The Doctors Talk 'Who'

Den Of Geek published an interview with David Tennant and Matt Smith. Am I the only one who'd like to get John Hurt's opinion too? But anyway.

The interview is about the usual things.

How their Doctors get along with each other in the script:

DT: I think the fun is in the gap between the two. We've been finding joy in recognising the same thing, or having the same thought...
MS: ... or having a completely opposite thought. You know, why are you reacting like that...?

And we get reassured that the anniversary special is quite story-driven. It's always a good thing when the story stays in the focus of an episode. And if Moffat hadn't been telling us zingillion times that his main aim was to write a great story for the special, then I would have been a lot more worried about 'The Day of the Doctor's plot. But it's good to get reassured.

[...] actually what Steven has come up with is a way of moving the story on, and changing, changing the Doctor's very journey. And that's in a way not quite what you might expect. It could just be a celebration, but it's a lot more than that.

And they also talk about the different things each companion (Rose and Clara) bring to the show, how it was for David Tennant to come back, if there is some sort of TARDIS etiquette (nice idea) and Matt Smith's plans for the future.

The Extended Trailer

This one is almost twice as  long as the one from this morining, and also a bit more spoilery. But in a good way. 

One thing which came to my mind while watching the trailer is that Moffat said that he wants the special to "be the first step on the next journey. So looking at the trailer in this way, what if Moffat is bringing back Gallifrey. The idea would fit. After all, John Hurt's Doctor seems to be the one who destroys, sorry, time-locks it, and it takes two other Doctors to stop him, because they have figured out another way of ending the Time War, one which does not require the end of Gallifrey... At the same time I hope I'm wrong. Because it would make the story of the 1oth Doctor a bit dodgy, given the fact that one of the last things he does is to make sure that Gallifrey stays timelocked. And if we change this, then the Time Lords do not need the Master to bring their home planet back into exitance,  i.e. the Master does not conquer the earth, the whole radiation stuff never happens, because of what Wilf does not go into the chamber and does not end up knocking 4 times... Unless the Mighty Moff has another far less logical, timey-wimey solution for the plot. Let's wait and see.

The Leaked 'The Day of the Doctor' Trailer

What does not leak these days? Well, I'm far from complaining, because this way the trailer, which was supposed to air this evening, or maybe on Sunday, could not be stopped to make its way to the internet several hours earlier than the actual air date would have originally suggested. It's either that the lovely Beeb has screwed up a few things again, or someone with a TARDIS travelled to the future and did not mind to cause a tiny paradox...

So, ladies and gentlemen, here is the eagerly awaited masterpiece. And it's a good one.

'The Day of the Doctor' Marketing Campaign Is On

Once a wise man said it never rains, but pours. So the official Doctor Who marketing campaign of the BBC has started yesterday evening and we still can't see the end of it. 

It all started when yesterday the guys responsible for the BBC Wales twitter account tweeted:

 I.e. we'll get  a 'The Day of the Doctor' trailer this weekend. After the Comic-Con trailer disappointment this summer (they got an exclusive trailer, in fact so exclusive that it didn't even made it to the internet) this is more than just.

Additionally, there are some rather interesting interviews with the Fab Four of Who and Joenna Page. And if you prefer watching rather than reading them (because it's worth it) you can do so, by clicking on the names.

We have Steven Moffat talking about writing 'The Day of the Doctor', the reason for bringing the Zygons back, John Hurt's Doctor, and how it was to have two, well, actually 3 Doctors on set at the same time. And last but not least, how and where he's planning to spend November 23rd.

Matt Smith, David Tennant and Jenna Coleman chat about  the great time they had filming the special, the chemistry on and off set,  and how it was like to film in 3D.

And then there is Joenna Page *mild spoiler alert, seriously* who is Queen Elizabeth I in this year's special, just in case you didn't know. Actually, the whole interview should come with a 'mild spoiler alert' sign. But once you know that Queen Elizabeth I is part of the story, it's not difficult to come  up with what some part of the special will have to be about. After all, Elizabeth I has some sort of a reputation in the Whoniverse. Her describing the actually freezing picnic scene made me giggle. Because that's yet another thing Who is quite famous for and they seem to have been eager to keep up the tradition.

