Dr Who News (5)

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This topic contains 242 replies, has 24 voices, and was last updated by  dwnerdfrommars 3 days, 6 hours ago.

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  • #73621
    TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit

    I think this is the first time I’ve posted in Dr Who News. In the past I’ve posted in other parts of this forum, though. I’d like to confirm that I mean everything I say in this post. I can’t help thinking that other people have been slowly brainwashed by the BBC’s plans for Doctor Who, which weren’t announced all at once.
    <p class=”p1″>Unfortunately, the BBC seem to have killed the TV series called Doctor Who, which I’ll explain. I’m talking about the original showings on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer, which anyone should be able to watch with a little bit of effort.</p>
    <p class=”p1″>Doctor Who is a TV series, not a set of occasional “specials” with months in between each episode. The format that was established in 2005 was a series each year containing 13 episodes of about 50 minutes each. Not only that, but we had an added bonus of a Christmas Special each year to look forward to! That adds up to about 11 hours 40 minutes per year, or even a bit more, depending on the length of some episodes!</p>
    <p class=”p1″>Regardless of the content of any special, the BBC started messing around with Doctor Who only a few years after the modern series started. In 2009, there were only Doctor Who specials instead of a new series. I heard this was so David Tennant could swan off to play Shakespeare! I think any Doctor who does that must just be regenerated Colin Baker/Sylvester McCoy style! By this I mean replaced by another actor who is given a wig, dressed in the same costume as the previous Doctor, then told to lie face down for the start of the regeneration scene. Colin Baker hadn’t even done anything wrong when this happened to him! He was sacked after a forced 18 month gap with no new Doctor Who series. He turned down a contract for one story only leading up to the regeneration.<span class=”Apple-converted-space”> </span>I was disgusted when the BBC chose to allow this change of format to a year of specials just to fit in with David Tennant’s plans!<span class=”Apple-converted-space”> </span></p>
    <p class=”p1″>Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. The BBC also skipped some other years by having no new series in those years either. This includes the years 2016, 2019, and now 2022 as well!</p>
    <p class=”p1″>By now there should have been 17 series of “Nu Who”, but according to BBC iPlayer there have only been 13! They include the Specials as part of actual numbered series. This shows that what’s actually happened is that fans have been conned out of a new series in four separate years.<span class=”Apple-converted-space”> The years are 2009, 2016, 2019, and 2022! They’re even planning the same for 2023!!</span></p>
    <p class=”p1″>The situation now is that after only about 3.5 hours of new Doctor Who episodes this year, instead of 11-12 hours, fans are being forced to wait for over a year for the next new episode! I think it will add up to being conned out of 5 years of new series over a period of 18 years. Everyone should be up in arms about this! It’s worse than anything Michael Grade did BG! At this point I’d like to point out that it was Peter Cregeen at the BBC who decided to have another break in Doctor Who BG, but then the break became indefinite and the series never returned until 2005. I think that Michael Grade is sick! He even made comments about Doctor Who having to compete with Star Wars, which was just a series of films, meaning that it was only made up of a few stories or episodes. I think that Star Wars is crap!  I eventually watched the first three Star Wars films to be released, but I’ve never bothered to watch them again. I have always watched and enjoyed Star Trek, but as you’ve guessed I prefer the series to the film versions.</p>
    <p class=”p1″>The situation is so serious that I think the soap “Eastenders” (which started during Michael Grade’s Doctor Who gap, possibly financed with Doctor Who money) should be cancelled immediately, then the BBC closed down, their assets seized, then used to produce lots more Doctor Who episodes.</p>
    So, in short, up with Doctor Who, down with the BBC!!!!

     

     

     
    <p class=”p1″><span class=”Apple-converted-space”> </span></p>

    #73774
    Rewvian @rewvian

    Supposedly there will be 8 episodes of DW featuring David Tenant next year, beginning in May 2023.

    They will also feature Doctors 4-9 in some capacity.

    Great news if it’s true!  The Tenant special will likely make for a series-encompassing lead-in to the next Doctor’s run.

    #73775
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    @rewvian it’s not a tv series it’s a 8 part multidoctor audio story series by Big Finish that’s been announced as part of this years DoctorWho day, as far as I can tell the 3-4 specials with 3 making up the 60th anniversary with Tennant and the Xmas/newyear introducing Ncuti in his first full episode is the official BBC tv offering

    #73776
    Rewvian @rewvian

    @devilishrobby

    My mistake!  Still, it’s cool that they can get so many former Doctors involved.

    So 3 specials and then the fourth will be the new Doc.

