[TardisBlue @replies]

@wolfweed, thanks for that fanzine find!

@jimthefish, @craig, @phaseshift, and @Shazzbot, thanks for those links. I’d seen and loved Local Hero <> But Crow Road is new to me, and wonderful. (I watched much of the ep.) And PC as Tucker’s testimony before the inquiry blew my socks off. I never doubted his acting chops, and you’ve provided proof for any skeptics across the pond.

If the fading of fangirl “OMG, he’s sooooooooo sexy” squees and a disappointing drop in Tumblrs, YouTube vids, and Instagrams becomes a real ratings problem, the Beeb might want to consider Criminal Minds’ Matthew Gray Gubler as a male American companion. He’s played a tall, slender, somewhat geeky, socially awkward genius, Dr. Spencer Reid, for the past nine years. And he’s already got essential parts of the wardrobe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuI7zYtq39o

And he’s (a subdued but natural) ginger!

I really don’t think the show is headed remotely in that direction under SM, though, and I’m fine with that. But … if the next showrunner wants to shake things up a bit, MGG’d be kinda cute with Jenna. Just sayin’

TardisBlue

TardisBlue

[TardisBlue @replies]

… heading off to don my tartan and crank up the Black Watch, Battlefield Band, Old Blind Dogs, Andy M. Stewart, Tannahill Weavers, Franz Ferdinand and Arcade Fire …

yes, @craig, every planet has a Scotland

but apparently *this* planet doesn’t have a readily searchable YouTube clip of pipers doing justice to the Doctor Who theme song.

This is the best I could come up with:

[TardisBlue @replies]

)(@#Y(*YO%$a^&o*o*o*o*o* P!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s not Moffat that lies.

It’s BBCAmerica.

Here on the West Coast they are *NOT*

I repeat with rising indignation and fury

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NOT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

simulcasting it.

We’re getting !0 and Wilf and Rasillon and the Master for the next 2 1/2 hours.

[TardisBlue @replies]

@drtennant

The Tardis becoming more distraught after each regeneration she witnesses. I never really thought of that before. Great thinking “outside” of the box, as it were.

TBH, I share some of @Shazzbot‘s concerns about your posts. That’s why I wrote such a long welcoming reply. Without coming out and saying anything too critical, I’d hoped to point you in the general direction the rest of us have chosen to follow. (BTW, have you read @craig‘s remarks on Forum etiquitte? http://www.thedoctorwhoforum.com/forum-etiquette/) A post which might seem inoffensive elsewhere tends to rub folks here the wrong way if it could be read as disrespectful. This is a special and unique place. Certainly you’ve realized by now just how radically different the conversations, bonkers theorizing, and mutual respect for forum participants is from most other places on the interwebs.

All we’re “asking for is a little respect, just a little bit, just a little bit, R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0 Yeah, I know Aretha never got involved in a historic rap battle. But this classic song is the soundtrack I’d prefer to have for this site. I’m just afraid that not everyone here will bother to read your posts for the nuggets of bonkerness and insight they do contain. This site was started, in large part, perhaps, to get away from trolls and trolling. I want to continue to give you the benefit of the doubt but I can’t help wishing you’d take a little more time and reflection with your posts before hitting submit.

BTW, my inner-descendant-of-many-teachers wants to let you know that “the fat guy smoking cigars” was Winston Churchill. Prime Minister of England. During World War II. Real battles. Real history. And not much rap, I imagine. But an immensely important person to folks in the UK and its former colonies and much of the rest of the world. Just sayin’.

TardisBlue
n

[TardisBlue @replies]

@drtennant. Ooops. I wrote the post just above here specifically for you, and I forgot to put the @ before DrTennant.

Erm, is the universe telling me something? That I’m beginning to sound like Polonius?* **

* Polonius is the guy your namesake David Tennant stabbed to death — by mistake, but he still ended up just as dead as if Tennant intended to kill him– when Tennant was starring in Hamlet.

** Polonius famously told his son that “brevity is the soul of wit,” and then proceeded to talk and talk and talk and …… you guessed it, talk some more. Just like I seem to be doing.

Wait, wait, David! It’s me hiding behind that curtain. Not the guy you’re convinced killed your Dad and married your mother. Don’t stab me! I’ll really die! I gave all my remaining regenerations to River Song! Oi! Ouch!

Thump.

The rest is The Silence.

[TardisBlue @replies]

Hi, DrTennant.  Thanks for taking the time to introduce yourself the same day you joined.

