Sci-Fi Storm

The official Doctor Who Twitter account broke the news Whovians have been waiting for…the Doctor will return – new face and all – in August. BBC America later confirmed it for U.S. audiences as well. Exact date yet to be determined.

BREAKING NEWS! The new series of #DoctorWho starts August, 2014! pic.twitter.com/OZN1NxGp4w

— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) May 23, 2014

It appears that Matt Smith can’t get enough of time travel stories…but this time he may be facing a really mean looking robot…

Paramount announced today that the actor, best known for being the 11th incarnation of the Doctor (well, depending how you count, but we’ve been through that before – let’s just use classic numbering), will join the Terminator franchise reboot, which is expected to be a new trilogy of movies and will once again feature Arnold Schwarzenegger. Reportedly Smith’s role will be major, expanding in the second and third movies. From the press release:

HOLLYWOOD, CA (May 2, 2014) – Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions announced today that “Doctor Who” star Matt Smith will join the cast of the upcoming “TERMINATOR” reboot.

Smith will play a new character with a strong connection to John Connor, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi and Byung Hun Lee.

Alan Taylor is directing the film from a screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. David Ellison and Dana Goldberg of Skydance Productions are producing. Skydance’s Paul Schwake, Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison, Kalogridis and Lussier are executive producing.

Smith is best known for playing The Doctor on the popular “Doctor Who” television series during the 2011-2103 seasons. His other television credits include “Christopher and His Kind,” “Moses Jones,” and “The Street.” He can be seen next on the big screen in “LOST RIVER,” directed by Ryan Gosling, alongside Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan and Eva Mendes.

He is represented by United Talent Agency and Michael Duff at Troika.

The “TERMINATOR” franchise launched in 1984 with Schwarzenegger as the title character and spanned three subsequent films, which have earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Paramount will distribute the film worldwide on July 1, 2015.

The Doctor Who community has been saddened by the loss of two notable people…on Thursday directory Derek Martinus passed away at the age of 82 after battling Alzheimer’s. Martinus presided over a number of episodes spanning from 1965 to 1970 and with three different Doctors, including major serials like Galaxy 4, The Tenth Planet, The Evil of the Daleks, and The Ice Warriors, with his final serial being Spearhead From Space, notable for being Jon Pertwee’s debut and the first episode broadcast it color.

Then on Sunday actress Kate O’Mara, who played fellow Time Lord The Rani in a couple of serials in the 1980s, passed away at the age of 74 after a short illness. O’Mara appeared as the evil Time Lord opposite Colin Baker in “The Mark of the Rani”, then again in Sylvester McCoy’s debut episode “Time and the Rani”. She was also perhaps better known to U.S. audiences as Cassandra Morrell, sister to Alexis Carrington on Dynasty. Overall her TV career spanned almost 50 years.

Actor Samuel Anderson, best know for his roles in The History Boys and Emmerdale as well as a few guest appearances on Gavin & Stacey, will join the cast of Doctor Who in a recurring role in the upcoming 8th revival series of the show, with new Doctor Peter Capaldi.

Anderson will play Danny Pink, a teacher at the Coal Hill School where current companion Clara Oswald also teaches.

If you’ve heard of the Coal Hill School before, it has appeared a few times in Doctor Who already – including the very first episode, as the school from which Ian Xhesterton and Barbara Wright taught and followed home Susan into the junkyard and then into the TARDIS. It then appeared some 25 years later in Remembrance of the Daleks when the Seventh Doctor returned to the area to take care of some unfinished business. And then it appeared at the beginning of the 50th Anniversary episode Day of the Doctor, mimicking the very first scene of the very first episode, where we learn that Clara is employed as a teacher, and Ian Chesterton is listed as Chairman of Governors.

“Capaldi? He’s too old…”

Those were some of the first words I heard when they announced Matt Smith’s replacement, Peter Capaldi. He is, after all, 24 years older than Smith. But then, Matt Smith was the youngest ever to play the role – he was 27 when he debuted. David Tennant was third at 34. Ironically the second youngest debut was Peter Davison, who was 29 – and is now David Tennant’s father-in-law. Christopher Eccleston was 41. The only other sub-40 year old was Paul McGann who was 36.

