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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Doctor Who Season Four - spoilers and speculation

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Whisky Priestess

08:07 / 04.07.07

Ooh, you know she's waiting
Just anticipating
Things that she'll never, never, never, never possess
(Until the Christmas special which will probably disappoint)
But while she's there waiting without them
Try a little tenderness ...

I know I'm a bit of a naysayer on new companions, and I am usually partially right, but whereas Martha turned out better than I'd thought, I don't there's any way they can wriggle out of this:

So. New companion for Series 4 is Catherine Tate as the amazingly annoying Donna character from the Runaway Bride.

a) Russell, for God's sake take the hint - it's boy companion time.

b) She's really fucking annoying

c) Descent into Doctor Who's The Boss? wacky light comedy imminent

d) I may very well have to stop watching

08:48 / 04.07.07

Although Micky was pretty shit in the first few episodes he was in, and turned out quite well (IMO) at the end.

Regrettable Juvenilia

09:07 / 04.07.07

"When in doubt, wait and see..."

Whisky Priestess

11:45 / 04.07.07

I suppose. But I want a bloke companion. All right, I want Jack. Is that so wrong?

11:54 / 04.07.07

I think it's time for a different dynamic too. I'm not saying Doctor needs a bit of hot homo action, but there are other kinds of relationships in the world that you can explore other than that old cliché of a Time Lord meets girl in early twenties.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:55 / 04.07.07

Surely Donna is not in her early twenties!

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

12:01 / 04.07.07

Donna as the new Companion? Perhaps it's just me, but that doesn't make any kind of sense.

13:14 / 04.07.07

He had a cyberman companion in the comics I believe, that'd be pretty groovy.

Aw heck, I'll say it. BRING ON THE PENGUIN!

13:24 / 04.07.07

I think Guitar Wolf should be Dr Who's new companion.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

13:51 / 04.07.07

See I mostly think Flyboy's linked post from the other thread is strong truth, and I want to completely agree with it, I really do. But I'm concerned that however well Tate acts in the show, and however well written it is I won't be able to get past the unpleasantness of some of her comedy. I kind of think that whatever she's actually saying or doing, all I'll be hearing is 'Ha-Ha. Aren't people who don't speak like me sad and funny'. Maybe that's the wrong approach to take, but a significient part of me seems to want to.

Whisky Priestess

13:56 / 04.07.07

Especially since this will make her the THIRD companion with a more or less grating Sarf London accent, only one of which was unfeigned (Martha's).

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:22 / 04.07.07

I haven't found any of the companions' accents grating thus far, personally.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

14:47 / 04.07.07

I haven't found any of the companions' accents grating thus far, personally.

Agreed. Of course, I am from the USA, where Saxon could have easily taken over, no matter what he said as long as he had an English accent we would have ooed and ahhed.

Having never heard of Tate before last Christmas I was dreading watching the special based on the dread I found here. I didn't find her character all that terrible, so I am looking forward to the fact that there IS new Who next spring, rather then worrying about who is in it. I can complain all I want after I've seen it, right?

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:53 / 04.07.07

While we're speculating - the rumour is another Who alien MENACE will appear in season 4. Trainspotting viewers will have noticed that the Master mentioned the Sea Devils when he was taunting the Doctor, so my money is on them - plus a return for the Toclaphane, who it seems can send one or two of themselves back in time without a paradox machine...

Sebastian Flyte

15:11 / 04.07.07

I am less angry now; I think that Catherine Tate can turn her hand to long-term assistanthood.

RTD didn't sign her up for any longer last time feeling that the character could get 'too annoying', and so the writing team are clearly very aware of this as a problem.

She's a much bolder choice than I would have expected, and her presence as the assitant will force the show out of certain bad habits, as she has to have a rather atypical assistant's role.

I'm still in wait-and-see mode, but I'm much more optimisitic about her than I was six hours ago.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

15:21 / 04.07.07

Still...I cannot comprehend it. But I like your attitude towards it, Sebastian. Hell, we've got a long wait....

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

15:27 / 04.07.07

who it seems can send one or two of themselves back in time without a paradox machine...

