Why do I feel, reading these, that I'm looking over Russell T. Davies' script notes? I am so going to ace this. I bet they also work as a drinking game as well.

Here's a second one:

[Thanks to bluehinter!]

Geoff Johns
Best known for his DC Comics work on titles like Action Comics, Green Lantern, The Flash and Blackest Night, Johns is more than just the man who's single-handedly changed the publisher's fortunes in the comic book direct market: He's also a movie producer and writer, working on a movie with the people behind Robot Chicken (He's also written for the TV show) and part of the brain trust behind DC Entertainment's movie development team alongside Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman. Not lacking in talent or ambition, he's already many comic fans' Master. How long before he wins everyone else over?

J. Michael Straczynzki
The onetime Babylon 5 creator already has a lot of Master qualities down: Huge fanbase, creation of/showrunning-upkeep of epic weekly television series, a surprising amount of power within Hollywood and geek credentials from comic book work that includes a longterm run on Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man. With future projects including the movie version of World War Z, a remake of Forbidden Planet and DC's relaunch of the Man of Steel, Superman: Earth One, expect JMS to become an even bigger name in our world. But is it enough to be our new Master?

Mark Millar
After dominating comics for the last decade with critic-proof hits like The Authority, The Ultimates and Civil War, Millar's mix of high-concept and big action did the same to movie audiences with 2008's Wanted adaptation. Mext May's independently-produced Kick Ass movie is already seeming like a blockbuster waiting to happen, and alongside new comic series Nemesis (already getting interest from movie producers) and Millar's first all-original movie project reportedly being announced at some point next year, expect to see Millar's star rise even further in 2010. But how high is Master high?

Roberto Orci/Alex Kurtzman
They wrote Star Trek, both Transformers movies, and co-created Fringe; there's not denying the success of the Kurtzman/Orci team over the last few years, making sci-fi mainstream without upsetting the genre faithful (too much). Besides continuing producing Fringe, they're working on adapting Whitley Streiber's 2012: The War For Souls, fantasy comic Atlantis Rising and working with the Iron Man dream team of Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. on Cowboys Vs. Aliens. Is that enough to win your hearts over forever?

Peter Jackson
Yes, The Lovely Bones may not have been a slamdunk for genre fans' interest, but don't think that Peter Jackson has abandoned you just yet. Along with his much-anticipated collaboration with Steven Spielberg and Steven Moffatt (The two movie motion-capture Tintin series), don't discount his producing return to Middle Earth with Guillermo del Toro's The Hobbit movies. Oh, and don't forget his Weta Digital effects house, continually raising the bar on what our eyes can be fooled into believing. Maybe Jackson is already our behind-the-scenes, puppet-Master.

Russell T Davies
You could try and argue that the success of Doctor Who has more to do with David Tennant's "long streak of nothing" (Thanks, Donna) looks and charm than the writing, but all we'd do is point you in the direction of Torchwood: Children of Earth to prove that showrunner Russell T Davies is able to come up with the goods all on his own when he has to (Also, he's the one who chose Tennant, so there's that, too). Not content with not only resurrecting the BBC's longrunning SF series but turning it into the most popular drama on British television and a successful franchise, Davies has relocated to Los Angeles and turned his attentions to American television. With the adulation and respect of many in the industry already his, will mainstream audiences follow?

JJ Abrams
Maybe I'm biased, but with stewardships of Alias, Lost and Fringe on television, as well as Mission: Impossible 3, Cloverfield and Star Trek in movies, JJ Abrams feels like he's already taken the title of New Master. All he needs now is to wheedle his way into comic books to complete the media triumvirate (And, no; that Wired issue doesn't count).

Joss Whedon
Were we too hasty to count Whedon out? Sure, Dollhouse crashed and burned at Fox, but it lasted a season longer than anyone expected and was full of interesting ideas even when the execution lacked. With The Cabin In The Woods, his horror movie with Drew Goddard, upcoming as well as a new Dr. Horrible web series expected, amid rumors that he'll move into even more online content creation, will Whedon 2.0 prove that television is over once and for all? It's be an impressive comeback and reinvention, but maybe that's what we should expect from a former Roseanne scriptwriter who made himself into a television and movie powerhouse who liked things shiny.

What do you think? Vote below and share your thoughts in the comments.

Original image by Neil Crosby.

