Unified Doctor Who thread

[ClarkeMarek]

BTW, did anybody notice something about cyberBill's eyes, like her "callback to Yvonne Hartmann" might've prompted a design change?

[Ruger]

BTW, did anybody notice something about cyberBill's eyes, like her "callback to Yvonne Hartmann" might've prompted a design change?

Yeah...I also noticed that the design, while close, was not true Cyber-Mondasians from The Tenth Planet...in that serial, the Cybermen had human hands...unless I'm mistaken, Cyber-Bill had gloves on, did she (it?) not?

The flashlight (for lack of a better term) on top of her head was also smaller than the original one...

I do have to ask if they are still going to have them rely on energy being beamed to them, like in The Tenth Planet (this was the primary way they were defeated in the original show...when Mondas absorbed too much energy too quickly and vaporized, all the Cybermen on Earth collapsed and died from lack of energy)? They hinted at this already with Bill being unable to travel far from the hospital as her artificial heart depending on power from it...

Ruger

[gyedid]

Well, I guess this all means that this episode supersedes the excellent Big Finish audio "Spare Parts" as the official origin for the Cybermen.
(Which was a 5th Doctor + Nyssa story, for those who haven't heard it.)

Finally got around to watching...actually, this episode basically *is* a somewhat reworked version of "Spare Parts".  Probably about half of the tropes and plot points are carryovers or modified from that story. 

I hope Moffat worked something out with the original author, because that guy's name should've been in the writing credits IMO.

And I also feel the need to point out that visually, there are a load of references to " The Empty Child"
.

Cheers, Gabe

[ClarkeMarek]

EDIT: On second thought, too big.

[Ruger]

Thought the season finale was a truly excellent episode...but hating the fact that we have to wait until Christmas for The Doctors to find out what happens next...

Ruger

[ClarkeMarek]

I know. I wonder how long they're going to hold out until they announce the next Doctor.

[Wrangler]

I'm curious the series will continue to evolve.  I kept thinking that despite it's success that it's going run out of steam with them going through so many doctors in short amount of years.

[Ruger]

I'm curious the series will continue to evolve.  I kept thinking that despite it's success that it's going run out of steam with them going through so many doctors in short amount of years.

For the original run, most didn't last any longer:

Hartnell: 3+ years
Troughton: 3 years
Pertwee: 5 years
Tom Baker: 7 years
Davison: 3 years
Colin Baker: 2 years
McCoy: 3 years
McGann: 1 movie
Eccleston: 1 year
Tennant: basically 4 years (3 seasons and 1 year of specials)
Smith: 3 years
Hurt: 1 special
Capaldi: 3 years

Overall, the new Doctors are lasting just about as long as the originals, excepting the extremely long stint of Tom Baker (and, of course, McCoy was given no choice in doing just three seasons, considering the show was put on hiatus at the end of his tenure)...granted, the newer ones do have the additional exceptions of McGann, who never really got a chance (on tv) to expand on his Doctor), Eccleston due to issues, and Hurt (who many never saw coming)...

Ruger

[Lazarus Jaguar]

Actually Hartnell and Baker2 didnt really have a choice either.  Hartnell left for medical reasons.  Baker2, was fired.

[Ruger]

Actually Hartnell and Baker2 didnt really have a choice either.  Hartnell left for medical reasons.  Baker2, was fired.

True enough...

Ruger

[YingJanshi]

Yay!! For the forums back up!! (And can actually post now...)

Anyway...just saw this on Instagram:

https://youtu.be/-N4ayz8u3sA

[ClarkeMarek]

Yay!! For the forums back up!! (And can actually post now...)

Anyway...just saw this on Instagram:

https://youtu.be/-N4ayz8u3sA

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!11111eleventyone

[Sharpnel]

So, will it be a non-white male this time? or a woman of any ethnic background?

[Wrangler]

We won't know until after Wimbledon on July 16th.

Has there been any indication they may go with something less traditional as far as a lead?  Doctor has never shown he was interested in gender bending (in character). The  Master certainly was, but that's because he was as loon in his later years.

