Doctor Who: Classic or Dud?

I'm not not enjoying him (+Martha was an improvement over Rose), I just really liked Eccleston.

yeah, Children Of Earth is a completely different creature from regular Torchwood

Yeah I’m enjoying Eccleston much more this time round - I think back in the day I wanted him to be more classically “doctorish”, and felt that he was at times palpaby uncomfortable with the sillier requirements the role - now it just feels like someone finding their own take on it from an admirably non-fan perspective

in contrast I can easily believe that Tennant’s fanboy infused performance hasn’t dated as well

Still think Capaldi’s turn is pretty exceptional but I do have a track record of liking the most recent doctor best (with apologies to Jodie Whittaker who might well be amazing if she wasn’t trapped in a woeful era of the show)

I watched a Capaldi clip and it's hard to wrap my head around him giving a Doctor speech because I've watched In The Loop ten times and most of The Thick Of It.

No arse-spraying mayhem from aliens I'm guessing

(Like gherkins in a jar)

Heh sorry that was an xp to myself

Probably the right comment for just about any occasion tho

I’m very slowly rewatching the Ecclestone season and just saw Fathers Day for the first time as an actual parent, and basically dissolved into sobs every time said the word “dad’.

The first season’s still the best - the best doctor, the best stories, the best doctor-companion chemistry, no clunkers, and sometimes Murray Gold even shuts up for whole minutes. There’s a big climactic speech in Father's Day with no background music at all - unheard of.

It’s also amazing how the FX get better - difficult to believe it goes from “mickey swallowed by a wheelie bin” to “recreates the blitz” in half a season.

No arse-spraying mayhem from aliens I'm guessing

I can't remember if Capaldi met up with the Slitheen or not

got the season 14 blu-ray set (that's Tom Baker season 3 for us Americans) and watched it over the weekend. some serials have two commentaries so I watched some stories three times, whoever said upthread that classic Who is perfect background viewing is spot on, especially if it's a Tom Baker. The Robots of Death is the clear winner for me this round, although the Hand of Fear is much better than I remembered it being. I suppose a bonus feature problematizing Talons is too much to hope for but it would have been good in a box set released in 2020. Presumably the BBC aren't willing to be that self-reflective on the record.

I never really got the lionization of Talons? I thought it was good but... Robots of Death is way better

It's bracketed by what I think are two much better stories, as you say Robots of Death and then Horror of Fang Rock.

Ha I was going to mention Horror but saw it was actually the next season

But yes, also better than Talons, always has been

sometimes on ILM when someone bumps a thread about an old muso, people lightly freak out because they feared that the subject might have passed away

now when I see a doctor who thread bumped I experience a related sensation, fear of discovering that Christopher C. Hibnall is making more lamentable episodes of doctor who

(yes I know there is a specific thread for the terrible new series)

Fury animation is pretty fun I suppose, makes at least one fairly significant directorial choice that changes the tone of the episode. It's a fairly boilerplate base under siege at heart, whose reputation has been enhanced by not existing, and to be honest it diminishes Victoria considerably - literally reducing her to a screamer. Her departure is telegraphed from the about ep 2 but very sensitively handled with a focus on it being her choice and nobody elses.

one fairly significant directorial choice that changes the tone of the episode

I'm up for a spoiler*

*listened to the Tom Baker-narrated cassette 18 years ago, retain no firm conception of the tone to have spoiled


a fairly boilerplate base under siege at heart

all the Troughton reanimations should probably come with a 65-minute cutdown version tbh

Near the start of ep5 there is a lengthy comedy turn where Pat learns to fly a helicopter where he's doing it and is crap at it. Gary Russell has decided to turn this into a dramatic sequence where The Doctor takes brilliant evasive action to avoid giant seaweed tentacles coming out of the water.

Other notable changes are Oak & Quill losing the comedy edge they start out with, and the ESGO guy who works the comms station is inexplicably in a motorised wheelchair which makes a mess of his scene in ep6 when he doesn't turn on the Victoria Machine.

The telesnaps recon is on disc 3 and rattles along nicely, probably just about the right length.

Gary Russell has decided to turn this into a dramatic sequence ... Other notable changes are...losing the comedy edge

Story checks out.

To be fair to him he admits it on the doc about the animation.

I actually enjoy most of Torchwood, despite my current dislike of Chas Hibernia.

Yay

On Monday November 9th the book we'll be discussing is Doctor Who and the Brain of Morbius by the amazing Terrance Dicks - and we'll also be considering his adaptations of novels by Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, H.G. Wells et al for the BBC's Classic Serial. So...

— Backlisted Podcast (@BacklistedPod) September 30, 2020

iirc despite taking his name off the broadcast due to Holmes' rewriting, Dicks adapted the television version closely rather than restoring his original?

Yes, it doesn't restore Sad Disney Robot or any of those parts of the non-Bland plot.

dunno much about the details, I just had the book first and don't remember being startled by any differences when I saw the episodes

Sydney Newman, the BBC drama head who commissioned Dr Who from his own brief in 1963, interviewed during the transmission of Time & The Rani:

In September 1987, Sidney Newman discussed with me his views on the recent series of Doctor Who and its producer. They were not complimentary. @doctorwho1980s pic.twitter.com/VzDAQW3Ust

— Aramaic and Old Interlace (@AramInterlace) October 24, 2020

AT LAST

https://i.imgur.com/zqV0TZU.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iMsC9dJ.jpg

To be adapted into a 12-disc set by Big Finish next year, no doubt.

