#Chibnall Who feels so completely different to Moffat which feels so completely different to Davies

[nicholasmoorethetwittermigrant]

Something I’ve come to appreciate watching RTD1, Moffat, and Chibnall’s eras in such quick succession (with RTD2 airing as well) is how much each era really feels like it’s own show, but also the same show.

Doctor Who is just such a tonally, stylistically, aesthetically malleable show and it doesn’t really hit when you’re watching it spaced out over decades.

[paulrobinsonshotel]

I love RTD's writing, and it was his era that made me fall in love with the show as a kid. When it was announced he was coming back, my reaction was nothing short of ecstasy.

When the rumours began to swirl that we'd be getting a Tennant-centric special with the Doctor regenerating BACK into him, I was very much "please no", but also thinking "surely, RTD wouldn't actually do this. There's NO WAY he'd actually do this".

Then Ncuti Gatwa was announced, amazing, wonderful. He'll be fantastic, no doubt about it.

Then we got the Tennant and Tate 60th announcement. At that point, the cracks began to show. Yes, my favourite companion and one of my favourite Doctors. I was excited, but I was waiting for more. We've already seen David Tennant's Doctor and Donna Noble written by Russell T Davies, and it was great. But for an anniversary special, the things that bring different eras of the show together in celebration of its history... pretty underwhelming.

Then the thing I was dreading most, the Doctor regenerating back into Tennant - something that had been the refuge of obsessives making badly edited fan videos from 2010 onwards - actually happened. And not only that, but he regenerated straight out of Whittaker's outfit into a Tennant-esque one. Ostensibly because RTD didn't want the image of Tennant in Whittaker's outfit to be used to whip up anti-drag or transphobic hate. Despite the fact that 1) Whittaker went out of her way to make her outfit gender neutral, so that all fans would be able to dress up as her Doctor and feel included and 2) surely it's more important to broadcast the message that anyone of any gender can wear any clothes they want, and there's nothing wrong with it?

The initial Tennant/Tate announcement was in May 2022. My initial dissatisfaction was met with responses like "The episodes are ages away, just wait and see". We're fifteen months on, and no further returning characters have been announced. As far as we know, these specials will still be primarily focused on Tennant, Tate and Donna's supporting cast (that said, the one thing in all this I'm happy about is seeing Bernard Cribbins again).

Of course, that doesn't mean there's been no announcements about the episodes at all. Segun Akinola's decided to leave, so we're getting a new composer. That's exciting, I wonder who it'll be? Oh, brilliant, it's Murray Gold. Again. In RTD's own words, "is anyone surprised?". Surprised? No. But fair to say my enthusiasm went from very low to absolute zero.

Gold is great as what he does, but we just had Akinola, an incredibly skilled composer who poured his heart and soul into the show, but was never given a chance by a chunk of the fandom because he tried something different to Gold or just because they didn't like the Chibnall era as a whole. So RTD could've brought in some new talent, with a completely fresh take, but instead chose to bring back yet another person from his era, who did 10 seasons on the show, and the one person the fandom needs to move the fuck on from the most.

So that's a special meant to celebrate 60 years of the show, but specifically focused on one era of it? Coincidentally, the era of the guy writing it?

And for those who dismiss any criticism of this being RTD centric with "But Beep the Meep/The Toymaker!!!", ask yourselves this: If Chibnall stayed on and did the 60th as nothing but a Thirteen and Yaz story, but with Beep/Toymaker, or if Moffat come back and done the same with his characters, would there be anything other than across the board outrage? Classic villains do not an anniversary special make, since we've had them in every season since the revival.

I'm sure the episodes will be genuinely good, and I'll certainly be watching. Any DW is better than no DW, but of all the things they could've done for an anniversary special, this is practically an insult to the show's history.

I'll be patiently waiting for Ncuti Gatwa's era, which looks genuinely new and exciting.

Rant over.

[litcityblues]

Doctor Whoquest Part Four: Tennant, Season 1

The debut season of David Tennant is an interesting one to consider. On the one hand, from my point of view, we've moved all the way back into the Russell T. Davies era of the show, which means that it's got a totally different feel to it now compared to Moffat or Chibnall. People forget that Doctor Who was originally designed as a children's program and while Moffat and Chibnall (at least from what I've seen of Chibnal so far) push the tone of the show into more contemporary, maybe even straightforward science fiction, Davies, I think, might come the closest to capturing the original spirit of the show- which given the fact that he brought it back to the air, to begin with, makes the most sense. You want to capture new viewers and not alienate the old- at least not too much.

On the other hand, there's a lot riding on this season. Tennant is the first regeneration of the Nu-Who Era and while even back that I would have rated him an accomplished enough actor that a sophomore slump would seem unlikely, it had to be on the minds of people going into this and you have to wonder what would have happened to the show had Tennant or the writing not been as good as they are throughout this season. There's a nice symmetry to it overall, as it starts with the first regeneration of Nu-Who, but ends with the first big Companion departure at the end of the season when Billie Piper's Rose Tyler is trapped in a parallel universe.

