All New Who

{{ BBC have released a couple more- }}

A lot of focus on her, I hope she's up to it. Pretty much a newbie, right?

{{ Like the majority of young actors in the UK she came through the Theatre workshops, of which there are many dotted all across the UK. She has been in top soap Coronation Street for the last 4 years where she won an award for Best Newcomer.
I shoud clarify that while Uk soaps are still often ridiculous and over the top plots, its a different sort of ridiculous that US soaps. US soaps seem to be about fantasical lives of fantastical people, or the rich. UK soaps came from a different source. Coronation Street started out as a groundbreaking 6 part drama, it was the first time a tv show had both working class characters as the main cast and full on regional accents on UK TV (rather then the uptill then norm of received pronouncation) so our soaps are largely still about the working class and veer more towards drama than hyper realism or fantasy.
She is actually one of the more experienced compared to former NuWHO companions. Billie Piper who played Rose ws best knows at the time as a teen pop star with little to no acting experience. Freema Agyeman (Martha) had some experience having had mainly small parts in other dramas or soaps. Catherine Tate (Donna) had lots of experience but as a comedy sketch writer and performer not in drama, Karen Gillan (Amy) had only a few comedy sketches under her belt and a stint as a runway model. Jenna Coleman (Clara) was another who came from a soap background. Pearl Mackie (Bill Potts) came from a strong theatre and stage background, performing from 15 at the National Theatre but had next no Tv experience at all. }}

{{Its also worth maybe noting that RTD is massive soap fan (his last tv drama was about teatime soap Crossroads from the 70's and early 80's) and Coronation Street debuted in the 1960's. The above photos look remarkably similar to the sort of housing and streets you see in Cornoation Street, which is set in Manchester, as Figg will tell you it was a lot of Tenement buildings, with yards out back a high wall then these alleyways inbetween. You can see the similarity in the old Coronation Street intro.



A thought occurs, given the Celestial Toymaker is supposedly making a return in the form of Neil Patrick Harris, and his speciality is creatni gfanatsy or fictional worlds and toying with people, if RTD is not going to indulge his love of soaps by actualy sticking them in a soap! }}

{{ Who news- Murray Gold is back on composing duties. The BBC announced it yesterday, he will be working with the BBC Wales Orchestra again but so far its only been announced he's scoring the 3 specials in November, no firm news on if he will stay on to score the new series, but I supsect he will be.

'Murray Gold says: “I’m so happy to be invited back for another joyful ride in the TARDIS. I didn’t think twice. Working with Russell and his team is just a pleasure.”'

Glad he is back, Jodies era seriously lacked memorable motifs and themes and it fell even flatter than need be as a result. }}

Yey!!  

Music can definitely make or break a show.

{{ What I love about Murray Gold is his gut feeling for when to support the dialogue and when to  let the words and performences stand alone. Its what Jodies era score lacked so much, it didnt support the performences or work with the drama.

Heres 5 speeches from the Doctor (not all the ones Id have picked but they do illustrate the point well and its not overly long) and pay attention to how Gold scores them,when he chooses to support the drama and when he decides to let it stand on its own.



The other thing is he is just very good at is each of his major themes for main characters tell you something about that character. For example River Songs theme included, long before the viewer knew who she was, a section where the supporting instruments are being played backwards, indicating that she is travelling in the oppoisute direction from the Doctors timestream. And each major theme is in distinct parts, they form a whole piece but each part gives a different vibe and mood that lets him take bits from the same theme for particular scenes. From moody and melancholy to dangerous and action filled, or he may mix in an other themes motifs, like Gallifreys. It gives an amazing versitality for what sort of scenes they can be put behind whilst mainting a feeling of completness.

12's first theme shows this well, you dont need to listen to it all you can just flick through a few minutes at a time to see how he incorporates all the basic moods you'd need for a character in a TV show in one theme}}

{{ Looks like they really are going all in on period costume for our new Doctor and companion, the latest publicity pics, here with guest star Jonathon Groff whose playing a so far unknown character- }}

wowzer really digging this!

I want that purple velvet frock coat.

{{ Interesting that it looks like 15 wont have a set look. 12 was a bit like that, occasionally wearing period costume, occasionally a suit and sometimes a t-shirt and hoody, but the general profile and outline was always similar.
They havent even finished filming 15's first series yet and we've seen four very distinctive looks, not just costume but hair and all. }}

Ah, so the initial pimp costume was not representative.

{{ Only the 1st one, also the first offically released outfit seems theonly one contemporary.
The 2nd looks 70's, the third, 60's and the last if I am not mistaken Regency (1811-20). So it definently seems this Doctor is going to enjoy dressing up for the time. Interesting if they go therefore to a future date, will he likewise dress like the time period? }}

One advantage of making him black is he stands out in European period sets - no worries about the audience losing track of him through all the costume and hair changes.

{{ One thing about the Doctor (well except Jodies ) is they have never needed much help in standing out in a room, or being its commmandng presence. }}

yep he is definitely not going to be a kindergarten supply teacher.

