DanaK October 4, 2022 Author Share October 4, 2022 SFX Magazine will be out tomorrow with their latest issue that will include coverage of the POTD special. They’ve already teased a couple of pictures on Twitter Link to comment
DanaK October 4, 2022 Author Share October 4, 2022 Well, since SFX posted a couple of POTD pics on Twitter, here they are Link to comment
DanaK October 5, 2022 Author Share October 5, 2022 (edited) The DWM issue is out next Thursday, October 13. Seems a little early for a cover reveal, but Panini has it on their site now Panini website https://www.panini.co.uk/shp_gbr_en/blog/doctor-who-magazine-583/ ETA: Unfortunately, Panini has taken the image down, probably because the BBC complained Edited October 5, 2022 by DanaK Website no longer has image Link to comment
DanaK October 7, 2022 Author Share October 7, 2022 Trailer Saturday for POTD special. Finally! 1 Link to comment
DanaK October 11, 2022 Author Share October 11, 2022 The Strictly Come Dancing results show would precede it and the Bloodlands series would follow at 9pm Link to comment
DanaK October 12, 2022 Author Share October 12, 2022 The BBC’s website for the POTD special https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dhsb Note the special will be 87 minutes, though the slot is 90 minutes 1 Link to comment
QuantumMechanic October 13, 2022 Share October 13, 2022 Any news on broadcast times in the US? Are they going to do a simulcast and then a repeat showing in US primetime? Or will US just be a primetime showing? Link to comment
DanaK October 13, 2022 Author Share October 13, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, QuantumMechanic said: Any news on broadcast times in the US? Are they going to do a simulcast and then a repeat showing in US primetime? Or will US just be a primetime showing? At this time, it’s looking like there won’t be a simulcast so just the primetime showing from 8-10:05pm ET (plus a repeat at 1:15am ET the next morning); check your local listings for other time zones, but probably no different from before. AMC+ should start streaming at the start time or soon after Edited October 13, 2022 by DanaK Link to comment
DanaK October 13, 2022 Author Share October 13, 2022 I wrote up a summary of the coverage of the POTD special and interviews with Jodie, Mandip, John Bishop and showrunner Chris Chibnall. I leave a lot out plus there were quite a few new pictures so be sure to pick up a copy. I've put the writeup in spoiler space because of the size Spoiler Showrunner Chris Chibnall in his last Production Notes: - Notes that his sons have passed their school tests - At the time of his writing the column in September, he indicated that he, Jodie and Mandip had been in a studio in London the week before recording a commentary for the Power of the Doctor special. In a couple of weeks would be the press screening that happened the other night and then there would be a private screening for the post-production team, as they work separately and never get to meet each other - He then offered 22 vignettes about the job that come up when he thinks back about the job. I'll just go through a few. One was Jodie's audition, a secret Saturday morning session in London and called it the game changer. Another was watching Jodie's face when he told her he wanted her to be the Doctor, and then Head of Drama Piers Wenger explained all the possible downsides she should be aware of before accepting. Yet another was the whiteboard story grid for "Eve of the Daleks", saying production was catching up with them and he had 24 hours to find a story that they could afford to make with one set or lose the episode entirely. He talked about smuggling Jodie into the location to secretly film her introduction; filming the regeneration from Peter to Jodie; seeing the emotional reaction director Mark Tonderai (who is Black) had at the end of the readthrough for "Rosa" and realizing they had something special; San Diego Comic-Con 2018; New York Comic-Con when the first episode went out live; Jo Martin saying "I'm the Doctor" during a small read-through; and so on. It's a fun readA general article previewing about the special: - It's not a gloomy episode in spite of it being 13's end, it's big and bold with ambitious storytelling. Jodie says there's quite a few things in the episode that bookend her time on the show. She thinks it's a real treat for Doctor Who fans, with more carrots, more homages, more involvement of past, present and future. She feels like it has something for everyone - Not only is it the last episode of the 13th Doctor, it also marks the departure for companion Yaz. Mandip Gill says the special is bigger than anything Chibnall has created before and it's full of action and emotion. The story puts Yaz front and center in the drama. Mandip says Yaz gets standoffs, action bits and emotional parts - The episode was a special request by the BBC for inclusion in their 100th birthday celebrations. But Chibnall says the 13th Doctor's journey was always destined to end the way it does. They knew at a certain point that the BBC wanted another special to help celebrate their birthday. BBC execs Charlotte Moore and Piers Wenger called him and