Where does this rank in terms of debut seasons? That's the real question, isn't it... I don't think you can count Eccleston's season as a debut, because it was also his last season, but leaving him out, I think I'd rank them thusly:

Smith

Tennant

Capaldi

Whittaker

To be fair, I don't there's a lot of daylight between Smith & Tennant or Capaldi & Whittaker-- they all turned in really solid debuts in the role, but for whatever reason, Smith's debut season just knocked my socks off. I think Tennant's debut is a hair's breadth behind his. Capaldi's was better and stronger than I remembered and I'll go ahead and call it: Whittaker's was underrated.

Full credit to Tennant here, though: 'The Christmas Invasion' was one hell of a debut and so successful, in fact, that it established the pattern/tradition of holiday specials that we see throughout the rest of the show.

Three Episodes I Liked:

'The Girl In The Fireplace': I'd have to double-check to be sure, but I think this might be the debut of Steven Moffat on Nu-Who and it's just excellent from start to finish. You've got a sci-fi mystery as the Doctor, Rose, and Mickey arrive aboard an abandoned spaceship which contains several time windows into the life of Madame de Pompadour and overlapping that, you've got a nice time travel angle as the Doctor has to travel back to Versailles to save her from clockwork droids who continue to stalk her, insisting she's not complete. The kicker might be the end-- when Rose, the Doctor, and Mickey depart, and it's the audience that gets the big reveal of why the ship has the time windows and the clockwork droids after Madame de Pompadour to begin with. Combining love, romance, time travel, science fiction, and horror into a perfect blend that fits Doctor Who so nicely, it's one of the standout episodes of Nu-Who and you can't top Tennant delivering the line "I snogged Madame de Pompadour!"

'The Impossible Plant'/'The Satan Pit': There's another two-parter in this season ('Rise of the Cybermen'/'The Age of Steel') that's a pretty solid reintroduction of the Cybermen to Nu-Who and sets up the events of the season finale, but I have to give the nod to this one. The Doctor and Rose arrive on a base on a planet that is somehow orbiting a black hole. The crew is served by a race of docile beings known as the Ood and the Doctor is puzzled by a language so ancient it predates even the Time Lords. When a quake strikes the planet and the TARDIS falls into planet and when the Doctor goes to retrieve it, they find a door- which opens, revealing The Beast who takes possession of a crew member and announces that he is free. The music is especially top-notch on this two-parter- there's a mournful undertone to it- not mournful as in sad, but mournful as it, 'impossibly old and alone at the edge of space' so full credit to Murray Gold for that. There are some nice nods to Alien when the Ood chase the crew through the air ducts and this episode touches on concepts of Satan, Hell, and the Devil in a really interesting way.

'School Reunion': The return of Sarah Jane Smith! (Elisabeth Sladen). I'll be honest-- I never saw any of her episodes from Classic Who, but I understood the excitement about her return and this was a great episode- at also helped launch her into her own spin-off of The Sarah Jane Adventures, so there's that.

Two Episodes I Didn't Like

'Fear Her': Was just okay. Possessed kid capturing people in the drawings she makes? Plus a weird Olympic subplot? It feels like a bottle episode- probably because it was as it lead into the two-part finale of 'Army of Ghosts'/'Doomsday'.

'New Earth': While I appreciate seeing the Face of Boe again and the Cat Nurses, I honestly don't care about the human trampoline, Cassandra. As a villain, she's awfully vain- which I guess is the point of the character, and even though there's a credible attempt to make her (a flat trampoline of a character) more three-dimensional, it just... doesn't land. The Face of Boe just hints at something big for The Doctor the next time they meet and thus seems... wasted? I don't know. Just kind of 'meh' for me.

One Episode To Consider

'Love & Monsters': This is actually a really off-beat episode as it's told from the point of view of people who get left behind and experience all the wild and wacky things that poor London has gone through and it gets a little weird at the end as the main character, Elton gets to start a relationship with his girlfriend, Ursula, who is, well, a paving stone. I appreciate the ELO. I appreciate the weird. I like a good episode that zigs when you're expecting a zag and this one works.

Overall: I do not like the Daleks. I'm over the Daleks. You've got sixty years of a show to dig through- find something else. However, I will say this: the Cybermen are interesting and when they face off against the Daleks in the Season Finale, it's pretty cool-- you've got two of the biggest villains in the franchise facing off against one and you can't really complain too much about that.

As a plot device, I would really like them to get away from the 'let's throw a random word into every episode and have it mean something at the end of the season' thing that they do in these early seasons. Once you get away with it once, it's hard to replicate it with any serious effect, I think. Bad Wolf works. Torchwood obviously plays a role in the season finale and yes, but Tennant's next season gets liberal references to Harold Saxon thrown everywhere. As foreshadowing goes, it's not subtle. Ideally, you'd do this and not have the audience realize the mystery until you unveil it and then they'll have to go back and piece it together for themselves- but at the end of the day, it is what it is. I forget I'm doing this in a back-asswards way, so these early tendencies tend to evolve as the show does, though I really would like at least a one-season moratorium on anything related to the Daleks.

