General Ongoing Doctor Discussion

FunLover18 · 03-01-2021 11:43pm

The Mirror reporting that Whittaker is leaving after the next series. If it's true it's a real shame because I think could have been a great Doctor but she was lumbered with a terrible showrunner and writer.

fritzelly · 03-01-2021 11:46pm

FunLover18 wrote: »

The Mirror reporting that Whittaker is leaving after the next series. If it's true it's a real shame because I think could have been a great Doctor but she was lumbered with a terrible showrunner and writer.

Well I am delighted - maybe it was the writing or the actor but it needs a change

flazio · 03-01-2021 11:57pm

Hopefully, in 2023, we'll have a new show runner and Jodie can come back for the 60th anniversary and show us what she can really do.

pixelburp · 04-01-2021 12:56am

Yeah but, The Mirror? Would take very large globs of salt with anything any UK redtop claims TBH.

Doctor DooM · 04-01-2021 9:54am

Yeah every couple of years it seems we're in here saying the same thing, "don't trust the tabloids"

ixoy · 04-01-2021 11:46am

Whittaker leaving won't change the fundamental issue that is Chris Chibnaill. I still don't understand how he got the job - there's surely plenty of talented folk out there. We'd probably cobble better scripts between us on this forum.

pixelburp · 04-01-2021 11:49am

ixoy wrote: »

Whittaker leaving won't change the fundamental issue that is Chris Chibnaill. I still don't understand how he got the job - there's surely plenty of talented folk out there. We'd probably cobble better scripts between us on this forum.

The success of Broadchurch + Chibnall's a super fan. On paper it was a no brainer to be fair, given that's kinda similar background to RTD when he took the top job. For sure, Chibnall's work on Who + helming of Torchwood wasn't exactly stellar but the decision could still be mapped from source to result

CastorTroy · 04-01-2021 10:17pm

Was reading there are already names being said to be favourites to replace her.
Will see how the next season goes now with less companions

Agent Coulson · 05-01-2021 4:46am

The Guardian running with it now that she is quitting the show when her contract is up.

Doctor DooM · 05-01-2021 9:53am

Hope she gets a decent last series if it's true, but aint holding too much faith.

CastorTroy · 24-01-2021 10:32pm

So seems the favourite to replace Jodie is

Michael Sheen

. He seems high profile for the role

fritzelly · 24-01-2021 10:44pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

So seems the favourite to replace Jodie is
Michael Sheen
. He seems high profile for the role

Would be perfect for the role

pixelburp · 24-01-2021 10:47pm

Yeah too high profile, guess the silly season of replacement speculation will begin.

Busi_Girl08 · 24-01-2021 10:50pm

Would thrilled if some kind of timey wimey/retcon retcon would happen to make Jo Martin the new Doctor. She out-Doctored Jodie in any scene she was in.

its_steve116 · 24-01-2021 10:53pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

So seems the favourite to replace Jodie is
Michael Sheen
. He seems high profile for the role

He'd be the first

Welsh

Doctor and ironically

the show is produced in Wales

.

FunLover18 · 24-01-2021 11:46pm

They're also someone who has already been in the show as they were

the voice of House in The Doctor's Wife

flazio · 25-01-2021 8:37am

Yeah but so were Peter Capaldi, Colin Baker, Anthony Ainley and Lalla Ward before they got their Time Lord roles.

Doctor DooM · 25-01-2021 9:59am

I would bet money he's in the tabloids specifically because

he and David Tennant have a discussion about Sheen becoming the Doctor in a recent episode of Staged.

Silly season, as people said!

pixelburp · 25-01-2021 10:42am

Sounds about right Doctor Doom, and par for the course with tabloid rumours. Paper never refused ink and as always when this comes around, would remind that fadó fadó in ancient 2005 when the relaunch was coming, the tabloids "reported" everyone from Eddie Izzard to David Hasselhoff as lined up for the role.

Also, unless people object, I'm going to say that spoiler-texting names seem unnecessary; the new Dr. Who tends to end up being the worst kept secret in British TV so kinda wanna just say "have at it"?

ebbsy · 14-05-2021 9:38pm

Problem was, Jolie wasn't a strong enough actor to carry Chibnall's crap scripts.

FunLover18 · 14-05-2021 10:19pm

ebbsy wrote: »

Problem was, Jolie wasn't a strong enough actor to carry Chibnall's crap scripts.

I don't think you can blame her for that, most of the time it wasn't even the scripts but the stories themselves were crap and no amount of good dialogue could have saved them. I doubt any of her predecessors could have elevated them.

Stark · 15-05-2021 12:43pm

I dunno, a lot of the stuff written for David Tennant was really bad. "I'm so so sorry. Humans are fantastic, brilliant, amazing, best species in the universe". Surprisingly so given RTD has shown he can write amazing stuff on other shows (and occasionally on Doctor Who: "Midnight", "Turn Left") but I think on Doctor Who he let his giddy child side get the better of him. Tennant made it work enough for him to be considered many people's favourite Doctor though.

pixelburp · 15-05-2021 1:01pm

On reflection I think the problem with Whittaker's doctor is that if pushed, I couldn't give you a postage stamp summary of who she is as a Doctor. The others in the revival had some pretty clear arcs that linked with their personalities but Whitaker is a bit of a blank slate. Literally in fact as IIRC, some of her first season amounted to a "who am I?" question that culminated in that controversial twist last year.

