The Elite
BOSS
Are they starting in February? Shooting.
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Doctor Who Series 9 |OT| Let Zygons Be Zygons
- Thread starter Quick
- Start date
Are they starting in February? Shooting.
Exterminieren
Banned
Almost certainly not- Moffat was still writing his Sherlock episode last month, and he was talking about starting the series 10 process after that.
If I had to guess, Doctor Who will start filming around the Spring, ready to go out in January or February.
APZonerunner
Member
To an extent this is bollocks, though, and dodging. The BBC want 13 episodes of Doctor Who a year - in fact, they wanted 14, but Moffat's team proved unable to deliver year-after-year, so finally, they dropped an episode.
The fact is, if the rumours are true - and this all seems like posturing to prepare for that getting out - the reason there won't be a full series next year is because Moffat and Capaldi both want some time and breathing room to do other things. I think that's fine, but let's not pretend that's on the BBC and not on them.
So they're filming 13 episodes next year; the same way they filmed 15 episodes during 2012, but then spread them out among 2012 and 2013 and then dropped two extra ones at the end of the year, filmed much later. I feel like "I don't decide when they go out," is really disingenuous a thing to say on Moffat's part, because while it's true on a granular level (time slot is, as their comments prove, out of their control), broadly speaking he and his team hold all the control, and this has always been the case. The BBC wanted The Waters of Mars as a Summer special; RTD and Gardner wanted to make the episode scary and dark, and wanted the weather to match, and so the BBC relented and it got bumped to Halloween. The entire Series 7 split was masterminded by Moffat and the entire series structure was built around it; he negotiated that out with them, and I'm sure is and has done the same for whatever comes next. This is the man who last year blew his own trumpet about how he'd shifted the series back into the Winter months and it was better there.
TLDR: The concept that they just film 13 episodes and the BBC might decide to air half in 2017 without them having a say is bollocks, and I think he's taking the piss by suggesting it in the interview really. I know he doesn't want to be 'blamed' for a lack of Doctor Who, or worse have Sherlock come under fire for it, but he's just talking shite.
AHA-Lambda
Member
This real? Fuck sake
Playing catch-up with the last two episodes. The woman who lived was interesting. I was honestly expecting a little more of a payoff to The Doctor abandoning Arya. They did address the problem that isn't normally addressed about immortality in fiction (your brain reaching a sort of capacity after a while even though your body continues to function).
Now I'm getting into "The Zygon Invasion." Damn, these soldiers are crap.
Now I'm getting into "The Zygon Invasion." Damn, these soldiers are crap.
Id hate to be Capaldi right now with the whole 2016 situation You can bet that he knows whats going on. But he cant say and it must be eating him up insde considering how big of a fan he is. Knowing that he used to be one of us, never knowing whats going on and now hes in the middle of it must be painful not to say anything.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Can someone explain how the one chick the uh Homo-reptilius lady is in what seems to be the late 1800s/early 1900s? I never caught that during series 5 (or was it 6?)
Also
Also
will they ever do anything about the Doctor's daughter from like series 4?
She's introduced in that era if you rewatch her scene in A Good Man Goes to War
Angelus Errare
Banned
I remember that but did they explain how she got there? I assume the doctor was involved I'm more trying to figure out why that particular time period and how she met that young girl
I'll have to research the episode.
It seems you think she's the same person from the 5th series 2-parter, the Hungry Earth/Cold Blood...? Vastra isn't the same person, though played by the same actress.
Me too. Each time they've given the actor time to do other projects, it has been code for "they're doing some specials and then leaving"
Edit: Whoops, just caught up
ClivePwned
Member
so, what exactly is going on? Is there some thing saying "We are making 12 episodes and a Christmas special with Peter Capaldi, to be broadcast by the end of 2016?"
or are we having to read between the smiles?
or are we having to read between the smiles?
Moffat and Capaldi are making 12 episodes + christmas special for the next series. Whether BBC airs in one go in one year is up to BBC
Hnghhhh.
ClivePwned
Member
so that either means business as usual
OR
we'll get a reduced episode count next year AND the year after.
uh huh. Thanks, BBC. Theebeecee.
Napoleonthechimp
Member
The BBC are so damn inefficient at producing Doctor Who. The horror stories I've heard about it...
Zygon Osgood would make an interesting companion being a shapshifter, but I imagine it would be too confusing to casual viewers to have the companion be a Zygon.
Why, a shapeshifter is not too hard to get.
And then if her operator dies you have to quietly write her out of the show and hope nobody notices
The casual viewer who doesn't tune in all the time wouldn't necessarily know she's a Zygon and would be confused when she uses her powers.
tonysidaway
Member
Here's her Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Vastra,_Jenny_Flint,_and_Strax
Briefly, she was hibernating like her cousins in Wales when London built its first Underground railways. Doctor Who found her before she'd killed too many innocent Victorians (offscreen) and she shows up in A Good Man Goes to War as a kind of Sherlock Holmes character, having just tracked down Jack the Ripper, whom she apparently ate.
They don't need to know that she is a Zygon. "Ah, so this person can transform into other people" is all they need to know.
They could easily just work around it by having one of the extras or guest star of the week just say
"Wow you transformed into someone else, how did you do that?"
