It's the Master! It looks like he's pretty helpless, but wait...

Appearances can be deceiving. Meanwhile, DigitalSpy saw the first episode of "End Of Time," and has a handful of fairly major spoilers. The first line of the episode is the one you've heard in the trailers: "It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams." There's that scene you've already watched, where the Doctor lands with his Hawaiian lei and meets Ood Sigma. And it continues with him having visions of the Master, Joshua Naismith, and Wilf. The Master's resurrection is "preposterous," and his (ex?) wife Lucy Saxon plays a major role.

That other scene you've seen, where the Doctor and the Master have their "force lightning" battle, happens fairly early on. Besides Star Wars, the episode also references Jaws (with the iconic music) and The Matrix. So why does Joshua Naismith bring the Master back to life? He wants the Master to do something for him — and it turns out just as well as you'd expect using the Master to.

We see a lot of Wilf, but not much of Donna, at first. But we do find out what she's been doing with her life, and she's still very "special." And we meet (or see) the President of the United States. Also, Wilf says the word "cactus," the Master says "so hungry," and the Doctor says the word "shimmer," as well as "...new man goes sauntering away." A reference to regeneration? We can't wait to find out.

[FilmShaft and DigitalSpy]

BBC has started running their annual Christmas identifications. Although this doesn't offer any clues to the Tenth Doctor's exit, we do get a fun moment with David Tennant playing Santa Claus:

Blogtor Who has nabbed some nice stills from the promo as well.

BBC Christmas Ident [Blogtor Who]
Additional reporting by Josh Snyder.

Though there's absolutely no denying Davies has successfully forged a massive popular (and, to a slightly lesser extent, critical) success with his revival of Doctor Who, I'm sorry to say that I'm still not entirely convinced he's all that good at writing episodes of Doctor Who. Of the twenty-two stories he's written for the new series (not counting his two recent collaborations), I'd only consider "Midnight" a classic, although I could maybe be talked into counting "Utopia" as well, if only for nostalgia value.

The rest are a mix of solid but unremarkable filler ("The Long Game", "Smith and Jones"), weird morality plays with seriously muddled points ("Boomtown", "Love & Monsters"), decent premises let down by gratingly absurd setpieces ("Tooth & Claw", "Gridlock"), and fat jokes ("Aliens of London", "Partners in Crime"). Oh, and the finales. But more on them in a second.

There have has more than enough written over the last five years attacking Davies, and I'm honestly not interested in adding to that tally. Suffice it to say that while he's not my favorite writer, I still respect what he's done for the program, I do think he's been a fantastic executive producer and showrunner, and "Midnight" almost makes up for all the other missteps. There are definitely some things Davies knows how to do really well. But if there's one thing I'm really not sure he knows how to do at all, it's epic series finales. Which gives me serious pause as we head into the biggest, craziest, most epic finale of them all, as both he and David Tennant unfold their swansong on Doctor Who.

Still, I am above all a Doctor Who fan, and I desperately want "The End of Time" to be good. I'll try to keep this post spoiler-free, but if you don't mind getting a sense of why I'm cautiously excited, check out the trailer:

There's plenty about that to really like (I'm particularly excited about the guy doing the voice-over). But the track record here is mixed at best. Let's take a look back at Davies's four previous epic finales, and try to figure out what worked and what didn't.

"Bad Wolf"/"Parting of the Ways" (2005)

What Worked: When I rewatched the Christopher Eccleston episodes recently, I was struck by how much less predictable they felt than those starring David Tennant. Maybe it's because Eccleston never quite fit comfortably into the world of Doctor Who like his successor did, maybe it's because the creative team was still figuring things out as they went along, or maybe it's just that nobody has yet matched the flair director Joe Ahearne brought to his series one episodes, but there's a mad energy to this two-parter that no later episodes quite match. It's a bit hard to describe concretely, but there's a moment around when the Doctor thinks Rose is dead and morosely allows himself to be imprisoned (before leading a jailbreak, of course) that I got the sense that this really was a show where anything could happen. The series has gotten a little too comfortable over the past couple of series, and though that's made for a more consistent quality of episode I think it's robbed the series of a bit of its magic.

