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BBC America has circled April 17 as the U.S. air date for the new season of "Doctor Who," which will star young Matt Smith, shown above with Karen Gillan, who plays Amy Pond, the latest passenger aboard the TARDIS.
Like so many fans, I will give Smith a chance, but it will be very difficult to see anyone else in the role after David Tennant's defining stint as the Time Lord. The show does have strong creative leadership, though, with the talented Steven Moffat as head writer, and as a lifelong "Who" fan himself, there's no doubt he will handle the legacy with care.
Here's a trailer that suggests the series will be pumping up the adrenaline . . .
Can Smith make everyone forget about Tennant? Time will tell.
"Doctor Who: The Complete Specials" arrives in U.S. retail stores on Feb. 2 with all five specials ("The Next Doctor," "Planet of the Dead," "The Waters of Mars" and the just-aired, two-part "The End of Time") that feature David Tennant as the once and future Time Lord.
It's an emotional time for Tennant as he leaves behind his signature role, as you can see in this behind-the-scenes footage from the extras on the DVD and Blu-ray boxed set.
Robert Lloyd recently interviewed "Doctor Who" star David Tennant for a lengthy piece in the Los Angeles Times but there still wasn't enough room for all of the good stuff that came out of the lively conversation. So, Lloyd has given the Hero Complex a deeper transcript of his chat with the soon-to-expire "Tenth Doctor." Tennant is expected to regenerate into replacement Matt Smith in the two-part finale "The End of Time," which begins Dec. 26. The actor has been in Los Angeles filming his first American pilot, "Rex is Not Your Lawyer," for NBC.
RL: American series television seems to have become a regular career path for British actors.
DT: I think British actors have always aspired to that because there's an international market in America which isn't quite the same at home. We have something of a film industry and we have some television product which travels internationally, but it's limited. So I guess we are fortunate in that we speak the same language as America -- it's always there as a possibility, I suppose. And you're always wanting to see what's out there in life, make sure you haven't missed an experience, make sure you're not 82 and looking back and thinking I wish I'd done that then. We shall have to wait and see whether America's interested, but at least I can say I tried. You never know from any year to the next how things are going to pan out, and I think you just have to treat it all as a bit of an adventure so that you're neither crushed nor overwhelmed by what may occur. RL: When you began to meet with American producers, did you find that they were familiar with "Doctor Who," or did you need to explain yourself?
DT: At one end you have huge fans who are getting you to sign their DVD box sets when you're in having a meeting, and on the other end you've got people who don't even quite know why they're meeting you -- somebody's told them, "There's this guy over from Britain and he's in a show so maybe you should take a meeting," and they're slightly bewildered at the whole prospect. "Doctor Who" clearly doesn't have the ubiquity it does at home, and yet there are some people who really get it and are very enthusiastic about it. But it's certainly easier to get around out here -- I just put a baseball cap down over my face and go to the shops.
RL: How hard is that at home?
DT: Well, "hard" makes it sound like a terrible sufferance, which it's not. But one is recognized fairly regularly there, whereas here it's about once a day.
RL: How did "Doctor Who" transform your career -- are you a different actor, or a different commodity, now than you were before?
DT: I don't know if I'm a different actor. That's an interesting question, I don't know that I'll know for a few years how it's altered what I do. "Doctor Who" has a level of popularity, in Britain certainly, which allowed me opportunities I probably didn't have before, and I think it was almost all positive from that professional point of view -- which I wasn't necessarily sure it would be. It's a bit of a gamble going into any kind of long-running series, especially one that has such a high recognition factor. You're never sure if that will work against you, this notion of typecasting that gets bandied around among actors. But I get a sense that we're in a kind of world now where if you're popular for one thing then people are interested in having you for another, which maybe wasn't always the case. And "Doctor Who," which perhaps once was slightly derided as a piece of popular culture, currently -- certainly in Britain -- is seen as a sort of quality product, so I've benefited from that. Any slight nervousness I had about it having a negative impact on me professionally has proved not to be the case, I think.
RL: You made the decision to leave some time ago.
