DanaK

It’s time for a Series 12 spoilers and news topic with occasional production news coming in http://cultbox.co.uk/news/doctor-who-series-12-jamie-stone-directs-the-first-filming-block The director of the first filming block, partially done in South Africa and the rest in Cardiff currently, is reportedly Jamie Stone. Stone directed a Who short The Last Day

Anyone who likes Tennant and/or Whittaker should try to listen to the podcast interview. It’s a lot of fun. One thing that surprised me was that they set the show in Sheffield because Chibnall having a connection, not because of Whittaker

Doctor #10 David Tennant's podcast interview with current incumbent Jodie Whittaker https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jodie-whittaker/id1450005207?i=1000429677359&mt=2 Jodie comes across really well like I thought from previous interviews. She tends to have some panic about some things though, like trying not to overthink things and working to get into the character of the Doctor in the audition phases. If it were me, I would have probably stressed far too much about it

https://twitter.com/malorieblackman/status/1094012556463747072?s=21 Malorie Blackman and Chris Chibnall won a Visionary Honours award at BAFTA the other night for the episode "Rosa" ETA: More info on this award https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-02-09/doctor-who-picks-up-special-award-for-malorie-blackman-episode-rosa/

I think one of the few things I would have changed would be to have Ryan and Graham escort Umbreen and her mother as they escaped to Pakistan and just have The Doctor and Yaz watch as Prem confronts his brother and the others and walk away as he’s shot. Ryan and Graham weren’t really needed in that scene

After rewatching this multiple times, sometimes just parts of it, this remains my favorite episode of the season. The look, the feel, the music, the emotion of it, just continues to move me, especially the last 10 minutes. I really appreciate the composer making a real effort to make the score with South Asian musicians and multiple instruments Also, according to a BTS feature on the Blu Ray, they (possibly the BBC?) juggled episodes a bit to make sure this was shown on Remembrance Day

It wasn’t just that Rosa worked for the NAACP; she was also seen as older, employed, reliable, married and more mature. Not really fair to Colvin, but stuff happens

I have to say I’m impressed by the show making the effort to get small and less well known details right for this episode. Things like: the bus driver’s name and his confrontation with Rosa years before, black passengers paying at the front but having to get off and enter at the back, Rosa actually being in the black section when she was told to move (many mistakenly think she was in the white section), all the black passengers in a row having to move back when one or more white passengers needed a seat, and possibly other things I didn’t notice or forgot. As said in a BTS video though, they did have to fudge on where Yaz would sit because their research didn’t give them a definitive answer

Rosa did not stage the incident according to the official sources and Rosa herself. It was not planned and Rosa had not realized that was the same bus driver who forced her off years before. Another bus driver might not have bothered to have her arrested. What was planned was figuring out which case to take to court. The NAACP decided Rosa was a better case as opposed to a pregnant unwed teenager who refused to move 6 months before I think the show’s conceit is that certain points in history are sensitive and needed all the right conditions to happen the way it happened. That was certainly the belief the Doctor was working under. There are certain events that are fixed points in time and can’t be changed without bad stuff happening and then there are points in time where things can be nudged to change the events, which Krasko was doing I’ll concede that Krasko was a weak villain who was easily defeated, but the bigger villain was the racist system at the time

I think the article author meant actually filming in China as opposed to it being a story setting

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/01/30/doctorwho-bbc-china-posters/?utm_content=buffer72f2a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer More info on the show’s upcoming debut in China including some very pretty posters. The article’s writer makes an interesting suggestion to not be surprised to see a future episode set in China

Having a female lead and 2 minority companions seems to be one major difference. Chibnall focused more on man’s inhumanity to man instead of Moffat’s twisty tales but different showrunners focus on different things Also to point out, progressive views change with the times so the show may be more understanding of certain views than the past, but I don’t see how that can be seen as wrong

