On the cover of the latest DWM Catherine Tate is quoted as saying “Could Donna come back? In sci-fi, anything is possible”, and with the rumours buzzing around now about next year’s specials, you could quite easily believe that anything indeed could be possible. Even something as familiar and, well, as expected as just that.

I may not be alone in thinking last series’ return of Rose Tyler a pretty unnecesary distraction, prompting a resolution to a story arc that we’d likely all thought was already neatly finished, for better or worse. As one discussion thread on Tolkein fan site Theonering.net about the forthcoming Hobbit movie/s suggests, many reunions and familiar faces end up making universes once bursting with potential smaller with each return visit – the Star Wars prequels may be a case in point. So with Who I think there’s a fine path to be treaded. It might be a winner with the present audience (and that may be the bottom line for the show’s producers), but it’s not helping the ‘go-anywhere-do-anything’ promise the original series was built on, and which the new series’ first episode reaffirmed. New things, new faces, new places are as vital to the series as the changing of the lead actor- they’re all in themselves mini-regenerations. That said, there’s always room for some personal double-standarding, so with the buzz of this week’s rumour still in my ears, may I say to no-one’s surprise that this character’s return would be most welcome.  

But it’s also a certaintly in life that not everyone gets a certain return ticket, and your faithful editor is no different. Over the last year ZeusBlog has farewelled Jono, original co-editor of Zeus Plug, and now I feel it’s my turn to say “goodbye… soonish”. There’s a world beyond the blog that offers a chance to flex my sketching muscles a little more, spring and summer will inevtiably demand the DIY routine, and as some of you already know, there’s the issue of a third family member’s arrival in January to address, all going well. 

So it’s not quite goodbye from me, but ZeusBlog is likely to be a quieter place in the months to come, especially with no new episodes to review or further monstrous matches to contest. Fast Return will stick around – it writes itself. And then there’s the Christmas Special. And after that? Well, anything’s possible, isn’t it?

THAT’S NO MICROBE…
Scoop.co.nz reveal their colours once more in another feature filler. Bless.

TAKING THE MICKEY OUT OF TORCHWOOD?
Not so long ago was the time we were sure we’d see both Smith and Jones in the Hub for Torchwood 3 – the closing minutes of Journey’s End seemed to confirm the rumour. But what’s this? No inclusions among the cast announcement for Children of the Damn- er , I mean Earth? Noel Clarke declaring the Mickster has left the building? Oh noes! What next – Freemaagyeman.com binging us down to Earth?

TORCHWOOD RADIO PLAY TO DESTROY ALL OF CREATION
Not that we’ll be around to worry about such casting pecadillos by the time the radio play is aired. Thanks to a complete fluke of timing and some hadron collider thing in Switzerland (picture courtesy of our graphics department), there’s a s-l-i-g-h-t chance we might not be around to hear the ending.*

(*unless that is the intended ending)

LOST HARTNELL STORY FOUND!
It took a while – perhaps not as long as The Lion to appear on our shores, but yes, The Time Meddler is finally in NZ. In abundance! Grab your copy… well, anytime you like, really.

THERE IS NO CONSPIRACY! ™
Eagle-eyed (and therefore weird-looking) readers have alighted on the internetical publishing of TSV 59 and within its entrails, the Greatest Show fanalytical treatise A Carnival of Metaphors writ in large (type) by a friend of this blog. But what’s this? Expurgated text? Rumours of last-minute editorial intervention? What gave? Er, to be honest he can’t remember – it was probably nothing, really! Paul?

DAVIES RUSTYPLAN SET TO MUSIC?
We think so.

And…

PARROT APES MUTANT, VANISHES LIKE DODO, REAPPEARS LIKE COELOCANTH.
Let’s hear  it for Leonard, the recently-recovered African Grey Parrot – he can mimic Daleks! Wow. Very cool if it’s a big Dalek voice like the Emperor. Dalek Caan? Not so much.

IT’S JUDOON!

Yes, those stroppy coppers with the canny scanners definitely got the better of the Silurians in the final round, claiming a tarnished gold, and saving their reputation with it. Bronze went to the winner of the actual final bout between overall losers, the Krotons, who snatched victory from the claws of ignominy by a gnat’s whisker. And so to the outright losers – the plonkers of the universe…

Terileptils – what happened?

Once the proud standard-bearers of Season Nineteen, destroyers of the sonic screwdriver (oh, how we wish you could do that again!), undone by a race once thought designed by a child and only given some weight by Mad Larry Miles.  In the end it came down to firepower, and perhaps Thad’s campaigning – but for whatever reason, those tinclavic miners go back to the pits, embodying their workplace in their Death Zone performance. Cheer up, guys. Perhaps you can have another go with Robot Rumble. How about it, folks?