DT: Yes. Myself and Russell T. Davies, the show runner, and Julie Gardner, the executive producer, the three of us talked about the prospect of all leaving together, which means the show can kind of reboot a bit with a whole new team and a couple of leading actors. Steven Moffat, who is now the show runner, was a big part of the show we made, but now he's in charge and will be putting his own stamp on it. But I'm sure it'll still be recognizable as the same show.
RL:Was it hard to go?
DT: It was hard because I felt very fondly toward it. I've always been a huge fan of "Doctor Who," so to find myself in the middle of it was always impossibly fortunate, and to walk away from something that you love and are having a great time doing is sad. But I think it's the right thing to do, and that we did it for the right amount of time. It's been such a big hit in Britain, and every year we did it, it seemed to get bigger, and although it's wonderful and thrilling to be part of it, you also feel the pressure of not wanting to be there when it ... turns a corner. You want to hand it over in rude health. It's the sort of show that takes a lot of energy and a lot of commitment and a lot of inspiration and a lot of ... attack. You can clearly give it as much as it requires for only so long before you start repeating yourself, and I was keen to make sure we didn't get to that point.
RL: What was your feeling when you first read the final scripts -- trepidation, anxiety, a sense of impending loss? Excitement?
DT: I was nervous they would somehow disappoint, but of course they didn't. I read them in my trailer and had a wee cry. They are so beautifully written. I was just delighted to be going out with such a bang.
RL: When the show returned to the air, with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, were you already on board for as his replacement or did you first see it as just another fan?
DT: I was campaigning for a guest spot! I knew Russell and Julie because I was working with them on "Casanova" [a 2005 miniseries] at the same time as they were making the first series. I was actually quite brazenly trying to get a guest spot on one of the episodes, so it was all news to me that Chris was only doing one year when they asked me to step in. It was strange -- the first year hadn't broadcast when I had that conversation, so when it came on air I knew what was happening, and that if the series went for a second year I'd be involved.
RL: How did the fan in you react to the new series?
DT: I was thrilled that it was back, delighted that it was being done with such love and attention and taken so seriously by all involved. But again, it's all slightly mixed up in the fact that I got shown some episodes by Russell and Julie in what I thought was just a social night, at the end of which they said, "And we're also looking for someone to do it for year two." So I can't really separate out my experience of watching an episode for the first time with knowing that it might become a bigger part of my life.
RL: Did you have a moment of adolescent glee at being offered the role?
DT: I had a couple of weeks of indecision, actually. Russell said, "I know you're probably having some sort of surprisingly conflicting emotions about this," because he had that experience as a fan suddenly asked to be involved, and it wasn't an immediate rush for him either. You're being asked in a way take on the expectations of your 8-year-old self, and that's quite an undertaking. So I was surprised at how difficult I found it to say yes -- you had to wonder if this was a clever idea. I knew that the episodes that they made were good but you don't know what that capricious, critical, public reaction will be. This kind of drama was not being made in Britain at the time. We hadn't made a science fiction drama for I don't know how many years, or for that kind of family audience -- it wasn't a children's show but neither was it a gritty adult drama. So it was a huge gamble. I knew that with Russell at the helm it was going to be a quality product, but that doesn't necessarily translate into something that will be taken into the nation's heart, as ultimately it was. And so I vacillated a bit, and then I just woke up one morning and thought, 'What are you doing, you can't let this opportunity go by.'"
RL: Where were you in your career at that point? Where were you were headed?
DT: I never felt like I was headed anywhere; I've always sort of bumbled, to be honest; I've always just gone from one contract to other; I've been mostly fortunate that I've been able to join them up. And that's all I ever really hoped for.
RL: The film of your "Hamlet," which you played for the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2008, will air here on PBS in 2010. What was it like playing that role in the midst of becoming a pop-cultural phenomenon?
