Jodie Whittaker and Chris Chibnall to leave in 2022

[nixie]

An infusion of first blood from across the pond would greatly benefit the BBC.

We have a lot of programmes from across the pond, much as I like a lot of them I also like uniquely British shows that I don't want hijacking.

 

[BAYLOR]

We have a lot of programmes from across the pond, much as I like a lot of them I also like uniquely British shows that I don't want hijacking.

Okay Nixie , Fair enough.

But , I did have my heart set on seeing Michael Bay becoming Dr Who's next producer . I would just love to see transformer Daleks and Cybermen and Bay's truly unique movie camera work, editing , pyrotechnic action and story telling

You do realize im kidding?

 

[Mon0Zer0]

An infusion of first blood from across the pond would greatly benefit the BBC.

Who would be your picks for showrunner / writing team?

 

[BAYLOR]

Who would be your picks for showrunner / writing team?

Jack Kenny Dvid Simkins and Drew Greenberg, James Paglia , Bruce Miller The people who did tv series Eureka and Warehouse 13.

 

[nixie]

Okay Nixie , Fair enough.

But , I did have my heart set on seeing Michael Bay becoming Dr Who's next producer . I would just love to see transformer Daleks and Cybermen and Bay's truly unique movie camera work, editing , pyrotechnic action and story telling

You do realize im kidding?

Sorry BAYLOR there are some shows I don't want to see get the Hollywood makeover, shows like Red Dwarf, Zomboat, Doctor Who etc, the cheap sets, shoddy camera work, ham writing they are what make the shows.

Sorry my smileys don't work on phone.

 

[BAYLOR]

Sorry BAYLOR there are some shows I don't want to see get the Hollywood makeover, shows like Red Dwarf, Zomboat, Doctor Who etc, the cheap sets, shoddy camera work, ham writing they are what make the shows.

Sorry my smileys don't work on phone.

Having seen American pilot version of Red Dwarf. I agree on that one.

We do have some pretty good television writers here in the US. I would like to see them pen a Dr who episodes two . But that's never happening. Oh well.

 

[Vince W]

An infusion of first blood from across the pond would greatly benefit the BBC.

They can always go looking in Canada again.

 

[Vince W]

It's like the BBC is being run by Generals. You know, the same type from WW1?

 

[BAYLOR]

Didn't the BBC fire him last weeK?

 

[BT Jones]

I kind of think New Who jumped the shark when Tenant scared off an invading force by telling them to google him.

Jodie Whittaker is a fine actress, but I think she was miscast as the doctor. He / She needs a certain gravitas that she couldn't pull off, partly through her acting and partly due to the way the character was written.

Previous doctors seemed to have been strong patrician characters, with assistants as audience surrogates. It's almost like Chibnall identified his audience as socially awkward and then transferred this to the Doctor and then had the assistants serve as objects in the scene to drive the plot.

I agree with @BAYLOR in that the writing has been preachy. There's nothing wrong with stories that deal with issues, but they're better if the writer can bring something to the discussion and has a nuanced take that treats the audience with respect. If you're lecturing the audience, you're elevating yourself above them, and patronising them, imho.

Can anyone think of a story in Chibnal's run that was any good?

I actually quite liked The Woman Who Fell To Earth, although I only saw it once. There were one or two 6/10s in her first season, and a couple on season 2 (The Tesla episode, and the Haunting of Villa something, with the half=face cyberman), but the rest have been mostly reprehensible (especially Spyfall). This Flux season has, so far, been total garbage, with just anything and everything thrown at the screen, and absolutely EVERY plot event explained in detail to us with exposition dialogue, usually disguised as a nervous ramble from the Doctor that's supposed to be charming and quirky.

I mean, for God's sake, a scouser with a frying pan defeated an entire Sontaran invasion!!!!

I challenge anyone to listen to the script for the next episode and count the number of dialogue lines that are spoken purely to explain what is going on to the viewer, because the writers don't think we can work it out. Seriously, it's 75% of the dialogue, with the odd quirky joke thrown in (some of them, admittedly, quite good, but otherwise smothered).

 

[BT Jones]

Now....

I'm surprised at all this vitriol aimed Who productions of the recent past.

I thought it was well liked and all enjoyed by members of the site.

So much so that in recent years I've tried to show a more positive leaning toward the show.

Dear me, how wrong I've been.

I've come to realise that a lot of people are happy to watch film / TV and enjoy it for what it is, rather than scrutinize too much the framework beneath the veneer. That's certainly not a criticism, and I'm very happy for people that love these products. But I've seen a growing trend in TV and film these last 10 years or so whereby a product is more constructed than written, almost like its been assembled by an AI that has picked out the emotional beats and twists and turns from the history of TV and shaped it into an end product using some kind of algorithm.

I, myself, struggle NOT to see the framework behind the screen. I can see lazy plotting a mile off, and limp, exposition dialogue is something I just can't close my ears to. And, unfortunately, this has been the Chibnall / Whittaker era down to a tee. Apart from being overly preachy (you used to be able to take your own lessons from entertainment, rather than having the messages tattooed on your eyeballs), Doctor Who has become a plot delivery machine, whereby the stuff happening (and there has been increasingly more of it as this era has progressed) is transmitted by the most efficient means possible, mostly by dialogue that explains absolutely EVERYTHING that is happening.

Some people don't mind this, but I find it akin to having a delicious three course meal injected straight into your arm, whilst wearing a VR headset showing an actual restaurant - a lot of us like the getting there, the sitting down, the waiting, the casual chat, and the physical act of consuming something slowly.

I think production companies have worked out that a lot of people either can't tell the difference, or don't care, so they have resorted to generating "content" (what a ghastly word that has become) rather than taking time to find and refine well developed stories with plausible characters that behave realistically. I honestly think the streaming companies are now more obsessed with generating new content for young people to consume so that they don't think about cancelling their monthly subscriptions. Maybe it will settle down in a few years, when people realise they can only afford, or only want, 2 or 3 services, not 5 or 10, and so pick the services that consistently provide quality over quantity.

 

[BAYLOR]

It's like the BBC is being run by Generals. You know, the same type from WW1?

And their Motto' Don't do something , just stand there "

 

[thaddeus6th]

Look, the special effects are a bit ropey, but the characters are fantastic and the plots all make perfect sense.

Anyway, that's enough about the first two seasons of Blake's 7. If reports on this thread are accurate I'm not exactly brimming with anticipation for the future of the Doctor.