There seems to be a school of thought that suggests that the name of Brendon School was not named in the series until Turlough mentions it during Planet of Fire. This was propagated on the DVD release of the story, and then re-affirmed in the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#327).

Quite why this has gathered weight is beyond me; even though the school name isn't mentioned by a character during Mawdryn Undead, it is shown on screen, as you can see here!

It might not have been so obvious on the old VHS release, but the nice shiny DVD reveals all (grin).

Following up on my item a couple of weeks ago, Death of the Doctor has now broadcast, and perhaps inevitably fandom has gone into overload over the "507" comment. Russell knew this when he wrote it, something he acknowledges in an interview with SFX.

Of course, people seem to have missed what was actually said. Clyde asks how many times he can change his appearance, and the Doctor answers "507". Not how often can he regenerate - that word doesn't even crop out in the entire story! And we have two precedents for this in the classic series.

1. the obvious Romana regeneration scene in Destiny of the Daleks, where she tries on several bodies before settling on the one she wishes to 'wear', i.e. Princess Astra (indeed, she chooses this twice in the story!). There's no inference that changing appearance in this way has any detrimental effect on future regeneration.
2. the slightly less obvious scene in The Brain of Morbius when the Doctor and Morbius push each other back through their past. There are several faces attributed to the Doctor himself that we've never encountered before, but again this doesn't seem to affected the regeneration count either.

So maybe Time Lords are limited in regenerations but not quite so limited in their appearance after all.

But then again what would Doctor Who be without contradictions for us fans to argue over?!!

Spotted on BBC Breakfast this morning during an article about gadgets in our lives and could we do without them, taking place at Bournemouth University ... maybe the Doctor sees this as something worth investigating himself!

A fan of Simon Pegg's new book "Nerd Do Well"

Is this a case that - having seen the Daleks suped up with an extension on the back - the TARDIS too is having a revamp?

Fortunately not! This is an endeavour by Brighton & Hove City Council with Brighton & Hove Police and Surrey & Sussex Probation Trust to make improvements at an underground car park in response to concerns from local people about incidents that occur there.

It's been built from an old vending kiosk, and so looks a little "wider" to the usual appearance of the TARDIS!


If you want to deter crime in the neighbourhood, then what would be better than the return of the police box?!!!

So is this find a sign of the divine, or actually a sign for the Cult of Skaro?!!!

According to the finder, American Bill Johnson,  "I happened to look down there and I said, ‘That looks like Jesus. It just amazed me'."

Presumably when the Earth got stolen by the Daleks, they simply couldn't be arsed with North Carolina!!!!

(seen on io9)

Age has no fury ...

All this talk of regeneration, immortality, etc., but what of the Doctor's actual age? Our first encounter with the Doctor is when he's about 650 (in production documentation). On-screen, he tells Victoria on Telos that he's 450 years old in Earth terms, but reaches "several thousand years" by his third incarnation. Then it is a hop-scotch around the 749-759 mark for the fourth, whilst the sixth persona states he is 900 years, followed up by the seventh pointing out he's the same age as the Rani at 953.

Enter a modern Doctor, and he's back to 900, reaching 903 three series later (Voyage of the Damned). He's 906 by the time Wilfred is travelling with him, and the latest incarnation reflects on being 907.

Maybe the Doctor simply doesn't know. But, then again, time is relative ...

Thus says the second Doctor to Jamie in The War Games. Something that was seemingly lost in the mists of time since Robert Holmes deemed a distinct life-span for Time Lords with his plot requirements for the Master in The Deadly Assassin. Well, until now, that is.

People have harped on about the impending end of the Doctor with him having reached his eleventh persona. Just two more to go ... so we all expect them to get out of it somehow. Not too tricky, being back in The Five Doctors the Master is offered a whole new life-cycle - not to mention Borusa seeking the immortality that Rassilon seemingly has found (Stargate's ascension, anyone?). Then, the Time War came along and we hear of Time Lords being raised from the dead to fight (and presumably getting their "whole new life-cycle" too judging by the Master regenerating in Utopia!).

Still, where does this leave the Doctor? We know he fought in the Time War, and was pretty much the sole survivor (well, apart from a seemingly unending supply of Daleks and chameleon-arched wanderers to get around it). Do the rules of regeneration still apply? Back in The Tenth Planet/The Power of the Daleks we were told by the Doctor that the process goes hand-in-hand with the TARDIS, which itself used to draw its energy from the Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey (TVM, well at least from Gary Russell's novelisation!). No more Gallifrey, and the TARDIS draws its energy from other sources, notably the Rift in Cardiff Bay (the Doctor will get a bit of a shock next time he goes there after the Hub blew up!). So, if the TARDIS gets its power elsewhere then can the Doctor do so too in order to regenerate? (point to note, in new Who all regenerations have been in the TARDIS, including the Master's!). And if the power needed is independent to Gallifrey then so too might be the old rules governing the ability to regenerate.

