A Mad Man with a Box...

This is a Matt Smith interview by The Telegraph about how Doctor Who has changed his life, how he has been dealing with its fandom and there is also a paragraph mentioning the old 'How Did Matt Smith End Up As An Actor' story, which might be already familiar to more than just the vast majority of the people who are going to read that article.

A bit of a downer is how Matt Smith refers to the name of his character, or is this just The Telegraph quoting him in a wrong way? It is still, just as for the last 47 years, 'the Doctor' and not 'Doctor Who', latter one is the name of the show. Oh, and is it worth mentioning the whole TARDIS vs Tardis stuff?
Probably not.

However, apart from these points in my humble opinion it manages to be a surprisingly entertaining interview. Matt Smith has certainly the right idea of presenting his role. Thanks for that.

Furthermore, he also talks about why this show is still so immensely popular (yep, it does have 'the best ever TV drama format'). And I hope when saying 'everything is possible' he does not include to forget about a certain set of rules which would really appreciate if someone would actually care about them. That's rather Steven Moffat's job, though.

And finally we have to agree uncompromisingly to the last statement, we’ll never tire of watching the Doctor saving the day again and again, at least not as long as someone screws things up really badly.

You make All Of Space & Time Your Backyard...

... and what do you have? A back yard.

If you haven't come across two extraordinarily nice scenes which haven't made it into the actual episodes (and yes, I AM talking about Doctor Who) then these links might be quite interesting to you:
this one took place between The Eleventh Hour and The Beast Below and this one was intended to be between Flesh and Stone and Vampires in Venice.

They are quite adorable, but if you are actually waiting for your box-set to arrive, don't blame me for serving you surely one of its biggest highlights. So, it's your choice.

Oh, and BTW, there is a tiny chance that you might find the second one quite entertaining. Well, some of it is just stupid, nevertheless, in my humble opinion it's a pity that it's not in the actual episode. Because I think it's quite revealing, come on, the Doctor tells Amy why he likes to have a companion on board of the TARDIS. Additional it's hard not to love the tiny Donna reference 'No, forget mates...' At least it makes more sense to me than Flesh And Stone's actual last minutes.

Every Doctor, Every Me...

That was actually good, or is it only the nostalgia coming through?

It wasn't a surprise that part 2 of The Death of the Doctor (link) was better than part 1 because that's where the actual story took place, just like in last year's The Wedding of Sarah Jane. Basically, it even had the same structure, with the Doctor doing a lot of dashing between two places and running as about a year ago.

Nevertheless, this time it was different, in a brilliant way. For if there is one thing RTD is good at, then it's reuniting companions. Sure, there was a bit of a lot hugging and and all that stuff going on, but I suppose that's just the way people are.

I'm glad that this time RTD even addressed the 'why didn't you come back' question, which is not the easiest one to answer, I guess. But RTD handled it in one of the best ways possible. We some sort of suspected Ten going back to each of his former 'companions' before regenerating, and RTD just told us what we wanted to hear. I think also the line 'I don't look back, because I can't...' didn't take many of us by surprise (although we may want to attach an 'Explanation Needed' sign to it.)

Still, there were at least two things fans won't be too found of. First, how that Memory Wave device could have worked in the first place, because even New-Who fans might know that the Doctor uses to change the TARDIS key here and then. So Jo and Sarah Jane weren't exactly remembering the same key. Additionally, why didn't the Doctor just snap his fingers for opening the TARDIS to save them? We know that he knows that he can do that...

The second thing was RTD's attempt of rewriting the good old regeneration rule. In my humble opinion RTD didn't rewrote any sort of canon, because the Doctor was obviously lying. It isn't the first time that he would do that when confronted with a let's call it rather unpleasant question. He just didn't want them to worry about him too much. Besides, he also didn't told Jo about Gallifrey not existing anymore.*

However, all in all, this turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable episode. Sure, we have to take in account that The Sarah Jane Adventures isn't only officially made for children. It actually IS made for them.
And RTD, thanks for the Doctor not taking himself too seriously. 'Cos between you and me, if that day ever comes, I think the whole universe might just shiver.' is the perfect amount of drama all of his episodes should have.

_________

* EDIT: By the way, Russel T Davies himself encourages us in this SFX interview not to take that '5o7 statement' too seriously.

The Wait Is Over...

How do you write a proper introduction to a post about a 26 minutes long episode which's main purpose was to introduce its next part?

So, with The Death of the Doctor (link) we had again a very long intro to about 6 interesting minutes just as last year... and I guess they could have solved this a bit differently. Furthermore, actually I'm not too comfortable about the Doctor insulting his former companions for, well, ageing, despite Jo was not exactly nice to him either. Then again this wasn't the first time Eleven has insulted someone... poor Rory.

Furthermore, this episode might be the reason why children will be afraid of big soft-toys in the future. Loved Jo's reaction to those 'Giant Vouchers', though.

