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[Deleted member 231381]

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Interesting. I wasn't proposing Cornell as a future show-runner, incidentally, just commenting that I always saw him as one of the highest quality writers for Who and was surprised he hadn't returned for the Moffat era. I don't really know who I'd go for out of Gatiss and Chibnall.

I liked Gatiss on Sherlock but his stable of Doctor Who episodes is... very poor. The Idiot Lantern was downright terrible, Night Terrors was generic and largely forgettable, Victory of the Daleks was so awful that future episodes had to dedicate a cutaway line to explaining away part of it, Cold War was a bad Alien rip-off (and don't get me wrong, I like Alien rip-offs, a third of all episodes of Who are Alien rip-offs, but this one was not good), The Crimson Horror was actively embarrassing to watch, and Robot of Sherwood has become a byword in the Doctor Who community for a really bad episode. In his defense, there's... the Unquiet Dead, which was passable, and Sleep No More, which was not good per se, but had potential that could maybe be exploited.

Chibnall's episode line-up is not exactly enthralling, but I think it has slightly more promise than Gatiss'. 42 was... okay, I guess. The Hungry Earth two-parter and the Power of Three were both potentially good episodes ruined by bad finales, but they started interesting at least. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was alright.

Honestly, I really want it to be Toby Whithouse. He's the best regular writer outside of Moffat and Davies. Is there any chance it might be him?

 

[Boem]

Actually, on the subject of people I'd like to write Doctor Who episodes:

- Doug Naylor: I'd love to see Doug do a "romp" episode, because I love the style of Sci-Fi Red Dwarf is, regardless of it's comedy, I enjoy how he plays around with Sci-Fi tropes.

- Eoin Colfer: His story in "11 Doctors, 11 Stories" was great fun, and I trust him to do a decent job after "And Another Thing..."

- Stephen Fry: Revive his 1920's episode script from the Ecclestone series and give it to Capaldi!

Ehh, not a Colfer fan at all. I didn't like his 1st Doctor story he wrote for that collection at all really - it read like he wanted to write for a different Doctor but ended up getting the first one, without really knowing that version of the character. It didn't feel like Hartnell's Doctor (or a Hartnell-type story) at all. Never read more than the first few pages of his Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy-novel - a book in that series not written by Douglas Adams weirded me out too much. That's not exactly a comment on his writing skills (although it did feel like a very tame imitation of the original), I can't think of any other writer who could take over from Douglas - outside of a possible new movie or tv series or something like that. I feel the same about Terry Pratchett for example - the original works were so specifically written by those authors and so personal to them that any other writer, no matter how good, would just feel wrong.

I agree about Stephen Fry, although I think he has publicly said it'll probably never happen again. He failed to deliver his old script on time and always felt very guilty about it (his struggles with is own personal mental health played a part in that, and he's always been very open and honest about that), but he also said that he didn't feel like he was the right kind of writer for what the new show eventually became.

Like someone else said, my dream combo would be Simon Pegg writing an episode with Edgar Wright directing. It would be a very different kind of episode, and it would probably only work once, but it would be something amazing. We've had Pegg, Frost and Hynes on the show - Wright is the missing piece from the Spaced-family there.

I also want Richard Curtis to come back. Vincent and the Doctor is still probably the best Who-episode ever for me. The kind of poetic, layered and symbolical work that should happen more often on the show. He also wrote Blackadder, so get Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson in there for cameo roles.

Spielberg will never happen, but he always admitted to being a fan of the old show, and he said Moffat's work on Sherlock and Who led to him getting the job on Tintin (which he could only deliver an early draft for, but it wouldn't surprise me if Moffat went of with Jackson to make Tintin 2 after he's done on the show). George Lucas was also a fan, but lets not go down that path.

 

[wetflame]

Ended up getting replaced by Fear Her

Have the BBC ever run a "write your own episode" competition? I recall them doing a Blue Peter design a monster competition (resulting in the Absorbalorf) but is that the height of it? I could see that keeping Doctor Who energy high during the off-year we will inevitably have.

