When DT took over there was some continuity between 9 and 10 with Rose and some similar story lines. But it looks to me as if RTD was almost killing Doctor Who off and living the new series to start from stratch.

I wonder will there be any references to previous Doctors in the new series.

I'm really looking foward to the new series, I just worry that it will need to build itself up as a series again.

River Song is in the next series. If the Moff had wanted Donna to be restored and continue as companion, I'm sure RTD would have been happy to do it.

there are at least 2 stories from previous series being referenced in the next series, so I wouldn't worry about this being a "new" doctor. it'll carry on as it has before.

I do think Matt Smith and Stephen Moffatt have a hard road ahead of them without RTD.

When DT took over there was some continuity between 9 and 10 with Rose and some similar story lines. But it looks to me as if RTD was almost killing Doctor Who off and living the new series to start from stratch.
I wonder will there be any references to previous Doctors in the new series.
I'm really looking foward to the new series, I just worry that it will need to build itself up as a series again.
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My prediction: the new series will be significantly better but there will be fewer viewers. I am very worried by what the Daily Mirror's TV critic said about part one of THE END OF TIME, namely that the show is now once again for "nerds only." I don't necessarily agree with that sentiment, but I can see what he means and it might spell long-term problems for the programme if such a perception spreads and, as I suspect, viewing figures drop below the kind of levels RTD managed (impressively) to sustain for so long.

I don't think it will need to build up again. People will associate Doc11 with the events at the end of TEOT prt2.

For over 40 years Doctor Who has survived change. It only died in the end because the BBC wasn't giving it the attention nor budget it needed. Now the production values are higher than ever, I think it is safe to say it will survive.

Actually I think it is time to move on from the running themes of the past four years and breathe new life into it.

On DWC RTD said he had left it up to the new crew to run as they want. If they want to bring back old characters they can, if not they can go down a new path.

I think that was the best way. He left no obstacles to anyone reappearing if they so choose (even the Time Lords can go either way now as presumably they may not now make the choice that caused their demise).

But I would think that for this coming year new ideas will be to the fore to establish the new identity and direction. But longer term I think everyone knows that DW is about the future and the new with one eye always on the nostalgia of what was popular in the past.

Why? Moffat is a better writer than Davies could ever be. he's had several hit series' in the past.

Without having read the Daily Mirror, I assume that the show is now once again for nerds only because it's obsessed with its own recent history and making disingenuous back references, because they clearly can't have meant that the science is too heavy. In which case, any sort of semi-break would presumably be welcome from that critic's point of view. It's certainly welcome from mine.

As for viewing figures, I'd expect an immediate decline just because things are different, but I'd be surprised if it ever drops down to the levels of the usual turgid Saturday output like Merlin, Primeval, etc. Moffatt has a great deal of TV experience and has a side career writing for film so I'm sure he knows what he's doing both in terms of week-in-week-out adventures and big, epic, one-shot stories, finale style.

Dont worry about the Daily Mirror..

that guy is a joke he 'thinks' now DT has gone the show is going to spiral like it did in the 80's..

the trailer alone blows that idea totally out of the water.

all this talk of 'nerd'...do my eyes need testing was DT infact a 20 stone body builder and carried a machine gun??

this was a character who used a water pistol!!!

how anyone can judge MS on those few lines last night is just scary..Dt's first lines werent that great in fact the christmas special he spent most of the time on his back with glitter coming out of his gob.

worth pointing out the media have been almost universal in their prasie for part 2 or EoT as well.

Anyway, as for the OP...wow even now his left people still want to try and blame RTD for things. I am sure Moffats era will be fine, but if by any chance it isn't, it won't be RTD's fault. Jeez!

And that, kids, is the story of how David Tennant became a gay icon.

IMO RTD lived Dr Who like a true geek and that's had to beat. The intricacies of the story lines during his reign were amazingly detailed - true cultism.

I guess the next few months will tell us whether kids are more fickle about things nowadays , than they were when Pertwee became Baker and Tom became Peter for example.
My inner child was excited about seeing Matt arrive and the new trailer and I imagine it's the same for the real youngsters. Confidential showed how much planning went into getting Matt's first scene right on the button. It's a massive change to introduce a new Doctor to the audience and Matts arrival was certainly memorable. Right down to the Tardis crashing and the music.

