It just amazes me how there are all those 1000s of races out there in the whoniverse and they still use the same ones id rather have an entire season of new planets and enemies instead of the annual dalek/cyberman story
It just amazes me how there are all those 1000s of races out there in the whoniverse and they still use the same ones id rather have an entire season of new planets and enemies instead of the annual dalek/cyberman story
Again a budgetary limitation. Just as filming on location or on set to portray alien planets is expensive, so too is credible costume design. I'm sure that they would like to do more than they do, but budget only stretches so far. People seem to forget that, whilst I'd say that minus the odd repetitive episode, the writers generally do a good job at delivering a new spin on an old monster.
So...A Master/Unit two parter to start the series. Interesting. Have always thought Ms Gomez was great, in everything I've seen her do basically, so not displeased with this news.
'Less is more' be damned. When you have a weapon like Missy/Michelle G in your arsenal then the more you utilise it the better. And having her back so soon is joyous.
Let's just hope they spend at least twenty minutes explaining how she survived the Brigadiers zapping. And when I say 'at least twenty minutes' I mean 'don't bother explaining it at all because who cares?'
We knew about 'The Magician's Apprentice' of course (and you sort of assume the Magician is The Doctor and the apprentice is his companion).
With the episode 2 title being - 'The Witch's Familiar', I wonder if that might point to a companion for Missy (as a familiar is a witches companion)? It could be someone new..or perhaps Seb(Chris Addison) is returning/being bought out of the digital world.
Interesting that UNIT is in the first episodes as well. We never saw what happened to the Nethersphere and there's a good chance that UNIT would have it now... so perhaps that might come into play in regards to Missy's return (nothing to say there couldn't be a back-up copy of Missy stored there to be extracted....or deleted data that could be recovered).
Hmmmm. Claire Higgins from the McGann minisode is back too. Course her character might be completely different, or are the sisterhood of Karn involved in some way. Whatever, she's another fine actress so Andy Prior is still earning his salary!
Hmmmm. Claire Higgins from the McGann minisode is back too. Course her character might be completely different, or are the sisterhood of Karn involved in some way. Whatever, she's another fine actress so Andy Prior is still earning his salary!
If she is playing the same character...I wonder if it'll turn out she's the one who transformed The Master into Missy?
We knew about 'The Magician's Apprentice' of course (and you sort of assume the Magician is The Doctor and the apprentice is his companion).
With the episode 2 title being - 'The Witch's Familiar', I wonder if that might point to a companion for Missy (as a familiar is a witches companion)? It could be someone new..or perhaps Seb(Chris Addison) is returning/being bought out of the digital world.
.
I predict that both titles will refer to Clara.
As we know, it was Missy who brought Clara and the Doctor together because she knew Clara had a forceful enough personality to persuade the Doctor to look for the Nethersphere. But they only went looking for it because Danny Pink died. So Danny's death was clearly part of Missy's plan. Maybe Clara discovers that it was Missy who was driving the car that killed Danny so pretends to switch to Missy's side to get revenge. Or maybe Missy hypnotises Clara to on her side.
If I'm right, I hope the story is played out over the first two episodes and not dragged out through the series. I'd hate it if the lovely Clara became a baddie.
Missy being back for an opening two parter is exciting. Plus UNIT and possibly the Sisterhood of Karn (if Clare Higgins is playing the same she did in The Night Of The Doctor) - definitely works for me.
Can't say I'm overly thrilled at this news, but it very much depends on how it all pans out.
I loved Dark Water and detested Death in Heaven. My problems with it, however, were not Michelle Gomez or Jemma Redgrave and I'm more than happy to see them back.
My concerns are that episodes 1 and 2 are a two-parter, and unless reshuffled episodes 3 and 4 are also a two-parter. I have a few issues with this. A series of two-parters is now a potential prospect, and one I'm not fond of - for the more casual fans it becomes more difficult to dip in and out, and like it or not those fans are still valuable to the continued success of the show. Secondly, it means if you don't like a particular story you're stuck with it for another week yet - true of any two-parter of course, but not so bad when the two-parters are outnumbered by single part stories within the series. Thirdly, all two-parters would mean a smaller writers pool which I feel is the last thing the show needs right now. Fourth, an opening two-parter didn't work for me personally in Series 6 - it was a decent idea, but then because it wasn't wrapped up there and then it overshadowed all else that was going on that series to the point Moffat's Day of the Moon episode even carries a quote that more or less says "shall we continue this awesome, mystery girl investigation...or just have some adventures..." trivialising the show itself. And finally I'm just not a fan of an all two-parter format, or a largely two-parter format (and on the flip side nor am I a fan of a wholly single-part-story series either...looking at you Series 7)...all these changes and mix ups are making the show tremendously messy and they were on to a good format with Series 8 again. It wasn't broke, therefore didn't need fixing.
Then again, I'll reserve judgement until we both know more and I see it as well...these are just my early thoughts. The thought of Missy coming back, and in a non-finale capacity is an interesting one. The inclusion of UNIT and the guest stars so far sound interesting. I would love to hear that Whithouse's story is not actually the third and fourth episodes, as I'd love some standalone stories chucked between Moffat's and Whithouse's contributions.
I'll reserve judgement. Apart from that bit just then when I wrote lots of words judging already. Based on casting news and order of episodes!
Give me some credit, I'm hardly the kind of person who comes on here to post negatively about the show and do nothing else.
But all the same, I'm entitled to an opinion on the way a series is shaping up to be, particularly when you have previous to compare to. The one series that started out with a two-parter previously disappointed me (including said two-parter), the ingredients for this two-parter are shaping up to be very similar to the last which also ultimately disappointed me. I raised concerns (not issues - there's a distinct difference) about this new potential format Moffat has going - again justifiable because his previous attempts at fiddling with the format have been unsuccessful (it's hard to deny Series 5 and Series 8, the two that conformed closest to what came before - were best received in his era so far), and also because some of those concerns are actually very reasonable. At the same time I said what I liked the sound of as well.
I'm as entitled to raise concern with the way something shapes up as anyone else has to endlessly praise something we know so little about. If I'd simply said "I love these actors, I love the way it's shaping up, I love the way it's going, I love the sound of this format, it's going to be awesome" I bet there'd be no problem, despite that being just as judgemental, albeit positively.
Well I thought having unit back straight away for a story was to soon and now Missy is back too, essentially kicking off with round two after a Christmas break from round one. Love that Missy is back but it feels to soon after the end of series 8 to have the same elements for the first story of series 9 imo. A mid series Missy story or series 9 finally would of been my preference.
So going by what we know so far its possible that we could be looking at a series of two part stories, If that turns out to be the case I'd be chuffed as I have always wanted that.
The crew are setting up at the Parque Garcia Sanabria in Tenerife.
You could certainly get a picturesque world out of it.
Lets hope so it would be really good to see some alien world settings, (oh I shouldn't express that it will lead to being jumped on for hoping the show might do something i'd like to see)
As we know, it was Missy who brought Clara and the Doctor together because she knew Clara had a forceful enough personality to persuade the Doctor to look for the Nethersphere. But they only went looking for it because Danny Pink died. So Danny's death was clearly part of Missy's plan. Maybe Clara discovers that it was Missy who was driving the car that killed Danny so pretends to switch to Missy's side to get revenge. Or maybe Missy hypnotises Clara to on her side.
If I'm right, I hope the story is played out over the first two episodes and not dragged out through the series. I'd hate it if the lovely Clara became a baddie.
You could be right with your surmise that both titles refer, on one level at least, to Clara, but I really doubt she'll become a 'baddie'. It's more likely to be a continuation of the theme of Clara learning from the Doctor, and becoming more like him, even in his less desirable traits. It would be fairly typical of Moffat to have the Doctor as both the magician and the witch, depending on one's perspective.
Lets hope so it would be really good to see some alien world settings, (oh I shouldn't express that it will lead to being jumped on for hoping the show might do something i'd like to see)
Well i'm not opposed to a bit of snarkiness, but in this instance it's not really very justified. I don't see people being 'jumped on'. What I see happen, every few months, is an exchange that goes something like this:
Poster 1: I can't understand why they don't do more stories on alien planets. There's too many set on Earth.
Poster 2 explains that the reason they do that is budgetary and there's no way around it.
Poster 1 doesn't like the explanation and intransigently sticks to their complaint.
Poster 2 and the people who recognize the fact of what he / she said get fed up listening to the futile, now belligerent complaint of poster 1.
You could be right with your surmise that both titles refer, on one level at least, to Clara, but I really doubt she'll become a 'baddie'. It's more likely to be a continuation of the theme of Clara learning from the Doctor, and becoming more like him, even in his less desirable traits. It would be fairly typical of Moffat to have the Doctor as both the magician and the witch, depending on one's perspective.
Yeah, I may have got carried away with the "becoming a baddie" bit (which I don't want to see happen, anyway). I still think, though, that if Missy is appearing in the first two part story then the witch moniker is likely to apply to her.
Just seen the end of Flat Line again (the one where Clara calls herself the Doctor). Missy says "Clara, my Clara. I have chosen well", and the Doctor has often referred to her as "My Clara", so I still think we'll see a battle for Clara between the two Time Lords with the Doctor triumphing at the end of episode 2.
Then the Doctor and Clara will have regular adventures scripted by other writers (Toby Whitehouse's 2-part ghost story makes up episodes 3 and 4) before Moffat possibly returns to the theme at the end of the series. It's hard to believe that Missy is only going to appear in the first two episodes of the series. Unless Michelle Gomez is really, really busy.
Comments
Again a budgetary limitation. Just as filming on location or on set to portray alien planets is expensive, so too is credible costume design. I'm sure that they would like to do more than they do, but budget only stretches so far. People seem to forget that, whilst I'd say that minus the odd repetitive episode, the writers generally do a good job at delivering a new spin on an old monster.
No luck catching them spoilers, then?
All very quiet. More studio time. Though Clara's (read: The Doctor's anti-grav) bike has supposedly made an appearance.
This is of course brilliant news.
There's a video announcement but I can't be bothered to link to it. It's out there.
Already bitching that the announcement is obvious/dull/isn't Eight coming back etc.
Pitiful.
Let's just hope they spend at least twenty minutes explaining how she survived the Brigadiers zapping. And when I say 'at least twenty minutes' I mean 'don't bother explaining it at all because who cares?'
We knew about 'The Magician's Apprentice' of course (and you sort of assume the Magician is The Doctor and the apprentice is his companion).
With the episode 2 title being - 'The Witch's Familiar', I wonder if that might point to a companion for Missy (as a familiar is a witches companion)? It could be someone new..or perhaps Seb(Chris Addison) is returning/being bought out of the digital world.
Interesting that UNIT is in the first episodes as well. We never saw what happened to the Nethersphere and there's a good chance that UNIT would have it now... so perhaps that might come into play in regards to Missy's return (nothing to say there couldn't be a back-up copy of Missy stored there to be extracted....or deleted data that could be recovered).
If she is playing the same character...I wonder if it'll turn out she's the one who transformed The Master into Missy?
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-02-19/doctor-who-series-9-missy-announces-her-return-via-crunchy-video---watch
Given the titles of the two parter episode I wonder if Missy will have her own companion this time round
Meh....
Can't say that has got my pulse racing much - wasn't terribly impressed with the character last year....
I predict that both titles will refer to Clara.
As we know, it was Missy who brought Clara and the Doctor together because she knew Clara had a forceful enough personality to persuade the Doctor to look for the Nethersphere. But they only went looking for it because Danny Pink died. So Danny's death was clearly part of Missy's plan. Maybe Clara discovers that it was Missy who was driving the car that killed Danny so pretends to switch to Missy's side to get revenge. Or maybe Missy hypnotises Clara to on her side.
If I'm right, I hope the story is played out over the first two episodes and not dragged out through the series. I'd hate it if the lovely Clara became a baddie.
I loved Dark Water and detested Death in Heaven. My problems with it, however, were not Michelle Gomez or Jemma Redgrave and I'm more than happy to see them back.
My concerns are that episodes 1 and 2 are a two-parter, and unless reshuffled episodes 3 and 4 are also a two-parter. I have a few issues with this. A series of two-parters is now a potential prospect, and one I'm not fond of - for the more casual fans it becomes more difficult to dip in and out, and like it or not those fans are still valuable to the continued success of the show. Secondly, it means if you don't like a particular story you're stuck with it for another week yet - true of any two-parter of course, but not so bad when the two-parters are outnumbered by single part stories within the series. Thirdly, all two-parters would mean a smaller writers pool which I feel is the last thing the show needs right now. Fourth, an opening two-parter didn't work for me personally in Series 6 - it was a decent idea, but then because it wasn't wrapped up there and then it overshadowed all else that was going on that series to the point Moffat's Day of the Moon episode even carries a quote that more or less says "shall we continue this awesome, mystery girl investigation...or just have some adventures..." trivialising the show itself. And finally I'm just not a fan of an all two-parter format, or a largely two-parter format (and on the flip side nor am I a fan of a wholly single-part-story series either...looking at you Series 7)...all these changes and mix ups are making the show tremendously messy and they were on to a good format with Series 8 again. It wasn't broke, therefore didn't need fixing.
Then again, I'll reserve judgement until we both know more and I see it as well...these are just my early thoughts. The thought of Missy coming back, and in a non-finale capacity is an interesting one. The inclusion of UNIT and the guest stars so far sound interesting. I would love to hear that Whithouse's story is not actually the third and fourth episodes, as I'd love some standalone stories chucked between Moffat's and Whithouse's contributions.
Give me some credit, I'm hardly the kind of person who comes on here to post negatively about the show and do nothing else.
But all the same, I'm entitled to an opinion on the way a series is shaping up to be, particularly when you have previous to compare to. The one series that started out with a two-parter previously disappointed me (including said two-parter), the ingredients for this two-parter are shaping up to be very similar to the last which also ultimately disappointed me. I raised concerns (not issues - there's a distinct difference) about this new potential format Moffat has going - again justifiable because his previous attempts at fiddling with the format have been unsuccessful (it's hard to deny Series 5 and Series 8, the two that conformed closest to what came before - were best received in his era so far), and also because some of those concerns are actually very reasonable. At the same time I said what I liked the sound of as well.
I'm as entitled to raise concern with the way something shapes up as anyone else has to endlessly praise something we know so little about. If I'd simply said "I love these actors, I love the way it's shaping up, I love the way it's going, I love the sound of this format, it's going to be awesome" I bet there'd be no problem, despite that being just as judgemental, albeit positively.
So going by what we know so far its possible that we could be looking at a series of two part stories, If that turns out to be the case I'd be chuffed as I have always wanted that.
You could certainly get a picturesque world out of it.
Lets hope so it would be really good to see some alien world settings, (oh I shouldn't express that it will lead to being jumped on for hoping the show might do something i'd like to see)
Though DW is heading to Tenerife.
You could be right with your surmise that both titles refer, on one level at least, to Clara, but I really doubt she'll become a 'baddie'. It's more likely to be a continuation of the theme of Clara learning from the Doctor, and becoming more like him, even in his less desirable traits. It would be fairly typical of Moffat to have the Doctor as both the magician and the witch, depending on one's perspective.
Well i'm not opposed to a bit of snarkiness, but in this instance it's not really very justified. I don't see people being 'jumped on'. What I see happen, every few months, is an exchange that goes something like this:
Poster 1: I can't understand why they don't do more stories on alien planets. There's too many set on Earth.
Poster 2 explains that the reason they do that is budgetary and there's no way around it.
Poster 1 doesn't like the explanation and intransigently sticks to their complaint.
Poster 2 and the people who recognize the fact of what he / she said get fed up listening to the futile, now belligerent complaint of poster 1.
Yeah, I may have got carried away with the "becoming a baddie" bit (which I don't want to see happen, anyway). I still think, though, that if Missy is appearing in the first two part story then the witch moniker is likely to apply to her.
Just seen the end of Flat Line again (the one where Clara calls herself the Doctor). Missy says "Clara, my Clara. I have chosen well", and the Doctor has often referred to her as "My Clara", so I still think we'll see a battle for Clara between the two Time Lords with the Doctor triumphing at the end of episode 2.
Then the Doctor and Clara will have regular adventures scripted by other writers (Toby Whitehouse's 2-part ghost story makes up episodes 3 and 4) before Moffat possibly returns to the theme at the end of the series. It's hard to believe that Missy is only going to appear in the first two episodes of the series. Unless Michelle Gomez is really, really busy.