Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Is beginning to get the feeling that Doctor Who as we know it is ending. As if new stars, new showrunner / writers / producers, new TARDIS interior and exterior weren't enough, we're also getting a new Doctor Who Logo:

It's not like I loved the old logo, but I'm not impressed by the new one at all. I'm wondering if we won't get a new arrangment of the theme song as well? I mean...EVERYTHING ELSE IS NEW, so I'm sort of expecting it at this point. I was a bit worried about David Tennant leaving as the 10th Doctor before. Not because he's my favorite (he's not) and not because he's leaving exactly, because the series has survived cast changes like that multiple times; it's one of it's strengths really. I was worried because so many people that made the series great are leaving all at once...and not only are people leaving but many details of the series I love are changing as well - they're not trying to keep the status quo going while things change behind the scenes - they're embracing the change a little too much IMO. With this news, I'm starting to wonder if we'll even recognize the series next season. If we had Torchwood to balance some of this out that would help a bit, but there are no firm plans to bring back Torchwood at all, and there may never be; "Children of Earth" reached what can be viewed as a proper climax to that series and if it never returned I wouldn't be heartbroken, though I'd GLADLY take more. Sarah Jane is prepped for a 4th Season but Season 3 hasn't aired yet and it's impossible to know if she'll be back next year. It's becoming obvious to me that David Tennant's final show in December is the finale of the 2005-2009 era of the Whoniverse altogether... What I would consider the golden age.

Next year we'll probably have no Torchwood and even if Sarah Jane returns, her seasons are really just 6 stories long (but I'll take them, thank you very much!). We'll also have new spin-off series K9, which by it's very nature, can't overtly reference Doctor Who (it's made by different people), though even if it could, it would have no major reasons to reference the 2005-2009 era as the K9 in question is the Mark I who never traveled with or encountered the 9th or 10th Doctors (or Doctor's 5-8 either), or Sarah Jane for that matter. Plus, a new spin-off just reminds us that everything is new next year. Next year we'll also have a new 11th Doctor, new companion Amy Pond, new executive producer and head writer Steven Moffat (who has admittedly done brilliant work as a writer in the past - replacing successful 2005-2009 Series Showrunner Russell T Davies), new executive producers Piers Wenger (replacing the fantastic Julie Gardner) and Beth Willis, new producers Tracie Simpson and Peter Bennett, new logo, new TARDIS (both inside and out - though the outside will stay mostly the same) - they're even promoting the new season as "Series One" - which worries me even more. I want the new season to build on the ones that I've loved in the past; not just regenerate in to something completely different; it's hard enough to lose The Doctor or a companion (unless the companion is TRULY ANNOYING as some of the Old School Companions were), but to lose everything about the show that I cared about is just brutal. It feels like we're losing all the things we've come to love over the last 4.5 Seasons! We're not just losing a Doctor or a companion, which are enough change in and of themselves and invariably lead me to tears...we're losing an entire world. For the forseeable future it seems we'll have no 10th Doctor. No TARDIS as we've come to know it. No Rose. No Jackie. No Mickey. No Captain Jack. No Gwen or Rhys. No Torchwood. No Martha / Francine / Clive / Tish or Leo - no return of Thomas Milligan. No Donna, Wilf or Sylvia. No Bad Wolf. And if I had to guess, no Time War.

I'm starting to think that the Time War will somehow be unravelled in David Tennant's final story, "The End of Time". I've not read that anywhere nor heard rumor of such; this is merely speculation. Maybe that could help explain all the changes that are in the air for next season. I hope so. The only solace I have other than that unasnwered question is that it's been confirmed that 4th Season character River Song will be returning for another story, bringing some continuity to the series. Sadly, it's also been confirmed that the Daleks will be back as well - and the few story details I've heard sound really, really bad. Can we please just lose the Daleks for a few seasons!?! One of the bright spots of this Whoniverse Light Season (with very few Who Appearances [7 as opposed to the usual 14], only 5 Torchwood eps [as opposed to the usual 13] though slightly more Sarah Jane stories [I count 12 stories]) has been the lack of a Dalek story for over 35 consecutive episodes! That almost makes this year without much Doctor Who worth it. Almost.

If the Time War storyline somehow ended in these specials with the universe righting itself in some way, that would provide a nice sort of closure to the 9th / 10th Doctor Era and separate the new show from the most recent incarnation, which is the only iteration to include the Time War backstory. It would also bring Doctor Who back to what it was before the 2005-2009 era, with Time Lords / Daleks no longer 'extinct'; Gallifrey / Skarro returned to the universe. Which, from what I've read, is something that I believe appeals to the new showrunner. I'd love it if that happened. I could embrace that. But only if the new series builds on what's come before. Continuity. References to previous stories (both old and REALLY old stories) from the long running series are a big treat for me and one of the reasons I've come to love the new Doctor Who so much.

Continuity is actually one of the main reasons I'm looking forward to the final David Tennant specials. These specials will undoubtedly comment in some way on the entire run of New Who, and possibly Classic Who as well. Returning characters (who may be returning for their final appearances - and PLEASE NOTE - we don't know what these appearances mean - they could be dream sequences or visions or any numbr of things) include the 10th Doctor, Wilfred Mott, Captain Jack Harkness, Jackie Tyler, Verity Newman (who is somehow related and played by the actress who portrayed Nurse Joan Redfern in the "Human Nature" / "The Family of Blood" storyline - the story of which will also be referenced), Sylvia Noble, Luke Smith, Lucy Saxon, Rose Tyler, Ood Sigma, The Master, Sarah Jane Smith & Donna Noble. Midshipman Frame & familiar aliens are also rumored to appear. And it's implied there will be other references to past adventures (including but not limited to recent special "Planet of the Dead"). That's a lot of continuity. That's a lot of history coming back and paying off in some way. And the episodes that recall previous adventures...that feel like a payoff for watching the entire series are kind of what I watch for and hope to see more of.

My dick hurts. Distracting myself with Doctor Who helps, but only to a point.

   posted by Bald Jason at 03:07 PM
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