That New Doctor Who Promo Image.

TV Some notes on the new promo image for the next series of Doctor Who:

(1) There was an interview with Steven Moffat in the last issue of Doctor Who Magazine in which he described the process that led to Matt Smith's "costume". Apparently the original design was a pirate affair, something akin to Jack Sparrow in Pirate of the Caribbean. This is not a joke. But Smith was never quite happy with it, always looked uncomfortable and wondered if he could suggest something else. He's recently been watching some old Pat Troughton stories and thought he might look good in the trousers and braces, perhaps some tweed. They agree. He asked about a bow tie. They said no -- but why not try it? The result is what we see here. Absolutely right, absolutely beautiful.

(2) Karen Gillan's boots. Karen Gillan's pants. Karen Gillan's everything. We don't know the story of her concept yet, but how was something this charming developed in parallel to the pirate idea?

(3) The Smiler. Bottom right. In this audio interview with Matt and Karen, journalist Ben Cook let slip that he thought the look of the new series was very "Pans Labrynth", very Tim Burton. Moffat has also said elsewhere that he's keen to bring the show towards something akin to a fairy tale. The Smiler is certainly an indication of that, closer in style to the character designs from A Nightmare Before Christmas or the Gentlemen from the Buffy episode Hush than anything we've seen before in the new series (with the possible exceptions of the Scarecrows or the Weeping Angels the latter of which is set to return).3

(4) Blue. The RTD years were very Summer and Autumnal from the logo down to the costumer designs to the sets. SM's (does he have a middle name?) seem to be keyed towards wintry blues and purples. The formerly purple time vortex now looks like an ice cave.

The first episode, The Eleventh Hour, may continue directly on from The End of Time, but judging simply by the evidence in this promo image, the show has changed again and the TARDIS is heading into strange and rather wonderful territory. At this rate they'll be doing something really tasteful and resurrect the classic Delia Derbyshire version of the theme tune.