as the Doctor's human mother, UNIT dating, and the Doctor's extra lives from "The Brain of Morbius".

The new series, to my recollection, has never mentioned the Eye of Harmony. It has established, however, that the Doctor's TARDIS needs to periodically park itself in Cardiff to "refuel" from the dimensional rift there. Presumably, the Eye of Harmony's link was severed with the destruction of Gallifrey, but the TARDIS was able to keep operating off reserve power until the Doctor was able to find a power source suitable for recharging it.

That's my interpretation, anyway. ;-)

 

[yevaud]

A decent explanation.

It occurred to me that if time is looked at, in the Doctor's own words, "a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff," then time isn't a neat linear thread; perhaps the Tardis is able to use merely the fact that The Eye of Harmony once existed to power itself.

Anyways, I suppose what I was getting at is, does the possibility exist that Gallifrey still exists in some form? Unknown to the Doctor, that is? One wonders. If they do make a small stretch (making the movie - which I liked a lot, btw - canon), then at some point they could reintroduce Gallifrey.

Picture the scene: the current Grand Castellan appears to the Doctor, and informs him that they were hiding out until all vestiges of the Daleks were gone (lest they begin the time war anew); they couldn't tell the Doctor, since he might be forced to reveal it's continued existence to them if captured. Something along those lines. "Sorry for all of the inconvenience, old chap; for the good of the mother country and all that!"

 

[CalliArcale]

Oh, of course Gallifrey could still exist. All it takes is a suitably inventive scriptwriter. ;-)

 

[yevaud]

Thought everyone would enjoy this.

ArcAttack does the Doctor Who theme, using twin Tesla coils.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GJSH5Aw3yk

 

[JonClarke]

...if time is looked at, in the Doctor's own words, "a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff..."

Ah Blink, the best TV SF episode of all time. Brilliant, chilling, moving. "It was raining when we met." "It's the same rain" Sob!

 

[yevaud]

Yep, it was damned good at that!

 

[CalliArcale]

Yep, it was damned good at that!

Hubby didn't like it. "It's predictable." Yeah, but that's kind of the point! I loved it, and the Blink statues were genuinely creepy. He agreed about that part.

 

[JasonChapman]

I live in the area where they film Dr Who and Torchwood, seen the film crews around amny times filming.

 

[CalliArcale]

I live in the area where they film Dr Who and Torchwood, seen the film crews around amny times filming.

Dude! I am insanely jealous.

Mind you, Cardiff looks like a nice place to live anyway, even without Doctor Who around the place.

 

[pmn1]

Trailer for The Waters of Mars but only in the UK at the moment

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/videos/

 

[CalliArcale]

AARRGHGHGHG!!!!! Why must they taunt us Yanks so? ;-)

 

[CalliArcale]

Information is being officially released now about David Tennant's swansong, the two-parter that will run around Christmastime. The title is "The End of Time". Part one will be 60 minutes long, and part two will be 75 minutes long.

Cast will include:

David Tennant (the Doctor, duh)
Bernard Cribbins (Wilfred Mott, Donna's grandfather)
Catherine Tate (Donna Noble)
John Simm (the Master)
Timothy Dalton (the Narrator)
June Whitfield (Minnie Hooper)

Source

Rumor claims also that the Master's wife (Lucy Saxon, played by Alexandra Moen) will make an appearance. And some leaked set shots showed Timothy Dalton in costume -- he appears to be dressed as a Time Lord. So James Bond really is a Time Lord, which of course we all knew already.

Wikipedia has information on other actors spotted on set. Looks like we'll have a ridiculous large cast again, if this proves accurate:

* John Barrowman – Captain Jack Harkness[3]
* Claire Bloom – TBA[4]
* Camille Coduri – Jackie Tyler[5]
* Karl Collins – TBA[6]
* Timothy Dalton – The Narrator[7]
* David Harewood – Joshua Naismith[8][9]
* Barry Howard – TBA[6]
* Jessica Hynes – Verity Newman[10]
* Sinead Keenan – TBA[11]
* Jacqueline King – Sylvia Noble[12]
* Tommy Knight – Luke Smith[13]
* Alexandra Moen – Lucy Saxon[14]
* Billie Piper – Rose Tyler[5]
* John Simm – The Master [15][16]
* Elisabeth Sladen – Sarah Jane Smith[13]
* Catherine Tate – Donna Noble[17][18]
* Russell Tovey – TBA[3]
* June Whitfield – Minnie Hooper[19]

Mind you, some may only be appearing as sort of flashbacks. The regeneration scenes from "Logopolis" and "The Caves of Androzani" had the Doctor seeing spectral images of former companions and enemies from his current life, sort of a rapid-recap before regenerating. While in "Logopolis" these were mined from existing footage, new ones were recorded for "Caves of Androzani", and they might be doing something similar here.

 

[CalliArcale]

The next series, starring Matt Smith, has begun filming in Wales. Daleks have been sighted in Cardiff, looking more traditionally gray than the ones we've seen lately on the series. It has also been revealed that Richard Curtis has been signed to write an episode for the new season. Curtis is a legendary screenwriter, a frequent partner with Rowan Atkinson (with whom he created both Blackadder and Mr Bean), and lately has gotten big in the film industry, with smash hit romantic comedies such as "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and "Notting Hill". He has had some involvement with Doctor Who and new producer Stephen Moffat before -- Curtis was the originator of Comic Relief, which in 1999 was produced by Stephen Moffat's wife, which let to Moffat getting his lifelong dream of writing something for Dr Who: the Curse of Fatal Death (which starred Rowan Atkinson). Perhaps by hiring Curtis for Dr Who, Moffat is returning the favor. ;-)

 

[CalliArcale]

There's a bunch of interesting stuff!

Former Doctor Who producer Barry Letts passed away earlier this month. His family was deeply touched by the outpouring of sympathy from Doctor Who fandom. He produced the series from 1970 to 1974, and continued to work on it in various other capacities for years thereafter, right up until his death.

The new series will be getting quite a facelift, and I'm not just talking about the Doctor. The TARDIS prop is being replaced with one more closely resembling the original prop from 1963. More obviously, the logo has been regenerated. Actually, now there are two logos -- the title, and a TARDIS-like design comprised of the letters "DW". (Let's see if this inline image link works!)

David Tennant will make a guest appearance on The Sarah Jane Adventures as the Doctor, marking the first time the Doctor has actually, explicitly appeared in one of the spinoffs. (Not counting the hand-in-a-can from Torchwood.) He'll appear in "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith". This will appear later in the current season, which began airing in Britain this month. Though the first season of SJS was successful on Sci-Fi Channel, no one has aired the second season here in America, nor has anyone picked up series three. :-(

 

[junkheap]

It's been recently rumored that Gillian Anderson is to be cast as The Rani in an upcoming Matt Smith episode.

 

[CalliArcale]

Now that *would* be interesting! Not sure she can do the part justice, though. She's not exactly Kate O'Mara. ;-) Still, I'd like to see the Rani brought back. The character had considerable potential which was never fully explored. One interesting point is that apart from "Dimensions In Time" (written by the late John Nathan Turner), she's only ever been written by Pip and Jane Baker, a husband and wife team that wrote several serials in the latter years of the classic program.