22 days until the next episode of Doctor Who!!!!
Dates confirmed for The Doctor, The widow, and the Wardrobe
No real surprise, but BBC and BBC America both announced that this year’s Christmas special will once again air on Christmas Day in both the UK and the United States. Doctor Who has really become a Maillaro family tradition the last few years. Open gifts with the kids in the morning, dinner with my parents and family in the afternoon, and cuddle on the couch with my wife to watch the new Doctor Who that night. Life doesn’t get any better than that!
This year’s Christmas special in particular holds a special appeal to me, as I’m a huge fan of Narnia and C.S. Lewis. It definitely seems like the type of story that can perfectly capture the fun and madness of Doctor Who. Last year’s Christmas special was a real clever take on The Christmas Carol, so I can’t wait to see what Stephen Moffat can come up with this year!
And speaking of Stephen Moffat…
Stephen Moffat Clarifies Information on Doctor Who film
On Twitter , Stephen Moffat posted a clarification on all the talk about a Doctor Who movie (which I reported on in my last column):
To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot. David Yates, great director, was speaking off the cuff, on a red carpet. You’ve seen the rubbish I talk when I’m cornered.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I breathed a huge sigh of relief when I heard this. Yeah, a Doctor Who film on it’s own could be fun, or it could be a disaster. As long as it’s in the BBC’s hands, I have a lot more faith in it being great. I am also thrilled by the idea of Doctor Who having a real budget. It’s already pretty damn impressive on the shoestring budget they work with, imagine what it could look like with some real money behind it.
Then again…I am not sure Doctor Who fans would know what to do with Doctor Who actually having that kind of money behind it. The fans have always loved the show, and the campy effects (which have bene much less campy since the show’s return in 2005) are part of the endearing charm.
I just hope that Matt Smith is around long enough to do the movie. He really has quickly grown to being one of my favorite Doctors, and this would be a great way to wrap up his run. I would definitely want to see the the fields of Trenzelor, the fall of the Eleventh, and the answering of the big question on the big screen!
Doctor Who: Worlds In Time Looking for Beta Testers
The site seemed to be down when I typed this story up, but earlier in the week, I was able to see some cool images from the new Doctor Who MMO “Worlds in Time” on it’s website: http://www.doctorwhowit.com.
BBC did post up some preview footage. I really like the art style, it’s very cartoony and fits Doctor Who well, check it out:
For the most part, I find beta testing to be frustrating, and it tends to ruin games for me. I still have nightmares about hours spent trying to patch the Champions Online beta test, and I have friends in The Old Republic beta test that have been telling me nothing but horror stories. That said, I did have a lot of fun beta testing SuperHero Squad and Cartoon Network’s Fusion Fall, and Worlds in Time seems very much in the spirit of those games.
Even with my mixed bad of experiences on Beta testing, I signed up for this beta test, it is Doctor Who after all.
Let the Doctor Who Cast Read You Bedtime Stories!
My friend Jules posted this on Facebook, and I had to share this link. Apparently quite a few of the Doctor Who cast members have read bedtime stories on the BBC program, Cbeebies, including:
David Tennant:
Chris Eccelston:
John Simm:
John Barrowman:
Freema Agyeman:
Alex Kingston:
I just thought these were all really cool. It’s definitely fun to see some of the Doctor Who actors I enjoy so much doing something completely unexpected. I especially love Chris Eccelston’s beard!
Well, speaking of bedtimes, it looks like it’s about mine. See you all next time!
