Doctor Who (1963 - present)

The Beeb have confirmed there'll be a Christmas special again this year, and rumour has it that the anniversary special will be getting an in-3D cinema release.

Yeah, Moffat confirmed the 3D.

I''m interested in that docudrama they are making about the formation of the show. It tells the story of how the show got off the ground during the Hartnell years and the transition to Troughton. However, some fans are speculating that it might be a smart ploy to cast the deceased Doctors. They can use the docudrama as a cover for casting and filming their role in the anniversary special. Of course, that is all just fan speculation, but it would be pretty neat to see 1 and 2 making a small appearance again.

Will be interesting to see if there is any truth in this speculation.

R.I.P. Ray Cusick, the man who came up with the iconic design for the Daleks -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21563344

'Doctor Who returns Saturday 30th March 2013 in -

"THE BELLS OF ST. JOHN"

The Doctor and new companion Clara discover a monster lurking in the Wi-Fi, set against the background of old and new iconic buildings in London: Westminster Bridge & The Shard. This 'urban thriller' introduces a new nemesis for The Doctor and Clara to face... The Spoonheads.

Seriously, they're actually called that'.

Yeah...hopefully the Spoonhead aren't as bad as they sound....

Although I'm glad to see that pic of the Ice Warriors in there, they look good. Glad they are bringing them back. Currently watching Troughton's The Seeds of Death at the moment so I'll be looking forward to their return.

I like the idea of monsters in a Wi-Fi signal.

Picked up the Pertwee-era 'The Claws Of Axos' during the week, 70% off in HMV sale ... was £22, down to £6.59 (double-disc DVD) :) .

Yup. If the Doctor was to ride a bike, it makes sense he'd chose a Triumph Bonneville :cheers:

:D :geek:

Anything that scares the Doctor gets my vote!

Posters for the first 4 eps of Series 7, part 2 -










2nd looks very Indiana Jones, and 4th looks proper creepy.

he is back tomorrow evening, so one more night of sleep..............And the Doctor is back

Casting news was announced for the 50th anniversary special. Don't click on the spoiler if you don't want to know...

50th anniversary casting spoiler:

Yeah, had heard that ... and after they were either coy or flat-out denied it on chat-shows too, the cheeky monkeys.

The Bells Of St John was sparky fun ... loved the Moff's 'revenge' on Twitter with Clara's snarky joke about it. And riding a motorbike up the side of The Shard ... sure, why not? 8)

I enjoyed it myself. I felt the ending was a bit rushed, but that seems pretty common at times the past season or two.

Overall, I felt it was probably one of the stronger episodes of Series 7.I felt the first half kind of suffered from the Ponds. I think they overstayed their welcome just a tad too long. Looking forward to next week! And I hope to see some more casting news about the anniversary special since they are set to start filming it within the next few days I believe.

It has been noted that 2 of the people watching the Doctor and Clara ride out of the Tardis were a girl with long red hair and and a bloke with scruffy dirty-fair hair, though we didn't see their faces ...

Moore wrote:

I enjoyed it myself. I felt the ending was a bit rushed, but that seems pretty common at times the past season or two.

Overall, I felt it was probably one of the stronger episodes of Series 7.I felt the first half kind of suffered from the Ponds. I think they overstayed their welcome just a tad too long. Looking forward to next week! And I hope to see some more casting news about the anniversary special since they are set to start filming it within the next few days I believe.

I have found that all the companions since the shows 2005 return (with the possible exception of Martha) start interesting and increasingly wear their welcome out, the show has become damagingly self conscious and introverted in that regard and the anniversary has got to try and avoid imploding under its own weight.

However we are at the early stage for Clara and that made for a very entertaining opening episode and a promising sign that the writing has rejuvenated itself somewhat with her arrival.

Another 50th anniversary spoiler....

Spoiler:

Think there was somewhat of a fan-clamour for their return, so that'll go down well.

One of the pleasures of the 'relaunch' is the re-introduction of old enemies, and seeing where they go with them this time round.

Definitely. I'm really excited to see the return of the Ice Warriors this season. I really enjoyed the serials they were in during the Troughton years, I'm interested to see how they will be in the new series.

The knowledge of the Doctor being their greatest foe being wiped from the Daleks' collective memory in that ep last year was likely a smart move ... as Moffat pointed out, he's defeated them so often it had almost gotten to the stage where they should've just turned tail and ran once they discovered they were up against him again.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The knowledge of the Doctor being their greatest foe being wiped from the Daleks' collective memory in that ep last year was likely a smart move ... as Moffat pointed out, he's defeated them so often it had almost gotten to the stage where they should've just turned tail and ran once they discovered they were up against him again.

This is the corner the renewed series has really really written itself into, in the classic serials the Doctor was a traveller having encounters scattered across all of time and space and only in the rarest of occasions concerning anything more than the isolated world he was currently on. He had little control of when or where he would turn up next, let alone be able to consistently plague any one race until infamy precedes him. Even at 1000 years old, his actual influence and presence diluted by distance and eternity would keep him pretty anonymous, but the conceit of making him a legend and gifting him with near omniscient knowledge and recognition paints the character in an entirely different light, innocence and mystery take a severe hit while the burden on the writing is to start to fabricate reasons why anyone should even both to stand upto him, the universe reset of season five would have been a good place to redress that issue and seemed to get suggested but then the writing continued along the previous lines of fame and exposure.

It might just be me, and my over-active imagination, but I thought the whole Time War thing sort of changed the Doctor from being an aimless wandering meddler to being a force to be reckoned with and one who had a reputation as being the one left standing after all the shit had hit the fan.

Of course, I can't think of anything in the new series that backs that impression up.

The Rings Of Akhaten - pleasing to see that the Indiana Jones vibe I got from the episode poster was right there in the scene where the Doctor saves the sonic from being crushed by a closing door in the nick of time, like Indy with his hat in Temple Of Doom :) .

The 'market' scenes were great, I was happily reminded of the Star Wars cantina. Bravura piece of 'grandstanding' acting from Smith as the Doctor challenged the planet-sized 'god', and Clara's backstory involving her Mum is very sweet ... yeah, good stuff.

Yes I enjoyed Smith's speech, with tears running down his face.

Not bad, but not great. Middle of the pack, but visually I think the first 2 episodes of this half of series 7 is much better than the first half. Looking forward to the episode next week and the return of a classic villian.

Oh and Jenna-Louise Coleman is hot. Would bang. For sure.