Last week we reported that 5 scripts for the upcoming season of ‘Doctor Who’ had leaked onto the web. The leak is said to have come from the Latin America division of the BBC office, but apparently the leak was not contained to only scripts. Over the weekend, reports of episodes 1 and 2 have been found sans post-production – more on that later. At the same time of this devastating news, the BBC did release this treat for fans! A full length trailer for Season 8 of ‘Doctor Who’!
Building upon past teasers, the trailer for the show indicates that Peter Capaldi’s Doctor will be much different than his Nu-Who predecessors. Besides the obvious of being older (and with a Scottish accent), the 12th Doctor will be darker and as the footage suggests, he has “made many mistakes” and wants to correct them, all the while questioning himself (and Clara) if he is a good person.
Speaking of Clara, while Jenna Louise-Coleman has returned as the Doctor’s companion, the fast talking quick witted conversations she would have with the 11th Doctor is not to be seen in the trailer. Hopefully, the writers have not changed that aspect of her character as I quite liked those exchanges seen last season. It will be interesting, however, to see how the dynamics change when fellow Coal Hill School teacher Danny Pink (Samuel Anderson) joins the two.
Check out the trailer below (and may I say I do love a T-Rex going through London town!):
While the some of the scenes coincide from what we know about the first episode, unfortunately an unfinished version has been leaked onto the internet along with episode 2. Apparently they are from the same source that leaked the scripts last week and is part of the BBC’s continued investigation of the incident. Originally on the server where the leaks originated, it was stated that 6 ‘Doctor Who’ videos were listed but so far only 2 have shown up on torrenting sites. The episodes are actually work prints: black and white footage with no post production touches and covered with watermarks.
In a statement to Radio Times, a spokesperson asserted:
“This is part of BBC Worldwide’s ongoing security investigation into leaked unfinished ‘Doctor Who’ materials. This content is currently being removed and originates from the same Miami server we disabled last week; it is not a new issue. We’d like to thank the amazing Doctor Who fans who are continuing to keep fansites and social media spoiler-free but would remind anyone downloading and sharing this material that it is illegal to do so. We would like to make a plea to anyone who might have any of this material and spoilers associated with it not to share it with a wider audience so that everyone can enjoy the show as it should be seen when it launches. We know only too well that Doctor Who fans are the best in the world and we thank them for their help with this and their continued loyalty.”
So far many Whovians have been keeping social media spoiler free which is a relief to many fans. Hopefully this will keep up for another 6 weeks…
Season 8 of ‘Doctor Who’ premieres on BBC America and BBC on Saturday, August 23rd.
