Watching Doctor Who

So…Doctor Who won in the Most Popular Drama category and David Tennant won the National Television Award for Outstanding Drama Performance (yay!) and then…

He said this:

That’s right. For those of you who haven’t yet heard, David Tennant is leaving Doctor Who after the 2009 specials.

(These two videos don’t quite sync up, sorry. But they’re the only version I found that was the whole thing.)
David talks about why he’s leaving (1):

David talks about why he’s leaving (2):

I’m quite sad about this, and I’m sure that you folks are, too. I’d so hoped that the Tenth Doctor would stick around for the first year of Moffat’s reign. I can see how the new team might like to start off fresh with a clean slate, and I understand David’s desire to move on before Doctor Who became just another job. But…losing the Doctor to another regeneration is going to be quite traumatic for me. I’m sure they’ll get some new bloke in who will do a great job, but I will always remember the fellow with the brainy specs and the manic disposition. Oh, and really great hair.

Luckily we still have those specials to look forward to, yeah? Russell T Davies had better come up with some fabulous storylines. And congratulations to the show, and David, for winning the National Television Awards this year.

Doctor Who, David Tennant

(image source: Amazon.co.uk as linked below)

Christopher Eccleston recently did a voiceover for an Amnesty International video about the proposed UK laws that would enable them to detain terrorism suspects for 42 days without a trial. You can watch “Sleepwalking” here.

In this years’ National Television Awards the male and female talent are competing against one another in every category. What does this mean for us? Well…it means that David Tennant and Catherine Tate are competing against each other for the Outstanding Drama Performance Award. (Doctor Who is also up for Most Popular Drama, by the way.) You still have a couple of days left to vote, if you’re of a mind to do so. Slightly more than seven days left until the show.

Digital Spy is reporting that the score for Doctor Who series four will be out on 17 November in the UK. No sign of it in the US as yet. Some of the tracks include: Season Four Opening Credits, Songs of Captivity and Freedom, and Silence In The Library. Yay for Oodsong!

Some other items that are out right now (and coming soon), for those of you preparing your Christmas/Chanukah/etc. lists:
* The Torchwood Soundtrack (US)
* The Sarah Jane Adventures - The Complete First Season (US)
* Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series (US) (18 November)
* Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest (US) (18 November)
* “Torchwood”: Lost Souls (BBC Audio) (UK)

And finally, just a note to remind you all that next month is the Two Year Anniversary of this blog. Wow! I don’t believe it! Stand by for a contest announcement at some point soon.

Christopher Eccleston, National Television Awards, David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Doctor Who, Torchwood

Bernard Cribbins picks up David Tennant’s award

Our crew did pretty well this year at the TVQuick and TVChoice awards!

David Tennant received the Best Actor Award for the second year in a row. Catherine Tate took home the award for Best Actress (and apparently plans to put in someplace flat.) And what of Doctor Who itself? It received Best Loved Drama for the third year running! Yay!

Best Actress Winner!

John Barrowman and Scott Gill

So, didn’t get a chance to see the awards being given, or any of the interviews? Fear not. I’ve got you covered.

(more…)

Bernard Cribbins, TVQuick, David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Doctor Who

The official Torchwood series three press release is not very illuminating about when in 2009 the series will play. I can’t wait to see what director Euros Lyn does with this mini-series.

Doctor Who seems to be quite popular in the land of awards shows. This time it has won the trophy for “Best Programme of 2008″ at the Edinburgh TV festival. Yay for our show!

Speaking of awards, it appears that David Tennant has received another one himself. He has been voted “Greenest Star on the Planet” in the Playhouse Disney’s Playing for the Planet Awards. It looks like Tennant is just as interested in saving the planet in real life as The Doctor is on TV.

BuddyTV is reporting that John Barrowman is working on another album. “Music Music Music” is due to be released on 24 November. Yet another thing to add to my Christmas list. It’s a shame that man isn’t busy. Heavens.

Rumour alert!
Is Doctor Who coming to the big screen? Well…Steven Moffat says that he isn’t against the idea. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the show, that is. (Mind you, that doesn’t mean it will actually happen.) I wonder if they will ever actually do this….

Torchwood, Doctor Who, David Tennant, John Barrowman

The Mighty Mr. Moffat at Gallifrey One #19

Was there really any question?

