Topic: Doctor Who (Read 134771 times)

Gladstone · « **Reply #550 on:** 06 Dec 2015, 11:48 »

...although the Christmas Special might be fun:

The only thing I hated about River Song was the fact that Moffat decided her entire story needed to revolve around the Eleventh Doctor. Having her meet Twelve might make her character fun again.

Lines · « **Reply #551 on:** 08 Dec 2015, 19:54 »

Ooo! I really like River Song, so I'll definitely be watching that.

J · « **Reply #552 on:** 09 Dec 2015, 01:21 »

i really look forward to seeing her work off of capaldi.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #553 on:** 13 Dec 2015, 16:31 »

Neko_Ali · « **Reply #554 on:** 13 Dec 2015, 18:00 »

Biggest selfie I've ever seen...

Gladstone · « **Reply #555 on:** 22 Jan 2016, 21:00 »

Good news, everyone! Steven Moffat is leaving!

...in 2017 after the tenth season. Still, hooray!

BenRG · « **Reply #556 on:** 22 Jan 2016, 23:15 »

Furthermore, no new episodes this year except the Xmas Special. I wonder if the BBC has finally decreed a root-and-branch reorganization of the Doctor Who production office?

Gladstone · « **Reply #557 on:** 23 Jan 2016, 23:02 »

If they were doing that, Moffat would've been kicked out completely, dontcha think? Instead they're trusting him with the 10th series. He gets to introduce a new Most Important Companion Ever and half-ass his way through another inane arc that doesn't hold up to scrutiny and is resolved last minute with Timey-Wimey shenanigans and/or The Power Of Love. The delay until 2017 is apparently due to the Olympics and the Euros (football?).

I hope Capaldi sticks around for at least one Moffat-free series. His tenure so far has been wasted with bad stories, so I'd love to see him play the Doctor with a different showrunner in place.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #558 on:** 24 Jan 2016, 15:35 »

Quote from: Gladstone on 22 Jan 2016, 21:00

Good news, everyone! Steven Moffat is leaving!

...in 2017 after the tenth season. Still, hooray!

Gladstone · « **Reply #559 on:** 23 Apr 2016, 15:52 »

Pearl Mackie to play the Doctor's new companion "Bill."

Let's just hope she isn't The Most Important Companion Ever, like Clara was.

BenRG · « **Reply #560 on:** 24 Apr 2016, 00:05 »

No, it looks like they're going down the 'unimpressed mouthy street kid who's always trying to burst the Doctor's bubble' path instead.

Tova · « **Reply #561 on:** 24 Apr 2016, 02:23 »

Are you extrapolating from a single data point, or is there material other than the video above?

BenRG · « **Reply #562 on:** 24 Apr 2016, 05:56 »

The way I see it, the trailer basically shows us how the production team want us to perceive Bill, at least at this stage of series 11. So, I feel safe in drawing inferences of this nature from it.

jwhouk · « **Reply #563 on:** 16 Apr 2017, 03:12 »

...Kris Marshall?

jwhouk · « **Reply #564 on:** 13 May 2017, 19:01 »

...Uhm. Yeah. Interesting little twist there.

jwhouk · « **Reply #565 on:** 14 Jul 2017, 15:02 »

Pilchard123 · « **Reply #566 on:** 16 Jul 2017, 09:07 »

BenRG · « **Reply #567 on:** 16 Jul 2017, 15:04 »

Well, it looks like Chris Chibnall has decided to choose someone with whom he is familiar. He worked with Jodie Whittaker on the whodunnit Broadchurch.

My fear? That the producers chose to cast a woman, not on her merits or because it was a story waiting to be told but because they have no faith in the scripts anymore and are hoping that a sensationalist hype train may sustain the show for a few more seasons. Perhaps they realised that they can't just keep killing Companions to easily hold the audience's interest; no, now they're going to start playing around with the fundamental nature of The Doctor.

I hope that I'm wrong but that is my fear.

Tova · « **Reply #568 on:** 16 Jul 2017, 15:17 »

I have the opposite views. The show has been stale for a long time, and needed a kick in the guts. Maybe I'll start watching again.

Kugai · « **Reply #569 on:** 16 Jul 2017, 16:22 »

HOLY CRAP!!!!

