Doctor Who II

[Ghostlydragon]

2 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Her regen energy seemed to just heal the Doctor’s present incarnation rather than allow him to regenerate.

Yeah. The poisoned lipstick was designed to kill him permanently and prevent regeneration. Giving up all of her regenerations was the only way to prevent his death.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Rewatching Fugitive of the Judoon, my fsvourite Whittaker story, and one of my favourite new Who stories.

Great reveal, and Ruth-Doctor was awesome (even if some dont like the explanation).

At the time my theory was that she was part of season6b, that 2 regenerated at least once prior to regenerating into Pertwee (memory wiped and the regenerations refunded by CIA to cover up them snatching the 2nd Doctor).

[SpaceChampion]

 

[Spockydog]

Seems awfully unprofessional, this.

ETA: I just mean I think he'd have more chance of getting the job if he'd taken a more under the radar approach to it all.

 

[Mindwalker]

18 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Seems awfully unprofessional, this.

ETA: I just mean I think he'd have more chance of getting the job if he'd taken a more under the radar approach to it all.

 

Completely agree, but his tweet indicates that they really are still looking for a showrunner, or at least don't have one under contract yet. "The process" still ongoing.

[SpaceChampion]

29 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Seems awfully unprofessional, this.

ETA: I just mean I think he'd have more chance of getting the job if he'd taken a more under the radar approach to it all.

 

I think he tried under the radar but his agents were completely stumped on who to call at the BBC, so he asked twitter if anyone knew.

[Spockydog]

7 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

I think he tried under the radar but his agents were completely stumped on who to call at the BBC, so he asked twitter if anyone knew.

Sounds like the dude needs a better agent, tbh.

[Werthead]

On 8/20/2021 at 12:12 AM, Spockydog said:

Sounds like the dude needs a better agent, tbh.

American agents are often completely stymied when dealing with the BBC, especially because the normal channels have been changed because they moved production from Doctor Who from the BBC Drama Department to BBC Studios (a different, though related, body), which seems to have come as news to quite a few people who'd wondered why they hadn't been able to contact the production recently.

I agree that trying to drum up popular support is unlikely to fly well with the BBC. Although it might if they're completely stymied on who to choose next.

The fact they don't have a new showrunner in place is not surprising though, since the next season won't need to enter production until probably late next year.

[polishgenius]

I think Straczynski is unlikely to be a choice they go for because he's not British, apart from anything else. Like not that they'd dismiss an American off the bat if they had experience in British TV or had some track record of making shows with the style of Who, but Straczynski just has none of those. Even in his comics - he writes some very good ones, and is also fairly obviously influenced by Neil Gaiman who does have Who links, but he doesn't write a style of story that seems like it'd fit Who very well.

In any case it's Doctor Who, I don't think they're gonna struggle to find candidates to run it.

[Werthead]

2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

I think Straczynski is unlikely to be a choice they go for because he's not British, apart from anything else. Like not that they'd dismiss an American off the bat if they had experience in British TV or had some track record of making shows with the style of Who, but Straczynski just has none of those. Even in his comics - he writes some very good ones, and is also fairly obviously influenced by Neil Gaiman who does have Who links, but he doesn't write a style of story that seems like it'd fit Who very well.

In any case it's Doctor Who, I don't think they're gonna struggle to find candidates to run it.

Doctor Who was created by a Canadian and its second showrunner was South African, but yeah, it's been a long time since they went for a non-Brit (even the US-funded 1996 TV movie had a British writer-producer). However, there's no logical reason that the writer or showrunner has to be British, or even the Doctor for that matter (James Bond needs to be canonically British, which makes it more amusing he's been played by an Australian and an Irishman, but the Doctor is an alien). I suspect they will keep the Doctor as British - maybe Irish at a stretch - but the writing team is a different matter.

I also think they are facing a tougher choice here than in the past. There was a fairly solid logical choice going from Davies to Moffat to Chibnall (though Chibnall only really got the cred needed because of Broadchurch) and there isn't as logical a follow-up candidate. If Paul Cornell had more credits, it should easily be him as arguably the best-living Doctor Who writer (not just for his three TV scripts but for his outrageously good novel and comics work in the universe, with Moffat's pretty much stealing most of the Impossible Astronaut arc from his novel Revelation, only done rather more incoherently), but I don't think his outside-Who credentials are enough to make him first choice.

Mark Gatiss is probably the best all-rounder choice, having strong Who experience and experience co-running other shows (Sherlock) and as a writer. But he hasn't worked on the show for a while. I'm also wondering if the BBC want to completely cut ties with the RTD era, from which there's been a continuous line of writers and descent ever since 2005. Toby Whithouse might be ruled out for the same reason, but he also fits the Chibnall mode of having written for the show early on and gone off to do other things, but seems to be available to come back.

The newer writers Chibnall brought on show a lot of promise, but there's arguably none who really stand out as being ready to step up to the plate. Straczynski, with a showrunner list longer than your arm and genuine Anglophile knowledge of the show, looks very tempting from the POV of going with someone who knows the show and knows television, but would also be a fresh voice.

If they want a really fresh voice, Sally Wainwright (who seems to be the bookie's choice) seems a reasonable choice. And it's about time to have a second female showrunner (and the first since 1965!), if they have great credentials which she certainly does. Sarah Dollar's been mooted, and unlike Wainwright has written for the show before, but I think she's tied into Bridgerton for at least one more season, but with production on that imminent, that might make her available for the next Who season (if Bridgerton, as seems probable, keeps going, that depends if she wants to remain involved there).

[polishgenius]

2 minutes ago, Werthead said:

However, there's no logical reason that the writer or showrunner has to be British, or even the Doctor for that matter (James Bond needs to be canonically British, which makes it more amusing he's been played by an Australian and an Irishman, but the Doctor is an alien)

In terms of pure cold production logic, no, but there'd probably be at least some annoyance at it, if not like real annoyance, and it's one thing they may want to dodge especially since they know that whoever they pick as the next Doctor someone's going to be accusing them of something.

 

 

At one point I was hoping Jamie Mathieson would go off and get some showrunning experience (and be good at it) so he could be in line, because his episodes (particularly Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline) were really good and he seemed to be, ambitiously, seeding long term ideas too, but he's done pretty much nothing since he wrote on Who.


 

[Ghostlydragon]

49 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

At one point I was hoping Jamie Mathieson would go off and get some showrunning experience (and be good at it) so he could be in line, because his episodes (particularly Mummy on the Orient Express and Flatline) were really good and he seemed to be, ambitiously, seeding long term ideas too, but he's done pretty much nothing since he wrote on Who.


 

Me too. I remember him being asked a few years ago about showrunning it in the future but he wasn't interested but yeah, I was hoping for him to get more experience to take over one day as he was the best of the s8 writers.

I've always been keen on Gatiss as him and Chibnall seemed to be the obvious choices but who knows now.

For me I could take a non who fan as long as they have experience running a sci fi show and is willing to research the show. Or a superfan with encyclopedic knowledge of the show who has some experience of being a showrunner or has a good writing history in sci fi.

[sifth]

I'm not sure how I feel about Straczynski. He made Babylon 5, which was an amazing show during the 90's, that I'll always love and be thankful for. However I've heard from a friend of mine, that his run with Spider Man, wasn't great. This particular friend always brings up an issue called "One More Day", whenever I bring up Straczynski's name, these days.

[polishgenius]

One More Day is awful, but not Straczynski's fault - the problems with it were editorially mandated (basically Joe Quesada wanted to undo all personal progress Peter had made in 20 years because he thought he had to be the wifeless loser he was when Quesada was a kid, and Straczynski had to find a tortured way to make that happen). Straczynski's run in Spidey was mostly fantastic, though controversial with some fans anyway because he made some changes to his powers (most notably made the web-shooters organic when they'd always been inventions in the comics).

[dog-days]

I haven't seen much by Straczynski, but hanging round this forum has meant absorbing a lot of stuff about Babylon 5 through osmosis. He sounds like as good a choice of showrunner as the BBC could hope to get. He's got sci-fi experience - more than anyone else in the running - but isn't tied to either NewWho or OldWho, so could bring something different to the show. 

Sally Wainwright's an interesting idea. I saw To Walk Invisible, her film about the Brontë family, when it was first broadcast, and it made a deep impression on me, especially Branwell's disintegration. She can certainly write, and creates brilliant character sketches and relationship dynamics. But I don't think she's ever written sci-fi, or written for children. (Though she is currently working on a show for Disney Plus that sounds as if it might be family-oriented.) I don't think she's the right person for the showrunner role right now, but I'd love to see a Doctor Who episode from her. She'd have been a great person to bring in as a script editor/consultant in the Chibnall era. She might have fixed some of the blandness. Just wishful thinking now, of course. 

[john]

They let Patrick Ness run that spin off in the high school so it’s not like they’re opposed to Americans in the production. That show was a bit of a disaster though. I think Stracynski’s tweet alone is enough to show he’s almost certainly not getting it.

Wainwright apparently at one point had agreed to revamp/save Robin Hood for the BBC before the main guy left and they cancelled it, so they already have a relationship and they wanted her for a similar teatime family style show. She’s already running a show on Disney plus, so that might be why she would decline. Would be perfectly happy with her though.

I agree that Paul Cornell as a creator is definitely the kind of guy that hardcore fans would love to see. He really has developed some of the best ideas across DW as a whole. He isn’t experienced enough in tv, which is fine because I love everything he does, the books, the comics. But I think under different circumstances he would’ve had the same mainstream appeal twinned with creative flair that Moffat had.

[Werthead]

I rounded up some of the choices here.

To summarise:

 

Mark Gatiss

Pros: Formidable Doctor Who experience (five novels, four audio plays, nine episodes), wrote the outstanding An Adventure in Time and Space, significant showrunning experience via Sherlock and Dracula, a slam-dunk choice given he'd be taking over in the 60th Anniversary year. British.

Cons: Might be too experienced, if the BBC want a fresher perspective on the show and if they want a clean break from the Davies/Moffat/Chibnall era.

 

Sally Wainwright

Pros: Arguably the most respected and one of the most experienced British writer-showrunners working in the business, a formidable track record via At Home with the Braithwaites, Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley and Gentleman Jack, and the BBC would probably like a female option (who'd be the first female showrunner since 1965). British.

Cons: No Doctor Who and in fact absolutely no SFF experience at all, is committed to the second season of Gentleman Jack, might pursue further seasons or decide to work with HBO further.

 

Toby Whithouse

Pros: The favourite to take over from Steven Moffat and reportedly the second choice if Chibnall had turned down the role, excellent Doctor Who form through writing six episodes and working on Torchwood, and has excellent showrunning experience on Being Human and Noughts and Crosses. British.

Cons: Formally, is committed to the Gormenghast TV show alongside Neil Gaiman. However, that project has been in development limbo for three years with no sign of it moving forwards any time soon.

 

J. Michael Straczynski

Pros: Immense showrunning and writing experience which dwarfs everyone else on the list combined, is an Oscar nominee, a multiple Hugo Award-winner with strong experience from Babylon 5, Sense8, Thor and Changeling and more writing credits than you can shake a list at. An Anglophile and Doctor Who fan since the 1970s, and wants to do the job.

Cons: Is American. Otherwise another slam-dunk choice.

 

Kate Herron

Pros: Nuclear-hot at the moment and in demand after directing the first season of Loki and deciding not to return for the second, is a good all-rounder with writer-director-producer credits, and is (by TV standards) very young with tons of energy to make a very demanding show. British.

Cons: Her career path has moved away from writing in the last few years (she doesn't have a script credit since 2014) towards directing, no experience in solo-showrunning.

 

Pete McTighe

Pros: Recent Doctor Who experience in the Chibnall era (wrote Kerblam! and Praxeus, both fairly middling), a noted Doctor Who fan and extensive producing/showrunning experience from Wentworth, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Nowhere Boys, A Discovery of Witches and The Pact. British.

Cons: Nothing major, and might be the safest choice.

 

Vinay Patel

Pros: Recent Doctor Who experience in the Chibnall era, including writing Fugitive of the Judoon which seems to have emerged as the best-received episode of the era. Has shown range in writing Who with a mixture of historical realism (ish) with Demons of the Punjab and the continuity-heavy, Captain Jack-featuring, WTF-inducing but still fun Judoon. Outstanding work on the TV movie Murdered by My Father. A BAME candidate, which the BBC might consider desirable. British.

Cons: Is apparently working on an original SFF series for another channel. No showrunning experience makes him a very outside bet.

 

Paul Cornell

Pros: Widely-acclaimed as the best-living Doctor Who writer, for his work in novels, comics and the show itself, where he penned Father's Day and the Human Nature/Family of Blood two-parter, arguably three of the best-received episodes of the show since its return (all three nominated for Hugo Awards, as well). Some experience working on other shows including Robin Hood, Primeval and Elementary. British.

Negatives: No showrunning experience, hasn't worked on the TV show since 2007 despite his huge knowledge of and respect for the programme, although he has continued to work on spin-off material.

 

Other candidates seem unavailable: Neil Cross (Luther) is working on an Apple TV+ show, Sarah Dollard is committed to Bridgerton for the forseeable, Neil Gaiman has ruled himself out and Howard Overman (Misfits) is doing stuff for Netflix, though his last show (The One) does not appear to be returning.

[Mindwalker]

On 8/22/2021 at 12:50 AM, Werthead said:

If they want a really fresh voice, Sally Wainwright (who seems to be the bookie's choice) seems a reasonable choice. And it's about time to have a second female showrunner (and the first since 1965!), if they have great credentials which she certainly does.

I thought of SW, too. And if she brought in Suranne Jones, she'd make a great Doctor. But seeing the schedule of a Doctor Who showrunner, that would mean Wainwright would not have time to work on her other projects, which would be a shame for Gentleman Jack. (I don't know her other shows), so I personally hope it won't be her.

[felice]

3 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

I thought of SW, too.

I'm not concerned about lack of SFF experience, but the showrunner has to at least have more than a passing interest in the genre. It sounds like her upcoming Ballad of Renegade Nell might have fantasy elements?

3 hours ago, Mindwalker said:

And if she brought in Suranne Jones, she'd make a great Doctor.

Yes, that's casting I'd certainly support.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Wouldnt be averse to JMS. The Earth/Minbarri war, and the Shadows working from the ... err shadows to inflame old disputes to restart old conflicts definitely seems inspired by the 3rd Doctor Frontier in Space serial