Knock Four Times: David Tennant, Russell T. Davies, Euros Lyn, and Julie Gardner Bring “Doctor Who” to Comic-Con
Rumors of a Doctor Who feature film have been greatly exaggerated.Appearing at the Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con, executive producer Julie Gardner dismissed claims that they were prepping a script for David Tennant to reprise his role as the Tenth Doctor for a big-screen adventure. Untrue, said Gardner, though she admitted that the rumors have led them to think a Doctor Who feature film might be a good thing.
David Tennant, executive producer Russell T. Davies, and director Euros Lyn (who also directed all five installments of Torchwood: Children of Earth) participated in the panel discussion, which featured a standing ovation for Tennant.
"It is said that in the final days of the planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams."
The real treat was a gasp-inducing advance look at Tennant’s swan song on the series, the 2009 Christmas Special entitled Doctor Who: The End of Time, which features the aforementioned worldwide nightmares, Catherine Tate’s Donna Noble, Lucy Saxon (Alexandra Moen), and the return of John Simm as The Master! “He returns!” (Seriously, I had chills when a blonde-haired Simm turned to the camera and hissed, “My name is The Master!")
Euros Lyn, who directed Doctor Who: The End of Time, said of Tennant’s final episode, "It's just overwhelming. You will need Kleenex. He will knock four times."
Of the enduring fame Tennant has encountered from his portrayal as the Tenth Doctor, Tennant—wearing a Stormtrooper t-shirt and trainers—admitted, "It's overwhelming. Your face is on cakes, and t shirts, and children's pants. They don't really prepare you for that in drama school."
Asked which actors who previously played the Doctor had most inspired his performance, Tenannt said, "There are bits of them all in there.”
Gardner was asked how the production crew manages to accomplish everything they do on such a small budget. “We go over budget,” she admitted, though she said they take their budgets very seriously. "Smaller episodes help us pay for the Christmas special… we double bank, call in a lot of favors and a lot of love."
One of the funniest moments of the panel: Tennant lovingly stroking Davies, Lyn, and Gardner's heads after moderator Robert Lloyd (of the Los Angeles Times) asked about how in love they all seem with each other.
And Tennant himself showered the crowd with his affection after a fan shouted out that she loved him. "We love YOU,” he shouted. “Each one of you in a slightly individual way.”
"We never ever, ever, ever imagined it would be this successful. It's gobsmacking!" admitted Davies about the worldwide success of Doctor Who. Davies went on to say that Julie Gardner has been instrumental in the success of Doctor Who. (I totally agree.)
The panel took a quick detour as the Guinness Book of World Records gave Doctor Who the record for most successful sci-fi series on television.
Davies’ reaction? "Close the door and let's start drinking,” he said. “Take that, Supernatural!"
Ending one popular And he slammed rumors that he'll appear in The Hobbit, though he said he will be playing a villain in St. Trinian's 2.
Could Tennant return for the fiftieth anniversary of Doctor Who in 2013? Maybe, but there are no plans for him to do so, leading Tennant to ask everyone not to Twitter that he was somehow locked in to appear. "Not yet..." he said, mischievously.
David Tennant says that he's happy that the series will carry on without him and that he's leaving on such a high note. His only regret? "I am leaving the series slightly sad that I didn't get to snog Bernard Cribbins,” he joked. “I snogged all the rest [of the companions]."
While there are only three more Doctor Who specials with Tennant, he’ll appear in an upcoming episode of spin-off series Sarah Jane Adventures. Davies announced that the title of said episode is "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith."
Will we see a reunion between David Tennant's Doctor and Alex Kingston's River Song? Sadly, no but as to whether River will cross paths with the Eleventh Doctor, Davies said, "I think if you go online and do a little search for River Song, you might be very happy."
Asked about his replacement, Matt Smith, Tennant said, "There is no one in Britain who has worked with Matt [Smith] who hasn't raved about him."
Gardner recounted the fact that someone stole one of the Doctor's coats right off of the set... during filming, no less. And one of their number is exceptionally sticky-fingered, said Gardner, revealing that Torchwood star John Barrowman likes to take mementos from the set.
Yet, Gardner joked that John Barrowman steals things "just so he can get strip-searched." (This got a huge laugh from the assembled crowd.)
As for Davies, he said that he hopes to stay on board Torchwood but “literally can’t give any confirmation” because there are still no deals in place.
After Tennant made a comment about the fact that Doctor Who "should have been on BBC America from the start,” Davies said that BBC America will be airing the Doctor Who specials much closer to their UK airdates.
Asked by a little girl what class he would teach if he were a teacher, Tennant said, "I'd probably end up being an English teacher."
Gardner stunned Tennant filming him right on the dais. "It's like a live DVD extra," said Tennant. Gardner revealed that footage of all of the entire panel—and seemingly Tennant’s trip to Comic-Con 2009--will be on Doctor Who Confidential (and, one would imagine, on the DVD release as well).
Just when the panel seemed like it would be over, Davies and Co. unveiled a brand-new clip from this fall’s Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars which looked absolutely amazing.
Doctor Who: Waters of Mars Trailer:
Just who is knocking? Hmmm, we’ll have to see. (I’ll post video of the clips as soon as they are available.)
The crowd gave another standing ovation for Tennant, who proceeded to run across stage with glee! And, really, that's the perfect end of the Doctor Who panel.
The full audio for the one-hour Doctor Who panel can be found below:
Doctor Who returns this fall with "The Waters of Mars."