Series 3 begins on the SciFi channel Friday, July 6th. Actually, they are showing the 2006 Christmas special "The Runaway Bride" [with guest star Catherine Tate] immediately followed by episode 1 of series 3. Meanwhile, you can still catch series 1 on BBC-America and on some PBS stations [or so I hear]. The SciFi channel is doing a series 2 marathon on the 6th, from 8am to 4pm PT. Not the whole series 2. It begins with "Rise of the Cybermen" [ep. 205] and goes through "Doomsday" [ep. 213]. They are skipping ep. 207, "The Idiot's Lantern". This info comes from zap2it, which is usually pretty accurate, but SciFi can be a little unpredictable with the marathon lineups.

In the UK, the final episode of series 3 airs on the BBC this saturday.

That's not a bad replay for Season Two there on the morning of July 6th. Although you miss out on the "regeneration" episode of "The Chrismas Invasion" and Sarah Jane's return in another, the remaining episodes being aired, really help setup the finale of Season Two and (at least I feel) works as a nice, compact version of the season.

Looking forward to the new season on Sci-Fi ... although the spoilers I've read has not given me much hope for several episodes in Season Three.

Yep, just approaching the end of season 3 here in the UK and it has to be said that the first half of the season has not been up to the standards set by the best episodes of the new Who.

On the other hand, the most recent five episodes that have aired here (beginning with Paul Cornell's "Human Nature") have been absolutely outstanding - well worth sitting through the seven less than stellar episodes it took to set them up (not that earlier episodes didn't have their moments, but consistency has not been their strong point).

SciFi also cuts the show, for time.

Cut for time and mangle the end credits, not to mention the pop-up animated banners throughout. But I think BBC-America is even worse on that score. I'd have bought the first two seasons on DVD by now if they weren't so damned expensive.

THE BANE of television programs, to me. :angry: Those infernal things have driven me to DVD, more and more. It's even more vexing when trying to view something on a nice HD monitor, only to have 1/3 of the screen obliterated. An excellent way to make me NOT to ever watch the program being advertised.

I have genrally enjoyed this series although a few episodes have been weak and essentially repeats of previous series episodes.

Best so far:

* the one set in New New York
* Daleks in Manhatten
* Blink
* the mini-series going on at the moment

Where I think it's stuttering a bit is that too many episodes are being set on Earth (a return to the Jon Pertwee era) and they feel they have to give lots of footage to the uninteresting relatives of the Doctor's companion. They need to spread out over the universe a bit.

Rumour has it though that Russell Davies is getting bored of it and wants to finish it at the end of series 4 (and that will possibly tie-in with the end of David Tenant). I'm not sure why they just can't pass it on to another producer like they used to do in the old days and let him do his Torchwood spin-off if that's what he wants to do.

Presumably if it finishes next year we'll have to wait another 15 years for its next incarnation.

Hate to see it end just because RTD doesn't want to play with the ball anymore and go home! Hope someone convinces him to let this show with such a big history continue on. Nothing shabby in being known as the second Sidney Newman of the show.

Read an interesting "speculation" today from a fan suggesting that perhaps RTD is looking to do the next season as a return to the Pertwee era, with the TARDIS out of commission and the return of UNIT. Kinda curious about that concept, although it could easily missfire as well.

What I've heard suggests that RTD would pass the reins to someone of his own choosing or the BBC's. I just can't see them letting it die again; it worked for the classic series, just pass it on, like always.

Apart from anything else, it would seem to be rather insulting to any number of people if a series was to get canned as a result of RTD's departure when (1) it ran for decades, albeit in a different format, without him and (2) as much as I applaud his work in reinventing the show, I've found that (with the occasional exception) the best episodes have been written by other people.

Well, since, oddly for me, I seem to have developed a habit of being a few years behind everyone, I've just finished season 2, which for me was very uneven and included one non Doctor episode that threatened to bore me to tears.

But oh, did it all end on one seriously big bang. I was riveted to my seat, and I thought it all wrapped quite beautifully. I swear though, sometime I wonder if the ghost of John-Nathan Turner, bless him, has invaded Davies. Right down to seeing Tennant wearing a pair of 3D glasses as a viewing device! Lunacy or genius, I just don't know.

Next up, I have The Runaway Bride and Sarah Jane Adventures, ep. 1. I can't stand to watch much of anything on Sci-Fi anymore, as i consider them traitors to the cause, and the cutting and commercials drives me bats. I'm spoiled by many years of watching WHO on the BBC and PBS, without such annoyances. Fortunately, I'm expecting Season 3 to arrive sometime this week, so I can dive right into it. I've heard mixed things about it, but I'm still looking forward to seeing it.

