Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
Okay, yeah I'd watch...
Okay, yeah I'd watch...
If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go with ?
- Thread starter GBaxter
- Start date
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
So would I. - I am humbled by this idea.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
You should apologize to all the guys who instantly envisioned Buffy dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl because that's not what you meant.
Or just change your concept to that - it would beat the spit out of Bikini Car Wash.
You should apologize to all the guys who instantly envisioned Buffy dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl because that's not what you meant.
Or just change your concept to that - it would beat the spit out of Bikini Car Wash.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
Not if heterosexual guys with jobs were the target audience...
You should apologize to all the guys who instantly envisioned Buffy dressed as a Japanese schoolgirl because that's not what you meant.
Or just change your concept to that - it would beat the spit out of Bikini Car Wash.
Not if heterosexual guys with jobs were the target audience...
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
Straight guys don't go for Japanese schoolgirls?
Huh. You learn something new here every day.
Straight guys don't go for Japanese schoolgirls?
Huh. You learn something new here every day.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
Izzat a zen koan?
Izzat a zen koan?
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
Okay, here's one.
A lot of people in the Who forum were whining about this and that . "The Doctor never comes to America" (obviously before this year), "The Doctor isn't a woman", The Doctor isn't black", and so on. So I thiought, right, let's have a stab at this - keeping the essentials of Who, but making it completely different. Again, this is the short hand version, because I don't have the notes I wrote at hand. Note: River Song was around, but this was never River Song, or Berniece Summerfield (which I've never read), and was befoe the Ponds.
A woman rescues a young couple on a bit of a crime spree. They're about to get caught... and she's stealing stuff from the same museum.
They run through a doorway, an are suddenly somewhere else in a spaceship. The woman (think Alison Janney) explains the ship is 'between dimensions', occupying the same space as the museum, but not, and the doorway is the interface, which can appear in any shape on any wall, perfect camouflage (and a huge saving on FX). This ship is also stolen, and she doiesn't exactly know all the control systems, she's learning as she goes along. It's also a timeship.
She started as a thief, but has become interested in history and time, and travels to museums across the galaxy trying to understand (there may be an arc story there of some kind too). And they have crazy adventures and desperate ventures. Sort of a cross between Who and Farscape.
At the end of the first season, the woman is fatally injured and dies... then sits up again, She shows the couple a device strapped to her arm, which acts as "an external hard drive", and gives her enough resources to propel her dead body back to the ship ("Yes, okay, I'm a zombie! Happy now? Now let's get back to the ship!") Once there, she climbs into a machine that can rebuild her, revitalise the dead cells. "It uses my cells and DNA. But I'll be different. I'll have the same memories and so on, but... I'll be like, I don't know... like my sister. If I had one. Look a little the same, or not. Different mannerisms, or not. But I will be different". The machine closes up, a huge surge of energy and a flash of light, and out steps... well, not Alison Janney. "Okay, where to now?"
So, the question is, is it worth my while to work on this? Would you watch it? Does it seem too Who? Keep in mind aside from the essentials (mystery person, mystery ship that can go anywhere, regeneration) I'd work to make it as different as I could.
Speak!
Okay, here's one.
A lot of people in the Who forum were whining about this and that . "The Doctor never comes to America" (obviously before this year), "The Doctor isn't a woman", The Doctor isn't black", and so on. So I thiought, right, let's have a stab at this - keeping the essentials of Who, but making it completely different. Again, this is the short hand version, because I don't have the notes I wrote at hand. Note: River Song was around, but this was never River Song, or Berniece Summerfield (which I've never read), and was befoe the Ponds.
A woman rescues a young couple on a bit of a crime spree. They're about to get caught... and she's stealing stuff from the same museum.
They run through a doorway, an are suddenly somewhere else in a spaceship. The woman (think Alison Janney) explains the ship is 'between dimensions', occupying the same space as the museum, but not, and the doorway is the interface, which can appear in any shape on any wall, perfect camouflage (and a huge saving on FX). This ship is also stolen, and she doiesn't exactly know all the control systems, she's learning as she goes along. It's also a timeship.
She started as a thief, but has become interested in history and time, and travels to museums across the galaxy trying to understand (there may be an arc story there of some kind too). And they have crazy adventures and desperate ventures. Sort of a cross between Who and Farscape.