they wanted to go really big with the final special. He indicated the "extra" episode became the Sea Devils Easter special. He says the episode that became POTD was always going to be the finale and this was always going to be the 13th Doctor's end story. He says the Master, Daleks and Cybermen vs the Doctor was in his plan from the early days. He can't remember exactly when he came up with it, but it was way before they did Flux - Asked how he approached such a landmark episode, whether with relish or a sense of dread, Chibnall says you never dread a call asking if you want a 90 minute finale and they (the BBC) will resource it well and it will be part of a major event at the BBC. He indicated that was fantastic and the fact it means there's more Doctor Who is a lovely thing. He says he doesn't think he felt under pressure as such. - The big thing for the show was the upcoming 60th anniversary in 2023 and Chibnall says you don't want to be stealing any thunder from that. But he does think it's important that this special has scale, grandeur and enough nods to the past for the BBC's centenary, though that wasn't the brief he was given. When he started to think about what he wanted to do, he felt it was appropriate to include resonances with the past though there would have been elements of that with Jodie's final story - Chibnall indicated the final special took a lot of planning. They had to extend everyone's contracts and it meant they were filming for longer, but that it was such an exciting thing - Chibnall explained why he chose Ace and Tegan in particular of all the possible past companions to return. He says Ace was the most "modern" companion from the Classic era. He felt you would want to know what she was up to now. And Sophie (Ace) was really engaged with the character, including writing the At Childhood's End book. He felt he could absolutely see Ace in the modern iteration of the show, interacting with Jodie's Doctor and other characters. He felt the same about Tegan. Janet (Tegan) had helped create such a strong character and he just thought wouldn't it be amazing to have them back. He then wondered if they would do it, so they checked their availability and before he started writing, he phoned them. They had long conversations about where they thought their characters might be now - When asked how he felt about writing the final line of the script, Chibnall indicated he wrote the final moments early on. He knew exactly what they were going to be for quite awhile - When asked if he made any effort to dovetail with incoming showrunner Davies' plans, Chibnall indicated he had not because he wrote the script before he knew Davies would be taking over as showrunner. He has his suspicions that it was Davies, but when it was confirmed, he told Davies that it was going to work very nicely. He says the whole story is a perfect lead up to what happens next - Chibnall indicates he doesn't think "it's mournful, doomy episode. It's a very fast, upbeat, funny and energetic ride. With the odd tear come the end."Interview with star Jodie Whittaker: - Jodie indicates she loves her last line, recalling her final moments as the 13th Doctor. She really loves it and she was excited to say it. This has been her role of a lifetime and what a thing to get to end it in the most amazing way, to regenerate. Even though it's nearly a year later for the interview, her emotions are clearly still raw. She had watched the final episode for the first time the night before the interview and she was crying her eyes out. She says it was such a special time in her life. And the joy was she got to hold on to the role for a whole year. - The schedules aligned so the regeneration scene was the last thing she shot. They only did a few takes. She could see a camera operator nodding to the director and then all the other departments nodded and she knew that was a wrap and she just lost it she was so emotional. - She feels this is the best job she's ever had and possibly will ever have. She lucked out with this cast and crew. She'll be shocked if anything touches that level again. - If she had to put her time on Doctor Who in context, the word she'd use to sum it up is "joy". As for her Doctor she really wanted to bring a playful, childlike energy to it. She really wanted to bring to the 13th Doctor this sense of the kid in a toy shop. But she doesn't want to dismiss the darker moments. She has a knowledge and a fear. But she wanted to bring a bright-eyes youthful quality because that sat well with her and how she feels like she bounces through life - Asked if the experience is broadly what Jodie expected when she signed up 5 years ago, she says no, that it was completely different. She understands now in a way she didn't before what Peter Capaldi, Matt Smith and David Tennant were talking about when she spoke to them beforehand. There was so much excitement from them but for her it was nerve-wracking and overwhelming, that it was overwhelming to be told you are going to love something. There are things about playing the Doctor you can't explain to anyone. She says it's one thing to film and another for it to come out, but then there's a whole other world you are