ScreenSplitter
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I hope Clara will become more than a slightly prettier Martha in Series 8.
The Big Bang is a two parter beginning with The Pandorica Opens, the other two were one "hour" single part stories, and always felt rushed in terms of pacing.
I just think we'll get better finales if they were split into two episodes instead of just one.
I've seen more of the exact opposite if anything. Suddenly the first five years of the revival are abject rubbish and we're lucky it lasted long enough to bless us with Steven Moffat's tenure.
Moffatt might not tie up plots in a satisfying way, RTD ties them up in a ridiculously contrived way, when they never needed tying up in the first place. I mean this is a man who created a clone of The Doctor just to give a certain character a happy resolution, completely and utterly ruining the impact of the series finale two years prior.
Conversely though he also gave us Donna.
Also been looking into getting into the New Who Books and Audiobooks, and it just seems like a mess. Looking at amazon, most of Ten's books are no longer being sold, lots of Ten's audiobooks are also only available used. I haven't looked to much in 11's, but it seems like its mostly still available.
But its just all over the place. Only want to get expanded stuff of Doctors I watched, and Most of the later Destiny of The Doctor's stuff is just not on amazon. Wanted to get 1's (Since its before the first story) which is there but 10's and 11's isn't. I found 11's on the RedFinish website but not 10's.
This is all very confusing. I can possibly understand the old 10 books and audiobooks not being sold since they might stop printing them after a few years (but it still feels soon) but why Destiny of The Doctor? It just came out!
I still think, out of all the Moffatisms and whatnot that he employs in all of his scripts, that he absolutely nailed the 50th Anniversary Special. Absolutely fantastic, and infinitely rewatchable in my opinion.
He kind of undermined Doomsday within that very episode, where we get this really heartaching goodbye between the Doctor and Rose, and then immediately cut to the Titanic crashing and "What? What?! ...WHAT."
I know he had to tease the Christmas special, but the timing was just really jarring.
I'll be interested to see how Capaldi's first script shapes up, as he only had two months to do it between filming of this and the readthrough right before Christmas. I'm not expecting another Eleventh Hour, as he worked on that script for as good as two years - the first draft of that existed about a week after RTD finished writing Journey's End!
As for overall quality, I'm expecting something on the level of Bells from this year. Totally serviceable, does its job with introducing a new character, but isn't going to blow anything out of the water. Plus, as much as Moffat talks about how writing for different Doctors is the same, there are distinct Matt-isms he's gonna have to ween himself out of.
Great finale to Matt Smith. I quite liked it unlike some people, but then again I like pretty much all, episodes to some degree.
Best regeneration scene ever. (Both of them.) Ten and Eleven are pretty much tied as my favorite, and I do hope Capaldi is good.
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Woah thanks for the heads up! Unbelievable they stop producing them just as they release.The company that did the Audio stuff, (Not the plays, that's BigFinish and is mercifully separate) was once a department of the BBC that was partially sold to another company because the government wanted to sell off certain bits of the BBC so it cost them less. It went bankrupt literally last month, so that's what's going on. If you want the Destiny of the Doctor stuff, grab it fast before it disappears potentially forever, as who knows what sorts of rights disaster that is.
This is why people are nervous about more of the BBC being privatized or more shows being handed off to Worldwide, as AudioGo was actually part-owned by BBC Worldwide, but was sold on, went busted and is now dead anyway.
Something like Bells with a character who's actually interesting would be super.
Woah thanks for the heads up! Unbelievable they stop producing them just as they release.
Is it just Destiny of the Doctor? Or are any of the regular 11 CDs at risk of being discontinued? (I'm pretty sure BigFinish just does the 1st-8th Doctor stuff?) Very limited on money right now. If I can guess I'll just go with 1's and/or 11's Destiny CDs. Then get the others in a couple weeks if I can.
Edit: Also its just the CDs right? I'll still be able to download these if they stop making them or no?
Aha actually it was Catherine Tates WHERE THE HELL AM IIIIII. I was absolutely furious. Credit to RTD he was able to make me like the character after that really.
As for overall quality, I'm expecting something on the level of Bells from this year. Totally serviceable, does its job with introducing a new character, but isn't going to blow anything out of the water.
So almost everything New Who, yikes! Interesting that the 11th Destiny Audiobook is listed under Big Finish though. Thanks for the heads up! I got some money to spend. Lots and lots of money, as fast as I can.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doctor_Who_audiobooks#Sixth_Doctor_releases
Anything on here marked as being by BBC Audio or AudioGo is under threat, CDs and downloads alike. BBC Audio ones are under threat as that's the department the BBC sold to AudioGo, so all rights to reprint those stories or whatever fell into the hands of that now-dead company, I think. We'll have to see how the rights fall, it isn't really clear, and then if stuff does fall back to the BBC chances are the BBC won't bother to rerelease older stuff, as it'll be too expensive to do so.
I don't have a problem with Moffat but I hope that he somehow has a whole new bag of tricks for Capaldi. I'll build an altar for him myself if he gives us something on the level of Series 5 again.
