Doctor Who

[erith]

I loved seeing the big collared Time Lords again as well as the other references to the classic series.

What about that How The Hell Can They Get Out Of That cliffhanger?

[WebWarlock]

Again. WOW.

I am liking this new Master. I was worried that the manic attitude would get on my nerves, but a new Doctor needs a new Master.

And

Spoiler:

his wife????

what's up with that?? Mind you not a complaint, but this one has me very curious.

Jack was great, as usual. The Doctor was of course great.

SOOOO looking forward to next week.

Tim

[Feena]

The Finale is nearly 52 minutes long. Do you think the TV station will try and cut it or put it in a longer slot?

[Sheridan]

With regard to the Torchwood team:

Spoiler:

Being sent off to the Himilayas. Am I the only one who hopes they get eaten by a Yeti?

They do write Captain Jack differently when he's on Doctor Who than Torchwood and his character definitely benefits from it. The characer is a larger than life maverick but on Torchwood they try to make him the guy who enforces the rules, and it just didn't work, hopefully someone was taking notes this time and gives Trochwood a kick up the rear when it returns later in the year.
Oh and on the Valiant do you think they have an all female fighter squadron?

[Feena]

Owen and Gwen definitely, I like Ianto and Tosh

[erith]

The characer is a larger than life maverick but on Torchwood they try to make him the guy who enforces the rules, and it just didn't work

He had also been abandoned by the Doctor, killed quite a few times and had to hang around Cardiff for 150 years so he wasn't a happy Captain, but he's going to be happier next series which I'm definitely going to prefer.

Oh and on the Valiant do you think they have an all female fighter squadron?

I had just watched 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' and wished Angelina Jolie with her eyepatch had been in charge of the Valiant.

[Feena]

This is brilliant interview Freema did this week on the Virgin Breakfast Show. One of the callers is a little strange!!

Radio Show

[Knock yourself out]

I had just watched 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' and wished Angelina Jolie with her eyepatch had been in charge of the Valiant.

didn't we all?

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

[BBOvenGuy]

Spoilers for "Last of the Time Lords" have been posted here:

http://spoiledrot.blogspot.com/

Are they real? You be the judge:

Spoiler:

- The Doc doesn't regenerate.
- Martha remembers something from an earlier episode that really helps her.
- Captain Jack isn't a Timelord. The truth itself would break your heart and, not wanting to ruin anything for saturday, I really can't tell you. The only clues I'm prepared to give: FOB, the last days of the Time War, Wolverine)
- Tish needs a shorter skirt
- Leo could have worked at Butlins.
- Jack and the Doctor can never meet again (at least in this regeneration)
- Not all 'Doctors' died in the Time War
- There is a sort of 'reset' button, but it doesn't apply to three people.
- Handsome guys with 5 o'clock shadows tend to die in a very unvaliant way.
- "You won't!" "I will."
- "Nostalgia isn't what it used to be." (a charcter then dies)
- The Toclafane are unused Timelord regenerations. They're angry as hell!

[Feena]

This is interesting....it's from the voices coming out of the watch in the Family of Blood. I posted it a couple of pages back but didn't get the significance until someone on TWoP mentioned it.

THE DOCTOR: Space...and Time... Eternity and infinity within the Vortex. The secret lies within, I'm trapped, I'm caged inside the cold and the metal and the dark, but waiting, always waiting.

Contained, encircled, enclosed, the neverending circle goes round and round and round. Awaiting release. The power within, the power of a Time Lord, such a precious prize, protect me. I will return. I am returning, even now. And the Human will fall.

Some of those spoilers would be good if they're true, but not

Spoiler:

Jack and the Doctor can never meet again (at least in this regeneration)

[Feena]

Ony 3 1/2 hours to go!!

There's a very scary (disturbing not frightening) spoiler article in The Sun today. As you can imagine (if you look at the pics) there is a bit of a melt-down about this on OG by a few people *hehe*

Spoiler pics

I've no idea if these are true, but it could be another Harry Potter reference

shhhhhh.....don't say it!!

[BBOvenGuy]

Wow, Outpost Gallifrey was going berserk for the first hour after the episode ran. It seems to have calmed down now. Some people are saying this was the best finale EVER. Others are saying it's the worst finale EVER. In other words, it's business as usual...

I probably won't get the episode downloaded for several more hours, so here are some questions based on what the boards are saying:

Spoiler:

Martha's leaving - at least temporarily. Does it look like she'll be back after the "Titanic" Christmas special?

Does Captain Jack really end up as the Face of Boe?

