Sea Devils And Die: GeroniMoffat's Doctor Who In The 2010s

Matt Smith looks like The Doctor... of Anthropology. Its going to be a great series though, can't wait!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XZS_Rs-9Wt4/Sz8wnFsUCMI/AAAAAAAABBE/UWyoxIDoM3Q/s400/dr+who+matt+karen.jpg

Karen Gillan tbh

is that standard uniform?

Not more converse ;_;

What shoes would you have the Doctor wear, ledge?

He's still wearing Tennant's outfit there.

from the waist down, anyway...

xxp Just different ones! New dr, new shoes. Plus converse + smart troos is so noughties.

i figure during the first episode he will explain the TARDIS having the ability to regenerate itself...for HIGH DEF

think his normal footwear will be black boots xpost

good choice

Richard Curtis has written an episode featuring Vincent Van Gogh "stabbing a yellow monster".

> 6 billion masters trying to triangulate the signal

the listen for the space station thing was terrible, right up there with Prof Farnworth's Smelloscope

Haha, posts from one thread are starting to seep thru to the other.

"the fabric of reality is melting, again, Doctor!"

Am I the only who finds Matt Smith kind of unattractive?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Amy_Pond_cropped.jpg

he's got kinda an ugly-hot thing going on, but better that than a teenybopper heartthrob IMO

While those swashbuckling vampire-like thingies in the trailer look pretty cool, haven't we reached vamp saturation point? Which made me think, perhaps they're not vampires at all, but haemovores, like in Curse of Fenric? The return of Fenric? That could be interesting...

Matt Smith is Easter Island on legs.

He's no McDreamy McGann, but he has a certain awkward Chess Club hotness about him.

That pic of them running makes it look like they're late for the Riverdance.

Spotted somewhere else, posted here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iUT3191g9k

Matt Smith is Easter Island on legs.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/3/3257014_f0e4c3f799.jpg

+

http://www.ticket2ride.it/imgs/lozfile.jpg

=

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/images/bank/programmes_tv/drama/doctorwho/11th_doctor/446doctor1.jpg

why are time lords' hairs so oddly gelled in recent years?

did shockwaves have an intergalactic outpost on gallifrey before the fall?

They're supposed to be Silurians I believe, although they look more like Sea Devils and they even have the Sea Devils' heat ray. And yes, they are vampires (in Venice, I think).

I do like in the clip the shocked look on his face when he punches the guy. I'm just hoping the leaked audio clip from a few months ago isn't typcal of his performance.

Silurians and Sea Monsters are cousins anyway so np.

Sea Devils even, jaysus.

The one thing Moffatt has consistently done better than any Dr Who writer is tapping into things that genuinely do scare children shitless. So anything involving vampires is good with me, especially in Venice (which means vampires wearing CARNIVAL MASKS dudes).

Pretty sure this season will be better than any nu-Who series with the possible exception of the first one. More historical shit and alien planets, fewer identikit industrial spaceships please. Also, needs more MYSTERY. It'd be great if the reason the finale was a Must Watch was because something massive was going to be revealed, rather than yer usual bombastic Davies ending.

Presumably Moffatt got Davies to drop in the Weeping Angels as imprisoned Timelords bit as something he's planning on developing in some way. Wonder if he's had something like that in mind since the start - it would make sense given that they can move people around in time and feed off the energy.

Given Moffatt, IIRC, was the first dude to write Tennant's Doctor as hormonal girl-snogging drunken tit in The Girl In The Fireplace, I'd say anyone looking for Matt Smith to be an old-skool sexless Doctor will be disappointed. Also, well, River Song. Moffatt is really good at doing emo anyway.

Matt Smith is going to do a lot of gurning, isn't he? I just hope there isn't a big public backlash due to him not being Tennant that scuppers this series.

Given Moffatt, IIRC, was the first dude to write Tennant's Doctor as hormonal girl-snogging drunken tit in The Girl In The Fireplace, I'd say anyone looking for Matt Smith to be an old-skool sexless Doctor will be disappointed. Also, well, River Song. Moffatt is really good at doing emo anyway.

Moffatt set this development up way earlier with Ecclescake and "The Doctor Dances". But yes I agree he will probably be better than RTD at emo/romance bits - one of my favourite "aw" parts was in Silence in the Library, at the end when Donna just misses out on meeting her virtual husband. He's good at writing these really simple but effective scenes. none of RTD's soppy soliloquys.

Every time I watch that season trailer I get more excitable. This is gonna rock bells fuiud.

