ComicMix Radio: Doctor Who Times Three, Four Or More?

Our exclusive interview with the next Doctor Who head writer, Steven Moffat, continues. we explore his take on bringing back established characters, killing them off and the inevitable hope of another multi-Doctor story plus:

• Dabel Brothers taking books into comics
• Battlestar:Galactica gets “super sized”
• Dan Jurgens can go home again

Christopher Eccleston and Peter Davidson together, could it happen? Find out when you Press the Button!
And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via or RSS!  

Transcript

Broadcast 243. ComicMigs.com One doctor's great, so more doctors would be even greater. ComicMigs Radio Hi, it's Mike Raub on ComicMigs Radio.

We continue our exclusive interview with Steven Moffat, the new keeper of the Doctor Who universe. So what about multi-doctors? And he returns in the near future? We'll tackle that question coming up on…

August 7th, 2008. ComicMigs News. If somehow you've bypassed the Marvel 1985 series, it's about up to issue number three in the comic shops right now. There's a quick, easy, and even inexpensive way to catch up as Marvel produces the Marvel Must Have Marvel 1985 series.

The first three issues will be contained in one book for $5.99. There'll be two different versions with two separate covers, one by Tommy Lee Edwards and one by Jim Chung. And both will be in comic stores the first part of September. Another thing you may have missed is the creator switch coming on DC's Booster Gold title.

Beginning with number 15, Dan Jergens not only is the artist, but then becomes the writer of the series he helped create a decade or so ago. Booster Gold number 15 hits comic stores in December. According to TV Guide, the Battlestar Galactica final season will have extra long or extended episodes.

They say that the stories that have to be told can't be really contained in one hour, but there's no word on exactly how many or how these extra episodes will go. We do know the final season begins in 2009. Penny Arcade, the organizers of the Penny Arcade Expo known as PAX, have announced a partnership with Read Exhibitions to bring their show to the East Coast in 2010.

The yearly three-day game festival involves tabletop video game and PC gamers, and it usually takes place in Seattle, Washington since 2004. The East Coast show will be in addition to the West Coast show. By the way, last time they had about 40,000 attendees in 2007. And this year's show on the West Coast in Seattle is scheduled to start August 29.

In England, the Doctor Who series is a nationwide phenomenon unlike anything here in the US. But it's not doing half bad over here either, the Sci-Fi Channel finale of Doctor Who. It aired back on August 1st and it delivered 1.26 million viewers according to the Nielsen ratings. And if you're keeping stats, that is up almost 25% from last year's finale. Hi, my name's Sheesh Edgeley. I play piano and basket.

And you're listening to… ComicBits Radio! ComicBits Radio! We continue our exclusive interview with Steven Moffat, heir apparent to the head writing throne of the Doctor Who universe.

One of the things addressed were the internet rumors about life and death. There was a lot of internet speculation and talk about the life and death of certain characters, especially under the former reign of former lead writer Russell T. Davies. For example, there were rumors that the Doctor's Daughter episode, written by Moffat, was actually supposed to end with the death of that character, but Moffat tried to change it.

And as with most of these rumors, it's not based in 100% fact. So it was a shock to me when she came back to life, an even bigger shock when I learned it was my idea. So it's not really my plan. So when it comes to bringing back characters, what's Moffat's vision for that? These are all available to us.

I mean, I'll be honest, he always hesitate to bring back something. Fans always, always look back. Shows always have to look forward. There's a brand new audience every year, particularly for Doctor Who, it's a children's show.

And if you bring back something from, you know, if I brought somebody back, if you bring back Sally Sparrow in 2010, she hasn't been on the screen since 2000. He said, that's three years. There's some kids for whom that is ancient history. So I'm not against it again, but it's not what Doctor Who's about.

I think Doctor Who is absolutely centrally being what it has to be when he walks out the TARDIS and everything is new, everything is new. That's the format. He walks out and he's completely new. No friends, no enemies, everything is brand new.

They have paradigms for it like, which I would cite from the old series like the Ark in Space. Everything is brand new. You don't ever see it, you actually can see the Ark again, but you know, you don't, it's just a one-off. And that's what Doctor Who is really like.

But be careful, you don't make the universe seem as though it's got about seven people in it. All of them are going to be exterminated by the Dalek ones this season. You know, it's not, you don't want to do that. You want it to be a big, wide-ranging, unexpected universe. So when it comes to putting the characters and plots in place for an entire season, is there a master plan?

You can't really do that initially Doctor Who. You sort of never do it. Yeah, I mean, you might look as though you're laying in plot lines for the future, but the truth is you're trying to do each story as well as you could possibly do at the time. And later you think, well that worked, we might go back to it.

The thing is you tend to, and Doctor Who is a very, very good example of this, you tend to repeat what worked, and you don't know what worked until you do it. So if things work, then you bring them back. When it comes to drawing back on the rich history of Doctor Who, the inevitable question is, can there be another multi-doctor story?

