Weeeeeeuhhhhwooooo! New Dr Who starts 19 September!

[VagelinaJolie]

Hooray! Let's hope that this series is better than the last.
Oh look it's Arya Stark! And more Missy!
And PC's hair is madder than ever!
(And I've found the box of exclamation marks!!!!!)
Let's see

Why do time lords look so human though, why not have blue skin, green hair etc. Gallifreyans look very human. (Or, humans look time lord, to paraphrase the 9th doctor)

Same reasons most aliens on TV are bipedal and humanoid-ish - easier to relate to and cheaper make up.

Yes and if they can regenerate as either sex, why bother having kids? In fact, if they never die, gallifrey must be really really full.

Maybe they aren't, though; maybe it's their biological chameleon circuits showing them to us that way

They do die when out of regenerations. Though frankly the general should've got through at least one in 4.5bn years...

My universal scifi justification for bipedal/humanoid is that it's the most efficient physical form for an active sentient being so parallel evolution in similar environments leads to that (clearly bull in terms of reality) BUT even given that, Gallifreyans are exactly human - not even any forehead ridges or weird coloured skin. Just two hearts and the ability to utilise regeneration energy if granted it (which humans can too actually - Melody was human, but conceived in the tardis so gained some Time Lord ability)
I think Gallifreyans and Humans must be related somehow. Otherwise why have a Chamaeleon Arch that specifically turns a Time Lord into a Human?

Maybe they descended from us (obviously with some timey wimey stuff going on)

The general didn't take 4bn years to get between Day of the Doctor and Hell Bent though.... he came the short way round :)

Clara and Ashildr are going to Gallifrey for Clara to die though, I suspect the last scene of the two Tardis passing each other in space was just for the vidual joke of an American diner Tardis.

Glad to see the return of a sonic screwdriver and loved the retro Tardis.

Now, I heard a rumour that River is in the Christmas special because it will be the last one Steve Moffat will write and he thinks when he leaves there will be no more River. Anyone know anything more concrete?

thegiddy Clara and Ashildr are planning to take several billion years to get back to Gallifrey!

Last nights episode was fricking awesome. At last the screwdriver is back, yay! Almost makes up for all the low points of the last two series.

giddy I don't know about that re Stephen Moffat/river song thing. It wasn't him who introduced her character, she was first in Silence in the Library, in the RTD era, so she's not a SM creation.

The

But it would be good news if someone worthy would take over from SM though.

Moffat wrote Silence in the Library; River Song is all Moffat.

I'd like Mark Gatiss or Toby Whithouse to take over. Moffat's storytelling has been amazing, however I saw him at the Doctor Who festival being absolutely vile to a young man with autism though (told him to go back to school and that he hated him) so as a person I'm not so keen and it really took the shine off.

Gatiss hasn't written well though - Sleep No More was bad!

I quite like Sleep No More, although it took me a few goes to get it, it suffered from him having worked on the concept for years and it being shoe horned in when there was a slot available. But Gatiss is a massive fan boy and dedicated to Who; his stories are the fun ones, usually, and he is a good writer, that's why he's successful.

Sleep no more was awful. Monsters made out of rheum was a terrible idea. And they looked ridiculous.

I can't think of a Gatiss one that I've liked and imo it would be a disaster if he took over as show-runner. I always get the impression that he's too self-indulgent and impressed with his own cleverness.

Think the ridiculousness of the sleep monsters was a big issue. Had they been more scary, like ghosts or nightmares, it would have been better - but both those were already in use!

I think there are Gallifreyans, who are just normal everyday folk, and Timelords, who are the chosen ones, who go to the Timelord academy. They are like Gallifreyan royalty, and are the only ones who can regenerate. I would presume they would have all the 'bits' of a Gallifreyan ( i.e. the ability to reproduce) but would have the added regeneration bit. So Timelords are made, and most of them don't use their regenerations as they are stuck on Gallifrey, and presumably have rules about reproduction, or if they have children, they aren't necessarily Timelords so are tossed into the Gallifreyan farmland until they are called to the Academy. Its only the Doctor who is restless and wanders off to dangerous places and gets killed wants to play Hamlet so uses up his regenerations.
I might have made all this up

General Whatsit was on his/her tenth regeneration though - however, he/she may have died in the time war a few times.

Oh yeah thats true. And Rassillon has regenerated from Timothy Dalton to someone much older!

I think Moffatt has suggested that no one wants his job, so he can't leave until they find a suitable replacement. i think the pressure must massive. i dont know why they don't just get some sort of team of people to do it.

bubsandmoo I didn't realise river song was a SM creation! Silence in the library/forest of the dead is one of my favourite episodes.

That is absolutely vile about him at the festival How horrible. My ds is a massive massive DW fan, and also has autism. What an absolute arsehole SM sounds.

biyal wasn't it mark gatiss who did that, not sm.

I stand corrected. How horrid. I'm really surprised at that, the amount of kids they see. Although there have been a lot of rumours about sm and his treatment of women.