What Didn't: This episode throws into high relief two of my biggest problems with Davies. One, it relies heavily on a bunch of trite pop culture references that are almost certainly going to age even worse than the creaky special effects of the classic series. As an American, I still don't really know anything about half of the reality shows Davies was spoofing, and I can't for the life of me find any coherent satirical point in their inclusion. I think they're just there because...well, it's kind of funny, I guess, and it says something about people being lazy. Then there's the fact that the plot doesn't really make all that much sense. The Dalek plan is convoluted — to put it mildly — and a whole bunch of seemingly important stuff (like the Daleks melting entire Earth continents) is brushed aside in the rush to the Doctor's big moral dilemma. At this point, it's a cliche to point out that Rose resolves the plot through pretty much a literal deus ex machina, but that doesn't mean it's not worth pointing out.

The Bottom Line: Ultimately, this story did some things Doctor Who had never tried before. Sometimes, there's good reason for that.

"Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" (2006)

What Worked: Of all the Doctor Who finales, this is probably the most coherently plotted. The mystery of the void stuff is set up early with the 3D glasses, and a lot of the apparent logical problems (like the ghosts not looking anything like Cybermen) is deftly handled. The nature of the Genesis Ark is a nice touch, there's some amusing character stuff in the relationships at Torchwood One, and the reunion between Jackie and Alt-Pete always gets me, despite my best efforts. I was never a big fan of the special status the series accorded Rose, but I'll admit the conclusion is well handled.

What Didn't: There are still a couple minor plot holes, like exactly how an organization as elite as Torchwood One could fail to notice the Cybermen converting their own employees in one of their hallways. Davies can't resist a couple moments of abject silliness, like Cyber-Yvonne crying an oily tear at the end of the story. And for what is supposed to be the big Cybermen/Daleks showdown, the Daleks really do kick just a little too much ass to make the fight seem worth talking about. But then, they didn't face the real Cybermen. I'd like to see the Daleks go fifteen rounds with the original bruisers from Mondas. (Yes, the Daleks would still win, but there'd be way more insane schemes and cries of "Excellent!")

The Bottom Line: Honestly, for a story that is essentially one big excuse to pit the Daleks against the Cybermen, it makes a surprising amount of sense and packs a pretty decent emotional punch. This is probably my favorite of the bunch.

"The Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords" (2007)

What Worked: The Toclafane are probably the single creepiest idea in the history of Doctor Who. Just thinking about them weirds me out all over again, so I really have to give Davies credit for that. I have to admit, I hated this story on first viewing, but on a rewatch I realized why it's sort of insanely brilliant — the whole thing is about what it would be like if the Master won. Davies is so audacious in following through on that premise that "Last of the Time Lords" ends up being the most wonderfully perverse episode in Doctor Who history, as you slowly realize even the tiniest details of the Master's plot are meant to hurt the Doctor.

What Didn't: Well, there's the fact that President Winters is a really obnoxious parody of Americans (and as a politics nerd, I'm still bothered by the fact that he calls himself "President-Elect", which just makes absolutely zero sense). Davies writes himself into a corner by making the Master's victory such a complete one, and he never really comes up with a good solution. I'm sorry, but the Doctor being restored by the combined faith of humanity is one of the silliest things I've ever seen, even if it is kind of set up by the existence of the Master's telepathic network. And the ultra-ancient Doctor is really too ridiculous for words.

The Bottom Line: The Master takes over for two episodes, and Doctor Who goes completely insane. That's actually a pretty compelling way to look at it, I'd say, but I still don't think that excuses some of the just plain silly stuff Davies includes.

"The Stolen Earth"/"Journey's End" (2008)

What Worked: A lot of the setup is pretty strong. Honestly, Davies has always been a lot better at building up to the big payoff than actually delivering on said payoff ("Utopia" is a perfect example of this, as it's pretty much all setup and thus works surprisingly well, delaying the payoff to the finale). Julian Bleach's Davros might just be the best villain of the new series, even if he really isn't given all that much to do. The fate of Donna is actually kind of powerful, but its impact is diminished after all the gratuitous guest stars. The one thing those guests do help do, though, is really hammer home that all the Doctor's friends eventually leave him. So there's that.

What Didn't: Charlie Jane said it best with her recap - this is really just one big fan fiction. And it isn't even all that good as fan fiction. It just throws a bunch of unrelated characters together because they happen to have their own TV shows, sets up a pretty tedious moral debate that the Doctor is clearly going to win, and wastes time giving characters entirely gratuitous resolutions when they had already had much better ones (why yes, I am looking at Rose). I really don't like the fake regeneration, as I think it cheapens the whole concept, but that might just be me being cranky.

