New Doctor Who

[insert_name_here]

I want to know how they plan on explaining the fact that Tom Baker and many of the older doctors look nowt like they used to eg: Tom Baker is 77(?) and looks like he's ready to have a stroke any day now.

[Vamp]

And yeah, McGann would be ace, and is probably one of the few who'd actually do it.

 

I'm not actually sure McGann would be a lock in for it. You'd have thought he'd like the work but he's always seemed to be a little indifferent to it in the past. Mostly about the damned wig I think. I've always felt he'd be difficult to include in a multi-doctor story because he's the least remembered one, probably, but then I suppose not all of the audience knows the older ones anyway so it doesn't really matter a jot.

 

I'd still like to see a special based on the time war.

 

Basic plot could be that the timelords and daleks have agreed to work together to try and break the time lock and take revenge on the universe (and the doctor).

 

The only person who can stop them is the doctor, so doctors 8, 9, 10 and 11 join forces to fight the timelords and daleks.

 

I love Paul McGann - Withnail & I is one of my favourite films.

 

Sounds shit to me. They should leave the Time War well alone, as whatever way they try to present it will just disappoint. If the Doctors get together it should just be a fun run around, nothing more serious than that. And it's using the Daleks when they really don't need to and I'd like to think they'd avoid that. And I don't like the idea of the Daleks and Time Lords teaming up at all. It's wanky.

 

Be interesting to see how they write it in, though - Smith's Doctor could never tell Tennant's he was the next one, because in The Eleventh Hour it's quite a key point that the Doctor doesn't know what he looks like.

 

The issue isn't how you write it, it's more how the individual fan reacts to it. The Five Doctors special works because its not a serious attempt at telling the story, its just a bit of a fun reuinion really. It kind of works on the assumption that the individual doctor carries on after their death, or at least that's vaguely hinted at, which is a completely bollocks idea anyway, but whatever idea you come up with to explain it is going to be bullshit. Which is fine because its soft sci-fi, and most of the audience should expect that anyway. Of course inevtiably you'll get some twats who worry about whether its cannon or not, which doesn't really work for these stories. I'd just put in some shit about how nobody involved will ever remember any of it because of a time bubble or some nonsense. It ultimately doesn't matter and isn't really the point. The only joy that comes out of them is the fact that there's different Doctors hanging out with each other. If you make it more complicated than that you'll ruining the simple essence of the damn thing.

 

Tom Baker is a maybe

 

Baker will do it. He was willing to make fun of it all for the HIGFY episode and does the conventions and so forth. The only reason he didn't do the last one is because it would have been too soon for him in terms of escaping the role. Which was fortunate as I think had he been in it he would have overshadowed Peter Davison.

 

The problem with doing it is if it's a CiN special I don't see it getting more than two fifteen minute slots, if that. I certainly don't see it being an actual episode. And if it is then I can't see it being more than one 45 minute episode and then you need to balance the different Doctors, which isn't going to be easy. If it does happen it'll be short, funny and throw away I would have thought, and it'll be all the better for it. Was it Rememberance of the Daleks they did for the 25th Anniversary? That was probably a better way of marking the occassion. It was slightly more subtle and I think a better story for it than the potential multi-doctor story. Although the Five Doctors is quite fun. They should really revisit the Game of Rassillon concept at some stage. It would have suited the Master's characterisation at one point, him rebuilding the game to throw the Doctor in to compete with some of his best adversaries.

 

I wonder about the ones who are dead and will they do like they did in The Five Doctors and get someone who looks enough like them to take their place?

 

If RTD, Gardner and Tennant were still in place that certainly wouldn't have happened. They didn't seem too fond of the idea in their Five Doctor's commentary. I'd leave the dead ones out of it, I don't really like the idea of dressing people up as them.

I want to know how they plan on explaining the fact that Tom Baker and many of the older doctors look nowt like they used to eg: Tom Baker is 77(?) and looks like he's ready to have a stroke any day now.

