News And the Next Animated Reconstruction is...
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If only they were now buddied up with some company that has reputation for animation…
I still say they should fly David Bradley and the An Adventure in Space and Time cast to China and remake "Marco Polo" on location, and on the elaborate historical sets and backlots the Chinese film studios have. I mean, the new show has this huge budget increase now, reportedly, so some of it could be used for that. Maybe Benedict Wong could reprise his role as Kublai Khan from Netflix's Marco Polo, as long as I'm daydreaming.
Yes, and they should film the missing episodes of The Moonbase on location while they're at it. 
As fun as it is to think about the Disney money, there's no indication yet that they have any interest in classic material. We don't even know if the 2005-2022 episodes will be on Disney+ yet. The budget (which RTD has said is significant but not crazy money) is there to make new episodes of Doctor Who with Ncuti Gatwa.
As fun as it is to think about the Disney money, there's no indication yet that they have any interest in classic material. We don't even know if the 2005-2022 episodes will be on Disney+ yet. The budget (which RTD has said is significant but not crazy money) is there to make new episodes of Doctor Who with Ncuti Gatwa.
We have to do it the BBC way, so two days in Chinatown if you’re lucky, and they might try to not get a telephone box in shot. Lots of Chinese actors of course, but they will cast an ‘Asian American’ as Kublai — he or she will likely be from somewhere other than China mind you, and likely Japan as that never offends of course — and Marco Polo will be played by Sir Lenny Henry.
(Edit to add: this is full Sarcasm, but this next bit isn’t — and one day I want a Who episode set in HK, with subtitles, where the director goes full Won Kar Wai. Maybe even a sixties setting and then a 97 setting coda. As long as I am daydreaming too.)
Disney aren't even doing much to promote the Anniversary Specials, they only seem interested in starting with Ncuti's first proper episode.
Which makes sense, as you don't want new viewers introduction to be a sequel to a story from 15 years ago. (And another from 57 years ago!)
Well, no. RTD has made it clear the budget increase that's been reported is a massive exaggeration.
They couldn’t do much anyway, with the strikes — they have mildly promoted the anniversary special though. (We also do not yet know if Ncuti’s role in the specials is just at the end either)
I do not think Disney *would* get involved in recons, but I can see Russell possibly hinting during discussions,
The strikes aren't a factor for Doctor Who, as its writers and actors belong to British unions.
Celestial Toymaker would certainly make the most sense, given that story is likely going to have a spotlight shining on it within the next month or so.
Even putting aside the one part they definitely can't include, the whole thing is shot through with racism from the title down, so I don't see how it's going to work without raising unwanted publicity.
You asserted that about the title back in January, and I addressed why I don't think it holds up, starting here and then two posts later: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/and-the-next-animated-reconstruction-is.300069/page-6#post-14352952
Certainly there are racially problematical elements to it, but I think it's reaching to say the title itself is racist.
Yes, but it led to reduced presence at things like Comic-Con — hence Disney having the Anniversary logo and o think some costumes only on show in I think a merchandise area. No actors were promoting in the US even for UK productions in solidarity.
To most people, even then, it means ‘Toymaker of/in the Stars’ more than anything else. Later Who even has ‘Celestials’ as a term for the Time Lords, which would make ret-conning him into another renegade easy as pi. The Doctor, The Master, The Monk, The Rani, The Toymaker — all makes sense really. Drax is still an outlier, and Romana needs to pick herself a name (other than Imperiatrix of the Nine Gallifreys of course) tbh.
That was RTD's decision to stand in solidarity with the WGA.
Yes.
And Disney chose to rep Who in that little stand, with the logo alongside their other logos.
Watched The Underwater Menace last weekend after I received it and, well...I have mixed thoughts. Watched the animated B&W Episodes 1 & 4 and the surviving Episodes 2 & 3 and maybe that was a mistake. The models for Thous and Damon look very little like the actual actors to me. Zaroff is somewhat better.
I thought they did a pretty good job putting action into the climbing scenes in Eps 1 and 4 but there's only so much they can do with the padding there, especially the first episode. Animating it so that the inner thoughts in the first episode were spoken does make more sense for animation and didn't bother me. I also liked the bit with the sea creature and Zaroff's switch and appreciated them replacing the opening lines with the Ep 3 cliffhanger version. That said, the first episode is an absolute slog to get through and the fourth's ending is at least 5 minutes too long. The animations can only do so much and the second episode shows how Troughton can really elevate the story just with his movement and expressions.
I watched a bit of the recon of the the fourth episode and it was pretty good (especially trying to show movement in the climbing scenes), though it doesn't really convey how Ben closes the gate with Zaroff on the wrong side at all. I plan to go back and watch the full recons for Eps 1 and 4 at some point.
It didn't improve my opinion of the story at all. It's an absolute clunker that's two episodes too long. Episode 1 could be about 5 minutes total and Episode 4 not much longer. Episode 2 is the best, especially Troughton's performance, but the entire TARDIS crew comes off as abysmally stupid in Episode 3 after they've captured Zaroff and fall for his injury ruse. Thous also accepts the Doctor's plan to flood Atlantis far too readily in Episode 4.
I thought they did a pretty good job putting action into the climbing scenes in Eps 1 and 4 but there's only so much they can do with the padding there, especially the first episode. Animating it so that the inner thoughts in the first episode were spoken does make more sense for animation and didn't bother me. I also liked the bit with the sea creature and Zaroff's switch and appreciated them replacing the opening lines with the Ep 3 cliffhanger version. That said, the first episode is an absolute slog to get through and the fourth's ending is at least 5 minutes too long. The animations can only do so much and the second episode shows how Troughton can really elevate the story just with his movement and expressions.
I watched a bit of the recon of the the fourth episode and it was pretty good (especially trying to show movement in the climbing scenes), though it doesn't really convey how Ben closes the gate with Zaroff on the wrong side at all. I plan to go back and watch the full recons for Eps 1 and 4 at some point.
It didn't improve my opinion of the story at all. It's an absolute clunker that's two episodes too long. Episode 1 could be about 5 minutes total and Episode 4 not much longer. Episode 2 is the best, especially Troughton's performance, but the entire TARDIS crew comes off as abysmally stupid in Episode 3 after they've captured Zaroff and fall for his injury ruse. Thous also accepts the Doctor's plan to flood Atlantis far too readily in Episode 4.
To absolutely nobody's surprise, they announced The Celestial Toymaker this morning.
It's using the 3D style animation that was previously used on Web 3. That filled me with fear at first, as I greatly dislike Web 3, but the trailer suggests that they've improved the animation style quite a bit since then, so I have hope. At least we'll have an official recon if nothing else.
No making of documentary this time, probably because everyone except Peter Purves is now deceased, but there is a making of for the animation, which I always enjoy seeing.
It's using the 3D style animation that was previously used on Web 3. That filled me with fear at first, as I greatly dislike Web 3, but the trailer suggests that they've improved the animation style quite a bit since then, so I have hope. At least we'll have an official recon if nothing else.
No making of documentary this time, probably because everyone except Peter Purves is now deceased, but there is a making of for the animation, which I always enjoy seeing.
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