Do you happen to live in the USA like me?  (Just a guess, based on the time of your posts.  Did you know that when it’s midnight here in California it’s 8 a.m. in Greenwich in the UK?)

The forum was started by some Doctor Who fans who had been commenting on a blog on the British newspaper The Guardian.  It’s been around for less than a year, but already has members all over the world.  There are even some (living in Europe),for whom English is a second language.  As far as I know, we don’t have any Oods or Slitheens registered.  Yet.

You’ll find that some members, like @Shazzbot, didn’t get into Who until it started again in 2005, with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor.  Other members have grown up with Doctor Who through the earlier shows, audio books, and Doctor Who novels.  The people who post here got their start in both “BG” and “AG” — before the gap when Who was off TV and after the gap.  True blue Who fans got through the years from 1989-2005 with tapes of the old shows, and new stories in books, comics, audio tapes and The Doctor Who Magazine.

BBC didn’t realize that Doctor Who would be such a hit, and some of the shows with the First and Second Doctor were not saved.

One of our members, @htpbdet, was lucky enough to have seen those episodes when they were first shown on TV.  He’s written about each of the different doctors.  And each post also tells us what was going on in his life during each Doctor’s time.  He talks from time-to-time about his nephews, too ……  Hmm.  I wonder if you’re the same age as they are?  The initials in his name are the initials of his favorite doctors.  You’ll be happy to know that the last T is for Tennant.  🙂  Take a look at The Faces of the Doctor blog if you want to see what he’s written.

My niece, who just finished her first year of college, is a big fan of “Nu Who.”  (What the folks here call AG Who.)  She’s shown me some great Tumblr and YouTube videos. Looks like you’re doing that, too.

Have you had a chance to check out the Fan Creativity section yet?  There’s a lot of cool stuff over there.  BYOBT. Bring your own bow tie. Bow ties are still cool, at least until December.

In fact, don’t be surprised if one of the moderators, like @Shazzbot, @phaseshift, @jimthefish, or @craig, moves your post #15033 over to the Fan Creativity Thread.

I loved loved loved loved your first clip — the Red Noses Day (I think it’s a big fundraising for charity thing in the UK) sketch with David Tennant and Catherine Tate “learning” Shakespeare.

I had never seen the second clip — the Doctor Who v. Doc Brown (Back to the Future) Historic Rap Battle — before.  While I enjoyed it, I’m not sure whether the entire clip should be posted here.  Certainly not without a NSFWOSC (Not Safe For Work Or Small Children) warning for the portion after 0:50.  Rapping rhymes for hex, Lex, and Mex, and Dalek rays below the Doctor’s hearts may be a bit much for this forum.  I really *did* like the first 50 seconds, though.  Great rap about wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey, etc.

As you keep reading the posts here, you’ll find a lot of people talking about how Steven Moffat has really planned a lot of things out way ahead of time, and has planted clues in episodes which will blow your mind a few years later once they are all tied up. Just like you pointed out in your post about The Face of Boe, River Song, and other AG story lines.

BTW, you *are* not alone.  I didn’t remember the name of the episode set in the 51st century with Martha and 10 and all that traffic and the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful cat/human family with the adorable kittens, either. I had to look it up on Wikipedia.  <<big face palm!>>  It’s Gridlock.  How could I forget a title like that?  I live in LA, after all. :/   Actually, I use Wikipedia and the Tardis Data Core on-line a lot.  I look up things I’ve forgotten, read about episodes which were lost … with 50 years of Who, there’s a lot to absorb!

Welcome again, DrTennant. As Eleven said, “Stick around.”

TardisBlue

PS. I hope you don’t mind me going on and on and on and on like this.  I was named after my great-aunt, who was a schoolteacher.  It shows, doesn’t it? Sorry. Sometimes I just can’t help myself.

 

 

.

 

[TardisBlue @replies]

Could never resist a clever literary pun:

 

http://fatkidatcamp.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Rosenplatz-and-Guildenfern-are-dead.jpg

[TardisBlue @replies]

@Shazzbot,

Nice try, but you appear to have been hoodwinked by an elaborate ruse.

Thank God !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad your eagle eye noticd a detail or two which my sleep-blurred eyes missed.  It’s 5 am here, ad I should hav goe to bed hours ago.

@HTPBDET, @jimthefish, and others, I hope you all caught my skepticism (e.g., referring to (quote) “sources” (unquote), not sources; frequent use of the preposition “if,” etc.

