SFX: Neil Gaiman Talks Doctor Who And Cybermen

• SFX:
  You grew up as a Doctor Who fan. What are your memories of the Cybermen?
• Neil Gaiman:
  I think the first episode I ever saw was “The Moonbase”. That was the first time that I saw Cybermen, so I must have missed “The Tenth Planet”. I remember them coming out and taking the guy from the sickbay – in my memory, interestingly, they walked through the walls. And when I went back and looked at that bit years later I saw that no, they came through a door. And I wanted to get that kind of weird creepiness back to the Cybermen. I don’t think I’ve particularly succeeded, mostly because I got distracted by something else, and there was also a point where I said actually, we’ve seen those “Moonbase” ones. You can go back and look at them, there’s no point in doing that again. Let me try and do something else with it, in the same kind of way that Mark Gatiss approached the Ice Warriors.

EXCLUSIVE – Matt Smith Talks New Doctor Who Series And 50th Anniversary Special! | SFX

This is a question I’ve never had a chance to ask anybody before: what’s it like being on a stamp?

It’s a great privilege that the nation will be licking the backs of our heads. It’s an amazing thing – I’m really proud to be part of it. It’s cool. it’s something that I can show my grandkids.

You’ve got Jenna joining as Clara. What new colours does she bring out of your Doctor?

I think that essentially she allows him to complete his grieving period, as it were, over the Ponds. Not that he’ll ever forget the Ponds but she gives him his mojo back somehow, and his spirit of adventure, and allows him to go right, you’ve got to look forward. Importantly, she gives him something to be curious about, because she is this impossible girl and he doesn’t really understand how or why or what context she exists in. I think she ignites his curiosity. And with the Doctor that’s the thing that keeps him flying around.

This is a brilliant, fun interview. Click through for the rest.

SFX Magazine has an exclusive picture of the New Ice Warrior

We can’t post it here because then it wouldn’t be an exclusive.

But you can click through to see it on their site.

Steven Moffat Teases Next Year’s Doctor Who | SFX

For those who don’t want to know anything about anything ever: SPOILER WARNING!!!

We’re back at the movie posters thing,” the Who supremo tells us, confirming that the next eight episodes will share the sense of widescreen ambition that powered this year’s run. “No two-parters, so they’re all standalone stories. And they are all huge – there isn’t the budget-saver episode. I don’t know how we’ve done this. Possibly we’ll find out at the end when we’ll have no money left and will have to go to prison…”

So what sort of tales will we see as the show builds to its milestone anniversary?

“We have Doctor Who taking on the modern urban thriller, which is not very much like anyone else’s modern urban thriller!

“We’ve got your base-under-siege story in a new way.

“We’ve  gone all-out to give you a fantastic alien planet, which is looking absolutely amazing.

“We’ve got a cracking ghost story, a really cracking ghost story.”

And that’s not all…

“We’ve got Neil Gaiman doing the Cybermen – part of the impulse there was to say “Have we fully exploited the creepy factor of the Cybermen yet?” I thought Neil would be a good match for that.

“You’re going to see “Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS”, with more of the TARDIS than you’ve ever seen before.

“We’ve got Diana Rigg and junior Diana Rigg in an absolutely mental story by Mark Gatiss – all period drama will pale next to this monstrosity of nonsense! It’s absolutely glorious. You’ll watch other period dramas and say ‘When are they going to do the scary bit?’

“And then there’s the finale, which has got some serious fan-pleasing going on in it. My aim for it – which I’m about to humiliate myself at the tone meeting by saying – is to have slightly more than you think could possibly happen in one episode. Slightly more treats than you think you could be allowed…”