OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLY: nu-Who season 8

*bows* you are all too kind

I would have opened with the teaser trailer but it doesn't actually contain any information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYN6ruU672Y

Moffat interview from Hay Book Festival contains some interesting, if vague, tidbits, about S8. Also sounds like Gatiss's involvement has been stepped up. Is he being groomed as the next showrunner when Moffat likely steps down after S9?

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/may/27/steven-moffat-bbc-david-tennant-benedict-cumberbatch-sexy

Although Tennant and Cumberbatch's features are each chiselled in a somewhat idiosyncratic way, each has become a heart-throb, with Cumberbatch even prompting an online army of Cumberbitches, in thrall to his every movement

gg internet

Also sounds like Gatiss's involvement has been stepped up. Is he being groomed as the next showrunner when Moffat likely steps down after S9?

Can't think of any other likely candidate TBH.

: |

Ah could worse; he's not proven himself the best Who writer, but he's obviously deeply invested in the programme, and could see him taking it in more of a horror anthology direction which could be cool.

Nightshade was a lot of fun; I hope Gatiss can adapt it into an episode (it would totally fit into the horror anthology vibe, basically Doctor Who meets The Blob)

Gatiss knows the show inside out and that's why his DW novels (and the Crimson Horror) were good fun - he's good at pastiche and fan servicing. But, yeah, not a brilliant episode writer. However, he could be a good show runner, particularly if he brings other writers on board.
Of course, I could be reading too much into this. His role as Moffat's confidante probably isn't new. That said, he is clearly in a special showrunner circle of trust.

The Unquiet Dead remains his best episode I think.

yeah, burn all immigrants

gg internet

to his credit, Cumberbatch is trying to suggest that they call themselves something less troublesome

Gatiss knows the show inside out

If he knows it inside out, it's not shown in his writing, which appears to value only a handful of aspects of the show (ie nostalgiohorror, which is why Nightshade and Crimson Horror work; these aspects are also p good in Cold War, but the writing is otherwise thuddingly dumb in that). He's presumably aware of these tendencies, but one fears he couldn't counteract or broaden them in a showrunning role. Note also the structure of AAISAT being hung on luvvie nostalgia, with eg Delia being reduced to a one-second cameo praising a man, and Whitaker excised altogether.

That said, there's literally not a word about Gatiss or his involvement with the show in that piece, so I don't know where you're getting it from.

Ah right, I was conflating that with another piece featuring extracts from the Hay interview where he talks about discussing plans with Gatiss and RTD. I also read something where Gatiss talked about 'casting' Frank Skinner, even though he's not in a Gatiss episode, which suggests he's got a fair degree of influence. Of course, 'casting' could just mean putting in a good word. Skinner was probably pestering everyone involved for a part.

Gatiss and Moffatt have been friends through regular Who fandom since the '90s, they've probably talked about it more than once. And in DOTD promotional interviews, Moffatt was saying RTD asks him not to discuss plans, because he wants to enjoy the show with no foreknowledge.

And googling on Gatiss / Skinner, I get an Independent Woman Ireland article where the lede says "Mark Gatiss has said he was happy to give Frank Skinner a role in Doctor Who because he is the show's number one fan," which is so poorly written that you can't tell which of the men is the number one fan, and then the actual quotes from Gatiss say nothing about him being involved in casting Skinner, and indeed describe himself as a third-party observer.

Fair enough. But given some of the stuff that's been doing the round it's understandable why some might suspect Gattis is being groomed as the next show runner. Of course, the elephant in the room is the fact he's said he doesn't want it, and certainly it would get in the way of his acting and other writing.
There's no other obvious candidate just now, but given that Moffat is surely staying around for S9 I suppose there's no great rush.

get Lawrence Miles to do it (as long as he leans on OG Faction Paradox and stays away from Sabbath)

I don't understand any of that sentence.

^^^ clearly you haven't read any of the BBC 8th Doctor adventures

I'm referencing the following:

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Alien_Bodies_%28novel%29
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Interference_-_Book_One_%28novel%29
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Interference_-_Book_Two_%28novel%29
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Adventuress_of_Henrietta_Street

i hope gareth roberts comes back to write some more. I love his episodes and finally read his novelization of Shada which was excellent.

Roberts is writing one for S8, and also novelising City Of Death.

(The audiobook of Shada is read by Lalla Ward, so includes her Tom impersonation, and also features John Leeson doing all of K-9's dialogue.)

yeah Roberts rules too; his Virgin and BBC books were tons of fun

excellent, I am going to buy Shada and read it at lunch!

fave BBC/Virgin authors

Lawrence Miles
Gareth Roberts
Dave Stone
Jonothan Morris
Ben Aaronovitch

early Kate Orman, Lance Parkin and Paul Cornell were also great but I feel like all three fell victim to their good press, to varying degrees

excellent, I am going to buy Shada and read it at lunch!

