The Gamer's Quarter

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Actually, there's not a whole lot of sex in this show. And no nudity so far. Mostly it's gratuitous blood splurts and awkwardly-shoehorned swear words. A while back, John Barrowman promised he'd show his ass this year. I don't know if they're going through with it, though.

You should have seen the first series. The other night was a big step up!

About Moffat 4:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Also, "Dear Internet: GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY (gasp) GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY GAY..."
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daphaknee · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:47 am Post subject:

aderack, if someone say, never saw an episode of dr who before, but really liked red dwarf and the hitchhikers guide should they watch dr who?

also is it on dvd that said person could easily rent

because really you love htis and you seem like a sensible sort and perhaps i would like to get into it as well, since i like things that are good

i remember when i was little seeing the old dr who come on after red dwarf but iw ouldnt watch it because it was after my bedtime

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Well. If you like those other things... probably! Douglas Adams wrote several episodes during the '70s, and was the script editor for a year. The Hitchhiker's TV series was filmed partially on old Doctor Who sets, and I believe some were later incorporated into Red Dwarf.

Oh, and the third Hitchhiker's book and the first Dirk Gently book were aborted Doctor Who scripts. So. There's something of a connection here.

It's just got this overwhelming barrier to entry. Thirty seasons, a bunch of spin-offs, ten different actors in the lead role, a dozen different production teams, each with its own different vision for the show. Forty years of mythology. And it's way nerdier than Star Trek and Monty Python combined.

But! Once you pass the barrier, it's kind of hard to escape.

It helps to have an obsessive personality.

There's a lot of stuff on DVD. Not everything. All the new stuff is, so far. About half the classic series is up there now. Which wouldn't be so odd, if it weren't released in a completely disorganized shotgun format. Whatever's on DVD, and has percolated over here, it's on Netflix. So that's not a bad way to do things. Whatever's in red here is out here. Whatever's in blue is in the pipeline.

If you get BBC America (I don't think Comcast carries it unless you pay in kidneys), Torchwood 2 starts up Saturday. And if you note the article linked above, it's GAY GAY GAY GAY.

If you want to hit the DVDs... well, I would normally say that the new series (2005 to present) is probably the safest place to start. It's been all polished up and made mainstream-postmodern. In your case, I guess you could just grab something.

What you probably would have seen on PBS would have been the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. He's not my favorite, though he's certainly distinctive. If you want to check that out, you might want The Pirate Planet and City of Death (both by Douglas Adams), then The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis. These are amongst his best stories, I think. And he's less obnoxious than usual in all of them!

The real meat, so far as I'm concerned, lies in the early black-and-white stuff (pre-1970) and the stuff from the tail end of the '80s, just before it got pulled off the air. And then the new series.

There's a lot of good stuff in between, though.
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daphaknee · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:58 am Post subject:

wow thats overwhelming, thanks for the tips though

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yeah, just check out the 2005 series. Then branch off from there if you're interested enough.

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Doctor_Who_Season_1/70050023?trkid=189530&strkid=1362645304_0_0
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

URGH, two blokes kissing and cuddling, URGH

Westacular · Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:28 pm Post subject:

Just to back up what aderack was saying:

daphaknee, I've never really watched any of the old Doctor Who. I just started watching the new series when it began in 2005 and filled in background details at my leisure through online sources -- skimming episode guides, youtube clips, whatever.

The new series is a fresh start and able to stand on its own. Start there.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

elvis.shrugged · . Joined: 10 Jan 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Stratford, CT

Daph, Doctor Who is totally worth checking out. Just try the 2005 series.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

I guess it's also worth saying that, though it pays to start at the "beginning" (that is, the new beginning), each year of the new series begins with a sort of semi-relaunch. So for instance, if you were to randomly choose series three (2007), it would make sense as a standalone narrative chunk. Everything would be established well enough in the first few episodes that you wouldn't be left out in the cold.

Series three is the newest, and it's pretty good; you could do worse than just starting there. Though yeah, with only thirteen to fourteen episodes a year you might as well start with series one. You could marathon them, one per day, and still have time to do the laundry. That the first series is also the most consistent is probably another good reason to start there.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

By the way, go to mininova and seek out mark.lawson.talks.to.russell.t.davies.ws.pdtv.xvid-sfm.avi. I'm eight minutes in, and this is brilliant. Seriously, this is inspirationally engaging.

Maybe ISOhunt. There are about three or four torrents, only one of which works.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Naoko Mori sounds kind of interesting.
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Westacular · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject:

Perhaps not "interesting" so much as "that's a person I could be friends with"

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Boo, I thought that was going to be about Naoko Mori who was a designer on Wario Ware and Animal Crossing.