    #73780
    TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit

    DOCTOR WHO (2005) ENDS

    The BBC have confirmed that the revived series of Doctor Who is ending. It actually finished in 2021, but not many people noticed due to ambiguous statements from the BBC. There are now just a few specials left to show in 2023. These will be followed by a Disney+ funded new series, expected to be only six episodes long, in line with their other series. No further series of Doctor Who are expected to be produced after that, the same as with other Disney+ series such as “Wandavision”, “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier”, “Loki”, “Hawkeye”, etc.

     

     

     

     

    #73784
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    @translatorcircuit with all due respect what utter drivel. I sincerely doubt you are a true Who fan  all your comments seem to be negative and putting down the BBC and criticising the production values and the actors about things that are  often out of their control. You’re banging on that Who  has been cancelled by the BBC is blatantly untrue, my impression is that RTD has committed to being the front runner for at least season 14 and 15. Also the deal with Disney+ relates to the overseas steaming/distribution but in the UK and Ireland the BBC will be broadcasting the show. In this day and age it’s not unusual for broadcasting companies to join forces to produce  programs and the  overseas Disney+ distribution deal it is hoped will give the BBC funds to be able to hopefully give us longer series’s in the future. Your griping previously about the some of the lead actors having been allowed to end their runs as the Doctor with a series of specials is basically ludicrous, these actors have to commit to productions anything upto 2 or 3 years in advance so the shows producers will have been well aware of this and it would have been discussed in detail by both the actor and the Who production team before the actor takes on a new role.

    #73785
    TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit

    @devilishrobby I can assure you that I AM a true Who fan! I’ve been watching Doctor Who since I was a little boy. Doctor Who is the only thing that remains in my life while other things keep changing, coming and going. My whole attitude is that Doctor Who must take priority for the actors playing The Doctor, as well as for the BBC. What this means is that whoever is the current actor playing The Doctor must be committed to playing The Doctor and give that role priority. Their contract should state this implicitly and they must stick to this or be regenerated with another actor playing them for the regeneration Sylvester McCoy style. If the BBC had actually discussed this with David Tennant in enough detail, then they should have known he was unreliable, then regenerated him in the Christmas Special “The Next Doctor”, leading to a new Doctor a year earlier than it actually happened. I don’t think Jodie Whittaker went off to play some other part, though. I think it was COVID-19 restrictions as well as a hate campaign against her which led to a six episode series, followed by three specials.

    The production values I support are what I came to expect from Doctor Who as well as other series in the past. It’s a TV series, NOT a film, with lots of stories, instead of just a few stories. Michael Grade didn’t understand this! I don’t particularly care about special effects. Star Wars is crap! I care mainly about the stories being told. I think there should have been another (non animated) Star Trek series made in between Star Trek TOS and Star Trek: TNG, as they were planning, instead of the Star Trek films featuring the cast of Star Trek TOS. There were six of these, not counting “Star Trek: Generations”, so those stories could all have been told in about 12 episodes of about 50 minutes each. I admire the fan made productions of Star Trek, such as “Star Trek Continues” because these show just what small groups of dedicated people can do!

    I would welcome a return to the Doctor Who production schedule of about 40-45 new episodes of about 25 minutes each per year, as with the first two Doctors in the 1960s. AFAIK there have always been some TV series with only about 6 episodes each year (e.g. “Only Fools and Horses”, “Porridge”, “Open All Hours”, and “Sink or Swim” which even starred Peter Davison managing to fit in the filming with Doctor Who!), but Doctor Who shouldn’t be one of them. I thought I’d seen details of co production credits on lots of “Nu Who” episodes, but at the moment I can’t find details of these, although I thought I remembered seeing CBC (i.e. Canada).  What I expect is a new series of Doctor Who each year without fail. Not only that, but each new series must have at least 13 episodes of at least 50 minutes each and there should be a Christmas or New Year special as well, because lots of or even most BBC series have these, so why shouldn’t Doctor Who?  I think the answer is because there are lots of people working for the BBC who hate Doctor Who and will do anything to undermine and kill it off again, which they’ve made a pretty good job of so far! Of course, I’d also like to see Eastenders cancelled immediately for siphoning off Doctor Who money when it started, as well as for having a decimated crossover for the Doctor Who 30th Anniversary instead of the amazing planned story “The Dark Dimension”, and being a graveyard for former Doctor Who actors. I eventually saw a fan animated version of “The Dark Dimension” on YouTube, which I thought was fantastic!

    As for the Disney+ agreement, I don’t think that all the money they’re investing in Doctor Who comes without strings. How can a Doctor Who series of 13 episodes of about 50 minutes each fit in with all the series they’re streaming already? Will they just split the next Doctor Who series into two series released on Disney+ at different times of the year, or will they insist on annual series of 6 episodes only, otherwise they’ll withdraw their funding? I think they’ll do the latter.

