return of the sonic screwdriver, and... those boots!

I went looking, but haven't been able to find a suitable full-length pic of Mr. Lydon back in the day. But, I found this that was from the same period I'm thinking of. http://www.godlis.com/punk_page1/images/12.jpg

Droogs? No. Different boots, different feel.

i have my eyes squeezed shut and my fingers in my ears... have *doubled* my supply of alcohol and chocolates for taking to my bed post-DT. you, of course, may remind me of my nonsense next year, if nonsense it turns out to be.... (moans pathetically and turns away from screen with a sob).

Tell your friend that the same thing happened for lots of people in the eggleston-tennant transition. All my friends said "Urh, he's really ugly" or "He won't be as good". It'll pass, because you'll be emersed in excitment! I know I will!

I think David Tennant said it best at Comic Con. He said something along the lines of him having loved Tom Baker as a boy, but three weeks after Peter Davison's arrival that was it, he'd forgotten all about Tom Baker (and Tennant's already said Five was his Doctor). And that's the beauty of the show.

That new screwdriver looks fairly similar to the Master's laser screwdriver from the end of Series 3 to me.

Is that girl in red the new sidekick? If so, I will have to start watching Who.

Tori Amos is the new Companion? YAY

Matt Smith looks like a lost member of the Cure in that first photo. Yikes. But I am reserving judgment. Reserve, reserve, reserve....

Oh - Tori Amos as a companion would be a wonderfully strange thing indeed...

"Is that girl in red the new sidekick? If so, I will have to start watching Who."

I'm with Josh on this. I've never seen a single episode, but I sure do like cute redheads.

How long do we have to wait for more Doctor Who? Arrghh!

Ages: November (probably) for The Waters of Mars, Christmas for the last two specials, sometime around April 2010 for the Matt Smith series.

To be fair, that's not as bad as the gap we would be looking at if there was a full series this year. In that case, it would be one Christmas special and then a new series around April. In that case, though, we'd have already had thirteen episodes, not just Planet of the Dead - so the wait would be easier, I think.

The good news for US viewers is that BBC America, unlike SyFy, plans to screen Doctor Who as close as possible to the UK broadcast dates.

I'm not sure it'll help, but they showed a couple of trailers for remaining specials at Comic-Con. The one for The Waters of Mars was official released by the BBC, so there's a high quality version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClNAiVhcIMA

The one for the final specials (which is more of a teaser) only exists in bootleg form, from the panel screening. You do get the audience reaction though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcQcaucYOc0

They're both mildly spoilery if you're phobic about such things, especially the second one. Although as they're official advance publicity, the revelations they contain are going to be pretty hard to avoid.

I was already excited, but seeing the trailers makes me even more excited.

"Is that girl in red the new sidekick? If so, I will have to start watching Who."

I'm with Josh on this. I've never seen a single episode, but I sure do like cute redheads.

Yes, her name is Karen Gillan and she's playing a character called Amy Pond. For what we know so far, the series that they're currently filming will be a "jumping-on point" for new viewers, to the extent that they'll be calling it "series one". So it's probably a good place to start (although you've also got time to catch up from the 2005 Christopher Eccleston series onwards, on DVD).

In the original series, the second incarnation of Romana, was also a redhead (Google Lalla Ward to see). Check her out in City of Death, which is a great introduction to the older incarnation of Doctor Who (it was mainly written by Douglas Adams).

The other Lalla Ward appearances currently available on DVD are Full Circle, State of Decay, Warriors' Gate, The Leisure Hive and Destiny of the Daleks.

But the bad news is that BBC America is not available in as many households in the U.S. as SyFy is.

That's true but, weirdly enough, I think that BBC America has the potential to attact more viewers to Doctor Who than SyFy. SyFy may be in 95 million households (out of 115 million or so) but, regardless of the name change, how many of those would never watch a channel so closely associated with science fiction? Equally, given that Sci-Fi (as it was) didn't do a lot of publicity for it, how many would even be aware of Doctor Who?

BBC America may only be in 64 million households, but it has the potential to grab the attention of a lot of those by focussing on high-quality drama and comedy. I just wish it would drop a lot of its reality TV programming. As an extreme example, HBO is only in 35 million households, but managed nearly 11 million viewers for the finale of The Sopranos.

So, it isn't just how widely available your channel is, it's how successfully you make people aware of it and get them interested in watching it. It looks to me that BBCA are a bit better at this than SyFy are.

