


Doctor Who Comeback 538
ElGuapoGolf writes "According to the Daily Telegraph, Doctor Who is set to return to the airwaves. According to the article, it's going to be written by the same guy who created the series 'Queer As Folk'. Not sure if we'll get to see it in the US, but I guess it's a good time to start bugging your cable company to carry BBC America if they don't already."
Eeek! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Eeek! (Score:3, Funny)
I saw the 'behind the series' program about Queer As Folk UK last week, and your nerdgasm takes on a whole new meaning (shampoo, err showergel?).
In the interview though, Russell Davies is a huge fan of Dr Who... if there was ever someone who could have used their work to say 'I Love Dr Who' in giant pink neon lights, then Queer As Folk would be it.
Re:Eeek! (Score:3, Informative)
His assistants weren't (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:His assistants weren't (Score:3, Funny)
Re:His assistants weren't (Score:3, Informative)
Re:His assistants weren't (Score:4, Funny)
Romana: never
Leela: Yes, often. She was great in the sack.
Teegin: once when we were drunk
Re:His assistants weren't (Score:3, Informative)
Re:His assistants weren't (Score:3, Funny)
Re:His assistants weren't (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Eeek! (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, the vast majority of high-profile Dr Who fans are big gays, and I've heard at least one lament about the new level of acceptance people have of gaysexuality leading to a boring paucity of furtive, secretive trouser adventure. This is chronologically the reverse of your description of DW fandom. Also, to get all 3/4 angl
Time and Time Again (Score:3, Informative)
We have been hearing this for years. There've been stories of a Dr Who revival cropping up every few months or so. There have been rumours about Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman and others appearing in a new movie/series etc, and nothing has ever come of it. Don't count your chickens till they've hit the small screen. Or something.
It's about time ! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It's about time ! (Score:5, Interesting)
No lead actor yet (Score:3, Funny)
If it is not cheap then it is not Doctor Who.
Re:No lead actor yet (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes - up to a point. Certainly they won't have a chance of competing with Hollywood whizz-bang effects and shouldn't try. But things have moved on a bit, and expectations are higher. Thery have to be 2000s cheap, not 1970s cheap.
On the other hand, al low budget can be a great stimulator of originality. The TV Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy did very well for cheap, I thought. We need just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek. If they take the great legacy of Dr
Re:No lead actor yet (Score:2, Interesting)
Jaysyn
Dr.Who is back! (Score:5, Interesting)
YES!! (Score:4, Funny)
BitTorrent (Score:5, Funny)
I hear with this magical thing called The Internet, you can download TV shows and give those who want to control viewership, demographics, audience, and timed 'rollouts'(ie, UK now, US 4 months later, or vise-versa) a conniption.
I've been watching the BBC's (unedited, ie, stupidified-and-more-commericals-for-us-market) Spooks, aka MI-5. I watched the start of season 2 while A&E was still running teasers for the previous show.
I've also managed to watch Enterprise about 6 hours before it airs- and I can skip the #$@!ing annoying theme song. They should look on the bright side- with the commercials, I'd loose motivation after the first commercial break.
Re:BitTorrent (Score:3, Interesting)
But you should hear the laughing fits us non-USians go into when we see discussions about region-code-free DVD players for a north american audience...
On topic: Russell T. Davies (the "guy" referred to in the article) is also a great big fan and an author of Doctor Who fiction. Queer As Folk gives a pretty good indication of his talent when it comes to putting "non-standard" content i
Re:BitTorrent (Score:2)
Re:BitTorrent (Score:2, Interesting)
By "They", I assume you mean the people behind the Enterprise series. I hate to break it to you, but they don't want you to watch the series, just the commercials. The revenue generated by the show(merchandise, etc) barely pays for the toilet paper in the restroom.
They'd prefer
See it in the US (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:See it in the US (Score:2)
Kinda like turning on SCI-Fi and getting scare tactics and crossing over.
Re:See it in the US (Score:2)
Ummm Most of them. Anyway the parent is correct... BBC America really needs to dig up some of those early gems like Dr Who and The Prisoner and ease up on the home improvement shows. If we're not watching the TLC americanized versions of "Changing Rooms" what makes them think we want to watch the brit versions?
Oh yeah, the American version of Coupling?.?.. Sucktastic!
