Doctor Who

A new season of Doctor Who has started. In England. So I'm clearly watching it illegally. But I've bought every season when it comes on DVD so they can just lay off.

Memes
In season 1 the common thread tying everything together was the "Bad Wolf" message.
In season 3 it was some character named Saxon.
The disappearing bees have been mentioned in two episodes so I'm guessing that's this season's thread.

Revived villain
In season 1 they brought back the Daleks.
In season 2 they brought back the Cybermen. They also ended the season with the Dalek/Cyberman fight we'd been waiting for since 1963.
In season 3 they brought back The Master.
This coming Saturday they'll bring back the Sontarans. Ok, not one of the better known villains but they recurred quite a few times. Warrior race. Big dome helmet. Only vulnerability is a pipe on the back of the neck. None of this ringing a bell?

Companions
Catherine Tate has been brought back as The Doctor's companion Donna this season. She made an appearance a season back in a Christmas Special.
Martha Jones has moved on. If you watched this past season of Torchwood you know that The Doctor put in a good word and got her a job at UNIT. Well, she's gonna be in at least next weeks episode and probably a couple of others.
And Rose Tyler, lost in a parallel Earth and cut off forever... or not. She made an appearance at the end of the first episode this season. Spoilers indicate that Donna, Martha, and Rose all meet up in one episode.

coming soon
This is the last season for Executive Producer Russell T Davies. He gets most of the credit for making the Doctor Who revival such a wild success.
There's been some foreshadowing that indicates that David Tennent, the tenth and current Doctor, is going to die this season. This jives with spoilers from Catherine Tate but conflicts with what Tennent and the BBC have said.
4 episodes are to air in 2009 with season 5 airing in 2010.

new viewers
I was showing off my new laptop to one of the neighbor kids and queued up this season's pilot episode. He was hooked. So last night we flopped in front of the computer and watched the first two episodes of season 1. I know he'll be waiting for me to get home tonight. Despite never having seen the show before he's asking all the questions that those episodes were meant to have viewers asking.
"What war?"
"Why is she sorry?"
"Why is he crying?"
"Why do the British have such short television seasons?"

I also took him outside and explained what the model for the TARDIS is based off of. But I'll explain that tomorrow.

After four seasons Gandolf has started to get down and dance to the Dr. Who theme. Then the show starts and she flies back to her cage. I think it's the parrot equivalent of hiding behind the couch.