Steven Moffat, for the third year in a row, has won the Hugo Award for “Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who - Blink.” Do you all think that he’ll go do a victory dance in a magazine office this time? That’s what he wanted to do last year. Starlog wasn’t it? Well, fair dues. Blink was an excellent episode.

This is the man that is taking over for series 5.

Let the cheering commence!

Steven Moffat, Hugo Award, Doctor Who, Blink

The BBC Doctor Who site in announcing that Steven Moffat has won a second BAFTA for his Blink script. He now has a Welsh BAFTA and a BAFTA Craft award for Blink. Do you think that he just might win a third Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Hugo in a row for the script?

I’m thinking that he has a good chance.

(Pic copyright: jules annan, found on WireImage)

I was over at my image source looking for image coolness for this post, and what did I find? Some photos from the filming of the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas Special! I know that I normally try to avoid stuff that is too spoilery…but…well I couldn’t resist this time. Sorry. Anyway, I wonder what The Doctor/David is thinking about here.

(Pic copyright: jules annan, found on WireImage)

Rumour has it that the 2008 Christmas Special will include the Cybermen. Nothing official to back that up, mind you, but it’s something to think about. (I wonder where I could get a copy of that coat. In my size, of course.)

(Pic copyright: jules annan, found on WireImage)

He’s looking really serious here. I wonder what he is pondering. These pictures were taken on 21 April in Gloucester, England, in case you’re interested.

(Pic copyright: jules annan, found on WireImage)

Here we see Velile Tshabalala and David Tennant. There are also rumours out there that say this episode takes place during Victorian times and may include Rose and Donna. Sadly, I believe the setting, but not the companion part. (Here’s hoping that I’m wrong.) At least these two seem to be having a good time.

Hello Magazine has an article about the filming on the Christmas special here, if you are interested. The same goes for Metro.co.uk and the spoilery article at The Sun.

Even the CBBC is getting in on the act!

——————–
Eddie Izzard says that he’d love to play The Doctor, according to The Sun. Now…that might actually be very entertaining.

Classic Doctor Who action figures are on their way, says the Action Figure Insider. Click on the link if you want to see pictures of the oncoming toys.

David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston are going head to head for the Best Male Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode award in Canada’s Constellation Awards. Carey Mulligan (Sally Sparrow) from the Doctor Who episode “Blink” and Naoko Mori for the Torchwood episode “Greeks Bearing Gifts” are up for the Best Female Performance in a 2007 Science Fiction Television Episode award. Doctor Who is also up for the Best Science Fiction Television Series of 2007. Oh, and who do you think is up for Best Overall 2007 Science Fiction Film or Television Script? Well, Steven Moffat’s Blink and Paul Cornell’s Human Nature/The Family Of Blood, of course. Good luck, you lot!

Doctor Who Christmas Special, Velile Tshabalala, David Tennant, Eddie Izzard, Doctor Who, Christopher Eccleston, Steven Moffat, Paul Cornell

Series 4 of Doctor Who is set to start in the UK on 5 April 2008, so it’s already time for the trailer avalanche.

If you go to the front page of the Official Doctor Who site, you can click on the picture of the Doctor and Donna to see what looks like a shorter version of the cinema trailer (which will be on the site on 29 March.) For three more quick trailers, you can go here for the Ood Trailer, the Sontaran trailer, and the Dalek trailer.

This year’s Hugo Nominees have been announced. This time around in the Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form we have three of the five nominations. Steven Moffat’s episode of Doctor Who, “Blink” (no big surprise there), Paul Cornell’s two-parter of Doctor Who, “Human Nature“/”Family of Blood“, and Catherine Tregenna’s Torchwood episode “Captain Jack Harkness.” Here’s hoping for a Whoniversal hat trick.

Kent News is reporting that Tom Baker said that he would do a cameo on the New Doctor Who “if they ask him nicely.” Well, I certainly hope that they ask him nicely! That is really saying a lot, considering that he didn’t come back for The Five Doctors. (They used footage from the unaired “Shada” by Douglas Adams for his part.) Keep your fingers crossed folks!

Doctor Who, Ood, Sontaran, Dalek, Hugo Nominees, Steven Moffat, Blink, Paul Cornell, Human Nature, Family of Blood, Catherine Tregenna, Torchwood, Captain Jack Harkness, Tom Baker

Billie Piper attends the premiere of The Tudors season 2

Let’s get down to business, shall we?

