Sci-Fi Storm

While we wait until late in the year to finally travel with the Doctor again, at least we can watch an interesting mini-episode, themed around the upcoming London 2012 Olympics, titled “Good as Gold”. What makes this mini-episode more interesting is that it is the winner of a Script-to-Screen competition, where British primary school students aged 9-11 write and submit their scripts based on the theme. The winning entry was from the students at Ashdene Primary School in Wilmslow.

I wouldn’t call it canon, but it is neat.

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I honestly only learned of this just now – back in 1985, when Doctor Who was struggling and was going through an extended hiatus and possible cancellation during Colin Baker’s run, unofficial adviser to the production Ian Levine had a wonderful, brilliant idea (or at least he thought so at the time…afterwards, not so much…) – in the style of Band Aid/USA for Africa, create a song and music video that would serve as a battle cry for fans, but also at the same time raise funds for cancer research.

He got some celebrities, in the form of current Doctor Who stars Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant, along with guest stars Anthony Ainley (The Master) and Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart). He got some singing talent, mostly middle-level British pop stars, but with a few recognizable names among them, including Justin Hayward and John Lodge of the Moody Blues and Warren Cann from Ultravox. Levine and composer Fiachra Trench (who together did the music for the spinoff K9 and Company) co-wrote and co-produced the song, a high energy synthpop song.

The results were a disaster.
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…or is it a shot from an upcoming episode? Well, we’re not sure it is either, but a Doctor Who fan, @HolyFrell, tweeted a pic to showrunner Steven Moffat showing the Beatles in a jam session, and there is a familar looking person in the foreground…

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Has the 11th Doctor already crossed paths with the Beatles? Well…probably not. But it does look an awful lot like Matt Smith there…

Moffat replied that “Clearly we’re going to make that episode!!”

Check out the first preview for the upcoming Doctor Who series, focused on the Wild West-themed episode which guest stars old friend Ben Browder!

After miles of speculation that actress Sophie Miles would be the next companion on Doctor Who after the departure of Amy and Rory, that thread was shot down with the announcement this morning on Twitter: Jenna-Louise Coleman, who appeared in the UK series Emmerdale and Waterloo Road and the upcoming Titanic, and had a bit part in Captain America: The First Avenger, will be the next companion. “I’m a huge fan of the show,” she said, “”I want to get started already.” Producer Steven Moffat said of her, “”We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt – he had to keep up!”

We also learned a bit about the upcoming schedule. We’ll get 6 episodes before the end of the year, including the Christmas special, then 8 more in the new year. Amy and Rory will depart in the 5th episode, after another encounter with the Weeping Angels – “Not everyone gets out alive and I mean it this time,” according to Moffat.

Hearing from multiple sources – the latest Doctor Who Magazine features an article about the next series of Doctor Who featuring an episode set in the “Wild West” of America, although it is shooting in Spain…but also that Farscape and Stargate SG-1 alum Ben Browder will guest star in the episode!

He won’t be “getting the band back together” though…don’t expect his twice-co-star Claudia Black to be joining him.

Browder was most recently seen in one of the last episodes of Chuck.

If you were to pick a current British actor who could appropriately play the part of the Master as part of Doctor Who‘s 50th Anniversary episode opposite the young Matt Smith, who would you choose?

Seems my own choice may be right: Rumors suggest that Benedict Cumberbatch, who has played Sherlock Holmes for Who producer Steven Moffat’s other hit show, Sherlock, is being lined up for the role. Although I could see Cumberbatch playing the Doctor himself, I think that would be too close to his Holmes role, so flipping it and playing the villain instead, especially one that was very Moriarty-esque, especially when originated with the late actor Roger Delgado, could be an interesting twist.

Cumberbatch is currently filming Star Trek 2 in the role of an unnamed villain, originally rumored to be Khan Noonian Singh.

Update 2/29: Matt Smith denies any knowledge of the matter…

There isn’t much to spoil as far as stories go, but some pics were obtained during shooting of the upcoming Doctor Who series, and one thing they did reveal was an apparent guest star (quit reading if you want to be totally surprised)…Harry Potter fans will recognize the patriarch of the Weasley family – actor Mark Williams.
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Wacky crossovers between franchises have existed for many, many years…mostly in the area of fan fiction. But now it seems there could be an official crossover between two major franchises – Doctor Who (in the form of current Doctor Matt Smith, plus Amy and Rory) and Star Trek (in the form of The Next Generation crew). But before you get too excited, it’s not like it will be an episode of either. Instead it will take place as a comic series published by IDW, and apparently with the blessings of both rights holders.

More details are expected to be revealed at Gallifrey One next week.

Seems like casting rumors have run rampant lately about various movies. First up, the David Yates-led Doctor Who movie that Steven Moffat insists isn’t happening? Well, apparently Daniel Radcliffe had been associated with the role – which was an absolute surprise to him, and he seemed taken aback that anyone but Matt Smith would be playing the role:
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