Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[Qonundrum]

Dropped on the official You Tube channel today.

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It would be funny watching people explode if she does come back...

Many are so close to being done with the modern incarnation that exploding heads just means they still actually care, for whatever reason.

So this is apparently real. Joy. I realise a lot of people will enjoy the hell out of Davies' return but to say I'm unenthusiastic about this news would be putting it ridiculously mildly. The Beeb would be better off putting the series away than revisiting the past, but to each their own.

This would absolutely guarantee I'd never watch the show again.

Having said that, I won't be even remotely surprised when she turns up. Rose's supposed permanent, she-can-never-ever-ever-ever return departure lasted about ten minutes so she's bound to reappear.

^^this

The show needs to move forward and find new ground. Most incoming showrunners have something new, even if various chunks of the audience doesn't care for it as new audiences do. If RTD has that, that's truly great. This is truly risky since, if he comes back and his biggest fans balk, the show might be worse off.

The good news about this is people on YouTube will never complain about Doctor Who anymore. Finally fandom will be at peace.

^^this

The show has such a long and varied history that it doesn't need to swallow its own tail to move forward, which would be difficult to do...

 

[Qonundrum]

I liked that idea.

Everyone's different.

Very true.

Why did you like the idea so much? I said my bit as to why I didn't care for it but it's more interesting why people thought it was a great development despite established canon (or is eschewing it the reason?)

I clearly didn't care for it, but did settle via headcanon and let that find a middle ground in that some components might be, but the notion and pretentious handling and phony "epic reveal" of it had more choking on my own laughter at the time. But while I've not seen all the science fiction ever made, I've seen enough and enough Doctor Who to think it's a bit hokum.

Still, whether that's better or worse than RTD returning despite his complaining as to why he said he'd never work on the show again (burnt out, et al)... kinda like why he wrote Rose out with such exposition, only to change his mind as fervently the moment the fans whined. It's almost funny. Heck, let me phone up my ex as that's just as anti-nonsensical to do despite whining about the abuses committed too... That's ridiculous, and not just the phrase "anti-nonsensical" or how the Picard actor said he was done with the show but really wasn't and now his era's fans are more divided than ever, and so on...

 

[Relayer1]

The idea that the makeup and memory of a Tardis is encoded into the stuff it's made of sounds like advanced tech, as does the idea that it can regenerate and repair itself.

I didn't interpret it as actually being organic, but kind of modelled on organic. A sophisticated machine, so sophisticated that it might pass for "life".

And RTD ? I was one of the few dismayed by his return. That will deepen if Donna comes with him.

However, it looks like this safeguards the shows future, and I just hope he's too busy showrunning Who and the Whoverse spinoffs to write the bloody thing. So I suppose I'm coming around...

 

[The Wormhole]

Hmm. UK bookmakers have just stopped taking bets on who the next Doctor will be, which suggests that a large enough number have come in for one specific person to raise red flags. Something similar happened last time with Jodie going from not even being on the list to one of the top favourites just before she was announced.

Wasn't there also something similar with Capaldi the last few days before his casting was officially announced?

 

[StCoop]

Wasn't there also something similar with Capaldi the last few days before his casting was officially announced?

You're probably right. There comes a point in the process where more people have to know and some of them are going to see it as a chance to make some money.

 

[TommyR01D]

Rose at age 15 was the least interesting and most generic teenage companion the show ever had...

15? She was 19 when it started.

Many are so close to being done with the modern incarnation that exploding heads just means they still actually care, for whatever reason.
..

Indeed, as much as program-makers and their apologists like to disparage "haters", at least such people must have some dedication to the idea of the franchise in order to both notice and care when things are done badly. When your installments are greeted with apathetic silent shrugs, then you're really in trouble.

 

[Starkers]

You're probably right. There comes a point in the process where more people have to know and some of them are going to see it as a chance to make some money.

I remember late on the Friday before Smith was announced on the Saturday that his name suddenly popped into the frame in a big way.

 

[arch101]

Seems a little soon to be announcing the Next Doctor, but they have just announced the Next Showrunner, and seem on something of a roll with Big, Dramatic Announcements, so who knows? And, of course, their hand may be forced by potential media leaks, again.

They'll announce sooner rather than later if they think it will bring viewers to the next series when it airs...

 

[Starkers]

I'm not sure it is too soon to be announcing the next Doctor. Tennant announced he was leaving in October 2008 and Matt was announced in January 2009, there were still four of Ten's specials to air. That being said it'd be poor form to announce the new Doctor while Whittaker's final season is running, but I suspect we'll know who the new Doctor is by the end of the year, or very early 2022 at the latest.

