The Doctor Who Thread.....

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

3 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Dhawan's Master, Ace and Tegan 

Chibnall has said he fully expects RTD to ignore what he's done, so maybe we'll get to pretend the Timeless Child thing never happened. 

Let's bloody hope so!

Personally, I thought that LOTSDs was a shambles; a script that had not one iota of a plot, direction and editing that made no sense whatsoever, an annoying score that could have been written by a second year music student, and performances that could only be described as "amateurish". Do the makers of this show think that having characters run around like chickens with their heads cut off makes for a coherent, or entertaining, story?  Even the promise of Ace, Tegan, The Master, The Daleks, The Cybermen, and Kate Stewart (♥️) fills me with no anticipation, whatsoever, other than the fact that, no matter how bad DW gets, I will always watch it.

I just can't wait until this travesty of an "era" is over. 

JNT could do a better job, and he's been dead for 20 years!

[schultz.kevin1972 34]

Oy. And the lowest overnight ratings for the series (old and new) ever: 2.2 million. Ouch.

 

Couple of rant-lets about the current state of Who:

 

How the hell is Yaz such a great, incredible, fantastic companion? When? Where? How? She's mainly been whiny and pining. Just what the hell has she done to earn the Doctor's "oh my God you're the best thing I've ever encountered in my thousands of years of existence"? More of a soul mate than Rose? More than Sarah? More than Clara? Really? Seriously? 

 

And that's another thing. Reportedly Chibs etc. had ZERO intention of a Yaz-Doctor "romance". But a vocal minority of fans insisting the show continue it's woke-ization "demanded" the pairing, and so it got "officially" written into the show. Ugh. I have zero problem with same-sex relationships (the more female-female pairings the better, IMHO!) but not when it's a few people reading something that isn't there into an existing relationship and the show bowing to pressure and incorporating it in such a messy, lackluster fashion. 

 

From the start of his "era", I've felt that Chibs was the JNT of New Who. Putting the Doctor in a costume that is so very clearly a made-specifically-for-the-show outfit (hello, Colin Baker's coat!) instead of Eccleston/Tennant/Smith/Capaldi-style tailored and fitted etc but not so far "out there" that you couldn't find people in roughly similar garb on the street. Not to mention the "survival" of the over-the-top Master (also in a fancy new specially-made costume) with no real explanation of how he made it from one demise to his latest appearance. The crowded TARDIS. Terrible writing and directing (where the hell did that rope-net-trap-thing come from, anyway?). Shorter and shorter seasons (a blessing in disguise, it turns out). Erosion of general public enjoyment. Etc. Thank God Chibs hasn't been "persuaded to stay".

 

(And please, publicity people, just stop with the intense fixation on saying how the show "looks more cinematic". Fix the writing, then worry about anamorphic lenses and crap.)

 

RTD has a huge job ahead of him to revive the show in the eyes of the general public, after it has sunk so low from this latest era. And don't use COVID as an excuse. Chibs nearly used COVID as an excuse to actually quit making the show (so we should be "grateful" he struggled on and kept the show "alive"... and gave is Flux and these "Specials"...?). Poor promotion of the show, horrible execution of the actual episodes, a good (but not great, sorry, Jodie, I love you) Doctor not capturing the love of the general public. What a train wreck. 

 

(I hope not but I fear the general impression will be "female Doctor ruins show", which is NOT the case here, IMHO. Jodie has been good, but has been given such utter crap to work with, I daresay even Tennant would suffer a ratings plummet if he'd had these stories. If anything, it's the viewing public's resistance to a female Doctor, not the actor herself, that is what's happened here.)

 

God, I love this show so much, I have for so long, I hate to see it struggle like this. I used to be SO excited to see a new episode. The last few seasons it's been "Yeah, I suppose I should watch." No excited anticipation, no "Ooh, what will we have fun with this time?" More like "Dear Lord, what have they done now?"

 

But if anyone can resurrect this show from the depths that it's reached lately, it's RTD. He's done it before. (And don't get me wrong, I have major problems with RTD's first era, but for him the good vastly outweighed the bad.) I look forward to him doing it again. 

 

Disappointed no 14th Doctor announcement yet. Apart from the 1989-2005 wilderness years, this is the longest time ever between announcement of departure and announcement of casting. I'd love to see it be a huge surprise at the end of the Centenary Special, but I don't think they could keep the wraps on such huge news for so long. (Slightly afraid the special will end mid-regeneration, without revealing the next Doctor.) 

