Ghost in the Machine
Doctor Who
The Eleventh Hour.
Get out the crane, regeneration time again: Who is it this time? After four years in the bowtie, Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith is calling it quits “It’s been an honor to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell with ‘the ginger, the nose and the impossible one’. But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go and Trenzalore calls.”
I had doubts about his casting at first, but I have to say, Smith really nailed the part these past few years. When the show was not at its best — and, let’s face it, the quality’s been patchier than anticipated thus far in the Moffatt era — it was almost always the writing who let this Doctor down, not the reverse. He’s right up there at the top of my list with Baker and Pertwee.
Of course, this means we’ll see an all-new 12th incarnation at the end of this year’s Christmas special. (Or is it 13th? Only John Hurt knows.) Given that the usual high-profile and/or out-of-the-box choices — Idris Elba, Bill Nighy, David Morrissey, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Helen Mirren — turned out to be wrong last time around (although all of those would be intriguing choices), I’ll start the bidding with…Paul Kaye?
Update: Cryptonaut offers a few other options. Olivia Williams ftw.
London Falling.
With that Douglas Adams-y pronouncement, Londonist offers a handy Google Map of all the places in London where Doctor Who has saved the city. “We’ve also, because we’re nice like that, colour coded them by which Doctor it was that defeated them.”
Dad to Daleks, Mom to Muppets, Uncle to Many.
Back on his Rounds.
If you care, you’re already well aware of this. Nonetheless, The Doctor has returned as of September 1st. Above is the full Pond Life, the short Amy-and-Rory vignettes put up online before last week’s Asylum of the Daleks. Apparently, this season is going back in the direction of weekly standalone adventures, which I think is a welcome development — The past two season arcs (the time crack in the wall, the dead doctor in the desert) have been more than a little convoluted, imho.
Still a Hoopy Frood.
“I suppose earlier generations had to sit through all this huffing and puffing with the invention of television, the phone, cinema, radio, the car, the bicycle, printing, the wheel and so on, but you would think we would learn the way these things work, which is this:
1) everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;
2) anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;
3) anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.
“In remembrance of Douglas Adams, ten years after his untimely passing: His 1999 essay, “How to Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Internet” (although I think he too would have despised the term “webinar.”) If only he lived to see the actual, honest-to-goodness Hitchhiker’s Guides! (Pic via here, which also tells the story of Adams’ lost Doctor Who episodes.)
The Companion.
“Those sweet memories of happy days with Lis Sladen, the lovely, witty, kind and so talented Lis Sladen. I am consoled by the memories. I was there, I knew her, she was good to me and I shall always be grateful, and I shall miss her.” Elizabeth Sladen, a.k.a. the Doctor (and K-9′s) most beloved companion Sarah Jane Smith, 1946-2011.
A Doctor in the (White) House.
“Young lady, there are no monsters in the Oval Office.” Via AICN, Stephen Moffatt and Matt Smith’s incarnation of Doctor Who gets ready for its second season, i.e. the sixth since the Russell Davies reboot and 32nd since the very beginning. (See also Moffatt’s adaptation of the missing 18-minutes of the Nixon era.) The show premieres April 23rd stateside, and between this, HBO’s Game of Thrones (April 17), and AMC’s The Killing (this Sunday), I suddenly have a lot more TV to watch.
A Last Round for the Brigadier.
“[M]y first Doctor was Jon Pertwee and with him came a supporting cast that remains one of the best ever…[A]t the very heart of that grouping was Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. A man to whom no alien incursion was a problem – he was a calm, pragmatic, military man…in many ways he was the perfect foil to the Doctor. Watson to his Holmes, Jim Gordon to his Batman.“
Nicholas Courtney, a.k.a. Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of Pertwee and Baker era Doctor Who, 1929-2011.
Radagast the Seventh.
Five armies, seventh Doctor? The cast for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit fills out further with Sylvester McCoy (Radagast the Brown), Ken Stott (Balin), Mikael Persbrandt (Beorn), Ryan Gage (Drogo Baggins), Jed Brophy (Nori), William Kircher (Bifur), and, back for more, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel. [Earlier casting here.] Very glad to see this moving along.
Countess Dracula Sleeps.
The bats have left the bell tower. The victims have been bled, red velvet lines the black box. Actress (The Wicker Man, Doctor Who), blogger, Den of Geek columnist, and seminal Hammer horror siren Ingrid Pitt is dead, 1937-2010. “She was partly responsible for ushering in a bold and brazen era of sexually explicitly horror films in the 1970s, but that should not denigrate her abilities…All fans of Hammer and of British horror are going to miss her terribly.“
So, What Have You Got For Me This Time?
