Amy and Rory are gone, the Doctor is considering retirement, the new companion bears an uncanny resemblance to a dead Dalek, and evil snowmen are on the loose — now what? With less than a week until the Doctor Who Christmas special (airing December 25 at 9 on BBC America, sans Ponds, sniff), Vulture rang up series boss Steven Moffat with all our burning questions, and boy did he oblige. He spills on what’s next (the Doctor on a submarine!), why he doesn’t believe his version of Who is all that complicated, and how it would be “intolerable” for David Yates to bring the Tardis to the big-screen. Of course, we threw in a question about the delay to Sherlock. Read on to see why he pretty much told us to keep calm.
How well do Doctor Who’s Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman know each other? Exceptionally well, if our afternoon of Christmas shopping is the true indicator. We took the pair to Manhattan’s ornament-bonanza store It’s Always Christmas in the City and set them off to pick out hyper-specific “bits and bobs” that fit their co-star’s personality. Even though they haven’t been working together very long — Coleman is officially the Doctor’s new companion beginning with the show’s Christmas special, airing Dec. 25 on BBC America — they succeeded in surprising each other with some very thoughtful (and strange) choices.
Earlier this week we posted Vulture’s list of 25 Most Devoted Fandoms. They’ve updated their coverage by hosting a hilarious thought-provoking conversation between three superfans, Barnaby Edwards, a British expat and president of the Doctor Who New York fan group; Kim Rogers, a leader of the “Save Community” movement; and Brian Moylan, a pop-culture writer who has been recapping the Real Housewives for three years…
Vulture: I’ve gathered you all here today to argue over which of your favorite shows is the most worthy of an intense fandom. Let’s respect our elders and begin with the oldest show, the 49-year-old Doctor Who. Barnaby?
Barnaby (Doctor Who): I actually come from a place where Doctor Who’s been a part of my life since I was 6, so it really is like family. And I can honestly say that there is not a single episode of Doctor Who that I do not enjoy; no matter how dreadful, I can always find a piece of pleasure in it. And if I’m ever down, I can look through a great big list of episodes that go from drama to tragedy to comedy to adventure to action and find something that fits my mood. There’s always a Doctor Who story for it. That’s a pretty special thing.
Kim (Community): Fifty years; yeah, that’s amazing.
Barnaby (DW): You only wish you’d get five.
lol. The conversation also included exchanges like this:
Barnaby (DW): I actually tend to stick people right in the middle myself. My jumping on point for Doctor Who is always “Blink.”
Kim (C): Well, that’s a good one, too, like “Remedial Chaos Theory.”
Barnaby (DW): It’s absolutely, interestingly enough, like “Remedial Chaos Theory.”
Vulture: I don’t know if I like how well you guys are getting along.
Doctor Who is listed at #9
Fandoms “ahead” of Whovians include Beliebers, Twihards, Game of Thrones which is listed as #1. Our main hangouts are Gallifrey Base/the Doctor Who News.
But no mention of Whovians on Tumblr?
Of note, Neil Gaiman is #18 (woohoo!)
The Ponds’ final run with the Doctor will include Daleks, dinosaurs on a spaceship, a visit to the Old West, and the return of the Weeping Angels. (God help you, Steven Moffat, if you freeze Amy and Rory for all eternity.) In preparation for what historically has been a heart-wrenching good-bye between the Doctor and his companions, Vulture sat down with Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill to talk about where we’ll find the Ponds when Doctor Who returns (Saturday at 9 on BBC America), what they each stole from the TARDIS on their way out, and whether or not they’d be down to drop by that Inspector Spacetime convention Community is planning….
