A Doctor Who Podcast
As mentioned in the most recent Traveling the Vortex, BBC has released a video of Eoin Colfer discussing his eBook for the 50th anniversary.
The Guardian has also released an extract from the story. You can read that here.
The past few weeks have been a veritable who’s who of actors being announced for guest star spots on the new season of Doctor Who. David Warner (TIME BANDITS, TRON, STAR TREK VI, TITANIC), Liam Cunningham (FIRST KNIGHT, CLASH OF THE TITANS, Game Of Thrones), Dougray Scott (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, ENIGMA), Ben Browder (Farscape, Stargate SG1) Michael McShane (ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES, CLERKS, SPAWN) and most recently Dame Diana Rigg (The Avengers, ON HER MAJESTIES SECRET SERVICE, Mystery!) and her daughter Rachael Stirling (SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, CENTURIAN).
And now, there’s rumors circulating that MAY be more than rumors, that Tom Baker will be returning to the show for the 50th anniversary.
Ordinarily we’d write it off as “yeah, right”, BUT STV’s website had a report saying:
“Former Time Lord Tom Baker will return to ‘Doctor Who’ to mark the show’s 50th anniversary. The 78-year-old actor, who played The Doctor from 1974 to 1981 on BBC One’s iconic sci-fi drama, is being lined up to reprise his role in 2013. A ‘Doctor Who’ insider told The Daily Express: ”It will be fitting to have Tom back to mark the 50 years. He was a big part of the show’s success and is much-loved by the fans.”
Check out the full article here.
The interesting part here is STV is reporting something reported by The Daily Express, who claims to have gotten the info from a “Doctor Who insider”. It may be something, or it may be nothing. If something, I would love to be kept in the dark until the credit sequence of that episode runs across my tv screen. But I’d also love to be barraged with a series of announcements over the next few weeks confirming all the remaining Doctors are coming back. Until then… who knows?
** The following article contains SPOILERS **
Jenna-Louise Coleman was announced as the new companion to the Doctor today by the BBC and Steven Moffat. We’ve known since Christmas that Amy and Rory would be making an exit from the show sometime this season, and that the Doctor would find a new companion. Well the details are here (at least some of them, so wait no longer.)
The 25 year old from Blackpool has already made a name for herself on the soap Emmerdale, having been nominated for a National Television Award, British Soap Award, and TV Choice Award.
More details can be found here, from the official BBC Doctor Who Page, and BBC America has a fun selection of clips of some of her other work. An interview with the actress about being chosen for Doctor Who can be found on the BBC News page.
Here’s the tweet stream from the official BBC Doctor Who Twitter Page:
Jenna-Louise Coleman announced as the new Doctor Who companion. More to come….
“I want to get started already” says Jenna. “I’m a huge fan of the show”. Of her favourite companion “Between Billie Piper & Karen Gillan”
“Matt Smith did my audition with me. It was fun and I felt like we were in it together” says Jenna.
Steven: “We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt – he had to keep up!”
There will be 6 episodes this year, including the Xmas Special. Then 8 next year. Jenna’s character will first be seen at Xmas.
No announcement on plans for the 50th anniversary given today.
Steven “Amy & Rory will leave in a final encounter with the Weeping Angels in ep 5. Not everyone gets out alive and I mean it this time”
Jenna has asked us to remind you that she does not have and doesn’t plan to have a Twitter account. Beware of imposters!
For an 8th Doctor fan like myself, this years Gally celebration was an especially poignant one. I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing him, and a little star struck by the mere prospect of it.
But today takes the cake. Today I walked into the fan room, and had my breath taken away by the sight of the fully restored TARDIS console from Doctor Who: The Movie. McGann’s console. Behind ropes to shield it from the overzealous, (myself included) I watched as the operator explained the process of restoring it, of replacing halogen bulbs with leds, (apparently after five minutes of being lit, the halogens began producing smoke and burning smells from within…) the christmas tree light indicators that allowed the blinking, the sound chip chock full of clips from not only the Movie, but nearly all of Who, (the door lever makes the door noise, a random switch makes the view screen noise, and the dematerialization circuit causes the groan. Or sometimes, stalls out and the time rotor flickers and dies! And all of this is set to a remote control, and the console responds to an aimed sonic screwdriver blast too!) The polished wood gleamed from the flashbulbs of dozens of cameras going off around me, the console the subject of some very exclusive paparazzi.
The room emptied a bit and men came in, carrying suitcases and plastic sacks, announcing they had found “it”. Intrigued, I leaned in, only to be bustled aside by a man carrying a mannequin body. “It” turned out to be McGann’s original costume worn for the movie. Out of the bag came the shirt, the trousers, the belt, the vest, the waistcoat… And suddenly, there, standing NEXT to the console was the 8th Doctor. Or at least his clothes. But they say clothes make the man.
