Louis, Ken, & James have returned with Doctor Who PodShock Episode #182.
In this episode, they continue the series of episodes where they have been reviewing all of the regeneration episodes leading up to the beginning of the Matt Smith era.
This Podshock episode reviews the final story of Chris Eccleston, the ninth Doctor's all-too-brief era, The Parting of the Ways.
Just a quick note to say to regular readers that I apologize for not updating the blog in so very long. 2009 was a pretty insane year for me, and I just couldn’t keep up with the site.
Fortunately, 2010 looks to be a very much better year for me, and I’m setting up a few things to make things easier for me to post regularly, in fact, much more often than before. I’ll be posting the latest Doctor Who news, plus links to interesting Doctor Who related articles, podcasts, and other media.
I’ll also start posting more of my own articles, as well as a few other fun things I have in mind.
Updates will go out on the RSS feed, and I will shortly be adding in Twitter integration, so you can follow the TARDIS Databanks on Twitter to keep up to date.
That’s all for now. Talk to you earlier…
There's been a rumor floating around for ages that award-winning author Neil Gaiman was going to be writing a new Doctor Who episode. The rumor has finally been confirmed, and it seems he will be writing an episode for Matt Smith's second series.
Neil has been a Doctor Who fan since he was three, and after many months of deliberately vague and noncommittal statements, finally revealed "it's quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called "The House of Nothing". But it definitely isn't called that any more."
Despite still arguably not definitively saying he was doing a script, I think it's pretty safe to assume he will be.
I first read Neil Gaiman twenty-some years ago with his Hitchhiker's Guide companion book "Don't Panic!" and soon afterwards, "Good Omens", then became a diehard fan with the Sandman series. All I can say is I know I'm looking forward to seeing it in 2011!
Confirming a Doctor Who rumor that I wrote about here on the TARDIS Databanks back in March, Tom Baker will be returning to the role of the fourth Doctor — playing the role for the first time* since he left at the end of Logopolis back in March of 1981.
Tom will appear in a series of five new linked audio adventures collectively titled Hornet’s Nest, written by the brilliant but sometimes controversial Paul Magrs.
They will be released on CD, one a month, starting September 2009.
The stories take place after the end of season 15, when the Doctor left Leela and K9 Mk1 on Gallifrey, and before he began traveling with the first Romana in season 16.
The first story, Hornet’s Nest: The Stuff of Nightmares involves the Doctor deciding to take some time off in Sussex in 2009. Of course, he soon gets involved in another adventure, and is joined by third Doctor companion and former UNIT captain Mike Yates, played once again by Richard Franklin.
The story is followed by The Dead Shoes, The Circus of Doom, A Sting in the Tale, concluding with Hive of Horror.
Personally, I can not wait to get the CDs later this year. I grew up watching Tom Baker on PBS in upstate New York back in the 1970s and ’80s, and he was “my Doctor”.
I had my doubts about the rumor I mentioned earlier, since it had him returning on the TV series, but this makes much more sense, given his age.
Baker has repeatedly turned down appearing on the excellent Big Finish audios which have featured many new stories from Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, and Paul McGann. I don’t care what got him to change his mind; it’s going to be awesome to hear new stories with Tom as the Doctor!
You can click to read the full interview with writer Paul Magrs on Outpost Skaro.
*No, I’m not counting “Dimensions in Time”. That definitely doesn’t count in any way and is best forgotten.
The BBC has released a preview of the upcoming Doctor Who special “The Waters of Mars”, which is set to air “Novemberish” according to exiting producer Russel T. Davies. You can view the clip below, assuming the BBC doesn’t yank it from YouTube.
So far there’s not a lot of official details about the story, beyond the casting of Lindsay Duncan as the Doctor’s companion for the story, and the obvious information that it’s set on Mars. We know that Duncan will be playing the head of Mars Base, and will not welcome the Doctor’s arrival.
Because the story is set on Mars, there has naturally been a lot of speculation that it might feature a return of the classic Doctor Who aliens the Ice Warriors, who come from the red planet.
Nothing so far has suggested this, except possibly something in this clip. I may be stretching a little here, but the mouths of the water “infected” people we see in the clip look very scaly and *slightly* resemble the mouth of an Ice Warrior.
Could it be the waters are creating a new breed of Ice Warriors, or am I out of my mind? Yes, I’m probably out of my head, but leave your comments below and tell me what you think…
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see The Waters of Mars — I’ve been jonesing for new Doctor Who since the last special, and seeing it’s directed by Graeme Harper, it should be an exciting episode to watch.
Just this and two more appearances of David Tennant as the tenth Doctor, before he hands the key to the TARDIS over to Matt Smith at the end of the year. It’s always hard to say goodbye to a Doctor, yet it’s also exciting to look forward the new actor’s take on our favorite character. I, for one, can’t wait.
