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The Night Of The Doctor

From reliable sources at Galifreybase, Meetings took place at the BBC today to discuss the popularity of the McGann short

Here's hoping for a future special

He at least deserves a team up episode with another doctor(Tennant,Smith,Capaldi).

That would be nice. I'd also take a radio drama. :)
 
How can the Doctor admit that he fought in the Time War, and that he ended it all, but ignore the years he spent as the Warrior fighting in the said war? Isn't that counter-intuitive?

That's the level where "The Night of the Doctor" falls down for me. McGann's Doctor dies with an "ends justify the means" moment and that doesn't tarnish the reputation of that incarnation, but the apparent centuries where the War Doctor does what he was born to be does?
What I thought strange was that the Universe was on the Brink of destruction yet it looks like Hurt Doctor has a few hundred years to go before he does anything to stop that.
 
How can the Doctor admit that he fought in the Time War, and that he ended it all, but ignore the years he spent as the Warrior fighting in the said war? Isn't that counter-intuitive?

That's the level where "The Night of the Doctor" falls down for me. McGann's Doctor dies with an "ends justify the means" moment and that doesn't tarnish the reputation of that incarnation, but the apparent centuries where the War Doctor does what he was born to be does?
What I thought strange was that the Universe was on the Brink of destruction yet it looks like Hurt Doctor has a few hundred years to go before he does anything to stop that.
Well, remember what the Time Lords said in "The End of Time." The Time War was destroying and reviving and destroying entire star systems over and over again. While all that raged on, it's possible that the Doctor himself continued to age at a normal pace.
 
Or quickly backwards and forwards and slowly backwards and forwards as well as at a normal pace backwards and forwards.
 
I was thinking about what I was saying yesterday about wanting to see that girl again and granted, a lot of it was because she was cute, but I think it was more along the lines of I want to see that era. I watched the first 10 minutes of the 1996 (I will watch it all eventually) on Youtube last night and it doesn't seem like there was the idea of the Time War when that movie came out. I just want to see something of that era become more than just a 6 minute minisode, looking back with deep regret (As we saw in Eccleston's season), or getting some of it with the rebirth of the Time Lords in "The End of Time".

Based on this six minutes, I liked seeing that era, those uniforms, even what little we saw of that ship. Maybe one of these days a Time War movie would work (Much like we we're getting next week or the 1996 movie). Maybe that's what I felt when I watched the episode. Paul McGann? Who's he, never heard of him. Time War? Hey, we finally get to see something that's been mentioned all throughout the series and this is kind of cool. I want more. That's where I think a Prequel series would work.
 
I wonder if we'll get to see any Battle TARDISes in "Day of the Doctor". I haven't read any of the novels, but I understand they exist. Seems like the Time Lords would be calling them into action in this war.
 
The battle TARDIS was never mentioned in the TV media. It has howver been oft-referred to or seen in the various associated media:

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Battle_TARDIS

Once upon a time though, the Time Lords did use Bowships in a war against the Great Vampires (re: "State of Decay"). THAT would be awesome to see.

And if there's a petition to get the BBC to capitalize on McGann and give him more, may it be signed far and wide! The YouTube clip is sitting at 1.2 million hits AND RISING, and I'm sure iTunes and other sources have reported similar awesomeness.

Mark
 
Thank you for the link, Mark! I will check it out, also the Bowships. I also just saw that there was a discussion of this Battle Tardis subject over on page 46 of the thread: '50th Is "The Day Of The Doctor" (And Is 75 Minutes)', for anyone interested.
 
Late to the party, but...

WOW

WOW

WOW!!

Did Not Sere That Coming!

Amazingly cool, and I would be so there for a series of 8th Doctor (and kinda sad RTD didn't go down that road).
RTD wanted to use him, actually, but the BBC vetoed him on it early on.

And honestly, as much as I also grieve for the Eighth Doctor not having a run of his own on TV, but the TV Movie kinda ruined it for him. If you look at that and Rose side by side, you'll see what did the latter do right as a reboot and what the former didn't as an introduction.

That being said, I'd have loved to have had Paul McGann as the Doctor in 2005. I'm sure he'd have stayed for a couple of seasons at least, and with the audios before them, he'd be a complete Doctor early on.

As is, he's still a great Doctor. The audio stories have helped bring him to the fold unlike any other Doctor, and were it not for those, I doubt he'd have been as effective as he was in the minisode yesterday, as that performance was informed by the years and years of characterization the Big Finish have thrust upon him. The name dropping is not the only thing Big Finish did for him - it truly shaped the man, too.

Sure the 1996 TV Movie wasn't without it's problems. But is a new Doctor's introductory story always one of their best stories?

One of the differences is that in 96 when the TV Movie came out, it was only 7 years since the series had gone on indefinate hiatus. So froma certain perspective the show was still fresh in a large portion of the target audiance. Fast forward to 2005 and 16 years had passed wiht only one episode the aforementioned TV Movie. So it was a tad easier to make more of clean break and start with a new incarnation of the Doctor.

The TV Movie pulled somethin like 9m viewers in when it aired in the UK, I believe when "Rose" aired it was in the 9-10m mark as well.

So from a UK perspective it was a success and I suspect had it not been the percieved failure on the US side they BBC would have gone with more episodes featuring McGann.
 
I watched the first 10 minutes of the 1996 (I will watch it all eventually) on Youtube last night and it doesn't seem like there was the idea of the Time War when that movie came out.

Definitely not. That was entirely Russell T. Davies's creation for the new series.


Sure the 1996 TV Movie wasn't without it's problems. But is a new Doctor's introductory story always one of their best stories?

Hmm, let's see.

"An Unearthly Child": The first episode was cool, but the caveman stuff wasn't very interesting, and was easily surpassed by the next few serials.

"The Power of the Daleks": Hard to say, since it's lost.

"Spearhead from Space": Decent, but the production values are iffy and the pacing is slow. Again, it's quickly surpassed by the subsequent stories in the season.

"Robot": I rather like it, despite the video effects that don't hold up well. Though I wouldn't call it one of the top Tom Baker serials.

"Castrovalva": I like this one a lot.

"The Twin Dilemma": Nobody seems to like this one very much.

"Time and the Rani": Ditto, and then some. McCoy's stories got much better later on.

"Rose": A good beginning, but not one of the best.

"The Christmas Invasion": A solid start.

"The Eleventh Hour": Ditto.
 
Rose decanonized Curse of the fatal Deaths and Scream of the Shalka.

How fortunate that NuWho lasted more than a handful of episodes to justify that.
 
That's the level where "The Night of the Doctor" falls down for me. McGann's Doctor dies with an "ends justify the means" moment and that doesn't tarnish the reputation of that incarnation, but the apparent centuries where the War Doctor does what he was born to be does?

Some people believe that soldier is an honorable profession, though most people agree that pillaging, raping and genocide are not honorable at all.

But still, I don't understand, if Hurt is the oldest Doctor yet, why would 9-onward ignore those years that he lived. By all accounts, he should be well over 1500 years old.

The events, and the actual time itself, is time locked away, with the "War Doctor's" entire lifespan sealed away in his own closed time loop. Why count what doesn't actually mean anything to the wider universe anymore outside of the actual event name itself. The universe, which was virtually destroyed by recent accounts, certainly looked relatively untouched when the 9th Doctor onwards have been bounding about through time and space, almost like the whole universe was reset up to a point.
 
If you listen, you can softly hear Lawrence Miles' cries of rage. :p

I want to ask Lawrence on Twitter if he's watched "The Night of the Doctor," but I'm afraid of what he might say!

I wonder what Tat Wood made of the short, given the lengths to which he went in About Time 6 to argue that McGann doesn't count. :)
 
If you listen, you can softly hear Lawrence Miles' cries of rage. :p

I want to ask Lawrence on Twitter if he's watched "The Night of the Doctor," but I'm afraid of what he might say!

