...NEW DR WHO TONIGHT, 25/12/06, 7pm 'THE RUNAWAY BRIDE'...

[Carlsborg Expert]

Well now we have Mary Jane & K9 as well as touchwood...

Coming soon...

That'll keep the thread going fer years!

:D

[Leigh S]

I'd probably agree with you Adventurer (hell, last year, I did agree with you!) if someone could come up with a better defence of these criticisms than:

a: The old series did it.  
b: It's just for kids.  
c: Russell is subverting the form; by deliberately being rubbish he is in fact being a genius.

If I watch TV or a film, or read a book or comic, I don't ask much - merely that the story has been thought through so that within it's own logic it makes sense.  On top of that, if it can show me something original and clever, I'll be applauding.  RTD Who has all the surface gloss of something great - theres some witty stuff and some more indepth character examination - the problem is, these alone are starting to look increasingly thread bare, repetitive and shallow - How much can you really "examine" a character like the Doctor before you get stuck up a fanboy dead end of "he's a bit alien and a bit mysterious - but he's also a bit of a laugh.  Maybe that's masking his nasty side" - it's not exactly deep is it?  Certainly not worth repeating for ten minutes of near every episode

RTD seems to like to shine a light on the weaker elements of Who, possibly with a view to 'fixing' those areas, but more often undermining them.

For example, the imbecile humans of the RTD era can't remember/ deny worldwide alien invasions.  Who does this fit in with RTDs attempts to make it more "believable" in terms of peoples responses to the fantastic?  The Doctor just wanders through the old series without much exploration of what makes him tick, but by turning the spotlight on this and attempting to answer those questions, RTD reduces him in my eyes - Show don't tell.  In many ways, the new series has a fannish viewpoint - more interested in the characters motivations and interactions than the "threat of the week".  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except when the threat of the week is sketched so thinly that it is not much more than a backdrop to the writers trying to pad out their characters artificially.

There's apparently a commentary on the web for the Runaway Bride where (amongst lots of "brilliant"s fantastic"s and "hurrah"s) they say the script is deft because they set up the pocket thing with Donna, which pays off later...  Now, it's a nice piece of writing, but it's certainly not genius - it's about what you'd expect from a competent writer in any genre or field.  I suppose I should really listen myself - I might be misinformed... but it does sound indicative of the Production Teams priorities, and their exaggerated opinion of how clever they are.  

[The Adventurer]

Where's all this "RTD is a genius" coming from? I mean, I can see the flaws, RTD isn't a TV god by any stretch, and I love new Who. Don't tell me the media is playing him up like the 2nd coming?

[Leigh S]

Oh Lord yes - RTD is regularly touted as the best TV writer of his generation, and by some as the best TV writer ever anywhere.  This is very much the line of many of the Dr Who websites, but also the media in general.

One way to get an idea of how important RTD is seen by the media.  The BBC brought back Dr Who, a show they had previously despised and buried, purely to secure RTDs services.  I suspect they hoped the show would quietly bomb, so he could get to writing "proper" drama for them.

[The Adventurer]

That's crazy as hell.

[Adrian Bamforth]

"wasnt it just a recycling of the Empty Child? Robots go haywire and in trying to repair damage get the wrong end of the stick."

I can see it now but I never noticed before, which is propably the mark of a good writer, espcially in sci-fi where everything has been done before (Tom Baker Doctor Whos I've seen all seem to have the same plot - The Doctor arrives on a planet where the few keep the many enslaved, except for a small band of rebels, which The Doctor helps with his ingenuity. Then throw in an ancient race which awakes). The only flaws with his episodes are that he writes the characters in keeping with the way they have already been written: Eccleston's Doctor suddenly ridiculously wide-eyed, rambling and passionate at the end of The Empty Child, and Tennant suddenly childishly excitable in Girl In The Fireplace (which is at least slightly less cringeful than his other mode: victoriously heroic.) Moffatt can only do his job by following what has already been set up, though that doesn't mean he would have things that way if he were to continue the show especially after a change of actor (though frankly I'd really rather have something new). For evidence of Moffatt's brilliance at comedy and drama, see Press Gang series 1-5.

ADE

[Buttonman]

Nobody buy the Sun 'round here? Under the headline 'Doc's away' it 'reveals' that Tennant is to leave mid 4th season, ie. the one after this one. They give the usual typecasting reason.

It also says they want this guy to replace him...

http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank">http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/button71/begbie.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting">

"Someone's exterminated this lassie and no one leaves 'til ah find the cunt what did it"

[Buttonman]

Oh the the BBC deny it, but they would wouldn't they?

Link: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6214425.stm" target="_blank">Tennant Evicted

[Leigh S]

While I wouldnt be surprised if Tennant left sooner rather than later, I think the Suns piece is little more than speculation - RTDs vision of Who and Robert Carlyle seems a bit oil and water.

[JimBob]

 Oh I don't know played Begbie style, all casual knit wear and even more casual violence it could be awesome. Imagine a school reunion style tale of a pringle clad Doc meeting back up with adric just before he died and bottleing the little shit. That s got to be at least as good as the olympics story and is already better thought through than the majority of Torchwood.

[Art]

I'd happily invest my life savings in that production. Joim, you're a genius, and the saviour of british TV.

[Funt Solo]

Robert Carlyle's range stretches to more than just a psycho:

http://www.usq.edu.au/users/huntera/heronsflight/images/hamis.jpg" />

(Mind you, they could choose any actor to play the Doctor, they'd still have to work with those awful, emotionally cloying scripts.)

[Al_Ewing]

Only winced twice - once during the standard 'Hey Wow human beings, ace!' speech and once during the interminable goodbye - but during the trailer for the next series, did I see Chris Eccleston? And Tennant shouting 'Doctor!' down a hole? Are we going to get a Two Doctors team-up? Or was it three cans of John Smiths fogging my mind and sight?

[SamuelAWilkinson]

I really hope it was the John Smiths. I was annoyed enough at the sight of yet another Dalek. Daleks aren't a replacement for good sci-fi and better telly. They really shouldn't be propping up every season as a sort of 'well, even if all the writing's crap, there's Daleks every year!' shebang.

[DavidXBrunt]

Well they've paid for a three year license, they might as well make it worth their money.

As for Eccles, I thought I saw him too. They've said they'd never do a multi Doctor story though.

As for recycling the same plot, well, Moffats not alone. There's a long chain of Robert Holmes stories that are essentially the same story.