The Doctor Who Thread

MUAHHHAHAHAHHAHAHA! Nicely done :slight_smile:

No Doctor Who in 2019.

Absurd.

My kids totally lost interest in the show during Capaldi’s year off. It’s a huge time for what is promoted as a kids show to be off the air.

A kids show? I’d never think of it as that as a large number of the episodes are far too scary for kids (I think of the whole current season there are only 1 or 2 that I’d consider kid friendly for our 8 year old daughter)

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Sorry - it’s not a kids show - it’s marketed as “family entertainment”, which dates right back to the shows inception, when they were hoping to hold the (mostly “dads”) older male audience who had been watching the afternoon’s football, and transition them to the BBC’s news service. Even when the show was revived in 2005, “family” is the word flung around.

If you look at the level of violence - it’s clearly not a “serious” show. There’s rarely rarely ever blood, no swearing, etc etc etc. It may not be Disney safe, but yes, children are the main target, with secondary being the longer term fans.

Well, I’ve given Chibnall / Whitaker 1 full season. Tonight’s episode much as previous did little to make me feel like I was watching the show I know - and wasn’t engaging enough to make me want to watch in its own right. Maybe Resolution on 1st Jan will be more promising. Maybe a year’s break will be good.

I have enjoyed the more recent episodes. Perhaps I am becoming used to the different writing.

@kyte you and most UK people it appears - 2018 saw Doctor Who’s highest ratings since 2013.

Further to my note above… those who attended the Missing Believed Wiped event at the BFi a few days ago have confirmed that The Wheel In Space animation was a 10 minute abridged version of episode 1. There was no mention of an official release, however it was noted that the animation was credited to the BBC - not the BFI - so presumably there’s a commercial release in mind.

With 4 out of 6 episodes missing, it is intriguing they would show this 10 minute animation, yet announce a completely different story’s animation as the next release.

It’s just been revealed that more off-air audio recordings have been unearthed - apparently they were on their way to becoming landfill but were thankfully saved from that fate! Whilst all of 60’s WHO episodes exist in audio (even if the visuals have been lost in 97 cases), some are better than others, and word is these new findings offer much improved copies for at least 2 stories in particular - The Celestial Toymaker, and The Highlanders. Yay.

Oh and yesterday there was another episode of Whitaker’s WHO - the last one for a year - and - it was good. I enjoyed it. Quite a bit, really. It got too bogged down in the whole Ryan / his dad storyline, but that aside, I greatly enjoyed the story.

(I watch Doctor Who to escape reality, not in search of psychological epiphanies abour real life relationships…)

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I was profoundly bored with the New Year’s Ep. There were elements I liked about it, but mostly it was exactly the aspects of Who I never did like. I considered it a huge let down for a Christmas/New Year’s special. I think it really underscores the difference between Who fans and me.

Edmund Wilson said, “No two persons ever read the same book.”
I suspect the case is the same with people watching movies, television, and other media. It’s also why I stopped recommending books that I liked to other people.

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I thought the start of the News Years episode was a bit slow, the middle part was good and the ending was cheesy.

Just one example… the scene with Ryan’s biological father would have had more impact if he’d been sucked into space along with the Dalek (even if they’d gone slightly cheesy and he looked at his son and ‘let go’).

I was absolutely thinking that his dad was a goner - “finally” committing an act of true parenting, sacrificing his life for his son… But nah - Disney wouldn’t allow it.

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Well, THIS is a thing:

I left my magnifying glass in my other coat.

I’m sure there’s writing between those lines…

So… he’s a Red Dwarf staff writer, who’s maybe getting to write a WHO?

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Following the success (or so I’m guessing!) of Power of the Daleks, the BBC’s first full length animation of an entirely missing story, they are now releasing 1967’s The Macra Terror.

As with Power, very little remains of this story, aside from a few brief clips, including the “censor clips” that were cut for Australian broadcast. The audio as noted above however was captured by fan/s, and thus allowed this animated version. The release will also feature a “reconstruction” using still images for the purists.

I’m so excited! More Troughton to love! (Even if we’re missing 90% of his performance - ie his elastic face and mischievous mannerisms.)

Also as with Power, this is being offered in B&W but also in colour.

I half expect Space Pirates to be animated soon, as it would effectively complete Patrick’s final season, allowing it to join the new BluRay box sets.

I really like Peter Capaldi. Now, I like him even more.

The Doctor Who Classic Era BluRay Box Sets continue, with Season 10 coming soon.