And I’m frankly relieved by your firm conclusion that an adult-oriented Who complete with loud bleeps (our FCC’s requiremet for dirty words) ad the shiftig of Who to a late eveig slot i the UK wouldn’t fly.

@jimthefish, very interesting to hear how heavily The Doctor is marketed to childre in the UK.  Of course, I should have realized.  D’uh!  Fifty years, and an integral part of the culture.  I read all of your post, ad feel you have soud perspective ad isight.  FWIW, the LA fried did sy that they’d be goig back to Gallifrey to revisit the Dotor’s earlier years. And I’d sorely miss the Tardis if they were to “ground” the Doctor o Gallifrey.  (After all, I chose TardisBlue as my ame o this forum!)

I wish I were able to respod more i depth, but I’m having major difficulties with my laptop’s keybord, ad it’s a real pai i the you know where to proof ad correct aythig I write.  I’ve given up tryig to correct the typos toight.  I’m crigig, this last part looks absolutely horrible, but I eed to get to sleep.  Maybe — if my experimet with tryig a exteral keyboard works, I’ll e able to respod more fully to your post — ad to commet o The Mutats, which I’ve bee followig d ejoying.

@Shazzbot, your fried, of course, says “hi.”  Two degrees of separatio.  Cue earworm: “It’s a Small World After All.”

Cross your figers that I ca get this key situatio resolved.  The uiverse is tellig me tht I eed a ew computer/laptop/otebook/woderful ew device of some sort or aother. I’m hopig that the uiverse will help my bak accout to come up with the moey for oe.

TardisBlue

[TardisBlue @replies]

Spoilers and bonkers, who could ask for anything more?

First, a female doctor/companion bonkers theory: Clara becomes a Time Lord (Time Lady?) after 1) going throughout the Doctor’s time stream to save him, since 2) she’d previously traveled with him in the Tardis and had absorbed just enough Tardis energy to fuel her transformation from human/Claricile to Time Lord/Lady.  The second point is important because we don’t really want the Great Intelligence (or any other nefarious entity) elevated to Time Lord status by just by jumping into timestreams.  We’d only want this to happen to people who’ve made a good enough impression on the Doctor to become a Companion, and a good enough impression on the Tardis that she doesn’t skedaddle all the way to the end of the universe trying to shake them off (Captain Jack in Utopia..

Clara as Time Lord/Lady occurred to me tonight following a conversation with a friend.

He had heard that the next series would include both a male and female doctor.  I’m not sure how much stock I put in having two Time Lords/Ladies as co-stars.  I’m not adverse to it, I’ve just been conditioned to having one main character in this show.  (Though I’d welcome return visits from River Song with open arms.)

But *my* friend has a friend (in LA) who has a friend (in San Francisco) who has friends in the BBC.(in the UK, obviously;) ).  (Four degrees of Steven Moffatt?)  And my friend’s LA friend had been spot on about the incident leading to the BBC’s premature announcement that Christopher Eccleston was leaving after one series as the Doctor.***

Over the weekend, the LA friend told me:

1.  The next series (8 AG) will be set in Gallifrey and will explore the Doctor’s childhood and (presumably) time before he set sail as a mad man in a box.

2.  The show has been authorized for another year, but its future on television after that is not guaranteed.

This possible Gallifreyian series seems plausible to me.  First, I’m guessing it will be cheaper to produce.  Several of you have mentioned BBC belt-tightening and license fee financial concerns  Just like the time when the Third Doctor was exiled to earth, Gallifrey-based stories without time travel to other worlds or big battles or bigger disasters will be possible on smaller budgets.

Also, it will allow Moffatt and the writers many more options to escape from the constraints of the present post-Time War universe.  They need not be bound by”Last of the Time Lords:” lonely, emotionally scarred, outliving his friends and companions, nearing the end of his regenerations (if the Fourth Doctor’s limit of 13 is to be believed).   I don’t think they’ll discard canon, but a change of scene plus additional Gallifreyan (sp?) characters opens up a lot of possibilities which have not been explored in AG-Who.  And I bet Moffatt et al are looking forward to this new-to-them territory.

