Doctor Who [8]

Yeah that pic looks like its from when he filmed Night of, I brought the brightness up and though it still not quite clear he looks 'roughed up' as he was in the regen scene.

The good news of course is that there is no reason why in the future he cant be in a multiple Doctor story.

Yeah it probably is, I wouldn't want Mcgann (as much as I love him) to still Capaldi's thunder anyway. I think Mcgann is rather notorious for teasing fans like this, he was denying/hinting at Night for weeks.

Though I certainly wouldn't complain if they did another 2 doctor storyline to celebrate the New Who 10th Anniversary next year, Mcgann and Capaldi would presumably be great together, (though I'd be equally curious to see Eccleston, Hurt or David Bradley as *1...)

That is the good thing about *8, even with Big Finish there are massive gaps in his story, anything could happen.

I just hope the Charles Dance as the Master rumours are more concrete...

I have to admit I honestly thought they'd use both Bradley and the perfect reconstruction of the original console room in the 50th.
I assume the BBC at least had the presence of mind to keep the set in storage somewhere for future use.

Ecclestone seems to have washed his hands of Who completely, so I dont expect him to reprise the role, not even for Big Finish.

I think of the Master return he needs to be older and with more gravitas to play alongside someone like Capaldi. So Dance could be a good choice as the role also requires a certain amount of chewing up the scenery.

Intriguing comment from Gatiss-

'Mark Gatiss has been talking about writing for the twelfth Doctor, telling how Peter Capaldi has a very different energy to Matt Smith and David Tennant and described his first episode as thrilling.
"The Doctor's always the Doctor - but you can have a lot of fun playing with people's expectations. Everyone knows how the previous Doctor would react in any given situation - and now you just don't know!" - Gallifrey Base

[size=21.81818199157715]Doctor Who theory[/size]

underthenarniansun:

oodlyenough: wrote:So, remember Jenny? From the episode
The Doctor’s Daughter? And we all remember how that episode ends, right? With her regenerating an running off in a spaceship.
Now think about Madame Vastra. One half of our favourite lesbian inter-species relationship. And the other half? A girl named Jenny.
I think you guys understand what I’m getting at here and I hope you all agree that the Doctor would be pretty proud of Jenny if it turned out to be her.

yeah the sexual assault in Crimson Horror would be even better if it was his own queer married daughter he was kissing against her will

Mmm sexual assault is a bit ridiculous, she just saved his life and he is bounding about the place grabs her and kisses her in a moment of misplaced enthusiasm to be alive- it couldn't look less sexual if they tried (which I suspect they did). Unless of course the mad folk also think Gatiss is another misogynistic writer   
But yeah, I doubt very much she is meant to be the same Jenny. Plus we know a little about her background and that she was disowned by her family because of her 'personal preferences'.

Although I would not rule out that character reappearing at some point as she was originally supposed to die at the end of the Doctor's Daughter episode until Moffat asked RTD to keep her alive.

This sounds interesting-

The Doctor,The Eye Doctor and Me: Analogies and Parallels Between The World of Doctor Who and the Syrian Conflict

"Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up, never give in" - The Doctor's Promise
"Assad or we burn the country" - The Eye Doctor's Promise

The Doctor, the lead character in the BBC’s phenomenally successful TV show “Doctor Who”; a time-traveling alien hundreds of years old. A compassionate person with the curiosity of a child and the wisdom of the ages.
The Eye Doctor, Bashar Assad of Syria, whose ophthalmology studies in the UK were interrupted to enable him to inherit the presidency of a country from his father.
"The Doctor, the Eye Doctor and Me" is the world of Doctor Who and the Syrian conflict as seen through the eyes of Aboud Dandachi, an activist and refugee from the city of Homs. The book attempts to explain the events of the Syrian conflict by exploring the remarkable analogies, parallels and contrasts between the war and the adventures of the Eleventh Doctor. Among the episodes the book draws on include;
The Impossible Astronaut/The Day of the Moon, the day the Doctor fought his own revolution.
The Doctor's Wife, the day the Doctor lost his home and himself became a displaced person.
A Good Man Goes to War, as opposed to how a "bad man" implements "reforms".
Journey to the Center of the TARDIS, when the Doctor proved truly capable of Machiavellian manipulations that would put dictators to shame.
Asylum of the Daleks, and the narratives individuals create and live by in order to endure the burdens of war.
The Night of the Doctor, what happens when both sides in a conflict become as bad as the other.
The Time of the Doctor, the most important factor and lesson in war, any war, as exemplified by the Doctor's hundreds year battle to protect one town from the combined forces of the universe.
The book also examines the contrasting languages used by the Doctor and the Eye Doctor, and how the year 2013 was a milestone for both Doctor Who and Syria's political history.

Written by Aboud Dandachi, a Syrian activist who over the course of the war would live in both opposition and loyalist areas, and witness first hand the effects of the conflict on both communities, "The Doctor, the Eye Doctor and Me" is a unique interpretation of Doctor Who as it marked its fiftieth anniversary, and a first-hand account of the most devastating period in Syria's modern history.
It is both the story of one person's journey through the different stages of the Syrian conflict, and the lessons and insights into the meaning of the events of that journey as gleaned from parallels and analogies with one of the century's most remarkable cultural achievements.