I can't see this happening for the simple reason that eventually they'd make an episode that closely resembles something submitted and there's the threat of a lawsuit from the person who submitted it saying the BBC stole their script and didn't credit them.

 

[APZonerunner]

Spielberg will never happen, but he always admitted to being a fan of the old show, and he said Moffat's work on Sherlock and Who led to him getting the job on Tintin (which he could only deliver an early draft for, but it wouldn't surprise me if Moffat went of with Jackson to make Tintin 2 after he's done on the show). George Lucas was also a fan, but lets not go down that path.

Not sure Lucas was ever a fan so much as that he knows of the show and knows it's successful and is a savvy businessman. (He approached RTD to work on the Clone Wars show, hilariously.)

He at least didn't recognize Tennant when Tennant met him, so he hadn't seen that era!

 

[hank_tree]

Ended up getting replaced by Fear Her

Have the BBC ever run a "write your own episode" competition? I recall them doing a Blue Peter design a monster competition (resulting in the Absorbalorf) but is that the height of it? I could see that keeping Doctor Who energy high during the off-year we will inevitably have.

Not quite an episode but they did run one for kids where they had to write a short scene and they filmed the winners script.

 

[The Elite]

Peter Jackson confirms he's directing an episode of Doctor Who!

He's a very fun video where he confirms it, with a cameo by Capaldi (as the Doctor):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w6agKVUCTM

Some pretty funny lines in that video.

This is pretty big guys. I'm not the biggest Peter Jackson fan (especially not Hobbit, but I was never big into LOTR either), but I really like the guy as a person, and it'd give us a very interesting episode at the very least.

Looking forward to a four hour long episode.

 

[Boem]

Not sure Lucas was ever a fan so much as that he knows of the show and knows it's successful and is a savvy businessman. (He approached RTD to work on the Clone Wars show, hilariously.)

He at least didn't recognize Tennant when Tennant met him, so he hadn't seen that era!

I remember an interview where Spielberg was talking about his love for the show (this was pre-Eccleston, so he was talking about the classic series), and George Lucas was there as well. I don't know if Lucas added anything beyond saying it was a sci-fi classic, but at least Spielberg shared some fond memories of Tom Baker's Doctor. Years later Spielberg also talked about Moffat and Matt Smith specifically, and he must have seen Moffat's Tennant and/or Eccleston episodes as those were the ones that got him on Spielberg's radar for Tintin. I didn't know RTD had a chance to work on Clone Wars - that would have been something interesting.

Did we ever get any clarification on Tom Baker saying he was going to act in 'Star Wars' a while back? Somehow I think he meant one of the cartoons (that Rebels one is still going right?). Tennant had a role in Clone Wars at one point as well.

 

[bengraven]

Little Big Planet 3 is getting Doctor Who DLC:

https://pbs.twimgLBP Doctor Who, Lego Doctor Who, Minecraft Doctor Who...It really is time for an actual, proper videogame. Eternity Clock was nowhere near perfect, but it seemed like a promising start for a series if they worked on the concept a little bit more. I would love to see something like that again in the future.

Telltale Doctor Who would obviously be great as well.[/QUOTE]

My kid loves the Minecraft Daleks. I'll be building something and he's bored and runs up to me "I'M A DALEK I'M A DALEK" and shooting me with arrows. He doesn't really know their catchphrases or history, he just knows it's a killer robot from one of his daddy's favorite shows.

 

[APZonerunner]

I remember an interview where Spielberg was talking about his love for the show (this was pre-Eccleston, so he was talking about the classic series), and George Lucas was there as well. I don't know if Lucas added anything beyond saying it was a sci-fi classic, but at least Spielberg shared some fond memories of Tom Baker's Doctor. Years later Spielberg also talked about Moffat and Matt Smith specifically, and he must have seen Moffat's Tennant and/or Eccleston episodes as those were the ones that got him on Spielberg's radar for Tintin. I didn't know RTD had a chance to work on Clone Wars - that would have been something interesting.

