Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

Happy Birthday to...

 

On January 25, 1975, this was broadcast on BBC 1:

 

John Hurt has died. Another great actor gone. I honestly didn't see much of him until he was the War Doctor, then started noticing him more in many of his other roles. RIP.

 

A week ago I was wishing him Happy Birthday, now I'm posting an In Memorium message. Makes you sad...

 

It does, especially with the final War Doctor set from Big Finish out in Feb. Truly, that now really will be the last one.

 

RIP, Sir John Hurt.

 

Booooooooooooooooooo... Capaldi out.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/peter-capaldi-is-leaving-doctor-who-1791795605

 

Hope for a Big Finish series with him that's got far better material than what he got!

 

The interesting thing about Capaldi was that he was in World War Z as a doctor for the World Health Organization. So, he was a WHO Doctor, before he was Doctor Who.

 

I'm very disappointed about this news. Does anyone think Capaldi might've been forced to step down due to the new showrunner coming in after series 10? Everything I'd heard before today was that he wanted to stay on. Now all of a sudden he's muttering something about "time to move on." I feel like he might have been pressured into it.

 

I may start watching Doctor Who again with Moffat and Capaldi out.

 

Here's hoping for a 14th white guy.

 

It's a shame about Capaldi deciding to leave. He's been the strongest actor in the role since 2005, and he's clearly delighted in every second playing him. I just wish his time as the Doctor had far more good scripts than bad ones.

 

Well, it had to happen sometime. Let's hope Twelve gets a good, dignified send off. As for his successor, all I'll say is that I hope they go with the best available person.

And, for his finale, no Daleks, please.

 

It's a shame that Capaldi won't get a series under a new showrunnner (Moffat's just gone too far downhill in the last 2-3 series...), I would have loved to see that.

Unfortunately, I'm getting a feeling that a female Doctor is inevitable now...

 

I think Moffat has produced a couple of gems the last couple of years (Listen and Heaven Sent were glorious episodes), but he definitely has been struggling as show runner. After wrapping up all the plot threads from the Matt Smith-era Moffat has struggled to create a new ongoing story. The finding of Gallifrey ran out of steam very quickly, and last season we were given a half baked myth about some kind of Time Lord hybrid (Although leading viewers to believe that it was connected to the Doctor's human mother was pretty amusing).

I think he should have stepped down as show runner when Matt Smith announced his intention to leave and then maybe have stayed on as a guest writer.

 

Another good Doctor gone too soon. A shame we won't get to see Chibnall's take on Capaldi's character because I think too many good opportunities were squandered by Moffat's tired rein over the show. Even worse - the regeneration will happen at Christmas, most likely in a single 60 minute episode that aims to capture the season spirit rather than giving the Doctor a proper send off.

 

They've all been at Christmas with the possible exception of 9 but 10s first episode was at Christmas

 

I think that if the announcement of Capaldi's replacement comes sooner rather than later then we can't rule out a regeneration at the end of the main season, given that series 10 is still shooting.

That said, it would be all too easy (By which I mean lazy) for Moffat to do another riff on A Christmas Carol, with Capaldi's darker, grumpier Doctor standing in as the surrogate for Ebenezer Scrooge this time around.

 

It's been inevitable for a pretty long time. Pretty much since the show was brought back and proved successful. People have been speculating about it for decades. Even if the Whoniverse had established it was impossible (and it has done its very best to establish the opposite, recently), it would have still eventually happened to the Doctor in a bizarre quirk of fate.

But I don't think the BBC will allow it for Chibnall's first series.

Frankly, while I'm fine with a woman taking up the role down the line, I'd probably be pretty irritated if it happened before we got a non-white bloke.

Yeah and it's boring.

I want an Easter regeneration.

Though maybe that'd be too on the nose.

 

I always thought a mid-series regeneration would be interesting. In the first episode, the Doctor meets a stranger who helps him solve the mystery, but the story is not quite complete - and then later in the series it turns out that the stranger was his next regeneration. The last episode is then the same story as the first, only told from the perspective of the new Doctor, and completing the missing bits from the first episode.

 

Yeah I'd adore something like that. It would need to be predicated on keeping the casting under wraps, though, and they seem to prefer making a big song and a dance of it these days.

 

It's an attempt to capitalise on the story before it inevitably leaks. It's hard to keep that kind of thing under wraps when someone manages to grab a photo of the new star on their way to set while dressed in the previous Doctor's clothing.

 

True enough. I can still lament the necessity of it, damn it!