Doctor Who Series 12B: The Timeless Chibnall (Xmas special & pre-Series 13 chat)

[frajer]

The above reminds me that as much as Capaldi's tenure felt curtailed and his Series 10 Doctor was the series where he felt gloriously defined, I'm so glad he didn't stay for any of the Chibnall era.

And to go back to my earlier post, can you imagine the 12th Doctor finding out he was kidnapped, tortured and abused as a child and taking 20 years to sit in a cell and look glum? He'd have torn the universe a new arsehole called Gallifrey.

[Thomas]

All I am interested in seeing is the final "year" of Chibnall's tenure, nay the final episode of that "year", in which I am certain we will witness the swift transformation from Captain Jack into the Face of Boe.

Then the Face of Boe smashes the screen of an iPhone, releasing a stream of Time Lord energy - revealing that he, too, was a secret incarnation of the Doctor all along.

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Then the Face of Boe smashes the screen of an iPhone, releasing a stream of Time Lord energy - revealing that he, too, was a secret incarnation of the Doctor all along.

And remember how Agent Smith is destroyed in the third Matrix film?  Filling up with golden energy and then blasting into smithereens.

Well it will be like that with all the Time Lords, except it will be their genitals bursting open.

[A Hat Like That]

Sounds like the best thing ever. Hopefully will include lots of melty-face make-up.

can they keep the plan to have Daleks flying, by use of a massive catapult

[Thomas]

Don't know whether we're all up to date with DWM news, but It's a Sin will include some material from filming for a fictionalised version of Resurrection of the Daleks called Regression of the Daleks.

An agreement with Terry Nation's estate means that RTD isn't allowed to write anything unless it has a Dalek in it.

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Seriously though, imagine Rassilon standing there without a knob.

[Norton Canes]

can they keep the plan to have Daleks flying, by use of a massive catapult

That was Revelation

[A Hat Like That]

I just want to see a Dalek get catapulted.

[A Hat Like That]

Resurrection has the bit with the mudlarker getting shot in cold blood.
His wife, sat at home, with a roast dinner cooling away, wondering just where Dave has got to.

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Seriously though, imagine Rassilon standing there without a knob.

Just checking that you are imagining it.

[Poison To The Mind]

He's got them long robes on, I can't tell the difference mate

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He's got them long robes on, I can't tell the difference mate

Alright, so imagine his shocked face as he senses something has changed, and to check what has happened he immediately parts his dressing gown at what would be the fly zip area of common trousers.

He parts them, so from the waist down you can see a triangle of openness, revealing his hairy legs and lo and behold:  no knob

Just a hole where his knob would be.  Like a bird that has had its beak yanked off.


And he's seeing it too for the first time and his expression is one of motionless shock, because Rassilon is a high-status figure which means he wouldn't fidget around.  He'd have an air of majestic shock at his lack of a knob.

[JamesTC]

The Knob of Rassilon

[Thomas]

RTD imagines a 'Doctor Who shared universe':

'There should be a Doctor Who channel now. You look at those Disney announcements, of all those new Star Wars and Marvel shows, you think 'we should be sitting here announcing The Nyssa Adventures or The Return of Donna Noble, and you should have the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors together in a 10-part series'. Genuinely. And I think that will happen one day. If we can just shift Doctor Who up a gear...'

https://twitter.com/prkirkley/status/1352578909259390976

RTD and Moffat often approached this sort of thing, in their minisodes and side adventures, and we had several full spin-offs of varying success, complete with crossovers. I'd like to see a one-off limited series with McGann's Doctor.

Tomorrow, Chibnall announces Torchwood series 6 (all eps penned by Chibnall), Young Doctor Who: The Adventures of the Timeless Child, and The Extended Universe of that Irish Bit that was Meant to be a Vision the Doctor was Experiencing or Something.

[Norton Canes]

Young Nazi Time Fonz

[Thomas]

Young Nazi Time Fonz

In the first series he runs the concentration camp that the Master got carted off to in Spyfall.

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Tomorrow, Chibnall announces Torchwood series 6 (all eps penned by Chibnall), Young Doctor Who: The Adventures of the Timeless Child, and The Extended Universe of that Irish Bit that was Meant to be a Vision the Doctor was Experiencing or Something.

Yep he'd do 'The Doctor and Master College Years' and other immensely demystifying shite.  Wouldn't understand why it's not worth the initial flurry of interest.

[Thomas]

Do you think Chibnall will explore the portal that the Timeless Child fell out of, or will he leave that thrilling mystery to future writers?

I've seen some defence of Chibnall claiming that he hasn't ruined the mystery of the Doctor's backstory, only added to it, but I don't think that swapping the ambiguity we already had for a Generic Sci-Fi Portal - which we saw onscreen as soon as the idea was introduced[nb]compare this to all the ideas and imagery that were gradually teased and built up over time, even decades.[/nb] - is particularly enriching.

[BritishHobo]

I wonder that - surely if he's introduced this massive story element it must be because he's got some ideas about the background of it, right? Surely? Otherwise it's even worse that all it ultimately came to was the Doctor hearing this infodump and then essentially shrugging it off.

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Yeah he's got some ideas about it, I'm sure.  It's an idea he's had since being a teenager, so I'd be astonished if this was it.


Leaving us with just the infodump until the next showrunner is the best thing he could do, though.  Let the next person shrug it off as a lie.  But Chibnall lacks the grace, we know this.

[daf]

''we should be sitting here announcing The Nyssa Adventures or The Return of Donna Noble, and you should have the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors together in a 10-part series'. Genuinely. And I think that will happen one day.

Get with it grandad - it's been happening since 1999!

