The trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas Special has arrived, and with a lovely title, too: “Twice Upon A Time.”
And look who it is! Mark Gatiss! (Maybe the Brigadier’s ancestor? Definitely possible….)
So happy that Bill will be back to see the Doctor off properly. And to see more of David Bradley as the First Doctor! And… is that Polly? Bringing back Ben and Polly (companions to the first Doctor) would be a fascinating move. Set your calendars for Christmas, everyone….
Is it just me or is something ALWAYS going wrong with time? I guess that’s why we need Time Lords, and of course Ladies.
1. That is half of the Time Lords’ job description, to fix these sorts of messes. The other half, of course, being “be pompous and inscrutable to everyone.”
It seems unlikely to be Polly. This is evidently taking place toward the end of “The Tenth Planet.” We saw the Doctor exit and Ben and Polly linger at the Antarctic base for a few moments, then cut to a scene of Ben and Polly arriving at the TARDIS with the Doctor already inside and banging on the door, asking to be let in, which he did just before collapsing and regenerating. So this must be happening between those two scenes — presumably the First and Twelfth Doctors will have this whole adventure and then the First will end up back where he was before, just before Ben and Polly show up and bang on the door. And of course, when the Doctor underwent “renewal,” it came as a complete surprise to B&P and it took them two episodes to accept that the new guy even was the Doctor.
I see only static. This hiatus the BBC has put the show on for the next four or five years is going to be very long indeed. It is a shame they are not giving Capaldi a finale episode and are going out with that The Doctor Falls for him.
@1 Whenever Miss Marple is around, nothing goes wrong with time. Instead, someone always seems to be getting murdered. Probably coincidence.
@@.-@ I pity you child.
Never mind Polly. Is Mark Gatiss playing a young Lethbridge-Stewart?
@7/John Ruschmeyer: No way. Those are WWI uniforms; the Brig wouldn’t even have been born yet. (The tie-in books put his birth around 1930.) Also, Gatiss is 50 years old, and Nicholas Courtney was 39 when he first played Lethbridge-Stewart.
@5. ellsworthj. I’m convinced Miss Marple’s a serial killer
Christopher: That almost has to be Polly. Same hair, same outfit she was wearing in “The Tenth Planet.”
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@11/krad: Yup — as I just replied to you on Facebook, I thought she was with Capaldi in that shot instead of Bradley. So evidently it’s a new Polly/Doctor scene set during “The Tenth Planet.” Perhaps tying into how ill the Doctor was for much of that story (because Hartnell was ill too and had to be written out of one episode).
Weird to have the same conversation in two places at once. The Internet is a strange place…
Bradley as the First Doctor is falling deeply into the Uncanny Valley for me — he looks just different enough from Hartnell (particularly when he’s smiling) to be distracting. And, as his initial line demonstrates all too clearly, he sounds nothing like Hartnell.
I’ve read elsewhere that Polly’s dress is the wrong colour (pink when there are colour photos showing the original was red). Presumably, this makes her a pale imitation <rimshot>.
@13/John Elliott: Yeah, Bradley’s fairly good with Hartnell’s mannerisms, but the voice is nowhere near right, and that’s what gives me trouble. (Especially after the uncannily accurate impression of Hartnell’s voice that John Guilor did in “The Day of the Doctor” and before that in the DVD reconstruction of the original 4-part version of “Planet of Giants.”) It’s easier to buy Bradley playing Hartnell in a docudrama, at a couple of more removes from the source, than it is to accept him as the actual First Doctor. I almost wish they’d get Guilor to dub over Bradley’s voice, but that wouldn’t be fair to Bradley as a performer.
But then, Richard Hurndall in “The Five Doctors” was somewhat closer in face and voice, yet didn’t come as close with the mannerisms and delivery. So I guess they split the difference.
Now, if only we could get an appearance by Sean Pertwee as the Third Doctor…
I’m sad we are losing Bill as a companion (presumably?)
I’m sure it’s just coincidence that Martha and Bill got short runs as companions, but it’s still off putting to me.
@15/vinsentient: Donna also had only a 1-year run. In the classic series, quite a few companions had tenures of roughly one season or less — Dodo, Ben & Polly, Victoria, Zoe, Liz, Harry, Romana I — and several had less than a season and a half — Susan, Vicki, Steven, Leela, Adric, Mel.
Plus, don’t forget that after she left the TARDIS, Martha was a recurring character in both Torchwood and Doctor Who the following season.
Still, I would be happy to see Bill stay on as Jodie Whittaker’s companion. Heck, I’d even be glad to see Nardole back. I was never a fan of Matt Lucas before, but he turned out well here.
Why is Christmas so far away, why?
@8 – Chris: Yes, Gatiss is 50 and Courtney was 39, but he was 39 from decades ago. It’s the Harry Mudd thing again.
@12 – Chris: That’s why I usually avoid krad’s rewatch posts on Facebook and come straight here.
@14 – Chris: I’m so in for Sean Pertwee as the Third Doctor.
@15 – vinsentient: Sadly, Pearl Mackie has already confirmed that she’s not returning after this episode.
@17/MaGnUs: First off, again, the setting is clearly WWI, so there’s no point debating whether it’s the Brig when it obviously can’t be (though I’m hearing speculations that it could be his grandfather, perhaps).
Second, just look at Gatiss in the trailer footage — he looks considerably older than Courtney did in the Brig’s heyday. Heck, I was surprised to learn that Courtney was nearly 40 when he debuted in the role — he looked younger than that to me. And I’m equally surprised that Gatiss is as young as 50. I have a number of friends around that age, and most of them look younger to me than Gatiss does. So just because it’s more common for older people today to look more youthful, that doesn’t mean it applies exactly the same in every case. It depends on individual lifestyle and genetics.
Of course, it’s not always the case. I’m just saying that their chronological age is not the point, as you say, their appearance is.