I'm late to the gate on this one, but the Season 3 episode "Blink," which Sci-Fi aired two weeks ago, is one of the best sci-fi/horror shows ever. Just fantastically good and easily the highlight of the season to date as the final arc warms up.

The Doctor and Martha have better chemistry than The Doctor (Tennant version) and Rose but Martha is rather underdeveloped as a character.

(Maybe SPOILER, but I think I read it here already: I understand Martha is joining the second season of TORCHWOOD for a few episodes but as that show is pretty much a drag--does it improve?--I may not be seeing her.)

With Season Three nearly over on Sci-Fi here and Torchwood already three episodes in on BBC-America, it is a little easier to see what actually works and what doesn't.

It still appears that the biggest problem with Martha is that the writers could never get passed making her "Rose II" - saying and doing things that would have been in-line with Rose's character, but for a new companion to talk about loving The Doctor "to bits" was almost ... well, I was going to say vomit-enducing, but that's a bit harsh. Just didn't work. To have her be this lump that is so upset over The Doctor not loving her (and for little reason seen in the show) just doesn't ring true.

"Blink," on the other hand, was an excellent episode. Ironically enough, Moffat in just two or three lines managed to give Martha a bit more life than some previous WHOLE episodes! I also thought "Utopia" had some strong stuff in it, even with the rag-tag villians being pretty silly. The cliffhanger worked well, and I'm finding the actor playing (not to spoil anything here for anyone not in the know) the new character that popped up at the end of the episode rather better than what I had expected from reading some of the reviews at the time it aired overseas.

Torchwood is okay so far, although it could do with some more scripting efforts. The biggest problem so far is that none of the characters are likable and thus there is no concern about what happens to any of them. Moreso, the obvious idea is that the crew is a bit jaded by all the weirdness around them, yet what it confers to the audience that the characters are jaded about everything - their jobs, the people around them, life, etc. It got a bit of a boost in the "ghost" episode that aired as the third one this season, but it will have to go a lot farther than that to really get the cast into gaining the audience sympathy. No doubt, that's part of the reason Martha is being moved there. And it may work.

We'll see.

Agreed re:"Blink". My friend James reckons its worth buying the whole season set for that one episode.

The actor in last week's/this week's episode is John Simm from the excellent BBC series LIFE ON MARS. I can't wait until we get the second [and final] season of that over here, but as always, it will be chopped up and papered over by banners when it appears on BBC-America. Maybe I'll just order the R2 DVDs.

FYI: they are making an American version of LIFE ON MARS, but as seems to be the trend lately, the leads are played by foreigners. In this case, two Irishman. Jason O'Mara is playing Sam Tyler [the John Simm character] and Colm Meaney is playing the juicier role of Gene Hunt [played by Philip Glenister in the original].

And back on the BBC, they are doing a LIFE ON MARS sequel without John Simm called ASHES TO ASHES. This time Keeley Hawes trips back in time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressrele.../03/ashes.shtml

SPOILERS...

My wife and I just watched the Season 3 finale. I must say WHO does season finales better than most other shows; the three-episode arc was hard to sustain, and it wasn't quite as breathlessly exciting at Season 2's (what could be?), but it had us going, even if the whole final hour was one (fun) contrivance after another. The whole notion of what seemed to me a wicked Tony Blair type joining up with a somewhat ditzy but hard-edged Di clone (and turning Martha's family into uniformed domestics as they rose to power) was pretty nervy, though I figured the potential Macbeth storyline would be dropped, and it more or less was. (Still, it left the US president assassinated.) Loved John Simm, who's like Kevin Spacey in his salad days--we enjoyed the way he seemed to be channeling Tennant (who we've finally adjusted to) in a pointed but affectionate manner. Maybe there's some way he could play the Doctor if and when Tennant departs?

What's all this about a Master "musical number" in the episode*? Did I miss that, or did it wind up on Sci-Fi's cutting room floor? If so, what else have we missed as Sci-Fi steals time from the Time Lords? I've pretty much written off TORCHWOOD since the whole Cyberwoman vs. barbecue sauce-eating pterodactyl debacle (has the spirit of Irwin Allen merged with Russell T. Davies?) but BBC-A is treating it a lot more classily, with limited commercial breaks. (It starts on HDNet tonight. I'd love to see the Doctor in HD, too.)

[*Oh, yeah, it was cut, and more besides. Sci-Fi Channel stinks.

I'm very intrigued to see how they handle the absence of Simm, given the ambiguity of the season 2 finale. I loved the show and sincerely hope the writers don't resort to clumsily papering the cracks when it comes to the issue of Simm's character. And Philip Glenister will return as Gene Hunt.