Doctor Who: The End of Time Part 1 to debut Dec. 26
More info from BBC America about the air dates of the final David Tennant Doctor Who episodes. Note, the five-disc set containing all the specials comes out on my birthday, Groundhog Day 2010.
PRESS RELEASE
The finale to the era of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor, is one of the most eagerly anticipated adventures in the history of Doctor Who. As previously announced, the next special, Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars premieres Saturday December 19, 9:00pm ET/PT on BBC AMERICA. The final two specials, Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One and Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part Two, will premiere over the holiday season starting December 26 on BBC AMERICA. Guest stars John Simm, Timothy Dalton, Catherine Tate, Lindsay Duncan and Bernard Cribbins join Tennant on his final journey. Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One premieres Saturday December 26, 9:00pm ET/PT on BBC AMERICA. The End of Time, Part Two premiere date will be announced very soon.
DVD review – Doctor Who: The Next Doctor
The 2008 “Doctor Who” Christmas special, “The Next Doctor,” is out on DVD, featuring David Tennant as the Doctor.
Tennant’s time-traveling Doctor finds himself in 1851 on Christmas Eve. It’s there he encounters someone else calling himself “The Doctor.” The Doctor is a Time Lord who regenerates into different appearances periodically, often when injured. So, he presumes this man, who acts very similarly to The Doctor himself, must be the “Next Doctor.” But the Next Doctor, played by David Morrissey, has gaps in his memory, and he claims not to recognize The Doctor.
Still, there are Cybermen afoot in 1851 London, and it’s up to the Doctors to put a stop to their plot while they try to figure out what’s caused the Next Doctor’s memory problems. The Next Doctor has been investigating strange murders, which he believes the Cybermen have committed. The Cybermen are a race of cyborgs that have often come in conflict with The Doctor. Here, they’re attempting to cause the rise of a Cyber King, with the aid of Miss Hartigan (Dervla Kirwan), a woman who rails against Victorian-era mores.
The show crackles along during the first half, as the mystery of the Next Doctor is explored. Once the mystery is solved, the final conflict with the Cybermen is anticlimactic. Overall, it’s fun but nonessential.
No behind-the-scenes extras on this disc, but there is the hourlong “Doctor Who at the Proms,” featuring the music of “Doctor Who” at Albert Hall, with appearances from the show’s stars.
— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Julie Gardner: Planet of the Dead is Doctor Who adventure romp
Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead
There’s soon to be a new Doctor in the house, but fans can celebrate one of the final adventures of David Tennant’s Doctor Who with “Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead.”
The first of four Doctor Who upcoming DVD specials featuring Tennant as the 10th Doctor will be released July 28. “Doctor Who” features a 900-year-old human-looking alien who can travel through time and space, righting wrongs and saving the innocent.
Julie Gardner
Julie Gardner, who executive-produced “Doctor Who” until earlier this year, talked about the final days of the current Doctor, and the 2005 revamp that put the long-running British sci-fi program back on the map.
“‘Planet of the Dead’ is the last big adventure romp,” Gardner said. “It’s a great chase and a great kind of survivor story.”
In “Planet of the Dead,” the Doctor is on a bus that travels through a rip in space that deposits the bus and its passengers on a faraway, dangerous planet. He’s teamed with a jewel thief, played by Michelle Ryan, to figure out a way to safely return the bus through the rift.
Gardner says she thinks “Doctor Who” caught on in the U.K. again in 2005 as people were hungry for family drama.
“We were able to reach a family audience. A lot of research said the family is disjointed and people aren’t watching together – ‘Doctor Who’ in the U.K. proves that not to be the case,” Gardner said. “It’s got to be intelligent and witty and fun and engaging, and not always easy.”
Gardner has now passed the torch on “Doctor Who,” much as the Doctor himself is about to do. (The next Doctor will be played by Matt Smith, 26. Gardner works in Los Angeles at BBC America. She thinks change is key for “Doctor Who’s” appeal.
“It’s a show that, written into its very DNA, is regeneration,” she said. “I think it needs new vision every four, five, six years. Because as a show that has such a robust format, you could look at ‘Doctor Who’ and say this could still be on air in 20, 25 years. But I think in order to do that, it needs to be given the space to reinvent itself.”
By Matthew Price
From Tuesday’s The Oklahoman
“Torchwood” on DVD today; season 2 premieres Jan. 26
Eve Myles stars as Gwen Cooper.
