WHOCHURCH: The Chris Chibnall era

Chibbers is all, "You think that I had trouble juggling four people in the TARDIS? How about SEVEN!" How has this guy work for not to mention run any shows?

This is the first episode where I felt that Jodie was bad. Sure the writing was bad as ever but she really rose to its level this time.

Something else that became quite clear to me tonight was that er I like this Doctor but I've had my fill of this.. slightly Jerry Lewis vibe she leans on

Agree! But was thinking more like

http://waffleon.podbean.com/mf/web/vayr4/norman2.jpg
https://duaw26jehqd4r.cloudfront.net/items/3w2c3l2d1B2w2a1V0N15/Screen%20Shot%202019-01-02%20at%2023.02.40.png

So, I was thinking how I wish the next season wouldn't have one of those stories where the Doctor and companions get stuck on a space ship/space base/another isolated sci-fi setting, and they have to find a way to ward off an impending doom which threatens to kill everyone inside, because so far they've done of those at least one of those every season, and they're almost never among the best episodes...

arf

Yeh I guess the Troughton era might've been artifically elevated in my estimation by cool radiophonic musick, Mirrolon and general spillover from a fairly ambitious time in TV storytelling.

/

if loads of those stories weren't missing, I'm sure they'd be extremely watchable just by having Patrick Troughton and Frazer Hines in front of a camera together, regardless of how non-boundary-pushing they were

catching a bit of Seeds Of Death on Twitch this morning reminds me that those eras are usually hyper-watchable just for the 1960s ideas of futuristic design & furniture & clothing. This particular serial also including pretty good direction, especially with uncharacteristic pre-filmed-or-recorded and thus edited sequences!

They're running through most of the first 26 seasons again btw - streaming at twitch.tv/twitchpresents, approximate schedule in a google spreadsheet here

you've all missed Troughton off his tits at a foam party

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C-38EYbU5HM/T_wUhT7AInI/AAAAAAAAAQY/5_c_khsBEuI/s1600/seedsofdeathfunnyfoam.gif

Rewatching some of the early Matt Smith episodes, and it's such a relief to watch Doctor Who stories that are fun, funny and clever.

I wanted a therapeutic comfort read over the hols and read Paul Cornell's Virgin NA book, Love and War. It turned out to be pretty horrific, both in content and quality! The idea of the "manipulative" 7th doctor feels so wrong against Mccoy's performance, and not in a pleasing-cognitive-dissonance kind of way, which put Jodie Whitaker's still-awkward take into relief. Anyway, I love DW and it turns out my fandom-do-not-cross boundary is 1990s spin-off paperbacks, more than Chris Chibnall.

Because DW fans are nothing if sad optimists (or were, until recently) I will probably try reading one of the other authors though...

By the end of the NAs, Cornell is the man to go to for warm fuzzy character reunions, and indulgent fanservice. The best novels in the early years are definitely from the "let's push things forward" crew, though! (eg Cornell, Aaronovitch, Cartmel). Gatiss' Nightshade is, unsurprisingly, a nostalgic throwback, but also unsurprisingly, more to Quatermass and spooky-village-70s-teleplay stuff than any specific DW era.

(Andy Lane's All-Consuming Fire takes a similar "the TARDIS materialises in another genre this week" approach, teaming up the Doctor with Sherlock Holmes in a CS Lewis-style SF.)

Cornell's NAs are one of the single biggest influences on nu-Who, though, significantly in his interlacing of the emotional lives of the leads with the adventure melodrama. His original novel of Human Nature might be an easier access point for you?

The Missing Adventures are a safer bet for comfort reads, as they more-or-less functioned as a Virgin sop to fans who didn't want an up-to-date approach in their Who. Gareth Roberts did three Romana-II-and-K9 novels that are absolutely bang-on evocations of the Douglas Adams / Graham Williams era.

The manipulative Doctor is totally taken from the telly Seventh, though! Cornell just adds emotional depth behind the TV/Cartmel opacity. Kate Orman is later really good at blending McCoy's sad-eyed performance and the Dr's dedication to his companions with the secret-agenda motivations.

This particular serial also including pretty good direction

Now checking out Ambassadors Of Death on the stream because it's by the same director - have never seen the colourisation before and hoooo boy, I hope the DVD came with the option to watch a B&W transfer.

