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Doctor Who: now discussing The Reality War (spoilers!)
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The further I get from the episode, the more that bits of it don’t entirely seem to make sense. Conrad had Think Tank set up in advance of messing with Ruby. But he also had the podcast, Lucky Day, that he invited her onto, which surely she and/or UNIT checked out beforehand and was benign. So how did he set up Think Tank and why did he have a seemingly normal podcast? Just to lure Ruby on? His guy inside UNIT, Jasper, was shown listening to it as well, which doesn’t make sense either way: either he’s already working for Conrad, in which case he doesn’t need the normie podcast cos he’s getting the secret full fat nonsense with the rest of Think Tank (however that is) or he’s not working with Conrad yet, in which case, what’s the appeal of this seemingly benign podcast when he’s listening to “revisionist” pods? And Jasper had been actively covering up his right wing nonsense while working at UNIT, which only seems to make sense if he’s doing it specifically to be Conrad’s mole (why else be there?) in which case, why did Conrad need to do a social media thing to find Ruby (which ended with Ruby coming to him) rather than getting her identity from Jasper?
And then other thing nagging at me is that, much like how McTighe’s Kerblam blames the protesting workers rather than the oppressive, monopolistic megacorp, this episode essentially sides with Conrad’s drunk abusive mother in saying he’s a worthless liar.
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Wait, are you saying an RTD-era story doesn’t really hang together when you think about it?
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Just saw online today that JMS was moving to London so that he could work in British TV. I wonder if there’s a rumour there worth spreading.
Not Cardiff though?
Perhaps its Blake’s 7 reboot time?
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Perhaps its Blake’s 7 reboot time?
I would be very happy.
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It’d be a far better fit for JMS’ writing style than Doctor Who would, TBH
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That was definitely something going through my head as part of the story they rushed through to to get to the next big point. But I could absolutely see that kind of rhetocial nonsense working in the real world.
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The Story & The Engine starts with an interesting premise and an unusual setting, but somehow it feels like it never quite gets beyond the first act of the story to turn into a compelling adventure.
There’s also a fair bit of fan-service loaded into the back end which feels like a crutch, as if they knew the episode wasn’t quite engaging enough in its own right. A shame as it felt like this had quite a lot of potential but just struggled to get into a higher gear.
It’s the kind of thing that feels like it maybe would have worked better as a prose story, where the need for something visually interesting and dynamic isn’t the same as it is on TV.
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Wait, are you saying an RTD-era story doesn’t really hang together when you think about it?
I have found that treating Dr Who like a rollercoaster works best. Enjoy the ups, downs, and loop-the-loops but don’t actually think too hard about the narrative.
The last weeks episode is a great example of this. Successful podcaster is actually leader of a massive movement but no one at UNIT is aware of him. He thinks aliens are a fakes put on by UNIT despite stumbling across real aliens. Space granny is putting a team together a team to fuck with the doctor and a social media influencer is the best candidate she can muster. I try to push such intrusive thoughts to one side so I can whoop with delight when the monsters spring back to life and bite someone’s arm off.
One thing that makes this really difficult though is the fact that it’s subtle as a brick with the messages and mirroring of worries and woes of society today. I like a bit of subtext in my sci fi but this was 100% text and 0% sub.
At least the doctor didn’t cry, yet again this episode as that’s getting a bit one note. A bit of fury was a nice change.
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I really enjoyed it. I could do without the doctors on the telly, but the cameo was delicious.
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I saw this on Facebook:
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Series 2 finale is on 31st May and will actually have simultaneous release on BBC One, D+ and cinemas.
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I thought this week’s episode was the best episode of Gatwa’s run so far, and feels the most like a classic-RTD-era episode.
A fun premise, a good adventure with little flab and lots of jeopardy, some solid political subtext, fun supporting characters, lots of enjoyable pop-culture references (including a movie homage I was not expecting in Doctor Who), the kind of casual inclusivity that worked so well in the original RTD era, and even some surprising lore built into the plot.
Who knows how the big two-part finale will turn out, but this was very good.