The Master's dead - but doesn't the Master always die and then come back?

Is Mrs. Saxon really the Rani?

I'm sure these and other questions will keep people busy all the way to Christmas...

[Feena]

I left it for a couple of hours before I went there and there were still over 1,500 online.

I enjoyed it a lot but somehow it didn't feel 'epic' in the same way as the last two Finales. But then that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The last few episodes I've been able to say straight away that I loved it, this one will need re-watching.

Spoiler:

I would say Martha will definitely be back for a few episodes after Christmas. She gives him her phone and tells him that that if it rings he has to come and see her. And she told him exactly how she felt and why she was leaving.

Jack makes a throwaway comment that when he was younger he was the poster boy for the Boeshane Peninsula and was known as 'The Face of Boe".I think my reaction was pretty similar to the Doctor's and Martha's

The Doctor seemed to make pretty certain that the Master can't come back but.... ya never know.

No mention of the Rani but I think there's definitely more to come from Mrs Saxon.

I loved the ending with the ship. Very silly - how on earth did it manage to break inside the TARDIS - but you just knew that when he picked up the lifebelt and turned it over it would say Titanic!

Roll (float?) on Voyage of the Damned.....

It's 177 days to Christmas!!!

[erith]

I liked it but it wasn't as emotional for me as the final episodes of Series 1 and 2.

Spoiler:

Jack is the Face of Boe. Apparently almost immortal humans become big giant heads and Time Lords shrink if they get very old.

I wonder if having Martha on Earth will now mean we get a companion who doesn't come from 21st Century Earth but still gives the Doctor a reason to return there from time to time, not that he needed a reason in the classic series.

[Feena]

I've been on several boards since yesterday and some people have had such an angry reaction that, to be honest, I haven't seen since the Dark Days here.

Spoiler:

Martha
I've not watched Confidential yet or listened to the commentary but apparently RTD and Julie Gardner have said quite plainly that Martha was the rebound companion so that Ten could get over Rose. I thought that was the point of Donna. She was awesome but he still saw her as second-best. I didn't really like Rose that much by the end of S2 (not Billie's fault) but I think I like even less now because her 'perfect companion' has been rammed down our throats. And I resent that.

Also something I find difficult is the way some Rose/Ten shippers are. Apparently on Live Journal it's vicious towards Martha/Freema and there are a few who are on OG too. It just brings back memories of how certain fans reacted to Tara/Amber when she first appeared. And now they feel completely justified and that they've 'won'.

And on to Jack

One of the posters on OG said he spent 20 minutes on the phone to his distraught nephew after the show because his favourite character was going to have his head cut off and end up living in a goldfish bowl. There are people who feel it's spoiled how they feel about Jack and Boe, and will always be there when/if they watch Torchwood.

Obviously YMMV

[SithLordWiccan]

Spoiler:

I thought that was the point of Donna.

Spoiler:

I always though the point of Donna was to make sure "The Runaway Bride" got the lowest ratings of a "Doctor Who" story ever. I mean, for FUCK'S SAKES. I'm still trying to figure out how anyone could resist turning off the TV or changing the channel when they first heard Donna open her mouth.

As for Martha, I must admit that I feel rather ambivalent about her. I obviously don't hate her, but frankly, I wouldn't care one way or the other if she didn't appear in the next series. And it's quite blatantly obvious that the only reason she didn't go with the Doctor last series was so that he can be joined on the Voyage of the Damned by a Special Guest Star (*cough*Kylie*cough*)

As for Jack...well, I consider it to be the sort of thing the Eighth Doctor's "Half-Human" remark should be: a joke not meant to be taken seriously by anyone other than the hardcore left looking for a reason to bitch. (Cause God knows they don't already have enough...)

[Feena]

BBC News for S4 and Torchwood

Spoiler:

Relax - she's coming back, and branching out too...

While the final episode of Series Three, screened last Saturday , saw The Doctor's companion Martha leave to care for her devastated family, and to break the cycle of unrequited love she feels for The Doctor, the production team has now confirmed that the character is set to make a triumphant return in the fourth series.

Freema Agyeman is also set to join the cast of Torchwood, where she will continue to play the character in three new episodes before returning to Doctor Who in the middle of the fourth series.

As Doctor Who's Executive Producer and head writer, Russell T Davies notes: "Series three has gained outstanding reviews and Freema has been a huge part of that success, gaining rave notices for her portrayal of Martha. Now we are taking the character of Martha into brand new territory with a starring role in Torchwood".

