NEW DOCTOR WHO SEASON

They have been advertising a new season of DOCTOR WHO on the Sci-Fi Channel. Is anyone out there excited about this? I think it is set to begin next Friday April 11th.

beatles1964

Hi, new Doctor Who series starts in the UK on Saturday 12th April at 6:15pm on BBC 1.

I'm not quite sure where you are in the world so that might not be relevant to you. At the end of this new series thay are taking a break for 2009 so David Tennent can fulfil other commitments and to give them a break from a tough filming schedule. They are hoping to do the Christmas specials and maybe a couple of other specials but not a full series. It should then come back in 2010.

The Torchwood spin-off programme is just coming to the end of the second series here but I think they plan to be back next year.

I haven't seen the Sarah Jane programme from your other thread but I believe K9 is in some of the episodes.

Hope that this has helped.

Hmm Jody it begins tomorrow - that is the April 5th.

So it does, my TV guide has the wrong date printed!

Oh, they'd have been getting a complaint from our house for that if we'd missed the first one. My nephew would never have gotten over it. Me either if I'm honest.

Thanks for that.

Andy is correct, it starts tomorrow night.

It's hard to get excited about it, knowing that Catherine Tate is the new assistant. When she did the Xmas Special I just couldn't warm to her - too often her mannerisms and voice reminded me of her 'comedy' characters.

Torchwood has improved dramatically this series though.

OTOH Tate was great here:

Red Nose Day

Sci-Fi Channel is cable here in the USA.

Their site seems to indicate that it premieres April 18, at 8:30.
The Sarah Jane series is evidently going to be on right before it.

Will this season be in HD? Were previous ones? It matters to us in the States now that there's a Sci-Fi HD and soon a BBC America HD.

No it is still shot in SD. Getting the same level and same amount of SFX in HD for the same money is the problem.

I though Catherine Tate was good in tonight's episode. Unfortunately I thought the episode itself was rather weak, the weakest of the four season openers in new Who (and the worst season opener since Time and the Rani, anyone??)

John

I learned this morning that Season 4 will begin on Sci-Fi on the 18th; I thought I'd have to wait till the end of the year to see any of these episodes! It's hard to hold out when you can read so many spoilers online. :)

BBC America is, again, a disappointment.

#10

I am sure it is a reasonable commercial decision. Sci-Fi probably pays a lot for first run rights, more than BBC America is able to. However BBC America can afford second-run rights so runs it at a later date.

john257hopper, I have to agree with you. First episode of the season was ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS. I am not surprised to see that it is written by Russell T. Davies. Thanks for helping to bring back Doctor Who, Davies, but your sci-fi plots suck! I was very relieved that episodes 2 and 3 were better--I didn't think I'd like the one about the ood, but I did.

#12 - I have no general problem with RTD, just that particular script. I thought eps 2 and 3 were very good and this week's also looks promising.

After 5 episodes of this series I'm calling time on watching DW - this series has been very very disappointing.

I'm tired of Earth-bound episodes, alien invasions, the sonic screwdriver always being the answer, and the constant running running running (if running scenes were edited from the last few series of DW the average episode would last 13 minutes).

There is too much lazy writing and too little imagination.

I have often wondered why The Doctor doesn't go back in time and prevent the Daleks from Destroying Gallifrey? Is ot because if he does this then th Daleks will not be destroyed too? Then the Universe will still have to worry about the Daleks invading their Planets and killing millions and millions of people and other Alien Species in the process too? So he figures it better to have Gallifrey wiped since the Daleks were wiped out at the same time? I wish the writers would go into more detail about The Doctor's mysterious past and talk more about how his family got killed, why he is wanted for stealing a Type 40 TARDIS, how he and The Master became such bitter Arch Rivals and hated enemies. I think I understand the reason The Master wants to kill The Doctor is because if he can kill him once and for all then he won't have anyone to thwart his plans for controlling the Universe
and enslaving everyone in the Galaxy. What his real name is, why the rest of The Time Lords totally ignore Alien Races like the Daleks, Cybermen, Ice Warriors, the Salurians and others are bent on Invading other Planets in the Galaxies and trying to conquer and enslave the Earth.

