"Twice Upon a Time" Clips

The BBC has released a couple clips from this year’s Doctor Who Christmas episode.

"Twice Upon a Time" Promo Pics

The BBC has released 25 new images from the Doctor Who special.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio Poster

The Radio Times has released a special poster from the Doctor Who Christmas special.

The Return of Doctor Mysterio Promo Pics

BBC America has posted a load of new images from the Doctor Who special. Check them out after the jump.

Children in Need Clip 2016

The BBC has released a clip from the Doctor Who Christmas special as part of the Children in Need fundraising drive. You can donate to the charity here.

Flatline Review

So Clara got to be the Doctor for a day. Not many companions get that honor. Clara has been shaping up to be one of the Doctor's more trusted companions. First she learned learned his name and about the War Doctor and now she's gotten use the title Doctor. Mind you, she almost immediately changed it to Dr. Oswald, but the Doctor did say she was the Doctor. I can only speculate on what other honors Steven Moffat will bestow upon her in the future.

A long time ago, I heard about a story that was roughly the opposite of this one. I forget whether it was a fan production, a novel, or simply a concept, but the idea was that the Doctor and his companion were transported to the 2 dimensional world. It's sort of similar to how the Doctor became a cartoon in Fear Her. I seem to recall it starring the 4th Doctor and Romana.

There's a connection at the end of this episode to Voyage of the Damned. In that episode, the Doctor and Mr. Copper discussed how the people who survive things aren't always the ones who deserve to and if you could pick who lived and died that "would make you some sort of monster." In this episode, Wade seemed to hold a very low opinion of the community service people and wasn't very upset that they had died. He was just glad he lived.

Isn't the chameleon circuit supposed to be broken? Changing into siege mode seems like it would require a functional one. I've always sort of suspected that the chameleon circuit is fully functional and has been for a long time now. The TARDIS simply knows that the Doctor likes that form and has chosen to lock herself into it. I mean, we know that the TARDIS can regenerate itself, so it seems to fit that if it did that, the chameleon circuit would be repaired. We also know that the TARDIS is sentient and (at least it seems) has some sort of feelings for the Doctor. Even if they aren't romantic feelings, she at least wants him to be happy and part of that is taking a familiar form.

Clara doesn't seem too happy about all the lying she had to do while being the Doctor. She had to lie to community payback crew about who she was and whether they would survive. She also lied to Danny about her whereabouts and had to deal with the fact that she had lied to the Doctor about Danny being okay with them traveling. The Doctor even mentioned her as being "a doctor of lies". This is tied to the fact that the constant lying is part of what drove her apart from the Doctor in the first place. Now she got to stand in his shoes and see how much lying it takes to be the Doctor.

TARDIS Crashes in Parliament Square

The BBC has released some very special promotional photos to celebrate the return of Doctor Who in about 27 hours.

Essential Doctor Who #2

Panini has released details on the second bookazine in their Essential Doctor Who range, centering on the TARDIS. It features interviews with Steven Moffat, Suranne Jones, Steve Thompson, and others as well as a history of police boxes, maps of the TARDIS interior, and more. Editor Marcus Heam said

The TARDIS is an essential part of Doctor Who, so we had to feature it in this series of bookazines. We’ve taken a fresh look at one of the show’s most familiar icons, and I’m pleased that we’ve been able to include so much previously unpublished material.

The bookazine goes on sale today priced £9.99

Moffat on Clara-TARDIS Relationship

In the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine, Steven Moffat has answered a reader's question regarding Clara's relationship with Sexy (as seen in Hide)

As the Type 40 bad girl made clear in The Doctor’s Wife, she doesn’t like him bringing home strays. The TARDIS, as we know, likes to fire her pet Time Lord at interesting moments in history and watch the fireworks. Anyone less mad than the Doctor might have noticed by now the TARDIS navigation always works perfectly when the crisis demands, but never when he fancies lunch, or tea and biscuits at the Eye of Orion. Now those pesky humans who keep following him home are usually content to stumble about, saying “It’s bigger on the inside” and remain sufficiently in awe of the Police Box magic never to question it. But clever, skeptical, hard-to-impress Clara might just cause trouble. It’s almost like it’s all building to something… Oh! What’s this I’m writing today?