 

(And no, Jo Martin's fugitive Doctor is a terrible idea to continue the show with, a hugely controversial element of Chibs' revamp of the show that very very few in the general public will know about or understand; I've also seen people suggest Tennant (as Doctor or "meta-crisis" (no one has explained just what that actually means) Doctor... again, would Joe Public know what the heck was going on there?), McGann (let it go, people, sheesh), the dude from Bridgerton (hi there, flavor of the month!) and other silly ideas. No one from the past, just a damn good, well respected actor, please.)

 

Also, no offense intended at all, but... let's say "farewell" to the worst showrunner of New Who by

Spoiler

bringing back some companions from the worst showrunner of Classic Who...?

OK... I guess...?

 

Sorry. Rant over. Whew!

 

Yikes, this might be the longest post I've ever done, anywhere, ever! I promise it won't become a regular thing.

 

Thanks for listening/reading!

 

[eitam 364]

After that good (!) New Year episode, that one was pretty, pretty bad. Painful effects, bad directing, empty guest characters and villains, boring story. Only saving grace was some good acting from Yaz and the Doctor toward the end. 

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

8 hours ago, schultz.kevin1972 said:

And that's another thing. Reportedly Chibs etc. had ZERO intention of a Yaz-Doctor "romance". But a vocal minority of fans insisting the show continue it's woke-ization "demanded" the pairing, and so it got "officially" written into the show. Ugh. I have zero problem with same-sex relationships (the more female-female pairings the better, IMHO!) but not when it's a few people reading something that isn't there into an existing relationship and the show bowing to pressure and incorporating it in such a messy, lackluster fashion. 

 

You're jumping to some wild conclusions here mate. What on earth gives you the idea that the Yaz/Doctor pairing was anything other than Chibnall having nothing else to do with these bland characters? Just because he didn't intend it from early on doesn't mean it was some bizarre pressure from "woke" fans (Jesus Christ can that word just die already, it's just a bogeyman term the media uses to scare conservatives). The guy's a hack, and he clearly doesn't give two shits what the fans think, otherwise he'd be making a half-decent show. Despite all that, I'd say the Yaz/Doctor stuff was the most successful thing in this woeful episode because at least the actors have chemistry with each other.

 

Sea Devils is... yikes. I'd heard that the production was troubled, and boy does it show. The acting is bad even by Doctor Who standards, and the special effects somehow looked worse than in RTD's era (which at least have a charm to them, and were pretty nifty for their day). The pacing is awkward and mired with inexplicable cuts; it's obvious there was a lot of tinkering in post-production to get this thing on screen. Chibs is clearly completely out of steam. Put poor Jodie out of her misery already, she deserves better.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

It was a mercy this episode was only regular length because otherwise I would’ve spent even more time being unengaged and annoyed

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

Yes yes, overnight viewing figures aren't the full story any more yadda yadda yadda ... but 2.2 million is still pretty damning, IMO. 

On another topic being discussed ... Chibnall said in a recent interview that he pays absolutely no attention to what the fandom says (advice passed down by both RTD and Moffat, apparently). 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

1 hour ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Yes yes, overnight viewing figures aren't the full story any more yadda yadda yadda ... but 2.2 million is still pretty damning...

Mr. Sweep, what we are dealing with, here, is, a perfect fuck up, a...a TV machine. It's really a miracle he ever evolved. All this man does is eat, sleep, and make bad DOCTOR WHO. Why don't you take a long, close look at this show. These viewing figures are correct.

[schultz.kevin1972 34]

13 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

You're jumping to some wild conclusions here mate. What on earth gives you the idea that the Yaz/Doctor pairing was anything other than Chibnall having nothing else to do with these bland characters? Just because he didn't intend it from early on doesn't mean it was some bizarre pressure from "woke" fans (Jesus Christ can that word just die already, it's just a bogeyman term the media uses to scare conservatives). The guy's a hack, and he clearly doesn't give two shits what the fans think, otherwise he'd be making a half-decent show. Despite all that, I'd say the Yaz/Doctor stuff was the most successful thing in this woeful episode because at least the actors have chemistry with each other.

 

I agree I may be jumping to conclusions, but I wouldn't consider them "wild" (even though I was vent-ranting when posted that).

