[Malankazooie]

Heads up. The animated treatment is again going to be applied to old Doctor Who episodes. In one episode the 3 part 'Faceless Ones' (from the 1960s?) will air tonight on BBC America.

Anyone one got any insight on that story arc? I'll probably check it out. When they did this last time, it was cool, but damn the story was really dry and didn't really keep me all that engaged, until the end, and then... whaaaaaaaaa!

[Malankazooie]

I have not been staying up with what is going on with the show, but was there a Christmas episode this year? Or was that cancelled due to... 2020 problems?

[Coco with marshmallows]

Malankazooie, on 26 December 2020 - 09:16 PM, said:

I have not been staying up with what is going on with the show, but was there a Christmas episode this year? Or was that cancelled due to... 2020 problems?

Nah, the episode is going out on New Years Day.

Now as to the reason for it not getting the prime Christmas day slot?

plenty of rumours relating to how disappointing ratings have been for last series or two, but at the moment no one knows for sure.

[Malankazooie]

Got around to watching the New Year's Day episode. Interesting premise. Didn't knock my socks off or anything, but it was a fun journey. I guess we need to talk about what happened at the end though.

Spoiler

No more 'fam' companion dynamic. Ryan and Graham are going back to normal earthling routine, so leaving just Yaz to tag along with the Doctor. I believe I read this was necessary due to commitments by the actors in other projects. I think it will be a good thing. There's been too much dilution of the companion role, it being spread out across three, imo. Will be interesting to see what they do with the Yaz character. TBH, I've been meh about her so far. Lovely callback to the Ryan bicycle scene. I recall that's how he was introduced, so some 'hit me in the feelz' moment when they closed out him and Graham's story with that.

[Brujah]

I've been unable to like the new Doctor, no matter how hard I've tried. I wanted to believe that the doctor being a woman had nothing to do with it. I don't want to be that guy. However, I believe it is indeed hindering my ability to like the new seasons.

[Malankazooie]

One of my favs.

SERIES 13 FILMING REVEALS A TERRIFYING RETURNING FOE

*link is to www.doctorwhotv.co.uk

I have diminished excitement though because a good portion of the episodes in these recent seasons have been 'meh', imo.

[QuickTidal]

Series 13 trailer. So it's eight episodes because of COVID, and is going to be one continuous story arc and not a bunch of standalones...which has not been attempted in WHO since Six's TRIAL OF A TIMELORD season (a season that Chibnall reportedly hates; so perhaps he's trying to one-up it?)

I've heard the

Spoiler

Weeping Angels

are back, so I'll be interested to see how they are incorporated into a full 8 episode story arc.



I just want one whole season where I can just enjoy Jodie just being Doctor-y and not being hampered by poor stories like she has been before. When she's ON as the character, she's so fantastic. I would LOVE to have seen what RTD would have done with her.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 26 July 2021 - 12:31 PM

[Tsundoku]

Meh, the best NuDoc is Peter Capaldi and it's such a damn shame he was given so many shit stories.

I did try JW but yeah she has been hampered by shit writing and that godawful accent.

One big complaint I have with most of the NuDoc stuff is all the goddamn melodrama! Give me Tom Baker and jelly babies any day.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 26 July 2021 - 01:06 PM

[QuickTidal]

Tsundoku, on 26 July 2021 - 01:04 PM, said:

Meh, the best NuDoc is Peter Capaldi and it's such a damn shame he was given so many shit stories.

This is weird way to spell David Tennant.

Tsundoku, on 26 July 2021 - 01:04 PM, said:

One big complaint I have with most of the NuDoc stuff is all the goddamn melodrama!

See, I like the melodrama. My FAVE NuWho stories are almost ALL from the RTD-era and he LOVED him some melodrama...less so in Moffat-era.

Chibnall's era just feels so generic. Which sucks because he's got great actors doing great stuff...I just wish it was in better stories.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 26 July 2021 - 01:20 PM

[Tsundoku]

QuickTidal, on 26 July 2021 - 01:19 PM, said:

Tsundoku, on 26 July 2021 - 01:04 PM, said:

Meh, the best NuDoc is Peter Capaldi and it's such a damn shame he was given so many shit stories.

This is weird way to spell David Tennant.

Nah, it's the correct spelling for Capaldi, you must be butchering the pronounciation with all your "ehs" and "oat and aboat"s.

Quote

Tsundoku, on 26 July 2021 - 01:04 PM, said:

One big complaint I have with most of the NuDoc stuff is all the goddamn melodrama!

See, I like the melodrama. My FAVE NuWho stories are almost ALL from the RTD-era and he LOVED him some melodrama...less so in Moffat-era.

Chibnall's era just feels so generic. Which sucks because he's got great actors doing great stuff...I just wish it was in better stories.

There you go, the very definition of YMMV.
It's the melodrama of Janny Wurts for example that stalled my reading of her Wars of Light and Shadow stuff. I still buy the books when they come out, but I'm waiting till the end when I can skim all the italics. I simply cannot stand melodrama. It's like they're all declaiming instead of acting and should all have the backs of their hands to their foreheads and their eyes closed every time they open their mouths.

But hey, more power to ya.

[Malankazooie]

Capaldi's shoes were hard to fill. He was just ace.

Maybe with the companion down to one now it will get better. Gonna miss Graham though.

[polishgenius]

Chibnall and Whittaker both leaving the series in 2022, so this series and then three specials next year.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 30 July 2021 - 12:08 PM

[QuickTidal]

Whittaker leaving after three series isn’t too unheard of.