The Bottom Line: While "Last of the Time Lords" is insane, "Journey's End" is just nonsensical. There's a big difference, and I'm not sure what this episode does that any of the previous epics didn't already do.

So based on all that, here are the five things I'd most like to see "End of Time" accomplish:

1. Tell a coherent story.

Yep, I'm shooting for the moon right out of the gate. Considering all the unlikely returns and longstanding prophecies we already know are going to figure in "The End of Time", I fear that this is unlikely, but Davies has shown he's capable of doing this. I'd really like to not have to shut off my brain to get through these specials, and I really don't want to spend an hour afterward coming up with insanely convoluted, fannish explanations to resolve all the plot holes. If I wanted to do that, I'd probably just watch "The Two Doctors" again. (Oh, Season 6B. You're my oldest friend.)

2. Realize that giant stakes don't necessarily equal giant drama.

Davies has made no secret that he tries to make every finale and special more epic than the one before it, and there's been a solid progression of that in the last four finales. After all, we've gone from future Earth in jeopardy to present Earth in jeopardy to present Earth destroyed to entire universe in jeopardy. That last one was a bit of a big leap, but from the title of "The End of Time" I'd guess that he's upped the stakes once again, this time putting all existence for all time in danger. Which is all well and good, but the scope of the threat doesn't necessarily mean all that much in terms of the story's dramatic heft.

After all, look at the fourth and fifth Doctor's finales. In "Logopolis", the entire universe is under threat, and the whole thing is completely dramatically inert. In "The Caves of Androzani", the whole thing doesn't really extend beyond a few soldiers, a corrupt CEO, and some gun runners, but it's maybe the tensest four episodes in Doctor Who history because the Doctor is so completely invested in saving Peri. If there isn't a solid personal motivation for the Doctor's actions, the whole thing could become rather painfully abstract and devolve into yet another pseudo-profound moral dilemma. Here's hoping Donna will provide just such a motivation.

3. Lay off the pop culture.

"Bad Wolf" aside, most of this has been limited to the opening post-crisis flip through the TV channels. It's relatively unobtrusive, I guess, and I suppose I don't really have anything against Richard Dawkins having a cameo on Doctor Who (although everything I've learned about Ann Widdecombe suggests I should have a problem with her putting in an appearance). Even so, I'd sort of like David Tennant's swansong to have a more timeless quality. It's kind of a shame that Christopher Eccleston's final appearance will forever be linked to Big Brother.

4. Come up with a coherent reason for all the guest stars.

Again, I won't spoil it for people by naming specific characters, but characters are coming back. A lot of them. And it would be nice for there to be a better reason behind it than a thinly veiled excuse for Captain Jack to flirt with Sarah Jane Smith (although that was admittedly kinda awesome.) I actually think "The End of Time" has a shot at pulling this off, as it might in part be a lyrical look back on the Doctor's past, which would actually somewhat justify all the guest appearances. Such an approach requires a fairly deft hand, though, and Davies' strengths have generally been the polar opposite of subtlety.

5. Make it actually possible for the Doctor to resolve the conflict.

In "Parting of the Ways", the Doctor was sidelined in favor of Bad Wolf Rose, but then he had already shown he wasn't going to do anything to stop the Daleks. (This was somehow considered a good thing.) The "other" Doctor has to make the hard decision to destroy the Daleks in "Journey's End", which the real Doctor then kind of illogically excoriates him for, banishing him to a human life with Rose. (Not that anyone was complaining, but still.) "Last of the Time Lords" is just a little too batshit insane for me to really tell you how the Doctor resolved that one. I mean, I kind of understand it, but I think I go slightly mad every time I try to think about it.

That just leaves "Doomsday", in which he does actually solve the story's big problem. The reason the void stuff solution works so well is that it's scientific(ish). The Doctor is able to think of a solution that requires action, but doesn't require superhuman action. The threats in "Parting of the Ways" and "Journey's End" were just too big for him to really be capable of fixing. They're the kind of things Superman might be able to solve, but not the Doctor. Obviously, it's harder coming up with crises that a thinking hero can solve, but Davies has done it before, so hopefully he can do it again.

