BBC released the first official trailer for the 7th series this week. Cleopatras and gunfights and Arthur Weasleys galore! Also, do I see a Hoth reference towards the end?

Moffat is a smart man. He gets us all excited for a trailer for the new season of Doctor Who, but he’s very careful to only show maybe three episodes of the five before the Christmas Special, and they’re mostly episodes and guest stars we already knew about. So, while we’re all excited to gobble up any new footage from the season … I’m not sure how much the trailer tells us about what’s in store for our favorite Time Lord.

We already knew about about the Western episode, but it looks like the Doctor gets to be the sheriff by the looks of his tin star. If I know my westerns, that means he’s the only one crazy (i.e. stupid) enough to stand up to the foe … which sounds about right for our hero. The trailer also makes notice of the unusual abundance of electrical devices in the western setting, which tells me that these townsfolk might have stumbled on something beyond their own technology.

We also get a flash of Cleopatra, which I’m going to guess is from another episode. I wonder if this is the real Cleopatra or if her outfit is a red herring for the actual plot of the episode. It looks like the Cleopatra episode is also the Mark Williams episode, which for Potter fans should be a real treat. Rumor has it he’s playing Rory’s father, which is damn near perfect casting. Plus, it’s Mr. Weasley … on the Tardis. While it looks like Williams’ Potter costar David Bradley won’t be in the same episode with him, Sherlock‘s Lastrade Rupert Graves will … as a possible Indiana Jones-like explorer, it seems. Who wants to guess that the Doctor envies his hat? The snowy episode looks to be a separate episode from the other two … and did anyone else think of the recon droid from Empire Strikes Back at the end of the trailer?

I really don’t mind that Amy and Rory are coming back for five more episodes, but it does beg the question … why didn’t we get a straight answer about their departure before? Twice before Amy and Rory have left the Tardis — once was off-screen, the other was a tearful goodbye that seemed rather final. If the writers were planning to have Amy and Rory come back for more adventures, I would have at least appreciated a hint of that at the end of “The God Complex.” At the very least, I’m hoping the 7th series begins with them coming back on board the Tardis and having that be a big deal, especially since the Doctor is supposed to stay under the radar. If Amy and Rory are just back all of a sudden without any acknowledgement of the impact of “The God Complex” on Amy, then I will be thoroughly disappointed.

While I’m certainly glad we got this trailer for the new series, I was hoping for more than 3 episodes featured. That’s not to say I was expecting to see the new companion’s episodes yet (I’m pretty sure the Christmas episode hasn’t been shot yet), but the large majority of the trailer was the western episode, which didn’t tell us very much besides the fact that they’re doing a western episode and there looks to be some sort of sci-fi twist … and the latter is sort of a given for DW.

Besides the trailer, some news since the new companion was announced has included that the Weeping Angels episode will feature New York, just in case you weren’t already afraid of the Statute of Liberty. While Brittany and I discussed Matt Smith’s possible departure last week, Moffat has confirmed that Smith will be the Doctor for the foreseeable future. How long that actually is can be anyone’s guess, but it does mean that the writers aren’t necessarily planning for a regeneration by the end of this series. It also kind of throws my “Jenna-Louise Coleman’s new companion is actually the next Doctor” theory off its balance, but that’s why its a theory, right?

Photo Credit: BBC