COMEBACK: The new season of Doctor Who started with Peter Capaldi as The Doctor.
By Tish Wells
Okay, Whovians, your long wait is over. On Saturday, BBC America broadcasted the first episode of the new season of the classic science fiction show, Doctor Who. It will introduce Peter Capaldi, 56, as the latest incarnation of the Doctor.
For those Who are new to the 50-year-old classic series, the Doctor is an alien, a Time Lord, who travels in a time machine (TARDIS) disguised as a 1960s British police box, sharing his adventures with a number of companions — men, women and others. Those adventures can go forward in time to the death of the universe, or back in time to the days of the dinosaurs.
The new season starts with a T-Rex stalking past Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in London. You say these can’t exist in the same time period? That’s the magic of Doctor Who. The most improbable of events can happen at the same time.
The season premiere will air at 8pm ET in the US. The episode was also shown in some movie theatres in select cities at midnight through a collaboration between Fathom Entertainment and the BBC. The episode will be released on digital platforms such as iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Xbox video and Sony PSN.
The show was first broadcast in 1963, starring William Hartnell. When he retired three years later, the Doctor was ‘regenerated’ (or replaced) by a new actor, Patrick Troughton, thereby allowing the popular show to continue.
The doctor has regenerated 12 or more times, depending how you count them. Confused? So are many fans. It is part of the Doctor Who legend that the character can only regenerate 12 times, which would mean Matt Smith was the final one.
However, in the Christmas 2013 episode, the Doctor was granted extra regenerations (or lives), and a new count was started.
On a purely pragmatic level, this extended the longevity of a series that has exploded in popularity over the last decade. While the Doctor is the good guy most of the time, the Doctor Who universe is riddled with evil villains, such as super soldiers Sontarans, Daleks (tall cylindrical salt-shakers with stalks that shoot energy bursts) whose primary goal is to conquer the universe while screeching “Exterminate!”, and stone statues that can turn into ravenous monsters in the blink of an eye.
Last season ended in burst of glory (and exploding Daleks) when Smith, the youngest actor to play the Doctor when he took over at 26, handed the character over to Capaldi. When selected for the part, Capaldi was the same age as Hartnell, who originated the character at age 55.
Show runner, and writer of the first episode, Steven Moffat addresses all this in an entertaining, tongue-in-cheek impish introduction at the start of the new episode so new viewers can catch up (or be sucked into) the show. Stick with it. Doctor Who can be a sneak treat to watch even if you don’t know the back story or haven’t seen any of the other episodes. Or, as one of the characters says, “Well, then. Here we go again.” — MCT
Katie Holmes moves
from NY to California
Actress Katie Holmes, who has been living in New York for two years with her daughter Suri, has now shifted back to California. Holmes lived here during her marriage to star Tom Cruise, and then moved to New York with their daughter in 2012 when she began divorce proceedings. Now the actress and her eight-year-old have relocated back to California and are living in a $3.8mn home in Calabasas, reports contactmusic.com. Holmes was married to Cruise for five years, and she was awarded Suri’s custody in the divorce settlement. — IANS
Stacy Keibler gives birth to daughter
Former wrestler-turned-actress Stacy Keibler has welcomed a girl child. The 34-year-old and her husband, Jared Pobre, welcomed their daughter, Ava Grace Pobre, into the world last week, she announced via her website, reports femalefirst.co.uk. “Jared and I have been blessed with the new love of our lives. Ava Grace Pobre was born at home on August 20th. We’ve never experienced a level of joy and happiness like this before! Thank you so much for all of the special wishes and positive energy,” she posted. Keibler, who split from George Clooney last year, married tech entrepreneur Pobre during a surprise sunset ceremony in Mexico shortly before confirming her pregnancy in March. She had recently said her pregnancy had been “really easy”. — IANS