RTD back for Doctor Who

[Alberon]

Ballad of Ballard Berkley sums it up all perfectly in his spoiler-free review of the last episode of Flux.

It's just a barrage of stuff being thrown at you by a fool.

[Mister Six]

it reminded me that - with Bel, Vinder, and the many space refugees generated by the Flux - the human race of the Whoniverse is now firmly established throughout the stars as early as 2021.

I just assumed they were human-looking aliens, same as the Time Lords, until I watched Chibs' BBC summary video in which he refers to them as humans and my jaw dropped. Did it just not occur to him that you need to explain why there are spacefaring human beings living on distant planets (I assume, although it's unclear as to exactly how Bel got to the Karvinista's Earth-shield and nabbed a ship) on October 31, 2021?

[The Guppy]

I thought there was some time compression shit happening with the Flux, and people from different eras got mushed together. But I can't remember if that was explained, or if I dreamed it up as a way to unfuck the story.

[purlieu]

Yeah, it was mentioned that time was fucking up. Maybe after the first two statue things were destroyed or something? I dunno.

[Mister Six]

I got the impression that time was only fucking up on Bel's planet, and not in the wider cosmos. And even then basically just in one scene, hell one shot, and then never referred to again.

Time was still constrained throughout the story, after all. And people mostly just time-travelled via those time-doors (which weren't explained), the TARDIS, or those time-pedestals in the Temple of Atropos.

FAKE EDIT: Wait, something caused Dan to appear in the modern day while The Doctor and Yaz ended up at the Crimea, but I can't remember what it was. But that was it, I think.

It was just stuff happening, wasn't it? No rules, no consistency, no real explanations (despite everyone constantly narrating their every move and circumstance at all times). Just... stuff.

[purlieu]

I think the time doors were another symptom of time being disrupted.

[olliebean]

FAKE EDIT: Wait, something caused Dan to appear in the modern day while The Doctor and Yaz ended up at the Crimea, but I can't remember what it was. But that was it, I think.

IIRC, they all ended up in the Crimea, and then very shortly afterwards Dan was transported off to the modern day by means and for reasons that were never really explained ("a collision between Flux and Vortex energy," apparently), and then immediately after that Yaz was transported by, presumably, the same means, to the temple of Atropos - where she met Vinder, who was also somehow there by means that were never explained.

[olliebean]

Jodie's is the only console that I can't clearly picture. Even Eccleston's/Tennant's mildly chaotic array had a memorable sort of order to it, with plenty of purposeful actions. You can barely see Jodie's between the gammy plastic columns.

Compared to all the others, it's extraordinarily bland.

[Mister Six]

I think the time doors were another symptom of time being disrupted.

But thingy found them "before" the Flux, didn't he? Although I'm not sure whether that matters. Again, unclear writing.

IIRC, they all ended up in the Crimea, and then very shortly afterwards Dan was transported off to the modern day by means and for reasons that were never really explained ("a collision between Flux and Vortex energy," apparently), and then immediately after that Yaz was transported by, presumably, the same means, to the temple of Atropos - where she met Vinder, who was also somehow there by means that were never explained.

So that's a situation unique to the TARDIS crew rather than being purely Flux-related. Except for Vinder, I guess, but again, that's unclear writing from Chibbers.

[mothman]

Compared to all the others, it's extraordinarily bland.

But it dispenses biscuits, don't forget.

Spoiler alert

Bland ones!

[close]

[Replies From View]

If they'd gone all-out Aztec Zone on it, it would have been half-decent.

[Huxleys Babkins]

The key to a decent console is having loads of stuff to fuck about with, like a massive Fisher Price activity centre for grown ups. You need to want to touch it, even if it's not safe or doesn't make any sense. Like when Matt Smith grabs onto the dials in the Hartnell biopic.

Chibnall's console is way too clean and minimalist. So much empty, wasted space.

[Replies From View]

The entire TARDIS space needs to appeal to autistic sensibilities - it needs to feel calm and safe from outside threat, and the console should be something you'd like to clasp and fiddle with.

