All New Who

{{ Casting news, and it seems we may have a new companion played by Lenny Rush who is young (18) but started younger winning a BAFTA at 14 for a BBC comedy drama, and another for Best Male Performer in 'Am I being Unreasonable'. I havent seen him in anything so I cant comment on his acting.
He is now 18 and is also a dwarf, midget, whatever the current deemed aceptable term is, I have nothing against dwarves nor casting them in Who, had a dwarf mate at school and cared for two folk who had dwarfism, they are just people with a particular genetic disposition, with the important bit there being 'they are just people'.



Having said that "The first black gay/bi Doctor walks into a bar with his two companions, a trans and a dwarf...' does sound a bit like the start of a 70's joke thats going somewhere unfortunate.
I am very curious what RTD is up to and just what he wants to say this time out. I am wondering if he plans to just confront his audience head on upon a matter of issues, I hope not I was rather hoping to get back to, you know, just telling really good Who stories full of adventure, and aliens and strange planets and stuff. }}

{{ Two of the latest Who vids from my favourite Who vid maker Margareta Life. Given her circumstances living in Ukraine its not hard to see which themes of Who have been playing on her mind of late.
And if art says anything about the artists then what her Who vids tell me is that if the Doctor were real, he'd take Margareta along as a companion without a second thought. To dwell on kindness and compassion whilst enduring and acknowledging the pain and suffering is admirable, not one diminishing the other but always in the end leading to greater kindness.

As 11 once said in comforting Amy, "Every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant." }}

{{ Pink TARDIS!



Its a promo tie-in thing with the UK premiere of the Barbie film, which Ncuti is in as a version of Ken.

Talking Ncuti he has spoken a little bit about his Doctor, "My Doctor is emotionally vulnerable. He hides it with humour, but he’s lonely. I can’t say much more than that; I don’t want to spoil anything. But he’s also energetic! The poor cameramen struggled to keep up.”

Interestingly he also seems to have found some life comparisons to draw with his own families fleeing of genocide in Africa when he was 2 to come to Scotland.

“This person survived a genocide. This person fits in everywhere and nowhere,” he said. “I am the Doctor. The Doctor is me. I decided that I had to get this role.”

I like his enthusasim for the character. My hopes are currently still high for his incarnation. }}

{{ Well its impressive as a trailer Ill say that for it! }}

So the 60th is a throwback to a single previous incarnation. Doesn't seem very inclusive. Is there some de-aging technology being applied here?

{{ As far as we know its only Tennant as the 14th Doctor (he previously was the 10th) and Ncuti will debut in it at some point as the 15th. There has been some discontentment among fans that it all seems so focused on that one previous era of Who- the Tennant era (specifically series 4 when Donna was companion) where anniversary specials usually callback on the shows whole history and often feature multiple Doctors (see the 3 Doctors, the 5 Doctors, the 2 Doctors and the 50th ) but as we have been promised lots of stuff that hasn't leaked yet folk are holding out hope yet that other Doctors will appear in some capacity.

Spoiler:

There are some things that are different with this one however, for a start it's three episodes not a single standalone, secondly it's the first Who made under the new production deal, RTD has way more production control over Who now than a showrunner has ever had as it's his company which is producing it for the BBC, and they are part owned by Sony Pictures. On top of that its all under the new deal with Disney to be the single overseas distributor of it. So there is a lot different under the hood this time.

Tennant is the most popular Doctor of the modern era, NuWho's Tom Baker in that regard, and because of this when the show is not doing well they drag out Tennant- he was in more Who media during the later part of Jodie's run than she was, hell they even shoehorned him into her video game just to try to shift more copies. So for some this whole anniversary feels a touch desperate as well as an admission that Chibnalls era was disastrous for the show - 'the shows not liked what do we do? just bring back everyone involved when it was popular and hope it works again.' And I have to admit for a show that's always looked ahead in what it does it's a little odd to see it so focused on just one bit of its past. So we have to hope the secrets promised yet to be seen broaden the celebration out more than just the era of 10 and Donna.

As to de-aging, no there isn't any here, the shots of a younger Tennant Doctor are from series 4, 15 years ago when he played 10, the rest is him today. }}

It's a very good trailer, the cinematography and special effects have definitely got an upgrade/budget increase and I'm curious to see exactly what is going to happen...but as entertaining as the Tennant/Tate pairing was back in 2008...that was 15 years ago and the show has changed massively since then, I've grown less and less fond of the 10th Doctor over time (yes I know this is the 14th doctor but let's be honest it's just going to be 10 in a different costume) and the RTD nostalgia angle has very little appeal for me so far, so overall I'm not massively excited so far...cautiously intrigued would be more accurate I guess, RTD has changed alot as a writer in 15 years and now has a much higher budget to play with I'm curious to see exactly how different his second era will be...