Re:See it in the US (Score:3, Funny)
More info... (Score:5, Informative)
Also on BBC News (Score:5, Informative)
BBC News discussion: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3142006.
Persononally, if Paul McGann isn't coming back to play the Doctor then I'd prefer Colin Firth, Sean Bean or Sean Pertwee (Jon Pertwee's, the third Doctor, son) to get the title role.
Re:Also on BBC News (Score:4, Insightful)
Genius. Absolute genius. (Score:2)
Re:Genius. Absolute genius. (Score:2)
Re:Also on BBC News (Score:2)
Re:Also on BBC News (Score:3, Interesting)
Sean Pertwee already ruled himself out a few months ago. He said he simply couldn't do it - he said he had very definite ideas about how the Doctor should be, the interviewer asked "You mean he was your dad?", and Sean just said "Yes".
All in The Metro, a London freebie paper picked up my a fair number of commuters including myself.
Cheers
Ian
Re:Also on BBC News (Score:2)
Nevertheless, there are only a handful of young British actors that I think would be suitable for the role, and Sean Pertwee is one of them. Unfortunately, I don't think that older actors, such as Sir Ian McClellan, David Suchet, John Hurt, etc wou
Re:Also on BBC News (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Also on BBC News (Score:2)
Re:Also on BBC News (Score:2, Interesting)
The Doctor is supposed to be hyper-intelligent; Colin Firth and Sean Bean just don't have the depth, I couldn't believe in either of them. Plus Sean Bean has not an ounce of humour about him.
Sean Pertwee... interesting, off-the-wall choice. They could do worse (and probably will - if the rumours about Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann or Rowan Atkinson being the Doctor are to be believed).
Now, Peter Firth (Harry in Spooks / MI-5), I could see...
Some more links... (Score:3, Informative)
Reincarnations (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't think I will ever be as excited as when Star Trek: The Next Generation came back on TV, but that was also, what, sixteen years ago? Time marches on. We get older, get real lives, more responsibilities. Sigh.
Second childhood (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I'm much more of a fan now than I was then. Don't get me wrong - I used to really enjoy it. It's just that I don't think I was old enough to really understand some of it.
I started watching the reruns on UK Gold and, courtesy of Tivo, I watched from the beginning of the Pertwee era right through to the (merciful) end. Changed my views too - as a kid I remember Tom Baker being the best, but I personally prefer Pertwee and Davison now.
Oh, and real life definitely caught up with me. I'm now working, married, have one kid and expecting another any day now, mortgage, two hungry cars to feed...all we need is a dog and we'd be the perfect TV advert family. I'm pretty hopeful about this - recent TV sci-fi has been very same'ish, and I'm looking forward to the different direction that Doctor Who took.
Cheers,
Ian
Quote (Score:3, Funny)
Dr: "Aren't you going to say it is bigger on the inside and on the outside?"
Colonel: "I believe that is bloody obvious!"
Re:Quote (Score:2)
Fortunately, the guy is supposed to be a raving fan (though pretty much any Doctor Who fan is raving).
Re:Quote (Score:2)
My favourite one-liner was when the Doctor was installing some sort of detector in a Concorde.
"My goodness, it's smaller on the inside than it is on the outside!"
But if it's written by . . . (Score:5, Funny)
Hang on .
PS Hurrah! Dr Who is back in 2005!
Remember that hair?! (Score:2)
Any technology that is distinguishable from magic is not sufficiently advanced.
Russell T Davies (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Russell T Davies (Score:2)
Hence by definition if it's in an actual filmed script it's not fanwank.
Re:Russell T Davies (Score:2)
<smirk> You didn't see the first episode of "Queer as folk" then?
Ade_
No. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:No. (Score:2)
Only ONE true Doctor (Score:5, Interesting)
I guess I like this iteration of The Doctor the most since he's the first one I ever saw.
I get BBCAmerica. Unfortunately, Doctor Who airs while I'm at work, and its in the digital band so I can't use my PC to "tivo" it. Using the VCR to record it is so "90s".
Re:Only ONE true Doctor (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Only ONE true Doctor (Score:2)
Hammer films?
I missed these. Info??
Re:Only ONE true Doctor (Score:2)
> points, widely considered not canonical. The Fox film, well...people aren't sure about that.
