I'm going with this one.

I would agree if it hadn't been so publicized prior to the episode's airing. Either way, you know they're going with more than 13 incarnations.

As much as I criticize RTD for being too off-the-cuff and whimsical with stuff like this, it has been done before - waaaaay back in a 1979 ep called The Creature From the Pit. The Doctor tells his sidekick Romana that a Time Lord has 90 lives. She asks him how many he's used, to which he replies, "Oh, about 130."

To be honest, I don't think we'll get a really straight answer until we actually reach the 13th Doctor...

If the writers are actually paying attention, it would be when the 12th Doctor dies, because the 10th used two regeneration cycles (one during the season finale of 4, where he directed the energies into his severed hand, and the other when he regenerated into the 11th Doctor).

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Well that should be good.

The Blu-ray/DVD set of series five is out today. I've got it now (why does the BBC shoot everything in 1080i?). Plenty of good features. Aside from the Doctor Who Confidentials, it's got PiP commentaries on six episodes, some clips that fill in what happens between episodes (similar to the Children In Need clips from previous series), outtakes, and more. It's also got a sweet lenticular cover. A little pricey ($60 on Amazon for the Blu-ray, $50 for the DVD iirc), but it looks great.

Craig Ferguson tweeted the following message this afternoon:

This isn't the Christmas teaser. It's a fan-fake. The guy who made it even posted a breakdown of how he did the effects.

EDIT: Here's the breakdown....

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I thought that the "hand" regeneration didn't count because he had just regenerated, and that there's some kind of opportunity window where he could still use the existing regeneration energy, or something.

Sort of like how Romana was able to change bodies four or five times between her regenerations in "Destiny of the Daleks."

Well, that assumes that all four of the specials take place within the regeneration window, which means that either the regeneration window is much longer than we thought, or the specials take place in an astonishingly short amount of time.

I requested tickets to the Craig Ferguson show when I first heard Matt Smith would be on it, but I don't think I requested early enough. I'm currently wait listed.

Okay... I thought, when you mentioned his hand that you were referring to when he regrew a severed hand right in the Christmas special. (Got a bit lost with the "season finale of 4," because I misremembered that when Rose left at the end of S2, that she left with the clone Doctor.)

As you're talking about "The Stolen Earth," then I don't think that regeneration was actually completed, so it probably wouldn't count. It's more like he started a regeneration, then transferred the energy into the hand, or something like that. At any rate, it seemed more like Davies coming up with a shock cliffhanger than anything else.

You're right, and it wouldn't be the first time Doctor Who threw continuity to the wind.

I switched the amount of tickets to Craig Ferguson from two to one and they told me one was available. So I guess I'll be seeing Matt Smith on Tuesday!

Give a big howdy from DVD Talk!

Wow! Thanks for point that out. I wondered why I had not seen any news items for the trailer. Very good fake though!

Well I did see it is officially titled A Christmas Carol.

Anyone know when the Christmas Special airs? I haven't found anything on it myself.

The Christmas Specials always air on Christmas.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Well, in the UK at least.

Went to the Ferguson taping today. Really great fun. Saw Jackskeleton there, who let me cut in with him in line. Strangely they pulled someone out of line and made him remove his bow tie (the only Doctor Who reference in his apparel), even though someone else was wearing a full Eleventh Doctor costume (Matt saw him, pointed him out, and they got a pickup shot of him after the show finished).

There was a planned opening that was really cool, and even featured Matt. Amazingly, they didn't get the rights to the Doctor Who theme song and thus couldn't do it.

It was a lot of waiting up front, but by the time we actually got in, the whole thing seemed to go by in a flash. Didn't feel like an hour at all. And at the end of it we all got season five of the show on DVD (which, since I already bought it on Blu-ray, will make a great Christmas gift for a friend of mine).

A really good time all around.

Nice! I wonder how many non-fans in the audience will take the time to watch it. Did he talk just about Dr Who or did he mention that period piece he did for the BBC that is supposed to air sometime this winter?

was this the Ferguson episode that aired last night? or will it air tonight?

It aired last night.

Woah, wasn't expecting this:

Hearing that just makes me even more annoyed at DirecTV and their inability to add BBCA-HD (and AMC-HD).