The real-time final seal was set on the end of David Tennant's reign as the 10th Doctor sometime this morning, as the Cardiff wrap party for the story forming the last two 2009 specials staggered to a close (I imagine). The finale has taken two months of filming and with the specials also marking Russell T Davies' last work on the parent show, it appears to have been a big do, and the likes of DWM editor Tom Spilsbury, composer Murray Gold and ITV-exiled writer Chris Chibnall confirming their attendance via Twitter. No doubt everyone who'd help make the whole franchise such a success over the last 5 years had an invite (maybe even Eccles turned up? - if so, I want a polaroid/twitpic of him, David and Matt as a new 'three doctors' - can Ben Cook be relied upon?)
Coincidentally the DWM stable also released their latest special last week, as well as revealing the cover for the forthcoming regular issue (out on Thursday 28th). With £6.99 of your new pence I bought the former while on my hols, and am proud to report I've read all 148 pages. The special, pictured above, picks out 200 'golden moments, one from each transmitted story up to Easter 2009. Though actually that's not true - even totting up the TV canon as a neat 200 tally is open to question, as everyone freely admits. Also some 20 stories (not completely guessable BTW) are granted the honour of more than one golden moment. I'm not too sure this concept comes off in the end, as we have writers obliged to sift for the 'gold' of "Time Flight" and "Fear Her" while the likes of "Web of Fear" and "Human Nature"/"Family of Blood" are restricted to one mere moment each. To complicate matters further, this exercise was already carried out by DWM in the 90s, so I think there may have been pressure to avoid the moments previously picked from the classic series' run. Some of the obvious choices remain though - the 'have I the right?' speech from "Genesis of the Daleks" for example - and many of the moments are cliffhangers or epic climaxes. But there's definitely a tendency throughout to go for unexpected quiet, even unspoken moments ("Planet of Giants"), and a few which occasionally seem contrary for the sake of it - look at those chosen for "Twin Dilemma" and "Attack of the Cybermen".
In anticipation of a wet/indoors holiday week last week, I'd also bought a discounted season one DVD of "Torchwood" (£18 in Dunfermline Asda) and then "The War Machines" (£8 in Oban WHSmith). For whatever reason, probably the same reason I didn't properly post here during the week, I never got past episode one of the Hartnell serial or a few of the "Torchwood" extras! Oh well, I'm sure summer will have more rainy days ...
Finally, a pic posted by the aforementioned Benjamin Cook marking one of his finale interviews from the "Doctor Who" set last week. It's a cute shot in many ways, and sort of signifies the peaceful co-existance of the programme's past heritage (Cribbins having starred in one of the 1960s movies as well as Wilf Mott) and its present and future (Cook is the star reporter on Doctor Who Magazine but is too young to remember the 'classic' run!)
