Been in that corner - Ncuti regenerating was predicted, a cameo and who the regeneration was into wasnt.
4 Likes
Feels like they are at an impasse.
3 Likes
Unless I just missed it there’s still no info about the next season. Which there should rightfully be since this season supposedly wrapped a year ago (and was only patched with a reshoot of the ending, apparently).
So Disney will have to make up its mind when and how to proceed. That they will seems a given with Piper in the frame now, otherwise they could have just left a blank over the ‘regeneration’ and treated it as an open finale they could return to in a year or a decade.
2 Likes
Seems like Disney just wanted to suck up one more IP, not knowing what to do with it, banking it for later rather than invigorating it.
But that’s what Iger is so proud of: recognizing early that not original storytelling but ownership of successful IP is what keeps money rolling in for the shareholders.
J.B. did not buy Bond because he loved the movies either.
2 Likes
BBC says theyre going for more but Disney hasnt said if theyre backing it, so it seems more of a question for RTD of how much of a budget is he going to have.
5 Likes
I thought bringing back Jodie Whittaker’s Doc was a nice touch, as well.
As for whether Disney continues backing it, I think a little less budget might be a good thing. Too often the CGI has overwhelmed the characters and their stories, IMO. But then, I am a dinosaur and probably not the target audience they are looking for.
4 Likes
I’ve watched a couple of Ncuti episodes under the Disney umbrella. Didn’t feel like the added dosh made the big difference. One of the big strengths of the show, to me, always was its ability to make a shoestring budget look decent. It is a small show after all. I’m not sure it’s meant to look like Star Trek, even original series Trek.
Addendum: But it’s nice to hear BBC is still committed. Even as a very casual fan with an on/off relationship with the show, it would hurt to see it fold again. Doctor Who is a cultural phenomenon and embodies a message of hope and decency that’s more than welcome in troubled times. Allons-y!
3 Likes
I agree, it’s the more homespun and (to quote something Steven Moffat said in a podcast) domestically scaled menace that makes most of the series charm.
4 Likes
And that’s what Disney would never think of doing. They wanted more and got, well, less.
4 Likes
Oh I can see the broad strokes along which Disney may have argued when they decided to make that deal: Who is a brand with a tried and trusted fanbase and one of BBC’s export successes, with spinoffs even. The idea was likely to inject money and get another global franchise in return.
Crucially, Doctor Who is a series with a particular appeal, not a universal one. All the potential fans it attracts are already on board - pretty much around the globe. People don’t need to discover it any more since those interested already did. And those not interested won’t be won over with bigger budgets, stars, special effects and whatnot.
Disney could try doing a $ 150m, 2.5hrs cinema reboot with a cast of A-listers, ILM effects and a script by Balzac and Bradbury - it would still remain essentially a Saturday afternoon telly entertainment and attract the audience of just this flavour. While chasing out all its initial charm and appeal.
Merely throwing money at it doesn’t change its nature.
7 Likes
3 Likes
A little more on the Doctor Who situation. Baffling new-Who is already 20 this year (and having kids of its own 
).
2 Likes
It´s like bringing back Tenant. Yes, I liked him a lot. And I do like Piper.
But that’s as if you’re bringing back Brosnan for the next Bond films.
3 Likes
And one begins to wonder why the show now turns back on itself instead of striding out forward. Cameos of former companions are certainly nice to have with a show running so long. But there’s a difference between the odd spot of nostalgia and just hoping a familiar face may be able to restore the show to its former popularity.
Dare I say it? Has there maybe been too much of new-Who? I dropped out somewhere towards the end of Tennant’s tenure and only came back for the specials with him and the handover, after which I stuck for a couple of episodes with Ncuti. Years of Smith, Capaldi, Whittaker and any number of anniversaries and special appearances have passed me by - but I don’t feel as if I missed out on something.
This may not be a bad thing in a series, the openness to new and old audiences to dive in at any given place in the timeline. But I feel things that were meant to be important and interesting…just weren’t? Or not as much as they should have been?
3 Likes
My wife and I made it through Capaldi (I love his work since I saw him in “The Thick of it”) but afterwards the Jodi Whitaker years (she as the mother of the too big ensemble) became more like: “we liked the show once, it can become fun again, so we just have to work through it”.
It was also the apparent obligation to always bring back the villains from previous seasons, and always a Dalek episode, which created this feeling of “too much” for us.
I would love to have “Doctor Who” pause for a few years, and then come back in short seasons or even just specials - with new storylines and villains, not dwelling on the past anymore.
And by all means: make it low tech again, no CGI, just handcrafted “almost amateurish”-looking tricks. That was the charme back then. And it could be again.
I know, the romantic angle between Tennant and Piper, was not to everyone’s taste. But it did give the series an ongoing tension. I don’t advocate for another love story with the Doctor, but one would have to find something which makes the relationship interesting. In my mind, that has been lost since then.
2 Likes
I wasn’t crazy about the romance between the Doctor and Rose. I may have liked it the first time around, but on subsequent rewatches it didn’t hold up … at least not for me.
Part of me wonders if, since we got Tennant and Donna back for the 60th anniversary specials, and that was meant to tie up the loose end of the Doctor erasing Donna’s memory, then might we be looking at tying up another loose end with Rose and the Meta-Crisis Doctor in the parallel universe?
We did have a DoctorDonna, so why not a DoctorRose? Or is this some sort of head fake? Who knows/nose?
This is not an original thought; it was mentioned on a forum elsewhere. But I’m surprised that this episode didn’t return to the orchard where Newton misheard the Doctor and Donna’s “gravity” as “mavity”, have the Doctor correct that and then reset the mavity universe.
2 Likes
I have enjoyed Doctor Who over the years and watched everything up to the end of Jodie Whittaker’s time as the doctor. I am usually about a season or two behind in watching them.
I really liked both Tennant and Smith. When they brought back Tennant for the Specials, I watched those right away and was planning on watching Ncuti Gatwa’s run as they came out. I had no issues with him being cast but when he showed up wearing a pair of tighty-whities I was a little turned off. I doubt this was his choice and while I have procrastinated, I am still looking forward to what he does with the Doctor.
2 Likes
The zentralorgan for all affairs of the Whoniverse - otherwise known as the Guardian - argues Ncuti Gatwa did some great things with the character and his tenure was crucially too short…
1 Like
The visuals look great, but everything else seems to be just a remake of everything which came before.
Like the trailer for the „new“ Jurassic Park.
Makes one wonder whether in a few years we only get to see big budget movies which are great looking remakes of remakes of remakes.
3 Likes
IP fatigue .
3 Likes