Amph [Doctor Who] Series 7 Discussion - SPOILERS

Sir Ian McKellen has prostate cancer.

 

Shame.
Although the article suggests he's had it a long time so it seems like he's got it under control.

 

Did you actually read the damn thing?

 

It's still cancer and Who has lost to many actors to cancer.

 

It's the number 2 cause of death in the United States, and I imagine it's in a similar position in the UK. Shockingly, that means people involved with a 50-year-old franchise are bound to die from cancer every now and then, especially people in their 70's. But Ian McKellen is not currently dying. If he keels over from a heart attack before the cancer spreads, then he will have gone the way of Doctors 2 and 3 and be blessed with the #1 cause of death.

And he's only a guest actor in one episode. Wouldn't it have been more appropriate to put it in the Hobbit thread?

 

Eek. Well, I'm glad it doesn't seem to have spread or caused him a lot of problems but it's still worrisome... but yeah not sure it belongs here much.

In much, much happier news... one of my brother's fellow electrics on the film he's working on right now worked on Fright Night, and he said that David Tennant is indeed as awesome off camera as he seems

Furthermore, this makes me three degrees professionally from David... although now that I think about it I already was since I know someone who wrote for Torchwood. D'oh.

Edit: And yes, I know some people have also met David and I've always heard nice things. It's just nice to hear he's awesome even when totally out of the public eye as with fans.

 

Of all the dead actors to have played companions, all but three died of cancer. The actors who portrayed Ben Jackson, Harry Sullivan, and Kamelion all died of heart attacks. Just putting that out there. William Hartnell died of heart failure, Richard Hurndall, who took up his role in The Five Doctors, died of a heart attack*, as did Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee. I'm starting to think I over-share things.
*He died actually around two weeks before the episode was first broadcast. While on the subject, Michael Craze, who played Ben Jackson, suffered his heart attack after reportedly falling down the stairs. Yeah, just ignore that last bit, not sure what I'm on about.

 

(New?) Tidbits from Moffat (+ trailer with new scenes I think)

Spoiler

"SteMo has promised all 8 episodes coming next year are 'huge' saying, “they’re all standalone stories... there isn’t the budget-saver episode. I don’t know how we’ve done this....he also teases a "modern urban thriller", a "base-under-siege story", one set on "a fantastic alien planet, which is looking absolutely amazing", another described as "a really cracking ghost story", one tentatively entitled "Journey To The Centre Of The TARDIS" and a Mark Gatiss-written period drama that Moffat describes as "a monstrosity of nonsense!"...."

On the 50th: "[it] has got some serious fanboy-pleasing going on in it. My aim for it – which I’m about to humiliate myself at the tone meeting by saying – is to have slightly more than you think could possibly happen in one episode. Slightly more treats than you think you could be allowed…”

 

!!!

 

Some interesting stuff there, he is of course especially vague with the 50th Anniversary talk

But basically...

Spoiler

That is all.

 

Den of Geek confirm a new title sequence for the 50th anniversary is to debut in the Christmas special.

 

Awesome!

 

Spoiler: Latest DWM cover + 2013 spoilers

And spoilers from DWM Mag itself:

- The finale will feature Vastra/Strax/Jenny as they along with the Doctor and Clara will battle some old and new enemies/monsters.
- Will Merrick will be playing a character called Brains in Neil Gaiman's Cybermen episode, which will also feature another disgusting related Cyber thing.
- The second half of Series 7 will air on BBC1 from April 2013.
- The first episode from 7B will be an urban thriller (with some across the world filming) while the second one is set on an alien planet.
- The 50th anniversary story will be filmed in April 2013 and has been described as a "love letter to fans".
- Matt Smith has confirmed that he'll also be filming a 2013 Christmas special.

Also, New trailer:

 

HOW MANY SLEEPS IS IT NOW!?

 

One and a half more 'sleeps' with the hope that the Mayan calender is wrong and we're not due to be destroyed soon.

 

They were just counting down to the hobbit!!!

 

13 sleeps until Who. I just started series 5. So, plenty of time for me to finish 5, 6, and 7.1 before then, right?

 

I'm on End of Time. And I won't start for another week at least. I'll be caught up by series eight, anyway.
(I'll go back and watch more Classic Who over the summer, probably.)

 

lol sleeps

 

The Beast Below is an underrated episode that would have been a lot better with David Tennant. Matt just wasn't ready for that kind of emotional exploration of the character yet. He got much better at it by the end of the series.

 

I think it's also a matter, as you said when halibut was doing his Countdown (nudge nudge halibut), at that point Moffat was probably still writing with Tennant in mind, which probably didn't help Matt either.

 

Yeah. That whole scene with the Doctor freaking out on Amy because he thinks he's going to have to zap the Star Whale's brain just has Tennant written all over it. Compare that to the lovely, quiet speech Eleven gives to Amy in The Big Bang. It just took them a bit to figure out Eleven and Matt. I feel like they had a big advantage with David's early episodes because RTD already knew him and they'd known for a while that he was going to be the next Doctor. He was Ten from the second he appeared.

 

I'm still of the opinion that School Reunion was originally written with Eccleston in mind, but by and large I agree with you.

 

Hmm... you know, I could sort of see that. He is a bit more brusque at times. I'd never thought about it before, though. Eccleston didn't jump to mind in that ep the way Tennant does in The Beast Below. You may be right, however Tennant still carries it off brilliantly. Maybe it helps that he got to work with Elisabeth Sladen.

It's odd though because The Eleventh Hour feels very Eleven. And so does most of S5. But I like seeing episods that make me feel like they could only belong to, and really define the characteristics of, that particular Doctor. I think for me perhaps the episode that feels the most "definitely not Ten anymore" in S5 is The Lodger. That's just pure Eleven brilliance.

 

It's the "Wither and Die" speech he gives to Rose in that ep that makes me lean that way, because it just seems the way that scene is written feels more like it was crafted for Nine/Eccleston still being the Doctor in that ep rather than Ten/Tennant. However, as you say, Tennant carries it off brilliantly.

I think the order the episodes are shot probably has a lot to do with it as well. Wasn't the Eleventh Hour filmed later than some of the other S5 eps?

And to me (although the scene that fully convinced me of Matt as the Doctor was his speech to little Amelia in The Big Bang), the ep in S5 that's absolutely Eleven's is Amy's Choice. It's quite clear that Matt put a lot of himself and his mannerisms into the Doctor in that episode rather than simply going by a written for Tennant script.