Yeah Ecclestone's Doctor was more sheepish and embarassed geek than Tennant's full on drunken adolescent though - "Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete" etc.

oh of course, i just meant that Moffatt arguably started the whole "the Doctor isn't an asexual weirdo after all" on nu-Who.

Yeah, the difference is that Moffatt can do emotions and characters and stuff like that and Rusty...well, y'know...a fucking lottery ticket???????

which means vampires wearing CARNIVAL MASKS dudes

too similar to TGITF surely

just really interested to see how Moffat deals with the show outside his previous confines (writing the scary episode, not dealing with classic enemies) and how he'll do opening episodes and finales differently from RTD

THIS IS PRETTY SHIT NEWS, TBH:

The soundtrack website Music From The Movies has a new interview with Doctor Who composer Murray Gold, in which Gold confirms that he will be staying on to compose the music for the 2010 series of Doctor Who.

In the interview, Gold discusses composing and recording the scores for "The End of Time" and the other 2009 specials. He also mentions that he has already begun work on a new version of the Doctor Who theme for 2010, and that the forthcoming series will feature scripts by Mark Gatiss and Gareth Roberts.

Ew, yes.

Oh ffs I was sure that the terrible score for the last ep was a swan song.

Yeah, I was really hoping he'd go.

:( was also so so hopeful he wld be gone

tho just knock the score down to a quarter of the volume and it'll be okay tbh

I was vainly hoping for a score of eerie ambient electronic noises.

tho just knock the score down to a quarter of the volume and it'll be okay tbh

Yeah, it's the intrusiveness which bugs me, which is surely a failing of some sound editor, rather than Gold himself. THough I, too, would love a return to Radiophonic Workshop ambient weirdo stuff.

I suppose my problem is more with the mixing than the score itself, but my feelings towards Mr Gold were not greatly improved by that Doctor Who Prom they did (christ knows why I was watching this - that time of day where sitting mindlessly in front of someone else's telly choices is about all I can manage I suppose) mentioning Murray Gold's Amazing Wonderful Doctor Who Theme Tune approx 6000 times, Ron Grainer maybe once, Delia Derbyshire 0 times

i reckon if they're going to rip off windowlicker so badly, they might as well hand over the score-writing duties to mr richard d james - not like he's doing anything much else at the moment except hanging round the synth shed smoking weed

that would be a welcome return to weird radiophonic noises

I really don't know why Moffat would get rid of everything else from the RTD era, but decide that Murray Gold is a keeper.

think his normal footwear will be black boots

The boots are Prada.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5952/eleventhdoctorpromojanu.jpg

All a bit wibbly-wobbly torchy-worchy.

Looks like an old-school Doctor there, right enough

A dalek turned up in "better off ted" this week.

annoying gingers complaining about doctor who complaining about not-being-ginger giving the rest of us gingers a bad name:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6977818.ece

Awesome choice of picture there.

annoying gingers complaining about doctor who complaining about not-being-ginger giving the rest of us gingers a bad name:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6977818.ece

― Karen Tregaskin, Thursday, January 7, 2010 10:37 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

karen, i was on the fence about your whole steez, but this is the second lame anti-ginger comment in two days, so: get fucked, you highly annoying challops merchant/fake woman.

xp

Life depends on change and renewal. [...] I've been renewed. It's part of the TARDIS. Without it, I couldn't survive.

it makes me sulky that we had six Doctor changes in 26 years in the old series, and each one was different; now we've had six in 12 years of the new series, and each one just has the Doctor doing a Christ/scarecrow pose and gold lightning pouring out of his clothes. instead of there being mystery and creativity and "ooh what's going to happen this time*?" it's "oh, this again"

*especially as it's become a standardised three seasons/four years/regeneration at Christmas

should be easter at least ffs

The longevity of the Doctors in the old series was motivated by the fact that they only got a few serials each. Doesn’t Tennant have more episodes under his belt than Baker?

I count 172 half-hours for Baker vs. 39 45-minute episodes for Tennant and 8 60-minute specials (plus the one he did with Smith and Hurt if that counts)

Not by a long shot, no - Baker 173, Tennant 50. Maybe Tennant had more stories, since they were single-ep in his era versus 2-6 eps in Baker's?

sorry mine came from IMDB, not as nuanced.

I liked the 'Brilliant!'

The longevity of the Doctors in the old series was motivated by the fact that they only got a few serials each. Doesn’t Tennant have more episodes under his belt than Baker?

yeah this is just crazy.

Hartnell's longevity was motivated by him being impossible to work with, and he did 29 serials (134 episodes, counting the ones he was on holiday or unwell) in three years.