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I thought this week’s episode was the best episode of Gatwa’s run so far, and feels the most like a classic-RTD-era episode.
A fun premise, a good adventure with little flab and lots of jeopardy, some solid political subtext, fun supporting characters, lots of enjoyable pop-culture references (including a movie homage I was not expecting in Doctor Who), the kind of casual inclusivity that worked so well in the original RTD era, and even some surprising lore built into the plot.
Who knows how the big two-part finale will turn out, but this was very good.
Yeah, I agree, I thought it was great.
The end with Mrs Flood was cool too. Initially, when she bigenerated, I was a bit down on it – “oh, it’s Russell playing with his new toy again” – but actually, the interaction between the two was immediately interesting and hopefully this will allow more detail on the concept than we got in the 60th. Already my mind’s racing to “well did the Rani copy the ability to do it from the Doctor? Or did she come up with it in the first place and somehow road-test it on the Doctor?”. Panjabi is great casting.
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Carole Ann Ford too!
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I quite liked today’s episode. RTD is always at his best with satire and the bland utopia of Conrad’s wish is pretty cutting. Excited for next week.
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I thought it was a bit crap. We get the concept of the alternate world fairly early on, and after that it’s just a lot of waffley treading water until the cliffhanger reveals, which weren’t all that exciting and which end the episode with a bit of a clunk.
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The signs don’t look good for the immediate future of the show.
https://deadline.com/2025/05/doctor-who-ratings-drop-speculation-future-1236409467/
I can’t believe RTD didn’t manage to bring new viewers on board by kicking off the reboot with specials featuring the lead actor from three Doctors ago that picked up on plot points from 2008 and culminated in the return of a villain from 1966; before launching into a new series that built up a huge mystery that wasn’t resolved, with a climax based around a returning villain from 1975; all the while teasing a mystery woman who turned out to be a returning villain from 1987, whose big plan in the second season was to bring back a returning villain from 1983; all of which might help to finally explain the backstory of a supporting character from 1963.
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Beep the Meep though.
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So, this is the first time in 20 years that we have no idea if or when the show will be back? They have nothing else filmed, so I guess we’ve no Christmas Special, and no series next year.
I hope The War Between the Land and the Sea is good? My hopes aren’t high.
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Watched Wish World a couple of hours ago, episode was better than expected.
The finale was OK. I can’t say I’m that hooked by the Rani, so her being a starter for Omega worked for me.
UNIT having a four-way shoot out with the bone beasts was fun.
The regeneration? Saw that coming with all the other Docs and 13 dropping in, which was cool.
It’s guaranteed that Big Finish are now plotting.
If the show continues, they are going through Doctors rather fast.
Back to the series, I’m not sure all the talk of gods went anywhere.
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I thought it was an awful, rushed and pretty nonsensical finale even by RTD’s standards. And whether or not she’s intended to be a future Doctor or not, the whole stunt with Billie Piper at the end just feels like desperation, a sign that they really don’t know what to do with the show at this point. If I was Disney I wouldn’t be able to cancel the co-production deal fast enough.
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It felt like they were rushing through everything to get it all in one episode.
The Rani was wasted, Omega was, as feared, just some CGI creation that did nothing. Blank slate Belinda was suddenly obsessed with having a child. The Doctors seeming inability to believe Ruby didn’t ring true at all and while it was nice to see 13 away from Chibnall, it also didn’t ring true that she’d be the one showing up at that moment.
And Billi Piper….🤷♂️🤷♂️.i dont know🤨. I just feel like they’ve completed their contract with Disney and instead of having a proper regeneration, we’re just getting another stunt casting.
If we do get another series, which will be a ways off at this point, I hope RTD isnt at the helm.
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I just feel like they’ve completed their contract with Disney and instead of having a proper regeneration, we’re just getting another stunt casting.
They didn’t complete the contract, Disney originally agreed to fund 26 episodes; apparently the next season was all written, and they planned to film earlier this year, but it was never ordered into production.
