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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Doctor Who Night on THE LATE, LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON


In a gleeful fit of what can only be described as surreal madness, Craig Ferguson devoted an entire episode of CBS' The Late, Late Show to "Doctor Who Night."  Yes, for one night only, insomniacs all over mainstream America were introduced to the wonder that is the world's longest-running science-fiction series, Doctor Who.


All did not go as planned, however.  Ferguson opened the episode with a disappointing apology that his original plan posted on Twitter about a special musical rendition of the classic Doctor Who theme complete with dancers in costume and puppets had been cancelled because legal rights to use the theme music had not be cleared in time for the studio recording.  Yes, once again, William Shakespeare was proven right about lawyers.  Personally, I blame The Valeyard.

Still, Ferguson pressed on, making jokes about how the movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure ripped off Doctor Who, comparing the concept of the Doctor's ability to regenerate his body into a completely new form to Cher, and suggesting an Odd Couple-like TV series starring his prop sidekick Geoff the Robot Skeleton and a Dalek that was positioned next to Geoff in the studio.  The Dalek, naturally enough, would be the Felix Ungeresque neat freak. 

Actor, writer, comedian and apparent Whovian Chris Hardwick was also on hand throughout the episode beginning with the tweets and e-mails answering segment.  Hardwick and Ferguson bantered on various subjects, including the hotness of current Doctor Who companion Amy Pond (as played by actress Karen Gillan) and Hardwick later offered up his girlfriend to Matt Smith simply because he's the Doctor.

Just over halfway through the episode, current Doctor Who star Matt Smith finally appeared following a clip from the episode "The Vampires of Venice" featuring the Eleventh Doctor encountering the Calvierri girls and demanding that they tell him their entire plan, which of course, fails to work.  An odd choice of a clip, in my personal opinion, considering Smith's more memorable performances in episodes such as "The Eleventh Hour" and "The Pandorica Opens."

Ferguson seemed more interested in goofing around with Smith than actually interviewing him, but Smith did mention Doctor Who's filming in Monument Valley, Utah for 2011's Series Six and that he was taking his run as the Eleventh Doctor "a year at a time" while hinting that he may return in 2012.

All in all, though, a very entertaining hour of television even without the Doctor Who theme musical number.  So Craig, how about having another "Doctor Who Night" with Karen Gillan to promote Series Six airing on BBC America in 2011?

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