Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

New Steven Moffat interview (spoilers)

 

Yup. Cosigned.

 

We won't get anything of the sort. It's utter nonsense put out there only to fill empty space.

 

Happy Birthday to Jenna Coleman!

 

And RTD

 

For without him, we would have nothing to discuss.

 

So, the show didn't exist before RTD came along? Funny, I seem to remember that it did.

 

And there's been so much discussion of the classic series on this thread.

 

Arthur Darvill covers "Let it Go."

 

Don't be so facetious.

 

Just want to set the record straight.

 

Thank you for letting us know that the show didn't begin in 2005

 

There's nothing to set straight. Without RTD and his Rose and his Jackie and his Pete... this thread would not be here. Doctor Who would be a relic of British television.

 

I know you're not someone who spends much time on the big Who fan-sites, but that argument is always a controversial one. Lots of fans argue that the show was already tracked to come back and RTD fought to the front of the queue to head it up, and that without him it would have come back anyway (though obviously it wouldn't be the show we know today). I tend to stay away from those type of arguments so I don't remember all the facts, but I think it's both true that a) RTD's vision was very successful, more so than anyone could have imagined, and b) you obviously can't know that a new version of Who wouldn't have been launched even if RTD hadn't pitched his version.
You can say that this particular thread would not exist because obviously it would be different, but you cannot state that "Doctor Who would be a relic of British television" with any certainty, imo.

 

I do think that RTD's vision was the only way it would've been recommissioned (although I must accept I can't know for sure), and the only way the BBC would've tolerated it / taken a punt on it.

 

I disagree with you on this issue.

 

It was becoming the BBC's online flagship in many ways. The ..fourth(?) flash animation Scream of the Shalka (with the other 9th Doctor and future Great Intelligence, Richard E Grant) was being webcast at about the same time it was announced the show would be returning to TV. The BBC execs were interested in exploiting DW, but had no clear vision... Everyone thought the whole thing was tied up in copyright claim development hell, but it turned out it wasn't... The DVD extras on Shalka go into this in a lot more detail.

I think RTD was a logical choice for the execs because he had promoted it in Queer as Folk (a main character was a massive Whovian), and he and Eccy and were riding the high after the success of The Second Coming. I doubt RTD alone could have achieved the success considering the budget and prestige requirements - the execs wanted to avoid the clichéd wobbly sets, ropey looking monsters and cold technobabble of old, so they weren't about to hand the job over to any old idiot.

I think the BBC constantly has to justify its budget and maybe in 2004/5 they had an underspending crisis. If they don't spend enough, they won't get paid enough, if you see what I mean. A big budget high profile show would help diminish the proportion of the budget spent on executives on the balance sheet too....

 

I can see that the BBC were interested in bringing it back but had no clue how to. But... I think a particular sort of approach was always required to get it back on Saturday nights. Namely family drama. That was RTD's pitch, and the BBC were grateful. Others may have had a decent crack at it, but the tone would've been different and it may have ended up in a different time slot. More instantly appealing to sci-fi fans but less likely to succeed in the long term. So yeah... I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be where we are now had the reboot been handled differently. Had it not been as broad, had it not been RTD's NuWho. He chucked 'soap' at it. At the expense of some fan credibility... but that's what Moffat gave it. Gotta hand it to him really... I've come to believe the idea was to plant it back in the big time and then gradually migrate to someone like Moffat, shifting the focus as they went.

EDIT: DW may have been the BBC's online flagship at the time, but there's a huge gap between that and committing prime time Saturday night real estate to it. I think it's problematic to believe DW was anything other than a real outside bet.

 

DW, Broadchurch win Bafta TV Craft awards

 

I don't believe that there was just one way of bringing the programme back, and I don't believe that RTD's way was necessarily the best way for everybody. I get that it has been very successful and that you like it, but you can't arm-twist others into saying that they're grateful to RTD. I continue to watch the show because I know it can be great, it can be just the show I want, and occasionally it reaches that potential for me, but largely it falls a little flat week after week (for me). Much of RTD's era I hung on only because of David Tennant and the promise of a Moffat episode once a series. I think a different show-runner could have given us a better show, and I'd like to think that quality will always find an audience.

 

Torchwood's Eve Myles wants a fifth series for the show.

 

I ****ing don't.

 

I'd prefer a watchable 4th series first