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FishyFish

By FishyFish
in Film, TV & Radio

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Harsin

Harsin

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If it turns out Clara is the next regeneration of the Doctor then I am never watching this show ever again.

Current rumour is.

That's she's actually a forgotten companion of a previous regeneration of the Doctor, who got splintered through time.

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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Revenge of the Cybermen

(Blog has pictures)

This season of Doctor Who has been presented as one continuous journey, as the Doctor, Sarah and Harry travel by Tardis, transmat beam and time ring from one adventure to the next. Not letting the expensive 'Ark in Space' sets go to waste, our heroes return to Nerva space station thousands of years earlier, when it was simply a beacon for travelling ships, only to find that it has had the worst luck in space history, having been the target for a Cybermen attack!

[Picture: The crew of Nerva beacon are dying from a space plague... or are they?!!]

Seeing the Cybermen in colour for the first time should be exciting but, being silver, they don't actually look any different. Their voices in this story are terrible, almost devoid of electronic sounds, and far too emotional, too human. Their plan is to blow up a rogue planetoid (Voga) that contains a vast supply of gold, because apparently gold is deadly to the Cybermen. Once this is done, they will be free to invade Earth or something. They enlist the help of one of the Nerva station staff, who appears to be a traitor but is actually working for the Vogans to destroy the Cybermen on the station with a rocket from the planet and the- oh no I've gone cross-eyed.

[Picture: The Vogans have a bit of a shoot up because... erm, something something.]

Even Harry has trouble keeping up as he struggles at one point to fill the Doctor in on what's happening. I'm starting to like Harry, with his chipper attitude and stiff-upper-lipped-ness, although for a trained medical professional, he does often play the fool.

[Picture: The Cyberman boss has a different colour head.]

I don't know how they managed to make a Cybermen story both convoluted and boring, but somehow they did. The Vogan power struggle is boring, much of the dialogue is too dry, the Cybermen are unthreatening and if it wasn't for Tom Baker being occasionally entertaining, the whole thing would have been bust. I lost the plot around part 3 but I suppose the conclusion was exciting, and at least it was only four parts long. It's a shame it wasn't better because the rest of this season has been of unusually consistent quality and now it's ended on a bit of a duff note.

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Space Renegade Ulala

Space Renegade Ulala

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So a big chunk of this story was about three guys, where two of them tricked the youngest (and nicest, and smartest) of them, messing with his memory and making him think he was someone/something else entirely when really he was important and kind of the rightful heir to everything. One of them is killed, the others keep going and eventually 'discover' the Eye of Harmony.

Sound familiar, book dudes?

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HarMGM

HarMGM

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I blame the production of the show grinding to a halt every half series. Wouldn't be so bad if we were getting absolute crackers of episodes but this half series feels a little bit to average to justify that. No wonder interest is waning, the show isn't giving us anything back.

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Harsin

Harsin

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Say what you will about RTD (and I certainly had a lot to say about the quality of his stories), but as a showrunner he (and Julie Gardner) ran rings around Moffat. He managed to produce four seasons of thirteen episodes on a regular schedule, not to mention two spin-offs, keeping the show's visibility high in the public consciousness throughout, and when it did switch to specials for a year it was announced well in advance and was to allow for the transition between production teams.

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HarMGM

HarMGM

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Agreed on RTD being a much better showrunner. Regardless of how low some of his lows could be in terms of writing, he always managed to give even the worst stories a sense of drama be it by way of having another 'End of the World' scenario or by way of some wonderfully written emotional drama(the diner scene in The End of Time between Tennant and Wilfred is perfectly judged).

Speaking of which, Caroline Skinners replacement has just been announced to be Brain Minchin: http://doctorwhotv.co.uk/doctor-whos-new-executive-producer-48522.htm

Interestingly enough, this one has some experience working with Toby Whithouse(who wrote A Town Called Mercy, School Reunion, The God Complex and The Vampires of Venice). Considering that Moffat can't shut up about how much he likes Whithouse his work, it seems that he's being groomed to take over Doctor Who from Moffat. Wouldn't be that bad either seeing as that I've heard good things about Being Human (which Whithouse is largely responsible for).

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Fireproofradiator

Fireproofradiator

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I think the quality of Moffat's run (so far) has been better than Davis.

RTD you were lucky to get two good episodes a season whereas it feels like Moffat's batting average is generally better.

Then there's the vast improvement in terms of production values (the lighting on those early seasons? Ho boy!) despite Moffat having less money to play with.

RTD was always overegging the stakes too - you went from tiny (but personal and relateable) stuff to the government, to the world, to all worlds, to - by the end - all worlds across all times being at risk before a final realisation that Doctor Who is generally at it's best when it's about people and Wilf.

I'll always love RTD for bringing the show back, but lets not go crazy bonkers revisionist here.

