The Doctor In The TARDIS

I don't know where to put this because we don't seem to have anything that covers christmas, so feel free to move it.

I've just read from someone who claims to be 'in the know' (don't they all?) that the Ponds are coming back for a brief scene at Christmas.

The title pretty much covers it I think.

Most obvious news so far is that it will be Matt Smith's last episode & at some point during it he will regenerate into Peter Capaldi.

EDIT: Ex's post is at the top because he posted it in another thread before I started this one off.

We have a Christmas thread now  :)

Oh awesome. Should get plenty in here too, seeing as how they haven't filmed it yet.

Is it wrong that I'm thinking 'I really hope that's not true' about that? They made a big thing about them being gone never to return that this seems ... annoying (my opinion). Rose's return irritated me too after her big send off.

I wouldn't want to see them again, personally. I think their story is done and the 'companion get together' has been done with Ten.

However, Matt and Karen would look funny together on screen now they both have shaved heads ;D

I agree.  It was such a great ending that it would cheapen it to give them a cameo so soon after.

I don't want them back. We've only just got rid of them. There's just no need. I liked when the Doctor dropped companions off and never mentioned them again instead of all these 'totes emosh' reunions!

A quote from Moff in this months DWM is doing the rounds at a few places. I saw it at Doctor Who TV.

“One of the horrors of regeneration is that a certain amount of his persona alters entirely. His appetites and his enthusiasms will change. And that’s sort of what I’m writing about now in Matt’s last episode, the fact that he’s terribly aware that he’s about to be rewritten. And it’s frightening.”

They weren't always completely forgotten - there were nice little references, sometimes, like the scene in The Time Meddler where the Doctor's wishing Barbara were there to remind him of the history.  That just gives a nice sense of continuity, but without the constant coming back we've had lately.

I don't think they will be back. It's too much like treading old ground. There might be a mention but I don't think we will see them

I really hope we don't get another one of those 'I don't want to go' regenerations. I found that really offputting.

Me too.

Apparently this ep is due to start filming on Sunday & Matt will be wearing a wig.

Maybe it'll be ginger  8)

Was there any word on where they will be filming?

Didn't see anything. Will have a dig  :)

We need to get Aneurin down there taking pictures if it is in Cardiff!

On the 9th they are going to be filming in Lydstep Flats for a few days. The reason I'm putting this here and in the filming thread is because it might be a potential spoiler. They've used these flats a lot in the past, but only for one location. Rose and Jackies flat on the Powell Estate. I suppose they could be doing pickups for the 50th because Rose is in that, but 6 days worth seems a lot.

Also, when I just popped down to Tesco there were filming signs pointing towards Bute Esplanade. I didn't have time to drive down to check it out, but that is where the Ponds home is, which could add to the rumours of their return. a pre-season 6 visit, maybe?

There is a premier tomorrow for a film Capaldi has done and there is a little note at the bottom of the article below which says he won't be able to attend because of commitments to Doctor Who. Might be fair to assume that they are filming the regeneration tomorrow? Either that or maybe he is going to in the episode more than just for the regen, given the notes in the other thread about filming this week on the Powell Estate. I'd say it's probably one of those two anyway, because it's not likely that they would be doing anything for S8 yet.

http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/hackney_director_watches_his_first_feature_hit_big_screen_1_2370659

It's taking ages for the photos from the set to upload so I figured I'd just put down what I saw now instead of after. I'm putting it in here incase it's a bit spoilery.

When I got there they were doing a run through of Jenna running out of the flats and towards Matt. Lots of people were commenting on how young she looked, but I'm not sure if they meant generally or had been made to look young. Her hair was different though. she had bangs and it was wavy and curly rather than straight. Sort of like the hair she had in Rings in the scene at her mums grave. I'd guess that this is going to be where she lives in the story. While they are going through this scene, someone is over putting some Christmas presents around the TARDIS.

After doing that, the presents are cleared away and Matt and Jenna went into the TARDIS. The camera people were about 10-15 metres away and they were doing some sort of long shot. Jenna walks out, sort of in a bouncy strut, and Matt follows a few feet behind, sonicing the air as he goes. The stop at the cameramen and talk to each other, but I couldn't make out what. Jenna smiles a big smile and throws her arms around him. Once the hug is over they walk off camera towards her flat, as though she is leading him in. They do this about ten times and then break for lunch.

