Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
Learn your terms! That's not "confirmation." It's rumors.
Citation: trust me, bro
That you think you're merely a pessimist is cute.
For Record Store Day, the audio of The Tenth Planet is being offered as a two LP collector edition on silver vinyl.
LP One
Side A - Episode 1
Side B - Episode 2
LP Two
Side A - Episode 3
Side B - Episode 4
LP One
Side A - Episode 1
Side B - Episode 2
LP Two
Side A - Episode 3
Side B - Episode 4
We get it, you don't like it that the seasons were filmed so far in advance. Everyone gets it.
I neither like nor dislike it. I just think it’s a bad idea. Ironically, if there was no social commentary angle (though in recent years it’s ‘commentary’ is borderline WWE Wrestling level…) then it wouldn’t matter. (As long as you don’t accidentally hiring someone who later gets embroiled in scandal or something)
Sometimes the world changes and you have to think on your feet to adjust… and if you’re too many in the can and drip feeding out, that becomes impossible.
It also means if something or someone isn’t working, and you’re not landing with audiences as intended, your ship is significantly harder to turn back on course. Or, conversely, if something or someone lands really well, and you need *more* well… whoops, opportunity missed.
I think it’s bad as an approach to production, and affects the quality of the show.
Another thing that likely bothers some about it, is that there is a sort of backlash against shorter seasons — and knowing it *could*have been twice as long is likely frustrating to those people. Last season had a quarter of its run time essentially Doctor-lite, and there were eight other episodes right there. The ending didn’t land well with a *lot* of people. What if it hadn’t ended there? Then that is mitigated from failure to land into a mid-season stumble.
But we are where we are, clumsy as it may be.
Never thought I would miss Chibnall.
Whatever wording you want to use, you've made your opinion on the matter known. Repeatedly. Yet you've never explained what should have been done instead. After all the whining over the years from other fans about how long Moffat and Chibnall took to make their seasons, what should RTD have done? Stuck to biannual releases anyway? Or kill himself working round the clock all year long just so the season could be relevant and topical? You seem completely unwilling to accept the fact of the matter that the only way they could keep the show on an annual release schedule without taking a toll on RTD's health the way it did last time is to film the show so far in advance.
A whole year, working with a team, to produce about eight hours of television, ideally about twelve though, hardly seems that difficult. It’s not sixty hours in a week on night shifts in an A&E. It’s not 21st Century Top Gear, for a more televisual comparison.
However did they manage to make television for a series every year in the old days? Back when a season of most things was twenty plus episodes?
Make a years worth in a year. Simples.
He’s not handcarving props, or using ink made from his own blood and tears you know.
Nor do I have any insistence that it be relevant and topical — that’s his choice.
All you’re really telling me is that the show isn’t often well managed, and too much lies with one person by *their* choice.
And yet, hardly anyone seems able to do it. Eight episodes or less seems the norm for streaming shows these days, and they're all on a biannual release schedule, or longer even.
We know American network shows rely heavily on insane amounts of overtime in order to get twenty episodes out a year, which circles back to whether people should be killing themselves in order to maintain an annual release schedule or not.
And yet, "the world moves on and changes between when it's filmed and when it airs" is your common catchphrase when complaining about advanced production.
The television industry is in a downward spiral for sure. But things which overall make money for the corporation should be less affected. At the very least, there is a lot of cloth cutting needed by the corporation, and they are in a jam. But that’s almost by-the-by in this case, and quite different to ‘don’t tire out the old man’. Finances versus man hours — there is no way RTD would have to work the way you described. Doctor Who is not Eastenders, and if it were, it would not be made the way he has decided to make Who.
And the world does move on between when a thing is filmed and when it airs — so being careful in writing something that does not date hard, and don’t stock up in advance so much that you can’t respond to an audience.
It sounds like the independent contractor TV model is having its bubble burst after thirty years or so.
I wish the BBC could find itself and get back to how it used to be, even if some things are scaled back (less news reporters on site, when a chap or chapess at a desk and some picture will do for the news for a start… and save money on expensive celebrity talent, when what’s needed is new people up and coming. Anyway, that’s a different and long discussion) but there is no sensible reason why a years worth of a program should take more than a year to make, if the people doing it are at least competent at their jobs.
