Archive for the 'Doctor Who' Tag
November 22nd, 2009, 2:49 pm by Jayson Peters
American fans of the British sci-fi drama Doctor Who are accustomed to waiting until summer to see the show’s annual Christmas specials, but this year is different. BBC America will show the first half of “The End of Time,” the two-part special that will end actor David Tennant’s run as the Doctor, on Dec. 26 — just one day after its U.K. premiere.
According to our friends at Airlock Alpha, this “Boxing Day special” is timed to debut exactly one week after the previous special, “The Waters of Mars,” airs on BBC America on Dec. 19.
The second half of “The End of Time” is expected to air in the U.K. around New Year’s, but there has been no official word yet of a U.S. airdate.
Doctor Who eschewed a regular season this year, producing instead a series of specials like the annual yuletide romp. Spinoff Torchwood adopted a similar strategy, putting all its energy into the critically acclaimed “Children of Earth,” a miniseries aired over five consecutive days rather than a full third season.
A fifth regular season of Doctor Who will start early next year, with a new actor filling Tennant’s shoes: Matt Smith will be the 11th actor to portray the itinerant Time Lord since the show first debuted in 1963.
Posted in: Doctor Who • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Television • BBC • Boxing Day • David Tennant • Holidays | Post a Comment »
November 17th, 2009, 2:51 pm by Jayson Peters
 Big Finish Productions, masters of modern audio drama who kept Doctor Who alive with the original cast during the show’s long absence from the screen, are delving deeper into the show’s forgotten past. After already resurrecting scripts that were never made during Colin Baker’s time in the TARDIS, the company has announced it will record the stories that were set aside when the series was canceled in 1989 and Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor (pictured with Sophie Aldred as Ace).
The project came together quickly during a recent fan convention via text message, Facebook and hurried meeting. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Doctor Who • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Television • BBC • Big Finish Productions | Post a Comment »
November 3rd, 2009, 2:47 pm by Jayson Peters
 David Tennant, the outgoing star of the British sci-fi drama Doctor Who, has landed the title role in an hourlong pilot for NBC.
According to The Doctor Who News Page, Rex Is Not Your Lawyer is about a hotshot Chicago lawyer who begins suffering panic attacks and coaches his clients to represent themselves in court. The show is directed by David Semel, who helmed the pilot for Heroes.
Tennant (pictured) has held the top spot on Who since Christopher Eccleston left the role after the relaunched show’s first season. Matt Smith will succeed him as the ever-changing Time Lord. Earlier this year Tennant was announced as the host of Masterpiece Contemporary on PBS, and next year PBS viewers will be able to see his performance in the title role of Hamlet when Great Performances picks up his recent production with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
See also:
Posted in: Doctor Who • Television • David Tennant • NBC | Post a Comment »
October 30th, 2009, 3:30 pm by Jayson Peters
 The next Doctor Who special in this year of no regular-season episodes will air Dec. 19 on BBC America, just over a month after it debuts in its native Britain.
According to a report from Airlock Alpha, the episode, titled “Waters of Mars,” will be available on DVD and Blu-ray Feb. 2. But that’s not all: A five-disc set featuring all of this year’s specials — “The Next Doctor,” “Planet of the Dead,” “Waters of Mars” and the upcoming two-part finale for outgoing star David Tennant, will also be available priced from $50.
“Waters of Mars” introduces a new companion for Tennant’s Doctor: the strong-minded Adelaide, played by veteran Scottish actress Lindsay Duncan (pictured above with Tennant in a scene from the BBC special).
Posted in: Doctor Who • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Television • BBC • Blu-ray • David Tennant • Doctor Who • DVDs • Holidays | Post a Comment »
October 19th, 2009, 9:45 pm by Jayson Peters
 Publisher Crucible 7 has released a seven-page preview and sample character sheet from its upcoming Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space roleplaying game.
Priced at $59.95, the release is described as a deluxe box set that contains a 144-page Gamemaster’s Guide, an 86-page Player’s Guide, a 30-page Adventures Book, a four-page Quick Start Guide, pregenerated character sheets, blank character sheets, gadget sheets, tokens and dice. The game, originally set for release this month, will be out in November.
This is the third official tabletop RPG based on Doctor Who: FASA published one in the ’80s and Virgin in the ’90s. The new game naturally focuses on the 2005 relaunch of the classic series that ran from 1963-89. But with 45 years of accumulated lore from TV episodes, original novels and plays and two spinoffs to date, there is plenty of material to support a full range of gaming supplements — if the market is there for them.
See also: ‘Doctor Who’ RPG set for fall release
Posted in: Books • Doctor Who • Gaming • RPGs • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • PDF | Post a Comment »
October 6th, 2009, 12:06 am by Jayson Peters
Doctor Who is getting a new logo to go with its new leading man — and it’s TARDIS-riffic!
The new design, inspired by the Doctor’s police box-shaped craft, was unveiled at 8 a.m. London time Tuesday on the show’s official website. It’s a wonderful nod to the show’s history and its timeless quality.
Here’s a look back at the Who logo — and accompanying theme tune — through the years, from 1963 to the present. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Doctor Who • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Television • BBC • Matt Smith | 2 Comments »
September 8th, 2009, 2:49 pm by Jayson Peters
 Richard Curtis The British screenwriter behind some of the most successful romantic comedies (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Notting Hill, Love Actually) as well as some of the most raucus British sitcoms (Mr. Bean, Blackadder, The Vicar of Dibley) will write an episode of Doctor Who.
