Tag: BBC

'Dr. Who' News — Spoilerific

Posted on by Tom Powers

Amy, The Doctor, and Rory
Amy, The Doctor, and Rory


 The BBC  reports that Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill,  who play the popular couple Amy Pond and Rory on  DOCTOR WHO, will be leaving the series during the bext season.

Writer/Producer Steven Moffat  confiremed the news at a press screening of  this year’s Christmas special.
 “The final days of the Ponds are coming,”  said Moffat, referring to the married couple to travel as the companions of the Doctor (Matt Smith).
“I’m not telling you when or how, but that story is going to come to a heartbreaking end.”
The producer went on to say that the Doctor would new a “new friend”. The BBC indicated that the rolee has likely not yet been cast.  

Star Matt Smith said of his co-stars:
“We had the most incredible journey. We took over the show and we’ve really had to hold hands and help each other through it.
So it’s very disappointing, but one has to remember that this show is about change and regeneration, and that’s what galvanizes it and pushes it forwards.”

In additional news, Moffat and Smith guested on BBC Radio 5’s Live’s Richard Bacon Show, and the producer made the following comments about HARRY POTTER director David Yates’ recent comment about a possible “out-of-continuity” stand-alone DOCTOR WHO feature film.

David (Yates) was talking a little out of turn, there; a very, very brilliant director but no, the film as described by him, of course we’re not going to do that.  A film that contradicts the television series, it would be a heathen thing to do … I would be ‘beheaded’ to do such a thing!
It would be wonderful to do a Doctor Who film, but when and if we did —and hopefully we will be doing it—it will be very much an offshoot of the television series and we’ll be part of it, and it will star the television Doctor, of course—anything else would be heresy!

Via DoctorWhoNews.net

'Dr. Who' Xmas 2011—Trailer

Posted on by Tom Powers

BBC One trailer for the DOCTOR WHO  2011 Christmas Special: The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe.
Written by Steven Moffat and starring Matt Smith and Claire Skinner , The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe premieres  in the U.S. this Christmas Day— Sunday, December 25th at 9:00 PM /8c.

Two Lost 'Dr. Who' Episodes Found

Posted on by Tom Powers

Hartnell_1S
William Hartnell

The UK’s The Radio Times reports that two lost 1960’s episodes of DOCTOR WHO  have been located. A segement of the first Doctor William Hartnell’s serial Galaxy 4 and an episode of second Doctor Patrick Troughton’s The Undersea Menace have sufaced.
Ralph Montagu, the Radio Times’s “head of heritage and a lifelong Doctor Who fan” explained “I occasionally meet up with a group of film collectors and retired TV engineers at a café in Hampshire.  A few months ago I spoke to Terry Burnett, who used to be an engineer at TVS [former commercial broadcaster ITV’s franchise, based in Southampton].
Somehow DOCTOR WHO was mentioned in passing, and Terry said, ‘Oh, actually I think I’ve got an old episode.’
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Monatgu said “I thought it was bound to be something we’ve got already.   tried not to get too excited, but he came back the next day and brought this spool with him. It had no label, so I had a look at the film leader and it said ‘Air Lock’. I thought, ‘What’s that?’ I checked online and saw that Air Lock was an episode of Galaxy 4 – a missing Hartnell serial. So then I got very excited.”
A couple of weeks later the two met up again, and Montagu relates that Burnett said:  “ ‘Guess what I’ve got.’ It was another episode of DOCTOR WHO! Again not labelled on the can, but it turned out to be The Underwater Menace, part two.”
The Radio Times article points out that for many fans the Underwater Menace segment may prove the more significant  find, being the earilest surving episode starring Patrick Troughton as the Doctor. 
Troughton_DW2Recent U.S. fans should be aware that these are half-hour episodes of longer. multi-part serial adventures. and are not complete stories unto themselves.
Recently screened in England, they will likely become available on DVD collections after some restoration work is finished.
For more details read the article at the link above.