“Torchwood” Season One comes to DVD today. The second season premieres on BBC America on Saturday, Jan. 26. Look for my “Torchwood” DVD review in Friday’s Weekend Look in the Oklahoman. “Torchwood” features the Torchwood Institute, the beyond-the-government secret organization formed by Queen Victoria which deals with supernatural and alien threats. It stars John Barrowman as Captain Jack Harkness and Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper. Also on the team are medical officer Owen Harper (Burn Gorman), computer expert Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori) and support personnel Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd).
Here’s a preview of my interview with Eve Myles, who will also be featured in an upcoming Weekend Look. She gets bonus points from me for saying she was very excited to be talking to someone from Oklahoma.
MATT: What was it like getting started with the first season of “Torchwood”?
EVE MYLES: We were all kind of going into unknown territory. We knew that it was coming off of the back, it’s a spinoff of “Doctor Who.” One of the characters from “Doctor Who” was Captain Jack Harkness, so it’s a spinoff with Captain Jack Harkness.
It’s an adult show, and going into it, 13 episodes, we didn’t get 13 scripts straightaway, we got two scripts. We kind of got the start of the flavor of the program.
Everybody was absolutely buzzing and excited and frightened and vulnerable. Everybody worked tremendously hard, all the departments … nothing was segregated, everybody worked very hard to make this project the best project they’d ever worked on.
Best toys of 2007
- From special correspondent Chris Borthick, here are the top 10 toys for 2007:
- Batman (DC Classics Wave 1): This latest sculpt of the Dark Knight is easily one of the best ever done. Featuring the classic Batman costume with yellow bat shield, shadowed face and incredible articulation this Batman comes complete with a batarang and grapple gun. If he’s any indication the new DC classics line is going to be amazing. (photo by Chris Price.)
- The Electronic Flight Control TARDIS. (Character Options) : The traveling time machine of the Doctor Who series, also known as the blue police box, features 8 different sounds from the television show depending on how you move the toy when it’s on. The detailing on the TARDIS is well done, right down to the telephone in the door. The sound effects make this a must have for Doctor Who fans.
- Captain Marvel (SHAZAM!, DC Direct): With one magic word Billy Batson transforms into the heroic Captain Marvel. The SHAZAM series gives us a modern take on the head of the Marvel family with good detailing from the raised tassels on a shimmering white cape to his almost boyish bemused facial expression.
- Bizarro (Superman, DC Direct): Bizarro has had many incarnations and interpretations as an action figure, but none of them have captured him as the Frankenstein like monster he’s come to be known as in recent years. From the chains on his wrists, the texturing on the skin and his face contorted into a snarl, everything about this figure says monster.
- Motorized Walking AT-AT (Lego): Based on the
Battle for Hoth scene out of The Empire Strikes Back, the AT-AT comes to motorized life as it lumbers forward. It comes with Lego versions of General Veers, the AT-AT pilot, a Snowtrooper and Luke Skywalker with grapple line and lightsaber. - Booster Gold (52, DC Direct): Booster Gold, the time traveler with economic motivations, finally got a DC Direct figure in 2007. Booster’s color scheme is bright and glossy, drawing attention to himself just like in the comics. The detail on the face and goggles is perfect. Booster comes with his pal Skeets. Best of all he can finally keep Blue Beetle company.
- Man-Bat (Mattel Convention Exclusive): The Comic Convention exclusive Man-Bat is the best convention figure of the year, The packaging is a crate made to look like a Waynetech shipment that comes with a letter from Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises regarding the internment of Kurt Langstrom at Arkham Asylum. The white leather winged figure hangs upside down in his packaging and according to Mattel may be the only version of Man Bat in the foreseeable future.
- The Doctor and RC K9 (Character Options): This two pack is based on the new series episode “School Days” and features a trench coat wearing spot on sculpt of David Tennant’s Doctor complete with a sonic screwdriver. The stand out is the remote control miniature robotic dog K9 complete with sound effects and voice.
- 13 inch Batman (DC Direct): The 13 inch line of DC Direct’s classic blue and grey version of Batman comes with batarangs, a grappling gun and bat handcuffs for arresting the 13 inch villains of the line. The cloth costume detail and cloth cape capture the spirit of the classic Batman in a way that no other clothed figure line has done before.
- Dr. Fate (New Frontier, DC Direct): The New Frontier version of DC’s master mage captures the classic look of both the New Frontier books and upcoming movie as well as the heroic All Star Comics appearances of the character back in the forties. The detailing, like his gloveless hands, and muted color shadings give the figure an iconic feel.