Did we ever get any clarification on Tom Baker saying he was going to act in 'Star Wars' a while back? Somehow I think he meant one of the cartoons (that Rebels one is still going right?). Tennant had a role in Clone Wars at one point as well.

Spielberg's a genuine fan, he owns an old series Dalek IIRC. I think Lucas probably just knows of it, and that's it. I'm sure when RTD was asked to work on Clone Wars for instance it was less "I'm a fan of your work" and more "I asked people at LucasFilm to bring me a shortlist of the most successful family TV writers on the planet and you were near the top."

Mind you, I take it back about Lucas and Tennant: turns out that was way before he was the Doctor: https://youtu.be/ojFjEEgxUvg?t=5m8s (hilarious clip of Tennant & Tate here - I think this interview is one of my favourite things ever because it becomes clear those two basically ARE the Doctor and Donna in terms of their relationship)

 

[Blader]

Just as long as it's not Capaldi's last too. Feels like he only just arrived.

I was just thinking about this yesterday. Hard to imagine Capaldi might be nearing the end of his run when it feels like he just regenerated from Smith the other day!

 

[Dr Zhivago]

RTD was approached to work on the still-unmade live action series, not Clone Wars. He talks about it in his book.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Moffat actually said in an interview this week he thought "for a bit there" that this Christmas might be his very last episode and that was part of why he bought River back, because she's his defining character and all that. In the same interview he says he's "actively engaged" with finding a replacement. So it sounds increasingly to me like Series 10 will indeed be his last, yes. This interview went out on Saturday so I think a lot of fans failed to pick up on it amongst all the Gallifrey excitement, so, yeah.

The next 12 months is the time to watch the twitter accounts and interviews with people who might be in line to take it. If Gatiss goes mad quiet on twitter AND isn't writing for Series 10, for instance, I'd not be surprised if it was him and he was in prep...

Got a link to this interview?

 

[APZonerunner]

Got a link to this interview?

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015...why-im-bringing-river-song-back-to-doctor-who
"So, I’ll be honest, I brought River Song back in because I thought there’s a possibility I’d never write it [Doctor Who] again so that’ll be my goodbye."

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015...---weve-got-a-really-cool-idea-how-to-do-that
"That's an issue I'm actively engaged in," says Moffat. "Everything is difficult in Doctor Who, including leaving. I'd never leave it in the lurch because it means too much to me. Let's not pretend it's not a big problem. But there will be a solution."

 

[8bit]

V: And you know what they call a... a... a Borg in London?
J: They don't call it a Borg?
V: No man, they got the Doctor over there. They wouldn't know what the fuck a Borg is.
J: Then what do they call it?
V: They call it a Cyberman.
J: A Cyberman. What do they call a Dalek?
V: Well, a Dalek's a Dalek, but they call it a DAL-EK.
J: A DAL-EK. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a temporal anomaly that causes dinosaurs to appear?
V: I dunno, I didn't switch to ITV.

 

[tonysidaway]

...and Robot of Sherwood has become a byword in the Doctor Who community for a really bad episode.

That's news to me, and I'm sure it will surprise many viewers.

On Gatiss's writing, I think the only episode of his that I dislike is Night Terrors. When regularly faced with a choice of Doctor Who episodes to watch that is the only Gatiss episode I seem to have skipped over since its first showing. Even then I think that probably says more about my personal tastes than about the quality of the writing.

Victory of the Daleks is a personal favourite of mine. Spitfires, daleks, Iain McNeice, Bill Paterson, not to mention jammy dodgers. The dislike of this as well as the very popular Robot of Sherwood seems odd.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Victory of the Daleks was a horrible, horrible episode, but Robot of Sherwood was both OK and a nice change of tone at the time it rolled around.