Dr. Who Xmas Trailer & 2012 News

Posted on by Tom Powers

There’s good news and bad news from the world (or is that time-space continum?) of the Doctor.
Here’s the trailer for the 2011 Christmas Special, DOCTOR WHO: THE DOCTOR, THE WIDOW AND THE WARDROBE. It premieres this Christmas on BBC America.

Evacuated to a house in Dorset from war-torn London, Madge Arwell and her two children, Lily and Cyril, are greeted by a madcap caretaker whose mysterious Christmas gift leads them into a magical wintry world.
Starring: Matt Smith and Claire Skinner. Executive Producers: Steven Moffat, Piers Wenger and Caroline Skinner

Looks like fun. However,  in Doctor Who Magazine,  writer/producer Steven Moffat has confirmed that the BBC production will not be back for any new episodes in 2012 until  Autumn. There will be no Easter Special or Spring season. 

“DOCTOR WHO  in the summer? All that running down tunnels, with torches, and the sunlight streaming through your windows and bleaching out the screen? All those barbecues and children playing outside, while on the telly there are green monsters seething in their CGI-enhanced lairs? It’s just not right is it? Be honest.
For me, as a kid, when the afternoon got darker and there was a thrill of cold in the air, I knew that even though summer was over, the TARDIS was coming back! So yes, that’s part of the plan, that’s part of the reason for this little delay. But it’s not the whole story.”
… But a big old anniversary is coming, for all of us, isn’t it? Be assured planning has already started. Very soon now, DOCTOR WHO  is going to enter production for the longest sustained period we’ve ever attempted, and the biggest and best and maddest time ever to be a fan of this wonderful old show is rumbling towards us.
DRWHO_RT_XMAS11
And yes, you got me. We needed a little more time to prepare for everything we’ve got planned. That, above all, is why we needed this little gap. Just be a tiny bit patient, and trust me, we’ll make it up to you. For full and comprehensive details of the spectacle to come, consult your fondest memories in a couple of years time.”

For those not in the know, Moffat is referring to the show’s 50th Anniversary in 2013, which is expected to be marked by special episodes and— fans hope—maybe, just maybe some old familar faces.
Time itself will tell.
(Via BBC America and NME.com)

'Dr. Who' Astronaut Revealed—Clip

Posted on by Tom Powers

In this clip from the BBC 3 series DOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL, producer Steven Moffat reveals just who was inside the space suit of  The Impossible Astronaut.
Now, is there a further twist to be revealed in The Wedding of River Song, which airs this Saturday on BBC America, here in the U.S. ?
Several, probably.

Fox Developing 'Caves Of Steel'

Posted on by Tom Powers

Caves-of-steel-doubleday-coverDeadline reports that 20th Century Fox, is developing  a live-action feature film version of adaptation of Issac Asimov’s 1954 novel The Caves of Steel.
Simon Kinberg,  (X-MEN writer) is producing via his Genre Films production company, based at Fox. Henry Hobson is attached as director, with John Scott 3 (yep, that’s his moniker)  set to write the screenplay.
 Hobson is know primarily as a titles designer for films such as SHERLOCK HOLMES and RANGO, while Scott 3 works with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Seems like an odd pairing, but the two are first collaborating on a teenage Zombie film entitled MAGGIE.
Asimov’s The Caves of Steel was first published as a serial in Galaxy Magazine in 1963, and quickly picked up as a novel by Doubleday.
The tale is a murder mystery sent on an over-populated Earth about three thousand years in the  future. Here agoraphoic humans live in domed cities and rarely if ever see the outside world.
The rich and powerful Spacers’ (people whose ancestors left Earth for other planets) ambassador has been murdered and police detective Elijah Baley is forced to work with their chosen investigator,  the humanoid robot R. Daneel Olivaw.
This is a double-edged insult, as the Spacers are generally too disdainful and suspicious of Earthmen to spend time in their presence, and robots are equally distrusted and restricted on  Earth. Bailey and R. Daneel slowly come to bond during the potentially explosive investigation.
The book was a great success, and lead to the sequels  The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn . The  characters have ties to Asimov’s Robots series and, more loosely to the Foundation series.  
THE CAVES OF STEEL was previously adapted for live action on BBC televsion in 1964 starring Peter Cushing as police detective Elijah Baley and John Carson as R. Daneel Olivaw. That version, directed by Peter Sasdy, with a teleplay Terry Nation (DOCTOR WHO, BLAKES 7),  is considered lost, with only a few fragments remaining.