Writing for the British Daily Telegraph, Davies says,

It shouldn't have worked. The things we once loved are gone. We've changed and grown and moved on, and the memory only cheats. Except for this time. Doctor Who broke all the rules – everyone said it would never work (yes, even me) but everyone was wrong. When it blazed back into life on March 26 2005, an entire generation remembered. "Oh yes, we love this," they said, as though coming out of a fog. And a whole new generation said: "Wow!", as though accusing us: why have you kept this secret all this time?

Of course, we couldn't have been confident, before transmission. We worked on that first series, in the depths of BBC Wales, worrying that children's heads were now full of Harry Potter and Star Wars, so they'd have neither the time nor the inclination for an old, Sixties Time Lord. But I think fear helped me. I was so convinced we'd never reach a second series that I poured my heart and soul into the first 13 episodes, in case they were the only ones ever to exist. The one-off 1996 television movie with Paul McGann had single-handedly fuelled a fan-industry of novels and comics for a decade, so I had to pack enough into my 13 stories to keep the fans busy until… well, forever. Because I honestly thought that if 2005 failed, the BBC would never bring the show back again. It was all or nothing.

He also teases an unexpected end for his and David Tennant's two-part finale:

The Master, played by John Simm, is back – dying and deadly, and harbouring his most outrageous scheme yet; Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins) is being plagued by strange dreams and mysterious visitations; his granddaughter Donna (Catherine Tate) dares not remember her travels with the Doctor, or she'll die on the spot; and a mysterious Woman in White, played by the legendary Claire Bloom, brings ominous warnings of death and destruction to come. What a Christmas! Though whether there's a regeneration on its way, or whether we've got some final tricks up our sleeves, you'll just have to wait and see.

No regeneration? Whaaaaat? That's the entire reason we're tuning in*!

(* This is not true. But we'll still be disappointed if we don't get one.)

Doctor Who airs 6pm on BBC One in the UK today, and 9pm on BBC America tomorrow.

'Doctor Who's given me the time of my life' - Russell T Davies on leaving Doctor Who [Telegraph.co.uk]

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.

Talking to ShortList, Davies says that "there's not enough money" for the much-rumored Who movie, and adds that he "feel[s] like I've made 60 movies already," when asked about the possibility of one of his future projects being a big-screen turn for the Time Lord (In another interview, he denies working on an American version of the show, which I didn't even know was a rumor). It's possible that he'll just be too busy looking for guilty former Who staffers to think about a movie, of course; asked about leaks from the production keeping British tabloids (and sites like us) busy as the show gained popularity, he said,

When I was inside the programme it really p*ssed me off but now I'm outside it and seeing stuff that they're filming [for the next series] appear in the papers it excites me and doesn't put me off watching it in the slightest... [But] I don't want to go to my deathbed without finding out who leaked stuff. They will be found.

Confidential memo to those who leaked: Thank you. Now run and hide.

The Russell T Davies Interview [Shortlist]

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]

Talking to Torchwood Magazine, Davies said,

I could write you scene one of series four right now... I know exactly how to pick it up. I've got a shape in mind, and I've got stories. I know where you'd find Gwen and Rhys, and their baby, and Jack, and I know how you'd go forward with a new form of Torchwood.

That "new form," however, doesn't necessarily mean that a format for the next season has been decided upon, according to the creator:

If the BBC asked for another 13 one-part stories, that's what we'd do... I'm ready for anything, but I think it works well as one continuous story. But if the BBC decide they want 13 one-offs, I'll suddenly decide that's the best format in the world!

The full interview can be found in #17 of the magazine, released August 20th in the UK and September 15th in the US.

via The Uniblog

This was part of a group interview with Davies and director Euros Lyn, where we were lucky enough to be able to ask some questions. Oh, and if you still haven't watched the most recent Torchwood miniseries, A) You are wasting your life on vain pursuits, and B) There's a spoiler for them below.

Why is Rose the most special?

So we had the impression, watching Davies' era of Doctor Who, that he regarded Rose Tyler as the most important, or most special, of the Doctor's companions. She's come back a couple of times, she was referenced constantly in the season after she left, and she got to keep her own duplicate of David Tennant's Doctor. So we asked Davies why Rose deserves to be so extraordinary. He replied:

I don't think she has been [treated as special]. I don't think I feel any more special when I'm writing Rose than when I'm writing any of the others. I think there's an iconography about Billie Piper. When the programme came back, it was the biggest advertised, most hyped-up programme in the world [and she was at the center of the imagery]. I'd never prefer her to Donna or Martha when writing her. But she was enormously popular and so — let's be blunt — every time I brought her back, the ratings went up. It's my job to make people come back to watch this. Sometimes people roll their eyes and go, "Oh, you've got another returning character." [To which I respond] "Yeah, leave me alone with my millions, thank you very much." So you know, it simply works. Plus we like Billie... So simply by dint of being her, she's come back the most often. I think that was a very special chemistry between her and Chris and between her and David, and it's very fondly remembered.

