starman

the doctor who S4 finale aired yesterday in the states, and the reviews are in. i chatted briefly with l.a. times TV critic robert lloyd about the show last weekend -- and nearly accidentally spoiled him for the end. (oops, sorry, dude.) his review of the finale was (as usual) very good. i loved this line:

[The show] can be very silly, usually on purpose, but it can also make you -- by which I mean me -- cry.

yes!

he also praised catherine tate/donna noble, and i wholeheartedly concur (which gives me an excuse to run another photo of her above, with the supreme dalek and the doc).

but then there's this news story about what's next for who, particularly WRT how the sci fi channel (which airs the current season here) sees the future of the series on the network. the article implies that showrunner russell t. davies has already stepped down and also says:

But "Doctor Who" will not shoot new episodes for a year and won't return to the BBC until 2010.

that's just totally wrong. there will be four episodes -- called "specials" by the producers, but they're still hour-long episodes -- shot next year (the first one beginning in january, or so i read), and they will air on the BBC next year. RTD, who is still showrunner till they start filming the 2010 season, even recently told doctor who magazine who the writers will be.

one can quibble as to whether these specials are "episodes" -- they are not discussed as being part of S4 (box set out in the US november 18) or S5, but they most certainly are doctor who and most certainly will be filmed/aired on BBC in 2009.

with robert's nice big review, it seems like the paper has decided the show is something its readers are interested in. too bad reporter choire sicha didn't think to ask the sci fi channel people if they will be picking up the 2009 specials -- something US fans would most likely want to know, no? then again, he didn't even mention these specials. it's like he didn't even know about them. i find that hard to believe, but you never know.

whatevs. luckily, i don't get my DW news from the l.a. times.