Sci-Fi Storm

The Doctor is giving us a a double dose of medicine today…first, with a behind-the-scenes trailer for the upcoming Christmas episode, “The Return of Doctor Mysterio”, and then the teaser for the upcoming Doctor Who spinoff, Class!

Let’s not let the fact that he was just a head controlling a robot body working as a waiter in a restaurant at the end of “The Husbands of River Song” get in the way of the squee-inducing news that comedian Matt Lucas will return as Nardole in the upcoming 10th series of Doctor Who opposite Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie!

It isn’t clear for how long, but Lucas will be joining right away with the first episode, which starts filming next Monday, and he isn’t going away soon.

“Delighted and slightly amazed to be welcoming Matt Lucas back on to the TARDIS – and this time it’s not just for Christmas, he’s sticking around,” remarked lead writer and showrunner Steven Moffat. “One of the greatest comedy talents on planet Earth is being unleashed on all of time and space.”

“I’m chuffed to bits that Nardole is returning to the TARDIS for some more adventures,” Lucas said. “I loved acting with Peter and I’m excited to work with Pearl.”

This will actually mark the second time that a one-off Christmas episode character ends up returning for an extended run. The first was Donna Noble (Catherine Tate), who appeared in “The Runaway Bride”, and then returned as the Doctor’s companion for the fourth series. But Nardole is doing it a lot sooner…

Sorry for the lack of updates lately…we had to attend to a family emergency this past week and returned home late last night, and we have a lot of decompressing to do while attending to an event this week with its own bit of drama attached…but here is a bit of catch up for this past week…

The big news yesterday is that we know who the next companion is on Doctor Who. West End stage actress Pearl Mackie, most recently appearing in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time for the National Theatre, will play a character named Bill in the 10th season, which will not air until 2017. This will be Mackie’s first major role on television.

While we await renewals for a few shows (notably Supergirl), some others did get the nod this week. Grimm will return for a sixth season on NBC, but the network ordered a base of 13 episodes instead of 22 – but that could still increase. NBC has a lot of shows competing for the schedule next Fall, several of which are serials done in 13-episode chunks, and the shorter order will allow them to have more options in scheduling them. If things don’t work out for one of the other shows, Grimm could see the order increase. Also on the renewed list is MTV’s freshman fantasy series Shannara Chronicles, which had so-so live ratings, but picked up heavily in the L+3 and L+7 rating plus lots of social media buzz and digital downloads making it their best new show.

Syfy has given a green light for a pilot for the long-in-development David S. Goyer project Krypton. The series intends to see what life was like on Superman’s home planet years before its destruction, and follow the house of El and in particular Kal-El’s grandfather who seeks to bring hope and equality to a planet in disarray.

And finally moving from the small screen to the large one with a couple of Marvel tidbits…it appears that Iron Man/Tony Stark will be making an appearance in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming film starring Tom Holland as the webslinger in Sony’s reboot of the franchise. Whether this is an attempt to bring Spider-Man closer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe following his upcoming appearance in Captain America: Civil War, or it is just a courtesy crossover for Sony allowing Spidey in the Avengers universe, who knows. But it can only be a plus.

And lastly, Marvel’s Inhumans film, planned for 2019, has been taken off the release slate – at least temporarily. While this could put the production in doubt, it may just be a scheduling matter – the new Indiana Jones movie was scheduled to release just a week later which would have a Disney/Lucasfilm likely overshadowing a Disney/Marvel film. Plans are still in place for the movie, but they just don’t have a release window picked out yet.

BBC has finally announced the cast of the Doctor Who spinoff Class, which was announced last October, which was only surprising because they just started filming the 8 episode series today…

The show will star Katherine Kelly as a teacher at the Coal Hill School, where Clara Oswald was most recently employed but is also where Doctor Who got it’s start back in 1963. And apparently all that time traveling around it has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.

Kelly most recently starred in Happy Valley, as well as Mr. Selfridge and Coronation Street.