I do love Cold War though. It's less Alien and more Die Hard and Hunt for Red October, and as a 80's teen I loved all those movies and thus the love letter to them that is "Cold War." Plus, Onion Knight and Edmure!

 

[hamchan]

Robot of Sherwood was fine. Just a standard, goofy, history with a famous figure episode. Not terrible, just plain.

My favourite Doctor Who related thing that Gatiss has written is An Adventure in Space and Time. Thought that was just brilliant all the way through. Just wish he bring that level of quality over to the series proper.

 

[Kathian]

Sherwood had major issues; it would have been filler for Big Finish but its the main show so Gatiss should have done more. The first 15/20 minutes is really great but then they get locked up and its really paining by numbers with the dialogue feeling forced just to fill time.

 

[Ceej]

Everyone complains about the ending of In the Forest of the Night with the girl reappearing out of nowhere, but the exact same thing happened at the end of Robots of Sherwood. Out of nowhere.

On a different note, I love the way this season has played with audience expectations. For example at the beginning of Heaven Sent, as seen in the preview we see the doctor examine the room, scooping up some of the sand. How many other times have we seen the doctor do this? Nobody thought twice upon watching the preview clip and then it turns out it's not sand, but his own ashes.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I have a ton of complains about Forest of the Night and none of them are about characters appearing out of nowhere.

 

[hamchan]

Everyone complains about the ending of In the Forest of the Night with the girl reappearing out of nowhere, but the exact same thing happened at the end of Robots of Sherwood. Out of nowhere.

On a different note, I love the way this season has played with audience expectations. For example at the beginning of Heaven Sent, as seen in the preview we see the doctor examine the room, scooping up some of the sand. How many other times have we seen the doctor do this? Nobody thought twice upon watching the preview clip and then it turns out it's not sand, but his own ashes.

Nah, that was Marian who was locked in the dungeon with the Doctor. Then the Doctor did the surprise reveal of her as a gift to Robin Hood. It's not really out of nowhere.

 

[Fireblend]

The only issue I had with Sherwood was the golden arrow thing at the end.

In the Forest of the Night is like, super bad. I skipped it during my S8 rewatch.

 

[APZonerunner]

Abigail! My Abigail!

[projectile vomits]

 

[M.Bluth]

Yeah, Sherwood was at least entertaining, even if not really all that great of a story.
Forest was just infuriating in every way possible. Very boring, which is the greatest sin a DW story could ever be. A story can be an illogical mess, but boring is unforgivable.

 

[tonysidaway]

I do love Cold War though. It's less Alien and more Die Hard and Hunt for Red October, and as a 80's teen I loved all those movies and thus the love letter to them that is "Cold War." Plus, Onion Knight and Edmure!

Yes, as homage to a vanished genre it worked really well. As subversive pastiche and as a brilliant return for one of the Troughton era alien races, it was magnificent.

 

[tonysidaway]

Everyone complains about the ending of In the Forest of the Night with the girl reappearing out of nowhere,

I know people here like to say that Annabel comes out of nowhere, but that doesn't make it true. Annabel even becomes an important part of the children's radio transmission telling everybody to be nice to the trees, because her sister Maebh is chosen to read the message.

http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/34-10.html

 

[tonysidaway]

The first 15/20 minutes is really great but then they get locked up and its really paining by numbers with the dialogue feeling forced just to fill time.

Oh I thought the dungeon scenes were a hoot!

"You'd have been floating around in tiny little laughing bits in people's goblets."

Clara works it out while they're arguing over who would win a starving to death competition.

 

[thefil]

I have an audio drama problem. Said I was going to wait to next paycheck to get more. Just dropped $10 on 3 more serials.

*edit* this is going to get real rough real fast when I hit the 12.99 stories

 

[Ophelion]

I have an audio drama problem. Said I was going to wait to next paycheck to get more. Just dropped $10 on 3 more serials.

