Something is very wrong with the spiders of Sheffield. The Doctor and friends investigate.
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I would never suggest changing the theme tune, but I think changing something (like McCulloch adding the middle eight to the opening titles) is something we should think about doing again. The title sequence should be something new though, everything's always been some variety of space/time vortex
Also, given the three aspects compliment each other - what should the title music and sequence be like? Are we going synths or rock? Are we doing gloomy or triumphant? Are we flying through space, time or a totally different approach (I'd like this). This is fun!
Forget next Doctor, showrunner, etc - what do you want Doctor Who's *logo* to look like? Simple? Eye catching? With the times? Out of time? Come up with a design that resembles none of the others.
WB has had a good year! Good enough that even the morons who run it will laugh the even bigger morons out of the room.
This makes it clear that Paramount are SO BROKE after years of the worst business decisions of all time now that Mr Scientology has jumped they see *Warner Brothers*, of all studios, as their saviour.
Actually fuck it, extending the run to start at Time of Angels cause Vampires of Venice is pretty great as well and whilst not as good as ones surrounding it is still much better than The Lodger which is the definition of "OK".
In fact I would say The Lodger, whilst not actually all that bad, is clearly the weak link between the otherwise legendary run of episodes from Amy's Choice to Day of the Moon. That run actually gives RTD backhalfs a fight in the "best Who ever" category but The Lodger is just right there.
And it happens AGAIN the following season cause The God Complex is my all-time favourite Doctor Who story and next week, Corden's back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The great thing about the film of course is unlike most biopics it's 100% true. Can't believe Madonna is still at large!
Timey wimey lol.
The thing with the Audible Harry Potter cast is beyond everything else they’re just… really bad casting choices for those characters? Which tells me a lot did say no so it’s just throwing shit at the wall to see who will sell out for what role.
True, but the logo gets a slight visual upgrade and he gets a unique theme tune from Voyage of the Damned onwards. Although even when he returns he still doesn’t get a unique logo.
Obviously every Doctor has a unique title sequence cause of the face/name changing but the music and logo and general presentation is identical apart from the face. Although Tom does get a unique TARDIS interior and exterior during his run.
I find it interesting how this means Tom doesn’t have a unique title sequence, theme tune or logo. The diamond and tunnel were inherited from Jon Pertwee’s last season, the music was the 67 theme, and then the Season 18 titles were passed onto Peter Davison.
So that’s three high profile assassinations in America in less than a year and two attempts/close calls on high profile people. Jesus fucking christ. All in just over a year. Don’t have to like some of the targets to realise something is extremely wrong.
Richard Franklin stood as a Referendum candidate and a Liberal Democrat, truly incomprehensible politics, no notes.
A lot of high profile actors doing Harry Potter Audible whose lines at conventions will shrink considerably.
An ex-Doctor Who actor for example can make a shit ton at conventions alone, very unwise to risk losing that as fans no longer support you. It IS possible to be self-aware enough to not do shit like “oooooo HP stuff”.
I’m pretty sure lots of fandom actors who survive off the convention circuit have some controversial politics but are intelligent enough or advised well enough to not go mask off to not lose their income.
Meanwhile Edgar Wright is just growing and evolving more and more and more in interesting directions, I refute the theory that Wright needs Pegg, it's the other way round, 100%.
Simon Pegg's career since the Cornetto trilogy is so weird, I guess I could see his pivot into Harry Potter coming but it's also just one of many baffling choices. He's a good actor, he has good residuals and paychecks, why not do interesting things? Instead of HP and endless shit Ice Age films.
Like why all the secrecy around the Sontarans in Flux? They were the season's MVP, the creme de le creme, market them! RTD would've marketed the shit out of them. That man can spin anything into making you want to watch.
Is there a way to have Chibnall's secrecy, lack of leaks and seemingly not chaotic and dramatic filming (barring the very much not his fault pandemic) and RTD's brand management, spin, hype and general promotion? I think so. I hope so for the new era.
I think this cover + interview (haven't read it yet) proves exactly what they wanted to do for five years, but when main cast members weren't even allowed to mention their character's jobs, something went wrong. I'm a Chibnall apologist but his approach to marketing and brand control was not great.
TBF I think the magazine wanted to do more with her but Chibnall maintained a strict level of secrecy. Which helped stop RTD2-esque full era leaks but also meant not much promotion. There's gotta be a good balance.
Nepalis burnt down their parliament this week and it's like the fifth most important event that has occurred in the last seven days.