Doctor Who Soundtrack TARDIS Set

Silva Screen is producing a limited edition TARDIS set of Doctor Who soundtrack. It will consist of popular tracks from the past 50 years of the show.

This unprecedented collection of seminal music from the BBC TV series, Doctor Who, is being produced as a one-off limited release.  DOCTOR WHO: THE TARDIS EDITION is a boxed set of eleven CDs collecting Original Soundtrack music from 50 years of Doctor Who and housing them in a specially constructed TARDIS.

Composer and BBC Radiophonic Workshop Archivist Mark Ayres has spent over a year researching, compiling, editing and mastering the set with the principle work being done on the first seven discs which will showcase much material being released for the first time. The initial fruits of this work being made available last year as the four CD release – Doctor Who: The 50th Anniversary Collection.

The set will be available for pre-order from April 25th to May 2nd. Only the amount pre-ordered will be produced. It costs £135 plus shipping and handling.

The Time of the Doctor Review

Here is my review of this year's Christmas special, starring Matt Smith, Jenna Coleman, and Peter Capaldi, written by Steven Moffat, and directed by Jamie Payne.

I'm glad they addressed the issue with the telephone I mentioned in my last review. Normally, the phone is supposed to go through the console; the one in the door is just a pretend phone. Hopefully, the Doctor will have this fixed by the time the next season comes around. Although, with a regeneration like this, we're likely to pick up where we left off, so it might not be fixed for a few episodes.

I am satisfied some of the explanation for series 5 and 6. Madame Kovarian's offshoot blew up the TARDIS so that it created the cracks. By having the Doctor be responsible for the creation of the cracks, he was part of their history, and therefore couldn't alter it and simply close the crack at Trenzalore. I'm still not sure I understand why they thought River and the astronaut suit was a good way to kill the Doctor. I mean, if they can build the suit, then surely they can turn it into an android with no need for an operator. The only explanation that makes sense is if they used her to hurt the Doctor emotionally by taking away his friend's baby.

One thing I don't understand is how the crack can still be here if the Doctor fixed them all. All the cracks in series 5 seemed to have one of two places on the other side: either a random other point in space-time or the collapsing reality of The Big Bang. I'm guessing that on the other side of this particular crack is a parallel universe where the cracks still exist. The Time Lords are able to manipulate the crack in order to get the other side to point wherever they want, in this case, the Doctor's universe.

This episode raises an interesting question regarding Clara's existence. Now that the Doctor's grave is no longer on Trenzalore, then Clara could never have jumped into his timestream in The Name of the Doctor. That means that the Doctor could never have met her at the Asylum or Victorian London. That of course, raises the question of how they met in the first place and how Clara could be at Trenzalore now. I'm guessing that time rewrote so that they still met each other, but some other way, and they remember both versions of history.

Clara now knows the Doctor better than most companions. She's met more than one of his regenerations, including the one he never talks about. She knows his name and what really happened on the last day of the Time War. Plus, she's seen him naked. Now, they're only the question of whether he accidentally saw her naked when she changed into the hologram clothes. Also, can you feel holograms? Because they were doing an awful lot of hugging while naked.

One thing we've learned about Clara in this episode is that she's been misusing time travel. She's gotten the Doctor to get her there on time when she's been late to a variety of things. Apparently, Clara even calls the Doctor when she's missed her favorite shows on TV and can't be bothered to use iPlayer. This adventure with the turkey clearly isn't the first time she's called him to help.

I was actually expecting the ending to be a little different. I thought that when Clara walked into the TARDIS, she would find Peter Capaldi already there. Instead, Moffat decided to use the same ploy as in The End of Time and The Angels Take Manhattan and give us a false happy ending where Matt is standing there all young again. The key giveaway is that there's too much time left in the episode.

Another 50th Video Clip

A six second clip has been released of the TARDIS flying underneath a helicopter.

50th Anniversary Doctor Who Insider

BBC America has released another one of their Doctor Who Insider videos, this the first one for the 50th anniversary.

The Light at the End Review

This story is a bit more timey-wimey than most classic series stories. There's a lot more jumping around in time and causal loops and paradoxes. I really don't have much comparison for other Big Finish stories, so I don't know if it's normal for them, but it's rather akin to something more Moffat-ish.