According to some “sources,” the next series will take on a decidedly more adult bent.  If purported leaked copies of the first script for the next doctor are to be believed, the next doctor says the “F word” when talking to Rasillon.  That word would get bleeped out here in the states, even if the show aired later in the evening after little ones are abed,  http://geek-news.mtv.com/2013/08/01/leaked-doctor-who-script-pages-confirm-peter-capaldi-as-the-new-doctor/  If there is any grain of truth in this spoiler, the cynic in me sees this apparent move (from G-rated to PG13-rated, as it were, although the MPAA ratings system is not applied to TV) as positioning Who for an upcoming movie franchise, companion-snogging, swear words and all.  I haven’t seen “The Thick of It,” but I’d be sorely disappointed if the vocabulary in the Who scripts became less gentile.

I’m not in “the biz,” so I can’t even guess how much money would be saved if there were fewer CGI effects, less (or no) location shoots, etc.

But … it’s easy for me to hope that

cutting production costs with a new-nu Who aimed for adults might free up enough money for a children-friendly spin-off.  Paternostra Gang, anybody?  Just as long as BBCAmerica picks it up and broadcasts it here in the states.  (We didn’t get the Sarah Jane Adventures — so sad for those of us who were introduced to the Doctor when his Sarah traveled with him.)

TardisBlue

*** Re: Eccleston’s departure.  The timing of the BBC’s announcement and immediate “gee we’re sorry, Chris, that we jumped the gun without clearing it with you — or at least giving you  heads up” had always puzzled me.   The “LA friend” told me that Chris had walked off the set just before the BBC prematurely announced that he’d be leaving.   Chris never aired his grievances or discussed the incident with the media or the Whoniverse.  I’d been clueless about the atmosphere and pressure everyone was under during filming.  The information LA friend shared with me was later confirmed — when 1) someone recorded Chris’ informal comments in a Q and A with drama students, 2)passed the recording on to a Whoish blog, and 3) the blog commentators provided details putting Chris’ actions in context (claiming that his walk-out was motivated by his desire to stand up for crew members who’d been required to put in a heck of a lot of overtime) http://badwilf.co.uk/?p=820g o

So, does that mean that LA friend’s sources have the inside track on the most reliable source of spoilers, erm, information?  I don’t know.  I just hope they don’t pull a “Miracle Day”/”Eighth Doctor” and weaken the show by attempting to make it more palatable for their view of what an American/international audience wants.

 

 

 

[TardisBlue @replies]

For those of us in the states, BBC America will be simulcasting the half-hour live special:  2 pm EDT, 11 am PDT on Sunday, August 4.  I tried Google searches for CBC and ABC schedules, but couldn’t find anything right now.  ABC spokespeople say they are “investigating” broadcasting the special.

TardisBlue

[TardisBlue @replies]

@shazzbot

Re Groundlings:

Seeing one of them (LC,  nee  LS – before her marriage  to AC) this weekend … definitely gonna ask.  And speaking of former Groundlings, you’ve still got time to book tickets for Tracey Newman’s upcoming shows.   Shirley the local ferrets and hares could babysit your Airdales over the weekend.                          http://www.tracynewman.com/gigs.html

TB

 

 

[TardisBlue @replies]

@Shazzbot,

<<< trembles before The Rani>>>

your wish is my command,

… although …

with all your complaints about the hot weather,

I’d have thought you’d appreciate the grey and white of good old “June Gloom”  😀

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Gloom

[TardisBlue @replies]

@htpbdet

I’ll be sending you healing thoughts and crossing my fingers, eyes and toes for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.  Would it help if we were to send some of the Chula nanogenes from TDD (The Doctor Dances)? Should we send a psychic paper note to Captain Avery asking whether the Siren/automated sick bay from TCOTBS (The Curse of the Black Spot) could be of assistance?

Whatever you do to get ready for your next (hopefully quite brief) period of confinement, don’t forget to pack your celery!  I hear it has great restorative powers.  😀

Warmly,

TB

[TardisBlue @replies]

@craig, @phaseshift,@jimthefish,@Shazzbot

I know time’s become more wibbly-wobbly and timey-wimey under Moffatt’s scripts, but I’m just wondering why the discussions on Silence in the Library and and Forest of the Dead have been posted under the Ninth Doctor, instead of the Tenth.  Or maybe I’ve missed something — who knows what the “proper” order of the Doctors-as-we’ve-known-them will be after the 50th Anniversary/2013 Christmas Special.

(Feel free to move, delete, defoliate or exterminate this post as you see fit.)

TB

[TardisBlue @replies]

@Shazzbot.  No, I did not know that!  Verrry interrresting (in Hogan’s Heroes over-the-top German accent).  Mind if I mention bumping into you here to my friends?