 

[Jayson1]

I'm not sure it is too soon to be announcing the next Doctor. Tennant announced he was leaving in October 2008 and Matt was announced in January 2009, there were still four of Ten's specials to air. That being said it'd be poor form to announce the new Doctor while Whittaker's final season is running, but I suspect we'll know who the new Doctor is by the end of the year, or very early 2022 at the latest.

I sort of disagree. Now that Davies is announced the only thing people are going to care about is knowing who The next Doctor is which will be a question overtaking any talk about Whitaker's final season. It's best to get it out now. Let people take it in then sort of let the excitement settle down for awhile. Maybe it even builds some interest in the final Whitaker stuff as people might watch wondering if it will build into or be connected to what Davies will be doing. It might make people even give it another chance now that it's almost over and some of the gloom and doom about Who going away is lessoned.

 

[Starkers]

Well we'll know soon enough if they're going to announce it before S13 starts, but I find it incredibly doubtful unless there's a leak and they have to move fast. That is assuming 14 has already been cast, as the rumours suggest. Of course if he/she has already been cast the question is how much involvement (if any) did RTD have?

Obviously there's a shit tonne of rumours flying around but there is one that suggests that RTD was a last throw of the dice after everyone else turned the Beeb down (not sure I buy that, especially given Bad Wolf's involvement but you never know)

 

[Relayer1]

Obviously there's a shit tonne of rumours flying around but there is one that suggests that RTD was a last throw of the dice after everyone else turned the Beeb down

When the Beeb can afford to tell MJS with his B5 track history "Don't call us, we'll call you..." that's doubtful .

 

[StCoop]

When the Beeb can afford to tell JMS with his B5 track history "Don't call us, we'll call you..." that's doubtful .

I've pointed it out before but I'm happy to point it out again: the days of 13 million viewers might be long gone but the series still gets more viewers than 90% of the rest of UK TV.

I think it's more likely that the BBC think no one else can do it rather than there being no one who wants to do it.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

When the Beeb can afford to tell JMS with his B5 track history "Don't call us, we'll call you..." that's doubtful .

JMS is pretty much an unknown quantity to the UK TV industry, which does not operate as the same sort of ecosystem as the US version, especially in production companies contracted to the BBC. Yes, he's known for Babylon 5 and less so for Jeremiah and Sense8, his screen/story writing on Changeling, Thor, and World War Z, and his comic book writing and so on, but would he operate well in an environment that is foreign and unfamiliar to him and where he doesn't have many contacts to get things done? I also doubt he's that well versed in Who lore so he could potentially upset the hardcore fans if he tinkered with the format too much. Also if he was expecting Hollywood-level compensation for his efforts, he'd likely have been disappointed. He'd also have to up sticks for several years to the UK and he might find he preferred living in California with its entertainment industry, culture and climate. I think it was judged too big a gamble. Stick with what we've done before that worked was likely the decision process. I'd like harder SF and less fantasy but there you go.

 

[The Wormhole]

I'm not sure it is too soon to be announcing the next Doctor. Tennant announced he was leaving in October 2008 and Matt was announced in January 2009, there were still four of Ten's specials to air. That being said it'd be poor form to announce the new Doctor while Whittaker's final season is running, but I suspect we'll know who the new Doctor is by the end of the year, or very early 2022 at the latest.

Likewise, Tennant's casting was announced half-way through the broadcast of Eccleston's season. It's only been with Capaldi and Whittaker where they were announced after their predecessor's last season when they only had one or two specials left.

I do agree with you, I'm expecting the new Doctor to be announced no earlier than this December and no later than spring 2022.

 

[DigificWriter]

With the exception of Eccleston to Tennant, the announcement of the next Doctor has happened after the outgoing Doctor's final season has finished airing but before the broadcast of any Specials that the outgoing Doctor may have filmed.

However, with RTD only having been hired a couple of weeks ago and the first of Jodie's Specials already scheduled to air on New Year's Day, the window to hire the next Doctor and announce them in order to keep that pattern going is very slim.

 

[Starkers]

With the exception of Eccleston to Tennant, the announcement of the next Doctor has happened after the outgoing Doctor's final season has finished airing but before the broadcast of any Specials that the outgoing Doctor may have filmed.

The Next Doctor aired Christmas day in 2008 so several weeks before Smith was announced.

 

[StCoop]

However, with RTD only having been hired a couple of weeks ago...

Announced.

There's absolutely no public information on when he was hired. It'e equally likely that it happened months ago and was announced now as they were about to start hiring people at which point it would leak out.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Hmm. I was operating on information I'd sourced from a well-respected YouTuber and massive Doctor Who fan who runs the Council of Geeks channel.

However, upon just rewatching CoG's video covering the announcement of Jodie and Chibnall leaving, I realized that I had misunderstood the pattern outlined in said video slightly.

 

[Jayson1]

Of course if the new Doctor gets leaked they might have to announce early.