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Just thinking 'bout Doctor Who
Nov. 26th, 2013 03:03 am1. While I'm hugely satisfied with the 50th Anniversary, I think the War Doctor is a case of Moffett being too clever for his own good (my one real problem with his writing--he's one of those writers that can't be trusted to rein themselves in). It's easy to see how someone could fall in love with the idea of a one-off Doctor played by a famous face, especially when Chris Eccleston just won't show up for love or money (who made that guy such a party-pooper, anyway? Did he recover repressed memories of Colin Baker beating him as a child?). But I think Paul McGann would've been far more effective as a representative of Old Who, and just as big a deal (sorry to say John Hurt doesn't have that much star power. Gee, am I using enough parenthesis in this post?). Imagine if he'd showed up at the end of The Name of the Doctor. It would've been far more effective than promising us an evil John Hurt Doctor and then revealing that his heinous crime was... doing what we've known the Doctor has done for ten years. Maybe it was just Moffett hedging his bets on whether McGann would be able to carry the audience's interests, but I think he should've taken the risk of McGann being absolutely terrible (as unlikely as that sounds) and just saved this War Doctor stuff for the special fanfic drawer.
2. I know that the shooting schedule of Doctor Who requires that one episode a year be a Doctor-lite episode--why not have some fun and make it an old Doctor episode? Have an episode about Ten unwittingly running across Eleven, who has to save his bacon without breaking the space-time continuum, Back To The Future 2 style? Or give McGann some screentime. Once a year isn't too much to ask for checking in on good ol' Eight, is it?
3. Ehhhh on 'Bad Wolf' being the Interface. I get that Rose Tyler is there to represent the Nine years, since Nine himself is busy plugging his fingers in his ear and going "lalala I wasn't the Doctor!" But canon has given Rose Tyler so many blowjobs already (she has her own pet Doctor, for Christ's sake) that I would've found just about any other companion preferable. Well, except for Amy Pond or River Song. They haven't been gone nearly long enough for a return to have any impact, although Amy Pond showing up bald with no explanation would've been cool. Long story short, I think it just would've made sense if the most powerful weapon in the cosmos had decided to represent itself as Donna Noble, don't you?
4. If I'd been writing it, I would've made it so the War Doctor's regeneration involved him considering returning to some 'old favorites,' as the Curator ended up doing, and flashing through some of the surviving Doctors for a line or two. Y'know, take two minutes, give Sylvester McCoy one line, not gonna kill anyone. Then finally have him say "no, no... time for something new" and we cut away just before he becomes Eccleston.
5. "No sir, all thirteen! And Peter Cushing too!"
2. I know that the shooting schedule of Doctor Who requires that one episode a year be a Doctor-lite episode--why not have some fun and make it an old Doctor episode? Have an episode about Ten unwittingly running across Eleven, who has to save his bacon without breaking the space-time continuum, Back To The Future 2 style? Or give McGann some screentime. Once a year isn't too much to ask for checking in on good ol' Eight, is it?
3. Ehhhh on 'Bad Wolf' being the Interface. I get that Rose Tyler is there to represent the Nine years, since Nine himself is busy plugging his fingers in his ear and going "lalala I wasn't the Doctor!" But canon has given Rose Tyler so many blowjobs already (she has her own pet Doctor, for Christ's sake) that I would've found just about any other companion preferable. Well, except for Amy Pond or River Song. They haven't been gone nearly long enough for a return to have any impact, although Amy Pond showing up bald with no explanation would've been cool. Long story short, I think it just would've made sense if the most powerful weapon in the cosmos had decided to represent itself as Donna Noble, don't you?
4. If I'd been writing it, I would've made it so the War Doctor's regeneration involved him considering returning to some 'old favorites,' as the Curator ended up doing, and flashing through some of the surviving Doctors for a line or two. Y'know, take two minutes, give Sylvester McCoy one line, not gonna kill anyone. Then finally have him say "no, no... time for something new" and we cut away just before he becomes Eccleston.
5. "No sir, all thirteen! And Peter Cushing too!"
