New Doctor Who series features sex, guns and Daleks

22 March 2010

John Howell

Now that the new season of Doctor Who is almost with us, a third trailer has been released and details about upcoming episodes revealed. This is the first season to feature 27 year old Matt Smith, the youngest Time Lord ever.  As the eleventh Time Lord, he takes over from where the highly popular David Tennant left off. At the same time, Steven Moffat takes over Doctor Who's Executive Producer position replacing BBC stalwart Russell T. Davis.

According to the MailOnline, the first episode, entitled The Eleventh Hour, introduces the Doctor's new companion Amy Pond (played by Karen Gillan) and features a gruesome shape shifting monster called Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi, intergalactic police, who monitor the skies with an enormous spiralling eye. It also sees the Doctor crashing his Tardis to the earth.

Executives have apparently "sexed up the show" with the Doctor's new companion Miss Pond appearing in a racy policewoman's outfit complete with mini skirt. She reveals herself to be a kissogram. Matt Smith and Karen Gillan recently attended the launch party for the new series in Cardiff where the new trailer was shown. Gillan hinted at romance between the two characters, confessing they kiss later in the series. Smith said Gillan was the Doctor's "sexiest companion yet".

"We have grown very fond of one another," he said. "It's something we work hard at. I hope the tone of our relationship comes across as playful."

The Tardis too has been revamped from scratch, the new version reportedly bigger and more detailed. Steven Moffat said the machine regenerated after an explosion in David Tennant's last episode. The new version has rooms extending out of the main control centre and a variety of bizarre gadgets such as hot and cold bath taps, a typewriter and a morse code machine.

Doctor Who's familiar foes return in the new series, including the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Sontarans. Guest stars will include Bill Nighy and James Corden.

The new trailer looks great, with the possible exception of the final scene where Matt Smith is clearly holding a handgun. Since the show began the Doctor has rarely used handguns to fight his battles, relying instead on his wits, gadgets and intelligence. Perhaps along with the added sex they are aiming for a more Hollywood action style Doctor Who this time round? Personally I hope not. I can still vividly recall the thankfully brief US Doctor Who series starring Paul McGann in 1996, where a newly-regenerated Doctor took on the Master at the turn of the millennium, 31 December 1999.  Featuring a romance with his companion and plenty of Hollywood cliché’s, it was terrible.

As I've said before, I think Matt Smith may be too young to effectively step into the role of a thousand year old Time Lord. Recently though, after watching him in a show he starred in a few years back called Party Animals, I've adopted a wait and see approach. In Party Animals he played a researcher to a Labour Government Minister and easily stole the show.

So how will the new Doctor perform this time round? Will the changes be a ratings disaster or introduce the show to an entirely new audience? All will be revealed shortly. The new Doctor Who series with Matt Smith at the helm will air in the UK 3 April on BBC1. Watch the latest Doctor Who trailer below and let us know what you think.

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