Joining Kelly as students at the school are Greg Austin (Mr. Selfridge), Fady Elsayed (My Brother the Devil), Sophie Hopkins (The Meeting Place) and newcomer Vivian Oparah.

With the focus on the young adult audience, each of the students is described as having “hidden secrets and desires. They are facing their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow — and possibly the end of existence.”

The rumors were true…Amazon Prime has struck a deal with the BBC to be the exclusive streaming provider for Doctor Who.

Starting next Sunday, March 27th, Amazon Prime subscribers (click here for a free 30-day trial) will be able to stream all eight series of the revived show and all the holiday episodes except for “The Husbands of River Song”, which will become available this Fall with Series 8.

Currently absent from streaming is any classic series episodes. Netflix generally had at least one episode from each series available at any given time. No word if this will change.

Some Thursday tidbits for you…

Rod Roddenberry, the son of the “Great Bird of the Galaxy”, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and president of Roddenberry Entertainment, will join the upcoming Star Trek series for CBS All Access as an executive producer, along with chief operating officer Trevor Roth. Roddenberry Entertainment will co-produce the series.

Actor Ian McShane (Deadwood) will play the mysterious con man Mr. Wednesday in Starz’ series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, where the gods of myth are about to enter a war against the gods of modern society representing money, power, etc.

ABC gave quite a few early pickups to its shows, including Once Upon A Time and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Absent, at least so far, is Agent Carter, which appears to be a long shot at this point – especially since star Haley Atwell has signed on to do a pilot for ABC. While Carter currently operates on a half-season schedule it is possible that if the other show is also half-season she could do both, but the shows only modest ratings already were pointing at an ending for the show.

And finally, the Radio Times is reporting that Peter Capaldi is set to show up in the upcoming Doctor Who spinoff Class which is set at the Coal Hill School – where the very first episode of Doctor Who started and where Clara Oswald had been teaching. “It wil[sic] have a close connection with Doctor Who so don’t be surprised if Peter pops up,” according to someone close to the production. Now, my interpretation of that statement is that it isn’t definite Capaldi will appear, but that the story will allow for it.

With several official live action spin-off series in the history of the show (K-9 and Company (only one episode produced), Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, and K-9), the Doctor only appeared on The Sarah Jane Adventures – but he did so in two incarnations: both David Tennant and Matt Smith appeared in separate two-parters.

When we first heard that showrunner Steven Moffat was stepping down from Doctor Who, to be replace by Chris Chibnall, we immediately began to think, would current Doctor Peter Capaldi also leave the show? After all, that’s what happened when Russell T. Davies, who helped resurrect the show, stepped down, with David Tennant likewise retiring from the role, handing Steven Moffat a clean slate to work with.

Well, the Mirror appears to think so to, saying that a BBC source says he will step down after the next series in 2017, and that his current contract only covers 2017. So it seems like it would be a perfectly ideal time for a fresh start.

So the speculation begins, even though we are more than a year away from a regeneration scene. Idris Elba was a favorite last year, and is likely to be top of the speculation ladder this year…but will there be an increase of possible female Doctor candidates?

Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat, who feels his “timey-wimey is running out”, will depart the show following the next series (the tenth since the show was revived) – and it won’t air until Spring 2017!

According to the Radio Times, Moffat will hand the TARDIS over to writer and fellow fan Chris Chibnall, who has written for Doctor Who before (“42”, “The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood”, “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship” and “The Power of Three” along with the “Pond Life” webisode), and also served as head writer and co-producer of Torchwood. Most recently he created and co-wrote Broadchruch which featured David Tennant and will go into production this summer for a third series.

Although the next series won’t air until next year, there will still be a Christmas episode.

Explaining the decision to hold Moffat’s last series until next year, BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said: “I have decided to schedule Steven’s big finale series in Spring 2017 to bring the nation together for what will be a huge event on the channel. 2016 is spoilt with national moments including the Euros and Olympics and I want to hold something big back for 2017 – I promise it will be worth the wait!”

