'What -- U2?'

Who I haven't written one of these in a while. There is a lot of news knocking around anyway so I didn't think I could bring anything new to the console. But we're reaching the time that the Eighth Doctor drifts into past Doctor status as the novels, audios and comics all stop regular production. In the novels, although the ongoing plotline draws to a close, they'll be cleverly setting any new stories within the existing timeline. So we'll see some more of the amnesiatic Doctor on Earth during the century he was stranded here, or with his original companion Sam. The fourth season of Big Finish stories will be the final time he appears on monthly mass, but he will be appearing mixed in with Pete, Col and Sylv, with a stand alone booked for next July. I hope by the end of this run he'll return to normal space -- I'd like to see how the increasingly interesting Cr'zz copes with that.

Finally, the comics are were some really exciting things are happening. They're currently running an epic piece in which London is overrun with some new form of Cybermen from the future -- it's all pretty dire and could run for months. Reading the message boards at Outpost Gallifrey they let slip that Russell T Davies will be writing the first adventure for the Ninth Doctor in the strip when the new series gets underway on tv. So here is my theory. I think the latest story is the last for the Paul McGann shaped timelord (sacrificing himself in a last ditch attempt to remove the Cyber-threat) and at the end he will regenerate into Mr. Eccleston. It would be a fairly audatious way promote what has been an unfairly neglected segment of the Whoniverse and also give the interested something extra to look at. It's like I always said. It's coming back!