At the end of the first season, the woman is fatally injured and dies... then sits up again, She shows the couple a device strapped to her arm, which acts as "an external hard drive", and gives her enough resources to propel her dead body back to the ship ("Yes, okay, I'm a zombie! Happy now? Now let's get back to the ship!") Once there, she climbs into a machine that can rebuild her, revitalise the dead cells. "It uses my cells and DNA. But I'll be different. I'll have the same memories and so on, but... I'll be like, I don't know... like my sister. If I had one. Look a little the same, or not. Different mannerisms, or not. But I will be different". The machine closes up, a huge surge of energy and a flash of light, and out steps... well, not Alison Janney. "Okay, where to now?"
So, the question is, is it worth my while to work on this? Would you watch it? Does it seem too Who? Keep in mind aside from the essentials (mystery person, mystery ship that can go anywhere, regeneration) I'd work to make it as different as I could.
Speak!
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
From what I know of Doctor Who, the whole point to the character is to be British. Other than that, it's just a bunch of sci fi elements we've seen in other places and there's nothing distinctive about that part.
So there's no point to changing the demographic details of the character. You're left with nothing. What you've described above is just a bunch of sci fi "stuff" that doesn't sound any more interesting than any random collection of sci fi "stuff" that I or anyone else here could invent.
And a ship that "can go anywhere" is too convenient - it's corny. I'd avoid that angle altogether. (Avoid time travel for the same reason, unless you're willing to really think through the rules of time travel and impose sensible limitations on what the characters can do. Don't use sci fi elements as a storytelling crutch/magic wand.)
Why not just come up with a sci fi character for an interesting actress of Allison Janney's caliber that has something different about her that we haven't seen before? Or forget what actor is going to play the part and start with a distinctive core to the story and figure out the details from there.
The first question you need to answer: why would anyone care about this character? From the story you've outlined, the character has no really strong motivation. They find a gizmo, they goof around with it. That's not nearly compelling enough.
From what I know of Doctor Who, the whole point to the character is to be British. Other than that, it's just a bunch of sci fi elements we've seen in other places and there's nothing distinctive about that part.
So there's no point to changing the demographic details of the character. You're left with nothing. What you've described above is just a bunch of sci fi "stuff" that doesn't sound any more interesting than any random collection of sci fi "stuff" that I or anyone else here could invent.
That's just surface stuff, and you can't build a good story from that. Those elements could be part of a good story, but you need to find some core that matters.
And a ship that "can go anywhere" is too convenient - it's corny. I'd avoid that angle altogether. (Avoid time travel for the same reason, unless you're willing to really think through the rules of time travel and impose sensible limitations on what the characters can do. Don't use sci fi elements as a storytelling crutch/magic wand.)
Why not just come up with a sci fi character for an interesting actress of Allison Janney's caliber that has something different about her that we haven't seen before? Or forget what actor is going to play the part and start with a distinctive core to the story and figure out the details from there.
The first question you need to answer: why would anyone care about this character? From the story you've outlined, the character has no really strong motivation. They find a gizmo, they goof around with it. That's not nearly compelling enough.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
A few years ago a friend of mine had an idea. I can't recall the name of the current show, but it's about a guy who is dropped into areas with hostile conditions and he has to survive off the land with a bare minimum of supplies. Well my friend's idea was to spin this off into a SF series about someone dropped onto hostile alien worlds and having to survive with few supplies and his own resourcefulness.
I suppose you'd have to be really imaginative to make that run longer than a season.
A few years ago a friend of mine had an idea. I can't recall the name of the current show, but it's about a guy who is dropped into areas with hostile conditions and he has to survive off the land with a bare minimum of supplies. Well my friend's idea was to spin this off into a SF series about someone dropped onto hostile alien worlds and having to survive with few supplies and his own resourcefulness.
I suppose you'd have to be really imaginative to make that run longer than a season.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
I'm just saying they'd go for 'em faster if the schoolgirls were in bikinis and soaking wet and hanging off of hot rods.
The Eight Doctor came to America. So did the Tenth. Somebody's not paying attention.
He wouldn't be, having first been created in 1964.
See above.
I'm just saying they'd go for 'em faster if the schoolgirls were in bikinis and soaking wet and hanging off of hot rods.
The Eight Doctor came to America. So did the Tenth. Somebody's not paying attention.
He wouldn't be, having first been created in 1964.
See above.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
It's not 1964 anymore. The only reason The Doctor can't be black or a woman is if, in addition to being British as his "core" thing, he represents nostalgia for the lost British Empire with its now outdated assumptions about gender and race. Perhaps people like visiting a reactionary scenario where modern assumptions don't apply.