My Grade: 8/10

[moonlightserenadeeznutz]

(New) Doctor Who hasn’t been good since S4.

(Please note: This post is really only for people who already agree with me, rather than people who disagree with me, because I don’t want to change anyone’s opinions, nor do I want to ruin DW for anyone. So if you disagree with me, you have no obligation to read any further, and I hope you have a nice day). ~ Okay, look...

First of all: I love Matt Smith. I think he was a fantastic Doctor. He was an absolute sweetheart, and a wonderful actor.

I also loved Clara Oswald as a companion. And all in all, I enjoyed post-s4 of NewWho, with a number of episodes that stood out to me (mainly written by Neil Gaiman... please can we make him a permanent author) and genuinely didn’t dislike it.

However, I really believe that the Steven Moffat era (s5 and onwards) and especially the Chris Chibnall era (s11 and onwards), couldn’t live up to the Russel T Davis era (s1-4).

For starters, I found the episodes post s4 really difficult to get invested into. I feel like the writers tried too hard to make it dramatic, and in turn simply made it complicated to follow along and frankly, a little boring. Too many characters had an unnecessary amount of importance placed on them, and too many episodes contained more than one plot point (again, as an attempt to make it dramatic, and therefore making it too complicated).

I also disliked the complete disregard for anything that happened pre-s5. I understand the timeline to an extent, for example, by the time the Doctor met Amy it had technically been about a hundred years since he’d last seen Rose give or take (though it had literally only been a few days since he’d last seen Donna and she wasn’t mentioned at all). This may just be my inability to really cope with major change, but then, a lot of people are like me, so disregarding everything just makes the show inaccessible to a number of people. I was screaming at the TV screen half the time wanting the Doctor to mention Rose, or Martha, or Donna, or Jack, but they hardly got a look in. Even in The Day of the Doctor, the appearance of “Rose” was frankly disappointing.

And this is just talking about s5 and onwards. I haven’t yet mentioned how good pre-s4 was. I’m not saying every episode was a masterpiece, but there were an incredible amount of well-thought out and interesting storylines. The entire Bad Wolf storyline and how it threaded through all four seasons even after Rose had gone was, and still is, my favourite thing ever. The Daleks and the Cybemen were actually threatening (as opposed to just nuisances like they were post-s5, which I suppose by that time they were, but it’s funny how some characters were described as the most dangerous and evil characters when tbh they really weren’t, but the Daleks and the Cybermen hardly ever were. I’d also like to point out that the Cybermen hadn’t actually been seen again by the Doctor since the battle at Canary Wharf (although I may be wrong on this, someone please correct me), and when Eleven did see them again, he acted more as if they were just an inconvenience, rather than the reason he lost one of his companions).

And don’t even get me started on the companions of pre-s5. Yes I love Clara, but that’s really about it. I never got invested in Amy, despite the show making her out to be god incarnated and the most important person in the Doctor’s life. I actually got more invested in Rory tbh. I’m not saying I didn’t like Amy, I just didn’t really see the big deal. Adding this to the fact that my favourite companions (all of which are in pre-s5) were never mentioned made me genuinely angry at Amy. It wasn’t her fault, but she had an air of smugness around her, as if she knew everything there is to know about the Doctor, but out of all of the companions she actually doesn’t know that much at all. She barely even knows that the Doctor can regenerate.

The companions in s1-4 were on a different level. Rose Tyler is my beloved, who absorbed the time vortex and became Bad Wolf. Martha Jones was the most badass motherf*cker who literally became a walking legend throughout the entire world as she travelled for a year on her own to defeat the Master- which she did, single f*cking handedly. Donna Noble was Catherine Tate. (And also she was the most hilarious, wonderful won’t-take-shit-from-a-spaceman icon who literally became a Time Lord. AND JACK MOTHERFUCKING HARKNESS THE GUY I LITERALLY NAMED MYSELF AFTER THE IMMORTAL OMNISEXUAL ALIEN JOHN FUCKING BARROWMAN LGBTQ+ ICON ALL THE WAY FROM 2005 CANNOT BE COMPARED IN LOVE WITH THE DOCTOR FLIRTS WITH EVERYONE SMOOTH SON OF A BITCH WITH A SMILE THAT CAN KILL EVEN MY LESBIAN ARSE.

Amy was just... sort of nothing? I don’t want to criticise too much because I know she’s the favourite companion of a lot of people, and I don’t want to ruin her for them. I don’t think she’s a bad companion. A lot of my anger towards her is more to do with me rather than to do with her. I just feel that she was placed on a pedestal and treated way more than her predecessors for no real reason.

She was “The girl who waited”. She was an eight year old who sat outiside for a night waiting for the Doctor. It’s sweet and all, but why is that literally her only personality trait?

