Gallifrey Found

This is planet "HD 106906 B" and it was found in the farthest orbit of a sun yet discovered. Probably because of a combination of it's appearance as well as the 50th anniversary and the revelation that Gallifrey is out there, not surprisingly there is a petition to have the planet named Gallifrey.  I don't normally go for petitions, but I signed this one, and I hope enough people do to have it named, as it would be a fitting tribute for the show, as well as a wonderful 50th birthday gift. They are still a number of people away from their goal of signatures, so please go here and sign the petition today. 

Here is a Youtube video from the person who started the petition.

We might not get a more perfect opportunity to immortalize Doctor Who in our reality's stars.
#GallifreyFound

Doctor Who: My 50th Anniversary Roundup

So I don't know much about per screen sales, and have seen different numbers, a problem common when looking for information on different sites. I try my hardest not to just make up what I think they are saying and will say when I just don't know. What I do know is that after you factor in the 7pm airing on the 23rd, the special had 3.6 million viewers on BBC America. This sure doesn't seem like a high number to me, even though it broke a record for them. I just think we need to work harder at getting more Whovians. It set a Guinness world record for largest simulcast of a drama. Funny little awards they give. The word is that it had a higher per screen amount than even Catching Fire, but one site said per theater, so I'm not sure where the nugget of truth is there. I did see it was the #2 'movie' on Monday in America. All great and it's nice to have validation but puhleeze don't rush into a movie franchise. I'd be perfectly happy if it didn't move in that direction at all.

As far as "The Day of The Doctor" itself, I loved it. From the way it opened to the story to Billie Piper being The Moment/Rose/Bad Wolf. John Hurt was amazing and as predicted stole many scenes. "Am I having a mid-life crisis?", "Timey wimey?!?", "Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?" Doctor gold I tells ya. Yes, the treaty with the Zygons manifested a bit quickly, but right now I love Steven Moffat for bringing back Gallifrey, my one beef with RTD. The little nods here and there to the past were well appreciated. Multiple TARDISES, great battle scenes, a winding storyline, a moving final moment and every Doctor. What more could you want? I'll tell you what more. Tom Baker as the curator, that's what. A very poignant moment for me. It was well worth the wait Tom. Shh.

More great pics I found from the special at the end.

One of the real gems of the 50th week was the movie Mark Gatiss made, "An Adventure In Space and Time." Better than a behind the scenes special, you got to see what it was like working on set in 1963-1966. You see the first ideas and the first designs. You also see behind the man behind the man, and delve a little into what it was like being Doctor Who, and indeed being William Hartnell. It was funny too, a bit sad and quite fun. A little bit delightful in fact. Check it out. Spot the cameos :)

Big Finish, who produce most excellent audiodramas, did a whopper for the 50th. An 8, yes EIGHT, Doctor multi Doctor tale that captured my attention and didn't let go. Read my spoiler free review here on my classic page.

By far my favorite thing besides the actual special was a 30 minute film offered on BBC's red button, which frankly I know nothing about. "The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot" was written and directed by 5th Doctor, Peter Davison. It's the hilarious tale of former Doctors from the 80's trying desperately to be in the 50th special.

The actors poke great fun at themselves as they scramble to be noticed by the likes of Moffat himself. There are cameos from old and new companions and even a star and director from a major Hollywood film franchise a certain Doctor can't help but keep mentioning he's in. Colin Baker trying to get his family to watch his old episodes, Doctors as Daleks and REALLY outing John Barrowman. I'll state again here that this is a perfect companion piece to the 50th special and it would be a shame if it weren't included on the release.

One thing I almost missed out on was the 2 hour show, "Doctor Who: The Ultimate Guide" but I'm glad I didn't miss it. It was the most entertaining of all the 'looking back' specials I saw. It had humor and great guests and really did a good job aiming for that ultimate guide title they claimed. If you can find a copy I suggest it, but it didn't air in America.

The single best event was the theater experience. It was probably a combination of actually being in a theater watching Doctor Who on the big screen after watching for over 30 years, it being the 50th anniversary, it being in 3D and being in a room filled with Whovians. It was a day of big feels.


