Doctor Who: The Return of Russell T. Dalek... um, DAVIES

[Tonguez]

He's the one who brought it back in 2005. The show was at its height of popularity under him with David Tennant as the Doctor. While there are many factors contributing to that, it may be that the BBC is trying to recapture the zeitgeist of the late 2000s.

I'm not convinced that will work but its certainly interesting.

yeah it does seem that’s the BBC intention but it really doesn’t bode well, unfortunately the last few seasons have been lacking and I have had the feeling that it’s following the same trajectory as the Sylvester McCoy years.

going backwards may keep it limping on for a while, but they really need a big shake up OR another break ...

 

[Eltab]

IMO the problem is in the writing. People who cannot get out of IRL and into the Doctor's alternate reality are not going to write good Who scripts. I do not know if a showrunner has the authority to change writers. It might even be worth reviewing Who fansites to search for new talent, or get leads on where new talent could be found.

 

[Ryujin]

shrug. I have liked pretty much all of it. There may have been something hokey here or there but... goodness gracious, hokey is pretty standard for Doctor Who!

Considering that it was meant as a kids' show, I think that "hokey" kind of goes with the territory

 

[FitzTheRuke]

IMO the problem is in the writing. People who cannot get out of IRL and into the Doctor's alternate reality are not going to write good Who scripts. I do not know if a showrunner has the authority to change writers. It might even be worth reviewing Who fansites to search for new talent, or get leads on where new talent could be found.

In Doctor Who, the showrunners ARE the writers, some of the time. Moffat wrote some of the best episodes of David Tennant's run (while RTD was showrunner) and he wrote a lot of the better Matt Smith ones too, but IMO his 10th Doctor Episodes are better than any of his work as showrunner (even though I like both 11 and 12. Apparently Chibnall wrote some good episodes while Moffat was showrunner, which is why they gave him the job.

 

[dragoner]

I have loved Dr Who since Pertwee, Tom Baker is the ultimate for me, though I like all through and including Whitaker as well. Certainly I believe some stories are better than others, and stuff like Capaldi being saddled with a too famous companion, or the endless hordes of anti-Whitaker guys, did tarnish my joy a bit, overall I am happy, and hope to see some new good episodes.

 

[GreyLord]

So, I like nuWho a lot. But, interestingly... I haven't followed who the showrunners are. Like, I know the names when they get mentioned, but I can't tell you who was running the show when.

But I think Snarf does raise a point - there's a whole slew of folks out there they could have chosen, why go back to him?

When he was the showrunner years ago he commented that he would like to run an entire Who-universe. He did something similar, but NOT to the scale he was talking about.

It could be that BBC is finally going to try to cash in on the entire Who Universe idea similar to what CBS has done with Star Trek and Disney is doing with Marvel and Star Wars.

It could be his time that he can do what he wanted to do a decade ago (and he did it somewhat with Sarah Jane, Torchwood, and Who), in which he runs Doctor Who but has a LOT of spin off shows as well running an entire gamut of Who Universe shows like what Disney and CBS/Paramount are doing with their Sci-fi Franchises.

 

[GreyLord]

I have loved Dr Who since Pertwee, Tom Baker is the ultimate for me, though I like all through and including Whitaker as well. Certainly I believe some stories are better than others, and stuff like Capaldi being saddled with a too famous companion, or the endless hordes of anti-Whitaker guys, did tarnish my joy a bit, overall I am happy, and hope to see some new good episodes.

Is it terrible if I actually have found I prefer Whitaker's Who better than Capaldi's Who?

I didn't like the results of the end of Season 12, but I have enjoyed most of her stories as the Doctor.

 

[Eltab]

Is it terrible if I actually have found I prefer Whitaker's Who better than Capaldi's Who?

Capaldi's run gradually diminished my enthusiasm for Dr. Who - he 'mutters to himself' a lot and they never adjusted the sound to account for that. After enough time not able to make out what the Doctor is saying ...

Best Capaldi episode was when he fixed the broken Dalek (my initial reaction: He's gonna do what?!) that was repeating "I saw a star. I saw ... beauty".

 

[Kobold Stew]

One thing that RTD brings is reduced outrage at whoever they cast as the Doctor next. WHOEVER it is will get hate and grief from the fandom, but RTD means that the person is morelikely to be given a chance by those who want to remain "true" to what nuWho means to them.

 

[dragoner]

Is it terrible if I actually have found I prefer Whitaker's Who better than Capaldi's Who?

I didn't like the results of the end of Season 12, but I have enjoyed most of her stories as the Doctor.

Terribly terrible.

Kidding. I like Whitaker, I think she made a good Dr Who, though to be honest, I think all the Doctors after Baker infused Baker in their role to some degree.