Giant Freakin Robot

Last month geek worlds collided in a potentially awesome way when The Hobbit director Peter Jackson joked that he would direct an episode of Doctor Who for free. Okay, that’s not quite true. He just wants one of the Daleks as his payment, which sounds totally reasonable to us. While it’s still a long way from a done deal, it seems some powerful forces are in favor of a Jackson-directed Who: namely, the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Doctors themselves!

As reported by Stuff.co.nz, former Who leads Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann were excited at the prospect, and say that Jackson has already met with showrunner Steven Moffat. The three actors were visiting New Zealand for the Lords of Time convention, and all seemed keen on the idea of letting the Hobbit master play around inside the TARDIS. “I could only think he would make an epic Doctor Who story,” says Baker. “I would like to be cast, not as the Doctor, even if it’s inside a furry suit. Maybe I could be a villain.”

McCoy has worked with Jackson recently, appearing as the wizard Radaghast the Brown in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. “He knows what he’s doing,” says McCoy. “If he was in charge of the budget he’d most likely want to film it on the moon and has the ability to do it. If he was using the resources of Weta they would make some amazing magic.”

Saturday night will see the premiere of one of the more intriguing Doctor Who episodes in a while, entitled “Journey to the Center Centre of the TARDIS.” As you might guess, it will be set largely inside the Doctor’s iconic craft, and promises to reveal parts of the ship never before seen. We’re including the nifty but non-spoiler-y episode poster above, but be warned: the gallery below definitely contains some reveals you might not want to know in advance about what we’ll see in the “centre” of the TARDIS. Scroll down at thy own peril!

We’ve known the episode titles for most of the back half of Doctor Who’s seventh season for a while now, but the season finale has remained cloaked in a veil of secrecy…until now. The newly announced title is packed with possibilities, and in and of itself could be considered a spoiler. As such, we’re keeping the reveal and all our speculation down below this goofy picture of the Doctor and a mop. Spoilers, sweetie!

Doctor Who has been much improved since returning from its post-Christmas special hiatus, and now this week’s episode looks to be a must-see in concept alone. “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS” will find the Doctor and Clara bedeviled by scavengers who somehow capture the time lord’s vessel. That’s all well and good, but the real excitement here is that the episode will also have Clara getting lost in the depths of the TARDIS, meaning we’re presumably going to get to see areas of the vessel we never have before. Dare we hope for the swimming pool?

This could go either way, of course. Part of the fun over the years has been the hints about what lays deeper inside the TARDIS, beyond the control room. We’ve all conjured up our own ideas about what’s in there, so by actually revealing some of it, the show runs the risk of having the reality fall short of our own imaginations. Either way, it should be fun. You can check out the TV spot for “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS” below!