Now THIS is a teaser trailer!
It doesn’t so much intrigue, although naturally of course it is because we are insatiably curious creatures – cats have nothing on us, even the time travelling ones – and will ponder and dissect anything we are given about a show we love, as it blips in, blips out with some terse lines of dialogues in-between to go with the dark and troubled faces of the new Doctor (Peter Capaldi, The Thick of It) and perplexed companion Clara (Jenna Coleman) who is understandably wondering just who in the universe she’s now travelling with.
When you’ve never seen a regeneration before, and let’s face it, almost none of the companions see it more than once, watching the man you’ve come to know and trust and maybe even love – I am looking at you Rose Tyler – turn into someone else with different quirks, mannerisms and even personality is, at the very least, highly troubling.
Even more so when the Doctor himself is uncertain about who he really is and is asking you to affirm him when you aren’t even sure who it is you’re dealing with.
TWELFTH DOCTOR: “Clara, be my pal, tell me, am I a good man.”
CLARA: “I don’t think I know who the Docotor is anymore.”
She will adjust of course, they all do, they have to really if they want to stick around but right now, in this 15 second blink-and-you’ll-miss-it teaser, she is anxious as is everyone’s favourite time-traveller as he tries to find his Twelfth Doctor legs.
One thing we do know for certain is that Doctor Who returns on August 23 with a feature-length debut for season 8 entitled “Deep Breath”.
Frankly the start of the season will be hard to miss since it is being promoted by a whirlwind worldwide promo tour between 7 and 19 August, which sees Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, and for part of it at least, executive producer Steven Moffat, visiting Seven Cities on Five Continents for fan events and press briefings and I am guessing very little sleep.
It’s a big deal as the BBC is keen to stress:
“The tour marks the largest ever promotional undertaking in Doctor Who’s 50-year history and will kick off in Welsh capital and home of the series’ production, Cardiff, before taking in London (UK), Seoul (South Korea), Sydney (Australia), New York (US), Mexico City (Mexico) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). More details of the itinerary will be available from doctorwho.tv soon, as well as reports from the tour as it happens, which fans everywhere will be able to enjoy across social and digital platforms.”
And if the publicity blurbs are to be believed, both Capaldi and Moffat are raring to go on this bigger than a combined invasion of Earth by the Daleks, Cybermen and Sontarans tour of what they lovingly call “Planet of the Fans”:
“It’s fantastic that so many people across the world love Doctor Who. After 8 months solid filming deep in the world of monsters, Jenna and I are thrilled to be heading for the Planet of Fans”. (Capaldi)
“I’ve always thought we’d all be a lot safer if the Doctor conquered the world, instead of the Daleks. Now with Jenna and Peter leading the charge, it looks like it’s going to happen. I’ll be bringing up the rear to handle the exposition scenes, and maybe carry some bags.” (Moffat)
So if you have a TARDIS now is the time to fire it up and zip forward to August 23, or if you aren’t a Time Lord with the ability to pretzel-use space and time, which the odds are good you aren’t, then you’ll ahem to sit patiently with the rest of us and wait the return of the Doctor.
Trust me, it’ll pass in no time … won’t it Amelia Pond? Wait …