Ultimately, I'm going to watch "The End of Time", and unless it's a complete train wreck I'm probably going to enjoy it. (And even if it is, I'll probably still enjoy it, just on another level.) Like so much of Davies's tenure, I'm guessing it will be frustrating but largely enjoyable. But here's hoping that he can learn a few lessons from his previous forays into epic storytelling and deliver a swansong that's worthy of his best moments with Doctor Who.

BBC America, which posted this clip just now and sent us the above still (click to enlarge!), also announced that "The End Of Time, Part 1" will air in the U.S. on December 26, just the day after it appears in the U.K. And the airdate for Tennant's final hour will be announced very soon.

And here's another BBC America exclusive video, "What Is Doctor Who":

This recap contains maximum spoilers for last night's Doctor Who. If you're waiting to watch it on BBC America next month, you should stop reading now. Or a funny robot will come and tell you secrets of the future, which you're not supposed to know about.

"Waters Of Mars" was by no means perfect — the scenery-chewing was a bit ferocious for my taste — but it did feel like one of the better Doctor Who stories of recent years. More than that, it felt like a payoff, after all this time, on the promises that Russell T. Davies started making us back in 2005. The Doctor's loneliness, the burden of being the Last of the Time Lords, the boredom, horror and glory of it all... it finally feels like it was actually leading someplace interesting and moving, after a few years of going in circles. Like Davies actually did have a plan for the Doctor's development as a character all along.

Honestly, this is the kind of delving into the Doctor's hearts that I was hoping for all these years — not so much moping after Rose, but dealing with his feelings about the death of his people and his resulting lack of any external compass. You always knew the Rose storyline was never going to end up anywhere interesting, because it couldn't. These kinds of huge questions about the Doctor's place in the universe, though — there's so much potential in them.

There were really only a few episodes in series four that hold up on repeated viewings — "Fires Of Pompeii," "Midnight" and "Turn Left" — and this felt like a mash-up of all three. In a good way. The Doctor arrives at the scene of a huge historical event that he absolutely must not change, and feels torn about it. And he's alone in a tense, claustrophobic situation with no companion to help smoothe things over. And then we get a glimpse of how badly things go when the Doctor isn't around.

But "Waters Of Mars" was more than just a combination of "Pompeii," "Midnight" and "Turn Left" — it was a pretty great story in its own right, building on the themes of those three stories. In a nutshell, the Doctor arrives on Mars, and it turns out to be the day that the first colonists on Mars all die in a horrible incident involving terrifying water zombies. (And I really did like the water zombies — they were a great menace.) The Doctor knows he can't change what happens there because it's an important — until, finally, his compassion and egomania both combine to drive him to change it anyway. And we get a glimpse of how easy it is for the godlike Doctor to go off the rails.

It's interesting, because we're deliberately told that a lone Dalek almost killed the captain of the Mars expedition, Adelaide Brooke, when she was a little girl — but spared her life. Because even the Daleks understand, on some level, that certain things are fixed in time, like Adelaide's death in 2059. (Although presumably, if the Daleks' plan to wipe out the universe had succeeded, Adelaide would have died anyway?)

So "Waters Of Mars" gives us a Doctor who's changing an event that even the Daleks are too scrupulous to touch. I'm reminded of the bit in "Remembrance Of The Daleks" when he chides Ace that even the Daleks, "ruthless though they are, would think twice before making such a radical amendment to the timeline." (Ace almost accidentally leaves a super-advanced boombox behind in 1963.)

The thing that surprised me most about "Waters Of Mars" is that the Doctor actually makes a choice all on his own. I figured it would be the standard plotline, where he's trapped and cut off from his TARDIS, and finally, he's left with no choice but to intervene, just to save his own life. But instead, the Doctor actually makes a clean getaway. And then he stops and thinks about leaving those people to die, and wonders why he can't save them even with his immense power. And then he goes back.

Sadly, it turns out the Doctor really can't save Adelaide, or rather he does such a bad job of it that she winds up offing herself. Of course, you can't help wondering why the Doctor didn't just take Adelaide forward 100 years so she could see that things turn out fine in spite of the Doctor saving her life, and her granddaughter still goes on to be a great pilot. That final scene between the Doctor and Adelaide is frustratingly meta, with the Doctor spouting off about being the "Time Lord Victorious" and Adelaide giving off aphorisms about absolute power. The thing I was wondering that nobody brought up was, how would Adelaide and her crewmates explain the fact that they were back on Earth safe the same day their base blew up? Wouldn't Adelaide be painted as a deserter instead of a hero? We never explore those questions, which you'd think Adelaide would be wondering about. I kept expecting the Doctor to drop the three survivors off in the 19th century, or the 23rd., where they couldn't do any damage to the timelines.

