It's the end - but the moment has been prepared for. Yes, 2015 is crisping over like the Fourth Doctor in his strange cocoon-like regeneration and to celebrate I'm reviewing this year in Doctor Who. And what a year it was...
Starring: Peter Capaldi (the Doctor), Jenna Coleman (Clara), Maisie Williams (Ashildr), Jemma Redgrave (Kate), Ingrid Oliver (Osgood) with Michelle Gomez (Missy) and Alex Kingston (River Song)
Written by: Steven Moffat, Toby Whithouse, Jamie Mathieson, Cathering Treganna, Peter Harness, Mark Gatiss and Sarah Dollard
Directed by: Hettie MacDonald, Daniel O'Hara, Ed Bazelgette, Daniel Nettheim, Justin Molotnikov and Rachel Talalay
Unusually this year we knew several of Series Nine's titles quite early on but now, with just a mere handful of days to go until the premiere, we have the entire set, released today in one handy image on the official Doctor Who twitter account.
Unusually, if memory serves, we've been granted two full-length trailers this year in the run-up to Series Nine (which is still a month away!). While a few clips are the same as the one released last month, it's mostly all-new material. Let's watch the new trailer and then take a closer look at what it has to offer...
A lot of the minute is made up of the Doctor and Clara doing Doctory/Claray things (I particularly like the Doctor apologising to the TARDIS for being late and Clara's clearly been taking lessons from Torchwood's Gwen Cooper on how to be an action-hero). On the supporting characters front, there's a shot of a scared-looking Rigsy (returning from last year's 'Flatline') and, I think, we also see the impossibly-resurrected Osgood out for a jog.
But the most important thing are the monsters - and there seems to be a bumper crop this year. Including this CGI dragon thing. As the Zygons are back, this could be the modern rendition of a Skrarasen, the Zygons' pet that was actually the Loch Ness Monster. If so, I sort of miss it looking like a rubbery toy dinosaur...
Also, of course, this fella who's on loan fromPan's Labyrinth
We also get more glimpses of Maisie Williams' character, who appears to be in league with this leonine creature (who elsewhere in the trailer breathes fire). A relation of the Tharils, the lion-like aliens from Fourth Doctor adventure 'Warrior's Gate'?
And look what have we here. It seems the Master and the Daleks will team-up (or perhaps go head-to-head) - for the first time since the Third Doctor battled them both in 'Frontier In Space.' If I were a Dalek, though, I'm not sure I'd be pals with Missy if she was cackling in my face like that. Unless I'd just told a hilarious joke. Which I wouldn't have done, being a Dalek.
But trumping even the promise of Missy and the Daleks is more Daleks! Namely, Daleks old and new coming together. Below we have the usual bronze Time War Daleks, some 60s models (including a couple with blue domes), a Special Weapons Dalek and even the red Dalek Supreme from 'The Stolen Earth/Journey's End.' Oh, and there's a 70s one elsewhere in the trailer. Just about everyone apart from the despised Paradigm Daleks. One day they'll come back...
Overall, this trailer just fuels my already very high hopes for Series Nine. From what we've seen so far, the Twelfth Doctor has settled down into himself this year and he and Clara are back to having good times rollocking around the universe. To misquote Clara, I haven't seen this series yet - but I will do and it will be spectacular.
Thanks to the geek mecca that is Comic Con, last night we were treated to two sneak peaks at the upcoming episodes of Sherlock and Doctor Who. Over on Sherlock's Home you can read my analysis of the clip from the Christmas special (which looks to tick all this Holmes fan's boxes) but in this post I'll continue a Scribble Creatures tradition and take a closer look at the first trailer released for Doctor Who Series Nine. Have a butcher's at it below and then read on for some analysis:
'Everytime I think it can't get any more extraordinary, it surprises me...'
The trailer gave us some glimpses at the settings of the Doctor and Clara's adventures this year. For one, there seems to be an underwater compound - a great setting for a classic 'base under siege' Doctor Who story.
But even more mouth-wateringly, there is this shot of a very Dalek-looking city (notice those bumps). The trailer revealed the fact that the Daleks are back so perhaps we are making a return visit to their home planet, Skaro, last seen in 'Asylum of the Daleks.' Skaro is an irradiated, barren world so the following shot, which sees the Doctor and allies being fired at by some familiar laser beams, could be the Dalek homeworld too.
