Doctor Who

[Knock yourself out]

Guess who the readers of Doctor Who Magazine think is the best Doctor ever?

[BBOvenGuy]

Guess who the readers of Doctor Who Magazine think is the best Doctor ever?

Well, one has to wonder just how many Doctors some of those readers have actually seen. Ask that question again in ten years and see if you get the same answer. I'll grant you that it's possible, but not a sure thing.

Meanwhile, promo pics are out for The Sarah Jane Adventures!!!



Here's the cast.



Sarah's attic. Note the photo of the Brigadier next to Sarah's hand in the second shot.



Sarah and her sidekick Maria Jackson, in trouble already.

The premiere is scheduled for January 1 at 16:50. More details can be found here:

http://www.unitnews.co.uk/story.php?slu ... cle_id=824

[erith]

There's a short interview with Tony Head at the end of the Doctor Who - Nightmare of Black Island audiobook. He talks about the speculation that he was to play the Master in School Reunion, Roger Delgado, and that he would have quite liked to play the next incarnation of the Master.

[Feena]

I've just bought some of the audiobooks, but not listened to them yet. They're read by Tony Head, Shaun Dingwall and Don Warrington (UK President in RotC).

Here's a picture of the Spider Empress from The Runaway Bride





Sarah Parish described it as being "very heavy" and "outrageously uncomfortable". She spent four hours in make-up to get ready for it, had to spend 12 hours in it at a time, and she had two men working her back-end!

[BBOvenGuy]

Don Warrington (UK President in RotC).

Also Rassilon in several Big Finish audio adventures.

That's a pretty neat spider outfit. Looks like they're going all out for The Runaway Bride.

[Feena]

Posted on Freema Agyeman.com

We have quite an early present today. With just nine days left to the post xmas-special trailer for series three, "TaraLivesOn" has an extensive description of the Doctor Who portion of the BBC Spring 2007 Launch Trailer.

As we posted a few days ago, while this particular trailer won't be seen by the public, it does contain the first look at series three and should have some similarities to the upcoming trailer.

Description of trailer, with screencaps

The picture that launched a thousand (tabloid) headlines and exploding fanboys

the Doctor is laying on the middle-left side of the bed seemingly concentrating no-where in particular on the ceiling. Martha is trying to lay down but there's not even a body's width of space She says: "Budge up a bit then" Doctor still in distraction, slides a little to his left. she wedges in a bit saying "Not much room. Us two here. Same bed. Tongues will wag."

[erith]

Here's a picture of the Spider Empress from The Runaway Bride

I saw a close up of her face in a newspaper today. My youngest daughter is only 3 and somehow I think she'll be getting nightmares for Christmas if she can stay awake to watch it. Anyone know if it's on at the usual time? We don't have any of the Chrissy TV mags yet.

The picture that launched a thousand (tabloid) headlines and exploding fanboys

That explains some of the comments I've been hearing about the Doctor and Martha relationship.

[Feena]

Yes, it's on at 7.00 pm again

The BBC have a new Christmas trailer which is on their site, not seen it on TV so far.

I am beyond excited!!!

click on Ten's head at the bottom of the page

[erith]

Thanks, Feena. Plenty of time to get home from the in-laws then.

I'm getting very curious about the Sarah Jane series. Will it be an after school series for children or more like the series the BBC used to show on Sunday afternoons? So that's the DW Christmas special, the beginning of the Sarah Jane Adventures and the end of the first series of Torchwood all coming at about the same time.

[BBOvenGuy]

I'm getting very curious about the Sarah Jane series. Will it be an after school series for children or more like the series the BBC used to show on Sunday afternoons?

It's supposed to be for children, but some reviewers who have seen the first episode are comparing it to the "old school" Doctor Who series, back when Elisabeth Sladen was on then. That sounds good to me!

[erith]

It's supposed to be for children, but some reviewers who have seen the first episode are comparing it to the "old school" Doctor Who series

That's good. Better than I was expecting.

[Feena]

Sci Fi are showing S3 in the summer

We don't get it until the spring so you won't be too far behind us this time

[BBOvenGuy]

Here are a couple of preview clips I've uploaded:

"Blood of the Daleks" - an MP3 promo for the first episode of Paul McGann's new Eighth Doctor audio series, which premieres on BBC7 next weekend.

The Sarah Jane Adventures - a RealMedia clip from the New Year's Day premiere.

Meanwhile, tomorrow is "The Runaway Bride!!!"