I've just been reminded of Don't Scare the Hare which was put before Series 6 episodes and every week the excuse for awful ratings were "it was hot" meanwhile Doctor Who kept growing in ratings. Surely that's the worst thing put before Who right?
Has anyone done a comprehensive look at the programme on BBC1 *before* every Doctor Who episode? Feel like that's a very interesting rabbit hole to go down.
I would pay good money to see a film where it's just these three guys running across Europe hunting down Nazis. Lee was known to, and admitted to, embellishing some of what he did, but that's also cause what he *actually* did (along with Pertwee and Fleming) was ultra-classified and remain so.
You couldn't make An Unearthly Child now thanks to woke. It already got made, the cast are mostly dead and Stef Coburn would barge on set demanding video evidence you assassinated his father.
Bringing back the film cast in the Hunt For More Money is creative bankruptcy, this is actually inspired, IF you want to make use of a fantasy IP in your backlog and do new things with it.
The depressing thing is I actually think Lord of the Rings would lend itself well to a full cast audio thing but WB aren't interested - the films are obviously great but different enough that you can justify a re-interpretation. The structure and pacing of the books work better on audio, for example
Actually fuck it I need a new number one fancast for the Doctor too (goddammit Ruth Wilson) so how about we just get the film’s cast back and Thomasin McKenzie is the Sixteenth Doctor and Roman Griffin Davis/Archie Yates are the chaotic companion duo?
Interesting that the HP audio has a higher profile cast than the show, so it sorta proves that it was convenience, not morals, which caused actors to decline HBO. Recording over elaborate filming.
You know that joke about the Jojo Rabbit kids taking over Pegg/Frost doesn’t seem so bad now lol.
I guess Mission Impossible really is over now that Simon Pegg has quietly exited Cruise’s arse to rest his laurels on… *checks notes* Arthur Weasley.
Fun fact: Did you know that Edgar Wright not only directed the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, but also wrote them all solo AND played both lead parts in all films?
It was a nice mystery about a policeman but it got ruined by people talking at a school.
Also I think RTD would get extremely weird about Sil if he was to return (was he gonna be the Boss?), like he'd be on Unleashed saying "we can't have a disabled Arab play a villain" meanwhile said disabled Arab would like "LEMMA PLAY THE VILLAIN GODDAMMIT DON'T TURN ME INTO A CGI SLUG"
I can't think of many other villains that applies to, I guess the Silence are connected to Eleven fundamentally for story arc purposes? I think even the Valeyard can be separated from Six's run but Sil just feels like the perfect foil you can't really take him out of the 80s.
Sil really summarises and encapsulates the Sixth Doctor's TV era so much, he's so intrinsically connected to the gaudy, garish mid-80s seasons I genuinely can't see him work outside of that period of Doctor Who. As tied to Colin's run as the rainbow coat and crash zoom cliffhangers.
One of many issues with Mysterious Planet is the trial doesn't add anything, just endless scenes of Holmes hating the assignment and moaning about how boring it is. Here, the trial is used to interrogate and play about with the narrative being told, the perfect marring of the arc and standalone.
I like Vervoids as a standalone, the re-edit works wonders for it as just a classic Doctor Who adventure, but in the context of the season there is zero doubt what the best segment is. Lots of similarities to War of the Sontarans as being the best bit of the season long arc and perfecting the format
It's the perfect continuation of Varos' themes, that of spectatorship, violence and perspective. Now it's the Doctor who is the horrific audience of his own adventure. It's so great, Trial peaked 100% here, without a doubt.
What really happened? Was the Doctor's long con the best approach? Was it a con at all, and did he merely break free of Kiv's influence? Was the Matrix fabricating half of it? It's such a layered, dense work. Like nothing else Doctor Who has ever done, and also BRIAN BLESSED.
Mindwarp 4/Trial 8 is definitely the best single episode of Colin's Doctor Who era but I'd also throw it in as a contender for single best 80s Who episode. Just top class, the final 10 minutes are spine tingling as both storylines combine. Perfect serialised drama.
Dennis Spooner and Donald Cotton IMO were the first to really do this, the Doctor and co in history is funny! They're dressing up! And it's still history, people still die and actions have consequences. The very nature of events meant all they were doing was surviving.
Depending on if you count looms he HAS canonically fucked.
It helps that her male companions proved to be excellent layered characters in their own right and shining examples of non-toxic masculinity.
TBF I think he’s saying other franchises are those things and he wants Doctor Who to be different which is fair enough but also, it’s ALWAYS been like this. It’s the big issue he has right now, basically arguing against people who agree.
Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc is a Nielsen-esque comedically serious performance and in many ways eclipses Nielsen and Braugher in the “serious actor in broadly comic works” category. Perfect performance. I love his Bond, and it’s better than Bond.
This is the year Edgar bloody Wright might have to contend with third place King film, what a year for adaptations.
If this happens, it's gonna be his last, and that's slightly cursed, but still not as cursed as some final projects from his generation of actors, like Peter O'Toole's being a Kazakh b-movie. It's somewhat of an interest of mine, final projects.
His last film as well, filmed years apart from the rest of it and he doesn't even have a name, absolutely hilarious.
The man's been acting since the 50s, I'm surprised you pulled it off. Well done!
Breaking news: Christopher Nolan has murdered Vin Diesel.
Exactly, it clearly meant everyone was under less pressure, meanwhile Millie was barely 18 when she was told, "oh, by the way, your co-star isn't ready yet, good luck".
This isn’t “Chibnall good RTD bad“ I’m just looking at the totally obvious fact that despite almost all the stories being bottle episodes and the cast being much younger, recent Doctor Who seemed to lose control of the cast more than the guys pushing 60 participating in massive Dalek epics.
Like, I’m sorry, but how was Bradley Walsh less physically drained after two seasons than Millie Gibson seemingly was after one? Dude was still hosting The Chase as well, there has to be a way, there IS a way.
Chibnall’s run managed it, the era had loads of high scale stories but older cast members didn’t end up in A&E and Jodie was jumping around for five years and never cited exhaustion. If we take one thing from the run, we’ve gotta figure out the magic formula for filming Doctor Who.
Of course, my desire to see a Doctor in one of these will make this headcanon very hard to hold ground (I think Sylvester, Matt or Ncuti would be very fun to see in a murder mystery). But let me have it, until I am proven wrong.
Until proven otherwise, these films take place in the Doctor Who universe and Benoit Blanc is one of Frobisher's human identities. No cast crossover apart from John O'Connor who just has a Russian distant cousin who got yeeted by an Ice Warrior. It makes sense!
It's one of those trends that happens every time, like Edgar Wright only releasing films in a Doctor's last season. If he drops a film, whoever the Doctor is, is FUCKED.
Every time Rian Johnson drops a new Benoit Blanc film he gets an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and always loses to one of the best films ever made so I'm excited to see what he's losing to this time (complimentary). Parasite and Everything Everywhere, I'd say that's losing well.
Superman and Fantastic Four have provided a really good blueprint for a Doctor Who film and how to deal with characters with masses of lore but still be fresh. That kind of approach is what Pertwee's era did as a soft reboot and that's what is needed.
Pertwee is generally a good basis for a film - on Earth, so you don't need to explain the setting, no lore, something like Ambassadors or Daemons. Or slightly rewrite Web of Fear. Basically, Earth based and expansive.
Yes, it does feel weird that Star Trek began in the First Doctor's era (just barely). And the Cybermen as a fictional concept being barely younger than the entire existence of Star Trek.
My contribution to Star Trek Day is to point out that for eight weeks, on opposite sides of the Atlantic, there was a sci-fi show led by William. From the first episode of Star Trek (two days before Doctor Who Season 4 started) to Tenth Planet Episode 4.
I just listed a plurity of the world’s most influential, famous and important works of all time. No fucking Hogwarts. Why would they think of adding that 😭😭
British concepts to make use of in a theme park - James Bond Doctor Who Lord of the Rings Narnia Paddington Wallace and Gromit Mr Bean Sherlock Holmes Winnie the Pooh Frankenstein Dracula King Arthur Robin Hood Shakespeare Dickens Dahl Leave. The. Wizard. Shit. Alone.
This is how I can tell no one has told RTD ”no” for a long time because note one, page one on any feedback for War and Sea, underlined, highlighted, would be “you want this to be taken seriously, the main character cannot be called Salt”
I’m sorry, SALT? THAT’s her name? SALT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Doctor Who does not need a break, it just needs a whole new writing team unencumbered by continuity and about 4 feature length episodes a year with a new approach to every story and wait I just suggested Sylvester McCoy era 2.0. LET’S GOOOOO!!!!!!
If Talons had a Chinese actor the controversy would be far smaller, FtD HAS a Chinese actor and it’s so much worse.
I find it interesting that Talons of Weng Chiang is the Classic Doctor Who story to stoke the racism debate when Four to Doomsday is right there. Not saying Talons isn’t problematic but Four to Doomsday is CRIKEY.