I didn't realise there were so many Paul McGann episodes! I assume they were for the radio?

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

How do you know it's not the same person?

Yeah. There's a new bunch coming up... soon. They seem to have vanished under a carpet somewhere. He only appeared the once on TV, though.

That's what I meant; she seemed like someone I wouldn't mind hanging around with. I was wondering the same thing about the accent.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Incidentally, this video tribute to the new series is pretty interesting. Editing is kind of all over the place, as usual for this guy. Otherwise...

This would be a great thing to show people who haven't seen the show, so as to completely mislead them about its tone.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Torchwood today: still of a higher standard than series one, yet simultaneously derivative of two of the best ("Out of Time", "Captain Jack Harkness") and one of the least memorable (Raynor's own "Ghost Machine") from last time around. Also, the ending was, uh, lazy. And strange.

I don't know. Definitely the best thing Raynor has written for the Whoniverse. Better than most of series one, as I said. It's got good characterization (and use of the characters), and uses the show's format well. There isn't much to complain about, except that it kind of bored me after a while. I feel we've done this already, and more dynamically. And then the ending, again, just soured the pill. Unoriginal, and then she couldn't figure out how to end it. Good lord.

Jack's going back would be the most obvious option, yes. Aside from inconveniencing him, there wouldn't be much of a downside -- except that it doesn't make much sense in terms of what the story is doing. The most dramatically satisfying option would be for Toshiko to go back, then get frozen -- except that would open up a lot of problems (having to thaw her out every year, for starters). Unless she got frozen at some other branch of Torchwood or something. That might have been too much to explore in this episode, but perhaps they could have spent some of the next episode tracking her down again. That might have been an interesting thread. Especially if she got frozen at Torchwood Four, say.

I get the feeling that's exactly why they did the weird psychic mumbo-jumbo thing; it's sort of like sending her back, only without the greater logistical problems. Side effect is that it comes off like a cop-out. I mean, failing the other options, they could have at least mentioned them. Toshiko volunteers to go back, they explain why she can't; Jack says he'll go, and Owen says "hey, actually maybe she can sort of go back... kind of". And boing, plot device.

Ah well. They're getting there.
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digi · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:41 am Post subject:

It's a fascinating and kind of wonderful thing to see an especially shitty tv series come out of something absolutely gorgeous, and slowly get better as it goes along.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

So in the Doctor Who spin-offs and novels it appears that Doctor Who characters can appear in the world of the pantomime, or travel to a planet where british sitcom characters are very, very real. Also, in one comic he meets the robot bounty hunter Death's Head, who has previously met the Transformers (!) on many occasions. So does this mean that Doctor Who's universe is one where any and all fictional creations can and should co-exist?

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Simon Furman is writing the current Torchwood comic strip.

And the current American Doctor Who comic is drawn and published by the current Transformers comic team.

And yeah, both were part of the official Marvel canon for a while, during the same period of the early '80s.

Furthermore, my David Tennant action figure is standing with his arm around Classic Cliffjumper and his other arm around Agent Scully. Who, golly, is proportioned exactly the same and sculpted in the exact same style. And who even comes with a cell phone, much as the Doctor comes with a sonic screwdriver. I tell you, it's meant to be!

All I need is a 5" Detective John Munch figure and the universe will finally be at peace.

Also, check this out.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

So I guess the point is it doesn't matter and it works so long as you don't ask too many questions, right?

I'm downloading some of the Bernice Summerfield radio plays, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

What have you been reading?

I've never read or listened to any of the Benny stuff. That whole New Adventures era is kind of a void for me. I've read a few of the later BBC novels, though. Some of those are pretty good.

I just found a bigger picture of '70s Porn Colin.

As seen a few pages back, in his console room. He's kind of the Tubgirl of Doctor Who forums.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Well, I listen to a podcast called 'panel borders' which interviews a lot of UK comics people and is a fascinating insight into an industry I thought was long dead. Doctor Who crops up a lot. Resonance FM. You should subscribe to the podcasts.

Westacular · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:10 pm Post subject:

Westacular · Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:27 pm Post subject:

The ending would have been more rewarding if, let's say a couple episodes ago, they spent some time introducing and developing the psychic projection thing. Then the ending would have seemed a bit more clever rather than lazy.

I'm impressed by how, this year, when I yell at the screen (in my head) DON'T BE DUMB, GWEN! CALL JACK AND TELL HIM IT'S HAPPENING NOW! she actually does that. Way too slowly, in this case, but at least they've apparently moved past that sort of plot-demanded stupidity.

