Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 28 2010, 9:09 AM BSTIt's just nice to have a cliffhanger and longer stories sometimes.
With the three act structure properly in place in an action suspense type series like this you can have two cliffhangers if you want before the conclusion. Indiana Jones had six or seven I think. It's just about being clever and maybe having the time to get the stories right.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 27 2010, 4:48 PM BST12 regenerations would mean two more Doctors; and they'll get around that anyway.
From what I recall, this whole thing about twelve regenarations was only first mentioned in 1976's Deadly Assassin, some 13 years after the show started.
As the entire theory of Time Lord regeneration derives from this one storyline, all it will need is another story, or maybe just one line to negate this.
That's the thing about Who, for good or ill. Successive production teams have pretty much been making it up as they've gone along, imposing their own values/ideas as they've seen fit.
Quote: chipolata @ April 28 2010, 9:11 AM BSTPlus American shows can do it in 40 minutes. At 60 minutes it would drag.
Well it depends entirely on the script; no reason for an hour episode to drag unless it was badly written. I'm not saying Who can't do it in forty five minutes, because they obviously can.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 28 2010, 9:15 AM BSTI'm not saying Who can't do it in forty five minutes, because they obviously can.
Agreed. 
Quote: Marc P @ April 28 2010, 9:14 AM BSTWith the three act structure properly in place in an action suspense type series like this you can have two cliffhangers if you want before the conclusion.
A cliffhanger at the end of an episode, not a dramatic moment within an actual episode, is what I mean; like in old Who.
Quote: chipolata @ April 28 2010, 9:11 AM BSTPlus American shows can do it in 40 minutes. At 60 minutes it would drag.
But then most American shows haven't got to introduce entire new planets, periods and main characters in each story.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 28 2010, 9:14 AM BSTFrom what I recall, this whole thing about twelve regenarations was only first mentioned in 1976's Deadly Assassin, some 13 years after the show started.
Yes.
And the Master has used all of his and is still going, still regenerating.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 28 2010, 9:17 AM BSTBut then most American shows haven't got to introduce entire new planets, periods and main characters in each story.
This is true.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 28 2010, 9:14 AM BSTFrom what I recall, this whole thing about twelve regenarations was only first mentioned in 1976's Deadly Assassin, some 13 years after the show started.
As the entire theory of Time Lord regeneration derives from this one storyline, all it will need is another story, or maybe just one line to negate this.
That's the thing about Who, for good or ill. Successive production teams have pretty much been making it up as they've gone along, imposing their own values/ideas as they've seen fit.
The whole Who stories since that 1976 episode have been set in a parallel universe and the two parallels are about to be brought together, The time lines superimposed on each other. There won't be an explosion but what it will do is put the universe back as a single entity and back on it's right time line. This will mean that the Time Lords will return as they never went in the other Universe and the Doctors regenerations won't count. So he can have them all again. And the giant wasp in the library with Agatha Christie episode will cease to exist.
Quote: Matthew Stott @ April 28 2010, 9:15 AM BSTWell it depends entirely on the script; no reason for an hour episode to drag unless it was badly written. I'm not saying Who can't do it in forty five minutes, because they obviously can.
They can. My problem with it being longer is that it gives you more time to see the flaws within each show. If it rattles past at breakneck speed you're less likely to question inconsistencies etc. Brevity can hide a multitude of sins.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 28 2010, 9:17 AM BSTBut then most American shows haven't got to introduce entire new planets, periods and main characters in each story.
These are building blocks of STORY not stumbling blocks.
Quote: chipolata @ April 28 2010, 9:21 AM BSTBrevity can hide a multitude of sins.
Yes.
Quote: chipolata @ April 28 2010, 8:59 AM BSTIt'd be quite good if Amy turned into an Angel and spent the rest of the series as a statue.
There was a picture in yesterdays Sun of her looking pretty static but that was a photograph so..
Spoiler.
Amy was 'frozen' to floor looking unwell with The Doctor seeming to check her blood pressure with one of those inflatable arm things. No doubt it not a blood pressure monitor but some advanced medical readout. Song looked on, worried.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ April 28 2010, 9:17 AM BSTBut then most American shows haven't got to introduce entire new planets, periods and main characters in each story.
Star Trek.
Quote: chipolata @ April 28 2010, 9:27 AM BSTStar Trek.
Ah, bums.
Quote: Marc P @ April 28 2010, 9:20 AM BSTThe whole Who stories since that 1976 episode have been set in a parallel universe and the two parallels are about to be brought together, The time lines superimposed on each other. There won't be an explosion but what it will do is put the universe back as a single entity and back on it's right time line. This will mean that the Time Lords will return as they never went in the other Universe and the Doctors regenerations won't count. So he can have them all again.
This is more or less what I was thinking, apart from the very last bit. It'll be to do with parallel universes no doubt, which may have something to do with Amy not remembering the Daleks and the crack in space/time.
Quote: Marc P @ April 28 2010, 9:20 AM BSTAnd the giant wasp in the library with Agatha Christie episode will cease to exist.
Quote: Marc P @ April 28 2010, 9:20 AM BSTAnd the giant wasp in the library with Agatha Christie episode will cease to exist.
Does that mean I'll have to take my Vespiform figure back to the Forbidden Planet? 