Tag Archives: David Tennant

Doctor Who Encyclopedia for the iPad – Review

When I first saw the Doctor Who EncyclopediaI was super excited, it was by Gary Russell and published by Random House and the BBC but it was a little pricey at $6.99 and it only included the eleventh Doctor Who (Matt Smith). The ninth and tenth doctors were an additional $6.99 each(!) for a total of $20.97 for the whole thing. They experimented with pricing up and down with the modules at different prices, I think $8.97 is the cheapest I ever saw the whole thing for.

doctor-who-encyclopedia.pngThat’s all changed now! It’s back up to $6.99 but it has been updated to include the first half of season seven (through September 2012) and now includes the tenth and eleventh doctors (Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant) as part of the price.

Actually, if you purchased it before (at any of it’s price points) you now have the whole package with today’s update. So now it has all of the episodes from 2005 on, from The Doctor meeting Rose to the season halfway point with the departure of the Ponds / Williams.

So here’s the thing, it’s pretty neat, but it’s not awesome. I think it needs to be a little more intuitive, but it’s got a lot in it. When I say a lot, I pretty much mean everything! If you tried it a year ago, I think they’ve improved the interface a bit. It’s got a references to almost every character and object and place that has appeared. If you’re a fan and you’ve got an iPad it’s (probably) a must get.

If $6.99 seems a little high, then go over to appshopper.com and set up an alert to mail you if the price goes down. Now that they have all the new episodes integrated into it, I don’t really see that happening for a while, and probably only a dollar or two; remember right now is still $2 cheaper than the cheapest it every was before (and it was as high as $21).

They say they’ve updated for iOS 6 and the iPad mini too, so if you’ve had any problems this update might fix them.

The End of Time – Doctor Who

Only seven more days until the Christmas Doctor Who special The End of Time. This is the first of a two-part episode which would be the last episodes starring David Tennant. I’m assuming since that part two will be on New Year’s day (they keep saying he’ll be The Doctor until 2010). You can watch the first 3 minutes of the The End of Time here.

drwho-xmas-2009.jpg

While it’s the “Christmas Special” it’s not as special as usual since we didn’t get a 13 episode season this year with a special to hold us off until the next year, we only got a few specials for the whole year. But it is special as it marks the end of David Tennant’s reign as The Doctor. It’s assumed he’ll be dying and regenerate as the new doctor. I’ll miss his character, but maybe in a few years I’ll mix the stories up and not remember who was The Doctor in some of the earlier episodes…

I also assume they’ll be a plethora of guest stars on the episode. To get everyone to fit in as a guest star I’m assuming it’ll take place a few years ago but I’m still not sure how that’d get Rose, Martha, Donna and The Master to fit in; although I’d guess the Master could have shown up here before Rose disappeared into the other parallel Earth, but from the preview it makes me think The Master regenerated after season three (Martha) so I’m just guessing.

More wallpapers and images can be found here, remember the BBC won’t show video or audio outside the UK.

I’m not sure when BBC America will be showing these two episodes. Traditionally the BBC has aired them weeks first, but I’m not sure why it matters these days.

Next season, starting sometime next year, will start a new doctor and a new companion. Next year will be also be directed (and written) by Steven Moffat, I’m kind of excited about that. I’ve been a fan of Steven Moffat who has done a few doctor who episodes. He also wrote the Jekyll miniseries on the BBC a year or two ago which was pretty interesting. He also wrote the Coupling series (which got old after the first few seasons). I can’t wait to see what different direction he takes the new younger doctor and his new companion in.

Doctor Who: The End of Time preview

Here’s the first three minutes of the 2009 Doctor Who Christmas Special. It’ll be on December 25th in the UK on the BBC and delayed a day before airing on BBC America. I believe this is a two-part episode but I’m not sure when part two is on, the day after this airs or New Year’s or …?

Direct link to the 3 minute preview.

FYI, if you’re not a fan, the Sigma Ood character might not make too much sense. And you might not know that this is David Tennant’s last story which is the reference to his “song ending soon”.

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars (semi-review)

I can’t really say much about the episode without giving too much away. So while I’ll try to be discreet, you might want to stop reading. If you’ve seen the preview, I’ll be giving away a little more than that and also my opinions on the episode…

One of the things I noticed in the previews was that Adelaide (the Mars commander) didn’t seem like much of a companion at all. But since I saw she was being referred to as a companion (here and there on the ‘net) I thought I might change my mind when I saw the episode, but that didn’t happen at all. I really felt like it was much more of a loaner episode for The Doctor. He works so much better with a sidekick companion, he doesn’t need to talk to himself as much…

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead BBC WarnerIn a few ways it was a very non-typical episode, but with only two more David Tennant episodes some changes were to be expected. At least I’m assuming the two part Christmas special includes David Tennant in both episodes; I’d like to point out I quite often see 2010 listed as the end of his tenure in the role, so it makes me wonder if he’s appearing in the first episode of 2010? or is part two of the Christmas episode, The End of Time, going to be on New Year’s Day? or is the 2010 date a mistake? *

Pretty creepy episode. I thought they were originally going to air it on/near Halloween, it would have worked!


