Love it our hate it, it would seem Doctor Who is here to stay. Having been a staple of British Television for many , many years, the series is now firmly entrenched in the U.S. with fans from all across the country.

Those fans are, of course, waiting patiently for the new season to begin on BBC America and to get them ready, there’s a brand new trailer just released today. But first, some scoop on the upcoming season, directly from the BBC:

The new season will see the last days of the Ponds, with Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill making their final rollercoaster voyage with The Doctor (Matt Smith). Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) have been at the Doctor’s side for more than two seasons but what will he do after their heartbreaking departure?

New guest stars so far confirmed to star will include David Bradley, Rupert Graves and Mark Williams. Season 7 will then see a dramatic turn of events when The Doctor meets a new friend – the recently-announced new companion, played by Jenna-Louse Coleman. Prepare yourselves for thrills, adventures and dramatic surprises as the show builds towards its enormous, climactic 50th anniversary year.

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The seventh season of the revamped run of Doctor Who will unfortunately be the last for the Ponds. Amy and Rory have been with the Doctor since the beginning of the fifth season, and have been by Matt Smith’s side during his entire run.

So with that info common knowledge, show runner Steven Moffat took to twitter to reveal their choice for the Doctor’s next companion:

We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt – he had to keep up!

That Jenna of which he speaks is Jenna-Louise Coleman, the stunner on the right. She will be introduced in this year’s Christmas special and finish off the seventh season run in early 2013.

Being the companion during the Doctor’s 5oth anniversary year is a fantastic opportunity for the young actress. The show has retained a high level of popularity over the past seven years and looks to boom in 2013.

In other Doctor Who twitter related news, Moffat did also confirm that this upcoming season will indeed split at the half way point like last year. However, with the split coming around Christmas it will likely only face a small holiday hiatus. Nothing near as excruciating as the summer brake in 2011.

Look for new Doctor Who on BBC America this fall.

For several years now the modern iteration of Doctor Who has been a high water mark for genre television. Upping the ante with incredible writing, good budget effects and a group of actors that would put most prime time line-ups to shame.

Among this mountain of quality is also the superb musical scores Murray Gold has written for the series since it returned in 2005. The Doctor has always had one of the best themes in the history of television, but what Gold has been able to do is add so much life to the show by crafting complex themes and ideas that span across entire eras of the show.

The last two seasons have been the era of Moffat and Smith, who together have reformed the show into a stylistically very different beast than the Russel Davies run. Massive credit to Mr. Gold who has adapted to this new stylistic direction to write some of the best music of the show’s long and storied history.

So we come to the sixth series, the most recent and thus far most ambitious soundtrack yet. Series Six is a season dominated by answering very large and very important questions that have been presented over the course of the last few years. The season was also split down the middle which gives it a really great pace and flow.

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Steven Moffat is one of the best television minds working today. He is in charge of two of the most interesting, well written and generally fun shows on television, Doctor Who and Sherlock, and he might fancy bringing a bit of both together.

The Express is reporting that Cumberbatch is the desired choice to play the most recent incarnation of The Master, a renegade Time Lord who often butts heads with the good Doctor:

“It’s fitting that the Doctor comes face to face with his ultimate enemy, The Master, for the 50th anniversary and it’s felt Benedict is the perfect choice if schedules can work… Fans will love the idea of the man who plays Sherlock Holmes taking on the Doctor’’

This year Cumberbatch was in two highly regarded films stateside, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and War Horse, and the next year and a half will see him in at least two major blockbusters, Star Trek 2 and The Hobbit. So there is genuine concern about his upcoming availability for a multiple episode or even season long arc on the show.

The 50th anniversary year of the longest running sci-fi show in history is expected to be huge. No doubt bringing back the Master is only the tip of the iceberg of plans the Grand Moff and BBC have in store for us in 2013.

Sherlock Holmes is a popular character these days, between a popular film franchise and an acclaimed BBC TV show, there are several ways to enjoy his particular brand of inductive reasoning. So popular in fact that BBC has ordered up a third round of Sherlock episodes, according to the trustworthy official twitter of show creator Steven Moffat.

