Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[Starkers]

But Flux did wind up giving us two great episodes, two good episodes and two meh episodes. That it was less than the sum of it's parts is a problem, but I did mostly enjoy it (until it all fell apart at the end)

Legend of the Sea Devils could have been great, we may never know how much of an impact covid and other issues had on it's production. It might have been wonderful if they'd had more time, it might have still been terrible.

 

[Rich Watson]

The new DWM confirms a lot of details about how the return came about (Catherine Tate was the one to suggest it first) and the crew for the new series. Ex-Big Finisher Scott Handcock is Script Editor as expected.

We know there'll be at least seven episodes in Ncuti's first series as Russell was working on it when he talked to the magazine.

The new companion was only cast in September; people might remember a photo of RTD, Phil Collinson, Ncuti and Andy Pryor from that time.

Directors for the Tennant episodes were all already known and Dylan Holmes Williams (who directed a bunch of episodes of M Night Shyamalan's gloriously insane TV series 'Servant') will be doing Ncuti's first block.

 

[Relayer1]

But Flux did wind up giving us two great episodes

Legend of the Sea Devils could have been great.

I didn't get past the first (awful) episode of Flux, so I wouldn't know. I'll have to try again.

Legend - could have been good, but...wasn't. Rotten plot, badly written. Hopeless.

 

[David cgc]

...The Power of the Doctor and you have some pretty pathetic writing all around (proven by the very recently published script of the latter).

This is the link to the script on the BBC website, but I don't have time to read through it at this very moment. Could you elaborate a little on the problems visible in the script that weren't necessarily apparent in the final episode?

 

[Rich Watson]

*sigh* Turns out the reason the Doctor's clothes regenerated really was just because they didn't want Tennant "in drag". That's really dispointing coming from Russell and a bit of an insult to any fan who's worn gender swapped cosplay.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

Props to the Master then. He rocked that outfit!

 

[Rich Watson]

Even worse he said that he didn't want to give right-wing media anything to attack the show with. Russell, if you're not pissing off right-wing media you're not doing your job.

 

[Starkers]

*sigh* Turns out the reason the Doctor's clothes regenerated really was just because they didn't want Tennant "in drag". That's really dispointing coming from Russell and a bit of an insult to any fan who's worn gender swapped cosplay.

That is a bit depressing. I mean it wasn't like Whittaker wore a sparkly dress or anything and we'd only have to see him in the outfit for a few minutes. He staggers back into the Tardis and next time we see him he's wearing his new (old) outfit?

 

[Starkers]

Even worse he said that he didn't want to give right-wing media anything to attack the show with. Russell, if you're not pissing off right-wing media you're not doing your job.

Well knowing RTD it's more likely he didn't want to give them something frivolous to latch onto. I suspect he'll be more in their faces with other elements.

 

[Samurai8472]

The snippet for those that can't snag a copy

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1590333155487059970

Details From The Magazine

Russel is currently writing episode seven of series 14

Crew

Showrunner - Russell T. Davies

Executive Producer - Joel Collins

Executive Producer - Phil Collinson

Executive Producer - Julie Gardner

Executive Producer - Jane Tranter

Producer - Vicki Delow

Script Editor - Scott Handcock

Co-Producer - Ellen Marsh

Producer - Chris May

Director, Special 1- Rachel Talalay

Director, Special 2 - Tom Kingsley

Director, Special 3 - Chanya Button

Director of Block One of Series 14 is Dylan Holmes Williams. He told the magazine "It's such an honour to enter this universe."

They have auditioned for the companion, the readings, with Gatwa present, took place on September 24th

 

[Relayer1]

This is the link to the script on the BBC website, but I don't have time to read through it at this very moment. Could you elaborate a little on the problems visible in the script that weren't necessarily apparent in the final episode?

All the ones I'm aware of were right there on screen.

I'd have to watch it again to catch them all (and I'm not going to) but the things that really struck were the incoherence of the plot, why clutter it up with the pointless geologists and artworks thread, why was stuff stashed under the floor at UNIT, why was Ace prepared with her old outfit, why were the Daleks and Cybermen there, why the forced regeneration, why it was more of a body swap leaving the husk of the Master in the other tube, how he was jumping backwards and forwards in time having cannibalised his Tardis, why the de-regenerated Russian version crawled out of a previously (a minute or two earlier) empty Tardis a hundred years later and so on.

