Dr Who Series 4!

[Zeke]

Valium, I really think you should be careful about this man-crush on Lawrence Miles. I haven't read his pilot script yet, but I've read the whole blog now, and he is a piece of work. In particular, you should bear in mind that he hates you. Me too, but you more.

That said, while I have to resent his view of sci-fi fans, I agree with one of his main points in that post: Russell Davies gets a bad rap lately. It's his vision of Who that brought the franchise back to life on TV, and I'm betting a lot of the bashers will find themselves missing him when he's gone.

I haven't had the chance to see season 4 yet, but I'm looking forward to it. (There's a kinda complicated reason: I want to watch Torchwood S2 first, but before I do that I'm determined to finish my fiver of "Everything Changes", which I started before the new season hoping to take advantage of the timing.) I do have two links to toss at y'all, though.

• Paul Cornell wrote a little Who story for Christmas '07 which was published in the Telegraph: "The Hopes and Fears of All the Years". I've liked Cornell since I read his New Trek Programme Guide as a kid (backwards and forwards). The story seems written with young readers in mind, and it's too sweet for me to gripe about the very predictable ending.
• I'm a webcomic addict, but I've never seen one as ambitious as Rich Morris's The Ten Doctors. I'm halfway through and I love it; it's as big, messy, and entertaining as a story with ten Doctors should be, and the likenesses are incredible. Check it out.

[whoiam]

Noting what seems to be a certain mild reproof in Zeke's post, I'd like to clarify a point here: My personal opinion on RTD isn't along the lines of "Hate...hate...HATE!" or anything. But I'm not blind to the fact that for all the good he may do as an executive producer, the standout episodes in the new series are typically *not* the ones written by him.

To that end, I'm actually looking forwards to the Head Writer role being passed on to someone whose own efforts have been rather stronger.

Now on the subject of executive producer I'm a little less enthusiastic - partly because I have few complaints about the production of Doctor Who and partly out of the fear that the added responsibility might prevent Steven Moffat from writing as well as he has done so far. This is why I only stated the first and last episodes to be well-written - I have no idea how Moffat will do managing the other writers, so his ascension to a higher level of employment may result in the series switching from (typically) weak at either end to (typically) weak in the middle.

Still, I'm not actually thinking I'll miss RTD - the old series survived several changes in production staff, I suspect the new series will as well. After all, with the ratings it has been getting in the UK, it can probably survive having an off season whilst Moffat gets used to the job.

[Zeke]

Hope I didn't give you the wrong impression, whoiam -- nobody here has to edit himself (figuratively) on my account. As long as you guys don't break the rules, you're welcome to post anything you want.

That said, I do disagree about RTD. It was his "Rose" that made me a Who fan. I don't like all his episodes, and I wish he'd stop hitting us with that big hammer labelled "Maximum Gay", but in general I'm a fan. And anyone who's on the receiving end of the basher mentality has my sympathy if nothing else. Some of the attacks on RTD remind me of what B&B got. Fandom is a harsh mistress; whatever is loved will sooner or later be hated. Ask the Heroes writers. (Even Ron Moore is finally getting a taste of it over at BSG.)

As for how the show will look under Moffat, I wouldn't expect too big a change. He seems in line with RTD's ideas about the show, and it's the same writing staff and all that. I'm guessing it'll be like how Voyager changed when Braga took over in S5 or Biller in S7 -- more like fine-tuning than reworking.

[Chancellor Valium]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Valium, I really think you should be careful about this man-crush on Lawrence Miles. I haven't read his pilot script yet,

Until I did, I thought he was pretty crackers.

Originally Posted by Zeke

but I've read the whole blog now, and he is a piece of work. In particular, you should bear in mind that he hates you. Me too, but you more.

...And why is his judgement necessarily wrong because of this?

Originally Posted by Zeke

That said, while I have to resent his view of sci-fi fans, I agree with one of his main points in that post: Russell Davies gets a bad rap lately. It's his vision of Who that brought the franchise back to life on TV, and I'm betting a lot of the bashers will find themselves missing him when he's gone.

I doubt it. His insertions are too blatant and overriding to be mistaken for those of the current script editor.

Originally Posted by Zeke

As for how the show will look under Moffat, I wouldn't expect too big a change. He seems in line with RTD's ideas about the show, and it's the same writing staff and all that. I'm guessing it'll be like how Voyager changed when Braga took over in S5 or Biller in S7 -- more like fine-tuning than reworking.