Just guessing here, but this is the only explanation I can come up with for the otherwise inexplicable "rules" about how The Doctor can't be this, that or the other thing. He's a frakkin alien. The writers can have him morph into a 100-ft tall space octopus with tentacles waving around if they want.
I'd always thought the uniforms were part of the draw, I guess...
I suspect they are for some guys. Maybe not for you.
That's not a bad idea, although I might prefer the Earth-based version because you'd have the added facet of wondering where on Earth the guy had been dropped. Regardless of the terrain and climate, it could be a lot of places. How far is he from civilization? How fast can he (or the audience) identify where he is, based on plant and animal life?
It's not 1964 anymore. The only reason The Doctor can't be black or a woman is if, in addition to being British as his "core" thing, he represents nostalgia for the lost British Empire with its now outdated assumptions about gender and race. Perhaps people like visiting a reactionary scenario where modern assumptions don't apply.
Just guessing here, but this is the only explanation I can come up with for the otherwise inexplicable "rules" about how The Doctor can't be this, that or the other thing. He's a frakkin alien. The writers can have him morph into a 100-ft tall space octopus with tentacles waving around if they want.
I'd always thought the uniforms were part of the draw, I guess...
I suspect they are for some guys. Maybe not for you.
That's not a bad idea, although I might prefer the Earth-based version because you'd have the added facet of wondering where on Earth the guy had been dropped. Regardless of the terrain and climate, it could be a lot of places. How far is he from civilization? How fast can he (or the audience) identify where he is, based on plant and animal life?
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
Not on a typical DW effects budget they can't.
No, the simplest reason for why the Doctor can't be other things is that, alien or not, he was born with a specific physiology that even regeneration can't change. He was born a light-complected male, and it makes the most sense if he's always a light-complected male.
The British thing is mainly about where he regenerates. The Eighth Doctor was generated in America, so his Britishness was less pronounced than say the Ninth Doctor.
Depends on the uniform. I don't get the appeal of the sailor suits. The ones in Bible Black on the other hand...
Not on a typical DW effects budget they can't.
No, the simplest reason for why the Doctor can't be other things is that, alien or not, he was born with a specific physiology that even regeneration can't change. He was born a light-complected male, and it makes the most sense if he's always a light-complected male.
The British thing is mainly about where he regenerates. The Eighth Doctor was generated in America, so his Britishness was less pronounced than say the Ninth Doctor.
I'd always thought the uniforms were part of the draw, I guess...
I suspect they are for some guys. Maybe not for you.
Depends on the uniform. I don't get the appeal of the sailor suits. The ones in Bible Black on the other hand...
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
If they refuse to make the character anything but a British white male in this day and age, there's a reason behind it. I don't mind if they want to do things that way. If I don't like it, I won't watch the show (and I don't). I don't expect every show in existence to suit my particular tastes. But they should at least be honest about things.
Have the series producers ever directly addressed this issue?
That makes absolutely no sense. The writers determine the rules of regeneration. If they wanted, they could establish that the ninth regeneration must be female, the tenth must be dark-complected, etc. Actors suited to those roles are as easy to cast as any of the white males they've already opted for.
If they refuse to make the character anything but a British white male in this day and age, there's a reason behind it. I don't mind if they want to do things that way. If I don't like it, I won't watch the show (and I don't). I don't expect every show in existence to suit my particular tastes. But they should at least be honest about things.
Have the series producers ever directly addressed this issue?
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
Yes they could, if they wanted to utterly destroy the Kirk/Spock-like recognizability of a half-century old science fiction icon! Think about it: we're on the Eleventh guy playing this part, but give a total neophyte a couple minutes in the middle of one of the latest episodes and they'll be able to tell they're watching the Doctor. Why? Cause it's a goofy white British guy spouting techno-nonsense for the good part of an hour while acting like it's all brilliantly important! This is a role created by William Hartnell that's best played by variations on William Hartnell.
Fine. Let them play other Time Lords. There've been black ones and female ones. There is absolutely no reason to regenerate the Doctor into an Anglo-African or a woman.
I just gave you a perfectly plausible sci-fi reason. He was born a white boy. Every regeneration will be born a white boy because his DNA can't make him anything else. He's a Time Lord, not a Changeling!
And I'm not crazy about every Doctor, but out of all the regenerations I don't like, the fact that none of them were Black has never been one of the reasons for my dislike.
What have they been dishonest about???! They cast the character over and over again based on an archetype created in 1964...a popular, long-lasting archetype! There is no motive other than "Please keep watching the goofy white guy in the Police Box so the BBC will keep giving us money!"
Not to my knowledge, and I see no reason why they'd have to.
Yes they could, if they wanted to utterly destroy the Kirk/Spock-like recognizability of a half-century old science fiction icon! Think about it: we're on the Eleventh guy playing this part, but give a total neophyte a couple minutes in the middle of one of the latest episodes and they'll be able to tell they're watching the Doctor. Why? Cause it's a goofy white British guy spouting techno-nonsense for the good part of an hour while acting like it's all brilliantly important! This is a role created by William Hartnell that's best played by variations on William Hartnell.
Fine. Let them play other Time Lords. There've been black ones and female ones. There is absolutely no reason to regenerate the Doctor into an Anglo-African or a woman.
I just gave you a perfectly plausible sci-fi reason. He was born a white boy. Every regeneration will be born a white boy because his DNA can't make him anything else. He's a Time Lord, not a Changeling!
And I'm not crazy about every Doctor, but out of all the regenerations I don't like, the fact that none of them were Black has never been one of the reasons for my dislike.
What have they been dishonest about???! They cast the character over and over again based on an archetype created in 1964...a popular, long-lasting archetype! There is no motive other than "Please keep watching the goofy white guy in the Police Box so the BBC will keep giving us money!"
Not to my knowledge, and I see no reason why they'd have to.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
You know, I've never been a big Doctor Who fan, but there is no 'Kirk/Spock-like recognizability of a half-century old science fiction icon'.
At all.
This is the first one:
This is the current, eleventh one:
Now aside from being Anglo-Saxons with penises, these guys don't seem to be following an iconic 'look'.
He's an alien with a built-in excuse to be regularly recast. If the laws of his recasting require him to inexplicably be a Caucasoid with Received Pronunciation, then just let something go haywire in the process and ta-da! Moving on...
There's definitely a nostalgia for the British Empire in Who, but's mostly one of Britain's lost relevancy.
You know, I've never been a big Doctor Who fan, but there is no 'Kirk/Spock-like recognizability of a half-century old science fiction icon'.
At all.
This is the first one:
This is the current, eleventh one:
Now aside from being Anglo-Saxons with penises, these guys don't seem to be following an iconic 'look'.
He's an alien with a built-in excuse to be regularly recast. If the laws of his recasting require him to inexplicably be a Caucasoid with Received Pronunciation, then just let something go haywire in the process and ta-da! Moving on...
There's definitely a nostalgia for the British Empire in Who, but's mostly one of Britain's lost relevancy.
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
And I find it amazing that the people lodging this complaint never watch the show!
But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I hear people bitch and moan about things Rush Limbaugh says all the time, but when I ask "Have you ever actually listened to him?" I get [blank stare] Well, no, but [righteous indignation] I heard about it on the news and he shouldn't have said that!"
Of course, you managed to completely miss the couple or so Doctors that actually looked like William Hartnell...
...but whatever. You never watched...
...but dang it! They shouldn't keep recasting him into an Evil White Male!
Look, can I say something here?
I'm Black.
I don't give a shit that the guy's White.
If I don't care, why does it bother you so much??
And I find it amazing that the people lodging this complaint never watch the show!
But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I hear people bitch and moan about things Rush Limbaugh says all the time, but when I ask "Have you ever actually listened to him?" I get [blank stare] Well, no, but [righteous indignation] I heard about it on the news and he shouldn't have said that!"
but there is no 'Kirk/Spock-like recognizability of a half-century old science fiction icon'.
At all.
This is the first one:
This is the current, eleventh one:
Now aside from being Anglo-Saxons with penises, these guys don't seem to be following an iconic 'look'.
Of course, you managed to completely miss the couple or so Doctors that actually looked like William Hartnell...
...but whatever. You never watched...
...but dang it! They shouldn't keep recasting him into an Evil White Male!
Look, can I say something here?
I'm Black.
I don't give a shit that the guy's White.
If I don't care, why does it bother you so much??
Re: If you had to create your own TV show,what concept would you go wi
We get British TV like, a lot, for some reason (anyone want to take a wild guess here?)
I don't like it that much. Hence the appellation of 'not a fan'.
Doesn't matter. The only unifying feature you can give for all eleven that I can see is they're white British men.
I've seen the show.
We get British TV like, a lot, for some reason (anyone want to take a wild guess here?)
I don't like it that much. Hence the appellation of 'not a fan'.
Doesn't matter. The only unifying feature you can give for all eleven that I can see is they're white British men.
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