Big Finish can only get the rights to boring old official Dr Who, they WISH they had the commercial drawing power of picture books based on the 2009 Australian K-9 TV series, or over seventy POD novels featuring the early adventures of Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart and his modern descendents

K9 has legs now?

2009

I have four K9 picture books from the 1980s written by David “Dave” Martin and they are quite good fun. For some reason they are one of the bits of childhood Who tat that I have found hardest to chuck out.

I have this
https://murdersville.co.uk/museum/wp-content/gallery/dr-who-1979/dr-who-annual-1979-2.JPG
(which I got in 1979, sigh)

I had and fondly recall those staple-bound 1980s K9 books too

Unrelated – a fun recent Moffat interview where he’s not talking about the usual stuff

https://www.tvcream.co.uk/podcasts/tv-cream-stays-indoors/tv-cream-stays-indoors-with-steven-moffat/

That was fun, thanks - so charming to hear him think through various aspects of The Prisoner as a viewer, and from a creative standpoint, AND to be genuinely interested enough in other people to keep asking the interviewer's perspective.

Haven't listened yet, but just learnt that Stacey Abrams is a Dr Who fan, who was interviewed by Tennant on his own podcast. (rss link)

I’ve liked all of the newest regenerations since its return (some more than others), but Tom Baker remains the one Doctor to rule them all. https://t.co/S9BJlf3BF9

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) February 8, 2019

There was a Husbands of River Song tweetalong today, with the director digging out a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos, and:

Here’s a reference you might not expect - Morecambe and Wise for scale for Hydroflax. #HelloSweetie pic.twitter.com/PjxDPtkFtD

— Douglas Mackinnon (@drmuig) November 7, 2020

https://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/3rd-7.jpg

That "full cast" must have required some extensive grave-robbing.

Online concert-thingy recorded by the band version of the Radiophonic Workshop in lockdown, including Who content, original compositions, and improv that uses the latency in internet lag as a delay effect.

Adorable. Was just listening to this earlier today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cPsvv4eGD4

boring might be best if donald sutherland had been on it!

Happy 57th to the show, btw.

A little tweet-thread of bits David Whitaker rewrote out of Anthony Coburn's script for An Unearthly Child.

Due to the pandemic, Eric Roberts has been unable to keep up his usual pace of 24-36 films a year. Instead, his only live-action role of 2020 will be a one-minute shot-on-phone trailer for some Big Finish box set, or for the company generally, or something.

Listen to the voice of your Master! pic.twitter.com/WzoB6EovDK

— Big Finish 🎄 (@bigfinish) November 5, 2020

Finally found some time (thanks lockdown) to listen to a Big Finish – Holy Terror, by Robert Shearman — and, as noted, it’s pretty good! Not just lowered-expectations-good but actually good. Some of the jokey dialogue is a bit dated in a larky, 1990s kind of way, but it’s a genuinely good story, Colin Baker is great, and it really nails that dissonant jolly/creepy tone that Doctor who does so well. Will try the other Shearmans.

Eric Roberts is ridiculously prolific, good to see him squeezing in some pandemic era credits

Finally made it through the books-podcast ep about Terrance Dicks (and slightly about Brain Of Morbius) that Chuck linked up there - good talk, and well-produced for an amateur/zoom jobbie. Episode at https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/124-terrance-dicks-doctor-who-and-the-brain-of-morbius

I've also not been keeping up with the return of UK lockdown / cold weather tweetalongs, this month all winter/December-themed.

Last week writer Sarah Dollard, Bill actress Pearl Mackie, and regular storyboard artist Mike Collins covered Thin Ice (S10e03).

Dollard threaded her comments:

On my deathbed I'll probably still be proud of "loch-less monster" #TheBigFreeze

— Sarah Dollard (@snazdoll) December 5, 2020

But didn't say too much, having also done & threaded a BLM fundraiser back in June, when the 'official' tweetalongs stopped due to US riots:

Peter's pause after Bill reminds him slavery still exists in this time… He’s magnificent. There’s a monologue in that pause. And I know because I probably wrote it at some point. But we didn’t need it! All we needed was the sorcery of Peter Capaldi & his face #DoctorWhoBlackout

— Sarah Dollard (@snazdoll) June 6, 2020

Was I unexpectedly obsessed with the way Peter Capaldi said the word “tattoo” in Face the Raven? Yes. Did I put another important tattoo in Thin Ice just to hear him say it again? You can’t prove anything #DoctorWhoBlackout

— Sarah Dollard (@snazdoll) June 6, 2020

I can't dig back to see how much Collins contributed, but here's a few storyboards:

It's #TheBigFreeze tweetalong BTS storyboards... @snazdoll @Emily_Rosina pic.twitter.com/1hvmTCThty

— Mike Collins (@MIKECOLLINS99) December 5, 2020

Mackie largely just chimes in with other fans watching the hashtag, but has been quiet enough since that you can scroll back to see her chimes.

I remember when Michael Pickwoad showed me the sets for Westminster Bridge and the frost fair. I was so overwhelmed. In the most amazing way. What a talent. RIP Michael Pickwoad. #TheBigFreeze

— Pearl Mackie (@Pearlie_mack) December 5, 2020

you won't believe who Big Finish managed to get to write Christopher Eccleston's return to Dr Who after 15 years of acrimonious distance from the series!

He's back! https://t.co/I4XiXBpcrL pic.twitter.com/YMIHwRMS6Y

— Big Finish 🎄 (@bigfinish) December 14, 2020

When I clicked through it took a moment to parse the mundanity of what I was looking at. A comprehensive misreading of your post had led me to expect Robert Shearman!

Same. Chris looks pleased too