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UNIT needs to be placed under serious scrutiny. How much tax payer cash was spent building a rotating building when they could have just built guns on the two unarmed sides for a fraction of the price.
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At least we know the Doctors shooting blanks now.
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They didn’t complete the contract, Disney originally agreed to fund 26 episodes;
I think that includes this upcoming spinoff though. Once that’s over it will add up to 26.
Three anniversary specials, two Christmas specials and sixteen regular episodes is already 21 episodes, and the spinoff miniseries is the other five.
Ah, I forgot the Tennant episodes would count.
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At least we know the Doctors shooting blanks now.
Susan must have some questions, after her big return in the past couple of episodes I’m sure they’ll get to explaining all that next week.
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UNIT needs to be placed under serious scrutiny. How much tax payer cash was spent building a rotating building when they could have just built guns on the two unarmed sides for a fraction of the price.
Or spent a little more money to simply rotate the entire earth underneath the building.
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Well. I was sort of flip-flopping through that between “this is good” to “this is just self-indulgent wank” and settled on the last.
I liked that the Rani had a scheme and it wasn’t about destroying Earth or particularly vindictive to the Doctor, he was essentially incidental, a means to an end. Gallifrey’s gone, I can remake it in my own image – solid Rani scheme. That plan ending up opening a door for a CGI bone monster that eats her was pretty shit though. Feels like such a waste of Panjabi and Omega. And I’m disappointed that the Rani bigenerating around the same time the Doctor did turned out to just be coincidence and not her having copied it from or caused it for the Doctor.
The bit where the Doctor and Belinda are passing the ever shrinking coat between themselves in the TARDIS and Ruby slowly realises was really well done. But Belinda being reduced to A Mother kinda sucked for the character. The Doctor vehemently not believing Ruby didn’t ring true at all. And then the solution is the most arbitrary set up for a regeneration I think the show’s ever had.
I’d seen all the rumours about Gatwa leaving and even Piper replacing him (which I dismissed the usual tabloid nonsense on the level of “Doctor Who’s coming back with Eric Idle as the Doctor” from the 90s) but I wasn’t convinced it was happening simply because they hadn’t publicly confirmed he was leaving, like they usually do. So there was a bit of a surprise to that for me for the first time since… Eccleston’s regeneration (I went into the Parting of the Ways thinking he was regenerating at Christmas).
Piper being the next Doctor is so stupid. However much RTD managed to make Tennant’s temporary return work for the 60th, this is a whole different level of gimmicky, desperate crap. It’s like when Tom Baker used to say he’d like to come back as the Master and everyone just politely chuckled along knowing it wouldn’t work on any real level. Seriously, all the new, different, exciting actors and actresses unconnected to the show that could have been cast (as Gatwa was!) and they go for Rose as the Doctor? I despair. I mean, this is nothing against Piper, she’s a good actress. As she showed 20 years(!) ago on a show called Doctor Who.
13’s appearance felt completely pointless. Well, not pointless. If I didn’t know that RTD was friends with, and has undeserving respect for the work of, Chris Chibnall, I’d have thought it was him taking the opportunity to show how well she could have, should have, been written (like Marvel Studios fixing Jamie Foxx’s Electro in No Way Home). And I think those few minutes, as extraneous as they were, were the best Whittaker had in the role. But yeah, sticking it to Chibnall can’t have been his motivation so… what was the point? Just to have the opportunity to write for her?
When the regeneration was coming up, I genuinely wondered if they were going to end on just the effect with no resolution, to leave it open for whenever the show returns (however far in the future that is). I think maybe that would have been better. Although it has had good moments, I think RTD2 has broadly been a failure. Not as bad as Chibnall’s era, admittedly. And I admire how hard Davies went for it with the Disney money and renewed energy from the BBC: everything on the iPlayer, colourisations, special edits of old episodes, mini-episodes, bringing back a new version of Confidential, bringing back the Christmas special instead of hiding at New Year, massive TARDIS set, spin-off series. But it’s been too self-indulgent, too lacking in restraint. There needs to have been a voice (or a stronger voice at least) there saying “does this make sense?” “is that really a good idea?”. I was optimistic and hopeful about RTD’s return and there have certainly been highlights and good moments, but I think the show probably would have been better off with new blood having taken over after Chibnall (Toby Whithouse, ideally), even if that had meant continuing on in a more low key manner.
