There’s been a whole lotta’ buzzin’ on forums over the past few months about the who / where / how’s of the final two-parter special. Mainly who. Which has now been answered in a stunningly spoilerific way.

CLICK HERE to see what would have to be one of the biggest spoiler photos to leak since… well… the last one (and before everyone gets up in arms i.e. the Sec / squid reveal a few years back, we are now officially warning you that this is a BIGGIE!).

If you decide to take the plunge, read on below in inviso-text:

Well…. talk about plot spillage! Dalton is looking more like Michael Gough by the day! And by coincidence (unless he’s being cast as Hedin?) the costume he’s wearing looks a little familiar… Simm seems to be reprising a look from a previous part.

Looks like it’s building to quite the climax… Are we finally going to see Gallifrey ret-conned back into existance as foretold by the Zeus Blog team not once but twice! And by Al both times if I recall… Mr Hughes, you might finally be right!

JP

It’s been a bit quiet on the old news front for Series 4. A bit here, a Jon Preddle set report there. We haven’t really had that much to go on… until now. Thanks to the remarkable new interweb, some dodgy scans of the latest Radio Times and a whole lotta love, we bring you:

A BLUFFER’S GUIDE TO SERIES 4 – WARNING: SPOILERTASTIC!

PARTNERS IN CRIME

It’s the Doctor and Donna right? Certainly seems like it, though interestingly there was an Agatha Christie TV adaptation of the same name a wee while back. Coincidence? Probably… Sarah Lancashire, the return of Donna, Bernard Cribbens! This episode sounds massive! Oh very clever… yes this episode features the first use in a TV series of the Massive computer program that was used on Lord of the Rings. So we can expect Orcs? Nope… fat monsters. Or Adipose as they are properly called. Fat monsters? Ridiculous! Maybe… though maybe you should pull back on the chips there, porky.

THE FIRES OF POMPEII

A historical? As the second story? Unheard of! Yeah, yeah. Very funny. But we’re not in Cardiff anymore, Toto. Really? The budget extended to Lanzerote again did it? Better than that! Rome! Literally! Oh so expensive looking sets then? Yes, but at the moment, all we’ve seen is a hell of a lot of eyepaint, and some sheets hanging overhead. Anything else? Well, Coro fans will delight in the fact that evil Maya is back on our screens. I’ve never watched Corrie out of principle for ’87 – ’89. You’re a real fan.

PLANET OF THE OOD

Our red eyed friends are back huh? Yes but this time they’re not looking very happy. Really? Why? Probably because they’re bloody cold! Oodopia looks as inviting as a Tachyon TV Colin Baker retrospective. Ooh does this mean we’ll see the lovely Claire Rushbrook again? No, unfortunately not, but you do get another great guest star, darling. I’m sorry? Tim ‘Captain Darling’ McInnerny stars as Mr Haplen. Mr Haplen? Miss Foster? Mr Saxon? You’re getting ahead of yourself… but there is a giant claw. The one we saw in the trailer? Well it’s either that or the return of the Macra again.

THE SONTARAN STRATAGEM / THE POISON SKY

Apart from one of the Young Ones, what do we know? Well, UNIT is back (in black), as is Martha Jones, though whether she gets covered in goo in this one we’re not sure. She doesn’t look that happy in the trailer does she? Maybe her campaign is not progressing quickly. I’m sorry? That’s a line in the episode. Along with the words pod, hurricane and chimney. Doctor! The hurricane has forced the Sontarans’ pod into the TARDIS chimney! Don’t give up your day job.

THE UNICORN AND THE WASP

A unicorn? Been there done that. Yes but it doesn’t sound like the unicorn is actually real. The wasp however is very much alive, and window-smashingly rendered by The Mill. So this is the Agatha Christie episode right? Right, and it has Felicity Kendall as a guest star. That only leaves Penelope Keith, and the Good Life guest star list is complete! Not quite – Paul Eddington was never in Doctor Who. He was! You’re thinking of Geoffrey Palmer. Getting back to the insect theme, this may tie in with the disappearing bees. Huh? Apparently bees are starting to disappear in episode 1… it’s one of this year’s themes apparently. We’ll be smacked over the head with that, won’t we? Undoubtedly.

THE DOCTOR’S DAUGHTER

What? The Doctor has a daughter? Surely not! Well, he’s had a granddaughter and a brother, so why not? Alien? Humanoid at the very least. Ok… so what’s the twist? David Tennant’s already alluded to the fact that nothing is what it seems (you don’t say). Oh go on… give us a clue! No clues, but a rather clever piece of casting, in that the character is played by Georgina Moffett, Peter Davison’s daughter. So she really is… The Doctor’s Daughter. You’re clever, you are.

SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY / RIVER’S RUN

Moffatt returns! Hurrah! We can certainly expect to be creeped out again, that’s for sure. This one’s set in an old library… the universe’s biggest apparently. Does it have a first edition hardback copy of The Wheel in Space? Unlikely. Keep an eye out for Alex Kingston as well. She plays a character the kind of which the Doctor has never encountered before. What? An ex-flame of Ralph Fiennes? Don’t be silly. There’s plenty of them around.

MIDNIGHT

Sounds… dark. It’s not. It’s diamonds and gold and stuff. The stuff being? Anti-gravity restaurants for one. All sounds a bit Leisure Hive-ish. With bigger production values and less zips, one hopes. Oh and don’t forget the ‘knocking on the wall’. What’s that all about then? No-one knows yet, but given that the next episode has Donna heading home to find that everything’s gone pear-shaped, we’re willing to bet that the Doctor won’t come out of this one well.

TURN LEFT

It is peaceful there! That’s Go West. Oh right. So this is the Doctor-lite episode then is it? Well, Jon Preddle certainly says so, and he’s not known for getting things wrong. Except for that Fan-dahleen joke at the pub meet a few years back. Yes, I’ll give you that one. So is it just Tate? Tate AND the return of our favourite chav. But she’s… Yes, yes… but we’re in the world of popular science-fiction here! Anything can happen! But Russell said he’d never… Past Doctor. Master. Need I say more?

TBA

The Borusa Awakening? Only in Aarronn’s dreams! So what does it mean then? Nothing – they’re holding back the actual title until closer to the release. So it’s the Daleks. Maybe. Or possibly something to do with Rose. Or Davros. What? Davros!? Yeah, apparently he’s due to turn up in the form of Ben Kingsley. Well he does do wizened bald tanned men well. You’re not wrong.

JOURNEY’S END

Sounds nice. It does rather doesn’t it, after the more menacing Doomsday and the ominous Last of the Time Lords. So whose end is it? Take your pick. There’s about 76 returning characters, as well as the Daleks, in what DT is calling the ‘biggest, boldest, maddest, saddest, most exciting story we’ve ever done’. Didn’t they say that last year? Yes, and we got Scissor Sisters. So what this year then? Mika? At the very least.

JP

There’s an awful lot of nonsense sprayed out there in the interwebs. And sometimes there’s the slenderest wafer of truth. Let’s face it – sometimes you NEED a sensible figure to lead you through the minefield of red herrings and fan meanderings, and past the groans, the OMGs and squees of the modern message board. The Fact Controller can do that; he just might take a while longer catching his breath afterwards.

Caution: After the Fold be spoilers. Or not.  

Okay then. This week the Daily Star ‘reported’ the story thusly:

DOCTOR Who bosses are set to call back FOUR of the Time Lord’s favourite assistants – including Billie Piper – for a sensational showdown. The old cast members will be reunited to help the Doc fight evil Dalek creator Davros in an explosive finale to the next series.

Leading the way in the line-up will be Billie (Piper) as Rose Tyler along with the rest of the Tyler family; they will hook up with the Tardis traveller’s latest assistants Martha Jones and Donna Noble. Also on hand to help out the Doc will be his old companion Sarah Jane Smith as well as Torchwood boss Captain Jack Harkness. Even the Time Lord’s dog K-9 will make an appearance.

The TV source said: “This is the daddy of all shows. The writer Russell T Davies really wants to pull out all the stops for the finale next year.”

Nothwithstanding its tabloid connection and the tab mainstay “TV source” (surely as reliable as “BBC Insider”), the story seems to be gaining some traction, not least because it appears to match, if not just compile, some existing rumours, namely:

• The return of Billie Piper as Rose
• The appearance of Davros as Season 4′s Big Bad

One might also imagine that crossovers between the Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood‘s  most child-friendly characters (Martha and Happy Jack) would be easily achievable. Where things start to get weird for FC is in the ‘extra baggage’ mentioned: K-9? the rest of the Tyler family and possibly Mickey as well?

Grand finales are certainly part of the new series format, and as Alden pointed out on the NZDWFC Message Board, RTD’s preference for style over substance is obvious. It’s also the 45th anniversary in 2008, so if there was ever a time to go all Five Doctors on the show, then we guess this is it.

Piper’s apparent return may be a nudge in the direction towards her apparent featuring in one of the TV specials and/or a feature film also in early rounds of speculation. Given that most of the recent Dalek history has been addressed (besides Movellans), and his brand recognition, Davros seems a likely Big Bad contender. So there doesn’t seem to be as much leverage to de-bunk this rumour yet. Mind you, we were supposed to see the Rani this year too, weren’t we?

But my God, Magnum – that’s a big cast. RTD has said he wouldn’t bring Rose back as it would betray the emotional impact of her departure, but he brought Pete Tyler back. And in lieu of a multi-Doctor story with creaking joints and an assortment of wigs and let out wardrobe, the idea of reuniting so many of the new series staples does seem to fit with RTD’s family-oriented Doctor. Omegadammit – this one has plausible written all over it.

FC