Doctor Who [7]

I was in two minds about the leaf bit myself at the time, but I think it actually works better after you finish watching the series and realise what the leaf represents regards infinite Clara's in time and space.
Brave though to have a conclusion to an episode that doesn't really fully make sense until several episodes later (but worth it anyway for the Doctors speech)
In fact I thought the Rings episode was the bravest of series 7 in all sorts of ways.

Not sure what you mean by the political correctness (I'd say its less pc now than it was in the RTD days) could you give some examples?

And yeah, Who has always had a large dose of camp in the mix.  

Bravery often means "not afraid to fail." It should be used sparingly.

The term "Political Correctness" needs to be in quotes. There's really not one example that stands out, but the collective number of characters that carry a label ( racial, gender, physical) is overwhelming. It's cool that the emperor is a dwarf, and that most of the soldiers are women, and that Madam V, the greatest sleuth in Victorian England, is a woman, a different race, AND a lesbian, but taken all together it's a bit overwhelming and distracts from the story. At least for me.

I think in a tv show brave just signifies something which is outside the usual box (granted Who has a bloody big box compared to most but still) and Rings, especially judging from its response from fans which were split down the middle between love and hate, it was the bravest episode of that series in that context (and thats without getting into what it has to say about religion)

Enough caveats for you?  


When it comes to the sort of pc you mentioned Who has always had that really- its always been all encompassing so I dont think its to unusual and doesnt jar for me with what the show has been before.
Rather we now get to see more of the ideals that in the past it could only espouse but not always show.

yes but theres a fine line between equal opportunity characters and having it flagged up every 5 minutes, ''oh look there's a Black Alien Muslim Gay stormtrooper''. It gets tedious.

Come off it- its nothing compared to the Doctor meeting a gay person (preferably black and gay if they could manage it) every episode in the RTD years, worse gay people who insist on telling you they are gay within two minute of meeting them   Give me Canton any day over any of the over the top, over burdening gay characters of the RTD years.

I did struggle a bit with the female lizards with prominent mamary glands myself.

Not the most sucessfull of reimagenings.

I like Madame Vastra and Jenny- and the three with Strax are a huge hit with the younger audience of Who- and its important to remember them as they are the shows future. (And she looks a hell of a lot better than the classic series Sontarans did!) I am surprised they dont have their own spin off show yet, the Paternost Gang to replace the Sarah Jane Adventures.


Todays Who 50th stuff to watch- the Culture Show has 'Me, you and Doctor who' on BBC2 at 9.30 tonight- 'examining the enduring appeal of the series and why it has become entrenched in UK life. Showing how the program has influenced music, design and story telling.'

Theres a repeat of the Science of Doctor Who at 11.05 on the same channel.

And on BBC1 the Graham Norton show is a anniversary special with Matt and David.

'The 50th-anniversary edition of Doctor Who Magazine has proved so popular it is being reprinted just a week after publication.

Editor Tom Spilsbury said: It's astonishing! I've never seen anything like it. Truth be told, I was a little nervous about the 50th-anniversary issue. We worked hard to put together a really good package for readers, but you never quite know how anything is going to go down. You just cross your fingers and hope people like it.
We've been overwhelmed with messages from readers who have enjoyed the new magazine - but what has been even more exciting is seeing after just a few days on sale the issue was selling out across the country!
I was looking back at past sales figures, and it's sold even more copies than the "Bad Wolf" edition of 2008 (issue 397), which was the previous highest seller of recent years. And that's not even including digital sales.'- Gallifrey Base


Good to see the official mag doing well.

do you have it?

sorry silly question

are there some good pictures?