EDIT: Oh yeah and the other thing is: I did not care about Poppy and it’s kind of weird the other characters did so much when she’s blatantly not real. “I remember her, that means she’s real” is nonsense when you’ve just all been stuck in a fantasy world with fake memories. Why is the Doctor killing himself to nudge the universe to recreate a fake child he didn’t even remember? Like, he absolutely could have been nicer to Ruby about it, but saddling Belinda with a initially-fake child is kinda gross.
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I don’t think Piper is really the Doctor (or at least, they’re leaving the door open for her not to be) as they don’t credit her as such in the closing credits like they usually do with new Doctors.
I think it’s mainly just a stunt to generate social media buzz, which seems to be the main thing RTD cares about these days.
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The twist with Poppy worked for me, as the entire thing is that the kid isn’t created by the wish. The wish warped view and perception of her, even after it faded.
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The twist with Poppy worked for me, as the entire thing is that the kid isn’t created by the wish. The wish warped view and perception of her, even after it faded.
I like the idea, but where’s the evidence that she existed before wish world? The TARDIS energies rewrote all the “get me home” lines, once she existed, no?
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The twist with Poppy worked for me, as the entire thing is that the kid isn’t created by the wish. The wish warped view and perception of her, even after it faded.
I like the idea, but where’s the evidence that she existed before wish world? The TARDIS energies rewrote all the “get me home” lines, once she existed, no?
Yes.
One of the main problems with the episode for me was that it didn’t really set up any kind of emotional connection to the child – she was clearly a product of the “wish world” – and then spent half the episode acting as if she was the most important thing in the story and audiences would care about trying to restore her. That didn’t work for me at all so the whole back half of the episode felt flat to me.
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I didn’t even realise she was one of the Space Babies until very late in the day (and not just because I’d tried to blank that episode out of my memory). But if the Doctor knew that, then surely he knew she wasn’t real for him and Belinda, but a copy of the space baby. But I think there was meant to be some kind of resonance with Susan Twist being made real after the Sutekh stuff. But it did not work at all.
I saw someone on Bluesk suggest that Piper is there for a take on the Romana regeneration where she tried out loads of bodies before picking Lalla Ward, which I guess is possible, but to be honest, giving RTD the benefit of the doubt about this stuff (“why did Whittaker’s clothes regenerate as well when she became Tennant? Maybe it’s because he’s not really the 14th Doctor!”) has repeatedly not paid off, so… frankly, given we don’t know when or even if the show is coming back, I’m not convinced Davies does either and it’s entirely possible he threw this in for the stunt and will work it out later.
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The twist with Poppy worked for me, as the entire thing is that the kid isn’t created by the wish. The wish warped view and perception of her, even after it faded.
I like the idea, but where’s the evidence that she existed before wish world? The TARDIS energies rewrote all the “get me home” lines, once she existed, no?
Oh, it did? Well, scratch that idea then.
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You have to hand it to Ruby, she definitely got her revenge on Belinda for replacing her as the companion..Convincing the doctor to rewrite reality to make her a single mother to a child that never existed. And she gave Conrad a happy ending and even forced the Doctor to “kill” himself in the process…Is Ruby the main villain of this series?🤔
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Thinking a bit more about it, the reduction in ep count compared to RTD’s first Who run doesn’t cover why it’s weaker. He’s used to working with that. It’s A Sin was a five episode series.
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frankly, given we don’t know when or even if the show is coming back, I’m not convinced Davies does either and it’s entirely possible he threw this in for the stunt and will work it out later.
I am 99% sure this is the case.
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He has said he is aiming at a younger audience, and its hitting its marks there.
Maybe that’s it. We are not his target. His target likes shooting at bone dinosaurs from a rotating tower block and the doctor flying under tower bridge on a stolen witch’s broomstick.1 user thanked author for this post.
