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24 February 2013 at 14:39 #2871
That’s a shame about Ray Cusick. RIP indeed.
Another snippet of news this morning is this interview with writer Mark Ravenhill (Ravenhill scripting Who – that could be VERY different, LOL). Brecht, Shakespeare and Who in the same sentence, I love it!
23 February 2013 at 12:43 #2853Go @miapatrick! (and equally impressive @bluesqueakpip )
Much smugness is allowed! <WooHoo>
23 February 2013 at 12:39 #2851@juniperfish – thanks for the LindaLee update. There’s also an extended bit which shows how she got on at the rest of the conference. Hugging a dalek, playing peekaboo with a weeping angel – how mind boggling would that place be for a 4 year old Whovian?! Never mind interviewing Freema (who’s just gone up oodles in my eyes!) and McCoy (also charming)… with a mic that’s nearly as big as her head!
(And yes, I agree, my more mature head is shouting “keep her away from the youTube comments and get her out to play on that chute in the garden (without a camera!)” But she’s clearly having a ball for now)
@jimthefish Don’t Panic! (oops, wrong show)
21 February 2013 at 08:15 #2783<runs in for quick coffee and contemplation the sofa>
@juniperfish – love the comparison – noisy bar v comfy sofa 🙂
Still on mad work schedule at the moment (playing havoc with Who viewing!) but did stumble across this. Apologies if it’s been posted before, but’s a lot of fun, and you have to be awestruck about the scale of the task they’ve undertaken – Fanboy undertakes to watch ALL the existing Who footage with his “not-we” wife
(Covers EVERYthing, inc ALL the reconned Hartnell and Troughton; they’ve just started on McCoy… this is not a short term project; definitely a labour of love; with some very pithy comments)
Btw if our mighty mods @craig, and @phaseshift want to move this to fan creativity thread, that’s fine by me
<finishes coffee, waves, runs out again!>
18 February 2013 at 22:11 #2753Thanks everyone, for all the links posted above. Lots of food for thought 🙂
@bluesqueakpip My thoughts exactly re documentary/tribute progs being useful camouflage for disguising which actors are on call for which Who! And yes, it is intriguing they bring in Troughton, but then again regeneration is the show’s stroke of genius and one of its USPs – there could be series of flash forwards to summarise the show’s “greatest hits” as it were, taking it up to the change to Troughton. The casting so far looks ace.
Also intrigued by –
William Russell (the original Ian Chesterton) as Harry
Reece Pockney as Alan
Who the hell are Harry and Alan…? Every other cast name has explanation beside it… (re Reece Pockney )
<pauses a min to squeeeeal – William Russell!! >
13 February 2013 at 06:46 #2647@haveyoufedthefish – haha – very timely vid 🙂
LOL’d at your BBC will cancel the show. Fortunately I don’t think they need to worry about lack of interest this year. But they do need to orchestrate it so they don’t get masses of coverage in Spring and nothing in November, and all the plot twists laid bare before the summer. They’re doing the secrecy tactics very well at the moment. Repeated “no comment” and “I haven’t been asked” from likes of Tennant and T Baker, releasing info about Matt’s schedule, knowing that will kickstart speculation. Some photos from filming will work their way online, Not all of them will be unauthorised! They seem to have found a way of working well with the press – presumably give them good stories/threaten them with banishment in exchange for silence on spoilers after previews.
@bluesqueakpip thanks for the RT bit. When Moffat says “it’s going to be all over TV” he immediately raises our expectations universe high But we know he can exaggerate to the point of lying… so we do the sour grapes in advance so we’re not disappointed! It’s like waiting for Xmas day when someone’s promised that you will get “the best present ever”. (But you don’t know if their idea of that is the same as yours. It might even be better).
So… patience, everyone. Keep calm and carry on about your business.
<jumps and down and squeals with excitement!>
(But I’m still not impressed with 3D!)
Hmmm… 3D? Power of 3…????? <Goes off to ponder another theory!>
😀
11 February 2013 at 22:50 #2609@craig That was the other thing with the Hobbit – it was filmed in ultra hi def at twice the speed of sound frame rate (or something technical like that). It looked incredibly lush and detailed… But it showed up TOO much – you became more aware of the illusion – joins in the prosthetics, make up etc. Wouldn’t have been an issue with the slower film rate. So it still came down to your willingness to suspend disbelief.
