Doctor Who news-Capaldi asked to stay post-Moffat.

[The Romulan Republic]

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-03- ... fat-leaves

When Steven Moffat announced his departure as Doctor Who showrunner earlier this year, there was only one question on everyone’s minds – would current Doctor Peter Capaldi stay on with new boss Chris Chibnall, or hand over the Tardis keys like former Time Lord David Tennant did when Russell T Davies left the series?
Now, RadioTimes.com can reveal that the BBC has asked Capaldi to stay on as the Doctor after Moffat’s departure – but the actor himself isn’t sure whether he’ll take up their offer.
Advertising

“I’ve been asked to stay on,” Capaldi told RadioTimes.com, “but it’s such a long time before I have to make that decision.
“Steven’s been absolutely wonderful, so I love working with him. Chris is fantastic, and I think he’s a hugely talented guy.
“I don’t know where the show’s gonna go then. I don’t know. I have to make up my mind, and I haven’t yet.”
He concluded: “As Steven will tell you, it’s very difficult to say goodbye.”
In summary, you shouldn’t be surprised to see a very familiar Time Lord at the Tardis controls for a few years yet…

I hope Capaldi stays. I'd like to see what he can do under a different head writer.

Edit: This also means that, barring a change in plans or Capaldi saying no, it looks like any thoughts of a female or non-white Doctor will have to be put off until near the end of the decade at least.

[Simon_Jester]

I'm sure they have a plan for what to do after Capaldi steps down, but canonically isn't this the Doctor's last regeneration?

[Iroscato]

I'm sure they have a plan for what to do after Capaldi steps down, but canonically isn't this the Doctor's last regeneration?

Quite the opposite - it's the first regeneration of a whole new 13-regeneration cycle. It was all explained in the rather shit Matt Smith finale episode.

Personally I really, really hope Capaldi stays on after Moffat leaves for at least another season. He IS The Doctor in my eyes.

[Simon_Jester]

Sorry, I lost track; I don't follow Doctor Who very closely though I'm fond of it in concept.

[DaveJB]

I hope Capaldi stays. I'd like to see what he can do under a different head writer.

Yeah, it'd be nice. IIRC, Moffat did ask Tennant to stay on for his first season, but Tennant decided it'd be better to make a clean break with the show, so there's still a chance Capaldi might decide to do the same thing. Or at least ask for a huge pay rise.

[The Romulan Republic]

And in related news, word is the next companion may be Muslim.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-03- ... -come-soon

While we still have a long wait until the debut of Doctor Who’s next series, one of its revelations can’t come soon enough – the identity of Jenna Coleman’s replacement as companion, who RadioTimes.com understands will be picked from a shortlist of actresses including EastEnders’ Rakhee Thakrar.
Now however, the Doctor himself has opened up on the subject – and from what Peter Capaldi has told us, the announcement of his new Tardis playmate sounds imminent.
Advertising

“[The search has] gone pretty well,” Capaldi exclusively told RadioTimes.com. “I think you’ll know fairly soon, where we are with all that.”
However, the Scottish actor also cast doubt on whether we’d be seeing the new star in action before the 2017 series, with the planned 2016 Christmas special possibly including a one-off companion instead.
“I don’t know whether they would be involved in the Christmas special,” Capaldi continued, “because it’s so specific, the story we’re doing with the companion.”

Rumoured Doctor Who auditionee Rakhee Thakrar
And having previously said he’d prefer a Doctor Who companion with “a working class voice,” Capaldi went on to speak about his hopes for greater diversity in the series, which may or may not reflect the eventual choice of actress.
“I think it’s a good idea that the programme should reflect Britain,” he said, hastily adding “I don’t think Jenna didn’t do that – for God’s sake, Jenna’s from Blackpool!
“It’d be good if the show was more… that we saw more of how Britain is now in the show.”
And so could it be time for (as Thakrar’s rumoured involvement implies) a Muslim companion to join the Doctor on his travels?
“It could easily be, yeah,” Capaldi said noncommittally.
Sounds like the Doctor will keep us waiting for the full truth a little bit longer.

Considering the very mixed results, to put it charitably, of their attempt to address the refugee crisis with the Zygons last season, I have no faith in the current writing staff to handle this with intelligence and competency. If they're going to have Muslim companion, I'd rather they hold off until Moffat leaves.

