In addition to previously-announced guest stars Ricky Gervais and Will Arnett, The Office has added James Spader, Ray Romano, and Catherine Tate to the season finale’s guest cast. While Spader and Romano obviously have long and storied histories on American television, Tate’s work is far more under the radar, far less mainstream, and decidedly British.

Across the pond, Tate is known for her sketch comedy series, The Catherine Tate Show, as well as a season as Donna Noble, Ten’s companion on Doctor Who. (She’s also an accomplished stage actress, who’s appearing this summer in Much Ado About Nothing opposite David Tennant.)

I had a good squealfest last night about this news, because, despite not knowing the role they’ve written for Tate or the direction the show wants to go in with a replacement for Michael, I can’t help but feel like she’s completely perfect for this job.

Tate is a brilliant comedian. As Donna, Tate was by far the funniest companion, but she also brought so much heart to Doctor Who. Unlike universe-crossing love interest Rose Tyler or whiny crush-harboring Martha Jones, Donna was the Doctor’s best friend without benefits or expectations, which gave the character altogether different and wonderful reasons for following the Doctor through space and time. Over the course of season four, Tate provided some of Doctor Who’s wittiest, quickest, and most touching moments. (She also figured out the whole TARDIS coral thing, so that Rose and Ten can build their own TARDIS, for which I am eternally grateful.)

She’d be an unexpected choice—and by far the least known actor in the running for the job—but, creatively, I think she’d be an amazing hire. With actors like James Spader and Will Arnett, you can pretty much count on what they’re bringing to the table. The Office at its best is understated and casual, not adjectives often used to describe either of these actors. And as TVLine pointed out, Romano is committed to TNT’s Men of a Certain Age, so it’s highly doubtful he’s on board for more than May’s finale. (Ditto for Arnett, who’s signed on to a pilot, and Gervais, who’s never been seen as a serious candidate for a full-time gig stateside, no matter how great that could be.)

Ultimately, these candidates could all be brought in for interviews in the season finale, and then Sabre could just choose to promote from within. But with such a huge change underfoot, I’m increasingly feeling like this is a huge opportunity to shake things up and introduce a completely new character who will really change the dynamic of the show—without changing the tone. And for that reason, I’m gunning for Catherine Tate.

(Bonus points if you make bringing in your own team a condition of taking the job. I have no idea if the Children of Time can sell paper, but they CAN stop the Daleks from destroying reality and fly the earth home in time for supper.)

I’ve always wondered what the lyrics to the Doctor Who theme song are.

They filmed this hilarious musical tribute when Matt Smith was on The Late Late Show several weeks ago, but it never aired (they didn’t get clearance from the BBC to use the theme song) and just leaked onto YouTube yesterday. While the song, the costumes, and especially the dancing are mostly just nonsense, I love Craig’s summation of the series:

“One thing is consistent, though, and this is why the show is so beloved by geeks and nerds: it’s all about the triumph of intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism.”

It’s even complete with a cameo from Eleven himself! And also, Tom Baker’s scarf.

My one critique is that they should’ve gotten Hannah to participate. She would’ve basically exploded, and she already has about half of Rose Tyler’s wardrobe.

Parallel universes aren’t exactly a new concept to sci-fi series like Fringe, so it’s not surprising that they’re hitting some of the same notes as the shows that preceded them. But the Doctor Who/Fringe parallels are too overt to be ignored–and are they too bizarre to be coincidental?

Fringe, however, is really taking the cake these days.

Because while the parallel universe thing is a well-loved concept in a variety of media, the particulars of Fringe‘s dimension-jumping physics are directly out of the BBC’s Doctor Who.

Doctor Who first introduced a parallel reality in series two of the current incarnation, and it would become a major staple in the show’s canon for the rest of the Tenth Doctor’s journey.  In “Rise of the Cybermen,” The Doctor, Rose, and Rose’s boyfriend Mickey travel to a parallel world, slightly ahead of ours technologically and about to be taken down by Cybermen.  In the parallel world, Rose’s father, Pete Tyler, is still alive and incredibly wealthy, but her parents’ version of Rose is a puppy.  Though Rose and The Doctor only stay in the parallel world long enough to defeat the Cybermen (as it is very dangerous to travel between dimensions and could result in the complete collapse of time and reality), they re-encounter the parallel world in the series two finale, “Doomsday,” where Rose gets stuck in the parallel world, known by The Doctor as “Pete’s World.”

Okay, so in order to travel to a parallel world, you have to cross the “void,” the dark space between realities.  It’s a dangerous place.  When you go through the void, you get covered with “void stuff,” which makes you shimmer a little bit when viewed through 3D glasses.  Here’s The Doctor explaining:

Flashforward three years and Fringe is explaining the laws of their parallel-reality travel.  As children, certain people were subjected to a test of the drug Cortexiphan, which allows them to differentiate between things from our world and things from the parallel world.  This applies not just to people, but to anything that came from “over there.”  Conveniently, Agent Dunham was one of those children–in fact, the only one who could ever really differentiate.  It’s like she has the 3D glasses built into her brain.  And what happens when she sees something from the other world?  It glimmers.  Here’s their explanation:

Now, this I’ll write off as coincidence or healthy inspiration.  However, the (pardon the pun) parallels got way less subtle last night.