(annotation: 7-part 1970 story, with only the first episode held on 2" colour video; eps 2-7 sold for 1980s-etc repeats from b&w films-of-the-TV-screen with comopt soundtracks [ie low-quality compared to magnetic]; in 2002 most of the footage was colourised for VHS release from an American off-air home recording on NTSC Betamax, but this tape was too shitty to even get colour for entire episodes.)

Also one episode's cliffhanger is an upskirt of Liz Shaw's stunt double, yikes.

Cornell seems like a mensch, and L&W is pretty well-written considering it was his debut and written in his early twenties! But it pushes the manipulative stuff much, much further our than Remembrance/Fenric/etc - at least to my tastes, to the point where started not enjoying it. I need the Doctor to have at least some redemptive qualities! The period detail is charming, though - I love the renegade crusties plugging into the Matrix with LITERAL PLUGS from the backs of their necks. SO NINETIES.

Cornell's Ace is pretty too - you can REALLY see the NuWho influence there - like how much Moffat pinched from L&W for season 8 (the dead returning, the angry companion, the death of the boyfriend, etc) - although I prefer the Moffat version.

I think I will try an Orman and a (mild shudder) Roberts, though.

L&W was his second Who novel, and more disciplined than his first (which iirc has the Seventh so manipulative that he engineered the Sixth's falling over and hitting his head so that he would regenerate into Seven)

New series soundtrack is now out, and on Spotify. Sadly does not include a full-length version of the theme, the longest being the end titles at ~50 seconds, though it does have the Indian raga version too.

Love & War is building off of the books that came before it, which ramped up the 7th Doctor manipulation into what we get in Love and War; it's a lot less shocking in sequence than it is coming into it cold. (I jumped from Timewyrm: Genesis into No Future, which was DEFINITELY a narrative shock that only made sense when I went back and read the books that happened in the interim)

Also Nightshade is really, really good, low-key one of my favorites of the entire series

Yeah I went straight from rewatching Remembrance OTD for the first time in 25 years to Love and War and the dissonance was a bit shocking. I just want everyone to be friends! Also Ace, don't fall in love with a dreadlocked Irish redshirt! You're smarter than that Ace.

But yeah, I'll try one of the lightweight ones next, if I can find a 24 hour period on Amazon when they're not crazy $$$.

Shit, I mean 30 years, fucking hell.

If you have an electronic book reader, ilxmail me yr email address.

Done, thanks!!

Oxfam find

https://i.postimg.cc/3htvtqn0/43-C0-BFEA-CBA1-4-E09-8-E58-3-F22-AE4-D4693.jpg

The Alien Planets one I had! It has some good stuff in it.

I had Alien Monsters and it was the first time I read Philip K Dick.

Just listened to a Big Finish where River Song meets Missy and the script quality would totally have fit in with the most recent series.

I'm always surprised by Big Finish's ability to score (and pay) the regular actors, given that their audience must be the niche of a niche of a niche (and the bootlegs are pretty easy to find).

Just listened to a Big Finish where River Song meets Missy and the script quality would totally have fit in with the most recent series.

I can't tell if this is a diss or not.

I'm always surprised by Big Finish's ability to score (and pay) the regular actors,

It’s two or three days work a year, for ppl who otherwise might go two years between TV gigs, they get fed really well, and I’d guess staying involved with Who leads to more invitations to US conventions, for more money than Big Finish pay.

(and the bootlegs are pretty easy to find).

This goes for any commercially released audio with a fanbase, though (and online bootlegs of telly Who are far more widely available!)

I suspect a huge proportion of Big Finish subscribers buy everything and never listen to 95% of it.

^ Dr Who subscribers, that is, not the more nichey stuff they also do massive amounts of

It's a diss, sadly

My kids are still in disbelief that there are no new Doctor Whos for another year, so we've been spending sunday nights dipping into the other seasons. Funny how it feels like there's about a bazillion doctors for them to discover, even just from the Nu-era. Just finished the Silence in the Library 2-parter and I had forgotten just how fucking amazing River Song is. The kids were scared shitless - less of the Vashta Nerada and more with Donna's face being stuck on a plinth.

That's my favorite Davies-era episode.

I suspect a huge proportion of Big Finish subscribers buy everything and never listen to 95% of it.