Adds Euros Lyn: "In that first series, she was the Doctor's equal, and equally as interesting as the Doctor, which was a revelation in the Doctor Who world."

The death of Ianto

And of course, RTD addressed the ongoing controversy about the death of Ianto Jones in the most recent Torchwood miniseries, "Children Of Earth." And Davies' comments will not appease the fans who feel he's been callous and dismissive. He called the backlash "massively exaggerated":

You know the campaign to send [packets of] coffee [to the BBC] to save Ianto's life? There's a campaign, because he was a coffee boy. But do you know how many packets of coffee they've received so far? Nine. So I think people writing online might sound like thousands of people, but they are nine. And they have the proof in the office, they are nine. And so when you say "Lots of people hated it, I challenge you [to prove it.] And that's the way you talk from online reaction, which is why I never follow online reaction. It's just untrue.

Director Euros Lyn added that it was important to show the "moral cost" that Jack has to pay to defeat the 456, as part of a story about "sacrifice and death." Not taking the characters to that place would "sell them short."

Children Of Earth was risky

Davies said he was acutely aware what a risky proposition "Children Of Earth" was — and not just because of its heavy political themes. He's always aware, working for the BBC, that he's spending the public's money (collected thorugh license fees) to make television. And he insisted that this miniseries had to air consecutively over five nights, not spread out over five weeks, because of the way it was structured. The bosses at the BBC kept changing, and the new bosses would try to change Davies' mind and switch it to running every Friday — but Davies stuck to his guns. And he was terrified it would fail, and he'd have "damaged" a whole week of BBC One programming.

"I thought it was good, and I was proud of it," said Davies. If it had flopped and everyone had hated it, "I was willing to wear my martyrdom through Comic Con."

What's next for Torchwood?

Just like everyone else we've talked to, Davies was fairly uncertain about the future of Torchwood, despite its great ratings. But he did say he felt the show had "found its tone," so future outings would definitely be one continuous story - possibly five episodes, possibly longer. But definitely, there'll be no return to "monster of the week" type stories. He liked the way the miniseries had "Torchwood" followed by the subtitle "Children Of Earth," making it part of the show's title. So that'll probably happen again next time.

Added Davies: "Torchwood has become an umbrella for telling a good story. This wasn't anything to do with Cardiff, or the rift," or any other standard elements of the show.

If the show does come back, "everyone who survived" will return as well. But the show will also do what "Children Of Earth" did with John Frobisher and the other new supporting cast — introduce a whole new set of characters. Davies doesn't believe in replacing a character after he/she is killed off, because it seems heartless, like buying a new puppy right after your dog dies. That's why, in "Children Of Earth," he deliberately introduced a "replacement" for Owen — and then shot him.

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."

Fans upset at the death of Ianto Jones in Torchwood: Children Of Earth have created an online campaign to resurrect the character, and they're not above bribing the BBC into making it happen. The website SaveIantoJones is urging supporters to donate money to the Beeb's annual Children In Need appeal in his honor:

Though we, his devoted fans, still hope that he'll come back (it's still sci-fi, and in sci-fi, death can be reversed, can't it?), we mourn him. In the series, he died saving the children of Earth; so it seems fitting to honor [sic] his memory by helping the Children in Need.

Appealing to the corporation's charitable side is likely to work better than their charm offensive, judging by this recent update on the site's front page:

We'd like to encourage people NOT to contact Mr. Russell T Davies about this, and to contact BBC Wales instead, as most of you are already doing.

While the BBC have remained polite and well-mannered, in response to a very peaceful campaign, Mr. Davies has made it clear in recent interviews that he views his fans with contempt, and as disposable, which saddens us. We hope the BBC doesn't adopt this standpoint, because we've been loyal viewers, and are generous, kind hearted, intelligent people who DON'T deserve to be abused. Or patronised. :) Thanks.

Fans wishing to contact the BBC are being urged to send coffee to the corporation's Welsh headquarters.

