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The first pics of new eleventh Doctor Matt Smith have surfaced with the commencement of filming for the show's fifth series:
I like it. Typical Doctor outfit, relatable to the classic fans and JUST out of place enough in the modern day.
The only thing IMO that would make this outfit complete would be a vest, which he'd be able to wear with the coat on or off. Even so, this will do quite nicely. We only now need to see him in action. Come on, March/April 2010!
Pictures released so far indicate several things:
- The new companion, Amy Pond, is very redheaded and dressed very retro. Could she be from 1980s Scotland, as her previously reported accent suggests?
- The TARDIS has been given a fresh coat of paint, looking downright shiny. There are several cosmetic changes but overall the blue box now looks much closer to the very first prop, down to the Ambulance sticker on the other door!
- The pictures are location shoting on the same beach they transformed into Bad Wolf Bay, though it's doubtful to be the same place.
- A guest star is seen: Alex Kingston, back as archaeologist and past/future flame of the Doctor, River Song! The character was created by now-showrunner Steven Moffat, so it stood to reason she'd be back at some point.
Other recent news suggest rumours that the TARDIS interior is being compeltely rebuilt too, taking over the space once occupied by the Torchwood hub set (which was much larger than the TARDIS console room set). Insiders have reported that the new TARDIS will be much more suited to HD filming and contain the appropriate amount of detail; it'll have two levels, and contain a lab section. Many think that with the "new" police box look, the eleventh Doctor has found a way to reset the TARDIS to factory settings, including a nice white console room as it used to be.
So much fun! And we still have three hours of the Tenth Doctor to go!
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Out of curiosity, have they ever actually show the chameleon circuit change, or is it just used as a catch all explanation for changing sets and props over the years? Either way it'd be interesting to see it change, possibly by accident. "Hmm, I wonder what this button does..." (PRESS) "Ah. No, stop! Oh bugger, I've lost all my settings!"
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The Fourth Doctor tried to use block transfer computation (whatever that is) to alter the look of the police box, which he claimed he did from time to time.
The Sixth Doctor fixed it temporarily, allowing it to change into a funky tombstone, an organ, and a gate, before reverting back to the police box by the end of the story.
Aside from that, the TARDIS was stuck as a police box since the first story when the First Doctor noticed it hadn't changed when they landed in prehistoric Earth. Afterwards, people only rarely wondered what the deal was with the TARDIS' shape and the Doctor even more rarely mentioned the chameleon circuit.
And if you want the real-world explanation, the TARDIS was always meant to change, starting with the first story; but they ran out of budget to make a different exterior with each story and just stuck with the story of a malfunctioning circuit, thinking they'd fix it later. Before too long though, the police box became one of the icons of the show and they just kept running with it.
posted
It's the costume he wore on location shooting, of which official pictures were released. Technically we don't know yet if this is the full uniform. Remember, Tennant's Doctor had two major variations of his uniform, so there may be variations here as well.
As for the TARDIS, although it changes in minor ways when new props are built, it is in fact the ONLY thing that does not change. The Doctor, his companions, the console room, heck, the entire Doctor WHo universe can change, but the blue police box is fixed.
We've seen other TARDISes change shape. The Master had a pillar, a grandfather clock, and an ice cream van (or something), and we saw what appeared to be uncamouflaged TARDIS units in "The War Games".
In "Time Crash" with Peter Davison, the Fifth Doctor said something like "Oh, you've changed the desktop settings!" in reaction to the organic interior. So apparently that explains why things can change on the inside.
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Yup, it's changed many times over the course of the show. In the earlier years, this is mostly due to the fact that the set was not "permanent" - it was in storage most of the time and wheeled out only as needed, and assembled almost randomly in some cases to the desires of the director that episode. The very first console room had photgraphic blowups of a generic circular mesh as one of the walls! The only two "constant" walls of the early years were the one with the external door, and the one with the computers and high-tech, black and white TV in it.
Around the mid Pertwee era we got a set that, while still only occasional, was at least assembled in the same way every time. Even this set was modified and even replaced once (with walls made of plastic domes that looks like washing sinks). It then remained more or less the same until the Fourth Doctor re-stumbled across the "old" wooden console room and used it for a year or so; once back to a new "original" console room the set stayed the same with minor variations until the last seaon of the original series where it was junked altogether and replaced with sheets with light circles projected on them. They were to get a newwer, cooler set the following year but the show was cancelled before then.
Hey, more pictures are all over the next now and the fandom seem to have gotten over the initial "he looks like Indiana Jones on campus" shock, to in fact quite liking the look. Also, new pictures reveal he's got a new sonic screwdriver, after apparently giving his older one to River Song at some point:
quote:Also, new pictures reveal he's got a new sonic screwdriver, after apparently giving his older one to River Song at some point:
Didn't he still have that though? I mean didn't he end up keeping the "future" version as well as his current one so he just has to switch to using the older one after giving her the "newer" one....grrr. Bloody time loops.
As for the costume. Does anyone else get the impression that they're trying to counteract his ridiculously young age by dressing him like an old geography professor?
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I fully intend on getting all of the new series on DVD, but I've never seen any of them. Did they ever explain how he could have more than 10 regenerations?
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Rev: Nope, he may have kept the "old" one but he was using his regular edition following that story. Looks like he'll eventually give it to River regardless, if she's coming back.
As for the costume, they are certainly going that way to contrast his youthful appearance. If you think about it, it's really the first time they've done this, as previous Doctors generally dressed their age. I still like it, even if it gives off an even stronger Orville Redenbacher vibe with the jacket off.
Aban: Time Lords have twelve regenrations, not ten. This would be his eleventh incarnation, unless you feel like working the metacrisis sorta-regeneration into the mix (most will not and I doubt it'll be addressed in the series).
However, for those worried about what happens after the thirteenth Doctor is on tap, worry not - we've known for years that the Time Lords CAN give someone a whole new life cycle. They proposed it to the Master in "The Five Doctors" and in fact resurrected him, presumably in a whole new body, for "Utopia" et. al.. The Doctor didn't flinch when this was mentioned, so it's probably accepted as possible, if hardly done. I'm sure though that as long as people want Doctor Who, we'll have a fourteenth Doctor at some point.
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