Fans are buzzing about reports that "Master" actor John Simm is on set for the final Tennant story, and he's sporting bleach-blond hair. Simm's character, of course, was last seen dying in season three's "Last Of The Time Lords," before being burned in a funeral pyre... and having his ring rescued by a mysterious female hand. And now Simm is back — but has the Master returned from the dead as a surfer dude? The mind boggles. Maybe his hair is blond because he's merged with his wife, Lucy Saxon?

Here are some new set pics, courtesy of Alun_Vega (via Planet Gallifrey.) They show guards in black, a Jaguar, the wind from a spaceship landing on the front lawn, and a suspected Simm sighting. (It looks like Simm to me. What do you think?)

Meanwhile, producer/writer Davies and outgoing star Tennant gave an uproarious interview to the Times of London. (Apparently John Barrowman's penis is never not hanging out. And Davies only said his next TV show was about gay men because if he said his next show was about chipmunks, he'd be elected president of the chipmunk society and have chipmunks turning up at his door asking for work.)

The reporter asked Davies if there was anything he'd wanted to do on Doctor Who that he hadn't gotten to. And he'd replied, apparently seriously:

I would have loved to have done a Star Trek crossover. The very first year, we talked about it. Then Star Trek finally went off air. Landing the Tardis on board the Enterprise would have been magnificent. Can you imagine what their script department would have wanted, and what I would have wanted? It would have been the biggest battle.

(Presumably this would have been Star Trek: Enterprise, which went off the air in 2005.) Davies also says George Lucas has knocked on the door of every writer in England, including himself, to work on the live-action Star Wars series, but "I'm not going to do a series that's second rate compared to Doctor Who." He did say some unnamed British writers were working on the show, and they're at Skywalker Ranch right now, playing with the lightsabers in the prop room. Davies added that he'd been asked to do a new Lost In Space series, and had felt tempted for a moment:

Obviously, I said no. I'm sorry, I've done the best. But Lost in Space did make me think for a moment. If they got that right: a family, a robot, a villain, trapped on a spaceship . . .

And Tennant said he's been offered a new science fiction thing, that he's not allowed to discuss yet.

Meanwhile, Davies and Tennant said there won't be a dry eye anywhere when his finale airs. And they talked about this Saturday's episode, "Planet Of The Dead":

Russell T Davies: People are going to be Doctor Who-deprived this year, so it's got everything in it: CGI monsters, prosthetic monsters, army, police, an alien planet . . . It's our last chance to have a bit of a laugh. Now the Doctor's facing the end of his life, it's going to get dark.

David Tennant: Some of it was filmed in Dubai, and there were sandstorms . . . We were despairing. I'd look into the distance and go (Acting), "What is this strange alien world?" Well, I couldn't actually open my eyes to look at it. The Exfoliation of Doom would be a good subtitle. My hair was full of sand. And blonde. I looked like Tina Turner.

Wait, so is blondness a sign of transforming into Tina Turner? Could that be the Master's secret?

Oh, and the Times also links to this "ultimate mix" of the show's various theme tunes, which is totally addictive:

Pinball image by Stewtopia. Crocheted David Tennant by Bishma. Vote Saxon posters by OpheliaC.

1. Space Oddity by David Bowie. The ultimate science fiction ballad. If only the bar let you wave a lighter around.
Singing ability required: Moderate. You just need to be able to intone "Ground control to Major Tom" in a sort of monotone, count down from five, and then wave your beer bottle over your head to the rousing chorus.

2. Rocket Man by Elton John. The other ultimate science fiction ballad, and pretty much a rip-off of the Bowie song, only cheesier.
Singing ability required: High. Unless you decide to do a cover version of the famous Shatner rendition, in which case you need absolutely no vocal chops whatsoever.

3. Rapture by Blondie. Mostly for the rap about the Man from Mars. Who knows what the other part of the song is about anyway?
Singing ability required: High. But here's what you do. Either you find your cute friend who can actually sing to do the singing part, OR you cover the Go Home Productions mash-up of "Rapture" with "Riders On The Storm" by the Doors. (You can find this mash-up online pretty easily, I think, and it still includes the Blondie rap.) But this is the crucial part: memorize the rap. You don't have to be Kanye West to pull it off, but you do have to have it memorized, especially if you're already sorta drunk. Promise me you'll memorize it in advance, so you don't embarrass me too much. Or else, don't tell anybody I told you to do this.

4. 1999 by Prince. It's sort of an apocalyptic party song, about nuclear war or something. And on the album, it starts out with that robot that only wants you to have some fun.
Singing ability required: Fairly high. This is the one you drag all your friends up there to help you sing. Bonus points if you actually work out in advance which one of you will be Dez Dickerson (bass) and which one will be Lisa (alto).

5. She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby. It's pretty much the classic mad-scientist boogie number, from one of the most scifi-ish singers of all time.
Singing ability required: Moderate. If everybody is really really drunk, you can just sort of chant the lyrics and then put everything you've got into screaming "She blinded me! With! Science!" when appropriate. Or if that's too hard, just do the screaming part.

6. Anything by They Might Be Giants. Especially if they've got "Particle Man." They're sure to have that Istanbul/Constantinople song, which isn't really scifi, but TMBG has instant scifi cred anyway.
Singing ability: Fairly high, but you can bluff your way through it if you at least remember the lyrics.

7. Flash Gordon by Queen. Or, in a pinch, Another One Bites The Dust, which is sort of post-apocalyptic sounding. Do NOT try to sing Bohemian Rhapsody. It's not science fictional, for one thing, and your friends will disown you. You're not as funny as Wayne and Garth. Trust me.
Singing ability required: High. Sorry. It's Freddy Mercury.

8. Atomic Dog by George Clinton. Why is the dog atomic? Was there some kind of nuclear disaster, or bizarre scientific mishap? (Hint: Clinton also made the awesome Dope Dogs album, all about weird drug-related experiments on puppies.) Whatever the reason, this dog is probably chasing the cat using a jetpack or something. In an ideal universe, your karaoke bar would have "Unfunky UFO" or "Mothership Connection" or "Dr. Funkenstein." But we both know that's not going to happen.
Singing ability required: Pretty high, but you can pretty much just chant your way through it. If you can master the "bow-wow-wow-yippie-yi-yippie-yay" part, you're home free. This is another song you can bring your friends up for, and just have a dance party.

9. Styx, Mr. Roboto. Well, duh. His brain is IBM.
Singing ability required: I'd say moderate. Annalee just did an impromptu performance of it for me. If you put a lot of energy and emotion into "I'm just a man whose circumstances went beyond his control," and "Secret secret I've got a secret," you're home free.

10. Anything by Daft Punk, especially Technologic. It's pretty much all weird robots or creepy cyber-voices chanting about how they're going to fix everything.
Singing ability required: Not that much, really. Just chant and sound as robotic as you can. But work out a dance routine with a couple of your friends.