Award winner Richard Curtis is also the founder of Comic Relief, a charity organization founded to raise awareness of hunger in Africa. Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson appeared as one incarnation of the Doctor in the 1999 Comic Relief sketch “The Curse of Fatal Death,” and his Blackadder co-star Tim McInnerny appeared in season four’s Planet of the Ood.
According to The Doctor Who News Page, Curtis’ Doctor Who script, which will air during Matt Smith’s upcoming first season in the lead role, will involve a historical figure fighting a monster.
Posted in: Doctor Who • Television • BBC • Matt Smith • Richard Curtis | Post a Comment »
August 11th, 2009, 2:18 pm by Jayson Peters
 After 10 years of partnership, the BBC has renewed Big Finish Productions’ license to create full-cast original audio dramas based on Doctor Who.
Long before the TV series was relaunched in 2005, Big Finish kept the flame alive using talent that had long been producing unauthorized audio adventures and would eventually contribute some of the new series’ most memorable episodes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Sci-Fi & Fantasy • BBC • Big Finish Productions • Business • Doctor Who | Post a Comment »
August 10th, 2009, 4:07 pm by Jayson Peters
 Following success with this year’s Doctor Who specials and the Torchwood miniseries “Children of Earth,” BBC America has decided to keep things rolling and pick up the first-run rights to the upcoming fifth season of Who.
BBC America has shown Doctor Who for several years, but a pre-existing deal gave Sci Fi Channel Syfy first airing rights in the U.S. That arrangement recently expired, and BBC America got to host the Stateside premiere of the recent specials that have taken the place of a full season in 2009.
The new episodes will air here shortly after they air across the pond in 2010.
For American fans, it means a quicker turnaround after the episodes premiere in their native U.K. — but it likely also means subscribing to a more expensive higher tier of cable service.
In long-standing Who tradition, Matt Smith (pictured) will take over the role of the ever-changing Time Lord from David Tennant at the end of this year’s Christmas special.
Via Airlock Alpha
Posted in: Doctor Who • Television • BBC • Matt Smith | Post a Comment »
August 3rd, 2009, 9:14 am by Jayson Peters
David Tennant The Associated Press is reporting that outgoing Doctor Who star David Tennant, whose love for the Bard led to a shortened schedule of sci-fi specials instead of a full season this year, can be seen next year on PBS when Great Performances picks up the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2008 production of Hamlet.
Critics loved Tennant in the title role, and the production also included Star Trek: The Next Generation star Patrick Stewart as Claudius. The version PBS will broadcast in 2010 includes Stewart.
As reported previously, Tennant will also host Masterpiece Contemporary for PBS starting in the fall.
Posted in: Doctor Who • Television • David Tennant • PBS • Shakespeare | Post a Comment »
August 2nd, 2009, 6:46 pm by Jayson Peters
Torchwood, the racy Doctor Who spinoff that just completed an epic 5-night miniseries titled “Children of Earth” that comprised its third season, has not yet officially earned a fourth season — and it may be about to lose its leading man.
 John Barrowman John Barrowman, who plays the immortal, bisexual former Time Agent Captain Jack Harkness, is being courted by ABC for a role in its primtime soap opera, Desperate Housewives, according to statements the actor made on the BBC’s Radio One.
Barrowman, an openly gay American citizen who was born in Scotland, also has been rumored to be up for the title role in a Captain America film.
The actor and talent show presenter has a habit of raising eyebrows and exposing himself in interviews. Should things get out of hand on Wisteria Lane, can we count on the TARDIS to pop in and set things right?
Via Gawker/io9
Posted in: Doctor Who • Television • ABC • BBC • casting • Desperate Housewives • John Barrowman • Torchwood | Post a Comment »
July 31st, 2009, 12:06 am by Jayson Peters
The latest Doctor Who special, “Planet of the Dead,” has aired on BBC America and is therefore available on iTunes for $1.99 — meaning that fans in the U.S. are now up to date with their British counterparts. At least until this fall, when the next special, “The Waters of Mars,” is expected to air in the U.K.
After that, it’s just a pair of Christmas specials and then David Tennant’s run as the ever-changing Time Lord will be over, giving way to the Matt Smith era.
“Planet of the Dead” guest stars Michelle Ryan (Merlin, Bionic Woman) and comic Lee Evans (There’s Something About Mary) for the first Doctor Who adventure shot in high definition. Ryan plays the mysterious Lady Christina de Souza, who joins the Doctor on a bus trip that takes a very unexpected detour into danger, while British comedy star Lee Evans also joins the cast as a character called Malcolm whose life becomes connected to the Doctor’s under extraordinary circumstances.
See also:
Posted in: Doctor Who • Technology • BBC • David Tennant • iTunes | Post a Comment »
July 28th, 2009, 11:05 pm by Jayson Peters
It’s no Hogwarts, but it did stand in for the fictional magic academy’s Chamber of Secrets in the movies. And it has that new-hag smell.
The company that runs Wookey Hole Caves in western England recently interviewed applicants for the post of resident witch. A rock formation in the cave system is reputed to be a sorceress turned to stone by holy water, and the tourist attraction employs someone to bring the local legend to life. That responsibility now belongs to former real-estate agent Carla Calamity. If that is her real name.
(Maybe people didn’t fancy buying a home from someone named “Calamity.”)
Her annual contract is worth $82,000 U.S., but you have to know about witchcraft, be comfortable sleeping underground, and like cats. If Ms. Calamity fails to impress, all this could be yours next year.
The cave system was seen on film in the 1975 Doctor Who serial “Revenge of the Cybermen” and the 2002 film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Via CNN
Posted in: Doctor Who • Movies • Television • Doctor Who • Harry Potter • Monsters • supernatural • Weird • witchcraft | Post a Comment »
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