All New Who

This was much better than expected!

(for an audio drama production company, Big Finish certainly know how to do eye catching title sequences...not sure about that front cover though)

Although I enjoyed the War Doctor audios (or the six I've listened to so far) I was a tad dissapointed that they weren't as dark and morally grey as they could have been (Nick Briggs apparently said at a convention the BBC wanted the War Doctor audios to be more in line with the worn out old man War Doctor as seen onscreen in the 50th anniversary episode rather than the committed and deadly warrior as he was implied to be in his younger years) really intrigued if Big Finish will have more freedom to go down the dark/tragic route with the 8th Doctor as they certainly haven't shied away from putting the 8th Doctor through hell before...

(Not sure how I feel about so many Time War stories being released in recent and upcoming years, audio is arguably a better fit for it that a BBC TV budget would be, but it would kinda undermine the idea of the conflict being so mythical/important to the backstory of the 'New Who' series's.

And as much as I love McGann's audio adventures, this only serves to remind me how much of a great Doctor he would have been on TV...

'apparently said at a convention the BBC wanted the War Doctor audios to be more in line with the worn out old man'- Malick


{{That figures- I get annoyed at just how big a say over every aspect of Who the suits at the BBC have- they keep fucking up the show- giving away all the major spoilers for the end of series 10 at the end of the first episode in their own trailer Cutting the budget year on year- hell even when Capaldi talks about something as simple as picking 12's outfit it was a never ending nightmare of BBC departments all getting involved, even something as simple as his hair- Capaldi always wanted the big hair but the BBC overruled him and made him have it cut short for series 8- wasn't until he got a series under his belt he felt he had the clout to say something and stand up for the big hair idea! And he was right, it works.
I wish the BBC would stick to the financial and technical side of things and leave the creative process to the actual creative people!

Anyhow onto more Who news- we have a director for Jodie's debut episode- Jamie Childs- they have directed episodes of Poldark, White Queen, Never Forgotten and a bunch of short films.
You can see some examples of their work here-

https://www.jamiechilds.co.uk/

I dont know their work as I dont watch anything they have previously worked on, but I thought this one was good grounding for doing Who, a bit of everything! }}}

https://www.jamiechilds.co.uk/make-a-wish

Pettytyrant101 wrote:'apparently said at a convention the BBC wanted the War Doctor audios to be more in line with the worn out old man'- Malick


{{That figures- I get annoyed at just how big a say over every aspect of Who the suits at the BBC have- they keep fucking up the show- giving away all the major spoilers for the end of series 10 at the end of the first episode in their own trailer Cutting the budget year on year- hell even when Capaldi talks about something as simple as picking 12's outfit it was a never ending nightmare of BBC departments all getting involved, even something as simple as his hair- Capaldi always wanted the big hair but the BBC overruled him and made him have it cut short for series 8- wasn't until he got a series under his belt he felt he had the clout to say something and stand up for the big hair idea! And he was right, it works.
I wish the BBC would stick to the financial and technical side of things and leave the creative process to the actual creative people!

Anyhow onto more Who news- we have a director for Jodie's debut episode- Jamie Childs- they have directed episodes of Poldark, White Queen, Never Forgotten and a bunch of short films.
You can see some examples of their work here-

https://www.jamiechilds.co.uk/

I dont know their work as I dont watch anything they have previously worked on, but I thought this one was good grounding for doing Who, a bit of everything! }}}

https://www.jamiechilds.co.uk/make-a-wish

I think the shorter haircut in Series 8 made sense, BBC ordered or not-the 12th Doctor starts out as quite stripped back and emotionally distant, his clothes and hair becoming less and less constricted as the character grows and thaws into a kinder man, I wonder if Capaldi had any more say in the changes to the Doctors costume? One thing I really liked about the 12th Doctor was his lack of a signature look (he has at least three or four different costume styles) makes the outfit seem less gimmicky and stale, more like a real person who changes his clothes to match the personality as he ages.

On the other hand, various rumours/leaks about Series 11 seem to indicate many of the drastic creative changes (female Doctor, older male companion, three companions, possible writers room and move to 10 episode series) have been lead by Chibnall, hopefully the BBC won't micro manage him as much as they seemed to do with Moffat at times.

Interesting to see they are hiring new directors for Series 11, always good to get new blood in such a long running show.

