Sheppard to guest on Doctor Who
Mark Sheppard
It seems that having worked his way through pretty much every US scifi show, the brilliant Mark Sheppard is starting on the British ones! And where better to start than, THE British scifi show - Doctor Who!
Sheppard with apparently take on the role of Canton Everett Delaware III in a two-part episode, which will take place (and be partly filmed) in the USA. The part is described as a ‘huge role’, so i’m not totally convinced Canton Everett Delaware III will be all that he first appears…
If your unsure who Mark is but are thinking ‘i’m sure i’ve seen him in something’, the chances are you have – he does get around the scifi circuit!
Over recent years, you could have spotted him as:
- The demon Crowley on Supernatural.
- Cockney criminal Badger in Firefly.
- Romo Lampkin in Battlestar Galactica.
- Director of The Ring in Chuck.
- Benedict Valda in Warehouse 13.
- Tanaka in Dollhouse.
- Dr. Charles Walker / Jack Walker in Medium.
- Anthony Anthros in Bionic Woman.
And that’s just the scifi shows… He’s also popped up in 24, Leverage, CSI, Burn Notice, NCSI, to name but a few!
I’m a big fan of Mark’s work, so I’m really looking foward to seeing him help, or more likely face-off against Matt Smith.
Doctor Who Adventure Games Coming To PC and Mac
Doctor Who Adventure Games!
Control The Doctor
I’ve always wondered why we’ve never had a decent Doctor Who game before, and now the BBC have taken the time to create, not just 1 game, but 4!
Being released for free from the BBC website in June, you’ll be able to guide The Doctor (in new Matt Smith guise) and lovely assistant Amy Pond through 4 Doctor Who based adventure games. All the voice over work is being provided by the original actors, the music provided by Who composer Murray Gold, the stories written by Who writers Phil Ford & James Moran, and the whole thing overseen by Who head-honcho, Steven Moffat. It’s all genuine Who.
Who Exec Producer Piers Wenger is quoted as saying “There aren’t 13 episodes of Doctor Who this year, there are 17 – four of which are interactive. Everything you see and experience within the game is part of the Doctor Who universe: we’ll be taking you to places you’ve only ever dreamed about seeing – including locations impossible to create on television.”
The Doctor and Amy
And the games aren’t some cheap, dodgy, browser based affair, but full blown, downloadable adventures. Development of which has all been controlled by game guru Charles Cecil – the man behind classic adventure games such as ‘Beneath a Steel Sky‘ and the ‘Broken Sword‘ series.
If your hoping for the games to appear on consoles, sorry to say, don’t hold your breath. They’ll only be available on PC and Mac because console releases would result in the BBC having to fork out for Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo licensing, which understandably, they won’t do.
So, free Doctor Who PC games, from the BBC, developed under the watchful eye of a adventure gaming giant? That can’t be a bad thing!
Writers and Directors For Doctor Who Series 5!
With Doctor Who – series 5 (aka series 11/1… aka series 31… depending on which numbering system your using…) premiering in Wales last night, there’s lots of Who related stuff on the web today! Along with the clip above, the beeb have also releases a full list of writers, directors, and a list of some of the guest stars. They’ve also confirmed the release date as 3rd of April 2010.
Guest Stars (in alphabetical order)
James Corden, Tony Curran, Arthur Darvill, Iain Glen, Alex Kingston, Helen McCrory, Ian McNeice, Sophie Okonedo, Bill Paterson, Meera Syal, Nina Wadia
Executive Producer and Lead Writer
Steven Moffat
Writers
Steven Moffat (ep 1, 2, 4, 5, 12, 13)
Mark Gatiss (ep 3)
Toby Whithouse (ep 6)
Simon Nye (ep 7)
Chris Chibnall (ep 8, 9)
Richard Curtis (ep 10)
Gareth Roberts (ep 11)
Directors
Adam Smith (ep 1, 4, 5)
Andrew Gunn (ep 2, 3)
Jonny Campbell (ep 6, 10)
Catherine Morshead (ep 7, 11) Ashley Way (ep 8, 9)
Toby Haynes (ep 12, 13)
Matt Smith’s Doctor Who Series 5 Trailer!
As we wave a sad farewell to David Tennant after this evening’s Doctor Who ‘End of Time – Part 2′, we say hello to the eleventh Doctor – Matt Smith. The BBC have just released this frankly awesome looking trailer for Matt’s first outing, due Spring 2010! Much as i’m sorry to see David go, i’m looking forward to Who taking a new direction with its new lead and new show runner in Steven Moffat. I’ll reserve proper judgement till i see series 5 of Doctor Who in full, but looking at this, i think we’re in safe hands!
Review: Doctor Who – The Waters Of Mars
‘Don’t drink the water. Don’t even touch it. Not one drop.’
'Beginning of the end' for David Tennant as The Doctor
The Waters Of Mars sees The Doctor arrive on the aforementioned red planet in the year 2059. After once again finding himself at gun point for poking around somewhere he shouldn’t, he quickly realises he’s on Bowie Base One (nice Bowie reference there), the first off-world human colony… He also remembers what happened to the crew, and that he really shouldn’t be there… The events that take place on Bowie Base One are a ‘fixed point in time’. A point from which so many other significant events grow, it cannot or should not be altered.
The Water Of Mars has been trailered as the ‘beginning of the end’ for David Tennant‘s tenure as The Doctor, and that is certainly reflected in the writing. This is a lot darker in tone that anything I think we’ve seen RTD write for Who up to this point. Not only are the water aliens some of the most disturbing I think we’ve seen, even The Doctor himself reveals a seriously disturbing dark side, much more so than I think he’s revealed before (in ‘New Who’ anyway).
Despite it’s overall darker tone, there are still the funny one liners we’ve come to expect in new Who. When asked for his name, rank and intentions on first arriving at the base, his response is ‘The Doctor. Doctor and… Fun!’ David Tennant once again proves he’s large shoes for Matt Smith to fill in the new year, jumping from wonderfully manic to great sorrow, to downright disturbing with unfeasible ease. Lindsay Duncan does a fine job as the temp companion for the episode, proving at times to be an extremely strong willed counter to the Doctor.
The Waters Of Mars
The visuals are as good as we’ve come to expect from Doctor Who (there’s a phrase growing up in the 80′s I never thought i’d read!) The water monsters are particularly impressive, not only with the make up/prosthetics, but the way they’d constantly appeared to be spewing water from their mouths.
Judging by The Waters Of Mars, and the trailer that followed for Tennant’s final 2 episodes at Christmas, it looks like RTD plans on taking us down a dark, heart wrenching path that’ll have fans crying into their mulled wine… I for one can’t wait!
If your in the UK, you can get the trailer for the Christmas Specials here.
What did you think? Let me know in the comments!
Doctor Who’s New Logo!
In 2010 Doctor Who not only gets a new look (Matt Smith), he also get his own shiny new logo (to go with his new giant forehead), and here it is:
Looks to me to be a much more ‘traditional Who’ logo than the last one. Wonder if that’s another indication of the direction the show is going to take under Steven Moffat’s guidance?
