In advance of the season finale of Doctor Who in the UK, we felt you should get this refresher lesson.
I gotta admit, when I saw this, I thought it was a leftover promo bit from when the original H2G2 series was done. I think Douglas Adams would approve.
The two-part finale to the 31st season of Doctor Who will feature The Daleks, The Cybermen, The Sontarans, and the return of River Song, the woman who may or may not be the Doctor’s mother. Or ex-wife. Or bookie. Whatever.
According to Digital Spy UK, producer/overseer Steven Moffet is writing both episodes, entitled The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang. The Doctor and his assistant Amy Pond have been dealing with a large glowing crack in the space/time continuum all season, along with Amy’s neurotic betrothed. It is expected this two-parter will resolve the former storyline, if not the latter as well. With all those alien bad guys oozing around, there might not be time. Broadcast time, that is: Doctor Who is entirely about time.
The shows will air June 19 and 26th in the United Kingdom and June 26th and July 3 on BBC America. After that, the Doctor zots off to The Sarah Jane Adventures to meet his old friend and former assistant and recurring playmate…. for the first time.
Appearing at the Apple Store in Soho to promote Doctor Who on iTunes, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Steven Moffat discuss the upcoming
season, what the Eleventh Doctor is like, what role new
companion Amelia Pond plays, and who’s coming back. Enjoy.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Fox network has passed on Torchwood after reading Russell T. Davies’ script.
Perhaps that’s when they discovered the lead character, an American who cannot stay dead for very long, is omnisexual… and that’s a critical part of his character.
BBC Worldwide stated “BBC
Worldwide Productions and the Fox Broadcasting Company have mutually
agreed not to progress together with a 13-episode serialized Torchwood
format. We are currently in
discussion with several interested networks.” Former Torchwood and Doctor Who producer and now BBC Worldwide American agent Jane
Tranter said they were still making progress in placing the vaguely more adult Doctor Who spin-off. “It’s
very much ongoing and very much alive,” Tranter said.
We’ll see. What American executives perceive as fit for your eyes differs – greatly – from their British counterparts.
It’s old-timers week on the next season of The Sarah Jane Adventures, due to begin airing this fall. The intrepid former companion will be reunited with the Doctor – for the first time. And her predecessor will be around to join in the action.
Matt Smith will be crossing over into Sarah Jane, marking his first time he’s taking the character to a different venue. Of course, the Doctor’s appeared with Sarah Jane Smith a great many times in a great many incarnations; in fact, she’s met and worked with most of the Doctors to date.
What’s surprising is that her immediate predecessor, Jo Grant, will also be involved in this two-parter. She left the side of the third Doctor to accompany her beau on a trip to the Amazon and was replaced in the Tardis by Sarah Jane. Katy Manning will be reprising the role.
Moreover, former Doctor Who producer Russell T. Davies, who remains producer of The Sarah Jane Adventures, has written this episode.
No word on the status of K-9 in this episode, although the little bugger will be appearing during the season. The Daleks will not be appearing, and it is therefore expected Katy will be keeping her clothes on.
Okay, you all want to talk about it, go ahead.
Note: this is only for the episode that premiered tonight on BBCAmerica, and the clip show that precedes it. No chatter from those people who downloaded the episodes from England that haven’t aired here yet.
Bad Internet downloaders. Baaaaad.
Sniffle. That’s right folks. The very first story I broke here for you ComicMix fans was the announcement for Chicago’s new convention, C2E2. Founded by the same company that does the popular NY Comic Con, C2E2 has been prepping to hit the Lake Shore side of the famed McCormick Place in downtown Chicago since last February.
The show itself is chock full of features, including an auction for actual Iron Man movie props, a Star Wars celebration featuring Carrie Fischer, a special screening of the new Doctor Who, and a CBLDF Benefit showcase starring Hugo Nominee superscribe Neil Gaiman. In addition to that, stars from Kick-Ass will be on hand for their windy city premiere, as well as a gaggle of special guests from Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Boom! Studios, and yes… even a few Comic Mix folks!
Ok, you twisted my arm gentle readers, let me extrapolate on who from Comic Mix you might catch while on the con floor. First and foremost, you’ll want to check out Brainiac on Banjo’s Mike Gold as he leads his panel “Chicago Vintage Comic Fandom” including a discussion about the late Joe Sarno. If you make your way down artist alley, you’ll be glad you did… as you get to meet Comic Mix’s Andrew Pepoy, or friend of the ‘Mix… Mr. Peter David! Or if you so choose, meet your favorite bearded rabble-rouser…. me. That’s right, look for those cool hip smiley faces and meet Unshaven Comics (that’s Me, Matt Wright, and Kyle Gnepper)! Sure there are other artists who’ll be there too… but face it, you want to come meet us first right?