11 February 2013 at 22:40 #2607Would’ve been better to put the cash towards eg an extra 30mins to make it feature length 90. I’d’ve told them that if they’d bothered to ask me! Comparing recent experiences of the Hobbit with friends & kids who’d seen both 2D and 3D versions (I stuck to the luddite 2D), concensus was that while the 3D was extremely impressive it distracted from the storytelling). Harrumph! <goes off to polish collection of curmudgeonly grudges>
11 February 2013 at 21:04 #2599Just announced – 50th to be in 3D. Does it seem a bit ungrateful that I’m underwhelmed…? (Speaking selfishly as someone who doesn’t have a mega screen TV never mind a 3D one)
9 February 2013 at 13:11 #2547hehe – Statler and Waldorf – love em
Last I saw of Alexander he was deep in a dalek sex fantasy fanfic. On the Asylum board I think. They may not have let him out of his padded cell yet.
9 February 2013 at 12:34 #2539Daleks as trolls… shouty, rude, intrusive, not subtle, no feelings, no individuality, herd mentality, destructive… yup, works for me 🙂
9 February 2013 at 12:29 #2537@blenkinsopthebrave It’d be bonkers right enough 🙂
Let’s see what he does with his next script <note of celtic caution creeping in there> Poor Gaiman – only The Doctor’s Wife to live up to! (Much like Moffat after Blink). I’d be happy if he even becomes a regular if intermittent writer.
Also – NG’s too fond of his tweeting to take on the reins of Who. I’m sure the waves of anonymous interwebby hate are part of the stresses of being Who showrunner. Not all the fans are as nice as us, LOL. (I do get annoyed about the likes of Moff having to give up tweeting just cos of a minority of intellectually-challenged daleks).
8 February 2013 at 20:01 #2489Sadly it must seem temptingly neat for both Matt and Moffatt to go out on a high after the 50th. Matt’s clearly more ambitious in terms of Hollywood than Tennant was. I suspect DT is happier in theatre and picking and choosing film projects rather than actively chasing.
Agree with @bluesqueakpip re Moffat – depends on whether he has ideas for post 50th or whether he’ll use them all up this year 🙂 (If the latter we could be in for one helluva year!) I still suspect a massive twist in the 50th that results in a complete reboot which still leaves the history intact, but means it could go almost any direction after.
Will be really interesting to see if they can sit on news as big as that, for any length of time. (See previous posts). So far, on paper it’s still possible for Matt to accommodate film plans and Who.
6 February 2013 at 07:14 #2431@janetteb I think you’re spot on with that last post tho I for one will be devastated if that was River’s last appearance! However, she’s still out there – we’ve already met her at various stages in her life, we know she has access to time travel independently of the Doctor – so there’s no reason she couldn’t be brought back.
@miapatrick Re regenerations – there’s also Let’s Kill Hitler when River apparently donated her remaining regenerations to the Doctor, so we should be fine for the foreseeable future 🙂
I’m hoping the Great Intelligence will be back this series <sneakily yanks thread back on-topic> but he/it’s got competition for possiible BigBad (from beginning of Matt’s time) from Omega and Stephen Berkoff’s character (in Power of 3 (I know that was probably a one off but would love to see more of a Time Lord myth)). And no doubt Moff’s got something completely different up his sleeve!
4 February 2013 at 08:14 #2379@juniperfish If you find one let me know! And vice versa 🙂 It’s a sneaky thing that the older you get the faster your personal ball of timey wimey stuff unravels. Not fair!
<stamps foot>
4 February 2013 at 07:17 #2377@bluesqueakpip Also nice to hear from a fellow Sylvester MacCoy fan. I was hardly watching Dr Who by then, but dipped in for new Doctors. I thought MacCoy had an interesting take on it; love him as an actor. (He’s also great as Radagast in the Hobbit; hope they pull him in for the 50th)
4 February 2013 at 07:14 #2375Lovely posts everyone. And special wave to @miapatrick – beautiful summing up, loved it. (And good to see you back)
I like the Moffit puzzles. I like the way he writes himself into a corner, then bursts his way out of it with brilliant special effects, gorgeous scenes and heart breaking characterisation, but without over dependence on logic…. But I never feel disappointed when I watch the real ending…But no one else out there (apart from maybe Joss Whedon) can even write checks like that.
