The original podcast dedicated to Doctor Who - the longest science-fiction show in television history. Although the podcast is currently not going, we'll still travel through time to the earliest show up to the adventures of the new 12th Doctor the old fashioned way - through prose!
That's the article I remember reading about! EXACTLY! I couldn't remember if it was a "What if.." scenario or a concept of JNT's. But thanks much for the reminder!
I definitely want to hear your Parting of the Ways commentary! Honesty is always the best policy!
I have to agree that #25 has a noticeable "large hall echo" type effect.
I think "Fathers Day" was a special case of time paradox in that Rose changed her own past in front of an earlier instance of herself. I guess it's the nearest we've got to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect this series.
I'd be surprised to see Faction Paradox in the TV series as anything more than a passing reference, as you have to remember that the show is being made for an audience much bigger than just the fans, and I would expect FP to be too much of a complexity for the average viewer.
You have an interesting theory on the time paradoxes created. That said, I am not sure the Beeb would go and bring in the continuity of the novels to the show. Not that it's not a good idea, but you'd end up losing a significant chunk of your casual fans who'd go--what? when'd that happen? I think the new show has done a good job of throwing in references that we fans can get and enjoy without necessarily alienating new fans or casual fans who don't live, sleep, eat and breath Dr. Who. So I can't imagine they'd bring in the Faction Paradox, which is a cool concept in the novels but would be difficult to translate to the screen.
Bringing back K9 and Sarah Jane who are very much linked to the show and big fixtures from the era of its greatest popularity does make sense. In the same way that bringing Spock on TNG did...he was a big enough icon from classic Trek that casual fans knew who he was but hard core fans could love the little things that were tossed in there just for us.
But hey...let's not lose focus here. The best thing is we have new episodes to speculate about where they might and could go.
I seem to recall RTD saying that whilst he wouldn't slavishly follow continuity, he wouldn't deliberately walk over it (unless it made the story better. Hence we had references to Skaro, Davros and Cybermen, without any one of them actually being named on screen.
I think it's fair to say that whilst Who has a rich and varied past to rummage through, the average viewer will have only a limited exposure to the show's past, which will have an impact on the elements that could be brought back.
With a long-running show, certain elements become "icons" and are recognised by the man in the street who may not even watch the show. For example, the Tardis and Daleks fit into this category.
Secondary would be elements which people have memories of, but wouldn't necessarily know or recall what they actually were. This would probably include things like the Autons breaking out of the shop window in Spearhead.
After this, there are almost two tiers of memory. This would be returning elements like Sontarans and Ice Warriors in one, and one-shots like Rutans, Zygons, etc in the other.
I guess the art is in identifying which elements would work well with a modern audience, and which could work if they had a bit of a facelift. Eg, arguments about window size excepted, the Tardis was broadly the same icon it has always been, whereas the sonic screwdriver was given a makeover. Then there was the Dalek's sink plunger turned from being a target of viewer disdain to actually being something quite functional (something that Remembrance tried, but didn't quite embed into the consciousness in quite the same way as a bloke getting his skull crushed by a sink plunger can do)
We've seen the new Tardis, Sonic Screwdriver and Daleks, and will soon get to see the new Cybermen... what might be the next re-imagining of the past?
6 comments:
Hey Asa,
Let me know how Whocast 25 comes out this time. I reset the VBR settings.
-T
Hey Sarah,
That's the article I remember reading about! EXACTLY! I couldn't remember if it was a "What if.." scenario or a concept of JNT's. But thanks much for the reminder!
I definitely want to hear your Parting of the Ways commentary! Honesty is always the best policy!
-T
By the way, it's "Mystery-Science Theatre 3000".
I have to agree that #25 has a noticeable "large hall echo" type effect.
I think "Fathers Day" was a special case of time paradox in that Rose changed her own past in front of an earlier instance of herself. I guess it's the nearest we've got to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect this series.
I'd be surprised to see Faction Paradox in the TV series as anything more than a passing reference, as you have to remember that the show is being made for an audience much bigger than just the fans, and I would expect FP to be too much of a complexity for the average viewer.
Tom,
You have an interesting theory on the time paradoxes created. That said, I am not sure the Beeb would go and bring in the continuity of the novels to the show. Not that it's not a good idea, but you'd end up losing a significant chunk of your casual fans who'd go--what? when'd that happen? I think the new show has done a good job of throwing in references that we fans can get and enjoy without necessarily alienating new fans or casual fans who don't live, sleep, eat and breath Dr. Who. So I can't imagine they'd bring in the Faction Paradox, which is a cool concept in the novels but would be difficult to translate to the screen.
Bringing back K9 and Sarah Jane who are very much linked to the show and big fixtures from the era of its greatest popularity does make sense. In the same way that bringing Spock on TNG did...he was a big enough icon from classic Trek that casual fans knew who he was but hard core fans could love the little things that were tossed in there just for us.
But hey...let's not lose focus here. The best thing is we have new episodes to speculate about where they might and could go.
I seem to recall RTD saying that whilst he wouldn't slavishly follow continuity, he wouldn't deliberately walk over it (unless it made the story better. Hence we had references to Skaro, Davros and Cybermen, without any one of them actually being named on screen.
I think it's fair to say that whilst Who has a rich and varied past to rummage through, the average viewer will have only a limited exposure to the show's past, which will have an impact on the elements that could be brought back.
With a long-running show, certain elements become "icons" and are recognised by the man in the street who may not even watch the show. For example, the Tardis and Daleks fit into this category.
Secondary would be elements which people have memories of, but wouldn't necessarily know or recall what they actually were. This would probably include things like the Autons breaking out of the shop window in Spearhead.
After this, there are almost two tiers of memory. This would be returning elements like Sontarans and Ice Warriors in one, and one-shots like Rutans, Zygons, etc in the other.
I guess the art is in identifying which elements would work well with a modern audience, and which could work if they had a bit of a facelift. Eg, arguments about window size excepted, the Tardis was broadly the same icon it has always been, whereas the sonic screwdriver was given a makeover. Then there was the Dalek's sink plunger turned from being a target of viewer disdain to actually being something quite functional (something that Remembrance tried, but didn't quite embed into the consciousness in quite the same way as a bloke getting his skull crushed by a sink plunger can do)
We've seen the new Tardis, Sonic Screwdriver and Daleks, and will soon get to see the new Cybermen... what might be the next re-imagining of the past?
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