Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

I didn’t like much of it at first, but having been revisiting seventies Who and comparing it to that rather than the Ayers/McCulloch/Howell I am more familiar with, Gold is a bit more Dudley Simpson really. It fits well enough.

 

I liked Gold's work but count me in the "reign it in a little" camp. I don't mind music helping to set the mood but I don't like it screaming at me telling me how to feel at any given moment.

 

I loved Murray's music. It's like Ron Jones on TNG - I like themes and memorable tunes.

 

I love Murray Gold and his music. I would be THRILLED if it came back. If you give me a choice between a soaring bombastic score or a sonic wallpaper score, I'll take soaring bombastic every day of the week.

 

Sure, but thankfully, those aren't the only two options.

 

I'd rather see somebody new come in to compose for the show, and my #1 choice would be Pinar Toprak.

 

I associate this theme so closely to the show that it's often surprising to me to realize that it's just an 11th Doctor theme.

 

Love that one. Though my favorite is probably "The Doctor's Theme." Introduced under the Ninth Doctor and continued under the Tenth, but then discontinued as a leitmotif once the Eleventh Doctor was introduced. Too bad, I think using a theme like this across all the subsequent Doctors would have really driven home the idea that this is the same entity. *shrugs*



And then of course there's, "This Is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home" which is just *chef's kiss*

 

You can never have too much gold.

 

I love that so much!

 

Wot, no Doomsday?

 

REIN it in. It's a metaphor derived from controlling a horse. Nothing to do with a monarch's period of rule. Rein it in, free rein, hold the reins. Reign of Elizabeth I, reign of Henry VIII, reign of Louis XIV.

I bought Murray Gold's first Doctor Who soundtrack CD. I think I listened to it once. I'll take Segun Akinola any time.

 

At the conclusion of Day of the Doctor (2013) twelve doctors stood for that anthem!

 

No really major news in the new DWM.

Julie Anne Robinson announced as director Block 3, though that had been leaked already and finally confirmation that Russell is not writing all the episodes but no clue as to who the other writer(s) are.

Talk of using "Marvel-style technology" for the effects, whatever that actually means.

Mention of using drones to film in the TARDIS set because of the speed Ncuti races round it.

 

Both have the same triumphs and problems. Jones' worst stuff is so brash and OTT.

Both are very much "of their time" - Jones for that late 80s new agey synth/classical mixture, and Gold's for that mid-2000s style. It's even more sad when the new agey 80s stuff feels less "conveyor belt".

Even Terry Nation couldn't handle 13 episodes of Blake's 7, with script editor Chris Boucher doing more and more work. I still can't believe that JMS wrote almost every episode of Babylon 5 for its entire 5-season run, it's a rare feat...

But it won't matter how new and fresh new camera direction and sound and visual effects are, without fresh new storylines all that proverbial cake frosting won't mean much, unless that's all viewers want. I wish DWM had more info on the actual storylines to drive interest. It's almost as if we're doing Chibnall's era again regarding little being leaked... Only the leaks given so far aren't impressive as we've seen it all done before, either during Chibnall in an ironic twist - or during RTD1 in a not-a-twist.

"Marvel-style technology" probably means they're using the same motion control and other large server farm systems to put in the most expensive effects, which are admittedly very impressive. That said, and without digressing for once, one truism still remains: Effects can complement a poor script, but the f/x can never be the story - they date the fastest, since there are no forums devoted to "The Mind's Eye" VHS videos from 1990 that pimped the then-latest CGI development eye candy too.

The new TARDIS console room set is larger, so getting people to run around it - sounds nice, on the surface. If the thing had a swimming pool in the classic run, then the modern run has an Olympic size track and stadium too. That'll rake in zillions of viewers.

 

My fourth grade English teacher would be spinning right now over any number of things nowadays... it's not always a "Generational" thing, either...

I'd bought some TOS and TNG soundtracks in the past. I'll admit to have barely re-listened to many of them (Jones the most, TOS the least.) The music is definitely competently done or better, but the mindset of re-listening to "I wanna listen to that soundtrack" isn't as high up as wanting to re-listen to the Ramones' "I wanna sniff some glue"... or, better yet, "I wanna be sedated", but I digress.

Segun's style is an interesting mix, using noises to sell a mood more. His worst days sound like "wallpaper music" or "Murray clone". Usually he's somewhere in the middle.


Last but not least:


Best. Music. Video. Ever. There's nothing like a music video where the mains are having to act in slow-motion, while the camera is cranked up to make everyone else look faster - so they're really doing this slow. I'm more impressed by that than CGI.


Yup. It's a real song. Not sure if they're being serious*, and I thought society got over the addiction things in the 60s (the Jefferson Airplane album "Crown of Creation" has a few songs arguably glorifying snorting things and getting high as well) but - yup - for once I'd rather listen to the season 5-7 wallpaper glop than that song... or maybe not, the "glue" song has more going on tonally, even if it's OTT.

* Just looked it up, and - yup - they were just being silly and it was NOT their intent to get kids to sniff glue: https://www.songfacts.com/facts/ramones/now-i-wanna-sniff-some-glue (which isn't difficult to guess, but on the flip side it's not difficult to guess the two most popular points of view... )

 

DWM is not going to get information on the show's storylines a year in advance. They didn't even get that kind of information during RTD's first era.

Whatever else one may think of Chibnall's time in charge, the fact he was able to maintain secrecy and prevent leaks is in fact proof he was doing something right, not a flaw that proves he was unfit.

 

I have my issues with the Chibnall era and I get the argument that he could’ve promoted the show better. On the other hand, remaining utterly unspoilt about the cameos of the previous Doctors in his final episode was just great.

 

Both showed up in my news feed this AM, LOL:

https://variety.com/2023/tv/global/bbc-viagra-drama-men-up-russell-t-davies-1235539437/
(Signs up as executive producer for another new show)

A few days later:

https://screenrant.com/doctor-who-russell-t-davies-future/
(Claims DW will be his sole focus for years to come)

 

True. But we've been told by cast and crew that they're going to give us more of what we want (e.g. an early video of Ncuti's with Russell in camera view too) so they must know something... or they're pulling audiences' legs and letting audiences set themselves up for potential disappointment. I don't see that helping the show either.