TVSquad

With 2010 edging closer and the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who coming to an end, the BBC is in the midst of revamping the show's website.

With 2009 offering only a few Who specials and turning the series into a sporadic event until it returns full-time in 2010, the BBC has time to revamp the show's image and identity online.

The effectiveness of their efforts so far are debatable as they seem to be looking backward more than forward to the new Matt Smith/11th Doctor era.

For example, the re-engineered Doctor Who website added a blog by Davies in which he discusses the new David Tennant-voiced, 10th Doctor CGI cartoon, Dreamland.

This should be considered rumor until officially confirmed by the BBC, but apparently the seven living actors to play the character of the Doctor in Doctor Who are set to all appear together in this year's Children in Need special on the BBC.

While I would absolutely love it if this could actually happen, I have to question the veracity of this claim. At least the Telegraph isn't the Sun or I'd dismiss it outright. Tom Baker has historically had a problem with attending reunions (he wasn't in "The Five Doctors", but he did participate in a 1993 special "Dimensions In Time").

Here we are again! That time of year where we argue with our families, eat too much turkey, and limber up for the 3 am mall openings on Black Friday. I'm talking, of course, about Thanksgiving. Or, as we call it these days, pre-Christmas. However, before this holiday of pumpkin pies and parades became the warm-up for the Christmas season, it was a time for friends and family to get together and give thanks for the blessings of their life. So, in honor of that tradition, I present the five things I'm thankful for . . . in television, that is.

The return of Jim to the Scranton branch on The Office: I'll admit that I was beginning to lose my love for the NBC comedy at the beginning of the season. With Jim over in Stamford the show just didn't have the same feel to it. Add to that my growing interest in Ugly Betty on ABC, which aired at the same time. However, after Jim's return to Scranton last week I will be setting the DVR for The Office once again. It will be interesting to see how the Jim-Karen-Pam relationship pans out in the next few episodes.

What is it about Doctor Who that makes people want to leave? First we had Christopher Eccleston (The Doctor) calling it quits after one series. Then Billie Piper (Rose) left after two. Now The Sun is reporting that David Tennant (The Doctor) may not be coming back after he finishes series three, his second with the show. According to reports, he has been offered £1million to come back for series four. Digging out the calculator, converting pounds to dollars, dividing by episodes, that's more than what those crazy kids over at Lost are getting.

Of course, he could also be floating his exit in the press as a bargaining tool. Maybe he wants more money, a personal chef, or just all the Toblerone he can possibly eat. Whatever the case, I'd like to see him stick around. I'm really enjoying his work as The Doctor in series two, currently airing in the U.S. on SciFi. But given the recent history of the show, anything can happen.

With more than 700 episodes, Doctor Who is the longest running science-fiction series of all time, says the Guinness Book of World Records. Long ago, the series hit on the clever idea of creating a sci-fi explanation that would allow the Doctor to appear in a various "incarnations" therefore neatly explaining away periodic changes in actors, and allowing the series to remain fresh. In fact, in its twenty-first century version, which followed a near-decade break in production from 1996 until Christopher Eccleston picked up the role in 2005, The Doctor seems as popular as ever.

Doctor Who first appeared on the BBC in 1963. "The Time Lord" has been played by ten actors in all. David Tennant now has the role, and season two episodes of the new Doctor Who will appear in the U.S. on the SciFi Channel beginning tonight, with "New Earth." Billy Piper is still along as plucky Rose.

Who's your favorite Doctor?

(S01E15) The Doctor (to Rose):  You were fantastic! And you know what? So was I.

Okay, much to talk about this episode. So, no dilly-dallying around, boys and girls. Let's get right to it!

We begin where we left off last episode: Rose (Billie Piper) is a prisoner of the Daleks, who are on a direct course to Earth for a little invading. Luckily, our heroes The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston, in his last episode) and Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman, also in his last episode) come to her rescue and appear right in the middle of the Daleks' command bridge. It's here that The Doctor learns about the resurgence of the Dalek population. To summarize . . . after the Time War ended the Emperor Dalek escaped and began to repopulate from dead humans. Ripping away all vestiges of humanity the Emperor created a new army of Daleks. After doing this about half-a-million times he began to think of himself as a god, and he wants to continue that streak of good luck by assimilating the rest of the human population.

Of course, The Doctor isn't having any of that.

(S01E12) Now THAT'S how you play Big Brother. If the evicted were vaporized instead of allowed to come back during 'All-Star' challenges I would certainly tune in on a weekly basis. Alas, the current producers of the show, both in America and the UK, probably have no intentions of implementing any type of vaporizing beam on the housemates. Well, one can dream, can't they?

We're back on Satellite 5, except 100 years later than the last time we were there during The Long Game. It's not the hub of the galaxy's news anymore; now it's the Game Station and its contestants don't play the games voluntarily. This is where our story begins as The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Rose (Billie Piper) and Captain Jack (John Barrowman) get split up into three different game shows. Rose gets stuck on an episode of The Weakest Link where the loser gets disintigrated; Jack lands on an episode of What Not to Wear featuring two androids (who look a bit like large Lego people with breasts) who want to put a duck head on the good Captain and attach his legs onto his chest ; and The Doctor makes it into the Big Brother house (one of sixty on the Game Station) where those evicted get turned into a fine powder.

So, needless to say, our heroes want out.

 

(S01E11)

Margaret : This is persecution. What can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?

The Doctor: You tried to kill me and destroy the entire planet.

Margaret: Apart from that. 

After two weeks of fairly dark and creepy episodes we lighten it up this week as The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston), Rose (Billie Piper) and Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) return to present day England. In addition, we saw the return of Rose's former beau Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke) and, surprisingly, Margaret Blaine (Annette Badland). For those who are scratching their heads at that one, Badland appeared as the female Slitheen alien in the episodes Aliens of London and World War Three earlier in the season.

Where the last two episodes where just full of multiple plotlines, this episode settled down on just one:  Margaret Blaine's attempts to build a nuclear power plant in the South Wales town of Cardiff, which would be used to pull in spatial energy that will allow her to get off of Earth. However, this wasn't the main crux of the episode. The actual focus was on the relationships of some of the characters. Particularly, the relationship between Rose and Mickey and the one between The Doctor and the alien Slitheen, who had previously attempted to kill him.

(S01E10)  Former gas-masked zombie: My leg's grown back! When I come to the hospital, I had one leg!

Doctor (not The Doctor): Well, there is a war on, is it possible you miscounted?

The Doctor can babysit at my house anytime. I mean, any man who can get a crazed group of gas-masked zombies to stop attacking just by saying 'Go to your room' can get my kids to behave as well.

This episode was another fine performance all around for stars Christopher Eccleston (The Doctor) and Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) as well as writer Steven Moffat and Director James Hawes. Moffat and Hawes kept the tension that they developed last episode ("The Empty Child") while bringing in a bit more levity and even a happy ending for all concerned.

To recap: when we left our intrepid duo last episode they, as well as Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman, who looks and sounds a little bit like Tom Cruise), were about to become alien zombies. As mentioned above, The Doctor gave them all a stern talking to, which caused all of the zombies to go back to their rooms. From that point on it was a non-stop train ride.

Our fellow blogger and The Prisoner fan Michael Sciannamea will be happy to hear this!

The British satellite channel Sky One is giving a green light for a remake of the cult-classic The Prisoner, which aired on ITV from 1967 until early 1968. The new series would run for six episodes to be aired next year, which would be the 40th anniversary of the series.

There are unconfirmed reports that Number 6, the main character that was played by Patrick McGoohan, will be played by Christopher Eccleston. Eccleston is currently portraying The Doctor in the new series of Doctor Who episodes being broadcast in America on the Sci-Fi Channel. Eccleston lasted only one season on the show and was replaced by David Tennant in the series currently running on the BBC.