 

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/doctor-who-thasmin-romance-unplanned-newsupdate/

 

Quote

 

According to a fan in attendance at Doctor Who convention Gallifrey One, which is held annually in Los Angeles, executive producer Matt Strevens shed light on why the twist might have felt sudden, revealing it was not part of the original plan for Whittaker's era.

 

"I didn't know what Thasmin was," he reportedly said. "Jodie said after the first season, 'oh there's speculation out there', but we hadn't really thought about it."

 

 

And this was in the Radio Times in February, so if the BBC/Strevens/Chibnall disagreed they would have dealt with it by now, especially since numerous other media outlets have reported this elsewhere. 

 

So, it was never planned by the producers. There was never anything intentional on-screen. Yet some fans insisted on seeing/hearing/reading something in there. 

 

And like you said, Chibs had nothing else interesting for the characters, so voila. (I don't think he'd be capable of a "half-decent" show whatever the situation.)

 

(Also agreed on the whole "woke" thing, my hard-to-infer-from-written-words-on-the-internet use was somewhat sarcastic, but I hear you. )

 

So I'm sort of adding what looks like a "2" and another thing that looks like a "2" and coming up with what seems to be "4"-ish. 

 

But, gosh, hasn't the series looked much more "cinematic" since 2018? 

[Tallguy 3,359]

Saw Sea Devils. Maybe it's because I've been watching Planet of the Spiders but I thought "Wow, that one shot has the effects budget for the entire Pertwee era!"

 

It was entertaining Doctor Who. I don't know the Sea Devils mythos enough to say anything one way or the other. I liked the look of the things. They looked like a throwback but they also didn't look embarrassing. I suppose in the same way they updated the Zygons.

 

I don't get the Yaz / Doctor ship. I gather there are those that do. Good for them. It seems very place-holder.

 

I also don't understand the hate for Chibnal Who. (Well, other than the Timeless Child. That was horseshit.) I can certainly see a burning indifference.

 

I think I'm going to feel about Chibnal Who the way I feel about the first season of Book of Boba Fett: They wanted great things and they clearly didn't know how to get them. They had all the tools they needed and they couldn't put the pieces together. Whittaker deserved better. But I really hope they stick the landing.

 

(And I hope RTD doesn't screw it up.)

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

9 hours ago, schultz.kevin1972 said:

So, it was never planned by the producers. There was never anything intentional on-screen. Yet some fans insisted on seeing/hearing/reading something in there. 

 

And like you said, Chibs had nothing else interesting for the characters, so voila. (I don't think he'd be capable of a "half-decent" show whatever the situation.)

 

I hear ya. But I honestly think that Chibs threw the romance in because Mandip and Jodie have developed a great rapport with each other and he could capitalise on their chemistry. The weirdo fans saying it was there from the start were just confused by the only vaguely genuine human connection on an otherwise sterile and anemic show. Bless their emotionally starved little hearts.

 

I do still think Chibs is capable of making good telly, Broadchurch S1 and 3 is evidence of that. But I don't think he was ever going to be able to make good Doctor Who.

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

Minor spoilers. Finally got round to watching Legend of the Sea Devils last night. It all just seemed a bit weird and off. I honestly couldn't tell you want the Sea Devils' plan was - I either lost track or fell asleep, it was hard to tell. There was a big sea creature at a couple of points, where did that come from again? Is it me, or was the cinematography a bit odd, the sky and sea often seemed a weirdly unnatural shade of blue a lot of the time. Perhaps there was too much blue screening. As a sad person who spots this thing, the shots of the endless rain in the village at the start were clearly filmed on a bright sunny day so all of those shots looked odd too. I accept that you do get showers on bright sunny days, but that didn't seem to be the case. The FX were definitely a bit shonky at times, surprising as one thing you can rarely fault DW for from about Matt Smith onwards is generally fine FX. The sea creature was pretty cool though, similar and better realised than the one in the Phantom Menace.

 

The character motivations all seemed odd. The lead Sea Devil started off ruthlessly slaughtering a village and yet later was basically taking the Doctor and Yas on a guided tour of their evil layer rather than, you know, locking them up or whatever. My main issue with the Doctor/Yas relationship is more that the Doctor has had awkward not-quite romances with other companions that have been written so much better plus, of course, River Song, which was presented as deep and intense, but also chaotic and perverse given their mismatching timelines. There's so much they could have done with it, but didn't. I would agree that nothing on screen has shown Yas as being an extra special companion for the Doctor over and above other key companions over the years and I certainly can't imagine regeneration being as much of a gut wrench as Rose/10 being separated, or Donna having to lose her memories or the 12 having to lose his memories of Clara etc.