That is all

jwhouk · « **Reply #570 on:** 16 Jul 2017, 16:49 »

Faye's English cousin?

Sent from my NXA8QC116 using Tapatalk

Is it cold in here? · « **Reply #571 on:** 16 Jul 2017, 19:01 »

Opens new creative ground if they choose to pursue it.

Do Timelords get gender dysphoria?

BenRG · « **Reply #572 on:** 16 Jul 2017, 23:18 »

From the final episode of season 9, I got the impression that it is considered to be as much an occupational hazard as coming out with big ears or red hair. The Castilian of Gallifrey did remark that she was glad to be back in a female body.

If anything, the implication seems to be that there is a small statistical likelihood that you will regenerate into the objectively 'wrong' gender and that Gallifreyans had long since learned to accept that as a drawback of their biology.

Quote from: Tova on 16 Jul 2017, 15:17

I have the opposite views. The show has been stale for a long time, and needed a kick in the guts. Maybe I'll start watching again.

That's the point, though, isn't it? This has the risk of being perceived as tokenism to stimulate audience interest when the right way to stimulate audience interest is to hire decent writing talent and stop the producers from trying to turn the show into a personal ego-driven display.

Tova · « **Reply #573 on:** 17 Jul 2017, 00:46 »

I am completely confident that their choice of actor for the thirteenth doctor was driven by her nailing the audition and the promise of giving a female audience a hero rather than change for change's sake, as much as the show needs change.

There will be a be show runner as well, so I don't think there's much reason to suggest that all else will remain the same.

Kugai · « **Reply #574 on:** 17 Jul 2017, 16:17 »

Interestingly enough, this has been something that had been speculated on since the end of Tom Baker's run as The Doctor,, but no-one really thought that they'd end up going down that route.

It shall prove interesting

Tova · « **Reply #575 on:** 18 Jul 2017, 15:10 »

Quote from: Kugai on 17 Jul 2017, 16:17

Interestingly enough, this has been something that had been speculated on since the end of Tom Baker's run as The Doctor,, but no-one really thought that they'd end up going down that route.

It shall prove interesting

Maybe back in Tom Baker's time no-one thought so, but I am sure I am not the only one who has seen it as almost inevitable ever since they foreshadowed the move with Missy.

Kugai · « **Reply #576 on:** 18 Jul 2017, 19:21 »

It was also something they serieously considered towards the end before the plug got pulled

One has to feel sorry for both Collin Baker and Silvester McCoy, the writing got lazy after Davidson left and they got lumbered with shoe shitty Plotlines towards the end

BenRG · « **Reply #577 on:** 18 Jul 2017, 23:35 »

They also decimated the budget. The Baker and Davidson-era costumes and props were getting better and better but those used in the Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy eras were cheap, poorly constructed and generally awful (apart from one noticeable bright spot in the white 'Imperial' Daleks). There is nothing worse than watching a good show get progressively cancelled by a thousand cuts due to hostility from the executives of the channel over a period of seasons but Doctor Who fans went through that in the 1990s.

FWIW, it is my opinion that Sylvester McCoy's Doctor (and, to a lesser extent, Colin Baker's) set the scene for Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi's very alien and very morally ambiguous version of the character. There was some good writing in the McCoy seasons (The Psychic Circus being a personal favourite) but you could see some of the problems that would plague the reboot - Many stories had a great set-up but failed to follow it through as if the scriptwriters didn't really know how to resolve their own plots.

JoeCovenant · « **Reply #578 on:** 19 Jul 2017, 02:53 »

I've been into Dr Who for as long as I remember (I vaguely recall Troughton, but Pertwee was 'my' Doctor.)

And when it was brought back I 'kinda' liked Eccelstone... the "Run for your life" line gave a good idea of how he was going to play it, and ran well.

Then Tennant came in... And he re-wrote history.
He was a beautiful amalgamation of many of the best, past Doctors, and his sidekick wasn't another, squealing, "I've been captured!" plot device.

...and then Davies began to bring in his showbiz mates as cameos.
...and then there was the "Love Story".

And my interest plummeted.

I saw the first episode of Matt Smith, and nothing else.
I saw none of Capaldi.

