Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

Whatever happens Doctor Who isn't going away for good again, that's a given. There's too much value in the brand for it to remain dead forever. So the big question is how long should any hiatus be. A year? Two years? Or even wait closer to a decade to erode the market over-saturation that was left in the wake of the 50th anniversary?

Personally I don't think that any potential hiatus is going to be massive. We know from the Sony leaks earlier in the year that the BBC are floating movie rights and have a plan for the brand that goes to 2020. I'm pretty sure they're not going to change those plans in any significant way if they don't have to. Instead I'm expecting something closer to the final David Tennant year where we get a 'year off', with a couple of specials to tide things over until a completely new crew take over the reins for the next full season.

I don't say this as someone who thinks the show is now feeling like it's on autopilot either, personally I think the last couple of years have turned out some of the better episodes to come from Nu-Who as a whole. Though it is undeniable that the tone and tropes of the Moffat era are starting to become overtly-familiar, and I'm pretty sure if the people behind the scenes are seeing Doctor Who as going through a crisis period then Moffat will be the one who has to fall on his sword and move on to new projects.

 

I think they need to let Capaldi have a complete run of at least three seasons (so one more season after this one) before they go on hiatus, which would also give him at least a full season with a new companion.

But Capaldi is too awesome to cut the show off only two seasons into his tenure.

 

I don't see the point of a hiatus. We already sort-of had a year off, seeing as how we only got one season for both 2012 and 2013.

 

I don't understand. This episode was good. Yes, it was a bit familiar, but so are a lot of episodes. Both halves of series 7 were probably the lowest point of the Moffat era, and series 9 is so far better than series 8.

That said, I would like the showrunners to change (please God not Gatiss). That would make more sense than an arbitrary "hiatus." The show needs someone with a different style.

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I agree--I've loved every episode of series 9 so far and find it a vast improvement on series 8. I don't necessarily think there should be a hiatus, but if there is, they should wait until Capaldi has been in his well-deserved time instead of cutting his tenure short.

 

The show needs a new show runner and new writing team. It's really disappointing to read that a lot of the press and some casual fans see the decline in ratings as a result of Capaldi's casting - it's absolutely not. Capaldi to a certain a extent is the Colin Baker of this generation. Amazing actor, lots of promise but receives the blame for subpar scripting which reflects negatively on his Doctor. Moffat's last series should have been series 8 because, at least to me, that made up for that shocking excuse of a season which spanned 2012-2013.

 

As a massive fan of Capaldi and as him being my first Doctor, the idea of him being a scapegoat in the annual ratings "crisis" just breaks my heart.

It gives me another bad impression at how some people are just so tied to their nostalgia and shallow, limited views that they can't move on beyond David Tennant and Matt Smith.

 

I don't even think the writing for Capaldi has been that bad. He's not even halfway through his second season and he's had more good episodes than he's had duds if you ask me. The problem is over familiarity. You have the fact that Doctor Who has been back for 10 years now and had a huge level of marketing saturation just 2 years ago in the lead up to the 50th anniversary. Audience drop off was always going to be guaranteed at this point one way or another as exhaustion set in among some.

Then there's the fact that Moffat's tenure as show runner isn't producing any surprises. The visuals, tone and tropes have been pretty much the same for 5 years with only a gradual cast change to mix it up. Just as we could pinpoint exactly how every RTD season was going to go by the end of Tennant's era we are now noticing the same thing with Moffat. At this point a change in writers would create a fresh approach and remove some of the over familiarity that has settled in.

There's also an argument to be made that another major factor in the low overnights is just changing viewer habits. Viewer ratings are down almost evenly across the board. Aside from a select few exceptions, like the Great British Bake Off, everything is losing viewers, including unstoppable juggernauts like the soaps and The X Factor. More people are using catch up services or recording shows to watch another time, and when you look at the time shifted figure for the season premiere this year the drop off isn't that bad. The Magician's Apprentice got 6.54 million viewiers according to the time shift, and 7.53 million if you include iPlayer (Though you can't tell how many of the iplayer viewers were repeat watchers, so take that figure for what it's worth). It was also still the BBC's 4th most watched show of the week. So there's a good chance the crisis isn't that bad and we're just seeing the BBC trying to turn Doctor Who into something resembling only the "event" television that we get with the specials, which consistently draw in time shifted figures in the tens of millions.

 

What am I looking at?

 

Episode was a bit sedate for my tastes, but I enjoyed the underwater, claustrophobic setting, the conceit (which even the Doctor accepts/propounds!) that ghosts are real, the idea of a deaf character reading lips to glean all-important clues to the plot, and the writing on the wall which the TARDIS won't translate. Solid ideas, but for the execution was a bit underwhelming. Looking forward to what looks to be a more dynamic conclusion next week.

 

Kirk, Spock, and Scotty in the mural of the sea monster behind the Doctor...

 

Ahhh, thought it might have been the giant bowling ball

 

I loved this last episode and am enjoying this season quite a bit. Even Clara isn't bothering me as much as she has in the past.

I'm really happy with several shows adding deaf actors ; there was also a deaf actress on Scream Queens. (It's not TV but, Spring Awakening on Broadway is being done with ASL, and with deaf actors and then the 'voices' of those characters. )

 

LMAO, seeing that painting, I can't help but be reminded of the sequel to that Trek/Who crossover comic that never came about because IDW lost the license. It would've involved the DS9 crew unearthing an ancient Bajoran mural, and seeing the TARDIS there, prompting Worf to worry about The Doctor coming back.

 

This episode was a huge improvement over the premiere. Quite enjoyed it.

 

A couple of things:

There have been comments about how this was a bit of a throwback to several ClassicWho serials. I couldn't help but notice how this episode handled the set-up of the situation, the Doctor's entrance and his taking control of the situation in about three or four minutes. By comparison, "Robots of Death" (which BBC America ran this past week) took most of the first episode to reach that point. Not a criticism, just an observation.

I had a thought about the scene in the TARDIS where Clara is gung-ho about going out and facing the situation, while the Doctor is a bit more hesitant than usual. Was that just Clara's normal enthusiasm, is she trying to go full-speed-ahead with her life in response to Danny's urging in "Last Christmas", or, since it involved ghosts and the dead, could she be a bit too eager to look into this? Or am I reading more into the episode than was intended?

 

That scene is definitely weird, and she's definitely more "let's go! Adventure! Yay!" than she has been previously. Whether that has to d with "Ghosts!" or, more likely, I think, her character trying to cope with her trauma by being all gung-ho "I'm the Doctor!" remains to be clarified. It's possible that scene was added to the episode later.

 

Yeah, Titan has the license now. Their series have been quite good, though, significantly better than most of the IDW run, so I'm not that sorry, to be honest.

 

I keep finding songs sung by John Barrowman but a lot of them are only buyable on the UK I-tunes. How unfair is that?

 

Here's how the Who/DS9 crossover would've played out.

http://www.tonylee.co.uk/?p=1125#more-1125

If IDW would've still had the liscense, I personally would've changed it from 11 to 12. 12 AND The Sisko teaming up would've been amazing.

 

War.Doctor. BFA's!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/john-hurt-returns-as-the-war-doctor-for-audio-adventures-76659.htm

Hell freaking yes.

 

And Paul McGann. John Hurt and a set for Paul McGann.