And even when the RTD era sunk into some truly asinine, brain-dead storytelling (I love Davies but his sci-fi was often pretty awful), the foundation of a strong personality in its lead elevated the sometimes crappy plots. Same with the Moffat era. Maybe even moreso give he preferred those puzzle box arcs that were all mystery.

I wonder was this a consequence of it being the first female doctor? That there was a nervousness, that a female Doc with an excessively outsized personality might have stirred the pot more than the casting already managed. So then the safest approach was this White Label Doctor; all the ticks and mannerisms you'd expect but absolutely none of the flavour we would see with a Baker or Smith iteration.

I suppose that does come back to Chibnall holding the bag but it's not an especially hard equation to solve either. At least Jo Martin seemed to have more of a defined quality in her brief appearance.

ebbsy · 16-05-2021 11:45am

pixelburp wrote: »

On reflection I think the problem with Whittaker's doctor is that if pushed, I couldn't give you a postage stamp summary of who she is as a Doctor. The others in the revival had some pretty clear arcs that linked with their personalities but Whitaker is a bit of a blank slate. Literally in fact as IIRC, some of her first season amounted to a "who am I?" question that culminated in that controversial twist last year.

And even when the RTD era sunk into some truly asinine, brain-dead storytelling (I love Davies but his sci-fi was often pretty awful), the foundation of a strong personality in its lead elevated the sometimes crappy plots. Same with the Moffat era. Maybe even moreso give he preferred those puzzle box arcs that were all mystery.

I wonder was this a consequence of it being the first female doctor? That there was a nervousness, that a female Doc with an excessively outsized personality might have stirred the pot more than the casting already managed. So then the safest approach was this White Label Doctor; all the ticks and mannerisms you'd expect but absolutely none of the flavour we would see with a Baker or Smith iteration.

I suppose that does come back to Chibnall holding the bag but it's not an especially hard equation to solve either. At least Jo Martin seemed to have more of a defined quality in her brief appearance.

Bit in bold hits the nail on the head.

TheValeyard · 18-05-2021 10:39am

Wonder would we have gotten more out of her as The Doctor if Moffat was still the showrunner. But previous poster was right when he said RTD had some absolute stinkers of episodes.

Ive often rewatched a lot of the RTD and Moffat era episodes, but I just dont see myself rewatching anything from the new Doctor. Which is a pity, its such wasted potential. But maybe im biased as im also miffed they wrecked Gallifrey again and fcuked with the origin story.

Busi_Girl08 · 18-05-2021 3:12pm

TheValeyard wrote: »

Wonder would we have gotten more out of her as The Doctor if Moffat was still the showrunner. But previous poster was right when he said RTD had some absolute stinkers of episodes.

Ive often rewatched a lot of the RTD and Moffat era episodes, but I just dont see myself rewatching anything from the new Doctor. Which is a pity, its such wasted potential. But maybe im biased as im also miffed they wrecked Gallifrey again and fcuked with the origin story.

Whoever takes over as showrunner will have a hell of a job to fix that retcon. At this stage are they better off taking a break a few years and coming back a-new, doctor newly regenerated and let's never speak of all of that again.

TheValeyard · 18-05-2021 7:17pm

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

Whoever takes over as showrunner will have a hell of a job to fix that retcon. At this stage are they better off taking a break a few years and coming back a-new, doctor newly regenerated and let's never speak of all of that again.

Or the twelfth Doctor wakes up.
*screams*

"OH dear god, I just had the horrifying nightmare"

Sorted.

LOL.

jimbob_jones · 19-05-2021 2:03pm

TheValeyard wrote: »

Or the twelfth Doctor wakes up.
*screams*

"OH dear god, I just had the horrifying nightmare"

Sorted.

LOL.

I have only recently caught up with the last series and I was left wondering at the end. Would the Timeless Child twist have worked if it turned out to be The Master rather than The Doctor ?

The Master repressing the memories of all the years that they were expirimented on, on the face of it did seem that the scientist was killing them over and over again to get the secret of regeneration.

Again a new show runner can hand waive it and say The Master was lying, or lied to by the Matrix or they can run with it and see where it goes.

pixelburp · 19-05-2021 2:19pm

Hey, we're all talking about a show with time-travel at its core, and one of the most porous and thinly sketched canon in pop culture. If the Timeless Child becomes that unpopular or unwieldy it'll be quickly rewritten out of the show's canon.

Let's not forget this immortal line, now happily ignored since 1996. And that's not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "canon".