My fear now is that after all the 'bravery' involved in creating a 'Female' Dr (Gender isn't quite the same thing in the Who-verse IIRC), that the writing will get lazy, or worse, self-referential to the fact that the Dr is a 'woman'... and god helps us, another love story. ("But we'll make this one with a girl just to stir the pot!")

Maybe I'm being a bit too cynical, but it just seems to have become Style over Substance.

SubaruStephen · « **Reply #579 on:** 21 Jul 2017, 17:50 »

*Sighs*

Still not ginger.

jwhouk · « **Reply #580 on:** 21 Jul 2017, 19:12 »

It's incredibly funny. I never got into the original Who back when I was in HS (during the Baker-Davison era), though my friends would throw in occasional references. I always thought it was a snooty PBS show imported from Britain.

And then, years and years later... I got pulled in by some of the Matt Smith shenanigans. For some reason, the new Who stuff made sense, in a way the old stuff didn't. Unfortunately, I came on board during the "dead year" between Clara's departure and this past season.

I found this past season to be intriguing enough, interesting enough, and funny enough to want to keep watching through next season. And I'm also thrilled to see how a super-long-running show does a take on a complete gender swap of the main character.

I do agree with something that Sylvester McCoy said in a YT video clip: the role will completely change Ms. Whittaker's life. It is like no other role in the universe (literally).

Tova · « **Reply #581 on:** 21 Jul 2017, 23:02 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 21 Jul 2017, 19:12

And then, years and years later... I got pulled in by some of the Matt Smith shenanigans. For some reason, the new Who stuff made sense, in a way the old stuff didn't. Unfortunately, I came on board during the "dead year" between Clara's departure and this past season.

It's interesting you say so, because I recall feeling during the Matt Smith period that their episodes were much more aimed at their growing U.S. market. Various episodes took place in the U.S., and the general feel of the show somehow seemed to cater more to U.S. market tastes (I can't really justify this, it was just my feeling at the time).

jwhouk · « **Reply #582 on:** 25 Dec 2017, 20:05 »

Oh, brilliant.

BenRG · « **Reply #583 on:** 26 Dec 2017, 00:27 »

I honestly disliked that episode and felt that an hour had been taken from me that I should have enjoyed. It could have been the closing five minutes of The Doctor Falls and been several order of magnitudes better.

(click to show/hide)

FWIW, My mother, who is even more of a fan than I, said that The Doctor was hurting badly enough that the producers 'should let him die' rather than force the character to continue to suffer for our amusement.

IMHO, Jenna Coleman's Clara is good enough a character (as well as having her own TARDIS and being functionally immortal) that her 'taking up the mission' after The Doctor's death is plausible way out rather than find artificial means to extend The Doctor's life beyond the character's ability to tolerate continuing to live. Heck, she could even adopt the name and mantle, deciding the universe needed 'The Doctor' as a symbol more than any one actual person (what I call the 'Dread Pirate Robbards/Codename: V' trope).

Pilchard123 · « **Reply #584 on:** 26 Dec 2017, 04:34 »

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Tova · « **Reply #585 on:** 26 Dec 2017, 04:42 »

I thought it was one of Moffat's better efforts, to be honest with you.

How do you feel about the oncoming era of Chris Chibnall?

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Pilchard123 · « **Reply #586 on:** 26 Dec 2017, 04:59 »

How do you feel about the oncoming era of Chris Chibnall?

I don't know. Aside from the odd re-run here and there, I've only watched the last half-season or so of Matt Smith and all of Capaldi, so I've only really known Moffat's writing. I've tried to catch up on Netflix, but I haven't got more than an episode or two into Eccleston.

(click to show/hide)

jwhouk · « **Reply #587 on:** 06 Jan 2018, 14:04 »

Separate note: a friend of mine just met David Tenant at a comic con in New Orleans.

Jealous doesn't even begin to describe it.

Thrillho · « **Reply #588 on:** 20 Jan 2018, 14:19 »

Finally saw the Christmas special.

What a shitty episode. No plot whatsoever.

Some lovely bits of acting and writing in it, mind, like Gatiss' speech about being ready for death in the middle. Much better actor than writer, that fella...

