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Official Doctor Who New Series Discussion (spoilers)


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Well, it's an easy fix. The Master got more at one point, so why not the Doctor? Plus they could always do a "prequel" with a new actor playing the younger version of William Hartnell. They could even bring back McGann for the "lost years" and/or time wars.

 

Actually, word has it that some (all?) of the 4 specials in 2009 do not take place chronologically (in terms of the Doctor's personal time line) after the events in "Journey's End". And there is a big fan desire to have McGann come back. You know, that TVM from '96 pulled in 9 million viewers (out of 50 million in England). And McGann played the Doctor as recently as last year in one of the Big Finish audio dramas. I think bringing him back for a flashback story is a very viable thing to do.

 

I've always thought so! Even if he's aged, you have to consider that he was the Doctor right up to shortly before Eccelson's run-- so even in his "personal timeline" McGann could have been around for a hundred years. I've always assumed that since Eccelson hints that his regeneration is somewhat recent. it makes sense that McGann was technically the body the doctor had during the timewar.

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Colin Baker is the least popular Doctor I think. Peter Davidson was the Doctor that I grew up with (I can remember the Baker>Davidson regeneration, so I must have seen some of the later Tom Baker episodes too). I remember hating Colin, but I was only 10 and his tenure coincided with the show being run into the ground (and a companion from Hell in the form of Bonnie Langford/Mel)

 

I liked McCoy, and Sophie Aldred as Ace was a good companion.

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My two cents:

 

I grew up with the Davison era and clearly remember hating C Baker’s Doctor. But, as time goes on Doc 6 has really grown on me. It was a daring move for the Doc and Baker gave it his all despite the scripts that were handed to him. And even now, C Baker is one of Doctor Who’s biggest ambassadors despite how his situation was handled, so I respect him immensely. While Doc 6 is still not one of my faves, watching his stories now I see flashes of Hartnell and can see Ecceleston type behaviors from him and don’t mind so much his characterization.

 

As far as Ace, yeah she ranks number 4 in the all time fan fave list of companions in SFX’s poll. She’s right behind Sarah Jane, Rose, and Martha; no small feat. For those that can, watch the “Little Girl Lost” documentary on the Survival DVD. Rose’s character was heavily inspired by Ace and there are blatant on-screen references and comparisons of the two in the new series. Once they are pointed out, your jaw will drop.

 

Finally, ain’t nothin wrong with Doc 7. McCoy was suburb!

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Best of the new :

 

Human Nature / Family of Blood (aka David Tennant Is A Human And Makes Out With The Girl From 'Spaced')

 

Blink (aka Steven Moffat Emotionally Scars Entire Generation Of Children)

 

Dalek (aka The One With The Dalek)

 

Father's Day (aka Rose's Father Dies And It Is Sad)

 

The Girl In The Fireplace (aka The Doctor Is In Luuuuuuuuurve)

 

Honorable Mentions :

 

the episodes where the Doctor teams up with Dickens or Queen Victoria or William Shakespeare (but not the crummy Agatha Christie one)

 

anyone of the episodes where the giant flying spyship Valiant shows up

 

the ones with the new Cybermen

 

Everything else :

 

Meh.

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Unconfirmed. That rumor has been going around near the end of every season Tennant has done. The whole reason 2009's season is only going to be 4 specials is to give Tennant a break so that he'll come back in 2010.

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Bill Nighy would be great.

So would Kevin McKidd, Carlyle...

 

Eddie Izzard would be interesting. I love him, but I never thought of him playing The Doctor. If he did it, they' certainly have to writer him differently. That's my one complaint with the new series, Tennant and Eccelson were written very similar. Their performances were different, but they way the react to things, they're motivations-- anything in the scripts, is pretty much the same.

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Agree with you there Tank regards the writing for Eccelston and Tennant, very similar. Everything is always "Yay!" "Brilliant!!!" "Humans are so great!!!".

 

Always found that sort of character to be a bit weird seeing how he's just come out of a war that destroyed his whole planet and race.

 

Would like to see a completely batty Doctor = Izzard or a seriously dark and moody Doctor = Carlyle.

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Unconfirmed. That rumor has been going around near the end of every season Tennant has done. The whole reason 2009's season is only going to be 4 specials is to give Tennant a break so that he'll come back in 2010.

 

Okay, that's great to hear. I mean, we're running out of Doctors and no one should be too hasty to change the status quo. I hope Tennant stays onboard as long as Tom Baker!

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Unconfirmed. That rumor has been going around near the end of every season Tennant has done. The whole reason 2009's season is only going to be 4 specials is to give Tennant a break so that he'll come back in 2010.

 

Okay, that's great to hear. I mean, we're running out of Doctors and no one should be too hasty to change the status quo. I hope Tennant stays onboard as long as Tom Baker!

 

 

Totally!