Along comes Death to the Doctor, and newspapers (notably the Guardian) have latched onto a line where the Doctor indicates he can change some 507 times - which whilst it gets the series out of the dilemma of what to do in two Doctors time, still doesn't make him immortal like the paper reckons: 'immortal' means you can't die, which is different to "living forever, barring accidents" that the second Doctor says!

So ner!

Tuesday evening saw the National Film Theatre play host to a special showing of the forthcoming Sarah Jane Adventures story featuring special guest stars Katy Manning and Matt Smith, Death of the Doctor. I won't spoil the story for people, but suffice it to say it was very enjoyable and a veritable nostalgia-fest for us oldies who remember Jo Grant from our childhood!

It was followed by a Q&A with Elisabeth Sladen and Katy Manning, plus script editor Gary Russell, SJA writer Joseph Lidster and branding manager Edward Russell. Plenty of discussion about the series, not to mention the influence of Russell T Davies. At the end of the panel both Katy and Lis paid tribute to Barry Letts, who was responsible for the creation of both of their characters alongside Terrance Dicks (and Robert Holmes - who wrote both their first stories, they forgot that!).

A sample of photos, there are some more on Facebook!


Katy Manning and Elisabeth Sladen pay tribute to the late, great Barry Letts

For those who don't know, Doctor Who Live is a stage show based on the series, featuring a wide array of monsters that have featured in recent years, and wrapped up in a loose plot to bring them all together. Plus lots of music from the series!

It actually works rather well! Don't set your expectations too high, obviously, as it is aimed for children of course and has to work in a live environment, but the basic premise of using the concepts from the classic story Carnival of Monsters to present the monsters was a great idea.

Nigel Planer was great as the main protagonist, and Nick Briggs did a great job as Churchill, as well as the voices of several of the monsters of course. And the monsters did their thing, wandering through the audiences, too. Plus of course the Doctor himself, virtually.

Generally this came across very prom-like, and I think that's probably the main gripe in that it is way more expensive to see than the proms (even the most expensive tickets). So is it worth seeing? Well, if you enjoy the Who music and seeing the monsters then a definite yes!

A few photos here, there are many more on Facebook!


A little bit of audience participation!

BBC America have confirmed the rumours from earlier this week that Doctor Who will be off to film in America this series. In fact, Utah for the first two episodes! You can read the press information on Doctor Who in the Media, but here's BBC America's teaser video for the news:

... well as it might look in the future, if the Preston Police have anything to do with it!

This video is an interesting collection of clips to represent the song, but what is far more entertaining is the 'slightly' inaccurate translation of the lyrics that accompany it!

Another wave of figures invade the premises ...

YOU WILL BE LIKE US!

Less than a week to go, and here's a more extensive preview for the series:

For those that missed them, here are the original CBBC clip and then teaser trailer:

Of course, which version of the series on television will be the best to watch - we'll have CBBC, BBC1 and BBCHD to choose from? The HD version will of course be the best quality picture, but there's the danger of DOGging for the "kept" version. CBBC will almost certainly be DOGged, so mayhaps the BBC one will be cleanest - though of course they all might be prone to verbal diarrhea!!!

Also next week there's a special showing of "Death of the Doctor" at the BFI which I've got tickets to go to - I know it'll be a couple of weeks before transmission but it feels like a "can't wait" story!

Well here we go, the first volume of the Eleventh Doctor's adventures in pure Pixleyvision will be out on Thursday, featuring the first six episodes from the 2010 outing of the Time Lord.

I'm still a little cynical of the way the series is being released in two parts, but with 100+ pages in this volume it could mean the in-depth information is as extensive as ever, and hasn't been padded out with light-weight articles like the first volume for Eccleston was.

Whilst listening to Galaxy 4 I suddenly realised that another milestone was approaching...

I completed the visual adventures last year, when I finally sat down and watched The Reign of Terror. I'd left the story on the shelf for many years as I knew it was the last one I would be able to watch "as new" - well unless we're really lucky in the forthcoming years. But I got the recon for the two missing episodes and so decided it was time to take the plunge. I was pleased it was a good story at any rate!

Audio-wise, I've had all four of those stories sitting on the shelf for a while now, but once I started my listening-fest a few weeks back I've now reached the cellophane-wrapped remainders, and it has dawned on me that it won't be long before I will finally have listened to every Doctor Who story. There's only four left to go, including Galaxy 4 itself, all First Doctor adventures: The Myth Makers, The Massacre and The Savages.

It'll feel strange that there'll be no new stories to experience - until Christmas at any rate! I guess there are still the recons of the missing episodes still to watch, but it won't be quite the same as the first experience of those stories coming up in the next few days!

Here's hoping they are an enjoyable final adventure ...

 

It isn't long now until Doctor Who Live launches its tour - have you booked up?

Meanwhile, Matt Smith tell SFX about his excitement at the show:

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin ...