It seems that the announcement of Eccelston's departure was known to the production crew all along - he only wanted to do one year from the beginning, a decision that I still question. It was only accidentally leaked before the series end... Anyway, it looks like David will be taking over starting with a new "Christmas Special" that will be filmed soon - and before the next season of thirteen episodes, slated to air sometime in mid-2006. This suggests that the Doctor's oldest enemies may finally get to kill the guy...
Tennant's pretty young, too. I'm pretty certain we've seen the end of the "old man" Doctors in this age of leading men. Here's hoping at least that Tennant, who is more accustomed to regular television production, will be willing to stick around for at least two or three seasons!
posted
I wonder if this "Christmas special" will feature a typical regeneration (i.e. it will be all-Eccleston until the very end when he gets killed, turns into Tennant, and... oo-wee-ooo...), or if it will be more of a Baker->McCoy affair (albeit, without having to dress the new guy up like the old guy and hide his face). Maybe such a situation would be more comparable to McCoy->McGann. Or maybe the regeneration will happen somewhere halfway through the thing.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Mabye he was just showing off how Timelord can keep his eyes and mouth closed while sneezing and squeezing his nose....
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
OK, I could probably find this by Googling, but imagine someone here will know already - at which point in any story has the Regeneration taken place each time? The only ones I can remember are Baker -> Davison, and Davison -> Baker, both of which occurred right at the end of that particular story. And of course McCoy -> McGann, which happened at the start. If that counts. But is it generally the case that it usually happens at the end?
Because in this pseudo-reimagined Doctor Who, I'm not sure what Russell T. Davies would do. He might go all traditional - Eccleston all the way, until the end when he dies and Tennant takes over. . . But that might confuse the new generation of fans. Or he could do it right at the beginning, but that might have them all switching off right at the start. I'm thinking halfway through.
posted
Having the regeneration at the beginning of the TVM was generally accepted as a mistake - the fans understood what was going on, but it confused most new viewers.
The new series had apparently filmed two ending for the season finale, just in case. It seems now that they'll use a cliffhanger ending and then start the Christmas Special with Tennant (or the last moments of Eccles), using the special as Tennant's adjustment period. The second seaon then begins afresh.
Hartnell -> Troughton - end of story, but part way through season.
Troughton -> Pertwee - actual regeneration was off screen and between seasons but brought about by events at the end of previous story/season.
Pertwee -> Baker - end of story/season cliffhanger with the Brigadier saying "I wonder who he'll be this time" as the regeneration effect starts. Baker hadn't been cast yet.
Baker -> Davison - end of story/season.
Davison -> Baker - end of story, one story with new Doctor followed then end of season.
Baker -> McCoy - start of story/season. (Baker had been sacked and refused to take part so McCoy wore a blond wig...)
McCoy -> McGann - start of TVM
McGann -> Ecclestone - off screen.
-------------------- "My theories appal you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters and you don't like my tie." - The Doctor
Registered: Mar 1999
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I'm thinking of things like The Simpsons' christmas epsisodes, but I imagine that's not a Dr. Who tradition.
I'm not saying Jesus was not a rogue Timelord though. 'Cause he was...think about it.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
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posted
Many (most?) British TV shows seem to put out a Christmas special.
Like, examples: The Office, Father Ted ("Get me loads of matador stuff!"), uh. . . Blackadder has one, though I think that was produced several years after the last series of the show, wasn't it?
So I guess I should modify that to many British comedies.
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Well, it sounds like it's a one-off episode to be aired at Christmastime to explain why the Doctor is Chris Eccleston at the end of season 1/27 and David Tennant at the start of season 2/28. Presumably, it won't be actually Christmas-themed. Or, then, who knows? It might.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Identity Crisis: To answer Lee's question.
Pertwee -> Baker - end of story/season cliffhanger with the Brigadier saying "I wonder who he'll be this time" as the regeneration effect starts. Baker hadn't been cast yet.
How many Doctor's has the Brigadier met? Was Pertwee the first? Didn't he meet the second Doctor in "The Two Doctors" or even "The Five Doctors"?
And I thought I read in that link that Davies was looking forward to providing the fans and new viewers the complete Dr. Who experience and showing a Regeneration!?! So why are we seeing it off screen.
I hadn't watched THAT much Dr. Who (well religiously) before the TV Movie - I understood what was happening full well - it was actually quite well done. I'll say it again too - I loved the Doctor's get up in the TVM. I'm glad we saw the last moments of the 7th Doctor too. It's frustrating not knowing what happened to McGann's Doctor but I reckon it'd be cool if they had a flash back showing what actually happened.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
He's met 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 in the regular sequence of events and 1 in The Three Doctors and The Five Doctors. He only met 6 in the dreadful Dimensions in Time charity thing plus some of the books. And he's met 8 in the books.
"So why are we seeing it off screen"
We don't know if we will or won't see it. This series ends with a cliffhanger (which I won't give spoilers for) and how much we see of the regeneration will depend on much Ecclestone participates in the Christmas special. As the BBC dropped the ball by wrongly attributing quotes to Ecclestone there may be some very delicate negotiations going on right now.
-------------------- "My theories appal you, my heresies outrage you, I never answer letters and you don't like my tie." - The Doctor
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posted
Are they still using the same actor as the Brigadier?
He's gotta be pushing fossilization by now. Mabye he's still a brigadier for bending the rules for the Doctor so many times.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Well, I don't know if he'll be in the new series. He must be well past retirement age by now, though.
They have reintroduced UNIT though, in last night's episode so whether there will be a new brigadier remains to be seen. I guess it depends how many stories are set on contemporary Earth.
-------------------- "I am an almost extinct breed, an old-fashioned gentleman, which means I can be a cast-iron son-of-a-bitch when it suits me." --Jubal Harshaw
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
This season? Quite a few. The producers have been adamant that EVERY STORY have something to do with Earth.
The Brig was seen in "Battlefield" coming out of retirement in the early 90s, to help the new (female) Brigadier in some Arthurian thing. That was the last season of the original show... The actor's still around, but the character is long since retired.
The re-introduction of UNIT last night seems to show that this time they're even more international (in "Battlefield" there were a lot of Czechs; before that it was almost purely the British detachment under Lethbridge-Stewart). Who knows how many of them survive the cliffhanger though, but I'm guessing UNIT is going to be the military backup in its old role.
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