Giant Freakin Robot

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!

Whiplash. Migraines. Acid reflux. These are just a few of the conditions caused and aggravated by the ever-spinning carousel of conflicting Doctor Who rumors these days. With the 50th anniversary special due in November, we’ve only recently gotten some concrete confirmations, namely that David Tennant and Billie Piper will appear as the Tenth Doctor and Rose Tyler, although the nature of their return is still unknown. As exciting as that news was, it was followed shortly by some less happy news: Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston had opted out of participating in the 50th anniversary special. Today, however, brings word that Eccleston will return to Who…but not in the special, and not in the way anyone expected.

Xposé Entertainment is reporting that Eccleston will actually appear in next week’s episode of Who, “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS.” The episode will purportedly show us more of the TARDIS interior as the Doctor’s iconic craft is captured by a salvage team. Eccleston did not return to record any new lines, but apparently we’ll see/hear him say, “The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn’t get through these doors, and believe me they’ve tried.” Devout Whovians will remember that line from “Rose,” the very first episode of the modern incarnation of Who, and the very first of Eccleston’s run as the time lord.

It’s not as cool as getting to see Eccleston share the screen with his successors, but it’s at least a nice tip of the hat to the guy who helped relaunch Doctor Who to the widespread pop culture success it’s attained. It also makes me wonder if we’ll get this same approach, reusing old footage or audio, to bring the other former Doctors into the proceedings.