I was glad they found a way to incorporate the first three Doctors (who are, sadly, dead). I don't know whether it was through computers or clever voice acting, but they did have dialogue and were in the plot line. It would have been awesome if they included the new series Doctors as well, but they don't have the license rights for them. There has been talk of changing Big Finish's licensing to include the new series. Maybe they can do something for the 60th anniversary, or perhaps the 10th anniversary of the new series.

I'm not sure of the reasoning for having the Master in this story be the 13th regeneration one from The Deadly Assassin and The Keeper of Traken. I would have expected Ainley!Master or perhaps some other version from the 8th Doctor stories (if there is one). There doesn't seem to be much clear reason for the writers to establish that it's that particular Master if it's the wrong one. Perhaps for a multi-Doctor story such as this one, there is no "correct" Master and it doesn't matter which one they use.

This story does contain a certain ring of The Name of the Doctor in that all of the Doctor's victories are reversed. The difference is, instead of going and changing each victory individually, the Master went back and changed a singular moment. Why he chose to do that in this particular way is rather intriguing. The Master could simply have gone back in time to Gallifrey and stopped the Doctor from going to the museum where the TARDIS was. He could have suggested that the Doctor go somewhere else instead or get the Doctor interested in some other part of the museum. There's also the possibility that the Doctor could simply have found another TARDIS somewhere else and stolen that one. So there are a few plot holes in the Master's plan.

The inclusion of the other Time Lords was rather unnecessary. The 6th and 7th Doctors could simply have proceeded to do everything together and the plot would still have turned out the same. Had they eliminated the plot with the Celestial Intervention Agency, the Master would still have had the same plan and the Doctors would still have countered it in the same way.

The First Doctor's Console Appears at the Doctor Who Experience

The TARDIS console used in the filming of An Adventure in Space and Time (starring David Bradley) has made its debut at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff. The Experience is the official museum for all things Who and is located a short distance away from the studio where the show is filmed. Bradley's console is currently on display in the mezzanine section alongside its sisters. Tickets are available here.

You can also watch a time-lapse video of it being assembled.

First Doctor TARDIS Console

The Paris Comic Con is displaying an exhibit with the first Doctor's TARDIS console from An Adventure in Space and Time. It will be displaying throughout the weekend.

Images courtesy of Blogtor Who

Matt's Unfinished Business

One of the reasons I was surprised at the announcement of Matt Smith leaving is that his Doctor still has some unanswered questions hanging around. Unless the next two episodes can answer them, they're going to be hanging around until the 12th Doctor era.

The most important question is who blew up the TARDIS in Series 5? Unless the entire fandom has missed the answer, we still have not received any information on what caused the TARDIS to self-destruct in The Pandorica Opens. I'm now starting to think Moffat is playing something extremely long-term here that won't show up until Series 8. Either that, or he hasn't caught onto the fact that we don't know, which I think is unlikely.

Another thing is the Doctor's screwdriver. He was supposed to get a new sonic screwdriver and give it to River the last time she saw him at the Singing Towers of Darillium. We already saw that scene in the Last Night mini-episode, but we haven't seen the Doctor get a new screwdriver. That has to happen sometime before the Christmas special, which really only leaves the 50th anniversary.

You can see a complete list of unanswered questions from Matt Smith's and David Tennant's time here. These two thing are just the main items left from Matt Smith's era.

Is the Series 5-7 Story Arc Actually Explained?

Short answer: Series 6 & 7 are explained, Series 5 isn't. We finally got an explanation of what's so important about the Doctor's name and how Clara could be in all those places, but no explanation of why the TARDIS exploded.

Since the Doctor's name apparently unlocks his tomb, it appears the Silence didn't want anyone to have access to his timestream. They didn't want anyone to have the ability to go in and alter his life. This would almost make it appear that they are the good guys and didn't want anyone to unsave everyone he'd saved. Another possibility, however, is that the didn't want anyone to know about the Doctor's other regeneration. I don't get the problem with knowing, so there's the possibility he's trapped there and is somehow going to escape. He was the only regeneration who actually interacted with Clara and the Doctor. The others all just ran about completely oblivious to them, he was somehow different.

Clara's mystery did turn out to be precisely what some people predicted. There were a number of theories going about how she was splintered in time (similar to Scaroth in City of Death), however, no one seems to have gotten how she was splintered. She shattered herself across the Doctor's life in order to save him at certain key points. It's interesting how we didn't see her saving the ninth or tenth Doctors at all, I think they're saving footage of them because they're going to be appearing in the 50th anniversary.

Two seasons & three years later, we still haven't received an explanation of how the TARDIS exploded. I think we're being led to believe that the Silence did it, but it's not entirely clear. We've received no motive on their part. If they're trying to kill the Doctor, then they're smart enough to realize the effects of blowing up a TARDIS and should really have been able to realize that he wasn't even onboard. I'm still holding onto the theory that the Time Lords did it to execute the Ultimate Sanction since I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary.

I guess Moffat must be saving his explanation of the TARDIS exploding for the 50th anniversary or Series 8. That may actually be separate story arc that has nothing to do with the Silence or the Question. He may simply have planted it so long ago in an effort to keep us watching so we would sit through Series 6 and 7 before finally finding out what happened. He must surely know from the internet that we don't have the foggiest idea, so he's got to explain it at some point or another.

The Name of the Doctor Review

Honestly, I was hoping for something a bit longer. I like season finales the way Davies did them: big, long epic adventures. Moffat's last two finales haven't quite been up to snuff. He could have at least made it a bit longer, but with this plot line, I'm not sure how much more he could have added. I really hope next season we have more two-parters (perhaps have a season of all two-parters plus a three-part finale?).

I was never actually expecting the conference call promised in the synopsis to be over the telephone line. I knew it was going to be some sort of telepathic thing, though I was expecting some sort of weird virtual space with faces floating all around. Either that, or the subwave network (though that was destroyed in Children of Earth). I wasn't expecting a dreamspace with people sitting at a table, that's more of a conference than a conference call.

It's rather weird that the Silence didn't try to intervene in Trenzalore. I was always expecting them to try to take out whoever asked the Question. There are a number of possible reasons why we didn't see this happen. Perhaps the Silence viewed the Doctor as more of a threat than the Great Intelligence. Or maybe they found it too difficult to kill a disembodied mind. Either that, or killing the Great Intelligence was always a back-up plan and they thought they killed the Doctor, and therefore saw no reason to go after the GI.

Apparently when Moffat said that nobody figured out Clara's mystery, he was lying. Several people had theorized that she was somehow splintered in time, which turned out to be the correct explanation. I think either they failed to figure out how, or Rule 1: Moffat lies. I figured it out as soon as I heard the radio trailer last Friday and realized from the trailer the Saturday before that she was going to step into the lighty thingy. I had no idea that was the Doctor's timestream, I thought the console had just been removed and that was what's left. Moffat had been dropping hints since March that companion Clara was a perfectly ordinary girl. I think we were supposed to take from that that she was the original and something was going to happen to her. Moffat probably lied when he said nobody had figured it out, because if he did admit someone was right, the fans would stop speculating and turn inward on each other and start fighting over who was right. I think he wanted a happy discussion and speculation and knew some fans would argue about whose theory was best. That, and he would be constantly hounded to give up whose theory was right and the fans would never leave him alone.

I honestly did not see the bit with John Hurt coming. I thought we wouldn't see him until November. Well actually, to be honest I did give up and start reading spoilers the night before the episode and I did read about this. I thought it was a fake spoiler, but the screenshot should have been a dead giveaway. But if it hadn't been for that, I never would have guessed that John Hurt was in the finale, so good job to Moffat for keeping that secret. You can read my speculation about him here.

The only thing I'm left wondering is how the Doctor and Clara are going to get out of there. The timestream appears to have closed behind the Doctor and it looks suspiciously like he's trapped there. On the other hand, the area they're trapped in looks suspiciously like the graveyard, so they might just be right outside. Oh, and how did the catacombs they were in lead into the TARDIS? How do underground passages lead into another dimension?

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Montage at the BAFTAs

Doctor Who featured at the BAFTA awards earlier tonight. There was a special 50th anniversary video montage and a special scene with the Doctor and Clara inside the TARDIS. Afterward, Jenna-Louise Coleman and Brian Cox presented the award for best comedy program.


Video courtesy of Doctor Who TV