DOCTOR WHO: Series Four looms!

The lengthy trailer currently playing in cinemas nationwide for the latest series of Doctor Who is a beautiful thing indeed. Edited as if it were a movie trailer (just like the trailer to the 'Voyage of the Damned' Christmas special last December) , it teases, tantalises and raises all manner of juicy questions. The biggest thing in the ad by far is the single shot of Billie Piper, back as Rose Tyler, the character that made her acting career really take off. This may well only be for one episode (rumoured to be an episode that doesn't feature the Doctor at all, but does feature Rose, Martha, Donna -and possibly Jack- working together), but it is something the fans are going to lap up. Also, whats that Martha is covered in at the end of the trailer? The slime makes her looks like she's just come out of the Matrix! A clone maybe? Even Donna (Catherine Tate) seems okay- she doesn't seem anywhere near as annoying as she did in The Runaway Bride (*twitch* oh dear god I wanted someone to gaffa tape her mouth shut in that), which can only be a good thing.

I'm yet to be completely sold on season four as a whole really... The three big villains have already made their spectacular returns in previous finales, Daleks, Cybermen and The Master have all come and gone, which just leaves... Davros. Dalek Caan escaped at the End of S3's Evolution of the Daleks. He is the last surviving Dalek in existence (allegedly), and where else would he go but back to the creator himself? I do hope this happens, as a new-era version of Davros would be an awesome thing to see on the screen. Davros was always one of the more convincing villains of the classic era, and also a good old fashioned bad guy in that he was absolutely and totaly evil in every way. Newer fans may not be familiar with stories such as 'Revelation of the Daleks', but that stands as a great example of the nastiness he is capable of. In one of the most unnerving scenes of 80s Doctor Who, we are privy to a severed human head, trapped inside a clear Dalek casing, begging to be killed by its own daughter. Davros was harvesting humans and building Daleks from the parts. This was supposedly kids TV! I do feel a new incarnation of him would go down a treat.

Hmm... something that would be quite interesting to see would be an army of modified Kaleds (the human incarnation of the Daleks, from the time before their war with the Thaals caused their hideous mutations) alongside Davros instead of the traditional pepperpots. Just a thought. Don't flame me ;P

Then there are the new Sontarans, which do pop up a couple of times in the new series. I'm not convinced yet that the new audience won't think of them as a knock-off Judoon, and their short stature and modified (almost cute) makeup doesn't help much either.

Something that did strike me when watching this new trailer (check out the sneakily filmed version of it on Youtube while it is still up!) is the overwhelmingly dark atmosphere. The dramatic music and Donna's monologue (stood next to Bernard Cribbins! BERNARD CRIBBINS!) are rather downbeat, and the way it is edited suggests that this series is going to be quite harrowing. Could this be the tenth Doctor's swansong? Will the lanky, wisecracking Time Lord finally be bettered by an enemy and be forced into regenerating into an eleventh incarnation (Oh please let it be Dylan Moran... that would be amazing)? personally I'm looking forward to finding out. Bring on series four, and lets hope the BBC continue to trounce everyone else in the originality stakes.