And last but not least, this is a friendly reminder that the BBC is asking us with this video to get #SaveTheDay trending on twitter. I think a note on Who's official site would have done it all the same...

UPDATE: And yet another Strax's field report. This time about the Zygons. Is it just me or am I getting too old for this?

The Escape Artist - Playing Football

Now we are getting somewhere. 

I'm sorry for my last week's review not being an awfully nice one. However, I wouldn't change a single world of it. Because all of it is true. I still think last week's episode was too much action/too many introductions to in-jokes and hints. And too little time to appreciate them. At the same time I'm pretty aware of that at least some of that stuff had to be there in part 1 in order to lie the grounds of making part 2 the well, not exactly masterpiece, but it still manages to be better than some of the other stuff presented right now on TV. And yet episode 1 saw too many hints hinting at too few actual surprises.

Nevertheless, this week we got the time to catch our breath between takes. Unlike last week we remembered that watching TV does not need to feel like running a marathon. 

We also got all the tiny references which were laid there to pick up last week. And this time we did not know their meaning but felt it too. A bit.

Like Will freaking out about Danny not coming home straight after school. And the fact that his son finds himself sitting next to his mum's murderer on the bus is not really helping teenagers to win an argument  about personal freedom... only in real life.

Wolstencroft also makes sure to tick off the 'add some emotion' box. Somehow, the moment when Will is repeatedly calling his wife's number only to listen to her voice on the answerphone was the most touching moment of the series so far.

And luckily, Maggie did not repeat Will's mistake of refusing Mr Foyle's handshake. 

We also got that green apple reference, and oh my dear, is Foyle having an affair with his witness? His attachment to her seems to get stuck on a professional basis, though. 

Then there were those hilarious scenes  at that Japanese restaurant in the mall, them talking about "football". Loved the illusions. Besides it seems that Will and his lawyer friends are going to get  some trouble because of that blond woman - what's her name. Talking about names... or rather about the loss of them. It seems I'm not the only one who is struggling with the names Wolstencroft has chosen for his characters. It's just a 3 episode series... not likely to get another season.  This means even the folks writing for the Guardian do feel OK referring to the characters using the actors' names. Admittedly, it's tempting.

And finally,  Wolstencroft also gives us a cliffhanger. Some sort of. After all, when you're exposed to the stuff written by the Mighty Moff your definition of  'a cliffhanger' dramatically changes. Well, not only that, I guess. But that's something for another post. 

So, given the fact that this episode is not written by the mastermind when it comes to frustrating cliffhangers, I guess Maggie doing what Will Burton did in episode number 1, and Foyle having not awfully terrible chances of getting away with it yet another time ATM, is as close to a cliffhanger in this series as things can get. 

Interestingly, the strange thing is, and I'm not sure if Wolstencroft has been aiming to achieving this effect, that one can easily imagine something like this happening in a real court. And by this I don't mean the still highly surrealistic situation of the actual case, but that in the end the one having the better lawyer/defender wins.

'The Escape Artist' - A Broken World

I have to admit the idea behind the plot is quite intriguing: There is this fantastic defender who helps winning a suspected criminal, Liam Foyle, his hopeless case. And then, somehow the criminal ends up killing his defender's wife. This alone is a really challenging (not to say unrealistic) set-up and if this had been produced in the US I'm sure FOX or BBC America would have made sure to make a whole American season out of it, which equals 24 episodes. Instead of 3.

And to be honest, in this case I'm not sure if the Americans had been that wrong. After all, the first part of this trilogy feels rather rushed. It feels exactly like the introduction of a book. You get the setting, you understand the action. And my dear, there is a lot of action going on. So you know what things mean to them, but you aren't given the time to feel it too. The story does not get the time to sink in. It does not get the time to do its grim sparkle.

If this would have been an American production I guess by the time Will Burton loses his wife, in episode 5, they would have made sure we sit there blinking back tears. And as the credits roll in, our brains would slowly start to kick in thinking what can be the motivation behind a deed like this? How can a denied handshake have such consequence?  This way, we only do the thinking.