Add that popularity with a recent trend of taking quality foreign programming  and re-purposing it for American audiences and it will come as no surprise that CBS has ordered their own Holmes pilot as well. Elementary is planned as a modern take on the classic detective, putting Holmes in the middle of New York City.

This is not the first time a network wanted to put a Holmesian character on the mean streets of the big apple. Law and Order spin-off Criminal Intent was originally conceived as a way to put a detective like Sherlock in the Law and Order universe. That worked well, but the character was only loosely based on Holmes, it will be interesting to see how the character fits into the CBS style drama mold.

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We told you last month that Harry Potter director David Yates was gearing up to make a Doctor Who feature film. At the time there was some ambiguity as to where it would stand in relation to the current, and extremely popular, British series that just finished up it’s sixth season. Yates seemed to suggest that this would be a new incarnation, with no relation to the current Doctor or his television show.

Current show runner Steven Moffat thankfully provides some more information that should be great news to all the Doctor Who fans out there. He recently tweeted:

“To clarify: any Doctor Who movie would be made by the BBC team, star the current TV Doctor and certainly NOT be a Hollywood reboot.”

Leave it to the Grand Moff to assuage fans the world over in a concise 140 characters or less.

Of course this is far from official, there are still several years before this movie hits the screens, and we are still over a year off from a very big 50th anniversary year for the Doctor, which I am assuming will come with it’s ample share of surprises. Still, it is good to know some one deeply involved with the project has his head screwed on strait.

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Just when you thought Spielberg was going to pack it all up and stick to producing, he announced that he was going to direct a new epic film (with the potential of sequels). Could he be working on big budget superhero flick? A giant alien sci-fi adaptation? Nope, we’re talking about the adventures of the French boy-detective in The Adventures of Tintin.

The crew is pretty star-studded, as well as the cast, with such names as Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat, Joe Cornish, Simon Pegg, Peter Jackson, Daniel Craig, and Spielberg himself joining in. Here’s the synopsis for those who aren’t caught up on their classic French comics.

Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures Present a 3D Motion Capture Film “The Adventures of Tintin” directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Steven Moffat and Edgar Wright & Joe Cornish. Starring Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot,” “Defiance”) as Tintin, the intrepid young reporter whose relentless pursuit of a good story thrusts him into a world of high adventure, and Daniel Craig (“Quantum of Solace,” “Defiance”) as the nefarious Red Rackham.

Though there are plenty of big names and TONS of money behind this flick, the concept of motion-captured animation still leaves a bad taste in our mouths after such gems as A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express. Looks like we’ll have to wait and see if this falls in the same “dead behind the eyes” category of animation.

Check out the trailer after the jump and catch The Adventures of Tintin in theaters on December 23rd.

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“Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?”

-Idris

Doctor Who is a quintessential piece of British culture, and it has been for nearly a half century. A more recent contributor to that lexicon is Neil Gaiman, the mastermind behind Sandman, Stardust and Coraline. Well last year the ‘Grand Moff’ worked his magic again and secured Gaiman to write a season six episode of Doctor Who. Uniting two of the giants in British fantasy into one perfect, condensed episode of TV. Or is it?

Of course it is, I won’t even try to fool you. ‘The Doctor’s Wife’ is one of, if not the, best episode of Moffat and Smith’s run up to this point The tone is fabulous, the writing is perfect, the acting is spectacular and the monster is every bit as threatening as he should be considering the stakes. As far as stand alone stories go, I predict this will be at or near the top of many Whovian’s top lists for years to come.

So we have reached the spoiler warning portion of my review, I cannot implore you enough to see the episode first. You do yourself a disservice by not heeding that warning! More after the jump.

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If you’re a big fan of the BBC show Doctor Who and live in, or are willing to travel to Utah, this story is especially for you. According to the BBC, the upcoming Season 6 of its flagship sci-fi drama will open with a two part episode set and partially filmed in the U.S.

