Doctor Who

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/12357996

The two-part finale of Doctor Who season 14 will be shown in cinemas across the UK next month.

Special screenings will kick off around the country at 11pm on Friday 21st June 2024, starting with a showing of the previous week's penultimate episode, The Legend of Ruby Sunday.

Then, at midnight, as the season finale Empire of Death lands on BBC iPlayer (and Disney Plus internationally), a select group of fans will be treated with seeing the blockbuster conclusion on the big screen.

The first one, "Space Babies" was alright, but felt too childish. "The Devils Chord" didn't hit for me because they just didn't have the budget for really being able to explore a higher level being of such power.

But Boom? Boom can be defeated by one simple question. "Where's the Sonic?"

It's never addressed, the Doctor never asks Ruby to go get it from the TARDIS if he doesn't have it on him. And it's never even explained that if she could go and get it, it wouldn't effect the landmine.

It's basic questions like this, that need to be answered in an episode like this. It would have taken a total of 4 sentences to cancel out the Sonic. But they never even mention it.

That's just bad writing right there.

Plus the Doctor's dialogue felt like it belonged more to Matt's Doctor than Ncuti's and DEAR GOD, Moffat cannot write children to save his life.

I'm hoping the season gets better because they're 1.5 for three with me right now.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/11809930

The overnight ratings for Doctor Who's season 14 launch episodes Space Babies and The Devil's Chord have been revealed, as Ncuti Gatwa well and truly takes over the keys to the TARDIS.

Space Babies, the first episode, was watched by 2.6 million viewers, with The Devil's Chord, the second, having an overnight audience of 2.4 million.

While the overnight figures are close to the lowest ever for the show (with Legend of the Sea Devils only securing an overnight audience of 2.2 million in 2022), it's not the whole story. It doesn't include viewers who watched on BBC iPlayer, who will be more significant than ever due to this season being the first to debut early on iPlayer.

Figures are also likely to have been affected by good weather in the UK.

Season 14 of Doctor Who marks many firsts - it's the first to launch with a double bill, with the first two episodes being available at once, and it's the first to debut episodes early on iPlayer before airing them on BBC One later that day. It's also the first season after the BBC's deal with Disney, meaning episodes are being transmitted globally at the same time for the first time ever.

Gatwa's first episode, the Christmas special The Church on Ruby Road, was streamed a whopping 10.1 million times on BBC iPlayer, setting a new record according to the BBC.

...

Next week will see Steven Moffat's return with his tense episode Boom!.

I figured this should be made for everyone – I didn’t see one already.

I figured this should be made for everyone – I didn't see one already.

They were coming out with videos pretty regularly but suddenly stopped in the beginning of this year.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/11332559

Just before the new Doctor Who series returns to our screens – the weekend before in fact – Titan Comics will be launching their new Doctor Who comic book series featuring the Fifteenth Doctor and Ruby Sunday on a journey in the TARDIS that looks like it might well fit in between the Christmas edition and the first episode to come. Saturday, the 4th of May is, as well as Star Wars Day, is Free Comic Book Day. And Dan Watters and Kelsey Ramsay are bringing the first chapter of a new story, in which the Doctor hears a siren call across Space and Time. A tune that taps into some of his darkest moments, from the earliest days of the First Doctor, the end of days of the Third, and more recent troubles for the Tenth and Eleventh.

But where will it actually take him? Why, 1789 in Yorkshire. I'm from Yorkshire and, believe you me, it often feels like 1789, even now. And it's to the day of the execution of famed highwayman Dick Turpin. Man, everything is coming up Dick Turpin these days, one version on Apple TV, another (kinda) on Disney+, but this Dick Turpin seems to have a cyborg arm with a laser blaster on it. Which looks a little out of sorts in eighteenth-century Britain, even in Yorkshire.

As well as the first glimpse.of Fifteen in comic form, Titan Comics also have a Conan comic out for FCBD that features more than the titular Cimmerian:

Earlier this month, we followed that with the news that The Battle Of The Black Stone was not just Conan and not just the Hyborian Age. And that this was to be a Robert E Howard crossover event.