Then again, maybe the rushed feeling is just one part of the actual problem. Somehow, the story does not feel right. In addition to the obvious lack of closure, it's not exactly helping that its plot is highly unrealistic: First of all, why should have Foyle never used his own computer to access those adult sites? He was living on his own, well, if we don't count the birds. He paid for the content. Why not access it as well ? Additionally, why on earth should Foyle's sick mind come up with the idea of killing Burton's wife? That refused handshake cannot have been such a big incentive... Why should he accept to go to jail for it? What's more, why should Maggie defend Foyle? Yes, Maggie may be the second best out there, but still, she and Will know each other, what's more, she was talking to his wife. Isn't there a paragraph saying something about a personal conflict? Or does this only apply to American doctors, lawyers and investigators? But the cherry on the imaginary cake of surrealistic situations is that Will's wife decides to spend that night at the cottage... I know these days couples do not talk. But how could she miss something was going on... Besides Will certainly knew about his wife's plans for the weekend. So why not mention that lunatic he had to defend at court the other day?

So  actually, I do not know why the world Wolsstencroft created for his series does not feel right. Is it really broken or is this just what one may call the result of lazy plotting?
 

All in all, this was an puzzling introduction. It's a pity that it wasn't a puzzling story as well.

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. 

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. 

Thousand Little Secrets Part 7 & 8

'Broadchuch' starts to be one of the best crime series out there (and we're getting another season, whoo-hoo). And they're right to do so, because episode 7 and 8 were just awesome. It had pacing, it kept us thinking and finally the police started to investigate, something they could have done several episodes earlier. Still, the last two parts were pretty exciting, so let's forget about the really long-ish middle part.  And I for my part would have never guessed Danny's killer. So Chibnall did his best to compensate the audience for episode 2-6.

Maybe the most outstanding thing about 'Broadchurch' is that it did not end with the police getting the killer, as the big who-done-it mystery was resolved right after 15 minutes into the last episode. Because of this the biggest part of the final story was about how the people were coping with the fact that Joe committed the murder. And this is something you do not get to see often in a crime series. Besides, it was not too dramatical, at least not if you take the usual standards for crime-dramas into account. Even the most dramatic scene, when Ellie learns that it was her husband, was done in a rather realistic way. It fit. The emotion, the way her boss breaks the news to her, her refusing to believe it, and her reaction when she sees that it's true after all. You could see how the information was sinking in and numbing her. Or Danny's family. Well, actually it was numbing the whole community, somehow. In the end everything came down to an accident. Ironically, only minutes before killing Danny, Joe prevented him from committing suicide... By this, Chibnall didn't need to come up with a plausible motive. There simply wasn't one, which is the best explanation for a murder case, because it's the most difficult to investigate. To be fair, without Joe's confession there would have been a good chance of them never solving the case.

So, ITV agreed to a 2nd season. And I'm happy to hear that Chibnall had plans for this all along. Let's hope that him saying  "I mentioned that if people liked it, there was another very different story we could tell afterwards" does not mean that we'll get only one additional season. Well, I guess it's difficult to explain why all of a sudden Broadchurch's crime rate should rocket sky. They are a pretty small community after all, and an additional murder case (or another sort of crime) must have a huge impact on their statistics. Of course there's still the unsolved Sandbrook case which needs investigation, so that might be an option without affecting the local crime rate... But maybe Chibnall is also up to something else.

Anyway. 'Broadchurch' got me hooked. No matter what Chibnall's plans are for the future, he can be sure I'll be watching.

Thousand Little Secrets

Something the fan girl in me has been wanting to write about for quite a while now is 'Broadchurch'. Yes, it has David Tennant in it, and yes, it's all about crime, and an interesting case, which is a great combination if you're me. And, as the biggest advantage of all, there are (hopefully) no vampires involved. Watching TV has been tough in the past 3 years if you're not into blood-sucking creatures...

Sadly enough, these 4 elements do not automatically add up to a great mini-series by themselves. It also takes a great plot, showing how the interesting case is solved. And this is the point in which 'Broadchurch' fails the audience, which is interesting when you're looking at Chris Chibnall's background. After all, he's a regular on 'Law & Order: UK' (something I've never watched so far, as I have to admit) so one might expect that he knows how to write a crime-related storyline. Then there are his various 'Doctor Who'* contributions, which were usually less spectacular in my humble opinion, with 'Dinosaurs on a Spaceship' being the one big exception...

One thing about crime series is that most writers fail at creating non-stereotype characters, and luckily Chibnall does not fall into this convenient trap. His characters seem to live real lives, all of them. Every resident and non-resident of Broadchurch has a proper background story and it's great to see someone putting this much effort into it°.

