Doctor Who Crackpot Theories! Series 7! The Master as the new Companion! Multiple Doctor 50th Anniversary!

Sorry about the slow week folks. I’ve been moving house for the last two weeks or so and my reading/watching time has been seriously reduced by packing/cleaning/throwing out stuff ect. Moving sucks. I also had read Will Hill’s mammoth 700-page DEPARTMENT 19 sequel THE RISING, and though I wrote up my review for it, I’ve been asked by Harper Collins Canada to not post until close to the release date and I’m abiding those wishes. I had also planned to begin doing reviews of MERLIN (like I do with DOCTOR WHO) starting with Series 2, but now I am having my girlfriend watch Series 1 so we can watch the second Series together. So that will have to wait as well. The life of a blogger when life interferes eh?

So I thought for Friday that we’d do a DOCTOR WHO Series 7 Informational and Crackpot Theory Post, which will include all the info we have so far.

First things first, when it comes to info about Series 7 the only clearly admitted and defined fact is that both Amy and Rory will be exiting the Series (and if Karen Gillan is to be believed her character at least will be killed and un-revivable) and that an all new companion will be joining the Doctor. The talk from Moffat was that this person is not from earth and is “the last person the Doctor would expect”. The other somewhat knowable info is that Matt Smith MAY be leaving at the end of the Series which will also be the excitement-inducing 50th Anniversary Special(s) and he MAY not. If he does, I’d be fine with that as he’s had a good run, but I’d also be quite comfortable with him staying on board for an 8th Series. Some guest actors have been announced like Mark Williams (who played Arthur Weasley in the HARRY POTTER films) who’s character has been revealed as Brian Williams which we can all safely assume is Rory’s father. I’ll be very interested to see Rory’s parent since his family has been conspicuously absent so far. The cast has left for Spain where they will be shooting an Old West-based episode. They will shoot another episode there as well and there is a rumor that the Tabernas Desert will be standing in for the ruins of Skaro.

Now onto crackpotted-ness.

Achievement Unlocked: Point-Form-io!

- I personally think that Amy will die and Rory will live, since only Gillan has mentioned about wanting her character completely killed off. I have a feeling that her goodbye will have something to do with making the Roman Soldier Who Waited Rory “let her go” and that will be the catharsis for his character and an end to his arc since he spends so much time protecting her, it would be a nice dovetail for his end to not be marred by trying to save her once again. I also think that the “They always kill Rory” aspect will be flipped around and he will live to a ripe old age.

- I think Matt Smith WILL leave the role with the 50th Anniversary since that’s not only a natural stopping point, but it will really place his 11th Doctor into a very nice spot in the fandom and people will really remember him that way.

- When I heard the news that the new companion wasn’t from earth and was the last person the Doctor would expect I had two thoughts. Both utterly outrageous, one not really do-able and the other one is tantalizingly feasible. First I’m sure everyone has heard about Moffat trying to get people to follow Sophie Myles on Twitter (who played Madame De Pompadour in the Hugo-winning episode he wrote in Series 2 THE GIRL IN THE FIREPLACE, but she’d be negated because she doesn’t fall into the category of “not from earth” so she’s not all that feasible. The second guess is wild but I love it. What if the Doctor’s new companion is …The Master. Think about it. John Simm’s Master not only helped the 10th Doctor in THE END OF TIME against the rogue Time Lords led by Rassilon, he also spent that episode proving that perhaps his madness came from the implanted “four beats” in his head. I just think it would be a really excellent juxtaposition between the Doctor’s good nature and the Master insane nature. It would make for a VERY interesting series if nothing else. Plus TWO Time Lords!

- I have been discussing the 50th Anniversary with Chris for a while and we both feel that they might perhaps spread the 50th over a few specials (and not just one or a two-parter) and that makes sense in my head since the running belief is that it will be a multiple-Doctor story arc. We expect the 10th Doctor (David Tennant), the 8th Doctor (Paul Mcgann), the 5th Doctor (Peter Davison), and maybe even the 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccelstone) to appear, and possibly even a wibbly wobbly timey wimey version of the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker). I think if the 50th happened without hosting multiple Doctor’s then that would be an utter travesty to the show. So my thinking is that they might have separate episodes that each concentrate on a different Doctor (in their era or not) and that all of them will have some over-arcing threading into the 11th’s death on the fields of Trenzalore when the question that must be asked is asked... “Doctor Who?”

- Now, if the multi-Doctor arc turns out to be true then can we expect any previous companions to return? Strangely I doubt it (even though seeing Rose one more time would fill me with immense joy!), simply because Moffat is seemingly a fan of leaving the past in the past when it comes to the Doctor’s relationships. That said, if we could see married couple Martha and Mickey kicking ass, or Rose + Torchwood Alt Earth and maybe even the Human Doctor too, and Donna…oh how great would it be to see Donna again? I think that seeing any of these people again is the most ephemeral of wishes and they probably won’t come true, but a fan can still dream.

- Lastly, in the mention of the rumor about the Spanish desert standing in for “the ruins of Skaro”, that gets me excited beyond belief. Simply because the aspect of “ruins” implies that this will be post-Time War Skaro and therefore will include some sort of facet of the aftermath of the Daleks and the Time War. Because if you think about it, so far we’ve only dealt with remnants, secret police and escapees (including Davros) of the time War when it comes to the Daleks. What we haven’t seen is properly what happened to the race as a whole. We also have Dorium Maldovar’s cryptic statements about the reasoning behind the Silence’s attempts to prevent the Doctor being on the “fields of Trenzalore and the Fall of the Eleventh”. I foresee a possibility where those fields are actually on Skaro, but who knows since the Doctor wasn’t given much time to react to that revelation at the end of THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG. At any rate, the ruins of Skaro also further makes the case for the multi-Doctor arc since it is post-Time War and you could literally have anything happen. 

So, what think all our faithful readers of the Crackpot notions I have put forth? Or the info we have that is confirmed? Amy and Rory leaving (yeah I’ll be honest and say that I’ll miss Rory more than Amy as she was kind of a bore in Series 6 as a character)? Speculation on the new companion? Is Matt leaving? What say you? Have at it in the comments section folks.

Crackpot Doctor Who Theory: 50th Anniversary Speculation

Interesting Iceberg Ink Fact:

The most consistently visited post in our blog’s yearlong history is my original DOCTOR WHO Crackpot Theories: River Song Is The TARDIS post. Without fail, most months, it tops the list in hits and holds the record for most views ever by a country mile. What’s funny about that is the theory has long ago been blown out of the water by the revelations of who River Song actually is, but the post still gets hit numerous times every month.

Why do I bring this up? Well as you can see by the post title, it’s that time again. Crackpot Theories time!

Up this time, I speculate on the nature and story that will be told in the upcoming 2013 50th Anniversary special(s). Recently Moffat stated the following in an interview about the 50th:

"Why talk in the singular? The plans are at an early stage, but we have some very clear ideas about some of the things we're doing, and I think Doctor Who fans and kids will think it's the best thing ever. We've got a load of very big plans – the mere fact that we're talking about this two years before the event should tell you how seriously we're taking it." ~Steven Moffat

The notion being that perhaps the 50^th anniversary will be spread over more than one episode. This prompted me to my theory. Now stick with me for a bit while I wax on the immediate future of DW (AKA Series 7) first.

Matt Smith’s 11^th Doctor, we now know is headed into the 7^th Series. As quoted by Dorium Maldovar in the final Series 6 episode THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG:

“On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the 11th, when no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a Question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered. Doctor Who?”

So this leads me to the immediate belief, that the “fall of the 11^th” could very well be the 11^th Doctor’s death and regeneration into the 12^th Doctor (implied by the fact that Matt Smith may be leaving the role after Series 7). So to me that means that perhaps, just perhaps the 50^th Anniversary special(s) will be when we actually see the prophetic events at the fields of Trenzalore.