{{{ IO agree about 12's development arc, and it wasn't like Capaldi had the current big hair- its taken him a few years to grow that- he would just have had a series 'head' start on it, ahem. But I think its indicative of the way the BBC can micromanage the show- Capaldi talks about the costume, as he wears the same designer as Capaldi, paul someone or other, the black t-shirt with the stars was Capaldi's own- he wore it to the audition then insisted it was 'Doctor Who's jumper' to everyone till they let him wear it.
Also interesting that even an actor of Capladi's standing and in favour with the BBC after Thick of It felt that in his first series he didn't have the clout to make the sort of creative input that he later did. Shows how far down the pecking order even the lead actor is in the creative decision making process.


This is excellent fun, from the always good Babelcolour- enjoy }}}

They've revealed the costume for the 13th Doctor:

Spoiler:

My initial reaction is...

I like the retro feel to it (reminds me of the 1980's Doctors) and that they've kept it relatively gender neutral, the mix of colours seem to hint at a quirkier, more bohemian take on the character which will be a good contrast to Capaldi, it seems less designed than some of the other costumes and a bit thrown together (not sure if that is a good or bad thing yet), I suppose after thousands of years as a male it will take the Doctor time to adjust to a new wardrobe and it's nice to get a quirkier, less austere costume.

...All that said, so far I'm not too keen on the look overall...it just looks a bit too much like ''1970's Children's TV presenter'' i.m.o, and the mix of a long loose coat, small boots and suspenders doesn't seem that practical to film in, given the huge number of running down corridors scenes...there's over designed Doctor Who costumes (looking at you Colin Baker) and under designed costumes this seems more like the latter i.m.o, the Doctor is an alien so dosen't always have the best fashion sense, but this dosen't have an immediate profile like Eccleston's leather jacket, Tom Baker's scarf or Capaldi's Magician look...

I'll wait to see it action before making any final judgements though...

enh. Some have compared her look to Mork. I agree, plus everything you just said. The very first reveal of the new Doctor a month or so ago looked perfect: projected immediate competence. Being a woman is already eccentric enough for Who, no need to add colored suspenders over bare skin. Baby steps.

it looks like a woman who has been a man for thousands of years and is a bit confused about how to dress, so its a bit like she has got dressed in the dark. it may evolve as time goes on.

{{{Um, ok, not what I was expecting.   Obviously some throw backs- agree both on the Mork and Mindy theme and the 70's kid tv presenter look   - she could do Playschool in that and not look an inch out of place. As well as previous Doctor nods.

But taking it in I actually like most of it    not sold on the trousers and the braces (I forsee a Hartnell joke on the horizon, I'll eat my sporran if she doesn't at some point hook her thumbs behind them ) but I like the jacket and I like the boots and I dont mind the t-shirt with the rainbow colours.  One I doubt it will be the only one she wears, I like 12 mixed up his wardrobe far more than previous (including period clothing) and I hope they will keep that, and secondly its nice enough nod to the flamboyance of some classic Who costumes.

So overall not sold initially, but its grown on me (maybe its the colour of the braces- dont know, just something not right there.
The best news for me is I look into that face and I look into those eyes and I still see Time Lord, same vibe I got in the brief intro trailer thing she did      }}}

I actually don't like the jacket - too contemporary. Boots are good. Suspenders/braces would be fine if matched to the right outfit but must avoid both tomboy and cutesy. Capri pantaloons must go. Tshirt must go. The whole ensemble just doesn't gell. Start with the boots and work up.

those pants scream 'quirky' and her neck is too exposed for my liking.

{{Most startling new thing is the Doctor now wears earrings! Wonder if they are sonic? }}}

{{Beautifully done Doctor Who Remembrance Day Tribute vid}}

This is surprising, Penquin books will be releasing 4 Novelizations of New Who episodes next year, and RTD and Moffat are both adapting their own scripts!

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/doctor-who-rose-target-collection-9781785943263

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/doctor-who-the-christmas-invasion-target-collection-9781785943287

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/doctor-who-the-day-of-the-doctor-target-collection-9781785943294

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/doctor-who-twice-upon-a-time-target-collection-9781785943300

https://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=Doctor+who+Target+collection&searchSortBy=&category=&price=&availability=2&searchLang=&format=

Very surprised this is happening, I never read any of the old Target Novelizations and I'm doubtful there will even be a large audience for novelisations anymore, but it will be really interesting to see how the scripts are adapted, maybe they could add in deleted scenes or early draft material.