Pfft.

No.

People talk as though RTD and SM are at loggerheads, or RTD was trying to make life difficult for SM. Why on earth would he, considering they are friends, both love DW and have worked together many times?

I doubt that much will really change, bar the cosmetic changes of new actors/set and graphics. Most of the old writers will remain and Moffatt will have his own recurring themes to put into place. The transition will no doubt feel completely natural once we actually see the first few episodes.

the show's quality will improve; the ratings will decline - Smith will have many ardent fans (I expect I will be one of them) but - and this is only my hunch - I don't see him as having Tennant's wide appeal across so many demographics.

totally.

After years of fighting the BBC to put the show back on and making them understand the show CAN work..theres no way either of them would want to see it Axed again.

didnt RTD say that moffats scripts are the only ones he knew he would NEVER have to modify?

That IMO will be key..and the next few months will fly past.

Am I alone in thinking a year zero approach is a good thing? Donna/Rose/Wilf have had their day. It should be a bit of a new broom IMO and let RTD's stuff stay in the past.

I suspect that like much big budget programmes being commissioned / renewed a lot of effort goes into making sure that the result can be sold internationally. With the new relaunch of Doctor Who being in HD, it makes it a much stronger candidate for markets like the US. Therefore, it would make sense not to disillusion first time viewers with strong references to a previous series.

I'm also glad that SM has been given the option of a clean slate. I have great faith in the guy. He penned some amazing scripts early in his career when taking the helm with Press Gang and created a lot of original concepts in Coupling. I can't imagine a safer pair of hands for the direction of DW - I'm looking forward to finding out what the BBC Wales team can deliver from here on in!

There's a thread going on at Gallifrey Base at the moment , that is suggesting a "rift" between RTD and SM because they weren't shown meeting and shaking hands during the filming of the regen scene on Confidential
I've mentioned that was down to their being controlled fires on set , so Health&Safety laws meant the area had to be evacuated after DT finished and before Matt arrived. Hasn't stopped some of fandom speculating over nothing though!

TBH, having watched "Turn Left", "The Stolen Earth", "Journey's End" and "The End of Time" all in one go yesterday I think it will benefit the show for Moffat to move away from some of the bombast and back references that RTD seems wedded to, particularly in the series' 'finales'.

Two years in a row we've had cameos from Martha, Rose, Jackie, Mickey, Sarah-Jane, Luke and Captain Jack, and whilst she was integral last time around, this year Donna was kind of redundant. Though it's kind of fun, and while I appreciate RTD's idea about providing some kind of emotional closure to the Tennant era, it does smell slightly of nerd-pleasing 'fan w*nk', as if, having thrown "everything but the kitchen sink" into the mix, he then can't resist adding the kitchen sink itself, just for completeness.

I think it's time to dial back on this kind of 'stunt' plotting before the show disappears up it's own ar*e in a frenzy of circular references to it's own recent continuity. A few carefully placed canonical nods are fine, and I can understand Moffat's desire to revisit River Song and the Statues (they are his characters after all), but one needs to do it sparingly and for good dramatic reasons, not simply because one can.

I don't mind revisiting good villains, it's the "soap" elements that bug me.

Some terrific baddies were ignored after their first appearance (the baddies from The Unquiet Dead" and the "Family of Bloody doubler").

I'm looking forward to seeing the weeping angels again. They were a terrific invention, the stuff of kiddie nightmares.

The OP puzzled me a little.


SM cast Matt Smith & is now the head writer.
He has also been quite possibly the most popular writer of Nu Who.

Plus as we saw from the clip of the next season, we get a return of Daleks & the statues from Blink.


Since the internet didn't really exist when the show was cancelled, I don't know if we got this type of speculation when the crew changed in the past

It's been sold to the United States since series one of the revived show.

If you mean sold to a major network there is absolutely no chance of that happening.

In terms of international and long-term value, it was incredibly short-sighted not to have been in HD from the start. In North America there were no new scripted dramas being produced in SD for several years prior to 2005 and Scrubs was the only old show remaining in SD (where it remained until last year). In Canada it was shown (poorly) upconverted to HD from the start.