Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one. - Friedrich Nietzsche

     Humans instinctively fear that which we do not understand, that which is different. We fear the dark because we don’t know what might be lurking out there, waiting and watching. This fear has kept us alive for millienia. It is this fear that takes center stage in Midnight, the latest episode of Doctor Who to air on the SciFi Channel. Trapped on a disabled cruise liner during a daytrip to the crystalline planet Midnight, fear of the unknown grows into a deadly paranoia that threatens the life of the Doctor as well as another passenger.

The following recap contains spoilers.

      The past week has been a wild time for Doctor Who fans in Great Britain.  Following a week of frenzied publicity and rumors, a record breaking number of viewers tuned in for the season finale on Saturday night.  The highly anticipated episode, Journey’s End, was the end of a two parter that is reported to be both exciting and shocking.  The unofficial numbers ranked this episode as one of the highest rated ever on the BBC Saturday nights.  Drawing in over 9 million viewers, it’s estimated that this episode attracted 45.9% of the total British television audience.  That means that nearly half of the people watching television on Saturday, were watching the season finale of Doctor Who.  Further figures indicate that after the episode ended, BBC 1 lost 5 million viewers  These impressive numbers will hopefully help ensure the series continued production for quite some time. 

     The question is will star David Tennant be along for the ride?  Rumors are also running rampant that David Tennant intends to retire from the role of the Doctor and that the BBC has already approached Trainspotting star Robert Carlyle as a possible replacement.  Nothing has been confirmed as Tennant continues to remain vague on whether he will return to the role of The Doctor beyond 2009.  But the controversy raises an interesting question. How many times can the role be recast?  How many times can the Doctor be regenerated?

Keep out of the shadows and avoid spoilers. This is good advice coming from the latest two part Doctor Who episodes, “Silence in the Library” and “Forest of the Dead”. In these episodes the Doctor and Donna encounter creatures so deadly, the best advice he has is to run. From a man as resourceful as the Doctor, this is a very bad sign.

Look what I just found!  Here’s a link to the official site for Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.  What, you might ask, is that?  Well, I’m not exactly positive.  I know this much, Joss Whedon and his brothers, Jed and Zack are involved, as is Nathan Fillion (Mal Reynolds on Firefly, and Caleb on Buffy), Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day (Vi on Buffy).  All three actors and the writers are participating in a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego.  

Starting this week, I’d like to provide you with a review of the latest episode of Doctor Who to air in the US. Doctor Who is currently in it’s fourth season and airing in this country on the Scifi Channel Fridays at 9 PM. The British fans of the Doctor are several episodes ahead of us Americans. My goal is to remain spoiler free while still discussing an overview of the episodes.

I’ll begin with my review of last week’s episode “The Unicorn and the Wasp”. It is the seventh episode of the season. I realize that episode eight aired Friday night but I’m holding back that recap for a couple of reasons. First, “The Unicorn and the Wasp” was a wonderful episode and I can’t wait to tell you about it. Second, episode eight is a two-parter. I’d like to wait and cover both parts at once. Finally, with only five new episodes remaining in season four, I don’t want to miss a single one.