Russell T Davies has stepped down as executive producer/lead writer of Doctor Who...

And I couldn't be happier about it!

I'm not a disliker of Davies: his over-arching plots of the series have been pretty good, his script-writing isn't that bad (although it's not brilliant) and - all credit to the man - he's helmed the revival and popularisation of Doctor Who, which is great! If he'd been stepping down and replaced by someone I'd never heard of, I'd have been a bit worried, and disappointed. But that's not the case. Instead, he's being replaced by none other than...

Steven Moffat.

The guy who wrote Coupling, which is the funniest sitcom I've ever seen.

Steven Moffat!

He's also written by far the best stories of the revived Doctor Who so far - The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances two-parter from Series 1 and Blink from Series 3 (he also wrote The Girl in the Fireplace from Series 2, but I wasn't such a big fan of that one) - is taking charge as executive producer and lead writer of Doctor Who for Series 5, which'll be in 2010. The show has simply improved from series to series anyway, and with him in charge...I'm ridiculously excited about this!

I was already looking forward to his two-parter for this series (the next two episodes, although we have to miss a week because of Eurovision next Saturday); now I have an entire series+ to eagerly anticipate! More so than I would have done already, that is... didn't think I'd be wishing away the rest of my Uni days like this!

Also, anyone heard of the fact Steven Spielberg is going to be making a trilogy of Tintin movies? Turns out Moffat's doing the script for them too!

Finding all this out has easily been the highlight of my day. But then again, I've spent the rest of my day realising my Probability exam tomorrow morning is going to be even harder than I thought, which really, really isn't good. So I suppose it's not that much of a comparison, really? Ah well...

For a non-fan who would like to become one, do you have any recommendations for where to start? I've never seen Dr. Who, but I think I would like it.

Good luck on your Probability exam! Just remember:
• P(A or B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A and B)
• P(A and B) = P(A)*P(B) iff A and B are independent
• P(A|B) = P(A and B)/P(B)

Anything else, you're on your own!

Argh, double post.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2008 10:24PM by MuseSusan.

Where to start on Dr Who is a tough one, actually...assuming you're talking about the new series (I haven't seen much of the old stuff) then I'd probably just suggest pick a series and watch through it. As I said, I feel each series has been better than the last, but they do reference past episodes at times (although not hugely) and it's nice to watch it grow and improve over time.

Series 1 was interesting, especially for Christopher Eccleston, but a lot of weak individual episodes - but, as I say, the two-parter of The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances saved the series in my eyes. That may be one alternative, @#$%& way of seeing if you're into the show than a whole series - get the single release of those (plus another two much weaker) episodes.

Series 2 improved, but was still a bit scuppered by Billie Piper as Rose (I don't care what everyone said; I agree her perfomance was good, but the character was incredibly annoying). The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit two-parter was the highlight there.

Series 3 had Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) replacing Rose as the companion; I much prefered the actress and character, although her fawning over the Doctor does get a little tiresome. The second half of this series is where I feel the show really became good, from Episode 7 (42) onwards...

Series 4 is currently in progress, and I'm really enjoying it. Catherine Tate isn't the greatest actress, but her character is the best assisstant the Doctor's had, and the stories are by and large far meatier and more entertaining than the earlier stuff. But the box set of the series isn't available yet, obviously.

As for Probability advice...cheers, but I expect there's going to be a few more questions on Markov chains, convergence and Lebesgue integrals than basic probability!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2008 10:55PM by LeonardQuirm.

Yeah, I figured if the probability you were studying was that basic, you wouldn't be worried. (Wish I could take your probability class!)

Thanks for the suggestions on Dr. Who.

As a veteran viewer of the old Dr Who series (I remember the first episode being postponed because of the Kennedy assassination) I am only mildly interested in the new Doctors, and watch because (a) my kids are fans and (b) my wife fancies David Tennant (apparently in common with 95% of heterosexual British women).

However, I have managed to get a general impression, helped by no longer having to hide behind the sofa.