🙂 🙂 🙂
@bluesqueakpip – love the idea of cycles (esp cos it fits in with my “everything’s been his downloading memories” almost-but-not-quite-dead-yet theory 🙂 )
Also love idea of Dr as Amy and Rory’s adopted child but that may be an incestuous step too far! Talk about a complicated family! (and we did get to meet their son in the tardisode postscript) Alternatively he’s reborn as and the cradle in the tardis (from AGMGTW) is HIS cradle – he’s brought up by River, in the Tardis…! )
(I blame @blenkinsopthebrave – he did ask for more bonkers theories (but I think that last one should probably be filed under plain bobbins!)
3 February 2013 at 11:42 #2339@blenkinsopthebrave – and @RobwhoDoesn’tLink’s fractured TARDIS(es) (either the Doctor’s or the master’s) is pretty out there 🙂
3 February 2013 at 11:40 #2335@blenkinsopthebrave I thought my recent (totally ignored!!) theory of the last 50 years being all in the Doctor’s head was fairly bonkers! (All the progs are like us viewing his memories as they download into his head). He wakes up in the 50th having just regenerated. OR It’s Matt, asleep/unconscious, getting memories downloaded. He wakes up in the 50th. The outside voices in a few episodes are exactly that – reality impinging on the Doctor’s coma-like state.
2 February 2013 at 12:02 #2301@rob – MUD hengineer? V impressive, but conjures up pics of big shovels, diggers and pails. And lots of muddy mess 🙂
2 February 2013 at 12:00 #2299A companion who really breaks the Doctor’s hearts as the result of a betrayal would be an excellent story.
@juniperfish, @phaseshift (also suggested bad-sort companion) – you two are evil!
I like it
🙂
2 February 2013 at 07:53 #2289Some nice character profiles on the BBC Who site.
This one for Troughton’s Dr – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00kn6bv/profiles/the-second-doctor
Bit grumpy they haven’t got one up for Zoe tho… Victoria, Ben, Polly, Jamie… no Zoe 🙁
2 February 2013 at 07:21 #2287@craig – thanks for reposting the time ladies.
@jimthefish – love your book covers, got the style bang on. And I like Mme Vastra’s expression – very watchful – don’t change that!
Just came across this on the hotmail home page – v cute crochet doctors. And a crochet TARDIS. 🙂 Remarkable likenesses given how simplified they are. What’s not to like 🙂
2 February 2013 at 06:52 #2285Egg-cellent idea Mr BtB 😀
2 February 2013 at 02:13 #2281Re the Moffat interview – @jimthefish – keep the faith. He’s timing the announcements to make sure he gets the press when he wants it. Tease for 50th now, but defer most of the speculation to the second half of the year. Focus things on 7.2 for now. A drama-doc and a longer episode (60? i thought I’d read 90 mins) doesn’t constitute “all over TV” for Moff!
@rob – and yes, of course he’s trawling the boards 🙂 (Can you imagine the pressure! That “I don’t want to disappoint” comment and the haunted look!)
Should we send him an invite to this forum? 🙂
1 February 2013 at 09:53 #2253Belated thanks for the Hartnell “fluffs” link. Am I right in thinking the shows were recorded “live” back then? ie no retakes?
It’s all down to the actor’s reaction when he/she fluffs. Hartnell just steams on and the fluffs become part of the character ie for the audience it’s not Hartnell who’s mispronouncing/malapropping etc, it’s the Doctor. And that becomes just how he speaks. He’s the Doctor. He’s an alien. So his command of English is sometimes a bit odd, so what? The audience can only deal with what they see in front of them, especially pre video/recording/iplayer days.
Love your fave – ‘we could all be blown to atoms floating around in Spain, er, space….’ (it is on there, near the end). I also loved “I can scent it” (rather than sense – now that just adds to the character’s eccentricity – maybe he does smell things differently from us!)
1 February 2013 at 09:25 #2251OK, Troughton
I remember being not too sure of the character in his first episode. Still grieving for loss of Hartnell, who was just IT for me. But I did love the show so I went with it. And very much came round to no 2, as you start to realise where the depths are. And Troughton was great actor, without being showy. His daft capering hid a sharp brain (was always underestimated by his enemies until it was too late 🙂 ) and his anti-establishment, “cosmic hobo” younger persona was perfect for late 60s ( not to mention a Beatle-ish haircut). He was less grumpy/unknowable/bossy than Hartnell’s grandfatherish Doctor, more like an eccentric, fun uncle. He seemed more fun and his (apparently) panicky reactions when confronted eg with a dalek, mirrored our own.