“Feels odd to be talking about leaving when I’m just starting work on the scripts for season 10, but the fact is my timey-wimey is running out,” Moffat said. “While Chris is doing his last run of Broadchurch, I’ll be finishing up on the best job in the universe and keeping the TARDIS warm for him. It took a lot of gin and tonic to talk him into this, but I am beyond delighted that one of the true stars of British Television drama will be taking the Time Lord even further into the future. At the start of season 11, Chris Chibnall will become the new showrunner of Doctor Who. And I will be thrown in a skip.”

Chibnall said of his upcoming position, “Doctor Who is the ultimate BBC programme: bold, unique, vastly entertaining, and adored all around the world. So it’s a privilege and a joy to be the next curator of this funny, scary and emotional family drama. I’ve loved Doctor Who since I was four years old, and I’m relishing the thought of working with the exceptional team at BBC Wales to create new characters, creatures and worlds for the Doctor to explore. Steven’s achieved the impossible by continually expanding Doctor Who’s creative ambition, while growing its global popularity. He’s been a dazzling and daring showrunner, and hearing his plans and stories for 2017, it’s clear he’ll be going out with a bang. Just to make my life difficult.”

BBC announced new programming today, which includes a green light on a new adaptation of Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and they will pick up the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off Class.

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is an adaptation of Douglas Adams’ (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Doctor Who) wildly successful comic novels, and is set in the unexpected world of its hyperactive, absurdist, eponymous detective, Dirk Gently. The straight-to-series order includes eight one-hour episodes. Penned by Max Landis — the mind behind cult classic Chronicle — the series is a co-production of AMC Studios, Ideate Media, and IDW Entertainment, with Circle of Confusion producing.

Sarah Barnett, President of BBC America, commented, “Dirk Gently is a very original series, fresh and unlike anything else. The novels have legions of fans, and with Max Landis’ brilliant and audacious take on this material, we are excited to bring Dirk to life for our BBCA super-fans.”

Dirk Gently is a serialized comedic thriller that follows the bizarre adventures of eccentric “holistic” detective Dirk Gently and his reluctant assistant Todd, as they wend their way through one big, seemingly insane mystery, crossing unlikely paths with a bevy of wild and sometimes dangerous characters, each episode landing them a few random steps closer to uncovering the truth.

In addition to show creator Max Landis, Executive producers include Ted Adams and David Ozer for IDW; David Alpert and Rick Jacobs for Circle of Confusion; and Zainir Aminullah and Arvind Ethan David for Ideate Media.

Class was announced in October by BBC as a spin-off to Doctor Who – although how it ties in is still a mystery. Done as an eight-part series, Class will be co-produced by BBC America marking the TV screenwriting debut of acclaimed author Patrick Ness, best known for his award-winning book [asin=0763660655]A Monster Calls[/asin]. Set in a school in contemporary London, it is executive produced by Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin, the team behind Doctor Who.

Produced by BBC Cymru Wales and filmed in Cardiff, Class will premiere in 2016.

The title of this year’s Christmas Special will be “The Husbands of River Song”…yes, plural…not sure what that’s going to mean, unless it is a reference to the Doctor’s various incarnations…

And if you look at the official image released today, there are two things I’ve noticed – one, the Doctor is holding a sonic screwdriver again! And two – it looks like he’s going to be battling Baymax from Big Hero 6… 🙂

As for the plot, at first I thought this was a joke – but this IS the Christmas episode, after all:

It’s Christmas Day on a remote human colony and the Doctor is hiding from carols and comedy antlers. But when the Time Lord’s help is requested he finds himself recruited into River Song’s squad and hurled into a fast and frantic chase across the galaxy! King Hydroflax (Greg Davies, Man Down) is furious and his giant robot bodyguard is out-of-control and coming for them all! Will Nardole (Matt Lucas, Shooting Stars) survive? And when will River work out who the Doctor is?

All will be revealed on a starliner full of galactic super-villains and at a destination the Doctor has been avoiding for a very long time…