Doctor Who Series Four Is A Go

netglen writes to mention that the fourth series of Doctor Who is a go. The BBC confirms that another season of the popular sci-fi series will be made, although the article is sketchy about the current doctor and his attachment to the next season. The third series starts at the end of this month in Britain with new companion Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman, replacing Billie Piper's Rose. "Tennant, who plays the time-travelling hero, would not talk to reporters about his role in future series. 'Do you know how many times I have been asked that question? Do you know how many times I have answered it?' said the actor. "

Woo Hoo.

[eriks (31863)]

The first episode airs on my birthday! Too bad I'll have to wait a year or more to see it, since I'm not in the UK... NOT! starts up torrent client and waits patiently...

Re:

[Hatta (162192)]

Is this really series four? Isn't it something more like series 24 by now?

In any event, does anyone have a good torrent site for the old Dr Who? I've been looking but I
can only find the odd episode or two, nothing nearing any sort of completion. Is there an
equivalent to DapCentral for Dr Who fans? There's just gotta be.

Re:

[admdrew (782761)]

I think it's fourth series/season of the *modern* Dr. Who (featuring the 9th and 10th Doctors, so far).

Who?

[strredwolf (532)]

"The Doctor"

"Doctor who?"

"Precisely."

Something tells me there's an Abbot and Costello joke there to be found....

Billie Piper

[MikeDataLink (536925)]

The most common rumor is that Billie Piper [waystupid.com] (--YUM See pic at link--) wants to play the doctor in the next season. The theory is that the doctor will regenerate as her because of his love for her and because he misses her. My opninion is that they could do this and make it an incredible season, or totally ruin it. we'll have to see.

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[Guntram Shatterhand, (1078103)]

I don't think she can really pull it off. Plus this whole 'Doctor as a woman' thing was played for laughs during Curse of Fatal Death and it just wouldn't work very well. Also, as a big Doctor Who fan, Rose has really annoyed the hell out of me. Total Mary Sue character, and that would take it way over the edge.

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[bmsleight (710084)]

Well - As a big Doctor Who fan myself - Billy Piper was one of the best assistants IMHO, but I think Catherine Tate was the best.

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[ben0207 (845105)]

Well - As a sensible human being who pays a TV license - Billie Piper was a pretty good assistant IMHO, but I think Catherine Tate should die in a fire.

Female Doctor also done as fan-produced episodes

[LionMage (318500)]

Actually, I had a different experience of the whole "Doctor as a woman" thing. I'd never heard of Curse of Fatal Death before (sorry, not a die-hard Dr. Who fan), but when I was an undergrad, MITSFS [mit.edu] ran a marathon for incoming freshmen which included some amusing fan-produced "episodes" of various shows. There was an entire tape full of episodes featuring a female Doctor, though I don't remember who played the role. It was fun, though, with production values that approached those of the real show. I gue

Re:

[fermion (181285)]

This is not completely unheard of. Lalla ward originally played Princess Astra on the last segment of the Key To Time series. She then took over from Mary Tamm as the Time Lord named Romana. While Ms. Ward was not nearly as entertaining as MS. Tamm, it was a useful diversion.

It certainly would be nice to see the Doctor become a female. Most science fiction has delved into the gender non specific domain, often with good results. I hate to say it, but Ms. Piper seemed to be cast mostly as a fluff chara

Re:Billie Piper

[Hennell (1005107)]

Yeah, its an odd feature of the Time Lord molecular structure that every couple of years they regenerate into someone cheaper...

Re:Billie Piper

[NexusTw1n (580394)]

Er, no. The reason regeneration exists is because William Hartnell became ill, forcing the BBC to recast the lead in one of the most imaginative bits of writing seen at the time.

It has nothing to do with actor's demands, Who was created as a cheap, live, TV serial that was supposed to educate people about history.

Back in the early 60's BBC actors were paid pretty workman like rates of pay, and certainly didn't command huge fees for being stars.

Fantastic!

[RyanFenton (230700)]

For those who haven't checked it out recently, the new Dr. Who has been a wonderfully creepy, charming and clever British fantasy/"sci-fi" show. It constantly transcends the borders between being powerfully authentic in a moment, breaking/mocking convention (many that it invented), and being surprisingly authentic in its morality and complications. Not complicated in the usual soap-opera way either - but in the real sense of exploring the unknown in wild new ways. Sure - it bullshits on its way to tell a story, but even its bullshit is more authentic than most "sci-fi".

Check it out, if you have time for a new minor curiosity in your life.