     

    #73788
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @translatorcircuit

    You said “DOCTOR WHO (2005) ENDS
    The BBC have confirmed that the revived series of Doctor Who is ending.”

    References please? Or I’m inclined to agree with Devilishrobby. I think you’re stating your opinion as if it were fact. And some of those opinions are debatable, to say the least.

    #73789
    TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit

    @dentarthundert OK, here’s a revised version…

    DOCTOR WHO (2005) ENDS

    The BBC have confirmed in their usual ambiguous style (i.e. “having a rest”, “having a longer than usual wait”, etc) that the revived series of Doctor Who is ending. It nearly finished in 2021, but not many people noticed, due to deliberately confusing ambiguous statements from the BBC. There are now just a few specials left to show in 2023. These will be followed by a mainly Disney+ funded new series, expected to be only six episodes long, in line with their other series. No further series of Doctor Who are expected to be produced after that, the same as with other Disney+ series such as “Wandavision”, “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier”, “Loki”, “Hawkeye”, etc, as well as the BBC/Universal co produced Doctor Who TV movie in 1996.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cregeen

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/doctor-who-bbc-and-disney-branded-television

     

    #73817
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave
    #73818
    janetteB @janetteb

    @blenkinsopthebrave It mentions that the first episode airs over the Christmas period in 2023. I hope that means that RTD is bringing back the Christmas Specials…

    cheers

    Janette

    #73819
    TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit

    The Disney+ deal actually reduces the number of potential viewers for Doctor Who to approximately 150,000,000 in all the countries where they operate! Australia alone has nearly 26,000,000 people nowadays, while Canada has nearly 39,000,000. Do you expect most of them to subscribe to Disney+? If so, when might we see this sudden surge in Disney+ subscribers?

    I actually logged on here today because I got a message about some news from @blenkinsopthebrave with a link to https://www.darkhorizons.com/gatwas-doctor-who-series-begins-filming/ with the news that Ncuti Gatwa has actually started filming his first series as The Doctor! This link contains the following important news…

    1. Russell T Davies confirmed that this series will have more than six episodes, in spite of being shown on Disney+, in his quote “I sit here with ten scripts in front of me – four Specials and six episodes of the New Series, so far, with Episode Seven blinking away on the screen.”

    2. Unfortunately, this quote also says there are FOUR SPECIALS planned for production! When will these specials be shown?! Does this mean that fans will be deprived of yet another year’s series of Doctor Who after Ncuti Gatwa’s first series?

    Unfortunately, all these plans are in the distant future for people like me, who are no longer used to making long term plans thanks to various crises. The whole thing may be cancelled by Vladimir Putin pressing the nuclear button!

     

    #73820
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    @translatorcircuit if you had paid any attention to news releases when RTD  said he had the scripts for 4 specials he was referring to the 3 specials that make up the 60th anniversary celebrations and the Gnuti’s  introductory Special which is going to be aired over the xmas period  with his first season after that. Now given that most seasons have taken in the region of 8-9 months to make it may mean that we could be seeing that season early in 2024 even the January. Also that same article you have quoted also stated RTD had 6 manuscripts for Gnuti’s first season plus a 7th blinking on what I imagine was his computer which puts payed  to your previous assertion that the Disney+ deal was dictating the length of the season be only 6 episodes. So no there isn’t going to be a further 2 years until the next full season it’s quite possibly only going to be 13 or 14 months. The Who season premiere has never really been a fixed time event the very first Nu Who season started at Easter though I will admit we had got used to Who starting usually in the Autumn normally early autumn being September time. The scheduling is down to the BBC and I think the events ongoing in any particular year have been and will dictate series launches, it may even be that the Disney deal may regularise the start windows for future seasons. The last few years have been a scheduling nightmare but that’s in a big part been down to the Covid restrictions effects on filming and though not as restrictive now still are having effects on the tv and film industry in general.

    #73821
    TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit

    @janetteb it actually says “Gatwa will take control of the TARDIS as the fifteenth Doctor with his first episode airing over the festive period in 2023.” When people say “the festive period”, this means Christmas and New Year or the Twelve Days of Christmas. I don’t think for one moment that it means the return of the Christmas episodes. We were told years ago that the Christmas episodes had stopped because the writers couldn’t think of any more Christmas themed stories. If I was one of the Doctor Who writers, then I could easily knock up a story which mentions Christmas a few times, but it wouldn’t be all about Christmas. I think that’s what they should do! I don’t want to be a Doctor Who writer or play The Doctor, for the simple reason that in either case I’d know in advance what was going to happen, so this would be a massive spoiler. I don’t think any technology such as retcon exists yet. I really hope someone leaks the three David Tennant specials, like with the episode “Rose”, which I saw about two weeks before it was shown.

