It's been discussed ad naseum in this thread and in others in the forum. The general consensus (except for the outlaying naysayers) is that rumor doesn't make such sense and it is most likely complete bollocks.
Series 11 News & Spoilers
- Thread starter StCoop
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^ Honestly, this has been talked about quite a bit on at least three of the threads here - including back pages of this one. Seems to be a rumor started on OS or even less no-name site that has no real bearing on anything other than fans wanting it.
It's good practice to look around first to see if some breaking news has been discussed already rather than just assuming you're the first person to hear the rumor/news. This is an old rumor and discussed in multiple places. Look around and you'll see our thoughts about it.
Seems to me the idea that professional TV writers are finding it difficult to find good stories, yet somehow many people with fanfic could just pull out quality, producible stories with general audience appeal is not only arrogant but also laughable.
I'm not buying the rumours but if it is true I kinda feel after 11 series and over 150 episodes it's not a surprise that it would be hard to come up with something new and interesting.
I'm not buying the rumours but if it is true I kinda feel after 11 series and over 150 episodes it's not a surprise that it would be hard to come up with something new and interesting.
Yeah, they started off as fans, wrote fanfic but they've spend decades as professional writers and in TV production. I'm not saying that fanfic writers can't be good writers or that all fanfic is trash but the idea that someone with no professional experience could just step up and produce 10 or more good stories per year, every year is just fan arrogance.Isn’t that how RTD, Moffat and Gatiss in particular began though?
I think it's both odd and perfectly logical. On the fanfic side (and not sure if you're including BF in this) writers have much wider scope to tell stories, they're not limited by budgetary constraints, production schedules or vetting by the BBC to ensure they're appropriate stories to go out at 6.30 on a Sunday evening.
For the professional TV writers there is, like you say, a consideration that most stories have been told in some form or another (I loved It Takes You Away but I got hints of The Village, Stranger Things, and even 7B's Hide from it to name just three influences.) but at the end of the day there are only so many stories, but much like music it's a case of arranging familiar notes in a all new order, which I think last night's episode did well.
I do kinda feel sorry for Chibnall in the same way I felt sorry for Moffat and RTD, because committing to writing so many episodes of a season can only harm the creative process, especially when you have to keep taking your writing hat off to put your production cap on, and I really do think the whole showrunner process needs looking at. Something like Broadchurch was very different because you're talking an overarching story, the same characters, locations etc. every week.
I suspect most of us feel like we could knock out a decent episode of Who given the time and space to do so, but even assuming this isn't just arrogance, could I come up with four or five one after another, then write a Christmas special and then do the whole thing again the next year, and the year after that? Plus work with half a dozen other writers on their episodes?
Before production started we heard all manner of talk about Chibnall instituting a writers' room. Does anyone know if this came to pass? I know a writers' room will still allocate episodes but it's interesting that to date only one episode has listed multiple writers.
If Chibnall is having trouble coming up with enough stories then he either needs to step aside for someone else or, more likely, scale back from writing 5/6 variable quality scripts and focusing his efforts on three good ones, and let someone else do the Crimbo/New Year special (which I always felt RTD and Moff should have done as well).
It’s the job though.
Your common or garden fanfic writer, or even tie in novelist, likely has another job or jobs. Showrunner on Who is a paid job, where you put at least a working week in writing. Does creative work fit happily into nine to five? Probably not. But it’s a dream job for many. I think Moffat definitely understood that (which is why he came off his Spielberg contract, and put out an extra series and a Christmas special after his time was done, though we here he ghost of JNT rattling his Hawaiian shirts.) and let’s hope chibnall does too. It’s somewhat poetic he is now in a mutated version of the chair JNT sat in when he was the fan in the audience.
You look at RTD's time in charge. wrote/produced 13 episodes and a Christmas special each year for 4 years. Torchwood on the go and Sarah Jane Adventures. DVD commentaries, downloadable commentaries and Confidential. He really did a hell of a lot. Then you look at Moffat's output and Confidential being dropped, a huge amount of the behind the scenes stuff being dropped and the spin offs being dropped and as time goes on, split series, and lower episode count. It's easy to look and say he was lazy by comparison. Now Chibnall has a lower episode count again and as fans it's easy to think there is something bad about that.
Didn't we all used to say the thing about British TV was it produced less, had a more authored style and didn't over produce. We've come to expect American style TV when it's good to have those differing styles. American producers push for the writers room culture in Britain but I'm not sure it works here, the culture is different, the pay is different, the credits are different. Maybe a more traditional British production style would help, maybe shorter series would help. I don't know. I'm not involved in production. Maybe allowing those who are to do their jobs the way they feels works is what we should hope for rather than pretending we know better.
Sorry, nothing really jumped out at me, I haven't been here regular-like this year, things being... things. Life and all that.
From The Writer's Tale, I think it's fairly obvious there might have been some chemical assistance.
I get that. No worries!
He should head over to Big Finish for inspiration, methinks.
Moffat didn’t entirely exhaust the influence of the novel ranges. I am sure Chibnall can get Lawrence Miles on staff...
Point is, Doctor Who is a prime example of a show basically milking every story possible dry out of any existing story or concept. Its not impossible to find stories to tell with a new Doctor, so I don't trust that quote in any case.
The should consider remaking some of the lost episodes stories because at this point i doubt we will ever get them all back, so why not remake them for all to at least see again, imagine Daleks master plan or The Celest toymaker with todays modern Who and actors.
The should consider remaking some of the lost episodes stories because at this point i doubt we will ever get them all back, so why not remake them for all to at least see again, imagine Daleks master plan or The Celest toymaker with todays modern Who and actors.
I don’t think much of the Celestial Toymaker would fly, and a modernised version would be ten minute of Jodie playing Candy Rush....
I disagree. Big Finish used the character with great effect in multiple stories.
And without relying on Candy Crush.
And without relying on Candy Crush.
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