The opener, written by the show’s head writer and showrunner Steven Moffat, will be co-produced by BBC America, with key scenes being filmed in Utah in November. The story is set in the late ‘60s and finds the Doctor (Matt Smith), Amy (Karen Gillan) and Rory (Arthur Darvill) on a secret mission “that takes them on an adventure from the desert in Utah – right to the Oval Office.”

Also joining the show for the opener will be Alex Kingston, who reprises her role as River Song. “The Doctor has visited every weird and wonderful planet you can imagine, so he was bound get round to America eventually,” Moffat said. “And of course every Doctor Who fan will be jumping up and down and saying he’s been in America before. But not for real, not on location – and not with a story like this one! Oh, you wait!”

Okay Mr. Moffat, we’ll wait. But it won’t be easy. We don’t like waiting.

What do you guys think about Doctor Who filming in the US and Torchwood moving to the US permanently?

In a recent interview promoting the new BBC mini series Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch candidly implies his interest in becoming the next Doctor Who. With current Doctor Who show runner Steven Moffat also heading up the Sherlock mini-series, the possibility is much higher than with most similar rumors.

During the interview with Digital Spy, the interviewer unassumingly asked if Cumberbunch had any interest in appearing on an episode of Doctor Who, to which he responded that he wouldn’t want to be in an episode. Then the interviewer realized that Cumberbatch was asserting that he didn’t want to just have a single episode run and asked if he wanted to be the doctor, and with a sly smile he responds with a quizzical maybe.

Cumberbatch then explains that after Sherlock, it would be more fitting to have a substantial role in his next project. The video is open to interpretation, as Cumberbatch has previously been rumored to be Moffat’s choice for a role as The Master, but he does seem to imply that he wouldn’t be in a supporting role if he were to join the cast of Doctor Who.

Whether this lends any credence to the rumor that Matt Smith is looking to leave the role after next season has also yet to be determined. One thing is for sure, the bravado I saw Cumberbatch display as he responded to the question assures me that he will no doubt be having an impact on Doctor Who sooner rather than later.

How do you feel about the possibility of Matt Smith leaving Doctor Who? Do you think Benedict Cumberbatch would make a fitting replacement?

To see Cumberbatch’s response check out the video after the jump and for all your Doctor Who news stick with The Flickcast.

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Current Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat is now giving us his interpretation of history’s most famous detective. No, not Batman, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s own Sherlock Holmes. On BBC’s Sherlock, Moffat is giving us a modernized version of Sherlock Holmes’ exploits as he searches for a serial killer who makes his murders look like suicides.

The series remains true to the more iconic details from the original books. Holmes and Watson still live on 221b Baker Street and all the characters have the same names. The glaring difference is that the series is set in contemporary London rather than the late 19th century.

The miniseries is set to star Benedict Cumberbatch (The Other Boleyn Girl) as Holmes and  Martin Freeman, who you may remember as Jim from the British version of The Office, as Watson. This project is co-created by Mark Gatiss, writer and actor in various British series including Doctor Who and The League of Gentlemen.

The first episode of the three part series will air on July 25 on the UK’s BBC1 and BBC HD. No premiere date has been announced for the United States, but the show is expected to air on PBS as part of its Masterpiece series.

Between this news and the success of Robert Downey Jr.’s popular film franchise, could we be looking at a resurgence of interest in the classic detective? Can other classics be far behind?

Check out the trailer for this new series after the jump.

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For those who are catching up on Doctor Who through BBC America, this season has been quite an interesting one so far for the newest Doctor. He’s liberated a space whale, nabbed an escaped prisoner of an inter-dimensional prison, and he’s met up with his newest companion, Amy Pond.

This weekend marks a trademark for new showrunner Steven Moffat, as he brings back two of his prized characters from previous seasons: River Song and the Weeping Angels. This two-parter is said to answer plenty of questions we Whovians have had about both characters, which will be a great relief.

Coming up after this story, The Doctor (Matt Smith) and Amy (Karen Gillan) travel back to historic Venice, Italy, and encounter some impossible creatures.

Check out a clip from “Vampires of Venice” after the jump, and be sure to keep up with The Doctor and all of his adventures on BBC America.

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