Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
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Well to date the doctor has broken the 4th wall quite a few times over the shows history, Hartnell, Baker, McCoy, and Capaldi had a entire scene talking to us directly in the episode, wait for it...........before the Flood().............so breaking the forth wall is almost a Who tradition now, but if you want to strech that theory to breaking point, you could say only timelords have broken the forth wall over the course of the show, so what does that make Mrs Flood? (Dun dun daaaa). Lol
Hartnell: "The Feast of Steven" (last-second, improved monologue, with no line fluff unless that was the fluff, before end credits - and it's the one episode of the lot that will never return to the archives as it was never copied onto film for overseas distribution, but thankfully the audio exists.)
TBaker: "The Invasion of Time" (mugs the camera in pretending to be astonished in citing how the sonic screwdriver won't help, in a scene that was roiled by the fourth wall-hating critics at the time and proving the 70s were more than just disco and white powder during the winter)
McCoy: (Um... uh... eep... please help jog my memory, which story and scene? Couldn't have been a great one... )
It was also, by sheer accident, that Morgus in "The Caves of Androzani" mistook the director's edict as he gawked directly at the camera lens to say his lines -- but was so well-received during recording that they kept going with it. And it is a bit novel and unique, adding pizazz and even tension to already great acting - it's amazing the process hadn't been used again to dilute it down into overdone, generic status.
Mrs. Flood may just be that, or this is another 'greatest hits redo' - the first time 'round it was River Pond, now it's Flood (So it's a reunion of the entire River family tree? )
Those scan lines are gorgeous!
As for more fourth-wall antics, sitcoms did those the best...
I am sure McCoy broke the forth wall in episod, i am going to say Remembrance of the daleks....i just can't pin it down, but i am sure it was a cliff hanger ending where he did it.
I thought that was from the Dalek's POV in pt 1?
(I think he's staring at the Dalek and not in that "I wanna buy you dinner and a movie" sorta look... this also reminds me, I wanna go to a pool hall and improve my billiards' skills, but who the heck would paint cue balls to look like giant eyeballs, but I digress within a digression again...)
Technically, a Dalek levitated in "Revelation" (as had Davros in a much clearer example!) so don't take the title of the clip too seriously, but neither of "Revelation"'s shown moments came across with the deserved dramatic weight that this McCoy cliffy had. (A shame since JNT wanted to dispel the myth of "Daleks can't climb stairs", which became the butt of a stupid joke in "Destiny of the Daleks", which was the same sort of joke Ian made in "The Chase", but I digress.) Grigory and Natasha see one rise before they're exterminated, and Davros hovers over Orcini, using his third eye in a way never used before and for no explanation - which feels like a teensy bit of a cheat. Davros zapping electric arcs from the blue eye could have come in handy before, and definitely since. I know a character's full featureset isn't always brought up upfront, but it sure reeks of cheezy contrivance. It'd be worse if it was established as being an input sensor only and then directly contradicts the setup later on by firing convenient zaps... so it was bad but could have been worse. Like Troi going from the oft-stated trait of only being able to sense emotions by people playing pokerface pathetically*, to - for just that one very special episode - now being a full-blown telepath and dialing up people's minds to inject thoughts into, then from next episode onward it's like it never happened. Whee.
And, dang, does that cliffhanger hold up well or what? A shame how part two has said Dalek changing its voice into something less effective, then back again to the first later... why they changed actors or mixed up the audio tapes and had to do something quick last-second or whatever, you know someone will say "Oh it's just recovering from the power expenditure because it had to levitate and thus lost its voice as well as not being able to actually fire the dang gun, zappy-zap" and all... but in seriousness, it does hold up and was a huge jolt in 1988. And, yep, the novelization does confirm that the antigrav system cannot be used at the same time as firing the energy weapon. A very logical and well-thought-out issue that doesn't wreck the scene with do-all/be-all nonsense, and whose timing on screen is as perfect as its limited usage.
* Try say that while munching on a pound of potato chips and without making an enormous mess on the floor... 
McCoy looks down the camera for cliffhangers a *lot* (Dragonfire, Greatest Show, Remembrance…) but that’s just a shot choice. I think he only speaks whilst doing it once, ‘I think I may have miscalculated’ , but I don’t remember him ever addressing the audience directly, or even seemingly. Admittedly, I have still managed to avoid watching any of the middle stories of season 24.
Davison does I think, at the end of Five Doctors.
Davison does I think, at the end of Five Doctors.
There's a difference between small scene like the one between the Doctor and the Police Officer which has no impact on the story versus a character that carries on through out a season unless you want to take it on as a coda at the end of each episode which would be pretty crap.
I thought Davison was looking side-angle and not quite at it? It might be "close enough", though it's still cringey. Not as direct as Colin's introduction.
"Paradise Towers" is rather good, all things considered. I'd check it out one day...
On the other hand, if you've managed to avoid "Delta and the Bannermen" so far, try to keep doing so. The story has a good core plot, but the presentation quickly devolves into trash and it never gets better. Which hurts to say because it's clear how Don Henderson and Sylvester McCoy are working overtime to save the story from being a total shambles. I'd otherwise recommend watching for them alone, and maybe for one other character (won't say who or why they're in it), but everyone else... it's truly horrendous. And yet, despite inevitability, some people to this day grate on Don's performance for playing it too straight! (What, enough of the other cast not giving a toss wasn't bad enough already?! Ugh...)
The point is, though, that creative changes, including last-minute ones, are made all the time. Initial ideas can change at any point in production or new ones can pop up that can change an entire narrative of the original story (I present Exhibit A, one George Lucas). What might have been initially conceived as something minor can become more relevant if inspiration hits or that particular something becomes suddenly popular with audiences.
Jaime's right - The McCoy one is Remembrance, but not the stairs. It's where he says the Dalek shuttle won't land somewhere as conspicuous as the school playground (what he's basing this on is questionable, since the scorch marks indicate it clearly already DID land there once, albeit without the other Dalek faction alerted to their presence).
He yells for everyone to take cover (from the rocket exhaust) and then looks right into the camera and says "I seem to have miscalculated" (or somesuch) then ducks his head back down again.
He yells for everyone to take cover (from the rocket exhaust) and then looks right into the camera and says "I seem to have miscalculated" (or somesuch) then ducks his head back down again.
I read the novels in 89 or so. Tried episode one of both, and kind of… gave up. Better they exist as the books.
Seconded. I remember buying the novels at the time, reading them, and they felt so much stronger - for one example, the scene where Ace snaps at Mike's mum over the sign is so much more effective in the novelization. The reader gets to have their own interpretation of style (reading into it as seriously or as hypercampy or anything in between as one wants), and can imagine how great it looks compared to what could be done on screen, and the show did much with what little was given.
The POV from inside the Special Weapons Dalek was interesting in that specific story… aside from Battlefield, which shows the intent so much better in the (delayed I believe) novel, the screen versions of seasons 25 and 26 were *so* much better than 24 that the novels are really good companion pieces. Ghost Light probably works better on screen, as does Greatest Show, because of how much is done by the visual stylings. Possibly also Happiness Patrol, but the book has a superior Candyman.
When he puts his finger to his lips at the end of Silver Nemesis, when Ace asks 'Professor? Doctor? Who are you?' and winks?
Funny thing is now i have in my head all the doctors have done it at some point, i could swear that Pertwee also did it, or did he look straight at the camera and smile in one episode?
Well, I fucked up last time but the first spinoff really is official now.
https://productionlist.com/production/war-land-sea/
https://productionlist.com/production/war-land-sea/
A Sea Devil centered spinoff seems really random. Not the least because they've had next to no exposure in the modern era besides a rather forgettable episode near the end of Whittaker's run.
I mean, I'll check it out, and I have no problems with watching a show about the Sea Devils, but it just seems an odd choice to build a spinoff around. Unless, of course, RTD has plans to feature them in the coming season(s)?
I mean, I'll check it out, and I have no problems with watching a show about the Sea Devils, but it just seems an odd choice to build a spinoff around. Unless, of course, RTD has plans to feature them in the coming season(s)?
Could be great, could be meh. Does help that the Sea Devils are my favorite of the two subterranean races and they had by far the better Pertwee story of the two (less said about Warriors of the Deep the better...). I agree their Whittaker story was a bit disappointing, which is funny considering I largely enjoy the Silurian two-parter from Smith's run. Which just proves the point that it all comes down to the writing.
It's not the spin-off that I really want, but I'm curious enough to give it a fair shake.
It's not the spin-off that I really want, but I'm curious enough to give it a fair shake.