As to the whole McGann conversation, I have to say that he completely won me over with Night of the Doctor. To the degree that I see him preferable to any of the actual new series Doctors.

That's not to say I loved him in the TV Movie, the very little I saw of that, though he was good in Hornblower. Or that I've heard any of his other Doctor Who stuff. It's just such a shame. He's at the perfect age now to give the role the right gravitas. Just the perfect person to cast. Then again he might not even have been considered if not for the TV movie, so maybe we have gotten more than we would in any case.

That's not to say I wont give Cipaldi a chance.

Short interview with him:

I'd be happy to see him again in another multi-Doctor story.
But not returning fulltime. The show has never gone backwards like that its 50 years, it survives by moving on and changing.
We got his BF stories canonised in an episode, his companions name checked, and we got the missing link between classic and new with his regen. This was more than was hoped for or ever expected.
I think we should be satisfied with that.

Having said that fans are hopeful something extra might turn up at Easter, which will be the 10th Anniversary of NuWho.

Yeah, you're right. It's mostly just a pipe dream.

Night of the Doctor just gave me a view of what new Doctor Who might have been with McGann as a Doctor. And it's an appealing idea, so a bit of a shame.

Though we should be happy for what we got, as you say. And he would be great for a multi-Doctor story.

Keeley Hawes has been cast as a baddie of some sort in episode 5 of series 8.

'Keely Hawes is best know for roles in The Last September, an adaptation of Elizabeth Bowen's 1929 novel,as well as playing Zoe Reynolds in Spooks, Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes and Lady Agnes in Upstairs, Downstairs. She was the voice of Lara Croft in several Tomb Raider Video games.
Hawes, said: I am delighted to join Doctor Who and to be working with this incredible team. Ms Delphox is a great character and someone I've had a lot of fun playing.'- Gallifrey Base

Lots of rumours flying after a comment Sylvester McCoy made that the Master will return in series 8.
So lets play the speculation based on rumour game!

So thoughts? Will he be bad or will he be redeemed given he sacrificed his life for everyone last we saw of him. How different will he be no he is no longer plagued by the 'sound of drums; that drove him mad in the first place? Is there a point to having the Master back at all if he isnt bad?

And the biggie- who should play him (or should he come back as a her, and if she does will the Doctor have to call her Mistress!   ? )

Perhaps Moffat wants to negate some of the RTD influence on the Master character as well.

Though I'm not sure how McCoy would know if he was coming back..

I think it would be pretty interesting if Moffat did some timey wimey thing and had The Master be an early incarnation we haven't seen yet (afterall he was out of regens by the Five Doctors) so his lifespan was running in the opposite direction to the Doctors, beyond that I don't have any real opinions one way or another, I haven't got to the master eps yet in Classic who but it does seem another throw back to the Pertwee years if true, perhaps a recurring villain instead of one overarching storyline would be a better way to tie seasons together (Smith's cracks in time thing got a bit confusing and over extended for many viewers), though it does seem a little early to reintroduce the character again.

Charles Dance is one name doing the rounds, personally his drawling voice and menacing demeanor (I'm not overly familiar with his work, being the last person on earth who hasn't watched Game of Thrones) seems a perfect counterwait to Capaldi's energy.

Keeley Hawes = The Master?

I dont think so- her character is being touted as some sort of alien banker.

But no reason why it couldn't be a woman apart from the name being masculine.

I don't see why they couldn't have a female character called "the Master".  Plenty of people use terms like waiter or actor or webmaster or whatever as gender-neutral these days.

Partly because it would be a bit odd, I think Master is still a more male word than the others you mention which have become non-gender specific (mistress is still in use, actress ect much less so), and partly because its hard to see Moffat passing up a chance to make a risqué mistress gag!

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Partly because it would be a bit odd, I think Master is still a more male word than the others you mention which have become non-gender specific (mistress is still in use, actress ect much less so), and partly because its hard to see Moffat passing up a chance to make a risqué mistress gag!

I don't think the word "master" is used all that much anymore, at least not in the US, where it has uncomfortable connotations with slavery. But it would work as a gender-neutral term for a villain (not to mention that webmaster is basically gender-neutral at this point). Also, the most common usage of "mistress" -- the lover of a married man -- doesn't have a direct male equivalent in modern English.  I can't comment on Moffat's sense of humor though.

Mistress has been used in Who of the past, one might say in more innocent times, K9, the robot dog, used to call the Doctor Master, and his companion Romana (a fellow Time Lord) Mistress.

The Doctor calling his ancient enemy Mistress would be a bit weird though.
Here 'Master' is more likely to be associated with the class system and Downton Abbey style stuff than anything else, probably why Sam calling Frodo 'Master' seems perfectly appropriate here and an important shorthand indicator of the Shire's class structure and how it functions. It has no real slavery connotations.

Yeah, I understand it has different connotations in the UK. Is it really a common word outside of older works and period pieces, though?

Its not common any longer as a title, but reasonably common as a general word in use.

Although it was still in use when I was a child, as official mail sent to me up until I was 16 was titled Master before my name.

Just checked with my little brother, and yes indeed they still use Master on mail as a title.

They do that here too, but I'm not sure I've heard anyone ever say "Master" aloud in that context.

Wouldn't casting a woman as the Master raise the same kind of objections as casting a woman in hte role of the Doctor?