Not surprising they went for 4 big titles first, will be interesting to see if any more follow-Chibnall has reportedly voiced strong support for increasing merchandising massively, and I've read rumours that Penquin is planning to do a lot more tie in fiction...

{{Be very interesting to see what they do- the TARGET adaptations I read as a kid did not often do much to add 'extra' material, you tended to get dramitisations of the actual episode with only minor additional material linking some scenes. Hoping we might get more as it was rare in TARGET outside of Terence Dicks stories to get the original author writing it.


Right something making me crabbit Ive mentioned it before but going to put up an as clear as possible version.

I am still surprised how often people seem to get the story arc of series 9 completely wrong. People I like and respect in the Whoverse too!
So I have laid it out as simply and clearly as I can, as I see it.

The Hybrid- a Time Lord legend that the Matrix has recently been predicting as more and likely, till now it tells the Time Lords its inevitable. Prophecy says the Hybrid will stand in the ruins of Gallifrey, destroy a billion, billion hearts to save its own and be a hybrid of two warrior races. The Time Lords, believing the Doctor to have knowledge of the Hybrid and gaining his Confession Dial from the Sisterhood of Karn and returning it via Missy, use the Dial as a means to trap the Doctor and get the confession from him of what he knows of the Hybrid.

Doctors plan- Doctor has foreknowledge of Clara's death and knows the Time Lords are somehow responsible for it. He determines a plan to save her by getting himself to Gallifrey, gaining a position of authority and getting access to Time Lord tech to extract her from the moment right before her death and then run off with her letting the universe 'heal' from the damage it would cause. To achieve this he needs a means of getting to Gallifrey and the Time Lords in a manner where he can claim power. To do this he turns to the Sisterhood on Karn and tells them of his plan to save Clara and sets it in motion by giving his confession dial to them with instruction to pass it onto the Time Lords, who in turn enlist Missy to find the Doctor and return it so they can trap him. This also plants the seed that he has knowledge of the Hybrid. But he actually doesn't know anything about it.

What happens- The Doctor goes on a bender, not because he thinks he is dying but because he knows when Clara finds him and they go off together again she will die at some point shortly afterwards.Clara and Missy track down the Doctor and off they go on adventures. Clara dies on Trap Street. The Doctor is put inside the confession dial. He refuses to divulge the information instead working out a way to break out of the dial- it takes 4 billion years of looped time to achieve driven ever on by a mental image of Clara. Once out he escapes and is on Gallifrey but he refuses to talk to anyone- using his supposed knowledge of the hybrid as his bargaining chip- but Rassilon then denounces him and relies on his reputation as the War Doctor and as a War Hero to replace Rassilon as President. In return for information on the Hybrid he asks for help from an old friend and gets access to an extraction chamber and uses it to save Clara.
The General informs him Clara's death is a fixed point and cannot be changed or it will risk collapsing the universe. The Doctor, driven by 4 billion years of fixating on this one thing- saving her at any cost- shoots the General dead and flees with Clara in a stolen TARDIS. He tries to continue his original plan- get far enough away till time heals and wipe Clara memory of him and hide her back on earth.
But time does not heal as her death is a fixed point in time. The memory wipe happens to the Doctor and he forgets Clara and she leaves in the stolen TARDIS with Ishilda to inevitably return to her death on Trap Street and restore time.

The Prophesy fulfilled- The Doctor and Clara are the hybrid, the billion billion hearts he would break to save his own are all the people of the universe he would sacrifice just to save her so his heart doesn't have to bear yet another death, and when he escapes with Clara and takes the TARDIS to the meeting with Ishildir he goes to the end of the universe in Time, but remains on Gallifrey, therefore he stands in the ruins of Gallifrey, the two warrior races are human therefore and Time Lord.

Summary- The Hybrid is the Doctor and Clara combined driving each other on- but it only occurs because the Time Lords, erroneously believing the Doctor has knowledge of the Hybrid, trap him and put him through 4 billion years of hell making him into the driven Hybrid of legend who risks everything.
The Time Lords create the Hybrid as a a self fulfilling prophesy.

