Trailer Tuesday: Doctor Who Series 7

Remarkably, a trailer for Doctor Who's 7th series has already been released, teasing a menagerie of intrigue and spectacle for this year's 5 episodes (out of the entire 14). So once more, like last year, the series will be split in two, with the Christmas special after those 5 in Autumn, and the remaining 8 in 2013 some time. More on the logistics of all that later, so let's get on with the surprisingly big-budget looking trailer:



And finally, for the first time in months, a breakdown!

• 0:06 - The third episode of this series, currently called "Gunslinger", will take place in the good ol' Wild West, and is written by Being Human creator, and previous Who contributor, Toby Whitehouse. Yet again branching into some other genres, it will be exciting to see Sci-Fi and Western meld together in a DW fashion, especially since that combination is just a gold mine to fans ever since Firefly.
• 0:12 - Of course, this being Doctor Who, it's not just the gun-toting cowboys the gang are going to be wary of, as this cyborg, maybe-human-maybe-alien lone ranger suggests. 
• 0:17 - Obviously the desolate shoot-out staple was going to make its way in somewhere, but quite how the Doctor will overcome this without a gun (as is his code) may be a challenge...

Don't blink... Again!

• 0:19 - Hooray, Amy and Rory make their triumphant return this series, accompanying the Doctor for five more, final adventures. Will it end in heartbreak, tears and sorrow? Showrunner Steven Moffat has promised "Not everyone will get out alive - and I mean it this time!", in the midseason finale which will see the Weeping Angels make a horrifying return...

• 0:21 - Guess they weren't lying when they said we'd be getting "Fourteen big, blockbuster-movie episodes" in the press release, as these explosions will testify.
•  0:26 - Why yes, that is Arthur Weasley running with Doctor and co, or as he's preferably known, Mark Williams. He, along with a number of other guest stars, will be appearing in the second episode of series 7, which also sees the show's biggest set ever. Speculation: BEGIN!
•  0:31 - So about that code... Care to explain why the big D's got a gun in his hand, anyone? 
• 0:33 - Oh yeah, Amy's definitely back...
• 0:44 - Is this the Doctor being accused of Witchcraft, mayhap?
• 0:50 - Trademark wit and humour: check.
• 0:52 - Robots will be making an appearance in episode two it seems.
• 0:54 - As will David Bradley, another Harry Potter alumni, once portraying grumpy caretaker Argus Flinch. Oh yeah, and he's also going to have a badass, wristy-sword thing. Villain: most certainly.
•  0:55 - Very briefly here you might recognise Rupert Graves (Sherlock's Lestrade) taking up arms alongside Amy. Again, supposedly from the second episode.

• 0:58 - Let me guess, you thought it was Mickey, right? Well, me too, but unfortunately not, although this new character does appear in what I believe will be the series opener, which Moffat has teased as being called "[Something] of the [Something]", having a Die-Hard-esque tone AND containing Daleks. Expect big things... 

• 1:05 - Be careful what you wish for: Daleks ahoy! Also, anyone else getting a Jabba's Palace vibe from that eye?

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Autumn, please hurry? Mind, this is all from the first 5 episodes (maybe only the first 3 for those keeping count), so no look at The Doctor's newest companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman. She'll be arriving in this year's Chirstmas Special, and has been quite the rising star here in Britain, finding regular spots on both Emmerdale and Waterloo Road. While we'll all miss Karen (Amy) and Arthur (Rory), new blood will be an exciting prospect, especially with the acting talents of Matt Smith's to compliment her. 

  And notice the distinct lack of James Corden in this trailer... Never fear, him and Moffat are trying their damndest to fit loveable Craig back into the plot-lines, and let me stretch my Corden-Speculating abilities once more...

Anyway, until Autumn, let us eagerly anticipate more DW awesomeness.

ATR

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Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado About Nothing' Announced

Late Sunday night, Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Castle) tweeted a link to the site muchadothemovie.com, announcing the new Joss Whedon project, an adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. And the amazing part? It has already been written, cast and filmed, with the principal photography being completed within 12 days in Santa Monica.

   The cast includes a huge array of actors from Whedon's expansive library, with stars from his previous shows, Angel, Dollhouse and Firefly, as well as The Avengers' Clark Gregg and, obviously, Nathan Fillion. As a modern take on Shakespeare's "Romance Deconstruction" (as Whedon says), the film will be a "fancy" piece, premiering at film festivals once it's finished  in early Spring, and shall boast a "DIY" sense of film making and fresh dialogue, directly from the House of Whedon.