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Well, being goofy may work for the kids (though I am not sure that’s actually the case), but Dave pointed out quite succinctly why this series hasn’t been accessible to new viewers.
(Personally, I didn’t make it past the first few new RTD episodes. Just doesn’t work for me anymore – it’s all been too goofy, too hyper-emotional, too little care in building the stories.)
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He has said he is aiming at a younger audience, and its hitting its marks there.
A younger audience wouldn’t have been born when Billie Piper was on the show!
Of course, I wasn’t born when Mel was on the show, and her appearance did nothing for me.
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Of course, I wasn’t born when Mel was on the show, and her appearance did nothing for me.
There’s nothing wrong with bringing back old characters. The complaints about the Rani being a character from the 80s are pretty ridiculous when Daleks, Cybermen and the Master are even older. You’ve just got to do something with them good enough to make it worthwhile, which RTD definitely didn’t do with Mel. Almost did with the Rani, if her plan had had a satisfying resolution, but Mel contributed nothing of substance to these last two eps.
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He has said he is aiming at a younger audience, and its hitting its marks there.
Maybe that’s it. We are not his target. His target likes shooting at bone dinosaurs from a rotating tower block and the doctor flying under tower bridge on a stolen witch’s broomstick.Anecdotally, the people I know who are still hanging on and watching the show are 40+. Most families I know have lost interest and walked away from it, including my own kids.
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If done well, I’m not sure anyone cares about not knowing a villain’s history, or any other character, as the ep should cover enough info that you know what you need to. In those respects, for both Sutekh and Omega, it’s 50-50, not great execution, but enough info.
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Plus, the entire back catalogue is on iPlayer and D+ now. Don’t know who the Rani is? Want more than what the episode tells you (which was enough imo)? Go watch her previous appearances on there. Or get filled in by whatever Confidential’s called now, as it had to do for Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Sarah Jane etc back in the 00s.
The issue is then making that worth everyone’s while by using said character well and not just going “look, it’s Mel.”
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Plus, the entire back catalogue is on iPlayer and D+ now. Don’t know who the Rani is? Want more than what the episode tells you (which was enough imo)? Go watch her previous appearances on there.
Yeah you can do that, but it’s not how casual audiences approach the show. Revealing a character to be the Rani isn’t going to make people immediately seek out her past experiences to get up to speed, you need to give them a reason to care in the present-day story. Make her interesting in the here and now, and then maybe people will want to learn more about her history.
Or get filled in by whatever Confidential’s called now, as it had to do for Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Sarah Jane etc back in the 00s.
There wasn’t really a need for that as the stories that reintroduced those baddies for nu-Who did exactly what Ben is talking about – gave you enough information within the episode to understand what you were dealing with, without you having to go and research it yourself. The historical connections were just a bonus for longtime fans.
But now it’s the reverse – the show is all about serving the longtime fans with these reveals of more obscure characters, and it doesn’t explain them in a way that makes them meaningful to newcomers.
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It may also be more problematic because it’s now been done to death. The re-vitalisation of supposedly dead and gone villains was awesome when the Daleks returned, still kinda cool when the Master returned, but at this point now, it’s kind of played out. Bringing back a random villain isn’t something that people are going to love just for the twist and reveal in itself; you have to deliver more than that at this point in the series.
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I think there’s always the danger of not giving casual audiences enough credit, plus, where Who is concerned, I practically am the audience. I’m not always going to remember past stories from decades ago, be it old or new Who.
Did I have enough info in the eps? I think so. Is the plan going awry that bad? I quite like the villlain being undone by their own hand, and Rani is definitely a gloating monologuer. (See the Vimes Theory of Villainy.)
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If D+ expect subscribers to Doc Who to hang around longer than two months when there’s only eight episodes, then they are deluded.
Then again, we’re talking of the streamer who only reluctantly issues disc releases, in high priced UHD-BR bundles, and then whines about not getting enough money from streaming.
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If D+ expect subscribers to Doc Who to hang around longer than two months when there’s only eight episodes, then they are deluded.