Troughton's was motivated by him still having a viable career, and being desperately burnt out by the number of episodes they made (21 serials, 119 episodes, 3 years).

Pertwee's was motivated by general burnout, the desire to do other things now the show had made him a star, and the entire production team's disillusionment after Delgado's death and the additional strain of creating, developing and making the entire run of Moonbase 3 in between series of Dr Who - the Letts / Dicks / Pertwee &al squad made way fewer serials in an effort to amortise costs (and Letts still went over budget every year), taking five years to reach 128 episodes in 24 serials.

Baker, T.'s longevity was motivated by the new producer wanting to get rid of him, like he got rid of everything else, and calling Baker's bluff when he made his annual offer to quit / contract negotiating tactic. By the end of that seventh year, Baker had done 42 serials, and shot most of 178 episodes.

Davison also obviously had a thriving career to get back to - he was already known as the young romantic not-lead of a huge international hit, and his first season shut down production midway so that he could shoot that year's season of the sitcom he was now also the lead of - and had been advised by Troughton to only do three years; but specifically left because of the quality of the scripts in his second year. He's always said that he would have done another year if the scripts for his third had existed before he gave notice, especially Androzani. By the end he'd done 19 serials and a 90-minute special, totalling 68 episodes.

Baker, C.'s longevity was motivated by the head of the BBC and the head of drama first cancelling the entire series, then demanding he be sacked or the series be cancelled again. He managed eight serials and 31 episodes in the three calendar years his Doctor appeared onscreen, with gaps of six months between his 1st & 2nd, and 18 months between his 7th & 8th.

McCoy's longevity was motivated by the commissioners actively wanting to starve the show to death so that they wouldn't be forced by public outcry to uncancel it next time they cancelled it - the order was cut to three serials a year, and JNT did some creative accounting to deliver four for the price of three. McCoy intended to stay for at least five years (which would have been easier with the reduced production order), and Cartmel had plotted out a fourth year with Aaronovitch, plus Platt and Briggs.

(just cos I'm curious, and counting by "stories":)

Hartnell era: 29 (134)
Troughton: 21 (119)
Pertwee: 24 (128)
Tom: 43 (178)
Davison: 20 (69 [miscounted above])
Colin: 8 (31)
McCoy: 12 [plus the first 60 NAs, real heads kno the deal] (42)

Eccleston: 10 (13)
Tennant: 37 (47) plus one TV short
Smith: 39 (44) plus a dozen or more shorts, some on TV, including a five-parter and a two-parter
Capaldi: 34 (40) plus two or three shorts

brilliant summary sic

also i agree that the xmas regeneration thing is getting tired. tbh the doctor should be antsy about regenerating every time she turns up in december.

YouTube channel idea: I ask dumb American question and sic answers them

would watch

should be easter at least ffs

right?

this is what works about Time Of The Doctor imo (Smith's finale): he's a sun god, warming and protecting an entire world, but his power and influence and strength have receded, withered away, over the centuries. Just to take this role was a reduction of his universal influence! And like any sun god myth, death and renewal must be part of it; he can only regain power by sacrificing himself, dying, and being reborn. so with this happening over hundreds of years of winter, it's fitting for the Northern winter.

^^ nb that yet again this week's ep forgets that the southern hemisphere is even a thing: the scenes set at the South Pole in December are all shown as taking place at night.

it's fitting for the Northern winter. Christmas

I liked it for a while but by the end I felt like Moffatt thinks we are sadder to see him go than we really are

I am sad to see Capaldi go tho. Even after putting his stupid sunglasses on Hartbradleynell(sic TM)

and sic u are so otm about a) the constant regenerating and b) all the regeneratings being exactly the same. I want some longer runs and more creative ways to go out when they do!

You could've told me Gatiss had written this episode and I'd have thought...yep. Moffat really did leave after Heaven Sent.

I liked it for a while but by the end I felt like Moffatt thinks we are sadder to see him go than we really are

otm, i won’t miss his ego blasting through the fourth wall every 90 seconds

Various fanostications regarding future Doctors’ tenures and regenerations should go on the WHOCHURCH thread imo

I’ve enjoyed Capaldi, but when the closing monologue literally repeats itself is when I was finally past it and just wanted to shout OH COME ON ALREADY but our daughter was sleeping not ten feet away

Seriously though was there nobody in any position to mention that the script said “be kind” on consecutive pages? No thesauruses lying around?

serious lack of script editing all round in this episode. talking heads galore. it might as well have been a radio drama.

