I Don't Want To Go

The Time Has Come

The king is dead, long live the king! In this case the former is Russell T Davies and the latter Steven Moffat who wrote, by all accounts, the final, post-regeneration minute or so of RTD’s swan-song opus, The End of Time, shown in two parts on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Now that the baton has been well and truly handed over it is (almost) time to put together a complete analysis of the 60-episode era. There will be time enough for that another day and if you’re really, really quiet you can hear fanboys up and down the country tapping on keyboards about gay agendas, deus ex machina and how Paul McGann should be in it any day now. However, today it’s all about bidding David Tennant a fond adieu

 

Dream A Little Dream

Project 2 (of 3) is looking up

In case you hadn’t noticed, RTD is signing off his era of Doctor Who with a bang. The Waters of Mars delivered a cracking tale that took the character of the Tenth Doctor to previously unexplored dark areas (other than possibly some of Seventh Doctor’s shenanigans in the New Adventures). In order to appease some Whovians who voiced concerns over the so-called gap year, the production team promised three special “projects” in addition to the main stories. First up was the appearance of David Tennant in the Sarah Jane spin-off, a quite successful little adventure as

 

He Is Returning

He and It and Them

Okay, it was only two minutes long and in theory I should be reviewing the last three stories of the Sarah Jane Adventures and Dreamland starts tomorrow and, and, and…  who cares?! We got to see to a couple of scenes from the Christmas Day episode of The End of Time. If you enjoyed the clip, please follow the following link and go and donate as a thank you to Children in Need‘s long-standing relationship with our favourite show. This exclusive clip served well to whet the appetite and get fans’ pulses racing. Not so much the question of whether the Doctor really did marry Queen Elizabeth I, but more the meaning behind the Ood chant…

“He is returning and it is returning and they are returning!”

Let speculation commence.

 

Bad Doctor

Time Lord Victorious

Well, how was the Waters of Mars for you? Best RTD script so far? Possibly (I still reckon “Midnight” might hold the crown). If there is such a thing as an “instant classic”, and, after all, “Blink” proved to us that there is, then Waters of Mars may just be another. It was as close to faultless Doctor Who as I can imagine with an atmosphere that oozed foreboding, brilliant acting from the two leads, and a script and plot that fizzed along for a marvellous hour of television. At it’s heart was, and I use this term in full knowledge that every other Who-review will include it too, a “base-under-siege” tale where

 

Date Confirmed for Waters of Mars

The Water’s Is Coming

Before embarking on my review for the final part of the Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, I just thought I’d mention the forthcoming Waters of Mars. Touted as being more like the first of a three part swan-song for David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, rather than a stand-alone episode (I’m thinking it might stand as a Utopia-type episode, which served as lead up to The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords back in Series Three), the time and date of transmission has been confirmed as being on Sunday 15th November at 7pm. I believe that the preview screening for the press took place to much acclaim yesterday.

 

Starters for Ten

Show Me The Way

I guess that we have all become familiar with Doctor Who’s format over these last few years, with a 13-episode series running in the spring along with a smattering of extra bits and bobs like Children in Need specials and musical concerts throughout the year, with the jewel of these bits/bobs being an hour-long Christmas extravaganza of varying quality.  There has been much hot air expended throughout fandom over the alleged “gap year” between Series Four in 2008 and Five in 2010. Most of this outcry I have been happy to dismiss in

 

Planet of the Dead – Preview

Ticket to Ride

Slow but steady anticpation is building in advance of the second (or first, depending on your perspective) of this year’s Doctor Who “Gap Year” specials.  I’m looking at Planet of the Dead as “2 of 5″ rather than “1 of 4″ because The Next Doctor is as much a part of the period between Series Four and Series Five as anything else.  There has been a bit of a push from the Beeb’s  marketing peeps with a few guest appearances on the usual outlets, such as Michelle Ryan on Blue Peter tonight; RTD on yesterday’s BBC Breakfast; something to do with a

 

Coming At You

Sat April 11th, 6:45pm

Well, the schedules have been decided and we now have confirmation of when the first of David Tennant’s final four episodes will be shown. Just to celebrate, the BBC HD channel have been running a glorious high-def trailer intermittently throughout the day.  The same one will premiere immediately before tonight’s second episode of The Apprentice.  Time to get excited.  Also, the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine confirms that the second special will be on before the Christmas season. Oh, and the Robin Hood / Primeval review is coming too.