Over the top as that final scene was, it was a fascinating glimpse at what happens to the Doctor when he stops playing by the rules. This is the Doctor we glimpsed back in season one, when he was totally fine with populating Victorian England with thousands, maybe millions, of reanimated corpses. Just because it didn't happen in Rose's timeline didn't mean it wasn't meant to happen.

Normally, you think it's the companions who rein the Doctor in and keep him anchored to humanity, but the reference back to the "Pompeii" episode reminds us that if Donna had been there, she would have been shrieking for the Doctor to save these people. On the other hand, can you imagine how Donna would have reacted if the Doctor had started talking about the "little people" in front of her?

No, the Doctor really needs his fellow Time Lords to keep him from going too bonkers. Otherwise, he starts feeling as though the rules really don't apply to him, and he starts playing God for real. It's really fascinating that just as the Doctor comes the closest he's ever gotten to being like the Master, the renegade Time Lord, he's about to have a reunion with the Master in Tennant's two-part final story, "The End Of Time."

The British press had a chance to see The Waters of Mars, the first of the three final episodes, (Premiering in the UK November 15th on BBC One, and in the US December 19th on BBC America) this week and Bleeding Cool's anonymous reviewer called it "[b]oth an action adventure, base under siege, story, plus an enormously powerful emotional story" similar to Torchwood: Children of Earth:

This ep puts you through the emotional wringer. Perhaps it's not so hopeless-feeling as the Torchwood: Children Of Earth but without doubt "Waters Of Mars" is mining the same sort of territory and it's the closest Doctor Who will ever come to nihilism.

The review is pretty spoiler-free, but something that caught our eye was the mention of

more than one old enemy that puts in an appearance, either in flashback (not necessarily from The Doctor's life) or… dare I say, premonition.

A flash-forward of sorts to the "End Of Time" two-parter closing out Tennant's take on the timelord, or Steven Moffat's reign as new Who-meister? Either way, we can't wait. Luckily, we may not have to; BBC America announced on Friday that the final episodes of Davies/Tennant's Doctor Who will air over the holiday season in the US, presumably days after their UK airing (Dates are to be announced next month).

Review: Doctor Who – The Waters Of Mars (SPOILERS) [Bleeding Cool]

I have to say the new animation style doesn't look quite as succesful as the slightly warmer look the Doctor got in the "Infinite Quest" animated series a while back. Still, every last dose of David Tennant is precious at this point, weird computer-generated face or otherwise.

After "Dreamland" appears via the red button thingy, it will be on BBC2 as part of their children's programming block.

According to the release, "Dreamland" sees the Doctor landing in "the infamous alien hot spot" Roswell in 1958:

During a visit to a local diner he stumbles upon a mysterious alien artefact that leads him on a mission to rescue Rivesh Mantilax from the threat of the Viperox and the clutches of the American military.

Joining David Tennant will be Georgia Moffett (Doctor Who, Spooks) in the role of Cassie Rice – the Doctor's new animated companion.

David Warner (Wallander, Hogfather) also stars as the leader of the ruthless Viperox.

The BBC's Doctor Who site will be hosting a "Dreamland" blog, featuring images, interviews and behind-the-scenes stuff in the run-up to the show appearing.

Digital Spy talked to actor David Harewood, who plays a new character called Joshua Naismith in the final episode, and asked about the atmosphere on set for the end of the Tennant era:

I'd say it was very charged - people were in tears. It was the end of a very successful partnership. It was obviously David's last outing, and it was also Russell's last outing and Julie Gardner's last outing. So everyone was saying goodbye to what had been a very successful partnership... we only got four pages [of script], so most of us didn't get to see [Tennant's final scene]. I think we'll all be checking in on Christmas Day!

When asked if actors tried to find out what they were missing, Harewood answered,

Not really, because we all understand what it is and everyone was playing their part and they're keen to keep it under wraps!

The final episodes of David Tennant's Doctor Who air in the UK at the end of the year.