Its a good issue with a lot in it-

116 pages and includes 12 art cards, a spoof mini magazine that imagines how DWM would have celebrated the show's first birthday, and nine free audio downloads.

inside issue 467:

Matt Smith and David Tennant – Two Doctors interviewed together
The Day of the Doctor – A preview of the 50th-anniversary special, with exclusive new photographs
Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald) interviewed
An Adventure in Space and Time – Huge behind-the-scenes feature
A feature on Anthony Coburn – Doctor Who's greatest unsung hero
An Unearthly Child – The draft scripts of Doctor Who's very first episode revealed
The Watcher's Guide to Anniversaries
The Wonder of Who – A guide to Doctor Who's supposedly "indefinable magic"
The Five Doctors – A guide to Doctor Who's 20th-anniversary adventure
Mary Peach – The guest star of The Enemy of the World reacts to the story's recent recovery
Production Notes – Showrunner Steven Moffat is joined by someone from his past . . .
John Smith and the Common Men – A special anniversary comic strip
The Time Team watch Last of the Time Lords and Time Crash
The Watcher's 50th-Anniversary Quiz
Competitions and puzzles

nice.

"The Radio Times cover from April 2005 featuring a Dalek crossing Westminster Bridge has won the Professional Publishers Association's Cover of the Century Award. The win for "Vote Dalek!" was announced at the Association's centenary celebration event which took place in London yesterday evening. The cover was one of ten that were shortlisted as those British magazine covers that were the most memorable in the last hundred years."

Behind the scenes on An Adventure in Space and Time-

Pj's favourite Who episode-



At least its a good choice. He continues to maintain his Who credentials!

Sir Ian has his say on Who (and confesses to being a Smith fan  )-

I hope that PJ gets around to directing an episode of Doctor Who solely so I can read Petty's reaction. Good or bad, it's bound to be at least as entertaining as the episode itself!

I think it will happen. PJ I am sure would jump at the chance and for the BBC the benefits are obvious.

I'm in two minds- I think its a good idea if he is just directing. If he gets to write it, or rewrite it as he goes, that would be another matter as based on his Tolkien I do not have much confidence in his writing or story telling sensibilities.
On the plus side I dont believe PJ is a Tolkien fan, or even likes Tolkien's writing very much, whereas he is a life long Who fan and knows his subject.

So I really dont know how I will react until I see it, unlike DOS where I can be fairly certain of my reaction to it before seeing it (hell I seem to have predicted half of it before he started  )

Hugely spoilery- the final moving scene from An Adventure in Space and Time- I thought it was beautifully done-

Spoiler:

Its a biopic set in the 60's-

Spoiler:

Culture show on Who is about to start in 8 minutes on bbc2 if you still have those links Figg (thats half nine start)

Ive been thinking about the expectation from folks online about tomorrows episode.
And as far as I can see all Moffat has to do is write the greatest episode of Doctor Who ever penned in its entire 50 year history, make it with broad appeal to draw in new viewers from all the places its being shown, whilst informing them and introducing them to the concepts and world of the show, and then all he has to do is make sure at the same time he pays homage to every single beloved moment of the previous 50 years. And put it all in 90 minutes.

Who would be a Who showrunner in its 50th year!  

I've heard some good piano versions of I am the Doctor, but this arrangement blew me away, my new favourite piano version (he also does an excellent Sherlock melody that I will put on the Sherlock thread)

Pettytyrant101 wrote:That Jimmy Saville gag is in a bit of a new light these days!  

Explain! EXPLaaAAIIN!!



(No really, the new light, and also who Jimmy Saville is, escape me)

Jimmy Saville was a hugely popular radio and tv host in the 1970's and early 80's- he presented two of the biggest variety shows on tv- Top of the Pops, a music show, and Jim'll Fix It- a kids show where he made kids 'dreams come true' - after his death it was discovered he was also one of the worst predatory paedophiles the country has ever known, with his victims numbering in the hundreds, including sick kids he was visiting in hospitals as part of his charity work.

In that vid, which is from before this was known, he compares Saville to Davros. (Given that many people at the BBC seemed to be aware of Saville's activities in some fashion one has to wonder if that was the case here in comparing him to Davros)

History of Doctor Who- the musical- actually the 'all in one take 'thing this vid boasts about is rather impressive-