Unfortunately, it has been a rather dead few weeks of Doctor Who news. I have decided for the time being to pull back and make this column bi-weekly. As soon as the news picks up, I will be back to a normal schedule.
This week some fun Doctor Who videos popped up, so they are going to be taking up most of my attention. Here goes!
David Tennant, Catherine Tate, and John Barrowman’s Tribute to Russel T Davies and Julie Gardner
Two videos this week were leaked that were done by the cast and crew of Doctor Who towards the end of David Tennant, Russel Davies, and Julie Gardner’s time on Doctor Who. The first one is called “The Ballad of Russel and Julie” and is done to the tone of Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love” from the musical Paris. I suspect John Barrowman is the culprit behind this choice, he’s a huge Cole Porter fan.
There are a lot of in-jokes in here I can’t even pretend to know, but I did love that they mention RTD emailing Benjamin Cook of Doctor Who Magazine. These emails are the basis of RTD’s two volumes called “The Writer’s Tale” which is a great, insightful book about what goes on behind the scenes of Doctor Who.
Cast and Crew Lip Syncing “I’m Gonna Be”
I always really liked this song by the Proclaimers, and this is an entertaining and fitting song for the cast and crew to lip sync to. It was shown during the Wrap Party. Again, not sure why these two videos leaked out now after all these years, but they are great!
I especially love the dancing Ood and stiffly dancing Timothy Dalton. I am not sure which was more unexpected. And Graeme Harper rocking a Tom Baker scarf was also a nice touch.
I had heard that David Tennant was a big Proclaimers fan, so it must have been cool to get to go a quick cameo with them. I wonder what ever happened to those guys?
Doctor Who is White and Nerdy
As a huge Weird Al fan, this video is like a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup to me. I have seen better mash-up Doctor Who videos (like the Rory one I posted a few weeks ago), but this one works great!
The same guy also did one for The Offspring’s “Pretty Fly for a White Guy.” Another favorite band of mine. I especially like that all the modern Doctors get some time in this one!
Bernard Cribbins Knighted
According to The Mirror, Bernard Cribbins received the Order of the British Empire from the Princess Royal at a Windsor Castle. My favorite part of the article was when they asked him if he planned to retire. The 82 year old actor said he has no intention of retiring, and joked: “If you know of any work that’s going I’ll take it. I love it, I can’t stop, why should I? I’m still able to read and write.”
Cribbins actually has long ties to Doctor Who. Of course, he played Donna’s grandfather Wilf throughout Season 4 of Doctor Who, and Wilf even got to be the companion in David Tennant’s last episodes. BUT, long before that, he appeared in the 1966 movie “Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.” with Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin from Star Wars) playing Dr. Who. This movies was actually the first time “multi-colored” Daleks were seen, so if you hate the new look Daleks, you can blame this movie.
One Last Thing to Say…
Assuming it airs on Christmas:
We have 50 days until the next episode of Doctor Who!
