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. "

Fantastic!

[RyanFenton]

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

Series 4 ?

[rossdee]

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

There have been quite a few different Doctors since then.

Translations for U.S. Fans

[bokmann]

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.

Re:Fantastic!

[pluther]

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:Translations for U.S. Fans

[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 move us towards a referendum for independence. Like most of UK politics we seem to just be sleepwalking into this one...

The Union is one of the single biggest defining documents for the creation of the modern world. Without it: no industrial revolution, no enlightenment, no single navy, no outward exploration, no Empire, no World Wars (well, maybe).

Anyway, I digress...

So, check it out: UK means United Kingdom. BBC means British Broadcasting Corporation.

Like: England is one Kingdom, Scotland one too, Wales another (well, principality), Northern Ireland as well (ok, province)...

Fair enough, I can see this gets confusing... Anyway, I'm British and proud of it.

Re:Series 4 ?

[itsdapead]

(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.

Female Doctor also done as fan-produced episodes

[LionMage]

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 guess this is something that gets passed around at science fiction conventions. I know, hardly canon, but then CoFD doesn't sound like it's considered canon either.

According to this article [kasterborous.com], it looks as though Russell T. Davies is considering Sigourney Weaver for such a role, though I can't imagine having a Yank on the show would go over well with UK audiences.