Let me point out as an American that the foreigners surprised me and did a great job with Rosa and made sure the character of Rosa made her own decisions instead of the Doctor doing it for her. It was great, well done episode. It was far from a debacle. The message was that the racist system was keeping Black people down and Rosa pushed back against it and helped ignite the Civil Rights movement, and the Doctor needed to keep that on track. White people and those in authority at the time were part of keeping that system going and it’s not wrong to point that out. It was accurate for the time and so was the present day racism in Britain pointed out by Ryan and Yaz, and wanting to bury your head in the sand about it helps no one, especially given the renewed rise in racism these days

I continue to not understand this “PC agenda” rap given the show has always been socially liberal and progressive and took up social issues. And like, how is it wrong to condemn bigotry and hate and allow women and minorities equal chances to important roles in front of and behind the camera?

I’m not sure how you define that but I think DW is the BBC’s biggest show and money maker especially with it being so global. And I think taking a gap year is more for the producers wanting to make a quality show rather than the BBC wanting to shelve it, esp given so many British shows take gap years. I do think the show was headed down during the Capaldi era with the ratings falling to lows so the BBC was open to major changes to bring back viewers, thus ejecting the twisty storytelling and making it more accessible and making the Doctor more likable. I guess we’ll see how things go with Series 12

Continuing to cite the wide discrepancy on Rotten Tomatoes between critic and fan scores as proof that the viewers have rejected the show ignores that there are likely bigger forces at work, including hateful sites ginning up bad scores that have also hit other shows like Star Trek: Discovery, the female Ghostbusters movie and Star Wars: The Last Jedi that oh so coincidentally have female and minority leads. If it was any other show or Who season that didn’t have that particular problem, the scores would likely be a lot closer or the user scores a lot higher (which they are). The increased ratings and positive fan and critic attention indicate an obvious increased positive reception over the last 1-2 seasons even if there are things to criticize the season about At the same time, I fully expect many episodes in Series 12 to be emotional and looking at some pretty ugly issues, similar to Series 11. I don’t mind a mixture of emotion and escapism with my sci-fi

Really interesting interview with current Doctor Who composer Segun Akinola https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/fsmonline/free_article.cfm?ID=6747&issueID=169&page=1

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-23/david-tennant-podcast/ Doctor #10 David Tennant is doing a podcast and current Doctor Jodie Whittaker will be one of his first guests

If people prefer, we can possibly put production stuff in a Series 12 topic, though it’s early

13 may be pretty scattered but she’s still the smartest one in the room most of the time and figuring out the solution before anyone else can I think the writers wanted to go with a more friendly and big hearted Doctor above an ”I’m pretty dangerous” approach to counter #12’s darker personality. They were trying to bring people back to the show with a lighter touch after some pretty dark seasons with 12 seemingly pushed viewers away

The NTAs may be “just” a vote by the public but it’s still good that the show and star got nominated when that hasn't happened since Matt Smith. It shows the fans are excited again Jodie and Jodie Comer of Killing Eve both lost to Madden so that was pretty tough competition

According to my Twitter feed, The National Television Awards are being awarded in Britain. Jodie lost best actor to Richard Madden in "Bodyguard" and Doctor Who lost in its best drama category, I don't know to which show. And apparently it was announced that Brad Walsh was not at the show because he's currently filming in South Africa for another show (Doctor Who of course) Apparently Bradley Walsh's The Chase won at the NTAs for Best Quiz Show, but Brad didn't win for Best Presenter

Apparently the show is launching in China for the first time https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs5VKSBB8bD/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=1wmielnadk2zu

They take 9 months to film so of course, plus post-production takes a lot of time. It’s a very complex show to produce and the BBC allegedly doesn’t give them a big budget. And the show was probably delayed to 2020 to give the producers more time to get the episodes made

FYI Also, there’s a tweet of seeing Jodie and gang on a flight out of Heathrow so they are likely filming abroad. Edited to add: Sounds like they went to South Africa again. The tweet: