Comments on: David Yates signs up to direct Doctor Who movie

By: AnnaChildofGallifrey

AnnaChildofGallifrey — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:33:16 +0000

Despite what I just posted I really am very excited! I can’t wait to see how it turns out! :D
PS: I’ve just got tickets to The Crash of the Elysium!!!!!!!! (My excitement justifies the use of exessive exclamation marks) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)!!!!!!!!!!!!

By: AnnaChildofGallifrey

AnnaChildofGallifrey — Sun, 13 May 2012 14:27:27 +0000

If a new actor is cast as the Doctor for the movie he will be hated by fans. It should be a continuation of the TV series, not a Hollywood reboot for non-fans. :)

By: Calli Arcale

Calli Arcale — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 04:00:42 +0000

I’m rewatching “An Unearthly Child” in honor of the anniversary, and the DVD also has the pilot. I hadn’t seen the pilot before, so I went ahead and watched it. While the reference in the actual broadcast first episode is ambiguous (it tells us the Doctor and Susan come from the future, from a different planet, from a different civilization), the unaired pilot is more explicit — the Doctor and Susan are clear that they belong to a different race, one which was technologically advanced before humans discovered fire. So the series creators wanted them to be aliens, but viewers and those not involved in the first story could be excused for not understanding that quite right.

Note: although the Dalek movies are not canon, they did influence the relaunched series. The design of the TARDIS interior since Eccleston clearly borrows from that TARDIS interior set.

By: Calli Arcale

Calli Arcale — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:44:36 +0000

@TWWL TWWL -- that is correct; the 1966 Dalek movies were definitely not part of the canon, nor were they intended to be. In fact, they're largely remakes of actual Doctor Who epsiodes.

By: Grace

Grace — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 06:05:33 +0000

I wonder where I could submit my name to be one of the writers!

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:24:55 +0000

@Vanessa I forgot to add does that mean even who will play the Doctor? I came at this from my RSS reader this time and just spotted its this website I saw the starting from scratch bit. Doctor Who wouldn't be Doctor Who if it isn't a continuation from before- preferably with a regeneration if you have a different person playing the Doctor (with RTD bringing it back the big gap made that less necessary so long as it is meant to have happened prior to the first episode). That is the nature of Doctor Who and one that isn't is probably going to be hated by present fans so it is only for non-fans.

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:17:35 +0000

@Calli Arcale The article I had read said starting from scratch. RTD was bringing back Doctor Who and updating it for the 21st century but still meant to be a continuation on not starting from scratch. That said today I have seen a bit on BBC's Doctor Who website about it saying BBC Worldwide are possibly doing it but there is no script, cast, or plot yet.

By: TWWL

TWWL — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:00:46 +0000

@Calli Arcale Well sure, you can try and 'excuse' them, but it still means that those films are not Doctor Who 'proper'. They're like a spin off, but not true Who.

By: Calli Arcale

Calli Arcale — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:22:18 +0000

I do think this could be okay. It could also be terrible. I was very wary of RTD’s revival of Doctor Who in 2005, but it turned out brilliantly. I am dubious about making it outside canon, but then again, outside canon does not actually mean destroying canon. Fanfiction is outside canon, the New Adventures were outside canon. Doesn’t mean they’re all awful or disgraces to the series. Heck, “Human Nature” became a cracking good episode of the actual series, so non-canon materials aren’t always disgraces to the series.

I shall reserve judgement. First and foremost, however, it needs to be pointed out that most movie concepts never leave paper.

By: Calli Arcale

Calli Arcale — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:00:39 +0000

One important point about the Peter Cushing films — yes, the Doctor was human in those, but bear in mind that at that point in the series history, for all fans news, he was in the TV series as well! All that had been established about the Doctor and Susan was that they came from “another time, another world”. In Terry Nation’s films, the Doctor was established as an eccentric inventor from the future, which is entirely compatible with what the series had said on the matter to that point. The Doctor was just a technologically advanced human, presumably from a future where we’d colonized other worlds, up until the regeneration scene in “The Tenth Planet”. His species didn’t even get a name until “The War Games”, and most of what we know about Time Lord biology comes from the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker eras — well after the Dalek movies.

So I think we can excuse the Cushing movies for that.

I cannot, however, excuse them for naming him “Doctor Who,” as in, Who was his actual surname.