I’ve been watching some old Dcotor Who episodes lately (last night I watched “Attack of the Cybermen”) and it once again made me wish someone would do a remake of the series. I love DW, and I think it deserves a first-class (or even a second-class) treatment.
However, my friend and I have been trying to figure out what is essential to the show - what elements would need to be in a remake. I am not one of those people that feels that good special effects would somehow detract from the show - I liked the show even with its poor effects and feel I would like it with good effects.
So the essential elements, in my opinion:
Doctor is from Gallifrey. He’s a Time Lord who got dissatisfied with their policy of non-intervention, stole a TARDIS, and left to go right wrongs and see the universe.
He is not human. He’s not half-human.
He has a special fondness for Earth and its inhabitants.
He rides around in a TARDIS, which is larger on the inside than outside. It can travel through time and space, but is very unreliable. Because of a faulty chameleon circuit, it is stuck in the shape of a polic box.
(Note on the above: In the “Attack of the Cybermen” episode he briefly repairs the chameleon circuit, and my friend said that if he remade the show he would have the chameleon circuit working. I disagree - I think the police box is integral.)
If he suffers a mortal injury, his body can regenerate a finite number of times. These regenerations effect a physical as well as psychological change.
He travels with various companions, mostly women.
The following enemies should be present: The Master, The Daleks, the Cybermen, the Sontarans.
That’s enough to get started. What else would you feel would have to be included?
The Doctor may look human but he shouldn’t act it. He should always be slightly off. Throughout all of his incarnations part of the theme was that he didn’t fit in where ever he went.
The TARDIS needs to look innocuous but be the incredibly large on the inside structure. The Police Box is a bit out of date but any tiny closed structure would work. A Port-a-Potty, for example (though that wouldn’t be my first pick).
The Doctor should have little control over the TARDIS and be constantly struggling with it.
The show should not be about The Doctor exploring earth history. I didn’t like it when they did that in the early seasons of the original show.
The show needs to be a British production. There’s a certain style and attitude that comes with that which it just wouldn’t be Dr. Who without.
Think you covered the true essentials, but I have a few that while not deal breakers they would add to my enjoyment of the show.
He should be British and over 30. My worst nightmare would be seeing a twenty something actor, like that guy from the Dell comercials, as the newest Doctor.
I am fine with a reboot of the entire DW history. Don’t get me wrong, I love the old shows. Who wants to deal with starting a new show that has to attempt carrying on that much cannon? It would be cool to do The Doctor the same as what Marvel has done with it’s Ultimate line. All the while using your list as the guide line, Legomancer .
Could someone eat Jellybabies from a white paper bag? Please??? Strange what I take away from shows…
Think you covered the true essentials, but I have a few that while not deal breakers they would add to my enjoyment of the show.
He should be British and over 30. My worst nightmare would be seeing a twenty something actor, like that guy from the Dell commercials, as the newest Doctor.
I am fine with a reboot of the entire DW history. Don’t get me wrong, I love the old shows. Who wants to deal with starting a new show that has to attempt carrying on that much cannon? It would be cool to do The Doctor the same as what Marvel has done with its Ultimate line. All the while using your list as the guide line, Legomancer .
Could someone eat Jelly Babies from a white paper bag? Please??? Strange what I take away from shows…
And the Rani. The show needs a strong female villain.
I think the TARDIS should be kept in police box form. The chameleon circuit was broken in Britain circa 1960-something when police boxes were more common than they are now*. It should stay stuck that way.
My only other reccomendation is that the show run through all thirteen regenerations picking up from the one where they left off (number eight wasn’t it?).
*WAG as I am not British nor was I around in the 1960s.
If I brought back the Rani I’d do something interesting with her, but I’m not sure what. She seemed to me like a dime-store Master, and this was in the era when The Master seemed like a dime-store Master.
I left out something very important, however.
The Doctor would like to solve problems through pacifism, but he knows that is not always possible. Although nonviolence is his preference, he can and will defend himself.
He is more likely to use his brains than violence to get out of a situation.
-While the Doctor does have lots of exotic equipment in the depths of the TARDIS, most minor technical problems are solved with his trusty Sonic Screwdriver ™
'Scuse the hijack, but you’re right. The police boxes have effectively been taken out of practical service (I’ve only seen three in my lifetime). You may also be amused to hear that there was a legal case recently in which the Metropolitan (i.e. London) Police tried to sue the BBC over rights to the image of police boxes. The BBC won.
PolishSausage
Jelly babies are mostly sold in little boxes these days, but you can still buy them by weight from many sweetshops and newsagents.
I envision a new series as being hour long shows, but I feel that the episodic nature and the cliffhangers were a valuable part of the show. I’m not sure how to combine both of these elements. One thing that might work but also might be too cheesy is to have cliffhangers at commercial breaks but with some kind of indication of the cliffhanger. That is, instead of just the Doctor falls off a ledge and cut to commercial, have some kind of audio or visual “cliffhanger” cue. Not sure how that would work, though.
Also…while the Doctor is constantly accompanied by various attractive young women, he seems very asexual himself. His relationship to them is more that of mentor or father than anything else. This is not to say that romantic entanglements among companions are taboo, however.
As I recall the series, the chameleon circuit was repaired, and thereafter it was only used during one adventure, wherein The Doctor has some trouble remembering where the heck the Tardis is. After that, they don’t ever say that it was broken, but he keeps it as a police box. I liked that.
The OP got the essentials down pat. But any new Doctor Who TV series better have Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. He’s really coming into his own in the audio dramas. I can’t wait for his third “season” next year.
I think the current non-violence aspect of the Doc is getting played up too much. The Third Doctor kicked ass all the time and that’s part of good Doctor Who. The Seventh Doctor wasn’t exactly a pacifist either, he just didn’t get his hands dirty with it.
I like the Historicals. How else are you going to get a good sense that he’s travelling through time? Another planet is just another planet, who cares what time it is there relative to Earth?
Funny, I was thinking along similar lines as this thread the other day. While I agree that “Enterprise”'s theme song blows smelly chunks, I was thinking that a new “Doctor Who” should use the Orbital remix of the Doctor Who theme. It kicks ass, not too put too fine a point on it.
Other than that, I agree with pretty much all of the other stuff said above. And a scarf. He’s got to have a long, multi-colored scarf. (Can you tell which Doctor I grew up with?)
Play it straight. There’s a lot of humor to be mined, but the fundamentals of the series were rather earnest. Cheap effects and odd costuming were good for giggles, but if the people making the show didn’t take it seriously there is no way the show would have lasted as long as it did.
I’m partial to the KLF / Time Lords remix, myself. It used sound bites from the Genesis of the Daleks.
Fourplay did a version as well, all on stringed instruments. Interesting, but not what I’d like to listen to often. Or maybe it would grow on you with time…
It used sound bites from the Genesis of the Daleks.