*edit* this is going to get real rough real fast when I hit the 12.99 stories

The real Doctor Who fandom begins here.

Enjoy being blissfully broke.

 

[Coffee Dog]

I'm pissed off because that episode was so good, as it only makes me more disappointed in the rest of the prior episodes. When you have a whole episode dedicated to one plotline instead of a jumbled mess of ideas it pays off drastically.

 

[Fine Ham Abounds]

but he doesn't remember the past millon/billion times. So it isn't continuous prolonged suffering, its just billions of little sufferings, each independent from each other.

My point was only that the story works as an allegory and not just an amusement park ride. Only the audience needs to be able to follow what's happening to tell a story, the character doesn't need to, although he's aware of exactly what's happening before death each time.

 

[FlyingSaucer]

Nah, "Bird" was just a message he left for himself to remind him on the story of the bird and the diamond mountain.

On its own, the "Bird" doesn't make sense, until he gets to room 12 and sees the wall, at which point he says "Bird" and figures it out, this leads to him working out what is happening "I can't keep doing this, I remember every time, and you are still not here". So he chips away at the wall and then sets himself up to do it all over again, settling in for the long way around.

About room 12..

...could someone explain to me please why the diamond wall isn't reset at each iteration too, allowing the doctor to do what he does ?

 

[Ophelion]

About room 12..

...could someone explain to me please why the diamond wall isn't reset at each iteration too, allowing the doctor to do what he does ?

Common theories are that since it's a passage out to reality, it couldn't be reset or that it is technically not in the castle anymore where everything resets (since stuff in the ocean obviously doesn't reset either.)

The reset thing is kind of problematic. I think it would've been better to use less problematic language like having the Doctor note that the castle seems to tidy up behind him. Like it puts books back in place and will remove any dirt or other staining substances (like blood) in any room, but not imply that it does a perfect reset whenever he's gone.

Because, like, if the room was just subtlety different every time, I don't think it would really change the outcome ultimately.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Given that the castle was clearly designed by someone, that someone was clearly too dumb to see that Room 12 needed to reset itself too.

 

[tonysidaway]

About room 12..

...could someone explain to me please why the diamond wall isn't reset at each iteration too, allowing the doctor to do what he does ?

That's a mystery. My interpretation is that the castle is a puzzle set up to be solved, and its quite likely that Doctor Who himself also devised it and then wiped part of his memory with a memory worm.

In any case, whoever devised the puzzle set it up to run by itself, including all the necessary respawns and resets, right down to priming the fireside with a dry set of clothes warming by the fire at the very beginning. Perhaps the puzzle simply was not set up to replace the damaged wall in Room 12, or perhaps Room 12 is outside the field Doctor Who deduces is responsible for the resets.

 

[Kinsei]

Given that the castle was clearly designed by someone, that someone was clearly too dumb to see that Room 12 needed to reset itself too.

And the teleporter room apparently.

 

[tonysidaway]

A key point in the episode, I think, is where Doctor Who deduces that he's being forced down a path by someone who knows him rather too well. As the effect of his actions is to spend two billion years escaping, it's reasonable to deduce that this was the true intent of the puzzle: to keep him occupied for two billion years.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

And the teleporter room apparently.

The teleporter room did reset - it resets to the state it was in when the Doctor turned on the teleport for the first time, rather than when the Doctor arrived in the teleport for the first time. Otherwise he'd only have to write bird once.

 

[thefil]

First part of Seasons of Fear listened to on the way to work. Probably my favourite single part of an audio serial so far. The conversations between the Mithras-worshiping Romans are delightful and actually mildly educational. Also looking forward to a River Song-like mixed timelines story that will hopefully be less heavy handed. It must have been a long episode, because it felt like enough happened to fill half a two-parter on the television program.

Big Finish is required listening, it's as good as the show.

 

[Kinsei]

The teleporter room did reset - it resets to the state it was in when the Doctor turned on the teleport for the first time, rather than when the Doctor arrived in the teleport for the first time. Otherwise he'd only have to write bird once.

