Forget the World Cup final! The most exciting event of this evening was the release of a third Doctor Who trailer! The BBC certainly one upped ITV with that one. I didn't write about the second one since it was pretty similar to the first. But this one actually contains episode footage.
Of course, some fans are already familiar with scenes from this trailer, thanks to the BBC Worldwide blunder that lead to scripts and actual episodes being leaked online. Nevertheless, there are some people out there, like me, who are trying to keeping away from spoilers as much as possible and are delighted with the new trailer. Back before Series One had aired, Russell T Davies wrote a Production Notes column about the danger of spoilers. He mentioned a friend of his who had avoided pre-publicity about the plane crash in Emmerdale and was surprised and shocked by it when she finally saw it. This is always the best way to watch television. Wasn't it so exciting when Jenna Coleman unexpectedly popped up in Asylum of the Daleks? Or when Professor Yana was revealed to be The Master? Spoilers ruin these moments. If you've read the script then by the time the episode itself airs, you will probably know the dialogue by heart and just be waiting for the actors to speak the lines you know they'll already say. I prefer the excitement of not knowing what is going to happen next, so, for the sake of fans who haven't ready spoilers, I have tried not to add any information I might have accidentally encountered.
....Anyway, rant over. Now for the trailer.
We finally get a proper look at Peter Capaldi's Doctor and he's looking mean. I've always enjoyed the darker Doctors like William Hartnell and Christopher Eccleston so I'm hoping this is what we're going to get. It's also great to finally hear Peter Capaldi saying "I'm the Doctor".
The blue eyed, metal armoured creature. No idea who he is, but he looks cool, though. Probably a villain, judging by the evil eyes, just like...
Another new and seemingly villainous alien. It looks like a robot knight, and the castle-like backdrop behind it suggests that this may be from a historical episode.
I'm not sure if the particular alien pictured above is a villain. The eyestalks make him look quite funny. I like it when aliens can be allies as well, so I'd be delighted if this was the case.
Some old monsters will be making a return appearance this year. Yes. The Daleks are back. Again. Inevitable really, since we're getting a new Doctor and Steven Moffat once said that he never felt that the new Doctor was really the Doctor until he met the Daleks. I still hope the Daleks won't appear too often beyond their first encounter with the Doctor.
Another type of creature that the Doctor has met before. We've had dinosaurs on a space ship and now it's time to see them rampaging back on Earth. Invasion of the Dinosaurs for the 21st century, perhaps?
There appears to be a new library in the Tardis console room. This may be a homage to the William Hartnell version which had an interesting collection of junk in An Unearthly Child. I like it when the Tardis appears t be lived in. I remember hearing rumours that Matt Smith's Series Five Tardis would have a laboratory in it and was disappointing when that turned out not to be true. This makes up for that.
"Where are we going?" "Into Darkness". The dialogue and the overall tone of the trailer seem to support the idea that we're going for a darker tone, hopefully different from the Matt Smith era. This is Steven Moffat's second reinvention of the show.
"Am I good a man?" "...I don't know". The Doctor and Clara definitely seem to have an uneasy relationship, at least in the early episodes.
All in all the trailer hints at good things to come the upcoming series. Peter Capaldi looks great. I'm bored of the Daleks now, but hopefully they will be out of the way as soon as possible so we can get to some of the more interesting new villains seen here.
Now all that's left to do is to try and bottle in my excitement until the new series arrives.