Last time I looked, Doctor Who was getting around 1 million viewers on SyFy. Day One of Children of Earth got 1.4 million viewers. Once they have a full series to promote, that seems like a reasonable target for BBC America to aim for with Doctor Who.

O_O at the screwdriver.

Where did the prop department get their ideas? Ann Summers?!

Veering OT, but I agree with you, Matthew -- BBC America runs ads at the beginning of my Who DVDs (and others) where the announcer says something like, "What if the best programming of an entire nation were available on one amazing channel?" And I always think, THAT WOULD BE GREAT; instead, we get regular daylong marathons of Gordon Ramsay screaming at people and "Cash in the Attic." I mean, all well and good, but there's so much more they're not showing.

Karen Gillan, in some of these photos, looks quite similar to Molly Quinn, who plays the daughter of Nathan Fillion's character on Castle. Or am I just grasping at straws, trying to find nerdy televised science fiction connections?

The rolled-up jeans and boots combo reminds me of Ian Dury, who the Tenth Doctor was a fan of (cf. 'Tooth and Claw'). Maybe the Eleventh Doctor comes out of his regenerative coma and the first thing he comes across is Ten's copy of New Boots and Panties?

You wonder now, why DID it take so long for someone to market a vibrator called a Sonic Screwdriver. Comic shops the world over would have lines down the block.

EXTRA TEN APPEARENCE ALERT!

Don't forget the Sarah Jane Adventures! There's a two-episode arc, in which the Doctor (Ten, that is) SIGNIFICANTLY appears.

It'll be airing in late September/early October in the U.K., and it's called "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith." So, we WILL get an extra bit of The Doctor, as played by DT, something that is BESIDES the three remaining strictly Who specials of The Waters of Mars and the Finale Christmas 2-parter...

And as well as he Sarah Jane Adventures, there'll be an animated series called Dreamland.

GAH! Torture me, Sharma! When are they going to release SJA2 on DVD? I haven't even seen it yet! (Since neither SyFy nor BBCA seems inclined to show it.) Not to mention SJA3 and David's episodes!

Maybe they're waiting to release series 2 & 3 as a box set, figuring there will be more demand because of David's appearance? I live in hope!

The BBC hasn't released a DVD of series two of SJA in the UK yet. Their tactic seems to be to release the DVD while the next series is showing and in the run up to Christmas, to maximise sales. SJA2 is likely to be out on Region 2 in October/November time - SJA3 probably a year later. The series two episodes have been cleared for release by the BBFC, so there's almost certainly going to be a DVD this year.

As for Region 1, SyFy have opted not to show series two or series three, so there is currently no US broadcaster at all. The chances of a Region 1 DVD look pretty slim, unless series one sold well. Perhaps it's worth emailing BBC America (and possibly channels like Nickelodeon and ABC Family) suggesting that that they pick up the show.

Thank you, Matthew! I have a region-free DVD player so if all they release is Region 2, I can live with that!

What aggravates me is that everyone things the only target audience for the SJA is the kiddies. OK, so I'm a kid at heart, but chronologically it's been a loooong time since kidhood, and I love the show.

Confirmed Sarah Jane Adventures series two DVD release date (Region 2), it's November 9:

http://news.whoviannet.co.uk/2009/08/dvds-dvds-and-even-more-dvds/

Although goodness knows if it'll ever be broadcast in the US, let alone get a Region 1 release.

Series three (featuring the Tennant appearance) will have broadcast in the UK by then, but probably won't be out on Region 2 DVD until November 2010 - that seems to be the patter of releases for SJA.

SJA Season 2 R1 release date: 10 November 2009.

SJA S3 starts on October 15 and will be showing two episodes a week (details). This means that the Tennant appearance will be on October 29-30. Because the final two Doctor Who specials follow on from The Waters of Mars, it'll be airing sometime after that(which ties in with what we've already been told, "Novemberish").

According to this article, the SJA S3 DVD is already being prepared - which suggests a pre-Christmas release, possibly in R1 as well as R2.

Things are looking up, Weimlady!

Thanks, Matthew! I'm excited. But...also a bit sad for a wonderful missed opportunity. Read recently that Nick Courtney was to reprise his role as the Brig in several episodes of S3, being a "grandfatherly figure to the team" and meeting Ten. But sadly, he had a stroke and had to drop out. He's nearly 100% recovered, I hear, but what a shame.

Well. Guess there's nothing for it but to have the Brig and Ten meet in my fanfiction.