Kilkrazy wrote:
Can there be too many grenades?

The first official notification of how much anniversary flavoured Doctor Who we’ll be getting was on display today. It was printed on display cards at the London Toy Fair.

Here’s a photo of one such card that we were sent by three different Little Bleeders. Its original provenance is unclear but do let us know if you’re the one who originally took it.

So, there it is in… er…. blue and white, with some orange too. There’s one anniversary special and it’s 60 minutes long.

The Mark Gatiss-penned drama about the creation of the show is going to run to 90 minutes, but the actual Doctor Who episode itself, just 60.

Quite what Doctor Who Revisited will be isn’t yet clear. It might be the same thing as, or at least a cut-down version of, BBC American’s talking head specials The Doctors Revisited – there’s an obvious similarity in their names.

Steven Moffat has said that his show would “take over television” for the anniversary. That’s starting to look like something of an exaggeration.

 Anung Un Rama wrote:
Bring back ALL THE CHARACTERS!!

Seriously, they should totally do that.

Yesterday we learned that the it would reach at least as far as the second series and the Daleks’ invasion of London. Today The Radio Times reveal that Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor, will also feature, and that he’ll be played by Gatiss’ old League of Gentlemen colleague, Reece Shearsmith.

I’ve seen Shearsmith be very good in a number of things, from the short film Him Indoors through to Betty Blue Eyes. Often, if not always, he’s managed the same blend of vagabond charm and surprising menace that characterised the second Doctor. I do think he can pull it off.

A few folk, including members of the Bleeding Cool forum, have guessed that actors featured as incarnations of the Doctor in Gatiss’ drama will then also appear in the 50th anniversary special of Who proper. It’s a sweet idea, and I can imagine it’s something Moffat and Gatiss might well try to pull off.

And I must say, it did seem a little more likely when I heard of Shearsmith’s casting, and it’ll seem more likely still should we hear that Pertwee will be a character too.

Take this how you will but I was feeling rather sceptical about a Steven Moffat quote in The Daily Mirror until I saw an independent Doctor Who blogger back it up. That’s not how old and new media are supposed to relate, is it?

Here’s the key bit of Doctor Who Online‘s report:

Speaking at the recent BBC Drama Commissions event, and subsequently quoted by The Mirror newspaper, Moffat had the following to say regarding plans for the special:

“Getting the other Doctors involved would be very fitting for the anniversary episode, wouldn’t it?”

Initially The Mirror newspaper failed to state the source of the quote, but DWO today got confirmation that it was indeed at the BBC Drama Commissions event.

So, why did Moffat say this? It’s hard to imagine he’d want to set up disappointment by teasing an Eleven Doctors story and then not following through.

The quote could be out of context, though. For all we know, the next words out his mouth were:

But we can’t do that, sadly. Luckily there are lots of other ideas that would equally suitable.

- just for example.

But what does “getting the other Doctors involved” actually mean? It doesn’t have to mean they’d all appear on screen – but again, would Moffat risk the anticlimax?

All Eleven Doctors! In voice only! Some in silhouette! And Eleven different Tardises! That’ll do, won’t it? No?

Bleeding Cool is fully confident that David Tennant will be making an appearance during the anniversary shows, in some way or another. We assume that he’ll be reprising the role of the Tenth Doctor. Beyond that? Just guess work.

But if Moffat did make this new comment, and I feel pretty sure that he did, then I think we can pretty safely assume – and for the first time, by my reckoning – that there really is a full-set Multi Doctor story coming.

Production on the 50th anniversary special starts in April.

An extensive video interview with Steven Moffat was screened at the Gallifrey One convention this weekend. It’s a very interesting clip, and you can watch the whole thirteen minutes or so at the foot of this story.

But first, let’s talk about some of Moffat’s opening comments.

It’s very very busy. Doctor Who, the 50th is approaching and there’s various different things, a lot of different things going on. Don’t believe the nonsense about one sixty minute film, that’s complete nonsense.

Is it?

It’s nonsense to say that the only program marking the anniversary will be one 60 minute special, because that’s not true. There’s also Mark Gatiss’ special An Adventure in Space and Time. But after that?

Well, there’s a lot of retrospectives, talking head shows and other tie-ins. There might well even be a handful of these prequels and mini-sequels that Moffat has been producing. I would personally be surprised if we don’t see some classic episodes come out of the archives.

But there aren’t going to be any more new episodes of the show proper. Not until Christmas.

It’s going to go like this: season seven part two, or season eight as it really is, will return on Easter weekend. It will run for eight episodes.

Then there will be a break. And then there will be the one anniversary special episode, in 3D. That will also screen in cinemas. It’s expected to be around sixty minutes in length, but it may be longer. Slightly.

And then at Christmas, the next special.

And that’s really it until December 25th. I trust the two sources who have backed this up for me implicitly.

The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who is going to make quite an impact on the BBC schedules, there’s no doubt of that, but it’s not going to do it with a multi-episode run of the show proper.

And that’s fine, of course. We don’t have a god given right to be delivered Who in elephant doses.

The show’s anniversary is going to go off in fine style. I believe the promises. I’m curious, and I wish I could find out more about what’s going on, but I’m also happy to have surprises to look forward to.

I just know that none of these surprises will be unexpected, unannounced episodes of the show.

One of the monsters in the nest season -- in the Gatiss episode set in a submarine -- sees the return of the Ice Warriors. Or one of them at least. Slight redesigning rumoured/seems likely.