And this is also not my actual objection. The only thing, the really only thing Chibnall gets wrong is the police. Unfortunately he makes a big beginner's mistakes, namely, that the crime-related plot of 'Broadchurch' is boring and predictable.

You want proof? First of all, from episode 1 onwards it's so obvious that Danny's dad didn't kill his own son. You only need to put some thinking into it and you'll understand that the reason why he is behaving strangely and not answering the police's questions properly is because he cheated on his wife. And only by looking at the people living in Broadchurch you know whom he slept with, after all, there are not that many attractive, young-ish, single women around there (and single is an important criterion as then you do not need to go into how their mistake is threatening her marriage as well, something you do not want to deal with in an 8 part long story). But the police doesn't reveal this till episode 3.

The next suspects are Jack the newsagent, and Paul Coats the vicar. Well, when we see Jack burning the pictures of Danny and him you know that it wasn't Jack. He's no fool, so it's likely that he'd have burnt them before the whole fuss started happening. Besides, he is the one who gives Danny's mobile to the police. I mean, if it had been him, being familiar with the sea, he could have certainly come up with a nice salty, wet spot on the sea ground where (beside the fish) nobody would have ever found it again.

And the vicar? It's a TV drama, and nobody wants to offend the church. Additionally, it would be far too obvious. And as a good script-writer you're shunning the obvious. So, in a few days we'll watch the last but least episode of this 8-parter and so far the police has only eliminated those people about whom we already have been knowing several episodes ago that they were obviously not responsible for Danny's death. 

Yes, pacing might be an issue here. And that's something crime series (or any other series in general) should never have a problem with. I'm not complaining about them not solving the case faster. But they could have focused on some  more likely people. Like the guy who is constantly complaining about the bad effect the case has on the village's reputation. As a scriptwriter you could get a good story out of that.

Or Susan Wright. Why was noone, no-one looking into her background right after the police found out that she obviously lied to them about Mark. I mean people tend to remember phoning a plumber. After all, it takes a major event to trigger that.

And why are people not focusing on the postman who had an argument with Danny? And even though he denies the whole thing, why didn't they ask if there were any colleagues filling in for him during that time? It's a question people would expect the police to tackle. Or why did it took this long to learn about Danny going paint-balling? What else do they not know about, then? It's not like this would have been kept a secret.Or the money they found in Danny's bedroom? Or Nigle, even though I'm not sure if he'd done it. Chibnball obviously wants us to think that, but he's a pretty bad liar, so I'm not sure. Besides, why should he have killed his mate's son? They seem to be pretty close friends...

In my humble opinion, none of these people mentioned in this post murdered Danny (they might have influenced things, but in the end, I don't think they made their hands dirty). Nevertheless, all of them would have been adequate suspects to investigate and to make an 8 hour long crime mystery appear less boring. Now, one might argue that the borderline boring storyline (as far as the actual inspection is concerned) is part of the reason why the series feels so real. Plus, Chibnall is trying to compensate the slow paceing by adding several sub-plots to the story; like Alec not wanting the police to find out about his illness, the way the news agency is (and is not) involved into Jack's death, the way Mark's family is coping with the new situation and the baby, not to mentioning the whole drug-stuff about Dean (and Chloe?), and then there's Tom and his laptop... and so on. It's almost as if their purpose were some sort of distraction. In the end of the day, it all comes down to appearances. It's a whole village trying to keep their little secrets.

Then again these sub-plots give us inevitably more information on people's backgrounds, which makes things even more real. Well, that and the amazing acting. Talking about it, Olivia Colman and David Tennant are great. The frictions between them add a new (and the only interesting) side to the otherwise rather boring investigation so far. But maybe that's the point. Maybe Chibnall didn't want to write a well investigated crime story. Unfortunately, generally they are those which get all the attention... Besides, if you're good, you can even make a badly investigated crime story appear interesting.
____________

* You can't write a 'Broadchurch'-review without mentioning 'Doctor Who', can you, although I guess usually it's not because of Chibnall. 

 ° Just compare the characters of any the major crime series to this (except Navy CIS, maybe, they're paying a lot of attention to that too). Chibnall manages to reveal more about his characters in 6 episodes, than 'Criminal Minds' or 'The Mentalist' managed to tell us about their main and less main characters in several seasons.