Roberts' original novels set in the same production era are even better than Shada, if you want more afterwards.

I knew I'd forget an author: Peter Anghelides

Never read his novels, but Gareth Roberts' episodes are all pretty mediocre. Too much CBBC slapstick and soppiness.

So English Way of Death, Romance of Crime, and the Well-Mannered War are pretty solid if I like Shada?

really looking forward to his City of Death novelization. Hopefully they'll let him do the Pirate Planet after that. he doesn't ape Adams but he works with that dialogue extremely well.

Well-Mannered War is free and legal here btw

I see they're going to do the Big Finish treatment on a couple of them, so I'll probably wait for those and read the other one! Thanks!

As far as I'm aware the only decent Smith-era stories were by Moffatt, most of the others were kind of unexceptional and dull? Moffatt obviously responsible for some overplotted clangers as well but at least they were memorable. There aren't any prospective showrunners who are already involved the show who would be any good, certainly not Gatiss.

The Lodger is my favourite episode of Doctor Who ever, probably. The Doctor's Wife is great. Amy's Choice, Vincent And, Girl Who Waited and Hide are all highpoints of their respective series.

(Not an argument for any of those writers as showrunner, btw, and most of them obviously wouldn't do it. Whithouse does appear to have a breadth of story interests that would make him a tenable case, though. [Personally would rather be surprised by an unknown who turns out to be a wonky font of creativity, like Adams or Cartmel or, let's face it, Whitaker. (also cf Smith!)])

Whithouse is the other obvious, if slightly unexciting, candidate, seeing as he's had showrunning experience. Only really good ep he's done IMO is The God Complex, which also owes a lot of its grim power to Nick Hurran's excellent direction. Actually, School Reunion is good too, although the most affecting stuff, i.e. Sarah Jane's return, was probably RTD's doing. Vampires of Venice is a decent romp. Town Called Mercy could have been really interesting, but ended up kinda dull - direction partly to blame. The pacing was zzz.

Not a show runner candidate, but it's a shame Jack Thorpe of The Fades fame, has been poached by Hollywood to do the Sandman movie. I'd like to have seen him do a Dr Who episode. Rumour has it he was approached, but things didn't work out. Maybe he can be brought back in at some point.

Not sure about the new changes to the TARDIS.

okay this is going to sound insane and I didn't feel this way until looking at that picture but I was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that, for the first time since the reboot, I'm looking at REAL Doctor Who

I mean, I liked/loved nu-Who up to this point with some notable exceptions (hey there large chunks of season 2) but this is suddenly making me feel like what I've watched up to this point has been well-done fan-fiction

aw, I was hoping they made the TARDIS interior less stupid.

so excited for this weeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Yeah I don't want to set myself up for a disappointment but I have great faith in capaldi and everything I've heard about the new direction sounds spot on.

Is it just me or does that sonic screwdriver look more like a dildo microphone than any previous sonic screwdriver?

I uh dunno what a dildo microphone looks like.

that's the same one matt smith had.

capaldi could carry a pineapple and a tiny parasol & I'd say it was the best direction ever

You just want him to be Manila Luzon.

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DELETE DELETE DELETE

very carefully excited

New teaser!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HaiGKiUuik

:D

I want that coat.

New teaser reveals a returning villain, won't say who for the spoiler sensitive amongst you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbX4tNG_k3s

Ha was it?? Oh dear.

Some pretty high qual jokes in this one. I liked the one about the second sleigh. Also a nice nod to Gift of the Magi.

I'd be up for another (unexpected, midyear) dreamcrab invasion if it got us more Santa/Starkey zings

Can we all agree to never speak of the scene where the Doctor pilots Santa's sleigh past Big Ben, like ever?

As much as I liked the rest of the episode, I agree that this is the wisest course going forward

Tried to find a gif of the moment the Doctor says "yipee" or whatever through clearly gritted teeth but came up empty

I just backed away from a Facebook argument where someone asked me if I'd ever seen old-Who because I enjoyed Last Christmas. Her excuse for asking was her husband is British, for some reason. The same person said that the episode was a ripoff of Alien and The Thing, apparently completely oblivious to the overt references to both in the episode, and called the dream crabs "The Silence crossed with The Weeping Angels" which makes me think she doesn't fully understand how either works.

go in son

^^^

release the whosplain

post a photo of a bookshelf full of NAs

If I hadn't been traveling, I might have!

I thought it might be the silence when they were all pods together on the ceiling.

This EP was ok but I prefer more whimsy and less space marines in my Who.

