Sea Devils And Die: GeroniMoffat's Doctor Who In The 2010s

I still quite like mccoy's doctor, but his 'acting' was never much more than turning up and being conscious, despite his best efforts

Season 23 - love Mysterious Planet, really like Vervoids (it's easy to imagine it as a Hinchcliffe era TB story, like a more Agatha Christie Robots of Death) and my only real problem with Mindwarp is that the Brian Blessed/Peri plot is totally unbelievable. I don't really get the point of the Ultimate Foe, but the overall Trial story (even though it makes no real sense) needs closing out.

McCoy's last series is the one where I'll stand by good actor/bad scripts. Although bizarrely they're the ones with good plots too, but still bad scripts.

I'm not sure I totally agree the against-the-grain reading of McCoy as a "good actor with bad scripts". He's totally panto.

This is how I felt as well, but I have to say I quickly got fed up with the stories with him in it available through Netflix -- there might be some great performances I missed but I thought he was pretty meh.

quite honestly, the more ridiculous his stories, the better McCoy comes across; I still think "Paradise Towers" is one of the best from his run

I really loved Paradise Towers when I was nine.

it's one of the few totally ridiculous stories that really embraces its ridiculousness; the overall "yes we really did do that and we know how nonsensical it was" tone really helps sell the story to me

by contrast, "The Happiness Patrol" has a lot of the same elements but I feel like half the actors didn't get the memo that they were in a ridiculous shitshow and didn't adjust their performances accordingly; I feel like too many people in the story are trying to save it from itself rather than just going "this is stupid fun, enjoy"

Even nine-year old me knew that The Happiness Patrol was shite.

Haha, I think when I was nine I took PT 100% seriously. I even drew a 'movie poster' for it while it was being broadcast.

I think, of the "serious" McCoy stories, the only one I have even a passing interest in seeing again is "Remembrance of the Daleks" and not at all for the Daleks but for the twist re: the helpful dude Ace has a crush on, which may be the most mature thing ever presented during Seven's tenure

I like Remembrance best for tweed suit scientist woman and the British Rocket Group.

McCoy raises his level of pantoism depending on how rubbish the story is, ie he's more srs than Tennant in Remembrance and Fenric

Colin is GREAT in good audio stories, but I don't think there's a single TV story he's in that's any use whatsoever

I do think Colin is great in Vengeance on Varos and The Two Doctors

iirc* Colin and Pat and Frazer are all great IN Two Doctors but the story is a shambles, even Holmes couldn't get quality through Saward's filter (and it ran as a six-parter here!)

*haven't watched any Colin since they first aired

Is budget on series so far a result of the series now being broadcast on the same date to several audiences? I hadn't heard of US getting the show at the same time as UK before & I think there are a few other places getting it at the same time now.

I'd assumed the US got it a while afterwards up to now, thought they actually made a bit of show about it being put out at roughly the same time to all audiences when the series started. I'm assuming it isn't exactly same time since we're getting it at 7 something pm in Ireland which I think is the same time as UK. Though the Northern Ireland BBC schedule can be a bit out of sync.
But that would make it like 2pm in US.

I think Colin Baker did actually get a couple of reasonably dark stories & he was a good actor. Even if he did get a stupid variation on the costume.

There was a independently made Dr Who influenced drama featuring him & the actress who played Perri that wasn't that bad too.

Did look like the focus with Sylvester McCoy was pretty wrong & pantomime was the name of the game. Was it him who got saddled with Bonnie Langford?
I do tend to view Donna as almost as bad. Not really the biggest fan of her. Do like the rest of the female companions since Ecclestone revived the role.

I hadn't heard of US getting the show at the same time as UK before & I think there are a few other places getting it at the same time now.

BBC Americas started airing the new episode the same day as the UK last season -- before that it could be several weeks between the airdate in the UK and in the US.

& I did watch pretty much all the surviving episodes through a couple of years ago. I think I even listened to a few of the ones which were visually represented by photographic stills while I was on a computer on the other side of the room.

