They're making more Torchwood! Tentative yay!

I thought I'd already posted this, but it seems I hadn't. Hey! Russell T. Davies (perhaps you've heard of him) is no longer unemployed! The big gay Welshman-turned-Los-Angeleno and former showrunner of Doctor Who (perhaps you've heard of it) has announced that a ten episode series of Torchwood will be born from a collaboration between BBC Wales, BBC Worldwide, and American cable channel Starz.

Torchwood made history in 2006 as the first proposed Doctor Who television spin-off to actually happen (previous suggestions, including Jago and Litefoot, K-9 and Company, and Rose Tyler: Earth Defence, thankfully didn't make it very far). As RTD's interviewer in the above link says, the series ran for one season of thirteen episodes on BBC Three, a second season of thirteen on BBC Two, and a mini-series of five episodes shown over five nights (known as Torchwood: Children of Earth) on BBC One. I can't think of another show that could have survived all these format and channel changes and not at all seemed like it was failing. Doctor Who, for instance, would lose the large portions of the general public it relies upon to be considered a success if it started changing around its format. Torchwood can survive with a small fanbase which will follow it wherever, as well as new viewers who've heard it's actually good this season.

Vote Dalek?

If they were playing fair, print media in the US/Australia/Canada would have waited until now to announce the results of the UK general election so it accompanied the right Doctor Who episode for those who don't know how to use the internet. "But what relevence does Doctor Who have to the UK election?" I hear you cry. Everything, at least superficially. When Gordon Brown starts publicly talking about David Tennant being his favourite Doctor instead of the economy or whatever, you know that Doctor Who has reached unprecedented levels of influence. This article sums up and provides links to most of the shenanigans. In response (to the shenanigans) Lawrence Miles suggested a "Simple electoral reform: the party with the most Doctor Whos in its election broadcast wins. (The BNP may have to exhume William Hartnell.)" Oh, and Britain's main television guide magazine thing, the Radio Times, brought back its "Vote Dalek" (What does that mean? Is that really what the Radio Times wants voters to do?) cover idea from 2005, this time allowing readers to choose the cover whose Dalek (2010 design) colour corresponded to their party of choice. In response, the Green Party released this ad (after the jump).

Beatles and Daleks in time for Christmas: sparknotes for Season One

Sorry it's been a while. I was playing a wild dog/tour guide/weatherman in a piece about Hurricane Katrina. You know how it is. To get us back into the swing of things, I want to look at Doctor Who's inaugural season as a whole. If you still haven't watched anything from Season One, do so now, because we're moving on. But also, here's a guide to what you missed.

Of course, if you have seen stuff from Season One, it might feel a bit odd to think of it that way. Certainly, fans of the New Series might wonder how The Reign of Terror (1.8) could be a "season finale" if it doesn't have an army of CGI Daleks in it. Fans of Buffy or Babylon 5 might look in vain for an over-arching plot, theme, or monster. And fans of Lost or Battlestar Galactica will might be puzzled by the lack of cliffhanger revelations in the final episode to get everyone excited about Season 2. It just goes to show how different TV is now. Each episode of Doctor Who was made in a week, and one was made every week, so what is in retrospect seen as a break between seasons was in fact just a well-earned rest for the cast and crew over the summer. The production team and viewers thought in story arcs (the serials) between 2 and 7 episodes long, and it won't be until Season Five that we start seeing any evidence of thought into how those story arcs might fit together. About Time says that, from a production perspective, An Unearthly Child (1.1) through The Dalek Invasion of Earth (2.2) could be considered one season, and The Rescue (2.3) though "Mission to the Unknown" (3.2) another. This actually resembles a little more a "season" as we've come to understand it. That way "Season One" ends with the return of the series' first and most popular monsters, and the departure of the "Unearthly Child" who got Ian and Barbara mixed up in this business in the first place.

For those who've forgotten what it was like to have a REALLY stupid companion, here she is again

Get excited, people who watch Doctor Who children's spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures (I don't know who you are, but apparently you exist), because former hysterical idiot Josephine Grant is blundering her way back to the Doctor Who universe! According to the Doctor Who News Page, Katy Manning will reprise her role in an episode of SJA, written by Russell T. Davies himself, and also guest starring Matt Smith (himself). It made sense to bring back best-ever-companion Sarah Jane Smith, but Jo? Really?

Some back-story. In 1968, at the end of Season 5, producer Peter Bryant and script editor Derrick Sherwin introduced the character of Zoe Her(r)iot. She was supposed to be a genius-level astrophysicist from the late 21st Century, but, as was the fate of many a promising companion, she was quickly reduced to the roles of screaming and asking stupid questions. When planning 1970's Season 7, Sherwin didn't know whether the actress would stay. When she did leave, he essentially created another Zoe (a phrase that will be funny to anyone who's been watching Caprica), giving himself a second chance to properly give the Doctor an intelligent scientist as a companion. This time they got it right, and the resulting character, Liz Shaw played by Caroline John, remains in my opinion one of the series' best companions. Sadly, this was not the opinion of incoming producer Barry Letts, who felt that no one wanted to watch two scientists natter away, and that what the Doctor really needed was someone to "hand him test tubes and tell him how brilliant he was," which is exactly what the Brigadier tells him at the beginning of Jo Grant's first story, Terror of the Autons (8.1).

When, a couple of weeks ago, I suggested the writers experiment with not-alienating ways to bring back elements from the "classic series" to tell a good story, a greyer Jo insisting "But Doctor, it is the Age of Aquarius!" to a whole new actor isn't quite what I had in mind.

Now they can tell each other apart

Why does everything designed for children's series these days have to look like it can go in the bath? The best example I can think of is Jonathan Frakes' 2004 live-action Thunderbirds movie, in which, rather than looking wonderfully advanced like it's supposed to, all the technology looks colourful, waterproof, and fun to play with. The new TARDIS interior looks like it was designed specifically with slip-'n'-slide fun in mind. And the redesigned Daleks look like they squirt water if you push their lids down, and they come in a range of exciting colours. The reason for all this should be obvious, partly because it's the reason the Daleks got so popular in the first place: merchandising.

This reminds me of the Sontarans' return two years ago. As I wrote last week, the resulting two-parter (N4.4/N4.5) proved that the Sontarans aren't actually that interesting unless they're there to tell a good story (which their new series return very much wasn't). And while Davros' return that season was used as a surprise, the Sontarans were major marketing tools for Season 4. This gives me some hope for the Silurians' return later this year. While everyone knows they're returning, we haven't been seeing pictures of their redesign since late last year. In late 2007 (six months before they would actually appear), Lawrence Miles commented on the publicity pictures, pointing out that "the 'controversial' new Sontaran outfit makes it look like a five-foot-tall action-figure." Sound familiar?