[TardisBlue @replies]

@htpbdet, guess I inadvertently demoted Pertwee this time.  Last time I demoted Davison.  Sorry.  But your initials would be so much easier to remember if they ended with an “S”  😉

… looking furtively around for Shazzbot, as I’ve realized I’m about to veer off into non-pub waters again.  Just deleted a ‘graph where I was nattering on appreciatively about how H Etc.’s discussion of “to S or not to S” broadened my mind regardless of our different views of his stature/accomplishments in the role.

All this veering around!  So uncool and unpub-like,  Guess that’s a hazard of sticking to the N/A bottles instead of real pints.  :/

… gathering up Panama Hat and sunscreen and veering out the door …

[TardisBlue @replies]

@HTBDET and @scaryb and @Shazzbot:  Thank you for your kind and encouraging welcome.

@Shazzbot:  If you were part of the Groundlings company which performed on Fridays and Sundays during the period of roughly 1983-1985, I may have seen you.   And you may have seen me.  I was the audience member who’d suggest that the improv actors play the scene in the style of Commedia D’Arte or Samuel Beckett or something other than the most popular movie/TV show at the time … The Beckett suggestion backfired, though, because one of the actors immediately plopped himself down on the floor of the stage and said “I’ll wait.”  At which point the director ended the sketch.

(Cue:  “It’s a Small World After All … )  And, applying Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon* to the Groundlings, some folks I know were front office/box office volunteers during some of your time there.

I just took my nephew to see The Groundlings’ Post Prom Party for his birthday.  (I sprung for Saturday night tickets; he’s worth it.)  Fun.

*Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a variation on Six Degrees of Separation, where try to create a person-to-person connection between an actor/person and Kevin Bacon (or his roles/movies) in six connections or less.  Although if you’re playing a Groundlings version, maybe it should be Six Degrees of PeeWee Herman (whom my friends know).

 

[TardisBlue @replies]

@htpbdet,

I must have missed one of your initials in my post (above).  I am frequently in awe of your insights and writing ability, and want you to know how much you have touched me on many different levels.   Warmest wishes for a continued recovery.

[TardisBlue @replies]

:::waves:::

been lurking for a bit.  I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am that one of my random Who-related searches led me to this site.

:::raises glass of Kaliber to toast @craig, @phaseshift, @jimthefish, @HTPBET, and all the refugees from Sites Which Shall Not Be Named who have made this forum so fantastic, unblinking and cool.   Not to mention the exceptional quality of the posts and the considerate nature of the posters.  Here, have some celery. Getting a wee bit thirsty?  The next round’s on me.:::

I was introduced to BG Who on my local PBS station in the states.  A bit of Pertwee and a bunch of Baker.  I remember Baker’s fall at the end of his run, but really the only memories I have of Davison are from All Creatures Great and Small.  (Anyone else see his disappointed face in their mind’s eye whenever they encounter bangers and mash?)   I stumbled upon the AG Who when the US cable channel SciFi (now Syfy) was running episodes.  This was sometime early on during Tennant’s run.  Eventually BBC America started running them,  and I was able to catch all of the Ninth Doctor as well as Ten and Eleven.

@Shazzbot, I was interested to see we were both living in SoCal (Southern California) for a while.   (I still am, if you ever get a hankering for sunny, warm weather.)   Been wondering if our paths crossed at some LA theater sometime.  I do an excellent job of playing an audience member at venues large (Ahmanson) and small (99 seat Equity Waiver houses) and inbetween.  😉   Apropos of your comment about Irish pubs, I’m sad to report that Los Angeles just lost one of its oldest Irish hangouts:  Tom Bergin’s.  http://www.latimes.com/features/food/dailydish/la-dd-tom-bergins-20130703,0,3778179.story  And I am still mourning last year’s closure of  Santa Monica’s The Tutor House.  http://www.british-weekly.com/?p=9277

@HTPBET, ever since you posted your memories of the Sylvester McCoy era, I have been seeing images of your little fledglings and McLeela preparing for the hen’s party, and imagining how the sudden shock of the news of their passing must have been for you.  My sincerest condolences.  How hard for you and your son.  The shock and sadness of leaves (to mix metaphors) left unlived, and pyjama-clad children joining you under the stairs on your steps have been etched into my heart.

Congrats to those of you who were able to get tickets to the festivities at the ExCel for the 50th.  I’m looking forward to your reports.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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