Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[matthunter]

I see RTD is doing a series with Helena Bonham-Carter for ITVX on the life of soap actress Nolly Gordon. The comments there both tickle and slap my hopes of HBC being the next female Doctor (she sees herself doing more telly work "since cinema's dead and telly's where the interesting characters are" but admits she gets distracted from projects easily - she only managed two series of The Crown - so would likely not commit to more than a series as the Doctor).

 

[The Nth Doctor]

...but admits she gets distracted from projects easily - she only managed two series of The Crown...

Ummm...they rotate the casts out every two years, with the option of a cameo or two afterwards for the original cast.

 

[Starkers]

Yeah she was only ever going to do two seasons of the Crown same as everyone else (pretty sure Foy has done a fair few cameos however)

 

[matthunter]

Cheers - don't watch it so don't really give a monkey's. BBC article was poorly written/researched then.

 

[Rich Watson]

So it sounds like Ncuti's first series is going to be more Flux-like than standalone stories. Of the previously announced guest stars Producer Phil Collinson says one of them will be in five episodes, with others appearing in more than one.

Hope that doesn't mean 5/8's of the series is set on present-day earth, though.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yeah she was only ever going to do two seasons of the Crown same as everyone else (pretty sure Foy has done a fair few cameos however)

So have John Lithgow, Vanessa Kirby, Ben Miles, Alex Jennings, and a few others.

 

[Jedman67]

There's no reason for RTD to have explicitly specified that Tennant's return to the program will see him playing the fourteenth officially numbered incarnation of the Doctor if we were supposed to see this as a return of the Tenth Doctor somehow.

The Fourteenth Doctor is not the Tenth Doctor even if he looks, sounds, and possibly acts the same.

The 14th Doctor and the 10th Doctor will (probably) be the closest to being the same incarnation of the Doctor than any other regeneration-pair.

So it sounds like Ncuti's first series is going to be more Flux-like than standalone stories. Of the previously announced guest stars Producer Phil Collinson says one of them will be in five episodes, with others appearing in more than one.

I hope it's not like Flux. I don't mind a serialized arc, but it seems that RTD is looking to be more episodic with a season arc rather than multiple parts to the same story.
and a 5/8 guest star could just be another Mickey or Jack.

 

[jaime]

There's no reason for RTD to have explicitly specified that Tennant's return to the program will see him playing the fourteenth officially numbered incarnation of the Doctor if we were supposed to see this as a return of the Tenth Doctor somehow.

The Fourteenth Doctor is not the Tenth Doctor even if he looks, sounds, and possibly acts the same.

My question was merely about whether or not RTD is going to feel a need to - or have the time to - convey that distinction onscreen.

Bit of an inverse Zbrigniev there.

In this case he will look the same, sound the same, and by the looks of things have the same personality… and as the Doctor is the same person, to all intents and purposes, apart from counting incarnations/regenerations, he is the Tenth reborn essentially.

Whilst also being the fourteenth, with whatever changes those intervening years have had (according to a Matrix PowerPoint presentation with a ‘Doctor’ popping up like Clippy — ‘it looks like you are trying to retcon your personal history, would you like some help with that?’ — that is basically ‘nothing at all’. By a staggering coincidence, ‘nothing at all’ is precisely how much the BBC would like you to think has changed…) as part and parcel.

I think he should find the Ainley Master so they can talk existential crisis like only those two would be able.
‘I regenerated into myself, but it was weird, after getting a new cycle… like usurping the order of things you know?’
‘Dear Doctor, I stole the Keeper of Traken’s body after spending an eternity being green.’
‘Never thought we’d have this much in common.’

 

[DigificWriter]

I'm emphasizing RTD having identified Tennant as playing a new and different numbered incarnation of the Doctor because of the way that I view regeneration, where each incarnation of the Doctor is a separate being that shares a 'Hive mind' memory pool carried over from the person they were.

IOW, Two is not the same person as One but remembers being One, Three is not the same person as Two but remembers being Two etc., so even if Fourteen looks, sounds, and acts exactly like Ten, he's still Fourteen, not Ten.