The more I think about it, the regeneration idea is such a stroke of genius. And they really went for it. Not just lets get a new actor in, but let’s give the new actor a chance to completely reinterpret the role! That was such an outrageously brave move, but it’s the key thing that’s kept the show fresh and allowed it to continure so long. And as I’ve said before, it’s unique. Any other show trying anything similar will be accused of “doing a Doctor Who”.
1 February 2013 at 09:04 #2249@phaseshift The Cave of Skulls got quite a lot of negative feedback I believe, particularly for the rock incident. As a 6 year old I remember being impressed with its gritty realism (I know, I know, but I was 6 and used to programmes like Watch with Mother and Sportsday!). It was scary, but that was good. (And I didn’t grow up to think exterminating the opposition is the way forward!)
1 February 2013 at 08:59 #2247Re audience feedback to BBC – thanks for posting. Reading some of the comments (featured in the archive listings for old epis on BBC Who site) I’m amazed it ever got past 1 series! But they’re fascinating for 2 reasons:
1. How much they say about TV audiences in those days and their expectations (given this was when announcers spoke RP and dress was formal -and that was just on radio!) God, what a snooty lot they were!
2. As you say – the phrasing changes but the sentiments remain the same (outraged of XVZ, falling standards, dumbing down, sloppy writing/acting/sets, don’t understand it… with an occasional grudging “the kids seemed to enjoy it”).
Also makes you wonder how much attention BBC pay to audience feedback, LOL. Presumably there’s a certain % of negative feedback that’s expected – a kind of background level from people who will just never be happy unless they have something to have a right good moan about – especially at the beginning of a series. And you have to be glad that the BBC is not quite as ratings driven as commercial channels, especially back then.
31 January 2013 at 07:10 #2227I get the feeling that both Matt and Moffat are really enjoying Who and neither are ready to pass on the baton yet but that may just be wishful thinking.
I agree, and I don’t want them to go at all, but if they wanted to go out on a high that’d be the one to do it. Depends if Moff has got new ideas re what to do with the character and the show after this year.
I still think my new (composite – put together from bits of old theories ) theory about everything being the next Doctor’s memories is the perfect re-set. Retcons everything perfectly without changing or undervaluing any of the canon. And you can take him absolutely anywhere/when you want to after that.
<goes off to ponder if theory can be bent around it all being in 11’s head…>
31 January 2013 at 07:10 #2225I get the feeling that both Matt and Moffat are really enjoying Who and neither are ready to pass on the baton yet but that may just be wishful thinking.
I agree, and I don’t want them to go at all, but if they wanted to go out on a high that’d be the one to do it. Depends if Moff has got new ideas re what to do with the character and the show after this year.
I still think my new (composite – put together from bits of old theories ) theory about everything being the next Doctor’s memories is the perfect re-set. Retcons everything perfectly without changing or undervaluing any of the canon. And you can take him absolutely anywhere/when you want to after that.
<goes off to ponder if theory can be bent around it all being in 11’s head…>
30 January 2013 at 18:04 #2151So… new theory #523: We’ve all been inside the head of a new Doctor, during the regeneration process, experiencing his thoughts/memories of his last 11 regenerations (ie our last 50 years) as they run through his mind. Maybe it’s part of TL regen process, like downloading prog of last incarnations. In fact it’s only been a few hours in his time. He wakes up* fully regenerated at the end of the 50th. To a collective WTF???!!! from fandom.
Wouldn’t need to be a lot of screen time. And if Matt’s doing the Xmas one (could be 1 last memory!), they then have a few months eg from Nov, to film the new series and get max PR for the new Dr. And as you say there could be a lot of “doctorish” looking figures about the studios this year, and at various times. Hiding a new one in plain sight. Oldest trick in the Moff Big Book of Devious Tricks.
*not “it was all a dream” scenario – it all did happen, we just didn’t witness it in the way we thought (as memories, rather than as it happened, like watching a video recording). It explains the big doomy offscreen voices as well 🙂 (and any inconsistencies throughout the entire series!)
Now that would be audacious!
30 January 2013 at 15:06 #2143re Matt keeping busy – I think that’s a given. He’s said being the Doctor can be like a full time job when you include all the promo stuff, which will be even more this year. My personal opinion is that it will depend on what else he’s offered from elsewhere. I think Moffat will have a contingency episode or 2 up his sleeve if that happens (which may or may not be Trenzalor and the ultmate question). Meanwhile he’ll keep on with plan A.