Interview Round-Up Volume 2

This is a Moffat interview by SFX with the eye-caching title 'The Acceptance Interview You Never Read' It does not mention anything new, especially as we've already seen the mid-season final, but it's nice to read how Moffat sees the Whoniverse and the Doctor, like 'his superpower is just that he’s a really good improviser'. Furthermore, it's also lovely that Moffat thinks that Sherlock Holmes is more alien than the Doctor, which is more than just a bit ironic when you think about it.

Then, I guess ATM there are not many Doctor Who blogs which manage not to mention Fright Night. So fulfilling my pleasant duties, here is a Collider interview with David Tennant on guess which topic... He talks about how it was to do a remake of something attracting people who already learnt to love the original (as if he would not have already some experience with that) and other stuff. And here is a 2nd one, this time by Shock Till You Drop (erm, right) and he is answering more or less the same questions but also talks a bit about Doctor Who.

Interview Round-Up

Somehow I forgot to include this into my previous post, so here is a Matt Smith interview by Digital Journal, for the US, and he is talking about season 6 and he also mentions the upcoming episode, 'Let's Kill Hitler', shortly.

Then the 21st century remake of Fright Night had it's premier and this is a short interview with David Tennant on the whatever-coloured carpet.

The Partners in Crime...

... talk Shakespeare.

I guess if you are a David Tennant and/or Catherine Tate fan you do not need a longer introduction to read this Telegraph interview in which the two of them are speaking about their upcoming Shakespeare-production Much Ado about Nothing. In fact it is the sweetest thing I've come across during the past months. Loved the way David said Catherine has been the perfect Beatrice in his head. Now that's a compliment. And it was just sweet how Catherine's commented as his 'publicist' that he won't answer the question of how he is going to cope with doing Shakespeare and being a newly minted dad at the same time. But knowing some of his interviews I guess we did not seriously expect him to answer that question anyway.

So, I really hope someone will adapt Much Ado about Nothing for film for those of us to whom London is not just round the corner... And until then we'll have to wait for some reviews.

The BBC News' United Report

I don't know how I missed this BBC report about United but I did somehow. If you want to have some backgroundinfo regarding the drama, which is going to be on in a bit more than 24 hours, then that article is certainly nothing bad to start with. It's really nicely done. I for my part enjoyed it, even if it does not reveal any world-shocking news or insights.

Today's BBC Breakfast...

was pretty Doctor Who related.

BlogtorWho did a great job in uploading these clips, so here they are. And just a short note. If you are looking for a longer version, DoctorWhoDom [part 1, part 2] has maybe what you are looking for, even though he does exclude the clips from Doctor Who and United and the chronology he uses is a bit odd.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

The Partners In Crime Doing Shakespeare

I know what you're thinking, with 'The Impossible Astronaut' coming up in less than a week's time probably ther may be more interesting things to write about than the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show, the one with Catherine Tate and David Tennant promoting their Shakespeare project, well, mostly. But if you're interested, here it is.







It's pretty entertaining at least up to David Tennant's socks-joke. After all, who does not know how it is to face 1oooo almost identical black socks... And Catherine Tate's Footlocker-experience is a picture-book comedy-sketch.

The Bycantium Paradox

'Is Moffat rewriting River's Spoilers? Or is that just part of the Big Plan?'

With River Song's really wibbely wobbely timelne it's really remarkable that there has been, to my knowledge, only one paradox regarding her character up to now. Namely, when she meets the Tenth Doctor in 'Silence of the Library' she appears to think that it was him with whom she was investigating the Crash of Byzantium*. But we know better than that. So why doesn't she ?

Certainly, there are several sensible and even more less sensible explanations for this, however one of the more reasonable reasons go back to the famous 'The Waters of Mars' fixed-point domino-effect, which altered the universe's and the Doctor's timeline.** Obviously, it wasn't the Eleventh Doctor who should have shown up in the 'Delirium Archive', the final resting place of the headless monks. But we also understand that between 'The Waters of Mars' and 'The End of Time' the Doctor wasn't visiting as many museums as he apparently was supposed to. So back then in the Library things (or time) seem to have been more straight froward for River.

