Howling:Doctor Who 50th Anniversary

The Howling → Doctor Who 50th Anniversary

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On recent interviews, Moffat has been talking about the Doctor Who 50th anniversary more and more. What do you think he is intending to do? Last anniversary was The Five Doctors. Could Moffat be planning on a multi-doctor story for the 50th anniversary special, and which doctors do you think are most likely to return? 178.78.81.210^{talk to me} 23:08, January 2, 2012 (UTC)

we did have a similar conversation previously but i think it got deleted for being based on opinion too much. just warning you now.

i would like to see all doctors return; original actors for all that are alive and maybe relatives of the ones that are dead. i would also like to see a good amount of old companions return with their doctors. if there are a lot of doctors returning, i think it would be nice if they state where in their timelines they are from, if for no other reason bu tto have some context of what each doctor has already faced. oh, and of course a reasonable explanation for a memory wipe at the end. Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 03:25, January 3, 2012 (UTC)

Didn't we already have this discussion? Anyway, I'd like to see as many past Doctors, enemies, and companions as possible, but the story really has to be more important than the nostalgia tour. Moffat should probably try to avoid doing what The Five Doctors did, where they basically had a story that wasn't great, but brought back every Doctor (including recastings and time eddies which were unneccessary), and as many companions and enemies as they could.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 09:13, January 3, 2012 (UTC)

So far as I know the Ninth Doctor is very unlikely to return. Christopher Eccllestone likes moving on to other things and I doubt he'd return to Doctor Who. I don't think the Fifth Doctor (peter davidson) is interested either. David Tennant could probably be persuaded, but spme of themdoctors are either deceased or getting old, so if there is a multidoctor story it would possibly have Sylvester Mccoy, Paul Macgann, David Tennant and Matt Smith. Which is convinient because the title "the four doctors" is still up for grabs. 178.78.81.210^{talk to me} 11:07, January 3, 2012 (UTC)

the doctor's i would most like to see are christopher eccllestone and paul mcgann, mostly because i believe they both deserved more time as the doctor. chris was a fantastic doctor and i think it was a shame he stayed for only one year. and even if he wants to move on to other things, im sure he could be persuaded for an episode or few. paul was a good doctor and could easily been brilliant if given more time and better writing to work with.

i would still like to see all the doctors though. the older actors could wear wigs and have a bit of technobabble explain their change of apearance like in time crash and the deceased actors could have their sons/grandsons/nefews/any other living male relative (by that i mean direct relative. no in-laws) play the part. this would mean the actors would look similar to the originals and it would mean bringing them back wouldn't be as pointless as if another random actor played the part as it would be honouring the family of the original actor. also, a bit more technobable could explain away any other differences in looks between the relatives.

how to get a mega-multi-doctor story to work without having useless people just standing round doing nothing? i think the doctor's can kind of go into groups to figgure out problems from different angles all leading to one main goal. this is where an aniversary season instead of episode would be useful. each episode from a different group of doctor's perspective and the final episode bringing everything together. Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 11:44, January 3, 2012 (UTC)

A whole season? I don't like the idea of that. What I think would be good is to make it into a serial. Just like classic who. Four 25 minute parts spread over four days I think would be very good. 178.78.81.210^{talk to me} 13:14, January 3, 2012 (UTC)

nah, that's only the equivalent of a normal two parter nowadays. it needs to at least be a three parter or be a two parter with extra long episodes like end of time. Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 01:29, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

I wouldn't mind seeing an anniversary season, but I'm sure that Moffat will want to focus on other stories. Unlike in fiction, real people are not identicle to their parents or grandparents, and even if they were, it would be a bit pointless to have Patrick Troughton's son, for example, come to play the Second Doctor. The rest of them though should come back if they are willing, even if they are too old. In The Two Doctors, they just flat out ignored the fact that Patrick Troughton had clearly aged, and in Time Crash they explained it away with technobabble. Still, while I would like to see as many past Doctors, planets, companions, enemies, aliens, robots, and whatever else as possible, the most important thing is that it has a good story.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 07:55, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

i know that real people don't look identical to their parents. that's where the technobabble comes in. they would just look more like their parents than another random actor (although david troughton seems to be an exeption to this rule. does patric troughton have any other male relatives that look similar to him?) and it would also be a nice tribute to the families of the original actor. Imamadmad ^{talk to me} 08:31, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

I don't know much about the actor's families, but I still don't think that that would work. Jon Pertwee, for example, wasn't a great Third Doctor because he was a Pertwee. He was a great Third Doctor because he helped to define the role, and because he was a skilled actor. Even if Pertwee had a relative who is currently the same age that Pertwee was in Planet of the Spiders, and is identical to him in every conceivable way, that doesn't neccessarily mean that he would do a good job portraying the Third Doctor. Apart from Troughton's son, I'm not sure if any of the other Doctor-actors have similar-looking relatives who also happen to be actors. I doubt that William Hartnell, for example, had a relative who looked as similar to him as Richard Hurmdall did. Anyway, since there are already probably going to be more characters than they know what to do with, I wouldn't want to see any past Doctor unless they were portrayed by the same actor, which sadly means that 1, 2 & 3 can't return.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 23:14, January 4, 2012 (UTC)