 

Moffat already did it in the last Two Doctor tale with the Fifth and the Tenth. Something about the effects of comign through the time lines. That's easy to get past anyway. It's Doctor Who, if you can't explain something that audiences really want to see with a stupid line that doesn't make any sense you really shouldn't be doing the job.

Edited September 28, 2011 by Vamp

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Be interesting to see how they write it in, though - Smith's Doctor could never tell Tennant's he was the next one, because in The Eleventh Hour it's quite a key point that the Doctor doesn't know what he looks like.

 

They go back to their own time lines and remember nothing of what happened. Problem solved.

[Up Chuck]

The issue isn't how you write it, it's more how the individual fan reacts to it. The Five Doctors special works because its not a serious attempt at telling the story, its just a bit of a fun reuinion really. It kind of works on the assumption that the individual doctor carries on after their death, or at least that's vaguely hinted at, which is a completely bollocks idea anyway, but whatever idea you come up with to explain it is going to be bullshit. Which is fine because its soft sci-fi, and most of the audience should expect that anyway. Of course inevtiably you'll get some twats who worry about whether its cannon or not, which doesn't really work for these stories. I'd just put in some shit about how nobody involved will ever remember any of it because of a time bubble or some nonsense. It ultimately doesn't matter and isn't really the point. The only joy that comes out of them is the fact that there's different Doctors hanging out with each other. If you make it more complicated than that you'll ruining the simple essence of the damn thing.

 

I'm going to have to disagree. For me, the intrigue in Doctor Who is the how and the why. And if there's any writer who can pull off complexity without sacrificing entertainment value, it's Steven Moffat. Better to have it all make sense and leave no grey areas over canon. Canonicity of spin-off material is one thing, but if it's a big TV episode with more attention than the rest of the usual series (as this one would be), every effort should be made to make it fit nicely, because that gives you all the more chance of hooking people in to whatever comes afterwards. Worrying about whether it's canon should not work for this stories, but that's because it shouldn't even be an issue - it should be all canon, all making sense, all fitting in, and continuity should be the absolute last thing they sacrifice.

[Vamp]

It's Doctor Who. There's so many canon issues it's not worth worrying about, it's even become a joke within the actual show. The Tenth Doctor referenced the fact that the UNIT dates were complicated, the 'timey wimey' invention by Moffat himself was a comical reference to how complicated, convuluted and just overall messy the canon and continuity of the series is as well as the fact that the 'how' and 'why' of things is generally just worthless techno babble that does nothign for the story anyway. Even the Five Doctors has two pretty big flaws in it. It's a long time since Doctor Who's been presented as serious sci-fi, and if it ever is I'll stop watching. So would a lot of the audience I'd imagine. Half the charm of the show are these exact flaws. And it certainly shouldn't matter for what's basically a big birthday party. Multi-doctor episodes are all about having a big fanwank anyway, they're no better than fan fiction. Nor should they be. If any of the team are worried about canon or continuity they need to restart the series because that boat has long since sailed. Just as it did for Stark Trek. That's ignoring the fact that really, anyone who expects cannon in a long running science fiction series is, you know, a little bit unhinged.

 

And Moffat's been as bothered with the how and why as RTD. He came up with 'timey wimey'. Doctor Who's not even presented as science fiction anymore really, and I'd argue it shouldn't be but that's another matter. RTD's era worked on essentially becomming a comic book/graphic novel on the screen. Moffat's first series in charge, perhaps less so this one although sometimes there's still an element of it, worked by writing the series as a fairy tale. There's often jokes which essentially boil down to being "Oh, and you have a sonic screw driver/whatever else" because they're lame plot devices. There's lines such as "Imagine its a whatever...well it's nothing like that, but if it helps imagine that" which is basically a line addressed directly to the viewer which says; "Accept the insane premise, don't worry about why because that's boring and we should get on with the fun stuff". Which is right, they should. If they do a multi-doctor story the how and wh will probably be something like "two time lines collided" or "they were plucked from their time stream" and then "their memories reset when they go back to their own time streams" and that'll be it. Why? Because most of the audience really won't give a shit. It's an impossible scenario in a show which has a man in a time travelling police box, I don't want loads of expositionary dialogue explaining bollocks.

