Outgoing Doctor Who companion Karen Gillan has told fans at San Diego’s Comic-Con that she cried for two weeks after shooting her final scenes on the show.
Karen, who has played ‘Tardis Totty’ Amy Pond for the last 2 series, will leave the show during the next run, as will co-star Arthur Darville who plays Amy’s boyfriend Rory. She said: “I cried for two weeks. Everything set me off, I couldn’t hold it together at all. (The show) has changed my life in so many ways. And even thought I don’t want to say it, I’ve made two really good friends.”
When asked about Karen and Arthur’s departure Matt Smith, who plays the Doctor, said: “I will miss them. I miss these cats. It’s been three years on set. You develop a language with these people. It’s like two older brothers who bully their sister and I miss being able to bully Karen.”
Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat believes Adolf Hitler would be very angry if he saw himself in Let’s Kill Hitler.
The writer-and-producer ridicules the Nazi leader in the opening episode of the autumn season of the BBC sci-fi show and he insists it was always his intention to treat the fascist dictator in an irreverent way.
Speaking at the screening of the episode at the BFI in London last night (16.08.11), he said: “Hitler is quite an iconic name to be honest – in an evil and ghastly way. I think my younger son said, ‘Won’t Hitler be offended?’
In Indiana Jones there was a brilliant gag where Indiana Jones accidentally gets Hitler’s autograph. I think if you really want to p**s off Hitler, now that he’s dead, you don’t make him into an icon of evil, you take the mickey out of him, make him a joke, make him be punched by Rory. I can imagine how cross Adolf would be if he watched the episode.”
Steven – who was joined at the special screening by ‘Doctor Who’ stars Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill, who play married couple Amy Pond and Rory Williams – also revealed the second run of episodes centres around the death of The Doctor (Matt Smith) which was shown in the series opener ‘The Impossible Astronaut’.
The writer has introduced a number of mind-boggling plotlines to the current season but he is confident viewers will be able to keep up when the show returns to screen later this month.
Steven explained: “They’re all basically going back to Lake Silencio. I mean, that’s where the Doctor’s going. He’s going to know that he has to turn up there and die. But assuming an intelligent audience is a good idea and clearly, going by our ratings, it’s a successful idea.
“I can’t see what’s wrong about assuming intelligence in your audience and what’s bad news about being rewarded for assuming that. They are clever, they will get it. My nine year old got all of this ages ago.”
Karen Gillan is to return to Doctor Who for Series 7
Karen Gillan has confirmed she will return to Doctor Who.
The actress – who plays the time-travelling Doctor’s companion, Amy Pond – will be back for the seventh series of the BBC One sci-fi show, her third alongside the current Doctor, Matt Smith.
Speaking at Comic-Con in San Diego yesterday (24.07.11), she told blog Zap2it: “I am going to come back, yes. That’s the first time I’ve said that today!”
Speculation was rife that Karen would not be returning to the show after her casting in a revival of stage play Inadmissible Evidence by John Osborne in London.
Karen was at the conference for the first time, and said she had a weird encounter when she and Matt came face to face with fans dressed as their characters.
She added: “It’s amazing. I can’t believe the scale of it. It’s a whole town.
“The other day me and Matt ran into the Doctor and Amy. It’s a really surreal experience. It’s so exciting!”
Meanwhile, producers Piers Wenger and Beth Willis revealed the doctor could once day regenerate in a different gender.
When asked by a young girl if he there could ever be a female doctor, producer Beth Willis, said: “I think it’s possible. Every time the Doctor regenerates, the thought crosses the mind.”
Could it be Rupert Murdoch, aka Davros, hitting back at politicians trying to thwart his evil plans for world domination. Not yet anyway. Actually it’s the Doctor Who Experience which has recreated a classic Doctor Who story: The Dalek Invasion of Earth from 1964.
Taking place on Westminster Bridge in central London, the photoshoot used four generations of Daleks from the series. The Doctor Who Experience runs at London’s Olympia until November.
The decision of BBC bosses to split the Doctor Who series in half in 2012 has sparked an angry reaction among its millions of fans
BBC One controller Danny Cohen has confirmed the sci-fi show will be downsized next year, which has led to speculation that four one hour-long specials are in line to replace the 13-part series in 2012.
However, BBC entertainment correspondent Lizo Mzimba had revealed the season could be split between 2012 and 2013. He tweeted: “Bit of confusion, to summarise: no FULL 13 episode series of Dr Who in 2012. So some episodes will still go out in 2012. Remainder in 2013.
“No idea yet how many episodes in total in 2013. But, hey, it’s still two years away.
“Don’t know how many 2012 eps or what time of year they’ll be broadcast. Just what Danny Cohen said earlier which was no FULL series in 2012.
“No further details about what more’s happening in 2013 yet. But it’s the 50th anniversary, so of course there will be some great stuff!”
An angry Doctor Who fan tweeted: “It’s a huge blow. The Beeb clearly don’t care about the show’s fans. What the hell is the BBC playing at mucking about with one of its flagship shows?”
Last week it was reported that Doctor Who actor was lining up a possible film career in Hollywood. He said: “I have a lot of ambitions. I would like one day to direct and I just want to keep doing quality work. LA is kinda groovy – I really like it out there … Would I get a big part, who knows? Sadly, that is not up to me. That all depends on people in the American film industry and whether they want to put me there.”
Matt Smith has signed up to return to Doctor Who as the Timelord in a run which will include 13 episodes and a Christmas special.
BBC One executive Sam Hodges tweeted: “Doctor Who is returning. Fourteen new episodes have been commissioned with Matt Smith as The Doctor.”
Executive producer Steven Moffat added: “14 eps + Matt DEFINITELY. I’ve got a plan and I’m not telling you what it is. Now hush or River shoots you with her Spoiler Gun. (sic)”
The news will come as a welcome relief to fans after the 28-year-old actor – who shot to fame when he replaced David Tennant as the Time Lord – fuelled speculation he wants to leave the show saying he was planning to pursue a Hollywood career and had even set up meetings with movie bosses in Los Angeles.
He said: “I’m going over to Los Angeles this week to dip my head in the pond. I am going to be having loads of meetings with film people and that sort of stuff. I have a lot of ambitions. I would like one day to direct and I just want to keep doing quality work. LA is kinda groovy – I really like it out there … Would I get a big part, who knows? Sadly, that is not up to me. That all depends on people in the American film industry and whether they want to put me there.”
The Silence have become the latest addition to the Doctor Who Experience.
The Time Lord’s deadly enemies, who were introduced to the BBC One sci-fi show earlier this series, are set to join the interactive exhibition at London’s Olympia 2 venue today.
The Silence – who use their psychic powers to control humans – will join a host of other enemies from the programme’s 48-year history, including several different generations of Daleks, a Zygon – who battled Fourth Doctor Tom Baker in 1975 – an Ice Warrior – who clashed with Second Doctor Patrick Troughton – Sontarans and a huge K1 Robot.
Matt Smith, who plays the 11th Doctor, recently revealed The Silence are to become his alter-ego’s defining enemy over the course of the current series, as writer Steven Moffat has made them such an integral part of the story.
When asked whether the monsters would become as iconic as some of his character’s other nemeses, Matt said: “I think they will. The Weeping Angels were my favourite to face but I think The Silents are now, because a) they’re just so clever and b) the way that Steven has just woven them into the whole narrative is just really, really brilliant. They’re a cracking monster.”
As well as an exhibition, the Doctor Who Experience has an interactive adventure which allows visitors to step through a crack in time to become The Doctor’s companions, travel in the TARDIS and battle Daleks and Weeping Angels.
Heroes… that was really good, confusing fun wasn’t it? Yeah. For all of about 10 minutes before the makers of the show were told by financial backers to make it shit. Anyway, rumours abound that there’s going to be a film made of the show.
Sky1 has cancelled plans to bring back a remake of cult sci-fi show Blake’s 7. Again. Sky announced plans for a remake in 2008 (around the time Doctor Who got a revamp and Battlestar Galactica hit big again)… but they put it off and off and now, they just can’t be bothered.
We’ve got a new series to gawp at and get all kinds of class warfare angry about. Peckham Finishing School for Girls (BBC Three, Wednesday, 16 June, 9pm) is a new show that focuses on poshos and asks them to live like working class people… presumably under the pretence of ‘learning something about themselves’.
It’s Only the Beginning! What is? Well, that’s the name of the next episode of V (SyFy) and, as ever, you’ll have to tune in and find out for yourself. That said, you don’t have to wildly stab in the dark as we have a trailer of the next episode which you can watch and glean clues from. Yessir!