SaveIantoJones (Via)

(Thanks, Kle!)

We were lucky enough to have a one-on-one interview with Gardner, who's supervised both Who and Torchwood for the BBC, the other day. And she shared her thoughts about both shows, going forward. Plus she explained why, exactly, she's moved to Los Angeles.

She says the BBC will fully try to top the current season of Torchwood, assuming it actually returns in 2010. That's "part of the fun, and part of the adrenaline rush of working in TV drama." She adds, "The joy, for me, with Torchwood, is that it's a show that, every single years, has reinvented itself." That's certainly true with the new format of a five-part miniseries airing across five consecutive nights, which Jane Trantor suggested and Russell T. Davies found an exciting challenge.

We're kind of having conversations now, about what the next step is, because I do think it's fun working on a show that reinvents itself constantly. We're looking at all of this, whether another serial arc, or possibly something else.

As to whether series four will show the Torchwood team rebuilding after the challenging events of "Children Of Earth," she says "You go where the story needs to take you. I think it's always possible to rebuild."

"Children Of Earth" started from Davies "wanting to tell a first contact story," says Gardner. "It's not the usual action adventure. It's a story about what could plausibly happen." And he looked at all the terrible atrocities happening in other countries, and how people behave when they're pushed to their limits, and tried to imagine how that could happen in Britain.

So is there any truth to the idea that a Doctor Who movie is in the pipeline? Gardner says at this point, it's mostly speculative. "At the moment, we are absolutely concentrating on the new production of the Doctor Who series." She'd love to see a Who movie, but doesn't see it happening any time soon.

As to what Gardner's doing in L.A., she's not actually working on bringing Doctor Who, or any other British show to American shores. Rather, she's looking at positioning the BBC as a production company, much like any other U.S. production studio, which can create new shows for American networks. Rather than creating American versions of British shows, she says the BBC is "looking at new ideas." The U.S. production arm of the BBC has been there for a number of years, and now the time seems right to move it forward. "The U.K. and American TV scripted industries have never been closer," says Gardner. "There is a shared culture." She may be able to bring some lessons from the BBC to American broadcasting, and she has a lot to learn from U.S. television as well.

Julie Gardner image by Fazzinchi.

At first blush, you'd think it's a bit far-fetched: After all, Torchwood was created by Queer As Folk creator Russell T. Davies — and during its first season, the show featured every one of its regular characters having at least one same-sex encounter, if I remember correctly. But now, with the death of Captain Jack Harkness' boyfriend Ianto Jones during "Children Of Earth," accompanied by comments about queers by the mentally scarred character Clem, queer fans have lashed out.

Apparently it started on the blog of James Moran, the Torchwood writer who helped send Ianto to his eternal rest (unless one of Torchwood's five million resurrection loopholes kicks in, of course.) Moran was blogging about the show, and was unprepared for the hundreds of angry comments accusing him of homophobia. Here's one of the more polite comments:

That was incredibly, horribly dark and unpleasant (in a really, really bad way) - you very much lost me in tone and content. Thematically, the series harkened back to the 50's style of homophobia - where all the queer folks died (except for the one that can't die) and the straight people walk away completely unscathed.

But some of the comments were quite a bit nastier, apparently — although it looks like many of those have been deleted now. As Moran wrote last weekend:

I've received over a thousand messages from viewers talking about the show. The vast majority have been extremely positive. Even though many of them are upset, angry and shocked, they have managed to express that without making it personal. So to you, I'm extremely grateful. I'm glad you liked the show, and love that it made you respond so strongly. I can't reply to everyone, it'd take weeks, so please accept my thanks.

But the rest of the messages? Unacceptable. Some have been spewing insults and passive aggressive nonsense. Accusing me of deliberately trying to mislead, lie, and hurt people. Telling me I hate the fans, that I'm laughing at them, that I used them, that I'm slapping people in the face, that I've "killed" the show, that I'm a homophobe, that I want to turn the fanbase away and court new, "cooler" viewers, even that I'm hurting depressed people with dark storylines. Asking me to pass on vitriolic, hateful messages to people I love and respect.

Not cool.

As people have had a bit more time to consider the new series, more thoughful discussions have arisen. Nat, over on Dreamwidth, considers all the cliches of queer representation on television, like hurt/comfort and the "tragic gay man" who dies or turns evil (think Felix Gaeta), and then concludes:

Overall, I don't think Torchwood Children of Earth was homophobic, as it's written by an openly gay man and its lead actor is an openly gay man. I don't buy arguments that the story is evidence of RTD's self hatred. The previous series were refreshing in their general attitude that being queer is a normal every day part of human existence.

