• 30th March 2010 • Blog Post by Jonathan Capps •
It’s been a bloody busy old weekend, which is perhaps not in the least bit surprising given our current proximity to the new series. So, let’s have a bit of a summary of what we’ve seen turn up on Jonathan Ross and the BBC’s Doctor Who website. It’s all quite good.New Series 5 Trailer
Best of the lot, without a doubt. The other trailers, as awesome as they were, did have some rather odd sound level issues but this one is decidedly more polished, and includes a good few more clips which I’m sure you’ve already spotted and pleasured yourself to. I think I’ve seen more than my fill of trailers over the last week or so, but luckily that fatigue is only just setting in in the week before broadcast, so I think I’ll live. I have to say, though, with each new trailer there’s yet more and more evidence that Amy’s face is capable of pulling the most extraordinary expressions. She’s going to be really, really good.
Meanwhile, again on Jonathan Ross, we were treated to a lovely little clip from episode 6, Vampires [in/of] Venice:
“Tell me the whole plan!”. Brilliant. It’s odd that of all the clips they chose one from half way through the series, but I can see why this was picked. It’s a great little scene that shows off Matt specifically and also throws in a gratuitous (but AWESOME) fan pleasing moment. They’ll be hoping it’s a clip that will get everyone onside, and as far as I can tell from the Internet, that’s exactly what it’s done. Even before seeing this, I would’ve said that ViV was the episode I was least looking forward to, mainly because vampires are usually stupid and Whithouse isn’t very good, but I came away from that with two distinct impressions a) yes, the vampires are probably going to be stupid but at least they’re sexy, eh lads? and b) but, God, Matt Smith is going light up every single scene he’s in, isn’t he?
Moving on now to Saturday, and the BBC’s Doctor Who website finally released the “first” “minute” of The Eleventh Hour:
Yeah, that’s 40 seconds, you fucking con artists. Anyway, the effects look fairly marvellous and Murray Gold is still in full on Murray Gold Mode and everything just seems like business as usual (from what you can tell form such a short clip), which is strangely reassuring. Everything I’ve seen about the Eleventh Hour is making it look like it’ll be one of the best post-regeneration episodes ever. No carrying the Doctor around in a stretcher, no letting him sleep for two-thirds of the episode (which, the more I think about it, is the most bafflingly shit way to bring in a new Doctor I could possibly imagine) just wind him up and watch him fly. Or crash. Or whatever.
Before I get on to a brief mention of the Internet’s Most Mentally Ill Man, here’s a nice little feature about The Doctor’s new costume from SFX, with a great Piers Wenger quote that gives one of the best indications of the new Doctor’s character we’ve had:
The thing about Matt is that his Doctor thinks he’s really cool, but everyone else spends the whole series going, ‘What are you wearing?!’ We didn’t set off with that as an intention, but it’s something that evolved, and that got written into the scripts. I think he’s definitely a Doctor who thinks he’s cool but nobody else does.
And finally, Tiddles the cat had a lucky escape today, after somehow managing to climb… no, wait that’s not right. Ah, here we go… And finally, Lawrence Miles is a cunt. Once again a few insightful and interesting comments have been buried beneath several tonnes of festering shit. Quite why he thinks we’ll ever take what he has to say about Moffat’s who seriously when his past entries have made it abundantly clear that he despises everything about the man, I’ll never know, but if you enjoy the sensation of red hot needles being buried into your skull, then it should be fun seeing what he has to say as series 5 progresses. Let’s hope he finds something to say that’s a little more insightful than “Superhero films are not like I, Claudius and that makes me cry”.
Yes. Yes, Yes and Yes again. Everything we’ve seen this past few days has been brilliant (zoom in on the library card – it even gives 76 Totter’s Lane as the address!), and as a result, I did myself a rather sad little DVD of all the teasers, trailers, promos and clips we’ve seen since January 1st. It totalled 8 minutes, but it’s brilliant and makes me grin a lot.
I’m genuinely impressed, Si!
*blushes*
Why, Cappsy!
I do find it interesting that the opening “minute” is implied, by the website content, to be something added at the start of the series to give some VOOM to Moffat’s script, which didn’t originally have any such scene.
What’s stated (IIRC) is that it was suggested by one of the Execs. And, from a producery/showrunnery point of view it really does yell “Look, it’s still big and exciting! It’s just like you’ve been watching for the last few years!”
(This is not to imply any dislike, and certainly not any of those ‘art versus commerce’ complaints fans so often sling around without understanding the shades of grey. But I kinda like the implication of the first episode as a character, story and brain tale first, with bombast a latter thought.)
That’s interesting because I think there’s definitely a need to ease the transition a little, especially in tone. It’s only three months since the last episode so it makes sense to start off with something with plenty of familiarity, and there’s nothing more familiar than Murray Gold blasting out a score and an exciting action sequence.
A lot of the reviews of the first episode say that people hoping for a big difference in tone will be disappointed, but I wouldn’t be surprised The Eleventh Hour ends up being quite atypical compared to the rest of the series, just because it’s got the job of making the full transition from old to new. That’s assuming, of course, that Moffat has any intention of consciously changing the overall tone from the RTD era…
Lawrence Miles really is a joyless, soulless clump of gangrenous buttock flesh, isn’t he?
The thing I don’t get about the first “minute” is what he’s doing hanging out of the TARDIS. Does he throw himself out the door to avoid the fire or something? Last we saw he was hanging onto the console, seems like there’s a bit missing.
There was an interview with Moffat on Front Row today.
Just the one seconds, I’ll see if I can summon a link for the good townsfolken…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rlx6k
…is all I have for now, and it’s saying it’s no longer available on Listen Again. We may have to keep our eyes open for a download. A well conducted interview I think.
And, from a producery/showrunnery point of view it really does yell “Look, it’s still big and exciting! It’s just like you’ve been watching for the last few years!”
Regarding a continuation of the previous series: In the aforementioned interview with Moffat, I learned that Smith’s post-regeneration trauma will have him being like Tennant before realising that his previous incarnation no longer fits his new character. I do hope it’s apparent in the episode that he’s made this discovery (especially if it’s the “oh yes!” Tennant that’s creeping in), or a lot of people will feel their fears of Smith being Tennant-lite have been justified. I also hope that things I’ve liked from the first episode that we’ve got in the trailers (such as the way Smith delivers the line “I’m a time traveller”) is an indication of Smith’s “mature” Doctor rather than bits of angst-ridden Tennant! So hard to tell right now! We’ll see.
I keep using italics to highlight that I’m quoting somebody and it looks awful. How can I do the “yellow line” indentation of quotes thing? I can always use the “more than” symbol I guess.
One thing I’ve just remembered I like from this weekend’s treats: In the Vampires of Venice clip the Doctor says “like five slightly scary belles”. This is normally misheard; people have been posting “slightly scary girls” on various forums for those who think Smith is mumbling. The Tenth Doctor would never have casually used a word like “belles”, thus proving everybody wrong who assumed Smith’s character is just going to be a watery Tennant.
Having listened to that clip for the first time with headphones on – guess what? He definitely says “slightly scary girls”. Not “belles” at all.
It’s the irony isn’t it, mostly?
<blockquote>Like this.</blockquote>