There’s probably more I can add, but I’ve gone on long enough. And I must reiterate this is only personal opinion. I understand the title is a bit too blunt, one of those “if you don’t agree with me you’re an idiot” sort of posts, but it isn’t. This is just how I feel, and I encourage you to disagree with me, because I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone. Believe me, lots of things have been ruined for me by someone giving a negative opinion about it (though I’m not calling those people out or anything) because I’ve felt obliged to agree, or I’ve felt that my opinion is wrong. So I’m not trying to do that, I’m really just writing this for the people who already agree, rather than the people who disagree, because I’m not here to change anyone’s opinion.

Amy’s great. Matt Smith is fantastic. S5 and onwards has some enjoyable storylines. Neil Gaiman is a fantastic writer, so is Russel T Davis. Chris Chibnall isn’t but I think we can all agree with that. Martha is underrated as shit. Catherine Tate is queen of my life (I met her once, she gave up her seat for me on the Tube when I was a kid. Didn’t know who she was back then but my mother was very excited). Rose Tyler can marry me. Jack Harkness is the only reason I’m happy. And Clara is a sweetheart who needs constant protection.

Thank you for coming to be TEDTalk.

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: A History of Dalek Redesigns and Fan Reactions

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I think we can all agree that the 2005 redesign of the Daleks was a huge success, right? Nobody had any issues with them surely? Apart from Raymond Cusick, who originally designed them in 1963, and noted in Doctor Who Confidential ‘To them rivets and bolts are archaic.’ So obviously you can’t please everyone.

Last Thursday, which was approximately four years ago, the Radio Times was released with a new Dalek design on the cover. The slightly taller and thinner black Dalek is based on the Reconnaissance Dalek from the 2018 special ‘Resolution’, something which executive producer Chris Chibnall says is a plot point, describing the 2020 special as a sort of sequel to that episode. It looks better in the trailer than it does in a static image, and it’s been implied that the new design is a variant rather than the standard model. 

The Daleks have had numerous variants and tweaks to the standard model over the years, with two major redesigns in 2010 and 2018. You could though, argue there were four major redesigns: the design seen in the Radio Times and ‘Resolution’, plus in 1985 four new white and gold Daleks appeared in ‘Revelation of the Daleks’ (a review of the story in the TARDIS fanzine mentioned the redesign among the positives) plus a Glass Dalek (made of Perspex) and then there were four white and gold Daleks in 1988’s ‘Remembrance of the Daleks’.

However, the white and gold props for ‘Revelation’ (made from a new mould for props at a 1984 horticulture festival in Liverpool) were then painted in greys for ‘Remembrance’, with the white and gold Daleks being new props with variants on the original design. The new Daleks also included an Emperor inspired by the Sixties comic strips and a Special Weapons Dalek, originally conceived as a floating weapons platform and adjusted to fit Doctor Who’s budget. Justin Richard’s 1988 review of the story in Doctor Who Bulletin was not especially complimentary about either.

A new white and gold Dalek and the Special Weapons Dalek

It’s at this point that I should mention the Target Novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks has an entire chapter from the point-of-view of the Special Weapons Dalek and if you haven’t read the Target Novelisation of Remembrance of the Daleks then I thoroughly encourage you to. I’d alsorecommend, if you’re interested in further reading, Jon Green and Gav Rymill’s Dalek6388 website, which is an incredible piece of work detailing the history of the Dalek props as they were built, used and refurbished.

So we have a good idea of when Dalek props were updated through this work, but what we don’t have for most of the show’s history are contemporary reactions to the design changes. Audience Research reports during the Sixties don’t note any responses to the different designs. We have nothing for the first Dalek story, save a comment in the Daily Mail that children had been asking what would happen to the props. ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’ comments are a mixture of happy viewers and people frustrated by the lack of Daleks in the first episode. Responses to ‘The Chase’ are mixed, with one viewer calling it refreshing in the context of the series thus far, a general agreement on it being silly but a disagreement on whether this is a good or bad thing.

None of which suggests people were especially bothered by the evolving design of the creatures. In ‘The Daleks’, the design from Raymond Cusick is largely as it would be going forward, but with a metallic collar around the “shoulders”, the area around the gunstick and sucker arm. For their second appearance in ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’two changes were made: a dish was added to the back of their collar to explain how Daleks could operate outside of their city. Secondly the fender, the base of the prop, was considerably enlarged by designer Spencer Chapman to allow the Daleks to traverse the outdoor terrain that filming required. This made them taller than Cusick’s original designs, and it was this approach – closer to a human eye line – that was used for the Amicus film adaptations of the first two Dalek stories.

A publicity still from ‘The Dalek Invasion of Earth’

The first one of these really distinguished itself from the black and white television version with blue being the standard colour for the Daleks, with a red second-in-command and a black and gold leader.

The colourful ‘Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965)’

These designs, and indeed some of the props, would be adapted for the television series, notably for the Dalek Supreme in 1973’s ‘Planet of the Daleks’ (based on a prop from the second movie, which can also be seen following Terry Nation around in this interview on Whicker’s World). This was described as “very impressive, with its black and gold livery and its customised eye-stalk and dome-lights” in The Television Companion by David J. Howe and Stephen James Walker (1998), but as ever we have little in the way of primary sources.

