Doctor Who in the Media

[Mabinogia]

I'm excited to see Bill. I like her already. She seems like a nice, normal, non-special human who is just there to go on an adventure, not fall in love with an alien or be an all knowing smartie pants or give birth to the Doctors wife. She's just a normal in awe, and excited for her adventure. I hope they don't make her "special" in any way. Just let her be a fun companion for a while then back to her normal life.

[smorbie]

Ulggh, I already hate her just from the commercials.  She has a stupid, insipid smile on her face.  I know that's not fair.  I'll probably grow to like her; I usually do, though I never really warmed to Martha until she left and joined UNIT.

Here's a question.  BBC America recently started over in their reruns, but they skipped Eccleston all together, starting with Tennant's first full-episode appearance where Rose takes him to her mom's place on Christmas.  Then they jumped out of Tennant just a couple of episodes after Donna left without showing his regeneration.

Then, they skipped the first two episodes of Matt Smith's entry, and today they left off showing him only an episode or so after the George one, and showed, instead, an episode deep into Cappeldi's term.  What gives?

And curiouser and cursioser is that a commercial I saw advertising a Who Takeover (I guess they mean Monday) featurning three doctors and ten companions.  Did a weird timey-wimey thing happen with Eccleston?  Is he not even counted as a doctor anymore?

Marthon, not Monday.  I'm an idiot.

[smorbie]

On 2/1/2017 at 6:30 PM, hnygrl said:

Please sweet baby Jesus, NO. MORE. PRETTY BOYS.

PLEASE. Just a nice, normal nobody of a guy who has a nice, normal, not pretty not ugly face who can act his ass off.

Young, old, older, black, white, I don't care (Not ready for a girl Doctor yet though).

Just please. No More pretty boys...please!!!!

I'd like to see the "Capaldi's too old" Crowd react to a normal looking nobody as The Doctor. Nothing to write home about but damn can he act!

True, Smith and Tennant could act their faces off, and did so as The Doctor. But so did Eccleston. And he set the standard. And he wasn't a twenty-something pretty boy either. You forget that when you watch his season/series, cause he's just so damned good.

Eccleston was brilliant.  I was put off a bit because he looked so dour compared with Tennant and Smith (I watched out of order in a timey-wimey fashion).  But he was just so good that by the time he had finished his first line, I was sold.

[benteen]

You know, spoiler warnings would be appreciated on this thread...

[eXiled]

I too continue to be confused by BBC America's decision to not show the Ninth Doctor's episodes. He was my first doctor and I adored him. If they think they can pretend Eccleston never happened the peeps in charge are more than just petty. They're insane.

[smorbie]

This is digging into my brain and really bothering me.  For crying out loud, they can't ignore him; he has a number!

[azshadowwalker]

20 hours ago, benteen said:

You know, spoiler warnings would be appreciated on this thread...

While I agree, I am not sure that spoiler is even accurate, based upon the article the BBC put out yesterday. I am not posting it, even though it's mainstream media, because I don't want to put spoilers in this thread. The one from Twitter should be in spoilers, not media, I agree. 

[benteen]

Fair enough.

[Lantern7]

I didn't see it here, so I might as well link it: Familiar face coming in Season/Series 10. Could be a headache, could lead to something awesome. It's a casting thing, but I don't know if it would be considered a spoiler.

Movellans? The robots with the braids from "Destiny Of The Daleks"?!? Holy crap.

[truther]

My problem with having that character return -- and I like both the actor and the character -- is that it implies some Epic Spectacular Confrontation Across Time And Space Where The Fate Of The Universe Hangs In The Balance.  My personal issue with this show is that it's become too big.  Everything's too . . . much.  

[Mabinogia]

Agreed truther. It becomes just ridiculous when each season and each new companion has to outdo the last. No, it doesn't. Clara didn't need to be more special than Amy who was more special than Donna who was more special then Martha. The stakes don't have to be higher this season than they were last season. Just tell a good story. Just make characters that are relatable, or likable, or interesting. They don't have to all be the most important being in all the universe. They just have to be enjoyable to watch.

One of my favorite eps was Fires of Pompeii. There were stakes, the fate of an entire town, but it wasn't going to end the entire universe. It was small, and personal. There was a family involved. You got to know the family a little, enough to care. I find I care less when the fate of the universe is at risk. Obviously they aren't going to end the universe so clearly the good side is going to win. But maybe that one family was going to die. They should have. The Doctor understood that but Donna, being human, did not. I liked the give and take between them. It felt more personal than all these "we must save everything in all time and space" stuff which I just find boring and predictable.

[sugarbaker design]

Sometimes the most suspenseful, exciting story is about the fate of one person, not the entire universe, hanging in the balance.

[Mabinogia]

sugarbaker design that was beautifully stated, and much more succinctly than my long winded version. haha

Edited April 12, 2017 by Mabinogia

[truther]

Yeah, I probably wouldn't even have posted my comment except BBCAmerica showed "Midnight" yesterday, which is precisely the type of episode I wish they did more often.  

Edited April 12, 2017 by truther

[azshadowwalker]

On 4/7/2017 at 10:26 PM, Lantern7 said:

I didn't see it here, so I might as well link it: Familiar face coming in Season/Series 10. Could be a headache, could lead to something awesome. It's a casting thing, but I don't know if it would be considered a spoiler.

We're discussing it in the spoiler thread. When it was posted on the official Doctor Who Facebook page, people freaked out over being spoiled and someone was unhappy that a similar item was posted earlier in this thread. So, I created a spoiler thread and put this one in there. 

[benteen]

3 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

Agreed truther. It becomes just ridiculous when each season and each new companion has to outdo the last. No, it doesn't. Clara didn't need to be more special than Amy who was more special than Donna who was more special then Martha. The stakes don't have to be higher this season than they were last season. Just tell a good story. Just make characters that are relatable, or likable, or interesting. They don't have to all be the most important being in all the universe. They just have to be enjoyable to watch.

One of my favorite eps was Fires of Pompeii. There were stakes, the fate of an entire town, but it wasn't going to end the entire universe. It was small, and personal. There was a family involved. You got to know the family a little, enough to care. I find I care less when the fate of the universe is at risk. Obviously they aren't going to end the universe so clearly the good side is going to win. But maybe that one family was going to die. They should have. The Doctor understood that but Donna, being human, did not. I liked the give and take between them. It felt more personal than all these "we must save everything in all time and space" stuff which I just find boring and predictable.

I agree I don't need the new companion to outdo the last one.  I just want a good character who is well-written and acts like she wants to be there.  If it's a good character and the actress does a good job with it, then the rest will work itself out. 

Enough with the nicknames.  Bill doesn't need to be The Girl Who Waited or The Impossible Girl.  But I don't trust Moffat to not saddle her with some kind of gimmick nickname and not mess up her character.

Edited April 12, 2017 by benteen

[eXiled]

1 hour ago, truther said:

Yeah, I probably wouldn't even have posted my comment except BBCAmerica showed "Midnight" yesterday, which is precisely the type of episode I wish they did more often.  

Midnight is one of my favorite episodes, yet I often feel alone because I don't see people discuss it much. I also don't recall seeing it voted into those Doctor Who lists that bloggers are so fond of. It's creepy, suspenseful, and riveting. I was actually afraid for the Doctor -- and that never happens.

[sugarbaker design]

YANA, (see what I did there!) Midnight is also one of my favorite eps.  I like everything about it, mainly only one set, one character getting picked off, one by one, like something out of Agatha Christie, and probably my favorite, the razor-sharp performance of Lesley Sharp of a woman overtaken by an alien presence.  She commanded fear and sympathy simultaneously.  I love when her character repeats everything the Doctor says ending with 'Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble'.

1 hour ago, eXiled said:

I also don't recall seeing it voted into those Doctor Who lists that bloggers are so fond of.

I hate those lists.

[festivus]

Yeah, my greatest wish is that Bill is just a regular ol' gal that just wants to see the universe and have some adventures. No more specialist special that ever specialed. 

[Bruinsfan]

She'll enjoy at least a brief honeymoon period with me regardless of writing/performance quality simply by virtue of not being The Impossible Albatross.