Unfortunately, and especially when viewed on its own, Children of Earth looks a lot like the same hereonormative, homophobic, biphobic and gratuitous tropes that appear in so many bad representations of queer people in popular culture.

Nat took part in a discussion in the Radio Free Skaro podcast on the issue along with two other queer fans, which is well worth listening to as well.

"Children Of Earth" was a huge experiment, format-wise: instead of doing a regular series of 13 episodes, the show served up one single story, told over five nights. And even before this experiment aired, Russell T. Davies was saying that if it was successful, we might see more Torchwood miniseries like it. We might even have two or three one-week "event" miniseries in 2010, presumably a few months apart. But the more I think about it, the more I think the amazing success of "COE" was a one-off, and trying to copy it would be a terrible mistake.

Torchwood's biggest challenge, as a grown-up spin-off of the time-traveling chidren's adventure Doctor Who, has always been its relatively small scope. Whenever alien monsters want to come and destroy the Earth altogether, the Doctor is there to stop them. Torchwood's job, generally, has been to keep minor-league space-vermin from harrassing the citizens of Cardiff, and to deal with Captain Jack's evil brother and psychotic ex-boyfriend.

"Children Of Earth" finally bulldozed right past this problem — the alien menace was definitely a Doctor-level threat to the Earth, and then some. And yet the Doctor didn't show up — although probably not, as Gwen suggests, because he was disgusted with the human race. It's more likely that Harriet Jones was right once again, and the Doctor just can't always be there when aliens menace civilization.

A big part of "Children Of Earth"'s amazing success simply comes from sharp writing — with a few very notable exceptions, almost every scene in the five episodes was written with a shrewdness and intensity that very few science fiction programs have ever achieved for one episode, let alone five. It was like Battlestar Galactica without the new-age mysticism, or Joss Whedon at his absolute darkest.

But another huge part of "CoE" comes from the fact that the stakes were so very high, and series creator Russell T. Davies seemed willing to break all of his toys in one go. Without giving away too much for those who haven't seen this series yet, Torchwood really does get put through hell. As all of the promo blurbs have made clear, Torchwood gets basically destroyed and has to rebuild from the ground up — but it's shocking how far RTD is willing to go in that direction.

Let's put it this way — before Lost's season finale aired, a number of actors (especially Michael Emerson) went around saying that you'll be so shocked by what happens, you won't even be able to imagine how Lost can exist as a series next year. And after watching the finale, I found that statement to be pretty untrue — I can imagine dozens of ways Lost can continue next year, and it's pretty clear that Jack, Sawyer and Kate will be running around, even if Juliet isn't. It wasn't really that shocking, given that we'd been told for two or three weeks that they were going to set off a hydrogen bomb. And then they did.

By contrast, Torchwood really was shocking. If Michael Emerson had come up to me and said, "After you're done watching Torchwood season three, you won't even be able to imagine how Torchwood can continue to exist as a television show," he would have been telling the plain unvarnished truth. (But of course, he would have had some nefarious concealed agenda behind telling the truth, because that's just how he is.)

And it's not just that shocking things happen in "Children Of Earth" — it's also just the fact that we see the characters and the world they operate in a much different light afterwards. Captain Jack, in particular, shakes off the creeping blandness that had been overtaking him through the first two seasons of Torchwood and becomes every bit the complex, tormented, amoral, inspiring figure we always knew he could be.

So I'm dying to see how Torchwood does continue — but I don't think the show is going to be capable of doing anything like this again soon.

I think if you try to follow up "Children Of Earth" with another mega-event where nothing is the same again, you'll end up with cheese. You'll probably end up with Heroes season two. Or BSG season three. Plus, I doubt that Russell T. Davies can keep his silly, cheesy, schlocky tendencies so firmly in check for another five-episode miniseries. And if it's true that we might get two or three five-part miniseries next year, they'll definitely start getting more farcical, I'm willing to bet.