And yes, it's undeniable that RTD delivered us a cliffhanger, the part of which The Sarah Jane Adventures has become quite famous for. But in my humble opinion this wasn't exactly RTD's greatest one, it seemed to be a bit forced to me. Basically he just cut a scene into two parts, and I'm sure he could have done better than that...

Nevertheless, after there hasn't been any Doctor Who-ish episode on for about 6 month I think I've been missing it too much to be critical. So, I'm really looking forward to part two. And I'll keep my fingers crossed for RTD explaining that somewhat *cough* ridiculous *cough* 'very complicated biological swap' properly. Additionally I may not be the only one looking forward to Jo and Sarah Jane firing questions at the Doctor.

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.

Russel T Davies can't keep his Hands off Doctor Who

According to this Digital-Spy article RTD is about to deal with one of the most important question of Doctor Who, namely, how many lives does the Doctor really have... However, RTD isn't going to deal with this in that TV series which's main-elements he is going to re-write, but in that show's The Sarah Jane Adventures - spin-off.
Disappointed?

Me too.

The Ghost of Christmas Past...

First, I'm sorry for being late.

Right, let's get started... About one week ago the BBC released its showreel for the next months. And thanks to this we get a really short glimpse of Steven Moffat's very first pretty Christmas-y Christmas-Special for Doctor Who. Looking at those 4 seconds it might seem to be sensible for certain rumours popping up saying its title being 'A Christmas-Carol', last but not least because of Steven Moffat's son thinking its title is a cheesy one (as can be found on the Big Moff's twitter-page). And there is also no doubt that copying Mr Dickens is something cheesy to do.

Personally, I think it's strange that the idea of combining Dickens' story with the Christmas-special hasn't popped up earlier in certain editors' minds. Because that's one of those few classical Christmas stories which deal with Doctor Who's most important element...

The Big Moffs's Perfect Christmas & Other Stuff

According to SFX or rather a Steven Moffat interview to be found in The Brilliant Book about which SFX happened to drop a few lines, the next Christmas-special is going to be the one the Big Moff himself would 'like to see.' Actually, I liked Doctor Who's former Christmas-specials for giving me a break from those cheesy Christmas-y and consume-advertising films and episodes. Although I'm pretty sure that as a fan Moffat doesn't need much advise... And even if he spoiled it, at least we would get to know his definition of 'the perfect Christmas'.

Another point the Big Moff mentions (and SFX is so nice to write about) is the quite big 'Silence-Will-Fall'-story arch. So finally he tells us that Silence is a 'they'... (which is at least grammatically speaking also the politically correct term for referring to a female or male being alike. BTW.)

Last but not least there are also a few sentences about River Song. Well, I guess it's not really necessary to mention that Moffat has come up with a very clever story for her, but fans are always grateful for letting them know. And thank you so much for not making her an android... That's something we can put off our immensely long list then.

This changes everything...

Again.

Digital Spy tries to shorten the time to this year's Christmas special by giving us something we could consider as some sort of remarkable news.

This article is mostly about season 6, and to be honest, it's a quite mouth-watering one despite a certain lack of ... let's call it information.

First, it ensures us that, as we already might know, Moffat isn't only madly in love with 'game-changing cliffhangers', but if he weren't already married he might consider getting engaged to one of them. Furthermore, we are told (twice!) that the next season 'will change everything', whatever that is supposed to mean.

At least the last paragraph is finally giving some spoilers away... Well, I hope in spite of Rory stumbling 'to the brink of a tragic mistake' this won't make him the most often killed character of this show. Hold on, that's the Doctor. Although, Rory has already died twice this season, so he is undeniably catching up.

The Big Split...

Oh my dear. Am I the only one thinking that there are a few things Steven Moffat shouldn't mess with? I know, there aren't many arguments supporting my automatic disfavour of his idea of dividing Doctor Who's oncoming seasons into spring and autumn-ones (source), on the contrary, it's not hard to spot at least 3 almost positive points why he has come up with this. I only want you to know that somehow I am going to miss the old schedule, despite writing the following paragraphs...

So, here we go. Moffat's official reason for this, as he says, is that he thinks waiting almost 6 month for the Christmas-special and then another 4 month for the next season is not exactly child- or audience-friendly. I think there aren't many fans disagreeing with him about this. (Although, in my humble opinion it will be more than just odd to have a break after 6 or 7 episodes.)

Secondly, it was really hard not to notice that Steven Moffat was also quite involved into Sherlock's first season, and he makes the impression of being pretty found of writing detective stories. Well, it might be possible that after finishing 6 Doctor Who episodes and giving it a break after that, he hopes to get some extra time for his new project. Again, those who have watched Moffat's 'Study in Pink' might like these news.

And last but not least, is it just me thinking it's odd that the Christmas-special was the only episode which wasn't filmed under winterish-springish conditions?

Or are Moffat's news rather about the bad ratings after all, as our all time favourite series has a slight problem with 2 reality shows...

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.

