Sunday, July 26, 2009

I09 reports on Who finale

We saw two teaser trailers for David Tennant's very final episodes as the time-traveling hero of Doctor Who, and they revealed some dark times ahead for our Time Lord, including a menacing figure in a hoodie. Spoilers in the TARDIS!

First we saw a trailer for "Planet Of The Dead," the desert planet epic that premieres tonight at 8:00 on BBC America — complete and unedited.

We also saw a trailer for "Waters Of Mars," the following story, which looks to be considerably darker.

We see images of a Martian base, with lots of somewhat primitive Earth tech including flashing buttons. The base is sort of cross-shaped, with modules sticking out at various points. The Doctor says, "Certain moments in time are fixed. Everything else is in flux. Anything can happen. But there are certain moments that must stand." We see images of the people in the Mars base going about their business, and then the weird water zombie thing starts, with people turning into water and getting the scabby reptilian faces. "This time and place on Mars, what happens here, must not be changed," the Doctor adds. And then we see more of the watery monster panic. And then the Doctor, in a different scene, explains that whatever this thing is, it doesn't just hide in water — it creates water. And if the humans take it back to Earth, it's all over. "Any one of us could be infected," says a blonde woman. More scenes of chaos and havoc as the base starts to fall apart. And then the Doctor stands in his orange spacesuit (from "The Satan Pit") with flames behind him. In his most dramatic voice, he says to the blonde woman, "It doesn't end here and now — because I don't hear anyone knocking, do you?" And then there are four brutal, loud knocks. And the titles say "THE WATERS OF MARS."

And then there was the trailer for Tennant's final two-parter, which appears to be called "The End Of Time":

We see the planet Earth from space, with the sun coming out behind it, and Timothy Dalton's voice purrs: "It is said that in the final days of the planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams." And then we see weird laughing faces, followed by David Tennant looking quite perturbed. We see glimpses of Wilf, Donna, Donna's mother, and an African man in a suit, all looking very serious. And there's a scary snake-faced creature. And then there's a figure in a dark hoodie lurking ominously. Dalton narrates: "He returns." We catch a glimpse of Ood Sigma, the Ood who told the Doctor his song was ending. And then the Doctor standing in the background, with the guy in a hoodie in the foreground. And then the hoodie comes off, and it's John Simm with his hair weirdly bleached! His voice comes: "My name is the Master." And then a title comes on the screen: "THE END OF TIME." And the Doctor walks forward with flames in the background, his face looking smoky and serious. And the title says "CHRISTMAS 2009." And the crowd goes wild.

The Doctor Who panel was more fun than informative, as it really should be. David Tennant had a huge standing ovation, and people in the crowd were shouting "WE LOVE YOU!!" at regular intervals. At one point, Tennant responded "We love you too. Each one of you in a slightly different, individual way. We want you to know that."

Russell T. Davies did confirm that Lucy Saxton, the Master's long-suffering wife, will be back in the final episodes, alongside Simms. And the words "He will knock four times" have a great significance.

And Tennant alluded to something bad that happens to the Doctor's jacket in one of the last scenes he shot.

Someone asked David Tennant if the new Who is a reimagining of the old show, and he responded: "It's the same show and the story continues. I'm playing the same man tht William Hartnell was playing. I just have a slghtly different wig."

Someone from the Guinness Book Of World Records presented the show with an award for being the most successful science fiction show of all time, and Davies happily accepted, making jokes about Star Trek. ""Eat that, Supernatural!" He shouted, followed by "Eat me, Supernatural — oh I didn't really say that, did I?"

Someone mentioned that John Barrowman (who plays Captain Jack Harkness) talked about stealing a few items from the Doctor Who set, and asked if Tennant had taken anything as well. Executive producer Julie Gardner quipped, "I think John Barrowman just stole things off the set so he could be strip-searched."

Tennant only has one regret about leaving the show now: "The one thing I leave the show with a great sadness about is, I didn't get to snog Bernard Cribbins. I got to snog all the other ones."

And a fan asked if Professor River Song might come back at some point, and Davies and Gardner made it clear they have nothing to do with the episodes going out in 2010 and have no clue what'll happen. But Davies added: "I think if you go online and do a little search for River Song, you might be very happy."

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