I also think that, with all this talk of diversity, its interesting that their seems to be an assumption that the next companion will be a woman, and that no one's talking about the sexist implications of having a series built around an older male lead (the Doctor) and an almost invariably pretty young female sidekick (the companion).

And fuck it, I want a companion from another world and/or time. If they want a Muslim companion, that's cool. Its worth it just to piss off bigots. But could they at least be from a different time period? Just for the novelty?

[The Romulan Republic]

You know, I'd really like another male/female duo for companions. Could be a couple, could be friends, could be siblings. I don't care.

But I miss the Doctor/Amy/Rory (or for the old series, Doctor/Jaime/Victoria) dynamic.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I noticed that assumption. Kinda funny really. "We want greater diversity from this hypothetical new actress." Hell, I wouldn't mind the Doctor traveling with an entourage like One, Two and Five did.

[Joun_Lord]

I wouldn't mind a male companion or a couple. The Doc and a chick dynamic had gotten horribly stale (though to be fair, I kinda think that about the entire show which is why I'm looking so forward to a producer change). Having a guy does away with the love struck young lass thing they've done recently unless they decide to use some canon of Doc being bi with Doc making eyes towards Cap'n Jack and have a love struck young lad. Something I fear they'd probably do if they rule 63'ed the Doctor as they've been dropping an anvil about how they want to do so they can still have the older mentor and young love interest thing just in reverse. Or still have a female companion but have girl-Doc go for that and I'm sure the writers will handle it or the fem-Doc/boy relationship with the utmost respect (sarcasm).

Really whatever they do with a black Doc, a female Doc, and prepubescent boy adventurer Doc, it just depends on the writer to make it work. To not make it a "black" Doctor or a "female" Doctor but the Doctor who now happens to have a vagina or brown skin. Also to not have the companion relationship for titillation as I'd expect some writers to do with a female Doctor and a male companion and especially with a female companion.

I still say they should skip the modern Londonistan view point character completely and go for something different. We know the Doctor, we can relate to him to varying degrees, we don't need a modern person to relate to. Give us something different, give us an actual alien, a Dalek, a Cyberman, another Time Lord. Instead of somebody teaching the Doc about humanity have him teach someone else how to be human. Imagine the dynamic of the Doctor traveling with a Dalek, maybe a humanized one to save on effects, teaching what was his enemy how to be alive, how to break free of the edicts and genetic drives inherent to that race. To be better, to be like that species version of the Doctor. Have a moment where the Doc stops his companion from killing, calling back to Ian's action with the 1st Doctor ready to kill the caveman.

Also what the heck happened to Clara? I stopped watching about halfway through the last season. Did they ever explain how Orson Pink was supposed to exist with Danny dead and apparently Clara dead too without ever knocking boots or it another forgotten plot thread?

[Khaat]

Despite the England-centric favoritism the Doctor shows (well, duh!), I'd like to see a few more "not English" companions cycle through. Give us the WWI German companion, the ancient Egyptian companion, the Tokugawa Japanese companion, the various-future-human-worlds companion. If they want to hit us over the head with modern social commentary, have the Doctor have to explain it to someone who doesn't come from it. Best part: they can still hire all-English actors for it, since the TARDIS translation circuit has everyone speaking English.
I want the Doctor to go back and collect Journey Blue (when her fleet is wiped out by Daleks) because the Doctor has found some new understanding and respect for soldiers after what Danny Pink and the Brigadier did for humanity and him.
Or I want the Doctor to run a season on Gallifrey without a companion at all, so we can explore the good and bad of what they've done to time itself.

[The Romulan Republic]

Also what the heck happened to Clara? I stopped watching about halfway through the last season. Did they ever explain how Orson Pink was supposed to exist with Danny dead and apparently Clara dead too without ever knocking boots or it another forgotten plot thread?

Clara ascended to being the patron saint of Mary Sues (a term I normally hate and find overused, but I think its appropriate here), and no, poor Orson's existence was never explained, because fuck continuity.

[Solauren]

I'm sure they have a plan for what to do after Capaldi steps down, but canonically isn't this the Doctor's last regeneration?

Quite the opposite - it's the first regeneration of a whole new 13-regeneration cycle. It was all explained in the rather shit Matt Smith finale episode.

Actually, it hasn't been clarified HOW MANY Regenerations the Doctor got. Even the Time Lord President didn't know when he confronted the Doctor in the Season Finale.

