Great news for 'Doctor Who' fans! Details of this year's Christmas Special have been unwrapped.

The BBC has announced that production is underway on the annual staple of the festive season, and it's expected to film until mid-October.

Matt Smith's second Christmas special as the Doctor will find him embarking on an adventure in war-torn England with a widow and her two young children.

He will be joined by guest stars Claire Skinner ('Outnumbered'), Bill Bailey ('Black Books'), Arabella Weir ('The Fast Show') and Alexander Armstrong ('Armstrong & Miller').

Who is River Song and what's her connection to other characters on 'Doctor Who'?

Why do stories have to be told in a linear fashion, and what does "linear" even mean?

Do you have to fully understand what's going on in a story -- any story, even one that doesn't involve alien incursions -- in order to enjoy it?

I discussed all those things and more with 'Doctor Who' executive producer and head writer Steven Moffat in anticipation of the show's Saturday return on BBC America.

Truth be told, I was a bit nervous to talk to Moffat. I'd read other interviews in which he seemed -- well, prickly is the wrong word, but (justifiably) unwilling to suffer fools gladly. And when it comes to timey-wimey stories and the kind of puzzle plots that he sometimes creates for 'Doctor Who,' I don't mind admitting that I can be a bit of a head-scratching fool.

A one-show podcast this time: Ryan McGee and I talk all 'Doctor Who,' all the time (well, not all the time -- we clocked in at just under an hour this week).

We talk about the new season of 'Who' as a whole, we gab about the River Song revelation and 'A Good Man Goes to War' in detail, and we speculate about what may be next for Rory, Amy and the Doctor.

Did we mention that Rory is awesome? We also love the Victorian lizard lady and her plucky companion, who should get their own spinoff now (which someone on Twitter dubbed 'Cagney and Scaly'). In any event, it was a great end to an uneven season, all of which we discuss in the 'Who'-cast.

In the season debut of 'Doctor Who,' we got a new Doctor in Matt Smith, a new writer/producer in Steven Moffat, and the Doctor got a new companion in Amy Pond, played by Scottish actress Karen Gillan. But the series and the Doctor got something a bit more in Amy, who shows sings of being a more of a challenge, more of an independent thinker than many of her predecessors.

Amy and the Doctor meet when Amy is just a child, and then several years later, after she has mythologized him for years, and felt disappointment that he has been gone for so long. Immediately, they are on strange footing. When she leaves with the Doctor, we see the wedding dress she left behind. This week, we'll get to see a it more of Amy, as she and the Doctor take the TARDIS for its first spin. We'll also get to see "Starship U.K." and some new villains, the "Smilers."

(S05E01) You've read the interview, and now we have the review of the new 'Who.'

Eleventh Hour. Eleventh Doctor. Ha ha. We get it.

Matt Smith comes out of the gate running. Literally. In his new regeneration, the Doctor doesn't even get time to catch his breath since he's dealing with his new companion Amy Pond as well as yet another alien that wants to destroy the Earth.

This was one of the best introductions to the Doctor ever and a strong start for the newest version of the program. I liked how Steven Moffat didn't use the old trope of post-regenerative trauma (which was used in the last regeneration to David Tennant) and simply presented Matt Smith's Doctor as a bit of a scatterbrain.

Tomorrow's new episode of 'Doctor Who' is more than a season premiere (BBC America, 9PM EST). It's the beginning of a new era. Matt Smith steps into the Doctor's shoes, Karen Gillan is the new companion, Amy Pond, and Steven Moffat ('Coupling,' 'Jekyll') takes over as lead writer and executive producer. David Tenant will be a particularly hard Doctor to replace, but Smith hits the ground running, almost literally, arriving on Earth with a malfunctioning Tardis with only 20 minutes to save the planet from obliteration.

Smith, 27, is the youngest actor to take on the Doctor so far, although he points out no actor could ever really get close to the character's age (he's roughly 900 years old). He has been attending screenings in New York and Los Angeles this week, meeting and greeting fans, and trying to swim through an ocean of interviews and press coverage. I caught up with him by phone Thursday shortly after he touched down in L.A.

The Doctor is back, and he's a lot younger than his predecessors.

26-year-old British actor Matt Smith is the eleventh person to take on the intergalactic Time Lord role on 'Doctor Who'; he joins a long line of acclaimed thespians, including David Tennant (who just hung up his Doctor trenchcoat last year), Chris Eccleston, and the legendary Tom Baker, who played Doctor from 1974 to 1981. While Smith looks strangely like a hybrid of Eccleston and Tennant, he brings a youthful energy all his own to the sci-fi show.

If you're a 'Doctor Who' fan and you're not excited, then there is something wrong with you.