I wonder what Tat Wood made of the short, given the lengths to which he went in About Time 6 to argue that McGann doesn't count. :)

In Queer as Folk RTD didn't count Paul McGann either. How times change. :)
 
Sure the 1996 TV Movie wasn't without it's problems. But is a new Doctor's introductory story always one of their best stories?
The TV Movie is at time gorgeous to look at, thanks to the beautiful rendering of the TARDIS - its really like an actual house inside! But the cast try their darnest, especially McGann who really does well with what he has, but... story-wise, its not very good. Still better a start than the 80's Doctors debuts.

"An Unearthly Child": The first episode was cool, but the caveman stuff wasn't very interesting, and was easily surpassed by the next few serials.
Agreed.

"The Power of the Daleks": Hard to say, since it's lost.
Haven't seen it/listened to it.

"Spearhead from Space": Decent, but the production values are iffy and the pacing is slow. Again, it's quickly surpassed by the subsequent stories in the season.
I respectfully disagree. This is the best introductory story for a Doctor in OldWho. The dialogue throughout is effective, the story has a good pace for its time, and the directing is actually pretty thrilling at times - and the fact it was filmed entirely on film helps it enormously. One of the post-regeneration stories.

"Robot": I rather like it, despite the video effects that don't hold up well. Though I wouldn't call it one of the top Tom Baker serials.
Agreed. Its certainly serviceable, and not bad by any means. But understandably more low-key than the first three Doctor's first stories, which are rather iconic compared to this.

Still, it feels like a real end to the Doctor's time with U.N.I.T., and deserves credit for that.

"Castrovalva": I like this one a lot.
Again, respectfully disagree. I thought this one was REALLY slow, with Davison never having much of a chance to actually do much as the Doctor throughout, and the characterization of the companions, which suffered as it did in Logopolis, remains baffingly unresolved, thus proving that Bidmead knew how to write science, but not character. At least it looked good, and Davison, when he DID something, did it well.

"The Twin Dilemma": Nobody seems to like this one very much.
Its only the worst possible introduction to a new Doctor. That is, until a short three years later...

"Time and the Rani": Ditto, and then some. McCoy's stories got much better later on.
... with this pathetic pile of junk. Possibly the worst DW serial ever. If anything showcased why JNT had to leave, its this.

"Rose": A good beginning, but not one of the best.
Its a rather effective start. The Doctor is more mysterious here than he has been for a while, but thats fitting, considering he started that way. Plus, its another Auton story - proof that they're the go-to villains for intro stories.

"The Christmas Invasion": A solid start.
A huge meh. A solid 30 minutes of nothing happens, and like in Castrovalva, the Doctor Sleeps for most of it. A very uninspired start for a new Doctor, but thankfully Tennant owned the part and was ready to prove it.

"The Eleventh Hour": Ditto.
Probably the best post-regeneration story of them all, excluding POTD maybe. Matt Smith is enthusiastically energetic throughout this story, his relationship with Amy is aptly set up, the story is lite, but fittingly so, plus that pace of it is fantastic. One of my favorites.
 
Rose decanonized Curse of the fatal Deaths and Scream of the Shalka.

No, The Curse of the Fatal Death is still canon.
Who says that there was only one War Doctor? The War Doctor played by the young John Hurt in here and the one played by the old John Hurt are different Doctors. And Joanna Lumley was the sixth echo war Doctor. I am still waiting for the minisodes with her regenerating into the 70 year old John Hurt.
 
Lawrence Miles being on Twitter is what makes life worth living.

If you didn't see this, I worked up the courage to ask. Miles has not responded. :)

Christopher said:
Lawrence Miles? Tat Wood? This is new to me.

Miles was one of the eighth Doctor novelists for BBC Books. He wrote Alien Bodies, Interference, and The Adventuress of Henrietta Street. His books are timey-wimey before the term was ever coined. They're considered seminal works in Doctor Who storytelling. Elements of the new series are presaged in these books. (That's being polite. Some say that RTD and Moffat have been ripping off Miles' work for years.)

Wood and Miles wrote a series of guidebooks to the classic series, About Time, until they had a falling out. Wood wrote the sixth volume, which covered the Colin Baker era through the television movie, alone. These books cover the stories, the background to the stories, the themes raised, and the cultural background. They're as much as critical commentary on the series as they are a cultural commentary. They belong on every serious fan's bookshelf.
 
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