    #73822
    syzygy @thane16

    @translatorcircuit

    mmmn. Are you high (& I know what that’s like so no judgement 😁😳)?  You seem, with respect, to be stating opinions labelled as True News.

    But look, it seems you’re either an actor or writer, as you stated you wouldn’t want to tackle either (for Who) as you’d likely know the outcome.👍 Which is fair reason. What are your favourite television programmes?

    & I *totally* understand where you’re coming from about waiting SO long for new seasons alongside inevitable political & ecological crises: in this way, it was terrific we received some striking scripts during Whittaker’s era addressing current issues.

    ❤️ ❤️not trying to come across as pompous!

    #73824
    TranslatorCircuit @translatorcircuit

    @thane16 No, I’m not high, not an actor, and not a writer either. When I say I’m not a writer, I mean that I don’t write any short stories, books, or scripts, although I might be able to. My favourite TV programmes are “Doctor Who” and all Star Trek series except the animated ones. I’ve recently been watching some other series on Britbox, such as UFO, “Space 1999”, “Captain Scarlet”, and “The Tomorrow People”. I’m subscribed to Amazon Prime for quick deliveries and on Prime Video I watch “Starhunter: Redux”, and “Metal Hurlant Chronicles”, while on Amazon Freevee I watch “Dark Matter” and “Andromeda”. I also like most Sci Fi and anything to do with alternative history, such as “Timeless”, “The Man in The High Castle”, and “For All Mankind”.

    I don’t want to wish my life away that it was already November 23, 2023 so I could watch yet another Doctor Who special, not even a series. I hope I’ve got lots of living to do before then!

    I think the best possible news about Doctor Who would be a group of hackers taking some or all BBC TV channels off air, then playing either a leaked 60th Anniversary Special or one of their favourite Doctor Who episodes. I think the best time to do this would be during an episode of Eastenders or Strictly.

     

     

    #73856
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    Ncuti Gawati and Millie Gibson on set and in costume.

    https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/ncuti-gatwa-doctor-who-costume-newsupdate/

     

    #73858
    janetteB @janetteb

    @blenkinsopthebrave Thanks for the image. Nice costume. In fact our second son has a coat rather like that one so we kind of have half the costume already. Plaid pants might be harder to find however.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #73878
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    60th anniversary specials– BBC trailer

     

    #73881
    winston @winston

    @blenkinsopthebrave  I can’t wait, I have to but I can’t, but I have to. What a dilemma.

    Thanks for the link. Did I mention that  I really can’t wait?

    Stay merry

     

    #73883
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    Is it me or are they being a bit canny about actually identifying Neil Patrick’s character as the Celestial  Toymaker. Now I really am wondering if my bonkers thoughts a few days ago that he’s not playing the ToyMaker but is a new incarnation of the Master I wouldn’t put it past RTD to let us think NP is the Toymaker when he’s someone else entirely. As I have stated elsewhere I wondered if the forced regeneration into masterdoc had had some effect of giving him unlimited regeneration ability.

    #73884
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    A bonkers theory for Christmas.

    Was just re-watching the trailer above. While it is short, it seems to emphasis Donna’s story. Specifically, it is revisiting the fact that the Doctor wiped her memories (something many people had an issue with back in the day). It would appear that (somehow) she will be reunited with the Doctor–almost as if RTD is undoing the sadness of having her memories taken from her. How?

    Well (early bonker thoughts follow) what if what happens in the specials in some way never actually happened? What if the re-appearance of the Tennant doctor and his adventures during the three upcoming specials is either a dream, or a microscopic moment in time, that happens during  the transformation from the Whittaker Doctor into the Ncuti Gatwa Doctor?

    In other words, what if RTD is using the three specials to give Donna back her memories while not interfering with canon?

     

    #73889
    syzygy @thane16

    @blenkinsopthebrave @winston @devilishrobby

    well, I’ve missed this! I DO enjoy checking out clues: though that’s not the point of Who I like to imagine what these teasers are a-telling…..

    Tennant, who started filming Who in ‘05, is looking relatively young.

    Now, in other news, I may’ve mentioned The Detectorists last week & whilst seasons 1-3 are available on streaming services, Boxing Day, in the UK, had a feature length episode.

    Wondering if anyone in Aus/Canada (or NZ) heard whispers on the national broadcaster? I can’t see it as yet on our ABC.

    @janetteb wondering if you’re a fan?

    Thinking of pretending this is The Sofa because we’re well over 22 pages & trying to load The Sofa when it’s overstuffed, is a tad difficult.

    Hope we were all Nice, not naughty, & so received some fun under the tree? Thano was given a voucher to iFly, where you effectively jump out of a plane -but not.
    It’s a giant air bubble with a VR package enabling you to choose a city to ‘fly over.’ Lot cheaper than actual sky diving.