Then again, we’re talking of the streamer who only reluctantly issues disc releases, in high priced UHD-BR bundles, and then whines about not getting enough money from streaming.
I saw an unsourced quote yesterday, in regard to the fight to get a budget from Disney for making Andor, where Disney said “streaming is dead” which is not great for a company that’s trashed its entire linear TV presence, let alone reduced its physical media presence, to build a streaming platform. And does rather lead to the question of where Disney thinks its money is coming from going forward?
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Exactly, they have deliberately killed off their other income streams in favour of streaming which cannot give them that much.
Paramount clearly understand this as they issue Trek in DVD, BR and UHD formats. They know people will likely sub for the releases then buy the discs later.
Would be interesting to know how much the cinema showings of Wish World / Reality War made.
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If D+ expect subscribers to Doc Who to hang around longer than two months when there’s only eight episodes, then they are deluded.
I think that is a problem with streamers in general. They take so long to produce a small number of episodes. It kills any momentum a show may develop.
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My thoughts on this season.
If you haven’t watched Andor, I promise you this is very clever.
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It’s definitely a bit strange that Gatwa only did two seasons. I would say that I am glad because I didn’t really like an emotionally aware and happy-go-lucky Doctor – I rather prefer them when they’re sarcastic, emotionally unavailable and kinda mean-spirited – but I am not really enthused by that shot of Billie as Doctor, either.
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It’s definitely a bit strange that Gatwa only did two seasons. I would say that I am glad because I didn’t really like an emotionally aware and happy-go-lucky Doctor – I rather prefer them when they’re sarcastic, emotionally unavailable and kinda mean-spirited – but I am not really enthused by that shot of Billie as Doctor, either.
It seems pretty clear Gatwa wanted to do a third series, but also wants to do other things, and wasn’t going to wait around for them to commission the next run, so asked for the reshoots so he could be written out.
Using Piper seems a pretty clear admission that they didn’t want to cast a new actor when they have no idea when they will get to film anything with them.
I doubt RTD will ever admit to any of this, at least not anytime soon; I still remember him claiming that Eccleston leaving after one series was always the plan, to introduce new viewers to the idea of Regeneration.
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I really think you’re building more of a problem out of this than there is Dave.
First, there’s a mysterious woman (Mrs Flood) watching the Doctor across time.
Then at the end of the Eurovision episode she’s revealed to be a Time Lord, says her name and bigenerates. Even if you don’t know who she is from her saying her name at that point, seemingly evil Time Lady pretty much gives you all you need to know to go with.
Then Wish World has her explain at length who she is, that she knows the Doctor and what her goal is, which is built on even more in the finale.
How much more hand-holding do you think people need to follow that? Even if you don’t go and watch back her previous appearances or Confidential, that’s fine because you don’t need to know more than that to follow the plot of the episode. Now, is the full plot of that episode satisfying. Not really. But it’s not because the Rani’s too unknowable or obscure or without clear motivation. It’s because it all gets binned off for her being eaten by a CGI monster.
By comparison, when the Master came back, it was at the end of Utopia, after slow build up on Derek Jacobi being a bit weird, there’s a few audio clips from his watch of the previous Masters, he regenerates and then steals the TARDIS. There’s no explanation of who he is beyond that, what his problem is with the Doctor, why he would want/need to steal the TARDIS. And yet we coped!
I mean Sarah Jane hadn’t been on TV since the early 80s (a throwback cameo in an anniversary episode at that!) yet she came back for an episode that had to do a lot of heavy lifting explaining who she was and not only did that work well enough for an audience mostly too young to have known her, she got a spin-off aimed specifically at that young audience.
Your argument just seems to boil down to you not thinking the Rani is as important as the likes of the Master or Daleks and so the show shouldn’t bother with them because other people won’t/shouldn’t care either.
You’re comparing what we’re given about the Master in the tease at the end of Utopia with what we’re given about the Rani in the tease at the end of Interstellar Song Contest, plus Wish World, plus The Reality War.
It’s an apples and oranges comparison.