DT: It's very difficult to imagine oneself as a pop cultural phenomenon. When I did 'Hamlet,' I did it, well, because it was 'Hamlet' at the Royal Shakespeare Company -- who wouldn't? To me it was a logical step, 'cause I'd done a lot of work at the Royal Shakespeare Company. I slightly underestimated how noteworthy that might be to those who weren't perhaps aware that that was a large part of what I did, so I was slightly taken aback by how much attention that got and how people were rather surprised that the same person who played Doctor Who would also play Hamlet. It just made it all the more alarming, because it's a nerve-wracking enough thing to do, but when you realize that everybody's watching and waiting for you to fail at it, it doesn't really allow one to cut loose and feel emboldened. On the opening night in Stratford when outside my dressing room window the BBC News 24 truck pulled up, I realized that if I failed at this it was going to be on a fairly international level, which wasn't really the plan. [Laughs.] So, yes, it was nerve-wracking -- but also thrilling, that it got so much attention and was, broadly speaking, very well-received.
RL: Is it a role you would have gone to in the normal course of things?
DT: It was always an ambition, certainly, and certainly to do it somewhere like the Royal Shakespeare Company is kind of the pinnacle of that flavor of ambition; I'd played Romeo for them the last time I'd been there, so maybe there's something of a natural progression. But it's difficult to know whether without the celebrity of "Doctor Who" it would have come my way quite as quickly as it did.
RL: Though I guess there's an age limit with that part.
DT: Well, exactly, yes -- you've kind of got to get there before you're 40, really, so I couldn't have hung around much longer.
Over at Boing Boing they have an interview with David Tennant and Russell T Davies and if you love Doctor Who, well, you'll love this...all 20 minutes of it. The interviewer is Richard Metzger of Dangerous Minds. Here is how Metzger described the interview:
This interview took place at an interesting moment in time for both men as they've only just left behind their respective starring roles in one of the biggest television successes in the world today. As difficult as that may sound, you can only imagine how much pressure is off them after four years of practically non-stop work. I think it shows in this interview, as they're both very relaxed and jovial. David had just come from Comic-Con where he was treated with fan adulation bordering on Beatlemania and Russell is starting a new phase of his life here in Los Angeles."
Who doesn't love a good casting rumor? The whisper we keep hearing in recent days is that the name of the lead star in Guillermo del Toro's "The Hobbit" will be announced next week at Comic-Con International.
A few people also point out that David Tennant, one of the purported candidates for the role of Bilbo Baggins, just happens to be making his very first trip to the San Diego expo to promote "Doctor Who," a television series that he will soon be leaving behind. Peter Jackson, the producer of the two-film "Hobbit" series that begins its theater run in 2011, is also slated to appear this year, and, well you can see the dot-connecting possibilities. ...
I think Tennant would be exceptional in the role, but I'm even more enthused about the notion of seeing James McAvoy portray the itinerant Bilbo. The Scotsman has shown amazing versatility in roles in "Atonement," "The Last King of Scotland" and "Wanted," and, in the fantasy sector, there was McAvoy's memorable turn as Mr. Tumnus in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."
Daniel Radcliffe, who is now filming the final two "Harry Potter" films, has been mentioned, too, as has roly-poly funnyman Jack Black (that has to be a joke, right? We've seen that before..). Who do you think would be the best to visit the Shire? Vote below or use the comments section to post a name.
No doubt about it, Doctor Who is a character who can stand the test of time -- but can he compete with his own past?
With more than 750 episodes aired, "Doctor Who" holds the record for the "longest running science fiction show," according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The first show aired the day after John F. Kennedy was shot in November 1963 and the character has never been more popular in his native England or America than in the past few years. But that's part of the problem now confronting the show -- David Tennant, the 10th actor to occupy the role of the eccentric time-traveler, has moved on and there are plenty of fans who are still grieving.
More than that, Tennant will be replaced by Matt Smith, a relatively unknown actor and, at age 26, the youngest star to ever be trusted with the TARDIS, the Doctor's quirky time machine which, to untrained eyes, might appear to merely be a 1950s-era British police phone box.
"My problem with the newest doctor coming on is that he looks too young," said Chuck Dietz, a 37-year-old school teacher from San Jose who recently made the 340-mile trip to Los Angeles to attend a Doctor Who fan convention called Gallifrey One (it's a reference to the Time Lord's home planet).