    The world’s gone mad (you’ve just realised this, you say?). In order to do various jobs here, such as making sandwiches, you need a food safety cert (Thane avoided this by learning on the job) but in order to do minimum wage security work, he requires a Security course Cert completed in 6 straight days for ….$999.

    Which is the discount. A uni student doesn’t pay the full price of $1400 & yet a person who is NOT a student, has a further discounted price of only $600.

    The lack of sense in this, boggles. 🤔

    Back to fun stuff: like any good mama, I received face cream from Santa & an enormous amount of lollies. I’m in heaven when I eat fairy floss, Mike & Ike’s & all-day-suckers. Naturally I made enough White Christmas, rum balls, panforte & marzipan to sink the house, but it’s all yummy. @winston I agree! Christmas is not a time to worry about the scales.

    This reminds me of the wonderful Tate & Tennant opener, with: The Fat Which Ran Away.

    😂

     

    #73890
    syzygy @thane16

    @blenkinsopthebrave yes, that sounds like a very good plan. Is it that the Doctor doesn’t really connect with Donna? That the story, involves her, but not?
    The last couple of The Doctor Donna episodes, had various people (like the Shadow Proclamation) stating, “I’m sorry for your loss.” And when Donna prodded, the younger woman reiterated, “the loss that is yet to come.”

    We also have River avoiding spoilers when Donna begs her to divulge where Donna exists in the Doctor’s future in The Silence in The Library.  River looks uncomfortable because she knows.

    I wonder if Donna were to regain such memories we’d lose those important moments. I’m not sure I’d like that. Then again it’ll be exciting to see the path RTD takes. It’s often peculiar.

    #73891
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @thane16 Hi, if I can comment on one thing you mentioned – The Sofa. I don’t know how it shows up on your ‘device’ (what an awful term:) but on my laptop, I never need to load 22 pages. At worst it opens at Page 1 and there’s a little list of pages at the top or bottom of the page and I just click on ’22’ or whatever and it jumps there. Doesn’t that work for you?

    Cheers

    #73892
    syzygy @thane16

    @dentarthurdent

    hi there. Yes, ‘loading up’ was incorrect. I find, though, that after I click on 22 it takes a few minutes to get there. At that point, on my phone, at least, I have an awful lot of scrolling followed by it (often) going back to page 1 again.

    #73893
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    Hi syzygy @thane16 Okay, I must admit I’ve never tried reading this site (or most Internet sites) on a smartphone, I always use a laptop. Warning: Big rambling digression follows. (In fact, up until Covid struck and I needed a ‘device’ that would run the Covid Tracker app – you know, scanning in at the entrances to everywhere – my phone was a little $18 ZTE with push buttons. Amazingly, at that price, it could actually take photos in a good light that were okay to view. But I actually have a proper camera for that anyway. But Internet – not on that phone 🙂

    So anything from accessing this site to Youtube to emails, I wait till I’m at home with Internet wifi access. If I need to make contact when I’m not home, it’s phone calls or texts. This seems to be quite different to what most people do. I’ll admit Googlemaps or GPS are likely to be very useful on a phone, but even then Googlemaps is far easier to follow on a full-size screen.

    (Texts, on the other hand, are by far the most useful when travelling in the back country with intermittent cellphone contact. A text will go as soon as it ‘sees’ a tower, and your contact will then get it as soon as they come in range of any tower – so you don’t both need to be in range at the same time. This sure beats trying to phone them every time you can get a signal and hoping they just happen to be in range too).

    #73894
    syzygy @thane16

    @dentarthurdent

    yes, my smartphone IS a computer. I use the internet on it to text people, just as I would my laptop.

    I also had a very cheap push button phone (a Nokia)  from 2011. It died eventually in 2021. Texts were my main form of communication & they still are but now I can access photos or send links via my phone (which uses an email address otherwise I’d be spending a ridiculous amount to post information, go on Facebook or send links).

    My music is loaded up so I don’t need another device to play something should I leave the house.

    The phone is surprisingly versatile -with Crohns & pain relief, I can just lie there, use a mediation app or watch YouTube whilst the pain relief gets going & the wifi headphones are terrific. I have to say I’m an iPhone fan but, yes, my actual mobile phone account is cheap.

    #73895
    syzygy @thane16

    @dentarthurdent should ‘devices’ just be ‘computer thingies?’
    🤔

    So my thingy phone is a computer thingie but just a smaller thingy than the laptop because that thingy is too big & I notice it gets quite hot? Could be hot air from it? Or the fluffy doona causing temperature rises.