I watched about 5 minutes of Fear Her today and am amazed I didn't leap into the television and strangle everyone involved.

i watched 'lets kill hitler' the other day and i just

also the second weeping angels in new york is so u_u

am amazed I didn't leap into the television and strangle everyone involved.

Rewatch the idiot's lantern and the TV will strangle you.

Ha

so what's worse, now that it's fresh in your mind: Capaldi driving Santa's sleigh or Tennant running with the Olympic torch?

Tennant/torch, every time.

This EP was ok but I prefer more whimsy and less space marines in my Who.

you wanted more whimsy than this episode where the Doctor teams up with Santa, who makes reindeers fly by feeding them magic carrots? and fewer space marines than this ep with zero space marines? or have you just reached Into The Dalek?

also Capaldi flying the sleigh was delightful

otm

I thought we agreed not to discuss it

Tennant's torch run is one of the most embarrassing things the show has ever done.

I thought the sleigh ride was fun, obviously it was for the kids, but childlike excitement can be fun if not overdone, and the contrast between the current Doctor's general grumpiness and the joy he got out of riding the sleigh was a nice touch, a bit of character development.

yipee

went to a convention today, which is by far the geekiest thing I've ever done, and met Karen Gillan and Matt Smith. Both were incredibly nice to my 8 year old and she is awfully pretty.

My 2yo daughter loves the "ice cream warriors". Theyre an ancient, proud and vanilla flavoured race.

No doubt some people will be pleased about this, but, ffs:

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/doctor-who/33581/doctor-who-series-9-surprise-character-back-from-the-dead

This was telegraphed heavily at the time tbh, it was deliberately left at the end of the Anniversary episode that there was a Zygon version of her kicking about that didn't know it was a Zygon so it was always probable the death wasn't real for a character that is believed to be such a 'fan favourite' (and in fact seems only to exist to say YOU MUST LIKE HER DO YOU SEE SHE IS A SUPERFAN LIKE YOU ARE DO YOU SEE).

I really like Ingrid Oliver.

i like her but still ... rmde

From the plot for that episode and from a moffat iv, it is the zygon version that will be appearing

guys stfu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_xoICJChu8

Thanks for the info! I guess in those cases they didn't try to explain why some random character looked like the future Doctor, like they're doing now with Capaldi?

― Tuomas, Thursday, August 28, 2014 5:40 PM (1 year ago)

Here's Paul Cornell, a contender for the most prolific and longest-running (though peripatetic) Dr Who writer ever, theorising about the choosing-your-face aspect, yesterday:

www.paulcornell.com/2015/12/the-12-blogs-of-christmas-one/

Interesting and fun. Although it should be noted Cornell has only written two (Very Good) TV stories (Father's Day and Human Nature/The Family of Blood), the rest being the fancy fan fiction of the spin-off books and such

Four Doctors is the only one that's fan fiction bcz Titan doesn't count imo*. Shalka was BBC too if that's yr cutoff!

*also easy to discount because it suuuuuucked.

yeah, tried the four doctors, but couldn't be bothered past issue 1

on the topic of spin-offs, have swallowed some of my reservations and bought the new Big Finish War Doctor set of audios. Hope they're better than the last ones I tried (Paul McGann, Doom Coalition, which was very uninspired meat-and-potatoes stuff with a good actor wasted as a potentially interesting but actually boring mustache-twirling villain)

Who's writing those? I mean, I assume it'll be meat-and-potatoes at very best, even if doing stories in the Time War wasn't a completely stupid and painfully small-minded thing to do from the jump.

(Was it this thread or the previous where I gave a recommended list of actually good Big Finishes?)

They're by Nicholas Briggs, so three veg if we're lucky, sadly. I really like John Hurt and his voice, so decided to get these in a moment of weakness. Maybe I'll be happily surprised.

ALL Nick Briggs? You fool.

oh, i know it

i finally got around to finishing last season. the final couple of episodes were really quite amazing and moving. i really liked the "conclusion" to the Clara storyline, at least it is better than Rory/Amy got (and they did get a mention in that diner TARDIS). i would have been really mad at the Doctor had he wiped her memory so i'm glad they went w the ending they did there.

Christmas episode was cool and fun and weird. those guys with their heads sliced down the middle were pretty crazy. the ending was fucking brilliant. not going to spoil it here in case anyone hasn't seen it, it's wonderful. is this really the last we see of River Song? it was a great send-off if so. easily one of the best River episodes.

Looks like Capaldi is going to stay for a while from what I've seen headlined on facebook. Looked like he might be leaving with Moffat for a while.
Still wish there was a full season before 2017 instead of just a special.

I dunno I don't begrudge them a chance to recharge every few years. Keeps things fresh I think.

glad capaldi's not leaving, because after moffat's gone i feel like he's gonna have a lot of heavy lifting to do...