It was the 11th pilgrimage that Dietz has made to the convention and arrived with anxiety in his baggage this time. "I don’t think that it works if the role is too young," Dietz said. "In the classic series, that was the whole premise of the thing: the Doctor was an elderly man or a grandfather.”
David Tennant became a household name in England -- and a rich man-- as the star of "Doctor Who," but his replacement has some work to do before he can say the same. The Telegraph reports that Matt Smith will be paid £200,000 per year (that about $287,000 U.S.) during a three-year contract, which is "a fraction of the sum" paid to Tennant. BBC officials would not discuss the 26-year-old actor's contract specifically, but the broadcasting agency did tell the Telegraph that, "All new deals are done with the economic climate in mind." Maybe the youngest "Who" star ever would have gotten a better deal if he hadn't confessed that he's never been a fan of the show.
The confetti has been cleared away, the egg nog has gone bad and I'm back at work. Hope you enjoyed the holidays as much as I did and welcome to the first 2009 edition of Everyday Hero, your handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...
THE (NEW) DOCTOR IS IN: Big news from across the Atlantic, where the TARDIS has a new owner. I'm still mourning the departure of David Tennant, the best Doctor Who of them all, but I suppose it's time to move on, especially now that his replacement has been named: "The BBC today announced that Matt Smith has been cast in the role of the Doctor in the iconic BBC series 'Doctor Who.' Smith will be the eleventh Time Lord and will take over from David Tennant who leaves the show at the end of 2009. He will be seen in the forthcoming fifth series that will be broadcast in 2010. ... Matt Smith said of his new role: 'I'm just so excited about the journey that is in front of me. It's a wonderful privilege and challenge that I hope I will thrive on. I feel proud and honoured to have been given this opportunity to join a team of people that has worked so tirelessly to make the show so thrilling. David Tennant has made the role his own, brilliantly with grace, talent and persistent dedication. I hope to learn from the standards set by him. The challenge for me is to do justice to the show's illustrious past, my predecessors and most importantly to those who watch it. I really cannot wait.' Lead writer and Executive Producer Steven Moffat said, 'The Doctor is a very special part, and it takes a very special actor to play him. You need to be old and young at the same time, a boffin and an action hero, a cheeky schoolboy and the wise old man of the universe. As soon as Matt walked through the door and blew us away with a bold and brand new take on the Time Lord, we knew we had our man. 2010 is a long time away but rest assured the Eleventh Doctor is coming -- and the universe has never been so safe.'" [BBC]
GOODNIGHT, SWEET PRINCE: Meanwhile, the old Doctor has returned to the London stage after a painful holiday season of scar tissue and bed rest. Nosheen Iqbal has the story: "Four weeks after a prolapsed disc forced him off the stage, David Tennant has returned to play Hamlet for the final week of the Royal Shakespeare Company's sold-out production at the Novello theatre in London. The Doctor Who actor, who was confined to rest for most of December while recovering from back surgery, resumed his role on Saturday night. His performance won a standing ovation from a delighted audience, who had turned up expecting to see understudy Edward Bennett. Thousands of fans were left disappointed after Tennant's sudden departure from the show last month. Despite complaints, the RSC refused to offer refunds. Tickets for the West End run of Hamlet, which transferred from Stratford-upon-Avon, sold out within hours of going on sale in September. A cautious statement from the RSC said the company will assess Tennant's return on 'a day-by-day' basis. Theatregoers are advised to check the RSC website for updates throughout the week. The sold-out run at the Novello theatre is due to finish on 10 January." [The Guardian]
THE SICK SCOTSMAN: I had heard from several people that Mark Millar, one of the true shining stars on the comics scene today, had a nasty medical scare over the holidays, and now Scottish journalist Toby Mcdonald has details: "Mark Millar almost died after being pole-axed by his own medicine. The 39-year-old -- whose 'Wanted' series was turned into a blockbuster starring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy -- lost more than a stone in weight in 10 days. Marvel comics writer Mark was raced to hospital after his temperature soared to 103 and he developed extreme flu-like symptoms. Mark, of Glasgow, said: 'I went off sick the first week of December and thought I had a heavy cold or flu. My temperature was a consistent 103F and I was awake all night shivering. After a week, it wasn't passing and my wife made me an appointment with the doc. He did tests and found my blood was wonky, my spleen was huge and my liver was acting weird -- all the symptoms of several very nasty things. I was sleeping 20 hours a day and have almost no memory of the whole episode.' Doctors finally discovered Mark was suffering a severe reaction to his medication for Crohn's, which causes agonising inflammation of the digestive tract. He said: 'They rushed me into hospital, kept me there for five days and did a million tests, which I slept through. I can barely remember being in hospital." [The Sunday Mail]...NOTE: A stone, by the way, equals 14 pounds, according to my handy pocket guide to British weights and measures.