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Hmm.

Example one.

Example two.

EDIT: In case it's deleted, which it may well be, the way things go over there:

--
Steve Roberts
Re: Breakfast Time
Fri Jan 25 2008 14:50:43
082.044.184.159

There's a very amusing section with a Dalek. Unfortunately Daleks aren't allowed to be comedians these days, so it had to go...

Steve

--
eric-jon rössel waugh
Re: Breakfast Time
Sat Jan 26 2008 01:46:59
075.061.121.180

I can't tell if you're serious here.

Under the assumption you are (buoyed by another response)... is this a Nation estate thing or a Cardiff thing?

--
Steve Roberts
Re: Breakfast Time
Sat Jan 26 2008 11:55:28
082.044.184.159

No, I'm being serious. We hardly bother touching anything to do with the Daleks now, as it's pointless trying to get permission from the rights holders, especially if the Daleks are depicted to comedy effect.

Steve

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eric-jon rössel waugh
Re: Breakfast Time
Sat Jan 26 2008 14:16:06
075.061.121.180

That certainly sounds frustrating.

It's bizarre enough that I'm having trouble doing anything but blowing a mental raspberry.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

That's a shame. I can see why this has happened, though- since the Daleks in this country have lost a lot of their currency as fearsome objects, since they've been lampooned and satirized to buggery. LOLOLOL They can't get up the stairs!!! They almost seem friendly now, like you'd half expect to walk outside and see one washing your car. It makes sense that the current producers would want to control how their character is depicted, to retain the fearsome mystique they once had and stop them from becoming pantomime villians.

Of course if the satire has a stronger cultural currency than the thing it's satirizing, it's not the satire that's a problem. See also R+B singer Craig David, whose career was ruined by a TV program featuring a rubber-mask piss-take of him, which became more famous and popular than the real Craig David.

So I guess the problem is that the Daleks are just kind of silly and not very scary in the first place. To use a tired analogy, this is like an Emporer putting a ban on little boys pointing out he doesn't have any clothes.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

To mention, "the rights holders" in this case means the Terry Nation estate. Which is always good for a laugh itself. Somehow Terry Nation obtained ownership not only of the Daleks as a scripted entity, but to the BBC's design of them. So every time they showed up in the classic series, he got to dictate every single thing that happened with them and had refusal on them being used at all. Which he employed at his whim. This is why Davros was in every story after Genesis, even though it didn't really make much sense for him to be there: because he wouldn't allow the BBC to use the Daleks unless they also used him. Why? Because that meant charging them for another character and doubling his fee.

The Dalek episodes are almost never included in packages for rebroadcast, as the Nation Estate charges through the teeth for the privilege of showing the episodes. So right now the classic series is being shown on UKGold again, I think. Not completely sure which channel. And they started with Tom Baker's first serial, Robot, as channels tend to. Except they skipped right over Genesis of the Daleks.

Actually, given that there are only two Dalek serials in Tom's entire run, and that his stories are the only thing that a lot of PBS stations really showed, it's pretty fair to assume that until pretty recently the Daleks were almost completely unknown in the US -- even though Tom Baker has some very slim nerd niche cultural cache. (Like, about as many people as there are around here who have a clue about Gundam. That's a pretty good parallel, actually.) It was no problem to just omit those two serials.

You might not remember, but before the new series began there was a bit of trouble with the Estate. For a while they steadfastly refused the Daleks to be used at all. Which translates to "PAY MORE... NO, MORE... NO, MORE!!!!" So there was one point where it was just retarded, and Davies said "Fine, we won't use them, then", and he told Rob Shearman to use the Toclafane instead -- the creatures he had thought up for the end of series three. (Seriously, Shearman swears up and down that this is what Davies told him at the time -- that they were the big threat from his planned series three finale. This, while series one was still only in the planning stage.) Then finally someone broke, and they got permission to use the Daleks however and as often as they wanted to.

So. This is nothing new. It's just... this is a new level of absurdity, not allowing a twenty-five-year-old interview to be reshown because it had someone riding around on a Dalek's back.

Yeah, face it, Daleks are adorable. All the more so with the redesigned versions, and their exaggerated ear-lights. I'm not sure these lawyers really know the most effective way to milk their property. And I'm not sure that any of this is really in the spirit of copyright.

* * *

By the way, Who 4 is going to be near-simulcast on Sci-Fi, much as Torchwood 2 is being on BBCA. Go go writers' strike! Sci-Fi has also picked up Sarah Jane Adventures to show alongside, also from April on.

