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Doctor Who panel - Comic-Con Report

by Keith McDuffee, posted Jul 24th 2008 4:15PM

doctor who panel
After the Kings panel, then attending a bit of the Battlestar Galactica 20th reunion panel (more on that later), I headed over to get in the enormous line to Ballroom 20 (within which you can fit four Kings rooms) for the Doctor Who panel. Writers Julie Gardner and Steven Moffat were up there talking about the show and taking questions from the attendees. Since I don't watch the show, you'll have to deal with what seemed to be the highlights based on crowd reaction and what I thought sounded cool. Rich Keller will hopefully listen to my recording later and update if need-be.

Read on for the highlights.

  • Series 5's premiere was being written on the plane over by Steven Moffat.
  • Steven Moffat is hilarious. When asked about writing for the show: "I decided to give up a life of friends to write for it" and "a life of virginity has kept me pure."
  • Gardner asked Moffat about the first time writing "INTERIOR: Tardis" in a script. Moffat said it was like giving him "an enormous toy to play with."
  • Some highlights were shown from episodes Steven Moffat wrote. One was an episode about a spaceship from the 51st century stalking a woman from 18th century, 'Blink', an episode about "The Library," though not an episode about "The Empty Child," which Moffat wrote and he was disappointed wasn't shown.
  • An attendee mentioned attending a reading by Niel Gaiman where she asked him if he'd write an episode of Doctor Who with Moffat, to which he said "would be nice." Moffat replied with the same "that would be nice." So who knows? Hell I'd start watching this show if that happened!
  • Lots of questions were asked that could be big spoilers, and Moffat simply wouldn't say a word about them or would jokingly whisper the answer to Gardner. There was one mention of one character having met more than one of the Doctors before, but I'll have to go back to listen to that again.
  • When asked about whether he had a hard time getting into the country for Comic-Con, Moffat joked, "Yes! I don't know if you know this about your country, but you hate us!"
  • We were treated to an extended trailer for the 2008 Christmas episode, featuring the return of the Cybermen.

There's just too much more funny to get in right now and we'll have to update later.

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Michael

Also jumping in on the comment made about one of the characters having met more than one Doctor before... would this be referencing the Brigadier? I know that he is going to be making an appearance in the show and this seems rather likely who they must have been talking about.

Keith - I do appreciate your comments about this show as well as everything you do here with TVSquad. We just assume that you guys are "all seeing, all knowing" when it comes to our fave shows and we forget sometimes that you all have your faves and un-faves as well. I'd rather have a sketchy report than none at all I suppose. At least we get pictures!

July 25 2008 at 8:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
MindyJo

I'll just jump in about the "There was one mention of one character having met more than one of the Doctors before"... Moffatt was asked about Dr. River Song from the Library episodes. Dr. Song, the question went, seemed to know the Doctor. Did she recognize the current Doctor, or some "essence" of the Doctor? In other words, did she know the David Tennant Doctor, or some future regeneration of the Doctor. Moffatt implied that Dr. Song knew more than one of the Doctors.

July 25 2008 at 12:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
the Swamp Rabbit

Thanks for the post. Even though you don't know the show, logistics sometimes throw cogs into gears...

I'm looking forward to a more sci-fi oriented show. If "character oriented" means "Rose's f@#%^&* mother and Mickey who can't properly speak the English languege" than I'm all for more sci-fi...

July 25 2008 at 12:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to the Swamp Rabbit's comment
Mia

Wow. That was harsh.

July 28 2008 at 5:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael

I would say that if you don't have a reporter that is informed on the subject matter then it should be skipped.

I think that should be a general rule of thumb for just about everything.

July 25 2008 at 12:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Edd

Thanks for posting Keith. It sometimes bugs me when writers who don't watch shows write posts (the funniest one was "24 season 7 skips ahead a few years"!), but logistics are logistics. Damn plane!
Thanks for the post

July 24 2008 at 10:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
DaveTehWave

"Some highlights were shown from episodes Steven Moffat wrote. One was an episode about a spaceship from the 51st century stalking a woman from 18th century, 'Blink', an episode about "The Library," though not an episode about "The Empty Child," which Moffat wrote and he was disappointed wasn't shown."

I saw these episodes already... they showed highlights from past episodes? WTF?

July 24 2008 at 9:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to DaveTehWave's comment
RobynM

I think the point was to show some of the work Steven Moffat's been responsible for in the past, so a) we have some idea of what the feel of the show will likely be in the future and b) to prove to the doubters that he's capable of running the show.

Thanks again for stepping in, Keith - it's not easy covering something you're completely unfamiliar with.

July 24 2008 at 10:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
DaveTehWave

"Some highlights were shown from episodes Steven Moffat wrote. One was an episode about a spaceship from the 51st century stalking a woman from 18th century, 'Blink', an episode about "The Library," though not an episode about "The Empty Child," which Moffat wrote and he was disappointed wasn't shown."

I saw these episodes already... they showed highlights from past episodes? WTF?

lame

July 24 2008 at 9:56 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John Schneider

Claire, the tv movies will work as a bridge between seasons, season five will have the usual quantity of episodes.

July 24 2008 at 8:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Oreo

I find it weird that he is already writing the first episode even through it won't be aired/filmed until 2009.

July 24 2008 at 8:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Oreo's comment
RobynM

Really? I'm not. In fact, I think I'd be surprised if he weren't already working on it. Not only will it set the tone for his tenure as producer, but it's probably not the only one he'll be writing for the season, so better he start sooner rather than later.

July 24 2008 at 10:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Claire

i agree. i think your post was fine, especially since this isn't your area of expertise.

with that said was there any mention to the format of season five. i know it's supposed to be a series of TV movies (a la the christmas specials) but was there any more information? i would have loved to see that panel.

July 24 2008 at 7:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Claire's comment
Gudlyf

Thanks. The only talk of season 5 I caught was that the pilot was being written.

July 24 2008 at 7:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dave

From now, we have :
Christmas 2008 - 1 x special, featuring the Cybermen

2009 - Easter time and possibly late summer/autumn - 2 x specials.

Christmas 2009 - 1 x special.

2010 - Full series 5, probably 13 episodes.

July 24 2008 at 7:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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