"I can't wait to start filming on Torchwood and the new series of Doctor Who," said Freema. "It's a huge new challenge for me and I'm delighted Russell has decided to expand the character of Martha Jones.'"

The new announcement leaves a vacant space in the TARDIS. A new companion for The Doctor, who will join the new series for the entire 13 week run, will be announced shortly.

[BBOvenGuy]

Edited because Feena beat me to it.

But moving on...

In other companion news, Big Finish is in the process of writing out C'rizz and Charlotte Pollard as the Eighth Doctor's audio companions. Sheridan Smith will return to the role of companion Lucie Miller, only they won't be running the Eighth Doctor/Lucie stories on BBC7 again.

And it looks like I'll be avoiding Outpost Gallifrey for a while, because I really liked "Last of the Time Lords." In fact, I think it's my favorite of the three season finales the new show has had so far.

Spoiler:

The first two finales both suffered from Rose Overload. I mean, yeah she was perfectly fine as a character, but for crying out loud. The show is called Doctor Who, not Rose Tyler. I still think she was Russell T. Davies's Mary Sue character. Hey, it happens. It's a wonder they still managed to make a good show with Rose bending things so far out of proportion.

One reason I liked the finale this year is because it felt a lot more personal. David Tennant and John Simm were great in the Master's death scene (although anyone who thinks the Master is absolutely positively finally dead hasn't been watching Doctor Who for very long). The Doctor and the Master have a relationship that's gone back centuries in the series continuity and decades on the screen. It felt a lot more real than the relationship between the Doctor and Rose, which we were pretty much told was the greatest thing in the universe from the moment it was put before us, with nothing to back that up.

Let's see, what else have I seen people complaining about... The little shrunken Doctor? Silly, but tolerable. The "deus ex machina" way that the Doctor was restored? Well, it was a bit flaky, but it wasn't a deus ex machina. Russell T. Davies showed us everything that went into it before he did it - the psychic network, Martha's travels, and so on. And Captain Jack as the Face of Boe? With apologies to sensitive Jack fans out there, I didn't mind that either.

As for the Christmas special, the Doctor has visited the Titanic before. Kate Orman put the Seventh Doctor there in The Left-Handed Hummingbird, which is still one of the best Doctor Who books ever. As Ace said at the time, "I guess it was inevitable we got here eventually..."

[Feena]

*hehe* only by 2 minutes

Spoiler:

I agree that the previous two were too Rose-centric. This is how it should be - the Doctor and the Master. Although personally I'd have liked to see Young!Ten a little bit earlier .

I think Jack = Face of Boe is actually quite logical, some of the anger is on behalf of upset children. Killing Adric off was much more popular

I'm sure the Master will be back somehow, presumably via the ring. I would love it to be John Simm but I don't think it will be.

[WebWarlock]

Now that was cool.

Not as epic in it's scope as the last two, but certainly very good.

I enjoyed it, but I kept saying over and over at the end "Jack is XXXXXXXX??" Mind you I can deal with that. It was a good twist.

Now bring on TORCHWOOD!!!

Tim

[SithLordWiccan]

Kylie Minogue officially cast in "Voyage of the Damned".

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

[BBOvenGuy]

In case anyone's interested, I've uploaded the two songs featured in "The Sound of Drums" and "Last of the Time Lords." Specifically, they're "Voodoo Child" by the Rogue Traders and "I Can't Decide" by the Scissor Sisters.

You'll find them on my ShareBig page:

http://www.sharebig.com/share.php?id=s7ikoqtvtuRZKFft

Feel free to browse around the other stuff I have up, too.

[Feena]

Kylie Minogue officially cast in "Voyage of the Damned".

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

*lol*

Not a fan of the Aussie pixie then

Thanks for the link Bob, I'll go over and start indoctrinating myself in preparation for World Domination

[BBOvenGuy]

Wow, I just popped over to Outpost Gallifrey for a moment, and I think you need a hazmat suit to stay there for very long. What the heck is everyone so upset about? It *is* like the Dark Days here, except that I have no idea what could have provoked such outrage. At least we had a good reason.

I guess it all comes back to the issues of "ownership" and the "vision" of the writer. As someone who is a fan of some stories and an author of others, I can see both points of view. In the case of Doctor Who, which owes its continued existence to the fans who kept it alive from 1989 to 2005, I can see how there could be fans who think of the show as "theirs," and don't like it when Russell T. Davies contradicts their "vision." But on the other hand, Doctor Who is unique among TV shows in that there really is the opportunity for multiple "visions" to exist - i.e. the audio dramas and novels, which contradict each other on a regular basis without much of a hoot being given about it. Not even Star Trek has that kind of freedom and flexibility. And yet, for some it's still not enough.