I know the Time Lords have this rule of non interference which doesn't make any sense to me when they could help defeat these Aliens instead of letting them have their own ways. If it wasn't for The Doctor and his constant meddling with everyone he meets the Universe would be a lot worse off. I have heard Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker say his name was Doctor John Smith but eveyone knows that is such a phony name. Something I have often wondered about the new Doctor Who Series is that he is now up to his 10th Regeneration which means he only has 3 more Regenerations left. What happens when he reaches the 13th and final one? Has the BBC even thought of this before? Before Gallifrey got blown up in the War with the Daleks I always imagined they would give The Doctor another life span of thirteen more Regenerations for all the good he has done in fighting Evil where he has found it. I thought this would be a fitting reward for all of his efforts.

beatles1964

#14

We have had one story set on a different planet. One out of four isn't too bad. The next story is also set on a different planet - two out of five is pretty good.

Both are much better ratios than any other series of new who.

#15

The whole "do I have the right" speech from Genesis is part of the answer. Although the Daleks were an evil bunch of bastards they produced a lot of good in the other species. There were alliances formed and new technology invented and a new race (humans) become a galactic power.

Personally the less the back-story is explained the better. It is also obvious that the Master does not want to kill the Doctor. At various times he has offered him a share in the spoils of his latest plan, and in the latest story he had many chances to kill the Doctor but didn't - he wanted the Doctor around albeit as a shrunken gnome where he was powerless.

As for a new set of regenerations may be they aren't needed. What if the limit was an artificial constraint imposed by some technology on Gallifrey? Anyway who knows the Time-Lords may not really be gone for good.

Yea I know The Master has offered The Doctor a share to rule the Universe but I think it would mean he would have to change his morals and stoop to The Master's level. He has tried many times in the past to get rid of The Doctor. And The Doctor has tried his best to make The Master change his evil ways and even tried to put an end to him but The Master always seems to escape at the last possible moment. Both of them are equals as the other's opponent. The Doctor is too kind hearted and forgiving. I kept thinking in the episode where Tom Baker has the chance to blow the Daleks up once and for in Destiny of the Daleks and hesitates at this opportunity whereas if I had been The Doctor I would've taken the opportunity and detonated the explosives and blown the Daleks to Kingdom Come.

beatles1964

What did everybody think of Silence in the Library and the Forest of the Dead?

Can't wait to see Turn Left! Just sayin' :)

>19 Katissima:
I haven't seen FotD yet (it'll be on this Friday), but I was shocked, just shocked, that they would use a library—the epitome of peace and comfort—as the setting for a horror story. ;)

I was a little puzzled by the Doctor's reaction to his future friend. I didn't think it was the first time in the show that timelines have intersected in that inverted way.

I think it must have been the way she acted--whipping out her diary and calling him sweetie and all.

They said the conlcusion to Silence In The Library will air this coming Friday. I thought it was a very good story and liked the idea of the library being inside the girls mind the only thing is you couldn't actually visit unless you were able to use some kind of Virtual Reality device. I would love to have a home library that was like that just going on and on forever never running out of shelf space for your books in all of their different categories, comic books, DVD and VHS tapes collections, record collection of LP's, 45's, 78's, cassette tapes, collectibles,Baseball Football, Basketball, Hockey Card and Non-Sports Card Collections and anything else I might want to put in there. Though I might need to have some kind of a system telling me where I have all the different collections filed.

beatles1964

I didn't really like Forest of the Dead, I thought it was too surreal a story to work properly in the 45 minute format, though I think it would have worked better as one of the New Adventures novels published in the 1990s.

Turn Left and the Stolen Earth are shocking and excellent and I can hardly wait until next Saturday.

It's here! It's next Saturday finally!!!

Let's see .... 4:41 am Eastern time here in the US ... that makes it 9:41 am in the UK. That means just 9 more hours until you lucky Brits are watching "Journey's End" ... and about 12 hours before it shows up on the internet so all us wildly obsessed fans can see it now instead of 3 weeks from now.

After Torchwood ended with a major BANG, you better believe I'm going to be on the edge of my seat waiting for Russell's season-ending surprises. The man has pulled out all the stops.

Watched it on youtube before dinner today. Sigh. I'm sorry it is over but the ending made me sad. I won't go further into detail for fear of spoilers...

I'm still not sure how I feel about Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead overall, but I love love LOVE the idea of a library planet. Just drop me off there, Doctor!

I thought Turn Left was fantastic but I still haven't seen the last two episodes. My mother and I always watch Who together, and for the past week one of us has been busy every night! At the same time, I'm sort of glad for the delay, because I'm going to miss having new Who or Torchwood to look forward to every week.

MidnightRain, do you REALLY want to be dropped off on THAT library planet? I don't think the Vashta Nerada were Moffet's scariest monster, but they are discouraging enough!

