TARDIS Alert! Dr. Who’s new season is almost here.

I was surfing the net today when I got a very geeky surprise.  The new season of our favourite doctor will be upon us before we know it.   The new adventures of the rogue Timelord from Gallifrey begin in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States on April 23.  Perhaps to stop rampant piracy the show is being broadcast on the same schedule worldwide.

Doctor Who series promotion (Image - Space Channel)

Saturday Morning Geek Out: Dr. Who Style

For any of you who have read my blog for any amount of time will already know I am an unrepentant and incurable geek.  It’s a sickness I’ve had since I was a grade school boy who grew up with Star Wars (the original un-fucked Han Solo shoots Greedo first version thank you very much George Lucas), Space 1999 and tales of a show called Star Trek that went off the air before I was born.

So it was around that time I first discovered the doctor.  Kids would come to school telling tales of a British program they had seen on TV Ontario, about a man who travelled around to other planets in a phone booth.  Not only could he travel to distant stars he could also go back and forth in time!  He was Dr. Who, a Timelord who would solve mysteries and could not be killed.   What slightly intelligent and socially maladjusted kid wouldn’t love that!

David Tennant as The Doctor standing outside the Tardis.

Top Gear’s Stig Revealed

Some say that Top Gear’s test driver The Stig has a map of the Nurburg Ring on his face, others say that he is a greedy twat.   These revelations came to light recently as Ben Collins won a British High Court case in which he was allowed to breach his contract with BBC and Top Gear to write a book revealing himself as The Stig.

The White Stig (BBC Television)

Worldwide reactions have been mixed, the character of The Stig has always been shrouded in secrecy.  The top rated show has long promoted the daring test driver as a pure emotionless driving machine.  Early on in the Top Gear’s reincarnation the hosts recognized the need to test cars around the Top Gear test track in an unbiased and repeatable way.  What better way than hire an anonymous  top fight racing driver.

Ben Collins is actually the second Stig in the programs history, the original “Black Stig” was killed off in the shows second series after wanting to reveal his identity to the world.  It is widely accepted that Perry McCarthy wore the original black racing suit and he admits to as much in the second edition of his autobiography.

The Black Stig (BBC Television)

So with the identity of The Stig now legally opened where does this leave the producers of Top Gear.  Do they have a case to fire Ben Collins for outing himself as the legendary race driver or do they continue on with Collins driving in a less pronounced role?

Personally, I am a huge fan of Top Gear, and was saddened by the announcement.  It was a running joke on the show that The Stig was none other than Michael Schumacher and was revealed as such in one famous episode of the programme.  However the events unfold in the upcoming series I do hope that the character of The Stig is retained in some fashion.  Perhaps with a new driver taking the anonymous position and Collins sliding into something behind the scenes.

Ben Collins (Daily Telegraph)

Some say that The Stig’s scrotum has it’s own small gravity field, all I know is that I hope The Stig makes a return in the next series of Top Gear.

This Just In: In a Sun interview Top Gear presenter James May says Ben Collins Stig character will be killed off.  Reportedly one method of doing The Stig in was to march into Ben’s residence and nailing his head to the table.  This seems unlikely however as it turns out that Ben Collins is an Ex Special Air Service Member.   Regardless of his military service it seems that Collins has been axed by the show and is due to be unceremoniously replaced.