Podcast: Play in new window | Download
"Who" ought to be in pictures? If BBC Worldwide Productions and director David Yates have anything to say about it, apparently so! But what's this about casting aside 48 years of continuity and starting fresh for the silver screen?
Hi, Chip! As I said over on Facebook, thanks for weighing in on this breaking Who news so quickly.
I admire how seemingly sanguine you are about the prospect of any future Doctor Who movie breaking with the continuity (oft-convoluted though it may be, as you rightly pointo out) in place since 1963. While I agree that fidelity to the character and concept are most important, renewal (literally!) is at the core of "Doctor Who"; and RTD showed how the show can be "transformed" without sacrificing that "pedigree" long-time fans value (and short-time fans — I've only been aboard the TARDIS since last year, but I would hate to see all that tossed out: here's a shameless plug for my gut reaction at http://thescifichristian.com/2011/11/david-yates-hears-a-who-movie-news/.)
Let's hypothesize that, for whatever reason, "the fall of the Eleventh" at Trenzalore turns out to be the end of the TV series. How hard would it be, really, for a future movie to pick up with the 12th or even a later Doctor, leaving backstory from the eleven we've known intact but unexplored?
I suppose persnickety folks (like yours truly, it turns out) could always "retcon" the continuity we know if Yates (or whomever makes the film) really does make a clean break with the past. But I guess I now have some sympathy for Trek fans who said, "If J.J. Abrams just wants to make a fast-paced, shoot-em-up space opera, why can't he invent his own universe?" If Yates just wants to tell his own story about a time traveling alien, well, nothing in that idea is exclusive to Doctor Who. Why let him have the built-in audience that comes with the brand name if he really wants to do his own thing?
Anyway, thanks, as always, for your thoughts!
Yesterday the first episode of the BBC's second series of Sherlock Holmes had its press screening to rapturous reviews. Today the Hollywood Sherlock Holmes movie, in what has the appearances of a successful franchise, has its London premier.
While having the same main characters at their heart, both film and tv series exist perfectly well alongside each other without any conflict or clashes.
So despite what Steven Moffat says about a Doctor Who movie only being made by the current production team with the current Doctor, there's the example of Sherlock Holmes to show that an independently produced film could work.