Spoilers Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[The Nth Doctor]

No media outlet has been sent review copies of the finale. Last weeks was sent out in full and the week before with just the mid-credit scene missing.

I'm not surprised. I noticed that Disney didn't publish the media kit photos for "Wish World" until after the episode aired and they haven't released them for "The Reality War" as of my posting of the review thread. The first set of photos were fairly spoiler-y, although I don't know how much the teaser revealed. I imagine the same will be true for "The Reality War."

 

[Rich Watson]

I'm not usually too interested in the music side of things but I just saw that the composer for TWBTL&S will be Lorne Balfe, who is a genuine big-time Hollywood guy. We're talking multiple 'Mission Impossible' movies, Top Gun 2 amongst many, many others.

Edit: And he also did the most recent Wallace & Grommit movie too.

Edit 2: I'm sure it's too late now to apply but he was offering a chance for people to come along to a recording session.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

That must be the logo, which does hit the idea of "The War Between" being the main title with the rest changeing with every series, of which I'm sure there will be many...

 

[jaime]

I'm not usually too interested in the music side of things but I just saw that the composer for TWBTL&S will be Lorne Balfe, who is a genuine big-time Hollywood guy. We're talking multiple 'Mission Impossible' movies amongst many, many others.

Edit: And he also did the most recent Wallace & Grommit movie too.

Sounds expensive.

And it looks like your upscaler may have introduced a chunk of those Artifact after all — there’s another version of the animation planning doing the rounds.

 

[Samurai8472]

It's the eleventh hour for rumors! Closing time soon!

The latest one to come in.

Spoiler

There's chatter going around that the new Doctor will indeed be Rose...but not Billie Piper's Rose.

Kate Winslet is said to be the surprise reveal, and that Billie's name was deliberately 'leaked' to expose the source of the spoilers.

 

[jaime]

It's the eleventh hour for rumors! Closing time soon!

The latest one to come in.

Spoiler

There's chatter going around that the new Doctor will indeed be Rose...but not Billie Piper's Rose.

Kate Winslet is said to be the surprise reveal, and that Billie's name was deliberately 'leaked' to expose the source of the spoilers.

Well, she’s worked with RTD before, in the almost-who Dark Season. Which dared to ask the question ‘what if the seventh doctor was a girl at secondary school?’

 

[The Wormhole]

This particular actress is also who RTD wanted to play River Song, according to The Writer's Tale.

 

[Rich Watson]

Just think, there's probably cinema workers all over the UK and Ireland who know the answer now or could know it but aren't even interested in finding out.

 

[Starkers]

This particular actress is also who RTD wanted to play River Song, according to The Writer's Tale.

Plus he did give her first acting gig

 

[jaime]

Well, I finally got around to watching Demons of The Punjab. It’s true that this new era has made the old not good era look better. Still, I heard that one was alright — guess I was saving it.

 

[Rich Watson]

Well everything Andrew the leaker said was correct right down to the pathetic act of desperation in casting Piper.

Right now the one tiny shread of hope I have is the fact that the credits did not do the usual "and introducing Billie Piper as the Doctor".

Hopefully there's some shenanigans going on as they can't cast the actual next Doctor until they know if there is actually going to be another series.

 

[Rich Watson]

Here some official quotes from Davies and Piper and it's (thankfully) quite noticeable that they're not saying she's playing the Doctor.

Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa says final farewell to the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor regenerates

And as viewers said goodbye to the Doctor, they got a hello from a much-loved face...

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Qonundrum]

Well everything Andrew the leaker said was correct right down to the pathetic act of desperation in casting Piper.

Right now the one tiny shread of hope I have is the fact that the credits did not do the usual "and introducing Billie Piper as the Doctor".

Hopefully there's some shenanigans going on as they can't cast the actual next Doctor until they know if there is actually going to be another series.

When seeing the final moments, I got the impression that, like with Jodie, Ncuti was going to light up and fade out, but at the last moment something whatevered so they were able to record the final half of the regeneration, so I'd be closer to surprised if the show wasn't going to continue in 2027. Last time around, people might have waited with bated breath, but it was Tennant wha wha wha and we got more of the same. Billie is an easy choice in a way, Rose was everyone's favorite companion and even replacements had to be compared against her and, who knows, the actors' lining up and framing can still be edited or doubled-up so if this is nothing more than a stunt, the same effects can have Ncuti->Billie->actualDoctor if Billie ultimately isn't the next incarnation. But if it's the same hyping big baddie returns or cameos of old actors and it's all for nothing and most what everyone else is saying about the stories, how long do you think that can go on? (not actors, stories.)

