All New Who

{{latest form the excellent Garostudious, a very good one I thought, even by their usual high standards}}}

Looks like the 2016 Christmas Special is being filmed next (as Nardole is in the first episode of S10 which will be Pearl's first episode, I wonder if they will reintroduce him here instead?), sources on Twitter say the man who owns the house where Amy Pond lived in the series has been approached about the show possibly filming there again.

The first episode in S10 is apparently called something like 'A Star In Her Eye'.

S10 will be filming until March 2017.

(I hadn't really thought about it before, but apparently Who mostly uses a single camera set up for each episode i.e instead of having three or four cameras to cover multiple angles and distances in a dialogue scene they have to record the scene several times over for the long shot, mid shot, close up etc, when you add set rehearsals, blocking, 2nd unit and on set practical special effects it's not surpring it takes three or four weeks to record a single episode, I wonder if Chibnall will change this?)

it's not surpring it takes three or four weeks to record a single episode, I wonder if Chibnall will change this?- Malick

{{Almost certainly a budget issue, so a decision made by the BBC suits- who control a lot more than the show runner ever gets too.
Moffat got flack in sme quarters for not including more classic Doctors in the 50th, we now know that was becuase he had to fight tooth and nail to get the 2 in he did because, as they would all be The Doctor, they would have to pay them all as such. Yet the suits thought it a better idea to spend more shooting it in 3-D. Something Moffat never asked for but was told was what was happening, as the suits had cut a deal with BBC Worldwide to release it in cinemas.
Who has always been made on the cheap by whatever the standards of the day are. Still is now, it doesn't even have a budget per episode equal to that of ST Next Generation, and its been off the air for more than a decade.
And also never underestimate the BBC's disdain for anything sci-fi- even when it makes them a fortune, like Who, or Red Dwarf, or all the way back to Quatermass- they always seem slightly embarrassed by it, as if they think sci-fi is really beneath them and they are a bit disgusted its so popular and dont want to fund it because it might only encourage the oiks.}}}

You can find fan artwork for the most random of scenes, in the novel 'The Eight Doctors' the newly regenerated 8th Doctor once again looses his memory and somehow ends up being arrested whilst possession of a bag of cocaine (don't ask):



That expression reminded just how bonkers some of the plots in the novels have been...

{{{Its even madder in the comics, especially the one Grant Morrison wrote in his youth.

Thought this as particularly well put together}}}

{{{Some Whonews!

First though Capaldi doing something nice as the Doctor, again}}}



{{{In a couple of interviews two of Who's ladies, Alex Kingston and Michelle Gomez have been talking returning to the show and Mr Moffat.
Michelle Gomez first who raised Moffats making the Master female as a plus point and added-

' I mean it’s Steven’s work, Steven’s lines and it’s all there for the taking. I don’t really have to do that much actually other than say it and also because it’s such a strong visual as well. That costume is doing a lot of the work for me and I really feel like it’s probably one of the easiest jobs I’ve had, in that there’s no preparation. Steven has observed this part beautifully and I really do just get to sit and go.'

On returning in series 10-

Gomez:  I can’t give you anything.

The Observer: The fans are basically in a frenzy.

Gomez: So am I. I am first and foremost a fan really.

The Observer: Yes, that’s true you were a huge fan of the show as well.

Gomez: I still have to pull myself together when I go on set and I’m surrounded by an army of Cybermen or you know, a whole studio of Daleks. There’s a few highlights that have taken my breath away. I have to do my job when all I want to do is go oh my God!

On her favourite Doctor-

I think for childhood, it will always be your childhood Doctor, whoever that might be generationally. Mine was Pertwee and Baker.
Obviously, if we talk about modern Doctors, it would hands down, regardless of offending any of the others, it’s Peter Capaldi. I just think he’s just quite wonderful. He has a real gravitas and I believe that he could actually perform a tracheotomy.
I do believe that he is a real doctor you know? There’s something that’s very credible and deep about him.