Ryan Fenton

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[Cpt_Kirks (37296)]

The new Doctor has been a hoot, both of them.

I started watching WAY back in the Tom Baker days. I'm the same age as Russel T. Davies, in fact.

Hmm, is Sci-Fi going to pick up Torchwood, or should I just DL it? How is Torchwood? Have you seen it yet?

Re:Fantastic!

[pluther (647209)]

Dr. Who switched to color before I did. It wasn't until I got to college that I found out that Tom Baker's episodes weren't black-and-white.

Torchwood is *excellent*! Though, completely different from Dr. Who. It's set in the same world, and stars Captain Jack, but the only other crossover element is that the Tardis sound makes a couple of guest appearances in the last episode. If Sci-Fi has any plans on picking up Torchwood, they're being very quiet about it. Even if they did, they'd edit it quite a bit. (You can say/show things on British TV that Americans are too uptight for.)

Re:Fantastic!

[shewasmadeofchimps (1011165)]

torchwood is awful. buffy the vampire-slayer wannabe that fails hopelessly. they have decided that the definition of a mature programme is just to add dollops of sex to the storylines.

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[Cheetahfeathers (93473)]

I would be pretty surprised if anyone in the US picked up Torchwood. It's a much more adult show than Doctor Who. An adult show in Britain isn't so afraid of a little skin and naughty language as the US is. If Torchwood is picked up, be ready for it to be censored.

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[itsdapead (734413)]

An adult show in Britain isn't so afraid of a little skin and naughty language as the US

True, as long as they don't decide that, because its Fantasy it has to be for kids. The BBC cut "Buffy" so they could show it at 6pm, and what Channel 4 did to "Angel" can't be mentioned on a forum like Slashdot where Wheedon-loving nerds of a sensitive disposition may be reading. Then the BBC suddenly find the cojones to ignore the silly complaints about Doctor Who scaring kids* (could the good ratings have anything

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[meringuoid (568297)]

Then the BBC suddenly find the cojones to ignore the silly complaints about Doctor Who scaring kids* (could the good ratings have anything to do with it?).

Well, that and the fact that most of those kids' parents grew up being terrified by the show on a regular basis. Everyone had nightmares about one monster or another, everyone's hidden behind the sofa. I mean, if you don't want your kids to be scared by dreadful monsters, watching Doctor Who is a bit silly.

* Hah. Kids these days never watched Pertwee

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[clickclickdrone (964164)]

>And this is different from the "old" Dr. Who how exactly?
The sets don't wobble.

Sounds great...

[supersocialist (884820)]

I love David Tennant, but I'm hoping he gets encased in carbonite and Rose takes the Tardis back to grab Chris Eccleston.

A fourth season

[91degrees (207121)]

Well, I expect to see William Hartnell will reprise his role for the first couple of stories, but I expect they'll recast. I'd say the actor Patrick Troughton, who played Phineas in the recent Jason and the Argonauts movie would be a good choice.

Hold on. It is 1966 isn't it? My TARDIS often gets the date wrong.

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[Kazzahdrane (882423)]

Actually, it's called the "First/Second/Third Series" over here in the UK too. I *think* they can "get away with this"(obviously there's no laws about this sort of thing) because the new show is called Doctor Who and the original was called Dr. Who. I could be wrong though, I'm not a big fan (though I loved the new first series and really want to watch the 2nd one) so I'm sure a proper Whovian (sp?) knows the answer.

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[Dogtanian (588974)]

No, the show was always called "Doctor Who" from the very beginning (go to YouTube and search for "Doctor Who title sequence", it's interesting if nothing else). It'd be a pretty silly excuse anyway. Personally, I don't think it's that big a deal unless it's causing confusion.

The biggest thing that grates for me about the new series is the self-conscious comic-bookishness feel of the whole thing at times; even worse (and something I loathe) is when it descends into outright comedy. Sure, Doctor Who was fr

Re:

[Kazzahdrane (882423)]

Haha Timelords, that's awesome. As a Browncoat, I understand the need for a cool nickname for a fanbase. Thanks for enlightening me about a couple of things :)

Series 4 ?

[rossdee (243626)]

Surely seies 4 of Dr Who was around 40 years ago with Patrick Troughton.

There have been quite a few different Doctors since then.

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[OzPhIsH (560038)]

We must be caught in some kind of time hole..

