Loose Threads: Around The Vortex
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. <>
