Sci-Fi Storm

I really don’t know what to believe any more. There are constant rumors about a special 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who featuring at least some of not all of the previous Doctors, but the BBC has not confirmed any such thing – only the making-of docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time. And even though we’ve gotten denials by those supposedly involved, we also got nods and winks too…but either nothing really is happening, or it’s the greatest conspiracy concocted to hide a TV show.

The latest is a quote attributed to David Tennant on Timeout.com. It’s not much, but in reference to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, they quote Tennant as “beginning to give up hope that anything’s going to happen.” It isn’t clear if he’s referring to his participation, or the show in general. But it’s hard to imagine an anniversary show that wouldn’t include other Doctors – and especially Tennant.

Let’s just go with the conspiracy theory, and Tennant is just a spokesman. 🙂

Ray Cusick, the former BBC production designer who was credited with designing the penultimate Doctor Who villains, the Daleks, passed away at the age of 84 after a short illness, according to his daughter.

The infamous “pepper pot” design he came up with did in fact come from a pepper pot – in a 2008 Confidential special he explained that while talking with special effects expert Bill Roberts over lunch, who would build the design, he demonstrated how the Daleks would move by gliding – by picking up the pepper shaker from the table and moving it. But then the design had practical aspects too, since there would be an operator inside, “I then thought ‘Well, the operator’s got to sit down’, [so I] drew a seat, ergonomic height, 18in, got the operator down, and then drew round him. That’s how the basic shape appeared.”

It’s official – we will see the Ice Warriors when Doctor Who returns!

It has been rumored for a bit that the Ice Warriors – the green reptilian humanoids from Mars – will return in the second half of Series 7 this Spring, as they are currently the creatures from the classic series with the most appearances that haven’t been shown in the revival. Executive producer Caro Skinner confirmed the appearance, and they will be in an as-yet-untitled Mark Gatiss-penned episode which involves the Doctor being stuck on a submarine with them. It will be interesting to see what kind of modern makeover they will get, as the originals looked like giant-sized action figures.

Speaking of Mark Gatiss, there has been an interesting bit of casting news regarding his docudrama about the making of Doctor Who, An Adventure in Space and Time. William Russell, who played Ian Chesterton and was one of the first companions to the Doctor, appearing in the very first episode, will make a cameo appearance in the docudrama as someone named Harry. Russell himself is being portrayed by Jamie Glover (Waterloo Road). It was Russell as Ian who uttered the now famous words, “A thing that looks like a Police Box, standing in a junkyard, it can move anywhere through time and space?”

The Mark Gatiss-led docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time, about the creation of Doctor Who in the 1960s, will be co-produced by BBC America and air in the U.S. as well as BBC Two in the U.K.

In addition actor David Bradley, best known for playing the cantankerous caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, in the Harry Potter franchise and also guest starred as Solomon in the Doctor Who episode “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”, has been announced to fill the role of the very first Doctor, William Hartnell. This has interestingly led to speculation that he might also play the role in the upcoming 50th anniversary episode. Hartnell passed away in 1975.

Gatiss mentioned the role to Bradley while watching the Diamond Jubilee flotilla.

“When he asked if I would interested, I almost bit his hand off! Mark has written such a wonderful script not only about the birth of a cultural phenomenon, but a moment in television’s history. William Hartnell was one of the finest character actors of our time and as a fan I want to make sure that I do him justice. I’m so looking forward to getting started.”

Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife) will play producer Verity Lambert and Brian Cox (The Straits, X2) will play Sydney Newman, the head of BBC Drama. Sacha Dhawan (After Earth) will play Waris Hussein, who directed the very first episode.

Apparently I missed the official announcement, but the same day that the BBC announced the return of Doctor Who on March 30th, BBC America also make the same announcement.

The exact time wasn’t specified, but it is to be part of the “Supernatural Saturday” block, and imply it will be between Orphan Black and The Nerdist.

It seems like Arrow is grabbing some more Doctor Who actors…John Barrowman already has a recurring part, but now Alex Kingston, who has played River Song for several series, has reportedly signed for a recurring role on the CW series. She is set to play Dinah Lance, the ex-wife of Detective Quentin Lance and mother to Laurel, who returns after abandoning her family when her other daughter died about the Queen’s yacht.

What is interesting is that in the comics, Dinah Drake (not Lance) was the original Black Canary, and her daughter Dinah Laurel Lance, who went by her middle name, succeeded her as the Black Canary…but we don’t know if that is where the story will head…

The BBC has announced today that Doctor Who will return with the second half of Series 7 to BBC One on Saturday, March 30th! The first of 8 episodes is written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Colm McCarthy (Hustle, Spooks).

If things hold true, it should return in the U.S. on BBC America the same day.

Update: BBC America DID confirm that it will return the same day.

The latest rumor, which has been making the rounds for a couple weeks but is picking up steam, is that the 50th Anniversary Special for Doctor Who will in fact not only include all the living Doctors – including Christopher Eccleston, who has vehemently denied he will ever have anything to do with Doctor Who any more – but all three of the deceased actors, William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee, through flashback sequences and possibly some creative trickery.

The Birmingham Mail is reporting that showrunner Steven Moffat is close to completing the script to feature all eleven Doctors. However, Moffat won’t confirm anything, and if anyone else is already signed on, they are sworn to a level of secrecy that I believe involves being sent back to the hellish version of Gallifrey in the time lock, forever fighting the Time War. Many signs do at least point to David Tennant being involved.

History would dictate that the episode will be called “The Eleven Doctors”, given the three times in the past that multiple Doctors have been involved in a single episode that didn’t involved regeneration: “The Three Doctors” for the 10th anniversary in 1972/1973, “The Five Doctors” for the 20th anniversary in 1983, and “The Two Doctors” in 1985. I’m not counting the “Timecrash” mini-episode which was a Children In Need special featuring David Tennant and Peter Davison.

But who knows what David Moffat has in store…

Here are some of the big and our favorite stories we covered in 2012…

In January, rapidly rising British actor Benedict Cumberbatch joined Star Trek: Into Darkness, while CW’s Arrow dropped “Green” from the name and named Stephen Amell the lead actor.

We lost actor Ian Abercrombie and the voice of the Robot from Lost In Space Dick Tufeld.
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The British Royal Mail will issue a special Doctor Who stamp set which will feature all 11 Doctors, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the show. And contrary to some speculation, the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, IS represented (a BBC article only showed 10 of the 11 stamps, sans Colin.) The stamps will be available in Spring 2013.

There will also be a set of 4 second class stamps featuring four “foes” – the Daleks, the Ood, the Weeping Angels and the Cybermen, on a sheet with a first class TARDIS stamp.