Sci-Fi Storm

A recent comment by showrunner Steven Moffat has thrown Doctor Who fandom into chaos – just how many times has the Doctor regenerated? It is established canon that a Time Lord can only regenerate 12 times (giving him 13 incarnations), barring external influence (more on that later). And since the revival, we’ve all worked on the assumption that we were seeing the 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctor. The last episode threw in a wrench – A possibly previously unknown Doctor (or “non-Doctor”, per Smith – I’ll refer to the incarnations by the actor’s name), which would likely boost everyone at least from Eccleston up by one. But this also got me thinking about regeneration in general – what is it, how do completely different bodies and personalities come about, what control is there, and how does the limit work?
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This is the first full TV trailer for the upcoming 50th Anniversary episode of Doctor Who, “Day of the Doctor”, to air simultaneously around the world on November 23rd, 2013 (local British time…exact air time yet to be announced)…enjoy…
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Hmm…all 11 Doctors and a few companions represented…
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This one is official…nine previously missing episodes of classic Doctor Who from the Troughton years have been recovered in Nigeria, Africa. Two more were found but had previously been recovered elsewhere.

The entire serial of “The Enemy of the World”, the fourth of Season 5, has been recovered, and all but one episode of “The Web of Fear”, which introduced Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, to later be affectionately known as “The Brigadeer”, were recovered. Both serials have been painstakingly restored and remastered, with set photos and recorded audio filling in the still missing Episode 3 of “The Web of Fear”. Both will be available exclusively on iTunes October 11th, with DVD releases to follow.

Phillip Morris, director of Television International Enterprises Archive, tracked down the missing episodes via shipping records the BBC had of recordings sent out of the country. “The tapes had been left gathering dust in a store room at a television relay station in Nigeria,” Morris said. “I remember wiping the dust off the masking tape on the canisters and my heart missed a beat as I saw the words ‘Doctor Who’. When I read the story code I realized I’d found something pretty special.”

Sadly, this is far, far less than the rumored 90 episodes, but it still allows hope that still more will be found.

Wow…the saga continues. But this time it seems really real!

BBC News’ Lizo Mzimba says that BBC Worldwide will announce later this week that a number of Doctor Who from the First and Second Doctors have been recovered.

If you’ve been following, there was a rumor that as many as 90 of the 106 remaining missing episodes, all from the Hartnell and Troughton years, were recovered by archivist Philip Morris from film transfers sent to other countries for broadcast. But then he denied it, seriously dashing hopes. But now it appears to be true, at least in some respect.

No information yet on how many episodes (The Daily Mirror reports 106, but that would be all of them and highly unlikely), or which episodes will be announced – or even if they will release them all or just some, or how. That we will hopefully learn this week.

Speaking of David Tennant – the 50th Anniversary Doctor Who special, dubbed “Day of the Doctor” and starring David Tennant, Matt Smith and John Hurt, will air simultaneously in countries around the world on November 23/24th (depending on where you are in relation to the International Date Line and the exact air time, to be determined still).

In the U.S., it will air on BBC America, while in Canada it will air on Space.

If you’re not in the U.K. or missed the TV Choice awards, Steven Moffat accepted a special award on behalf of Doctor Who‘s 50th Anniversary, and was pretty funny in doing it, making reference to the fact that it was being presented by Doctor Who, while Doctor Who was working in Cardiff, and Doctor Who’s son-in-law, Doctor Who, was also getting an award that night…oh, just watch the video!
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We now know one more thing about the 50th Anniversary special episode of Doctor Who – the name. No, not of the Doctor – the episode! It is called “The Day of the Doctor”, and the BBC has released a poster:

BREAKING: The Twelfth Doctor for Doctor Who will be a bit older – actor Peter Capaldi was just announced on the live BBC One/BBC America program.

Torchwood fans will recognize him as John Frobisher, the Home Office Secretary who dealt with the return of the 456 in Torchwood: Children of Earth.

In an interesting and perhaps prophetic note, Peter Capaldi’s character in World War Z is credited as “W.H.O. Doctor”.

Peter has appeared previously on Doctor Who. He played Caecilius in the episode “Fires of Pompeii”, which also featured a future Doctor Who regular…Karan Gillan.

Peter’s biggest role up to now was probably the role of Malcolm Tucker in In The Loop, the UK Prime Minister’s chief spin doctor.

BREAKING: BBC America announced that they will reveal who will play the Twelfth Doctor on a live TV special, airing simultaneously on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US.

DOCTOR WHO LIVE: THE NEXT DOCTOR SPECIAL TO AIR LIVE THIS SUNDAY ON BBC AMERICA

What: The next Doctor of BBC AMERICA’s hit series Doctor Who will be announced during a live special this Sunday afternoon.

When: Sunday, August 4, 2 pm ET LIVE on BBC AMERICA and BBC One in the U.K.

Who: Widely regarded as one of the most hotly contested roles in British television, the special’s host Zoe Ball will unveil the Twelfth Doctor in their first-ever interview in front of a live studio audience. The half-hour show will include live special guests, Doctors old and new, as well as companions and celebrity fans. Current Doctor Matt Smith and lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat will both give interviews in the special.

Steven Moffat says: “The decision is made and the time has come to reveal who’s taking over the TARDIS. For the last of the Time Lords, the clock is striking twelve.”

Matt Smith will make his penultimate appearance in the 50th Anniversary special on Saturday, November 23, and his Eleventh Doctor will regenerate in the Christmas Special. Doctor Who is produced by BBC Cymru Wales.