 

And the fact that the episode might be watched by more people is even less of a reason to care. Any new/unusual viewers will be watching it because its a big event, they couldn't give two hoots of a tossing monkey's auntie's uncle and why the buggering hell would they if they haven't watched it before? That'd be nonsense. They'll be watching it precisely because its a bit of fun with a few popular pop culture characters. Hard science fiction fans who worry about this kind of thing might care, but they're going to get pissed off by a show where the enemies are defeated by love anyway.

 

In summary; its Doctor fucking Who. It's more important than continuity.

 

 

 

[GalaxyV.2]

Indeed, the very fact time travel is involved as a major point of the entire show leaves things like 'continuity' out of the door.

 

Its like his age. He lives in a time machine, how the hell would he know how old he is?

Edited September 29, 2011 by GalaxyV.2

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Yeah, Moffatt himself said that "a television series which embraces both the ideas of parallel universes and the concept of changing time can't have a continuity error

[LiamTheGreat]

Just a reminder, the final series of The Sarah Jane Adventures starts next monday, 5:15 on the CBBC channel

[Vamp]

That's gonna be pretty bittersweet to watch.

[Spyke]

[insert_name_here]

If they do a multi-doctor story (which I can see happening) that I am hoping we see the McGann... find out what the hell happened to his doctor would be nice.

Yeah i agree that's one thing i'd like to see resolved.

[neil's bitch]

If they do a multi-doctor story (which I can see happening) that I am hoping we see the McGann... find out what the hell happened to his doctor would be nice.

Yeah i agree that's one thing i'd like to see resolved.

 

In a strange twist of fate, (if you mind the wreslting move reference), would it possible to write it in so something big is kicking off, The other doctors are backed into a corner and Paul Mcganns doctor makes the save, whilst the other doctors make an escape/go off to rescue somebody/etc. He regenerates into Christopher eccleston as the other doctors leave, and now we know the fate of Mcganns doctor.

 

*(That all depends if each particular doctor would do the story of course)

 

Might be a bit of a mind bender to work out how to do it, but i reckon thats a good little work around.

Edited September 30, 2011 by Bowyo T

[patiirc]

Was reading somewhere that Dr Who Confidential on BBC3 has been axed to save cash/so that the channel can concentrate on other things.

 

Been dipping in and out of this series. Im not keen on the New Doctor and havent been since Eccleston left tbh, but what I have seen has been okay. One thing from the last episode that got me was how the Cyberman/men were being created. This seems different to the big pits from earlier episodes where bits are hacked off and changed and from the partial Cyberwoman from Torchwood.

 

I appreciate that there are different types of Cybermen, but how come so many different conversion processes into the same thing essentially?

[Retro Red]

Was reading somewhere that Dr Who Confidential on BBC3 has been axed to save cash/so that the channel can concentrate on other things.

 

Been dipping in and out of this series. Im not keen on the New Doctor and havent been since Eccleston left tbh, but what I have seen has been okay. One thing from the last episode that got me was how the Cyberman/men were being created. This seems different to the big pits from earlier episodes where bits are hacked off and changed and from the partial Cyberwoman from Torchwood.

 

I appreciate that there are different types of Cybermen, but how come so many different conversion processes into the same thing essentially?

 

I think that they can do full conversions or just use body parts if the full body is damaged (or incompatible in the Doctor's case)

 

Shame about Confidential, but I can't really say I watched it.

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

I appreciate that there are different types of Cybermen, but how come so many different conversion processes into the same thing essentially?

 

Easy. When the doctor travels through times he does something (eats a banana, sneezes, punches a koala bear) and inadvertently changes the future. The butterfly effect of the doctor doing something as simple as these things causes a MASSIVE ripple through time and somehow results in the Cybermen coming up with a different way of converting victims.

 

I mean, duh, its so obvious.