Scoop on those final 'Who' specials [Digital Spy]

via The Uniblog

In a post at Bleeding Cool this weekend, Rich Johnston quoted Doctor Who executive producer Julie Gardner's denial about the project at Comic-Con before calling her a liar:

"We are not making any announcement about a Doctor Who movie," she said. "I'm really sorry. I don't know where the rumor started. But what it's made us think is it might be a good idea to do at some point. Is this something that you want?" This is the great thing about people who work on Doctor Who. They are quite happy to lie, lie boldly, lie to your face, swear on their grandmother's graves, say 'scout's honour and promise, absolutely, that the Master isn't coming back.

(That last line being a reference to the fact that The Master is making a return in David Tennant's final episodes, despite very emphatic denials about the possibility earlier this year.)
Citing inside sources, Johnston says that outgoing showrunner Russell T. Davies is already signed on to write the potential movie, and will be working on it in the US; he's previously said that Who and Torchwood: Children of Earth director Euros Lyn will direct the movie. What he doesn't mention, surprisingly, is that David Tennant has dropped the most obvious underhanded confirmation of the movie's existence by hinting very clearly that he will be returning to the character for the show's 50th anniversary in 2013, before adding "That's not an announcement."

The first movie for the character happening on his 50th anniversary sounds surprisingly logical, and fits in with the odd wording of the BBC press release that mentioned that a movie script was in development but that "if the project went into full production, a release would be a long time away." Like, four years away, perhaps?

So What's Actually Happening With The Doctor Who Movie? [Bleeding Cool]

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 Saxon, 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."

We were lucky enough to sit down with Doctor Who star David Tennant, plus executive producer Julie Gardner, (re)creator Russell T. Davies and director Euros Lynn, along with a handful of other reporters. We'll post more of their answers to our searing questions next week, but here's the breaking news. Oh, and there are spoilers below...

First of all, Tennant and Gardner insist that there's no news about a possible Doctor Who movie, and they want to damp down speculation that tomorrow's Who panel will include some kind of announcement. There's no announcement, just them talking up Tennant's last few "special" one-off episodes as the Doctor. On the other hand, Tennant promises that if every single audience member comes to the panel dressed as the Tenth Doctor, Tennant will do the panel in the nude. So there is that.

So after spending so much time crafting our video of every single time Tennant's Doctor says the word "sorry," we had to ask Tennant himself: Why do you think your Doctor is so apologetic? And Tennant had a thoughtful answer:

I think he feels guilty. I think he's in a very difficult position. He has to make the hard choices, and he's riddled with remorse for what happened to his people, and the part he played in that, which we'll learn a little bit more about before I disappear. [Laughs] Not that much, just a little bit. It's not the three-part miniseries staring [former 1990s Doctor] Paul McGann. But I think he's tortured, and he travels time and space trying to make it better... but some of the side effects of that are not as we'd wish them to be.

And Tennant admitted for the first time that season three's villiain, John Simm really is coming back. And Timothy Dalton is also guest-starring, as we already pretty much knew. "Bloody hell, Timothy Dalton," he says. "Such enthusiasm to be there." "What a voice that man has," says Gardner. And Wilf (Bernard Cribbins) plays a "huge and fundamental part" in Tennant's final episodes, and brings "such humanity" to the role, says Tennant.

The fact that the Doctor is "the last of his kind, or nearly the last of his kind," will "come back in a big way in the final stories," Tennant adds.

Not surprisingly, Tennant and the production crew all promise some of the series' strongest moments in the final episodes of 2009, and Euros Lynn said he showed the regeneration scene (where Tennant's Doctor "dies" and turns into Matt Smith) to composer Murray Gold, who bawled like a baby.

During the filming, says Gardner, "Every day there was a new goodbye of some sort to someone."

Tennant also says:

The final stories are very emotional... The story takes you to places that the Doctor can't go on a regular basis. It affords an opportunity to confront this immutable character with new challenges and places you can only take him when that man is going to die, that version of that man is going to die. And that's, for an actor's point of view, hugely challenging and liberating and exciting... It's thrilling that we get to make people cry a bit.

And Davies said that you probably shouldn't expect to see his supporting cast — Martha, Mickey, Wilf, etc. — turn up in the show after writer/producer Steven Moffat takes over. Those characters are available for Moffat to use, and he's certainly written for them before, but "He's going to build his own. It's probably time to say goodbye to those characters. Of course, for all I know, he could phoning them all up in Cardiff right now."

