All New Who

I have the feeling they might go down the colonial bad, ethnic minority good path, it might get political and preachy, they have already addressed how a black person would be treated in the past with Martha in the Mr and Mrs Jones episode and with Bill in the Victorian episode. I think they should just concentrate on just being Humans being friends with an alien.

That MeToo article that you posted Petty, when speaking about an actress being asked to lose weight, said that half a stone was approximately 7 pounds. But it's not is it, it's exactly 7 pounds. Rather annoying i thought!

I'm not too worried about this new season of Who pandering to whatever's hip at the moment in the entertainment industry. From my perspective it's been doing that already for quite a while!

hip at the moment in the entertainment industry- Forest

{{Arguably Who has always done that- one production team for Who once said about it nicking influences and ideas that Who got them 'wholesale off the back of a truck'.
Every era is part of its time- the 3rd Doctor was clearly influenced by Avengers, Bond and similar shows and style of shows, Sarah Jane by 70's feminism. Whole sections of the 4th Doctor era borrow heavily from classic gothic horror for their inspiration and in style from Hammer House of Horror and other 70's horror films of the period. Douglas Adams time in charge borrows heavily from the comedic influences of the time including Monty Python, hell Cleese even makes a famous, humorous, typical Pythonesque appearance in an Adam's penned episode-



So its not like its a new thing in that sense.
The issue is not 'does it borrow from the culture of its time?'- it obviously does- but 'does it use those influences and ideas to craft uniquely Doctor Who stories?'

This is my issue with 'pure' historicals- you could for example go back and relive the Thatcher years in an episode- but isn't it better to explore those years through a satirical dark comedy in an alien totalitarian state where being happy is mandatory on pain of death? Featuring a monster made from  sweets? (yes that episode exists and is called 'The Happiness Patrol' and is a good example of the show reflecting the social and cultural concerns of its own time, as well as a huge dollop of 80's camp).



Anyone can do a period piece, but only Who has created the license to do more than that in what it can reach for- whether its satire, horror, melodrama, surreal or just campy and silly and fun.
In terms of imagination Who can go anywhere and excuse anything- its a play field of the imagination. Its not that they couldn't do a pure historical story that's well written, acted and has a good story but by limiting it to actual real history that seems like a waste of the shows story-telling potential and imaginative reach. }}}

{{{Bit of 7th Doctor dialogue that made me chuckle (as 7 often does) }}

   



{{Whenever the Doctor goes Scottish he tends to get really good speeches for some reason. And a big dose of Time Lord crabbit!



{{ You get echoes of 7 above in 12's speech in Flatline }}}

{{Michelle Gomez has been signed up by BF- she is appear alongside Alex Kingston- so a Missy/River tale! }}

Yikes, I thought you meant they were both appearing in the next season for a moment there!

{{Finally the series 9 soundtrack is coming out and we have track listings for it- its a 4 CD set which is quite impressive- with a seperate disc for the xmas special but more importantly an entire disc just for the brilliant score from Heaven Sent }}}

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a853508/doctor-who-christopher-eccleston-london-film-comic-con-2018/

Eccleston had previously stated he was unlikely to do conventions, I wonder what changed his mind? Wonder if he will bump into Capaldi or any of the other Doctors who might be attending...

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a853325/doctor-who-peter-capaldi-episode-never-got-made/

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/doctor-who/news/a853951/doctor-who-novel-introduces-new-doctors-after-jodie-whittaker-russell-t-davies/

{{Maybe it the whopping fees he's charging for his signature- more than any other Doctor classic or modern- I mean fuck sake he was only there one series and refused to have anything to do with the 50th like a stroppy kid in a huff, not even just for a single regen shot- and now he expects fans to pay more for his autograph than for Capaldi's, or Smith's or Tennant's? He's having a laugh. }}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{Maybe it the whopping fees he's charging for his signature- more than any other Doctor classic or modern- I mean fuck sake he was only there one series and refused to have anything to do with the 50th like a stroppy kid in a huff, not even just for a single regen shot- and now he expects fans to pay more for his autograph than for Capaldi's, or Smith's or Tennant's? He's having a laugh. }}}

