Gearing up for the new "Who"

So, I'm dying to know -- what do YOU think of the impending arrival of the new "Doctor Who?" Starring that fellow with the amazingly agile hair aka Matt Smith and that saucy redhead I know nothing but I'm sure she's good aka Karen Gillan, the new series will make its UK debut on April 3 (thanks for catching my typo, folks!) followed immediately by its illegal debut on dodgy servers everywhere...then followed on April 17 with its BBC America debut. Phew, that was a long, poorly constructed sentence.

I gotta say, I'm pretty damn excited about the upcoming season, which is something I never thought I would say given my sadness over David Tennant's departure and my misgivings about Steven Moffat. But seriously, how could anyone -- even cranky old me -- watch these previews and not be at least mildly geeked?

Please note: there be casting spoilers ahoy in these trailers, so if you want to pure as the driven "Who" snow, it'd be best to avoid them.





I mean, wow, the monsters look amazing; the energy level is ramped up to 11; Smith and Gillan seem to have a nice bouncy chemistry going and Smith himself looks like he's going to be the twitchiest, oddest Doctor of them all...and I mean that as a good thing. With my albeit limited Old Who knowledge, the following statement could be totally wrong, but he reminds me a bit of Tom Baker, which should make for some good squirrelly fun. Just from those previews, the show itself definitely has a new feel but again, I mean this as a good thing because it still feels very much connected to the best of the Davies era.

But enough yammering from me -- tell me what you think!

Odds and Ends

+ So apparently there was some sort of huge medical announcement over the weekend, some sort of new Doctor? Ah yes, just kidding, I had my ear pressed to the internets just like every other Who fan on Saturday, waiting with bated breath to learn who Doctor #11 would be. It's this fellow, Matt Smith, who is so young I feel compelled to babysit him:

Here's a very good interview with Smith and also with David Tennant, who I initially thought was in his jammies but that just turned out to be wishful thinking, talking about being The Doctor. Smith seems like a very charming young man and I'm sure he'll be a great Doctor. Of course, I still refuse to believe Ten is leaving... ETA: Forgot to include this article on possible new companions for Eleven. Lily Allen? Really?

+ The lyrics for the musical commentary for the musical Dr. Horrible are up and available on the Dr. Horrible website. Personally, I think all letters and e-mails sent to the Whedons commenting on the commentary should be in musical form, just to boast the meta content a bit more.

+ I like this story just for the title alone -- Top Ten Things Launched Into Space In 2008 -- from Wired. Look at these cute but very, very hardy little microbes that got rocketed into the great beyond to see how long they lasted in harsh conditions. The tardigrades, as they're called, did quite well, thank you very much. 'Course, that doesn't negate the fact that they look like the Michelin Man mated with a manatee:


+ An article on Wired's Sexiest Geeks of 2008, as voted by many, many apparently delusional male readers...who also like Stephen Colbert? Anyway, kind of a weird list to me but to each their own. At least a Deschanel sister made the cut.

+ SciFi.com has a new clip up from the Caprica pilot. Here it is at Galactica Sitrep. Speaking of Galactica, woo hooooo, only 11 more days 'til the big show. There's been tons of spoilers swirling around out there about the ending, but I'm keeping my eyes firmly closed. And here's a compelling argument from the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan, who has seen the season 4.5 premiere, on why ignorance is going to be tres bliss come Jan. 16.