And now we have the proof, with Conan, Solomon Kane. Dark Agnes De Chastilion, El Borak. Professor John Kirowman. And the word that this is to be referred to as the Howardverse.

In amongst the exciting teasers and promo tidbits ahead of the new season, for some reason I find this deep cut of production lore one of the most entertaining:

Ncuti Gatwa was adamant that he grow his moustache back for the part of the Doctor, having shaved for years to play a teenager in Sex education. But there was a short overlap where he was filming both shows simultaneously — so he would have to be cleanshaven for the first shoots of Doctor Who, too. Barring the weird Henry Cavill CGI upper lip retouch, how would the crew solve this?

"Bella [Arghiros], my make-up artist, would present me with a little bag of pubes every morning," he explains. He doesn’t mean this literally, but he and Gibson are now laughing so much they can barely get the words out. "I went through the process of sticking them on for two months," he says.

"Trimming them," whoops Gibson. "Between every take," adds Gatwa. "As they flap off in the wind. I’m chasing a monster and the director says, 'We’ll have to go again because his moustache is half off.' So when it grew back, I felt very liberated."

The actors' giddiness goes a long way selling this anecdote... If the new season is half as fun as they seem to have had making it, it'll be [Eccleston impersonation] fantastic!

“I knew instantly you can never play Beatles songs on screen because the copyright is too expensive. So I’m thinking, ‘How would you do a Beatles episode without Beatles music?’ And that becomes the entire plot,” Davies explains. “That’s where the idea came from – copyright law!”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14038036

This one has a little less of the timey wimey temporal paradoxes than the Disney trailer a week ago, but it still manages to span a wide section of time and (relative dimensions in) space.

We get a bit more of Jinkx Monsoon here, another Bridgerton name check — and I think we can confirm the Doctor taking the mic for another song and dance sequence in the 1960s... All fun and games on a background of some apocalyptic, spacey wacey goings on. Honestly, the Doctor's promise to Ruby's mum that he can keep her safe is starting to sound a little strained.

The season episode titles have also been released:

1. Space Babies
2. The Devil's Chord
3. Boom
4. 73 Yards
5. Dot and Bubble
6. Rogue
7. The Legend of Ruby Sunday
8. Empire of Death

Other notes:

• Episodes 1 and 2 will air on the same day, 11 May.
• Episode 2 seems to be the one featuring Monsoon as a musically themed baddie.
• Episode 3 is penned by Steven Moffat, and RTD has given the cryptic teaser "Antelope. Moment. Drums." The director of the episode adds "Hitchcockian" as the writer's cue to her.
• Episode 6 is our Regency period story, written by Kate Herron and Briony Redman (both coming off Loki, so anybody want to bet they have their time travel right?)

I'd give up the Gunfighters because the story is just.. kind of lame, really, and exchange it for The Daleks' Master Plan, it's a great serial filled with action and sets which would benefit from being on video.

Lien Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/LesStructuresSonoresLasryBaschetdownloadLaguMp3.com

Lien Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awaFd6gArLg

Lien Piped: https://piped.video/watch?v=awaFd6gArLg

Here's a documentary (in French) about Les Structures Sonores, the experimental music group behind the soundtracks of The Web Planet and Galaxy 4.

Tiny (70K) https://files.catbox.moe/kqdaax.webp

Small (408K) https://files.catbox.moe/w539hx.webp

Full size (3.5MB) https://files.catbox.moe/2v1j5b.jpg

I posted the same thing yesterday but noticed the tiles were in 16x9 so this is a reupload

This new trailer from Disney+ gives us a lot more to look forward to — and speculate about!

Looks like the RTD/Bad Wolf team aims to blow viewers' minds. I'm not going to spoil anything here, but go nuts in the comments 🥳

[Edited the subject to correct the season number. This is season 1 of a new show (same continuity as the old show), not season 14 of the previously-new show which is now the less-old-but-not-entirely-new-Who.]

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/9444706

After rumours galore, the writer, who helmed the BBC sci-fi from 2010 to 2017, will officially make his return for Ncuti Gatwa's season.

Moffat said of his return: "Yes, OK, fair enough – apologies to everyone I've very slightly misled – I am in fact writing an episode of the series of Doctor Who. Exactly like I said I never would. What can I tell you?

