Matt Smith’s Doctor may not be the best ever in the history of Doctor Who, but he’s definitely the coolest. If you’ve watched any of the new season you know he’s fond of silly catch phrases and great painters. But did you know that he’s seriously into Techno?

Smith showed up at the Glastonbury Music Festival this past weekend, and apparently in full 11th Doctor garb. Techno music makers Orbital invited him up on stage as part of their grand finale, and Matt obliged by rocking the stage in a massive explosion of light, color, and by playing a kick-ass techno version of the Doctor Who theme song in front of a massive, raved out, surging crowd. The whole thing’s on video. Watch it after the jump. read this entry »

When it was announced that David Tennant was leaving Doctor Who I was the first to stand up and shout that for me, there’d never be another Doctor. His last episode as the character ripped my heart out and stomped on it. Watching Tennant’s Doctor die was one of the most gut-wrenching television moments of my life. For me there will never be another Doctor. Tennant will always be the only Doctor; he’ll always be my Doctor.

But tonight, against my better judgement, I forced myself to sit down and watch this other guy. His name is Matt Smith and he’s bravely stepped into Tennant’s very big Tardis. He’ll never be Tennant and though I feel like a traitor admitting it, here’s the truth about this new Doctor: He’s the next best thing.

Matt Smith flew onto my screen tonight with the kind of energy and excitement and lust for life that in the past I’d only ever really seen in Tennant. He channeled David better than I’d ever imagined anyone else could. As time rolls on he’s sure to develop more of his own personality but as a place to start, that’s a pretty good one. read this entry »

The last time we saw Doctor Who, not only had he regenerated into Matt Smith, but he was spinning out of control in an apparently damaged and broken Tardis. There’s a reason for that: They’ve redesigned it.

Once the Tardis crash lands, it’ll be rebuilt, and now we know what the revamped time-traveling police box will look like. Check out images of the all new, rebuilt Tardis right here: read this entry »

The fifth season of Doctor Who premieres here in the United States soon and while I’m still not sure I can watch it without David Tennant, I’m in the process of screwing up my courage enough to give this bow-tied new guy, Matt Smith, a go. In fact, why wait? Let’s try him out right now.

The first minute of the season 5 Doctor Who premiere is now available for you to watch right here. It picks up right where the finale of season 4 left off, with the Doctor having regenerated and the Tardis spinning wildly out of control. Watch: read this entry »

The BBC has released a teaser image for the new season of Doctor Who in which we’ll meet the 11th Doctor. Yeah I know, it’s hard to go on without David Tennant. But this guy seems to be compensating for not being Tennant by having a super hot companion. Ignore the inferior Doctor and look at the eye candy.

Here’s the new teaser image, in two different sizes showing slightly different details.

read this entry »

Before Hollywood announces yet another reboot of some already beloved science fiction movie franchise, let’s give them a few better ideas. Since we’re talking about the entertainment industry, we can’t expect anything to original. But it doesn’t have to be. There’s a wealth of science fiction out there, just waiting for some movie studio to pick it up and do something with it. No more waiting. Drop that Back to the Future remake Hollywood and do something with these already brilliant sci-fi properties instead:

FuturamaIt worked for The Simpsons and they ran out of jokes ten years ago. Futurama on the other hand, thanks to frequent network cancelling, is still young as when the world was new. Matt Groening’s other animated masterpiece has never gotten a fair shake, but with its spacey setting and tendency towards blaster fire, it’s far more suited to the big screen than Springfield’s favorite family. It’s animation, yes, but animation for adults. Feel free to take things up a notch for the theatrical version, hook Bender up with a three-nippled robot hooker, and slap it with an “R” rating. Or if you’re really feeling spendy, ditch the animation and give us a live action version.