But is that the only time she meets him then? Probably. At least up to our *recent* knowledge that's how it appears to be. Surely, the Doctor would have mentioned a certain 'Picnic at Asgards' when telling the Ood what he was all up to before visiting them. Come on, he even told them about having tinkered with the TARDIS' locking circuit. Additionally, the Doctor doesn't seem to have learnt much more about River since his very first encounter.
Moreover, that domino-effect could have also effected River's timeline through what certain events don't take place exactly as they should have. I'm not saying she won't find herself sacrificing her life in the Library. But the Doctor, River and we know that Time can be rewritten... and it wouldn't surprise me if Moffat did take advantage of this, at least a little bit e.g. for sorting a few paradoxes out...

____________
*In a DWM(#147) interview Moffat says that when filming his Library episode in 2oo8 he knew that it won't be David Tennant's Doctor whom he'll be writing for during his time as executive producer. And Doctor Who has already dealt with bigger last minute changes than dropping one part of a line.

**Although personally 'The Waters of Mars' does not belong to my most favourite episodes, every single future Doctor Who script writer is going to be thankful for Russel T Davies allowing them to take the parts RTD contributed to that serials canon less seriously.

'Doctor Who' goes Shakespeare...

... at least sort of.
Actually, this one will be more about Shakespeare than 'Doctor Who', however, maybe there are still a few fans out there who are interested into this BBC interview with Catherine Tate and David Tennant which is mostly about their new 'Much Ado about Nothing' Shakespeare project. But naturally, there are also several remarks about 'Doctor Who' and other 'stuff' they used to work on together. So it ends up to be at least some sort of interesting also for a few fans of that TV show this blog is mostly dedicated to.

And I really hope someone will come up with the idea of adapting that Shakespeare production for film, just as they did that with Hamlet a few years ago. Don't panic, I'm not going to make a Hamlet review out of this post, but to sum it up, saying it's a great one would be some sort of an understatement, even if a few conservative teachers and professors might disagree with me about that.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to reading the first reviews of that 'Much Ado about Nothing stage production. The two of them seem to be enthusiastic enough to turn it into something well worth seeing.

PS: I just couldn't help noticing David Tennant's familiar 'old trainers - suit' combination...

EDIT: Thanks to DoctorWhoDom we are able to watch the complete version of the interview on YouTube. And credits go to Combom for pointng this out.

Interviews...

Sorry, but I just can't come up with a proper title for this one...

It has been for a very long time that I've seen more interviews by David Tennant within a day than yesterday. Well, I'm not complaining for when it comes to giving an interesting but still diplomatic interview there are certainly a few people who might learn form him...
So, here are the bits.

Thanks to Combom and someone calling herself Timelady the pages of David Tennant's recent Radio Times interview have made it to flickr (page 1, page2). It's mostly about his time after Doctor Who, Fright Night, the American Rex Is Not Your Lawyer pilot, Single Father and other stuff.

Furthermore, Blogtor Who was so nice to upload the 5Live interview with David Morrisay and David Tennant to YouTube (part1, part2, part3) which's main part is again about Single Father and Morrison's project Thorn. They also talk a bit about politics, David Tennant's experiences in thee US and the time when he and Morrison were working on Blackpool and The Next Doctor.
Enjoy.

The Series That Never Was

I thought I won't join the recent fuss a certain pilot of a legal-drama makes by NOT being made... but here is my really short note about it anyway.

So, I guess there is no need of pointing out that it's Rex Is Not Your Lawyer I'm talking about. Well, in my humble opinion even a whole episode isn't enough to judge a series properly, so the given material isn't exactly my definition of 'dream-footage'.
Nevertheless, what I can say about it is that it won't be only those people who might know David Tennant from Doctor Who who will have to get used to his 'new' accent. I'm not an expert on this topic, but somehow it manages to sound a bit like some sort of a Canadian one to me... Then again, I'm neither from Canada nor the States, so I might be wrong. On the one hand I understand why they want an American accent over there, however I don't think it's that bad as some people say.

Anyway. Taking into account what I've seen so far, I think the main reason why it was cancelled is the writing. People need a few jokes or word-games to fall in love with a show, and I can't help to detect a certain lack of it. Additionally, I'm not exactly overwhelmed by the acting, certainly not on David Tennat's part, though.