Category: Doctor Who

Dark Have Been His Dreams Of Late.

“I’m the Doctor. I’ve lived for over 2000 years. I’ve made many mistakes, and it’s about time that I did something about that.” You like soccer? You know what else is (a) awesome and (b) frightfully British? Doctor Who, whose full-length Season 8 trailer aired across the pond during halftime of the World Cup Final.

Can’t wait! Even if us Yanks have ruined the phrase “into darkness for the time being, y’all had me at Capaldi. I really hope he and Moffat, et al follow through on the darker Doctor they’ve hinted at. The kids have grown up — no more Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. I’d say it’s time for some proper adult Doctoring, in the manner of old.

Doc What Now?


“Gene Wilder’s weird and wonderful comedic talents made the Doctor both more alien and more popular than ever before, making the show a surprise break-out hit even with UK Audiences. Wilder still holds the record for longest tenure in the role and still occasionally refers to himself as The Doctor.” What if Doctor Who was American?

Scorpy, Get Your Drums | Doctor & Danny.

“[T]he film would follow John and Aeryn’s son, D’Argo (or Little D, as we will always refer to him). Because their baby was exhibiting a set of interesting powers that made him a magnet for galactic villains, we find that John and Aeryn hide their son on Earth to grow up. Now the kid is 19 and ready to go into space with his parents.”

I’ll believe it when I see it. Nonetheless, word comes that a possible Farscape movie is in the works. “Monjo is [also] said to be writing a show that would star Dinklage as a dwarf detective for HBO.” Er…wouldn’t “detective for HBO” get the point across?

Also in Sci-Fi TV news, Peter Capaldi’s forthcoming Doctor gains an additional companion in Samuel Anderson. “Anderson will play Danny Pink, a teacher at Coal Hill School where companion Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) also teaches.” — Coal Hill also being the school the Doctor’s granddaughter attended way back in 1963. (Also not surprising that, to compensate for the lack of a “good boyfriend” doctor, they’d add an age-appropriate foil for Clara.)

Twelve + Three = The Doctor’s New Duds.

“Lifelong Doctor Who fan Capaldi said: ‘He’s woven the future from the cloth of the past. Simple, stark, and back to basics. ‘No frills, no scarf, no messing, just 100% rebel Time Lord.’ Doctor Who boss Steven Moffat said the new era meant for a new outfit. He said: ‘Monsters of the universe, the vacation is over — Capaldi is suited and booted and coming to get you.'”

Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor has chosen his duds and, as the comparison above by Tom Spilsbury illustrates, he’s gone pretty Pertwee — which is fine by me. As far as my favorite Doctors go, Jon Pertwee is a close second to Tom Baker. Anyway, very crisp, clean lines. I like it.

Also I neglected to post this earlier, but here’s Moffat on where the show is going with Twelve: “The last two Doctors have been brilliant, and have been your ‘good boyfriend’ Doctors. But the Doctor isn’t always like that. There is the sort of Tom Baker, Christopher Eccleston end of the spectrum, where he is mad and dangerous and difficult…We need the kick-up-the-arse Doctor, in a way, to frighten you and make you think, oh, it’s a different show again.” Yes, please.

Bayeux Who.

As part of the general fiftieth anniversary festivities, artist Bill Mudron creates an Bayeux Tapestry of the Doctor’s many adventures (to date). “A larger version of the illustration can be found on Mudron’s Flickr, and prints are available to pre-order online.”

Also in recent Who news, Steven Moffat offers up another anniversary minisode (tho’ it’s not nearly as cool as McGann’s recent return) and Io9 has ranked every televised Who story from best to worst. (Along the same lines, if you’re a Whovian of any sort, you should definitely be checking out Cryptonaut-in-Exile’s extensive Doctor Who Index.)

Eighth’s Had Enough. | Who at 50.


In anticipation of the upcoming 50th anniversary special, ten days away, Stephen Moffat offers up a lost tale of Paul McGann’s Eighth Doctor — who only appeared once, in the 1996 Fox movie — and the origins of John Hurt’s new ninth incarnation. Which makes Nine (Christopher Eccleston) Ten, Ten (David Tennant) Eleven, Eleven (Matt Smith) Twelve, and Capaldi a (potentially retconned) Thirteen. In any event, giving McGann some more run is a classy and well-done bit of fan service — here’s hoping they’ve found a way to get the other living doctors involved as well.

Update: To paraphrase Montgomery Scott, I like this show — It’s exciting! Moffat clearly brought his A-game to a very satisfying 50th anniversary special, which included some quality Ten/Eleven repartee, a welcome glimpse of Thirteen and (tho’ I’ll always be fond of Pertwee also) a curtain call for the definitive doctor, Tom Baker.

And if you disagree with that latter assessment, BBC also offered up An Adventure in Space and Time for the Hartnell-minded and Peter Davison’s very wry The Five-ish Doctors for 5, 6, and 7 fans. All in all, very well-played, and now I’m very much looking forward to Dr. Capaldi. Here’s to the next fifty, Doctor.