[Huxleys Babkins]

The next TARDIS console should be a massive one of these:

[Replies From View]

Then the Doctor would have a logical sensory reason to become male again.

Have to lock John Barrowman out of there for good, as well, so win-win.

[Jerzy Bondov]

The Smith 2/Capaldi console had that weird rainbow bit you're meant to put your hands inside. Psychic something or other, some bollocks. Anyway I want to put my hands in it

[Replies From View]

Some people here disliked that but I thought it was good.  Nice fleshy portion and yes, it was for psychic interaction.  Not sure why the TARDIS needed it for psychic reading considering everything else it could do psychically anyway, but who cares.  Nice hunk of fleshy goodness.

[frajer]

Yeah it looked proper satisfying and tactile. I'm next in the queue for a squidge of it.

[Huxleys Babkins]

It's probably in the break room of some commercial waste tip in Cardiff and the workers all take turns on it.

[pigamus]

The entire TARDIS space needs to appeal to autistic sensibilities - it needs to feel calm and safe from outside threat, and the console should be something you'd like to clasp and fiddle with.

Levers and buttons out the arse, that's what we want

Like a movie about NASA made in 1982

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

It's probably in the break room of some commercial waste tip in Cardiff and the workers all take turns on it.

ick

[Norton Canes]

As a Davison fanboy I always loved the Five Doctors console. All those banks of keyboards, and that pull-out door control. Mmm.

[mothman]

The Smith 2/Capaldi console had that weird rainbow bit you're meant to put your hands inside. Psychic something or other, some bollocks. Anyway I want to put my hands in it

MEMO

From: RTD
To: Production Design

Chaps - any chance of a TARDIS console you can FIST?

Cheers,

Rusty

[Alberon]

Ah, I did really like the console from the Five Doctors onwards, even though it ran on a BBC Micro.

[pigamus]

I had an Atari 65XE and it was like that on a grand scale, a beautiful thing

You can tell that's a copy because the real one didn't even have proper buttons

Still doesn't excuse Sylvester McCoy's 'waggle my fingers in the air nowhere near them' routine though, although it was 35 years ago so perhaps I ought to let it go

[Replies From View]

Still doesn't excuse Sylvester McCoy's 'waggle my fingers in the air nowhere near them' routine though, although it was 35 years ago so perhaps I ought to let it go

Psychic controls.

[Norton Canes]

Saw a sponsored FB link today which said RTD will be showrunner for two years - until the 20th anniversary of the relaunch in 2025. Which I guess ties in with what we anticipated - he'll get the show back on an even keel and set a couple of Whoniverse spin-offs up and running before possibly continuing as an executive producer of the whole shebang.

[mjwilson]

Any source given for that?

[Replies From View]

In Doctor Who terms, two years could easily mean only one series.


"Showrunner" is just another term for main executive producer anyway, isn't it?  I'd be perfectly happy if he was hanging around as executive producer and somebody else was head writer / script editor.  It's a structural change that should arguably have taken place before someone like Chibnall could show that not just any old clunk could be Doctor Who showrunner.

[Mister Six]

Production Weekly is saying that RTD's Who will begin filming in spring 2022, which means we're probably only a month or two out from an announcement on the 14th Doctor.



Just reading The Writer's Tale and thinking, "Russell, you fool! Why are you doing this to yourself again?"

Actually, I think he's probably asking the same question. But the answer is obvious - he's got a restless, brilliant creative mind, an obsessive nature and a love for Doctor Who. It's coming up on 10 years since RTD had a televised Who episode go out, and you just know he's had ideas - images, characters, moments - bubbling around in his head that whole time. At least a couple of seasons' worth, I'll bet.

And I know he knows he's writing for an audience in The Writer's Tale, even if the audience is just Benjamin Cook, but his prose is just vibrating with joy, charm and enthusiasm. It's impossible to imagine Chibnall doing something like this. His emails must read like beige wallpaper.