Enough About Me. Let's Talk About Who.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through the commentaries on the new Doctor Who DVDs, and, while a less dedicated fan might question whether they're actually worth paying something like $75 for them and importing them from Canada, I've definitely been enjoying them. The director of "The Long Game" tends a bit towards the unfortunate habit of narrating each scene as if we weren't capable of watching the episode for ourselves and knowing what's going on, but otherwise these people all seem to know how to do DVD commentaries and make them interesting. (I can't help but contrast it with the commentary tracks on the 1st season Blake's 7 DVDs I ordered from England a while back, which consist mostly of the actors going, "I don't remember this," and long periods of awkward silence.)

The commentaries on "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" are particularly entertaining, due in part to the fact that that 2-parter is just a damned good story to begin with, but also due to Steven Moffat (the writer), John Barrowman (Captain Jack) and Dave Houghton (the FX guy) being so clearly enthusiastic about the show and the commentary and Doctor Who in general. It's always fun when the people making a show are such fanboys themselves, and listening to these guys talk about how Who made them frightened to death of shop-window dummies and blue cheese when they were kids, there's no question that fanboys is exactly what they are.

And it makes me chuckle rather a lot when they get to talking about the characters' sex lives:

MOFFAT: "Put a short enough skirt on a Dalek, and Jack'll go for her."
BARROWMAN: "...or a big enough plunger."

[Rose tries to get the Doctor to dance with her. He looks kind of freaked out.]
MOFFAT: "Doctor, you sad old virgin."

(Yeah, OK, I'm easily amused by sex jokes. So I'm twelve.)

Anyway, I've been hurrying through these commentaries at a furious pace, and it's making me sad to think I've only got one more disc left to go. I need new episodes of this show, now! Does anybody know when, exactly, the new season starts up in the UK? All I've heard is "spring," which is pretty vague.

Speaking of which, for the Americans in the audience, you'll be able to see this show on Sci-Fi starting March 17th. Trust me, you don't want to miss Jack! Or the scary gas mask kid. Or the Daleks, the Bad Wolf, the game show parody, the jokes, the action, the aliens... the Doctor...