On the other-hand the Doctor using his own paradox, foreknowledge of Clara's death- knowing its coming he prepares a plan to prevent it the irony there is that prophecy he is pretending to have knowledge of will turn him into it.
The Time-Lord who emerges from the confession dial is not the Doctor. This is made explicit when a concerned Clara outright asks him, "What happened to the Doctor?" The bit of the Doctors plan that buggered him and that he never considered was that he would have to spend so long in the dial- 4 billion years being driven on and on by his internalized version of Clara never letting him give him, never letting him lose.This mistake was then compounded by Time not healing and her death being fixed leaving no other option but for Clara to go back to Trap Street and for the Doctor to forget her so that he would not continue to be driven to try to save her. Thus breaking the bond that created the Hybrid in the first place.

But the main arc of the series is not the Hybrid, it is the Doctor saving Clara- the tagline for the series gives it away- 'I'm the Doctor and I save people.' Its all about how far he will go to save someone. And what happens when its too far. The Hybrid is a secondary arc that the main one works off and provides the premise- both as the motivating factor for the Time Lords and as something the Doctor becomes whilst feigning knowledge of it.

Themes surrounding this series include death, loss, redemption, and the balance between when doing the right thing crosses the line into doing the wrong thing. There is also a lot of opposite duality going on- the Doctor pretends to know about the Hybrid but actually knows nothing, everyone thinks the Doctor believe she is about to go to his death but the Doctor is actually mourning Clara's upcoming death which no-one else knows about, the Dial is supposed to be a means to peacefully purge yourself of your guilt and stresses and regrets before entering the MATRIX on death instead its turned into a nightmarish personal hell, the Time Lords think the Doctor is helping them stop the Hybrid when he has actually become it because of their meddling, even characters have a duality to them, Clara acts like the Doctor to save someone and it kills her instead. Ishildir thinks she is helping the Time Lords trap the Doctor when in fact she is helping the Doctor enact his plan to get to Gallifrey. The Doctor thinks he is saving Clara when in fact she cant be saved and he is instead becoming the Hybrid. The Time Lords think they are preventing the Hybrid but are in fact creating it.

This is why when people say series 9 didn't have a proper arc I tend to boggle at them- it does, quite a clever complex one, but most importantly many people in particular feel that Hell Bent was not a good finale and that Clara should not have been in it- when its rather obvious from the arc and the series story it would not have made a lot of sense if she was not in it! }}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{Be very interesting to see what they do- the TARGET adaptations I read as a kid did not often do much to add 'extra' material, you tended to get dramitisations of the actual episode with only minor additional material linking some scenes. Hoping we might get more as it was rare in TARGET outside of Terence Dicks stories to get the original author writing it.

I'm particularly intrigued by The Day Of The Doctor one, Moffat had several different drafts for that episode and probably cut out or reworked lots of scenes prior to filming, perhaps we could read how the Doctors all met up before the 'All 13' sequence, maybe insert The Night Of The Doctor as the prologue it was intended to be...

Even more surprisingly-they are releasing CD audiobook readings of these novelizations...I wonder if they could tempt Eccleston back?

{{I'd love to read the 1st draft Moffat wrote when the BBC suits insisted he write them a draft even though they had not signed up a single Doctor (including 11) to do it- that first draft only has Clara in it as Jenna was the only actor to have been signed up at that point- love to know what Moffat wrote for them! }}}

{{{Clip from the xmas episode shown last night on Children in Need }}

{{{two of my fav things in one! Thats my xmas pressie sorted! }}}

Nice.

I have a feeling I'll miss Cipaldi, even if I never really got into watching him. A great actor, real gravitas. Perhaps a bit to in love with the role, as some reflection of the value of the work you are doing is good, but we won't see anyone of those qualities play the doctor in a while, I think.

I like the shirt. Giving Hobbes the Fourth Doctor's scarf was a nice touch.

definitely a nice touch

Love that shirt.

Hum... Perhaps it's just my crabbit, but I don't actually like combining these things in this way.
Tom Baker's Doctor is not Hobbes, neither in temperament or anything else, so the combining of the two feels so fatuous to me. It's like the artist is saying, oh hey remember these two things that you like? Sure I do, but I liked them in isolation you dumb twat! Not jumbled together like mustard and hot chocolate!

That's not what's happening? It's a kid and his imaginary friend playing Doctor Who.