As long as they aren't wiping out humanity in the past there isn't a paradox (unless, I suppose one of them kills one of its own ancestors), I assume the first few hitched a ride in the TARDIS with the Master.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

16:18 / 04.07.07

While we're speculating - the rumour is another Who alien MENACE will appear in season 4. Trainspotting viewers will have noticed that the Master mentioned the Sea Devils when he was taunting the Doctor, so my money is on them - plus a return for the Toclaphane, who it seems can send one or two of themselves back in time without a paradox machine...

With regards to alien menaces, a friend of mine came up with a theory that those ships that get turned away from earth at the beginning of the last episode of series 3, will be important and should since the paradox collapsed still be on their way to earth just in time for the series 4 finale. I'm not honestly convinced how menacing they can possibly be if they let that announcement turn them away, but it's an interesting theory.

16:36 / 04.07.07

Tate was actually pretty decent in the Christmas special as it drew to a conclusion - once the Odd Couple comedy was dropped. If they pick it up from that point, it could be really good. If they take the relationship right back to where it started out from, it'll be annoying as all hell.

I've kind of stopped expecting brilliant things from the show after ht elast two epsiodes of series 3, on the basis that if it *is* superb one week it'll be a nice surprise, so I'm not all that worried about this.

20:36 / 04.07.07

David Tennant is all signed up to do Hamlet in Summer '08, which would clash with filming on a potential fifth season, so it looks like we're almost certain of a regeneration at the end of series 4. I can see RTD bringing the Daleks back big style for such an event and while he's at it, why not bring Davros along for the heck of it. Sea Devils, Ice Warriors and Sontarans are all fine, but I want to see RTD's take on the one handed fella.

My initial reaction to the Tate announcement was apprehension, but I'm coming around to the idea now. It will, at the very least, be an interesting and new dynamic. I wonder what will make her decide to take the Doctor up on his offer of time travel. Perhaps she has to go along with him for her own safety, like Lucie Miller in the 8th Doctor audios.

20:54 / 04.07.07

I finally got round to watching this a second time and I got the full-on tingles again. It's TV which makes me decide what I think about it, which is only a good thing.

As far as I'm aware, Tennant is jumping ship at the same time as RTD.

If that's the case, I think we can expect a dust-up of jinormous proportions. I doubt the man wants to go out with anything less than a kaboom.

23:04 / 04.07.07

So, thinking back, the season 1 bad guys were the daleks and the season 2 baddies were also the daleks along with the cybermen. This makes sense, since the series was starting fresh and it was a good idea to (re)establish the daleks as a prime enemy to the doctor. When the fireworks came round, we knew that they were scary.

Now, one way to go next season which is supposedly the last for both RTD and Tennant, is to go back to the Daleks, maybe by putting Davros in. Another way is to introduce some new menace - which probably means something recycled from the classic series. But....having spent such energy on bringing the master back, along with the big finale, wouldn't it also be tempting to have him as the season 4 villain? That way, instead of having to establish a new threat and, perhaps more importantly, the relationship of some new baddies with the doctor, you have season 3 which already did that work for you. And there is quite a lot to explore in terms of the conlicting drives the doctor has toward the master, and a lot to exploit in the master's sadism and charisma (not to mention the oddly unresolved drums business - why was there so much focus on the drums?). Did RTD really put in a Master escape scene in an overly long episode just on the off chance that some future production team would bring him back? Because the poor dears wouldn't be able to manage it otherwise? Or is that comment a wee bit of misdirection?

23:38 / 04.07.07

That's what I was wondering.

I'm also wondering if there's going to be resolution of a sorts to The Doctor's whole emotional journey, regarding the time war and the death of the Time Lords. I mean, I'm sure they're not just palming the series off for someone else to do with what they will (to an extent at least). I'd like to see some sort of closure on that at least.

There's also the business of that hand....

Regrettable Juvenilia

05:52 / 05.07.07

Yes, watching it again they really seem to make sure we see that the Doctor has his spare hand back - could just be so nobody wonders where it is, and it's just going to gather dust in the Tardis, but maybe not.

