Doctor Who Series 4
There's an interview in SFX this month with Russell T Davies. Front and centre of the article are the words "We have a twenty year plan..." That's pretty ambitious in television, but starting in to the article, I really hope we can take it at face value. This is the kind of concept you just might be able to pull off with Doctor Who that you really couldn't with any other TV series.
The Sontarans (classic Who monsters) are back. There's a visit to Pompeii - although given the howls that Gladiator provoked from those friends who know about such things, I may need to watch that one on my own. UNIT is back - although we knew that from Martha's appearance in Torchwood. Mind you, I still get a bit of a headache trying to work out the continuity gaps between the original aim of Torchwood - protect England and Earth from aliens in general, and the Doctor in particular - and the Doctor working for UNIT in Classic Who. Maybe we'll see some nods toward solving that.
With the rumours of Rose's return, the following quote, about Episode 11, sounds interesting: "There's a great love of the Doctor in there. It's the Doctor-lite episode, and the absence of him becomes very powerful." Davies also has Episode 11 down as "the most surprising one", "purely for Catherine [Tate]'s performance, which is my favourite thing I've seen in years." And there's to be a tear-jerker ending to the season. In my more cynical mode, I'm assuming he's doing a reprise of separating Rose and the Doctor, because, y'know, it worked a few times already, why not go again? But I hope it's something else.
He has some nasty things to say about the tabloids - "It's impossible to get an even slightly complicated message across in this day and age" - and the internet, message boards in particular as "a form of communication that was never meant to happen". Ah, Rusty. You know you love it, really.
And the twenty year plan? He's actually serious. While he's not proposing to stay in control for that length of time, he thinks the American seven-year shows are short-sighted. If there's any show in science fiction that can pull off a twenty year run, well, Doctor Who has already done it once, why not again?
Posted by Drew Shiel at March 20, 2008 12:06 PM