But regardless of Davison’s age, all the “classic” Doctors played the character as a fatherly figure. Advisor. Friend. Protector of his companions, and of humans and the Earth in general. It wasn’t until McGann that we saw any sort of romantic side of the Doctor. And although we didn’t really see much of that in Eccleston, his Doctor was still different than previous incarnations. He appeared to be younger, hipper – a more contemporary character to Rose, where something more than a father-child relationship might appear. That certainly continued with Tennant and more with Smith.

But it isn’t just teetering-on-the-edge-of-a-romantic-relationship angle. Overall the Doctor was different. He was alone – his people gone, and as far as he knew, forever – and he was responsible for it. He’s having to come to terms with it, and is perhaps even annoyed that he survived to have to. He’s younger in appearance but hardened. Perhaps he’s becoming a rebel. He cares less about the consequences of his own actions. Beings die at his hands. He isn’t immune to them, but seems more willing to sacrifice. After all, he had to make that decision on a grand scale in the Time War. And there was no one to stop him, keep him in check – or punish him. His compassion was lost, so he needed his companions to help him feel. After “The Name of the Doctor”, the last 7 years of the “new” Doctor made more sense.

Now that the reasons for this shift in character have essentially been resolved to a certain degree, I think the shift to an older Doctor makes perfect sense. He doesn’t need to feel guilty, or alone, or be mad at the Universe that made him that way. He can return to what he was, the father, the protector.

Whether the fans will go with him remains to be seen. There is the danger of losing the chemistry that has built up since last year with Clara. But there is a potential for new angles.

And if it doesn’t work out…well, there’s always the next regeneration.

One last message from our favorite Sontaran, who wants to destroy us…this time, Strax discusses the human custom of “Christmas”…

Are you prepared for the end?

T minus 2 days and counting…to tide you over, here are a couple of clips from the Christmas episode, “The Time of the Doctor”, showing how a time machine can be very useful for certain things…
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This latest Strax report may be the best yet…the somewhat frustrated Sontaran nurse talks about ALL of the different Doctors – generally in relation to how they’d be as warriors…
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Christmas Day, 9pm/8c on BBC America. Be there or be exterminated.
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I know it is late in the shopping season – I’ve been uber-busy this year, but you might still have time…here are a few of the things we like out there…most of which we’ve purchased!

With three science-fiction-loving girls in my house, there was never much in the way of appropriate clothing you could get for them for gifts…until about four years ago. Today, their wardrobes and my wallet seem to be aimed at Her Universe, founded by an actual Jedi – the voice of Ahsoka Tano, Ashley Eckstein. Covering not just Star Wars, but Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Star Trek, and Syfy programs, clothing and other merchandise specially made for women with awesome designs abound. And you can also get items at ThinkGeek and Hot Topic (in the stores as well!) Still no merchandise for men…yet.

For the men at least, if you are a fan of Warehouse 13, did you know that star Eddie McClintock, who plays Agent Pete Lattimer, is an artist? For the last few seasons he’s designed and sold T-shirts for the show, and the final season T-shirt is not only available for sale, but you can GET IT SIGNED BY HIM for free! It may be too late for Christmas, but who doesn’t like an extra gift after the holidays? And while you are at it, check out his original artwork for sale.

Speaking of ThinkGeek – I’m not a coffee drinker, but I do like a hot cup of tea, and I can be a bit of a tea snob. More recently I’ve delved into the realm of loose leaf teas, but they can be difficult to use – I’ve got two of those round mesh tea infusers (including a Mickey head one I picked up at WDW), but if you’re dealing with fine cut tea, they never really seem to close properly and you get pieces of tea in your drink. But then I found this TARDIS tea infuser, which looks perfect. I haven’t tried it yet because it’s a Christmas gift to myself, but the design looks to be just what I want – fill from the top, fine holes on the bottom…problem solved.
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