Chibnall leaving on the other hand is super sus. I know he claims he and a Jodie had a three series and out pact, but that’s not gonna fly. This means that BBC was likely unhappy with him.

I wish Jodie could stay around under another head writer…but it’s okay I guess.

Will be interested who they pick for the next showrunner and actor.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Tsundoku, on 26 July 2021 - 01:04 PM, said:

Meh, the best NuDoc is Peter Capaldi and it's such a damn shame he was given so many shit stories.

I would have loved to see Capaldi under Davies as a showrunner rather than Moffatt. He is a superb actor but everything I didn't enjoy about his tenure came down to the writing, which made it very patchy. When he had material to work with though he was unreal - can't remember the name, but the episode where it's just him alone stuck on a loop in a weird castle was stunning. Also, his regeneration speech really made it hit me how wasted he was with the writing.

I watched about half of JW's first series and just couldn't stick with it. She's a great actress and I think she's great fun in the role, and I really enjoyed Bradley Walsh's character too, but overall it was inconsistent and I just couldn't gel with it.

In a way therefore, I'm far more interested in the choice of new show runner than I am Doctor.

As to best NuDoc.... unpopular opinion but I'm a huge Ecclestone fan and would have loved him to have been around longer. Of the others - toss up between Tennant (better writing) and Capaldi (for me a better actor, though not that Tennant isn't wonderful).

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 30 July 2021 - 01:40 PM

[polishgenius]

So the new showrunner has been announced.


Russell T Davies

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 24 September 2021 - 03:05 PM, said:

So the new showrunner has been announced.


Russell T Davies

I fucking cried the happiest tears upon reading this news. You have no idea. No one has been as good as he was since he left.

[polishgenius]

He'd better have learned how to (1) write out companions when the time comes and (2) vary up the nature of the threat in the finale a bit, make it a bit more who-loopy rather than ever-larger invasion threats (to be fair, season 3 did this well, I just didn't like the power of love belief resolution).

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 24 September 2021 - 05:08 PM, said:

He'd better have learned how to (1) write out companions when the time comes and (2) vary up the nature of the threat in the finale a bit, make it a bit more who-loopy rather than ever-larger invasion threats (to be fair, season 3 did this well, I just didn't like the power of love belief resolution).

It’s nice he got the break away from DW, so i expect him to come back with the freshness.

Also how wild would it be if Moffat comes back for a one off like BLINK. His best stuff was always the self-contained single episode stuff
And not season spanning stuff, which Davies was always more deft at.

[Werthead]

polishgenius, on 24 September 2021 - 03:05 PM, said:

So the new showrunner has been announced.

Russell T Davies

Safe, possibly a bit too safe, but I think in the 60th anniversary year it's a very wisely-considered decision. Chibnall leaving when he did (or will, rather) left the BBC in a bit of a bind that bringing in a completely new showrunner would have put them immediately under way more pressure than normal for the anniversary. The only "new" choice the BBC could make that would work there is Mark Gatiss, and I get the impression if the BBC were going to go with Gatiss they'd have gone with him over Chibnall four years ago, so that's less likely now.

On the other hand, bringing back RTD in a 1-3 year caretaker role to do the anniversary is a great move, especially if he is going to bring back Tennant (and maybe Eccleston, although that is still very unlikely, it's maybe a tad less unlikely than it was before he started working with Big Finish). It sounds like this may be a one-season deal to start with, with a view to extend if RTD fancies sticking around. I'm interested to see what RTD can do post YEARS & YEARS and IT'S A SIN, as I think those two successes will have made RTD more likely to take risks and do less-typically-DOCTOR WHO-ish things if he wants.

There are more cynical takes out there that the BBC may have decided to do this because their #1 choice, Sally Wainright, was unavailable due to her ongoing GENTLEMAN JACK project and this gives them more time for her to complete that show. Not entirely sold on Internet rumours to that end though, mainly because Wainwright has never expressed any interest in doing DOCTOR WHO and has never done any genre work at all (though her work in general has been outstanding, and her taking over would make Suranne Jones as the Doctor an even greater possibility than it already is).

The much bigger news, at least long-term, is production moving from the BBC to Bad Wolf Productions. Bad Wolf were able to make HIS DARK MATERIALS for way more money than the BBC was offering them by cutting an additional deal with HBO, and with HBO already on board with a re-airing deal for DOCTOR WHO on HBO Max, hopefully that means a big budget hike for the show. WHO has been suffering badly from the BBC's cost cap for the last decade, and this is a great way of getting around it.

This post has been edited by Werthead: 24 September 2021 - 09:32 PM

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

QuickTidal, on 24 September 2021 - 04:10 PM, said:

I fucking cried the happiest tears upon reading this news. You have no idea. No one has been as good as he was since he left.

Me too, I'm over the moon!

QuickTidal, on 24 September 2021 - 05:41 PM, said:

Also how wild would it be if Moffat comes back for a one off like BLINK. His best stuff was always the self-contained single episode stuff
And not season spanning stuff, which Davies was always more deft at.

100% agree here too. Moffatt wrote some of my favourite episodes (most notably the pair The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances) but I HATED him as an overall showrunner.

If he brings old Doctors back for the anniversary, please can we have Capaldi? Capaldi's Doctor written by Davies is a dream come true for me.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 26 September 2021 - 03:26 PM