doctor who

Chris Knight's avatar

This past season of Doctor Who has seen some of the best storytelling in the entire forty-five year history of the franchise. More than six months later and I am still as much in awe at “Forest of the Dead” as I am enthralled about what it hinted about the Doctor’s future. And of course there was “The Stolen Earth”/”Journey’s End” two-parter that hailed the return of Davros: possibly the greatest villain in all of fiction.

So is it possible that the now-traditional Christmas special of Doctor Who could be just as up to par with what has already transpired in 2008? More to the point: could this year’s special “The Next Doctor” please be much better than the glorious mess that was last year’s “Voyage of the Damned”?!

In so many words: “Yes yes YES!!!”

“I’m the Doctor! Simply the Doctor! The one, the only, and the BEST!”

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David Tennant, whose madcap mixture of deadly seriousness and clownish buffoonery endeared millions to his portrayal of the Doctor on Doctor Who, is leaving the show after three seasons, it’s being reported tonight.

Tennant will remain for four upcoming Doctor Who specials, including the now-traditional Christmas special, which were already scheduled in lieu of a regular season for the show in 2009 (in order to accommodate the sellout performances of Hamlet that Tennant has been enjoying on the London stage).

But after that, at the end of 2009, expect Tennant’s Tenth Doctor to regenerate and another actor – the eleventh since the show began in 1963 – to take over the role. It will also coincide with the beginning of Stephen Moffatt’s reign as showrunner.

As an aside, I’m starting to understand what it’s usually like for a Doctor Who fan to have the departure of a ...

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A lot of us have been wanting it, and the BBC has delivered: the revived Doctor Who series is now available on iTunes! The first three seasons can now be purchased and downloaded, and hopefully the incredible fourth will be coming soon as well. Strangely, none of the Christmas specials are included, an oversight which I hope will be remedied soon, since “The Runaway Bride” introduced Donna Noble. The BBC has also put all the episodes of Torchwood up on iTunes as well, if you’re aiming to be a completist on the modern Doctor Who saga.

I wonder if this means the Beeb would be up to putting the original Doctor Who series on iTunes also. They stand to make a fortune from “The Deadly Assassin” and “Genesis of the Daleks” alone.

And thanks to Geoff Gentry for passing along the news!...

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This episode seems to have honked off some people. Probably the ones who lost lots of money wagering on the outcome of the cliffhanger from “The Stolen Earth”.

Yeah, it helps to unhinge your mind from common sense and real-world physics while watching “Journey’s End”, the finale for Season 4 (or is that 28?) of Doctor Who. But you know what? I don’t care… ‘cuz this was about the most perfect season finale of a television show that I’ve ever seen, and if this had been the very last episode of Doctor Who ever, it would be enough to let me die a satisfied man.

Okay, if you read this blog you know the drill: “thanks to our Brittish brethren across the pond” for putting it on the Internet after it premiered on the BBC last night, yaddah yaddah, cue the standard screencap and select quotes…

“Now then…

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Proportionally it’s a much a bigger event than a season finale of Lost, or the series finale of The Sopranos. In the annals of television history it’s set to rank up there with the revelation of who shot J.R., or the very last episode of M*A*S*H…

At least ten million people in Great Britain tonight are expected to watch “Journey’s End”, the season finale of Doctor Who. Last week’s episode “The Stolen Earth” ended with the biggest cliffhanger in the show’s nearly half-century of history: The Doctor (currently played by David Tennant) was shot clean through the chest by a Dalek. And then, with Donna and Rose and Captain Jack watching, he began to regenerate.

If Tennant is leaving the show and another actor is about to take his place as The Doctor – a very big deal and something that has happened 9 times already ...

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Before this past week, the last time that Davros had been seen was the 1988 Doctor Who story “Remembrance of the Daleks”. Two decades later and the BBC decided that fiction’s most murderous villain ever deserved an upgrade for the revived series.

The Telegraph in London has an in-depth feature on how Davros was brought back to life. In addition to several conceptual drawings of both Davros and the new red Supreme Dalek, it also talks to the BBC’s artists and engineering team members, who decided early on that Davros’s new look should draw from how the character first appeared in 1975, when Michael Wisher was in the role. From the design of the chair to the sculpting of the prosthetics (which can only be worn once) that Julian Bleach wears for the two-part finale, the BBC staff held nothing back from intentionally making Davros “bigger and scarier” than ...

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Right now it’s the Internet’s most hotly-debated moment of television: the ending of “The Stolen Earth” on Doctor Who. And if you want to know what the buzz is about, here it is. Everything from The Doctor and Rose running toward each other, to that final scene which nobody saw coming…

And here is the BBC’s official trailer for “Journey’s End”, the season finale which premieres this weekend…

If you ever wanted to know why I’ve always been a Doctor Who fan, then now is as good a time as any to find out. “The Stolen Earth” airs in a few weeks on Sci-Fi Channel here in America, if you haven’t seen it yet....

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Sometime this past year, the head accountant at the BBC’s headquarters in London must have looked at Russell T. Davies’ budget request for the episodes of this season’s Doctor Who, especially the two-part finale beginning with “The Stolen Earth”, then broke out in laughter before incredulously asking Davies “ARE YOU NUTS?!?”

This single episode was probably one-third of the entire season’s funding. And there’s still the conclusion next week.

But first, a look at “The Stolen Earth”, beginning with the standard screencap and select quotes…

“Martha, look at the sky. Just look at the sky!”

“You get back inside Sylvia. They always want the women.”

“Do you like my gun?”

“I’m receiving a communication from the Earth-bound ships. They have a message for the human race.”

“There’s nothing I can do. I’m sorry. We’re dead.”

“Soon the Crucible will be complete.”

“Clom… Clom’s gone?! Who’d want Clom?”

“He

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It’s gonna be the craziest Doctor Who title sequence ever…

(Left to Right): Sarah Jane, Mickey, Jackie, Rose, The Doctor, Martha, Captain Jack, Donna

And the rumor is that this still isn’t the full roster of the good guys! Over the past few months I’ve heard that K-9 might be making an appearance too, and maybe even a previous version of The Doctor himself (hmmmm… Paul McGann?). Heck, with that kind of a lineup it wouldn’t surprise me if Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart himself was brought in to order “five rounds, rapid”.

It promises to be the most epic clash in the entire 45-year history of Doctor Who, as The Doctor and his friends face the wrath of Davros and his new Dalek Empire. The two-part season finale begins with “The Stolen Earth” this Saturday on BBC One in Great Britain, on Sci-Fi Channel a few weeks after that in America ...

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