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

[Malcy]

A new Moffat penned Doctor Who scene is being released at 6.30pm tonight.

RadioTimes.com can exclusively reveal that Moffat has penned a brand-new short Doctor Who scene to reintroduce the anniversary special to fans, featuring a "much-loved Doctor Who character" (yet to be revealed) and set to be released online at 6.30pm GMT on Saturday 21st March, half an hour before the Day of the Doctor rewatch at 7.00pm

.

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-03-21/steven-moffat-new-doctor-who/

[Thomas]

Good of him to knock something together at such short notice. Imagine if it were

Spoiler alert

Tom Baker as the Curator, introducing the ep.

[close]

Filmed on an iPad in his kitchen. Bit fanciful.

Here are the scenes Moffat wrote to introduce the ep in cinemas. Skip to four mins for the Docs.

EDIT: my Whovian brain has just noticed that there's a reference to '57 Doctors' - which in itself must be a nod to RTD, who always uses the number 57. Uses it throughout The Writer's Tale as any given 'random number'. A Google confirms that Moffat has nodded to it elsewhere.

[Mister Six]

I think it's a fundamentally good idea. The first episode set it up nicely, with that brilliant cliffhanger. Imagine if they'd been stuck out there, far from home, four people who are either strangers, estranged or in tense relationships with each other, arguing and developing, put under pressure by the things they encounter.

Yaz loving this new adventure and responsibility but recklessly trying to lead. Ryan anxious and trying to cope, struggling with being stuck with Graham. Graham grieving and feeling guilty for otherwise enjoying being given a new lease of life. The Doctor trying to keep everyone alive but enjoying having that challenge.

Crowding them together, rather than a weakness, could actually be a rich strength. It's the editorial rule of "no conflict" that's fucked it.

My god, absolutely. What a cop-out it was then the Ghost Monument revealed itself. I don't know if it's an editorial decision so much as Chibnall just not really having any imagination or understanding of drama, though.

It's not that it's a fundamentally bad idea, but it needs a meticulous and thoughtful writer to make it always work (this is the point - not that it couldn't work for an epic two or three parter), and it's risky within the Doctor Who set-up where individual writers take on different stories and there isn't much consistency across a series. 

Not really. As I said, other shows manage to do adventure-of-the-week teams with overarching stories and casts of three or (often) more[nb]All the Star Treks, Firefly, Legends of Tomorrow, Fringe, Farscape...[/nb]. There's nothing about Doctor Who that makes such an approach impossible, except perhaps an excessive adherence to what has traditionally worked. Even without the ongoing serial idea, it's not hard to come up with reasons to background one or two of the supporting cast (as seen in Midnight, Fear Her, Blink, Turn Left...).

It's also easy to add some friction to the characters' relationships, to give them a story function beyond general companioning. Even if you don't want to change The Woman Who Fell to Earth too much: Graham and Ryan have the "desperate step-granddad looking for affection" and "annoyed grieving teen' thing that was all but forgotten save a refused fistbump after the first episode; Ryan's had trouble from racist members of Sheffield police so is suspicious/resentful of Yaz, who's middle-class and privileged enough to think that people who hate the police are complaining about nothing. Yaz, who is maybe a bit officious and overzealous, ticketed Graham's car once (or three times) when he was having cancer treatment and now he resents her for it. Bam! There you go -  they all have reasons to be uncomfortable around one another until they grow more comfortable over the course of the first series. At which point you obviously write out Ryan because he can't act.

[Small Man Big Horse]

A new Moffat penned Doctor Who scene is being released at 6.30pm tonight.
.

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-03-21/steven-moffat-new-doctor-who/

I loved the anniversary special at the time, it fulfilled (a minor) dream to see Who at the cinema, and I was surrounded by passionate yet respectful fans which made it all the more fun. But I've no urge to ever see it again, mainly as I worry watching it a second time may diminish the memory, especially as I didn't have an issue with Clara at the time (or at least much of one) but now despise the character.

[olliebean]

A new Moffat penned Doctor Who scene is being released at 6.30pm tonight.
.

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-03-21/steven-moffat-new-doctor-who/

Doesn't say anything about how to watch it, I notice. Also the link to his twitter is wrong.

[Malcy]

Doesn't say anything about how to watch it, I notice. Also the link to his twitter is wrong.

It's going up on Twitter first apparently. I'll wait till it's on YouTube.

I loved the anniversary special at the time, it fulfilled (a minor) dream to see Who at the cinema, and I was surrounded by passionate yet respectful fans which made it all the more fun. But I've no urge to ever see it again, mainly as I worry watching it a second time may diminish the memory, especially as I didn't have an issue with Clara at the time (or at least much of one) but now despise the character.