― steven, soda jerk (sic)

one of the more frustrating parts of being a who fan is the vast amounts of deuterocanonical crap it generates. particularly so because i grew up in an age where doctor who _was_ the deuterocanonical stuff, some of which was amusingly dodge (take a bow, bill baggs) but a large portion of which was people not just sustaining but rebuilding the show into what it would become in 2005.

nowadays, though, it seems like a lot of the offline fanbase are people who define themselves by the merch, regardless of the quality. that's disappointing to me because i do want to actually talk about the show sometimes, and online discourse is, in general, poisoned beyond the point of usefulness

oh, i should probably read tom baker's book though, that sounds like it might be interesting

i guess i should ask here - is scratchman (do not make pun, do not make pun, do not make pun) any good?

General consensus seems to be “much better than 85-year-old Tom Baker ‘writing’ a novelisation of an unfilmable screenplay of some ideas that he and a mate came up with in the pub 40 years ago has any right to be.” I haven’t put the audiobook onto a listening device yet.

^would buy if this were the jacket blurb.

Entertaining episode of 'David Tennant Does a Podcast' where he and Jodie Whittaker chat for 45 minutes about being the Doctor and how it affects your real life, etc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLu06tlLIyk

Going back to Whitaker’s first season, I don’t actively dislike anything from it aside from the resolution to Kerblam! but I don’t know if you could pay me to watch any of it again aside from It Takes You Away and the two historicals. I may reluctantly have to change my position and agree it is the worst season of nu-Who so far (although I do actively dislike Tennant’s first season more, mostly because his Doctor becomes deeply, intensely unpleasant to watch as his relationship with Rose deepens. Thank god for Martha and Donna, really.

^

Actually the spider one was pretty good, all things considered

^ stockholm syndrome

i never actually finished watching the season because whenever i watched an episode i kept wanting to talk about how much i loved it and then i'd go on here and everybody would be complaining ad nauseam about how awful it was. i'll probably get around to watching the rest sometime.

everybody here constantly bitching and whining about everything in bullet list format made me decide this is in fact the greatest season of Doctor Who that has ever been broadcast on any medium or continent

tombot otm

and the two historicals

I'm guessing this is Rosa and Demons of the Punjab - The Witchfinder has.. different charms.

i guess i should ask here - is scratchman (do not make pun, do not make pun, do not make pun) any good?

― the scientology of mountains (rushomancy), Sunday, February 17, 2019 2:55 AM (four months ago)

General consensus seems to be “much better than 85-year-old Tom Baker ‘writing’ a novelisation of an unfilmable screenplay of some ideas that he and a mate came up with in the pub 40 years ago has any right to be.” I haven’t put the audiobook onto a listening device yet.

I'm ten minutes in now and it's fantastic. Whether Tom actually wrote any of the sentences or not, it absolutely feels like a geriatric version of his Doctor telling you a possibly-slightly-confused version of something that may have happened to him once. While relentlessly negging Harry Sullivan.

if Tom reads the audiobook version himself, I kinda have to get this

It's him, but he doesn't even sound like he's reading, just remembering.

oh i forgot this existed! i should check this out

i've been watching the macra terror animation, i love it, the story is such a cheap low-budget piece of shit, so much brainless fun

The low-budget nature of the story finally fits the very low budget of the animation. Poor Power and Shada for being test runs.

The way I figure it is that if there'd demand they can always redo Shada. Technically speaking you could probably animate The Macra Terror and The Faceless Ones in a way that would make them look good, but why would you? Even as cheap as it is it's miles beyond anything the fans have come up with. I'm pretty happy.

if this is new pr framing, perhaps they’re being ultra defensive because of the whole ~~~lady~~~ thing

"Jodie Whitaker is Doctor Who, that's all kids need to care about"

100% agree

― Everything to do with chocolate (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, August 1, 2018 12:20 PM (one year ago)

Me too!

― El Tomboto, Wednesday, August 1, 2018 1:04 PM (one year ago)

you love to see it

Sitting down with family to watch @4SylvesterMcCoy & @sophie_aldred #DoctorWho #DoctorWhoonBritBox and the first question I got was, which one is the doctor ? Such a wonderful question to hear ! (tbf Dr Who has always championed #GirlPower with the companions, but nonetheless👍) pic.twitter.com/0pT6YQUDQU

— Ashley Stebbings🎄🎅🎁⛄🤶🛷 (@ashleyst78) December 27, 2019

Wish I was more excited for the new series, but the fact the opening story has the Doctor going to work for noted shitmeisters MI6 is not promising. Probably will features more scenes of the Doctor fawning over the military-industrial complex.