I still think Tom Baker was about the best but have enjoyed the 3 since the revival. Though Smith might be playing a bit to a child audience with some things he says. 'gang' ferinstance

Eleven cultivates a childlike persona, so that's OK.

in general, I think the nu-Who companions are much better realized as characters than the classic companions; the only ones I really feel compete with them based on the stories I've seen are:

Leela
Romana I
Jo
Sarah Jane
Tegan
Turlough

I want to list Zoe as well but I've seen few of her stories ("The Mind Robber" was amazing, though)

(replace Mind with 'glittery' and Robber with 'arse')

lol

I hadn't heard of US getting the show at the same time as UK before & I think there are a few other places getting it at the same time now.

Australia gets it the minute it ends in the UK, i.e. 5.10 am AEST

^ this is only on internet btw, TX is six days later, ie the first available Saturday night slot

Is budget on series so far a result of the series now being broadcast on the same date to several audiences?

The budget reductions are completely unrelated to foreign TX dates AFAIK

had thought it might indicate people from the foreign markets putting extra money in or something. Hence there being so much more money to spend.
Think that was the case with Paul McGann's one off too. Though maybe the production was just taken to the U.S.?

Hence there being so much more money to spend.

you seem to have a slightly confused idea of what "budget cuts" and "reductions" mean

McGann's was an isolated production in a 16 year gap (and yes, was produced in America), so there's absolutely nothing to compare it to. Unless you count Virgin Books special effects budgets

I liked McCoy! :(

He had an awful, awful intro story, but things really picked up after that.

9And this is based just on the TV stuff, never really read the books)

I'd liked McCoy because I'd seen him in other things before that including some stage performances before he broke into TV as far as I know. I don't remember liking him that much as a Dr. or overly disliking him.

I liked McCoy in the books a lot more than I liked him on the show.

So you're saying he's actor made for the written word?

haha basically

really what I'm saying is that most of his scripts were really not suited for television; in books, where you can see characters' internal monologues, his stories were much better (even the novelizations of his stories were better than the actual shows)

Not sure I like the idea of knowing what's going on in the Doctor's head; he's supposed to be inscrutable.

I rewatched the last episode last night and I'm not seeing anything suggesting a major budget decrease, seem sto be as glossy looking as I've ever seen it. Multiple sets, large amount of CGI & at least some external filming in every episode. & That isn't just using central Cardiff locations and shopping malls in out of business hours.

Was the theory that the budget got slashed because they reused a chair?
They've probably bee reusing bits and pieces throughout the history of the show.

the theory that the budget was reduced came from both production staff and BBC executives saying basically every year that the budget has been reduced

That and this series being split in two, over two years - which at any other time you would have thought meant two years' budget but apparently not this time.

and Doctor Who Confidential being axed because the budget had been cut too much to afford it

It's weird that this is the BBC's most popular show internationally, it has a huge following through Itunes in the States and they continue to have budget problems. You would think there is some kind of revenue through international licensing or something.

It's not the show that has budget problems it's the BBC. The government has been salami slicing the licence fee cutting the grant for world service. It's not just Doctor Who; this is a world where charlotte green has taken voluntary redundancy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/worldwide/160712annualreview.html

I'm a long way from the UK, and I'm aware that a recession can't be helping the situation, still makes me scratch my head a bit.

BBC Worldwide also paid over £100M for 2entertain.

Dr Who is by far the BBC's biggest source of revenue outside the licence fee* - but that money goes to fund the BBC in general, and not to the programme.

*iirc in 2005 the Beeb immediately become the fifth-largest fiction publisher in the UK due to the series tie-in novels

2/3 through and about to do myself

I expected more from toby shithouse tbh

sigh, *whithouse*

just heard the line delivered at 36:28, going back to shithouse

the theory that the budget was reduced came from both production staff and BBC executives saying basically every year that the budget has been reduced

probably explains the show's recent and growing obsession with america

You not like it? Was a bit slow and didn't really deliver on the wham-bam-action stuff, but I was glad to have a more complex, moody episode after the whizz bang shenanigans of the first two. Mercy as a theme throughout this series? Also, as some vigiliant nerd on the Graun webiste pointed out, the flickering lights we've had in each episode so far are what happen when the Angels are coming... Nice subtle touch that, far less clunky than the "OH LOOK ANOTHER CRACK!" stuff of yore. For all that Moffat is an arrogant sod he does actually seem to have taken the criticism of the previous two seasons on board...

Wow that got dark.

I liked it a little more than the first two episodes, they felt geared towards a slightly younger audience and were a little whizz bang "dinosaurs on a spaceship". Looking forward to the rumored Angel episode.