about to enter that you can't even begin to imagine. She says the show gives you life experiences you wouldn't have otherwise. She includes in that being able to interact with fans, many of whom have loved the show for longer than you've been a part of it - Asked what the hardest part of being in Doctor Who, Jodie said it was learning her lines, that this job has particular, challenging dialogue. Her first wobble, thinking she doesn't know if she can do this was shooting both "The Woman Who Fell to Earth" and "It Takes You Away" [done in the first block] where she had a massive monologue in ITYA with the Solitract. The show is also one of the most physically demanding jobs in television. She says it's a wonderful rollercoaster and you are having the time of your life, but it's your entire life and you become immersed in this world. - Asked how she got on top of learning all that complex dialog, Jodie said you have to have a system. Hers was to pin loads of pictures all over her wall at home and ran around learning it. Doing that was the first time she got to grips with how she works on this show, which is that everything has an emotional vision. So for example, Solitract was a brand new word for her. But if she gives it a face, if she gives it an emotional journey, if she can see it all in pictures, then she can work. That was the first time she thought those lines were really hard but there's also a real joy in it. Until then, she didn't know if she'd ever get to the other side of that. She thought every time she looked at her sides [her parts of the script] on a night, she'd get the fear, and she said it's not like you ever get over the fear, it's just that you learn to embrace it - With their final year filming throughout Covid, there was nothing outside of the job. That felt emotional because of what the whole world was going through. It was hard keeping the departments separate and not being able to hug people. She says that was difficult all the way to the end. The last day they took their masks off and Jodie says there was a lot of hugging. - The biggest joy of being the Doctor was the friends she made along the way, from the crew in Cardiff to her on-screen "fam" of Bradley, Tosin, John and Mandip. She feels it was really special that she and Mandip saw it through together from beginning to end. She says those people are a forever family. Meeting Sophie and Janet cements that she can celebrate being on the show forever - She talks about her convention debut at London Comic-Con earlier this year to a rapturous reception from fans. She was still clearly moved by the experience. She finds interacting with people who love the show incredibly overwhelming. There's so much love for the show and there's also so much fun. You don't have to grow out of the fun or start taking yourself too seriously - Asked about Thasmin, she had to have it explained to her early on because she's so clueless about social media. But she loves that it's a celebration about their [her and Mandip] characters and meeting people at Comic Con that the relationship has had a really positive effect on. She says you think "what an honour, to be involved in a storyline like that, that reaches people - Asked to pick a favorite episode, she goes with her first episode "The Woman Who Fell to Earth". She gets the best entrance ever falling into the train. It was also her first time with Brad, Tosin and Mandip and she had no idea then the love she was going to have for them - within weeks - Asked if like Sacha Dhawan she got to keep her costume, she said of course she did. Also, she and Mandip broke stuff off the Tardis - Asked if she could see herself making a return appearance, she was quick to say she would love to and she's putting it out there that she's available - As for her more immediate future, she indicated she left the job and then life happened, meaning the birth of her second child. She's currently at that stage of being at home and loving that. She is in no rush to get back to work. - She was asked what her message is to showrunner Chibnall, she'd say "Thank you so much for giving me my dream job". She adds she could never imagine going from Broadchurch's Beth to the Doctor and if that friendship and trust hadn't been forged there, she doesn't think Chibnall would have ever considered auditioning her. She ends with, to Chibnall, "Thank you. Because I've had the time of my life. I've loved every second."Interview with Mandip Gill: - When she did her final scenes, though she tends to be mostly unemotional, a large part of it was her as a person shedding some tears and being emotional. She felt those scenes were beautiful - She said she and Jodie became quite close and will likely stay in touch and feels given them being close in age and having similar backgrounds being Northerners, they will always be friends - She became aware of Thasmin quite early on, especially since she's on social media. She sees things people tagged her on, she re-posted fan art, so she did hear about Thasmin quite early and she was showing Jodie the fan art. She also thinks whether it was intentional or not, it was touched on in the scripts quite early. She feels there were moments where