    #73896
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @thane16 Yes, ‘device’ in this context means phone/laptop etc. Notice in aircraft they ask you to turn off your ‘devices’. I think ‘computer thingy’ is a better description – and a ‘phone’ in this context is really a tiny computer that happens to make phone calls. More like a ‘communicator’ really. Just think how baffled people 50 years ago would have been if you’d told them you were watching a movie on your phone. What, the black thing with a dial and wires that comes in a phone box the size of a Tardis?

    I can understand the point of doing everything on one ‘phone’, but I tend to have separate gadgets for each function. My laptop(s), a desktop (computer) that these days is really just a fileserver because Mrs D has banished it to my ‘den’ in the basement, I keep gigabytes of stuff on it and use a laptop in the lounge to access it; a digital camera; my smartphone of course; and several little MP3 players. There is a point to the MP3 players, they’re small enough to slip two into a pocket and on a long walk I can use them continuously without worrying about flattening my phone battery. Oh, and my laptops all have DVD drives (except one I fitted with a Bluray drive) so I can sit in the lounge and watch Doctor Who with headphones on while Mrs D watches something brain-cell-numbing on the TV.

    Your laptop gets hot because the CPU is consuming power. Intel and AMD and ARM have been working hard for years to get performance up while keeping power drain down. Faster you run it, the hotter it gets, hence gamers and their water-cooled CPUs. I think the CPU in a laptop has far more performance than the miniaturised CPU in a phone, getting decent performance out of that is probably one reason why upmarket phones cost so much. But also why (I think) things tend to run slower on phones than laptops.

    #73897
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @thane16 Apropos of my crack about a modern ‘phone’ being baffling to people from 50 years ago, I’ve just recalled a scene from ‘The Impossible Astronaut’ where Amy was confronted by a Silent in the White House rest room and took a picture of it. Amy exits the rest room and the Secret service guy says “What’s that?” and Amy says “It’s my phone” and I’d expected the guy to say “Phones are not permitted here” and confiscate it, instead he just says “Your phone?” in a puzzled sort of way. It took me AGES to realise that in Nixon’s day, phones were bulky things that sat on desks. And maybe that’s why the Silent let itself be photographed, being habituated to 60’s Earth it didn’t know (or didn’t realise) that Amy was from a time when phones took photos.

    #73898
    syzygy @thane16

    @dentarthurdent

    yes, indeed.
    and the filmic quality of those episodes are intriguing. They really are colour-rich, just drenched in sun & shadow. The Silent’s features filled with hollow spaces & crevices like the moon….

    #73899
    JimTheFish @jimthefish
    Time Lord

    @blenksinsopthebrave —

    That trailer is certainly eliciting a sense of anticipation that had been missing in the Chibs era — and I say that as someone who wasn’t the biggest fan of the 10/Donna pairing. It will be nice to have them back tho. What’s really got me stoked tho is the prospect of seeing live-action versions of what to me look very characters that readers of the 70s Dr Who Weekly comic strip would recognise. (I miss @phaseshift and @wolfweed. They would totally get what I’m driving at.)

    On Gatwa’s costume, I think I like but don’t love it. It looks rather close to riffing on Tennant’s old outfit and makes me worry that he’s going to be under instruction to be a Tennant-clone to bring back the viewership rather than get to be his own Doctor. And again, it looks like something that originated in a TV wardrobe department rather than a ‘found’ costume that fans can emulate…

    #73900
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @thane16 The Silents certainly were frightening monsters. Probably second only to the Angels in the Moff menagerie. They reminded me mostly of Munch’s ‘The Scream’. Where the Angels got a lot of their frighteningness (is that a word? It is now!) from moving when you weren’t looking, the Silents got theirs from their property that you forgot them as soon as you looked away. It takes real writing skill to make the check-marks suddenly appearing on Amy’s hands in the ‘childrens home’ scary.

    That south-midWest scenery (I mean the Valley of the Gods / Monument Valley area) is just so spectacular. Worth the budget to go there. As soon as he could afford to shoot a spaghetti western in the US, Sergio Leone shot some of Once Upon a Time in the West there. (Though most of it in Spain, I think not far from A Town Called Mercy). It’s an effective strategy, use that spectacular scenery to ‘spice up’ the rest of the episode.

    #73901
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @jimthefish

    Great to hear from our resident Time Lord. Yes, I confess that I was also less than rapturous about the Donna Noble/ Tennant pairing back in the day, but RTD obviously loved it, hence my bonkers theory.

    I wish I could say I remember the 70s Doctor Who weekly comic strip, but alas I do not (of course, I have reached that stage of life where I occasionally fail to remember what I had for breakfast). But still.

    Also agree on the new costume. It seems a bit…beige. If that makes any sense.