The Dalek Supreme from ‘Planet of the Daleks’

Back in the Sixties, ‘The Chase’saw Raymond Cusick return as the designer. His preference for a smaller, stranger design saw the fender return to its original size, and he felt that the dish on the back of the Dalek could be improved upon. He came up with solar panelled slats on the shoulders in place of the collar, and this overall design stayed largely the same until 2010.

The task of the 2005 redesign was given to production designer Edward Thomas and the BBC Wales Art Department, and based on concept art by Matt Savage. The teams’ instinct was to preserve the silhouette of the Dalek, but Thomas referenced the redesign of the Mini Cooper – a Sixties classic that was bulked out for a relaunch in 2000. Showrunner Russell T. Davies asked for the colour scheme to be bronze and gold and the lights to be similar to the Amicus movie Daleks.

The title character from ‘Dalek’

Reviews of 2005’s ‘Dalek’ were almost completely positive, but weren’t wholly preoccupied with the Dalek prop itself. In a way that vindicates the decision to keep the design similar to the original, a continuation that meant the changes weren’t commented on in the papers. What we saw in 2010, when the design did change the silhouette, was deemed more worthy of comment outside of fan forums.

Read more

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Doctor Who: revisiting each Doctor’s first encounter with the Daleks

By Mark Harrison

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Doctor Who: John Barrowman to Return in Revolution of the Daleks

By Louisa Mellor

In 2008, Steven Moffat was planning his first series as showrunner of Doctor Who. With a new cast, TARDIS interior and exterior, logo, title sequence and theme tune it was decided that the Daleks would also be revamped. Taking on board Raymond Cusick’s point about seeing screws, nuts and bolts in the design, Ed Thomas and concept artist Peter McKinstry sought to introduce smooth lines to the design. Moffat and scriptwriter Mark Gatiss were aware that the Dalek redesign couldn’t veer too far from the original, but were inspired by the colours and height of the Amicus Daleks with an added weapon hatch at the back, creating a hump-like boot. Moffat’s ideas included an organic eyeball and a colour palette inspired by sweets, “like you want to lick them”. This was in contrast to McKinstry’s desire for a metallic finish.

The “New Paradigm” Daleks from 2010

The response to these designs was not positive within fandom. Doctor Who Magazine dedicated a cover to the question ‘Is this the most controversial Dalek redesign ever?’ For the next Dalek story, the new designs had their colours muted and made more metallic (except the White Dalek Supreme), but were introduced as an upper echelon of Dalek society with the 2005 Bronze Daleks as the foot soldiers or grunts. The “New Paradigm” were seen twice on screen in the main show, with the Dalek Supreme from ‘The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End’ replacing the white model for ‘The Magician’s Apprentice/The Witch’s Familiar’, but the props were put to good use in exhibits and live events. As of yet, no one has been reported as licking them.

The last redesign we saw was in 2018, but this was a one-off Dalek made from scratch. The result had an intentional Scrapheap Challenge vibe and was now a remote-controlled prop rather than operated from within. Unlike the 2010 redesign, this Dalek’s different appearance wasn’t considered a new normal, and with the story providing more context for it the design provoked little to no controversy.  

The Dalek from ‘Resolution’

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Overall it’s really only the 2010 redesign that’s been met with a lot of resistance. Daleks have survived changes to their appearance, their voices, their technology, their planet being blown up and at least three attempts at wiping them out. The increasingly difficult trick is how to deploy the universe’s most defeated fascist cyborgs in a way that doesn’t feel like a contractual obligation, but a story that actually needs to be told.

The post Doctor Who: A History of Dalek Redesigns and Fan Reactions appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[cell151]

The 13th Doctor and Inevitable Knee Jerk Reaction and other various thoughts about the future of the series

Note: This turned out longer then I anticipated

So I haven’t read any of the mean spirited comments in regards to Jodie Whittaker’s casting as the 13th Doctor but I’m pretty sure, like 80-85%, are not actually Doctor Who fans.

Just like those who went ape shit over Mad Max: Fury Road probably didn’t remember the nature of the Mad Max films. Same with Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. Most of the really nasty sexist comments were from asshole loser men rather actual Ghostbusters fans. This was particularly frustrating because actual Ghostbusters fans, general movie goers and reviewers couldn’t criticize that horrible train wreck without being accused of being sexist basement dwelling Trump supporters (Judd Apatow can go fuck himself for that one).

That’s not to say there aren’t Doctor Who fans who are displeased with the casting decision. As a franchise that has spanned 50 years there are multiple generations of fans. There are fans who hid behind the sofa in the 1960s/1970s, those who first caught the show late at night on PBS and there are those who only became aware of the show when it returned in 2005 and haven’t seen any of the Classic Series, which is shame but understandable since that era ran from 1963 to 1989. So there is bound to be some disgruntlement.

I think the other feeling among some in the fandom is that the casting decision will be a boast to publicity and viewership and perhaps be a smoke screen to cover for the show’s problems when it comes to writing. Again this isn’t the first time a show or movie has used its diverse cast to try to downplay any criticism directed towards its direction and/or writing.

