Bzuh?

[eve11]

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58682472

RTD is back! Um, I don't know what to think about this, actually. I hope he can take the show in a cool new direction. I don't want to see Rose again. And probably not Jack; I feel like his character is kind of done. OTOH It would be absolutely lovely to have characters I actually care about (the Doctor included). But does this ever actually happen? I feel like maybe the Beeb is squirrelly about all of this, or just generally uncomfortable, to ask someone back who left.

Then again, we will be able to see if RTD can ignite the same level of ratings he did at the show's start.

I'm curious, anyhow. First big question is will he stick with a female doctor or go back to tried and true? (And *that* might be something the Beeb would weigh in on, IDK. Especially if they are feeling vulnerable and squirrely).

Comments

[nostalgia]

Surely we'll have another female Doctor? SURELY?!

[dbskyler]

Finally a female Doctor with good writing!

[nostalgia]

Thank feck!

[eve11]

IDEK. Maybe? I feel like the woke crowd will revolt if not. And possibly be taken more seriously than the crowd that lost their minds when Jodie was announced.

I would love to see like, Annie Lennox as the Doctor. Maybe Tilda Swinton. Like an older, more sedate and weirdly androgynous Doctor.

[nostalgia]

But RTD fears and despises older women!

[profrobert]

That is absolutely true -- just look at the DW mothers he created: Jackie Tyler, slag; Francine Jones, traitor; Sylvia Noble, heinous bitch. RTD has serious mommy issues.

[nostalgia]

WE DONT SLAGSHAME JACKIE HERE

[profrobert]

I'm not shaming Jackie -- heck, horny women in their 40s were once my target audience; I adored them. I'm shaming RTD for lazy writing lazy of stereotypical mother-in-law characters to be laughed at or condemned.

[nostalgia]

I always wondered why he hated mothers, it was a noticable trend.

[eve11]

Continuing in the trend of fairy tales with evil stepmothers.

I think everyone's characterization at the very start of the series was a bit one-dimensional (remember Mickey too?). Jackie included, but I think she evolved as a character. There was the Father's Day episode, she was actually very funny in the Christmas episode, and she actually got to travel in the TARDIS (mistakenly, but still!) in Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.

Also I think that seeing the Ten and Jackie dynamic might also have informed them that Donna would do well as a companion too, perhaps.

[nostalgia]

I don't think it was that I think he just... doesnt like older women for some weird reason? Older meaning "above about 30" :(

Jackie was amazing

[eve11]

Right, "older" is not *actually* that old. Like, Jackie was 40 in Army of Ghosts!

Reminds me of Evelyn Smythe. I love her in the audios, but she is supposed to be 55 and the actress' mannerisms and the like are more like someone 75. My mom was about 55 the same time I was first listening to her audios (10-odd years ago), and I kept thinking that the character was way more like my grandmother than my mom.

[nostalgia]

No way am I the same age as my hero Jackie Tyler!

[eve11]

Indeed! Though I'm going by her own self-report ("I'm forty!") so she might be a tinch older.

God, Season 1 is so old though, that Rose was a teenager when it started but she was born in the 80s.

[nostalgia]

Rose must be over 30 by now D:

[eve11]

Well in that case, RTD won't want to bring her back! She's too old now!

[nostalgia]

alas for her!

[elisi]

Slowly catching up on the discourse and (having read his book) in his head they are 'Funny Mums'. Whether he has moved on from that (or had someone point it out to him since) remains to be seen.

Although it's nice to see people who remember what it was like back in the day, and what the issues were. (I saw a youtube video called 'Return of the King' about the announcement, I kid you not.)

I mean, I look forward to what he'll do (at least it won't be boring), but it's with reservations, shall we say. ;)

[eve11]

Don't forget Harriet Jones.

And Donna. Well, at the start, and (sadly) the end, she was kind of shallow.

Maybe nowadays he is older and wiser and able to push his boundaries/comfort area. An older female doctor would definitely do that.

[profrobert]

Neither Harriet nor Donna were mothers, though. Donna was a fully developed character, who had a difficult side to her, but who was also revealed to be brave and loyal. Likewise, Harriet was a complex character redeemed in The Stolen Earth. I have no complaint about three-dimensional characters with flaws -- that's Good Storytelling 101. I also don't have a big problem with, for example, the Racnoss Empress, a genocidal mother, because a lot of the baddies are just supposed to be two-dimensional, though of course multi-layered baddies like the Master or Davros are much more interesting. But I remember thinking as I made my way through the RTD back catalog (I started on DW just before the Moffat era), can't you write *one* decent, kind, smart, loving mom?

