As Comic-con wrapped up over the weekend, now we begin the business of sifting through the bevy of trailers, information dumps and general knowledge that studios, creators, and stars of the Big Business nerd properties unleashed for the consuming public. And as always, I choose to start across the pond. Steven Moffat was present to provide updates on both Doctor Who and Sherlock, both of which will return before year's end: Who on September 19th, and Sherlock as Christmish time.
Everyone is awaiting the return of the Great Detective, and the Christmas Special looks to be a joy in the making. Set during the Victorian era, this one-off, out of canon episode looks to be all in good fun. It certainly is very self aware and this clip accents the comedy (already a huge boon to the series) considerably. Despite the fact that that it'll only have been two years since the last series, it doesn't feel as though it has been that long. Certainly it doesn't feel as long as the gap between series 2 and 3, which was also only two years. While no exact date has yet been set for the full series 4 (they don't start filming until next year, so likely it would be Christmas 2016 at the earliest), and they didn't exactly announce precisely when the Christmas Special would air, Moffat did announce that the Special will be getting a limited theatrical release. Again, it was not elaborated as to what they meant by limited - certainly less than the theatrical release of the Doctor Who 50th, but probably more than your average RiffTrax Live. If the choice is between spending a holiday with family, or watching Sherlock in theatre, I'll book my ticket now Mr. Moffat. You can have my money.
On the TARDIS front, the trailer isn't really doing anything but remind us that last season was great and that we should probably expect more of the same. The footage is aggressively more science fictiony, and what we've heard about the episodes being concocted, that certainly seems to be the case. Indeed, if was confirmed at Comic-con that the majority of episodes this season would take place off Earth. Which I'm in favour of.
This also marks the first time since she joined the cast that I'm excited about the return of Jenna Coleman's Clara. She really hit her stride going up against Capaldi, and Moffat certainly found her voice, and I'm glad that she's coming back, just so long as we're not treated to another season of her leaving and then coming back and frittering about doing both every bloody episode. Also returning is the Master, as played once again by Michelle Gomez, and from some of these shots it seems like the two displaced Time Lords might be one the same side of an issue once again (the hearkening back to the Roger Delgado dynamic really does wash the bad taste of the Russell T. Davies era out of the mouth).
Also, Zygons. Maybe they'll explain what happened to them in the 50th anniversary special before that subplot was utterly abandoned.
Via Den of Geek and Collider.