The fairer comparison would be with the Master’s story across Utopia and The Sound Of Drums and Last of the Time Lords, which explains the Master’s backstory and characterisation far more fully and to greater dramatic effect than the show did with the Rani here.
If you think RTD has done a great job in bringing back concepts and characters like Sutekh, Omega and the Rani and making them as meaningful as he did for the reintroduction of the Daleks, the Cybermen and the Master in his initial run, then that’s a matter of opinion – but I don’t agree. I think they’ve all been used far more superficially, and RTD has relied on recognition of their names for big “wow” moments but without putting in the work to make modern audiences unfamiliar with the characters’ decades-old earlier appearances give a toss who they are.
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Some proper Monkey’s Paw stuff for all those people who were hoping for the BBC to rapidly commission more Doctor Who:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/doctor-who-bbc-to-expand-whoniverse-to-cbeebies
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More rumblings on that JMS rumour:
Straczynski Would “Love Nothing More” Than to Run Doctor Who, But Asks, “Would I Be Worthy?”
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If JMS were to be attached to a classic UK SF show, it should be Blakes 7 or Quatermass, not Dr. Who.
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If JMS were to be attached to a classic UK SF show, it should be Blakes 7 or Quatermass, not Dr. Who.
I think he would be great on Blake’s 7.
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Doctor Who is missing almost 100 of 253 episodes from the show’s first six years, but an archive expert has shared an exciting update about the discovery of at least one of those long-lost instalments.
Appearing on the Doctor Who: The Missing Episodes podcast, film collector John Franklin spoke on behalf of Film is Fabulous, an organization run by film collectors and vintage television enthusiasts, sharing an update on a recent post made on the Film is Fabulous Facebook page about missing Doctor Who episodes.
The Facebook post read, “We are aware of several missing episodes of Doctor Who in private film collections in the UK. We are liaising with the individuals about cataloguing and preserving their entire collection, including the missing Doctor Who episodes, and ensuring that copies are returned to the BBC. We expect to make a detailed announcement shortly.”
Franklin shared more details, explaining how, since 2023, he and other members of the Film is Fabulous team “have been aware of a large collection of films, thousands of films, that have become vulnerable.” He confirmed, “That collection contains some very important material including a missing episode of Doctor Who.”
He added that the collection is “large” and could possibly contain “other episodes of Doctor Who,” but noted, “at this moment in time, we know of one.”
Doctor Who debuted back in 1963 on the BBC, and at the time, the network erased or reused tapes to save on space and storage costs. This led to the loss of many classic era episodes (97 in total) until archiving became a policy. However, some of those missing episodes still exist in private collections.
Franklin explained that the collector recently died and, while they’d previously received permission to catalogue the collection, there are now new legal obstacles to overcome.
“We are doing everything legally, with propriety, to make sure we secure that collection and can return that missing episode of Doctor Who and other items to the rights holder,” he stated, per the Radio Times.
Franklin added that once the legal situation is sorted, fans should expect some exciting news. “Give us the space to conclude the things that we’re doing,” he said. “You will be very, very happy with the announcements when they come, but we just need the space to be able to do that now.”
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It’s quite amazing they still find new episodes this late on, in the most obscure places too like Kenyan national TV.
I read a great article recently on the future of Doctor Who but can’t find the link again.
It’s fairly straightforward, Disney paid (or contributed to) 26 episodes, which includes the spinoff War Between the Land and the Sea that is coming very soon. Then they make a decision to continue.
(This kind of nonsense is part of why streaming shows are so slow and take 2-3 years between seasons I think).
I think it’s 95% likely they will end their interest there but both Julie Gardner, head of Bad Wolf, and the head of BBC Drama say it’s going to come back regardless. So the only question is when as I can see they can’t budget or schedule until they get that confirmation either way.
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I think it’s 95% likely they will end their interest there but both Julie Gardner, head of Bad Wolf, and the head of BBC Drama say it’s going to come back regardless. So the only question is when
I think the other big questions are who is in charge of the show when it does (I’m not sure RTD will be seen as a viable choice to continue so it will be interesting to see who takes over) and who will play the lead (I don’t think anyone really expects Billie to be the next full-time Doctor).