Genuinely curious if Danny Boyle would do it, he seemed to walk from Bond over both budget (Sunshine nearly broke him) and studio concerns over wanting too much control, probably after Mendes went overboard with Spectre. But would Boyle do a lower budget Doctor Who special?
Thing is, it probably doesn't pay as well as doing a big studio film, so you'd need to find a big fan, and Wheatley just happened to be free. We REALLY need RTD to try and get Edgar Wright again but he's a mad perfectionist (complimentary) and all his free time is developing his next project.
I am a bit disappointed the Ben Wheatley experiment of getting big name filmmakers to direct Doctor Who never went anywhere after that. Lots transitioning into filmmaking, but never a big auteur director.
It's amazing that they can very easily get some goodwill by continuing to promote original horror films and being creator driven like Coogler and Gunn except they're burning a billion on a Harry Potter remake so like, what, guys, get a fucking grip.
On the one hand it's nice for the creators that Warner Brothers have had a very good year, on the other hand, ew, current Warner Brothers. But we can hope they learn some lessons and focus on what worked for them this year and not throw away money.
RTD tried something similar with the four knocks/Ood Sigma and it was good there as well but something about Logopolis's approach is actually very terrifying.
It's why I find Logopolis so eerie and effective - the Doctor is reminded at every interval that he will die. We don't know how, just that he will. Even though NOTHING is happening, we know the end is here. Which makes the actual fall so powerful, it's not an accident, it's fate.
Cumberbatch is Grade A Nepo Baby (although he more than earns his career in his own right unlike lots of others) but I don't think he's ever spoken about the discourse cause he's never been asked because his parents aren't famous outside Britain.
I find the nepo baby in films and TV shows discourse quite funny because they literally never discuss it outside of America, Britain has loads of examples but they're never brought up cause the people leading the discourse don't know who their parents are.
On a related note, Youtubers are now extremely comfortable implying a certain country basically controls the media industry to be on their side which is a) stupid and b) something another country blatantly does and they don't even hide it (hint: it's the CCP)
For the 100th time, it cannot be about something that happened after the episode was written. That's like saying Praxeus is about Covid. It isn't. Watch. The. Episode. I don't even think it's a perfectly done story or anything, but I've actually watched it.
I'm convinced discourse of Interstellar Song Contest is now fundamentally based on not watching the episode. The company is NOT defended. They are NOT the side the Doctor is on. He's on the side of the ethnic cleansing survivor who channels her grief through music, not further violence.
Definitely agree for most actors, but Cruise runs his sets like a tyrant, he absolutely knows everything.
Admittedly this is my Doctor Who brain talking but as a kid I was blown away as to how on Confidential they'd show off how the alien planet was beautifully rendered on a computer, then the characters step foot onto a Welsh street, then chased by a thespian in makeup. No pretending one or the other.
I remember when the D&D movie came out and everyone was sharing the behind the scenes stuff about all the great practical sets and costumes and the response from the directors was "well duh, obviously you noticed it, we don't need to mention it" lol. There's also lots of well done CGI and VFX.
There is *nothing wrong with using CGI*! The problem is OVERuse. If you overuse it, we notice. If you don't overuse it, no problem. Just use bloody CGI when needed, and practical when needed. It's called filmmaking!
This is why Del Toro, despite being a genius, is beginning to annoy me. Yes, he used VFX in Frankenstein, and computer effects, there is zero point in denying it. He's used that stuff before to great effect and there's no reason to lie other than get brownie points from anti-CGI film bros.
Everything has its time, you know that more than most, old friend. Know this, Time Lord, you are not alone.
If you were in the Harry Potter films and return to the franchise now, you're lame as shit. If you were in the Paddington films and return to the franchise now, you are a goddamn legend and I love you.
I am incredibly interested in why who's playing Paddington has not been revealed in the Paddington musical yet. Surely that means it's gonna be Whishaw, right? As the big surprise. Why do I care so much, I'm legit invested in this. TELL US!!!!!!!!!!!
People say Robot doesn't represent the Fourth Doctor's era, and tonally, they'd be right. But you still get traits that continue until Logopolis - his inquisitive mind, alien, aloof nature and a commanding, powerful presence. So you still get a good impression from it.
Sure, Twin Dilemma is also infamous but you do get an idea of who the Sixth Doctor is and the era to come. But Time is 100% non-indicative, it cannot be stressed enough how important Paradise Towers is coming right after it.
I think you can show someone who's never seen Doctor Who the first story of every Doctor and they'd get a pretty good idea of who they are, the era's tone and style going forward and venture a good guess as to character and approach - except Time and the Rani. Such an outlier.