[Feena]

I really enjoyed The Runaway Bride

I thought it was really funny, laugh-out-loud at parts No spoilers for people yet to watch, but it was great. I didn't miss Rose at all. I think it was a good idea to have Donna as a stop-gap companion, she was very different, and full of wise words at the end

[SithLordWiccan]

Does anyone know when Doctor Who is coming back to the CBC? It hasn't been on lately due to Christmas stuff.

[erith]

We loved The Runaway Bride. Really good fun and perfect for Christmas Day.

Wanna see Series 3 right now.

[BBOvenGuy]

So did anyone else notice that Anthony Stewart Head was the narrator for the Christmas Day edition of Doctor Who Confidential? I wonder if that means he'll make another Doctor Who appearance in one incarnation or another.

[Feena]

So did anyone else notice that Anthony Stewart Head was the narrator for the Christmas Day edition of Doctor Who Confidential? I wonder if that means he'll make another Doctor Who appearance in one incarnation or another.

I hope so. What with narrating that, and one of the new audio books, he's keeping his hand in with Who. What did you think of TRB, Bob?

[BBOvenGuy]

What did you think of TRB, Bob?

Not my favorite episode ever, but good enough Christmas Day entertainment. I think they overdid it with the spider queen - they poured so much into how she looked that she wasn't really able to move around or interact with the Doctor, and that weakened the confrontation between the two.

As I said after I saw that preview clip, the thing that struck me most was how much it felt like a pilot episode, as if we'd been watching a show called Rose, and now we were watching David Tennant in a spinoff called Doctor Who.

It also felt a lot like the 1996 TV movie to me - which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Feena]

I think I'm 10 again

I really enjoyed The Sarah Jane Adventures, easily as much as The Runaway Bride. I just hope when the BBC show this 'children's' programme later in the year that they repeat it at a time I can watch it!

The Torchwood finale is later tonight, but I doubt I'll enjoy it as much as this!

[BBOvenGuy]

Two words - Sonic lipstick!!!

Yes, that was lots of fun. Now I'm really looking forward to more Sarah Jane Adventures later on this year.

And on another note, the first of Paul McGann's BBC7 audio dramas, "Blood of the Daleks," premiered on Sunday, and it was really good. You can still catch it all this week through BBC7's "Listen Again" feature:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7/listenagain/sunday/#evening

[Feena]

2006 Preliminary Nebula Award

Brook West, Nebula Award Report editor, announces the Preliminary Ballot for the Nebula Awards® for 2006. SFWA members may nominate no more than five works in each category.

The final ballot will be mailed in early March.

Scripts:

Howl's Moving Castle - Hayao Miyazaki, Cindy Davis Hewitt, and Donald H. Hewitt (Studio Ghibli and Walt Disney Pictures, U.S. Premier 10 Jun05. Based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones.)

The Girl in the Fireplace - Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, BBC/The Sci-Fi Channel, Oct06 (broadcast 10 Oct06))

Batman Begins - Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer (Warner Bros., released 17 Jun05)

Steven Moffat's response to the thread on OG

Eh? What? What's this?

[erith]

I found this on Outpost Gallifrey.

The Daily Mirror (which only a few days ago broke the Derek Jacobi casting story) is now reporting that an animated Doctor Who cartoon is being produced, to air as part of Totally Doctor Who next year. According to the article, David Tennant and Freema Agyeman will voice the Doctor and Martha in the animated story, and Anthony Head will play a new role (not Mr. Finch from "School Reunion").

The cartoon will have 13 parts, comprising a single story titled "Infinite Quest"; Russell T Davies tells the newspaper, "The Doctor and his assistant Martha follow a trail of clues across wild and wonderful alien worlds, to find the location of the legendary lost spaceship, the Infinite."

http://www.gallifreyone.com/news.php

[SithLordWiccan]

DOCTOR Who chiefs are bringing back his arch-rival The Master.

And favourite to play the renegade Timelord is Life on Mars star John Simm.

The Master’s return will be the major twist of the third series, which starts in the spring. But he will not appear until the end.

Bosses have held talks with John, 36 — who plays cop Sam Tyler in Life on Mars — and hope he will sign up soon. An insider said: “He’s brilliant and we would love to get him on board.”

The Master is best known for hypnotising people by fixing them with an intense stare — and his catchphrase, “I am the Master and you will obey me”.

His Tardis has a chameleon circuit which allows it to change colour. And the Master’s weapon of choice is the Tissue Compression Eliminator — which reduces its targets to doll size.