[eve11]

I suppose if the offspring characters had better relationships with their moms, it would make it harder for them to swan off with the Doctor.

[dbskyler]

I am genuinely excited about this news. I have hated the Chibnall era, and I am really glad he's gone. And while I haven't loved all of RTD's stories, I have a lot of respect for him as a writer and showrunner, and I think he can turn things back around. I also know he has a genuine love of Doctor Who. I'm excited to see what he will do for the 60th anniversary.

[eve11]

I think I'm the same. Also I am SO GLAD Chibnall is gone, omg. He was terrible. There was just something completely lost and gone out the door in his episodes. It was like "Doctor Who: Paint by Numbers".

I think the thing I'd worry about on this is more just like, is the BBC trying to bottle the lightning 10 years after the fact? I just hope they get the ship righted.

Agree it would be nice to see what RTD would do with a female doctor. I'm thinking maybe they will compromise and go with a male BIPOC doctor though. But maybe not.

[nonelvis]

I'm not expecting Jack to be back unless Barrowman does a *really* good job of mending fences with the BBC; he's basically been dropped by both them and Big Finish.

I'm genuinely hoping for another female Doctor, and one who isn't white. Though if RTD doesn't hire BAME writers to write for her, the show's going to have the exact same racism problems it did during his first spin.

[nostalgia]

I saw someone on Twitter saying "RTD will obviously want more diverse writers" but IDK what they based that on beyond hope and optimism

[nonelvis]

Oh, good, the announcement is barely six hours old, and already people are watching the show airing in their heads.

[nostalgia]

ARGH!

[eve11]

But look at us, having fannish conversations about Doctor Who for the first time in a jillion years. (At least it feels that way to me)

[nostalgia]

YAY!

[eve11]

Yeah I think Barrowman is probably not going to return. Which is fine with me.

Whatever the Doctor, I'm really hoping the stories get more imaginative. Then again my faves from Jodie's run are the Haunted Villa one and the one in Norway with the parallel sentient frog-on-a-rocking-chair universe, so I'm perfectly happy with weird, and especially if the weird is used in ways to enrich character arcs.

[kaffy_r]

The sentient frog-on-a-rocking-chair universe was a high point for me as well.

I went into the Chibnall era with a whole lot of trepidation, because I'd hated the writing he'd done for Torchwood. I know I've liked some of the non-SFF stuff he was involved with, but he didn't seem at all good with science fiction or fantasy-themed writing.

[kaffy_r]

I'm still in the "gobsmacked" phase of responding to the news. I can't think of many, or really any, times when a showrunner has come back to a show. (And didn't he say at one point that Dr. Who was definitely in his past?)

I'd like to see him continue with a new female Doctor, especially since we have a black female Doctor theoretically at the ready.

I'm also interested in how the BBC's partnership with Bad Wolf, effectively releasing some control of the show, might play out.

ETA: Eurgh, reading the discussions here has hit me over the head with the reminder that Rusty seemed uncomfortable with older women. I can hope that he's grown and matured over the last few years.

[eve11]

What is Bad Wolf in this context?

And yeah, maybe Rusty has been able to forge some better relationships with older women in these last 10 years. I mean, it could just be that he finds women scary in general. (I won't say "older women", I'll just say, "Women that aren't currently within 5 years past of being teenagers").

[kaffy_r]

Bad Wolf is the production company formed by Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner; it will be co-produced by the BBC and Bad Wolf starting in 2023. This story has an analysis toward the bottom which mentioned it; that's the only reason I know about it.

Yeah, 10 years gives him a full decade of time in which to lose his nervousness about us older female types.

[eve11]

Oh, interesting. BBC offloading costs, maybe. But giving up some control in order to do so.

[kaffy_r]

Yeah, although both Tranter and Gardner were BBC folk for some time, so perhaps the Beeb is confident that they won't screw it up.

[thisbluespirit]

This is pretty normal - the BBC doesn't make its own TV anymore, it buys it from production companies, like Bad Wolf, and as the BBC still owns DW and trademarks etc. they'll still have control as they have done (probably for worse, unfortunately, at the moment). I hadn't really looked to see who's been doing DW for them lately but maybe BBC Wales counts as a separate production company?

(TV Centre and all its in-house departments are all long-gone, have all been dropping off for about 20 years and more now. Like, a lot of early 2000-2010 BBC productions were made by Kudos - Spooks, Hustle, Life on Mars etc, which also made some things for ITV and that's how everything's done these days, pretty much.)

[a_phoenixdragon]

I'm also in the 'not sure what to think about this' camp. Alas, my feelings are sure and they are not happy...arrghhh.

*HUGS*