We followed this up immediately with a photo shoot with the 8th Doctor himself. For a mere $25 bucks, I was hustled into a room, strode up to Paul McGann, shook his hand confidently and said, “I’m a big fan of your work, thank you sir, so much for coming to America to this convention.” He seemed genuinely touched, and was warm and friendly for the 30 seconds we spent together taking that photo. Mel melted at his touch and the sound of his voice, but managed to stay upright for the picture. For a moment, I was afraid we’d have a Beatles moment and she’d have to be carried from the room after fainting! And of course my confident exterior fell apart later. I held it together just long enough to leave the room, and won’t bore you with the details of the fanboy squealing that escaped me just after.
But I’m pretty sure they heard me back in Kansas.
We ended with the McGann panel, or interview, conducted by Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Briggs of Big Finish fame. And the question was asked how did he feel about fan reaction. McGann paused, and said he’s spent a lot of time frustrated, because he felt (and sometimes still feels) that the 8th Doctor is “tolerated”. That he’s not “canonical”. But then Barnaby said “you are to Russell T. Davies, and you are to Stephen Moffatt.” Let me tell you, the room erupted. And for someone who has always been a fan of the 8th Doctor, and Paul McGann, and gets frustrated by folks who DON’T feel he’s cannon, well… a more glowing argument can not be made.
Lastly, someone asked about the “new” outfit that he sported at a con long ago. McGann laughed and said it was partially selfish, because he was tired of all the photos circulating, since the only ones are the promo pics from the Movie. So he consulted a friend and costumer and put the leather jacket together. And he’s itching to wear it again. But BBC is apparently “weird” about it, and can’t (or won’t comment on it.)
We can only hope thats because they want to unveil him wearing it in the 50th anniversary special…
As seen and heard around the vortex…
* Torchwood: Miracle Day has been nominated in the Outstanding Drama Series category of the 23rd Annual GLAAD Awards. GLAAD Media Awards honor outstanding media images of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community that inspire change.
* Gallifrey One’s Network 23 has updated their guest list again, click HERE for the details, but in a nut shell you can cross Tony Lee and Mary Tamm off your autograph list and add Caitlin Blackwood (Young Amy Pond from “The Eleventh Hour”, “The Big Bang”, “Let’s Kill Hitler”, and “The God Complex”, Simon Fisher-Becker (Dorium Maldovar from “The Pandorica Opens”, “A Good Man Goes To War” and “The Wedding Of River Song”), Waris Hussein (Director, “An Unearthly Child”), Nigel Fairs (Big Finish), Daniele Favilli (Angelo Colasanto from Torchwood: Miracle Day), Linda Thorson (Tara King, The Avengers), Travis Richey (Inspector Spacetime on Community), Jay Acovone (Kowalski, Stargate SG-1), and Vernon Wells (Power Rangers).
* Grand Moff Steven continues to dangle bits of Who news before us like string before deranged kittens–that is, without really revealing anything. In an interview published shortly before Christmas, Moffatt said “I can clarify that we start shooting in mid-February, but I can’t tell you what the schedule is.” He later clarified, “We always do 14 because we do the Christmas special as well and obviously we start in the autumn with the Christmas special as part of the run, so it’ll be at least 14.”
In regards to the 50th Anniversary, he hinted there may be more than one special episode… “Why talk in the singular? Again, genuinely, the plans are at an early stage, but we have some very clear ideas about some of the things we’re doing, and I think Doctor Who fans and kids will think it’s the best thing ever. We’ve got a load of very big plans – the mere fact that we’re talking about this two years before the event should tell you how seriously we’re taking it.” In an interview uploaded yesterday Moffatt said, “I promise you, for so many reasons I can’t talk about yet, there will never be a better time to be a Doctor Who fan, I absolutely promise that.” All this on top of teasing the departure of the Ponds, and the (maybe) arrival of Sophia Miles as the new companion.
* On a sad note, we mourn the passing of acress Jenny Tomasin at age 75. Jenny played the role of Tasambeker, an infatuated employee of Tranquil Repose who fell victim to manipulation by Davros in the 1985 Colin Baker Doctor Who story “Revelation Of The Daleks”, (which we just watched on Friday Night Who a month ago), but Tomasin was better known as Ruby on Upstairs Downstairs.
Alex made us another awesome picture in celebration of our 50th episode. Thanks Alex!
* In addition to Peter Davison and Alex Kingston (the 5th Doctor and River Song respectively), Chicago Tardis is firming up their guest list for the upcoming November convention. Big names from Big Finish include Jason Haigh-Ellery (producer), Nicholas Briggs (writer/director and voice of the Daleks/Cybermen), Lisa Bowerman, (Bernice Summerfield) and the new 7th Doctor companion Beth Chalmers.
Other writers/editors/publisher include Ben Aaronovitch (7th Doctor era stories), Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg (Howe’s Transendental Toybox), Graeme Burk and Robert Smith (Time Unincorporated and the forthcoming Who Is The Doctor), Benjamin Cook (A Writer’s Tale, Christa Dickson and Lars Pearson (Mad Norwegian Press) and Tony Lee (IDW Doctor Who comics). Their website promises more to come…
One change to the program is Toby Hadoke (Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf) who will be unable to attend.