No, not necessarily. There's no rule against it. I think there is, the one thing to say about multi-doctor stories is, probably eight minutes is a good length for them in truth, because ultimately, unless you've got a really specifically great idea for the fact that the leading man is split into what could now be obtainable. The octotane aspect, you have to have a really, very good reason to do that,

otherwise you are just flipping the lead. So there's no rule against it. The rule about that is the same as any other rule. It has to be a terrific story that demands that. The stunt aspect of having the two doctors at the same time, you get all of that. You get all that stunt joy, nothing wrong with stunts, I love that, in eight minutes.

It's not easy, but if you're going to sustain 45 minutes or 245 minutes on that, there has to be a really good reason by the same man at the same adventure at two different points in his life. Could be, could be. Nothing against it. There's no rule against it, but I'm not sending there are plans in the train. Our exclusive interview with the creative forces at BBC continues as we talk to Julie Gardner about the future of Torchwood

and just exactly what characters will we see in the next season. That gets you news here in a couple of days on ComicMix. ComicMix Radio. From the best seller list and the shelves of stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble right into the comic shops. That's a plan behind Dabel Brothers Publishing.

They take some of the bigger names of the bigger novels and bring them right into four color fun. Neil Schwartz, marketing man for Dabel Brothers gives you the whole rundown of the lineup. Dabel Brothers publishes novels, adapts novels into comic books. So right now we're working with Jim Butcher who does the Dresden Files. He wrote a four issue mini series for us.

He's going to be, we're going to be adapting his first book come October. So in front, so be on the lookout. We're doing Dean Coons' Frankenstein, which is going to be just ongoing. It's been out since May. And also we are doing George RR Martin's Loud Cards, which concludes in September.

And we're also going to be doing Patricia Briggs, Mercy Thompson. We're doing prequel to that. There's some great current Dabel Brothers material waiting for you in your local comedy shop. But if you want to preview it, that's easy to do on the web. Be sure to check us out at www.dablebrothers.com.

ComicMix Radio. ComicMix Timeline. August 7th. 1993. Comics Boom was not that far away from Cresting, but there were still some great comics in the stores this week,

including Action Comics number 691 from DC. The anime The Bad Man Adventures was at number 12. We got Catwoman number two. Dark Stars number 12, the Detective Comics annual number six. The Vertigo version of Doom Patrol was up to number 70.

And James Robinson's Golden Age was at number six this week. From Marvel, there was Daredevil Man Without Fear number one. 2099 Unlimited number two. And of The Avengers were at number 367. Go-Nam was at number 273.

We got Marvel Comics Presents number 139, which I believe had a Wolverine story. And X Factor number 95. Over on the image side of the shelf, we got Spawn number 15 and Stormwatch number five. 1993. In the news, a tornado charged through a Virginia shopping mall, killing three people and injuring almost 150 more.

President Clinton's first piece of important legislation, which was a deficit reduction bill, got a split vote in Congress. And the Mars Observer became the first spacecraft to visit the Red Planet since 1976. In the movies, your tickets could go for Searching for Bobby Fischer, Woody and Diane packed together again in the Manhattan murder mystery. There was Free Willy, Meteor Man, and Nancy Travis never looked better than in So I Married an Axe Murderer. On TV tonight, episodes of Almost Home and Empty Nest, there was something called Nurses on NBC and over on CBS, we found Dr. Quinn.

But on A&E, there was a marathon of a great 60s classic. The Fugitive. A QM production, starring David Jansen as The Fugitive. And they kept off the night by running that great finale to the series, one of the best pieces of television ever produced. On the radio, a young lady whose resume included a head making family and television shows like Good Times and Different Strokes.

In the early 1990s, she got herself a recording career and it wasn't long before she became the highest paid entertainer in the recording industry. That Super Bowl incident was still over a decade away and right now she could do no wrong. With a fuzz guitar and a sample of the Supreme, someday we'll be together. The top of the charts for Janet Jackson and him. We'll join you right back here on the weekend as we sit down with the exquisite Julie Gardner from the BBC,

executive producer of Doctor Who, Torchwood and Sarah Jane. And we'll talk about what lies ahead for pretty much all those franchises. And what about the greatest American hero? It's back and the original stars are involved and we'll get their take on that as well. In the meantime, plenty of free comics are waiting for you. They're right smack dab at the top of the page at ComicMix. Check out White Viper, Hammer Of The Gods by Mike Oeming and Mark Wheatley, Black Ice by Mike Baron and Simone & Ajax by Andrew P. Boy.

Plenty of great past comics too, including that beautiful Jon Sable story by Mike Grell. And there's a big announcement on the way about something new coming from Mike. Don't miss that. You won't have to miss anything if you get updates regularly from ComicMix. That's easy to do on Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. In the meantime, you don't have to miss us either. Subscribe to ComicMix Radio right now on iTunes.

And we'll see you back here in a couple of days. Bye. ComicMix Radio