CORALINE, BUTTONED UP: What movie is my 11-year-old daughter, Addison, most excited about in 2009? Well, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," without a doubt, but a fairly close second is "Coraline," which opens Feb. 6 and adapt Neil Gaiman's sweet and eerie tale of little girl who finds a mysterious door that takes her away from her boring life and right into a web of dark supernatural danger. Here's a video with some snippets from the film as well as some of the behind-the-scenes work going into the film by Henry Selick, who also directed the 1993 classic "The Nightmare Before Christmas." (Also, to read my three-part interview with Gaiman, click here.)
A GOTHAM GROOM AND THE MUTANT MOTHER: Film chameleon Gary Oldman has been a vampire, a wild-eyed wizard, a doomed punk icon and Batman's best friend, but those were just movie roles. You know what he is in real life? An optimist. How do I know? The 50-year-old actor just got married...for the fourthtime. His new bride is 31-year-old musician Alexandra Edenborough. The Telegraph in the U.K. reports: "Oldman divorced from his third wife the former model Donya Fiorentino in 2001, after his previous marriages to Hollywood star Uma Thurman and English actress Lesley Manville broke down...the actor married Edenborough at a small ceremony last week. Rumours of their engagement had circulated since they attended the premiere of Brad Pitt's film 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' earlier in the month." In other life-event news, Rebecca Romijn, who looks deliriously good in blue skin in "The X-Men" films, is now a mom. People Magazine reports: "Rebecca Romijn and husband Jerry O'Connell have welcomed healthy twin girls, People has confirmed. Dolly Rebecca Rose and Charlie Tamara Tulip were born Dec. 28. 'Mother, father and both girls are all home and doing well,' Romijn's rep Lewis Kay told People. They are the first children for the 'Ugly Betty' actress, 36, and actor O'Connell, 34, who married at their Calabasas, Calif., ranch in 2007. The new mom, whose pregnancy cravings included lemonade and soy cream cheese, is planning a long maternity leave." Soy cream cheese and lemonade? She is a mutant.
ON THIS DATE: Actor George Reeves was born in Woolstock, Iowa, on this day 95 years ago. The actor (whose birth name was George Keefer Brewer) appeared in one of the great classics of cinema, "Gone with the Wind," but he is, of course, remembered most as the Man of Steel on "The Adventures of Superman" television series. The one-time amatuer boxer took the role with reservations in summer 1951, but he became a pop culture icon -- as well as frustrated symbol of Hollywood typecasting. Reeves died in summer 1959 of a gunshot wound that was ruled a suicide, but it remains a murky matter in minds of many and became the plot of the 2006 film "Hollywoodland." To honor his birth, let's all look up in the sky today and ponder the 21st century meanings of truth, justice and the American way. [If you'd like to see a bit of Reeves in caped action as well as the trailer for "Hollywoodland," you can find some video at the bottom of this post.]
Today's handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...
