Doctor Who

[Faulkner]

 

[Vee]

Wow. Russell got him back for next year's specials just in time - he was filming with Tennant and Tate as of the last month or two. RIP.

 

Edited July 28, 2022 by Vee

[Vee]

@DRW50I knew you'd like this skit for the Blu-Ray release of William Hartnell's second year. These sets are such a labor of love.

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[DRW50]

@Vee Thanks. That was lovely. I'm glad we got some glimpse of  Maureen O'Brien playing Vicky again, and probably our closest chance of getting a glimpse of the Myth Makers.

[DRW50]

 

[Vee]

Oh, I didn't even see this. Thanks for this. How classy of Russell to dig up his old script for her and a period that was so up and down.

[Vee]

Almost certainly not a hint at anything, just a bit of fun, but it would be a treat to see him on DW; he's still doing good work and his active social media presence is strangely, consistently adorable.

 

[Vee]

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[Vee]

David Tennant's adoptive son Ty (he has raised him since marrying Georgia Moffett from "The Doctor's Daughter"; Moffett, fans will recall, is the daughter of Peter Davison) had a, uh, very memorable debut tonight on House of the Dragon as the teenaged Aegon Targaryen. I was thinking they even looked and sounded alike until I remembered David had adopted him.

[DRW50]

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[Vee]

Trailer for Whittaker and Chibnall's finale, The Power of the Doctor.

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Nice glimpse of Sophie Aldred in her classic Ace get-up.

[Vee]

Catching up on Who in time for this weekend's big special. What I will say about Series 13/Flux is that the second half is a lot better than the first, and probably the most engaging the entire Chibnall era has been. It's far from genius and suffers from far too much going on as usual with Chibnall, who can barely manage one storyline or villain let alone three or four, but it mostly coheres into something watchable, bombastic and entertaining vs. the bland runarounds and message shows of most of his regime. Jacob Anderson is still very handsome as Vinder but I don't particularly care about his love story with Bel (who spends most of her screen time yammering on and on about him). There's a few too many side characters you forget exist, but both the Ravagers and the entirely unnecessary Grand Serpent are straight out of the cocaine '80s and the late JNT era (the Grand Serpent in particular reminds me of the Cartmel years) which is entertaining enough, even if the latter character is in no way needed. I'm still not exactly sure who Swarm and Azure are supposed to be or WTF they were doing, or why "Time" looks like Swarm, but they look great doing things. Their motives were uniquely incomprehensible in a very late '80s Who way, so Chibnall gets points for nostalgia there at least.

Barbara Flynn is very good as the scheming Tecteun, even if I still neither care nor totally buy into the labored retcon of the Doctor's origin that Chibnall has insisted on pushing - but it is very interesting to see a female on female dynamic between hero and villain/elder vs. what we usually get on this show over the decades. Once they got away from the frankly embarrassing "Gallifrey black ops squad" depiction of Division in the first few episodes which screamed Chibnall playing out his adolescent fanfic and Halo multiplayer dreams, it was much more watchable. Tecteun should've probably been the main villain, as opposed to Swarm and Azure who despite their flash come to very little.

Professor Jericho is easily the most compelling character in the entirety of Series 13, and Kevin McNally is excellent. "Village of the Angels" is also possibly the only truly good episode of the entire Whittaker era for me, despite all the Flux storyline baggage in the background; I recommend it. I think Jericho must count as a companion based on runtime and sheer amount of years served offscreen with Yaz and Dan, if Katarina and Sara Kingdom do. It says something when this guest character for the series makes a bigger impression than both John Bishop and the incumbent companion of several years.

I am mostly tuning in this weekend out of brand loyalty and to see Janet Fielding and Sophie Aldred, and to hopefully usher in a much brighter new era for the show where I can fully invest again. We'll see.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Vee

[DRW50]

Most of the Doctor Who-themed dances on Strictly are cheap and not worth sitting through, unless you have fantasies about 1966-era Cybermen having juicy asses, anyway, but this one was a huge step up - terrific costumes, makeup, lighting, music, and prop work. 

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[Vee]

Meanwhile, let's check in on what the immortal Bonnie Langford (still rumored to be back next year) is up to this week.

 

Seems about right.

[DRW50]

Not a bad trailer.