Tova · « **Reply #589 on:** 20 Jan 2018, 15:53 »

WHY DO YOU PEOPLE HATE FUN

Kidding. I think.

jwhouk · « **Reply #590 on:** 20 Jan 2018, 18:39 »

It didn't feel very "special"-ly, to me - but I don't think I'd out and out call it a "####ty episode."

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #591 on:** 21 Jan 2018, 16:56 »

It was my least favorite Christmas episode and felt like some what of a bad end to Capaldi's run. Also didn't like the, "The Doctor was a product of his time," thing

fantasticalice · « **Reply #592 on:** 18 May 2018, 07:53 »

Noticed the Who thread has been dead for a bit. I just decided to make a digital subscription to Big Finish's monthly range and 2018 has been full of amazing Doctor Who.

And not just the monthly range. Anyone who's been feeling the Doctor Who itch I cannot recommend checking out BF's radio plays enough. Every monthly release of 2018 has been stellar, Third Doctor and Fourth Doctor adventures have been just impressive and there's a lot of promising spinoffs too.

There's a lot of freebies on the site and two 6th Doctpr adventures with Jago & Litefoot for 99p each right now.

Some of my all time favourite Doctor Who Adventures are books or radioplays and it will be a wee while before The Woman Falls To Earth in season 11.

jwhouk · « **Reply #593 on:** 18 May 2018, 12:14 »

It's not dead, it's just that we're holding off on regeneration for a bit. I think this one's gonna a be a whopper.

Seriously, I think any and all Who fans are hoping Jodie and Chris knock it out ~~of the park~~ for Six this upcoming season.

EDIT: Had to keep from mixing US and UK metaphors there.

fantasticalice · « **Reply #594 on:** 18 May 2018, 17:17 »

Quote from: jwhouk on 18 May 2018, 12:14

It's not dead, it's just that we're holding off on regeneration for a bit. I think this one's gonna a be a whopper.

Seriously, I think any and all Who fans are hoping Jodie and Chris knock it out of the park this upcoming season.

I think they will. I grew up with Peter Davison and had never thought I wanted to be Doctor Who. And after seeing Jodie's reveal I wanted to be the Doctor for the first time ever.

It's changed everything about how I watch the series as I find I am relating to the Doctor in multiple plays and episodes and it's beautiful. I relate to Paul McGann's Doctor the mo st and I find myself wondering how many other women are going through the same thing. It's going to be exciting to see what kind of Doctor she is and I'm very excited to see. My current story I'm writing has her being nursed back to health after being beat up and having an axe put through her skull not long after regeneration.

I really need to work on it because I deliberately picked Izzy, the 8th Doctor's lesbian companion, because I wanted to show a strong sense of companionship, loyalty, and dedication between a woman and her mentor. No romance, just a former companion suddenly thrown back into the life of the Doctor who helped her discover who she is as a person.

I'm also super excited about our first Asian companion! There's so many exciting landmarks in the new series I think it will really fly. Also BB is being more cooperative with Big Finish on licencing which is lovely.

jwhouk · « **Reply #595 on:** 16 Jul 2018, 22:00 »

Theta9 · « **Reply #596 on:** 17 Jul 2018, 12:06 »

Quote from: fantasticalice on 18 May 2018, 07:53

Noticed the Who thread has been dead for a bit.

No, no, it's not dead. It's just resting. Probably pining for the fjords.

Grognard · « **Reply #597 on:** 30 Jul 2018, 19:59 »

I'm excited but skittish about the new Doctor.
Capaldi was good, but I felt.... there was something missing in his portrayal of the Doctor.
But I think it was the writing, not the actor.

pwhodges · « **Reply #598 on:** 31 Jul 2018, 02:14 »

But the writing is influenced by the actor it's intended for.

BenRG · « **Reply #599 on:** 31 Jul 2018, 02:37 »

IMO, the writing for 'NewWho' has always been a bit uneven but began to seriously decline after the introduction of Jenna Coleman's Clara Oswald. Capaldi's time was forgettable for me and my concern is the introduction of Jodie Whittaker's incarnation of The Doctor is nothing but a desperate attempt by the BBC to create hype for a show that is creatively losing its way.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Doctor Who (Read 134771 times)