Yeah, while it was nice to see Grand Moff Tarkin as a goofy time lord, they certainly took a ton of liberties with the story.
The Fox film was way too Americanized. The plot wasn't retchworthy, but it wasn't that good, either, and it didn't mesh well with the Dr. Who universe on a stylistic level.
Frankly, though,
Re:Only ONE true Doctor (Score:2)
However, Colin Baker I think provided quite a breath of fresh air. In a lot of ways he actually reminded me of Hartnell's Doctor...rough, but caring underneath - just a little darker.
Anyone care to point to a privacy-free version? (Score:2)
"To see the report or section you have just selected, you need to login, or register if you have not previously done so. Registration takes a moment and gives you access to deeper levels of telegraph.co.uk content. We benefit from registration because we get a clearer view of our readership. You benefit because that view helps us to improve the site."
Can anyone point to a good version?
Re:Anyone care to point to a privacy-free version? (Score:2)
What's that, where the webmaster comes and gets you to sign your name in person, then sits behind you and reads over your shoulder?
Re:Anyone care to point to a privacy-free version? (Score:2)
Trust the BBC...now?? (Score:3, Interesting)
Ade_
Re:Trust the BBC...now?? (Score:2)
Too busy (Score:3, Funny)
Doctor Who is far too busy making prank phone calls [bbc.co.uk] to make a new TV series.
Entire Dr Who currently on Air in Australia (Score:2, Informative)
- proton
Re:Entire Dr Who currently on Air in Australia (Score:2)
Scared of Daleks? (Score:2)
Has anyone here ever been scared of the daleks? I think I was more scarred of some of the fuzzy CSO from the Pertwee era.
(CSO - Color Serpation Overlay - ie blue-screen)
Re:Scared of Daleks? (Score:2)
As for the Daleks, I don't know. As a kid, I think they were one of the least scary foes the Dr. dealt with. They can't sneak up on you because they're noisy and always saying 'Exterminate'. They're fairly slow so you can run circles around them. If all els
No cookie-required version of the news article (Score:2)
(For those of us who reject persistent cookies and don't like being shown a registration screen over and over and over and over and over again.)
Hopeful! (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyways, good writing will make or break this show. If they're smart (and since it's the BBC instead of some American marketing firm, they might be!) they'll continue the tradition of having DIFFERENT WRITERS do episodes, rather than locking in a team for a whole season and ending up with another Pip and Jane Baker travesty.
Heh, I can't forgive them for what they did to my favorite Doctor (Colin Baker), who is quite a good actor, but had to work with things like "The Happiness Patrol". Perhaps they can go to work writing for Brenan and Braga's new series... Star Trek: Teen Bikini Force!
*Don't* bring back the Daleks! (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd much prefer to see *new* stories with inventive new villians. It doesn't have to be "mystery science bogeyman" *every* week, but there are certainly some more topical lurking fears that could be put to good use. Quantum mechanics, nanomachines, genetic engineering, viruses, various forms of computing and communication technology taken to pathological extremes, and so on.
Let's *really* scare the living crap out of people, eh? A pepper-pot with a plunger just won't cut it any more.
I also think that if you take away the crutch of recycling old monsters and plots, you will get *much* better stories.
As for the truth of the "return", I'll believe it when I see it. I've seen this kind of story turn out to be false too many times. I want it to be true, I really do, but the cynical side of me fears that the BBC just want to drive up DVD sales
Oh come ON! (Score:3, Redundant)
What this does mean is that Dr. Who is going to be written by someone who is not just an excellent writer of TV drama, but also by someone who is a long-term fan of Dr. Who, and so has a a love of his material!
Give the man a chance, people! Wait and see....
Re:Oh come ON! (Score:3, Funny)
this does NOT mean Dr. Who is going to be gay all of a sudden.
Too bad. I'd like to see how a suddenly gay incarnation of the Doctor would gussy-up the Tardis. Can you imagine a Doctor dressed head-to-toe in Ralph Lauren's latest, sipping cosmopolitans after two hours in the gym? Queer Eye for that Timelord Guy...
Does this mean... (Score:2)
-psy
New on showcase (Score:2)
Doctor Who Comeback... (Score:2, Informative)
Anyways I remember the first time I watched Doctor Who, which is still on sci fi night on PBS btw, I was like WTF?!, but after watching a whole episode I thought it was the tre magnifique. One of these days I need to find it on DVD as well as the Red Dwarf series.