Except it doesn't reset consistently or else he never would have seen bird because he sees it after he leaves the room and comes back.

 

[Ophelion]

Big Finish is required listening, it's as good as the show.

Frequently better, imo if you're in it for script quality.

 

[Gaming Truth]

About room 12..

...could someone explain to me please why the diamond wall isn't reset at each iteration too, allowing the doctor to do what he does ?

The episode was really fun to watch and great when the reveal happens, but really falls apart if you look back and see how it's supposed to work:

- the diamond wall not resetting (it'd be better if it was just another door and everything else played out exactly the same way)
- Skull lake is concave, not convex
- Why do two skulls randomly float up during that one scene?
- "I am in 12" doesn't reset, but the coffin, the grave, etc. do
- Iteration #1: The doctor's clothes, BIRD

 

[Fireblend]

About room 12..

...could someone explain to me please why the diamond wall isn't reset at each iteration too, allowing the doctor to do what he does ?

Maybe since it's connected to the exit and thus the "real world", it can't be reset. After all, if it would be reset after every iteration, why use crazy-diamond and not just another wall?

Maybe whoever designed the labyrinth didn't think someone would be crazy enough to punch their way through it.

I find those reasons satisfying enough for me to not really mind that it wouldn't reset.

 

[FlyingSaucer]

Common theories are that since it's a passage out to reality, it couldn't be reset or that it is technically not in the castle anymore where everything resets (since stuff in the ocean obviously doesn't reset either.)

The reset thing is kind of problematic. I think it would've been better to use less problematic language like having the Doctor note that the castle seems to tidy up behind him. Like it puts books back in place and will remove any dirt or other staining substances (like blood) in any room, but not imply that it does a perfect reset whenever he's gone.

Because, like, if the room was just subtlety different every time, I don't think it would really change the outcome ultimately.

That's a mystery. My interpretation is that the castle is a puzzle set up to be solved, and its quite likely that Doctor Who himself also devised it and then wiped part of his memory with a memory worm.

In any case, whoever devised the puzzle set it up to run by itself, including all the necessary respawns and resets, right down to priming the fireside with a dry set of clothes warming by the fire at the very beginning. Perhaps the puzzle simply was not set up to replace the damaged wall in Room 12, or perhaps Room 12 is outside the field Doctor Who deduces is responsible for the resets.

Ok, I see now - either it was planned or it was a plot-hole, then.

Thanks !

 

[twobear]

the next companion needs to be another Donna

 

[Kinsei]

the next companion needs to be another Donna

The next companion needs to be a type we haven't seen in Nu-Who. A completely average person with no romantic feelings for the doctor, no prophecy destining them for greatness, no big mystery surrounding them, and no having them save the world in the finale. They should just be a regular person.

 

[Link]

So I watched it twice and maybe I missed it, but what was that hexagonal spot with all the arrows pointing to it? Was it ever explained?

 

[DrForester]

The next companion needs to be a type we haven't seen in Nu-Who. A completely average person with no romantic feelings for the doctor, no prophecy destining them for greatness, no big mystery surrounding them, and no having them save the world in the finale. They should just be a regular person.

I still think it's possible Ashildir could be the new Companion, with the Doctor seeing the need to keep an eye on her now.

 

[Broken Joystick]

I don't think the diamond-not-diamond wall is a plot hole. It's the exit, part of the "real" world, but obviously they can't reset the "real" world, so they put the universe's hardest material in front of it to stop anyone getting out without confessing. That's how I looked at it.

And sure, there would be millions of skulls in the sea, but they would also erode/turn to dust eventually, so no "mountain of skulls" is plausible.

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

And sure, there would be millions of skulls in the sea, but they would also erode/turn to dust eventually, so no "mountain of skulls" is plausible.

Well every life-span isn't that long, so the skulls visible could just be the last thousand years or so.