So now what? Exhale first. Relax. The marathons are over. Then it hits me, only 27 days to Christmas. "The Time of The Doctor" is coming. To prepare I have pulled out all the regeneration episodes and then will alternate them with all the Christmas episodes. That's just how I roll. I did finally get the last of the 11 short stories they released. That's the last 50th thing to cross off my list as soon as I read them. It'll be interesting to see what info about Christmas comes out in the next couple of weeks, which reminds me, if you don't like spoilers, don't read my next post.

These are some nice pics I found from "The Day of The Doctor"

Happy 50th Doctor Who!

The day is upon us. Happy anniversary Doctor Who. He was my raggedy man in the 70's, and he came back for all of us. I watched Adventured in Space and Time and I thought it was absolutely brilliant. I love Mark Gatiss for it. I have gone on a journey this year through all of the Doctors, leading to an intense marathon this week of the modern series. Tomorrow morning my niece and her husband will come over. She used to watch with me when I was a teen and she was 8. I have recently reintroduced her, quite successfully, to the new version. We are going to watch The Name of The Doctor and the first, the original, An Unearthly Child.

We are the blessed. After that we head off to the cinema to watch in 3D glory. I don't know how I'm going to get to sleep. I'm wearing my T shirt that says You Never Forget Your First Doctor. To tie in with that idea I will wear my replica Tom Baker series 18 burgundy scarf, but not the one that's currently for sale. Over 30 years ago I approximated the colors and pattern of the scarf and begged my mother to crochet it for me. It look fantastic, not to toot my mom's horn. Best part is, instead of the 13 feet of the one for sale, this one is 18 feet! I didn't want it to just wrap around the neck, but hang down like his did. As a bit of bling I'll wear my TARDIS key. The best thing of all is my permanent accessory, my TARDIS tattoo. I've never been around other fans since I got it, other than friends.

So WTF am I doing still writing this?
I need to get to bed so tomorrow can begin!
I'll leave you with this darling 50th birthday cartoon
I can just hear John Hurt delivering his line while smacking on cake

2 Days To Go!!!

Doctor Who - The Day of The Doctor - The One Show Exclusive Clip

New clip shown today.
This is just freaking awesome!!!!!!
Bad Wolf!

The Day Of The Doctor Prequels

Here are the two prequels we were promised before the 50th. Both excellent in their own way. The first one, "The Night of The Doctor," sets the stage for John Hurt, finalizing where he fits in with the other Doctors, while "The Last Day" gives us a glimpse into The War Doctor's first day in the time war. Someone said it looks almost like a setup for a game about the war, and I can see that.

The Night of The Doctor

The Last Day

You will notice I did not say SPOILERS. That's because these AREN'T  spoilers, they are prequels meant to be watched and to give us some information, most likely background, to prepare us for the 50th.

BEST Rumor All Week!!

This is out there on the internet but I am going to save you if you don't want possible spoilers by linking the article with this sentence, but the clues are here.

There is another way... Thoughts on Regeneration

After watching "The Brain of Mobius" again, and then the prequel, "Night of The Doctor," we can certainly see how with the help of the Sisterhood of Karn The Doctor can get past the limit of 12 regenerations. We also know from stories like "The Five Doctors" that the Timelords could grant more regenerations, so what if in the 50th, Moffat resolves the time war and Gallifrey is back? Problem solved, but there are more ways than these.

I've been watching classic episodes in order to gear up for next week's BBCAmerica takeover, with the return series airing in order. I've watched some pertinent ones like "Terror of the Zygons," since they will be in the 50th, and "Underworld," because it was the first ever I remember seeing thirty-something years ago. Right now I'm watching "Mawdryn Undead" simply because it's one of my favorites.