"I'm half human... On my mothers side."

jimbob_jones · 19-05-2021 11:20pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Hey, we're all talking about a show with time-travel at its core, and one of the most porous and thinly sketched canon in pop culture. If the Timeless Child becomes that unpopular or unwieldy it'll be quickly rewritten out of the show's canon.

Let's not forget this immortal line, now happily ignored since 1996. And that's not even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to "canon".

Yep that is a very good point pixelburp.

I forgot about that line.

campo · 18-07-2021 2:02pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117211490#Comment_117211490

Unless like Loki the timeless child aka the Dr is also River Song, She is half human on her mothers side and as was conceived in the Tardis could be timeless child yes it would mean some timey wimey wibbly wobbly but not impossible.

pixelburp · 19-07-2021 10:33am

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117627409#Comment_117627409

Hey, I'd never rule it out. Dr. Who being what it is, in 10 years time the "canon" will look completely different. There's a YT channel I subscribe to, and the author publishes a series of videos listing all the ludicrous, crazy things that are apparently "canon" in the show (Boris Johnson is an auton!).

Stark · 19-07-2021 1:44pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117627409#Comment_117627409

Fully human, no? Parents: Amy and Rory. Unless that whole "conceived within the timestream" thing was a cover story for the Doctor secretly banging Amy which seems the most likely explanation in the cynical normal universe but not quite Doctor Who :)

campo · 19-07-2021 6:14pm

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117632109#Comment_117632109

Well is she full human if she can regenerate, maybe half human and mothers and father side and the other half from time stream or something like that , but thinking back it never made sense that she could regenerate just because she was conceived in tardis.

pixelburp · 20-07-2021 4:26pm

I liked how the new series emphasised this idea that time travel didn't just cause a change in mentality, but physically as well; the Artron energy seeping into people. In fact IIRC, the old 8th Doctor range of books had a character who was, literally, a walking TARDIS. Was part of some large, rambling arc (as those books often had) featuring a divergent Doctor, corrupted during the 3rd regeneration by that eventual divergent 8th incarnation. Surprised the new series never played with that idea...

pixelburp · 22-07-2021 4:51pm

FYI: the VR game The Edge of Time is making its way to Consoles as a non-VR version title Edge of Reality. "Reality" doesn't have much of a trailer, but there's a greater sense of the game from the trailer for the VR game...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aVXB-tryYo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-AjWi6j1fE

FunLover18 · 30-07-2021 12:17am

https://twitter.com/bbcdoctorwho/status/1420746545616408580?s=19

...

pixelburp · 30-07-2021 11:57am

Yeah was mentioned in the specific Season thread; bummed out about Whittaker leaving, her scripts never really gave her much of a chance to shine TBH.

dball · 30-07-2021 5:07pm

https://www.engadget.com/doctor-who-chibnall-whittaker-departure-reformat-series-113012792.html

...

pixelburp · 30-07-2021 5:13pm

That's all fine and dandy, but I think the BBC see Doc as too much of a cash cow to risk tampering with - or indeed, going on a hiatus. With Top Gear gone it's arguably the station's biggest global brand and while the show isn't near a viral hit as that David Tenant heyday - it's big enough that the executives wouldn't touch it too much.

Stark · 30-07-2021 7:17pm

"Consciously aped Buffy"? Okay there was a blonde girl hanging around with a guy who looked human but wasn't and was more than a century old but that's kind of it really.

Agent Coulson · 07-08-2021 6:44pm

New showrunner please.

https://twitter.com/straczynski/status/1423862140226600965?s=20

pixelburp · 07-08-2021 6:56pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117720841#Comment_117720841

Holy shít a thousand times yes. Is he serious? I guess so if he's name dropping his agency. That'd be amazing, even if a non Brit in charge would probably be a no-no.

Agent Coulson · 08-08-2021 2:29am

He must definitely have a proposal for them.

It's crazy thought that someone of his standing has to ask on Twitter what the structure of the BBC is when it comes to Doctor Who, I know the ownership of it is complicated and the BBC did lose ownership of it in the 80's for a bit Russell T Davies stated that when he wanted to reboot Doctor who in the 90's.

I'm guess the tweet is also a bit of testing the waters to see what responses will be gotten from it.

fritzelly · 08-08-2021 2:34am

I wouldn't be adverse to him taking over - he knows how to tell a story, B5 was a great show

Are the tweets clues to the fact he already has the job - weird to put something like that out there, he surely must have connections

pixelburp · 08-08-2021 7:32am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117722314#Comment_117722314

I dunno, I could see the BBC being the type of station that's very insular and operated on a "who you know" basis. That's pure tongue wagging from me mind, I've no justification for that beyond feelings.

The main problem against Straczynski is his nationality: like Bond, Who feels like a protected English/British brand the natives wouldn't like touched by a foreigner - let alone a Yank. My main worry would simply be he wouldn't be given the latitude to express his ideas. And he obviously has some if he's fishing this publicly

Agent Coulson · 08-08-2021 8:00am

Reading his Twitter timeline over night he say straight out he is putting his hat in the ring for it and understands the nationality stuff might cause some pushback.