"There was begging, there was pleading but finally Russell agreed to let me have another go – so long as I got out of his garden. Working with old friends and a brand new Doctor I couldn't be happier.

"Sorry I was a bit reticent on the subject for so long. It was all part of an elaborate plan that would have delighted millions but at the last minute I forgot what it was."

Just released to the Doctor Who youtube channel, with the announcement (excerpted):

Are you ready for this? 😉 Watch Doctor Who from the 11th May on BBC iPlayer in the UK and stream on Disney+ where available. Find out more here: https://bbc.in/4a5c1vA

I guess this is what RTD was teasing the other day on Instagram...

A short while back the BBC added a batch of new/never before seen scripts to their Doctor Who database, including the 60th specials. Tucked away at the tail end of "The giggle" is an alternate ending scene featuring Wilfred Mott that the late Bernard Cribbins didn't shoot before his demise:

THE DOCTOR And Grandad, where is he?

SYLVIA He’s off, shooting moles.

From offstage, a BANG!

SYLVIA (CONT’D) There he goes.

And all TURN to look.

There’s WILF, in his WHEELCHAIR, buzzing across the lawn, with a SHOTGUN.

WILF I’ll get ‘em! Don’t you worry, Doctor! You stay there! I’ll get the little..!

ALL laughing, except Rose.

ROSE Leave them alone!

WILF I will never surrender!

And Wilf glides away. All turn back to each other.

THE DOCTOR Don’t worry, I gave the moles a forcefield. Love the moles.

Here's to things left undone, Mr Cribbins. You live on in our hearts.

[Tom] Baker, who famously played the Time Lord from 1974 to 1981, will be reprising the role this April. His Doctor joins the Paternoster Gang as they fight intergalactic crime in the latest entry to the Trespassers series.

He joins the cast made up of Neve McIntosh as great detective Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as her spouse Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as their loyal valet Strax.

McIntosh added: "Acting with Tom Baker has been something I've wanted to do for so long. He was my Doctor growing up, from when I was hiding behind the sofa."

I'm thrilled TBH, I thought the chemistry between McIntosh, Stewart and Starkey made the previous Paternoster Gang sets some of the most campily enjoyable BF work I've heard. Add Tom Baker, even in his old age... Woof, this'll be good!

The podcast, which will start releasing weekly on Saturdays from March 2024, will showcase fan-favourite stories from Big Finish’s back catalogue, presented in episodic, 30-minute instalments.

Each episode will feature a brand-new introduction read by Sixth Doctor star Colin Baker, and will also include behind-the-scenes interviews, with the podcast being available via all podcast platforms, with listeners able to stream it for free with ads.

I like these types of lists because there's always a recency bias. The 7th Doctor was ranked the best in the 90s but now he's viewed much less favorably. I hated the 12th at first and now he's one of my favorites.

Anyway here's Wonderwall

Best - 4th I mean obviously who else could it be?

10th/14th Yes I am combining them

3rd Criminally underrated

12th I absolutely love how 12 is more of a scientist

11th For his first two seasons at least

9th My first Doctor

5th I like the celery bit

1st Bitter old man, it works

15th Too soon to call it but so far so good

2nd Almost as good as the 1st

13th I think Jodie did the best she could with the horrendous writing she was given

7th No strong feelings on him

6th Other than his jacket I remember nothing about him

Worst - 8th That movie was hot garbage I'm not sorry, I don't count his cameos

Actors come and go in the part of the Doctor, it's a revolving door by nature. But it struck me just now how long Nicholas Briggs has been doing the role as his nemeses, the Daleks.

Or rather, I'm wondering exactly how long he has been turning the knobs on the old ring modulator? IMDb gives his earliest Dalek credit as 2000's Doctor who: The apocalypse element, but surely they aren't listing all of his audio plays?

Big finish got the rights to produce Doctor who audios in 1999, were there any Dalek bits by him there — giving him an early silver jubilee this year — or perhaps earlier in unlicensed fan works?

I hope somebody better versed in the extended universe can help answer this. Either way, the fact that Briggs has played the same part in Who productions longer than the entirety of the revived series has been on the air is... monumental.