The thing about the last two I mentioned is that in both of them The Doctor had encountered races with whom the Timelords had shared regeneration technology as well as having it stolen from them. All The Doctor needs to do is visit the Minyans again if he needs to regenerate. Who knows how many more places there are out there, but it's an issue I think is pretty much 'problem solved' :)

As a side note, I'd like to address the people who claim the extra faces who appeared during the mind battle between the fourth Doctor and Morbius in "The Brain of Morbius" are representing other regenerations of The Doctor. In "Mawdryn Undead" the fifth Doctor spells it out point blank. Her will not help Mawdryn and his friends because there are eight of them, and he has regenerated four times so it would be the end of him as a Timelord because he only has eight regenerations left. So you can choose to believe the ambiguous appearance of unexplained faces or the facts that are spelled out and spoken by The Doctor himself.

Where does John Hurt's Doctor fit ?

I currently have two working theories on where John Hurt's Doctor fits in the timeline. All this is outside the possibility that this is really Doctor #9.

The first idea is newest so not very formed, but fed some by some of the new pictures as well as an interview with Steven Moffat in SFX magazine. First here is what he said about the matter...

"There's a whole lot of stuff you missed! It's a nice thing to be able to say in the show, and for no one to be able to contradict you, that there were years that you didn't know about... we lied and lied, there's a whole big old chapter you didn't know."

So I got the idea that this was 10.5, or The Meta-crisis Doctor who stayed with Rose in the other universe. He could be aged, his Rose could be dead. They could be taking into account the deleted scene where The Doctor gave him and Rose a chunk of the TARDIS to grow their own. Like I said, I don't have much of it worked out. But now look at these pictures:

In every picture John is BETWEEN the other two. Now I used to have theories as to why the TARDIS had so much detruction when David Tennant regenerated, like him holding in the energy to say goodbye and just put it off created the explosion. But what if something else happened. That could still be The Doctor who ended the time war.

In both cases it would be a Doctor born out of anger. The most likely in my mind is still the most obvious one I mentioned at first, but some type of shocker would really be welcome.

Behind The Scenes Pics And Quotes

Okay this pic is from the trailer, but it shows The Doctor at "The Moment" we first heard mentioned in "The End of Time" and I included it because of an interesting behind the scenes pic that came out....

So first it looks like the moment is a plunger to be pressed, most likely creating the time bubble? Secondly, it looks as if the three of them press it. Consider a couple of quotes from the episode:

The Eleventh Doctor, "You were The Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right."

The Tenth Doctor, "What we do today, we do not out of fear or hatred, but because there is no other way."

This picture pleases me because it all but confirms the interaction we will see between them all.

These next few are from the trailer and pretty awesome:

Are You Ready? Updated With New Trailer

While I've been doing my Christmas decorating the news tidbits have been coming in. And now we have a trailer finally!! See the new trailer here and check out the HD images.  (UPDATE: They removed the first trailer but here is the 50th special trailer, the first trailer and click the previous link to the new extended 2nd trailer, indeed it appears to be the one from Comic

                                          


We also know the time of broadcast, which I suspected when I got my tickets to the 3D cinema simulcast!! "The Day Of The Doctor" will air at 7:50 pm GMT, which for me in the eastern U.S. is 2:50 pm. I'm afraid to start thinking about what time I need to get to the theater.

BBCAmerica has posted their schedule for the week leading up to the 50th. Along with marathons of each of the contemporary Doctors, we get to see The Science of Doctor Who with Brian Cox, An Adventure in Time and Space, and both Matt Smith and David Tennant on Graham Norton. The next day will be Matt's Doctor's revisited and my big weekend will extend to Monday when I have a ticket to the extra showing of "The Day of The Doctor" in 3D. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the little something we will get for Children In Need on the 15th. I also hear there is another trailer, possibly the Comic Con one, coming as well. I hope my DVR doesn't overflow, because I plan a 2 week Who takeover of my broadcasting, which will include giving you a review of the Big Finish audio drama "The Light at the End."

I do have to wonder, despite interviews where they mention the fun of working together, what Billie Piper's role is in the 50th. The absence of many filming pics made me suspicious, and the obvious appearance of "Bad Wolf" Rose in the trailer makes me wonder more. Hopefully we are getting both.