   

The Nyssa Adventures  |  The Return of Donna Noble  |  The Tenth Doctor Adventures

[Kelvin]

I had optimistically assumed that the Timeless Child story would turn out to be misdirect, with the child at the portal turning out to be someone the Doctor left there in an upcoming finale, rather than the Doctor herself.

Bearing in mind what Chibnall has said recently about it opening up new stories, though, I've now given up on that hope and just assume it's a pathetic stab at retaining a mystery.

[M-CORP]

Feels weird bumping up this thread, especially as there's SO much to talk about re series 13 right now, but I've been thinking recently (and probably far too much) about the BBC's current preference for Doctor Who to go out on a Sunday.

Back in 2018 when this first happened, I thought this was an okay idea. Gives school kids something to talk about on a Monday morning, and it worked for Spitting Image and Top Gear. Plus, as Chibnall himself said IIRC, most mainstream dramas go out on Sunday now rather than Saturday. But I don't think it has worked. The action-adventure of Doctor Who - even in its currently more restrained, and more... y'know, format - doesn't really fit with the sedate, groggy mindset of Sunday evening, and I don't think that on Sundays, there's the same communal feel of Saturday evenings and family takeaways around the telly.

The scheduling people might argue that the audience just isn't there for Saturday nights anymore, and that's why ratings were dropping for Peter Capaldi's series. I disagree - too many variables. Ratings fell because the show was going out too late or constantly being moved around timeslots or becoming alienating to certain viewers. And yes, you don't get so many dramas on Saturday nights anymore, it's mainly just gameshows and Casualty, but surely that's a good reason for Doctor Who to go out on Saturdays, to spice up an otherwise uneventful schedule? I think the audience is still there, there aren't that many examples of Saturday dramas failing in recent years (only Atlantis, and that was a bit dull and unoriginal anyway), and Doctor Who would make a nice contrast to ITV's talent shows and contests. The Masked Singer has been getting 7 million in the overnights.

And oh yeah - Doctor Who is a Saturday show. It just is, shaddup. I don't even think that's me being a traditionalist in denial. Weekdays are too busy, and it just seems to fit better with the Saturday mood of staying up late to watch a loud, frenetic Marvel or Bond movie or something as a family, not slowly coming down on a Sunday evening having rushed to check the homework's done for tomorrow. Songs of Praise, then Countryfile, then Doctor Who? It just feels wrong.

Thinking about this I can only conclude a lack of confidence on the BBC's part, that they were worried about Chibnall's Doctor Who losing in the ratings war to X Factor or something. Which would probably happen. But if it did, I don't think it would be due to too much competition.

I've talked too much about something that's secondary to the actual quality of the show itself. What do other people think about this?

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I like to think that during the 18 months of every year Doctor Who isn't on, the show in fact is there, but invisible because it is losing against Songs of Praise.



And I'd just like to add that that's actually quite a good Doctor Who concept even if I do say so myself.  It's invisible because it's losing out to Songs of Praise.  Beat that, Chibnall!!

[Norton Canes]

Agreed, Sunday nights could have been a great move if the blockbuster feel of the show had been toned down a bit, but that was something Chibnall either didn't want to do, or was incapable of doing. It just needed a few tweaks to make it a bit more subtle, more slow-burn than wham-bang. What we ended up with was trash anyway, so those tweaks wouldn't have made a difference.

I would never haver set my sights so low when the show was run by RTD of Moffatt but right now I'd be happy if the show became a real cosy, no-demands type of drama like Call The Midwife. Something that doesn't break new ground or try to hard, but is nevertheless something you can have on and enjoy like you would enjoy, I don't know, a warm breeze. Comfy blanket stuff. Bubble bath TV.

[jamiefairlie]

They should reboot Jago and Lightfoot as a Sunday evening hour long spooky drama. I'd watch that over current Dr Who

[VelourSpirit]

They should just hire a good head writer.

[Bad Ambassador]

I'd put it on Fridays at 8pm. One Show, Stenders, Who, then an hour of comedy. Grorton after the news, then a late film. Bosh.

[daf]

They should reboot Jago and Lightfoot as a Sunday evening hour long spooky drama. I'd watch that over current Dr Who

Funnily enough, that's exactly when I listen to them - I've got one lined up for later tonight.

Here's what's coming up later tonight on daf TV :
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Disney short : "Beach Picnic" (Pluto 1939) - 7 mins
Look at Life Vol. 4 'Sport' : "Behind the World Cup" (1966) - 10 mins
Happy Ever After :  "Lucy's Premium Bond" (Series 2) - 30 mins
Upstairs Downstairs : "Desirous of Change" (Series 3) - 53 mins
The Good Old Days : 28 December 1976 (recorded from BBC 4) - 50 mins
Jago & Litefoot : 'The Woman In White' (Series 11) - 60 mins
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[Midas]

Was listening to Toby Hadoke's mammoth interview with RTD from 2013 recently and I remember Russell saying it was established from the first series that if the ratings were bad the BBC would move it to Sunday nights in an effort to protect the program.

It probably is better suited to Saturdays but I honestly think at this point the revival's moment in the limelight has been and gone and I'm doubtful it'll ever reach the popularity it had no matter what day of the week they put it out.

The first Jodie Whittaker series was probably the best shot the program has had since the revival at getting the wider audience interested again but (admittedly as expected) it never had the ambition or built up the necessary momentum to keep anyone watching.

Incidentally I also noticed RTD mentioned in the interview the only Doctor Who story he would never write:

The kind of story I would never write is the disaster story - the future catastrophe story where the TARDIS lands and there's a devastated Earth. You could tell a brilliant story about a climate-changed Earth and you could traumatise an entire generation of children and make them grow up and solve the problem but I used to sit and think 'that's not what I'm here to do on a Saturday night thank you very much'. I don't think they actually need Doctor Who to point them towards fighting climate change.