[Mabinogia]

So far the previews make her seem like just a normal person who is having a blast running around with the Doctor. No angst, nothing epically special about her, no mythic backstory. I hope it stays that way. From what little I've seen I think I'm going to enjoy Bill as a companion.

[starri]

Well, damn.  Deborah Watling has passed away.

[benteen]

RIP, Deborah Watling.  I saw her at LI Who about three years ago.  She was part of the Second Doctor companions panel and told a lot of very fun stories about her time on Doctor Who.  I'm glad that two of her serials were found in 2013, two really good ones too.  It's a shame.

[foreverevolving]

I guess this isn't considered spoilers per sa.. but according to this EW interview from comic con, they have finished filming the Christmas special

 

http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/22/doctor-who-peter-capaldi-jodie-whittaker-advice/

[Lantern7]

Watched SyFy's Comic-Con show tonight. It ended with six folks from Doctor Who: Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Steven Moffat, Michelle Gomez and (I think) Mark Gatiss. Question: Why?!? I mean, aren't most of them done with the series? I found that a little weird. Not off-putting, but weird. Also: how much Bill cosplay would be out there? Probably more than Nardole, but the Missy fans would be out in force.

[Llywela]

It doesn't seem that weird to me that the most recent (as in only just finished airing a couple of weeks ago) series of Doctor Who would be represented, rather than the one that hasn't filmed yet for which only a single cast member is known. Capaldi is still the sitting Doctor, Moffat is still the showrunner - that will be the case until the Christmas special airs.

[Lantern7]

From Bleeding Cool:

1. Pearl Mackie will be in the Christmas special. The story ends with "Developing . . .," which means that more stuff might be added on. And edited. Apparently, Michelle Rodriguez was at the panel. How the heck would she be worked into the series?

2. Steven Moffat does not believe in the backlash towards Jodie Whittaker. C'mon, Steve, Sherlock Holmes would have confirmed that. It's like I said on the Thirteenth Doctor thread: test fans on their knowledge of both versions of the series. If you score 75 percent on the classic era and/or 90 on the modern, and you don't like the Doctor being a chick, then you can be allowed to complain. I doubt that the two circles overlap that much.

[magdalene]

Christmas Special trailer -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCkDXegqjR0&feature=push-u&attr_tag=hlGs3mpZXNQE3shA-6

[Lantern7]

Just saw that. Who's the blonde woman supposed to be? Polly? And nice of Bill to come back. "I gotta make this short . . . me and the water entity are having dinner at Clara and Ashildr's TARDIS diner." "Wait . . . who's Clara?!?"

And here's a retrospective on Capaldi's time in the TARDIS. Got a standing ovation at Hall H. Did not notice his hair got a little higher from his first season.

[benteen]

That definitely looked like Polly with The First Doctor.  Perhaps we get to see her and Ben before their mission in The Tenth Planet.

I'm going to put the following in spoilers in regards to casting...

Spoiler

I think Gatiss is playing The Brigadier's father.  His character is described as a World War I soldier known only as The Captain.  The Brig was not old enough to have served in WW1 when he debuted in The Web of Fear.

Though Gatiss looks like Hitler in that picture.

Nice to see Bill back and I figured that she would be.

Edited July 23, 2017 by benteen

[Lantern7]

In regards to Polly possibly popping up: Was the Doctor ailing when "The Tenth Planet" started? I mean, I know Hartnell was ailing, but I don't know the state of the Doctor heading into that arc. I had a weird idea about how the special would be set before "An Unearthly Child," some bad stuff happens to Twelve, and he regenerates as a young girl with no memories of his life/lives. So the First Doctor adopts her as his granddaughter, calls her "Susan," and they eventually flee to Earth. And then Jodie Whittaker pops up at the end, decades after "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth," having regained her memories. Biggest problem -- aside from people's minds exploding -- would be that Jodie wouldn't get the torch passed to her from Capaldi. And I liked the last regeneration, where Eleven "popped" into Twelve with minimal SFX.

