shutupbanks
Castellan
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There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
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Post by shutupbanks on May 14, 2024 22:44:20 GMT
“Numbers are not shrinking,” Jinkx Monsoon has said about the number of Doctor Who fans. “For every transphobic, racist, bigoted Doctor Who fan that we lose this season, there are going be three to five new fans who are coming in for the representation. So to those fans — who are not fans — I say, ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.'”
Is Jinks saying anyone who doesn't like the current series is a transphobic, racist bigot? If so, I'm not sure this is a way to promote the BBC's Saturday teatime family sci-fi series. Is it? Is it a hate crime not to like Doctor Who now - aren't these dangerous words to use concerning what is, after all, a television show? I don't like to think of myself guilty of any of the above, but I really don't enjoy these new 'stories', so I guess I must be. I'll do the show a favour: I'm done with it, so hopefully those 'three to five new fans' will boost the ratings. I would say that I hope the next showrunner and regime will have a more balanced, less aggressive way of selling the show, but I honestly don't think there'll be a show by the time RTD buggers off. He brought it back so brilliantly all those years ago - what on Earth has happened? I've never been so grateful for Big Finish.
They’re not talking about people who just don’t enjoy the show; they’re being asked about a particular type of “fan” who just piles on to popular media making insulting and horrible comments about the people who make it. If that’s not you - and I’m pretty sure it isn’t - then you have nothing to worry about. I wasn’t a huge fan of the two episodes so far and I really don’t believe that I’m being targeted here, either.
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Post by sherlock on May 14, 2024 22:51:48 GMT
Couldn't have put it better myself, I'm calling it now this series will be axed after series 2. All about ticking boxes now in many shows not about good storytelling or interesting characters anymore. I'll be sticking to Big Finish for my Doctor Who fix the series ended with The Giggle for me. Aren't they already filming the third season?
Like even if the series doesn't get renewed after the second is done, I'm pretty sure Bad Wolf is contracted for at least three seasons.
Either way, regardless of ones personal feelings about the current era, realistically even if it doesn't work out with Disney, the BBC will just move it to another streaming platform. The show isn't just going away unless the Beeb can't find someone to replace RTD when he's done, or if the BBC itself goes under... which given how traditional television is dying that's not wholly out of the realm of possibility.
They’re just wrapping up Season 2 filming by sounds of it, and seems a break in production is coming as Gatwa’s committed to a run of Importance of Being Earnest from November to January.
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Post by timleschild on May 14, 2024 23:42:03 GMT
“Numbers are not shrinking,” Jinkx Monsoon has said about the number of Doctor Who fans. “For every transphobic, racist, bigoted Doctor Who fan that we lose this season, there are going be three to five new fans who are coming in for the representation. So to those fans — who are not fans — I say, ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.'”
Is Jinks saying anyone who doesn't like the current series is a transphobic, racist bigot? If so, I'm not sure this is a way to promote the BBC's Saturday teatime family sci-fi series. Is it? Is it a hate crime not to like Doctor Who now - aren't these dangerous words to use concerning what is, after all, a television show? I don't like to think of myself guilty of any of the above, but I really don't enjoy these new 'stories', so I guess I must be. I'll do the show a favour: I'm done with it, so hopefully those 'three to five new fans' will boost the ratings. I would say that I hope the next showrunner and regime will have a more balanced, less aggressive way of selling the show, but I honestly don't think there'll be a show by the time RTD buggers off. He brought it back so brilliantly all those years ago - what on Earth has happened? I've never been so grateful for Big Finish.
Couldn't have put it better myself, I'm calling it now this series will be axed after series 2. All about ticking boxes now in many shows not about good storytelling or interesting characters anymore. I'll be sticking to Big Finish for my Doctor Who fix the series ended with The Giggle for me. If you think Dr. Who & other shows are all about box ticking then that just means we obviously need more diversity & inclusion in TV. The presence of POC or LGBTQ+ cast members isn't box ticking. Unless you think they shouldn't be on TV? The problems with RTD2 are down to the awful writing.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2024 0:43:45 GMT
Couldn't have put it better myself, I'm calling it now this series will be axed after series 2. All about ticking boxes now in many shows not about good storytelling or interesting characters anymore. I'll be sticking to Big Finish for my Doctor Who fix the series ended with The Giggle for me. If you think Dr. Who & other shows are all about box ticking then that just means we obviously need more diversity & inclusion in TV. The presence of POC or LGBTQ+ cast members isn't box ticking. Unless you think they shouldn't be on TV? The problems with RTD2 are down to the awful writing. Star Wars, Marvel, Willow, Witcher all in decline I wonder why? Because its forced upon us & is completely box ticking, can't even have sexy females in games anymore its becoming like Demolition Man this world be wiping our backsides on sea shells next & having sex through virtual reality. If a character is written as gay, Bi I got no issue if it serves the narrative like the companion Bill who was a great character, but nowadays its included because we must be diversive for sake being so & who being racist & aggressive Ncuti Gatwa & RTD telling us to go touch grass. Well I'd rather touch grass than endure this woke twaddle. Never see many people who have mental health issues feature in many shows, I'm bipolar yet who supporting my representation & rights on TV. Im past giving a s..t nowadays people can think what they like I couldn't care less, I've expressed my opinion & that's all got to say.
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Post by agentten on May 15, 2024 2:18:54 GMT
My thoughts on 'The Devil's Cord':
As a lifelong Beatles fan, I was really looking forward to The Doctor finally meeting the Fab Four.
My pros:
- The idea of a child of the Toymaker that steals music is an excellent idea and very RTD. He writes with a lot of heart, in fact I'd say heart defines his first era, and music comes from the heart so it's perfect fodder for RTD.
- I also continue to enjoy the idea that the universe is different because of that salt shaker and The Doctor is still coming to terms with that and trying to figure out the new rules.
- The Doctor having a music battle with the devil, who uses a fiddle no less, is another great idea. Several Doctors have been musical and it seems the piano may be 15's instrument.
- Ruby's storyline popping up in unexpected ways as it did in this episode is deftly done and I'm really enjoying it.
- The Doctor discussed Susan in a substantial way. Given that RTD likes to seed things that will become relevant later, I'm very curious about that discussion.
My cons:
- After telling Ruby about Susan's likely death, The Doctor smiles. This just felt a bit wrong. I know he says later in the episode that all he can do is smile because he's experienced it all, but is the possible demise of Susan really something to smile about under any circumstances? Watching that moment, I was trying to imagine how Eccleston, Tennant, Smith, or Capaldi would have played it and it just seemed like it didn't have the gravitas that it should. It made me wonder if something is wrong with The Doctor. He says later in the episode that his soul is torn in half. Is he not whole? Is him smiling in that moment actually a symptom of a bigger issue? His reactions have been off, in my opinion. He ran from the snot monster last episode, and they explained it with infrasound, but this episode he ran again. I get that this is a terrifying creature that he doesn't understand, but would he immediately run? Is he no longer curious or fascinated by new things? If something is wrong with The Doctor, then kudos to the team for good, subtle storytelling. If it isn't, I think they got it wrong.
- They did not get the portrayal of The Beatles quite right. The actors did not do much of anything to embody the roles, which surprises me because it's not someone interpreting Mozart here, these are people that we have hundreds of hours of footage available on youtube with which to base a performance. I'm not saying they had to do imitations, but at least try to capture the essence. There were so many little things that could have been corrected with just a little bit of attention to detail or some some basic observation and research. For example, the actor playing Paul McCartney held his bass completely wrong. He had it low slung like a Gen X grunge rocker, but Paul plays his bass much higher and close to his ribs. It's a small thing, but isn't it an actor's job to figure that stuff out? Especially when you're playing one of the most famous people who ever lived? Each Beatle has a certain way of moving while performing, too. John, for instance, holds his lower body ridged and bobs the upper half of his body, but the actor made no effort to replicate that habit. This just didn't feel like the Beatles to me. It felt lazy.
- I don't understand the musical number at the end. I get parts of it. The idea that there's always a twist at the end and we've had the twist popping up in every episode, teasing us with her presence, is classic RTD and I'm totally here for it. But what I don't understand are the 4th wall breaks that both The Doctor and The Maestro indulged in. What's happening there? Is reality breaking down? Are they aware they have an audience? Or is it just cheeky? It confuses me. The musical number also confuses me because it seems to be integrated into the continuity of the episode, with The Doctor and Ruby returning to the Tardis . . . musically, I guess you'd say. Now I admit, I am not a fan of musicals. They just don't do it for me, and that's fine, I don't get mad when there's a musical number just because it's a musical number. However, I don't know how to interpret this event. Is it part of reality breaking down or shifting because of the salt shaker incident? What exactly is going on and what, as a viewer, and I supposed to take away from that event from a story perspective? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but that's a lot of screen time with seemingly no purpose.
In all, the combination of the talking space babies, snot monster, and confusing and sometimes lazy storytelling is confounding me so far this season. The show feels a little unhinged or out of control. I'm not sure how I feel about it. We're only two episodes in, so I'm not making final judgements on the season, but I'm a little bit put off by some of this.
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Post by Alastair on May 15, 2024 3:00:26 GMT
After telling Ruby about Susan's likely death, The Doctor smiles. This just felt a bit wrong. I know he says later in the episode that all he can do is smile because he's experienced it all, but is the possible demise of Susan really something to smile about under any circumstances? I actually love this. Trauma responses can be weirder than pop culture portrayals usually allow. A hum, a nervous giggle, a smile. It was bizarre, off-putting, and somehow sold it to me far better than a melancholic stare ever could. I thought it aligned beautifully with his flippant “THEY’RE GONE” over the Time Lords in the previous episode: he’s processing real distress in whatever way this new brain of his allows. I’ll be fascinated to read the script and understand whether this was a writing or an acting choice. Either way it really works for me.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2024 6:26:02 GMT
Genuine thanks for some considered replies to my earlier post. This current iteration of the show, it's promotion and publicity are not for me (for the first time in my life) and I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place and abstain from new series threads (huge cheers all round!) and stick to posting about what I do like.
And Timelord, if you're reading - we love you, mate!
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shutupbanks
Castellan
![*](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/stars/star_blue.png)
There’s a horror movie called Alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.
Likes: 5,875
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Post by shutupbanks on May 15, 2024 10:17:46 GMT
Genuine thanks for some considered replies to my earlier post. This current iteration of the show, it's promotion and publicity are not for me (for the first time in my life) and I'm going to do what I should have done in the first place and abstain from new series threads (huge cheers all round!) and stick to posting about what I do like. And Timelord, if you're reading - we love you, mate! I think that’s probably the best for your own sake: I only participate in discussions that I can contribute some sort of positivity to and it makes my time on the boards a lot more pleasant.
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Post by shallacatop on May 15, 2024 10:43:36 GMT
Can anyone tell me why the song and dance routine at the end? What was the original scripted reason it happened? Have seen some discussion on Twitter and via the Review of Death podcast that Benjamin Cook says it’s more explicit in the script. It’s effectively Maestro’s equivalent of the state of play that’s presented at the end of The Giggle, which allows the duplication of the TARDIS, etc. Something that really needed to be in the episode in some way, shape or form. Otherwise it’s just a tacked on epilogue without any rhyme or reason, especially in an episode that does run at a frantic space, doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny and we know is clearly missing scenes.
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Post by ollychops on May 15, 2024 11:45:23 GMT
It seems pretty clear The Devil’s Chord was never intended to be episode 2 originally and was brought forward to coincide with Eurovision, not that did anything to help in any way. The odd six month gap suggests it’s meant to be later on and Boom is being emphasised as featuring Ruby’s first trip in the future and where she really comes into her own as a lead; no way that wouldn’t have happened on their presumably many adventures between SB & TDC. Apparently in Unleashed they referred to TDC as next week’s episode (haven’t seen it myself so not sure how specific it was) but like you say those things in TDC make it seem like it should be later in the series than it is.
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Kestrel
Chancellery Guard
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Post by Kestrel on May 16, 2024 1:02:50 GMT
After telling Ruby about Susan's likely death, The Doctor smiles. This just felt a bit wrong. I know he says later in the episode that all he can do is smile because he's experienced it all, but is the possible demise of Susan really something to smile about under any circumstances? I actually love this. Trauma responses can be weirder than pop culture portrayals usually allow. A hum, a nervous giggle, a smile. It was bizarre, off-putting, and somehow sold it to me far better than a melancholic stare ever could. I thought it aligned beautifully with his flippant “THEY’RE GONE” over the Time Lords in the previous episode: he’s processing real distress in whatever way this new brain of his allows. I’ll be fascinated to read the script and understand whether this was a writing or an acting choice. Either way it really works for me. Same. And I'm also glad to hear you say that. Personally, I have very little in the way of affect, and I've got... a lot of anxiety when it comes to "performing grief," if that makes sense. I'm always going to gravitate towards on-screen depictions the eschew the usual sad faces, thousand-yard-stares, etc., etc. in favor of something... less expected.
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Post by number13 on May 16, 2024 9:08:00 GMT
A parable (which happens to also be a true story.)
A few years ago, a very popular and long-running TV show (a gardening programme in fact) was given a "makeover" to attract a younger, more urban audience. (I forget the exact buzzwords they used, but that was the gist of it.)
What happened? The 'younger, more urban audience' still didn't watch, because guess what, they were busy being young and urban and mostly weren't very interested in gardening, which they presumably saw as something their parents and grandparents and people with actual gardens did.
Those parents and grandparents collectively thought the new, exciting, revamped show was a heap of (cough) compost and viewer numbers fell off like leaves in autumn. To such an extent that the makers of the show went back to the tried and tested formula and the world (or at least the gardening bit of it) was saved.