The BBC Press Office is has announced that David Tennant will be appearing in two episodes of the upcoming series of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
In an interview (see video below), departing Doctor Who producer Russel T. Davies described it as “not just a cameo appearance. It’s not just like he turns up at the end in the TARDIS… It’s a proper story where the Doctor gets involved… he meets Sarah Jane’s gang, the stakes are really high and… it’s like a treat for those who are missing Doctor Who on the screen.”
The Doctor and the TARDIS will appear in episodes 5 and 6 of the series, a two-part story.
It has been previously reported that K9 would be taking on a much bigger role in the upcoming Sarah Jane stories; it’s not clear if he will also be appearing in these episodes alongside the Doctor, although obviously it would be very cool if he did.
I suspect these two episodes might end up really feeling just like classic Doctor Who episodes more than anything we’ve seen since the original show went off the air.
Considering SJA’s half hour format and the way that the show normally has multi-part stories with cliffhangers, just like the classic Doctor Who series, having the Doctor involved will cement the “Whoishness” of the show.
Personally, I can’t wait.
Richard Taylor of the Weta Workshop has posted a video where he talks about the Weta line of Doctor Who collectables. I have to admit I’m drooling over a couple of these figures, especially the statue of the Roger Delgado Master from Terror of the Autons, and the statue of the fourth Doctor and Davros from Genesis of the Daleks… although the Ice Warrior helmet, and, frankly pretty much the entire line looks cool as hell.
Here’s the video of Mr. Taylor talking about how cool it was for him and the Weta Workshop to work on collectables for the show that it seems inspired many of them to go into the business in the first place… Doctor Who:
Here’s a couple images of the statues. How cool is that one from Genesis of the Daleks?
Fourth Doctor & Davros Weta Statue |
The Master & Auton Weta Statue |
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| Click for Weta Statues in the USA  |
Click for Weta Statues in the UK  |
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Well, it’s official. Not only is Bernard Cribbins appearing in one of the final David Tennant stories, but on-set photos also show John Simm has returned to Doctor Who! The image at right (credit for the photo goes to alun.vega) shows Cribbins and Simm passing each other on-set.
Cribbins played Donna’s grandfather Wilf Mott in series 4, and of course John Simm appeared in series 3 as The Master. So far, this substantially confirms recent rumors that Tennant’s final stories would feature a return of Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Rose Tyler (again!), Wilf Mott, and the Master.
Personally, a lot of this seems a bit like a repeat of the series 4 finale, except with the Master instead of Davros, and I *really* don’t think we need to see Rose again. But if done well, I welcome another appearance by Wilf & Donna, who I thought were just amazing in series 4, not to mention another outing for Simm’s Master!
I’ve heard for some time that Martha would be returning to ease the transition from Tennant to Smith, which makes sense from a historical perspective — most of the times the Doctor has regenerated they have deliberately avoided recasting the companion at the same time to make it easier on the audience. And, in fact, back in the beginning of the ’80s, then-producer John Nathan-Turner asked Louise Jameson to return as Leela to ease the transition from Tom Baker to Peter Davison, but she declined the offer. So the idea is definitely not without precedent.
Now obviously since Rose returned, making a lie of the whole “trapped forever in another dimension with no way to return”, I’m sure something can be cooked up to explain Donna’s return despite how she supposedly could never regain her memories of her time with the Doctor without it killing her.
My guess? The bit of the Doctor that’s stuck in Donna’s head (as well as possibly the half-human “Doctor” who’s off with Rose in Pete’s World) may be needed for him to regenerate properly, much like how the Watcher aided the fourth Doctor’s regeneration in Logopolis. Once this happens, it’s no longer in Donna and she is safe to remember again.
One other question that comes to mind is why is Simm’s hair been bleached blond? Maybe it has something to do with the color of the hair of the woman who’s hand we see picking up the Master’s ring at the end of Last of the Timelords…?
Whatever happens, I’m excited to see the specials, starting with Planet of the Dead in a little over a week. It’ll be sad to see David Tennant’s time end as the Doctor, but getting a new Doctor is always exciting and something to look forward to.
As has been previously mentioned, K9 is getting his own series this year which will air on Australia’s Network Ten as well as the digital channel Jetix/Disney XD in the UK this fall. I have not seen anything confirming whether it will air in the US.
After seeing the new look for K9, hearing John Leeson will not be doing his voice, and from other details of the series, I have had serious doubts it would be worth watching. I have to say the trailer below makes me, if possible, even more dubious about the whole project. Take a look:
This looks seriously awful, and considering there is no real involvement with the BBC, I’m starting to consider this to not be a spin-off of Doctor Who so much as an unfortunate coincidence. I’ll try to reserve final judgement until I’ve actually seen an episode, but my hopes aren’t high for our faithful tin dog…
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