Personally, I'm hoping for a move away from rather moronic ephemera - and more specifically, English moronic ephemera, that I suspect alienate those viewers outside this sceptr'd spot who don't have our tabloids mailed over to them in regular batches.

[Wowbagger]

Expect an exceptionally long rant from me in this thread, just as soon as SciFi in the States has caught up with the rest of the world and I can safely read this without spoilers.

Gorram bashers...

[PointyHairedJedi]

Originally Posted by Zeke

• I'm a webcomic addict, but I've never seen one as ambitious as Rich Morris's The Ten Doctors. I'm halfway through and I love it; it's as big, messy, and entertaining as a story with ten Doctors should be, and the likenesses are incredible. Check it out.

You... you bastard. You know now that you've linked to that I'll be able to do nothing for the next two days but read it. And I was so looking forward to sleep, too.

[whoiam]

PHJ: I know exactly how you feel. I tried an archive binge on Irregular Webcomic over the weekend. The author kept including links to other webcomics in his annotations, damn him. Legostar Galactica and Freefall seem pretty promising, though.

Wowbagger: Looking forwards to it.

Chancellor Valium: I guess the ephemera seems a touch less moronic to those of us in the UK at times - my greatest problem with the series is how every season finale involves a reset-buttoned 'end of humanity on earth' storyline and every christmas special involves something attacking present-day London. It doesn't really help much that there seems to be an 'episode-merge' template on RTD's computer, and he just has to add the villains of choice for that season.

Zeke: I think if there ever was a code of conduct for use of the internet, one of the tenets should be 'never take a position you are unwilling to defend'. It should be just as important as 'do not hijack threads (unless it would be funny to do so)' and 'anyone writing entirely in txt or 133t should have their textin' hand broken'. Unless you ever degenerate to the stage of "Agree with me or get banned" you will never owe me an apology for either disagreeing with me, arguing with me, or making me explain myself. I would hate, HATE, living in a world where those three were considered forbidden actions.

A whole world of spineless yes-men... *shudders*

[Burt]

That 10 Doctors is fantastic. I stumbled across it a few weeks ago, and lost 3 hours. Amazingly good drawing though, and very like the personality of each doctor.
I really did like the forest episode.. It confused the hell out of me for about 25 minutes.. Which I love! I like not understanding... right till the end. I thought the music was just haunting too. And River... think we'll see her again? I'm sure it's all been a big set up for future storylines. I'm however very, very worried about this 'Doctor's name' thing they have going.. It's terribly fascinating, but it can't end well. I don't want to know his name! Never, NEVER tell me! It'll just... be wrong! Saying that.. I can't help thinking what the secret could be? How can a name be sooo...bad? And he said something like 'There's only one time I could tell someone my name?' You don't think they're thinking of bringing up that old not used storyline - The One?

All very excited for the end of the series too. I hope it's on par with Series 2. That had me totally hooked. Series 3... well... I see it's charm now, but I wasn't impressed when I watched it.

[Chancellor Valium]

@whoiam: That's but one large element of my general dislike of the Zygma Experiments.

@topic: The Ten Doctors is reasonably drawn but a mediocre fanfic at best.

[Burt]

Ok, this weeks story. Clever, quite scary but a little thin on .. well story. I mean.. nothing happened! Still, enjoyed it.
But the build up to the big series end is great! Aprat from Rose returning.. there's the darkness? I'm not sure what that is, I know the big baddie is gonna be Davros, but I can't understand how he could conquer other universes? Then there is this comment towards Donna... 'There's something on your back.' which been said a few times in the series now. The trailer for next weeks episode (Turn Left) looks very exciting though. The start of a big finish!
Oh and I saw something today that is totally clear, but I didn't get untill now.
1st Doctor - Main thing - Daleks/ Daleks invade Earth
2nd Doctor - Main thing - Cybermen invade Earth
3rd Doctor - Main thing - The Master/ The Master on Earth
4th Doctor - Main thing - THE DALEKS AND DAVROS!

Then you look at each of the new series and... The pattern fits!

[Chancellor Valium]

You're picking a very few stories out of a much wider context. The Daleks and Davros, in the case of the Fourth Doctor, they appear twice in seven years, covering a total of ten weeks, or two and a half months (give or take). In seven years. The same can be applied to the others.