John Barrowman interview from TV Guide (it seems a bit familiar - but I imagine that there was one huge promo tour or something.)

So 10 got all those people killed in hopes he could avoid having to punish the family - with absolutely nothing to base that hope on. As others have said, cold bastard.

John Smith wanting to stay human, and the Doctor saying that Smith was still part of him is a good argument against my hunch that the Doctor just looks on people the way we look at household pets. On the other hand it would explain his willingness to get risk getting a lot of people killed for a chance of redeeming the monsters. Maybe he considered the blood family higher up the scale of evolution; closer to the timelord level in intelligence and power if not in morality -- even if the timelord in question could control them easily. Some people might risk a lot of dogs or cats for a small chance of saving a person. And a really lonely person might welcome the chance to live a dog or a cats life for a little bit.

If he was afraid this is what he'd have to do, you'd think he might have left a suitable warning before he tried to disappear.

Well, he was in a rush. And would they have believed him? They thought they were more than a match for him.

Watched "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances" again, right after watching "Family of Blood." Nine's sheer exuberance at the idea that "Everybody lives!" counterpointed with John Smith's unwillingness to become the Doctor again. My god, the devastation around him.

John Smith wanting to stay human, and the Doctor saying that Smith was still part of him is a good argument against my hunch that the Doctor just looks on people the way we look at household pets.

I've never really bought that. I don't think humans are equals to him, not as such, but I've always thought seeing us as pets was a bit much. I think it's more of an "other," and one he's less distant from these days, at that.

And again, I think he just doesn't want so much blood on his hands. And knows that ain't gonna happen, not with the things he needs to do.

From SyFy Portal whose lefthand column is casting spoilery particulary for Torchwood:

There could be 10 months separating the first half and the second half of the final season of "Battlestar Galactica," or there could be just a month. Either way, fans of the SciFi Channel series are in for a ride straight to the end.

"We were told that SciFi was thinking about splitting the final season, but we do not know how long the gap in that split will be," producer David Weddle told SyFy Portal's Michael Hinman. "As far as I know, SciFi has not decided yet. The SciFi Channel executives are the only ones who will be able to answer that question, once they've arrived at a decision."

Weddle, who has been writing with partner Bradley Thompson since the glory days of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," said he and Thompson would be writing the season premiere, as well as a two-parter that will serve as the mid-season finale and premiere.

"The writing staff just spent three days in a cabin in Lake Tahoe mapping out the final episodes of the show," Weddle said. "We now know how it will end and what each major character's journey will be, though the specifics may go through many changes between now and the conclusion of shooting in March. It was both exhilarating and sad at the end of those three days in Tahoe."

The writing staff actually recorded a podcast on the final night at the cabin talking abut writing for the show, and their thoughts on how it was ending.

"Needless to say, it was an emotionally charged session that will eventually be released online and, I believe, on the DVDs.

"There is much work left to be done, but we can see the end approaching, which both catalyzes and saddens us."

Last weekend, actor Jamie Bamber said that SciFi Channel was looking to put as much as a year between the mid-season finale and the mid-season premiere.

"Battlestar Galactica" returns with the telemovie "Razor" in November, which Weddle is listed as the supervising producer, according to Internet Movie Database, and will return with its fourth and final season sometime in early 2008.

Also - dig this SyFyPortal headline:

'Eureka' Looking At Another Season, 'Flash Gordon' Is Not

Ha!

I'd certainly be happy if Eureka goes to another season!

You know what's annoying about Flash Gordon? The women characters, stupidly written as they are, have serious agency and purpose outside of the romantic armcandy angle. I can think of a number of better-written shows that could do this better....

'Eureka' Looking At Another Season, 'Flash Gordon' Is Not.

Don't mean to gloat, but Flash Gordon may well be the worst show on the SF channel -- ever. It manages to be abysmal without any of that "so bad it is good" magic. Oh hell, of course I mean to gloat.

Why WWF is better fiction than Flash Gordon:
1) More interesting and more three dimensional characters.
2)WWF plots are more imaginative, and more convincing than Flash Gordon's.
3)WWF dialog is better and more realistic.
4)WWF seems to be better directed and choreographed. Maybe the cast rehearses more.

Note that I'm not saying anything about the acting. I think that with scripts and direction below a certain level, really talented and skilled actors can turn in awful performances.

On Edit - though Theodosia certainly has point on agency.

Yes - are those characters changed from their orgins? Or did they have that same agency from the beginning?

ION - the books that "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" were based on can be read online. Supposedly you can download them too but I wasn't able to do it.

Huh - from the novel:

Dr. Smith was small and Scottish, from Aberdeen as a matter of fact, and he had a charmingly mobile face.

What a wasted opportunity to have DT use his natural accent! Or something closer to it.

And again, I think he just doesn't want so much blood on his hands. And knows that ain't gonna happen, not with the things he needs to do.

That's what moved me so much about Smith's desperate sadness at the end -- even *the Doctor* doesn't want to be this person, with the ruthlessness and the darkness just beneath the skin, but he has to be. Because the universe needs the Doctor.