 

Part of me actually thinks it's a shame that Jodie Whittaker isn't staying on... I rather think RTD would finally be able to bring her Doctor to life or Yas stays on and has to deal with the Doctor being someone else very different (much like Clara) which, given all the build up, could be an interesting twist. However, definitely get the feeling it'll be a "new" show-runner clean slate type deal.

 

Presumably the new Doctor isn't far off being announced. And hopefully the return of Murray Gold! I think he'd have done something much more memorable for the Sea Devils. He never got to write a Sea Devils theme!

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

Something else that maybe lends weight to 'Thasmin' being unplanned ... back when Jodie's casting was announced, Chibnall tweeted - 'To those of you asking if the show will now become 'Lesbians In Space' ... no it won't, but if that's your thing the internet's got you covered'.   

[Marian Schedenig 8,154]

I had moderate hopes for this, after the outstanding (for Chibnall tenure standards, i.e. moderately solid) Dalek episode, but it was back to unengaging all over the place Chibnall non-story telling. Is it just me, or do they have a higher rate of quickly mumbled expositional dialogue than they used to? In any case, if I don't pay full attention (which is hard with these episodes), I miss most of the explanations of who does what why. Not that they make much sense when I do get them.

 

I don't buy the better production values argument. I thought the FX were alright even in RTD's early series, helped by the then low resolution and the general non-overuse of them. Now everything is full of "cinematic" effects, but it just highlights that they're not that great, and often poorly timed. The Sea Devils looked ridiculous, whereas I have always been impressed with the Catkind makeup in the early episodes.

 

And as for the Doctor and Yaz… they stand out purely because of casting. Both have great chemistry and manage to get *something* out of their characters even though there's pretty much nothing on the page. Whenever they capitalise on that in any way, it briefly elevates the episode to something that I could actually care about. Whatever they can make of that is better than pretty much everything else they've been doing.

 

14 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

I do still think Chibs is capable of making good telly, Broadchurch S1 and 3 is evidence of that. But I don't think he was ever going to be able to make good Doctor Who.

 

I thought (unlike apparently everyone else) S2 was excellent and S3 good but unnecessary. Agreed on the rest though.

 

8 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Part of me actually thinks it's a shame that Jodie Whittaker isn't staying on... I rather think RTD would finally be able to bring her Doctor to life or Yas stays on and has to deal with the Doctor being someone else very different (much like Clara) which, given all the build up, could be an interesting twist. However, definitely get the feeling it'll be a "new" show-runner clean slate type deal.

 

Indeed.

 

8 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Presumably the new Doctor isn't far off being announced. And hopefully the return of Murray Gold! I think he'd have done something much more memorable for the Sea Devils. He never got to write a Sea Devils theme!

 

 

On the other hand, any theme he's written for anything in the show is more exciting than all the current themes put together… none of which I've ever been able to recall. The only noticeable moment in this latest score was another attempt at a 7/8 motif - but the only memorable thing about it was the 7/8 idea, not the music itself.

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

A repeat of Antiques Roadshow on BBC2 at the same time apparently drew more viewers than Doctor Who ... pretty humiliating. 

Am remembering Chibnall's 'the drama audience is bigger then' justification for shifting the show to Sunday evenings. lol.     

[Richard Penna 3,665]

I'm 10 mins into Sea Devils.

 

 

Chibnall... be gone.

 

 

  

11 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Perhaps there was too much blue screening.

 

Blue screening is flipping obvious in this! Hah. The fact that I was staring at the back of shot as much as I have in the last few minutes is an indication of how nonexistent the story is in this.

 

32 min update: holy moly, what a boring pile of crap this is  I have absolutely no idea what's going on. I've actually skipped the rest and just gone for the 'coming soon' bit. 'This is the day you die'.... how original.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

2 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

A repeat of Antiques Roadshow on BBC2 at the same time apparently drew more viewers than Doctor Who ... pretty humiliating. 

That should give anyone who gives more than a rat's ass about this show, an indication of just how far it has fallen. If the viewing figures stay as they are, LOTSD will officially have attracted the lowest audience in its 58 year history.