Tardis, the ending made me sad too, but I think Donna's story was really well done. The ending made sense. And it isn't inconceivable that something will happen with that later. Goodness, Rose came back from a parallel world were the Doctor said if she ever came back it would destroy the universe!

***SPOILERS***

I thought the actual dalek part of the plot made no sense. I don't even think he really tried--just needed an excuse to get everyone together.

Also, there were just too many characters!

Also, I realize that Rose is RTD's favorite character, but I didn't like that plot ending. It was too transparent an attempt to give Rose a "happy" ending. I mean I enjoyed the DoctorDonna, but I think he should have done something heroic and sacrificial before the end of the episode.

Not that library planet, but perhaps a similar one (minus the Are You Afraid of the Dark? monsters) in a parallel universe would do nicely. ;)

The Daleks have ceased to be scary at all for me. I mean, I know they're THE iconic Who enemy, but I think RTD has overused them in the new series.

I'd love to talk about the Who finale, has anyone seen it yet besides me? I'm also looking for recommends for the BBC 8th Doc novels and the new 9th and 10th Doctor books. They seem to be pretty "kiddie" but like the Star Wars books, I'm attracted by the covers. :)

29> I agree with you about the Daleks and with the Cybermen returning for the Christmas special, I just want to bang my head against the wall of the Tardis. Classic enemies are fine, but the Doctor has a whole slew of baddies to pick from...

I watched the last two episodes last night. I was crying at the end! Poor Donna.

I've read almost all of the 10th Doctor novels. There are some good ones, and some not-so-good ones. The ones I really enjoyed:

The Deviant Strain - Nine, Rose and Captain Jack. This one is probably my favorite.

The Resurrection Casket - Space Pirates and a monster named Kevin. Lots of fun.

The Nightmare of Black Island - Good, but a bit similar to The Deviant Strain and Stealers of Dreams.

Forever Autumn - A fun Ten/Martha story that's set in America on Halloween.

Wetworld - Another Ten/Martha story. Lots of great moments. This gets my vote as the best cover. The poor TARDIS! I'm going to be reviewing this a bit more thoroughly on my review blog soon.

I'm listening to Wetworld right now. Love the first scene with the Doctor and the Tardis! Freema is reading it and her interpretation of the Doctor is spot on. Don't forget your wellies!

The Sci-Fi Channel has been advertising that in Friday's episode The Doctor gets killed. Does anyone know anything about this episode without giving any Spoilers away? Does this mean he Regenerates into the 11th Doctor? Also I was wondering what happened to The Sarah Jane Adventures. It seems they were taken off the air. I guess it could've been because it got poor ratings and was replaced with something else. I didn't see too many of the episodes. Is it coming back later on?

Thanks,
beatles1964

Well there was only 5 SJA stories (plus the initial Invasion of The Bane special) so it might just have finished.

Oh,then that explains why it isn't on any longer. I wasn't aware of that and thought it must've been taken off due to poor ratings.

beatles1964

33 beatles: It's really hard to answer your question about the finale without giving any spoilers away. I was really glad I hadn't been spoiled for it, so I'm hesitant to say anything else.

32 hairballs: I haven't heard any of the audiobooks that Freema's done. I'll have to check that one out. I've listened to several of the Who audios narrated by David Tennant, and all of the Torchwood audios.

33beatles> You're better off without the spoilers. Just enjoy the show. I think Sarah Jane is coming back.

36Midnight> Haven't listened to any Torchwood. Not much of a Torchwood fan. Owen really gets on my nerves! On the other hand I like the David Tennant audiobooks. The ones I've listened to though are abridged. Are they all that way? I'm having trouble getting hold of a copy of the Nightmare of Black Island audio. I swear I used to have it burried in this computer somewhere. Has anyone listened to the Big Finish production with Ace and #7 where pre-Who David plays a Nazi?

37: Yep, they are all abridged. Which is a shame, because some of the best bits get lost, or something goes unexplained. (In The Stone Rose, when the Doctor's being held prisoner, his sonic screwdriver is taken from him. They didn't keep that scene for the audio book, so it's rather odd when the Doctor gets the screwdriver back.)

The Who novels tend to fare the abridgment a little better than the Torchwood novels do, though. The one for Border Princes was hacked up pretty badly, but it's my favorite to listen to. Eve Myles is an excellent narrator. The one Naoko Mori did was pretty good as well.

Have you listened to Pest Control yet? It's the first Doctor/Donna story, narrated by Tennant. I have that downloaded but keep forgetting to put it on my iPod. I was saving it for the long gap between the season finale and the Christmas special, which got here sooner than I thought it would!