Who is better? Doctor Who or Captain Kirk? Haryr Hill would make them fight to decide a winner… but we’re not Harry Hill. So how to decide? Well, this question has been floating around since time began (aka The Sixties) and now, fans have provided the answer! Of course, I urge anyone who disagrees (or indeed, agrees) to flood our comments box with bile.
Last week, I did a little experiment. Basically, I slagged off Torchwood to see what the response would be. I’ve dished out a few kickings in my time (as well as fawning praise and boring even-handed reviews) and one trend that remains is that, if you have a go at a science fiction show, the response in the comments and emails is heated and personal. Slag off a comedy show and people tend to shrug a little more without having a hissy fit. Why is this? What makes science fiction fans so obsessive?
The last series (or ‘season’ if you’re American or British and trying to be cool) of Heroes was a massive disappointment. As a show, it had gone from ambitious and confusing to barrel scraping, ab-flexing, thicko-action sci-fi. The next series had a fair amount riding on it. Such a departure left the show feeling like it was sat in it’s own urine with the commissioner’s axe swaying precariously overhead. So when the news came in of a potential storyline for the next batch, I was rather intrigued. Would we get a new, even badder baddie? Would the Petrelli sprout insect wings? No. Heroes looks like it’s going to stoop low and give lonely sci-fi nuts a cheap trouser shuffle. Ladies and Gentleman… when in trouble, get Claire (Hayden Panettiere) to get off with a girl.
Russell T Davies has said that he wanted to make the Torchwood team less indestructible, and he’s certainly done that. At the end of series two, Owen and Tosh were killed of by a nuclear explosion and Jack’s brother respectively, and now the government want the remaining ‘staff’ dead to ensure that there are ‘no survivors’.
Torchwood has gone on quite a journey – if you don’t mind me going just a little X Factor on you – since its first, rather rubbish episode on BBC Three. It gained a big following, and some decent writing, and moved to BBC Two and now it’s all grown up, with a five parter on BBC One – which is either special or disrespectful, depending on your point of view…
Heroes has been struggling of late (check the news that Bryan Fuller, the man credited for its improvements last series, has now left the show), so it’s clear that the producers of the show are going a bit Twin Peaks and going for the surreal angle. So here’s a sneaky peaky which has obviously been leaked because it’s clearly true, of Sylar (Zachary Quinto) falling flat on his face with a dog, a giant pork chop and a butcher covered in blood. New characters in the next series? What an exclusive this is!
Sci-fi and fantasy is a tricky genre to tackle. I mean, it’s very difficult to get it right. For every half decent episode of Star Trek, you’ve got ten lame episodes of Stargate SG1 or Moonbase 3. Problem is that they’re so very, very expensive to make… and it’s that reason that sci-squib, Primeval is being cancelled by ITV. “After three very successful series of Primeval there are no plans at the present time for it to return to ITV. High-quality drama remains a key part of the ITV schedule although our current focus is on post-watershed productions,” an ITV spokesman said. Hmmm. High quality drama you say? When I see some evidence of that, I’ll buy that argument. Anyway, the show had a glimmer of hope in recent weeks, but this is certainly the death knell.
Against my better judgement, I’ve been a fan of Heroes (BBC Two, Monday, 11 May, 9pm). I don’t know how it did it, but it reeled me in… I mean, it’s a sci-fi show fercryingoutloud! What on earth am I doing letting a science fiction, geekoid comic book thing past my defences. I don’t like flights of fancy, especially when they involve emo like inner turmoil and people who can fly. I like dumb things with guns and swearing… but c’mon! Heroes takes the piss, right? Of course it does. However, this series has pushed its luck too far and now it’s over, it’s time to reflect.
This most recent series of Heroes (BBC Two, Monday, 11 May, 9pm) has been a real turkey. It’s gotten so dumb that it’s more akin to the usual sci-fi dross that we import from America, rather than the perplexing, fun ride of previous outings. Rather than feeling like a comic book like before, the latest outings seemed happy enough to run around the garden with its underpants on the outside of its trousers. However, that’s not to say we should all give up… because next week, we’ve got the big season ender in a twofer, surely set to stand a few hairs on end.
Outgoing Doctor Who companion Karen Gillan has told fans at San Diego’s Comic-Con that she cried for two weeks after shooting her final scenes on the show.
From:Set The Video: NASA: Triumph and Tragedy, BBC Two, Wednesday, 24 June, 9pm