{{ BBC have released more shots from this bit of publicity, all of them this time of Millie. Interestingly these are the ones they have sent to the tabloids, which tells me either they want to make her very prominant in the build up to it, or more likely they think the Uk tabloids, being bulk right wing, are more likely to prominently and positvely feature pictures of a pretty young white thing than our new black Doctor.
Marketing wise this is probably a good strategy, just unfortunate thats the case still.}}

 OOOOhhhh! Fantastic! That looks amazing!

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{ Who news- Murray Gold is back on composing duties. The BBC announced it yesterday, he will be working with the BBC Wales Orchestra again but so far its only been announced he's scoring the 3 specials in November, no firm news on if he will stay on to score the new series, but I supsect he will be.

'Murray Gold says: “I’m so happy to be invited back for another joyful ride in the TARDIS. I didn’t think twice. Working with Russell and his team is just a pleasure.”'

Glad he is back, Jodies era seriously lacked memorable motifs and themes and it fell even flatter than need be as a result. }}

Hmm..mixed feelings on his return, Murray Gold is an amazing composer no doubt but I thought he left the show originally partly because he was feeling burnt out and wanted to do new things? Doctor Who is supposed to be about change and renewal and this (and RTD's return) kinda feels like a 'bring back the greatest hits' reunion, hopefully he's only back for a year or two or we get something genuinly new/interesting from him.

I have to admit the more I hear about the 60th anniversary the less interested I am, I have rather soured on the Tennant/10th Dr era in recent years so a trilogy pandering to his uber-fans isn't something that particularly excites me, the 10th Doctor is so over-exposed in the Doctor Who universe that it feels like Tennant never really left, RTD is an intelligent and strong enough writer to make a splash with Series 14 regardless...hopefully the nostaglia heavy marketing is something of a red herring...I don't want to spend another 15 years hearing Tennant fans moaning about the good old days again...

{{ Not beng the biggest fan of the 10th Doctor either I cant say I am massively excited for his return, again. I am more excited, or at least interested in our actual new Doctor.
At this point regards the 60th I am rather hoping theres a lot more going on that they have somehow managed to keep under wraps, if folk thought Moffats 50th was too much a celebration of NuWho then an anniversary with just 10 and Donna in it doesnt seem to be celebrating more than just 10's era. And I just cant see RTD doing that for a three part anniversary special. }}

yeah as I said I hope (and think) this may all be a misdirection on RTD's part hopefully the message will be nostaglia is a powerful thing but we should look to the future rather than dwell on the past.

But even if I don't like the 60th I'm not too bothered I've always been a fan of parts of the franchise rather more than others (8th doctor books/audios, 1960's era and the 12th dr) so I'll be happy to stick with what I enjoy...I'm sure it will be better than the shite Whittaker was lumbered with though...

I think bringing 10 and Donna back is just a palate cleanser taking away the bad taste of fake Jodie Doctor and Chibbers era. Like gargling with perfume if you have eaten something rancid.

Murray Gold is an amazing composer no doubt but I thought he left the show originally partly because he was feeling burnt out and wanted to do new things? - Malick

{{ I hear folk saying this, but I just dont hear it, for me he does some of his finest work in his last series on the show- the soundtrack to Heaven Sent- the Shepherds Boy, and my particular favourite moments where he drops in 70's era Who BBC Radiophonic workshop motifs- or the soundtrack to Capaldi's final two parter and finale which is like a celebration in itself of Golds music over the years and he still knocks out memorable character motifs as for Bill, I dont see any signs he felt burnt out or had run out of ideas or inspiration. I think Chibbers just got rid of him as he did most of what was good still left when he arrived.
After heleft he said in an interview- “With Doctor Who, you are ploughing along. If you spend two weeks on an episode, you are pretty much done, you can’t revisit it. It’s all so fast. I was curious to see what I could do if I worked on things with a bit more time.”  Which could be read two ways, either he choose to leave to do that, or now he is no longer on Who he's planning on doing that.
On how he came to return he says this-

“People started saying, ‘We really need to speak to Murray,’” Gold tells Doctor Who Magazine in its upcoming June issue:
There was a director, Mark Tonderai [overseeing the 2023 Christmas Special]. I was like, ‘What can he possibly want?’ And then Ben [Chessell], who’s directing episode two… this was January 26th and he says, ‘I’m directing this episode and it seems to have a lot of music in it. Have you looked at it?’ Then another director. And another. Then it started to dawn on me: ‘There’s an awful lot of music in this series, isn’t there, Murray?’ I was speaking to myself now, not realising, of course, that my consciousness is just a fantasy. ‘And apparently Russell [T Davies] has entrusted all of it to me.’ And actually that’s quite an honour. I love that man.”

Which doesnt sound to me like a man who felt he had run out of steam or ideas for Who.

Figg- granted almost anything would cleanse the palate after Chibbers and Jodies era, but 10 is already pretty oversaturated n Who media and has been for some time, the marketing folk love him, but this is an anniversary special, and theres more to celebrate about Who than Tennant.  I hope RTD is planning more and like Malick, I suspect he is.}}