I'm not 100% sure but I think at these cons it's normally the convention company themselves who come up with the prices (which is why the signatures are more expensive at bigger cons), the actor and their agent will take a cut but much of the money will get to the owners/people who run the company, I read somewhere Tennant sometimes times charges $200 for a photoshoot, someone on Gallifreybase claimed he'd heard Eccleston was going to donate the proceedings to charity (he actually did do a small convention last year in North England for much reduced fees-IIRC it was to benefit a local charity/drama group) no idea if that is true though.

As for Eccleston himself and his no-show in the 50th Anniversary, he had a rather acrimonious parting with the show and a very rough time making Series 1 (falling out with the producers, last minute script changes, heavy reshoots, a vicious attack by the tabloid press, IIRC his father was seriously ill at the time and he was commuting back and forth to cardiff every week and he had never held a leading role in a family genre show before, much less something as well known and risky as rebooting Doctor Who), he wasn't really an existing Who fan so I never really expected him to return for the 50th Anniversary, much less find room in his schedule for a quick cameo appearance (Moffat has admitted the 50th Anniversary was an absolute nightmare to write and plan the script being finished very very late, though he apparently nearly convinced Eccleston to return), he might have been busy doing reshoots for Thor 2 at the time anyway

https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/the-time-war-2

Must pre-order this soon...

Thing with Ecy is though he had a bad break with the BBC the people he had beef with- RTD and the production team were no longer on Who by the time of the 50th or associated with the show any longer, and had not been for several years b then.
Its one thing to turn down a main part as he did but surely an afternoons shooting for the regen scene and so they didn't have to use an old clip of him for the finale all '13' moment.
The BBC might have driven him to find work elsewhere and he was a respected jobbing actor when he took on Who, but part of the reason he could get Holywood roles was the higher profile and public awareness that Who had given him. So it wasn't all bad for him.
In general I dont think there is an obligation on actors to think of the fans, most 'roles' are just a job and another day at the acting office, but I think there are exceptions when you take on certain iconic roles- all the actors other than Eccleston have embraced this with the Doctor role, the only other exception being Baker refusing to appear in the Five Doctors after how he felt he had been treated at the end of his run- but that was a decision he later came to deeply regret and subsequently did appear in the 50th rectifying the matter at long last.
I wonder if Eccy will similarly one day regret his distancing himself from the role and the fans in the manner he has. }}}

According to Instagram Two of the actors from the cancelled Spinoff 'Class' were recording an audio drama or audiobook together recently:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhMxi3dlYLi/

I'm pretty certain that's a Big Finish recording booth...

...BF have previously indicated they would consider doing Class audios if they could obtain the license, it's intriguing if this is actually proof that it might happen...I never watched Class and it was something of a critical and commercial flop, I'm rather doubtful that the small pool of fans it obtained would transfer across or be interested in the audio drama format, not exactly hugely popular with young adults...

{{Series 9 soundtrack!!!! Enjoy before it gets pulled from youtube!! (and if you want to skip to disc 3 for the Heaven Sent soundtrack- and who could blame you probably Gold's finest work on his time on the show- its starts at 1.32.52 )}}}

{{ 'The Shepherd's Boy' track from Heaven Sent- one of my favourite bits of tv soundtrack ever- and one of Golds finest works }}

{{ Been reading the script to Heaven Sent- fascinating in itself, and nice to find even more little things in there I had not picked up even after several viewings- such as the Clara in that episode having her back to the Doctor- that's not just for mystery or to hide her face or so they could use a body double if Jenna wasn't available- its the last view the Doctor saw of her, standing behind her on Trap St when she died. Its a tiny yet super poignant touch adding yet more brilliance to an already layered episode.
Script's well worth a read- }}

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/DW9-EP11-Heaven-Sent.pdf

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