Multiple seasons in advance is risky for sure. Red Dwarf did it for 11 and 12, and 11 definitely has aged better.
Even movies- 1978's Superman filmed its sequel back to back and, with zero precedent, the makers got too worried with the (then-adult, not camp content) and replaced Donner with Lester (who did bring some improvements, at least for some of II. III went too far in the wrong direction) Regardless, Superman's first flick then had the time travel reset button that was intended for S2, among other changes. (Amusingly, deleted seasons in S2 show the now-humanified villains being escorted by all the police who made it to the north pole just in time, but the theatrical cut just has them... falling into a bottomless pit/abyss.)
I'd wager we'd have seen more filler and build-up episodes to that finale. The Dr-lite stuff did not help. some ideas were bad, some lack so much basic logic and the reason this Doctor gives is beyond asinine, never mind the allegedly multi-series "mavity" and other arcs, Ruby's reveal is gaslighting the audience, Family Guy style jokes in terms of length as well as content, etc, etc.
But it hasn't necessarily ended there. There's another season coming up. If the Xmas special didn't have as many as 4million viewers on the initial/overnight viewing then it's really be worse.
Chibnall's era was hit or miss, but it was nowhere near as bad-at-base-level as some claimed. Some ideas could have been told better, true, and maybe a more proactive Doctor instead of 13 being like Davison-lite, as well as more compelling scripts, but that's about it. 13 still had a good-sized fanbase and not every incarnation is going to be enjoyed by everyone, of course.
CGI rendering farms have come a long way since 1987, but it still takes time - one little camera reshoot with one lightbulb of out place runs the risk of having to re-render whole scenes to match up with the altered light sources in the 3D editor. The more the CGI, the more delay occurs. Especially if it's rendered in 4K as opposed to 2K as movies made two decades ago, despite 4K being a possibility, was just too slow to do. With more films completely "filmed" digitally as opposed to actual film stock, there is a hurdle or wall - for which AI upscaling can only do so much with. 4K definitely is the sweet spot and 8K will be limited in scope due to sheer and inevitable size. At least until compression algorithms as well as network technology improve to scale up and around these limiters.
Plus, how many audiences can handle a simple "televised stage play" approach? Oh, you will see some youtube channels reacting to 40~50 year old stuff, but they're not representing anyone except themselves and other channels exist that gripe and whinny about everything old because it's not as "shiny" as it is today, which is weird because most shows nowadays are graded with a too-contrived muted dull teal/orange palette and some home video releases are now being re-graded to look like the same shades of puke as well.
It'll be two and a half years between One Piece Season 1 & 2. And that's eight episodes per season.
Dear god do I hate the teal/orange thing.
I am still pretty sure they fecked with The Five Doctors like that, because Davisons red stripes and piping is just wrong. (And Jurassic Park for its first Blu release for sure did a number on the jeeps.)
I think maybe if the money and planning isn’t there, then you have to depend on older faster ways of doing things, and write accordingly. It’s also the downside the the Beeb essentially having no in-house FX/Music departments anymore too — no economy of scale to benefit from, no crazy dudes making spaceships on the side so you can just nab something off the shelf. (And no Roger Moore donating left over Bond props to the cash strapped Auntie Beeb so they can turn up in a Cyberman story… )
The closest thing to that, ironically, was the War Games in Colour nabbing the fan made YouTube regen.
I would say get your big CGI FX shots locked in early, so there’s time to get it done. You can finesse the script a bit afterwards if needed. Though that has so much possibility for going wrong, that I lean more towards cloth cutting and going physical and in-camera as much as possible. It’s not going to look like a Marvel movie, but maybe that’s a good thing.
Televised stage play… well, they are chasing musical theatre fans aren’t they? Of the four million still watching, which would notice?