Think about that.

To take a show such as DW - with a very loyal viewing public - and flush it down the shitter, takes a lot of effort, so "well done", Mr. Chibnall, now fuck off, and let a professional try to rescue this bloody awful mess that you've created.

 

2 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Am remembering Chibnall's 'the drama audience is bigger then' justification for shifting the show to Sunday evenings. lol.     

He's kind of right. Shows such as CALL THE MIDWIFE, and all these 9pm dramas, have all drawn huge audiences. To get this scheduling so wrong, for so long, is nothing short of hubris.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

So I've been seeing on Reddit that this episode was allegedly severely hampered by production issues - including COVID - but apparently after filming a whole bunch of it had to be rewritten/re-edited because of concerns surrounding the sensitivity of the Chinese cultural content. I can't find anything other than hearsay to back this up, but it could explain why it feels like half this episode is just not there. I'm not about to say that it would've been a great episode, but I'd love to see what the original script looked like. It's a well-known fact that the final cut of DW episodes rarely resembles the original script once the glaring budget and filming constraints of the BBC have their way, and Chibs' failure on DW is as much about his role in the production side of things as it is about the writing.

 

If anything it's just got me more excited for RTD2, he knew how to write with scope even though things would inevitably fall apart in production, because he'd be there to skillfully put the pieces back together again on the other side. And seeing as the BBC is hardly throwing the same amount of money at this show as it was in 2009 I wouldn't be surprised if bringing in Bad Wolf Productions was a mandate on RTD's part to secure funding and talent the BBC is otherwise incapable of supplying. Not to get overly optimistic or anything, but I just realised this: RTD has likely been mulling over new stories for over a decade. We could be looking at a series as strong as Eccleston's 2005 debut, only this time with a production team who has two decades of experience and skill, with a budget to match. 

 

November 2023 really can't come soon enough. 

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

15 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

On the other hand, any theme he's written for anything in the show is more exciting than all the current themes put together… none of which I've ever been able to recall. The only noticeable moment in this latest score was another attempt at a 7/8 motif - but the only memorable thing about it was the 7/8 idea, not the music itself.

Couldn't agree more about the music. As I've said so many times, you can't imagine Akinola's music filling the Royal Albert Hall... we were really lucky to get Murray Gold straight off the bat with RTD. Then again, I'm not sure there was masses his catalogue prior to Doctor Who that suggested he could write such great, thematic music. His theme for the original Queer as Folk is super catchy, but hardly an obvious springboard for writing epic orchestral scores.

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

If you're after a slice of Doctor Who that didn't get its knickers in a knot about Chinese 'cultural sensitivity', see the excellent Talons Of Weng-Chiang. 

[Richard Penna 3,665]

2 hours ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Couldn't agree more about the music. As I've said so many times, you can't imagine Akinola's music filling the Royal Albert Hall... we were really lucky to get Murray Gold straight off the bat with RTD.

 

You could easily make a concert out of the more orchestral parts of Akinola's score but you'd have to find those parts amongst the electronic meanderings.

 

I continue to support his scoring style as a refreshing change in sound but I fully recognise it's not for everyone. There are definitely a handful of themes to take away from his tenure, but probably not on the scale of the catalogue that Gold had amassed by the end of series 3.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

To me Akinola’s music sounds like it was written for television.

 

Gold’s sounds like it was written for the big screen.

[Goldfinger 59]

16 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

That should give anyone who gives more than a rat's ass about this show, an indication of just how far it has fallen. If the viewing figures stay as they are, LOTSD will officially have attracted the lowest audience in its 58 year history.

Think about that.

To take a show such as DW - with a very loyal viewing public - and flush it down the shitter, takes a lot of effort, so "well done", Mr. Chibnall, now fuck off, and let a professional try to rescue this bloody awful mess that you've created.

 

 

To be fair, the Eaters of Light had a 2.8 overnight rating as well, so its not like the audience has cratered out during Chibnall.  Its been steadily dropping since The Day of the Doctor and there's many factors to explain.  DVR and On demand viewing is far more popular as time progresses.  Shows that are geared more towards an older audience are always going to draw a bigger initial audience, as those shows have less viewers that will watch the show beyond the live tv airing.  Also, the show has been on the air again for over 15 years - the interest may just not be there for younger audiences as showrunners have tried to mature the show to maintain viewers initially.