Update: Still a mite campy for my tastes, but you can see good, creepy ideas by Moffatt — the secret room, the floating eyeball, Prisoner Zero’s disguises — all over the show. And Matt Smith is certifiably great — The guy was born to play the Doctor. I’m definitely looking forward to this season.
“Trust me. I’m a Doctor.”
Well, given the whole regeneration thing, it had to happen at some point: In the year 2010, I’m now older than the Doctor. As David Tennant bids his US farewell tonight (reports are it’s another badly overstuffed Russell Davies number, but we’ll see), the era of Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith kicks off with this BBC teaser.
Hmmm…Seems alright so far — sort of a cross between Tennant and Peter Davison. In any case, I have faith in new showrunner Stephen Moffatt. Speaking of which, it looks like Alex Kingston is back, and Carey Mulligan may have to take a break from megastardom to help the Doctor with those stone angels again.
Update: The new trailer, frame-by-frame.
The Bonnie Lass o’Tardis.
“We saw some amazing actresses for this part, but when Karen came through the door the game was up. Funny, and clever, and gorgeous, and sexy. Or Scottish, which is the quick way of saying it. A generation of little girls will want to be her. And a generation of little boys will want them to be her too.” Newcomer Karen Gillan is cast as the next companion for Stephen Moffat’s first season as Doctor Who showrunner. (She joins Matt Smith as the titular timelord.) As with Smith, Moffatt is skewing younger with the cast than I’d probably prefer…but, let’s see what he’s got planned.
Who What Now?
Benjamin Button isn’t the only fellow growing younger these days: Official word just came down from the BBC powers-that-be that 26-year-old Matt Smith has been cast as the next iteration of Doctor Who, for Stephen Moffatt’s first full season as showrunner, beginning in 2010. (David Tennant will still be holding down the fort for a few more specials in 2009 — he regenerates next Christmas.)
Well, I don’t know anything about this fellow, so I can’t really evaluate the pick until I’ve seen him face down a few Daleks and the like. But given the A-lister and outside-the-box names that have been floating around over the past few weeks (James McAvoy, Bill Nighy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Catherine Zeta Jones, etc.), it’s hard not to feel slightly disappointed about this. Ah well, I’ll manage.
Too Close for Comfort, Wah-Wah. | Who What Now?
“Would you think about that a moment, my friends? Whenever you’ve seen Batman, who’s he with? Criminals, that’s who!” Before Atwater and Ailes, there was…Cobblepot: I know the comparison was already floating around after the veep debate. Still, this contentious Batman-Penguin matchup of thirty years ago now seems eerily on the money… (Via Neilalien.)
Also, this is unrelated, but while I’m borrowing fun fanboy youtubes from other places, I also got a tickle out of this compelling compilation of Dr. Who clips, by way of Return of the Reluctant a week or so ago. What are you doing here? What are you doing here? What are you doing here? What are you doing here?
Tenth and Fifth.
Fifth incarnation (and All Creatures Great and Small vet) Peter Davison will suit up as the Doctor once more in a special scene with current doc David Tennant for charity. I wonder if he’s gotten over the whole Adric thing. (Via Ed Rants) Update: It’s now online.
Ten Doctors, Twelve Cylons.
Season 2 of BBC’s Doctor Who revival premieres tonight on Sci-Fi, with — as most of y’all know — David Tennant (a.k.a. Barty Crouch, Jr. of Goblet of Fire) filling in for Christopher Eccleston as the second/tenth Doc. Meanwhile, season 3 of Battlestar Galactica doesn’t begin until October 6, so you still have a week to catch up on the Vichy/Resistance webisodes online.
Who Two | BSG Three.
Sci-Fi announces they’ll be airing Season 2 of Doctor Who, with David Tennant (a.k.a. Barty Crouch Jr. of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) as the Gallifreyan in question, sooner than expected: it begins Sept. 29. And in related news, the TV teaser for Battlestar Galactica Season 3 is up at YouTube…if you’ve never seen the show, please don’t hold that lame Nickleback-ish song in the background against it.
Prisoner’s Dilemma.
Village people take note: Having passed over season 2/28 of Dr. Who to David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston will instead channel Patrick McGoohan’s Number Six for a six-episode revival of BBC cult classic The Prisoner. Hmm…more Who is always a good thing, but this sounds unnecessary.
Lay Down Your Burdens / Who’s Next.