Ooh, which BF story is that?

Colditz I believe. Haven't heard Pest Control. Do you have a favorite BF? Just listened to Grand Theft Cosmos yesterday and loved it.

I saw the first part of the two part season finale of Doctor Who last week and this week's conlusion looks to be good. I can't wait to find out about the Doctor's 11th Regeneration. Now here's something I was wondering about when I watching last week when the Doctor went and got some of his companions, why can't he go back and enlist his former selves to help aid in the fight against the Daleks? Everyone knows there is a precedence for doing this since they had The Two Doctors, The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors surely they could have gone back and done this again. They could've even used some old footage of Doctors One thru Three since they have all pased away.

I'm just curious why they didn't consider doing it this way.Just imagine the 10 Doctors against the Daleks. And it would've also been nice to have some of the other surviving companions as well as members of U.N.I.T. like Brigadier Lethbridge- Stewart, Sgt. Benson, etc. thrown in to help fight the Daleks.I think if they had done that it would've made it better and interesting too since the Doctor's former selves all still exist in different parts of Space and Time. I also would've liked them to have brought back K-9 too.

beatles1964

> 40

It was a time war. I'm sure that both sides would have used as many time travelling tricks as they could have done. Otherwise, it would have just been a war :) So, the Time Lords sent somebody back in time to destroy the Daleks as they were originally being created. And recruited as many Time Lords crossing time lines as the could have got away with. And the Daleks did something similar.

Eventually, both sides ran out of options, and everything stopped. Why this happened I don't know, but at this point, the only survivor was the Doctor...

We never saw all of that. And then Chris Eccleston's season as the Doctor started. All was fine (-ish) until the Dalek Emperor and his cronies turn up in Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways.

Even though it ws a Time War wouldn't all of the Doctor's former selves still exist in their own Time & Space Continuum? Hence, The Doctor wouldn't be the last Time Lord since he has his other selves still out there somewhere. Not to mention Romana out there in E-Space with K-9 and Drax from the sixth episode of The Key To Time Series. And you know The Master still found some way to survive in the end.

beatles1964

Also I forgot to mention the Time Lord from The Time Meddler would probably still be around too because the Doctor fixed it so he couldn't use his Tardis anymore. He took a part from The Time Meddler's Tardis and everything inside became miniaturized. He was trying to change the course of history in 1066 England. So with al these other Time Lord's still possibly around I think the Doctor being called the Last Time Lord might actually be a misnomer. I can't imagine The Master being killed off in the Time Wars with the Daleks unless there was irrefutable proof of that happening. The Doctor tried numerous times over the years to try to get rid of The Master but he always managed to escape at the last possible moment. And I think he probably escaped again.

beatles1964

The Meddling Monk did get his TARDIS working again, or at least got sufficiently mobile to get out of 1066: he reappears in the later Hartnell/Dalek story "The Chase". I'd have to check to see if I've got any more detail than that, which I'm not doing at 5.30 in the morning ;-)

The point is that all the Time Lords are dead, or otherwise inaccessible: the Master survived by using a chameleon arch (the same as the Doctor does in Human Nature/Family of Blood) to effective stop being a Time Lord. Any accessible Time Lords would have been hunted down and attacked by the Daleks (they would, wouldn't they). And the Time Lords would have done anything they could do to contact anybody in whatever incarnation was available.

Since the war finished, it's a logical conclusion that there's simply nobody left to fight. Or at least, it was, until it turned out that the Daleks did survive, and, effectively, won.

I love the scene in the Daleks in Manhattan one where the Doctor is so upset about how he effectively destroyed his entire race to stop the daleks and protect the universe but yet they keep surviving.

Explain to me how the Daleks survived when the last Dalek was suposed to have died after Rose had touched it and had the effect that it had actually learned love and compassion. And inside it looked like some kind of weird little thing when it came out of its' metal armour plating and got exposed to the warmth of the Sun and then died. That Billionaire had his own private little museum and the Dalek had been part of it.

beatles1964

>46 beatles1964: in a nutshell - at the end of Series Two an army of Daleks which had been imprisoned by the Time Lords were freed and a threeway battle between Daleks, Cybermen and humans was the basis of the end-of-season story. It was revealed at the end of Series Four that one of these Daleks (a member of the 'Cult Of Skaro', a triad of Daleks with greater-than-usual capacity for independant thought and action) travelled back to a point in time before the end of the Time War and saved Davros, who grew a new army of Daleks from his own body tissue.