[Tribble]

Also what the heck happened to Clara? I stopped watching about halfway through the last season. Did they ever explain how Orson Pink was supposed to exist with Danny dead and apparently Clara dead too without ever knocking boots or it another forgotten plot thread?

Clara ascended to being the patron saint of Mary Sues (a term I normally hate and find overused, but I think its appropriate here), and no, poor Orson's existence was never explained, because fuck continuity.

Romulan Republic isn't kidding, I've never seen a Mary Sue quite like Clara. Patron Saint indeed. Unfortunately spoiler tags still don't seem to work for me, but let's just say her exit from the series is ridiculous even by her own standards from previous seasons.

[Iroscato]

I'm sure they have a plan for what to do after Capaldi steps down, but canonically isn't this the Doctor's last regeneration?

Quite the opposite - it's the first regeneration of a whole new 13-regeneration cycle. It was all explained in the rather shit Matt Smith finale episode.

Actually, it hasn't been clarified HOW MANY Regenerations the Doctor got. Even the Time Lord President didn't know when he confronted the Doctor in the Season Finale.

Oh yeah

Dammit, I must be slipping...

[Joun_Lord]

Clara ascended to being the patron saint of Mary Sues (a term I normally hate and find overused, but I think its appropriate here), and no, poor Orson's existence was never explained, because fuck continuity.

I'll admit, thats one of the main reasons I stopped watching was because of Clara becoming so much of a Mary Sue. The Impossible Girl stuff was stupid enough but when she started literally being better at the Doc then the freaking Doc along with crap like her giving a foot rub to the baby Doctor, I threw in the towel.

Whats really sad is she started out pretty strong, pretty interesting with her connection to other characters but ultimately just got annoying and the pay off for her super mysterious super stuff was pretty bad.

I'd like to say the Dalek Clara would have probably been a better companion but I know they would have cocked that up too. Still they dynamic would have been so fucking awesome, the Doctor having the humanize a PTSD mentally warped person who is literally his greatest enemy (other then the other greatest enemies), to deal with what he thinks of as a thing farting aboot on his magical space box, to be reminded of his failures against the Daleks everytime she doesn't have on a holographic cloak (which I would assume they would go with because in universe having a giant pepper shaker running around would probably scare people and out of universe it means they save time and money by not having to run a Dalek prop all the time).

Why I'm glad Moffat is on the way out is he focused far too much on his Mary Sues to the detriment of the shows and the characters. Both River Song and Clara were shoved down our throats and had to rely on convoluted mysterious connections to the Doc to make them interesting. I'm hoping Moffats replacement kinda tones that shit down.

Now that isn't me implying Moffat is bad but he's a bit like Ronald D Moore and JJ Abrams were he has good work but tends to go overboard and creates an interesting mystery but shits the bed with the payoff. All are better writers and junk when they are reined like George Lucas needed to be during the Prequels. And that isn't a jab at the Prequels, I enjoyed the Prequels arguably more then The Swartz Snoozes (which isn't surprising considering I was a fresh faced optimistic teen during the Prequels and am now a old crotchety fart who ain't optimistic for shit and has the they changed it therefore it sucks attitude, truly I now know how the Prequel haters felt) but know they could have been even better with somebody on occasion telling Lucas to reign it in.

[The Romulan Republic]

Leaving aside everything else you said, I wish so very much that we had gotten Dalek Clara as the companion.

I remember saying before Clara came on the show that I wanted a companion that wasn't a generic young human woman from modern Earth type, and so Dalek Clara (and Victorian Clara) feel like a cruel bait and switch.

[Darth Nostril]

I must admit I was rather disappointed when Dr Who went on hiatus and they went with this Adventures of Clara companion series. I could have told them it would flop and look it folds after only two seasons.
Never mind at least we're getting Who back.

[The Romulan Republic]

I always thought the claim that it was about Clara and not the Doctor was overplayed. Companions, at least in the new series, have always gotten lots of screen time and their own plots. The problem with Clara was not focus or amount of screen time. It was that she was often badly and self-indulgently written.

Edit: And, hell, I could have gladly watched the Adventures of Martha Jones, Space Doctor or the Adventures of Rory the Roman.

Clara just sucked.

[LastShadow]

I always thought the claim that it was about Clara and not the Doctor was overplayed. Companions, at least in the new series, have always gotten lots of screen time and their own plots. The problem with Clara was not focus or amount of screen time. It was that she was often badly and self-indulgently written.