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[itsdapead (734413)]

(Yawns and dons anorak) the revied series is made by a totally different production team in a different branch of the BBC (BBC Wales) so for administrative purposes they started from 1 again. Fortunately, I think the "classic" series still ran long enough to piss on Stargate SG1's "longest running sci-fi show" fireworks so its not a big deal.

Anyway, the new version would count as a Galactica-style reboot if the original show hadn't rebooted more often than Windows ME anyway.

Translations for U.S. Fans

[bokmann (323771)]

In the U.S., the new Dr. Who is on both SciFi and BBC America.

In America, what the british call a 'series' we call a 'season'. So, to our ears, this is an announcement that yes, there will be a 4th season.

The first season is curently being played on BBC America (last time I checked).
The second season, with Tennant, is airing on the Sci Fi Channel.
The third season should be airing in England - almost immediately, if it isn't already.

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[Anonymous Coward]

Sigh...

OK, For the last time: "England" != "UK".

I quite understand the mistake, but feel obliged to correct it.

Mostly because this year is the 300th year of the Act of Union http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Union_1707 [wikipedia.org].

That's right - 300 years and people still get it wrong.

Actually quite a big topic over here come May. Mainly because the way things are going with the UK government, during the upcoming elections of the Scottish Parliament the Nationalists might just get a foot in the door and mo

Turned Off by (the new) Season 1

[foo fighter (151863)]

Season 1 of this new run really turned me off and I haven't come back.

When I first saw the original series as reruns on over-the-air public television back in the late-80s to early-90s I thought the terrible special effects and camp were charming. The underlying plots were usually OK and kept me watching since they were so different from what Star Trek or Star Wars offered.

But now that I'm older I find the new series dependance on terrible, cheap special effects, mediocre acting and dialog, and camp just offputting. Also I'm much more busy with a wife and kid and don't (won't) devote as much time to television as I used to. My sci-fi budget is filled with Battlestar Galactica.

It's somewhat ironic that I prefer the new Galactica and old Who and very much dislike the original Galactica and new Who.

Do I lose my geek card for posting this?

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[zippthorne (748122)]

Original Galactica had a really depressing premise, the utter decimation of almost all of mankind except for a ragtag fleet and perhaps a few others. But they ignored that and did some kind of love-boat clone instead. The new Galactica is much more true to the premise and seems a lot better planned too. I actually believe that they could take years to get to earth and not have a single 'filler' episode.

Galactica Grew up.

I don't know about original dr. who, but the recent series is pretty juvenile, cheesy

Re:Turned Off by (the new) Season 1

[rucs_hack (784150)]

actually a lot of the early Doctor Who was written by some very talented people (eg Terry_Nation) who often worked to incredibly short deadlines, and had crap all in the way of money to back of the special effects they wanted in.

Bizarrely that produced some wonderful SF and social commentary that is still of interest to SF buffs old and new.

I don't like to say that I disapprove of special effects, I don't, and sometimes I even like the very latest thing. Let me say right off that my primary interest in SF is on the cheaper end of the scale. I'm a H2G2/pulp SF fan, I don't much go in for the extravagant approach currently being taken in SF drama (I don't want to talk about the H2G2 film, no really, I don't..).

'Star wars that was' rocked, but the new stuff is crap I feel. Not because of the special effects, but because they weren't the kind of thing you'd stick on after a night out to watch for the n'th time and quote your way through, they had no depth, you couldn't relate to the characters. That was what Star wars was about to me, pure, unadulterated escapism, masterfully done, You wanted to *be* Han Solo or Obiwan (or Luke, if you're some kinda pooftaah :). The most I got out of Phantom Menace was an urge to make JarJar real so I could kill it oh so many times.

Blade Runner was full of special effects, and that is an awesome film, so it can't be that all SFX are bad.

I think the problem isn't something you can lay at the feet of Electric Light and Magic and their ilk. Nope, the problem is that Film and television SF makers seem to have forgotten that SF is as much about social commentary as it is about lasers. My problem with adaption of old Pulp SF stories to multi million doller SFX orgies is not that they've changed the story as a rule, that can't be helped. It's that they have often removed the entire point of the story and extracted just the SF bits.

And yet I like Blade runner. Why is that? Because while they almost entirely changed the story, they left the underlying point, the way in which man might treat a self aware creation that does not do as it is told, intact, and expressed it using the same general idea but with some innovative alteration to the core story.

I'm not against all new SF. I liked Stargate, and I do enjoy a bit of star trek on the side from time to time. That said, my favorite Stargate Episode is 'Window of Opportunity', not some of the later SFX crazy episodes.