I think it also depends whether Moff intends to continue after 50th as well. Which presumably also depends on other work offers. If he plans to leave I suspect he would write Matt out also to leave a clean(ish) sheet for the next person. You could see why it would make sense. OTOH if he’s still bubbling with Who-ish ideas and doesn’t use them all up in the next 10 months…
Re keeping things under wraps – The PR team seem to have managed the impossible in getting the press to sit on the stories from the preview screenings. And they certainly pulled a surprise with JLC’s 1st appearance in Asylum. Must be a nightmare when you have fans/trolls stalking the filming days and nights with cameras, scouring cast lists, epi titles etc etc desperate for any sort of clue. Hence my thinking that having all these potential Drs and various stories going about, surprisingly, the 50th year might be the one year they could pull off bringing in a new Dr under the radar. Introduce in Nov, Matt does Xmas special (or both do), swap after the Xmas special.
Not saying that’s what I’d like, just speculating 🙂
🙂
30 January 2013 at 12:08 #2127Re Bradley – Does this mean that Dr Who is/was/will be the caretaker at Hogwarts…?
🙂
30 January 2013 at 11:11 #2119<runs back again, briefly>
@bluesqueakpip Re not Bradley as no 1 in the series – depends how they featured him (if they did) eg if it was more background or on a scanner or something then I don’t really see a problem; but no, not if he was to be foregrounded.
Or, given Steven Moffat’s love of things that only become clear at the end of the story, they’ll cast someone who will turn out in the anniversary special to have been the first Doctor all along
Ties in with @haveyoufedthefish ‘s (apologies if mis-credited) similar theory above. Now that IS intriguing idea 🙂
Anyone know what the series plan is, for after the 7th? I’m assuming an 8th runing ino the 50th, but don’t think I’ve seen it anywhere. I’m assuming he rest of 7th will resolve, or at least stabilise, Clara’s existence, then start the set up for the 8th/50th
30 January 2013 at 11:02 #2117Hi all.
Just found that bit of news too. Brian Cox too. Very exciting. (And completely agree with @jimthefish re Our Mutual Friend). The BBC report says it’s “one of several” planned progs about Who. (Casting so far announced for the series and the drama-doc looks top-notch; augurs well for the special. And as my suspicious little mind pointed out above, if the filming schedules coincide at all, they can use it as camouflage re who exactly is in what. Or should that be who’s in Who?! <OK – got coat – gone!>
29 January 2013 at 23:29 #2099And finally @craig
we’re still here despite the Colin Baker years when they seemed to want us to hate the Doctor. The idea of the character is bigger than any actor and that is the beauty of it.
LMAO! Bigger on the inside, huh?
29 January 2013 at 23:25 #2097Thanks @craig, for the list of Hartnell clips – if I’m not back on the board for a few days, just assume I’ve been caught in a time loop. Please don’t send out the search party!
Re Davd Warner’s episode – that’s a helluva cast and production team 🙂 (Haven’t found where it lists character names, beyond TBC. tho I did find this on David Warner’s website http://www.davidwarnerfilm.co.uk/ – the most recent video clip – which is recorded interview with him. But the image which is showing when you transfer to the page, before you press play (sorry the technical name escapes me) is what caught my eye. Why Warner’s site should have any more insight than the rest of us I can’t think, and it’s no doubt coincidence, but I immediately thought of @jimthefish and @juniperfish‘s double Doctor theory. (The intereview covers a lot of subjects about current projects, haven’t foound the Dr bit yet)
Wouldn’t it be interesting if every episode featured an old, Doctor-like character, from the first to the eighth (I think there are eight episodes – coincidence!!!!)?
Love it!
Is it Gatiss who’s writing/directing the new docu-drama? That will presumably need actory lookalikes, so there could be a few around 🙂 Anyone know when that’s filming? Can see Moff & co using that to blur who’s filming what, when. (and Who!), dependng on the schedules.
Also intrigued with @haveyoufedthefish‘s turn everything inside out and upside down, and everyything we think we know is wrong theory! So are you saying the Doctor’s essentially been in the equivalent of a “John Smith” chameleon arch sort of thing fro the last 50 years?
Wow!
@bluesqueakpip – I did find that one – yes, hmmmm.
Eeek! and we’re not even at the end of Jan yet!