Saturday brings the new season of the show on the BBC in England (either the fifth season or the 31st season depending on who you ask) with a new Doctor in the form of Matt Smith, a new companion in the form of Karen Gillan and a new showrunner in the form of Steven Moffat. For those that reside in the United States, there is a two week delay before the season premiere on BBC America on April 17th.

If you have never watched the show before, then the introduction of a new Doctor is an excellent place to start. Usually you find that the Doctor you start with becomes "your" Doctor. It's a wonderful cult that is far more interesting than Scientology, so please join.

Everything is different, and yet the same, just as we've come to expect with 'Doctor Who.'

According to Zap2It, the latest incarnation of the classic sci-fi series will have its American debut Sat., Apr. 17 on BBC America, just two weeks after it premieres in the U.K.

Among the changes to the 'Who' reboot include a new star (Matt Smith), a new companion (Karen Gillan, who will play Amy Pond) and a new head writer -- Steven Moffat, who will take over for Russell T. Davies. Moffat has been with the series since 2005.

For those of you who might be worried about Steven Moffat taking over as lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, take comfort in the man's lifelong dedication to the show. In this video, fans get to see a bit more of departing Doctor David Tennant walking around the studios where Doctor Who has been filmed over the years and talking about the show.

Moffat, who takes over for previous lead writer and producer Russell T. Davies, remembers his father calling him excitedly to the television, saying Doctor Who was on. It wasn't the show's regular night, but Moffat rushed to the television anyway, only to find it was the kids show Blue Peter, which often promoted and previewed episodes of Doctor Who, and burst into tears.

The Gallifreyan dust cleared by now on the final episode of the Russell T. Davies era of Doctor Who. And, after watching and digesting the final episodes of the David Tennant era, Davies couldn't move on fast enough for me.

The two-part story, "The End of Time," was watched by 10 million in the UK -- flirting with a 50 ratings share. So, it's an undeniable success. It was also an undeniable mess of a story that proved unworthy of Tennant's swan song.

Davies forever deserves credit for taking the street credit his successful work on series like Queer as Folk gave him and investing it in one shot from the BBC to bring back the network's crown jewel, Doctor Who. And he deserves credit for increasing the nerdy guy-friendly show's popularity with women by introducing "Buffy-ized" romance and humor.

But, the hard truth is Davies isn't a gifted sci-fi genre writer. And it showed in "The End of Time."

Every once in a while, the British television show Doctor Who is revamped. This is usually done by replacing the lead actor and his supporting crew. However, it is also done by changing the logo of the series. As a result, certain logos are associated with certain eras. Yesterday, the BBC has revealed on their website the logo to be associated with the Matt Smith era of the show. They also have a video of the historical logos of the show.

I don't have a particular favorite logo, although I liked both the "diamond" logo of the 70's, most closely associated with Tom Baker's era, and the "neon" logo of the 80's, which spanned three Doctors (Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker). The current one isn't bad either with the cylinder thing with pointy ends (what is that shape called?).

A video preview of thenew logo is available on certain sites such as Topless Robot. What do you think of it? Which logo has been your favorite?

The rumors flow like wine. Once again, "news" has surfaced that a Doctor Who movie is in the works. Supposedly this one has a bit more merit because the BBC has confirmed that one is in development, yet they don't link to a press release of any kind. Forgive me if I have some doubts.

If true, which Doctor is it? Will it be David Tennant or Matt Smith? And which showrunner is it? Russell T. Davies or Steven Moffat? Or is the answer none of the above?

There has been a lot of recent developments in the Doctor Who world. A movie is the next logical step.

If I had my druthers, the movie would be about the Time War (the Daleks being the obvious choice for the alien enemy of the movie). It would star Paul McGann and fill the gap between the 1996 television movie and the 2005 relaunch. The odds are so astronomically against as to be incalculable, but I can dream.

Back in the good old days of Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, one of the enemies of our intrepid hero came in the form of a Time Lady known as the Rani. Unlike the Doctor's other nemesis from his own race, the Master, the Rani didn't have a personal grudge against our hero and simply preferred to perform immoral experiments on those she deemed as lesser species in her quest for knowledge.

Who might be playing the Rani in the new series? That's after the jump.

This is an announcement so huge, that they had to make a pre-announcement announcement first. The BBC will officially announce tomorrow (Saturday) the identity of the actor playing the 11th incarnation of our favorite Time Lord.

The favored odds are Paterson Joseph, who would be the first black person to play the character, but that is not certain. The Beeb along with Steven Moffat could pull someone out of their collective behinds who wasn't even on any of the online lists. The mind boggles at the possibilities, but it should be noted here that Steven Moffat has already worked with Paterson Joseph on his mini-series Jekyll.

I have repeatedly said that I would like to see a woman as the Doctor, however I would be equally satisfied with a black actor simply because it would be a sort of Doctor we've never seen before. I comfort myself with the fact that whomever they choose will be nowhere near as good as Colin Baker. Let the debate begin.