The whole thing's been shot in black and white, giving it an indie-type feel and dramatic over-tone. But if we see splashes of colour like on the title image, I reckon we can expect a very tight example of some beautiful cinematography  to accompany the quirkiness that the whole "cocktail and scuba" style portrays.

What's more, Whedon has set up his very own independent film company (which will produce the film) with wife, Kai Cole, called Bellwether. The "micro-studio" vowes to create "small, independent narratives" for all and any media, meaning Cinema, Web, TV, Page and beyond. Does this mean his further web projects, (like Wastelanders, a post-apocalyptic web series colaboration with comics/novel legend, Warren Ellis or even a Dr Horrible sequel) could be produced under the company?

I'm pretty excited about this, because I know Whedon's a pretty big Shakespeare buff, so his work will be nicely dedicated to the story, as well as offering up his own comedic flair to it all, and the super-impressive cast is sure to knock it out of the park. My one question is where does the time come from? Literally only just getting off of the set of The Avengers, with his directing duties there, Whedon couldn't have stopped working. Theory: Time Lord, definitely Time Lord.

You can read the whole press release here, with further details into casting and so forth.

ATR

Trailer Tuesday: Doctor Who: Season 6 Part 2

Another trailer from Comic-Con, was the preview of the next half of Doctor Who Season 6. Expect terrifying monsters, twisty plot lines and David Walliams as a small alien with no hair and pointy ears.

Anyone for a breakdown?

• 0:02 - Since when can Rory ride a motorbike?
• 0:04 - The Doctor appears to be wearing a proper suit, top hat included (No Fez?!) in front of a swastika.  Confused yet?
• 0:07 - The number 11. Not only my favourite number, but the incarnation of the Doctor that Matt Smith is, hence the "My time is running out" over the top of it. Don't panic though, Matt is still playing the Doctor next season too.
• 0:08 - Who is Winston Churchill holding a gun to? The Doctor? Hitler? James Corden?
• 0:09 - Speak of the devil; here comes that lovable mass of a man running down a changing room corridor. Looks like we'll be seeing a return of his character, Craig Owens.
• 0:10 - And here's David Walliams' aforementioned alien, called Gibbis, a spooky new creature appearing in the Toby Whitehouse (Being Human) written episode, God Complex.
• 0:11 - And another guest star this series, Daniel Mays (Outcasts, Ashes to Ashes), who'll be in a Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) episode, entitled Night Terrors.
• 0:11 - Madame Kovarian also returns...
• 0:13 - What is this the eye of? Dalek? Silence? James Corden?
• 0:15 - WTF?! Middle aged Amy? In futuristic armour? When is this going to happen?
• 0:16 - A snippet from the much anticipated episode "Lets Kill Hitler", where apparently the Doctor and co do quite the opposite. "Oh FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
• 0:19 - An odd exchange between Doctor and Corden, involving some homosexual interactions. Didn't see that coming, did you?
• 0:22 - Amy in wonderland.
• 0:23 - A quick shot of what looks to be a darker and grimier take on the Starship Enterprise cockpit.
• 0:25 - At least now we know how the Doctor gets to Hitler. Smashing through the window.
• 0:26 - River. Is. Madame. Kovarian? WHAT!? Actually, there was always a slight resemblance there...
• 0:28-0:33 - The Silence. Cybermen. Weeping Angels. Creepy Dolls. Robots. Ugly Viking playing chess. And a close up on a Minatour. Anything else?
• 0:33-0:35 - Followed by smashing. Lots of smashing.
• 0:36 - Rory punches Hitler! FRIDGE YEAH!
• 0:37 - Amy fights robots with swords and sticks! FRIDGE YE-HEAH!
• 0:38 - David Walliams/Gibbis hides in a closet! FRIDGE YE-oh wait, that's not that exciting.
• 0:40 - SLOW DOWN! IT'S GOING TOO FAST! From what I could gather here, dudes shoot Silence, one guy teleports, the Doctor pulls Daniel Mays away from something, a Minotaur runs down a corridor and Cybermen heads blow up. Phew.
• 0:46 - So who is in the astronaut suit? That little girl? The Doctor himself? James Corden?
• 0:52 - Answers will come, en masse I suppose. Looks like all these over arching plot lines should be tied up by the end of this, which makes you wonder, "How the fridge are they going to do that?".

So. Many. Questions? Why is there a Minotaur, why are the Cybermen there, will they kill Hitler, what's the deal with River, why was Amy aged, will there be a Fez, who is Daniel Mays, how does the Doctor not die, how does Gibbis play into it and most importantly, is the Doctor gay with James Corden? It'll all be revealed, this Autumn. Can't wait.