Those of you who care already know this — but still, the second season of Battlestar Galactica ends tonight with a 90-minute episode that includes cylon Dean Stockwell, a one year flash-forward, and a new Vichy-like storyline for Season 3, which begins airing in October. And The Sopranos Season Six isn’t the only big-ticket TV premiere coming up. March 17 is shaping up to be a doozy for the fanboy nation (particularly we anglophiles), as Guy Fawkes will be muscling in on St. Patrick in V for Vendetta and the Doctor will finally be returning to American television with a two-hour premiere on Sci-Fi.
A Doctor in the House.
Program the Tardis and the TiVos: The Doctor Who revival will finally come to American shores this March, when the Sci-Fi Channel begins airing Season One. (Via Triptych Cryptic.) I guess this means I’ll have to give up the Sci-Fi boycott, but, then again, I guess I gave it up in principle when I bought the first season of the new Battlestar Galactica last weekend.
Paranoid Androids.
Cybermen 2.0. Is there a Doctor in the house? (By way of Triptych Cryptic.)
Longtime Companion.
Sarah Jane (Elisabeth Sladen), one of the Doctor’s most memorable companions from the Pertwee-Baker years, will return in Season 2 of the Who revival (along with the Cybermen.) How ’bout Harry and the Brigadier while we’re at it?
Doctor Who?
At first I thought this might be an April Fools joke…but, no, it seems that Christopher Eccleston has already tired of Doctor Who after 13 episodes and will be replaced for the recently-announced second season. Phew, thank goodness for Gallifreyan regeneration.
Gallifrey Needs Little People.
By way of Quiddity, the BBC’s Dr. Who revival runs into trouble trying to cast actors of diminuitive stature — they’re all busy being Oompa Loompas and Gringotts goblins for Willy Wonka and Harry Potter IV respectively. Somewhere, Jack Purvis is smiling.
Man out of Time.
BBC One releases a very teaser-ish teaser for the Doctor Who revival. (Via AICN and Triptych Cryptic.)
Exterminate.
Dark Horizons posts some pics of the 2004-era Daleks, soon to be seen on BBC’s Doctor Who revival. No word on if Davros is joining the fun. (And, yes, I’m just going to maintain the ridiculous pretense that there might actually be people out there who give a rip about the frelling Daleks right now.)
The Doctor Meets the Grid (and the Matrix).
Filming on the new Doctor Who runs afoul of British anti-terrorism forces. The article also has one of the first pics up of Christopher Eccleston as The Doctor. Between this and the Batman post above, I know I’m starting to sound like the fanboy Joan Rivers…but what’s up with the lousy costume? Surely, any Time Lord worth his salt would wear something a mite more quirky.
Bend it like Baker, Pertwee, and Davison.
Word is BBC’s new Dr. Who will face David Beckham and a handful of other celebrities when the Autons take over Madame Tussaud’s in the forthcoming new series. I hadn’t heard that Christopher Eccleston has been confirmed as the ninth Doctor before, either. That’s not bad, although he’d probably have made a better Master.
Where my K-9s at?
So, I don’t know what’s stranger…the claim that P. Diddy, Snoop, and Jay-Z are allegedly donning rubber masks for the new Dr. Who revival on BBC, or the assertion that Diddy’s got a full-size gold-plated Dalek of bling. Puff Davros? Diddy Digs Daleks? I think somebody’s having me on. (By way of Triptych Cryptic.)
Gallifreyan Comeback.
In the wake of Blake’s 7‘s return, the BBC announces it’s finally bringing back the Doctor (and hopefully the Tardis, the Master, the Daleks, the Cybermen, Davros, K-9, Sarah and Harry, the Brigadier, etc. etc.) No word yet on what form he’ll take for his ninth incarnation.
Wormholes and Timelords.
As I mentioned earlier, the first of the last eleven episodes of Farscape begin tonight at 8pm on the Sci-Fi channel. This might be your last chance to pick up on one of the great sci-fi TV shows (Here’s a primer for new viewers.) And, from one great sci-fi TV show to another, Tomb of Horrors links to this BBC fellow prank-calling Tom Baker in the guise of the fourth Doctor…Baker comes off as remarkably good-humored about the whole thing.
Gallifreyan Impound.
In a dispute between London’s police force and the BBC, the latter wins the Tardis.
Off with his head.
BBC kills the Giles Doctor Who rumors mentioned here on Tuesday.
Sci-Fi Crossover.
Current rumor has it that Rupert Giles of Buffy (Anthony Stewart Head) will take on the mantle of Doctor Who for BBC next year. That’s pretty decent casting, I suppose…now can we get Sean Bean as The Master?
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