John would be the seventh person to play The Master. Previous actors include Anthony Ainley and Julia Roberts’ brother Eric.

TV Biz can also reveal that Shakespearean actor Sir Derek Jacobi, 68, will play another Who foe — The Professor. He poses as a good guy but the Doctor (David Tennant) discovers the truth when The Professor dies and regenerates.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2001 ... 80,00.html

[erith]

His Tardis has a chameleon circuit which allows it to change colour.

[Feena]

The Sun are usually pretty good with their spoilers, but I think they might have got that one wrong!!!

Or maybe he's managed to update his model after the Time War so he can colour co-ordinate with his clothes.....ummm....it would be black then!!!

I've booked up to go to another Convention this year, in Birmingham (UK not Alabama).

Guests lined up at the moment include Ianto & Bilis Manger from Torchwood, Romanas I and II, Leela & Ian Chesterton! Oh, and Roj Blake is dropping in too

[BBOvenGuy]

Sir Derek Jacobi played the Master in "Scream of the Shalka," the online flash-animation story starring Richard E. Grant as a different Ninth Doctor. Maybe the fact that he's appearing on the TV series this year has touched off a new set of rumors.

Meanwhile, Outpost Gallifrey reports that Sylvester McCoy will be joining the Royal Shakespeare Company's new production of King Lear. He'll be playing the Fool to Ian McKellern's Lear. Now that's something I'd like to see...

[Feena]

I'm really looking forward to Derek Jacobi and John Simm appearing, they're both great, and I love Life on Mars (new series starts Tuesday!!)

Paul Cornell has written an interesting piece about 'canon' in his blog

It was Paul Castle who answered his own question on the Outpost Gallifrey forums: what’s most likely to set Doctor Who fans at each other’s throats? If anything can, ‘canon’ can.

It’s my belief, indeed, that that’s what ‘canon’ is for. That that’s all that it’s for. Because ‘canon’ is purely and simply about authority, real or assumed, and nothing else. Let me explain…

It's probably partly in anticipation of the rumoured adaptation of his book Human Nature for S3.

[erith]

Guests lined up at the moment include Ianto & Bilis Manger from Torchwood, Romanas I and II, Leela & Ian Chesterton! Oh, and Roj Blake is dropping in too

Romana II and Leela are two of my favourite companions. It's such a shame there won't be any more Gallifrey audios.

Paul Cornell has written an interesting piece about 'canon' in his blog

I love reading the canon threads on OG. Until they get bad tempered. Ever since I boxed up all my Doctor Who books quite a few years ago I stopped regarding them as part of Doctor Who continuity, but after giving my daughter some of the 8th Doctor books to read I decided to start reading them again myself. So now they're back as part of DW continuity. Just becaiuse I say so. I'm reading the 10th Doctor books at the moment (although I've already listened to the audiobooks) then I'll get back on to the past Doctors.

[BBOvenGuy]

The Independent appears to have confirmed the rumors about the Master's return in a new interview with John Simm:

http://news.independent.co.uk/people/pr ... 258800.ece

He'd like to do some comedy "in warm weather - preferably on a beach. I always seem to be doing drama in horrible brick locations." And for years he's been dying to play a proper villain or a serial killer. The problem is Simm still looks 35 going on 15, but finally he's got the chance: he's just been cast in Dr Who - as the Master, the Doctor's evil nemesis. He'll be quite brilliant, of course, but heaven knows how he'll cope with a whole new horde of obsessive Tardis fans.

I wonder if they'll explain how the Master survived the Time War, let alone the fact that when we last heard of him, he'd been eaten by the Doctor's TARDIS. But then again, given what Paul Cornell said about Doctor Who and "canon," they might just leave it to the viewers' imaginations.

Previous incarnations of the Master include:

Roger Delgado, opposite Jon Pertwee
Peter Pratt, in "The Deadly Assassin," opposite Tom Baker
Geoffrey Beevers, in "The Keeper of Traken," opposite Tom Baker, and more recently in two Big Finish audio dramas opposite Sylvester McCoy. He's also married to Caroline John, who played assistant Liz Shaw.
Anthony Ainley, opposite Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy
Eric Roberts, in the 1996 FOX TV movie, opposite Paul McGann
Jonathan Pryce, in the parody story, "Curse of the Fatal Death," opposite Rowan Atkinson, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant and Joanna Lumley
Derek Jacobi, in "Scream of the Shalka," opposite Richard E. Grant