With the big day coming soon for the 50th anniversary episode of Dr. Who, the BBC has been releasing all kinds of tidbits to whet fans appetites. The Night Of the Doctor is a terrific 7 minutes of Dr. Who aperitif but the 12 second teaser found below will make you grin like a Cheshire Cat. Steven Moffat has said that fans are in for the, “best ever entrance” into the Tardis, and with this teaser we can only assume that this is it. To truly find out though, you’ll have to watch The Day of The Doctor this Saturday 11/23/2013.

BBC released today a short prequel episode today called “Night of the Doctor” leading in to the “Day of the Doctor,” which is the 50th anniversary special.

I don’t want to spoil anyone about what this is, so I’ll wait until you watch it.

You watched it?

Good.

Holy Moly.This might be the thing I wanted to see most but never honestly expected I could. As I watched this short, I was holding back tears of joy and excitement the entire time.

The Day of the Doctor suddenly raised the stakes in a way I never dreamed of. And it begs the question: what other surprises are we in store for that Moffat has been holding back? If McGann came in to become John Hurt, could Eccleston be that far away? Moffat is, if nothing else, very good at keeping secrets. I think that might make this about the best Doctor Who episode ever conceived if it tied all of those things together.

This also opened the door to the possibility of a female doctor…  Which…  wow!

Seriously…  this video illicited tears from me in public. 

It airs November 23. 

In the meantime, I’m going to watch this again.

A little Clara, some Rose and a whole lot of 10 & 11. BBC has released a two short trailers and a longer one showing us a bit of the interaction between the most recent doctors. Watch them a few times and prepare yourself for November 23rd.

Here we have the first real trailer from “The Day of the Doctor,” the 50th anniversary Doctor Who special.

John Hurt opens the trailer and his costume and accompanying sounds confuse the hell out of me. But having said that, this trailer, as cheap and easy and non-revealing as it was, gave me the chills.

“The Day of the Doctor” airs on November 23, 2013 and it con’t come soon enough.

Back in June the internet began speculation that the BBC had recovered over one hundred episodes of classic Who. One hundred and six, to be specific, all from Doctors One and Two. This week, the network is expected to confirm some of the speculation and to give specifics on which episodes have been found and how fans of Classic Who can watch them. 

While there may not be 106 episodes found, something has certainly been recovered.

From the BBC:

A number of early episodes of Doctor Who, which were believed to have been permanently lost, have been returned to the BBC.

 

BBC Worldwide is expected to confirm the find at a press screening in London later this week.

 

It follows weeks of speculation that some lost episodes had been located.

I expect most of the finds will include all of Two’s arcs, which are currently the most patchy or non-existent. Stay tuned to BSR! for more Who news, and check out my Ultimate Episode Guide, which will receive a serious face lift after the announcement. 

A rare interview with the First Doctor, William Hartnell, will be included among the special features on the DVD release of “The Tenth Planet.” 

In the interview, Hartnell waxes on such topics as his surprising appeal to children, the difficulties in playing to the Daleks, and his plans on life after Who. The footage was discovered in 2009 by Richard Bignell, and promptly digitzed by the BBC for inclusion on a DVD release. The interview took place about three months after the filming of “The Tenth Planet,” which was the First Doctor’s swan song. 

Yes. That is a Cyberman. This arc marks not only the First Doctor’s regeneration, but also the first appearance of the Cybermen and Two. The story occurred in four episodes, but sadly only three have survived. And herein lies the bad news. Episode four was the first appearance of Troughton as two, but also the episode in which One regenerated. The Doctor’s first regeneration within its story is lost, possibly making episode four of this arc one of the most sought after items in science fiction history. For this release, the fourth episode will be an animated addition. Click here for details on the special features on this set. It’s still very much worth a purchase because in addition to this rare treat of an interview, the Blue Peter episode dedicated to the show’s tenth anniversary is included. In that special episode the regeneration aired, thereby allowing us to still witness the first change, albeit out of context. 

Hartnell, whose career began in 1932, played the Doctor from 1963 to 1966. He performed in other projects until 1970 and appeared on a Who special in 1973. “The Tenth Planet” series will be released in Region One on November 19, 2013.

This week in comics had a wonderful mix of everything. If you couldn’t find something to give you a visual fix, you weren’t looking hard enough. There were event books from the Big 2; a surprise final panel in Green Arrow that I’m trying very hard not to spoil; a large dose of funny from Valiant courtesy of Quantum and Woody #4; hard hitting independent books like Lazarus from Image and Hit from Boom!; and a double dose of the 80’s courtesy of G.I. JOE from IDW and He-Man from DC. I didn’t get a chance to read them all, but I did my best. Here’s what I think the best 8 moments in comics were this week.