 

There's a variety of factors for why the show has faltered, and while Chibnall is the one currently putting out questionable episodes at time, this problem has been going on for quite a while and more of an indictment of current television in general.

 

Surely RTD will bring a bump in the public interest, much as Chiball did when he first took over.  But it will be interesting to see if the numbers eventually settle back down or remain higher under RTD.  I suspect they'll be higher, but not significantly.

[Tallguy 3,359]

4 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

 

You could easily make a concert out of the more orchestral parts of Akinola's score but you'd have to find those parts amongst the electronic meanderings.

 

I continue to support his scoring style as a refreshing change in sound but I fully recognise it's not for everyone. There are definitely a handful of themes to take away from his tenure, but probably not on the scale of the catalogue that Gold had amassed by the end of series 3.

 

He's written some serviceable and even good stuff. But there's nothing (to me) that has made me say "I can't wait for that to be on CD."

 

3 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

To me Akinola’s music sounds like it was written for television.

 

Gold’s sounds like it was written for the big screen.

 

For the big screen in another era.

 

Speaking of which we just watched Robot of Sherwood. I know Tenant and Smith got all the ratings but Capaldi and Coleman were amazing.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

I know Tenant and Smith got all the ratings but Capaldi and Coleman were amazing.

 

My favorite seasons of that show, the Capaldi years.  I'll never let anyone say that Moffat's last seasons were a disappointment without a fight!

[Tallguy 3,359]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

 

My favorite seasons of that show, the Capaldi years.  I'll never let anyone say that Moffat's last seasons were a disappointment without a fight!

 

The last season with Bill is arguably the most consistent season Moff ever did!

 

Of course now my kids keep asking my favorite Doctor. My girl's favorite is Smith, the boy has kind of settled on Tenant. So when we watch a Capaldi episode we're watching "Dad's Doctor". I keep telling them "Splendid chap. All of them." (Yes, I'm including Whittaker.)

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

5 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

...I keep telling them "Splendid chap. All of them."

Brilliant!

My personal favourite, has always been,  and will always be, Peter Davison.

[Tallguy 3,359]

10 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Brilliant!

My personal favourite, has always been,  and will always be, Peter Davison.

 

Well, back in the day Five was MY Doctor. (So Time Crash is kind of emotional for me.)

[mstrox 6,637]

Looks like the thread is awake and I’ve been asleep.  Any word on an album of music from Murray Gold’s last series and specials?  

[Dave 217]

Murray tweeted early 2020 that something will release someday eventually. But everything that happened is that he deleted his twitter account.

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

20 hours ago, Tallguy said:

Speaking of which we just watched Robot of Sherwood. I know Tenant and Smith got all the ratings but Capaldi and Coleman were amazing.

Love the Doctor's tetchiness in this - 'And do you find you get punched in the face a lot when you do that?' 

'No'

'It's as well I'm here then, isn't it?' 

Also the lovely little nod to Pat Troughton in the alien ship's database of depictions of Robin Hood in Earth's popular culture. And a pleasing 'message' about our need for heroes, be they mythical or otherwise. 
 

[Tallguy 3,359]

"And remember, Doctor, I'm just as real as you are. " 

[Richard Penna 3,665]

23 hours ago, David Müller said:

Murray tweeted early 2020 that something will release someday eventually. But everything that happened is that he deleted his twitter account.

 

This seems to be the most recent news of any kind: https://vocal.media/futurism/a-release-for-the-doctor-who-series-10-soundtrack-looks-slim-with-no-license-issued

 

Silva are once again being needlessly diplomatic with this quote:

 

Quote

We haven’t received any news at all about this release, sorry. All we know is that it is still not available for us [Silva Screen Records] to license.

 

I'm pretty sure that boils down to Gold not having provided them with an album master to release. My assumption being that either SS doesn't have access to the scoring masters (to make their own album) or that they will only release what Gold gives them as a professional courtesy. Perhaps when he was actively working on the show he proactively provided them with albums to release, and now maybe they don't feel they want to ask him to make one, or they know he's busy with other projects.

 

I wasn't particularly taken by much of the music from series 10, but it still leaves the franchise in the bizarre position of super-comprehensive releases for much of Capaldi's tenure (at least two or three near complete episode scores by now) and then it skips an entire series and goes on to Akinola's material.