07:53 / 05.07.07

I'm expecting the big important stuff in series four to have something to do with the Time Lords - their return or summut - just seems like they're the elephant in the room to me.

But what do I know?

11:01 / 05.07.07

That makes a lot of sense, Boboss. And I think the master would fit in perfectly with that. But, yeah, who knows?

By the way, is anyone else hoping they bring Romana back?

11:43 / 05.07.07

RTD mentioned a game plan in one of the latter Confidentioals. Daleks then Cybermen then The Master then...well he didn't say. In context it was related to the return of icons of the old series. Davros cold be fairly described in those terms and so could The Brigadier.

Ever fond of Nicholas Courtney I'd like to see him back and he's worked with Tennant in Who before so why not on the telly?

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

12:05 / 05.07.07

Ever fond of Nicholas Courtney I'd like to see him back and he's worked with Tennant in Who before so why not on the telly?

I'd love to see this - I suppose Courtney's about 80, so in all likelyhood anything involving too much action would be out - but he seemed to be in good health for a man of his age when he appeared on Doctor Who confidential, so I don't see why he couldn't at least have a cameo. I rather like Courtney's suggestion that the Brigadier is probably sitting in the house of lords at this point. I think I'd like to see that.

12:34 / 05.07.07

I suspect a Master/Davros alliance as season finale, with episodes of Sea Devils and such in the series. I reckon RTD will reveal the Time War backstory before he goes, by them chasing the Master (Mistress?) back to Gallifrey to stop him undoing time and space or turning the time lords into daleks or something heinous.

12:52 / 05.07.07

Sea Devils would be pretty groovy, perhaps with some whacky Silurian third-eye shenanigans as well.

I'd really like them to hold off on another Dalek episode unless Season 4 is definitely going to be the last. I'm feeling a little pepperpot saturated to be honest.

However, I could be persuaded if the Mistress teams up with Dalek Khan (KHAAAAAAAAAAN!) to break Davros out of The Prison At The End Of The Universe (Davros will, of course, be played by Robert "T-Bag" Knepper).

Wentworth Miller also to star.

14:24 / 05.07.07

Now the man has disseminaed before but apparantly the Time War is a no go for stories. It's there to create a mystery about the character putting mystique back into the show.

Sebastian Flyte

14:40 / 05.07.07

Is that a sinker I see poking out of the corner of your mouth, David?

16:03 / 05.07.07

I really hope Davros is dead and buried for good, unless it's a pre-Dalek Davros. The only way that the character could become more ridiculous than he already is, is if they had him as a brain in a jar.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

16:17 / 05.07.07

Hmmmm, thinking icon-wise, I think I know what I'd really like to see, and that's Susan. She was the Doctor's first companion as well as his grand-daughter, so I think she should have a place somehow in the new Who. Also being the only relative of the Doctor we've ever met she'd thematically be a good fit for the more humanized Doctor RTD is portraying - the one who definitely did once have something we might recognize as a family.

Now I know seeing as she's a Timelord she's apparently very, very dead right now, and that being the case I'd probably be content with a flashback to her death, or maybe even the Doctor just explicitly mentioning her and telling us how she died. Given her place in the mythology she ought to get that at least.

Still I'd be even happier if she's somehow bought back through a loophole like the Master, at the climax of the series - lots of people have said they think Gallifrey might return, but I'd maybe find just Susan being saved somehow an even more satisfying way of purging the Doctor of his time war angst at the end of RTD's run on the series. It could be set up for the next team to decide if she's going to travel with the Doctor for a while or go her own way.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

16:21 / 05.07.07

The last time we saw Davros he was just head and shoulders, I can see the season finale now, watch as the Doctor cowers before 'The Nose of Evil'!

Have to agree with the 'ugh!' about Donna and the fact it's yet another London woman. Was Frema genuinely not liked and so this has made RTD play safe? Mind you, Captain Jack was much less gay this time round, though a year of torture without mutually agreed limits and a safety word will do that to a man. It makes me wonder if there's been some behind the scenes pressure applied.

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