Discussion about my State of the Industry post (two posts down) has begun over on ENWorld, one of the largest RPG forum sites.
Pretty much as I predicted, we’re getting the usual assortment of posts across the wide range of denial. Ah, gamers.
Doctor Who: new season starts in three weeks!
The latest news on the new season: Official launch date has been confirmed as Saturday April 15th — so, thanks to the joys of Bittorrent, I’ll have the episodes available for viewing by each Sunday following broadcast.
There will be another companion series of “Doctor Who Confidential” (which appear as the DVD extras in the series set, coming out in the US in July), and I’m sure I’ll be watching those as well.
Most interestingly, this year will also see the premiere of “TARDISodes” — One-minute mini-dramas, like little prequels to the episode playing that week. These will be available for download to mobile phones, and also available on the official website, a few days before the broadcast of each new episode. Kinda cool, that.
The BBC is taking the “Battlestar Galactica” route, by unveiling two hours of extra material on the website after each episode, including a full episode commentary for download, Tardisodes, trailers and video diaries by Doctor Who Confidential.
The rundown of the new season’s episodes:
- 1: New Earth: The Doctor and Rose stumble upon a “plague farm” in the far future in the guise of a hospital run by evil cat people … and involving their old nemesis Cassandra, who’s still very much alive.
- 2: Tooth and Claw: In Balmoral castle in historic Scotland, the Doctor must protect Queen Victoria from an alien onslaught: vicious werewolves that terrorize the countryside.
- 3: School Reunion: The Doctor is reunited with old friends Sarah Jane Smith and K9 at a mysterious school overrun by the evil Krillitanes and their Headmaster.
- 4: The Girl in the Fireplace: The Doctor peers through time to the court of Louis XIV… in a Doctor Who love story across time. Or is it?
- 5: Rise of the Cybermen: (Part one of a two parter with Episode 6)
- 6: The Age of Steel: The Doctor and Rose face the terrifying Cybermen on an alternate Earth doomed to disaster!
- 7: The Idiot’s Lantern: England of the 1950’s is attacked by an alien intelligence that travels through the airwaves on television broadcasts, and it’s up to the Doctor to stop it.
- 8: The Impossible Planet: (Part one of a two-parter with Episode 9)
- 9: The Satan Pit: The Doctor and Rose visit a breathtaking alien world, a colony world where food and water is scarce… and where an old enemy awaits him, an enemy that looks like the Devil.
- 10: Love & Monsters: The Doctor faces the Abzorbaloff, a creature created by a Blue Peter viewer (a UK childrens show which did a “Design a Monster” contest)… and the wrath of his admirers.
- 11: Fear Her: The Doctor and Rose drop in on the 2012 Olympics in London.
- 12: Army of Ghosts: (Part one of the season-ending two-parter)
- 13: Doomsday: The Cybermen have awakened in our universe, and together with something from the Doctor’s past, the Earth isn’t safe…
Sounds brilliant…with the possible exception of episode 10….but then again it’s being written by Russel Davies, so I expect the unexpected. It could turn out to be the best episode of the season!
It’ll be great seeing Sarah Jane and K9…and the Cybermen. I’m wondering who the “enemy who looks like the Devil” is in Episode 8 & 9 — it could be the Daemons from the 1970s Pertwee episode….or, if you take the “looks like the Devil” less literally….could it be The Master? He has been often described as “satanic” in appearance….
Here’s a look at the first episode, in a wallpaper image released on the official website today: New Earth, the Doctor & Rose.
Wolfman’s Got Nards!
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Apparently, there’s going to be a a reunion screening held in Austin on April 16th, with guests Andre Gower (Sean) and Ryan Lambert (Rudy).
The movie hasn’t officially been released on DVD, but if you check eBay, you can find a bunch of bootleg DVDs (often made from dubs of the Laserdisc), readily available. I have to admit, I’m tempted.