'It's impossible.. it's evil... it's astonishing'
Going by the trailer, the set of monsters this year look set to be the most sinister bunch yet. According to the BBC press release, we know one of them is called the Mire. I'm guessing the possessor of the Zombie hand...
With their long hair, space-age helmets and eye thingies the
following fellas must be the 'Vikings in space' that Peter Capaldi
mentioned recently. It is thought that they will appear in the
two-parter 'The Girl Who Died' and 'The Woman Who Lived.' Along with
these rocky robot types we have seen previously.
Then there's this cosmetically-challenged chap who looks as if he is on Karn from 'The Night of the Doctor.' He is also in the vicinity of a red-robed figure, the usual attire of the Sisterhood of Karn. What could be going on there?
Speaking of returning things, there is also a bumper crop of familiar foes this year. Alongside the aforementioned Daleks (they never give up, do they?), we also have Missy back to plague the Doctor in the opening episodes 'The Magician's Apprentice' and 'The Witch's Familiar.' Who knows what - hang on, she's not going to team up with the Daleks, is she? Only time will tell...
Of course, we also have the third appearance on the show of the shapeshifting Zygons. The BBC have described the Zygon two-parter as 'a global Zygon uprising.' Perhaps, after 'The Day of the Doctor', Zygons agreed to peacefully integrate with humanity - but now they have changed their minds...
'I'm the Doctor and I save people.'
The Doctor seems set to be more at peace with himself this series. He's smiling, hugging Clara and Peter Capaldi's showing his punk rock roots in the shot of the Doctor wearing sunglasses with a guitar.
Elsewhere we can see the new costume the Doctor will be wearing for at least the early part of this series - the hoodie from 'Last Christmas' plus some Patrick Troughton-inspired chequered trousers.
'What took you so long, old man?'
Now, here's what's set Who fans' minds racing. Game of Thrones favourite Maisie Williams was previously theorised to be playing a younger version of Clara but now it has shifted to to her being a relative of the Doctor's, due to her 'old man' comment. Perhaps Jenny, the Doctor's Daughter previously played by Georgia Moffett in, erm, 'The Doctor's Daughter'? Others are saying Susan, the First Doctor's granddaughter, but I would have thought her return would have happened in the nostalgia of the 50th anniversary year if it was ever going to.
Regardless of her true identity, Ms Williams' get-up here seems to confirm the rumours that she will play a highway(wo)man who encounters the Doctor and Clara. She is set to appear in 'The Girl Who Died'and'The Woman Who Lived' - even though that is presumably the Vikings in Space episode. Perhaps she'll become a companion?
Doctor Who - don't you just want to kiss it to death?
Well, now that April's upped and left (won't be seeing her again til next year now - just the odd phone call wouldn't go amiss), it's time to look at what happened over the past month. Up first, the Doctor will be seeing doubles in the next series...
Doctor Who Series Nine is shaping up
Quite a few details about the 2015 series of Doctor Who have come to light over the past few weeks. One of the most high-profile was the news that Game of Throne's Maisie Williams is to guest star in episodes 5 and 6 of Series Nine - The Girl Who Died, co-written by Series Eight's Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat, and The Woman Who Lived, by Torchwood writer Cathrine Treganna. With all the coverage she is getting, it's assumed Maisie will be playing a major character. The prevalent theory is that she will be a younger version of Clara. The character's detractors will no doubt be pleased that there may be two Claras runnng about this year...
Elsewhere, we now know UNIT head Kate Stewart will be back not once but twice in Series Nine, in episodes 1, 2, 7 and 8. And let's not forget this rocking monster, the first new enemy to be revealed from the series.
However, the most intriguing tidbit we now know is that Series Nine will be much heavier on two parters. In a move away from the usual series structure of the one-three double-decker stories, apparently every two episodes of the series will be linked in some way - with it only being revealed that they will be of the same story when you watch it. This is a very bold new way of laying out a series and one I'm very excited to see unfold. Hurry up, August!
I was Sherlocked!
Let's zoom in from the whole of time and space and forcus on Baker Street now. This month, I was lucky enough to attend the first official Sherlock convention. I could only make it up to London for one of the days but it was still good fun, although I unfortunately missed Benedict Cumberbatch's appearance. A highlight was Moffat and Gatiss' talk - the pair being as entertaining and informative as they always are (with some tantalising hints about what stories they want to do next on the show) - and there was always something to do (with prop musuems and, well, the endless queing). You can read a fuller write-up of the event here.