The Pitch: A pizza delivery boy is accidentally frozen for a thousand years, and wakes up in the future. There he finds employment at the interplanetary delivery company, Planet Express, and struggles to fit in with the company’s strange assortment of employees. His best friend is an alcoholic robot, he’s in love with a smoking hot kung-fu Cyclops who finds him repulsive, and he’s employed by a mad scientist with an increasingly bad case of dementia. Hilarity ensues. Think Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Encino Man.

Quantum LeapWe’re running out of time on Quantum Leap. Scott Bakula isn’t getting any younger. In fact we’re probably out of time and if there’s any hope that the early 90s most brilliant sci-fi show will ever get its cinematic due, it’ll have to start all over with a new Sam Beckett. Much as I love Bakula, I can live with that. It’s Dean Stockwell Quantum Leap can’t live without. Stockwell’s stint in Battlestar proved he’s still spry enough to play the wise-cracking, cigar-smoking Al and Quantum Leap’s resonate style of character-driven storytelling is still as relevant as it ever was. Maybe even more so. Imagine Sam leaping into 9/11. Oh boy.

The Pitch: A botched experiment sends Sam Becket leaping through time. But Sam can explain it better than I can. “It all started when a time travel experiment I was conducting went… “a little caca”. In the blink of a cosmic clock, I went from quantum physicist to Air Force test-pilot. Which could have been fun… if I knew how to fly. Fortunately, I had help – an observer from the project named Al. Unfortunately, Al’s a hologram, so all he can lend is moral support. Anyway, here I am, bouncing around in time, putting things right that once went wrong, a sort of time traveling Lone Ranger, with Al as my Tonto. And I don’t even need a mask… Oh Boy” read this entry »

For those of you who, like me, may be on the fence about whether to tune back in for more Doctor Who after the devastating departure of David Tennant, here’s an incentive: Neil Gaiman.

Gaiman is the celebrated author of things which are awesome (my favorite is Good Omens which he co-authored with Terry Pratchet) and he’s getting involved in Doctor Who. According to SFX Gaiman is writing a Who episode. Neil tells them:

As anyone who’s read my blog knows, I’m a big fan of a certain long-running British SF TV series. One that started watching — from behind the sofa — when I was three. And while I know it’s cruel to make you wait for things, in about 14 months from now, which is to say, NOT in the upcoming season but early in the one after that, it’s quite possible that I might have written an episode. And if I had, it would originally have been called “The House of Nothing”. But it definitely isn’t called that any more.

Countdown. You’ve got about 14 months.

Tonight Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four Doctor Who specials, David Tennant’s last appearances as the most iconic Doctor of all time, debuted on BBC America. It’s more than an episode but not quite a movie. Call it a mini-movie. In it, Tennant was as usual, brilliant. The writing? Maybe not so much.

The problem is they’ve done this story before, and done it better. The companionless Doctor trapped on a bus with nervous passengers as they face mortal peril was done fantastically in the not so long ago episode “Midnight”. This time the twist is that the peril is less mysterious and the humans less suspicious and as result the amazing tension which made “Midnight” so incredibly effective is utterly absent, replaced instead by those red-bereted dickheads with guns who call themselves “Unit”. read this entry »

This is going to take some getting used to. The new season of Doctor Who started production today and that means goodbye to David Tennant, who’s been replaced in the new season by a new actor. Matt Smith is the eleventh actor to play The Doctor and he’s accompanied by a new companion too. She’s Amy Pond, a redhead played by Scottish actress Karen Gillan.

Below we’ve got your first look at both actors in costume and on set together, as they prep for filming of their first scenes together as Doctor and companion. I’m going to miss David Tennant’s Chuck Taylors. I just hope this new Doctor keeps the trenchcoat. Check it out:

Before he’s replaced by the new Doctor Who, David Tennant’s penultimate Doctor has a little more life left in him yet. The BBC is bringing him back for a series of Doctor Who movies. The first is Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead and we’ve got a clip from it for you below. It’s already aired in the UK, but it arrives here in the USA on BBC America on July 26th. Watch: