Tennant on Coming Back for the Aniversary

Naturally, with the anniversary special being a bit more than three months away, and the recent interview-frenzy being on the brim of developing a life of its own, it was only a question of time for the first David Tennant interview to show up. This time it's 'SFX' is giving us the honour. 

 

Admittedly, some of the questions are pretty predictable, and none of the answers will stir up the fanbase;  like was he surprised to be asked to come back (nope) and they chat about what it was like to share the role of the Doctor on screen.

Of course, also the 'what about a female Doctor'-question comes up and I love his answer:

You are not going to get a quote from me on that. It will come back and bite me on the arse whatever I say!

Refreshingly, that's the least diplomatic answer I've read the past months. 

The Mighty Moff on 'Doctor Who' and 'Sherlock'

2 weeks ago Steven Moffat was made to answer a few questions. And he did not.  At least not the *really* important ones. However, those he did answer are also pretty interesting, like, the fact that he sees John and Sherlock as "blokes who get on, instantly"  and that even though he thinks it's good that fans have their own shipping-theories, he has no intentions of changing their relationship (whoo-hoo!).

As for 'Doctor Who' and the anniversary, there is not much RedCarpetTV could get out of him. The Moff explains why he thinks it's good to have it made in 3D, and he makes a comment on fan's utterly wrong theories.

Oh I love you all Doctor Who fans, but honestly, now and then don't believe everything you hear or don't hear.

We had worse.

Oh, and there is that part on how he won't kidnap Peter Jackson to direct 'Doctor Who'. Good to know. I just love his sense of humour.

Why Not Having Every Single Former Doctor* in the 5oth Aniversery...

... may not be such a terribly bad thing after all

According to doctorwhotv.co.uk DWM apparently announced that apart from David Tennant none of the other Doctors will be actively involved in 'Who's 5oth Anniversary. It is a pity of course, and I understand that people are disappointed°, but on 2nd thought there might be some advantages to it.

If you're doing a multi-Doctor episode the first thing you'll need is an excellent story. And coming up with a good story and a plausible explanation of why one version of the Doctor should bump into another version of himself can be tricky. Moffat solved this problem brilliantly in "Time Crash" (which just works on so many different levels that you simply don't know where to start counting). And the more Doctors you add to a plot the more difficult things start to be. I'm not saying it can't be done, it's only something really, really, hard to accomplish. To  be honest, Moffat is one of the few people whom I would have trusted to handle a more-than-just-two-Doctors story... But Christopher Eccelston famously decided to turn down the offer.

Having just one former Doctor may be a win as far as the plot is concerned. Interestingly, unlike other former multi-Doctor stories 11 does not need to bump into his former self. It could be 10.5 and Rose who are believed to live happily ever after in Pete's alternative universe... But then Moffat had to come up with a reason of why they should end up in 'our' world. On the plus side, he would *not* need to explain why all of a sudden the Doctor should have aged. Although, writing about it, I just realised that actually David Tennant does not look really older than in he did in "The End of Time"... Well, but Billie Piper does (*takes refuge behind sofa*). 

Of course Moffat could decide that 11 does actually meet 10 and Rose (for whatever reason). Maybe I'm wrong, though, as it would rise a few obvious questions, like most importantly why them meeting does not make the universe collapse, as in "Journey's End" the walls had to have been hermetically sealed off, forever, never being allowed to be opened again, especially for that very reason. Then again, after season 6 I'm sure there is not much Moffat wouldn't be able to find an explanation for.

Someone about whom I was hoping to come back is Donna Noble. I know she won't and she can't. But the Big Moff has a record of having written  more impossible plots in the past years and he managed to come up with a science-fictional backup story for them. Bringing Donna back should not be such a big deal... But it would rupture the story a bit, I guess. 

So, if not having any other former Doctors or companions in the Anniversary is what it takes to get a good story, then I'm happily accepting those conditions.

________

*I know it's a partly unrealistic idea. But it seems that having more than 2 of them is equally unrealistic as well.
°At the same time I'm glad that 10 (or 10.5?) is back.