Sam Mendes is finding religion, Garth Ennis-style. Mendes, the director of "The Road to Perdition," is again turning to comics for subject matter with the announcment that he will adapt the harrowing Ennis epic "Preacher" to the screen. Tatiana Siegel has the trades announcement story: "Sam Mendes will direct a bigscreen adaptation of the supernatural graphic novel 'Preacher' for Columbia Pictures. Created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, graphic novel focuses on the preacher of a Texas town, who is struggling to get by and is driven only by his strong moral sense. When the city is decimated by an otherworldly force, he embarks on a journey across the country to take on the evil. Supernatural project is a departure for Mendes, who is best known for tackling suburban angst in such films as 'American Beauty' and the upcoming Leonardo DiCaprio-Kate Winslet starrer 'Revolutionary Road.'" [Variety]
Who's "Who"?: The great debate has already started about who should take over the TARDIS now that David Tennant has officially announced his upcoming retirement from the Doctor Who role. Aubry D'Arminio weighs in with a few suggestions, among them Jason O'Mara (left), who is absolutely great is "Life on Mars." "If I could cast my dream 11th Doctor, I’d go with either blondie Marc Warren ('Hustle,' 'State of Play') or scene-stealing Jason O’Mara (who currently rocks the U.S. 'Life on Mars'). I know, I know, Warren’s been on the show before, but that hasn’t stopped David Morrisey and John Simm from being named as possible successors to Tennant’s TARDIS throne. And if O'Mara’s up for a little work during his summer break from 'Mars' -- that’s if poor, underrated 'Mars' is even still around -- I’d love to hear his real Irish accent more often." [Bits and Bobs blog, Entertainment Weekly]
Dragon reborn: Samuel L. Jackson will be the bad guy again, this time in a remake of Berry Gordy's 1985 cult classic "The Last Dragon." Leslie Simmons has the trades announcement: "Jackson will play Sho'nuff, the Shogun of Harlem, a role played in the original by the late Julius Carry, whose spiel included asking ego-driven questions like 'Am I the baddest mofo lowdown around this town?' Each time his gang of thugs answered, 'Sho'nuff!' Davis Entertainment's John Davis and Gordy's son Kerry Gordy are producing. Penning the screenplay as well as producing is Dallas Jackson, who heads up the urban family label DJ Classicz with Davis. Wu-Tang Clan'sRZA is co-producing. The updated plot will be along the same lines of the original, centering on young martial arts student Leroy Green in his quest through the streets of New York to achieve the highest level of martial arts accomplishment, known as the Last Dragon. Those who achieve the high ranking possess the Glow, making them the greatest fighter alive." [Hollywood Reporter]
A Super trilogy?: Mark Millar ("Wanted") is talking again about his hopes to give Superman the "Lord of the Rings" treatment. He told Dan Goodswen about his trilogy ambition ... including the final scene? Gee, Mark, thanks for spoiling it before you even make it. “It’s gonna be like Michael Corleone in the 'Godfather' films, the entire story from beginning to end, you see where he starts, how he becomes who he becomes, and where that takes him. 'The Dark Knight' showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now. ... I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers." [Empire]
To die for: The question every cast member of "Twilight" will be asked a million times: Did you read the books?Denise Martin put the question to Edi Gathegi, who portrays Laurent, and it turns out that he is waaay into the books. Maybe, um, even a little too much? You judge: "I've read them all. 'Breaking Dawn'? I finished that in two days. I have to tell you, every time I finished one of them, a little piece of me died. I’d become invested in that world. I really felt sad. After the fourth one, I was like, ‘What am I going to do with my life?'" [Entertainment News and Buzz blog, Los Angeles Times)
Credits: "Preacher" cover courtesy of Vertigo/DC Comics. Jason O'Mara photograph by Vivan Zink and courtesy of ABC.Samuel L. Jackson photo by Peter Kramer/Associated Press. Edi Gathegi photo from WireImage.
Truly sad news just came across the Atlantic. The BBC has an exclusive interview with video announcing that the 10th (and maybe the best) actor to play Doctor Who is moving on.
David Tennant is to stand down as Doctor Who, after becoming one of the most popular Time Lords in the history of the BBC science fiction show.
Tennant stepped into the Tardis in 2005, and will leave the role after four special episodes are broadcast next year. He made the announcement after winning the outstanding drama performance prize at the National Television Awards.
"When Doctor Who returns in 2010 it won't be with me," he said.
"Now don't make me cry," he added. "I love this part, and I love this show so much that if I don't take a deep breath and move on now I never will, and you'll be wheeling me out of the Tardis in my bath chair."
Three years was "about the right time" to play the role, he told the BBC in an exclusive interview.
