Doctor Who

He almost certainly had some level of contact with the producers in the 80s (it sounds like Jonathan Nathan-Turner seriously disliked him) but yeah, it's super unclear how much actual influence he had. He's sometimes blamed for a few 6th Doctor episodes being so continuity heavy that they were incomprehensible to non-superfans, but the actual credited writers for those stories were prone to doing that on their own, plus it was an anniversary story for the really egregious offender.

For something that's supposedly an old piece of junk, the TARDIS is surprisingly capable, and is shown to be a pretty epic timeship, even if it lacks the weaponry for a Gunship Rescue.

Take it landing in "The Angels take Manhattan", for example (okay, technically not relevant, but still cool).

Or leaving the universe in "The Doctor's Wife" (sadly, there doesn't seem to be a video clip for that one).

Or towing an entire planet in "Journey's End".

The other time lord facilities that we've seen that are able to do the same sort of thing tend to be much newer, purpose-built devices, like Division Station, or the Void Ship. Travelling the void crumpled a different TARDIS (does that make that the first case of outright TARDIS-murder that we've seen?).

Did Time Lord tech go backwards? You'd expect newer TARDISes to be able to do much more, and much better than the Doctor's, but the only thing that really know is that they tend to have newer/better features, which don't appear to contribute to much of anything, or seem that useful.

Edited by techno156 on Dec 5th 2022 at 2:28:30 AM

'Sexy' is no ordinary Tardis clearly,just like how The Doctor is no mere Time Lord

Timeless TARDIS when?

One theory I've seen is that the TARDIS being capable of so much is related to the reason it was in for repairs when the Doctor stole it. Like, if the self-repair and construction functions were operating wrong and were massively overdoing what they were supposed to do, with the result being that the TARDIS has a significantly wider range of capabilities because it's building all the functions and features that should be locked and not accessible to a Type-40.

There's also the question of how much of it even is a Type-40 anymore. Maybe it's less analogous to The Alleged Car at this point and more akin to a beater that's been cleaned up and modified for offroading, to stretch the automotive analogy a bit.

Edited by Chortleous on Dec 4th 2022 at 10:01:15 AM

As far as we know, it mothballed/in for repairs, because the navigation circuitry was faulty. (Whether it was a genuine problem or the TARDIS' sapience getting into trouble is left as an exercise for the viewer).

The Time Lords otherwise don't seem to actually do features like humans do, with features being that can be unlocked later, or are more capable hardware scaled down. A TARDIS upgrade is somehow tied to that specific model (since the Doctor asks for a very specific model of dematerialisation circuit, with the recall circuitry removed), and they don't seem to be able to carried across to different models. The Doctor didn't implement some of the additional features of the Monk's, or the Master's TARDISes, despite them seeming useful (they were envious of the The Monk's automatic drift control).

I could definitely see it having additional capabilities because its self-repair functions are regularly strained. The kind of damage in this trailer isn't anything new, and happens at least once per Doctor. Your typical TARDIS on Gallifrey almost definitely doesn't encounter this kind of damage much, if at all, since it seems like the kind of thing that would get you into trouble with the Academy/High Council.

TARDISes having self-improvement would let them repair things to be better than they used to be, to overcome whatever caused the problem in the first place.

We do see the Doctor's TARDIS has an easier time of things the second or third time around. Flying in realspace, rather than through the Time Vortex, and leaving the universe for a pocket universe were both massive undertakings the first time around, needing the Doctor to basically shut down the TARDIS while the engines cooled down, and needing rooms to be ejected, respectively.

By the Thirteenth Doctor's run, leaving the universe still takes some effort, but seemingly a lot less than it did in "The Doctor's Wife".

That also would make some sense. The Doctor does like to tinker with things, although considering that the rest of the universe is nowhere near as advanced as the Time Lords themselves (except for the Daleks, and now, the Cybermen, and the Doctor is unlikely to be able to get their hands on their technology to improve the TARDIS with), and the Time Lords are few and far between, you do have to wonder where the improvements come from.

The Doctor was hardly the most academically-inclined Time Lord to begin with.

Edited by techno156 on Dec 5th 2022 at 3:03:59 AM

As with the Millennium Falcon, never underestimate the piece of junk.

And we're off!

Filming of Ncuti's first series officially underway

Ooh, how exciting. Any word on when his first non-trailer appearance is going to be?

Oh, that's a slight shame. Was hoping to not have another year of hiatus to deal with.

Edited by techno156 on Dec 7th 2022 at 10:42:39 PM

Presumably one of the three specials on November 2023. Though which specifically and whether it will be an actual "appearance" or a "Attack of the eyebrows" type cameo first is unclear as yet.

There's actually four specials next year, three in November with Tennant and then Christmas with Ncuti.

Confirmed in this week's Doctor Who Magazine: Each series going forward will be eight episodes and there will be more Christmas specials.

Edited by Zarius on Dec 7th 2022 at 6:46:55 AM

Yes I know, but Ncuti is probably going to first appear in one of the November ones. Likely just as a cameo with Christmas being his first "full" episode.

RE: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=0000000000000000000005jl&page=4272#comment-106787

They're bringing those back? I thought they were only doing New Years Specials now.

I guess RTD managed to negotiate for the spot back; that might be one aspect where the Disney backing helped.

The new TARDIS interior, in the meantime, has leaked over on reddit.

Oh, interesting. Are they not re-using the current one, or is this for the new series, rather than the 60th (upcoming?) special?

Edited by techno156 on Dec 8th 2022 at 11:26:39 PM

Well what looks like unfinished concept art for the new TARDIS interior has leaked.

It looks like a greatly scaled up Ninth doctor interior, with longer walkways and a much more expanded lower level, with it's own entrences and exists. There will be at least some home amenities, given the presences of a jukebox in the concept art. It's either a very white colour scheme, or the colour scheme hasn't been settled on.

It clearly isn't the final design, but it's probably indicative of something the production team is considering?

The white palette would be interesting to see, considering how, combined with the mention of home amenities, it sounds like a modernization of the very first TARDIS interior.

14's debut story, Liberation of the Daleks, continues in Doctor Who Magazine:

The Daleks confront The Doctor at the stadium, the Dalek Supreme (from Stolen Earth/Journey's End) orders The Doctor's death by 'maximum extermination', but they're all rather lousy shots and The Doctor heads back to the TARDIS. The alien tourists decide to spend the day travelling to other parts of london that is being attacked by Daleks and take selfies. The Doctor runs into a woman who's appropriated a golden idol, The Doctor hurries her into the TARDIS but the Daleks steal the craft with a giant crane. The Dalek Supreme orders it's forces to fire on The Doctor

So.

I heard that David Tennant, the former 10th Doctor...

Is now the 14th Doctor.

What the hell has been going on?

Ncuti wasn't available to film the 60th anniversary specials so they roped in Tennant as a new incarnation to keep the seat warm and draw in a big audience for the inevitable transition.

RE: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=0000000000000000000005jl&page=4272#comment-106796

The Timey-Wimey Ball came into play. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

The official reveal of the outfits for Doctor Fifteen and Ruby Sunday

Orange is a... bold choice?

Bright colours has always worked out well for The Doctor after all.

Edited by dcutter2 on Dec 17th 2022 at 7:39:48 PM