But seriously, I think there are ways of writing and presenting things that don’t have to be as hard as some people like to think. Wild Blue Yonder was a two hander (plus a short actor for the robot suit) and even if that was done without the CG would have been just as effective as it was. Even RTD admits that without the budget for the CG, he would just do pared back ghost story stuff. Maybe Who would benefit from that for a while. It certainly did Season 26 no harm, having people work within their constraints.
(Nothing in New Who can touch Curse of Fenric, for example, shiny or otherwise.)
I had to turn off the wailing banshee noise, but check this out for great comparisons between the blu-ray and DVD releases:
The videotape footage looks the same, and the 16mm film inserts do look color-correct for what had to have been a cloudy cold morning. The original composite having a too-warm look, where even the rocks were all mud-brown rather than the slate look with green and blue adornments. The added contrast detail is a huge benefit from the remastered film scrans as videotape was limited and you wouldn't get that much extra detail from any digital enhancements. They really are keeping these as close to transmission-style as possible, and when changes are made they've generally been top notch (hi snake in "Kinda"!
)Big salute to Sir Roger then; I saw the props between movie and tv stories and wondered "How'd they get there, renting them?"
The BBC definitely did a ton with what was available and it's amazing how well it holds up. Yeah, newer production methods look better but - at least to me - the older methods don't detract. Or we got used to "wobbling sets" and the rest of the descriptors as kids or we were watching the show for other reasons.
It's technically BBC trademarks being worked it - it'd be an honor for a fan to have their work officially put into an official production.
Interesting. This would still be somewhat difficult for scenes blending live action and CGI, but a nonissue for space f/x shots for sure.
Televised stage play… well, they are chasing musical theatre fans aren’t they? Of the four million still watching, which would notice?
No clue what modern fans like. Apart from, if going for the biggest numbers is the number one factor, then aiming at the lowest common denominator becomes inevitable. Problem is, many audiences will just switch channels every 2 seconds. Difference is, a lot of us did the same thing as kids until we found something we thought was interesting.
A lot of classic DW did "ghost story" shtick, so did Sapphire & Steel and they really came up with a lot of clever stuff, even if the occasional plot trope was reused - it still had unique twists per episode that kept it fresh. Trouble is, if some fans are saying that their kids tried to watch "Pyramids of Mars" (after seeing "Empire of Death" where everyone is turned to sand then put back to normal afterward a few minutes later) and got bored and wondered when the action would take place, then is the show for them? I hate that phrase, but some audiences want incessant whizbang action and others simply adore the suspense and buildup as we all know the big bad, if it escapes, will kill everything and the fun is how it's prevented from happening, then how do both audiences get enough thrown their way to stick with the story? Then again, a lot of us growing up in the 80s saw lots of color shows in stereo and had no qualms seeing b&w mono stuff after that. 100% of the audience is impossible, unless you get rid of every other show, which is really stupid because that doesn't mean everyone will then tune in to just the one remaining. Unless it's Doctor Who and thankfully "City of Death" was airing that month...
Bloody hell; just realised that next month is TWENTY YEARS since the series returned. (And people still call it New, or even worse, Nu Who!)
Now I know they've already said there will be nothing in the series to acknowledge this but are they really not doing anything to celebrate the anniversary at all?
Then again, I guess it would be hard when out of the five cast members from that first series one wouldn't be involved while Davies is in charge and two are serial sexual harassers.
Now I know they've already said there will be nothing in the series to acknowledge this but are they really not doing anything to celebrate the anniversary at all?
Then again, I guess it would be hard when out of the five cast members from that first series one wouldn't be involved while Davies is in charge and two are serial sexual harassers.
Right. You "just" realised this.
Didn't have it locked and loaded, ready to bitch about a show you clearly no longer enjoy, except insofar as you can annoy people who do with relentlessly negative comments.
Yep. Totally believable.
Indeed. Never a positive post, all ready and set for only doom and gloom, and how dare people still enjoy the show.
Guess he's got some free time on his hands now he's killed the series he once saved.
Doctor Who and It's a Sin's Russell T Davies announces new LGBTQ+ drama Tip Toe
The new series has been described as "an urgent yet gripping tale".
www.radiotimes.com