 

it's funny, if you like at the Doctor's life from his perspective, what is considered an "average" lifespan of a regeneration? I have to assume his "first" form was the longest lived since he was an old man when we met him. Seems to me if you had 13 lives on top of being long-living, if you blew one in a year or so i might feel like a waste! (6th and 9th)

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Some interesting bits above. Firstly, I would love to see McGann be featured - even if only briefly. It'd be great to have a series with him in it full time - could give Tennant some time off if the producers and the actor himself are unsure that they want to regenerate this popular Doctor immediately. Leave Tennant's doctor to have adventures with that River Song character from this year, do a stint with McGann, and then pick up the 10th Doctor's storyline after that has concluded (no real drama with a companion where you know when and where she will die). Just a thought.

 

Davison was also my Doctor. I only really remembered Logopolis when I was growing up from Tom Bakers reign. The trouble was with Colin Baker that he was such a radically different character - Davison the likeable fella, and Baker starts off by trying to throttle poor old Peri. (incidentially, Peri steals Davison's regeneration scene!!)

Saying all that though, Baker had some good grittier stories. Vengence on Varos stood out for me.

 

McCoy started slowly for me, playing a bit of a fool in the early storys. But his last series in particular was much better - you felt he was more darker and all knowing, manipulating things on a big scale.

 

So to sum up, I'd love to see McGann's doctor, and if they can squeeze his regeneration into Ecclestone along the way, so much the better!!

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it's funny, if you like at the Doctor's life from his perspective, what is considered an "average" lifespan of a regeneration? I have to assume his "first" form was the longest lived since he was an old man when we met him. Seems to me if you had 13 lives on top of being long-living, if you blew one in a year or so i might feel like a waste! (6th and 9th)

 

From the official site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/epi...ctorsage.shtml:

 

By the time of Pyramids of Mars the Doctor is about 750 years old. In The Tomb of the Cybermen he tells Victoria that he's 450 Earth years old (Since Gallifrey's other qualities are Earth like, and since the Doctor continually boasts of his age to humans, we might assume that there's not much difference between Gallifreyan and Terran years).

 

The difference between the two figures might in part be explained by the long period that the second Doctor spent travelling (often on his own) after the trial (see The War Games). (It is also possible that the Doctor spent a good deal of time wandering mid-Robot: see The Face of Evil.) He is 749 in The Brain of Morbius and The Seeds of Doom. He turns 750 before The Robots of Death, and has reached 759 (his vanity makes him say it's 756, but Romana knows better) by The Ribos Operation. After The Invasion of Time, therefore, he spent a few years wandering on his own.

 

He turned 760 before The Power of Kroll, but by The Creature from the Pit Romana is teasing him about his claimed age (750). In The Leisure Hive we discover that he's been rounding down in order to disguise his true age. (The gaps between stories on his own or without human companions (The Deadly Assassin/The Face of Evil, The Armageddon Factor/Destiny of the Daleks) therefore cannot be more than a year or two in length.)

 

By Revelation of the Daleks and The Trial of a Time Lord the Doctor is 900 years old. The gap is best explained by the two Time Lords having adventured together for many decades (say between The Leisure Hive and Meglos). (The only other explanation would involve super long life span for Nyssa between Time Flight and Arc of Infinity.)

 

The sixth Doctor adventures for over 50 years during and after The Trial of a Time Lord: in Time and the Rani the seventh Doctor gives his age as 953. The third Doctor twice indicated that he'd been around for several thousand years (Doctor Who and the Silurians, The Mind of Evil), but he was merely indicating the range of Earth history he'd experienced.

 

Romana, incidentally, is in no position to complain about the Doctor's vanity, since she admitted to being nearly 140 in The Ribos Operation, slimmed it down to 125 for City of Death, and only allowed herself to be her full 150 in The Leisure Hive.

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Just a quick few notes on Midnight:

 

I hadn’t seen this episode until the Sci-fi airing and I can only describe this as a fairly boring/meh episode. The more RTD stories I see, the more I dislike him as a writer. I think three years is a perfect span for him because I can now easily, just by character development and general plot, know an RTD story, and that’s not a good thing.

 

In “Voyage of the Damned,” the Doctor has no problem announcing who exactly he is and took charge despite the protests of the Titanic’s passengers. But on the Midnight, he waffles, is afraid to expose himself as a Time Lord and is fairly wishy-washy. Is this the new and Donna improved Doctor? I hope not.

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As to the different responses of the Doctor to his charges in "Voyage of the Damned" and "Midnight", I just figured it was a matter of the different time frames he was in, or the "alien" nature of the passengers on the Titanic. It's one thing to announce you're a Time Lord when people might recognize the name and accept it as legitimate, and quite another to announce that you're an alien to a bunch of spooked humans looking to eject any aliens from their midst.

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agree'd completely. (sorry, im a random new guy that doesnt venture to this area of nightly much)

the people were completely different on both ships. u gotta remember the people on the midnight cruise were all very steriotypical strong personalities. the doctor knew they wudnt just accept him without asking loads of questions which he refuses to answer, so he kept quiet and tried to help only when things got very drastic. I havnt seen voyage in a while, but i think there things got serious very quickly so he had no choice but to take control.

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So, I watched the finale, and.....