Let's keep the politics out of it please... (Score:5, Informative)
As I pointed out in my other post [slashdot.org] below, the story's being reported by the BBC too. And given that Doctor Who is a BBC production, that makes it pretty hard to refute.
That's what we wanted them to do, yep (Score:2)
Nobody said the story was bogus, the poster just winced at the weird sidelight of anxiety that this big time Dr. Who fan was going to write him as a flaming cross-dresser or something. I had the same reaction to the Telegraph article,
Yeah, that was "the conflict" (Score:2)
Note to Telegraph writers and editors: it's possible for gay people to have interests outside of their gayness, however distracted you may be by that side of their lives. (Additional note: Dr. Who fandom is probably a more distinctive trait
You sad, sad, ignorant fool... (Score:2)
You have to take everything that comes out of their mouth or brain with a grain of salt and be on the defense to protect the morality of our society (that is rapidly declining because of people like them).
Two words for you: Alan Turing.
And if you don't know who he was, or what he acheived, then you're even less intelligent than I'm gi
Re:Torygraph (Score:2)
(incidentally what does the politics of a paper have to do with the veracity of its entertainment coverage?)
Re:Torygraph (Score:2)
Re:Torygraph (Score:2)
(that's my juvenile joke for the day delt with...)
Re:Torygraph (Score:2)
For your entertainment, may I also suggest you go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/deadringers/ . It may not be serious doctor who stuff, but it is brilliant.
Re:Special effects? (Score:2)
Re:Special effects? (Score:2)
Re:Special effects? (Score:2, Funny)
Cheap cheap cheap (Score:5, Insightful)
What this show is is a quick, enjoyably-written little Sci Fi serial thing. Everything should be done low-budget. The casting always was -- when someone got too pricey the Dr. got a new incarnation, right?
And costumes -- how could anyone ever get a cheap costume device that's as good as Tom Baker's scarf?
Cheap and fun. Concentrate on adapting decent little Sci Fi short story ideas for scripts. This could be a Simpsons, if you get the right mix.
Re:Cheap cheap cheap (Score:2)
Re:Cheap cheap cheap (Score:3, Funny)
Come on, this is the BBC we are talking about.
When creating the first series:
Director: We want to do a space-sci-fi-time-traveling show. We need a big spaceship, with lots of flashing lights, and fins and things.
Props man: This is the BBC, scale it down a bit.
Director: OK, we need a cheep plastic model spaceship that hangs on wires that we can do cheesy fly-by shots with.
Props man: This is the BBC, scale it down a bit.
Director: Well, we need something. Wha
Re:Cheap cheap cheap (Score:3, Informative)
Doctor Who may have been a low budget show, but the good episodes weren't good because of the low budge
Re:Yay (Score:2)
Re:Yay (Score:2)
Re:Yay (Score:2)
Re:Yay (Score:2, Funny)
"Yeah, Larry Jr's a big Dr Who fan so I bought him a TARDIS!" she squawked, clutching a model of a red public telephone box. Poor Larry Jr, kid must be so disappointed...
Ade_
Re:So will Dr. Who be gay? (Score:3)
The one real piece of importance about his having written QAF is the number of Dr. Who references in the series; its obvious that his statements about being a fan aren't just a new "I've got this job, and now the source material looks good" thing.
Re:possible cartoon .. (Score:3, Informative)
OMG how stupid can you be? (Score:2)
Re:Most rediculous show ever (Score:2)
"Any sufficiently advanced science is indistiguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke
One-two-three-four-one-two break it down! (Score:2)
Thanks a lot. Now I have this image of Cybermen and Daleks dancing as psychodelic sillhouettes to 'Spunk' as played by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Now all we need as Gale Harold [imdb.com] as the Doctor and Randy Harrison [imdb.com] as the newest Companion.
Re:But who will be the Doctor? (Score:2)
Gotta keep continuity, and all.....
Re:Don't Ruin The Cybermen... again! (Score:3, Insightful)
I really liked the Cybermen from the Troughton years... they acted like cyborgs, no emotion which creeped in to their later appearances, just business.
Actually, you could say the same about the Borg. But then again, the Borg always were cybermen with better costumes.