I’ve really missed Peter Parker.  While Doc Ock continues to inhabit our friendly neighborhood Spiderman, take comfort in the reboot of the Marvel Knights line with Marvel Knights: Spiderman #1.

Straight out of the Tardis is Who? It’s me mentioning Francesco Francavilla yet again. He captures the 9^th Doctor in that puply style for Doctor Who Prisoners of Time #9.

I love Mitch Gerads. I’d hassle him for previews on the iFanboy comment boards and he’d always oblige. He never ceases to amaze with a cover that makes me nostalgic for some Modern Warfare or some Ice Climbing. It’s a good thing I’ve got Grivel Quantum Tech’s and the ice is on its way!

Speaking of getting up and moving, check out DC’s The Movement #5. I don’t have a good reason why I’m missing out on Gail Simone and Freddie Williams II, but this cover by Dan Panosian is a great reason not to.

Jock. Yes, Jock. Take it in bub, because the cover to Savage Wolverine #9 is spectacularly visceral.

I’m not going to save the best for last, I’m leaving the funniest one for that. As for the best panel this week? Well I was “God Damned” mesmerized by Rafael Grampá’s The Batman in Batman Black & White #2, so this one gets my pick.

Bendis continues to make me look like a man that has lost his mind when inevitably someone catches me laughing at another Iceman joke. As much as I like modern Ice Man, I think Gandalf the Ice is now my favorite.

Quantum and Woody has made us wait through four issues before revealing what the goat has to do with the story. What makes him so special? Well, he ain’t got no freakin’ dukes! No I’m not going to spoil exactly what the goat is doing. Go pick it up and give it a read to find out for yourself. The book is full of great one-liners and background visual jokes

That’s all for this week you shiny true believers. Sound off in the comments below, or reach me on Twitter @MarkAvo, to let me know what you think about my picks. If you’re the shy types don’t worry; because, I’ll be back next week, same bot time, same bot channel!

Ever since Matt Smith said he was stepping down as the current Doctor in the upcoming Christmas special this year, everyone has their own theory as to who will be his successor, whether from Eddie Izzard, Tom Hiddleston or Rupert Grint (finally a ginger!) to Aneurin Barnard or the possibility that the Doctor might regenerate as a woman this time. While it would have been awesome to have seen an Izzard or Hiddleston take on the titular character, it was pretty much obvious that actors who have so much on their plates already wouldn’t have the time to take on this role as well, and almost everyone I’ve talked to has agreed that it would go to either an unknown or someone who hadn’t been up to much lately.

Well, we finally have our answer. In a live worldwide telecast, the BBC just announced that the Twelfth Doctor will be played by Peter Capaldi who had been a heavy favorite leading up to today.

Peter Capaldi is a Scottish actor who has been a fan of the Doctor ever since he was a kid, has starred in over 40 films and TV shows, and won an Academy Award for his short film Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life.

Of course, fans of Doctor Who will also be quick to point out that Peter Capaldi has already spent some time in this universe, both as Caecilius in the 2008 episode The Fires of Pompeii and John Frobisher in Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Considering his love for the series, I’m sure that Capaldi will more than do the character justice. Now it’s just the long wait until Matt Smith passes his bow tie and sonic screwdriver to his new incarnation.

BBC has officially said that they will reveal the actor playing the new Doctor this Sunday, August 4, at 12 PM (noon) MDT. While speculation has run rampant as far as who will be portraying the 12th incarnation of the titular character (fingers still crossed for Eddie Izzard, despite the fact it probably won’t happen), we’ll all know for sure in just a few days.

Stay tuned to BSR come Sunday as we will have all the information regarding the new Doctor just as soon as it is announced!

It wasn’t even two days ago that I was talking about the “lost” episodes with a couple of friends. I was mentioning how sad I was that there were some Hartnell and Troughton episodes I would likely never see – and it’s important that I do, regardless of how difficult those episodes can be. Each version of the Doctor is important to the one that came next. I remember watching Four and Five on PBS when I was wee, and grew up with the Doctor. I missed all of Eight, and rejoined in with Nine. Well, Nine.2, maybe. Whatevs, I still don’t know how I feel about that.

At any rate, I started typing this article in the interest of breaking the good news to you: allegedly 90 of the missing 106 episodes have been found. Allegedly. I was planning on writing this heartfelt article about being reconnected to half a century of fandom, and being excited to see the original Ice Warriors episodes, and all that awesome stuff but instead I did this. I really have no excuse. It’s possible I need a larger social circle, or maybe or maybe to just let up on the Time Lord Customs and Culture class I conduct in my head. Regardless, I present to you an indexed list of every classic Who episode, how you can watch it, and whether or not it may have resurfaced. Check in every so often, as I plan on adding trivia and short reviews.

But for now, I’m really tired now. I think I’ll go to bed and stream The Pyramids of Mars.