And then there's this:

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I like the cut of his jib.

baron patsy · . Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 58

Whoops!

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I listened to one of those Bernice Summerfield radio plays! I had to stop listening because the writing was of poor quality :(

Westacular · Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 12:09 am Post subject:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Just a note. If anyone wants to legitimately download any (non-Benny) Big Finish audios, they've just now been put online. The price is about half that of physical media. Less than half, actually. Still more than I want to pay, usually. Though that is way more reasonable.

I would be willing to pay for the New Eighth Doctor audios or the Companion Chronicles stuff. None of that is yet online, though.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Eric-Jon, look out for a BBC2 TV documentary called Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to the Happy Mondays. It'll be on the BBC iPlayer. It's good! Lots of rare Joy Division footage.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

The iPlayer is locked off to non-UK IPs. :( So is the Torchwood site. And the Sarah Jane site. And the BBC Youtube channel.

Joy Division is neat.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

'Pile of wank' has never seemed so appropriate a description. Ha ha! No seriously I'm sure whoever made that had fun.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

You know how direction of motion has a big psychological effect in cinema? I'm watching Return of the King in a mirror, and I'm confirming something I felt through all three movies yet wasn't quite sure I was right about: about three-quarters of the time, Peter Jackson frames his motion incorrectly. Things which should be positive are going left, things which are supposed to be negative are going right. People who are in a strong position are facing left, people who are in a defensive or weak position are facing right.

Also the geography gets all messed up. When people are supposed to be moving East, the camera tracks them running to the left. When they're supposed to be going West, it shows them going right. The first time I saw Fellowship, my whole sense of direction was screwed up, trying to match where they were to my mental map of Middle Earth.

Had I the utilities and too much time, I might try mirroring the entire movie and go through and flip individual shots back the "right" way when he got the motion right. And anything with text on it, of course. I'd be curious to see how the dynamics changed. Right now, the action seems a lot clearer and more satisfying than I remember.

Also.

Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

I don't know about the Daleks being unknown in the US. My mom watched the classic series as it aired here, and the first villain she identifies with the Doctor is The Daleks. In fact, when we watched Dalek, she got really excited.

Then again, we may be in a special place where our local affiliate was keen on the show sooner.

Westacular · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:57 pm Post subject:

re: framing of motion in LotR: Maybe it's a southern hemisphere thing and Peter Jackson just thinks backwards. But honestly I'm not sure if I agree with you.

Going by memory, I think that north->south is generally framed left->right, which I feel is correct.

In Two Towers, with the stuff in Rohan, the camera often faces south -- making eastward, leftward -- to get the mountains and buildings in the background... the very sight of which establishes which way you're looking.

Fellowship, afair, gets things right, in general. Any point where there's a real geographical direction to understand, it was clear and understandable to me. Some of the micro-scale stuff gets confusing -- e.g., the hopelessly muddled relative locations in the fight with the Uruk-hai at the end -- but any time there's real movement from place to place I think it follows convention.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Watching the entire third movie mirrored... well. It stands out. Not every shot, mind, but lots of them. Easily the majority.

Something that I distinctly recall from Fellowship is the ending, at the Falls of Rauros. Sam and Frodo are heading East, and forward; the Three are heading West, and backward. So it's consistently framed that the western shore is on the right side of the screen and the eastern one is on the left. The exclamation point comes close to the very end, when Frodo takes the boat out across the river. If he were going the way it looks like he's going (both geographically and psychologically), he'd be heading back the way he came.

I did think that about the southern hemisphere. Toilets and all.

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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Finally, several episodes into series two, we've got the rest of the titles after two weeks from tomorrow. And some synopses, even! Though this was all taken down immediately, as it seems episode titles are crucially secret information.

Go there for the synopses. The rest of the titles are as follows, new ones in bold.

1.01: "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"
1.02: "Sleeper"
1.03: "To the Last Man"
2.04: "Meat" (Rhys gets involved)
2.05: "Adam" (Memories)
2.06: "Reset" (Martha shows up)
2.07: "Dead Man Walking" (Maybe he can hang out with the Last Man?)
2.08: "A Day in the Death" (As compared to a walk? Last Martha episode)
2.09: "Something Borrowed" (Wedding episode -- the one the ming mongs will hate)
2.10: "From Out of the Rain" (Dead men don't use umbrellas.)
2.11: "Adrift"
2.12: "Fragments"
2.13: "Exit Wounds"

Episode six is by a dude who's only ever written for cop shows, looks like.