So, you’ve bid on Iron Man’s Repulsor Gauntlet. You got signatures from Andrew Pepoy and Peter David. You got to tell me how horrible my April Fool’s Day joke was. You even got to see the new Doctor. But what else can you do over the weekend? C2E2 is just to big for us to list out everything here, so, do yourself a favor and check out their site. With plenty of local retailers still selling tickets, now’s your chance to plan a wild weekend in the windy city!
And for you first timers to the city, here are some tips:
The eleventh doctor debuted on British teevee this weekend, in the 31st season of Doctor Who. It will be airing on BBC America on
the 17th, so I’m going to avoid any spoilers. Still, consider this something of a warning; if you don’t wanna know diddley, go no further.
If you’re still with me, here’s what you will need to know: Matt Smith and Karen Gillan will do just fine, thank you. Smith plays the
new doctor as a younger and brasher version of David Tennant’s doctor, which is only appropriate given Smith’s age. He wisely retains the 10th doctor’s joie de vive; he’s having a ton of fun. And Gillan plays the skeptical sense of wonder beautifully in what is this time a particularly demanding role. But the actors are not the most important aspects of doing Doctor Who correctly.
The most important aspects are the writing and the production. I never met a doctor I didn’t like, but the last two guys on the original series were hamstringed by uninspired scripts. No worries here: Steven Moffat is an excellent writer and as producer he truly gets it. His predecessor ran each show at breakneck speed; Moffat kicks it up a notch.
The season-opener presents a particular nightmare for the writer: he has to introduce a new lead character in a show that’s been around for 31 seasons. Origin shows, often called pilots, are a bitch to write because you’ve got to introduce everybody and set everything up while you’re telling a
compelling story. That’s a lot to squeeze into one episode; Moffat had the
additional problem of satisfying those fans of Tennant’s or, for that matter, any of the preceding doctors.
The fact that he pulled it off is a minor miracle. Matt Smith won’t be the only person having fun here.
Science fiction followers take note: The 2010 Hugo nominee list is out. For those not so in-the-know, the Hugo awards (named for Amazing Stories’ creator Hugo Gernsback) have been recognizing great work in Science Fiction or Fantasy since 1955, and have recently added comic books to their categories under consideration. This year’s nominees are an amazing bunch; Allow us to share some highlights.
In the fight for comic book supremacy this year, fan favorite Neil Gaiman leads off in the “Best Graphic Story” category with his Batman: Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? Going toe-to-toe with Neil though comes a bevvy of other hot comic talent including Bill Willingham (with, among other folks, Simone & Ajax‘s Andrew Pepoy) for Fables Vol. 12: The Dark Ages, as well as Paul Cornell for Captain Britain And MI13 Volume 3: Vampire State, and Kaja and Phil Foglio for their Girl Genius Volume 9. Rounding out the nominees comes Howard Taylor for Schlock Mercenary.
Also interesting this year will be the fight for “Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form”. Where Peter Jackson’s Oscar winning Lord Of The Rings: The Return of the King was once crowned with this Hugo, 2010 pits James Cameron’s 3D epic Avatar against District 9, the Star Trek reboot, Pixar’s Up, as well as Moon by Duncan Jones. Without his ex to steal his thunder, will Cameron walk away with the award? Only attending and supporting members of the AussieCon could tell you. The awards will be given September 5th.
For a complete listing of nominees, simply check it out after the jump.
Here’s something you don’t hear every day – a TV producer saying he is fine with his new reduced budget.
Doctor Who producer Steven Moffat said he is not too concerned about the budget cuts on the upcoming season, which has been largely filmed already. Moffat told Digital Spy “Budget cuts are tough. I don’t like them, but they force you to be creative.
No one is going to say the show looks cheaper because it doesn’t.”
This man will get as much work from the BBC as he wants …
but he might not ever get a budget increase again.
Moffat went on to say “There will never be enough money to
make Doctor Who. We could spend Avatar’s budget and still ask for more, because it’s a show that’s set in every point in history and every place in the
universe.” He did acknowledge he could easily spend any amount allocated for the program.
The new season of Doctor Who starts in Britain on April 3
and in the United States on April 17.
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