I surely hope that this isn’t the case. Despite being popular among critics and fans I personally have found Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat’s work on the show to be unbearable (with some exceptions) and I hope that with Chris Chibnall, whose Doctor Who penned episodes have been rather bad and his Torchwood episode Cyberwoman being some of the most awful writing I’ve ever witnessed, breaks the mold that had been set in 2005 of the show runner being in charge of everything.

In the past (i.e. Classic Era) the role of producer and script editor/head writer were different positions and this produced good results (Philip Hinchcliffe & Robert Holmes) and not-so-good results with some exceptions (John Nathan Turner & Eric Saward). Since 2005 both Davies and Moffat have had complete control over almost every aspect of the show which meant that few would question their decisions. Producer Caroline Skinner, who lasted two season under Moffat, found this out the hard way.

So again I sincerely hope that the writers will follow through and craft better stories rather then maintain the status quo.

And now a quick wish list of things I hope will happen with the next season but will probably wont’:

1. A divide between Executive Producer and Script Editor.

2. Allow for some new blood in the writing department

3. Bring back the synthesizers! Doctor Who used to be on the cutting edge of electronic sounds and music. Since 2005 we’ve been stuck with Murray Gold. If unwilling to get rid of Gold completely, at least allow for guest composers and maybe even members of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

4. Try to push for a longer run time. If not do more multi-part stories

5. Don’t play around with us Classic Series by bringing back a familiar element and not doing anything with them (looking at you Asylum of the Daleks)

6. The Doctor is a hobo in space. Please move away from The Doctor being THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE UNIVERSE WHO WHICH EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND HIM/HER

7. If you’re going to create new monsters do something interesting with them. In the decade the show has been back on the air the only memorable villain has been the Weeping Angels

8. Please let the 8th Doctor show up again. You could a story where The Doctor encounters a villain never seen before and she explains to her companion their first encounter via a flashback to her Eight incarnation. First part will be the 8th Doctor and the second part back in the present (or rather future) with 13.

9. A return to a purely historical episode. We haven’t had a historical episode since the late 1960s and briefly 1982. There’s so much interesting historical events and periods to tackle and the Big Finish audio dramas have proved that one can write an engaging historical story with no science fiction elements.

10. And lastly: the sonic screwdriver is not a magic wand nor a weapon. It was destroyed in the 1980s for a reason: the writers were getting lazy and it was starting to become like Batman’s utility belt.

And well that’s about it

Make Jodie Whittaker’s tenure in the Tardis a good one. Don’t let this be another ‘Great actor saddled with poor scripts’ situation.

[haroldgross]

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Dotor Who (series 12)

[3.5 stars]

Honestly, I don’t know whether to be excited or infuriated by this latest series. There are so many possibilities and answers and openings, and yet it was executed a bit ham-handedly and, ultimately, rushed.

Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch) continues to grow her sense of the Doctor…and does so with aplomb. Our intrepid companions are evolving, though they have been pushed more to the side as the Doctor has gained confidence and energy. The dynamic of the foursome isn’t always smooth from a story point of view, but they all work well together. I think when Chibnall really gets a feeling of the reins, he could equal Davies first few seasons. But first he really has to get some guidance on what building an arc really means.

This season is very reminiscent of Moffat’s disastrous series 8 as show-runner; fractured and confused. Though I think Chibnall’s overall quality is significantly better than Moffat’s awful season. But Chibnall has struggled with the overall arc and flow. He also allowed the series to get “in your face” preachy about too many issues. The ideas, and even presentations, were fine, but the expositions were painful. The same ideas could have been imparted without stating it all out in detail. In other words, he didn’t trust his audience enough. Even kids would have understood the implications without the pulpit speeches. At least, I do think Chibnall has the sensibility of Dr. Who correct (unlike Moffat much of the time). I just wish he’d be a bit more Torchwood and a bit less Saturday morning kid’s show.

Overall, it wasn’t an unengaging season, and it has some things to chew on, but I’m hoping next round will have more control and shape.

And now, the play by play as the series aired, if you want to understand how I came to these statements.

By the episode (with spoilers): 

Spyfall (parts 1 & 2) As a sendup of Skyfall, this Bond-like episode has a lot of fun and opens up some new avenues. However, I missed not having a stand-alone holiday special rather than just launching into the 12th series. In part I was also very, very frustrated with the revelation of the big bad. Not that Sacha Dhawan (Iron Fist) isn’t entertaining (if not exactly a Master I can get behind quite yet), but I really felt like that thread had been tied up ever so nicely during the Capaldi years. I suppose, however, that Chibnall just couldn’t resist trying to tackle one of the primary enemies and put his own stamp on it. What these episodes brought us, however, was the shape of the upcoming season with the reveals at the end. Was it worth it? I guess we’ll see.