The Great Game

Someone is trying hard to drive people's attention to this show. For it looks as if the Beeb won't have another choice than giving us at least another season of this 21st century Sherlock.

So, we had our story-arch then... (and this made it official that last week's episode was really just a filler, as it seemed to be in the first place). Additionally, The Great Game showed us this series' future capacity. Come on, they could have made a whole season out of the last episode's plot alone. And after sitting through it the only thing we get is a cliff-hanger, which was a bit far-fetched IMHO. But who cares. Somehow it still managed to be amazing, and I can't wait for more.

And BTW I just love Sherlock's catchy opening-titles.

The Blind Banker

Sherlock is on its best way to become one of those save-the-date TV series. Because this was awesome. 

Sure, even the at times overly fast paced action couldn't help distracting from the fact that this was the filler of this year's season (well, I for my part hope there will be more). There were too many lose strings to speculate about. Like, what happened to the man Sherlock was fighting while John was out shopping? Why is that guy Sherlock's message for the people of the Jaria Diamond case? And most importantly, why shouldn't John know about this? And still, somehow I  have the feeling that it's not important. I guess, Thompson could have made more of these thrown away snippets.

But there were more things Sherlock did not want John to know about. Like him almost dying in Soo Lin Yao's flat. Does he want to hide the fact that their job is somewhat dangerous? Does he not want to admit that he did something stupid? Why doesn't he open the flat after entering it anyway? What's his motivation?

But otherwise, it's great to see a Sherlock Holmes adaptation in which John and Sherlock can be equals in their friendship. John is more than someone filling in for Sherlock's audience, or his skull. Well, at the same time, Sherlock does his best to irritate everyone around him, also John. It's clear that he's not trying to be nice. And John's failed attempt of having a date is somewhat foreshadowing his future. 

So, the M to which Shen was talking in the last seconds of her life is certainly Moriarty. I guess, next week things will start to become really interesting...

A Study In Pink

With no Doctor Who on until Christmas and a lot of spare time on my hand, I decided to dedicate almost ninety minutes of my afternoon to the BBC's new Sherlock Holmes adaptation of which a certain Steven Moffat's happens to be one of its co-writers.

Maybe, there is to mention, that I am, or rather was a big Sherlock Holmes fan a few years ago. Well, maybe not that big, but I read some of the books, and I remember enjoying them pretty much. Additionally, I was also quite curious about what Moffat would do with Sherlock Holmes' apparently not too temporary methods. And, luckily as far as I'm concerned, this series' opener didn't let neither of its fans down.

So, let's start with the casting... For a start, I wasn't familiar with the leading actors Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Marin Freeman who plays Doctor John Watson (John Watson on this blog.) Their mixture of sticking to the original characters and adding their (and the writers') own interpretation of them to the roles just won me over right from the start. For on the one hand Cumberbatch's Sherlock is eccentric enough so that it's not difficult to identify the world's most famous detective, but on the other hand their changed his relationship to Watson, so that he isn't only using him as someone in front of whom he can show off. And through this he appears to be nicer than in the books.
Additionally, I loved the way the team circumvented the BBC's 'not showing smoking heroes in our programmes' rule, while still sticking to Doyle's ideas of Sherlock Holems. His 'This is a three-patch problem' - line was superb.

My only, and slight critic of this opener is the plot of A Study In Pink. Until now the story didn't make too much sense, however, maybe when the Moriarty-story-arch will be finally reviled it might be possible that we won't be complaining about it anymore.

After all, this episode made me certainly curious about the following ones, for this was the best thing I've seen on TV for month.

We are all stories in the end...

The Doctor is famous for giving the universe a hard time to vanish into thin air, but now the odds were more than just bad. However, the Doctor wouldn't be the Doctor if being imprisoned inside the Pandorica could stop him from fulfilling his duties, and yes, guaranteeing Amy to get her finale fairytale-y happy ending. Hurray.

These last 11o minutes didn't only topped any other of Russel T Davies' (if you happen to remember that name) so-called finales, but they also ended a season during which the Big Moff proved to be very much capable of doing his job in a really fantastic way. The only things people might criticise is that this two-parter was really for the fans (to occasional viewers the story might have been a bit complicated), and that Moffat doesn't care about paradoxes as the Doctor couldn't give Rory his screwdriver before he got out of the Pandorica in the first place. Although, when the universe and time are collapsing it can be supposed that nothing ( time included) behaves the way it used to. So, at least Moffat made sure that we get some sort of an explanation.

Then he also made sure to serve RTD-fans by making the end one of the most dramatical ones ever. For to my mind the Doctor never ever had to face the possibility of vanishing out of existence in such a complex manner. Although to be honest we knew it all along. Come on, the name of this show is Doctor Who after all. However, he did it in a very clever way... Now there is a whole generation to whom "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" has a completely different meaning. Well, I'm not complaining.

All in all, this was a great deep ending and I can't wait for the Christmas Special and for the next season to find out about River Song's view of the story.