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HarMGM

HarMGM

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I don´t think anyone´s getting rivisionist. However in terms of serving us Who on a regular basis and much more, Davis and Gardner were able to provide quite nicely.

I will agree that Moffat´s tenure has overall been much better. Even series six hasn´t produced anything as awful as `Love and Monsters´. Even though the ´Rings of Akhaten´ was pretty dire, I still remember the Who special that managed to make a giant Cyberman stomping through London look boring.

Speaking of production value, what I know of Moffat´s tenure is that a whole new batch of directors and production designers was brought in. Hopefully they stay on even after Moffat leaves. I love the fact that even series 6 looks as if it could be screened in a movie theather. Series 7 in particular has looked rather stunning as well with JTTCOTT looking beautifull in places. Plus, they´ve started using old fashioned miniature models again this series.

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cassidy

cassidy

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So a big chunk of this story was about three guys, where two of them tricked the youngest (and nicest, and smartest) of them, messing with his memory and making him think he was someone/something else entirely when really he was important and kind of the rightful heir to everything. One of them is killed, the others keep going and eventually 'discover' the Eye of Harmony.

Sound familiar, book dudes?

It's on the tip of my brain. Can I have a clue. Author should do it.

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FishyFish

FishyFish

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Fortunately there are only a couple of out and out stinkers in the first few Tom Baker seasons, and Revenge of the Cybermen is one of them. The best is still to come!

Yeah, the next season has several out-and-out classic stories.

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WibbleWorldGiddy

WibbleWorldGiddy

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Anyone interested in Ian Levine view of Dr Who in 2013?

Engaging spoilers in case you're avoiding all rumours to do with the anniversary.

I have to say I am getting both worried and disappointed.

I keep hearing horrible rumours about even more delays till series eight gets filmed

It's the 50th anniversary year and we are getting less new Doctor Who episodes than ever.

Filming wrapped on series seven the last day of November 2012, then four months of no new episodes being filmed, then the anniversary filming, which we all hoped would have used all the surviving old Doctors, but which doesn't, then four more months off while Matt goes to make some film in America, then filming the Christmas Special. That means two episodes filmed in the entire 2013.

Rumours abound of Matt Smith quitting, and we know he's off to make this film in America for three or four months.

Steven Moffat suggested there would be more than one anniversary special but there isn't (No, you can't count the Mark Gatiss docudrama).

Have the BBC even committed to series eight officially ???

Will we ever get fourteen episodes in one single calendar year again ??? Because this current series has been spread over two years.

People on Gallifrey Base who claim to be in the know are suggesting series eight might not even start filming till next year, and may not air till either September 2014 or GOD FORBID Spring 2015, which means an entire year off yet again.

That Private Eye article pointed out the worry that something is wrong in Cardiff. Now it's getting worse. People are saying the scripts for series eight are nowhere near ready. And yet we were all promised that Sherlock wouldn't affect Doctor Who at all (till Danny Cohen publicly pointed out the bleedin' obvious).

There are now more gap years than episodes shown. When this sort of thing happens, it's the slow road to strangulation and a withering death, much as I hate to even formulate the thoughts in my head.

The show is starting to feel unloved by the BBC. All we ever see are adverts for The Voice - NONE for Doctor Who - which, added to the horrendous lack of new episodes, is a cause for deep concern.

And being put opposite Britain's Got Talent, the overnights are slipping too. Not what I wanted to see in the fiftieth anniversary year. It the FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY for God's sake. Where are Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann ??? It looks like we get John Hurt as a substitute for the fiftieth anniversary instead.

I want some good news. PLEASE.

Make us happy.

I'm NOT.

But I WANT to be.

This wonderful show has been a national treasure for fifty years. I feel helpless when I witness an erosion that I can do nothing to prevent.

WE NEED MUCH MORE NEW EPISODES and we need episodes without children or love stories or magical reset endings.

At the risk of upsetting friends who work on the show, folks, I AM BITTERLY UNHAPPY.

Caroline Skinner personally assured me that we would all be happy in the end - now she's gone.

My faith and trust is crumbling.

I need to point out that I utterly adore Steven Moffat's writing. I think he's a genius. I love every scene where River Song has ever appeared. Steven's episodes are amongst the best ever of Doctor Who at its finest. But that doesn't mean I want to see less and less episodes being made at the expense of the ones he does write. No Sir. But I love Steven and I love the show. So it puts me in a dilemma to have to speak out like this, in pain.

I DEEPLY LOVE DOCTOR WHO - I HATE WHAT IS HAPPENING.

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Sprite Machine

Sprite Machine

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Is this Saturday's episode the last of the series? I'll be away so I'll have to catch up next week and try to avoid "THE DOCTOR'S NAME IS-..." spoilers on Facebook for a whole week. Shudder!

Also, no classic Who updates until I'm back, sorry folks. I might watch a few while I'm away, though. Looking forward to Baker hitting his stride. :)

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