[angora]

Okay, so I'm super-excited for the Christmas special anyway (Twelve and One, the Doctor's regenerations coming full circle, first glimpse of Thirteen,) but I squeed HARD when I heard Bill's voice.  So happy she'll be there, whether it's just for Christmas or beyond - given the dramatic change that'll be happening with the regeneration, it'd be nice to have someone around who knows the Doctor rather just having Thirteen do the post-regeneration thing with someone who didn't know her before, and I feel like Bill would be able to roll with it pretty well.  Even if she just carries over into the first episode of series 11 and then rides off into the sunset, but I'm hoping for more.

[The Companion]

17 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Watched SyFy's Comic-Con show tonight. It ended with six folks from Doctor Who: Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Steven Moffat, Michelle Gomez and (I think) Mark Gatiss. Question: Why?!? I mean, aren't most of them done with the series? I found that a little weird. Not off-putting, but weird. Also: how much Bill cosplay would be out there? Probably more than Nardole, but the Missy fans would be out in force.

I don't find it odd at all. It would have been difficult for the incoming folks to answer anything and I suspect the panel of those making their last hurrah has more draw. I did find it odd that they only managed to get one question in. It was clear the audience was full of whovians, and I hope they got some bonus time after the show. 

[Llywela]

6 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

In regards to Polly possibly popping up: Was the Doctor ailing when "The Tenth Planet" started? I mean, I know Hartnell was ailing, but I don't know the state of the Doctor heading into that arc. I had a weird idea about how the special would be set before "An Unearthly Child," some bad stuff happens to Twelve, and he regenerates as a young girl with no memories of his life/lives. So the First Doctor adopts her as his granddaughter, calls her "Susan," and they eventually flee to Earth. And then Jodie Whittaker pops up at the end, decades after "The Dalek Invasion Of Earth," having regained her memories. Biggest problem -- aside from people's minds exploding -- would be that Jodie wouldn't get the torch passed to her from Capaldi. And I liked the last regeneration, where Eleven "popped" into Twelve with minimal SFX.

The Doctor was ailing throughout The Tenth Planet, he'd had a hard season. The set-up we saw at the end of The Doctor Falls looked very much like The Tenth Planet, so it was always odds on that the two Doctors were intersecting just as they were each about to regenerate - there'd be no reason to so closely mirror the circumstances if it were some other point in the 1st Doctor's timeline. And yes, that does look like Polly in the trailer, which pretty much confirms that we're coming in at the end of The Tenth Planet.

I really would stop watching if the show tried to claim that the Thirteenth Doctor was Susan! I mean, aside from the fact that 30-something Jodie Whittaker really doesn't look anything like the teenage Susan (or early 20s Carole Anne Ford) and can't pass as such, Susan is the Doctor's granddaughter, why is that so hard to accept? Why do we have to keep coming up with outlandish theories to make her something else? She was the Doctor's very first companion, and she was his granddaughter, they were both very clear on that subject. Just let her be.

[Lantern7]

@Llywela: It's just an insane theory of mine. I'm seldom right about those things. Only time I was right that I can remember was thinking, "Hey, maybe Maggie shot Mr. Burns." Also, there was an Eighth Doctor audio play where he met Susan and her family.

I kinda hated reading another forum about where people assumed the cliffhanger was directly related to "The Tenth Planet." I was all, "Well, maybe they're in the Arctic instead of Antarctica. What's the difference?" And somebody replied, "One is the North Pole, one is the South Pole." Oy. I mean, not like I'd want Nick Frost-as-Santa to pop up.

[tessaray]

10 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

@Llywela: It's just an insane theory of mine. I'm seldom right about those things. Only time I was right that I can remember was thinking, "Hey, maybe Maggie shot Mr. Burns." Also, there was an Eighth Doctor audio play where he met Susan and her family.

 

The Big Finish audios with the 8th Doctor/Susan/Alex were great.  I always wished we could have gotten an onscreen reunion.  And more 8 in particular...  

I will say that considering how Moffat liked to mess with canon that I'm surprised he never did anything with Susan but the occasional mention here and there.  I'm glad he left her alone though. 

ETA: In The Five Doctors, Susan does get some time with the 5th, which was fun to watch. 

