Eleventh Doctor

[Blowfeld]

4:17pm UK, Thursday October 08, 2009
The new Doctor Who has clearly not yet got to grips with his sonic screwdriver - after burning himself on the hand while filming.

The screwdriver explodes, left, and Smith is seen wincing in pain

The Time Lord's wonder tool - normally used to blast through locks and operate the Tardis - fizzed out of control and scorched Matt Smith's hand as he shot the new series in Cardiff.
For one scene, the sonic screwdriver is intentionally blown up as the Doctor holds it to an umbrella.
But the explosion caused the umbrella to spark - burning the 26-year-old.
He pulled his hand away and was seen clutching his injury and grimacing with pain.
Filming had to be cut short momentarily while Smith was seen by medical staff.
Smith will become the eleventh BBC Time Lord when he takes over from David Tennant.
He will be joined in the latest series by flame-haired Karen Gillan, 21, who plays new sidekick Amy Pond.

Matt Smith injured by his own sonic screwdriver on set of Doctor Who (how on Earth will he cope with Daleks?)

By Lizzie Smith
Last updated at 1:48 PM on 08th October 2009

For years Doctor Who's sonic screwdriver has faithfully done its duty in the line of fire, and countless end-of-the-world scenarios.
It has blasted through locks, operated the Tardis, burnt and cut through barriers and was once even destroyed by a Terileptil.
But in the inexperienced hands of the new Time Lord, the handy tool fizzed out of control - burning Matt Smith on the hand as he filmed the new series in Cardiff.

For one scene, the sonic screwdriver is intentionally blown up as the Doctor holds it to an umbrella.

But the explosion caused the umbrella to spark - burning 26-year-old Smith.
He pulled his hand away and was seen clutching his injury as he grimaced with shock.

Filming had to be cut short momentarily while Smith was seen by on-set medical staff - but luckily he was uninjured and was able to continue.

One on-looker said: 'Matt looked really hurt you could see that from his reaction. You could see he was in pain and his fingers went black instantly.

'The production staff seemed to be really worried and they were checking out the equipment straight away.

'But fair play to Matt - he was back on set almost straight away and went straight back into role.'

Smith takes over from David Tennant as the 11th Time Lord at the end of this year.

The sonic screwdriver, which as Doctor Who fans will know cannot kill, wound or maim, is sure to remain one of his favourite toys, along with his much-loved 'psychic paper'.

He will be joined in the latest series by flame-haired assistant Karen Gillan.

The 21-year-old plays new sidekick Amy Pond and looked stunning on set wearing a shorter-than-usual police uniform.

A fan said: 'There looks to be good chemistry between Matt and Karen - let's hope so because Billie and David will be hard to follow.'

[Blowfeld]

[video][/video]

[CaptainLewis]

Website: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s7/docto ... o-pic.html

[Blowfeld]

Easter is the date we finally get to see if Mr Smith has the goods to be the Doctor. I think the States will get the shows two weeks later.

[CaptainLewis]

New Trailer: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s7/doc ... ailer.html

[carl stromberg]

I can't wait! There is the start of the third series of Ashes to Ashes to watch at Easter too,

[Kristatos]

I can't wait! There is the start of the third series of Ashes to Ashes to watch at Easter too,

I still haven't seen the second series. It fell between the cracks, as I moved from the US to the UK after it had been shown on British TV, but before it was shown on BBC America.

[Blowfeld]

I have both series on DVD almost preordered series 3 yesterday . The first few shows of series 1 didn't get me hooked like Life on Mars did. Not sure how it will compare to LOM, LOM was brilliant and positivity dripped with nostalgia still I had to get all the ATA episodes I can go through them.

New Who is almost upon us. Matt still has to convince me I know Steven is brilliant and worthy of Doctor Who from the short story he wrote for Decalog 3: Consequences.

[Kristatos]

The trailer was on TV last night.

[CaptainLewis]

I enjoyed today's episode. I thought it was a bit weak at the start, but after that the rest was very good. Though the only downside to todays episode was seeing James Corden in the next time trailer.

[Kristatos]

I thought Matt Smith acquitted himself very well. I think any lingering David Tennant withdrawal symptoms will have dissipated after a couple more episodes of this quality.

[Blowfeld]

Matt did acquit himself much better than I had hoped and Steven delivered the goods as he always has done. I do wish they would pencil in some eyebrows for Matt. Biggest complaint so far is the opening credits were rubbish.

[carl stromberg]

Great fun and it should be a wonderful new series.

[CaptainLewis]

I thought today's episode was O.K., though I thought it was a little bit underdevolped in some area's such as the Smilers. I am looking forward to th Dalek episode though.

[Kristatos]

I thought today's episode was O.K., though I thought it was a little bit underdevolped in some area's such as the Smilers. I am looking forward to th Dalek episode though.

Not up to the Moff's usual standard, i thought, mainly because the character of Liz 10 could have been written out altogether without any detriment to the plot. I mean,

Spoiler

the queen has to relive the same 10 years over and over again, and then forget them, because if she abdicates instead, the Starwhale will be freed and the city will collapse.

[Blowfeld]

The point was

Spoiler

the last of his kind and ancient being who rescues crying children

Which is very in line with Steven Moffat's romantic view of the Doctor. Refreshing after the RTD years. Still the story went the long way around to achieve that small point and you're right they could have dropped a lot of things and probably should have if they weren't going to follow throu.

[Kristatos]

The point was

Spoiler

the last of his kind and ancient being who rescues crying children

Which is very in line with Steven Moffat's romantic view of the Doctor. Refreshing after the RTD years. Still the story went the long way around to achieve that small point and you're right they could have dropped a lot of things and probably should have if they weren't going to follow throu.

Yes, I got that, but the same point could have been made without the character of Liz 10. It might also have helped if Moff had actually given some reason as to why the citizens of Starship UK

Spoiler

felt it necessary to torture the Starwhale

in the first place. In fact, the more I think about the script, the less sense it made. It felt like a first draft: lots of mad ideas, precious little internal logic. I hope the pressure of the promotion to showrunner isn't going to result in more underdeveloped scripts from Moffatt.

[Blowfeld]

I thought it was because they felt they had to otherwise they couldn't control it. Again it could and should be clearly expressed. No need for the audience to guess.

I missed the significance of the crack on the ship zoomed in on at the end. Too busy thinking 'Not the bloody Daleks again!'

Script problems are not new to Doctor Who RTD and JNT being among the worst offenders, however I had higher hopes for Steven Moffat and hope he fixed these glaring oversights before he filmed the rest of the series.

[Kristatos]

I missed the significance of the crack on the ship zoomed in on at the end. Too busy thinking 'Not the bloody Daleks again!'

I know I've criticised Nu Who for overusing the Daleks, but I'm actually quite looking forward to this one. it looks like a bit of a twist on the usual Dalek stories, plus Mark Gatiss rarely disappoints in his Who scripts (and I say that as someone who was never a fan of The League of Gentlemen, strangely enough).

[Blowfeld]

A Spitfire in space! is there nothing the Spitfire can't do? The Daleks might be interesting and used to good effect this time.

Maks Gatiss Doctor who Books and Big Finish Audio Dramas have always bee enjoyable. The Unquiet Dead was decent, I didn't much care for Idiot's Lantern. Better than Love & Monsters , then what isn't. Robert Shearman returning to the series after a disagreement with RTD should be interesting. If it actually happens I should say.