The optimistic in me feels that the bland episodes in the second half of Series 7 were because he was stalling for the 50th + regeneration, and that he already has a set of ideas that he didn't use with Matt as he was saving them for Capaldi's run.
Yeah, that's a scene that is super easy to forget about (in fact I totally did), but when you watch the episode it feels super seamless in a way that's amazing.On reflection, Bells is secretly a fantastic little episode, but weirdly one where Clara is at her most bland (maybe rivaling Crimson Horror, which is also secretly great). Bells feels like a really good RTD-era episode, in particular an RTD-era companion introduction episode, with all the visual finesse of the Moffat era. Like, that one 'continuous' shot of Clara and the Doctor going into the TARDIS, flying, landing on the aeroplane, them getting out, saving the plane, then leaving is visually fantastic.
So almost everything New Who, yikes! Interesting that the 11th Destiny Audiobook is listed under Big Finish though. Thanks for the heads up! I got some money to spend. Lots and lots of money, as fast as I can.Even if I have almost none.
Hhmm I think I may be able to get three CDs within the week. Since 10 is already dead, I guess I'll start with the Destiny 1,9. And 11. Maybe get the 10 as download.
-The Doctor erasing himself from the universe's records didn't have any effect on anything
-Oswin erasing the Daleks' knowledge of the Doctor didn't amount to anything and was then undone
-Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS resolves its story with amensia and then reverses that a couple episodes later
-Name of the Doctor introduces the Doctor's grave on Trenzalore and does away with it six months later.
I didn't say head and shoulders, but better highs for sure. I love Smith's Doctor, but that's in spite of what Moffat has churned out for him.
Man, I really love 11ths speech at the end. It's such a nice contrast to 10. He embraces death and appreciates the life he's had while Ten felt like his life was cut short.
S7 really feels like a victim of timing. Between prepping for the 50th and having to write around the split, it doesn't feel like Moffat really thought out the plotting for that series......
Hopefully writing one continuous run again - and not being sidetracked with anniversaries and regenerations - puts Moffat back on track for a more focused series next year.
Am I the only one who kind of wants the Doctor not to have any real goodbyes? One of the nice thing about his regenerations is how hey if he "dies" he regenerates, that's one of the more interesting concepts about him, always having time to give a speech or two before the new version feels a little pandering. You can play with it in so many ways with the companions having to deal with it.
One of the biggest problems I have looking back is how wasted the potential for Matt Smith's run could have been if they said "Hey, regenerations are all used up, this could be the last Doctor!" or "What will happen?" It could have been made into a truly epic situation with him suppose to be the last one unless an alternative was found only for him to either make peace there wasn't after finding there wasn't one. Only of course to get more thanks to the Time Lords. It could have been grand and yet this one basic concept of the Doctor that was suppose to be so very important was treated like a fart in the wind.
That bugs the hell out of me.
I'm sorry, but Moff being sidetracked is no-one else's fault but his.
Well compared to Eleven, Ten's life kind of was cut short - he only lived for four or five years versus Eleven's 1,100 or so.
Am I the only one who kind of wants the Doctor not to have any real goodbyes? One of the nice thing about his regenerations is how hey if he "dies" he regenerates, that's one of the more interesting concepts about him, always having time to give a speech or two before the new version feels a little pandering. You can play with it in so many ways with the companions having to deal with it.
Man, I really love 11ths speech at the end. It's such a nice contrast to 10. He embraces death and appreciates the life he's had while Ten felt like his life was cut short.
So I have yet to watch the 50th or the Christmas Special, but is there something I'm missing? How or where is it implied 11 lived so much longer than 10?
I thought they handled Matt Smith's goodbye really well. It didn't last too long, and the Doctor himself, whilst a bit melancholy, seemed pretty upbeat about things.
Tennant's exit was way too much though. Watching him sit around crying in a cafe about not wanting to regenerate was really stupid. Whilst every Doctor is different, I felt they steered a bit too far away from the idea that, at the end of the day, it's still the same guy underneath the face.
Man, I really love 11ths speech at the end. It's such a nice contrast to 10. He embraces death and appreciates the life he's had while Ten felt like his life was cut short.
I'm sorry, but Moff being sidetracked is no-one else's fault but his.
Staggering series 7 may not have been his call but his time management skills are his own. If they'd said 'right Moff , we want one continuous run out the door now' I may have had more sympathy. Besides which, the end of S7 effectively served to wrap up storylines he put into play at the start of S5 onwards - so why does it feel he just chucked the resolutions to them out the door? Because....he's the JJ Abrams of British TV. Great intriguing concepts that play great in 30 second trailers? Check. Finishing what he started? Nope.