[call me ishmael]

1 minute ago, tessaray said:

The Big Finish audios with the 8th Doctor/Susan/Alex were great.  I always wished we could have gotten an onscreen reunion.  And more 8 in particular...  

I will say that considering how Moffat liked to mess with canon that I'm surprised he never did anything with Susan but the occasional mention here and there.  I'm glad he left her alone though. 

Although wasn't her photo sitting on his desk at university?  I hope that wasn't foreshadowing of some sort.  blech.

[tessaray]

Just now, call me ishmael said:

Although wasn't her photo sitting on his desk at university?  I hope that wasn't foreshadowing of some sort.  blech.

It was and one of the mentions that I was counting. River was there too and her story is done.  

[benteen]

1 hour ago, tessaray said:

The Big Finish audios with the 8th Doctor/Susan/Alex were great.  I always wished we could have gotten an onscreen reunion.  And more 8 in particular...  

I will say that considering how Moffat liked to mess with canon that I'm surprised he never did anything with Susan but the occasional mention here and there.  I'm glad he left her alone though. 

ETA: In The Five Doctors, Susan does get some time with the 5th, which was fun to watch. 

I wish to hell we'd gotten an onscreen reunion with Susan too.  She's in The Five Doctors but what happened isn't acknowledged at all, save for the episode beginning with The First Doctor's famous good-bye speech to Susan.  Onscreen, that is literally a 53-year-old unresolved plot thread.

[starri]

I secretly hoped that Clara the Impossible Girl would turn out to be either Susan or Romana, having borrowed the Doctor's Chameleon Arch.

[HauntedBathroom]

On 24/07/2017 at 6:29 PM, benteen said:

I wish to hell we'd gotten an onscreen reunion with Susan too.  She's in The Five Doctors but what happened isn't acknowledged at all, save for the episode beginning with The First Doctor's famous good-bye speech to Susan.  Onscreen, that is literally a 53-year-old unresolved plot thread.

It's literally not. At that point, both One and Susan knew he was talking out of his arse when he claimed he'd go back. By the time he could steer the TARDIS that well,, he'd had four more lives and met a load more people, Susan Who?

[Lantern7]

Don't know where else to put this . . . Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie will be coming to New York Comic Con in October. They're only showing up on Thursday and Friday. Now I gotta save a little more money because I have yet to meet a "modern" Doctor. Also, I'd like to see if Pearl still has that nice hair.

[benteen]

Awesome!  Thanks for posting, Lantern7.  I got to see them last year at the Doctor Who BBC event where Pearl made her first appearance.  Glad to hear they will both be back this season.

[Lantern7]

I covered the Capaldi panel from this morning.

[benteen]

Awesome, Lantern7!

 

Shada, the uncompleted Doctor Who serial is finally going to be completed, using animation for the unfinished scenes to go along with the scenes that were finished.  Both Tom Baker and Lalla Ward will be reprising their characters.

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a840171/doctor-who-shada-unfinished-animation/

[voiceover]

Revisiting this question because it was asked in this thread months ago (scroll up!) but never answered:

Why has BBCA dropped Nine from the rerun eps?  Did Eccleston just so profoundly piss off TPTB that they've blackholed his whole season?

I remember when they started running the series from Ep 1.  It wasn't that long ago!  And wouldn't that make 100% more sense for a channel called BBC then reincarnated Star Trek.

Edited October 19, 2017 by voiceover
Freaking iPhone

[starri]

[Lantern7]

Looks like the TARDIS might need to grow a few extra rooms. I'm still wondering when Thirteen gets her "official" outfit.

[call me ishmael]

From Radio Times:

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-10-22/doctor-who-bradley-walsh-tosin-cole-mandip-gill-and-sharon-d-clarke-join-jodie-whittaker-as-regular-cast-members/

[alrightokay]

I'm really excited by the announcement about the new companions--I enjoyed Walsh immensely when he was on Law and Order: UK, and I'm hopeful the bigger TARDIS team will lead to fun interactions and interesting relationships that will help us to see the different sides of Thirteen.  It's too bad we'll only get 10 episodes, though, as reported in the RT article above.  Hopefully the old saying about "quality over quantity" will hold true here!