Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

The outgoing and incoming Doctor do not have to be there at the same time or day. Film Jodie bursting and when the new Doctor is ready, watch the video, set up in position and viola, regeneration.

 

I'll repeat the last sentence of my previous post: I don't really see the BBC assembling a crew to film said regeneration reveal in a vacuum.

David Tennant, Matt Smith, and Peter Capaldi had all been cast before the episodes or Specials in which they made their cameo debuts were fully shot, which made it easy for the Doctor Who production team to capture footage of them.

Such will not be the case here, though, as the BBC Centenary Special that marks the completion of Jodie's tenure will be long finished by the time that her replacement is hired, meaning that the only way to capture footage of whomever is hired to be the Fourteenth Doctor will be to commission a separate and individual film shoot at some point in the next several months, costing the BBC both time and money that I don't believe they are going to want to spend.

 

You could probably do the brief "reveal" bit of a regeneration in post production with a still photo of the new casting.

 

^ Post-production on the Centenary Special will also most likely be long-finished by the time Jodie's replacement is hired.

I get that seeing an on-screen Regeneration has become a tradition, but I just don't think doing one in this particular instance is going to be feasible.

 

You could be right, but people thought the John Bishop "reveal" was a post credit scene in the last episode, when in fact it was a separate teaser. Admittedly he was already filming then.

It does show how something can be added very late in the day though.

 

Pardon my French, but bollocks!

Tennant wasn't anywhere near the set when Eccleston regenerated. Parting of the Ways was filmed in February/March 2005, Tennant filmed his bit on April 21st, Billie wasn't even there so he said his lines to a piece of tape! He then didn't start filming the Christmas Invasion until July.

Obviously it depends where and when Whittaker regenerates, but the cost of filming is likely to be minimal, especially if it's in the Tardis (Which is where every modern Doctor has regenerated) and if Whittaker is alone or with a single companion. Even if they plan to create a new Tardis set (God I hope so) there's no reason 14 can't arrive on Jodie's set which is then destroyed/remade in her/his first episode.

The regeneration and first appearance of a new Doctor is part of the marketing of the show now, event TV and, no offence intended, but more people will show up to see Whittaker regenerate and Who she regenerates into than will turn up to see Jodie alone.

 

And assuming the regeneration happens in the TARDIS with no other characters around, all you need to do is film Whittaker's regeneration first, shoot the set with no actors, and then you don't even need the current set to still be standing when the 14th Doctor's first scene is shot. They can just greenscreen them in.

 

^ exactly. We live in a time where entire characters can be lifted out of films and replaced

 

Yup.

 

Why show the 14th Doctor at all in 13s last story? You could have the regeneration right up to the point the incumbent fades away and then, bang, end credits. You could then do a multi-Doctor 60th anniversary special where for once all the Doctors involved were equals rather than the past-ones being guest stars like Patrick Troughton in the Three, Five & Two Doctors or David Tennant and John Hurt in Time & the Doctor and David Bradley in Twice Upon a Time. Assuming Jodie Whittaker takes part she could merely be the most recent Doctor, 'pinched' from earlier in her timeline. Then, in episode one of series 14 we could see the regeneration completed and the new Doctor could make his debut.

 

Not to be that guy, but Pertwee was announced as the new Doctor in the week before the last episode of The War Games was broadcast in July '69, it's just that the 'regeneration' scene was pre-filmed at Ealing way back in March.

Not that it makes any practical difference!

 

RTD's a fast worker. Through 2022 he could be filming a new season while Jodie's last unspools, and hit the ground running. The secret would be to keep the new Doctor... uhhh, secret. Bad Wolf could be a closed shop and simply not tell anyone, NDAs, the whole schmeer. It would give the new person (nearly said guy) a flying start, get the show back on its feet quickly, which is want the Beeb wants.

Yeah, I know the show moves glacially these days, but they need to inject the money in to get the quality they want. I have enough faith in RTD he could do this.

 

Even that much accommodation might not be necessary. It's become SOP for big movies to film clean backgrounds and lighting reference for every setup, so they can do pickups and reshoots without having to rebuilt a set or return to a location. You couldn't do anything very elaborate and interactive like the TARDIS explosions and crashes of 10-to-11 or 12-to-13, but for a lower-key regeneration like 8-to-War, War-to-9, 9-to-10, 10-to-10, and 11-to-12 where they're pretty much just standing there and offering one or two lines when they come out of the glow, you could easily shoot those anywhere on the planet, with anyone else around, and get the new Doctor's part of the scene months later with just the most cursory preparation.

 

We'll see what happens, but I just don't see a scenario in which the BBC films footage for an onscreen regeneration from the Thirteenth to Fourteenth Doctors before the BBC Centenary Special airs next October.

 

Who wants another Time War, lol!

 

Now is the time for RTD to bury the hatchet and finally let Lawrence Miles have a go at pissing better than Blink in his sleep.

 

True. David Sandberg talked about this on Twitter using Shazam as an example where they shot tons of clean backgrounds and then used some of them in reshoots even when those sets had already been struck. I just don't understand the assumption that it would be too difficult and expensive to show the regeneration in the special.

 

The script Miles wrote to show that he could "piss better than Blink in his sleep" -- "The Book of the World" -- isn't bad, but he's not a screenwriter and it's far too long for what he was trying to do.

 

Exactly. Miles builds extensive worlds to tell stories in. Distilling those ideas down to a 45 minute episode - or even a two-parter - is much harder. Moffatt and RTD have the knack for such. Blink showcased Moff's ability to pull off time-travel shenanigans without flummoxing the audience AND introduce a terrifying new alien all in one ep.

 

The way the show has been going it would now be The Decline War. Lol