Edit: And, hell, I could have gladly watched the Adventures of Martha Jones, Space Doctor or the Adventures of Rory the Roman.

Clara just sucked.

Martha and Mickey smith adventures, i would watch that repeatedly. Rory's trip through time "the long way around", might be rather boring, unless the Pandorica is frequently challenged in some way or another. It would be a whole season of him just waiting. Interesting side note: because of rory the Roman and angels take Manhattan, there where two rory's at one point in time.

But i totally agree with a dislike of clara, i liked her at first, right up until she became too headstrong, like the other companions you could tell the doctor was egging them on and getting them to do for themselves, whereas clara just took the initiative whenever she could, not to mention getting the docotr to be her personal chauffeur, "oh no i fucked up a date" doctor breaks rules to fix it.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't mind her being headstrong, but their is a line between headstrong and obnoxious, and another between obnoxious and sociopathically self-absorbed, and Clara crossed both at times.

[Broomstick]

Clara: "Nothing is more important than my egomania!"
Doctor: "You actually said that."

Kind of sums up the biggest problem with Clara.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I was sorta ok with Clara right up until Dark Water and the "I'm broken up over my boyfriend dying so instead of asking you to help me deal with it I'm going to hold you to ransom until you break all the rules and find a way to bring him back because fuck the rest of the universe I'm sad."

And most distressing was that he went along with it.

Now I recall SFDebris's theory that Six was a domestic abuser and start wondering if Twelve has Stockholm syndrome or something.

[The Romulan Republic]

I was sorta ok with Clara right up until Dark Water and the "I'm broken up over my boyfriend dying so instead of asking you to help me deal with it I'm going to hold you to ransom until you break all the rules and find a way to bring him back because fuck the rest of the universe I'm sad."

And most distressing was that he went along with it.

Now I recall SFDebris's theory that Six was a domestic abuser and start wondering if Twelve has Stockholm syndrome or something.

I think that all of the new series Doctors, at least, show signs of severe psychological problems, probably due at least partly to the Time War. And part of that is a tendency to be a bit too attached to their companions. I think Twelve just couldn't bear the thought of being without Clara (which we see taken to its extreme in "Hell Bent" at the end of last season, where he was willing to defy the Time Lords and risk the safety of the universe to change history to prevent her death).

Edit: To his credit, Twelve kind of recognizes that he fucked up with that last one, as I recall, and I think it was at least part of why he chose to cut his ties with Clara.

[Eternal_Freedom]

I think in Twelve's case it's made worse by the fact that he inherited Clara and her mysteries from Eleven, with whom she'd travelled for a while. The only other companions I can recall being in similar situations are Sarah Jane and Rose, but those two were handled a lot better than Clara was.

So we have Twelve, newly regenerated into a complete new life cycle, something he didn't think possible, and Clara is there being all weird because he's different. I wonder if Twelve went along with all her wackiness because Eleven liked her and so he has to like her too. So he puts up with her shit until it becomes habit and then dependence.

[Joun_Lord]

Interesting side note: because of rory the Roman and angels take Manhattan, there where two rory's at one point in time.

I think not. As far as I know the timeline of Rory the Roman where he guarded the great big box was in another universe that was wiped from existence by Amy wishing the new universe out of the cornfield or whatever the fuck happened.

Though Rory still had those memories. Which could have made for an interesting dynamic as for the first time he had a companion who was mentally older then him, who had traveled through time for over a thousand years but for the long way. Someone who could empathize with the Doctor and see through some of his bullshit.

But nope, we got a bit in like one episode about how he still has the memories but kinda not really, they are in some mental box. And Rory is back to being a useless 3rd wheel.

That seems to be the main failing of the New Who, the Companions. They either have the companions too long, don't have obviously excellent companion material join the Doctor, or just drop the ball on making the companions interesting. Rory, Mickey, alt-Doc, Dalek Clara, that soldier chick fighting the Daleks, and probably more could have all been pretty excellent companions if given the chance. And would have shook up the dynamic of the Doctor/Companion relationship which the show clearly needs.

I do agree with you on Clara. She was likable at first but she started to overshadow the Doctor, started to become way too much of a Mary Sue. And its sad because the lady playing her (can you call a woman probably younger then you a lady?) is a fantastic actress and made her somewhat likable even when the writers were doing everything in their power to make her annoying. If they had written her better she could have been a far better remembered companion and one people were sad to see gone.