...And David Tennant is being paid one million pounds to do the whole thing. Casting and renewal news like this isn't terribly exciting in North America, but in the UK it's cause for jubiliation, especially with a show like this.
According to various sources, Tennant never wanted to leave anyway - they just like to string the media along to keep interest up. Rumour has been going around that they wanted a longer break than the three months they get between series, so Tennant can have a real vacation and a chance to do the movie roles he's forced to turn down due to scheduling. I guess not.
With the fourth series, Tennant will have the three years that was the average for the Doctors of the 1980s. I hope he'll do a fourth year personally and exit on top, but we'll see...
The first two episodes were screened for the media this week, and the blog chatter has the show just as good as ever. Rose is mentioned briefly in both episodes, but after that it's all Martha, the new companion - and the biggest course of worry for the producers. Will the public warm up to the new girl? Apparently so.
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In terms of FULL seasons (regardless of their length) Pertwee had five seasons and Baker had seven; Hartnell had three and a couple stories; Troughton had three; Davison had three and a special; Colin had two (one half the length of the previous one) and his intro story; McCoy had three; and Eccleston of course had one.
You can niggle quite a bit on these numbers, ad (for example) McCoy had three years of thirteen half-hour episodes each; In that sense Tennant has been "seen" on screeen as the Doctor more than any doctor since Peter, and will eclipse that record by the conclusion of his third series.
Series three starts tomorrow! Can't wait for more tantalizing, spoileriffic clips? Here's the collection of trailers for the new season:
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"Doctor Who" used to have seasons. Even the BBC's Web site calls (called?) them that. What you call the new ones probably depends upon whether you consider them to be "series 1, 2, 3, 4..." or "seasons 27, 28, 29, 30...".
Registered: Mar 1999
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Well.. anyway.. is it OK to turn this into a review of "Smith and Jones"?
I thought it was a pretty good start. I like how they (try to) keep everything in continuity (the Christmas events and Canary Wharf were pretty big things, and after all, the 21st century is 'when it all changes'). For once, the aliens (the Judoon, aliens of the typical space rhino mercenary police kind) are not down-right evil. They even give our new companion a 'compensation note', probably indicating we'll be seeing more of the Judoon. Some random points:
- A new companion: Martha Jones. Gotta say the Doctor has good taste. We get to see Martha's family, which consists of a brother (it's his 21st birthday) and a sister who are quite close to her. The three of them seem to have good relations with the parents, although they are divorced, since Dad left Mom for some blonde bimbo (with a hideous 'blonde' name.. Jisbelle or something).
- Martha is (was) a medical student at Royal Hope Hospital in London. The whole thing is lifted by "H20 Scoop" to the Moon. Yep.
- The sonic screwdriver is destroyed in this episode! Has that ever happened before!? He gets a new one in the end though.
- Wikipedia confirms my suspicians that this Mr. "Saxon" fellow is the new Bad Wolf/Torchwood gimmick. We see several "Vote Saxon" posters in the final scenes. Here's more stuff.
Registered: Dec 1999
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"It is worth noting that the name 'Mister Saxon' is an anagram of 'Master No. Six' - if rumors are true, and Saxon truly is the Master, then Simm would indeed be the sixth actor to portray the Master on television. Additionally, such an anagram would be fitting, given the Master's fondness for using names that contain clues to his true identity."
That's not really true, though. From an in-universe standpoint, the Master would be on at least his sixteenth incarnation, so he would have no reason to use a name that's an anagram of "Master No. Six". Now, if Saxon's first name turns out to be an anagram of "teen"...
Also of note in this episode, the Doctor implies he once had a brother.
Registered: Mar 1999
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The sonic screwdriver has been destroyed before - in "The Visitation", a fifth Doctor story. This was obstensibly because producer John Nathan-Turner didn't like how it was the catch-all gimmick that allowed the Doctor to get into, through, or escape from anything. The screwdriver was replaced with a sonic lance in one sixth Doctor episode (it was also destroyed), but the eighth Doctor regained it for the TV movie, which was nearly identical to the one the fourth and fifth Doctors used. The current series has a new design (and the new one the Doctor has at the end of "Smith and Jones" is identical to it), though there have been two separate props for it. The current one is a slightly larger one based off of the toy, which the producers found was far more resistant to breaking down than their own original!
BTW, the over-use of the screwdriver was a common criticism from last year too, where the sonic screwdriver had many magical properties from firelighter to rope ladder cutter to scribble killer. A couple reports have mentioned that they intend to tone down its use a little this year, but given what we've seen it capable of doing, it'll be tough to resist temptation to use it as a plot MacGuffin.
quote:so he would have no reason to use a name that's an anagram of "Master No. Six".
More importantly, there's already been six actors to play the Master if you count the TV movie (seven if you count 'The Curse of Fatal Death' spoof), and if rumours that Derek Jacobi's character is actually the Master is disguise are true Saxon would be the seventh TV actor anyway. That Mr. Saxon is the Master is incredibly poorly thought out, considering this Master No. 6 would actually be Master Number 7, 8 or 9 going by actors...
Registered: Jul 2006
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My daughter found the Judoon quite scary, despite my reassurances ("Look, sweetheart! Talking Rhinos!" "Want Beebies!" "No, you can't watch CBeebies, it finished at 7!" "Want Mummy!" "She's gone shopping!"). Well, she's only two.
And, heh heh, "Planet Zovirax." I'm so glad I wasn't the only one to make that association from the two leather-clad behelmeted bike-messenger goons. . .
And, since it will inevitably come up if this goes on long enough, I will point out myself that, yes, it also spells "Nix am tosser".
Registered: Mar 1999
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