So here we come to my crackpot theory. If there might be multiple episodes for the 50^th, and so far people have speculated that previous Doctor’s (David Tennant chief among them, and hopefully Peter Davison or even Tom Baker) will be returning in some way (like the previous many Doctor’s eps like THE FIVE DOCTORS), why not dedicate an episode to each Doctor. That way you have 4 or 5 disparate stories, each with a different Doctor in the lead that all head in the direction of the 11^th Doctor’s fall at Trenzalore. Then cap it all off with one final episode where all the stories come together and all the Doctor’s star in it at once helping one another to whatever narrative common goal or resolution.

It’s seems to be only a bit of a stretch, since the commonly held notion that multiple Doctor’s would feature in the 50^th. So jumping to the conclusion that there might be multiple-Doctor arcs to the overall story doesn’t seem so much like fanboy crackery as it does common sense to honor the franchise. Created by Steven Moffat, the ultimate DW fanboy himself.

I’d like to see this happen. Sadly, I doubt we will know ANYTHING about it until later next year when they start shooting the special(s).

What do you all think? Fanboy madness or believable prophecy?

Crackpot Doctor Who: Series 6 Returns! Is The Best Yet To Come?

If you listened to our first Podcast over the past few days then you will know that Chris and I have talked, discussed, been annoyed by, thrilled by, frustrated by the first half of Series 6 of DOCTOR WHO.

Well, this weekend the Series will come back for the second half of its season, and it sounds like a few notable things will be happening and a few others merely hinted at. After having TORCHWOOD so entirely redeemed in my eyes by ONE episode (Episode 7), I find that my heart swells with the hope that DW will do the same. It’s not an “all is forgiven, give me back my WHO now please and I’ll be good” or anything, but I’d be lying if a few things I’ve heard about the forthcoming episodes, and some deep knowledge into the behind the scenes of the show’s previous seasons VIA Russell T. Davies & Ben Cook’s THE WRITER’S TALE (which I am currently reading) if I said I wasn’t a little hopeful.

So let’s start with the book. What I noticed first and foremost in the entirely readable book (chronicling Davies, Tennant and co.’s final full series and year of specials and what went into making them) is that the staggering amount of work involved in even getting a show like this to air. From week to week ideas are grandiose, but in the offing they get reduced by budget, scene editing, and script editing. It was strange to hear the amazing ideas that Davies had about each episode and what he wanted and then the reality of what could and couldn’t be done. Some complaints I might have had about certain episodes in Series 4 (for example) would be entirely washed away had they been filmed exactly how Davies and crew had envisioned them. The problem, a lot of the time, came down to budget. Sometimes episode budgets had to be cut by HALF. It kind of pisses me off in some respects because as awesome as Series 4 was, I am annoyed that the BBC didn’t give them more money to work with when the show was doing so well.

I go on and on, but the point of this is that the book really gives me major "how it's made" insight and that softens my stance somewhat on what Moffat is trying to do. Series 5 (as I stated in the podcast) was pretty damned fine throughout, but that Series 6 has real issues, and here is where I think we might be up for some hope, and the thing I’ve realized over the past few days:

Series 6 should NEVER have been split in two halves separated by the summer.

The wait is ridiculous and has basically alienated a number of fans who are not only feeling lackluster about stuff, but are left hanging on whether they are going to get paid off or not.

Perspective: Imagine if Series 4 had been split in two. You would have seen the amazing opener PARTNERS IN CRIME, the great but not mind blowing FIRES OF POMPEII, the interesting PLANET OF THE OOD and then the two-parter Sontaran THE POISON SKY & THE SONTARAN STRATAGEM which is lackluster to say the least (IMHO anyways). Then imagine there was a break for a few months, a totally pointless one. Would people would have tuned in come fall? Yeah but with probably a lot of the same problems I am having now with series 6. We would have had maybe 3 REALLY good episodes, and nothing of the overall story arc nods, with the exception of the quick Rose reveal at the end of 4.01. It would have pissed people off I think.

