Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner

[jaime]

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The words of producer Philip Hinchcliffe: "We tried to get famous actors for the faces of the Doctor. But because no one would volunteer, we had to use backroom boys. And it is true to say that I attempted to imply that William Hartnell was not the first Doctor."

Chiball didn't do anything that Philip Hinchcliffe didn't do almost 50 years ago; and, in 'The War Games' the Second Doctor said that Time Lords have can live forever, barring accidents.

Then there's this exchange between the Fourth Doctor and Runcible from 'The Deadly Assassin'.

DOCTOR: Runcible, my dear chap. How nice to see you.
RUNCIBLE: What? Oh, I don't believe we've, er. Oh, I say. Weren't you expelled or something? Some scandal?
DOCTOR: Oh, it's all been forgotten about now, old boy.
RUNCIBLE: Oh, really? Well, where've you been all these years?
DOCTOR: Oh, here and there, you know. Round and about.
(The Doctor bends over to keep his face hidden from the searching guards.)
RUNCIBLE: Is there something the matter?
DOCTOR: Oh no, just a twinge in the knee.
RUNCIBLE: Well, if you will lead such a rackety life. Have you had a facelift?
DOCTOR: Several, so far.

Robert Holmes co-wrote 'The Brain of Morbius' and wrote 'The Deadly Assassin'. Had Producer Phillip Hinchcliffe and Script Editor Robert Holmes not left at the end of the fourteenth season, who knows if they would have explored this avenue further.

Deadly Assassin introduced the 12 regen limit.
Mawdryn Undead established how many the Doctor had used.
The Three Doctors and Five Doctors does much the same.
And as a bonus, Deadly Assassin introduced the Matrix, which is established as infiltrated by the Master and used to create a lie in its very first appearance.

It’s rather easy to play tennis on this one, because it was rather poorly done. And gets repetitive.

RTD2 is going to do something with it, the question is, will it be any good? Do we have faith?
Oh the irony.

And if we’re going to worry about what producers would or wouldn’t have done if they had stayed, then do we also count Ulysses? Borusa in the Tardis? Cybs? The Master is the Doctors brother? The Doctor died, and the temple of the fourth, as Ace becomes a Time Lord?

 

[Starkers]

SFX has a spoiler free review of the first two episodes, which is broadly positive but does acknowledge that they may divide fans.
https://www.gamesradar.com/doctor-who-season-one-spoiler-free-review-episodes-one-two/

Space Babies sounds like "Maximum RTD!" I suspect I'm going to love and hate it in equal measure.

 

[Daedalus]

And yet, the evidence is, he did.

Mind, originally the Jo Martin Time Lord wasn't gonna be a Doctor incarnation, just another Time Lord. But Chibnall changed his mind and, well, what I said above.

Is that so? I wonder if it was a new Time Lord, or a familiar one?

I actually found myself enjoying Fugitive of the Judoon for the most part, but found myself completely confused by the reveal. I thought we were dealing with a multiverse arc, as that concept was the in thing.

 

[The Wormhole]

SFX has a spoiler free review of the first two episodes, which is broadly positive but does acknowledge that they may divide fans.

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[Emperor-Tiberius]

Is that so? I wonder if it was a new Time Lord, or a familiar one?

I actually found myself enjoying Fugitive of the Judoon for the most part, but found myself completely confused by the reveal. I thought we were dealing with a multiverse arc, as that concept was the in thing.

I was so ready for the Timeless Children arc to be about that. Still am perplexed that DW has rarely, almost not at all, ever done multiverse arcs.

 

[Daedalus]

I was so ready for the Timeless Children arc to be about that. Still am perplexed that DW has rarely, almost not at all, ever done multiverse arcs.

Very few, which is a shame. We had Inferno in the Jon Pertwee era and the 'Pete's World' storyline in Tennant's era, but it's astonishing how they haven't based a whole season on the possibilities of other universes.

Who wouldn't want to see an evil version of the Doctor from a parallel universe, played by a past Doctor? Or a good version of The Master? Or kind Daleks?

The Division were all but presented as an organisation that existed in the void between universes, so it feels like they missed an opportunity there.

