Vote for your favourite TV Dr Who! Plus series discussion... by chrisisall

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
I gather he had a bad break with producers over something

I never gathered that. His departure was planned well in advance, and you can spot all the foreshadowing of it and stuff, and Matt Smith was cast months before he appeared as the Eleventh Doctor. Maybe something happened later on, but I don't think there was any bad blood leading up to David Tennant's departure. He'll be back for some kind of multi-Doctor special, I'm sure. They're probably planning one for the fiftieth anniversary.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011 9:38 AM

Yeah, I don't think there was any bad blood. Davies wanted to difinitively cap his run, and Moffat wanted to start fresh with his own Doctor.

There were also other factors, such as his stage work, and injuries sustained doing them. Part of the non seasons of 4 specials was due to him playing Hamlet with the Royal Shakespear Company, during which he injured his back, cutting the run short.

From what I understand, Tennant didn't want to leave yet (Ive heard his impassioned "I don't want to go" cry in his final episode was added by the actor), but understood the reasons for replacing him, and agreed amicably, if somewhat sadly.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011 9:47 AM

Meanwhile....

It hit the news yesterday that David Yates (director of the last few Harry Potter flicks) has entered a deal with the BBC to develop a Doctor Who feature film, with the aim being to release it in 3-4 years.

The bad news - it will be completely unassociated with the series.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011 10:57 AM

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
David Yates (director of the last few Harry Potter flicks) ... Doctor Who feature film ... will be completely unassociated with the series.

Owwwww, my soul is hurting.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Thursday, November 17, 2011 3:21 PM

DREAMTROVE

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
The Doctor doesn't hook up with anyone. It's part of the BBC's family-friendly charter for the show.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

Story,

Imagination?

PR,

He said so in an interview, that's where I gathered it. It wasn't speculation.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Friday, November 18, 2011 7:21 AM

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
He said so in an interview, that's where I gathered it. It wasn't speculation.

I can find nothing of the sort. Link or it never happened

(BTW, what I can find in terms of interviews mentioning why he left the show:
http://www.denofgeek.com/television/623834/david_tennant_on_leaving_do
ctor_who_behind.html
http://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/david_tennant/ )

And this one, too:

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Friday, November 18, 2011 3:18 PM

CHRISISALL

That was a great interview. Thanks PR!

The laughing Chrisisall

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Sunday, November 20, 2011 11:58 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
BTW, what I can find in terms of interviews mentioning why he left the show:

The burn-out rate for Doctors is quite high... One factor touched on the the interview that may not be obvious to US viewers is that, here in Blighty, its not some quirky cult show on cable - its one of the highest-profile roles on British TV, with intense media scrutiny. (The Xmas Specials go out, on one of the two main terrestrial channels, early evening on Christmas Day and often top the ratings). When Tennant talks about media interest in 'the succession' he's not talking about genre magazines and crowds at SF convention: he's talking about the mainstream paparazzi.

However, while visiting the US recently I passed a bike shop with a sign in the window saying:

"I ride with fenders* now. Fenders are cool."

...so the BBCs recent efforts to "break" the show in the US might be working. At least in Berkeley CA :-)

(* My USAian is a bit patchy but, by cunningly observing the artifact hung beside the sign I deduce that a "fender" is probably a mudguard, and not a device to stop boats banging against the quay).

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Monday, November 21, 2011 12:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:
My USAian is a bit patchy but, by cunningly observing the artifact hung beside the sign I deduce that a "fender" is probably a mudguard, and not a device to stop boats banging against the quay.

A 'fender' is a bumper to us Brits, rather than a mudguard. Or at least that's the way I always figured it.

Yeah, I completely agree about the profile of the show in this country. Along with Only Fools And Horses (in it's prime) it's the one show that could take on (and beat) the soaps on Christmas Day. It's a huge huge show that spans so many generations of viewers, especially since the newer series launch.
Tennant touched on a big part of it as well from the actors point of view. Once you've been the Doctor you will never get away from it. It doesn't matter how much success they have after they will always be known for Doctor Who. In much the same way as actors who play James Bond, or those in a major Star Wars or Star Trek role.
I always think that was a big part of Christopher Ecclestons reasons for leaving so soon. I don't think he knew what he was getting in to and of course when the show relaunched and became successful it hit him. Here was an actor that usually did more serious, quieter roles and suddenly he was this iconic figure.

Maybe some US fans could elaborate more on gow big the show is in America? Is it a cult show or does it have a wider audience?
I got the impression from the pilot screening and various other events that it had achieved 'some' level of success beyond being a cult show.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Monday, November 21, 2011 2:03 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I think it is still a cult show here, since the reboot has only aired on either the Sci-Fi Channel and BBC-America. I doubt it would last very long on one of the major networks, but then again hardly any sci-fi lasts very long here.

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Monday, November 21, 2011 6:17 AM

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
I always think that was a big part of Christopher Ecclestons reasons for leaving so soon. I don't think he knew what he was getting in to and of course when the show relaunched and became successful it hit him. Here was an actor that usually did more serious, quieter roles and suddenly he was this iconic figure.

I had heard that he agreed to only one year from the very beginning for that reason; he was fine with helping re-launch the show by lending his acting reputation to it, but didn't want to go more than a year. You could be right, though, it could be that he came to that conclusion later on.

Quote:
Maybe some US fans could elaborate more on gow big the show is in America? Is it a cult show or does it have a wider audience?

The audience is getting wider, I think, but it would still be classified as a cult show. A couple million people watch it on BBC America, but that doesn't truly mean success; a show here isn't a huge success until it breaks 20-30 million. Although, that's for network TV, there might be lower numbers for cable success. Still higher than what Who currently gets, though.

What reason had proved best ceased to look absurd to the eye, which shows how idle it is to think anything ridiculous except what is wrong.

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Monday, November 21, 2011 7:12 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
The audience is getting wider, I think, but it would still be classified as a cult show. A couple million people watch it on BBC America, but that doesn't truly mean success; a show here isn't a huge success until it breaks 20-30 million. Although, that's for network TV, there might be lower numbers for cable success. Still higher than what Who currently gets, though.

That it is. Though I havn't seen how the second, post-hiatus half of the recent season did, the first half back in the spring showed a drop in British viewers, accompanied by an increase in US viewers.

And yeah, for cable, a show is considered a hit with far fewer viewers. The Walking Dead is the biggest cable show ever, and it's peak has been around 8 million.

Who's American peak, ratings wise, has been about a million and a half. So, it's still a ways off from being a huge hit here.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

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Monday, November 21, 2011 8:48 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:

That it is. Though I havn't seen how the second, post-hiatus half of the recent season did, the first half back in the spring showed a drop in British viewers, accompanied by an increase in US viewers.

I think they've taken a slight risk - the last series seemed to be pitched at a more adult/SF-liking audience at the risk of alienating the UK child audience (the other thing about the show in the UK is that it hits the elusive 'ages 7 to 70' demographic). By 'adult' I mean wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey temporal paradox plots (e.g. River Song's life story). I do like Moffat's mindfrack stories (other writers treat time travel as just a way of getting to interesting places) but I wonder what the kids make of it all. Not sure how many 7-year-olds know who Richard Nixon was, either.

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Monday, November 21, 2011 11:51 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by PhoenixRose:
I had heard that he agreed to only one year from the very beginning for that reason; he was fine with helping re-launch the show by lending his acting reputation to it, but didn't want to go more than a year. You could be right, though, it could be that he came to that conclusion later on.

Hey PR,
This is my opinion garnered from interviews with Eccleston, Billie Piper and Russell T Davies from before the show started airing to the end of the first season. It's also me reading between the lines a bit with exactly what they said and the way they said it.
I too heard that Eccleston was on board for only a year, I believe they all basically were because nobody really knew how a new Doctor Who would go down with the audience so one year didn't commit anybody long term. The show definitely fitted into the definition of 'taking a gamble' and one interview with RTD just before the first episode aired had him saying that he'd be very happy just to get to a second season. He thought they had something worthy and that he understood the need to please the classic fans and bring in new ones during a primetime Saturday teatime slot. Not exactly a small task especially with all the publicity surrounding the relaunch.
Of course it became a big hit really quickly and I gathered none of them expected it to get so big, so fast. I think this along with the added attention and the fact that he wasn't signed on to a second year aided Eccleston in his decision. Like you said he'd used his 'clout' to relaunch the show, he waited to see what the outcome was and when that had been achieved very successfully he announced he was leaving at the end of the season. Bearing in mind as well that his announcement came very soon after the relaunch (about 2 or 3 episodes in if I remember correctly).

Of course this could all just be my right or wrong interpretation of events. Who knows (pun intended)?
I certainly don't blame him for going, whatever the reasons behind it were. He helped bring back one of my all-time fave shows. Plus if Eccleston had continued we wouldn't of had Tennant replace him and IMO he took the show even further and made it a monster success.

My hope now is that when the 50th Anniversary comes around in 2013 that the they manage to get the three new Doctors together for a special show. It's been done several times before and it will be worth watching in so many ways.

And as a trivia point that US fans may not know (and maybe UK fans) but two big mysteries started on the same day in November in 1963. The very first ever episode of Doctor Who aired on the same day that JFK was assassinated. Leaving us with who killed Kennedy and who is the Doctor?

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Monday, November 21, 2011 2:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
Quote:

My hope now is that when the 50th Anniversary comes around in 2013 that the they manage to get the three new Doctors together for a special show. It's been done several times before and it will be worth watching in so many ways.

That's what most fans are hoping for, I think.

Though Id like them to include 8th Doctor Paul McGann as well. It wasn't his fault the TV movie was terrible, he was a pretty decent Doctor. And it'd work well title wise. They've done "The Three Doctors" and "The Five Doctors" already. Doing one with four is a natural fit.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

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Monday, November 21, 2011 3:14 PM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
The very first ever episode of Doctor Who aired on the same day that JFK was assassinated.

Actually, it was the day after the assassination.

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Monday, November 21, 2011 11:36 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
The very first ever episode of Doctor Who aired on the same day that JFK was assassinated.

Actually, it was the day after the assassination.

Okay, I stand corrected.
I knew I should have checked my trivia before posting that.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Monday, November 21, 2011 11:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
That's what most fans are hoping for, I think.

Though Id like them to include 8th Doctor Paul McGann as well. It wasn't his fault the TV movie was terrible, he was a pretty decent Doctor. And it'd work well title wise. They've done "The Three Doctors" and "The Five Doctors" already. Doing one with four is a natural fit.

Just for completion they've also done The Two Doctors which starred Colin Baker and Patrick Troughton. So that would be 2, 3, and 5 so far (not counting 1 as that would be every other episode). So, doing The Four Doctors would make sense and Paul McGann should get another shot at it. Like you say it wasn't his fault, he did make a good Doctor just that the rest of it was terrible. Plus he still has age on his side.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011 2:51 PM