* Doctor Who Magazine recently announced the show will return for another 13 episode season seven in 2012, but as many of us suspected, it WILL be broken into two parts, and it WILL start in the fall of 2012. So once the current season six wraps next week with “The Wedding Of River Song”, we’ll get a Christmas special, and then no new who for about 8 months. I feel withdrawals kicking in already.
* And lastly, Matt Smith is chomping at the bit to get to the 50th anniversary special, and he’d love for it to be in 3D. “I love making Doctor Who, and I get to be part of that 50th year which they’ll do something mental for,” he tells Bang Showbiz. “You know it will be brilliant. I’m interested in all the 3D stuff. If it could be filmed for 3D TV that would be fun, especially with Doctor Who, but it’s very expensive. I don’t know how they’d do it.”
I imagine something with void stuff.
Welcome to “Loose Threads”, where like the 4th Doctor’s scarf, I hope to combine bits of factoidal information to present a fun if chaotic picture of the Whoniverse at any given moment.
50th Anniversary Plans, Big Finish Comes To Gally and The Waters Of Mars
* TV line talks with Stephen Moffat about the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who in 2013, and he promises emphatically, “it will be huge”. Moffat wouldn’t be pinned down on weather the anniversary extravaganza would involve stand alone specials, an extra memorable season or other fun stuff. “It won’t be just one thing…. We’ll be doing lots of stuff,” is all Moffat would concede. “The plans are quite extensive and changing all the time. Oh my God, we will hit that year very, very hard indeed.” The BBC execs “are full committed” to his vision. “There’s lot of decisions we’re making that are about making all that possible. It’ll be amazing.”
With all the talk of a multi Doctor story featuring some or all of the combinations—Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Christopher Eccelston and David Tennant—reuniting, is it true? And might other familiar faces from the past return as well? “Possibly…. It’s so far in the future, it’s only a set of notions,” Moffat replies, adding that he’s still got this year’s Christmas special to focus on before he gets to locking in plans for the big 50.
* GallifreyOne just updated their guest list for next year. The list now includes a quartet of Big Finish folk: Nicholas Briggs, executive producer for Big Finish Productions as well as the voice of the Daleks for the past six years; Barnaby Edwards the principal Dalek operator, director, actor, and writer for Big Finish; Beth Chalmers, new 7th Doctor companion Raine Creevey; and Lisa Greenwood, 6th Doctor companion Philippa “Flip” Jackson. Also on the guest list are new series directors Toby Haynes and Richard Senior, between the two of them responsible for some of the more impresive Matt Smith episodes, including; “The Impossible Astronaut”, “Day Of The Moon”, “The Pandorica Opens”, “The Big Bang”, “Time”, “Space” and the upcoming “Let’s Kill Hitler”.
And working on a full house for the 1996 TV Movie reunion (Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso are already signed to appear), Philip Segal, executive producer of the TV Movie and the man who championed to get Doctor Who back on the air. It is the 15th anniversary of the Movie, is it possible that The Master himself, Eric Roberts could be making an appearance? Stay tuned…
* And finally in a bit of science reality, NASA has announced the Reconnaissance Orbiter has discovered evidence of flowing water on Mars. Water on Mars is no news and has been reported on before of course, but flowing water on the surface is a big deal. Just ask the Doctor, he could tell you. For the full report, click here. <>
There were rumors last week that Doctor Who would not be returning in 2012 for a full series and would probably have a series of specials as they did with David Tennant. That rumor was quickly quashed by the BBC who immediately announced that they had renewed Doctor Who for 14 episodes (a full season and a Christmas Special).
Well, today the plot thickened.
According to many sources now – the BBC’s Danny Cohen stated that there won’t be a full series airing in 2012 but that they’d be saving some episodes for a special run in 2013 to mark the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. We’re not really sure what to make of this news yet – the BBC really needs to release more details on what they’re planning here. They made a big deal about renewing for 14 episodes but won’t be in any particular hurry to air them.
My speculation is that we have the rest of series 6 this fall, followed by a Christmas special. Then I bet we’ll get an Easter special and series 7 will start in fall 2012 and then finish off in Spring 2013.
Whatever happens, we should cherish our new episodes of Doctor Who as they’re going to get increasingly sparse after this year.
Eccleston talks to Graham Norton
Eccleston played the Ninth Doctor in the BBC’s long-running science-fiction drama series when it returned to TV screens in 2005. However, he left the series after only 13 episodes, handing over the role to David Tennant. Speaking to Graham Norton this morning, the 47-year-old actor said he was very pleased to have been a part of Doctor Who, “I’m very proud of what we did over those 13 episodes. My intention was to make the show a success so that the next series could follow, so I’d done what I wanted to do.”
However, when Norton hinted about a possible multi-doctor story for 2013’s 50th Anniversary and asked if Eccleston would return to the series, he said: “No, never bathe in the same river twice.”