It’s been a massive year for Great Britain, what with the Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics and Boris getting stuck on a zip wire. But fans of Doctor Who had better hold on to their sonic screwdrivers, because it’s set to get even bigger.
A trailer for the seventh series of – let’s not be coy – the best sci-fi TV show ever produced, has been released by the BBC ahead the Timelord’s return later this year. And it looks absolutely stonking.
Fans will no doubt be aware that this dollop of Doctorness is set be an emotional affair, with the announcement earlier this year that companions Amy Pond and Rory (played by Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill) are going to leave at the end of the series (in what will be a ‘heart-breaking’ storyline, which is rumoured to be the death of one of them). After watching this trailer, we are still none-the-wiser as to how they make their departure, but one thing we do know for definite is that whatever happens itâs going to be one heck of a roller-tardis ride.
For starters there’s Daleks, lots of them, all sitting (if thatâs the term) in an Olympic sized galactic stadium watching the Doctor give a speech. Die-hard fans will no doubt be pleased to see writer Stephen Moffat opting to revert back to an older Dalek design, after the new-look modern era Daleks were not looked upon favourably to say it kindly. We’ll almost certainly be getting a proper look at them in the first episode Asylum of the Daleks.
After the trailer we see Rory walking amongst tons of cone-shaped carcasses, asking who has ‘killed’ (shouldnât that be exterminated?) all the Daleks. The Doctor retorts “guess who?” I have a hunch that Amy has a massive part to play in this, seeing as how she is absent from this scene and appears injured in the arms of the Doctor and surrounded by Daleks in the latest picture to released by the Beeb.
The Doctor is also famously resigned to killing anything unless it’s the last possible option, so odds are that it’s his companion who has become trigger-happy. However, we see the entire Dalek space fleet so huge it could easily take over Earth, so Amy would have had to do something rather spectacular to kill them all. And what were they doing there in the first place?
Whether, like series six, the episodes will be linked is unconfirmed, but it’s safe to say that each of the five episodes scheduled for autumn/winter 2012 will lead up to the big departure of Amy and Rory. Making a return appearance are the weeping angels, recently voted the scariest ever Doctor Who monster and we also see a glimpse of a terrifying cherub. There’s no sight of it here, but there’s also a rumour circulating the internet that the last episode in the series will feature the Statue of Liberty as a weeping angel.
In another scene we see lots of dinosaurs rampaging about on a spaceship. Presumably this is from the episdoe Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and we even get a glimpse of the tenacious trio riding around on a triceratops. The plot of this curious mash-up of The Land Before Time and Star Trek is anyoneâs guess, but who really careâs anyway – it looks mind-meltingly epic. In the words of Alan Partridge – âJurassic Park!â?.
In whatâs been confirmed as episode three, we see the writers themselves going back in time, with the Timelord returning to a Wild West backdrop for the first time since the sixties. This episode is titled A Town Called Mercy, but unlike fellow time-travellers Doc Brown and Marty Mcfly who only had Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen to contend, unsurprisingly the Doctor tackling is tackling cyborg cowboys, and they don’t look happy with him at all.
Stephen Moffat talked about the importance of filming the episode in genuine ‘wild west’ terrain, saying: “We knew from the start we need some serious location shooting for this one, and given the most iconic American setting imaginable, there was only one place to go – Spain.” On reflection then, perhaps Costa del Doctor seems a more fitting title for the episode.
Other things that weâve been able to glimpse from the trailer include robots that are “very cross” with the Doctor (some things never change), an appearance of Egyptian queen Cleopatra and a gangster.
So there it is, now the waiting game and endless internet rumours until the series airs later this year. The trailer indeed provokes lots of questions, but I for one can’t wait to know the answers. It’s such a shame that TV series can’t enter the Olympics, because this series is easily going to give the other channels a run for their money later this Autumn.
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