John Carson, Peter Cushing BBC Televsion
John Carson, Peter Cushing BBC Televsion

'Dr. Who' Season 7 Halfed

Posted on by Tom Powers

DW_Matt_Smith_SurprisedAccording to DoctorWhoTV,  Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed that the Seventh Season of the revived DOCTOR WHO will indeed be cut into two parts. Unlike the Spring and Fall spilt of this year’s (Season 6) 13 episodes, it appears that only half of the  shows greenlit by the BBC will air in 2012.
Production of Season 7 will not begin until February of next year, which would seem to preclude a Spring airing, so Autumn 2012 is likely the earliest we’ll see regular episodes. However, an Easter Special may be in the cards—some comfort for WHO fans.
They predict the following loose schedule.

2012
Easter Special
Autumn – Season 7, Part 1
Christmas Special
2013
Spring – Season 7,  Part 2
Autumn – Series 8
Christmas Special

So 2013, the series 50th Anniversary (from the Original’s 1963 debut)  maybe be a a real feast, after a very lean 2012.

'Dr. Who' Christmas 2011 Special

Posted on by Tom Powers

DW_2011_XMASAccording to this BBC Press Release, production is now taking place in Cardiff, Wales for the new DOCTOR WHO Christmas special.

Production has started on the 2011 DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special in which the Doctor (Matt Smith) finds himself in war-torn England embarking on a magical and mysterious adventure with a young widow and her two children.
A stellar guest cast including Claire Skinner (Outnumbered), Bill Bailey (Black Books), Arabella Weir (The Fast Show) and Alexander Armstrong (Armstrong & Miller), join Matt Smith in the emotional festive special, packed full of Christmas thrills and chills.
Steven Moffat, Lead Writer and Executive Producer, commented: “The Doctor at Christmas—nothing is more fun to write. Maybe because it’s so his kind of day—everything’s bright and shiny, everybody’s having a laugh, and nobody minds if you wear a really stupid hat. Of all the Doctors, Matt Smith’s is the one that was born for this time of year – so it’s the best news possible that he’s heading back down the chimney.”
The special, set during the Second World War, sees Madge Arwell and her two children, Lily and Cyril, evacuated to a draughty old house in Dorset, where the caretaker is a mysterious young man in a bow tie, and a big blue parcel is waiting for them under the tree. They are about to enter a magical new world and learn that a Time Lord never forgets his debts.
Claire Skinner said: “I am thrilled to be in Doctor Who playing Madge who is a bit of super-mum. It’s a magical part.”
This marks Matt Smith’s second outing as the Doctor at Christmas time and will follow hot on the heels of the successful 2011 series, currently airing on BBC One until October.
The Christmas Special was commissioned by Ben Stephenson, Controller, BBC Drama and Danny Cohen, Controller BBC One. Steven Moffat is Lead Writer and Executive Producer with Piers Wenger and Caroline Skinner, also executive producing.
Filming on the Christmas special will continue until mid-October 2011.

Though not mentioned in the release, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill have been seen on location at their modern day home. It’s not known how much of a role they will play in the story.

'Dr. Who: God Complex' — Clip

Posted on by Tom Powers

Here’s a Sneak Peek at DOCTOR WHO’s The God Complex.

The TARDIS lands in what looks like an ordinary hotel. But the walls move, corridors twist, rooms vanish… and there’s a room for every visitor that contains their deepest, darkest fears. Fears that will kill them.
What lies in the Doctor’s room? And when his turn comes, will he welcome death like all the rest?
An all new episode written by Toby Whithouse (Doctor Who: The Vampires of Venice; Being Human).

DOCTOR WHO airs Saturday at 9:00 PM /8:oo  Central   on BBC America.
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