Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
This trailer for the 50th Anniversary special doesn’t actually contain any footage for the special, but it is a pretty fascinating watch for Who fans, a great tribute to the show’s half-century and various Doctors.
io9 has a close-up look at many of the trailer’s nod to Who present and classic.
As predicted, the BBC has announced that Peter Capaldi will be the next Doctor.
At 55, he’ll be the oldest Doctor since the days of classic Who. Matt Smith, the current Doctor, was the youngest ever when his casting was announced, at 26.
Capaldi is well known in the U.K., mostly recently for his role on the comedy The Thick of It. He’s previously appear on Doctor Who in 2008’s ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ – an episode that also included future companion Karen Gillian in a bit part – and on the Who spinoff Torchwood.
Well, that was quick: The BBC will reveal the 12th Doctor in a live special this Sunday. The special will air in the U.K. on BBC One at 7p.m., and on BBC America at 2p.m. Eastern. There will be guests including “Doctors old and new” as well as reigning Doctor Matt Smith and executive producer Steven Moffat.
Smith, who’s starred in the show since 2010, has two specials before he hangs up his bow tie for good: The 50th Anniversary special (with the 10th Doctor, David Tennant) in November and the Christmas Special, where he will regenerate into the new actor or actress. The new Doctor will go on to star in the eighth series with current companion Jenna-Louise Coleman.
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…
Continue reading “TV time: Doctor Who, Orphan Black, and the return of Warehouse 13”
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.