Spoilers Russell T. Davies Returns to Doctor Who as New Showrunner
- Thread starter Allyn Gibson
- Start date
You are extremely biased. By any metric and view, the only really obvious weak points in both seasons have been both his finales, period. Beyond that, you have variety of stories that, at the very least, entertain.
What's been fascinating is watching the rewriting of history after the finale to claim it was all bad. The first six episodes of S2 were overwhelmingly positively received everywhere.
Some people would hate RTD no matter what he wrote, I'm also cautious of the opinions of anyone who hasn't even watched certain episodes.
I'm wary of Netflix getting involved. Even if such a partnership was successful, Netflix wouldn't be in for the long haul (but maybe no streamer will/can be these days) and I could definitely see them pulling funding after one or two years, three at the most.
If the alternative is the BBC only committing to a handful of episodes or specials a year...well that may work. Does already feel like we've lost out going from the heights of 14 episodes a year to now 9, it'd be weird if there were just six episodes, already it feels like Who came and went too quickly this year. Then again we have kinda already had that and, outside of the ending fizzling out, the Flux season wasn't terrible (YMMV)
Would a Flux like season every year be that bad? (I do wonder if it'd need to be a single story, or three two parters though)
And hey, if you can afford 6 hours worth of Who here's a radical thought...what if that equated to twelve half hour episodes?
I'm not even joking, I've watched plenty of shows that can pack a heck of a lot of plot into half an hour.
I'm wary of Netflix getting involved. Even if such a partnership was successful, Netflix wouldn't be in for the long haul (but maybe no streamer will/can be these days) and I could definitely see them pulling funding after one or two years, three at the most.
If the alternative is the BBC only committing to a handful of episodes or specials a year...well that may work. Does already feel like we've lost out going from the heights of 14 episodes a year to now 9, it'd be weird if there were just six episodes, already it feels like Who came and went too quickly this year. Then again we have kinda already had that and, outside of the ending fizzling out, the Flux season wasn't terrible (YMMV)
Would a Flux like season every year be that bad? (I do wonder if it'd need to be a single story, or three two parters though)
And hey, if you can afford 6 hours worth of Who here's a radical thought...what if that equated to twelve half hour episodes?
I'm not even joking, I've watched plenty of shows that can pack a heck of a lot of plot into half an hour.
Yeah because that's how things work. BC doesn't have a million other things on the go, he'd happily drop everything if Moffat came calling (hell if he was going to commit to anything it'd be new Sherlock)
S2 was better than S1. I liked Story and The Engine, which has it’s flaws — though it highlights the flaws in RTDs own stuff, and the stuff he is letting get into scripts he oversees. Belinda was great at the start, in a shit but good looking story, then the stories were pretty good as she was dwindled to nothing, and then… the finale.
His obvious weak points would include doing things like reducing a villain who is also a victim to bodily fluids then having the Doctor dance over his grave, torture a villain, ascribe a trans characters nature to time Lord space magic, rewrite a companions history to make them into a single parent without their explicit consent, feature sexual harassment as a either a characterisation shortcut, or for humour…
And that’s just a smattering of some of the actually offensive stuff without going into yes, the absolute messes that were his finales and plot resolutions.
That’s not bias. That’s what was put on screen.
Still worth a phone call to see if he would be interested.
Sounds like a plan. So long as you don't mind sets, wardrobe and SFX reverting back to the 70's aesthetic, because that's all they'll be able to afford after paying Cumberbatch.
What's the downside?
He would probably take a pay cut. Big stars sometimes do that with projects. Not that a lower budget is bad thing. Especially for Doctor Who.
Cumberbatch has already said he won't return to Sherlock without being paid significantly more than he was previously. Understandable, he was a literal unknown when Sherlock started and now he's one of the ore popular and busier actors in Hollywood. He's not going to take a pay cut to be on Doctor Who, not unless he's one hella fan of the show, which I've never seen any indication of.
Besides, from an actor's perspective, playing the Doctor wouldn't be that different than playing Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock series was. I imagine playing essentially the same kind of character he played for four years for another three would be a rather dull acting experience for him. Even if he were a fan, would such a job really be worth it just so he could see TARDIS and do scenes with Daleks and Cybermen?
In such a situation, I think they are thinking about the possibility of making Sherlock style seasons rather than Flux style seasons.
Scott may not be quite at the same level of stardom and salary as Cumberbatch but it’s equally hard to see him committing to a show like DW. Freeman mixes tv and movies but he has never struck me as being remotely Doctor-like, well, apart from Doctor Watson, obviously.
I've seen it all the way through once, but I've never felt any real compulsion to revisit it.
No I can't see Freeman as the Doctor, as a companion perhaps but even then it'd just be too Dr Watson/Arthur Dent like.
Scott is insanely busy and in demand, can't see him wanting to do it.
I think at best you might get a crazy Christmas cameo out of them but that'd be it and even then it's a stretch.
Straczynski is 70 years old. He'll be even older when/if the BBC come around to him, and RTD and Moffat have spoken about how overwhelming and exhausting the job of Doctor Who is. Straczynski may have wanted to do it in the past, but he's not a realistic option at this point, imho.
Didn't he once say he didn't want to end up on lunchboxes in relation to Who? Plus he's Dr Strange now so it'd be strange to be Dr Strange and Dr Who simultaneously
I do love this naive idea people have that big stars are just aching to play Dr Who and sitting there with baited breath waiting for the phone to ring.
His time is coming. You can only forestall the inevitable for so long...
(And that's a real photo. No AI or Photoshop involved.)
(And that's a real photo. No AI or Photoshop involved.)
If his time is coming, we need to restart the Time War.His time is coming. You can only forestall the inevitable for so long...
(And that's a real photo. No AI or Photoshop involved.)
