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The big CaB Doctor Who (2005) rewatch thread - starts May 30, 2022

Started by Mister Six, May 24, 2022, 03:30:33 AM

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Alberon

In the run up to the new series I was hoping for the long talked about spider daleks though I'd clearly not thought it through.

Apart from screwing with the perfect silhouette shape it would be a bloody nightmare turning virtually every shot with it in into a CGI heavy expense.

Quote from: Endicott on July 05, 2022, 12:14:07 PMThe lack of understanding about daleks is always weird to me because I grew up with hard back Dr. Who annuals from the 60s that had dalek stories with them all flying around and features looking into dalek construction detailing how their anti-grav propulsion systems worked.

Two decades of them being naff figures of fun - largely aided and abetted by the Nation estate who's main concern was how much you'd pay, not how you'd use them - and writers having neither the time nor inclination to do even the lightest research about what they are covering will do that.

Replies From View

When Doctor Who returned in 2005 it had to fight a lot of "laughing stock" assumptions where the show had become associated in the 1980s with cheapness, and in some ways it may have been in RTD's interests to work with these assumptions somewhat in order to highlight how far the show had come, and where it could now go.

He was on record himself saying that Classic Who was mostly rubbish, and calling big fans of Classic Who "ming-mongs".

Even in-universe, the Dalek saying "e-le-vate" before hovering is communicating that it's breaking some kind of new ground and doing what you wouldn't expect.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if RTD had himself fed the media discourse about Daleks and stairs a little bit.

BritishHobo

It is funny all the received wisdom, and as you say I think it shows how adept RTD is at this stuff, which we're seeing again now with all the hype about his upcoming episodes. When you look at the usual backlash that comes when a beloved franchise is revived/rebooted, he managed to do incredibly well at engaging and tantalising the public.

It remains as ever fascinating to read some of the absolute tabloid guff, like how Rose 'sexterminates' a dalek because Billie Piper is such a bombshell. Can you imagine handing that in to your editor, and being told 'great job'? More to the point can you imagine being so excited for the much-hyped return of the daleks, only to have the episode and ending spoiled for you by someone trying to get readers to have a quick lunchbreak wank over a grainy picture of Billie Piper in a vest?

Mister Six

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 05, 2022, 01:10:42 PMIt remains as ever fascinating to read some of the absolute tabloid guff, like how Rose 'sexterminates' a dalek because Billie Piper is such a bombshell. Can you imagine handing that in to your editor, and being told 'great job'?

The reporter was almost certainly told to include that line by the editor.

BritishHobo

Indeed. It just makes me laugh, the thought of any adult in such a position thinking "this is publishable stuff". I know we're hardly better off now, but some of these articles feel like such fascinating artifacts of that moment in culture.

Mister Six

Yeah, although using the word "culture" somewhat loosely!

Replies From View


H-O-W-L

Fucking love that they act like the Daleks being weird squidthings is new. Also the absolutely baffling line where the Scum say that their campaign was what brought them back to the show. Bollocks.

daf


Daily Star on Sunday (27 March 2005)  |  The Sun (27 March 2005)
- - - - - - - - - - -

   
The Observer (24 April 2005)  |  Daily Star (25 April 2005)  |  Daily Star (26 April 2005)

daf


Daily Express (18 April 2005)  |  The Sun (26 April 2005)

Alberon

Fuck me, there's some low-res images in that bunch. The Daily Star burbling on about spider daleks!

BritishHobo

So much mad shit to unpack, as well. The horror at kids being exposed to the FILTHY line of dialogue "canoodle and spoon". The sinister tone of the Daily Star saying the BBC desperately wanted to keep the daleks secret, "But we have found out about it." The obsessive need to constantly preface any reference of Billie Piper with some descriptor relating to her being SEXY AS FUCK.

Also intrigued by the article that fully spoils The End of the World the night before it goes out, by telling you who the villain is and describing the plot - while also getting it wrong and saying the Doctor must stop the Earth exploding.