I wait hopefully for a new SF film that can be truly considered a classic, and has all the very latest SFX bells and whistles. I'm sure it will happen eventually.

Re:POLL

[cybermage (112274)]

What's better...

Don't you mean "Who's better?"

Although, I guess that's a bit of a presumptive question :)

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[Dogtanian (588974)]

I'll probably download the series some time in the future (new and old) but House is still better.

I still can't buy Hugh Laurie's American accent, but apparently all the real Americans thought it sounded convincing, so I guess it probably has more to do with his typecasting in my mind...

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[Simon Andrew (1079025)]

Have to agree on Hugh Laurie's accent. I can't watch House without expecting him to slip back into Prince George from Blackadder at any moment. They really have to try and sneak a 'Huzzah!' into an episode somewhere...

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[Deadstick (535032)]

I'll back that up...if I didn't know, I'd have taken for granted he was a Merkin graduate of a Midwestern state U.

rj (65 years in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, California & Colorado)

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[nomadic (141991)]

I still can't buy Hugh Laurie's American accent, but apparently all the real Americans thought it sounded convincing, so I guess it probably has more to do with his typecasting in my mind...

The accent is a surprisingly good one, but the cadence is off a little bit.

It's a refreshing change, most Brit actors have horrible American accents, but none of them (or the people casting movies) seem to realize this.

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[N7DR (536428)]

I also have a very hard time with his accent, it sounds really forced.

Well, the people who run the show would not agree with you. They didn't realise he wasn't American when he auditioned. (Wikipedia: "Laurie's American accent was reportedly so flawless that [director] Bryan Singer singled him out as an example of a real American actor, being unaware of Laurie's background". They don't have a citation, though.)

Personally, the first time I saw the show, it kept bothering me they'd cast someone who lo

Re:Brilliant!

[illegalcortex (1007791)]

Tenant has moments ("that's the sort of man I am" from 'The Christmas Invasion') but on the whole he just seems too goofy for a guy who's supposed to exploring the whole of time and space.

Really? [wikipedia.org]

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[Bemopolis (698691)]

I had blocked Colin Baker out until that. Bastard.

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[Cheerio Boy (82178)]

Has it occurred to you that this is Regeneration number 10 for the doctor if you count Paul McGann? He has two more, then what will they do?

I'm going to post a crazy idea that I'd love to see - The Doctor regenerates into The Master and we run the series from the other direction so to speak.

Yes, I already know it'll never happen but it's a neat idea...

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[MenTaLguY (5483)]

Fencepost error: twelve regenerations separating thirteen incarnations. He actually gets three more. Still, they will be cutting it pretty thin soon...

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[NexusTw1n (580394)]

Paul McGann counts. He was in a BBC production (unlike Peter Cushing's Dalek films) and so is an official regeneration. RTD has confirmed this.

The Doctor has control of the eye of harmony, one of the central elements to timelord power, with that he can gain additional regenerations. That's based on stories already written. Considering this is a science fiction series, where they solved the problem of a sick lead actor by inventing regeneration in the first place, there is probably an infinite number of ways

Re:Regenerations

[Fractal Dice (696349)]

In "The Five Doctors", the High Council offered the Master a full cycle of new regenerations in return for his help. Thus the canon has established the technology exists in the Whoverse to continue on beyond twelve regenerations (not that the Master was having that much trouble stretching out his regenerations anyway).

Can I get my geek card stamped please?

Re:Regenerations

[Legion303 (97901)]

"Can I get my geek card stamped please?"

Sure thing...hey, that's 10! Here's your free Davros keychain.

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[NexusTw1n (580394)]

Apart from Leela the knife wielding savage, and K9, who the Doctor equipped with a laser pistol you mean?

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[payndz (589033)]

K9, who the Doctor equipped with a laser pistol

Well, technically it was a blaster, not a laser, and it was Professor Marius who equipped...

Oh god, I'm never going to get a girlfriend, am I?

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[NexusTw1n (580394)]

Only the first K9 was built by Marius, every subsequent model was built by the Doctor, and had a lethal laser weapon equipped as standard.

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[pluther (647209)]

When did the new Doctor use a gun?

I do remember Tom Baker using a gun at one point. Well, sort of. (The episode involved a carnivorous alien plant, on earth, and a bunch of mind-controlled humans. Does that narrow it down much?)

"Doctor! You can't take them all on yourself!"
"Of course I can! I have a pistol!"

I don't think he actually *fired* it at any point, though...