I agree that Moffat is a better writer than RTD, by several miles (Adipose vs. Blink? Duh...) but I am worried that everyone assumes that he will therefore be a better producer.

Haven't they read the Peter Principle, which states that an employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence? I do hope Moffat isn't overstretched by his new duties (and these will include taking the flak for substandard episodes, as RTD now does) and continues to write good stuff.

Not being really a Dr Who fan (my brother was and he's now dead. Is there a connection? But he was doing a PhD in some arcane form of Computing, so that may explain it.) but I have watched it on and off since the first series, may I ask why there is not a female incarnation (no, not in the condensed milk) of Dr Who?

I think we watched the Peter Davison episodes occasionally as we met him through strange circumstances in Tunbridge Wells during the shooting of the series. That's about 27 years ago, and my wife was an 'All Creatures...' fan.

But why the continued gender bias??

Possibly because the Dr is a fella. Although there is one female version of him- strictly non-canon of course.
Personally, I wouldn't want the Dr to be a woman, that would be a little too silly. But by all means, I'd like to see Romana and the Rani back.

I've got to agree with you, LQ on the brilliance of Steve Moffat. As well as the slightly brilliant "Coupling" he can also claim credit for "Jekyll", which coincidentally featured Jane(Gina Bellman), and I believe for the Comic Relief Doctor Who story "Curse of The Fatal Death".

Unlike you, though, I would point MuseSusan to the very first Chris Eccleston story, "Rose" and almost any Tom Baker or Sylvester McCoy story. - especially "Curse of Fenric"

'Rose' is a good jumping on point in that it is the start of the revival, and it's got the Autons in, who are great enemies (wasted in this episode, I actually feel - would love to see them make a return at a later point) but otherwise it's just been so considerably bettered...I suppose I'd say it's a good place to start watching seriously, but if you just want to try an episode or two to see if you like the show in general, that's not the place to start.

Won't comment on the older shows because I don't think I've seen that many of them - although I do seem to have an inbuilt genetic knowledge of some of them. Maybe I should be looking around for an unopened silver fobwatch somewhere...

Has anyone seen the Adventures of Sarah Jane yet, I thought they were quite good. Nice, zippy story lines with a fairly "dark" edge to them for a childrens show.

Has anyone heard when we can expect Dr Who and Torchwood series 2 here in AUS yet. I did see that Channel 10 have Torchwood so it's going to be more late nights!

Well, any woman who says she doesn't fancy Tennant is one less competetion for me.

And I can't wait for the library one next week. I was really disappointed that it wasn't on last week.

I didn't like Catherine Tate at first at all, she annoyed the buh-geebus outta me, but after Pompeii, I really like her. "I'd like a salute thanks."

And Moffat's ones are the few that I've remembered and enjoyed (I didn't know he did those ones, so that's exciting!)

Has anyone else seen the rumour that Neil Gaiman has been asked to write an episode for the next series, if true then a lot of people are going to be getting excited!

As for which episodes you should start with I would recommend Dalek and the empty child 2 parter from series 1 (new series).

LQ - hope the exam went ok

Oh dear, Catherine Tate? I really can't stand her... :S

Hi Matt81 - have some pie!

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

I can't stand her comedy but she works well in Dr Who.
Hi Matt81

Well, I just watched Doctor Who and I'm convinced: Moffat is brilliant! I was always vaguely dissatisfied with Davies and now I'm actually almost intrigued for the future of Doctor and his last (?) few incarnations.

Egon.

Very good. Scared my youngest, and I got goose bumps.

And I'm sure that Stephen Moffat has read some Iain M Banks



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2008 08:30PM by 198505.

And it was almost Ffordian too!

RE: Ffordian Dr.Who, there's a really early (as in, still with Hartnell) story called The Mind Robber, which has a lot of themes like Fforde, including the Doctor and the villain summoning literary characters to duel, and the assistants being trapped inside books.

As for the recent one, rrr, creepy. Although I couldn't help thinking the "information points" and Donna's response were a bit of a stab at Love and Monsters.

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Turn the silliness to eleven!