The remake of The Prisoner will stick to the original concept of the series: a government agent is drugged and sent to a prison called The Village after he resigns from service. While in prison people are referred to by their numbers rather than their names. This version of the series will probably have a modern shine to it. Perhaps it will take place in one of those secret CIA prisons we aren't supposed to know about.

(S01E09)

Captain Jack: Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spock!

The Doctor: Mr Spock?

Rose: What else was I gonna say? You don't have a name! Don't you ever get tired of The Doctor? Doctor Who?

The Doctor: Nine centuries, I'm coping.

Cree-py!

If there is one word that describes this episode of Doctor Who it would be the word you see above. Oh, I could also use adjectives such as romantic, funny, mysterious and, um, blitzy. Yet, they would be secondary to creepy. Credit this to writer Steven Moffat and director James Hawes who used every trick in the Stephen King book of suspense to get that chill up your spine while The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) investigated the mystery of a homeless child who really wasn't.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here. So, jump at the sound of the gong to find out what the episode was all about.

 

(S01E08) If your mother has told you once, she's told you a thousand times:  Don't mess with the time stream! Apparently, Rose (Billie Piper) never listened to her mum, or watched an episode of Star Trek (original or Next Generation) or any film in the Back to the Future series. Because, if she did, she would have realized that messing with the timeline can cause some serious consequences. In this case, by saving her father from a premature death, she opened the planet up to alien beings who cleanse Earth of all corrupted objects; i.e. humans.

See? Always listen to your mother!

(S01E07) For a couple of episodes now The Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) and Rose (Billie Piper) have been slumming around our humble planet Earth in about a one hundred year time span. This episode we get off of good ol' Terra to a satellite hovering around the planet in the year 200,000. Joining the intrepid travelers is Adam (Dalek's Bruno Langley).

From the beginning you could tell that this episode would be different from last week's dark,  introspective episode. The Doctor, Rose and Adam land on Satellite 5, which broadcasts news of the entire Earth Empire (Yes! We're still great even in the future!). News gathering is performed by one person, whose brain is one big storage unit, while subordinates put the reports together using small mind chips. An 'Editor-in-Chief' oversees everyone on the satellite and in the entire empire through a control room manned by zombies.The whole thing reminded me a bit of Max Headroom.

Anyone who performs well gets promoted to floor 500. However, after they get promoted they are never seen again. And there, dear readers, lies the mystery that The Doctor must solve. Because, not only does he need to find out where these people go, but why their technology is so backwards (for the year 2000,000 that is.)

 

(S01E06) All right, let's get this out of the way so we can proceed with the review. Here we go . . .

I didn't like Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. Call it blasphemy, call it satanical, but I just didn't get the vibe with Baker as I did with some of the other doctors such as Jon Pertwee (third Doctor), Peter Davison (fifth Doctor) and Sylvester McCoy (seventh Doctor). Maybe it was the scarf.

Having said that, I am really enjoying these new Dr. Who adventures that are appearing on the Sci-Fi Channel while their normal Friday night schedule is taking a hiatus. To paraphrase... it's not your father's (or grandfather's) Dr. Who. While there are some occasional cheesy aliens and special effects, this version of the show is definitely the one of the most slickly produced in the series' 43-year history.

The Sci-Fi Channel has always treated me well by managing to air zombie flicks right when I'm in a Romero mood and having a show about plumber-by-day ghostbusters (so what if I like Ghost Hunters?). And now, my dear, dear Sci-Fi Channel is going to start airing Doctor Who. Flippin' sweet indeed. Starting in March, the channel will begin airing the Christopher Eccleston (9th Doctor) version of the cult classic. Not much news on whether or not they'll air the David Tennant (latest) version yet but, according to the article, the channel has an "option". I'm assuming they'll gauge the response to the Eccleston version before deciding on anything else? Well, no matter because, finally, the Doctor is coming! Woooo-Who! Alright, that's enough out of me. I'll shut up now before I make some dated "Exterminate!" jokes.