Hanging Out With The Dream King

Unsurprisingly, the rumor that superstar Neil Gaiman might write for the 2010 series of Doctor Who is starting to make the rounds.

It's no secret that Neil is a fan of the series -- including the new series, and of new showrunner Steven Moffat's episodes in particular. So he's obviously on the short list of plausible writers for Doctor Who.

I figure it is one of those things that if it is meant to happen, it will -- but Neil is obviously a very busy individual, and he'd be difficult to work out a schedule on, especially given that he's primarily based in the US.

Would this be something to get excited about? You bet. Is it something that I can see happening? Sure. Less likely things in the history of Doctor Who have happened, after all.

But there is a long path until the episode gets in front of a camera -- and so even if he's a possible candidate to write an episode, there are a number of things that can make it fall through. It has happened in Doctor Who history many times in the past, after all.

I dream, quite frequently...

io9 justified its existence this week with a set of survey results comparing Doctor Who fans and Star Trek fans.

I think the age breakdown is very interesting as well.

I'd also be interested to see some other long-running franchises -- how would Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica fit into this mix?

Grand Moff

Well, it is official. Steven Moffat will be the new Doctor Who show runner.

And really, it could never be anyone else -- he's more than proven his capabilities with his previous Doctor Who contributions. With Curse of Fatal Death he managed the best televised Doctor Who of the 1990s without even having official status, and The Empty Child, Girl in the Fireplace, and Blink have all been highlights of the revived series.

It has been apparent that we were heading to the end of an era for some time now -- and it is a statement to Russell T Davies contribution to the series that his replacement is taking the same sort of recognition that a change of cast would have. Obviously, there are people that have had criticisms of Russell's era of the show -- but it is undeniable that he's made Doctor Who more successful than anyone could have reasonably managed.

Thanks to everyone involved with the current era of Doctor Who -- Russell, Phil, and Julie. It's been a fantastic run, and one everyone can and should be proud of.

And the best part is, we know that there will be great Doctor Who in the future -- it is a format bigger than any one person behind or in front of the camera. It's always capable of changing -- but still having that continuing thread.

Congratulations and good luck. The moment has been prepared for.

Ood enough

I'm disappointed to see that the BBC is being a little over zealous in protecting their trademarks when they ask to removes a Doctor Who fan’s knitting patterns from the Web.

It's this sort of fan activity that kept Doctor Who alive for the period of time between 1989 and 2005 -- and it was this sort of fan activity that encouraged people like Paul Cornell, Mark Gatiss, Gary Russell, and lots of other people that have now worked on the new television series.

I'm sure it's some over enthusiastic person somewhere in the BBC -- and I certainly respect that the BBC needs to protect their property -- but I think there should be a way for people to celebrate their love for the show in creative ways -- and to share that amongst other fans.

Very sad to see.

[found from Boing Boing]