Club Jade

The 2013 Christmas Special will be Matt Smith’s last on Doctor Who, the BBC announced today. Smith, the eleventh and youngest actor to play the role, took over from David Tennant in 2010 and has done 3 seasons of the show – plus the upcoming 50th Anniversary and Christmas specials.

There’s been nothing about who will be cast as the next Doctor, but reports do have both showrunner Steven Moffat and the current companion, Jenna Coleman, staying on.

In ‘Nightmare and Silver,’ the Doctor and Clara head for ‘the greatest theme park in the universe,’ only to find it closed and inhabited only by a shabby few, including Warwick Davis. Cybermen ensue, because of course they do. The episode is written by Neil Gaiman and is the last before next week’s season finale, ‘The Name of the Doctor.’

In other sci-fi TV news, it’s pilot season! ABC picked up Joss Whedon’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., bringing the Marvel synergy to live-action TV. (ABC will air a preview of the show on Sunday.) They also picked up Once Upon a Time spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and sci-fi mystery show Resurrection

Two J.J. Abrams pilots were picked up as well: Fox nabbed robot police drama Almost Human, while Fox picked up Believe, a collabration with Alfonso Cuarón about a telekinetic ten-year-old. It’s no big shock that The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals got picked up, but the CW also greenlit post-apocalyptic The 100, a remake of The Tomorrow People and the human/alien romance Star-Crossed.

Meanwhile, in the cable realm, both SyFy’s Defiance and BBC America’s Orphan Black are getting second seasons.

You can check out the full slate of pilots – picked up and passed over both – at The Hollywood Reporter.

What’s on TV these days? This weekend has a full blast of stuff for genre fans, and Monday kicks off the new season of Warehouse 13

Let’s check out the sci-fi and fantasy forecast for the weekend and beyond…

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Fresh from the photo shoot… Ashley Eckstein gave Her Universe fans our first look at these van Gogh TARDIS leggings the other day. Sounds like they’ll be another Hot Topic exclusive.

The second half of Doctor Who’s seventh season begins today with ‘The Bells of Saint John.’ (Naturally, there’s a prequel.) But we knew that, right?

The Who news today is that at least two of the show’s previous stars will be returning for the 50th Anniversary special. And there’s a new face for Who as well: John Hurt. The special begins filming this week

Need more Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman? The Nerdist has you covered! Season two of Chris Hardwick’s show begins tonight (after the premieres of Doctor Who and Orphan Black) with a full set of BBC guests. Not only do we have the Doctor and his new Companion, there’s Dominic Monaghan, and Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany!

And you can tune in all day on BBC America for a Doctor Who marathon – my how things have changed since back then.

With new Doctor Who coming any day now (more on that later,) get yourself in the mood by ordering the latest from Her Universe: A Dalek dress.

Like the Tardis dress, this one is a Hot Topic exclusive and will run you $26.50-30.50. It also, according to Ashley, runs small.

The back half of Season 7 comes to BBC and BBC America in a matter of weeks! That’s the BBC promo above, but Entertainment Weekly has another trailer with different footage. And yes, you will spy Star Wars alum Warwick Davis – he appears in the second-to-last episode of the season

The show is back March 30th on both sides of the pond.

Because we do cover more than just J.J. Abrams on this site!

As part of the build-up to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, BBC America will be airing some classic Doctor Who story arcs, starting tonight (January 27)! Catch up with the First Doctor in ‘The Aztecs’ after the first in a series of specials on all the Doctors (The Doctors Revisited) at 9 pm Eastern. This classic Who will have to hold us over until our current Doctor returns, with his new Companion, on March 30.

Also, the webseries Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome will finally be airing on TV: Syfy will be airing it on February 10 with scenes not available in the online version. Then it will be put out on video on Feb 19. A prequel to the Syfy series that had trouble finding an outlet, Blood & Chrome focuses on a young William Adama during the Cylon War.

Her Universe has revealed their Cyber Monday exclusives! Above, a set of Darth Vader pajamas featuring artwork from Her Universe favorite Katie Cook. “Everyone knows I love creating designs for Her Universe,” Cook said. “I jumped at the chance to combine two of my favorite things: Star Wars and pajamas.” Tops and bottoms will be sold separately – the tops aren’t on the site yet, but the bottoms go up to 3X.

The Star Wars shirt with Japanese symbols is a new Misses cut that is “is flattering to the female figure” – it’s the same cut as the plus-size Mara shirts from Celebration, and is available in sizes up to 2X. The BSG crew neck sweatshirt might also appeal to those looking for a looser cut – it’s available in sizes up to XL. There are also new Star Trek and two new Doctor Who tees!

Her Universe is producing their first Star Trek jewelery for the holiday – these earrings feature the Vulcan hand sign in the communicator seal. And this year’s holiday pin features Chewbacca and comes in a case signed by Ashley Eckstein. A thousand have been produced and will be going out free with every order while supplies last.

Also free this year? U.S. Ground shipping! All the new Cyber Monday products will go on sale November 26.

FANDOM BREAK.

And now for something COMPLETELY different… The trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas special. And, beneath the cut, a special prequel to the special. (more…)