I've only ever watched it the whole way through once. I've skimmed through a few times and watched a couple of the good bits but I think it's appeal has diminished quite a bit over the years for me.

[olliebean]

It's going up on Twitter first apparently. I'll wait till it's on YouTube.

Going up where on twitter? As I said, the link to his twitter is wrong.

[Malcy]

Going up where on twitter? As I said, the link to his twitter is wrong.

I've no idea.

[mjwilson]

His twitter is https://twitter.com/StevenWMoffat and this event is happening under #savetheday

Just watched The Five(ish) Doctors reboot, about to watch Name of the Doctor to get me in the mood.

[Malcy]

https://twitter.com/StevenWMoffat

https://twitter.com/Emily_Rosina

There's a specially made continuity announcement as well.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=SINvy3A_GoI

[mjwilson]

Wow remember when Doctor Who was good?

[olliebean]

Hang on, has anything new actually been filmed? Or is he just going to post the script of a new scene? Blogtor Who seems to think the latter:

Moffat has even gone to the trouble to script a brand new scene. He will posting the new script online half an hour before the kick off of the episode itself.

https://www.blogtorwho.com/tonight-global-doctor-who-rewatch-to-savetheday-for-a-socially-distanced-world/

[Mango Chimes]

My Cluedo bet for this is: Clara Oswald, iPhone selfie, joke about isolation wanking.

[mjwilson]

Hang on, has anything new actually been filmed? Or is he just going to post the script of a new scene? Blogtor Who seems to think the latter:

https://www.blogtorwho.com/tonight-global-doctor-who-rewatch-to-savetheday-for-a-socially-distanced-world/

Radio Times says the scene was "written, filmed and edited remotely".

[JamesTC]

Nick Briggs voicing over a Dalek toy?

[mjwilson]

Osgood I reckon.

[Replies From View]

Well Ian and Barbara did, but they had to write Susan out because they couldn't give her enough to do.

It was interesting though because Susan was kind of a secondary Doctor rather than a secondary/tertiary companion.

[Replies From View]

edited remotely".

So as not to spread the virus?  What does it even mean?

[mjwilson]

Presumably yes, everyone's done their bit without coming into contact with each other because plague.

[mjwilson]

https://mobile.twitter.com/StanDarkley/status/1241431688883982340

[Alberon]

God I miss Moffat.

"All the Doctors except most of them."

More than a little dig there, I think.

[Thomas]

Fun little silly thing. I enjoyed the cheeky references to recent developments. Might be a dig, might not. I mean, reasonably you'd expect it to be, but perhaps Moffat is fine with the show's direction. It's not his job any more, he might have simply been happy to sit back and watch it gallop away. Time Lords, funny hats, regeneration limits - it's all somebody else's sci-fi bollocks now.

I'm looking forward to his live-tweeted thoughts about The Day of the Doctor. Worth checking tonight because he might delete the account later.

[Replies From View]

Presumably yes, everyone's done their bit without coming into contact with each other because plague.

https://youtu.be/KwyTXv6yCPY

[Ambient Sheep]

Oh I see... we were supposed to source our own copies via iPlayer or whatever... not live streamed on Twitter like I thought... that was totally not made clear in anything I'd read in the last panicky 45m since I found out about this... until now, here.

Bad Wolf Archives
@BadWolfArchives
1h

Just under an hour to go until the Day of the Doctor group watch!

Make sure to have your iPlayer/Netflix/DVD/other form of viewing set up beforehand to press play at exactly 7pm (GMT), to stay in sync with everyone else!

So thanks, Radio Times and Emily for making that really clear.  Yes, I'm familiar with the idea of a watchalong, I do it all the time with an American friend, but given all the special effort that has gone into this I thought it was being rebroadcast on YouTube or Twitter or something.

Oh well, joining late just so I can read Steven's tweets...

[daf]

It's going up on Twitter first apparently. I'll wait till it's on YouTube.

I think * this is it - youtube link

- - - - - - - -
* (twitter wont play films on my clapped-out heap of rubbish - but I'm guessing this is the right one)

[Ambient Sheep]

Yes, that's the one. :-)

[Malcy]

Was that it?

[Replies From View]

Was that it?

If by "it" you mean the best Doctor Who content since 2017 then yeah, that be it.

[Thomas]

Lovely to learn that John Hurt came up with the 'which one is mine?' line as the Doctors are departing from the gallery in their separate TARDISes.

[daf]

If by "it" you mean the best Doctor Who content since 2017 then yeah, that be it.

Heh - yes, I'd take a full series of The Strax Puppet Adventures in a heartbeat!