except for the two Tardises and the recreated Tenth Planet scenes and the Whithouse crater and the alien tower and the other alien tower and Kaled mutant facehuggers and another!!! new 60s control room and shimmery glass ladies and two trenches full of actors in period war uniforms etc etc

Yeah, I’m not sure how many inches that pendulum can swing before it’s in “that was ridiculous, two old men running and jumping all over the place” territory

I liked it for a while but by the end I felt like Moffatt thinks we are sadder to see him go than we really are

nah this isn't abt Moffat or his ego, it's the opposite: End Of Time was the most popular story in all of nu-Who, so despite it suuuuucking, Moffat follows what was RTD's crowd-pleasing set-up both times.

remember that Moffat was exhausted and wrote his intended final episodes almost three (3!!!) years ago: Heaven Sent / Hell Bent / Husbands were produced as his finale, down to the golden The End being written onscreen. then he got begged back for another year until Chinballs was ready, had to take a year to recover, but gave us the amazing Capaldi / Bill pairing... and then had to come back AGAIN to bump the regeneration and add on a Christmas special he hadn't planned on. The ending was nine damp squibs fizzling in a row, but it's not because he thought that either the audience or himself wanted more of him.

obv I've said that before, new script editor needed in my production office

did you have moff round for tea or something

hahahaha

opinions in the short para, public facts in the other

grand moff larkin’

Thanks for the behind-the-scenes sic, I feel a lot more forgiving to Moffat now. I found this whole episode really disjointed; the armistice moment wasn't earned at all, if Ypres was the main setting of the episode it could have been excellent. Capaldi's farewell rounds/farewell speech was agonizing

Back to Gold for a second, did anyone else notice the truly weird soundtrack change two-thirds of the way through when Bill asks 'why are you not regenerating' of Capaldi, the soundtrack builds with an 'action is happening' theme, then when Capaldi replies 'there has to be an end Bill', the soundtrack yanks the handbrake and begins a wistful, ain't-we-full-of-regret theme. It's really jarring and I think somebody in the editing suite was trying to make a deadline and spaced out

Glad to hear the rumours that Gold is sodding off

God I hope they aren’t just rumors

I don't think there's a been soundtrack so bad or intrusive in any recent TV show has there? I mean a lot of dull soundtracks sure but Gold is just obnoxious, always trying to make you have a rosy golden warm feeling

*there's been a

I think he brought some welcome cinematic drama to more than a few of my favorite 10th and 11th Dr stories but his style has calcified and started to really grate.

Not unlike Giacchino’s scores for Lost which were minimal, fresh and bravely weird at first but eventually turned into self-parody over time (along with the rest of that show) - talented composer, stuck in self-inflicted rut, doomed by excessively long run.

And sound editors who keep sticking him too high in the mix

Gatiss's departure at the end of this undercut by his resemblance to Tim McInnerny as Captain Darling.

saw an interview with Moffat where he bemoaned that having to come back again meant the regeneration happened at Christmas, when he was pleased at breaking the pattern previously

gold star for u tiger

for u!

I enjoyed this. I wasn’t expecting multiple callbacks to Into the Dales, though.

This was great but I'm not sure Bill being a duplicate was a very satisfying way to end her arc (though I guess that was the point). i enjoyed the big speech and even Gatiss was good, an achievement in itself.

Bingo on many Moff tropes:
Timey-wimey / location-hopping
"It's a big not a feature" / No villain
Screwball dialog - great, then overstaying its welcome
Everything gets summed up with a big meta speech
Being 20% terrible and 80% very, very good indeed
Making my partner cry more than once an episode

I think Capaldi would've got the best regeneration episode BY FAR if they'd just kept it to the end of last season as planned. But I still think Matt Smith's was the best (and underrated, except possibly by sic).

Overall I still get excited to see Moffat's name in the writing credits - he might not have bettered Blink but he definitely equalled his other RTD episodes. And he's forgiven for the last episode of Sherlock (one of the worst things I've ever seen).

All the nu-Who, available now:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p06870tz

Awesome. Time to blub at Human Nature again I guess.

Brain Of Morbius is a story that showed onscreen faces of the Doctor pre-Hartnell, that have never been referred to before or since

Yeah, this is a pretty contentious claim. Also, some of them are probably Morbius's faces.

It's only contentious because nerds; it's plainly what the production team intended at the time. (As well as in-joking by including themselves.)

Turns out that it was only the production staff / freelancers (plus one guy who worked down the hall) because an open call for volunteers from BBC staff got zero responses

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D-UFtbiXkAAZbt3.jpg

Haha that’s some confusing self-and-others quoting, I thought you were disproving your own point for a minute.