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New Doctor Who!

How unusual for Joe DM and I to have very different views on a subject. I love Dr Who. However I have been watching it since 1963. It is better in colour.

A single episode of Babylon 5 probably has the same budget as an entire season of Dr Who. The children's department of the BBC has never had much money.

The underlying story is that the stream of time has got tangled up and The Doctor has to untangle it. In a documentary about the children's propaganda of the Cold War I saw this week revealed the Cybermen and Darleks are metaphors for the dangers of communism.
:rolleyes:
 
As a documentary about the children's propaganda of the Cold War I saw this week revealed the Cybermen and Darleks are metaphors for the dangers of communism.

Actually, the Daleks never struck me as metaphors for anything dangerous, as long as I had a stairway to climb. :D
 
A stairway ... or a hat to put over their eye stalk.

I love the Daleks ... but seriousily it took them quite a long time to figured out how to do stairs even though they had conquored huge poritons of the universe!

Also ... even if the Master is dead for good ... we're talking about time travel! They could meet the Master from anytime before he met his final demise. And even if there were rules about such interaction ... this is the Doctor and the Master we're talking about!

Also the Riani who only made a few appearances but 'tis another renegade Time Lord out there. :)
 
The Riani (or Rani?) was a short-lived but excellent villian for Dr. Who. I think, in many ways, my favorite.

Yes, the Daleks had their flaws as perfect conquerors go. But this is one of the things I tend to forgive Dr. Who for. :eek:

Figure they'd normally just waste the building, but if for some reason they had orders to catch the Doctor alive, they'd have to use more subtle means.

I know, I know, it doesn't explain it. :LOL:

But this is Dr. Who. ;)
 
1) Y'think BBC will immediately air Dr. Who in the U.S., or will I have to wait to see how it does in the U.K. before I get to see it on my satellite dish?

2) Y'think they'll use the classic TARDIS control room and set designs, or the H.G. Wells looking design from the 1996 movie?

3) My picks for a new Doctor (if not Paul McGann)...

Ian McDairmid - I think he has a great "Doctor" nose. Y'see it poking out from under that Sith hood in Star Wars?!

Gene Wilder - I know that this ain't gonna happen, but he had such a Who-vian role in "Willy Wonka." He was the master of his element (the chocolate factory) and nothing surprised him there, no matter how weird. He was great at being in control of a seemingly out-of-control situation (very much like the Doctor).

John Vickery - Neroon the Time Lord!
 
Y'think they'll use the classic TARDIS control room and set designs, or the H.G. Wells looking design from the 1996 movie?

I doubt they'd use the 1996 control room, if the set even still exists. I thought the TARDIS set design was one of the strongest points of the tele-movie.

I'd wager that they'll update the design, but keep it closer to the classic set.

Anyone else remember the wood panelled "secondary control room" used in a few Tom Baker epsodes?

I liked that style more than the traditional white.
 
Having Eddie Izzard as the Doctor might just get me to watch the series again, which I haven't done since Tom Baker left :)

Having said that, Alan Davies or Richard E Grant would be good, too
 
Dr. Who must be British not American . I heard that Alan Davies might play The Doctor

Patrick McGoohan and Wayne Alexander are British, so that just leaves out James Woods of my three picks, but I know they won't happen.
 
No, the Beeb would never (in a million years of Sundays) cast an American in the role of the Doctor. They didn't even cast an American to play an American (ie Nicola Bryant).

And it's all the more evident in the TV movie (a joint production w/BBC) where a Brit was cast in the lead amongst a mainly American cast. And of all the presumed flaws and loose interpretations of that production, the thing that annoyed me the most was that the Master was played by an American.

Doctor Who is British and should stay that way. It's part of its charm, and something that American actors/producers can hardly emulate.
 
The choice - Bill Nighy.
Story in the Sunday Times

October 05, 2003


New Dr Who located on planet of the character actors
Richard Brooks, Arts Editor




THE BBC is to approach Bill Nighy, one of Britain’s most sought after character actors, to become the new Dr Who. Nighy, who played the crusading newspaper editor in the BBC’s hit political thriller State of Play, is said by friends to be very interested in the role.

Last week the BBC announced that the classic low-tech sci-fi series is to return after a gap of 15 years. Nighy is wanted by both the writer Russell T Davies and the BBC to take on the iconic role.


In the past week speculation has been rife over who will assume the part made famous by actors such as William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Tom Baker. The bookies’ favourite has been Alan Davies, followed by Richard E Grant and Sean Pertwee, whose father Jon was Dr Who in the 1970s.


