And the Twelfth Doctor is…

After a truly anxiety-inspiring wait, it has been announced that the twelfth incarnation of the Doctor will be played by Peter Capaldi!

Capaldi previously appeared in Doctor Who in the S4 episode “Fires of Pompeii”, in the Torchwood Children of Earth series, and has played roles in several other shows.

From the live reveal special, he seems like a nice enough guy, and I wish him all the luck in the world with the role. However, I do find it depressing that, yet again, when given the chance to cast an actor of color or a woman in the role, the BBC opted to cast another old white guy. (Also, so much for my hopes that the twist of the reveal would be that Moffat, not Matt Smith, was leaving the show.)

What do you think of the new actor, readers? Who was your dream Twelve? Let me know in the comments!

Theatre Thursdays: The Hollow Crown’s Henry V

The Hollow Crown is a BBC miniseries in four parts, with each episode consisting of one of Shakespeare’s historical plays. Specifically, the series is made up of Richard II, Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, and Henry V. The casting is tremendously (geekily) star-studded, featuring the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Ben Whishaw, and John Hurt among many others. I actually only knew this was a thing that existed because of this interview that circulated post-Avengers.

Needless to say, I watched Henry V first.

What the Puff: Pipes in Pop Culture

I smoke tobacco pipes. I’ve enjoyed them since I turned 18 and even make them. So, I am pleased when I see television or movies including characters smoking their pipes. You’ll never know where pipe smokers are going to turn up in these things, from Colonel Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds to Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean. Even the First and Fourth Doctors in Doctor Who were seen smoking pipes. However, I’m almost always infuriated when I see how they smoke them. This is because many times the characters smoke their pipes wrong. Typically, these characters seem to be most interested in making as much smoke as possible. This isn’t wrong because of arbitrary etiquette, but rather is wrong because it ruins the taste of the tobacco, burns the mouth, and can ruin a pipe over time.

You Should Watch This: Call the Midwife

You know that mythical unicorn of a show, the one that has a mainly female cast, with diverse characters, women who aren’t defined by their relationships with men, and a high quality of production? Call the Midwife is that show. 

Call the Midwife might not be the typical geek show, but it’s one that all geeks (especially girl geeks) should pay attention to. It’s another period drama from the Brits, a BBC creation in the same family as ITV’s Downton Abbey, but for some reason it hasn’t caught the same popularity wave in the US. Based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the show follows newly-minted midwife Jenny Lee as she dives head-first into serving the residents of the East End of London during the 1950s. Jenny lives and works with a group of Anglican Sisters (of the nun variety), whose primary work is nursing and delivering the hundred or so babies born each month in the Poplar district. The first series of 6 episodes aired in early 2012 in the UK, the second series of 8 in early 2013, and the first series aired on PBS in late 2012. A third series is planned for 2014. So far I’ve only seen the first series, via Netflix.

So why is Call the Midwife all kinds of awesome?

The Angels Take Manhattan, Inspire Many Feels

I have many excuses for why this is late. For one thing, I was watching The Avengers and getting smashed on Saturday night. For another thing, I have a lot of feels to parse through. Hit the jump to find out what those feels are.

Pond Life: Part Four

In which we discover that these are all actually interrelated (rather than being five standalone one-shots) and that an Ood can be one hell of a butler. Only two days left ’till the big premiere (and I stop spamming our followers with Who stuff)!

Pond Life: Part One

So there are only Davison days left till the big premiere of Series Seven, and the wait is, I’m sure, killing all of you in the same way it’s been killing me. But to tide you over for those last five turns of the Earth, we have been granted Pond Life by the BBC. Pond Life gives us a glimpse into what it’s like to be Amy and Rory—when the Doctor isn’t around. These five one-minute episodes will be premiering every day this week. Be sure to keep an eye out here for the other four, and enjoy your first taste of Pond Life!

‘Save the Daleks’? Check out this “Asylum of the Daleks” Teaser

The BBC still hasn’t given us an actual release date for the new series of Who (although signs point to September 1st), but in the meantime they have been releasing lots of promotional photos and, now, a teaser for the first episode of S7, “Asylum of the Daleks”. This episode has been touted as a return to the Daleks’ roots, making them truly scary again, and so I’m interested to see why exactly they’re pleading with/commanding the Doctor to save them.

My list of things that could frighten Daleks goes something like this:

•     River Song
•     The Doctor
•     Rose Tyler
•     Maybe Rory?
•     Other Time Lords (and oooh, that could be interesting)
•     Scary Time War things
•     ???

If my predictions are right, we’ll find out in two weeks exactly! Anyone else have some speculation as to what has the Daleks running scared? Especially when there are what look to be thousands of them?

The Women of Doctor Who

This special was a little different from the previous one, because it was less ‘exploration of sciencey things’ as much it was ‘a bunch of actors (including the Fifth Doctor!) and stuff saying their opinions about women in Doctor Who’.

What did they all like about the women? Well, there are almost never screaming helpless women; the parts for women are often better than the parts for men; it’s “not sexist at all”; the women are always really smart and are never passive accessories to the male lead.

Hit the jump to see who they talked about and what the commentators thought about all of them!

The Science of Doctor Who

Last Saturday the BBC aired the first of its four specials on Doctor Who, leading up the Series 7 premiere (hopefully) at the end of the month.

It was called “The Science of Doctor Who”, and it discussed which parts of the show we know and love are definitely science fiction, and which are surprisingly science fact.

As a girl who loves science but is really bad at understanding it at all, this was a really cool special for me. Hit the jump to find out what I thought and what the verdict was on tech as varied as time travel, regeneration, and invisibility!