"I think it's better to go when there's a chance that people might miss you, rather than to hang around and outstay your welcome," he said.
Everyone was disappointed that Russell T. Davies had to drop out of the "Dr. Who" panel down at Comic-Con International and none more than me -- I was moderating the panel and dreaded breaking the news to the audience. I was glad to get the gig, though; I adore the show's wit and wonder and I continue to marvel at this golden age of sci-fi television underway in England.
In the end, the panel was still a great success because of the two "Dr. Who" stalwarts who did attend, show veteran and new head writer Steven Moffat (who is one of the funniest people you will ever meet) and executive producer Julie Gardner (one of the most dynamic people you'll ever meet). They were just amazing. "Russell can't make it because I tied him to his chair," Gardner explained the night before the panel when we met up in the lobby of the bayside Sheraton resort. "He's busy writing and that's the way it needs to be. I hope the fans don't decide to rush the stage and kill us in anger." They didn't; it was a big hit.
There are two must-read pieces on "Dr. Who" in today's Los Angeles Times. One, written by Choire Sicha, is a run-down of the show's future. The other is a marvelous piece by television critic Robert Lloyd, who reveals himself to be an ardent admirer of David Tennant's Time Lord.
Joyous and dark, a kind of Peter Pan from space, he embodies both the wonder and the terror of the universe: Two things he says a lot and which define the parameters and perils of his world are, "That's impossible," when an impossible thing has just happened, and "I'm sorry," when something bad is about to. Lean, sharp-featured and fox-quick, David Tennant catches perfectly the character's mix of exuberance and anger -- it's no surprise that he's spending the summer playing that most famous of complicated heroes, Hamlet, at Stratford-upon-Avon.
I am perhaps not the toughest critic of this show. I am not bothered by its myriad of internal contradictions, accept the less good episodes as a break from the great ones, and am happy to go where it takes me. I like the way the series changes in tone and even visual style from episode to episode to reflect the subject and setting and, like the Doctor himself, swings from light to dark, from nonsense to satire to something like profundity.
It's a wonderful piece. Please do read the rest right here.
-- Geoff Boucher
Photo of David Tennant as Dr. Who, courtesy of BBC/Sci Fi Channel
Leave your Sharpies and 8x10 glossies at home, trekkies, because The Royal Shakespeare Company just released a statement regarding the production of "Hamlet" starring "Star Trek: The Next Generation’s" Patrick Stewart and "Doctor Who’s" David Tennant today, stating that fans will not be allowed to bring any Dr. Who or Star Trek memorabilia to be autographed.
"Due to the huge amount of interest in the RSC’s current production of Hamlet, only Royal Shakespeare Company or production related memorabilia will be signed by members of the company. It is very flattering that there is so much interest in this production, but the sheer volume of requests means that we need to set some limits which will be as fair as possible for everyone. We apologize if this causes any disappointment."
This news will no doubt break the hearts of trekkies and "Doctor Who" fans making it out to this year's performance of "Hamlet," but let's examine the facts. There is a time and a place to dress in your finest Starfleet uniforms; classical theater is not that time. I’m sure the performers would prefer fans to go and appreciate their new roles and enjoy Shakespeare, rather than just be there to see a character they’ve played in the past.
On the flip side, I am not entirely sure that RSC handled the heartbreak in the classiest of manners.
It is one thing to ban autograph requests entirely for logistical reasons. The same as it makes sense to limit autograph requests to 1 per person. Or if the actors themselves choose not to sign the memorabilia for whatever reason.
But the facts are, there's no real difference between autographing a play brochure or signing a Star Trek TNG Picard as Locutus action figure, so the statement is more insulting than it ever should have been. How about you just say you want to keep the focus on actors and get your action figures signed at San Diego's Comic-Con?
A Super trilogy?: 
This news will no doubt break the hearts of trekkies and "Doctor Who" fans making it out to this year's performance of "Hamlet," but let's examine the facts. There is a time and a place to dress in your finest Starfleet uniforms; classical theater is not that time. I’m sure the performers would prefer fans to go and appreciate their new roles and enjoy Shakespeare, rather than just be there to see a character they’ve played in the past. 