    And yes, it would be great to hear from @phaseshift, @wolfweed, and so many more.

     

     

    #73903
    PhaseShift @phaseshift
    Time Lord

    @jimthefish & @blenkinsopthebrave

    Hi and Seasons Greetings!

    Yeah, I really enjoyed the trailer and was delighted to see the comic characters you mentioned Jim. If you’d told 10 year old me that we’d have this 42 years later … well, I would have probably dropped my Curly Wurly!

    It’s fascinating really – on the one hand it’s a big statement of intent. The characters will probably be the biggest use of cgi in the shows history, and probably made possible because of the work done by Bad Wolf in developing His Dark Materials.

    It’s kind of interesting in another way. The story and the characters are actually owned by the company that set up Doctor Who Weekly, which was, of course, Marvel (UK) Ltd. So getting the rights may have been facilitated by the Disney+ deal? It could work in that wider context of building the brand on Disney. A Karen Gillan narrated documentary on the relationship between the Doctor and Marvel (Doctors 1-8 are still listed in Marvel’s Multiverse visual references) could get a few more people tuning in.

    It also makes me wonder if the rumored Dalek & Cybermen spin offs could be from that era. RTD is a big fan of Mr. Daak. Kroton the Cyberman? Apocalypse Device? The mind boggles!

    I’m hyped for the future. 🙂

    #73922
    nerys @nerys

    @blenkinsopthebrave Wow, that trailer is amazing! Gah, if only Doctor Who were not limited to be limited to Disney (in Canada). I just do not want to sign up for another streaming service.

    I was a fan of the Doctor/Donna pairing because it went in such a different direction from Rose and Martha, both of whom were on opposite sides of the romance coin. I liked it that the Doctor and Donna were friends, nothing more, and that was established from the get-go. And yet they had a wonderful chemistry built on friendship.

    I would love to see RTD fix the decision to erase Donna’s memories, something that gutted me at the time. She had lived such a remarkable life, achieved so much, only to have her memories of that obliterated. I found it heartbreaking.

    #74037
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    The word is that RTD is developing a UNIT spin-off series, with Jemma Redgrave.

    Of course, the story emanated from The Daily Mirror, so should be treated with a modicum of healthy scepticism.

    And as for Torchwood, well…

    #74041
    winston @winston

    @blenkinsopthebrave   We live in hope.

    #74042
    janetteB @janetteb

    @blenkinsopthebrave. It could be good or it could be another Torchwood but then it could be a Sarah Jane Adventures. Hopefully he will get old pals Moffat and Gatiss on board rather than Chibnell. That would help. (and of course plenty of fresh talent too.)

    Cheers

    Janette

    #74110
    janetteB @janetteb

    Some Dr Who whimsy to bring a smile to the face today and hopefully inspire some discussion.

    I have to rush off to record a podcast but when I get back I will be compiling my own list as I agree with some but certainly not all of this one.

    Cheers

    Janette

    #74111
    janetteB @janetteb

    there could be a costume spoiler in there so mods please note and move if you consider it to a more appropriate thread.

     

    #74112
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @janetteb   Well that was entertaining.   But I’m genuinely not sure if they were supposed to be ranked best-to-worst or worst-to-best.

    Personally, I would rank Sylvester McCoy’s costume as the absolute worst (though I love McCoy as the Doctor).   Those question marks!

    And Jodie Whittaker’s as second worst, that baggy trench coat makes her look like a clown for some reason.

    And that blue thing of Ncuti Gatwa’s makes him look like a pillowcase.  Or a gangsta.   Pure Miami Vice.   Maybe he looks better in the actual episodes, that remains to be seen.

    Colin Baker looks like a pioneer of LGBTQ gayness (though I’m sure that wasn’t intended at the time).   By the way I have a beef with the rainbow generation, I have a couple of nice umbrellas in eight colours (i.e. better than Colin’s) that I now can’t use as, y’know, umbrellas because they would send a clear signal that I don’t intend.   Drat.

    For the rest, I thought Matt Smith’s was okay, Peter Capaldi’s was fine, Paul McGann’s was fine, Jon Pertwee’s was fine and dandy, well, very dandy, Patrick Troughton’s was fine, Ecclestone’s was excellent and David Tennant’s was the most stylish.

    So there you have it.  Whichever way the Grauniad thought they were ranking it, they were horribly worng.

    (Just to establish my credentials as a fashion guru I should confess that I’ve travelled halfway round the world in shorts, a tee shirt and sandals.   My idea of formal attire is putting a rally jacket on that lot and swapping for a fancier pair of sandals.   Not quite Michael Palin’s intrepid traveller from Monty Python but not far off.)

    #74113
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @janetteb Yes, I saw that in the Guardian and agree with @dentarthurdent that worst to best was more like best to worst!