Orphan 55 This episode starts off interestingly, but devolves into the worst kind of preachy science fiction that just doesn’t work well. Surprising as Ed Hime wrote one of the more challenging episodes from the previous season, It Takes You Away. It’s a shame as there were missed opportunities and, certainly, some fun riffs on Damnation Alley that could have taken the story in different directions. For instance, what if the Dregs were the results of virus infected terraforming tech that Kane was using. But, as it is, it’s one of the weakest episodes they’ve had a in long while. At least it was well directed and acted. And it was fun to see Laura Lane (The Loch) and Lewin Lloyd (Judy) in some different roles. Perhaps this is the one really weak episode this season (there’s always one)…and we’re getting it out of the early rather than late.

Nicola Tesla’s Night of Horrors Well, I’ll give them this, Edison was portrayed at least a bit like the ass he was. The episode as a whole was OK. It’s another high octane, hand-wavy adventure in history, though this time on American soil with Goran Visnjic (Beginners) and Robert Glenister guesting as Tesla and Edison respectively. Fun, sure, and nice to see Tesla sort of get his due. it was also somewhat clever (and perhaps disingenuous) that Who elevates his ideas, even if the tragic aspects of his life remain.

I do have to wonder, after setting up the larger arc in the first episodes, why have we not even touched on it again yet? There aren’t that many eps to play with so waiting seems like a bad idea to me.

Renegade of the Judoon Now this is what I’m talking about! This was the best and most complex episode of the season so far. It picks up the opening mystery and explodes it with two major reveals of multiple time lines and the delightful return of John Barrowman’s Capt. Jack Harkness. As a mid-season pivot, it’s wonderful. Why they dropped the thread for a couple eps escapes me as there is clearly a lot of material to work with. The mysteries should have at least been tagged into the intervening episodes to keep it more alive. But we’re here now…hoping the momentum continues and it’s a sprint to the finale.

Praxeus Really? They couldn’t just keep focusing on the main thread? We had to have yet another “we’re destroying the planet” PSA? And, by the way, they’re getting a bit much and far too preachy in the writing. I know this is aimed at kids, but they’re smarter than the script allows for as well.

The episode is definitely an energetic and entertaining one. It even brings in Warren Brown (Good Cop), who gets to recap a lot of his characters in this one, but with some nice twists with the help of Matthew McNulty (The Paradise). But we just left off a huge revelation and there isn’t even a hint of that in this story.  There are only four episodes left and a hell of a lot to wrap up. Chibnall needs to get a better grip of his seasonal arcs and learn how to weave a whole cloth.

Can You Hear Me? This fast-paced and energized adventure is great fun and sets up…something. Not sure what yet, but I don’t think this will be the last we know and see of these newest “monsters.” But the story is almost entirely off thread from the main series arc. At least it certainly appears to be stand-alone. What is clear from this episode is that we’re headed to some sort of change-over in, at least, the companions.

The Haunting of Villa Diodati OK, here we are again with another view of the night Frankenstein was created (the most recent being Mary Shelley). Admittedly, this is a fun and unique use of that infamous (though more likely apocryphal) night. And it gets us back on the main arc…though with more questions than answers by the end.

With only two episodes left in the series, and the stakes and issues all finally at the forefront (although a continued aversion to discussing Jack or the other Doctor), I certainly hope they are both about wrapping all this up. This particularly story is fine, but because of the many recreations of this night, the trappings frankly felt a bit tired to me despite the creative concepts.

Ascension of the Cybermen Talk about a long lead. Finally we are closing the loop begun in the first episode. This is an action packed story that raises the horror of the Cybermen another notch. While not an official two-parter, the resolution won’t come till next week’s finale. Frankly, not much really happens in this episode other than some adrenaline-based setup and the pulling in of at least some of the open threads. Mind you, there are still far too many left untouched, but I suspect that will change. I just hope the final episode of the series is super-sized so they don’t have to rush the resolution or, worse, leave it unresolved until the holiday special or next season. In other words, this was a fun and exciting episode, but not a complete or satisfying one on its own.

The Timeless Children As I feared, this episode ended up rushed and, ultimately, open-ended. That said, at least we finally have an answer to Matt Smith’s regeneration from a few seasons back (that infamous number 13) which was never explained. You can buy into that or not, but at least Chibnall has attempted to provide an answer without shattering the canon. However, the depiction of The Master here, both by Sacha Dhawan and as written, is just over the top and weakly supported…and it flies in the face of the most recent incarnations. Sure The Master was always a bit off his nut, and a lot of that was due to his personal competition with The Doctor, but it needed more foundation and explanation throughout the series to get him onto a new path. And the one thing this episode never explained is how The Master survived the end of last season.

And, finally, the tag was more than a little angering. While it pulled back in aspects of the opening episode nicely, it leaves us utterly hanging at least until much later this year (with a possible special). I would have much preferred a conclusion and then a bridging special with tag into the 13th. It felt like a desperate attempt to get folks back after a mixed-result series.

[spryfilm]

“Doctor Who – The Woman Who Fell to Earth” (Season 11)

Television/Sci-Fi

Ten Episodes

Produced by: Chris Chibnall

Featuring: Jodie Whittaker, Bradley Walsh, Tosin Cole, and Mandip Gill

Tim Shaw: “Who are you?” 

