Some lucky fans witnessed Doctor Who filming the ending of its next episode, "Planet Of The Dead." But will we ever get to see those scenes for real? Pics, video, spoilers, and depressing rumors below.
The latest filming report appears to cover the very ending of the Easter special episode, "Planet Of The Dead," which is about the Doctor and Lady Christine de Souza (Michelle Ryan) taking a bus journey, which goes on an unexpected detour into danger. (After Ryan supposedly robs a museum.)
In the scene being filmed, the missing bus returns to present-day London at the end of its harrowing adventure on an alien planet (represented by Dubai.) Seeing the bus reappearing, all the UNIT soldiers at the tunnel's mouth applaud. All of the missing people come out of the bus, followed by the Doctor. Malcolm runs over and hugs him, and Captain Mogambo shows up. The Doctor does something fancy with his sonic screwdriver, and then Mogambo salutes him. The UNIT troops pull a tarp off the TARDIS, revealing it, and the Doctor is joyfully reunited with his time machine. Then Michelle Ryan rushes over and says a tearful (maybe) farewell to the Time Lord. Here's some pics and video:
But as we mentioned the other day, a second bus was being shipped to Dubai for overseas filming, and it was inadventently destroyed in shipping. And now rumors are swirling around that the disaster will require more than just a rewrite — the Easter special may have to be canceled altogether, or restarted from scratch. Here's hoping it doesn't go that far. In any case, the Sun newspaper insists that the already-shot footage of the Doctor and Michelle Ryan getting on and off the bus in Cardiff, including the stuff above, may have to be tossed out. (And here's a pic of the trashed bus.)
[Pics and footage from Scooty, alun.vega, Brian_Damage, ahremsee and mugim0e at Doctor Who Forum, via PlanetGallifrey. More at the links.]