 

[Daedalus]

Here some official quotes from Davies and Piper and it's (thankfully) quite noticable that they're not saying she's playing the Doctor.

Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa says final farewell to the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor regenerates

And as viewers said goodbye to the Doctor, they got a hello from a much-loved face...

www.bbc.co.uk

Transmat thing? Rose said that about the 10th Doctor in 2005 CiN special Born again. Could be that someone (The Boss?) finally did it.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Here some official quotes from Davies and Piper and it's (thankfully) quite noticeable that they're not saying she's playing the Doctor.

Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa says final farewell to the TARDIS as the Fifteenth Doctor regenerates

And as viewers said goodbye to the Doctor, they got a hello from a much-loved face...

www.bbc.co.uk

IIRC, Moffat was also cagey about who John Hurt's character was in 2013.

However, maybe Russell wants to explore the idea that maybe regeneration isn't what fandom has long assumed it's been. The nature of regeneration developed across the original series -- a renewal by the TARDIS, something forced by the Time Lords as punishment, weird Buddhist things, etc. -- and the idea that it's a simple "a Time Lord's whole body changes when dying and close to death" was a relatively late development ("Time and the Rani"). And the last three regenerations have been weird -- the clothes change, the bigeneration, Billie Piper.

Maybe the Doctor didn't regenerate into someone who looks like Rose. Maybe he regenerated into literally Rose by pulling her out of her timestream, and regeneration is a whole hell of a lot weirder than we thought.

 

[Rich Watson]

IIRC, Moffat was also cagey about who John Hurt's character was in 2013.

The end of "The Name of the Doctor" did the "Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor" bit.

I not saying it's going to be a good idea, whatever it is. In fact I'm pretty confident it's going to be bloody awful. But she's not the Doctor.

 

[Chaos Descending]

... and the idea that it's a simple "a Time Lord's whole body changes when dying and close to death" was a relatively late development ("Time and the Rani").

Huh? That was the whole deal from the Planet of the Spiders on.

 

[kirk55555]

IIRC, Moffat was also cagey about who John Hurt's character was in 2013.

However, maybe Russell wants to explore the idea that maybe regeneration isn't what fandom has long assumed it's been. The nature of regeneration developed across the original series -- a renewal by the TARDIS, something forced by the Time Lords as punishment, weird Buddhist things, etc. -- and the idea that it's a simple "a Time Lord's whole body changes when dying and close to death" was a relatively late development ("Time and the Rani"). And the last three regenerations have been weird -- the clothes change, the bigeneration, Billie Piper.

Maybe the Doctor didn't regenerate into someone who looks like Rose. Maybe he regenerated into literally Rose by pulling her out of her timestream, and regeneration is a whole hell of a lot weirder than we thought.

I think you found the one thing that would literally make me refuse to watch new episodes of Doctor Who ever again . So, I hope you're wrong and they're just cagey about Piper playing The Doctor, which I don't actually mind.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The end of "The Name of the Doctor" did the "Introducing John Hurt as The Doctor" bit.

Yes, but he was also vague in the press. Moffat is a troll at heart.

I not saying it's going to be a good idea, whatever it is. In fact I'm pretty confident it's going to be bloody awful. But she's not the Doctor.

I didn't realize you were Ian Levine's alt.

Huh? That was the whole deal from the Planet of the Spiders on.

Three-to-Four needed the assistance of K'anpo.

Four-to-Five needed the Watcher.

Five-to-six... well, Five thought he was going to die for good.

Six-to-seven was a bump on the head like it was just normal.

 

[Daedalus]

Just spitballing, but IF Piper isn't 16 (seems possible), then the real 16 is in Pete's World wearing Rose's clothes and snogging the face off David Tennant right now.

 

[jaime]

Well everything Andrew the leaker said was correct right down to the pathetic act of desperation in casting Piper.

Right now the one tiny shread of hope I have is the fact that the credits did not do the usual "and introducing Billie Piper as the Doctor".

Hopefully there's some shenanigans going on as they can't cast the actual next Doctor until they know if there is actually going to be another series.

They knocked the scene together with whoever was in the canteen shooting the talking heads for the 20th anniversary of NuWho Unleashed. There’s probably an alternate take with Arthur Darvill.