Torchwood needs to come back from this shocking, disturbing, grand, insane story with something maybe a bit more pedestrian. It needs to be a regular television show again, showing us from time to time how Captain Jack helps get a cat out of a metaphorical tree. So if I were Russell T. Davies, I'd push for a regular 13-episode series next year — it can end with some kind of massive world-shattering climax, but it can also have room for episodes where there's a sex monster or Captain John has dangerous underwear or Cardiff is nearly sucked into a null dimension, or whatever. Stories that can sustain themselves for 45 minutes, but wouldn't justify five hours.

The bottom line: You can't raise the stakes again after a story like this one. If you do, you'll start dealing in stakes that are so huge, they're unimaginable. Torchwood will probably never be as good as it's been these past five days — although I'm desperately hoping to be proved wrong about that — but it can still be way better than its first two seasons, if it builds on the brilliance of "Children Of Earth." I just don't think the way to build on "Children Of Earth" is with more "Children Of Earth."

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.

The packet includes a much more detailed plot summary for "Children Of Earth" than we've seen before.

An ordinary day becomes a world of terror, as every single child in the world stops. A message is sent to all the governments of Earth: "We are coming".

But as a trap closes around Captain Jack, sins of the past are returning, as long-forgotten events from 1965 threaten to reveal an awful truth.

Torchwood are forced underground, as the government takes swift and brutal action. With members of the team being hunted down, Britain risks becoming a rogue state, with the mysterious and powerful 456 drawing ever closer.

Captain Jack (John Barrowman), Gwen (Eve Myles) and Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd) are helpless, as events escalate until humankind faces the end of civilisation itself.

Apart from the part about creepy children, it all sounds fantastic. And I think raising the stakes dramatically for Captain Jack and the crew would be a huge plus. As long as Torchwood was just a show about the team capturing escaped monsters, or dealing with Captain Jack's brother and Captain Jack's ex-boyfriend, it always felt a bit trivial — like if Captain Jack just up and left, most of the problems he was fighting against would disappear as well. But now, at last, there's a real threat to the Earth. Contrast that with Davies' Doctor Who, which hasn't really got anyplace else to go after his constant upping of the ante.

Oh, and the political part? Well, there's the idea of Britain becoming a "rogue state" as it crumbles under the weight of whatever those secrets from 1965 are. But there's also this, from Davies:

But underneath the sci-fi and the aliens there's something very relevant to the world, I hope, the way we sit in the West and watch footage of atrocities in different countries and imagine it's all so far away, and so impossible here – which is a nice, comfy lie we tell ourselves. That was the heart of it.

I wanted to tell a story in which civilisation snaps, in which we turn on ourselves, in which nothing is safe. Plenty of people live like that on this planet. In this story, it's Britain's turn!

Davies also talks up the episode's guest stars, including Cush Jumbo as Lois, the innocent secretary who discovers government secrets on her computer, and Peter Capaldi as Frobisher, who's "heartbreaking" at the end. And Susan Brown is a "slow burner" as Bridget Spears. Nicholas Farrell is the most clever and manipulative British prime minister you could imagine. (And I wonder if they'll refer to what happened to the last PM, and the fact that Jack was there.) And then Lucy Cohu plays Alice... Captain Jack's daughter.

Davies also promises that the huge threat of the aliens, the 456, breaks down Torchwood and forces them to rebuild, so we see a new side of them and witness their humanity. And in episode three, we actually get to watch the British government engaging in diplomatic relations with an alien race, and it's just the way you'd imagine.

Most importantly, though, Davies hints that the relationship between Captain Jack and his very private secretary, Ianto, has "developed."

Torchwood's "Children Of Earth" airs July 20 through July 24 on both BBC One in the U.K. and BBC America in the U.S.

The Sun is claiming that former companions Rose Tyler, Martha Jones and Sarah Jane Smith will all walk down the aisle by the time that Davies and Tennant leave the series at the end of the year. The newspaper even claims to know who the first two will be marrying:

Fans will see Rose Tyler - played by Billie Piper - marry the half-human clone of the Doctor in their parallel universe. Meanwhile, Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) - her replacement as assistant - will tie the knot with Mickey Smith (Noel Clarke). Tennant will also make a special guest appearance in the CBBC spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures for the wedding of his former companion Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen).

I'd love to be unconvinced by this rumor, especially since fans are supposedly taking credit for starting it in the first place. At the same time, this is Russell T. Davies, a man whose sentimentality and desire to bring back old familar faces knows no limits. I'm holding out hope that Rose's appearance ends with her turning to the camera and saying "I swear, you'll never see me on this show again. Honest," though.

Dr Who's three I dos [The Sun]