Doctor Who’s next episode is an alien planet adventure called The Rings of Akhaten. Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman introduce it to us.

There are also a few tidbits from the spoiler-free review on Den of Geek. According to Den of Geek, the episode which was penned by Neil Cross, who also wrote the upcoming ghost story episode called Hide, “…is a proper outer space tale with an alien world and its inhabitants…there’s a real sense of a different world being put across. It’s going to be worth rewatching and freeze framing, certainly.”

Additionally, it seems like music is going to more prominent in this episode. According to Cult-Box, “Songs. Since the Doctor returned in 2005 they’ve formed a quiet coda in the background of his lives…We mention this because the concept of songs is key to ‘The Rings of Akhaten’. Not since ‘Planet of the Ood’ has music played such an important part in an episode.”

A number of sites like Digital Spy and Doctor Who TV have up some spoiler quotes and hints, some of which we’ve reported before like Clara’s red leaf being explained straight off. The best hint, however, comes from SFX in their batch of hints that states “2005 was a hard year for Clara.” Astute viewers will realize that 2005 was the year that Doctor Who came back to TV. When the 10th Doctor says goodbye to all his companions, he visits Rose Tyler on New Year’s Day in 2005 and tells her, “It’s going to be a great year.” Her future self meets the 9th Doctor in March 2005. On top of all of this, 2005 is also the year Clara was 16, one of the years that was missing from the timeline in her book.

Just in case you think Matt Smith has no time for any fun with all the PR work he’s been doing the past two weeks, don’t worry, he’s taken time out for tea as the video below shows.

Given the importance of 2005, do you think there is some connection between Clara and Rose?