LOVE ME TENDERED (CONT’D): Where we are with new ‘WHO’…
Y’know for a show that people were writing off as ruined, cancelled and gone forever, there’s certainly been a lot of Doctor Who news over the last few days.
On the subject of the tender… (where production companies get to offer their pitch for being at the helm of a new series) the bids closed at midday (UK time) on 2nd October and much consultation is now going on behind closed doors. In that sense it will be some time before any further official clarification and narrowing down of the vision going forward is known. However, industry site Deadline is stating that there are ‘leaks’ on some of the potential bidding and bidders who have thrown their Tom Baker-ish hats into the ring.
It is believed that Hat Trick Mercurio which is run by Jed Mercurio (best known for crowd-pleasers such as Line of Dutyand Bodyguard) and Jimmy Mulville, has put together a pitch. World Productions – which actually produced Line of Duty – appears to be in the mix with ITV Studios. Part of the guard-rails said that the show would have to be a regional production, but a move from Wales to Scotland might be in the offing if STV’s bid is accepted. BBC Studios – which would include Clerkenwell Films, Point, House Productions and their in-house department also appear to be in the mix with some saying they remain favourites. Previously Dean Devlin’s Electric Entertainment also expressed interest.
Russell T. Davies, who exited as showrunner last year, has revealed in his autobiography, published this month, that the most recent era of Doctor Who (the David Tennant/Catherine Tate specials and the Ncuti Gatwa era, was also proposed to Netflix and Amazon before finally landing on Disney+. Davies said that he’d felt that a deal with Netflix had been considered more likely to begin with but that it didn’t pan out. We’ll never know if a different platform would have changed its fortunes.
In other related news…
A two-parter story from the David Tennant era of Doctor Who has been edited together for a cinematic presentation on ‘Doctor Who Day‘ (ie: 23rd November).
The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit were originally transmitted in June 2006 and saw The Doctor and Rose visit an isolated ‘sanctuary base’ that is on the event horizon of a black hole. It’s an outpost used by deep-space expeditions. The members of the current team stationed there appear to be assisted and enabled by docile and ‘obedient’ servants known as the Ood. But when things go wrong and fatalities mount up, the Doctor has to find out if the Ood are friendly, a threat or caught up in something much more powerful lurking far below the surface.
The 115 minute running time of the presentation will include “…previously deleted scenes and extended footage restored from the DVD, plus never-before-seen material.”
It’s now been confirmed that the special presentations on the day will take place in USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Recently, a tech-savvy fan named Thomas Vittlowe created a fifty-minute The Curse of Kilmorag a ‘first episode’ of what he labeled ‘The Unmade Season‘ and released it online. It ignored recent official output and featured a David Tennant incarnation regenerating into a figure credited to be a ‘John Warr’. There was much discussion from fans about its qualities and problems and allegedly threats were made against Vittlowe which he said he would report to the police.
The production was non-profit but certainly stepped onto several obvious legal mines regarding copyright. Perhaps ill-advisedly, new BBC Director General Matt Brittin was interviewed including mention of Doctor Who in broad, no-committal strokes and did mention that he’d seen the Unmade Season episode footage (without referring to it by name) footage and he said it looked “…pretty good” (before adding “I mean it’s not going to replace humans but we’ll come on to that…” )
Now, it’s quite true that the photo-realistic effort certainly reached a degree that should impress or terrify depending on where you strand with AI in principle. That being said, the pacing was still off and the vocal delivery doesn’t really convince, so our interweb overlords are still in check for the moment. However, having the Director General of the BBC even remotely embrace any aspect certainly made some headlines.
In a later ‘town hall’ event, Brittin joked that he ‘got in trouble’ for the AI comments.
“I was just trying to make the point: Look at the pace of change and what this stuff can do. It’s really important. I’ve spent a lot of time on this, as you can imagine…“
Doctor Who has long been referenced as ‘family’ orientated, but the news that an animated series aimed at a much younger audience (on the BBC‘s CBeebies platform) was in the works came earlier this year. Now we have a better idea of what Doctor Who: Tardis Crew will be.
BBC Children’s and Education issued a press release this week. It reimagines the character in quite the radical way, saying that we will see “…the Doctor, a young Time Lord, and his friends Hannah, Beastie and Toast-IE as they embark on extraordinary adventures through time and space. Travelling aboard the iconic TARDIS, they encounter incredible creatures, discover amazing new worlds and come face-to-face with legendary Doctor Who foes, including the Daleks…Through action-packed, preschool-friendly stories, the series celebrates curiosity, courage and kindness, encouraging young viewers to explore new ideas, solve problems and embrace the unexpected...”
The series, produced by Blue Zoo Animation Studio, will consist of 52 eleven-minute episodes. An exact broadcast date is not yet known but is believed to be either late 2027 or early 2028.
It’s left some people scratching their heads as to how such a production could really incorporate the touchstones of the series beyond mere lip-service, but as a standalone effort aimed at pre-school entertainment rather than ant tangible connection to the show of the title, it might entertain that age-group while offering little to older fans.
Results for all these efforts will, of course, vary and be subjective – some sound far more viable than others. But, surely it seems to be good news all around… it’s more Doctor Who and either the results will be positive and people will be rejoice or they’ll be less successful and those who love failure can also rejoice and have more to complain about!