Episode seven is by Matt "Satan Pit" Jones. I guess his style fits here.

Episode eight is by Joseph Lidster, basically known for his Big Finish audios. He's done a few good ones and a few lousy ones. His stuff is often convoluted and retcon-heavy. He did Terror Firma, for instance. That's... not one of his better ones. This is, apparently, his first TV script. Curious. I wonder if Torchwood is a back door to get some '90s Who writers into the present. Cartmel is certainly writing something. Though I guess that's been bumped to series three.

Nine is by Phil Ford, known for bunches of soap work and a couple of the better SJA stories.
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aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Fandom update: people are freaking out about all of the revisionist reconstruction in the new Time Meddler DVD. The binoculars sequence is completely different and looks horrible now! And what happened to the ending montage? It's been ruined! "They don't even remotely look the same!", as one person put it. To which Steve Roberts responds:

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Some Who 4 stuff. Davies did write the replacement episode after all, and that's the one titled "Midnight". And it's been retroactively shifted back to episode 10 (rather than 8), meaning that Moffat's library-related two-parter comes immediately after the Agatha Cristie episode ("The Unicorn and the Wasp"). It also means the last FOUR episodes are all by RTD, all in a row. Which seems appropriate. One imagines this will help tie up all the threads.

The Pompeii episode is "The Fires of Pompeii". Simple enough.

And, in case anyone had doubts, Time Crash will be on the Voyage of the Damned DVD (and therefore in the S4 box set).
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Westacular · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:54 pm Post subject:

So from the sounds of it, no Christmas special this year?

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Oh, there is! They're just about to start on the final two episodes, which should take them to the end of February. Then they're shooting through April. So they've got to be shooting something over those two months.

The timing is a little weird, though. That makes two successive Christmas specials shot as part of the same series. A year-round production, this is becoming!

Then he goes off and does his Shakespeare thing. Then he comes back in January and, kind of, picks up the tail end of what would have been a normal shooting schedule to shoot a few specials. And all is sort of back to normal. It's just the second half of 2008 that's a little weird.
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Ashura · . Joined: 02 Dec 2006 Posts: 109

Aderack told me they're filming it with series 4 at the end, as in, right now, or close to now.

I watched Torchwood, finally. It wasn't too bad, but the whole psychic blood thing seemed to come out of left field. I mean, the only reason to use that machine is to introduce it now so as-to use it later. They really should've introduced it earlier in the episode, too, because they belt out about it so fast and they don't even give you a moment to go.... 'what?' Even if the remark was something like 'lol, this is the rift machine, we can probe ppl's mind with it... THROUGH TIME.' (EDIT: YES, EXACTLY WHAT WES SAID.)

There really should've been some sort of twist to Tommy. He's someone's great grandfather or something, you know. He did survive, who knows. They set up a lot of good stuff and it didn't pay off. Maybe they thought the coda was enough, and, maybe. It felt like the final oomph was missing though.

Also, the scene with Jack and Ianto seemed unneeded and out of place. Fanservice for fanservice sake. And that's from someone who really dug the first episode.

aderack · . Joined: 15 Jun 2005 Posts: 1105 Location: San Francisco

Yes. That they're kind of... wooden in it doesn't help much, either. Gratuitous or not, it would work all right if it didn't feel so awkward.

Apparently episode six (with Martha in it) is going to air immediately after episode five, next week. Which would explain why my counting was off, earlier.
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baron patsy · . Joined: 15 Feb 2005 Posts: 58

Aderack kind of already covered this, but here's the updated episode list:

1. "Partners in Crime" (RTD) - Present day Earth: Donna tracks the Doctor down during an alien invasion.

2. "The Fires of Pompeii" (James Moran) - The Doctor and Donna vs. Vesuvius

3. "Planet of the Ood" (Keith Temple) - Ood episode, obviously.

4+5. "The Sontaran Stratagem"/TBA (Helen Raynor) - Present day Earth: Featuring Martha Jones!

6. TBA (Stephen Greenhorn) - Unknown setting, with Martha.

7. "The Unicorn and the Wasp" (Gareth Roberts) - Agatha Christie episode.

8+9. TBA/TBA (Stephen Moffat) - Abandoned library episodes, not much is known about the plot specifics.

10. "Midnight" (RTD) - Set on an alien leisure planet. Late replacement for Tom MacRae's episode, which has been moved to series five.

11. TBA (Possible title: "Hurricane") (RTD) - The return of Rose.

12+13. TBA (RTD) - Featuring Martha, Jack, Sarah Jane, Rose, and possibly Davros.