Doctor Who

[Vee]

This looks like silly fun, but what a cast. @DRW50

 

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[DRW50]

Karen Gillan seems to enjoy picking eclectic projects. 

[DAMfan]

The largest collection of Doctor Who memorabilia is owned by Lily Connors, who had 6,641 items as of the last count in 2016.

 

Her dream is to own a full-sized dalek and be an extra on a future episode of the sci-fi program. https://t.co/5IgOej3Xru

[Faulkner]

Olly Alexander has apparently squashed rumors he’s replacing Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor when she leaves (also yet to be confirmed):

https://deadline.com/2021/06/doctor-who-olly-alexander-jodie-whittaker-1234782621/

[DAMfan]

Doctor introduces themselves 

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[Faulkner]

A Season 13 trailer was released at Comic Con (which I forgot was even happening this year). This will be a COVID-shortened eight-episode season with one big story:

 

[Vee]

They're also adding Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones) to the cast, but I don't know if he's a companion. YT link:

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I still haven't finished the last season due to the sheer mediocrity of the Chibnall era, but I guess I should catch up.

[Vee]

Her entire run has been such wasted talent.

 

[Faulkner]

Glad to see Chibnall out the door with her.

[LondonScribe]

Jodie Whittaker is a versatile, powerful actor and under proper writing, could have thrived in the role.

Chris Chibnall, however, was a poor fit for the show. 
 

I have a really bad feeling the BBC are going to ‘assess’ how series 13 goes, and decide on whether to carry the show on or call it a day.

They’ve had 15 years of relative-huge success, and have cast a female Doctor. The argument may be made during the year that they’ve achieved all they could.

Edited July 29, 2021 by LondonScribe

[DRW50]

I've never seen her other work and I feel for her that she got this era of the show. Other than Colin Baker I'm not sure any actor in the role has been so ill-served. 

Chibnall was the epitome of grindingly mediocre in his other run, and this one seems to be about the same, from the little I watched. I didn't stop watching because of  him - I had lost interest during Moffat's last years - but he made it very easy to stay away.

That was the worst mistake made by hiring a man whose only real claim to fame was one popular season of another show. He never knew Who, never knew the basics of putting Who together in an era where it needed TLC and a revival of public interest. 

International sales (what is left, anyway) and the fact that Jodie's first episodes actually were very popular (suggesting there's still a residual interest in the show) might keep the show around post-2022. We'll see what happens.

[Vee]

From what I've heard they do intend to press on with the show and continue - it remains popular.

Chris Chibnall was evidently actually a superfan, a charter member of the DW Appreciation Society in the 1980s. He is from the same stock as all the other modern showrunners. The difference is, most of his work is either mediocre to terrible. Anyone familiar with his franchise work should've known what was to come. I just wish Jodie Whittaker, a talented actor and our first female Doctor, hadn't gotten what was, I agree, the weakest creative era since the 1980s.

[Faulkner]

 

[Vee]

I'd forgotten that Jenna Coleman is playing a gender-swapped Constantine in the new Sandman series, and I hadn't seen it posted:

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[Vee]

@DRW50

Not entirely surprised tbh. The show is clearly in crisis and they want to right the ship. I'm not sure there is a precedent for this, though JNT did stay long bc no one else wanted the job, and IIRC they once considered bringing Patrick Troughton and his showrunner back.

 

I felt aspects of Davies' era (particularly the visual aesthetics) had dated poorly remarkably soon after he left, but much of those were also simply a product of their times. I don't think it can be denied that he massively revitalized Who, made it an international name and set the standard for years to come as a devoted fan, though I preferred the Moffat era overall quality-wise - I revisit many of the RTD stories fairly often, even while I never could stand others. His recent show about the AIDS epidemic got good reviews and I've been meaning to watch it. He's a complex and complicated figure, but he could never be a Chris Chibnall. And I'll never forget what he did for people like Lis Sladen.

In a number of ways this is retrograde and regressive for Who, but frankly in these uncertain economic times and coming off Chibnall I can't fault them for going back to a strong hand. I just hope he doesn't get too cute.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Vee