<lies down quietly on the sofa while brain explodes 🙂 >
27 January 2013 at 18:32 #2011And then there’s Joy. She bugs me.
Apart from the scene being a cheeky gag* about the Silence being killjoys <groan> it does hint that the Silence care more about individuals than their role as machiavelan invadors would initially suggest. (ie there would be other ways of letting us know her name was Joy if it was just for the gag)
*(Other scenes set up just for the joke – the poor guys at the beginning of the Snowmen (“I said I’d feed you – I didn’t say who to”)
27 January 2013 at 18:26 #2009she murmurs “Of course not”
I’ll give you she may have forgotten the incident (timey wimey brain-wiping complicated life) but I’d argue that that’s the point she remembers. Maybe she doesn’t remember because it’s a less significant incident than it appears, because it’s not actually the death of the Doctor, it’s just when he drops out of sight. It would have happened a long time ago for the River in IA, maybe 30 odd years before. The River in IA is older River (she’s done JimtheFish… is she still in the Stormcage? (I’ll need to go back and check that!)). The slapping can be explained by her being angry that he’s made her and the Ponds witness it – she wouldn’t know there were witnesses. She wouldn’t necessarily recognise the scenery – her younger self would only be focussed on the Doctor.
We don’t know what prior instructions River got with her invitation – we only assume it’s the same as the Ponds, but we don’t know if there was anything extra in her envelope. We do know that Canton got extra instructions.
27 January 2013 at 17:47 #2007Nice one. We should pick up more genuine members once series 7 (and Dan’s blogs) restarts. Then I won’t look like quite such a lonely geeky obsessive on the “Recent posts” lists, LOL
Btw I wouldn’t necessarily restrict the blog to “humans”, just organic. Others species also welcome to speculate. I think we should bar Time Lords (and Ladies) tho, on grounds of prescience. And def no TARDISes – they have no concept of “spoilers” – pasts, presents and futures being all one to them!
27 January 2013 at 16:23 #1997@craig – just wondering – have you exterminated some of the lurkers recently? I notice some of the more unpronounceable members seemed to have disappeared? I did wonder if they were trolls or just from galaxies with different spelling conventions. In which case we now have an almost 100% record re members being actively involved 🙂
27 January 2013 at 16:17 #1995A more considered opinion of revamped Who-site – link posted by Craig, above – bit disappointing. It’s a bit too cold and corporate. Its last incarnation felt more like you were diving into Who-world. eg the info pages felt more like you were accessing TARDIS info-files. It feels like it’s being pitched more at the media than at fans. The only really interactive bits are for selling merch.
They should get @craig on to it 😀
27 January 2013 at 16:09 #1993LOL @haveyoufedthefish – presume you’re still on the come-down, but please keep taking the espressos – love the theories! Especially
1) moff said DW will be “all over the TV”. Best guess is there will be easter eggs all through other BBC TV programs, possibly especially anything historical or about history. They may be subtle, they may actually be appearances of the doctor (searching for Clara?) in the background. Possibly as a whole, they add up to a simple narrative of their own.
What a great idea 🙂
I think at the least, there’s likely to be lots of little tardisodes, for web and TV.
27 January 2013 at 15:52 #1991Agree with Juniperfish (and not just cos she supplied the biccies 🙂 ) It’s been really interesting watching Matt’s series again from the start. It’s a different perspective from watching week to week, when we do sometimes get (just a little!) hung up on the intricate details. It’s a bit easier from a longer perspective to see what are just bigger themes/patterns/threads and what may be genuine loose ends which could still be picked up. I suspect Moffat deliberately leaves some of these lying around so he can pick up again as required (or not) depending how things go – eg the repeated swing scene for Amelia.
I think the time machine in the Lodger, and IA is one of those. OK, it could be budget/time economies – let’s just re-use an old set – but they KNOW that something like that is going to picked up and chewed over, then chewed over again. And again! Or it’s a set designer’s idea of a joke! Same as that newspaper in the Snowmen – why go to all the bother of mocking up a period newspaper – then put a completely anachronistic article in it?
I still think the first 2 episodes of series 6 are among the finest examples of nuWho big budget episodes. It was slammed by a few for being “sloppy writing” but I just love the way the techniques of filming/editing are used to reflect the influence of the Silence. The viewer is in the same postition as the characters – we have no idea what’s going on (LOL), how much we’ve forgotten, or missed. (Why DO I have ink marks on my arm this morning?!)