Mr Holmes trailer
Sticking with Sherlock, here's the trailer for Mr Holmes, which sees Ian McKellen as an elderly Holmes revisiting the case that made him retire. I have some misgivings about the film - it doesn't seem particularly Holmesian in tone and I'm not sure I really want to see my beloved Sherlock Holmes at the end of his life, losing his great mental faculties, but I'm certainly fascinated.Here's hoping it makes a reference to Miss Mary Russell, the retired Holmes' partner in detection - and wife! - in one series of novels.
Highlight of the month
Inside No. 9 (Series Two)
Despite never having seen TV's masters of macabre Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith's previous dark comic hits The League of Gentlemen and Psychoville, I was very pleased to recently catch the second series of Inside No. 9, a hidden gem of a show that deserves more attention. An anthology series, every episode differs wildly in tone and atmosphere but are linked by the fact they are set in somewhere labelled 'no.9' (e.g. a train carriage, a haunted house, a seemingly-ordinary flat). As with every anthology series, the quality varies but each episode is a tense, witty treat with at least half of the six-part run being outright classics. Shearsmith and Pemberton manage to carve each half hour segment into whatever shape they want - be it a nail-biting horror or a surprising tear-jerker. When it surely returns for a series three, I urge you to go a-knocking on No.9 - you never know what you might find inside...
Get ready to say something nice, everyone - the Queen of Evil is returning to plague the Doctor and Clara's lives sooner than we thought...
Today it was revealed that Series Eight's big bad, Missy - the Master in female form, in case you didn't know - is coming straight back into the show in Series Nine's opening episode, 'The Magician's Apprentice.'
I, for one, am terribly excited for Missy's return, with Michelle Gomez's scenery-crunching performance being one of the highlights of last year. We had been starved of the Master for years before Missy so who can complain if we get more of her so soon?
As cryptic as ever, Steven Moffat has said that what brings Missy back into the Doctor and Clara's lives 'is the last thing they'd expect.'
Other details about the series opener have also been revealed, including the announcement that Jemma Redgrave will be returning as UNIT head, Kate Stewart. What with her also appearing in the Series Eight finale just as Missy did, it looks like this will be something of a sequel to the 'Dark Water/Death in Heaven' story. Also announced to be in the episode is Claire Higgins, the actress who previously played Ohila in 'The Night of the Doctor.' Could the Sisterhood of Karn be returning too? They were always linked to the Time Lords so will we finally learn more about what really happened to Gallifrey?
Also now known is that the opener will be a two-parter - the second episode being called 'The Witch's Familiar.' Firstly, has there ever been a two-parter with such well-matching episode titles as these? The eponymous Magician and Witch surely refer to the Doctor and Missy - but who is their Apprentice/Familiar? Clara is certainly the Doctor's apprentice and could be said to be Missy's familiar (the term for a Witch's pet, such as their black cat), as Missy was revealed to be behind Clara meeting the Doctor in the first place.
In the wider context of Series Nine, it seems like this year will see a return to the multi two-parter series of yesteryear as Toby Whithouse (writer of several previous Whos and creator of Being Human) is said to be writing a 'spooky' two-parter while Moffat has previously spoken about the 'fantastic' cliffhanger he's written to lead into this year's finale, suggesting that will be a two-parter as well.
The trailer gave us some glimpses at the settings of the Doctor and Clara's adventures this year. For one, there seems to be an underwater compound - a great setting for a classic 'base under siege' Doctor Who story. 
But even more mouth-wateringly, there is this shot of a very Dalek-looking city (notice those bumps). The trailer revealed the fact that the Daleks are back so perhaps we are making a return visit to their home planet, Skaro, last seen in 'Asylum of the Daleks.' Skaro is an irradiated, barren world so the following shot, which sees the Doctor and allies being fired at by some familiar laser beams, could be the Dalek homeworld too. 
Speaking of returning things, there is also a bumper crop of familiar foes this year. Alongside the aforementioned Daleks (they never give up, do they?), we also have Missy back to plague the Doctor in the opening episodes 'The Magician's Apprentice' and 'The Witch's Familiar.' Who knows what - hang on, she's not going to team up with the Daleks, is she? Only time will tell...
