Dr Who - Season 30 (4) [SPOILERS]

Ah, well, RW, the series has been going on since.... uh... 1960-something. The first doctor (William Hartnell, I think) became too ill to play the part, and was just suddenly, inexplicably, replaced with the second doctor. Same memories, different face and personality. When it was time for the second doctor to move on, they came up with the Timelord race, and regeneration. I think, I'm sure I'll be corrected where I go wrong on this.

Since then he's regenerated whenever an actor wants to move on. They kill him off and he comes back again. All time lords do. The limit: something like 12 regenerations are allowed per timelord, no more. That means 13 'lives" or "faces" or "personalities".

O.K. One of the greatests nemesis' of the Doctors has cheated that by somehow stealing other lives and regenerating. But our Doctor is approaching the end of his 13 lives. They'll have to come up with something creative to keep him going, which I'm sure they will.

Now, correct me where I'm wrong folks. But the basic jist of it is: whenever needed (in real life) they "off" the doctor and he goes through a regeneration period (sometimes quite dangerous where he actually could die for good). And thus the "new doctors" come along and continue where the old one(s) left off.

Galahad said:

For the most part, it's because on a certain level, I do relate to the Doctor... and I would be extremely uncomfortable with anything coming along that would stand in the way of that. An ethnic change would not make a blind bit of difference...but a gender swap would certainly do that.

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I do know you like strong female parts, and of course you relate to men more than women. But I found it interesting that you didn't think a racial difference would make that much of a difference. That's good, very good. It shows a lot, I think. But I can't help but think a negro doctor would be treated differently by viewers. Maybe not. Maybe we've come farther than that with race issues, at least.

As for an American Doctor, I probably would be resistant but not as vehemently opposed to a woman Doctor.

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I would. I was just asking to see how far I could "push the envelope" with you. :devil: But it would be a terrible idea, for many reasons. The Doctor is of the United Kingdom, and that's the way it always should be. Companions can come from anywhere, including other planets. But the Doctor belongs to/in the U.K.

Those are my opinions at least.

Well... yes and no. He is essentially the same character after regeneration... but he takes on different quirks and personality traits resulting from the physical change.

I suppose it's a bit like hanging out with different groups of people. You might be a different person on the outside when relating to your work colleagues, family, online friends and mates down the pub.... but essentially you are the same person within. You just interact differently when placed in different circumstances.

It's not the greatest of a analogies but I'm basically trying to illustrate how each incarnation of the Doctor can be different in personality without actually being a different person.

hypatia said:

I would. I was just asking to see how far I could "push the envelope" with you. :devil:

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I figured that. I don't think anyone would seriously suggest it

But it would be a terrible idea, for many reasons. The Doctor is of the United Kingdom, and that's the way it always should be. Companions can come from anywhere, including other planets. But the Doctor belongs to/in the U.K.

Those are my opinions at least.

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Agreed on them pretty much. I think I was taking the American idea as a straight like for like contest. If the only choice was an American male Doctor or a British female Doctor.... I would consider the former the lesser of two evils.

It's interesting because taking a sidewards glance at another British character - James Bond. When I spoke to people about it, one of the stronger reasons people disliked Brosnan's last film... was because they felt Halle Berry's character was too dominant. It felt like they were trying to generate a spin off.

Bond and the Doctor seem pretty unassailable British male archetypes.

Come to think of it... Bond could be a Time Lord!:devil:

Score one for Grand Moff' Steven:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...Ive-got-date-Beeb-says-new-Dr-Who-writer.html

Turned down Spielberg and half a million pounds to be the new head writer for Who. What a guy.

Yeah and...

...spot the executive:

One Hollywood insider said: 'No one walks away from Spielberg and all that money for a show no one has heard of. I mean, what is this doctor show about? It sounds a little silly.'

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The pain that flashed through my head from that moment of stupidity lingered a moment or two when I first read it. I mean, really.. even if they had never heard of Doctor Who, do you think anyone turns down Spielberg without a REALLY good reason?

It mainly sounds like someone being a sore loser to me.

I suspect they may have been involved in trying to secure Moffatt.

Be funny if Moffatt writes a tongue-in-cheek line where a character claims they've no idea who Spielberg is/was.

Perhaps. I am less familiar with the way things work in Hollywood than the average American, as I am disgusted with the neverending torrent of empty-headed celebrity-worshipping twaddle that comes out of it on a daily basis. The "sore loser" bit didn't even occur to me. Can't say I'm surprised, though.. when one expects the worst of people like that, childishness is never unexpected.

"What's 'Brangelina' doing today?" Getting run over by a bendy-bus, for all I care. Speaking of which, hurry up with Top Gear over there.

Hollywood looks down on tv so leaving films for tv is something they do not understand.

It sounds like Moffatt is not the sort of writer who can write a scrip in a week.

I think Steven Moffat did the right thing in turning down Spielberg, because I doubt he would have been allowed the kind of creative control that he is normally used to. Also I don't think that Steven Spielberg would be the right choice to direct a Doctor Who film. Someone like an Alex Proyas or Ridley Scott or maybe Kevin Smith, Peter Jackson.

The Doctor said:

Score one for Grand Moff' Steven:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...Ive-got-date-Beeb-says-new-Dr-Who-writer.html

Turned down Spielberg and half a million pounds to be the new head writer for Who. What a guy.

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It wasn't a Doctor Who film, it was a Tintin film.

In actual fact it was a TinTin trilogy... and Moffat has written for the first two... he just had to pull out for the third in order to be able to achieve his dream.

I heard from a guy (runs a comic book store, very knowledgable) who gets to see the new doctor who episodes much earlier. That the BBC likes to give shows less money if the show is doing well so because of that we won't be getting a normal season 4 but just specials. We may not see the doctor's daughter next season at all. The BBC has strange logic if true, destroy a show because its making them money.

Yes. That sounds like the beeb all over.

It was claimed that the break was always planned for. I believe even RTD said that somewhere. At first people thought Tennant was doing the side project and that the specials-break was because of that, then they stated it was the other way around and Tennant chose to pursue it because of the break. Now this is an entirely new reason.

Whatever we hear/believe, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle..

We do have a tendency to think the worst of people we think are acting against our interests..

eni6ma said:

I heard from a guy (runs a comic book store, very knowledgable) who gets to see the new doctor who episodes much earlier. That the BBC likes to give shows less money if the show is doing well so because of that we won't be getting a normal season 4 but just specials. We may not see the doctor's daughter next season at all. The BBC has strange logic if true, destroy a show because its making them money.

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We have just had season 4 and, beyond the specials, the BBC have already commissioned a full season 5 for 2010. I can't comment on whether the break from regular seasons was always planned, and I doubt very much that a comic store owner (however early he gets to see the episodes) actually knows what goes on between the BBC and programme makers in terms of their budgets, but it has fallen fairly neatly in terms of the change of showrunner from Davies to Moffatt.

I would like to point out 2 things: 1.) So far when it comes to infomation he has given me, its been pretty spot on so I mention it.It does not matter what he does its how well he gets his information. 2.) I did say if true. I no way stated that it is fact. Only if true is a sad thing to happen. The BBC is not run like a regular tv network so I was putting it out there so people will be aware of the possiblity. I hope he is wrong but you never know stranger things have happen like when TNT cancel witch blade not because it was doing badly in the ratings but because it did not fit their planned design for their network. Peace out.........

1) We get this show about 2 months before you in the States, so he is probably getting of bittorrent and his facts from UK tabloid newspapers. I doubt the beeb let him see anything. Most BBC employees are not allowed to see episode due to leaks.

2) BBC is indeed very different from American networks.

Season 5 will be made up of five specials spread through the year. This was less to do with budgets and more to do with actor availability. Tennant is in Hamlet, a major stage production with Patrick Stewart, for one thing.

Tennant will star in this and RTD is still producing. After that, RTD is gone. Moffat is in charge. Tennant is likely to come back, but still not confirmed. The show will hopefully take a slightly different turn. There should be convincing hertosexual males, for one thing.

As for funding, the BBC are always cutting budgets, this may have been a factor, but they would never outright drop a show because it was not popular. They are not funded by advertising, so are less entitled to chase a demographic as the network that carried Blade might have been. Although, that show was made of suck really, cancelling it was humane.