And Alex Kingston has also been talking returning- all she would say was 'spoilers' and oin Steven Moffat and the character of River-

' I am completely blown away by the connection that fans have to this character (River) particularly women feel for this character. But it never, ever sort of entered my mind that this character would create that sort of impact, and it's incredibly moving and I feel it's sort of my duty, in a sense, to have that connection. She's a strong...I mean its amazing that she has been created by a man, so ok, we'll give men that one. We'll just give Moffat that one., I think its because she is a very strong character , very comfortable in her own skin. But at the same time as being strong she also isn't afraid of being vulnerable. And I don't think there are many female characters who are written with so many complexities. And I think then thats what women enjoy really. I mean she is bad-ass but she can also be fragile emotionally. And that's real. It's real.  And you don't get many characters who are drawn in that way. And so its great to play. '


And finally in Who news, rumours are running that the lost 2nd Doctor debut story Power of the Daleks is to be released by the BBC as a full proper animation ( as opposed to the cheap dodgy animation they used for the reconstruction stuff previously) using the surviving soundtrack- but the BBC have yet to officially confirm this. }}}

''I mean its amazing that she has been created by a man''

oh the irony.

{{{Dunno about irony, Kingston is better placed than you or I to know. She is a smart woman, and less face it, a 'mature' actor who has been acting playing female roles (largely written by men) her whole career. And only she knows how much fan feedback she gets and how much of that is female and positive.
Regardless of anyone here's personal views on the matter that's Karen, Jenna, Alex, Michelle (all Moffats major female roles) all say they have been given rich, complex interesting female characters to play. Hell at a recent convention panel Karen talked about how Amy was a role model for her and how she has tried to be more Amy-like in her real life.

And as, even when presented with a complete list of female characters and asked to point out the sexist ones, no one here seems able to do so, I am inclined to favour the opinions more of those in the front line of the job- the actresses themselves on the matter of any sexism- not that I have ever been able to see this mystery sexism in the first place (due to it not existing and those who claim it does complete inability to actually articulate where and when it occurs). }}}}

Oh lord, it's about to start again....

it sounded like a gush-fest. they practically squeed, why do luvvies do that?

Mrs Figg wrote:''I mean its amazing that she has been created by a man''

oh the irony.

Oh lord, it's about to start again....- Halfy


{{Well, its been a bit quiet of late, about time we had a good old rammy again  }}}


it sounded like a gush-fest. they practically squeed, why do luvvies do that?- Figg

{{{Because they are luvvies, they all talk like that.   Probably stage school does it too you.
Doesn't change the fact she is an actor with along and varied career who thinks River is one of the best female characters she has played, and is the female character she has clearly had the most positive feedback to playing in her career. And as a woman she also clearly feels a responsibility towards that and to playing that character in that spirit.
Then there are all the other actresses who have stated likewise about their characters (going all the way back to Linda Day in Press Gang if we are talking Mofffat written), or the female producers who have commented on working with Moffat, or the top directors like Rachel Talalay who speak openly and generously about Moffats work (and she has been fighting the female cause in films for decades, see Tank Girl as an example, and is clearly not afraid to speak her mind), or fellow writers like Sarah Dollard.
And I think they are probably pretty good judges as being in that industry and working on a variety of projects they have the experience and expertise to make those comparisons and conclusions.

Then there is the legacy of his time on Who so far. Put male to female regeneration into canon, then changed the next most important Time Lord character in the show from a man to a woman, as well as doing it to a character who seemed intrinsically a male type and role- the General. Made a companion an equal to the Doctor, to the point where she calls him out on his morality and ends her time on the show in a mirror situation to the circumstances of the Doctor when he began all those years ago: on the run form the Time Lords in a stolen TARDIS. He brought in more female roles in positions of power than any previous showrunner, from the Head of the future Church (and largest military force in the Galaxy) to Jenny, Vastra, River, Kovarian, Missy, and made many episodes where the female cast members outnumbered the male, and he cast the first transsexual actor in a role, and the first deaf actress to a lead role. He out did RTD in number of female written episodes (still too low though) and female directors (and he gave them the meaty stuff, series finales and openers, not the filler). It hardly seems the resume of a sexist misogynist does it?

That, and as I have said, despite repeated requests for clarity and literally now years of arguing I am still no closer to knowing what it is you think is sexist or what it is you object too as none of the detractors here seem able to pinpoint a single example for me to study.}}}

Because of Gene Wilder's recent death I've been reminded of this scene.


Is it racist? Was it racist when it was made? Is it more or less racist now?  

Wilder said that Richard Pryor was OK with the script when he read it, but after they'd shot the scene he was troubled about it all night so Wilder called the director and they re-shot it the next day, changing the race of the man who walks into the bathroom at the end at Pryor's suggestion.

