Just noticed that the 50th Anniversary episode made Doctor Who the number one watched programme of the week, something that it only has previously achieved with Journey's End :D

Filming has started on series 8 and the following information has been released by the BBC:

 

8.1 - TBA - written by Steven Moffat - directed by Ben Wheatley

8.2 - TBA - written by Phil Ford - directed by Ben Wheatley

 

 

Vastra

,

Jenny

and

Strax

have all been seen on location, while Peter and Jenna have been studio filming.

Give Madame Vastra a spin-off already.

I had managed to forget that the whole thing is airing as one this year, yay. Though my added excitement also makes the longer wait more irksome.

Official picture released by the BBC:

 

http://i1.cdnds.net/14/02/618x412/peter-capaldi-jenna-coleman-doctor-who_1.jpg

 

Suggests that filming starts with the first episode which is strange as they normally do the first one later in the production run so that the new character gets used to the role.

 

Steven Moffat has said that Capaldi's Doctor will be an 'old beast' with a 'snarl' compared to Smith's 'puppy dog'. I'm not sure how I feel about that as it feels exactly like the transition from Davison to Colin Baker and the viewers didn't like Colin's Doctor being angry so I'm not sure why Steven wants to do that again.

"We've got used to two brilliant iterations of the younger, more puppy-dog Doctor and [David Tennant and Matt] have both been superlative," Moffat said in November. "But now it's time for the old beast to snarl at you for a bit!

 

"Sometimes you see that a bit in Matt Smith's Doctor - he will remind the people around him, 'I'm not really like this' - but I think Peter's Doctor will make that even clearer."

 

Aside from all this, it hit me the other day that the paternoster gang is actually a really good idea. Looking at them, I don't think that the Silurians or the Sontarans have any justification to come back as actual monsters as how much story have they got left before it gets repetitive. For the Silurians, how many times can you have them waking up because each time they're going to want to claim Earth back to live on so the only way you can get rid of them is by killing them all or making them go back to sleep. The only other solution is sending them to an unhabited planet but then that means that it would have to be their last story. For the Sontarans, they have a love of war and that's about it so it doesn't really help story terms as they're quite stupid. Again, the only way you can really get rid of them is by killing them all. Therefore, the paternoster gang helps keep those monsters in the show without the actual monsters feeling tired as their stories get repetitive.

 

Anyway, that was just a random thought in my head :lol:

 

 

 

I had managed to forget that the whole thing is airing as one this year, yay. Though my added excitement also makes the longer wait more irksome.

 

Oh, YAY! I hate split series, they may as well just call them two separate series!

I do feel the transition runs the risk of being a case of light and dark, jumping from one extreme to another. I've said numerous times I think the show, as it stands, needs a shake up so I am more than willing to run with it, but Capaldi does seem like he's going to need time to adjust his way of acting to the role (based solely on that 30 second scene, obv).

I always liked the idea of a split, not only because it's Moffat in control but because it gave you time to actually take all of what happened in the first run in and actually ponder upon what's going to happen next, but I do think that for Capaldi's début it's sensible to have a non-stop run of episodes.

 

I do agree that Vastra, Jenny and Strax need their own spin-off show however. There's only so many times we can keep bumping into them doing their own thing and the Doctor and Clara intervene to have a muck around and save the day. It's already getting repetitive and the fans would much prefer to see the Sontarans as they were originally intended - a war bred species ready to tear the Doctor down. Having Strax just dilutes any and all of that and takes it away.

 

Filming for the series is apparently running through until August though (when the series is apparently going to be airing), so I suspect it's probably going to be Moffat's original plan of the series starting in November and having a consecutive run right through Christmas and finishing in the new year (a plan that was stopped by the idiot that is Danny Cohen when he wanted to do it with series 7).

I'm not sure the split was ever really Moffat's choice, the BBC had been messing round with the schedule and place of Dr Who for some time and that was just another example of them treating it badly. Now that it's basically their biggest, most reliable, drama hit again things are moving back in its favour.

 

However, it always annoyed me, not because of the actual split, but because I would expect that when a show has say 2 sets of 6 episodes, they need to be GREAT to make it worthwhile. That, of course (imo), did not happen and it's alright to forgive 2/3 bad episodes out of 13, but out of 6, it really isn't a good thing.

I'm not sure the split was ever really Moffat's choice, the BBC had been messing round with the schedule and place of Dr Who for some time and that was just another example of them treating it badly. Now that it's basically their biggest, most reliable, drama hit again things are moving back in its favour.

Oh yeah, the idea of the split always came from Danny Cohen who is hell-bent on treating Doctor Who badly because he has had several disagreements with Moffat about the show's transition and executive producing (which is just pathetic - he also banned Miranda from ever appearing on the show as well :lol:), but I like how Moffat seemed to take control of it and just act in the interest of the show and not become enveloped in the politics. He wrote scripts that would accommodate the split, and I think the cliffhanger worked perfectly; certainly one of the best moments in NuWho for me.

I thought that there was a rumour that the BBC couldn't afford another two full series in the space of two years as well as the 50th Anniversary special and so to spread costs it was agreed to split one series over two years. I think that's pretty understandable considering Doctor Who is probably their most expensive show in terms of per episode.

Oh yeah, the idea of the split always came from Danny Cohen who is hell-bent on treating Doctor Who badly because he has had several disagreements with Moffat about the show's transition and executive producing (which is just pathetic - he also banned Miranda from ever appearing on the show as well :lol:), but I like how Moffat seemed to take control of it and just act in the interest of the show and not become enveloped in the politics. He wrote scripts that would accommodate the split, and I think the cliffhanger worked perfectly; certainly one of the best moments in NuWho for me.

 

Do you think the A Good Man Goes to War/Let's Kill Hitler split and The Angels Take Manhattan/The Snowmen split both worked well? The second seemed a bit pointless to me, but the first one was well executed with a great cliffhanger. I guess the second one was more acceptable because of the change of companion, but it just felt like two completely different series to me.

Do you think the A Good Man Goes to War/Let's Kill Hitler split and The Angels Take Manhattan/The Snowmen split both worked well? The second seemed a bit pointless to me, but the first one was well executed with a great cliffhanger. I guess the second one was more acceptable because of the change of companion, but it just felt like two completely different series to me.

I think series 6 could have gone without the split were it not for the revelation that River was Melody. That definitely needed time to digest. Although the series 7 split was out of Moffat's control. He wanted series 7 to air right from 'Asylum of the Daleks' in September through until the series would finish in January / February with 'The Name of the Doctor' (ultimately meaning such a long wait for 'The Day of the Doctor'). It was Danny Cohen who decided to play about with the scheduling to decide that it wouldn't be possible for Doctor Who to air throughout the winter.

Official picture released by the BBC:

 

http://i1.cdnds.net/14/02/618x412/peter-capaldi-jenna-coleman-doctor-who_1.jpg

 

Suggests that filming starts with the first episode which is strange as they normally do the first one later in the production run so that the new character gets used to the role.

 

Steven Moffat has said that Capaldi's Doctor will be an 'old beast' with a 'snarl' compared to Smith's 'puppy dog'. I'm not sure how I feel about that as it feels exactly like the transition from Davison to Colin Baker and the viewers didn't like Colin's Doctor being angry so I'm not sure why Steven wants to do that again.

Aside from all this, it hit me the other day that the paternoster gang is actually a really good idea. Looking at them, I don't think that the Silurians or the Sontarans have any justification to come back as actual monsters as how much story have they got left before it gets repetitive. For the Silurians, how many times can you have them waking up because each time they're going to want to claim Earth back to live on so the only way you can get rid of them is by killing them all or making them go back to sleep. The only other solution is sending them to an unhabited planet but then that means that it would have to be their last story. For the Sontarans, they have a love of war and that's about it so it doesn't really help story terms as they're quite stupid. Again, the only way you can really get rid of them is by killing them all. Therefore, the paternoster gang helps keep those monsters in the show without the actual monsters feeling tired as their stories get repetitive.

 

Anyway, that was just a random thought in my head :lol:

There's plenty of life left in the Sontarans if they'd just go back to how they were originally. They never used to be stupid and the sight of Strax just makes me groan every time he shows up. Bring back their original attitude and throw in their eternal enemies the Rutans again and you've got The Doctor fighting for peace in a war between the two. There are stories there if they want them.

The Silurians have potential too. Bring them and their cousins the Sea Devils back and you could have The Silurians allying with the Humans against them. Or go back to when The Silurians ruled the Earth for a story or two and have no other Humans in it. A story set entirely between two Silurian faction could also work and bring in an update of the original design conflicting with the knew. Plenty of scope if the writers can tear themselves away from present day Earth for a while.

On the whole I'd like to give the Daleks, Sontarans, Angels, Silence and Cybermen a bit of a rest for now as they've all be thoroughly de-fanged and overdone. Create a new recurring species to deal with. More Ice Warriors though would be lovely

I thought that there was a rumour that the BBC couldn't afford another two full series in the space of two years as well as the 50th Anniversary special and so to spread costs it was agreed to split one series over two years. I think that's pretty understandable considering Doctor Who is probably their most expensive show in terms of per episode.

The net cost though, after overseas sales, merchandise etc., is probably not that high.

Moffat on River Song's future:

 

“It’s always down to whether there’s a good story. My immediate instinct was that story’s probably done. Not that we saw all of it, but I never thought we should see all of it. I’m slightly tempted, because I imagine Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston would be absolutely hilarious together…”

 

“She could certainly have met other Doctors. So there’s nothing stopping us… But is there anything new we can do? Or is the new thing that Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston would be very sexy together? Is that enough? We’ve always had fun with the fact that they don’t look like a couple.”

 

“Peter Capaldi and Alex Kingston would look like a couple – that’s the thing. Whereas I thought Matt and Alex were gorgeous together, but it looked slightly strange, because he was so much younger. Alex is just great fun to have on the show. It’s when you want to throw the Doctor a bit, because what River does so well is to make him a bit on the back foot and a bit flustered.”

 

I'm glad she might not be there, because really if she was going to turn up now it would just be for the sake of it, and the story's done (it was done by the end of Amy's era, but I'm glad she had the appearance in 'The Name of the Doctor' to wrap it all up).

Edited January 10, 201411 yr by Calum Sandé

I like River Song, it's a shame she never stopped for more than one episode at a time. It would have been interesting if she travelled with the Doctor after Amy left and then when he regenerated switch to a new companion.

Yeah, I really like her as well! I think they shot themselves in the foot having her timeline going in the opposite direction of the Doctor's though because it doesn't open the door for any new stories or new ideas at all. Everything's fixed. She's seen his future, he's seen her future and it can't be changed. Makes it all the more difficult with stories in between as well, trying to keep in line with what has happened for both of them already / what is yet to happen as has been foretold.

Capaldi's outfit:

 

My first thought was that it looks basically exactly what I expected so it's a bit boring.