 

Donna's fate--from start to finish is one of the most "oh no", lump-in-the-throat scenes

 

in Dr. Who history since Adric's tragic departure. Of course, living

 

is always better than death (even in consideration of the memory wipe), but I wonder if the writers considered the fact

 

they left a sort of big (possible) problem with the threat of Donna

 

remembering via running into one of the other companions, who--not knowing about

 

her situation--tries very hard to make her remember?

 

 

Rose's send off.

 

Okay...I realize there was no way TPB would leave her without her

 

man in the alternate world for a second time, but the entire

 

girl-gets-copy-of-her-dream-man thing REALLY reminds me of the final act of the

 

original Star Trek pilot ("The Cage") when the Talosians give

 

Vina (another female who cannot follow the real love interest) the

 

illusion of her own Captain Pike. Yeah, the reasons why another Doctor exists

 

bears no similarity to Pike...and he's not an illusion, however, the end reuslt is

 

the same, IMO. Aside from that, I cannot complain. If this was to be Rose's last

 

appearance, it was a sweet way for the audience to part ways

 

with her on a (somewhat) happy note, when a much darker event remained.

 

Overall, Dr. Who--while not 100% perfect--is a very compelling, kickass series, which (thankfully) rolls on not sinking into the pit of worthless concepts and hack writers like a great number of latter-day Star Trek productions.

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Who-related news....

 

£500,000 Mr Spielberg? Sorry, I've got a date with the Beeb, says the new Dr Who writer

 

By Caroline Graham

Last updated at 10:56 PM on 19th July 2008

 

The new man in charge of Doctor Who turned down a £500,000 movie deal with Steven Spielberg so he could take the job.

 

Bafta-winning scriptwriter Steven Moffat has quit a two-picture deal with the director and Lord Of The Rings film-maker Peter Jackson to fulfil a 'childhood dream' of working on the BBC sci-fi drama.

 

Moffat, who created hit BBC comedy series Coupling, had signed a £1million contract to write the first two scripts for Tintin, a £150million Spielberg trilogy based on the comic-strip hero.

 

But instead the Scottish writer will take over as the creative force of Doctor Who after Welsh writer Russell T. Davies, who revived the series in 2005, decided to step down.

 

While some Hollywood movie executives are baffled by Moffat's decision, he was given a sympathetic hearing by Spielberg, who is a fan of the long-running drama currently starring David Tennant.

 

Moffat said: 'I know a lot of people won't understand it but I've been dreaming about writing for Doctor Who since I was seven.

 

'There are no bad feelings between Spielberg and me, but Doctor Who has to come before Hollywood.

 

'The show has enjoyed a renaissance. I am working on scripts to be filmed next year. Russell T. Davies is doing four specials next and then my shows will begin. The show is all-consuming.'

 

One Hollywood insider said: 'No one walks away from Spielberg and all that money for a show no one has heard of. I mean, what is this doctor show about? It sounds a little silly.'

 

In fact, the programme has an estimated global audience of 250million thanks to overseas sales.

 

Among the best-received episodes this year was a two-parter written by Moffat and featuring Alex Kingston in a guest star role.

 

Moffat told The Mail on Sunday: 'I was under contract to do the first two of the three Tintin films. I completed the first one and then the Hollywood writers' strike happened and I couldn't work.

 

'I was offered the Doctor Who job and accepted immediately. I hope you won't make what happened sound too dramatic.

 

'I talked to Steven and he understood completely.

 

'I could not work on the second Tintin film and work on Doctor Who. So I chose Doctor Who.

 

'Steven is a fan and he understood my passion for the series completely.'

 

Asked to confirm that he had walked away from £500,000, he said: 'I honestly couldn't tell you the financial implications. That is all handled by my agent. I know I've made a good decision.'

 

Some experts estimate his pay packet for Doctor Who could be 'not more than £150,000' a year.

 

Tintin, about a boy reporter, his faithful dog Snowy and their friend Captain Haddock, is Spielberg's pet project. He is due to start filming in September, sharing directing duties with Peter Jackson.

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The so-called insider claiming "'No one walks away from Spielberg and all that money for a show no one has heard of. I mean, what is this doctor show about? It sounds a little silly." comes off like a fool...then again, I know more than a few in film production who are completely clueless about pop-culture success beyond what People magazine, Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood reached down from on high (or up from below, IMO) to bless as relevant.

 

Spielberg appeared to understand, and passing on the remainder of the deal (about a highly questionable, very old property such as Tintin) is not a bad decision. Spielberg and Jackson can be fans all they want, but to the general post Gen-x - Y, MTV/VH1/Nick/CW public, you say "Tintin" and the response will be "...uhhh...what's that?"

 

Moffat did not kill his career as some may be thinking; he's working a series popular around the world, and from what I see, has the skills to do whatever he wants.

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Yeah I read this in the paper on sunday. Was surprised to hear that he'd been involved and already completed his involvement on the first film prior to the writers strike.

 

I agree with some of the above comments. I think that it is questionable as to whether it will be as popular to justify sequels already planned but good luck to them.

 

Glad he stayed on for the Doctor.

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