This Week In Doctor Who: Latest Casting News, New Merchandise… and LEGO???

Greetings and salutations, fellow Fridge Nukers! Bradfield here with “All the Who That’s Fit to Print” for the week ending March 16, 2014.

 Series 8 Casting

Samuel Anderson has joined the cast as a new, recurring character, Danny Pink. Though not a familiar face to American audiences, Samuel’s star has been on the rise in the UK, including the television adaptation of the Tony Award Winning play, The History Boys. Danny Pink will be a teacher at the Coal Hill School, where current Companion, Clara Oswald, is also an instructor. For those who are new to Doctor Who, the Coal Hill School is where the First Doctor’s [William Hartnell] Companions, Ian and Barbara worked before accompanying him and his granddaughter on the earliest adventures through space and time.

MI-5‘s  Keeley Hawes — perhaps best known to Fridge Nukers as the voice of Lara Croft in the later Tomb Raider games –has a guest role in Season 8 as Ms. Delphox, a “powerful out-of-this-world character with a dark secret.”

You can read more about Doctor Who, Series 8 (as well as check out some great pictures of new Doctor, Peter Capaldi, and talk-show host, Craig Ferguson in their OG* punk band, The Dreamboys) at BBC America‘s Doctor Who page.

Doctor Who LEGO

Things are looking very good for an official Doctor Who LEGO set via LEGO Cuusoo, the LEGO Group‘s Japanese partner that produces short run sets for small, but mighty, fanbases. They’ve done sets devoted to such popcult staples as Ghostbusters and even The Big Bang Theory. It is a little surprising that, since Doctor Who‘s merchandising has increased, nay exploded, here in the States, that it hasn’t come up before Glen Bricker‘s proposal – which, for the record, was the third fastest proposal in Cuusoo’s history to garner the necessary 10,000 supporters to move to the next round of consideration. After all, even without specific licensing agreements, LEGO manufactures a myriad of playsets not affiliated with major motion pictures and/or television programs. Whether mundane, like a hospital; historic, like a pirate ship or a medieval castle; or fantastic, like LEGO’s in-house collections of aliens and monsters, Doctor Who is possibly the ultimate LEGO license in that he can fit in seamlessly with their existing product lines. You really just need a Doctor, a Companion, and a decent TARDIS playset, and you can go anywhere in the LEGO universe. Geronimo!

March Toys & Merchandise (actual)

It’s still not too late to order your War Doctor/Other Doctor action figure. Scheduled to be released in March (which means, at this point, in the next two weeks), The Underground Toys 5″ scale figure of John Hurt in this now-classic role of the Eighth Doctor, who had his title revoked for pulling the trigger on his own planet to stop the Daleks will include: a Sonic Screwdriver, “The Moment,” and an alternate head (the younger version of this Doctor played by Paul McGann in the mid-90s) for accessories. You can find them online at ForbiddenPlanet.com, or here in the States at EntertainmentEarth.com.

Underground Toys also has a new and inventive way to take your tea: drinking out of Tenth Doctor, David Tennant‘s head! They’re also doing a couple sets of DW cufflinks, a Weeping Angel floating pen, River Song‘s Sonic Screwdriver, a Vortex Manipulator 3D watch and a Remote Control, Flying TARDIS. Once again, Entertainment Earth and/or Forbidden Planet appear to be your best online source there. For the company that owns several licenses for products based on the biggest scifi property on the planet, Underground Toys’ actual website is a little… thin.

Three out of the five upcoming Titan Merchandise‘s Doctor Who busts have been cancelled. Still remaining are a Weeping Angel, and the Ninth Doctor, portrayed by Thor: The Dark World co-star, and notorious curmudgeon, Christopher Eccleston. Cancelled are Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison; Eighth Doctor, Paul McGann; and the “Cavewoman Companion,” Leela.

Elope has both a TARDIS wool beanie, and a short version of Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker‘s, iconic scarf coming out.

Who in the News

David Tennant, former Companion, Karen Gillan, and current Showrunner/Head Writer, Steven Moffat will all be featured on the four-part docu-series: The Real History of Science Fiction. Among the topics to be explored: robots, alien invasions and travels through time and space – so pretty much everything Doctor Who covers. In addition to the aforementioned Who alumni, Real History… includes such notable scifi personages such as, to name a few: Neil Gaiman (Vertigo’s Sandman), Nathan Fillion (Firefly and Castle), Kenny Baker and Anthony Daniels (R2-D2 and C3P0), the original Robocop, Peter Weller, and Star Trek‘s Nichelle Nichols and of course, the one man force of nature known as William Shatner. The Real History of Science Fiction is set to premiere on BBC America April 19th.

I’m fairly certain it’s common knowledge by now, but Karen Gillan is co-starring in a small, independent film this coming Summer called Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. She’s playing Nebula, which at least in the Marvel Comics timeline I’m familiar with means that she’s a descendent of Thanos. Early reports indicate that she is supposed to be a “villain” working with Michael Rooker‘s Yondu – which is somewhat puzzling as Yondu is actually a member of the 70s/80s GotG lineup. That is to say that, at least in classic continuity, Yondu is one of the good guys… But one subject of speculation at a time, right?

If you were ever wondering how The Doctor might fare against The King of the Vampires, Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith will be participating in a celebrity football (or soccer) match against his real life “nemesis,” Academy Award Nominee, and co-star of the Twilight films, Michael Sheen.

There are a couple nice interviews with Steven Moffat, and (briefly) Peter Capaldi in the current issue of Doctor Who Magazine. Turns out that Capaldi belonged to a Doctor Who fan club back in the day. And Steven Moffat, as a Whovian first and foremost, fells compelled to address even the most minute of fanboy issues. Though you don’t have to subscribe, as DWM is available in most chain bookstores and several specialty shops, the latter are usually about two months behind the curve.

That’s all until next week, Whovians! If you have a line on any Doctor Who news, feel free to hit me at bradfieldsrevivalhouse@gmail.com.

 

* Original Glasgow