Other names mentioned include Alan Cumming, Jonathan Pryce, Paul McGann, the black actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, Eddie Izzard and Mark Gatiss, from BBC2’s The League of Gentlemen. Gatiss has played the timelord in a Comic Relief sketch and has also written a Dr Who book.


All the gossip has shown just how much interest there is in the timelord and his enemies, the Daleks. Yet the speculation has been wide of the mark.


Both Russell T Davies and the BBC believe that Nighy would be perfect for the role. Nighy is in his mid-fifties and comes across as a rather eccentric, gangling and diffident figure. Younger actors who have played the doctor have never been as appreciated by viewers.


Davies believes Dr Who should again be shown in the early evening on Saturdays. He will ensure that the doctor has a female sidekick and would like the Daleks to return, too, but there is a snag as their copyright is owned by Terry Nation, who did the second series.


Dr Who burst onto BBC1’s screens at 5.15pm on Saturday, November 23, 1963, the evening after the assassination of President John F Kennedy.


From the first programme it broke new ground with its idea of an elderly man, exiled from his own world, travelling with his granddaughter through time and space in a Tardis (time and relevant dimension in space) machine that had the external form of a police phone box. At its peak it attracted more than 16m viewers.


The last episode was broadcast in 1989 with Sylvester McCoy as the doctor, although in 1996 there was a TV movie starring Paul McGann.
 
I just hope they don't ruin it. I've read some interviews with the writer and I'm not convinced he is the right choice.

He has mentioned a few times about updating the show for a 'modern audience' - to me this suggests romance and relationships, and eventually the show will become a soap opera. This would totally ruin it for me.

The movie with Paul McGann was ruined for pretty much these reasons (although McGann was good in the role). The Doctor simply does not get romantically involved with people, that's not his way.

The writer also said something like "I would like the show to be more like Babylon 5" which is a good thiing to say, but he followed this with "but I've never seen the show". How can he want it to be like something he has never seen? Statements like this give me no faith or confidence in him at all.

As for who to play the part. I would not be disapointed if Paul McGann returned for the part, but I think that Alan Davies would really do justice to the Doctor :) I noticed that someone mentioned Wayne Alexanda - he could be very good in the rle too. I'm not too sure about Eddie Izzard though.
 
The movie with Paul McGann was ruined for pretty much these reasons (although McGann was good in the role). The Doctor simply does not get romantically involved with people, that's not his way.

This is something I'll never understand - why people get so worked up over the fact that he kissed a girl. Oh my God.

To be honest, I didn't notice any romantic inclinations during the entire film. Grace may seem to have been attracted to him, but that was about it. Everyone just get over it. Please.
 
Didn't the movie pretty much waste the idea of any kind of time-line, too? :confused:

I don't think the Doctor could (should?) have done what he did. Wasn't that the reason Adric had to be wasted? :confused:

Or was it just because of his badge for "Mathematical Excellence"? :mad:

:LOL: :p
 
I don't want a soap opera either, but I think that there have been sexual undertones with the Doctor and some of his companions. I wouldn't object to it going further, any more than I objected to the relationship between Sheridan and Delenn, but that certainly shouldn't be the main theme, or a constant major element.

It is strange that he wants it to be like B5, but hasn't SEEN B5. Well, maybe he has heard about its story arc, and means that, or, maybe he'll WATCH B5, and be inspired! Anyway, I have BBC America, and hope they carry the new Dr.
 
Adric's demise had nothing to do with the space-time continuum or the badge for mathmatical excellence.

I remember the end of Earthshock well. That badge, the silent credits.

And all the while, our group gathered around the dormitory TV cheered.

Adric was Doctor Who's Wesley Crusher. Or more properly, Wesley Crusher was ST:TNG's Adric.

For some reason, both incited vocal fan hatred.
 
"For some reason?" I don't know about Dr. Who-boy, but Crusher was hated for many reasons, all of them justified, and he should have been shoved out an airlock somewhere around the 3rd episode of S1. I can only assume Aldric or Elritch of Adric was equally obnoxious and deserving of a slow, painful death.

For those of us who haven't followed the series but are thinking about tuning in for Eddie Izzard, Tachyon TV has thoughtfully posted a draft of the opening narration for the new series. :)

Yeah, that pretty much sums up the show I remember from my intermittent attempts to understand its appeal. OTOH I also thought Alan Davies was very good in Jonathan Creek, the kind of likeable actor who you don't mind having in your house for an hour a week, so I might have to check out the Doc's new incarnation even if Eddie Izzard doesn't get the role.

Regards,

Joe
 

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