See, Doctor Who‘s parallel world, as I mentioned before, is slightly ahead of ours technologically.  They wear earpods which download information straight into their brains and they fly around in zeppelins.  Noticing the zeppelins is the first defining characteristic of the parallel world. Here’s what it looks like:

Crazy, right? Zeppelins! There’s a word you don’t hear every day.

Cut to last night’s Fringe.  Know what’s interesting about their parallel world?  They’re a little more technologically advanced than us.  And, hey, did you know what the observation deck of the Empire State Building was originally designed for?

That’s right. ZEPPELINS.  Walter looks through a portal to the other world and, to prove it’s parallel to the military guys observing, he shows them a zeppelin.  I’m sorry, but that is just TOO random to be a coincidence.  When’s the last time you had a conversation about zeppelins?  When’s the last time you heard a TV show mention zeppelins?  At least for me, before last night, it was, well, the last time I watched “Rise of the Cybermen.”

ZEPPELINS!  Come on.

Now, the final thing, which I’m happy to write off as a funny coincidence, is that the name for Doctor Who‘s parallel world is “Pete’s World” (here at :54, a continuation of the “void stuff” scene):

So, since we now know the details of where one Peter Bishop came from, can we PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE call Fringe‘s parallel universe “Pete’s World”?  It’s really only fair.

Meanwhile, having learned more valuable lessons from Doctor Who–Rose falls through the void and ends up trapped in Pete’s World–some of us (like Hannah) are beginning to worry that this season finale of Fringe will find either Peter or Olivia somehow trapped in Pete’s World.  It’s an interesting theory, but don’t worry.  Fox is developing an American version of Torchwood, and those guys can help build a dimension cannon.

Yesterday’s Doctor Who special, “The Waters of Mars,” had all the elements of the best episodes: it was scary as hell, funny in parts, sometimes downright ridiculous, and couched with the epicness that is The Doctor.

It was also the penultimate journey for David Tennant’s Tenth Doctor, as his final episodes will air over Christmas.  The trailer for “The End of Time” aired with last night’s special and is embedded above.

The Master! The Ood! Donna’s grandpa!

The producers have all been preparing the audience for something ridiculously epic and very, very sad–knowing that this episode will indeed end with The Doctor’s regeneration is heartbreaking to think about.  But it’s always exciting to anticipate big episodes, and if ever there was one, this seems to be it…

what's going on here? no, really, what's going on? // bbc promotional still

I’m not as skilled as others are when it comes to analyzing Doctor Who spoilers–unless they involve Rose Tyler.  But there are some new spoilers out for the upcoming special “The Waters of Mars” that have me intrigued–if totally confused.

Spoilers and my (somewhat limited) analysis after the jump!

The first line of the episode: “Hello mum. Susie says hello!” Do not underestimate its relevance!

The Doctor (and TARDIS) land on Mars on November 21, 2059. There he happens upon Bowie Base One, the first human colony on the red planet.

Heading up the base is Captain Adelaide Brooke (Lindsay Duncan), recognised by The Doctor as the pioneer of humanity’s colonisation of space. “The woman with starlight in her soul,” he calls her.

Odd-Doctor behaviour part one: The Doctor instantly realises he needs to leave. “Whatever has started here, I can’t see it to the end,” he tells them. “I can’t.”

… but he doesn’t leave, because before too long the dreaded ‘water’ starts to play a part. We won’t spoil exactly how it plays a part, but the previously-released preview clip offers a strong hint.

There are references to two season four stories, as well as the recent Easter special. There’s even a (new) flashback scene to one of the aforementioned.

“It’s taken me all these years to realise *** **** ** **** *** **** – and they **** **** **.”

An Ood makes an appearance. Last word is key.

Did you know, the human body is 60% water?

Odd-Doctor behaviour part two: Towards the very end of the episode, there’s a scene that sees The Doctor say things that will utterly shock you. And more than that, the way he says things will shock you too.

Sounds scary–way scarier than “Planet of the Dead,” which was fun and a little frivolous.  And, as one of the relatively new fans who basically worships the ground David Tennant walks on, it’s nervewracking for me as we get closer and closer to the end of his reign as The Doctor.  Him losing his grip on everything that makes him Ten makes my heart hurt.

Also, the mention of the Ood provides me another opportunity to share this picture of my dog, Freckles, who sometimes masquerades as an Ood:

ood freckles!

“The Water of Mars” airs on November 15 in the U.K. and on the Internet in America very shortly after that.

The show is a legal dramedy called “Rex Is Not Your Lawyer” and focuses on Rex Alexander, a top Chicago litigator who begins suffering panic attacks and takes up coaching clients to represent themselves in court.

First of all, I love the title.

Second of all, I love the idea of these awesomeface people showing up at the Peacock. They’re not running the network by any means, but it’s good news for serious.  Lots of talent showing up over there … I’m liking the way the 2010-2011 season is looking so far.

And third of all–DAVID TENNANT. HOLY GOD, THANK YOU, GREAT BRITAIN.