Mister Six

Quote from: daf on July 06, 2022, 09:43:00 AM

Episode "set to cause outrage according to one attention-seeking gammon we melodramatically described a scene to over the telephone".

Actual outrage caused was nil, I'll bet.

daf


Mister Six


daf


Daily Star (27 April 2005)  |  Daily Mirror (30 April 2005)  |  Radio Times (30 April 2005)
- - - - - - - - - - -


Whats on TV (30 April 2005)  |  TV and Satellite Week (30 April 2005)

daf


TV and Satellite Week (30 April 2005)  |  TV Quick (30 April 2005)

BritishHobo


BritishHobo

The replacement villains referenced in the Radio Times article, intended to fill in for the Daleks but cut once the rights were sorted - am I right in thinking that they're the Toclafane?

frajer

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 07, 2022, 12:20:36 PMThe replacement villains referenced in the Radio Times article, intended to fill in for the Daleks but cut once the rights were sorted - am I right in thinking that they're the Toclafane?

Yes I recall Rob Shearman saying Davies gave him the Toclafane for early drafts of his 'Dalek' script in case the rights issues couldn't be sorted out. It's a good enough fix but thank christ they got to use the Daleks for that first series back.

BritishHobo

I wonder if the set up would still have been the same, so the Toclafane being the main enemies of Gallifrey in the Time War. I'm not hugely knowledgeable on classic Who, and haven't seen any past Tom Baker - did the idea of the Daleks being enemies of the Time Lords exist much in classic Who, or was this the first episode to establish that? Interesting to think of the Toclafane being the driving force in the Doctor's Time War trauma.

daf

No Daleks?

Get the Mechanoids in there - The kids will love them!


TV Century 21 (January - May 2066)

Midas

Quote from: BritishHobo on July 07, 2022, 01:21:12 PMI wonder if the set up would still have been the same, so the Toclafane being the main enemies of Gallifrey in the Time War. I'm not hugely knowledgeable on classic Who, and haven't seen any past Tom Baker - did the idea of the Daleks being enemies of the Time Lords exist much in classic Who, or was this the first episode to establish that? Interesting to think of the Toclafane being the driving force in the Doctor's Time War trauma.

There's an interview with writer Robert Shearman somewhere online where he talks about this. The (unnamed) Toclafane were to be presented as a mythical race of unknown origin who inexplicably appeared in the skies of Gallifrey and wiped out the Time Lords. The thrust of "Absence of the Daleks" was that the Doctor was desperate to find out what creature was inside the last surviving Toclafane's shell, only for it to kill itself at the end to spite him. The Toclafane would've later been revealed to be future humans converted by the Master.

BritishHobo

Ah, very interesting, thank you! Kinda fun that the climax ended up being exactly the opposite - the reveal of what's inside the Dalek shell being key to the episode's heart and soul.

Mister Six

Honestly, I might have preferred that. I'm not a massive fan of the Daleks in general, although admittedly a lot of that is due to them being overplayed, especially in RTD's seasons.

H-O-W-L

All the cargo cult "haha stairs wobbly sets" stuff reminds me of the public perception of Miami Vice post-fact, of it being just haha big hair flash clothes rather than the bitingly dark and bitterly nihilist show it is -- and one of few shows of the eighties that not only had an ending, but an incredibly hopeless and depressing one in the grand scheme of things.

BritishHobo


Replies From View

Have there ever been any audio stories where the characters make remarks about wobbly walls?  Seems like the kind of meta comment that some writers would like to slip in.

daf

Not sure about wobbly walls, but there's a lot of meta stuff in 'The One Doctor'.



Quote• The STARDIS, Banto Zame and Sally-Anne's mock TARDIS, is shaped like a portaloo.
•  Banto uses a psychic screwdriver, equivalent to the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, to seemingly defeat the Skelloids.