Ah, thanks.I don't know that I agree with everything 10 touches going to shit, though. It's on the writers for this, but all the main companions turn out alright in the end. It shouldn't be that way. It would have been much more fitting and heartbreaking if Donna were left in the library to me. They went for a different heartbreak with her losing all memories of time with 10, but then they act like "nah, no big deal...one more time she remembers to help herself out of a jam, rather than burning up like 10 said she would if she recalled anything". Martha ends up fine, Rose even gets a happier ending than we thought she would with a clone of 10. They undercut what could be great, albeit sad send offs, again and again. Really giving 10 a solid reason to be bummed about having to go out with a life unfulfilled.He ages significantly during the Christmas Special, and a chunk of time for him has passed, again, between the end of Series 7 and the 50th. I do think this is an important point for the detractors of 10's regeneration - 11 goes out more gracefully because he's lived an incredibly full and fulfilling life, and one far less beset by tragedy and disaster (at least as far as we see) than 10. There's Amy and Rory, but beyond that he does quite well, whereas everything that 10 touches goes to shit in his brief time.
So I have yet to watch the 50th or the Christmas Special, but is there something I'm missing? How or where is it implied 11 lived so much longer than 10?
Ten aged in real time, so he was 904 or something by the time he regenerated. Eleven, on the other hand, aged for about 200 years in between dropping off Amy and Rory in The God Complex and being "killed" by River in The Impossible Astronaut, aged some more presumably in the gap between Amy/Rory and Clara, and then several more centuries in the Christmas special.
Capaldi also made a remark about being 1,995 years too young to play the Doctor, which would peg Twelve at about 2,000.
I'm not doubting you, but is this just going off some word in the show, or is there some timeline out there, or interview stating it all? Feel dumb for missing it so easily if it's in the show, front and center. Then again, I'm catching up with a two year old playing around us most of the time.Ten aged in real time, so he was 904 or something by the time he regenerated. Eleven, on the other hand, aged for about 200 years in between dropping off Amy and Rory in The God Complex and being "killed" by River in The Impossible Astronaut, aged some more presumably in the gap between Amy/Rory and Clara, and then several more centuries in the Christmas special.
Capaldi also made a remark about being 1,995 years too young to play the Doctor, which would peg Twelve at about 2,000.
Well compared to Eleven, Ten's life kind of was cut short - he only lived for four or five years versus Eleven's 1,100 or so.
Ten was around for ages, I'm pretty sure he was on the run for a few hundred years after the Ood called him at the end of Waters Of Mars.
Capaldi is 5 years old!? Who knew
I'm not doubting you, but is this just going off some word in the show, or is there some timeline out there, or interview stating it all? Feel dumb for missing it so easily if it's in the show, front and center. Then again, I'm catching up with a two year old playing around us most of the time.
The Human Nature/Family of Blood two-parter is also pretty instrumental in establishing the legitimacy of a personality dying.I also don't think there's anything wrong with the way regeneration is written in that; as the "death" of a personality, as being equated to dying. It's obviously still the same man but again, the way the romantic, whimsical 10th Doctor views things tints that, and different regenerations have described their past selves in similar ways or vastly different ways; it depends on the personality. Think that Sarah Jane episode RTD wrote really helps that for people who do have issues - hearing the 11th Doctor describe the 10th death with hindsight (and hearing RTD's words delivered by Matt) is a great clarifier.
Cool, thanks man.2,050 then
Just piecing together a few off-hand mentions in the show. Eccleston says he's 900 years old, Tennant updates his age by one in each new series (I think?), Smith mentions in The Impossible Astronaut that he's around 908 or something, and his older self (the one that travels in between Closing Time and The Wedding of River Song) says he's around 1,100.
In the 50th, Smith says he's about 1,200, so another century for him has passed somewhere - personally I'd peg that as his morose loner period in between The Angels Take Manhattan and The Snowmen, but I could be wrong.
And then he ages more in the Christmas special, but since you haven't seen it yet I won't say anymore beyond that!
To be fair, The Doctor never did get to give Amy a proper goodbye, while she was able to give him one through her writing.
But this is still a man who had to showrun S7, two episodes of which he had to write, create an arc for this year, write an anniversary special which had to be of amazingly high quality lest he be immediately chucked off a very high building, organise a cast among various other elements for said anniversary special, publicise the anniversary special, cast a new Doctor, write a Christmas special/regeneration episode, and begin work on S8. All the while showrunning Sherlock and getting that out which is solely dependent on the involvement of two actors who are currently extremely hot property.
I'm not excusing the quality of S7 but I think the guy at least deserves a bit of a reprieve.
A) I don't see any real similarity between the two in the first place and B) Clara would be so lucky as to compare to just about the best new-Who companion thus farI hope Clara will become more than a slightly prettier Martha in Series 8.
Ah, thanks.I don't know that I agree with everything 10 touches going to shit, though. It's on the writers for this, but all the main companions turn out alright in the end. It shouldn't be that way. It would have been much more fitting and heartbreaking if Donna were left in the library to me. They went for a different heartbreak with her losing all memories of time with 10, but then they act like "nah, no big deal...one more time she remembers to help herself out of a jam, rather than burning up like 10 said she would if she recalled anything". Martha ends up fine, Rose even gets a happier ending than we thought she would with a clone of 10. They undercut what could be great, albeit sad send offs, again and again. Really giving 10 a solid reason to be bummed about having to go out with a life unfulfilled.