doctor who

Chris Knight's avatar

Russell T. Davies, if you’re reading this, you have made me feel very sorry that I doubted you.

Yeah, there have been some low points during your reign as showrunner on Doctor Who (insert standard derogatory reference to “Love & Monsters” here). But you know what? If the two-part season finale that begins this coming Saturday is anything as good as “Turn Left” was this past weekend, then I will gladly declare that you learned from your mistakes and that you triumphed in every way so far as bringing Doctor Who back is concerned. This past season of Doctor Who might have been the best yet since the series’s revival. And it looks to be going out with a bang…

“It’s sort of complicated. I ended up in his spaceship on my wedding day.”

“What if you turned right? What then?”

“There’s something on your back!”

“We found a body,

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It might be a few days before I can watch “Turn Left”, tonight’s new episode of Doctor Who which the BBC just transmitted across the pond to our Brittish brethren (and after two years nobody has still gotten that little joke!). “Turn Left” marks the return of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler: the Doctor’s first companion after the series was revived after a fifteen-year hiatus. Rose, her family and boyfriend Mickey became trapped in the alternate universe at the end of Season 2 (or 28 if we’re counting the original series) and the Doctor said that there was no way to escape. If you’ve been watching this season’s Doctor Who you know already that she wound up back somehow, beginning with her jaw-dropping silent cameo in the season premiere “Partners in Crime”.

So to celebrate the imminent reunion of the Doctor and one of the most beloved of his companions, ...

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“Baaaah! Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight. What could possibly go wrong?”

This is about the time every season since Doctor Who revived its run that we get “filler” episodes before the big multi-part finale. Sometimes they go well (last year’s “Blink” which was written by Steven Moffat, who has received exceptional praise for the two-part story of the previous weeks) and sometimes they don’t go well at all (cough-cough “Fear Her” and “Love & Monsters” cough-cough). This year it chimes at “Midnight”.

Essentially a one-scene play apart from the bookends, the eponymous planet of “Midnight” is an interesting world: the entire surface is crystal, and the star it orbits puts out enough light to flash-fry exposed flesh. But none of this has stopped a thriving resort from being set up on Midnight’s surface. While Donna gets in ...

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Confirmation at last. There had been some concern that the last photo was not even genuine.

Let there be no doubt now: The greatest murderer in the history of the universe is back.

Credit Planet Gallifrey for the find. They also have a pic of the new Red Dalek over there.

Click the image to magnify the evil…

These seem to be leaked (unintentionally or not) press photos made by the BBC. This one of Davros matches up well with the still from the mid-season trailer a few weeks ago, particularly the indentation on the front near the top of the chair.

Yeah I know, this blog has been going a little crazy lately about the return of Davros to Doctor Who. But ever since news came out almost five years ago that the show was returning after a sixteen-year hiatus, this has been the single bad guy ...

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Last Saturday the BBC transmitted “Forest of the Dead”, the newest episode of Doctor Who (until tomorrow night anyway, when “Midnight” premieres). I watched it on Tuesday.

And it’s taken me this long just to get my thoughts together about it…

“Donna?”

“You said ‘river’, and suddenly we’re feeding ducks.”

“The only story you’ll ever tell… if you survive here.”

“Yo… WHO ARE YOU?!?“

“I’m going to prove it to you, and I’m sorry. I’m really, very sorry.”

“LOOK AT THAT! I’m VERY GOOD!!!”

And that is as far as I dare go with the usual choice quotes from a new Doctor Who episode.

A few weeks ago I finally figured out what the “Media Extender” capability of our Xbox 360 is. So now it’s configured into our home network and now I can watch those wonderful Doctor Who episodes (uploaded onto BitTorrent courtesy of our Brittish brethren) on ...

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This has got to be the worst-kept secret in the history of television. But with three weeks left before the two-part finale begins for this season’s Doctor Who, the BBC is still refusing to confirm that the big baddie this year is Davros. How could it not be? Season 1 of the revived series ended with a plot by the Dalek Emperor. The following year gave us the first-ever clash between the Daleks and the Cybermen. 2007 hailed the return of The Master (who last menaced The Doctor in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie). The show will be on hiatus for one season so that David Tennant can fulfill stage obligations in London, and for that reason alone I doubt Russell T Davies is going to leave us hanging with The Rani or The Valeyard.

Gotta admire the BBC though for keeping a tight ship. Until possibly yesterday, ...

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What, you think that helping with a musical production, coining a new phrase and even an encounter with evil incarnate would keep me from doing a review of “Silence in the Library”, this past week’s new episode of Doctor Who?! The action never stops on this blog, bay-bee!

“We’re near the equator… so this must be BIOGRAPHIES!”

“Without death they would be only comedies.”

“A million million lifeforms… and silence in the library.”

“Message follows: Run. For God’s sake run.”

“It’s the Fifty-First Century. That’s like donating a park bench.”

“It’s moved.”

“I’m a time-traveler. I point and laugh at archaeologists.”

“Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they’re wrong. Because it’s not irrational.”

“Doctor. Please tell me you know who I am.”

“Hello. Are you in my television?”

“My grandfather lasted a day. He kept talking about his shoelaces.”

“Yeah. You

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Last week the BBC aired “The Unicorn and the Wasp”, the newest episode of Doctor Who and yeah I downloaded it courtesy of some good British chaps, but I didn’t have time to give it a proper write-up. Trust me though: it’s a very entertaining episode. How can the Doctor playing a grandiose game of Clue (or Cluedo as it’s called in Great Britain) with Agatha Christie not be good?

There is no Doctor Who this week because of the 2008 Eurivision Song Contest, but it’ll return next week with “Silence in the Library”.

But the BBC didn’t let fans of the Doctor go through this weekend completely empty-handed. Check out this new trailer for the remainder of this season…

Yes, Rose is back and she’s all over this and I am very glad to see her in action again ‘cuz she became one of my favorite companions. But what ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Usually I post some choice quotes from whatever new episode of Doctor Who (the ones that I’m watching courtesy of good chaps who post ’em for download right after they premiere on BBC One in Great Britain) that I’m reviewing. I’m gonna forgo doing that this week, mainly ‘cuz (a) I’ve a few more projects on my plate this evening and (b) I’m still trying to decide how much I actually liked “The Doctor’s Daughter” …

This episode picks up where last week’s “The Poison Sky” left off: with the TARDIS veering off without warning to parts unknown while the Doctor, Donna and Martha get knocked around inside. It lands on the war-torn planet Messaline, and upon exiting the TARDIS the trio is promptly captured by armed militants. These guys immediately take the Doctor at gunpoint, force his hand into some weird machine which takes a tissue sample, and it ...

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I guess there’s no point in denying that I’m a longtime fan of the British science-fiction series Doctor Who, what with these reviews that I do of the new episodes even before they broadcast here in the states. Just wish that I could have done last season as much as I’m doing this one or the 2006 season.

So this weekend most Yanks got to see “The Fires of Pompeii” via the Sci-Fi Channel. While the Brits were enjoying the premiere on BBC One of the conclusion of the two-part story that began last week with “The Sontaran Stratagem”.

Cue the standard screengrab and select non-spoilerish quotes…

“It can’t be stopped. It’s everywhere. The whole planet.”

“Look what happens every time that Doctor appears!”

“Good work for a female.”

“I’m stuck. On Earth, like an ordinary person. Like a human! How rubbish is that?! Sorry no offense but

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