[YingJanshi]

So, will it be a non-white male this time? or a woman of any ethnic background?

I seriously doubt it.


[EDIT: I can admit when I am wrong. https://youtu.be/q1IczjLYCIM I can't say I recognize her from anything I've watched. Anyone seen in her other shows?]

[Lorcan Nagle]

She was in Broadchurch, Attack the Block, and The History of You episode of Black Mirror. The lay of those is the only one I've seen and I enjoyed the episode

[Jaim Magnus]

She's got talent. Her portrayal of a grieving mother who has to rebuild her life in Broadchurch was excellent. Great emotional range, which is essential for the Doctor. So long as the scripts are quality, which I'm not worried about with Chibnell, means the Doctor is in good hands.

[Stormlion1]

Won't lie, I'm not a fan of this revelation.

[Tymers Realm]

Won't lie, I'm not a fan of this revelation.

Neither is my GF, who's a older DW fan than I am. I think this decision is gonna split the fanbase. Looking at the likes/dislikes of the BBC vid @YingJanshi posted, it was roughly 3.3k like & 1.3k dislike when I viewed it.

As to how she'll do as The Doctor, we'll have to see.

[Jaim Magnus]

For the doomies and naysayers, something posted by a friend...

I for one demand that my shows about time traveling aliens who instinctively know how human history is supposed to proceed while they navigate paradoxes and interstellar wars with gold-sensitive robots and coincidentally British people sprinkled throughout space and time, that the main character who comes back to life repeatedly after they die as a convenient way to switch actors must be from the heterogametic sex. The very idea of suspending disbelief to allow for the homogametic sex to take a central role is just too hard for my fragile, 2017 mind to accept. What next, will Wonder Woman be a good film?

[YingJanshi]

She's got talent. Her portrayal of a grieving mother who has to rebuild her life in Broadchurch was excellent. Great emotional range, which is essential for the Doctor. So long as the scripts are quality, which I'm not worried about with Chibnell, means the Doctor is in good hands.

I honestly can't remember her in it. :/ Then again it's been awhile since I watched it.

As for the Doctor being a woman. *Shrugs* If done well I'm indifferent. I'm glad this wasn't something that happened under Moffat though. What has really bothered me though, is the Doctor falling for his companion. That was crossing a line for me. Then again, the new series has been humanizing him too much anyway.

Won't lie, I'm not a fan of this revelation.

Neither is my GF, who's a older DW fan than I am. I think this decision is gonna split the fanbase. Looking at the likes/dislikes of the BBC vid @YingJanshi posted, it was roughly 3.3k like & 1.3k dislike when I viewed it.

As to how she'll do as The Doctor, we'll have to see.

Could you both explain why? Just curious.  :)

[Lorcan Nagle]

long as the scripts are quality, which I'm not worried about with Chibnell

You've not seen any of the episodes he's written then?

[I am Belch II]

I think this is a huge gamble with really nothing to lose. Peter Capaldi is a great actor, but a very bitter Dr. Who to me, rude and kinda a jerk. They lost a lot of ratings with casting of him. This will make more fans come back to the show then it will lose over the casting of her.
I hope she does well. Its just a actor playing the doctor to me rather they are a woman or a man....that is how you are supposed to  look at it. But most people are not looking it like that.  She has some big shoes to fill in the role, to keep the show going and bring fans back to that with out ruining it.
Me personally the show needs better writers with a better direction then it is right now. That is what turned me off to the show.

[Lorcan Nagle]

They lost a lot of ratings with casting of him. 

First-run ratings have been consistently between 5 and 9 million viewers per episode in the UK since the relaunch.

[Jaim Magnus]

You've not seen any of the episodes he's written then?

I've seen the episodes he's done under Moffat, yes. Yes, they were terrible. But I'd remind you that Moffat wrote some of the best episodes of the Davies run, and his time as show runner was terrible.

I'm basing my opinion of Chibnell on the three seasons/series of Broadchurch, which is a better measure IMO.

[Lorcan Nagle]

I've seen the episodes he's done under Moffat, yes. Yes, they were terrible. But I'd remind you that Moffat wrote some of the best episodes of the Davies run, and his time as show runner was terrible.