There was more, but I can't be arsed. Maybe someone else will.

I'm hardly expecting hard sci-fi from Who, but I do require some adherence to its own internal logic.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

That is a bit depressing. I mean it wasn't like Whittaker wore a sparkly dress or anything and we'd only have to see him in the outfit for a few minutes. He staggers back into the Tardis and next time we see him he's wearing his new (old) outfit?

In the currect climate here in the UK i can understand his desicion totally, and to be honest i think he did the right thing for now and just side stepped this battle for the time being, as the right wing media here in the UK at present are just vile on every level at the moment, the worst i have seen them in my lifetime, rabid and foaming at the mouth at everything.

 

[Rich Watson]

In the currect climate here in the UK i can understand his desicion totally, and to be honest i think he did the right thing for now and just side stepped this battle for the time being, as the right wing media here in the UK at present are just vile on ever level at the moment, the worst i have seen them in my lifetime, rabid and foaming at the mouth at everything.

So he makes a cowardly decision to preemptively placate the right-wing media. Can't even blame it on Disney as the decision was made long before they came along. It should be his job, and for that matter all our jobs, to do everything in our power to make GB News and The Daily Mail angry.

 

[Mr Awe]

I don't think he's a great writer of sci-fi (you could argue RTD and Moffat aren't either, and also that Who works better as fantasy rather than sci-fi, but Russell and Steven are, I'd say, way better writers and that covers a lot of gaps.)

I think Moffat would agree with you. I met him at a con and had a brief chat. I told him how I first knew him through Coupling before DW relaunched, which probably isn't too common here in the States. So, I pictured him as a comedy writer who happens to like DW (because of the various references to DW in Coupling). He agreed with that description of himself!

He also told me that my name would be great for a character. That he's always looking around for names. So far, I haven't seen my name in anything he's written.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

He might look funny in the getup (which is part of the fun) but I never really thought of it as a particularly gendered look.

 

[Rich Watson]

Also what does he think the right-wing media are going to say when Yasmin Finney pops up on screen? Such an odd decision and totally at odds with the person I thought he was.

 

[Tuskin38]

Also what does he think the right-wing media are going to say when Yasmin Finney pops up on screen? Such an odd decision and totally at odds with the person I thought he was.

The media isn't the only reason why he did it, read the paragraph before that.

 

[The Wormhole]

*sigh* Turns out the reason the Doctor's clothes regenerated really was just because they didn't want Tennant "in drag". That's really dispointing coming from Russell and a bit of an insult to any fan who's worn gender swapped cosplay.

I'll admit, that sounds like a surprising thing to hear from RTD, particularly since the opportunity to see John Simm wearing women's clothing was one of the motivating factors behind "The Master Race" in TEOT.

Although,

The snippet for those that can't snag a copy

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1590333155487059970

Seeing the quote in context, it seems he's more concerned with establishing Tennant's new look right off the bat rather than going a year of him dressed in Whittaker's outfit being how the public views him.

I'm going to chalk this up to sloppy wording on RTD's part rather than assuming he intended anything malicious. At the very least, I feel very confident that once his episodes start airing, there will be much there which will piss off the Right Wing media. As there should be.

 

[Brendan Moody]

While I don’t find it especially shocking or sinister that he thinks Tennant in Whittaker’s costume might be a distracting visual, Davies can be weirdly reticent about gender bending stuff. The old quotes in this article are a case in point: https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-f...-about-casting-a-female-doctor-in-doctor-who/. Good on him for changing his mind eventually, but when he made those comments back in the day I remember wondering why he was rushing to his fainting couch at the thought of alluding to trans identities in DW.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

So he makes a cowardly decision to preemptively placate the right-wing media. Can't even blame it on Disney as the decision was made long before they came along. It should be his job, and for that matter all our jobs, to do everything in our power to make GB News and The Daily Mail angry.

Cowardly, no, picking his battles, no doubt, but at least give him time to get his pen and paper on the screen, then see what you think.