    The costumes were sort of reflective of the culture at the time back in the early days. (Hartnell as the slightly distant professor in the early 60s, Troughton as the slightly comical scientist/professor of the late 60s, Pertwee’s dandy with a nod to James Bond in the early 70s, Tom Baker as the raffish professor who one suspected of sleeping with his students in the mid 70s. But then it all went weird during the JNT years, with poor Peter Davison and his leek (!) Colin Baker and his cartoon costume and the less said about the riot of question marks that poor Sylvester McCoy had to wear around, the better.

    #74115
    Devilishrobby @devilishrobby

    @blenkinsopthebrave, @jannetteb,@dentarthurdent. I agree in your assessment of the pre gap costumes in the main, though I would say that Sylvester McCoy’s costume did improve somewhat in the second half of his tenure and if memory serves me haven’t all the Doctors from Tom Baker onwards had a question-mark positioned somewhere in their costume I seem to remember Peter Davidsons shirt lapels had them embroidered on them at least and C.Bs costume was such a riot of rainbow colour I’m sure there was one or two somewhere.

    #74116
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @devilishrobby   Very probably those Doctors you mention had the odd question mark.   I think in Seven’s case (McCoy) it got out of control.   I seem to recall reading that he wasn’t happy about it and eventually managed to get them to tone it down a bit.

    #74117
    janetteB @janetteb

    @dentarthurdent, @blenkisnopthebrave and @devislishrobby

    We had a round table family discussion last night about the costumes and divided them into three catagories, the good, the bad and the indifferent.

    The Bad, (not necessarily in worst to least bad order) Colin Baker, Peter Davison, Ecclestone and Capaldi, the indifferent, Tennant, the Good, Ist, 2nd and 3rd, 7th, 8th, Smith and Whitaker. The Best of BG is 4th Doctor, Tom Baker and the best of AG is Matt Smith’s. Loved the bow tie. The new Doctor’s costume looks good but I feel as though it is too soon to include it.

    I think the costume should be distinctive, a bit eccentric which is why Ecclestone’s and Capaldi’s costumes (though i loved the coat but he did not wear it enough) didn’t really make the grade for me and Tennant’s is an indifferent. Matt Smith was capturing the essence of the Doctor in his costume and I feel that Whitaker got close. it doesn’t have to be stylish but it needs to convey the sense that this individual is not conventional. The Doctor should not blend in but nor should they be clownish.

    cheers

    Janette

     

    #74118
    Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent

    @janetteb    Ah well, your list is pretty well the opposite of my list.   Just as well our mutual appreciation of Dr Who isn’t predicated on agreeing on his sartorial predilections, isn’t it?    🙂

    As an aside, I’ve just watched Listen, and it blew me away even more than the first time. There’s so much in it, for a simple episode. (I stuck my impressions in that forum).

    I’ve returned (so to speak) from a couple of evenings of watching ‘reaction’ videos on Youtube (i.e. [some unknown Youtuber] ‘reacts’ to [some video performance]). I’d always dismissed those because I can make up my own mind, what do I care what other people think? But I’ve just realised they’re not that dissimilar to what brings me here – I’ve discovered something I like (Dr Who) so it’s nice to see others appreciating it also. Some of those are peoples’ ‘first watch’ videos, of youngsters who have never seen e.g. Pink Floyd or Les Miserables, and it’s great to see their expressions when Dave Gilmour goes into the first guitar solo on ‘Comfortably Numb’ or Lea Salonga really turns up the power halfway through ‘On My Own’. To name just two of my absolute favourite performances, sorry for the digression.

    I don’t know if anyone else here is into that, but the existence of the Internet and Youtube has expanded the availability of arts and music beyond all imagining.

    #74120
    winston @winston

    @janetteb  @dentarthurdent  @blenkinsopthebrave  @devilishrobby   Since I have spent at least 50 years in jeans and a t shirt and always wearing “appropriate”  footwear I am not a credible critic of other peoples clothes. I am a Doctor fan though and I know what I like in Doctor costumes. I like the quirky costumes like the 4th , 10th, 11th  and 13th Doctors. Next I like the gritty costumes like the War Doctors and the 9th and 12th Doctors. I do not like the silly costumes like the 6th, 7th or the 3rd Doctors. I do like celery so the 5th Doctor gets a pass.

    That is my list for what it is worth.

    stay safe

    #74122
    blenkinsopthebrave @blenkinsopthebrave

    @winston I love your list! It is not my list, but it is pretty cool.

    Part of the problem with a costume list, I think, is whether it is an assessment of the costume or the Doctor.

    I wonder which costume I would choose for the Master? Actually, I know. In light of what I just said, it would have to be Missy.

     

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