"Oh I'm a Zygon and can shapeshift"
I mean I doubt they would use the shapeshifting power that often. And they could do something interesting with it like say, Osgood doesn't want to shapeshift because she's worried that if she does she won't be able to take her human form again, and she wants to keep it. Or something like that.
"Wow you transformed into someone else, how did you do that?"
"Oh I'm a Zygon and can shapeshift"
I mean I doubt they would use the shapeshifting power that often. And they could do something interesting with it like say, Osgood doesn't want to shapeshift because she's worried that if she does she won't be able to take her human form again, and she wants to keep it. Or something like that.
Angelus Errare
Banned
Red Arremer
Member
So I've been re-watching the revived series and am going through the first season of Smith's run as Doctor, and I gotta say... one thing I much preferred from RTD's era is the wonderful subtlety of the connections.
Like coming from the last season of Tennant, the overarcing bit is planets vanishing (the home planet of the fat thingies, the volcano people and the lost moon of Poosh), which then was resolved in the episode Stolen Earth where everything was connected. If you don't pay attention you won't even notice these little bits before they mention it in Stolen Earth.
And then you have the first series of Smith, and the crack in the wall is just so massively blatant, same with the whole line of Silence will fall and such.
The only thing that RTD was blatant about was Bad Wolf, and even that was not even as blatant as the cracks. They hardly pointed out those mentions, and they never zoomed in on the posters or graffiti etc. that said Bad Wolf.
Like coming from the last season of Tennant, the overarcing bit is planets vanishing (the home planet of the fat thingies, the volcano people and the lost moon of Poosh), which then was resolved in the episode Stolen Earth where everything was connected. If you don't pay attention you won't even notice these little bits before they mention it in Stolen Earth.
And then you have the first series of Smith, and the crack in the wall is just so massively blatant, same with the whole line of Silence will fall and such.
The only thing that RTD was blatant about was Bad Wolf, and even that was not even as blatant as the cracks. They hardly pointed out those mentions, and they never zoomed in on the posters or graffiti etc. that said Bad Wolf.
Season 9 has the most blatant arc ever, it's shoehorned into every story complete with "Oh I get it" face and dramatic music, it's really, really dumb.
actually yeah, I'll agree with that. RTD was more subtle with this stuff for the most part
Red Arremer
Member
All of Moffat's arcs are just super blatant pointing out, and repeating certain phrases ("Silence will fall"/"The Pandorica opens", or "The Promised Land"), while RTD's are mostly subtle up until the end where it concludes.
The main thing I can't fault Moffat for is Missy, I really enjoy her a lot more than Saxon-Master (though both are great).
tonysidaway
Member
I haven't even spotted it yet. I know from this group that the secret McGuffin is supposed to be hybrid, but I honestly don't notice this unless somebody points it out.
I dunno, the hybrid one is rather subtle. If you weren't looking for an arc, by now you may be thinking "Ohhhh"
Don't the Zygons need to kill whoever they take the form of? I mean, Zygon Clara killed the real Clara before taking her form in last weeks episode. But, thinking back to 'Day of the Doctor' and the Zygon in that one didn't kill the queen before taking her form and trying to confuse Ten. The whole concept of the Zygon and the ideology behind their powers is completely up for interpretation.
No.
No she didn't.
They need the original person alive as long as they will need to get more information from them. (Via telepathy of some kind, I'd assume.)
The original idea was that the Zygons would need the host alive to renew their shapeshifting after a few hours; apparently they got better at the whole thing and now they only need the person alive for knowledge that they don't have yet, and there isn't a time limit.
Future Foundation
Member
I've been wondering about why they don't ever add iPlayer numbers to the ratings. Is it that they don't trust them or something?
I'm not finding the hybrid stuff subtle at all to be honest. Every episode has, like, a slow zoom in on the Doctor's face before he says "you mean...like a hybrid?" or something. Maybe it'll have a good resolution but they really like to remind us that it's a thing.
I would imagine because the BARB ratings are done by a small group acting as representatives of a larger whole and iPlayer data comes from UK-wide.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
The Hybrid stuff is basically at the same level as the Bad Wolf stuff from Series 1. It's being mentioned only about once an episode, and not really dwelled upon much after the mention, but it's obvious it's going to lead to something by the end of the season.
Future Foundation
Member
Ohhhh. That sounds...kinda odd.
Screenwipe did a thing on it a while back. Don't know how much things have changed since, but the TL;dr is that there's a group of families who are called upon to represent 10,000 people each because actually digging into every single person's televisions across the UK is only for Theresa May.
I understand this reference and am only replying so that it doesn't go unnoticed.
It's done the same way in America with the Nielsen ratings, BARB is the UK equivalent.
I thought it was a strange post and didn't realize it was a reference until you point it out, but I understand the reference too
JonathanEx
Member
I love that camouflage line, good laugh at that.
bengraven
Member
I still have a hard time seeing this kid and not picturing Megamind. It's pretty obvious either the same artist was used or they used the same person as reference. Despite one being skinnier and the other bulkier, they have the same facial expressions and motions.
WadiumArcadium
Member
Does anyone even care what the Osgood box is anymore? I don't think I do.