Doctor Who [2]

Nothing that would be good enough I am sure! There is no excuse for not having Who in your life Eldo, none whatsoever.

Is Who still themost violent family tvshow? Probably if this is anything to go by-and it only covers to just before the end of Tennants run (and as a comment on it points out they missed the 20,000 the Doctor killed on that unfortunate day in Pompey!)

One especially for Mrs Figg.

"Nice to meet you Rose, Run for your life!" so cool.

http://www.digitalspy.com.au/british-tv/s7/doctor-who/news/a374685/doctor-whos-jenna-louise-coleman-matt-smith-promised-best-time-ever.html

Mrs Figg wrote:

Hahaha, that's great!!

General Who news round -up- why can't PJ provide us with coverage like this? There has been more news about this new series of Who than all of TH stuff added together and they are only still shooting the first couple of blocks!
Anyway, here is the news (courtesy of Gallifrey Base).

Three 2011 Doctor Who stories have been nominated for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.
The scripts for the Neil Gaiman's The Doctor’s Wife and Tom MacRae's The Girl Who Waited, will compete against showrunner Steven Moffat's A Good Man Goes to War to win the award which will be presented at Chicon 7 to be held in Chicago, Illinois, at the end of August.

The fourth episode of the series will be produced on its own as Block Three, to be directed by Douglas Mackinnon, who previously filmed The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky; the episode will also be the second script written by Chris Chibnall for this series.
This will then be followed by Block Four, due to commence production in May, and of course introduces us to a new traveller in the TARDIS in the form Jenna-Louise Coleman in the 2012 Christmas Special. This will also be the first story to be totally produced at the new BBC Roath Lock studioa in Cardiff Bay.

Steven Moffat described the audition process for the new arrival: "I sat down and wrote a scene, from a pretend story, that I thought covered everything a Doctor Who co-star might have to do. And that one scene ended up being three scenes, and two of them I liked so much, they snuck themselves into real eposodes, and one I liked even better because during it we all realised Jenna was our one and only choice. We all sat and watched this - me, Caro Skinner, Marcus Wilson and Andy Pryor - and I'm sure you could hear our heart rates soaring. Because there it was, right in front of us, the new team and the new show."
Casting director Andy Pryor described the process of short-listing for roles to DWM: "My original list was probably a couple of hundred names, which I whittled down to around fifty. Then I began auditioning in earnest - in the intake stages, I'll audition maybe twenty people at a time for a role like this - and showing the best of them to Steven, Caro and Marcus. For smaller roles and guest parts we usually audition somewhere between three and five people, but for such an enormous part it's a bigger deal. Between us we shortlisted further and recalled a small selection to read with Matt. We met some brilliant actresses for the part, but when Jenna auditioned with Matt, we all knew instantly that she was the one."

After photos with classic Daleks revealed by the BBC and Moffat last week, a number of others have been pressed into action for the episode currently being filmed, including the one owned by former head writer Russell T Davies! The arrival of 'her' at the studios were marked by brand manager Edward Russell: "Oh look. It's me and Caroline Skinner posing with Russell's Dalek on her way to the studio. Daleks are female, right? It make so much sense. For one they have skirts....". The executive producer herself said: "Russell's Dalek has arrived on set - I'm talking her through her part!" Another Dalek recruited to the cause was from fan Andrew C Smith: "Our Dalek on its way to TV stardom in Cardiff", to which Steven Moffat replied: "We'll all look after it. Except for the Doctor, who'll probably blow it up. Sorry, he does that."

Filming from the current block indicates that Director of Photography for episodes one and five is Neville Kidd - previous credits include Lip Service, How To Grow A Planet and Case Histories, and he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Photography (Factual) in 2009 for his work on A History of Scotland
Matt Smith on how things are progressing with filming: "It's really great. I think we've got some really exciting episodes. We did the read-throughs for episodes one and five and they are extremely extraordinary. Really, really pleased with them, so if we get them right, the Ponds' final hour could be incredible. We will be making some Doctor Who in New York which is incredibly exciting."



And that was the news! (I like the fact they are recruiting older model classic Daleks from fans- thats a very Who way of going about things).
But on the major rumour front we have this:

'Will a woman be taking over the role of the Doctor for the 50th Anniversary? According to the Express, she will, with their show insider saying: "The 50th anniversary series will end with a very big twist - the Doctor becoming a woman will give the show a new lease of life.". The newspaper cites Sherlock actress Lara Pulver as being one of the front-runners. '

It didn't say what day the report from the Express came from- I'm hoping April 1st. Or Moffat mischieve making.

first Ponds and now this? why do they feel the need to PC everything? if they do make the Doctor a woman I wont be watching any more, its a step too far.

Not sure how the Ponds are pc Mrs Figg.
Grnated there is nothing in Who to say the Doctor could not regenrate as a woman. Its mentioned as far back as Romana regenerating in the 4th Doctors Time. The most recent, fleeting, reference to the idea I can think of is in the Doctor's Wife last series when the Doctor talks about his old friend the Corsair who had also been a woman a few times.

I don't thnk I would stop watching in protest if they did it. Trusted Who this far and by and large it hasn't let me down yet. I would at least give it a fair go. But I cannnot imagine it would work. Which is not to say it wouldn't of course.
I would not envy the actress who dares take it on however, could very much be a poisoned chalice.

sorry didnt mean to say the Ponds were pc, I was thinking of the Doctor turning into a chick as being pc. why mess with the format that has worked for over 40 years? seems like pc fiddling to me, might be wrong.

Seems like pc fiddling to me too. There was talk before Smith took over that the Doctor wa sgoing to be a woman or him being black for the first time (the guy who was the villian in Serenity was supposedly up for the part- he couild e an excellent Doctor I reckon). Oddly enough I think making a woman would be easier than makiing him black- bit tricky everytime the Tardis takes him back in earth history past the 1960's if he is not allowed to talk to white folk etc. And they could hardly ignore it and I'm not sure that really fits the tone of Who. I mean take an excellent story like Family of Blood- Doctor becomes plain John Smith a teacher in an early 1900's British public school- not if he had been black he wouldn't have been- see what I mean, half of every histroical episode would be dealing with how everyone deals with him as being black- that could get very old very quick. At least if they make him a woman the problem is less acute.
But my gut feeling is its a bad idea and they wont risk it.

I suppose they are running out of ideas, if the Doctor is a woman there are different problems. like if she goes to the 15th /16th century she could be under the Inquisition as a witch and all that caper, i'd like to see the sonic screwdriver get her out of a bonfire or a ducking stool. It does open up some interesting stories like maybe going to the Vestal Virgins in Rome, or the Amazons, or being Queen Elizabeth 1's food taster, or what about the Oracle of Delphi tripping on weird gases? actually now I think about it, it could be fun.

They did sort of briefly touch the subject in the Shakespeare episode, with Martha.

Love this!

Nice!

Just watched Dr Who, a Christmas carol.
First time i'v watched the who since Tom Baker.
Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Welcome back to the fold Chris.

BBC have put out some pics taken during the filming of an episode in New York.

Couple of short interviews with the Moff. First on the importance of the Companions and the second on shooting in NY.

Filming continues apace in New York- and the stars take a well deserved break and Karen proves she is definently a proud Scotslass- drink and a cig- you show the world how we do it Karen! With no regard to personal health whatsoever- go girl!
ps I thought the Scottish diet was full on, but 'breakfast pizza with eggs'!!