Spoiler alert? We got spoilers piled up a Dalek's wazoo over here. Beware.
On Saturday, July 5, at 6:40 p.m. (that's 17:40 Zulu Time for you Tom Clancy fans), the season finale of Doctor Who will go out on BBC1 to an expected audience of 10 million viewers. The specially extended 65-minute episode ("Journey's End") should be one of the most watched shows of the year in the United Kingdom.
Hardcore Who fans around the world are all over coverage of the coming finale as well as last week's cliffhanger episode ("The Stolen Earth"). They're filling chat rooms and forums to discuss the meaning of last week's story and the potential for this weekend's big conclusion. American fans are in on the talk -- resorting to dastardly outlets like YouTube to watch these shows weeks before they premiere in the United States on The Sci-Fi Channel.
But casual sci-fi viewers might not get what all the fuss is about. This preview will stack up some background data to prime this weekend's big sci-fi send-off for The Doctor and his Tardis crew.
This is the last full season for* Doctor Who* executive producer and show runner, Russell T. Davies. After bringing the show back successfully and steering the ship for four years, Davies is handing control over to Who's best writer, Steven Moffat. To mark the transition in the show's directing force, the BBC is putting *Doctor Who *on a one-year hiatus. There will be four Who specials aired next year with Davies and Moffat working together, but there won't be a full season for the series again until 2010.
Davies wants to go out with a big closing number to wrap up his time as show runner. And he's halfway there with "The Stolen Earth." The Doctor (David Tennant) finds himself locked in battle once again with his greatest enemies, The Daleks. Just to complicate matters, the twisted genius who created the monsters, Davros (Julian Bleach), is in command. He's conquered Earth, plucked it from space, and intends to destroy reality itself. And he can do it, too.
Davies rounded up all of the most popular supporting players to aid The Doctor in his fight. Torchwood's Capt. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), Dr. Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) and Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) unite to battle the Daleks. Rose is The Doctor's true love, and their reunion amid the battle is a moment eagerly awaited by fans.
But, just as The Doctor and Rose finally seemed poised for their long overdue reunion, a Dalek shows up and wounds The Doctor. Rose and the rest carry him into his Tardis where he struggles to his feet, grips the console and announces, "I'm regenerating." Light explodes from his body and he begins to transform into ... "To be continued."
Casual fans need to realize how big a deal a "regeneration" is in* Doctor Who* lore. Tennant is the 10th Doctor -- the 10th actor to play the part according to the show's 40+ year canon. Whenever The Doctor regenerates into a new body, that means recasting the lead role -- which is a huge affair in the British press. Also, The Doctor can only regenerate 12 times, so he can only spend this nickel so often. The shock of seeing Tennant beginning to change before the credits hit Who fans as hard as the sudden destruction of the Galactica would shake BSG fans in the States.
To give you an idea of how big a story this is in England, check this review of the week's media coverage.
That brings us to "Journey's End" -- Davies's last episode as writer, executive producer and show runner. He's already crafted a shocking cliffhanger -- a "what if" scenario that's caused an uproar among fans and in the press. Those fans correctly point out that the season and its cliffhanger deal heavily with alternate universes and time lines, so it's possible that the regeneration is a fake -- a trick to keep Who on the front pages of Fleet Street newspapers for the week leading up to the big finale.
But that seems too cheap a trick to play on 10 million faithful viewers. Could Tennant actually be leaving? Could Davies and the BBC keep that kind of a story quiet? It's unlikely. There are ongoing reports of Tennant negotiating for as many as three additional seasons and a salary of £1.3 million. And fans already spied Tennant on the set of the 2008 Doctor Who Christmas special. But, those reports could be smokescreens.
Meanwhile, all this focus on the would-be transformation of The Doctor doesn't address how our heroes will defeat Davros and the Daleks, move Earth back to where it's supposed to be, etc. And, there remain rumors and predictions that one of The Doctor's companions will die before the fight is over.
As this reporter stated earlier, if this is not a trick and Davies and company really hid the departure of Tennant and the recasting of the biggest roll in British TV, the stunt would be without comparison -- a brilliant bit of broadcasting sleight of hand. However, most fans think that the regeneration is a story gimmick -- perhaps leading to a temporary change for The Doctor -- or even a split of his being into more than hero. It's all imagination and speculation, but it's fun. In the end, that's what sci-fi is supposed to be.
Image Courtesy BBC
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