 

[jaime]

I'm emphasizing RTD having identified Tennant as playing a new and different numbered incarnation of the Doctor because of the way that I view regeneration, where each incarnation of the Doctor is a separate being that shares a 'Hive mind' memory pool carried over from the person they were.

IOW, Two is not the same person as One but remembers being One, Three is not the same person as Two but remembers being Two etc., so even if Fourteen looks, sounds, and acts exactly like Ten, he's still Fourteen, not Ten.

I remember being fourteen. Long time ago now, mind you.

 

[The Wormhole]

And when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you you're going to believe them.

What are we even talking about now?

 

[jaime]

And when you're fifteen and somebody tells you they love you you're going to believe them.

What are we even talking about now?

Regeneration. You never know quite what ypu’re going to get.
Or birthdays. Same thing really.

 

[DigificWriter]

To clarify, my view of Regeneration can best be summed up thusly: the memories that each subsequent Doctor has of the lives that preceded their current existence are illusory because they represent experiences that the current incarnation never actually had.

It's like suddenly having memories of a vacation that you never actually took.

 

[jaime]

To clarify, my view of Regeneration can best be summed up thusly: the memories that each subsequent Doctor has of the lives that preceded their current existence are illusory because they represent experiences that the current incarnation never actually had.

It's like suddenly having memories of a vacation that you never actually took.

That’s a bit drastic, and totally foofs up any sequels, his relationship with the Brig, not to mention other overlapping companions and his granddaughter.
I mean, on the plus side, I can see how it works as coping mechanism for the Timeless Child stuff, and possibly even the Web Planet.
I am not sure even Barry Letts would go that far though, and he was big on the daisiest daisy.
Also… isn’t that a bit of a problem paradox wise? Something illusory and an experience they never had, causing their existence in the first thing?
Man. Even Faction Paradox gives less of a headache.

 

[Jedman67]

I'd say it's more like having memories of an earlier time so it's a little bit, feels like "happened a long time ago", even if it was fairly recent; especially in the first few days post regeneration.
Doc is now more than 2,000 years old, some memories would bound to be "older"

 

[Mr Awe]

All I know is that the memories I have from when I was 14 feel like they're from an entirely different person, and I'm considerably younger than 2000!

 

[Sci]

I'm emphasizing RTD having identified Tennant as playing a new and different numbered incarnation of the Doctor because of the way that I view regeneration, where each incarnation of the Doctor is a separate being that shares a 'Hive mind' memory pool carried over from the person they were.

IOW, Two is not the same person as One but remembers being One, Three is not the same person as Two but remembers being Two etc., so even if Fourteen looks, sounds, and acts exactly like Ten, he's still Fourteen, not Ten.

I don't interpret it that way at all. There are certainly some changes, but there's too much continuity of personality from incarnation to incarnation for me to think of them as separate people. The differences we do see strike me as usually being the result of different aspects of their pre-existing personality coming into greater or lesser prominence.

 

[David cgc]

All I know is that the memories I have from when I was 14 feel like they're from an entirely different person, and I'm considerably younger than 2000!

I quite liked Eleventh's regeneration speech because that's how I always thought of it; still the same person, but regenerating was like getting a mega-dose of different life-experience bringing out and pushing back certain aspects of your personality, like if you just cut straight between who a person was twenty or thirty years apart.

Less charitably, you could also describe it as being like getting a traumatic brain injury, which is probably a bit more technically accurate. Whole new brain, whole new body, of course the superficialities are going to change (like the deleted scene from "The Christmas Invasion" where the Doctor complained that saying "fantastic" didn't feel right anymore with his new teeth, and then tries out multiple future catch-phrases, as well as a couple duds).

 

[DigificWriter]

I don't interpret it that way at all. There are certainly some changes, but there's too much continuity of personality from incarnation to incarnation for me to think of them as separate people. The differences we do see strike me as usually being the result of different aspects of their pre-existing personality coming into greater or lesser prominence.

As I said, all of this is how I personally view Regeneration, and is no more correct an interpretation than any other.

 

[Sci]

As I said, all of this is how I personally view Regeneration, and is no more correct an interpretation than any other.

Totally fair. And while I did present my reasons for interpreting it as I did, I didn't want to argue your interpretation is illegitimate and apologize if it came across like that.