Is that the dividing line between racist and not racist? I don't think there are any simple answers.

I think you (Petty) use the words "sexist" and "sexism" something like 20 times more than anybody else.- David

{{probably, but then the context of its use is usually me asking those who make the claim where the buggery it is!
Its a claim which seems so at complete odds to me with all available evidence that I cant even fathom its founding. Hence my interest in the matter. (And its such a serious allegation to make of a writer, whose aim after all is primarily to provide something for people to enjoy and engage with, about a show I have a great affection for, that I am inclined to wonder what its root is, and where it occurs when to me it seems not only absent but to be the opposite. And the only people who can inform me of where and why his writing is sexist are those who say it is.) }}}

Is that the dividing line between racist and not racist? I don't think there are any simple answers.- David

{{{Simple answers no, not to anything. But here I think the dividing line is the performer was uncomfortable with what they were performing. And therefore the right decision was made. I don't really see that sort of thing as any different than say Laurel and Hardy refining a slapstick joke because one of them feels its just not right.
The fact that in this case the issue was around race makes it a little different, but it still comes down to artistic integrity, which here Pyror felt he had compromised until the reshoot.}}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote: a writer, whose aim after all is primarily to provide something for people to enjoy and engage with,}}}

I don't dispute that that might be his primary aim, but it seems to me that he also has a secondary aim of stirring the pot a bit when it comes to race and particularly gender rolls. That's what reminded me of the Silver Streak clip. Would you argue that?

he also has a secondary aim of stirring the pot a bit when it comes to race and particularly gender rolls. That's what reminded me of the Silver Streak clip. Would you argue that?- David

{{No I dont agree with that. Moffat likes to stir up his fans, he lies to them, teases them , occasionally mocks them in the program- he created Osgood as a fan surrogate- then killed her.
But the history of his writing betrays a simple truth- he prefers writing female characters, he has a tendency to make his leads female. This is true of all his work (and he has always insisted the Doctor is not the lead character in Who, he is co-lead with however the companion(s) is).
You can go right back to his very first tv work- Press Gang, the lead character is the strong, independent, yet still vulnerable and emotional (sound familiar?) Linda Day. A character praised highly at the time for being a great role model to teenage girls. You can take the through line of that into his sitcom Coupling, where the male characters are largely second fiddle to main the stories of the females and more often than not the fools.
So I cant agree there is a deliberate attempt in his Who writing to stir up the gender pot- this has come from outwith Moffat, it does not originate with him in a deliberate sense- his writing of Who, and in particular his female character sin Who is completely consistent with his writing history.

Press Gang-




(though my favourite character as a kid was Colin)



Coupling

David H wrote:Because of Gene Wilder's recent death I've been reminded of this scene.


Is it racist? Was it racist when it was made? Is it more or less racist now?  

Wilder said that Richard Pryor was OK with the script when he read it, but after they'd shot the scene he was troubled about it all night so Wilder called the director and they re-shot it the next day, changing the race of the man who walks into the bathroom at the end at Pryor's suggestion.

Is that the dividing line between racist and not racist? I don't think there are any simple answers.

I watched the clip and imagined a white man saying those lines, it does change the meaning of what is said and done. It shouldn't matter, ideally, but it does.

RIP Wilder....

{{{This clip from the last xmas special rather nicely illustrates a very typical male/female interplay in Moffats writing- there are shades here going all the way back to his first show Press Gang and Linda and Spike}}}

It's nice being reminded why I loved Coupling so much. Did he ever write any other pure comedy? That's far and away his strength.

{{{Only one other out and out sitcom I can think of, Chalk, which is about a terrible school. It was right after Press Gang and the teachers side of things. It had one series.
Coupliong ran until 2007. By which time he had already begun writing for Who. He took over as showrunner after Coupling and has been doing it and Sherlock ever since.
Comedy is certainly a huge strength of his, he is good with a witty line and set up and pay off. But when he can also pen stuff like Heaven Sent which I dont think has a joke in it thats isn't pitch black or introspective and which counts among its themes death, grief and the difficulties in moving on from them, I wouldn't personally say it was his only, or even main strength as a writer.
I would hate to see him do nothing else but comedy, that would seem like a waste of talents to me, an unnecessary lming of what he can produce at his best.}}}

Think I found out why McGann hasn't made another appearance: