New Doctor Who

[weekender]

Sorry, edited.

[Des Nilsen]

Good god, that'd have me so tempted if I had a hard drive and a connection that could handle such a file.

I'd love to see screen caps of the title sequence, as a 'safe' bit of spoilery. Would anybody who downloads it be kind enough to get some? Oh, and do tell what the remixed theme sounds like, if it ain't too much bother.

:puts on puppy dog eyes and shaves legs:

-

[Cerys]

I'm starting to get all excited about this.  Dr Who, that is, not Des's puppydog eyes.  Although upon reflection ... mmm.

please be good... please be good... i don't think i can take another McGannish horrorshow

^ What he said.  Although why does it bug me so much when people use 'horrorshow' to mean something bad?

[Cambrian Times]

You've been reading too much Anthony Burgess

[Cerys]

That'll be it.  Damn....

[weekender]

*SPOILERS*

I've just watched it, and basically, it rocks.

It's very short, and I suspect that it has clearly been designed as a 'smack them up sharp' introductory episode.  There's a lot of action, and not *much* character and plot development - although what is there is a good enough introduction for a casual viewer, which I suspect is what the BBC are trying to start with.  There's also enough to please a true Doctor Who fan such as myself.  Basically, as an introductory episode, it's fecking great.  The rest of the series clearly has lots of potential, which I'm tremendously excited about.

It also made me laugh more than Nathan Barley.

PS Hello cripple, where have you been?

[megatwat]

You realise that now the BBC secret police will knocking on your door?

[weekender]

Yeah, they'll have to trace back a big chain of IP addresses then, I just got it off some torrent site.

[Ghost of Troubled Joe]

Bah! Stay pure you soulless, thieving, vultures!

Er...anyone want to give me a copy?

[megatwat]

Seriously though, if this is from the copy given to the CBC as is being reported all of the tinterweb then I wouldn't want to be in the man responsible for looking after its shoes on Monday morning. He may well face an official BBC firing squad.

[weekender]

Ooh, got a link about all that?  I'm genuinely clueless as to the whole story behind it.

[megatwat]

If memory serves, there's a thread about it on the outpost gallifrey spoilers section (unless it's been deleted). But outpost Gallifrey is being renovated over night it seems- at least, I can't get at it to look.

[weekender]

Ah, so it is.  Nice picture though, although they're quoting an old regeneration line.

http://www.gallifreyone.com/

*ANOTHER SPOILER APPEARS IN SMALL BLUE LETTERS, JUST BELOW*

That's another thing, no regeneration sequence in this new episode, which is a bit disappointing.

[weekender]

Fookin ell, it's causing a ruckus.

[weirdbeard]

*ANOTHER SPOILER*

That's another thing, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah etc.

Bloody hell, I know you've posted a spoiler warning but is it worth it when you posted the spoiler, in the same size font 2 lines below it? Change the colour to a blue or make the font smaller or something.

[weekender]

Happy now?

[Rev]

Bah, I've got a buggered ratio so I must wait.  The strangely defensive discussion over at UKNova is threatening to turn interesting, though.  The BBC aren't supposed to be chasing ratings, remember, so why would this leak matter?  Huh?  Hmm?

EDIT:  Aaaand it's been binned.

[weirdbeard]

Happy now?

Blissfully.  Cheers.  And ta for the heads up on the upload as well.

[skibz]

Just watched it - first impressions of the series are pretty good, they seem to have kept the essence of the originals without diluting any of the campness. When is it actually supposed to be on TV?

[Dark Sky]

Saturday 26th March at 7pm on BBC One

[Cerys]

Ooh!  Ooh!  Definitely getting excited now.

PS Hello cripple, where have you been?

There are two possible answers to this.  

1. I've been chained up in our non-existent cellar to serve the twisted whims of SNG.

2. I've been busy putting the final touches to my plans for world domination.

Neither of these is true.

[megatwat]

The BBC secret police seem to have had it removed from UKnova- anyone know where else it might be?

The funny thing is, even if I do get myself a download I probably won't watch it until the 27th and only then if my video recorder fails on the 26th (I know I'm not in that night).

[VegaLA]

I actually like the new logo in this pic...

http://www.gallifreyone.com/newsgraphics/confidentiallogo.jpg

[jimbobsyouruncle]

Not to bust anyones bubble or anything, but a few reviews from the 'Ain't It Cool' site are less than positive...

Always good to hear some critical voices before something starts to lessen the hype

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=19567

This one's better...

http://www.warrenellis.com/

The New DOCTOR WHO

Well, it's better than that brainless monstrosity of a TV movie that poor old Paul McGann battled through.

And, for the comics readers in the audience, that is indisputably a Bryan Hitch-designed TARDIS interior.

Christopher Eccleston, as the Doctor, is a delight. I imagine he'll settle down as the series progresses, but right now he's a walking mood-swing – Tom Baker's mad grin and sudden command, Jon Pertwee's physicality, Patrick Troughton's impish side. And he's got a great old leather jacket. He keeps his Northern accent, and when his new assistant asks him why he sounds Northern when he's an alien, writer Russell Davies gives him the fine line: "LOTS of planets have a North!"

Word is that Sci-Fi Channel declined to acquire this new DOCTOR WHO series. And I can see why. It's too damned English. As Rich Johnston said to me tonight, it's your actual English family sci-fi show. There's no way it'd fit on Sci-Fi. I imagine, to be honest, it's going to bypass much of the American audience, and possibly even the gap between my generation and my daughter's generation.

It is, in fact, DOCTOR WHO, as it was, complete with fake jeopardy for the kids and laughs for the adults. It will probably disappoint old fans – and anyone looking for a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA-style treatment – because it resolutely refuses to take itself too seriously. It's not afraid of doing gags like having a kid eaten by a marauding plastic rubbish bin because that's all part of the ride, all part of the style. In Michael Moorcock's phrase, it obeys and enjoys the genre.

And so you get that nice little counterpoint between strange comedy bits and straight dramatic moments that is the hallmark of a certain strain of British fiction. Showroom dummies (yes) coming to life and shooting people might look funny, and it is – but the bodies are just as dead. And that – the placing of an alien element into a naturalistic contemporary British context – is the signature of the old British sf style, from WAR OF THE WORLDS to DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS, from QUATERMASS AND THE PIT to, especially, DOCTOR WHO.

SPOLIER
(For the old WHO watchers, this first story is a riff on the Autons, from back in the 70s.)
SPOLIER OVER

Billie Piper, best known over here for being a teenaged pap-pop singer and the (ex-)wife of ginger mini-media-mogul Chris Evans, is something of a revelation as the Doctor's new assistant, Rose Tyler. She's much better than anyone would expect. Eccleston's a big actor. She does better than hold her own.

It's shot on digital video, by the looks of it. The production values are, despite everything, a little ropey in places. Not the old cardboard walls and blokes in latex monster suits, though. The credit sequence is just horrible, the incidental music ranges from passable to fucking awful, and some of the gags don't land at all. Davies works best in the naturalistic stuff, and in the interplay between the Doctor and Rose. That said, DOCTOR WHO hasn't been this good since the early days of Peter Davison in the role. It's nice to have it back, and I'm looking forward to watching it with my daughter when it airs on the BBC in a few weeks.

– W

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

There's a lot of action, and not *much* character and plot development.

How much dialogue is there? Is any of it witty/strange a la City of Death? Or does it mainly feature lots of running around and explosions in order to tempt the Matrix-jaded kids?

[Jemble Fred]

Just imagine the viewing figures episode one is going to get. Even if episode 2 will probably be back down to just kids and real fans.

Thing is, I'll watch anything with Eccleston in it anyway.

[Alberon]

I've downloaded and seen the first six minutes or so. Probably hold off on the rest until the broadcast.

The credit sequence is crap, but it is also NOT the finalised sequence or music mix. Don't know if the rest of the episode is equally unfinished, though, the explosion in the first part looks fine.

[Des Nilsen]

Here's a nice little article on the BBC news site about Chris Eccleston requesting the role of the Doctor.



Tomorrow is the press launch in Cardiff and there will be trailers on TV from tomorrow evening onwards, apparently (almost certainly!). The times for the short trailers on Tuesday and Wednesday are these:

TUESDAY BBC1 20:00
TUESDAY BBC2 22:31
WEDNESDAY BBC1 14:05, 17:36, 18:58, 21:58, 22:41
WEDNESDAY BBC2 10:54, 18:28, 22:00

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[Bert Thung]

How much dialogue is there? Is any of it witty/strange a la City of Death? Or does it mainly feature lots of running around and explosions in order to tempt the Matrix-jaded kids?

Both

The dialogue is sublime. It really is a very good show. That aintitcool review is just wrong.

EDIT - The crap first one I mean

[skibz]

Yeah, the dialogue is pretty good. It's also nice to see that it's not taking itself too seriously, what with

*SPOILERS*

the evil mannequins, the scene with Billie Piper's boyfriend getting eaten by a plastic bin, the Doctor wrestling with a disembodied arm, all of which are the only things to have made me laugh out loud so far this year.

*END SPOILERS*

Chris Eccleston is great as the Doctor, and I've no doubt he'll be good value when the plot gets more serious. As someone said earlier, some of the music is a little off, though hopefully it'll get ironed out over the next few weeks. Also, slightly surprisingly, Bille Piper copes quite well, even if she does seem like a Blue Peter presenter at times.

Does anyone have any idea yet as to whether the plot is ongoing, or if they plan to do a different story each week?