A Tennant Family Christmas

Proving that Brits are as fickle with their affections as always, one of the most popular men on television is under attack this week. His crime? Being on telly too much.


David Tennant, the charming and talented star of Doctor Who, has popped up on the BBC over 75 times in the last few weeks - and the tabloids are getting their knickers in a twist about it.

The Shropshire Star wrote an amusing article satirically claiming that the BBC had made a formal apology after failing to mention David Tennant or Doctor Who for a complete hour.

BBC executives today apologised after a mistake meant there was no mention of the actor David Tennant on radio and television for at least an hour. Full
story here.

Conservative MP Nigel Evans proved that whatever the issue, there's always a Tory MP to wheel out and complain about it, by hissing:

“'Even the most dedicated fan might have thought that the BBC was turning into the David Tennant Corporation." Full story here.

But personally, I'm delighted. Admittedly, living in America I don't actually have to watch BBC, but I like David Tennant and I can't blame the Beeb for flaunting one of their strongest assets.

Besides, he's leaving Doctor Who on New Year's Day, so even if you've reached your David Tennant Saturation Point, you won't have to put up with it for long.

Speaking of which, did anybody see Doctor Who: The End of Time on Christmas Day? I was able to find it on YouTube - and thought it was rubbish.

Russell T. Davies, as I've written about incessantly, is a magnificent producer - but a lousy writer. As Torchwood proved, scripts by Davies are gloomy, morose, overly obsessed with the pointless death of characters and shoehorned full of Welshness, gayness or political punditry.

Not that I have anything against the Welsh (lived there for three years) the gays (I write for Out Front Colorado) or political punditry - but Davies crams it into the script so clumsily that it seems awkward, strained and distracting.

And The End of Time? What the hell was all that rubbish about? The Doctor blubbing in a cafe? The green, spiky aliens (Who lived up to its low-budget heritage with that one) and an utterly preposterous plot which saw The Master turn every human on the planet into a carbon copy of... himself?

Crikey, I could have written a better send off for David Tennant myself (only I don't 'do' fanfiction - not because I'm a snob, but because it doesn't pay.)

Anyway. I think the BBC owes it to David Tennant to give him as much airtime as he wants. After all, they've got to make up for the awful shambles that was The End of Time somehow.

Doctor Who is back next year!

Take a look at the history teacher on the left. In fact, that's not a history teacher at all. It's the new incarnation of The Doctor, from brilliant British sci-fi show Doctor Who.

Yeah, I'm not altogether impressed either. Matt Smith, who at 26 is the youngest actor ever to take the part, seems to resemble an apologetic Fifth Form lecturer more than the imposing Lord of Time.

The tweedy jacket and bow tie do him no favors - which just compounds the challenge of trying to follow up the blistering performance of former 'Doctor' David Tennant.

But we'll just have to wait and see whether Mr Smith is up to the challenge - and that wait is ticking down.

This Christmas will see Tennant's last episode and bear witness to whatever unfortunate event it is that turns our beloved Tenth Doctor into the Eleventh.

My guesses?

• Shot by a Dalek. Again.
• Fatally upstaged by Captain Jack Harkness.
• Poisoned by a cup of BBC cafeteria coffee.
• Murdered by Lord Voldemort during the filming of the new Harry Potter movies.
• Swallowed whole by Russell T. Davies' enormous gob.
• Electrocuted by the TARDIS' lousy wiring (come on, it looks dangerous as hell!)
  

For those of us here in America, the wait's even longer than it is in the UK. Traditionally, Doctor Who has been broadcasting a few weeks behind Britain - but the past 'series' of one-off specials seem to have been delayed indefinitely!

Compounding the problem, Sci-fi channel (now given the ridiculous name SyFy) have lost rights to Doctor Who and it's back home on BBC America. Which is great, except not every gets BBC America.

Like Militant Ginger, for example.

Our regional cable provider doesn't deliver BBC America, so unless we switch to Direct TV we're going to be in the dark about the new Doctor's new adventures well into the new year!

It's rather frustrating. If the real Doctor was around, I'm sure he'd be able to wiggle his sonic screwdriver into our Cable box and provide us with free and instantaneous access to Satellite Directv (and fix our stereo while he's at it) but here in the real world, we are sans that option.

Inspired by the antics of the Doctor, I have tried a few solutions myself:

Option #1:Watching my neighbor's TV through his suspiciously never-curtained living room window.
Verdict: Failure. All he watches are infomercials and Spanish-language telenovelas.

Option #2: Watching new episodes of Doctor Who on YouTube.
Verdict: Failure. There aren't any new episodes there - just countless badly-made music videos inspired by slightly freaky Jack Harkness/Doctor Who slash fiction.

Option #3: Read the synopsis of new episodes on Wikipedia.
Verdict: Failure. Because anybody can edit Wikipedia, I keep clicking 'edit' and changing the bits I don't like.

Option #4: Create my own Direct TV Satellite dish from leftover foil food containers and plug the resultant feed directly into my TV.
Verdict: Partial failure. No Doctor Who, but I did electrocute several squirrels.

Nope, sadly there's no option available to the likes of Mini Militant. We're just going to have to sit it out and wait for the new series to reach a media that I actually have access to.

I'd say 'I hope Matt Smith is worth the wait,' but from the look of his uninspiring costume, I don't hold out too much hope...

Dr Smith and Jones

The new series of Doctor Who opened up with an episode called Smith and Jones.

It was the introduction of new companion Martha Jones - the Jones in the title (and presumably another nod towards Welsh culture by Uber-Taff Russell T. Davies.)

The Smith was the Doctor himself - who's adopted the moniker "Dr Smith" ever since his early days as John Pertwee.

In last night's episode, we met Martha Jones, a trainee doctor at London's Royal Hope hospital (placed just opposite Big Ben for the benefit of the American audience.)

She turns up to work on a Very Bad Day. A day in which her hospital, including all 1,000 staff and patients, is transported to the surface of the moon - neutral territory which allows a brutal intergalactic police force to arrive searching for a single alien criminal.

But there's more than one alien in the hospital. The Doctor is there himself - and he's got to find the real criminal before the Intergalactic Police pin this crook's crimes on him!

It was 45 minutes of fun and adventure - brilliant from beginning to end. I've had wobbly moments with Russell T. Davies ever since he regurgitated that rubbish Torchwood onto our TV screens... But with Doctor Who he very rarely misses the bullseye and tonight's episode showed his aim is spot on at the moment.

Martha Jones is a lovely new character - brilliant and brave. She's also stunningly beautiful. The first authentic 'hottie' I've seen on British TV since I moved back here in 2004.

Russell T. Davies - You've done us Doctor Who fans proud if last night's episode is anything to go by. Now PLEASE get your head together, abandon those Welsh and Gay chips on your shoulder and get the same magic together for the next series of Torchwood.