The continuing saga of the UK Doctor Who premiere date:

* The Official BBC Doctor Who Site Says: Spring 2008

* The Radio Times Doctor Who Page Says: Expect episodes that are not new up through 3 April.

* The BBC Press Office Says: Doctor Who is currently listed as “unplaced” for the week of 5-11 April.

And,
* The CBBC Newsround has the answer. Series 4 will begin on 5 April 2008 in the UK. (They also note that Totally Doctor Who will not be returning for another series.) So, there we go!

Moving on:

Remember the Royal Television Society Awards? Two of our shows were nominated. We didn’t win. Sigh.

Check it out! It’s a Steampunk Dalek! Yes, I’ve been hunting for cool stuff this week.

The Comic Maker feature on the Official BBC Doctor Who Site has been nominated for an interactive BAFTA award. The awards ceremony will be on 20 April 2008. Hey. If they win both the BAFTA and the Emmy for that Comic Maker, etc. do you think that they’ll finally let folks outside of the UK play with it?

Anna was kind enough to point out that there is a special version of the Toyota Scion out there called…a Dalek. I’m not sure why, but you can go look at the pictures for yourself and see if you can spot any similarities between the car and the Doctor’s nemesis.

If you are interested in watching a featurette about William Hartnell’s time as the Doctor, check out what I found on Youtube.

And here ends your update. As you were.

Billie Piper, Totally Doctor Who, Steampunk Dalek, Doctor Who, Dalek, William Hartnell

The Brits were a couple of days ago, and wouldn’t you know it? David Tennant got to give Kylie the award for International Female Solo Artist. As you can see, they were both quite pleased about this.

Both David and Kylie were interviewed for Radio One after she received the award. You can watch the interview here. You’d think that you wouldn’t be able to see an interview for radio…but that’s where you’d be wrong.

Kylie performed her song “Wow” live on stage at The Brits. If you would be interested to see her performance, you can see it here. If you want to see her interviewed on the Red Carpet, you can see that too. Oh. You say that you would like to see that hug in motion and watch her acceptance speech? Well…you can. (Don’t you just love Youtube?)

And, of course, I had to include a picture of David with his silver star on his chest. He was wearing his black velvet coat again. Apparently folks like the way it feels. Well, congratulations to Kylie Minogue, and I’m glad that David was the one who got to give her the award.

—-
And now, onto other things:

This blog is up for a Blogger’s Choice Award again this year. I’d be ever so thankful if you would pop along and vote for me. (Thank you kindly.)

James Moran has a blog! Yes, that’s right, you can keep track of the author of the Torchwood episode Sleeper, author of an episode in Doctor Who series four, and all around nice fellow (I met him, remember?). A big Hat Tip to Paul Cornell for letting me know about this blog.

Gareth David-Lloyd has done a spoiler-y interview with Zap2it. In it, he mentions that he is interested in coming to a U.S. Convention. I hope that Shaun Lyon and Co. are paying attention to this. I’d love to see him at Gallifrey One next year.

Recently, Catherine Tate had the opportunity to interview David Tennant for Chain Reaction on Radio 4. (Listen Again while you can.) The next episode with feature David Tennant interviewing Richard Wilson.

Please note: If you live in the UK, you can now buy episodes of Torchwood from iTunes. I wonder if this will ever be the case in any other country.

Paul O’Grady will reportedly be playing himself in an episode of Doctor Who series four. For a short and spoilery article about this go here. I was particularly interested to see the other names mentioned in this article.

And finally, I’ve read an article that said that Chris Chibnall would be leaving as the Torchwood head writer at the end of series two to go work on CSI: London. It was open in one of the windows on my laptop when it died, and I haven’t been able to find it again. So, we’ll just treat it as a rumor for now, okay?

The Brits, David Tennant, Kylie Minogue, James Moran, Gareth David-Lloyd, Catherine Tate

I’ve won an award! JM from Fiction Scribe has gifted me with the Roar for Powerful Words Award.

The rules are:

* Link back to the person who tagged you.

* List three things that you believe are necessary to make writing good and powerful.

* Tag five others and comment on their blog informing them that they’ve been tagged with this award.

So…here are three things I believe are necessary for making writing good and powerful:

1. Knowledge of your subject…even if that subject is a complete fantasy.

2. Passion for your topic.

3. A spark of creativity.

I wish to pass the award on to:

Amy of Lives Less Ordinary, The folks who send letters to Dear Anonymous, Puss Reboots, Dave P of PopBuzzUK, and JM at The Book Stacks. (No, you don’t have to participate in the passing on of the award. Just know that I think you offer powerful words with your blogs.)