Everything from the DVD releases, plus more! Though, I’m yet to figure out if they had access to any original film footage to achieve a proper HD image… It will still be a better quality than the DVDs due to less compression.


I’m told over on Gallifrey Base that the only surviving film extracts from Pertwee (outside of Spearhead) are from Curse of Peladon and Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Still - I think I really need a BluRay player for my Mac Pro…

Yet another early-era story being adapted to animation due to the ravages of “Missing Episodes”. Yay!

The Faceless Ones was the penultimate story of the 2nd Doctor’s first season. It marks the departure of Ben & Polly, Doctor Who’s Swinging 60’s best companions! :slight_smile:

The story is missing 4 out of 6 episodes. In a first for the BBC - all 6 episodes are being animated in HD widescreen colour (the same format used for the other recent Patrick Troughton animations) - even though 2 of the episodes still exist. Some fans are saying it’s a waste of resources - they should have only animated the 4 missing episodes.

My best assumption is based on some chatter I’ve heard, which goes thus - some of the funds contributed toward the project came not from the commercial arm of the BBC, but from the “television” end - as such, perhaps they are planning to broadcast the story at some point, and as such a fully animated version would be a better option than “breaking” the flow by using the original live-action existing episodes. (Power of the Daleks’ animation was broadcast on the BBC on the story’s 50th Anniversary, so it’s not as odd as it sounds.)

For the purists, you will apparently have the option to watch the animations in b&w, with the original 2 surviving episodes in situ.

This push to animate the 2nd Doctor’s first season seems also to be aimed at preparing the season for BluRay release, now that BBC Worldwide is pumping out the BluRay Season-based box sets. Now, only The Highlanders (all 4 missing), Underwater Menace (2 / 4) and Evil of the Daleks (6 / 7) need to be animated.

(Season 4 actually began with two 1st Doctor stories, The Smugglers and The Tenth Planet - presumably they will hold them as part of Season 3…)

:sob:

Terrence Dicks, arguably the most prolific contributor to the Doctor Who universe, has died.

“Uncle Terry” (as fans oft called him) joined Doctor Who in 1969 during Patrick Troughton’s final season, first re-writing the Seeds of Death, before being given the epic task of writing a 10 part adventure in just 1 week. That story became The War Games, Pat’s swansong.

Dicks then guided the series for 5 years as Script Editor - the entire 3rd Doctor’s run - and helped with the casting of Tom Baker before departing the show. He didn’t stop there however, contributing several scripts for more stories, including the 20th Anniversary “tv movie” - The Five Doctors. After WHO was cancelled in 1990, Dicks penned several “New Adventure” novels during the 90’s.

For me however, it was the Target novelisations that Uncle Terry probably had the biggest impact. Long before VHS, it was through the Target novels that fans were able to immerse themselves within the Whoniverse - adaptations of the original television stories - and Dicks was responsible for nearly half of the titles in the range. Indeed, the first novelisation I ever read - The Abominable Snowmen - was one of his. He even continued this epic body of work in the 2000’s, penning novelisations of spin-off series The Sarah Jane Adventures.

What I am seeing in fandom right now is a huge outpouring of emotion for this man, both from accomplished writers who were inspired by Dicks, but also more simply from fans who found the joy of reading thanks to his novels. Boys are much less likely to pick up a book than females, and Terrance’s work encouraged boys to read, including this one.

Goodbye, Terrance.

cosmic

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In case anyone here is also sweating the arrival of the S10 BluRay Collection - it’s been postponed, meaning the S23 box (AND - now the S26 box!) has likely also been pushed back, too.

Finally however we have a reason for the delay - Roadshow has lost their license to distribute BBC content in Australia - to be taken over by Universal.

Hopefully this announcement (made in the past week or so) will spell the imminent arrival of S10 (followed by S23, and S26) - and hopefully, for us OCD fans - a return to the high quality packaging seen with the first 2 “Collection” sets, and not the cheaper version seen with S18.

OCD, I say? Look at this:

Not my image cos I’m lazy, but also clearly not the only OCD DW fan in the world.
Can you see the difference…! First 2 releases - “book” style, then S18 came out…

But it didn’t start here. 20 odd years ago the DVDs started, and lead to this:

Is it really that hard to create a template, and stick to it? Look at the non-box sets - the silver/grey top section with the Doctor’s face - all different heights. And they even changed the logo. It’s just a mess!

For the truly OCD, there are plenty of fans who have created high res images so you can print your own covers, to replace the originals, so that you get perfection… I’m not quite that insane, but it’s a narrow ledge I walk…

cheers

cosmic ocd