 

On which note I sincerely hope that he's waiting for the last Whittaker special to come out and then make a nice long release for series 13. Personally I would've done a release for Flux and then another follow-up one for the last two specials.

 

On 22/04/2022 at 2:42 PM, Tallguy said:

He's written some serviceable and even good stuff. But there's nothing (to me) that has made me say "I can't wait for that to be on CD."

 

I'd buy a complete episode score for Rosa in a heartbeat but I wouldn't say that about any other episode. Including, sadly, the one that did get a complete episode release - Revolution of the Daleks - which has its moments, but largely didn't interest me.

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

Well well well my pretties… the new Doctor has been announced! Ncuti Gatwa (probably best know as Eric in the marvellous Sex Education). I think he’ll be great. Can’t wait to find out!
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61371123

[Richard Penna 3,665]

Nice!

 

I've never heard of him, but evidently the BBC likes his stuff. Roll on the new era 

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Can’t wait to see him in the role!

[Marian Schedenig 8,154]

Completely unknown to me, but then first jumping into Who right after the Smith era probably gave me a skewed perspective that most Doctors were widely known big name actors. Not that it matters of course, and even less so because some of them became big names because of this role.

 

So, will he have a Scottish accent? (Still not ginger, I'd imagine)

[eitam 364]

Didn't see the announcement coming, I expected more fanfare. 

Neutral on the actor choice, I hope it's not merely to draw the Sex Education crowd. Wait and see. 

[Richard Penna 3,665]

RTD just said just now on BBC news on the Bafta red carpet that apparently they had someone already in mind ("thought we had someone" - exact quote) and he was the very last audition and changed their minds.

 

Also: "I've watched Sex Education, loved his work, didn't know quite what we were going to get until I was in the room"

[Positivatee 327]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

Well well well my pretties… the new Doctor has been announced! Ncuti Gatwa (probably best know as Eric in the marvellous Sex Education). I think he’ll be great. Can’t wait to find out!
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61371123

 

You're right, that show is marvelous. 

I expected more fanfare, but I also just rolled out of bed. 

Eric is one of the strongest, best characters on the show and the actor has tremendous range. He'll make an adorable Doctor. 

[crocodile 7,977]

Interesting and inspired choice. He definitely has the right kind of energy. He's great in Sex Education. 

 

Karol

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

1 hour ago, Positivatee said:

...expected more fanfare, but I also just rolled out of bed.

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

Oh well, there go my 'Welsh Doctor (Michael Sheen) with Welsh showrunner' hopes. Haven't seen Sex Education (I don't do Netflix) so 'We'll see, I guess' is how I'm feeling.  

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

It's not necessarily Whittaker that I'm glad to see go. I think a Whittaker/RTD partnership could have been very fruitful It's the showrunner - an individual who has done more than anyone else, to drive DW to the edge of extinction - that I'm glad to see gone.

Like you, Sweep, I'll reserve judgement, until later on in the year.

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

Now on to the composer speculation 😜

[Naïve Old Fart 9,489]

Murray Gold!

Murray Gold!

Mu - Ree - Gold!

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,277]

15 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Murray Gold!

Murray Gold!

Mu - Ree - Gold!

 

Is the correct answer. 

[Positivatee 327]

21 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

It's not necessarily Whittaker that I'm glad to see go.

 

If Jodie had been responsible for her stories and dialog, we could blame her. She's not the problem with the show. 

 

Unfortunately, history will remember the lone female Doctor Who as a failed experiment that returned the Tardis to a man the first chance it got. Us fans know that's not accurate but history is cruel. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,154]

Providing that RTD is successful in revivifying the franchise, I'd hope that Whittaker gets a reappearance in a future anniversary special. That could easily be (at least) one of her best episodes, and help us remember her in a better light.

[Tallguy 3,359]

10 hours ago, Positivatee said:

Unfortunately, history will remember the lone female Doctor Who as a failed experiment that returned the Tardis to a man the first chance it got. Us fans know that's not accurate but history is cruel. 

 

Well, they moved on to the next few checks on the diversity BINGO card. Not sure what else they could do, really.

 

Good luck, Doctor! I'm rooting for you!

[Positivatee 327]

30 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

Well, they moved on to the next few checks on the diversity BINGO card. Not sure what else they could do, really.

 

Trans, according to Darren Grimes. Whoever he is. 

 

I'd still like a ginger.