Watching Doctor Who

To begin with:

I would like to start out this week’s news round up with a sad announcement. In case you haven’t heard, Outpost Gallifrey as we know it, is leaving us. Shaun Lyon, editor extraordinaire, put it this way:

“All good things must come to an end, and such is the case with Outpost Gallifrey. For eleven years, I’ve run this website and turned it into the most popular and influential Doctor Who website on the Internet — all despite the fact that the site has been run since day one from the USA. And though I’ve very much enjoyed the new Doctor Who series since its return in 2003 (and loved much of the previous season’s worth of stories), I’m sure it’s become clear to all of our readers that my passion for Doctor Who fandom has waned. Simply put, there are other pressing concerns on my life — my career and my higher education, my personal life, my other hobbies and so forth — that I enjoy much more these days, as a zeal for editing this website becomes more of a burden. In fact, I nearly gave it up a year ago, but due to the overwhelming response by our readers I kept things going, half-heartedly; it was due to the fantastic efforts put forth by my volunteer editors on the News Page that allowed things to continue into 2007. But even with the best of intentions, I have come to realize that I’m at the point where I just cannot devote the time and energy to it anymore.

And so, it is with heavy heart that I must announce that Outpost Gallifrey as you know it has come to an end.”

Some parts of Outpost Gallifrey will continue on under separate management, so don’t despair too much. The all important news section will continue on Doctor Who News.com. The Outpost Gallifrey forum will move to Doctor Who Forum.com. Outpost Gallifrey itself will remain active and focus on the Gallifrey One Conventions. And finally, The Web Guide to Doctor Who will continue over at Doctor Who Web Guide.com. Thanks for all of the hard work, Shaun!

And now, the rest of the roundup:

David Tennant will be flipping the switch for this year’s Blackpool Illuminations this Friday evening. Didn’t he do this last year, too? Well…I guess we know what he’s doing this Friday when there is no Doctor Who on the Sci Fi Channel.

UKTV Drama asked: Who is the greatest Doctor Who? The replies numbered in the thousands, and when the dust settled David Tennant reigned supreme! He actually received half of all votes cast. The Doctors, in the order voted were: 10, 4, 9, 3, 2, 5, 1, 6, 7, 8. That isn’t quite the order that I would have chosen…but then, they didn’t ask me. Congrats, David!

Astronomers have found a large void in the universe. It’s a part of space that is pretty much empty. In fact, it is a larger void than they ever expected to find. I know I’m a total geek…but did anyone else see that announcement and think ‘Maybe that’s where Gallifrey was?’ Well, it’s interesting either way.

In other David Tennant-related news, fear not! He will be staying for all of series 4. Apparently, all of those rumors that he would be leaving halfway through the series were made up by the papers. May I just say: yay!!! *happy dance*

Doctor Who was named Best Programme at the Edinburgh TV Festival. (The article contains spoilers for series 4.) It’s good to see the awards are still coming in. Keep up the good work, folks.

Don’t forget that Torchwood premieres on BBCAmerica on September 8! Everything Changes at 9pm. Here’s hoping that the show will be a big hit in The States. (Australian viewers are having troubles already. The network out there has already changed the time of the show. Here’s hoping that things get better all around.)

Well…that’s about it. There are all sorts of rumors right now. Did you hear the one about Joan Collins playing a baddie in series 4? How about the one that has Harry Lloyd playing the next Doctor? I’m thinking that the rumor about Ben Kingsley playing Davros is the only one I’m interested in. If I come across any more information I’ll let you know.

Shaun Lyon, Outpost Gallifrey, David Tennant, Doctor Who, Edinburgh TV Festival, Torchwood