Seriously, if "Fantastic" was Christopher Eccleston's catch phrase as the Doctor, we've decided that "I'm sorry" is Tennant's. What's fascinating is to watch all the different ways Tennant can apologize, from flippant mania to utter agonizing sincerity. That one word actually captures something about the range of emotion his Doctor displays. Matt Smith has a lot of work to do to win us over, after Tennant.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting the rumor based, apparently, on speculation from the LA Times' Geoff Boucher, who noticed that Tennant and Jackson were both attending the convention next week, so take that with however many grains of salt you want. Tennant is just one of the actors who have been connected with the Bilbo Baggins role in the movie, with others including Wanted's James McAvoy and Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe. Personally, I was hoping for an awkwardly CGI-deaged Ian Holm based on the character's appearance in the Lord Of The Rings movies.

Doctor Who's David Tennant tipped to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit [Daily Telegraph]

BleedingCool.com suggests that Lyn has already been approached for the project - confirmed as in development by the BBC and expected to be announced at this year's San Diego Comic-Con - and that the movie will be headed up by departing showrunner Russell T Davies and starring outgoing Doctor David Tennant, allowing the incoming team of Steven Moffatt and Matt Smith to concentrate on the television series. If true, then the movie will reunite Lyn with Tennant and Davies; as well as directing many episodes during their Who tenure, Lyn will helm Tennant's final episodes, including the scene regenerating the character into his new, younger, Matt Smith incarnation.

Adding fuel to the fire, Lyn, Tennant and Davies have all been confirmed to appear at Comic-Con later this month.

Will Euros Lyn Direct The Upcoming Doctor Who Movie? [Bleeding Cool]

It's a far cry from any normal star-studded event, but SDCC always brings us our own pantheon of SF gods and goddesses every year. For me personally, this includes a handful of stars (Michael C. Hall, David Tennant, Felicia Day) and Creators (Joss Whedon, Alan Ball, J.J. "You-Make-Life-Worth-Living" Abrams) and, above all, the unsung heroes behind-the-scenes like Julie Gardner and Jane Espenson.

The addition of Dr.Who and its naughty little spin-off Torchwood to the SDCC TV panel lineup has already been big news around here lately. While everyone is lining up to see the sexy stars of these two BBC series, I'm going to see the amazing Julie Gardner. Gardner is the executive producer of Who and Torchwood, and helped co-create the latter along with Russell T. Davies. While RTD is leaving the TARDIS for other adventures, Gardner will continue to executive produce the show and help Matt Smith fill David Tennant's Hi-Tops.

Jane Espenson has been a script editor, writer and producer behind Buffy, Dollhouse and Battlestar Galactica. She wrote the antebellum-themed Firefly episode "Shindig", and spends her free time working with Joss on the Buffy comics for Dark Horse. She's scripted the pilot episode to Warehouse 13 and will hopefully turn up on the W13 panel to promote the new show, and maybe to give us some hints as to what to expect from Caprica, which she'll be showrunning with Ronald D. Moore.

Amazing news: Doctor Who's outgoing star and show runner, David Tennant and Russell T Davies, will be on a Comic Con panel this year in San Diego. This is absolutely huge news, and just one more amazing announcement for SDCC. This could very well be the year that the most influential people will visit the overcrowded halls of the convention center. So mark your calendar, the Who panel's on Sunday July 26, at 10 AM.

Tennant's not the only BBC family member making a cameo: Torchwood and Being Human [about a werewolf a vampire and a ghost living together in Bristol] will also have panel time.

But that's not even all! Besides Peter Jackson and James Cameron's appearances at the Con, remember the never-before-seen Dollhouse season finale, "Epitaph One," featuring Felicia Day? It's getting its own special screening. Fingers crossed friend-to-geeks Day will make an appearance. And if you can't make that, then go to the screening of the pilot for the alien reboot V.

And if that wasn't enough, there's the fact that you'll be spared listening to the cast of Heroes explain just what happened this past season. There won't be a Heroes panel there because they couldn't all get together, which sounds about par for this series.

Everything is coming up roses right now for SDCC — July 23 through the 26 is sounding pretty great, and we can't wait.