I barely watched anything from the Whitaker/Chibnall era (and what I did see was shite) so the fact that I'm intrigued enough to watch the trailer says something positive I suppose...

I believe most of the 2nd/3rd anniversary specials were shot in the studio and very little rumours/leaks about them have come out, so there's probably some surprises in store coming up...

halfwise wrote:So the 60th is a throwback to a single previous incarnation.  Doesn't seem very inclusive.  Is there some de-aging technology being applied here?

In fairness, Capaldi has indicated he has little interest in returning to the show (and dosen't seem fond of multi Doctor stories in general), Matt Smith is extremely busy, Whittaker has just left and hell will freeze over before Eccleston works with RTD again, so bringing back Tennant was probably the most likely/only option if they wanted a previous doctor to headline the specials...I'd rather have Capaldi or Paul McGann back (or even Colin baker just to annoy people) but Tennant is sure bring in the viewers that the other doctors probably wouldn't, I wouldn't rule out a surpisee cameo or appearance from previous doctors in the later specials though (indeed I'm hoping for it...).

I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to Donna and 10. Its like a dream come true. when does it begin?

just read one of Petty's earlier posts: " 'The first black gay/bi Doctor walks into a bar with his two companions, a trans and a dwarf...' does sound a bit like the start of a 70's joke thats going somewhere unfortunate."

the cinematography and special effects have definitely got an upgrade/budget increase - Malick

{{ One of the good things RTD has already done is to bring back one of the best additions to the show Moffat made, Rachel Talalay whose on directing duty in the specials.

I believe most of the 2nd/3rd anniversary specials were shot in the studio- Malick

Episode two 'Wild Blue Yonder' is particularly shrouded in mystery, even the teaser trailers up to this point when they have featured tiny clips from it, distort the footage and 'redact' it. So it's being kept deliberately obscure and mysterious. And I don't think this trailer has much if any of that episode in it, Beep the Meep is almost certainly from the opener, 'The Star Beast' given that's a reference to the Beep comic title, and episode three, 'The Giggle' is almost certainly all the stuff with Neil Patrick Harris in them. The only possible clip from episode 2 are the 'kick its arse' line (also interesting RTD choose to keep that, Moffat I think was the first to use the word 'arse' in Who when sort of Clara told 12 to 'get up off his arse and win', I feel it was more justified in the Moffat episode, this usage just seems there as a crowd pleaser moment rather than a character and narrative one, and I think you have to justify swearing even mildly in Who given its audience starts about age 4).

Just how connected as a story these three are Im not sure, I have a worry we will get a mini version of what RTD did in his era, a phrase or something dropped repeatedly in all episodes as the mystery - based around why 10 again? - that won't be actually addressed until the very end. Just like 'Bad Wolf' or 'You are not alone' or 'Harold Saxon' or 'He will knock four times'. I really hope not as I'm hoping he's moved on from that sort of thing.

I'd rather have Capaldi or Paul McGann back (or even Colin baker just to annoy people) - Malick

McGann would please a lot of older fans and make them excited, but you're right it wouldn't be anything like the draw Tenant has, in part because since Who he has continued to feature in mass appeal, popular television and films. He's an incredibly likeable screen presence. His name is enough to bring folk back to see what it's like.
Of course it's really that broad appeal to his Doctor I dislike, to achieve it he's very, human. And when I look back on that era there's not much I like about series 2, like much of RTD it's got individual moments I enjoy, little character moments, but as overall stories there's few I ever want to rewatch. And Rose is at her most obnoxious and dislikeable in this series.
Series 3 is half terrible, the first half, either pretty throwaway stuff thats ok but not great like the Shakespeare Code, or downright bad like the Daleks Take Manhattan two parter, but then suddenly we get Family of Blood two parter, Blink and the finale starting with Utopia, which though I don't like the over-the-top Master in this era it again has small individual character moments of worth. Series 4 is easily the best of that era when paired with Donna and the stories are a bit more darker and grounded. But even a lot of it's pretty shaky, it's a tale of two halves again. The first half is pretty ropey, the fat things, the boring Sontaran two parter with the atmos car stuff and annoying kid, the terrible Doctors daughter episode with Martha pointlessly shoehorned back into it for some reason, it's not until the second half starting with Silence in the Library through Midnight, Turn Left and into the finale it really picks up in quality.
And out of the Specials that followed only Waters of Mars is really good, the final two parter of 10's era has wonderful character moments, mainly 10 and Wilf, and the best pay off for one of RTD's repeating phrases, 'He will knock four times' but I dislike the story, which is weak. Hell the cliffhanger from part one is undone by a character literally walking onscreen and waving their hand to make it go away!
So my biggest hope for the new era is that RTD has learned to write better scifi stories and not just a series of repeated catchphrases, coincidental or lucky happenings with a solution pulled from his arse at the last minute out of nowhere, just as an excuse to string a lot of quality character moments together on. Need a plot and some substance behind it too RTD!}}

Tennant's Doctor struck me as overwrought. As an actor he's better as a reactor than a mover of circumstance; but the Doctor is a mover. Tennant tends to let his emotional reaction be what drives him to move the plot. The Doctor should be more calculated than that.

{{ You might enjoy this episode Halfy, Mummy on the Orient Express, its from Capaldis debut series, only set up you need is the Doctor has had a major fall out with his companion Clara who wants to give up travelling with him as she is having a hard time dealing with his latest regeneration and just how nonhuman he can seem. }}

{{ Murray Gold is back and here is his new theme for our new Doctor Ncuti, Doctor 15! }}

Does each incarnation get a theme?

{{ Yup in NUWho at least, and Murrays themes are always in the end, though you often need hindsight to notice, very informative about that particular incarnation.

9- The Doctor suffering PTSD from the Time War, and of course the first NUWho Doctor folk saw so full of mystery. And a Doctor who will be healed by the gentleness of Rose.



10- The Doctor who tries to rise out of the darkness of the Time War memories, the man who forgets as the 50th episode put it, a Doctor who liked to big himself up in speeches, but who ultimately will try to claim the title of Timelord Victorious and take it all tragically too far.



11- The man who forgets. The Doctor that believes he is in his final body and incarnation and who is determined to make the most of it, no regrets, no looking back, just adventures. An old man in a young mans body marking the start of an era of Who that is more than little fairytale-



But very complicated Doctors get two themes, so this is 11's other theme for when the old man gets tired out and all the years of sadness, loss and pain are feeling close-



12 is easily the most complicated of the Doctors, more alien than any other NuWHo Doctor, more distant, less human and less predicatable, less clear he's always acting as a force for good, but still with the Doctor's lust for adventure and penchant for drama, his theme is long and varied-



And comes like 11 in two variants, withe second one being used post Clara to mark that loss and ending of that part of his life-



13 is unique, she has a theme but hers was the only series of nUWho not to be scored by Murray Gold, and whilst it wasn't a disaster it wasn't so much music she got as ambience and tone setting (which can work but mostly didn't) it left her Doctor and series feeling flat and Jodie often felt, in her supposed big moments, that she lacked any backing from the score to help her out. Still her theme is probably the best thing the new composer did-



Themes extend to companions too, with Rose, Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara and Bill. I dont believe there were any companion themes during Jodies run, if there were they were so ambient I missed them! But they are returning with Gold returning to scoring, so we will get new themes for the new companion too}} }}

I would say 13 has a very clear theme, I actually like it. Though it's more fit for the African savannah than most of Dr Who.

{{ Its main problem is not how it sounds, but that's its almost entirely useless in a practical sense. What sort of scenes can you put her theme behind the Doctor in? Very few. If you listen to Gold's Doctor themes they are in 'parts' there's a getting ready for action, an in action, a melancholy, a dark bit, a contemplative part etc. Different bits can be pulled and tweaked to go under a ton of different Doctor situations, but still keeping a coherence to the whole theme of that Doctor.
Without it the very few 'epic' moments Jodie was supposed to have just didn't have the backing she needed to make them feel epic.
Imagine this scene for example taken out 11's debut episode, with Jodie's theme. I just can't work the same 'epic feel' way. }}

{{RTD has confirmed he is planning 4 series. So he intends to stick around for the same amount of time as he did the first time. }}

{{ Gold's new theme tune for the show, not sure about the opening but its growing on me, but really like the main part, reminds me of classic. Gold must have written more variations on the originally Derbyshire version than any other composer. }}

{{ Theme for new companion Ruby Sunday entitled "The Life of Sunday" }}

Chopinesque. I hope the writing for the character rises to the depth implied in the music.

{{ Makes me think we might be getting a similar character to Rose in the companion, at least musically its closest to Rose's theme though maybe not as melancholy. }}

So when will things kick off with the new series? is it next year?

{{ Specials are end of next month, we don't have a date for when the new series with the new Doctor starts, favourite is for it to be a xmas day debut then the rest of the series sometime next year, but they are already shooting the second series and one of RTD's stated aims is to have a series every year without gaps. }}