And I have no problem with the fixed point in time being the Doctor’s apparent death (not his real one).
Re River – she must know everything at this point (opening scenes) in Impossible Astronaut ie the Dr she killed is the teselecta, she’s imprisoned for it, but he’s OK (and she’s married to him). As well as all the other family stuff above. And yes I agree, I think Alex K conveys it well that she knows a lot more than she’s letting on. But presumably this version of River has also had discussion with the Doctor about the way to play this scene ie she’s the one who suggests that they have to destroy the body. Her character also knows that she can’t give even a smidgeon of a hint of what she knows or the game’s a bogey (as we say here in North UK)
27 January 2013 at 15:22 #1989@juniperfish – yummm, thank you. I’ll bring some hot toddy later on 🙂
mmm… sugar rush
27 January 2013 at 15:15 #1987I really liked 11’s speach in The Power of Three that he was running TO something – to see all the marvels of the universe, the fleeting moments of beauty and wonder – rather than running AWAY. Although it has always been hinted, from the first series, thro to the reference in The Doctor’s Wife that there’s elements of “escaping from”, and that he is unusual for Galifreyan society.
TL society always reminded me a bit of Gormengast (and the B5 societies that @janetteb refs above) – something that started off worthy but the very principles which govern it have resulted in it atrophying, thro strict adherence to (slightly dodgy to say the least (see @bluesqueakpip‘s and @jimthefish ‘s posts above, in particular)) traditions. Most of the TL’s are happy just to be part of the select few (and probably just relieved to have come thro the exposure to the untempered schism without having their brains melted) and enjoy the benefits of the status quo, to think too clearly about how the system creates and nurtures psychopathic tendencies. The Doctor is different as he retains a sense of wonder, maybe as a result of his long exposure to humans.
TL society – aristocracy or meritocracy? Always seemed to me to lean more towards the former, but with tests to weed out the weak/non-conformists. Time isn’t dependent on the TLs, but some of them seem to have a bigger understanding of it than others.
Maybe the real problems for TLs also came when another race – the daleks – acquired time travel knowledge, with no intentions of using it for anything other than malicious desruction. The daleks maybe don’t have enough knowledge/innate power to control time in the way the TLs seem to be able to do, but they could cause a helluva lot of disruption by malicious interference at key points. Hence the Doctor’s extreme solution. How much of Rassilon & co’s psychopathic behaviour results from them being trapped in the time lock – enough to drive the sanest person over the edge? To the point where transforming yourself, and a select few buddies, into a being of pure energy, even at the expense of everything else, seems a viable solution.
27 January 2013 at 14:25 #1981Well who can resist the post notification “ @SallySparrow on the sofa ” !
Too right.
@craig – very impressive summing up above! OK, Web wizard, script editor, antipodean explorer – you get about a bit for a young un! (That task should be given to ALL politicians when devising policies, and to everyone with any pretensions to public communications)
And apologies for my sporadic apprearances – problems with the time callibrations on my dematerialisation circuits – ie work deadlines kicking in – having to limit my hanging out on the virtual sofa times. OTOH if someone (not looking @juniperfish in particular!) was to supply the promised jammy dodgers, that might just be a tipping point!! :p
27 January 2013 at 14:15 #1979And yes, thanks @craig for the link.
@bluesqueakpip – I agree with you – I got all excited there! NZ TV also doing mega broadcast over next 11 months (tho they’re maybe just consoloditating the pitch to get P Jackson to direct the movie in his fav location).
I think Moffat’s promise that Who will be “everywwhere” in UK suggests more than just 1 documentary and a 90min episode (very very welcome as those things are). We just need to be patient. And enjoy the buold up!
I keep getting the ghost of an idea about how they could use the internet to break @Blenkinsop’s 4th wall – usually around 4am, after several glasses of wine – only for it to completely dissipate in the cold light of morning. If it ever solidifies into a proper theory I’ll let you know!!
27 January 2013 at 14:08 #1977R the JLC interview – one thing that is said –
Coleman’s character is a woman called Oswin, who exists (uh-oh) across multiple dimensions
Is that the interviewer’s summing up or is that info now part of official release? (ie she’s actually Oswin, not Clara (eg riffs on name Oswin (eg the Win OS theory) still worth thinking about?) Dimensions, rather than time streams…??). Haha 11 words – a million possibilities of meaning 🙂
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