Epilogue. It turned out there was a way to get young and urban people interested in gardening. Forbid them to go out for several months during one of the sunniest springs in British history and hey presto! Many people who had previously thought of gardening as something older and less trendy people did, discovered that it's not bad to be at home more (or up at the allotment) and grow plants to eat and plants to see and smell and plants for wildlife. And now the gardening programme has an expanded audience, while still being the show it always was. (How to apply this last bit to 'Doctor Who', I'm not sure. Fan though I am, I wouldn't advocate enforced viewing by putting a rolling broadcast of 'Doctor Who' 1963-2023 on all channels constantly. OK, maybe for 80% of the time... ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/6343532/images/mW7FMmAyG_vqxkNOJyyh.gif) )
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Post by mark687 on May 16, 2024 9:36:28 GMT
Gattiss had an interesting opinion Do fans (particularly vocal ones) want it both ways. Do they want to feel how they felt when they 1st watched as kids whlie at the sane time it should reflect how they feel now?
Regards
mark687
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Post by number13 on May 16, 2024 11:12:09 GMT
Gattiss had an interesting opinion Do fans (particularly vocal ones) want it both ways. Do they want to feel how they felt when they 1st watched as kids whlie at the sane time it should reflect how they feel now? Regards mark687 For me that's an easy question to answer: yes! ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/6343532/images/mW7FMmAyG_vqxkNOJyyh.gif)
As you know I started with Season 8, loved it, and still do. 'Terror of the Autons' was and is fast, fun and colourful and (for young me in 1971) definitely scary. And not at all silly.
My favourite Doctor and Companion and they still are; top writer, great supporting cast and classic monsters. And the Master's debut! So I struck pure gold with my first viewing; maybe in 50 years someone will be holo-blogging about how the space babies and the wotsit monster made them a fan for life. Maybe. ![;)](//storage.proboards.com/6343532/images/ZBDvOFPmQgNwxFXLpuoD.gif)
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Post by christmastrenzalore on May 16, 2024 15:51:56 GMT
Gattiss had an interesting opinion Do fans (particularly vocal ones) want it both ways. Do they want to feel how they felt when they 1st watched as kids whlie at the sane time it should reflect how they feel now? Regards mark687 The weird thing I find revistiting the older Series 1-4, is that i actually appreciate them a lot more now than when I was a kid. Maybe because I was a very serious guy at the time. I got very cross with one of my teachers (who also liked Doctor Who) for describing it as 'daft'. Which it absolutely is. But at the time I took it as a disparagment. Now I've got different views and sensibilites, it's even better than I remember it being.
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Post by agentten on May 16, 2024 17:23:31 GMT
Gattiss had an interesting opinion Do fans (particularly vocal ones) want it both ways. Do they want to feel how they felt when they 1st watched as kids whlie at the sane time it should reflect how they feel now? Regards mark687 That's an interesting question. I would say probably yes we do. I would also say that strange combination is not impossible to achieve. I felt just as I had when I was young watching Doctor Who when I tuned into RTD's first era while at the same time appreciating all of the new things he brought to Who like companion romance, getting to know the family and friends of the companions, the Time War, a damaged and forlorne Doctor, and so on. All of that only enhanced the familiar joy of watching Doctor Who that I already knew. And, while I have had some criticisms of the first two episodes this season, I am still feeling that familiar sense of joy and enjoying many of the new elements as these new episodes premiere. I do like Gattiss' thought though, and I appreciate how difficult making anything would be under those expectations.
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Post by fitzoliverj on May 16, 2024 17:42:35 GMT
Gattiss had an interesting opinion Do fans (particularly vocal ones) want it both ways. Do they want to feel how they felt when they 1st watched as kids whlie at the sane time it should reflect how they feel now?
Yes. I want it structured, in storytelling terms, as it was in the original series. I have no issue with the content representing modernity - as long as it is done well.
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Post by fitzoliverj on May 16, 2024 17:47:39 GMT
is the possible demise of Susan really something to smile about under any circumstances? I actually love this. Trauma responses can be weirder than pop culture portrayals usually allow. I agree. There's not much I can feel positive about from the two episodes this week, but this strikes me as a realistic and more nuanced portrayal of grief and trauma than we've seen so far in nu (or even new nu) Who; certainly better than in old Who, where they'd usually forgotten by the next episode (or, at most, after the end of the next story)
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Post by aussiedoctorwhofan on May 18, 2024 22:06:26 GMT
Was it just me .. or did the new sonic screwdriver change colour throughout?
Since nobody responded to this- and I am still reading online reviews mentioning this..
Well..? Does it mean anything? HHMM
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Post by bethhigdon on May 19, 2024 0:13:08 GMT
Was it just me .. or did the new sonic screwdriver change colour throughout?
Since nobody responded to this- and I am still reading online reviews mentioning this..
Well..? Does it mean anything? HHMM
I think it's been changing color since it's appearance The must have had leftover fiber optics from the TARDIS roundals
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