And now…back to our topic.

First of all, sorry for the down time on the site. We were upgrading our servers. Hopefully everything should be okay now.

Over on the Official Doctor Who Website they’ve announced a couple more guest stars for Doctor Who series 4. Alex Kingston from ER and Colin Salmon from many things including James Bond films will be among the guest stars in the upcoming series. Series 4 is getting more interesting by the day. Who will they announce next?

Apparently, Burn Gorman told SciFi Wire that he was glad that the U.S. gets Torchwood. He’s pleased that Torchwood is being accepted as a stand alone show. Also, he enjoys working with John Barrowman. Good to hear it.

Digital Spy is reporting that the Doctor Who series 3 episode Gridlock is up for an Epiphany Prize. This prize is given out to “popular, entertaining movies and television programs that are wholesome, inspirations, uplifting, redemptive, and moral.” And while I am glad that Doctor Who is up for another award, one has to wonder if these folks have actually watched the show. Anyway, the awards ceremony will be on February 12 in Beverly Hills.

An excerpt of John Barrowman’s new autobiography is available over at the Daily Record website if you are interested. I’m quite keen to get my hands on a copy of that book.

And finally, a bit of random news. Did you know that Tesco is expanding to the West Coast of the US? Yes indeed. It looks like this British chain will be opening 18 stores in the San Francisco Bay area under the name “Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market.” I have one question. Will they have the same merchandise as the Tescos in Britain?

Doctor Who, Burn Gorman, Torchwood, Gridlock, Tesco

As the National Television Awards were last week in the UK, I thought that some of you folks that live elsewhere might enjoy seeing a bit of the fun. The Doctor Who team won the award for Most Popular Drama and David Tennant came away with Most Popular Actor. As you can see in the picture above, David and Freema seem to be quite happy with the state of things. (David is wearing one of those velvet coats again. Oh well. It looks better in motion as you’ll see.)

(more…)

Doctor Who, David Tennant

Hello! This week I am starting the Whoniversal Information Roundup (why do I feel the need to add “Yee Haw” to that?) with a bit of fun. JM over at Fiction Scribe has been kind enough to give me the Smile Award. Thank You Kindly, JM. I’m glad that I make you smile.

As is the custom in these cases, I may now confer this award upon 5 other bloggers that make me smile. I have selected:

Audrey of Only One Audrey
Emma of Treehouse Jukebox
DaveP of PopBuzzUK
Miss Zoot of Misszoot
and
amypalko of Lives Less Ordinary

Right then. On to the more usual stuff!

(more…)

This year’s TV Quick/TV Choice Awards left David Tennant smiling. Not only did he win the gong for best actor, but Doctor Who also won the Best Loved Drama award. Between these two awards and Steven Moffat’s Hugo, I’m thinking that Doctor Who is going strong. Keep up the good work you lot!

Apparently, as if he wasn’t busy enough, David Tennant will be appearing in the Christmas episode of Ricky Gervais’ comedy Extras. No official word about his part, but insiders are hinting that it will be related to Doctor Who in some fashion. Get your Tivos ready now.

david-tennant.com is reporting that David will not only be playing Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company (from Thursday 24th July 2008 to Saturday 15th November 2008 in Stratford Upon Avon), he will also be playing Berowne in Love’s Labour’s Lost. One may safely assume that he will not be following this performance with one of Love’s Labour’s Won. I really need to get my passport updated. Also, it has been widely reported that Patrick Stewart will be playing Hamlet’s Uncle Claudius (as if I needed any added incentive.)

TV Quick, TV Choice Awards, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Extras, david-tennant.com, Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford Upon Avon, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Patrick Stewart

Wow. This is quite the day for news. Steven Moffat has won a second Hugo Award (Best Dramatic Presentation - Short Form). This time it was for the Doctor Who episode - “The Girl in the Fireplace.” His first Hugo was for “The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” back in series one. I wonder if he’ll end up being nominated for “Blink“? Congratulations, Mr. Moffat! (Now…he’d better write an episode for series four.)

Th Official BBC Doctor Who site has an article about this fabulous happenstance here.

Steven Moffat, Hugo Award, Doctor Who, The Girl in the Fireplace, The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, Blink