 

[Samurai8472]

The legend of Ruby Sunday

https://twitter.com/AMadmanNotABox/status/1787809581596393759

Ofcourse! Ruby Sunday is an anagram for Bessie! The car took human form!

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Besie is another incarnation of the Doctor! At least it shall be revealed!

 

[Sketcher]

Bessie was the actual incarnation preceding Hartnell.

 

[jaime]

Besie is another incarnation of the Doctor! At least it shall be revealed!

Pre Hartnell?

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Impossible, as the Whomobile was the very first tri-generational doctor.

 

[jaime]

The legend of Ruby Sunday

https://twitter.com/AMadmanNotABox/status/1787809581596393759

Ofcourse! Ruby Sunday is an anagram for Bessie! The car took human form!

The way it’s written makes me wonder if we’re going to get archive footage of Pertwee.
Three Doctors?
All this time, and the edge in power of the Doctor was Cromer.
(Edit: though for the record, the most likely place to go and be on theme with its stated aims is something left over from Devils End.)

 

[Xerxes82]

Who wouldn't want to see an evil version of the Doctor from a parallel universe, played by a past Doctor? Or a good version of The Master? Or kind Daleks?

Because an evil version of the Doctor is just the Master and a good version of the Master is just the Doctor. I realize that the appeal here seems to be seeing them played by past actors, but I don't think the concept has any particular appeal or value.

Now good Daleks could be interesting.

Honestly I'd rather see alternate companions than Doctors. Show me a Rose who HATED the Doctor. Or a Martha whose Doctor loved her back. Or a Captain Jack who was allied with the Master all along or something along those lines.

 

[Mr Awe]

Is that so? I wonder if it was a new Time Lord, or a familiar one?

I actually found myself enjoying Fugitive of the Judoon for the most part, but found myself completely confused by the reveal. I thought we were dealing with a multiverse arc, as that concept was the in thing.

No, it's not so. Jo Martin has said that when she got the role, Chibnall told her that her Doctor was to be directly before Hartnell. That was her understanding when she took the role.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

No, it's not so. Jo Martin has said that when she got the role, Chibnall told her that her Doctor was to be directly before Hartnell. That was her understanding when she took the role.

I was refering to what he said about the writing process, genius. He changed his mind afterwards.

 

[Mr Awe]

I was refering to what he said about the writing process, genius. He changed his mind afterwards.

Well, "genius," learn how to write more clearly so people can understand your point. Also, the "afterwards" was still pretty early in the process.

 

[jaime]

Oddly, I grasped exactly what he meant, despite not being familiar with the stories development and production beyond an instinctual one.

 

[Daedalus]

Because an evil version of the Doctor is just the Master and a good version of the Master is just the Doctor. I realize that the appeal here seems to be seeing them played by past actors, but I don't think the concept has any particular appeal or value.

Now good Daleks could be interesting.

Honestly I'd rather see alternate companions than Doctors. Show me a Rose who HATED the Doctor. Or a Martha whose Doctor loved her back. Or a Captain Jack who was allied with the Master all along or something along those lines.

See look, awesome ideas!

Perhaps an amoral Doctor, or anti-hero Master? I have always wanted to see how far the Time Lord Victorious would have gone if Adelaide's sacrifice hadn't occurred.

I believe that expanded media tried to tackle it, but for the life of me, I have no idea what happened with it all.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Well, "genius," learn how to write more clearly so people can understand your point. Also, the "afterwards" was still pretty early in the process.

Given that English is not my first language (its not even my second) but have rarely missed a step in this forum, maybe not typing it correctly isn't reason enough to go anal over it? Sorry if I offended mr. chibster or something.

 

[Rich Watson]

The legend of Ruby Sunday
https://twitter.com/AMadmanNotABox/status/1787809581596393759

Only takes sevenepisodes to go from "clean slate for new viewers" to "sequel to story from 50-ish years ago"!

We actually see the characters heading into a vault in UNIT HQ in the trailers. Given the weird things happening with time we've seen bits of, I'm thinking they've got a Chronovore locked up down there.