WonderCon Coverage: Enter the World of Doctor Who

WonderCon, the yearly convention held in San Francisco honoring the world of sci-fi and fantasy, was held over the first weekend in April. One of the highlights of this annual fete was the panel focusing on the long-running and much beloved UK series Doctor Who.

For those unfamiliar with Doctor Who or for those who perhaps need a quick-fast lesson in Doctor Who-ology, let us take the words of legendary novelist Neil Gaiman, who was one of the panelists, as lesson one in the world of Doctor Who:

[pullquote]”So sit down, shut up and watch ‘Blink’!”[/pullquote]“There’s a big blue box. It’s bigger on the inside than the outside. It can go anywhere in space and time — sometimes where it is supposed to go! Something will go wrong — and there’s some bloke called The Doctor who’ll make it all right because he’s awesome. So sit down, shut up and watch ‘Blink’!”

NOTE: The episode entitled “Blink” is the award-winning episode penned by Doctor Who executive producer Stephen Moffat that aired during the show’s third season. This episode introduced The Weeping Angels to the television audience and featured guest star and Academy Award nominee Carey Mulligan (An Education).

As you can imagine, the packed audience in the Esplanade Ballroom of the San Francisco Convention Center burst into a thunderous round of applause. It also didn’t hurt that one participant in the audience was dressed in full-on Weeping Angel costume with wings and robe to match the gray makeup encasing him from head to toe. It was certainly a sight to behold. It should also be noted that there were a number of fans dressed as the Doctor in a number of his different guises as well as a number of fans dressed as current companion Amy Pond.

Not to be undone by their panel-mate Neil Gaiman, writer and director Toby Haynes and this season’s guest star (and well known actor) Mark Sheppard expounded on their own love for Doctor Who.

For Toby, his obsession with the Doctor started when he was a young boy. Upon getting one of the “annuals” – books that were published in the UK for fans of the show – he read it endlessly and “kept buying book after book”. In fact, he and his brother would act out scenes from the series and Toby even found a Dalek costume from the 1960’s that he wore for Halloween. And now for him to be a part of the Doctor Who-verse is a dream come true. It should be noted that Toby will direct the first two episodes of this coming season and was the director for the most recent Christmas special as well as director for “The Pandorica Opens,” which was the penultimate episode of last season.

Mark stated that when he was offered a role in Doctor Who he “nearly jumped 35 feet” and stated he would be a part of the show “with bells on”. But due to a work conflict at the time, he nearly missed out on the opportunity; however, they worked around his schedule, making it “the experience of a lifetime.” He also joked that Matt Smith (the actor currently portraying the Doctor) took “me around the TARDIS to show me how every little lever and knob” worked.

For his role in Doctor Who this season, Mark will play an American ex-government agent brought in by then President Nixon to investigate some mysterious goings-on that somehow involve the Doctor. However, Mark would not elaborate on his character or the storyline, as he did not wish to spoil any of the storyline for the fans.

Part of this new season was shot – for the first time ever – in America with Utah and Arizona being the locales where they filmed. Toby stated that to be on “American soil” is a very different experience for the cast and crew, as they are accustomed to making things look bigger when filming in the UK, but here in America they were simply trying to make everything fit into the shots.

It was during the panel that several clips were shown – several teaser scenes for the season premiere and a look at episode four, which was written by Neil Gaiman – and while spoilers were strongly frowned upon to those outside the ballroom; suffice it to say, the premiere and “The Doctor’s Wife” – which is the title of episode four – are going to be mind-boggling and will have fans on the edge of their seats. The only spoiler that was provided for Neil’s episode was given away by the man himself: actor Michael Sheen (Underworld and Tron Legacy) will be one of the guest stars of “The Doctor’s Wife”.

Looking forward for all three men in terms of upcoming projects, Mark had to remain mum on his next project(s) as he likes to keep the fans guessing and be surprised; Toby will be working on the next season of the reimagined Sherlock and Neil is doing more writing and gave us a sneak peek at what he will look like when he is animated into an episode of The Simpsons.

For now, though, be on the look-out for the season premiere of Doctor Who on BBC America on April 23 at 9/8c and be ready for the bumpy, chaotic and exciting ride inside the TARDIS and for those newbies out there: welcome to the world of Doctor Who.