Matter of opinion, I far preferred Moffat's run to Davies.  Davies' run had higher highs, but much lower lows.  Moffat had a better average, but fewer exceptional episodes.

I'm basing my opinion of Chibnell on the three seasons/series of Broadchurch, which is a better measure IMO.

In all honesty, I'm sure Chibnall's run will be well within the parameters set by the prior lead writers, with a fair share of exceptional and awful episodes. 

[YingJanshi]

I think this is a huge gamble with really nothing to lose. Peter Capaldi is a great actor, but a very bitter Dr. Who to me, rude and kinda a jerk. They lost a lot of ratings with casting of him. This will make more fans come back to the show then it will lose over the casting of her.
I hope she does well. Its just a actor playing the doctor to me rather they are a woman or a man....that is how you are supposed to  look at it. But most people are not looking it like that.  She has some big shoes to fill in the role, to keep the show going and bring fans back to that with out ruining it.
Me personally the show needs better writers with a better direction then it is right now. That is what turned me off to the show.

I'll agree with you on the writing. Personally, regardless of who is the showrunner, I think that person needs to write less episodes. We need more voices writing.  The show runner needs to be the showrunner, not chief writer.

But I'm going to have to disagree with you about Capaldi. He was a brilliant Doctor, he had no bad or loose performances (not saying he always had the best material to work with). He was no more bitter or dark than Eccleston was, or Smith for that matter. His doctor was very much more in the vein of the classic Doctors than the cuddly Doctor we got with Tennant and Smith. (For me he really calls back Hartnell's Doctor: Hartnell at the beginning of the show came off very rude and even mean at times. Of course he mellowed, as did Capaldi's Doctor.)

It's good to go off in different directions, trying to fit the show back into a "successful" mold of a previous Doctor will kill the show. (And as for dip in viewership during his tenure, how much of it is because he was "too old" and how much of it was the BBC jumping the airing time all over the place?)

[Ruger]

I think this is a huge gamble with really nothing to lose. Peter Capaldi is a great actor, but a very bitter Dr. Who to me, rude and kinda a jerk.

Hmm...sounds a lot like many of the older Doctor's, especially the First Doctor who continually (and usually on purpose) got Ian Chesterton's name wrong (one of his first companions), locked his granddaughter out of his TARDIS and left her on a 22nd century Earth just recently freed from the Daleks, etc....and the second Doctor who acted like a space hobo to trick people into underestimating him...and the Fourth Doctor, who often reminded his companions that he wasn't a human...and the Fifth who didn't try to go back in time to save Adric...and the sixth who actually tried to strangle his companion when he first regenerated (of course, said companion WAS Peri, so...)...and the Seventh, who serials started revealing a darker past...can't remember much on the third, or I would have commented on him as well...

Combine those traits that are already there with the events of the Time War, and everything that's happened since...

I personally had no issues with Capaldi's Doctor being a tad Scottish in outlook...

 ;)

They lost a lot of ratings with casting of him. This will make more fans come back to the show then it will lose over the casting of her.
I hope she does well. Its just a actor playing the doctor to me rather they are a woman or a man....that is how you are supposed to  look at it. But most people are not looking it like that.  She has some big shoes to fill in the role, to keep the show going and bring fans back to that with out ruining it.
Me personally the show needs better writers with a better direction then it is right now. That is what turned me off to the show.

We'll just have to see how the direction, writers, and Ms. Whittaker do with the show, and judge them on their own merits...

Ruger

[YingJanshi]

So has anyone been watching any of the Classic Doctors on BritBox? It has probably about 80% of the stories on it I'd say (not counting any of the "Lost" stories).

The one thing that really bugs me about it, is that there is no way to watch them in HD. You could when they were on HULU. :(

[Darth Nichos]

To be honest, I am quite divided over the revelation. While I am curious to see where they go with this and admit that it could go well, I am also worried that they will play the "romance" card for some reason given that female leads in shows get thrown romantic partners at them by writers most of the time for some reason

I am also hoping that this had always been the plan and not something forced upon by the current political climate