I still think a serial would be the best bet. It always worked for the classic series and the only problem with it was the length between the broadcast of each part. However with the Anniversary they could just broadcast them daily. That would work. 87.102.117.106^{talk to me} 16:22, January 8, 2012 (UTC)

Well, even more recently, that kind of format worked for Children of Earth, so doing it as a serial could probably work. However, I doubt that they are going to do that since that isn't the format of the show anymore. According to the Series 7 page, Moffat seems to be against doing 2-parters for some reason. Personally, I think quite a few of the single-part episodes this season could have worked better as 2-parters. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if he made an exception for the anniversary special.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 04:20, January 9, 2012 (UTC)

"quite a few of the single-part episodes this season could have worked better as 2-parters": Yes. Like the finalé. The 20th anniversary story worked as a single episode but it was 90 minutes long (100 minutes in its Special Edition). --89.241.77.143^{talk to me} 05:46, January 9, 2012 (UTC)

Well, we might not have Chris, but we got Tom, which means it should be all around fun. ([1])

Also, I think people always forget Dimensions in Time, which I was, despite the confusing plot, still a pretty cool special. OS25 (talk to me, baby.) 12:28, January 9, 2012 (UTC)

Wait? Are you telling me that Dimensions in Time had a plot? I would like to see Tom Baker come back, but he didn't really seem particularly positive that he would be willing to return in that interview. Besides, he doesn't quite look the part anymore, but I suppose that they could always give him a wig.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 02:52, January 10, 2012 (UTC)

Dimensions in Time did have a plot of sorts -- but only just! I don't want to be unkind to Tom Baker but he didn't look the part in Dimensions in Time, almost 20 years ago, let alone now. He wasn't the only one to be showing the effects of the passing years, either. --89.241.73.161^{talk to me} 03:15, January 10, 2012 (UTC)

His role in Dimensions in Time always seemed to make even less sense than the other Doctors to me. All well. Patrick Troughton had clearly aged by The Two Doctors, and they were able to use technobabble to explain Peter Davison's aging in Time Crash. I'm sure they can find some way to make it work, but they should probably give Tom Baker some kind of wig if he does come back. His giant curly hair is almost as iconic as his scarf.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 06:38, January 10, 2012 (UTC)

Well, he only SOUNDS not enthusiastic at first, because he misunderstands the question. (He thinks he's being asked if he would like to be the 12th Doctor) Oh, and shave you guys ever seen DIT Witt the deleted scenes put back in? It makes just a bit more since that way... OS25 (talk to me, baby.) 11:40, January 10, 2012 (UTC)

DIT doesn't need to make "a bit more sense", it needs to make a lot more sense! --89.242.64.17^{talk to me} 15:16, January 10, 2012 (UTC)

Colin Baker is the one who I think appears to have shown his age a lot more than the others. I don't really think Sylvester Mccoy looks any different. 87.102.117.106^{talk to me} 17:40, January 10, 2012 (UTC)

Colin Baker definetly doesn't look very much like the Sixth Doctor anymore. Still, if they use a bit of technobabble to explain the aging, put him back in his original costume, and give him plenty of rude dialogue, then I'm sure that everyone will accept him, once again, as the Sixth Doctor. Sylvester McCoy already appeared pretty old by the time the Seventh Doctor regenerated, so I'm sure that people won't mind an old Seventh Doctor. As long as he has more lines than he had in The TV Movie.Icecreamdif ^{talk to me} 21:33, January 10, 2012 (UTC)

One of the problems they had with The Five Doctors (20th anniversary) was finding enough things for all the characters to do. That's mentioned a few times in the DVD commentary. Tom Baker's decision not to participate eased the problem somewhat, in respect of the incarnations of the Doctor. Nevertheless, many of the companions spent quite a lot of time just hovering in the background. If the 50th anniversary is celebrated in a single episode and they include as many past Doctors and companions as they can, they'll have the same problem again. It's not an insuperable problem -- The Five Doctors did quite well -- but more characters will mean fewer lines and less action for each. --2.101.54.163^{talk to me} 02:33, January 11, 2012 (UTC)

By the way, the last anniversary wasn't The Five Doctors, as the paragraph at the top puts it. Leaving aside Dimensions in Time, the last anniversary was Silver Nemesis -- "silver" because it was the 25th anniversary. However, that season began with Remembrance of the Daleks, which was more of an anniversary story than Silver Nemesis, in everything except the title. It was set in the same place as An Unearthly Child, very shortly after the (1st) Doctor, Susan, Barbara and Ian had left and there were several references back to that first episode. Ace got to pick up the book (on the French Revolution) lent to Susan by Barbara and left in Ian's classroom. It was also a considerably better story. --2.101.54.163^{talk to me} 02:55, January 11, 2012 (UTC)