Now, let’s flip over to the second half of Series 4 shall we? When we come back it’s with the fantastic THE DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER, then the absolute blast that was THE UNICORN & THE WASP, followed by the incredible (Hugo Award nominated) two-parter THE SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY & THE FOREST OF THE DEAD, then the one two punch of MIDNIGHT (one of Davies BEST scripts, and Tennant’s BEST performances) and then TURN LEFT (which launched us into the ending episodes for the series and showed Catherine Tate’s incredible acting chops), and we cap off the season with the fan-nod-heavy, everything and the kitchen sink (but still totally excellent) THE STOLEN EARTH & JOURNEY’S END.

See anything there? Any trends? If you look at the first half of Series 4, it’s good, but not mind blowing (yet…) and the BEST of the series are in the second half where things are ramping up to the ending. This is not something that only happened in Series 4, you can apply it to both Series 3 and Series 2 with the same results.

So I think perhaps we’ve been unfair on Moffat so far in Series 6 and the culprit, and direction of our ire, ought to be whoever decided it was a bright idea (probably someone at the BBC) to split Series 6. If it hadn’t happened I still wouldn’t have enjoyed A GOOD MAN GOES TO WAR much, but if LET’S KILL HITLER had aired the following week and so on and so forth continuing the rest of the series I would not have had the chance to formulate my opinion of a lackluster Series 6 (so far), as I would have gone running right into the rest of the episodes from week to week and perhaps the best episodes DO reside in the second half of Series 6.

So it is that I am hopeful, and of course will be chiming in early next week on what I think after WHO returns on Saturday night. The offshoot of this whole thing is it has given me not only insight into the work that goes into getting WHO on the air, but also other TV shows and so I’ve decided not to be as harsh. Especially on the Internet, as it can seem like piling on to those involved. This doesn’t mean I’m going to stop telling you what things I like and don’t, but I do think I’ll try to be as balanced in my TV reviews as I am in the book ones.

So let’s get to some of the forthcoming stuff. The long green coat the Doctor is wearing in promo material for the second half of Series 6 is apparently going to be new standard garb, which I am cool with cause all the coolest Doctor’s have had long coats. It always looks great when they are running flying out behind them. Good stuff.

The bigger rumor is that Rose, Martha and Donna all show up in some format (in LET'S KILL HITLER) and the notion is that they are there “to help” the Doctor. Whether that means short cameo’s by the actors, or as holograms or video's or some other cameo I don’t know and can’t speculate. That said apparently there were some Twitter’s by people who had seen early screenings of LET’S KILL HITLER and made cryptic statements like “I don’t want to spoil anything, but They’re Back!”…which could be anything from the Daleks or Cybermen to the aforementioned cameo’s by the previous companions. One thing should be noted: If Rose Tyler shows up I will cheer like some sort of insane madman and following that with Donna…what an amazing idea. What no Mickey?

The last episodes of the series will apparently be called THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG, and while I have attitude about the character (who I feel they spend too much time on), I am interested to see what happens and we’ve had confirmation that we will be told everything about the Doctor’s death on that Beach from 6.01 and that will be resolved as will everything about the Song mysteries (who she killed ect.), so at the very least it seems like we will have a clean slate going into Series 7 (or a mostly clean one). There’s rumors about who the new companion will be in Series 7 (as it sounds as if the Ponds will take a more earthbound helperly role) but I don’t want to get into that since previous early companion guesses have turned out to be silly.

Some good stuff on the horizon and yeah as I careen towards the weekend I find myself more forgiving of Moffat’s current WHO series and hope that our MIDNIGHT’S, SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY'S and JOURNEY’S END’S are yet to come.

Series 6 of DOCTOR WHO returns on Saturday August 27th, 2011 with LET'S KILL HITLER.