During this time I got speaking to a guy (I won't say his name in case he told me stuff he shouldn't have) who was like some sort of security guard. He was saying that they expected to be there until dark and they were trying to film all the scenes for the flat today, so the stuff I was seeing would be dotted around the episode. He said that tomorrow they were going to brecon to film for the day. They will be using an army base up there to get some shots and using the 'open space', which I'm assuming means the miles of moors there. He then said, the best part, that he 'can't wait until they start shooting the Cybermen stuff', which confirms that they will be the big bad of the episode, and most likely will cause the Doctor to regenerate. I wanted to push for more but didn't want to overdo it and he already seemed a bit like he had said too much. I did ask though if they were in this episode and he said they were. Pretty soon after that he got called to help them go move stuff.

The cameras and stuff were all moved around during this time. The TARDIS stayed in the same place but it now had tracks leading up to it and beyond and another set of tracks were set up going along the field, but away from the action. A woman dressed in 80's gear came walking along the field and then stood in one of the tents reading through a script, which managed to get blown around the field. Honestly, the speed with which the production people moved to get those pages was something else! I'd have loved to have gotten a peak. She didn't seem to do anything else while I was there so I'm not certain what her role is.

When they got back to filming, they did a retake of the earlier scene but with the cameras set up differently. This time they rolled alongside the TARDIS, catching them coming out of it and getting long shots of them hugging, so this time from about 10 meters away instead of right in front of the camera. This time when they walked off they had to go further and closer to the buildings.

After that, they brought out a fake TARDIS front. It could open like the TARDIS, but was essentially just the frame. They propped this up with wood and then kept pushing it, but I don't know why. I didn't seem them using it until I was leaving, when they set up a black tent behind it. Maybe it's to get easier in/out scenes, or something?

Matt and Jenna then disappeared and when they came back Jenna was carrying a huge turkey. It was like half the size of her. They walked over towards the flats to begin the scene there and walk towards the ship. The turkey was raw and covered in cling film, but Jenna was wearing gloves to hold it. It was on a tray, too. They repeated a scene of her bounding along carrying it and smiling towards the TARDIS. Matt was sat on the grass, but I couldn't tell if he was in shot, or just sitting down and shouting his lines off camera. He was saying 'You can't keep using the TARDIS like this', but Jenna kept smiling and walking.

It was at this point that I left. That was like 2 and half hours worth. I'm going to go back down in a bit and see what else is happening, but that's all I've got for now.

CYBERMEN!!! :D :D :D

Awesome updates mate. Cheers!

That's cool. Bit of insider information there. Love that we've got a spoiler about the baddies, too!

God I'm so excited now!! I love when we start getting updates and spoilers through. Plus it's amazing to have a man on the ground, feeding us the info as it happens.

I think it's fitting to have the Cybermen cause the regen, assuming they do. They caused the first one and so 50 years later to have them causing the latest is a nice tie in I think.

I hadn't thought of that.  They also caused the fake "regeneration" into Jackson Lake.

Orla Brady is going to be in this.

I've never seen her in anything and I hadn't actually heard of her, but I looked her up and she seems to have done a lot.

I've seen her in a few things. She's good.

I actually popped in to say we have a title - The Time of the Doctor.

We also have a pic & a synopsis:

(http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/corporate/images/width/live/p0/1m/57/p01m57tt.jpg/448)

Orbiting a quiet backwater planet, the massed forces of the universe’s deadliest species gather, drawn to a mysterious message that echoes out to the stars - and amongst them, the Doctor.

Rescuing Clara from a family Christmas dinner, the Time Lord and his best friend must learn what this enigmatic signal means for his own fate and that of the universe.

Sounds exciting :D

Judging from the trailer, I assume the planet's Trenzalore.  Looks good.

The episode is 1 hour long & will be on Christmas Day at 7.30pm.

I'll pop this is in here til someone (probably me, but I live in hope!) sets up a special section for The Time Of The Doctor:

(https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1459187_774750945872268_970752069_n.jpg)

Looks great.  At first glance, I thought that looked like a Raston Robot in the background, but looking closer I think it's a rather indistinct Silence.  I suppose they would be there, if this is the showdown on Trenzalore.

The BBC have a new gallery of pics from the ep here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/galleries/p01mzt54

Looks like Orla Brady might have something to do with Colonel Runaway's army  8)

The Doctor's cloak looks cool.  I love a cloak.

That's what I thought too.

It's logical, seeing that this episode is connected with Trenzalore, and the army was trying to prevent the Question being asked there.  It seemed to be asked and circumvented in TNOTD, but maybe that was a red herring.

Here's the first trailer for the episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njNnTDiLOd4

Interesting.  I wonder who it was Clara was talking to when she said "Help him change the future."

Here's the write-up from the online version of the Radio Times.

http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/cq6k6j/doctor-who--the-time-of-the-doctor

Interesting that it says Matt's now bumped up to the 13th Doctor, rather than to the 12th.  I wonder if that suggests the Valyard's around somewhere.  Or is there yet another unknown Doctor?

The cast-list doesn't really tell us anything we don't know - the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Silence are all going to be around.

This is explained in the latest DWM - it's fairly straightforward reasoning that is being used, but I won't say unless you actually want to know.

Anyway I came here because the first clip from the ep has been released. If you want to go in knowing nothing, don't watch, but honestly it doesn't give anything away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgOqHL-NMuo

A nice little clip - presumably before things get serious (not that I'm suggesting turkey isn't serious  8))

I'll find out about the numbering soon enough.  I suppose one possibility is they're counting the aborted regen.

From what I've read they are counting Tennant's aborted regeneration as one of the Doctors. Throw in John Hurt as well and that makes 13. Which perhaps makes it a bit odd that Capaldi says "No! 13!" in The Day of the Doctor but maybe that is simply because Tennant 2.0 is not there and does not imply that Capaldi is the 13th, which we now know to be false (or could he wrongly believe that he is the 13th for some reason?).

One possibility is that Smith does not regenerate into Capaldi, but that Tennant's regeneration splits into two, Smith and Capaldi. Would that, as one person suggested, make Capaldi the Valeyard? There are other various explanations for why he might get a few extra regens, e.g., when River Song gives Smith some of her power to regenerate. But I don't think any of this is likely, because I think that the showrunners would want to keep it open-ended and would not want to face the same problem when Capaldi quits or after a few more doctors.

One suggestion I've heard and quite like is when John Hurt's Doctor is told that his punishment is to live. This would keep the show running indefinitely. I would also suggest that, instead of the Time Lords granting additional lives when they are found, perhaps a more satisfying way to end it is if, when found, they take away his lives to finally let him die. As the First Doctor says in The Five Doctors, immortal life is a curse, not a blessing.

I'm also curious whether they are somehow going to make Tom Baker's reappearance in The Day of the Doctor more logical. I loved Tom Baker (although I sometimes get the feeling that he is rather an egotistical and cantankerous soul) and his cameo, but I have to admit that it didn't make a lot of sense and seemed rather tacked on. Is he actually meant to be the Doctor? Maybe there is some explanation for the whole thing back in his time as the Doctor. If there can be basically two Tennants at the same time, why not two Bakers? Maybe it's Baker's regeneration that split and that would explain why Peter Davison was so weak at first, and perhaps why we got the once-only appearance of the Watcher. In which case, what we have seen is only one strand of his further regens. Could we see Tom Baker's Curator regen into Capaldi? That would be awesome, but not very likely. Again, they would be saddling themselves with a particular number of Doctors.

All interesting theories, although I don't think the "punishment to live" theory works, because that's his punishment if he uses the Moment - which he doesn't.

I agree TB's appearance doesn't make a lot of sense - the Fourth Doctor didn't get that old, and there doesn't seem any reason why he'd be taking something away from the Time War.  My assumption is that he's actually meant to be a future Doctor, and they just had Tom playing him for the fans.

By the way, I'm going to be away from tomorrow till Friday, and I won't have a chance to discuss the episode till the weekend.  I'll definitely be giving my views then, though.

The Fourth Doctor didn't get that old

That was precisely my thought -- maybe the fourth doctor somehow survived his regen into Peter Davison, got older, retired, and could regenerate again. Not that I'm saying this is likely, mind -- I think TB was just there to please the fans.

In a sense the Doctor did use the Moment by giving himself the choice of whether to push the button. Not pushing the button counts as using it. But I admit it is a stretch. Why would he be punished for that? Still, all will be revealed. I do hope we are given a proper explanation.

Another clip has been released but the BBC don't seem to have posted this one to YouTube. You can see it on the DW site here though: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01nq8my

Both clips seem to have been from the fun part of the story, but that's OK - it looks genuinely fun, before we get into the serious stuff.

There's also a clip of Moff talking on the same site, where he promises that this episode will be the pay-off to all the mysteries since The Eleventh Hour.  I think we should hold him to that  8)

Yeah I saw that. I will be watching very closely to see that we do Mr Moffat :P