HUGE Doctor Who news coming tonight! [Spoilers]
The Corgis love the sound of the T.A.R.D.I.S.
Neil Gaiman (who isn't really an authority, except for the fact that the man knows how to tell a story) had this to say about casting the Doctor:
Which, I think, has a lot of wisdom in it. Plus, I'd prefer to see it go to someone for whom it could make their career, rather than be just one more stop on the way.
Neil Gaiman said:
Which, I think, has a lot of wisdom in it. Plus, I'd prefer to see it go to someone for whom it could make their career, rather than be just one more stop on the way.
Fast Learner
First Post
I think Mangan could be amazing. I can very much see him as a great Doctor.
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
The assassin in Serenity. He's done a lot of sideline roles, although he was the main actor in The Shadow Line (which I think was one of the best shows of 2011).
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Plus, I understand the Queen's a fan, and they probably don't want to upset her by cancelling the show again.
IIRC, wasn't the last cancelling more to do with contractual issues and an attempt to get outside funding from major US networks than with an actual lack of ratings?
delericho
Legend
Ah... I actually read the book "Doctor Who: Regeneration" a few weeks back, which is more or less a making-of the Paul McGann movie. (I don't really recommend it, btw, though the first chapter was interesting.)
Anyway, the first chapter delved into the cancellation of the old series in some length. Basically, there was a perfect storm of events - the BBC were under political pressure to spend less on home-grown shows, most of the creative team were nearing the end of their contracts and wanted out, many of the fans wanted the creative team out (to the extent that they would boycott the show and see it axed rather than continue with that team). And then the BBC started getting queries about the possibility of rebooting for an American audience. So, keen to follow up that possibility, they allowed any development for the next (27th?) series slide, until eventually it was too late.
In all honesty, the cancellation might well have been a good thing. A lot of the Sylvester McCoy stories really feel quite tired. And it was just before CGI changed the nature of SFX on TV. The BBC would soon have found themselves in a position where they could either spend a fortune on 'good' effects, or end up with a show that just looked awful, especially against ST:TNG and (a few years later) Babylon 5. The probably wouldn't have been able to spend the money... but probably couldn't afford not to, either.
So in some ways, the break was probably a good thing - it allowed a new team of talented people to come together, it allowed a fresh new approach - and it also allowed the SFX technology to advance to a point where it could be done on a TV budget without looking really bad.
Someone already said it, but the Valeyard is, "an amalgamation of the darker side of the Doctor's nature" As I read that, it doesn't even say it's the Doctor. Just part of his darker side. Perhaps something that's split off at some point....or cloned off.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Valeyard
As for the regeneration limit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/12/doctor-who-immortal-reveals-bbc
Looks like they've removed it. I would have much rather scene a clip/episode/series where he finds a way to gain additional regenerations.
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Valeyard
As for the regeneration limit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/oct/12/doctor-who-immortal-reveals-bbc
Looks like they've removed it. I would have much rather scene a clip/episode/series where he finds a way to gain additional regenerations.
sabrinathecat
Explorer
A little more on the cancellation:
Producer John Nathan Turner had built his career around Doctor Who. At the time, even though he was badly burned out, he couldn't leave. The BBC couldn't get him to leave without offering him something else, and there was nothing to offer him.
The change in format from 24 episodes to 14 played havoc with the 4-story arc model. As a result, many stories that should have been 4 episodes were cut down to 3, with critical information/exposition ending up on the cutting room floor, where it did no one any good. (Greatest Show in the Galaxy (worst classic who ever) and Ghostlight are prime examples). Many of the episodes were written by very junior or brand new writers, so the quality wasn't always there. (One episode was only the second TV script the writer had ever done, and the other script was for a Medical Soap Opera.)
Sadly, many people blame Sylvester McCoy for ending the show, or ruining it, when the problems were well outside the actors' control. I though he established his Doctor very well, and has proved through Big Finish Productions that he was more than capable.
And then there's budget. The BBC was incredibly cheap. That the effects for Doctor Who were as good as they were is a testimony to the sheer brilliance of the people working for their FX department. Even so, it was still hideously expensive. Sadly, when there was a sudden reduction in cost of making those effects through improved technology, the show had already been cancelled, and the BBC bureaucracy didn't want to overcome the inertia to restart the show.
Internal BBC politics also played a role.
Rent the DVD for Survival if you don't own it already. Not a great episode (best parts of the script on the cutting room floor again), but the special features are very helpful in having different people explain what was going on as they saw it. In the end, I think it was all of the factors described.
I think it was particularly sad the John Nathan Turner was offered a show called Bergerac, and said he'd only take it over if he could recast the main actor and move the show to somewhere other than the island of Jersey. (For those that don't know it/haven't seen it, that's 95% of the show he wanted to change.)
And, as I've mentioned it several times, Big Finish Productions is a company that really restarted Doctor Who about 5 years before RTD. Most of the stories are good to extremely good. There are some meh products as well, but for the most part, the company has risen above the challenge. Many of the best and more popular episodes of NuWho come directly from BFP's scripts. In fact, a lot of staff for NuWho also come from BFP. Small world.
Producer John Nathan Turner had built his career around Doctor Who. At the time, even though he was badly burned out, he couldn't leave. The BBC couldn't get him to leave without offering him something else, and there was nothing to offer him.
The change in format from 24 episodes to 14 played havoc with the 4-story arc model. As a result, many stories that should have been 4 episodes were cut down to 3, with critical information/exposition ending up on the cutting room floor, where it did no one any good. (Greatest Show in the Galaxy (worst classic who ever) and Ghostlight are prime examples). Many of the episodes were written by very junior or brand new writers, so the quality wasn't always there. (One episode was only the second TV script the writer had ever done, and the other script was for a Medical Soap Opera.)
Sadly, many people blame Sylvester McCoy for ending the show, or ruining it, when the problems were well outside the actors' control. I though he established his Doctor very well, and has proved through Big Finish Productions that he was more than capable.
And then there's budget. The BBC was incredibly cheap. That the effects for Doctor Who were as good as they were is a testimony to the sheer brilliance of the people working for their FX department. Even so, it was still hideously expensive. Sadly, when there was a sudden reduction in cost of making those effects through improved technology, the show had already been cancelled, and the BBC bureaucracy didn't want to overcome the inertia to restart the show.
Internal BBC politics also played a role.
Rent the DVD for Survival if you don't own it already. Not a great episode (best parts of the script on the cutting room floor again), but the special features are very helpful in having different people explain what was going on as they saw it. In the end, I think it was all of the factors described.
I think it was particularly sad the John Nathan Turner was offered a show called Bergerac, and said he'd only take it over if he could recast the main actor and move the show to somewhere other than the island of Jersey. (For those that don't know it/haven't seen it, that's 95% of the show he wanted to change.)
And, as I've mentioned it several times, Big Finish Productions is a company that really restarted Doctor Who about 5 years before RTD. Most of the stories are good to extremely good. There are some meh products as well, but for the most part, the company has risen above the challenge. Many of the best and more popular episodes of NuWho come directly from BFP's scripts. In fact, a lot of staff for NuWho also come from BFP. Small world.
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