Russell Two Davies

[Nick R]

Apparently, today there was some news about a change to Doctor Who’s production staff, in some obscure behind-the-scenes role. I don’t know if anyone else heard about it?

Topic

[Dave]

[Ben Saunders]

Some of the black and white stories are the unrestored VHS versions instead of the DVD quality versions, for no apparent reason

I e-mailed them about this and they said nothing could be done about it and they use the highest quality sources available or whatever, which clearly isn’t true.

BBC iPlayer is really low quality generally and I try to avoid using it, but it’s so unbelievably convenient to have every episode at a click of a button, especially on your phone.

no stories have had their 4K versions retrospectively added to iPlayer.

With the low bitrate of iPlayer would it even be better for it to be in 4K? Just more quality to lose.

[Flap Jack]

Yeah, I assume that even with streaming bitrate a 4K resolution image still looks better.

Whether a 4K stream looks better than a standard Blu-ray is another question.

[Technopeasant]

I would have to see what they have up on Britbox, but I buy the Blurays because I watch the special features as much if not more than the actual serials.

[cwickham]

The iPlayer versions of a lot of ’63-’89 stories are clearly just a case of “grab the first available copy”. Much like Dave showing the Remastered version of Marooned for years and all those Simpsons episodes where the edited version made it to DVD.

[MANI506]

As someone who is embarking on a Simpsons DVD binge I’d be interested to know which episodes are edited.

[Warbodog]

As someone who is embarking on a Simpsons DVD binge I’d be interested to know which episodes are edited.

I’d kick off with a YouTube playlist of the 1987-89 shorts in acceptable-to-appalling quality for that peak early Simpsons merchandise nostalgia, at least towards the end when it starts to feel like season 1.

[Dave]

As someone who is embarking on a Simpsons DVD binge I’d be interested to know which episodes are edited.

Some information is available here.

[Warbodog]

So there is a Simpsons version of G&T.

[Flap Jack]

For my money one of the most annoying edits (which is too recent to be covered by the SNPP DVD guide) is in “Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife”. On first broadcast it had a unique live action opening which was a repurposed Sky 1 promotion, but on all repeats, DVD and streaming releases it just had a standard opening and a recycled couch gag from earlier in the season. Terrible. I mean why else would I even watch that episode? To experience Ricky Gervais’s writing and acting? Are you having a laugh?

And to rub salt in the wound, the Season 17 DVD has a special feature which is a compilation of notable or favourite openings and couch gags, and it actually includes the live action opening, but for some reason they decided to crop all of the 4:3 clips to 16:9. The live action opening actually was 16:9 when it was a Sky advert, but the DVD producers didn’t go back to the source to re-edit it from scratch, they just re-cropped the already cropped episode opening, meaning the footage was effectively just zoomed in.

[MANI506]

Thank you Warbodog and Dave! The DVD sets I have are 1-13 and if I continue it’ll be Disney plus all the way.

[cwickham]

Matt Garvey, who maintains that page, is still around and planning to bring it up to date at some point in the future, FWIW.

[Warbodog]

TIL from reading around that site

[Ridley]

[Ben Saunders]

Looking a little AI upscaled there, Doc.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, he wasn’t distractingly bad. There are reports that he had to get an acting coach in midway through production and there are people who criticise him, but for me he did just fine.

That movie also has its own behind the scenes drama, the original directors were “let go” or “left” (they were fired) at some point and the whole thing had to be retooled from a comedy into something quite serious.

Solo was OK, but my main memory of it was that the cinematography was just so dark – so dark that I couldn’t make out facial expressions in some scenes

It was bizarrely dark. Distractingly dark. I’ve never seen something so damn dark. And so few people seemed to talk about it. It’s like they forgot to light it.

[Future Producer of Series IX – aaaaany day now]

Happens all the time, broadcasters putting out invitations to pitch, or putting existing brands out for tender.

[cwickham]

I enjoyed the first Jodie BF, which is very much in the vein of “new series fast-paced runaround opener”.

[Ben Saunders]

>Some of the black and white stories are the unrestored VHS versions instead of the DVD quality versions, for no apparent reason.

Following up on this, the following episodes are in their original, unrestored, form on iPlayer:

The Reign of Terror 2, 3, 6

The Crusade 1, 3

The Daleks’ Master Plan 2

The Celestial Toymaker 4

The Underwater Menace 2, 3

The Moonbase 4

The Faceless Ones 1,3

The Ice Warriors 1, 4, 5, 6

The Wheel In Space 3

The Invasion 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8

The Krotons 1, 2, 3, 4

The Space Pirates 2

I noticed that Wheel In Space 3 was lower quality, but it’s still watchable. Reign of Terror on the other hand is ccompletely unwatchable, the sound quality is especially shit. I don’t like Reign of Terror, I found it to be really boring, but with the “new” animation I thought I’d give it another shot. But thanks to the horrendous quality, I’m just skipping it again.

[Ben Saunders]

I LOVE FORMATTING

[Ridley]

There are reports that he had to get an acting coach in midway through production

Would that it were Solo simple.

[cwickham]

The second long wilderness era is over

https://www.doctorwho.tv/news-and-features/bbc-confirms-future-of-doctor-who-and-a-new-christmas-special-in-2026

[Dave]

Probably a good thing that Disney is out. Probably a bad thing that RTD isn’t. 

[Ben Saunders]

That’s funny, last night I was reading a lot of doomerism about the Disney deal being over (turned out to be true) and Doctor Who being dead (turned out to not be so true).

Glad to hear it’s coming back, hopefully RTD will deal with this Billie Piper bullshit and then they can both fuck off.

(Nothing against Billie personally, it’s just that her being the Doctor is a stupid idea)

[Flap Jack]

Good news. I was broadly confident that the BBC weren’t lying when they said the show would continue with or without Disney… but I was starting to worry. And it was getting close to slipping to 2027, so not the worst outcome.

I wonder how long it will be until if we find out if Billie Piper is actually playing The Doctor. I guess if she’s not going to be the permanent lead then surely we’ll learn that well before Christmas 2026. Either way it’s going to take a hell of a lot to convince me the twist of her appearance in The Reality War was anything other than a desperate stunt with no concrete story idea backing it.

[Dave]

I wouldn’t be surprised if she 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).

[Renegade Rob]

This is really good news but my only real concern at this point is for them to pay off the Carole Ann Ford stuff with Susan, somehow in some way, however minor. It was obviously a casualty of the slapdash scrambling from last season, but at this point it would be a crime against humanity to set something up and not pay it off at all with the last surviving member of the original TARDIS team. Even if it’s just a Tales of the TARDIS appearance, there’s gotta be some payoff. 

[Ridley]

there’s gotta be some payoff. 

Big CGI dog it is!

[Renegade Rob]

The real question ahead of the 2026 Christmas special is, when that airs will we have to start a new thread called Russell Three Davies, or is it still technically a part of the same RTD2 era even without Disney’s participation? 

[Flap Jack]

I mean we still discuss new episodes of Futurama in a thread that was started to discuss the announcement of the first Comedy Central season in 2009. I think we’re good.

Although I can’t deny that the probability of Davies announcing that the next series will be called “Season One” again is not zero.

[Warbodog]

[Technopeasant]

The second long wilderness era is over 

[sleepey]

Excited to see what RTD can do with a full year to work on a single script, plenty of time to really lock in & half-bake it to perfection.

[Ian Symes]

Yes, he’ll be scripting it for a full year, and then they’ll shoot and edit it within two months.

[sleepey]

Don’t forget to set some time aside to find & cast a lead actor who’s only available for one of those months

[Dave]

Yes, he’ll be scripting it for a full year, and then they’ll shoot and edit it within two months.

He’s supposedly been writing new stuff since they finished shooting the second Gatwa season, which is a long time to get the next episode ready.

[Dave]

I wouldn’t be averse to this but again it feels very backwards-looking and unimaginative. Which is also part of what makes me feel inclined to believe it.

[Rudolph]

I wouldn’t be averse to this but again it feels very backwards-looking and unimaginative. Which is also part of what makes me feel inclined to believe it.

I think there’s a mentality that because Big Finish gives fans what they want, that general audiences will want it as well.

[Dax101]

If Paul comes back its likely because other doctors will be back too. Right now the BBC will just be after an event special to get high figures. After all they don’t know whats going to happen after. Looks good too for getting a US broadcaster.

[Flap Jack]

I see no issue with them bringing back old Doctors for one-off events (especially if they go for inspired choices like Paul McGann over safe and obvious ones like David Tennant). It only becomes an issue when they persistently do it instead of moving forward.

[Technopeasant]

Yeah, a multi-Doctor special could be a way to try and get attention again.

[Dave]

I see no issue with them bringing back old Doctors for one-off events (especially if they go for inspired choices like Paul McGann over safe and obvious ones like David Tennant). It only becomes an issue when they persistently do it instead of moving forward.

Yeah, luckily they haven’t done it very much in the last few years so they should get away with it.

[Flap Jack]

Honestly though, given how much of a shitshow this Disney/Bad Wolf era has been production and planning wise, and they’re trying to claw their way out of it, I’m fully fine with letting them hit the “EMERGENCY FAN SERVICE” button one more time in between anniversaries. Especially as they have to come back from a 19 month hiatus with no established incumbent Doctor to work with.

If it were for this year’s Christmas special or a full Series 16 in 2026, then I’d say they should keep their hands well away from the button.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I’m usually all for big exciting event fan service wankery. I love it. 

But I kinda think there’s something really special about Paul being in Night of the Doctor and nothing else other than the movie. 

Doing something with him now won’t ruin it but would strip it of this really cool thing that’s sort of only arbitrarily exists in my head 

[Rushy]

My only issue with RTD bringing Paul McGann back is that it’s RTD bringing Paul McGann back. I’ve lost any faith in his ability to write. 

[Dax101]

Well Paul Mcgann was also in The Power of the Doctor. So he has already done more than just the TV Movie and Night of the Doctor.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Well Paul was also in The Power of the Doctor. So he has already done more than just those the TV Movie and Night of the Doctor.

Oh yeah. Well. I sort of forget about anything from that time. 

[Flap Jack]

I guess you can rationalise that McGann wasn’t literally playing the Eighth Doctor in PotD, but like a memory/recreation.

Either way, Paul McGann is great in the role and he should get to come back if he wants to and there’s a good opportunity. I don’t think we need to preserve the specialness of the one half-decent TV movie and the one great prequel short he got to do. He deserves the chance to break 2 hours of screen time.

Come to think of it, David Tennant has had more screen time specifically playing the Fourteenth Doctor than Paul McGann has had playing the Doctor at all. That’s pretty sad.

[Technopeasant]

But I kinda think there’s something really special about Paul being in Night of the Doctor and nothing else other than the movie.

Don’t watch The Power of the Doctor then…

Personally I would suggest they use a similar framing here.

[Warbodog]

I listened to McGann’s Big Finish ranges almost exclusively (stopped keeping up after a while when those proto-Time-War boxsets became an indistinguishable mush), so it feels like he had a full era in my mind. I didn’t know he’d popped up on TV since.

[Author]

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