Really, almost everything about the next era of the show is an open question.
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By all accounts RTD has already written the 3rd season (with other writers as is usual) and a couple of episodes of the 4th.
That’s not the same as being showrunner of course and as with the Billie question the gap in production makes everything less certain. In truth the gap in being able to confirm is why Gatwa left needing rewrites. It’d probably be preferable if Disney left, I don’t really want super effects and budgets, the BBC one was fine and some of the episodes looked excellent.
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If I committed my design to need a three year budget, and only had a 2 year budget, yeah my systems would end up looking like the end of season 2. On time, on budget, but fuck me, massive rescoping, hacked to pieces to make work. No one is happy. No one wants to see it again.
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So there’s a bit of a storm brewing around the latest Collection blu-ray, season 13 Limited Edition (that’s the Tom Baker s13, not the s13 with Whittaker). The restoration process has used AI upscaling (which has apparently been increasing over the past few releases – they’re not in Standard Edition yet, so I don’t know first hand) resulting in some real uncanny valley results. Waxy, unnatural faces (ironically in Terror of the Zygons and The Android Invasion), shifting facial features and Tom’s got some real Turkiye Teeth.
Really disappointing for a series that has, for decades now, been the gold standard of archival TV restoration and managed perfectly well without these AI tools up til now.
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I think it’s ethically wrong while also being aware that if that guy hadn’t done side by side comparisons I’d never notice.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/doctor-who-future-confirmed-new-christmas-special-2026
The good news: Disney is out
The bad news: RTD isn’t
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Yeah, not a huge surprise. Maybe RTD having to clean up his own mess of a cliffhanger* is for the best? Possibly not.
I’m curious whether the Beeb will just try and fund the show itself again (however infrequently that means it’ll be made) or if they’ll look for another co-production partner. Amazon has a lot of money they’re quite happy to piss away on things, maybe they should go talk to them.
I also wonder what the rights situation will be for the Disney seasons (outside the UK) in the future. Presumably they’ll keep the rights to them and control what can be done with them, like the Universal did with the TVM for years.
* I don’t think it’s actually that hard to sidestep Piper appearing and not having her be the next Doctor. The glow of the regenerating Doctor doesn’t fade, IIRC. You could have Piper step out of it as an external manifestation of… some bollocks, a sort of combination of when Romana tried out bodies when regenerating into Lalla Ward and the Fifth Doctor having visions of all his mates as he died. Have a whole parade of old faces come out. Hell, could even have it resolve back into Gatwa in the end. I mean the “rules” don’t fucking mean anything at this point (insofar as they ever did).
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I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Billie serves as the Doctor for a single story, the 2026 Christmas special (maybe even allowing for a reunion with Tennant – the bigenerated 14th is still around, after all) before regenerating at the end into a new actor who can then begin their tenure properly with the start of the next season.
Total speculation, but it would avoid the hassles of trying to kick off a whole new era and do a Christmas special at the same time (which obviously can be done, Tennant pulled it off, but which is probably not ideal).
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I wonder if we’ll get an announcement on the next Doctor. If they’re just filming this one-off, they might actually be able to keep a one-scene regeneration under wraps.
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I wonder if we’ll get an announcement on the next Doctor. If they’re just filming this one-off, they might actually be able to keep a one-scene regeneration under wraps.
It probably depends on a couple of things – how much of the Christmas episode the new Doctor is in, and also how far they are into production of the next season by the time Christmas 2026 rolls around.
I would expect/hope them to be well on the way with filming the next season by then, in which case it may be hard to keep that casting under wraps.
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The wording of RTD “agreeing” to write the Christmas special sounds odd to me. Hopefully it’ll just be a one off to clean up his own mess and then maybe take a back seat as a producer or something.
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I mean, you can see the writing on the wall with the statement:
MCU Doctor Who
Like that was going to work at the mass level.
(The funny is, it kind of has at the niche level, see Big Finish.)
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