The Doctor: “I’m glad you asked that again. Bit of adrenaline, dash of outrage, and a hint of panic knitted my brain back together. I know exactly who I am! I’m the Doctor, sorting out fair play throughout the universe.”

After what seems like an inordinate amount of time the latest season of “Doctor Who” returned to screens with some of the biggest changes in its fifty year history which in my mind are not only welcome but long overdue. The most significant as well as most obvious change is the Doctor’s latest regeneration from the older male Scottish actor Peter Capaldi to the more youthful female Jodie Whittaker is going to divide fans of the show like no previous alteration. The other changes that have occurred this year are a new show runner, a different screening time, a cosmetic change in the look of the show and the way in which the companions are going to be used in relation to the Doctor herself. To be fair on everyone it is far to early to tell how all these changes are going to be received or which ones are going to work and of course which ones are going to fail, you cannot please everyone all of the time.

After viewing the initial episode, “The Woman Who Fell to Earth”, it appears on the surface that their have been some very wise decisions made and the decisions to cast Whittaker was a canny one by Chibnall who does share a past with the actress after casting her in previous roles. Change whether it works or not is good, it shakes things up, challenges the status quo, keeps audiences guessing and introduces new points of view. After introducing two new ‘Doctors’ as well as following the person that re-started “Doctor Who” in Russell T. Davies, it was time for David Moffat to hand over the reigns especially since the show had seemed to reach a peak and was seemingly a little lost in terms of its arc for the characters as well as feeling that casting Capaldi may have been a mistake as well as little backward looking. There had been from some quarters a call to have a regeneration from Matt Smith that was not a white man, but in fact asking the question that if the Doctor was indeed an alien why would race or gender need to be the same each time, especially for a being that is hundreds of years old, after change is the spice of life.

There is no doubt that Davies struck gold with the casting of David Tennant who was an instant success as the Doctor, he ‘got’ the role like few before, possibly second only to Tom Baker whose career it must be said was to the point of being cast very similar to each others. Tennant, of course has gone on to be in many successful television shows and a few movies that have realised his strengths in creating characters and have let him shine in whatever he appeared in. It was always going to be a struggle following Tennant but the then new show runner cast a seemingly unknown Matt Smith who acquitted himself well, then followed by Capaldi who was an extremely well known actor, he had stamped his authority in movies and film for over four decades, who as I have said may have been too senior for the role in this new millennium. Whoever followed Capaldi was going to have to reset the character as well as be someone who could carry a series that had been around for fifty years. It could have been viewed as stunt casting by having a woman but that really is not an issue when you look at Jodie Whittaker’s oeuvre, she may be one of the most experienced Doctor’s to ever be cast, that is extremely impressive to say the least. I believe she is one of the better actors to be cast, in her career she has played some complicated characters as well as acting opposite some truly great actors, matching them in talent every time.

In contrast to the casting of Whittaker, Chibnall as the new show runner has made some smart choices in supplying a mixed supporting cast to help the main star with her first season in a very unique role where she must be many things to a great many people. So we have young as well as older companions that will be offering very different skills in each adventure, possibly with the light shining on each in different stories involving different antagonists, which is something “Doctor Who” has been doing for years. The other element in the all of the new casting is that there are no holdovers from previous seasons in terms of characters, plot lines and even the TARDIS so that we, as viewers, are starting from the beginning of a narrative that has lasted for decades.

In terms of this first episode it is very definitely an introduction to all the new elements of the show, especially of course with a female Doctor. However in terms of the story it is an example of the kind of first episode that is common for a new Doctor going back to at least the Jon Pertwee era where there was a reset of sorts as well, these type of episodes have become routine, concentrating not on an antagonist but how a new Doctor begins to interact with the world around them. So what we have is the new Doctor with her new friends without a TARDIS facing off against a villain of the week that matters little, in fact is extremely forgettable once the credits roll. What is important is how this new Doctor interacts with everyone as well as delivering lines that may sound absurd but actually link to a greater story as well as being completely believable in regards to the previous incarnations of the character. In terms of this episode it did everything correctly not only delivering a new Doctor but setting up the rest of the season whetting viewers appetites, hopefully living up to this episode for the next few months.

“The Woman Who Fell to Earth“

Written: Chris Chibnall

Directed: Jamie Childs

In Sheffield, Ryan Sinclair accidentally calls an alien pod to the planet, leading to a strange being attacking his grandmother Grace and step-grandfather Graham. He and traffic officer Yasmin Khan attempt to stop it when the newly regenerated Doctor falls out of the sky and sees it flee. Investigating the strangeness, the five discover a second alien is tracking a local construction worker as a hunting game. The Doctor manages to rework the alien’s systems, causing it to flee home, but Grace is killed in the fight against it. After Grace’s funeral, the Doctor reworks one of the alien’s escape teleporters to find the TARDIS. She bids goodbye to Ryan, Yas, and Graham, but accidentally teleports all four of them into deep space.

Television review: “Doctor Who – The Woman Who Fell to Earth” (Season 11) "Doctor Who - The Woman Who Fell to Earth" (Season 11) Television/Sci-Fi Ten Episodes Produced by: Chris Chibnall…