Direct link to Doctor Who preview.

Overall, I really enjoyed the episode, the first third was very typical and enjoyable. But by the second half I felt like I (and The Doctor) was just being pulled along through the episode, part of the whole “this is a point fixed in time” problem (assuming you’ve seen the preview) you kind of have to just wait it through. The end was the part I didn’t like, it felt rushed and incomplete. I think they were trying to do some character changes and it made him seem more like an ass mean than crazed. Maybe they’ll follow through in another month and make it more clear why, but…

* He is doing the voice of The Doctor in a Doctor Who cartoon series, Dreamland, maybe that’s running until 2010?

Torchwood and Doctor Who Time Line – When to Watch What Episodes

Doctor Who - The Complete Second Series Sci-Fi Channel, TheSo this isn’t a chronology timeline, but more of a viewing guide on when to watch the TV episodes as they tie together with Torchwood. This is the order I believed they originally aired the episodes and watching them in that order works well.

  • Doctor Who S1 Rose
  • Doctor Who Christmas Special 2005 Rose
  • Doctor Who S2 Rose
  • Doctor Who Christmas Special 2006 Donna
  • Torchwood S1
  • Doctor Who S3 Martha
  • “Time Crash” – a mini-episode (only a few minutes) from a children’s fund raiser (BBC’s Children In Need) starring David Tennant and Peter Davidson The Doctor
  • Doctor Who Christmas Special 2007 Astrid
  • Torchwood S2
  • Doctor Who S4 Donna
  • Doctor Who Christmas Special 2008 The Doctor
  • Doctor Who Easter Special 2009 Christina
  • Torchwood Radio Plays (July 2009)
  • Torchwood Season 3 (Children of Earth)
  • Doctor Who November Special 2009: Waters of Mars Adelaide
  • Doctor Who December 2-part Special 2009: The End of Time Wilf

If you read on, I’ll be giving you some spoilers, but I can’t really talk about continuity without talking about it. If you watch them in the above order you don’t need to read on.

I only mentioned the radio plays since they were just released and definitely take place after season two. I’ve listened to the first two and so far it doesn’t seem significant that they need to take place before they should be listened to before the Children of Earth mini-series (no plot ramifications, but they chronologically take place before the 3rd series).

The Sarah Jane Adventures can be watched any time but after her guest appearance in season 2 of Doctor Who would be best (especially if you don’t know who she is) and as long as you’ve started them before the before the end of season four of Doctor Who.

Torchwood - The Complete First Season BBC WarnerTorchwood Season 1 could be watched any time after the first Doctor Who Christmas episode (but before the end of Season 3 of DW). I don’t think the other Doctor Who specials (or 2009 DW specials) make any difference to watching Torchwood, at least they haven’t yet; but you do want to watch them in order just for continuity of Doctor Who. There are lots of Torchwood references in DW season 2 that might be better if you see them all before watching Torchwood, but I don’t think these tie directly to Torchwood Cardiff (many were just more hints to get you into the new series). Later on, other guest appearances make more sense if you catch them in order, but you’ll probably figure them out, Martha makes appearances on TW and Jack is on DW three different seasons (1, 3, 4) for multiple episodes all at the end of the season. I’m sure someone will disagree with me on some of the significance of some of the references, but I’ll defer back to the original broadcast order listed above.

Torchwood: Children of Earth BBC WarnerI think I originally watched parts of Doctor Who season two and caught up on DW season one and saw many episodes out of order and the different actors were distracting, but then I got it all when I finally caught the end of season one and the first Christmas special. This causes me to mix up Christopher Echelson and David Tennant when I think back about past episodes. Also, I think I was watching Torchwood before I watched most of season two of Doctor Who so some of the references came after the fact.

By the time I watched Torchwood, I knew it was the same actor for Jack, but didn’t remember they were using the same character for him. I didn’t even realize it was SciFi at first, the Torchwood pilot seemed more mystical (think of they way the glove worked) until they explained it. Then I realized it was the same guy.

Update: These aren’t all relevant for Torchwood, but it rounds out the David Tennant part of the series (although for that I should add the cartoons and Srah Jane’s Wedding).

I was right with my guesses about Doctor Who!! SPOILERS – Series 4 Final Episode “Journey’s End”

Woo Hoo! More guest stars!!! And now on to the good stuff…

WARNING!!! BIG SPOILERS BELOW!
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