I guess what I'm saying is - they need to get over it.

[WebWarlock]

So what is the big deal then?

What is everyone fighting about.

I know, board rules, don't bring in other boards' fights here, I am just looking for the Cliff Notes version.

BTW I like this last episode the more I think about it. Lots of stuff going on there.

Tim

[Feena]

"Jack is XXXXXXXX??"

Cliff Notes - "yes he is" and "no he's not".

Spoiler:

Also there is a small section of "Rose/Ten 4 eva" shippers so now that Martha's gone Rose can come back.

And the Kylie-haters have also started up.

Just wait until the companion is announced!

[Feena]

Just wait until the companion is announced!

Unlock the Nuclear Bunker!!!

New companion

Spoiler:

Catherine Tate accepts proposal to star in fourth series.

Catherine Tate is set to return to the TARDIS for the complete 13 week run of Series Four of Doctor Who.

Award winning comedian Tate will reprise her role as Donna, the runaway bride from last year's Christmas special, despite turning down the Doctor's invitation to travel with him at the end of that adventure.

When Catherine was asked if she would like to become The Doctor's new companion at the press screening of The Runaway Bride, she replied, "I would love to, but no one has asked!" Well, now they have.

"Catherine was an absolute star in The Runaway Bride and we are delighted that one of Britain's greatest talents has agreed to join us for the fourth series," announced Doctor Who's executive producer and head writer, Russell T Davies. "Viewers can expect more ambitious storylines and a whole host of guest stars in 2008."

Catherine Tate : "I am delighted to be returning to Doctor Who. I had a blast last Christmas and look forward to travelling again through time and space with that nice man from Gallifrey."

Freema Agyeman who has played Martha Jones, The Doctor's companion throughout the critically acclaimed third series, will return to the show to join The Doctor and Donna mid series.

This should be interesting!

[BBOvenGuy]

I will be open-minded... I will be open-minded...

I'm also running for the hills...

[SithLordWiccan]

Not a fan of the Aussie pixie then

I like her fine. I just hate the idea of Doctor Who Christmas specials turning into a celebrity fest.

Just wait until the companion is announced!

Unlock the Nuclear Bunker!!!

New companion

Spoiler:

Catherine Tate accepts proposal to star in fourth series.

Catherine Tate is set to return to the TARDIS for the complete 13 week run of Series Four of Doctor Who.

Award winning comedian Tate will reprise her role as Donna, the runaway bride from last year's Christmas special, despite turning down the Doctor's invitation to travel with him at the end of that adventure.

When Catherine was asked if she would like to become The Doctor's new companion at the press screening of The Runaway Bride, she replied, "I would love to, but no one has asked!" Well, now they have.

"Catherine was an absolute star in The Runaway Bride and we are delighted that one of Britain's greatest talents has agreed to join us for the fourth series," announced Doctor Who's executive producer and head writer, Russell T Davies. "Viewers can expect more ambitious storylines and a whole host of guest stars in 2008."

Catherine Tate : "I am delighted to be returning to Doctor Who. I had a blast last Christmas and look forward to travelling again through time and space with that nice man from Gallifrey."

Freema Agyeman who has played Martha Jones, The Doctor's companion throughout the critically acclaimed third series, will return to the show to join The Doctor and Donna mid series.

This should be interesting!

WHY?! WHY?! OH, GOD IN FUCKING HEAVEN, WHY?!

[BBOvenGuy]

Okay, following up on my earlier post.

I'm not British, so the only time I've ever seen Catherine Tate is in Doctor Who. I therefore don't know how much of Donna was Catherine and how much was the script.

There was nothing I saw about Donna in "The Runaway Bride" that couldn't be fixed. Just getting her out of that bridal gown and into some normal clothes will go a long way. The other big complaint I had was that she was dense and clueless. That's easy to fix - they can just say her previous encounter with the Doctor was a wake-up call, and now she's much more aware about what's going on in the world around her. I'm not bothered by the fact that she's loud-mouthed and bossy. The Doctor has had loud-mouthed, bossy companions before.

One thing that could actually be interesting is that she's older. Most Doctor Who companions are twentysomethings or even teenagers. Catherine Tate is older than David Tennant. It should bring a different dynamic to the show, one that we've rarely seen before.

So yes, I'm being open-minded. There's no reason to believe this can't work. And we won't know whether or not it does work until next year. There's no reason to start griping now - although I'm sure plenty of people will...