the seed was planted, going right back to the first season where Yaz's mom asks her if she's seeing the Doctor. It became bigger in the second season, when it was touched upon more and more and she thinks people on set were aware of it at that point and then it ends up in scripts. She says Chibnall isn't on social media and she doesn't think he reads things online, but people were talking about it and the Doctor Who people were talking about it. She was subconsciously putting in the extra looks, because she could see this being a thing that worked for her character. She remembers saying to the director of one of the episodes if she could try it a certain way and they were like "Okay, try to look at her in a way of love". She indicates some of the stuff was probably written as friends but that it can all have layers. And she felt it worked because Chibnall had put a seed plant in it with the characters. She doesn't think it was random that it was touched on. She knows that people might have mixed up her and Jodie holding hands in real life with what's on screen, but it also makes sense to her in terms of the characters, in terms of Yaz trying to understand herself and what she's been through and what she's going through. She's growing up, she's got growing pains, she's trying to figure herself out. She says it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere. - She talks about the con she and Jodie did in February, where she realized how huge the queue was for Jodie signing autographs and realized how much fans love her [Jodie]. She couldn't get over having an action figurine and she's in the DWM comic. People are sending fan art and getting tattoos. The whole thing is massive and it can be hard to understand. But she's tried to enjoy it. She had spoken before of her family in Leeds being hard to impress. She think they are impressed but they don't really talk about it, which she thinks is an Indian thing. But she thinks it's cool and that's what matters. - As for what's next, she says it's back to auditioning. She thinks she's ready now to play the lead - Summing up, she says that her run has been breathtakingly beautiful. She never expected it to be as big of a journey as it was and that it is a gift that keeps on giving Interview with John Bishop: - I'll just note one thing. John indicated that he does talk about Doctor Who in his comedy act, but with doing the show, he realized he didn't want to tell jokes about it. He had gained renewed respect for the show by doing itOut of the Tardis: Showrunner Chibnall answers questions from the Tardis tin: Chris Chibnall answers a bunch of questions but I'll just note one. When asked when he had been most scared, he indicated he had a cancer diagnosis at 22, which itself was scary, but he then had to tell his parents he had cancer and that was pretty hard, but the doctors got him through it. Asked how the experience changed his outlook on life, he said you learn to be positive, hopeful and what to value. In terms of the job, you learn to know what's just noise and what's signal in your life. Asked if any of that personal experience was written into the character of Graham, he says it was and also knowing lots of people who have gone through that. He wanted Graham to be someone who'd seen a bit of life but also doesn't have certainty and it was a really good way to demonstrate that. Graham is fearful but not complacent. That little moment in "Can You Hear Me?" where he talks to the Doctor about his fear of the cancer returning and the Doctor saying she didn't know how to handle it, he thinks it's really important. Of the Doctor's reaction in that scene, Chibnall had numerous times and people do behave with you like that in that situation. When anyone says they don't think the Doctor would behave like that, he says that people respond in really weird ways to those conversations. He understands that people don't know what to do in those situations. He says there's another version of the scene where the Doctor says it's ok to Graham and that she's here for him. [it's not clear if he meant literally or metaphorically]. He indicates the Doctor has those moments too, that the Doctor can and should be contradictory and he loves that Cultbox article on DWM's issue on the final special. There are some things they note that I left out of my writeup https://cultbox.co.uk/news/headlines/doctor-who-the-power-of-the-doctor-emotional-last-scene-teased Link to comment
DanaK October 16, 2022 Author Share October 16, 2022 Sort of a second trailer for the POTD special, more a retrospective of Jodie's era Link to comment
DanaK October 16, 2022 Author Share October 16, 2022 (edited) BBC Press interviews with the cast and showrunner Chibnall. Note: there’s a lot of good details about the special. https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/the-power-of-the-doctor Edited October 16, 2022 by DanaK Link to comment
DanaK October 18, 2022 Author Share October 18, 2022 (edited) In case you have trouble seeing the images via TVZone, here's a more direct link https://tbagallery.wixsite.com/specials/episode-stills-34 Edited October 18, 2022 by DanaK Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.