New Doctor Who at 20: A Journey Worth Celebrating!

Speaker A: Hey, hey, hey who fans and welcome to the Big Blue Box Podcast. My name's Garry and this is a very quick little mini episode. It's 419. Hope you're keeping well and safe. Who fans. Hope you are doing something Doctor who related. It's been a little while since the last episode that was. What was that? 418 back on the 28th of Feb. So nearly a month. Nearly a month since the last episode. Back on that one I did. Guys, I'd let you guys know that we were going to be moving away from the regular weekly episodic stuff for the foreseeable future and there's a few reasons for that. Go and check out that episode that dives into all that stuff. Not going to repeat all that here. But I did want to come back this week though with a wee little mini episode because the first big thing is the 20th anniversary. The 20th birthday for modern Doctor who. The revised the comeback New who, if you want to spell it that way. N U W h o newer Doctor who 20 bloody years. Happy Birthday. Crikey. I put some stuff out on the socials this morning. Thank you very much to those who have replied and have also had similar thoughts and, and, and feelings on this stuff as I have. It's excuse the massive pun here, but time works in. Time is weird sometimes in how it works in that it fluctuates and flip flops between sometimes something feeling extremely long since it first appeared and then other days for no. For no explainable reason. You'll wake up and it feels like it was yesterday. And for me, Doctor who is like that. Now I need to insert a very quick caveat here to me talking about this subject in that I did not watch Doctor who when it came out in 2005. If you are a longtime listener to the Big Blue Box podcast, then you will know why. I've told this story a few times when it's needed over the years on a few different episodes. But for new listeners very, very quickly. I did not watch. I was not into Doctor who when it came back in 2005. I was aware of it absolutely. 100 knew that there was a show that was starting called Doctor who. I just didn't watch it. I was aware of Classic who as well before that. But yeah, I didn't watch the show and it wasn't until a few years later that I actually got into it. So I say Happy Birthday with a sense of. What's the word to describe it? A sense of. Although I wasn't there on hand to witness things unfolding. From 2005 with the episode rose onwards, it's. I still very much celebrate all of the anniversaries and birthdays etc because I've been a Doctor who fan for 15, 16 years now. So although that pales in comparison to some of you out there who have been a Doctor, I've spoken to many of you either on the socials or when we've had a pint somewhere at an event. I've known some of you that have been Doctor who fans for circa 40 years, which is incredible. And I've known some of you that have been Doctor who fans for a year, which is also very cool. But for me, yeah, about 15, 16 ish years I think I've been a Doctor who fan which is no small amount of time. So I can comfortably lump myself in with the grizzled ancients, I think, and the long timers and celebrate these kind of things. So yeah, the whole point of this episode really was to just. Was to say a big happy 20th. But I do remember the back in 2005, although I didn't watch it, I do remember and this was something that's really cool that, that made that. It just shows that good old marketing works when it needs to and that I remember just tons of billboards, huge billboards littered around the town that I was living in at the time in Luton, my hometown, London. A couple of towns I went to when I was visiting friends. I remember seeing just the, that, that huge image of Rose and the Doctor standing in front of the TARDIS with the big, with a big red BBC One logo in the bottom left hand corner and the huge BBC logo that went down the right hand side and the, the doors of the TARDIS were open and there was all these big light rays coming out of it and it was Rose standing next to, next to the Doctor, Billy Piper and Chris Ecclestone. And next to the logo in the bottom left hand corner it said Doctor who. Underneath that it said Saturdays at 7pm Now I absolutely love that because I thought I was just very, very aware of it and I vividly remember those, those billboard posters, they were, it was just fantastic. So that just goes to show, you know, someone like me who was not into Doctor who at that time and didn't really have any plans to, to watch it when it went out. The marketing for that really did its job. It wasn't just me, there was a few of my few people in my friend circle who again, like me, we're not into Doctor who. But they, they did say, I think one of my friends at the time said, oh, my dad's gonna be watching Doctor who on Saturday. Are you guys gonna watch it? And I think we were going out at the time and so we said, no, we weren't gonna watch it. He was like, oh yeah, my dad's, my dad loves it and he's an old time Doctor who fan so he's going to check it out. But he only asked his dad about that because of the poster. Because I remember him saying that his dad had all the Target books and VHS tapes of Doctor who from the classic years and so on. And he was prompted to ask his dad about Dr. Who because he'd seen the poster. I had seen the poster on the billboards and stuff. So I was aware of it. And it's a bit of a shame these days that we don't really see that kind of big sort of print mass kind of print marketing thing going on as much. I think we still, we do still see some, some. I remember going to where was I last year. I was either in New York or Toronto last year and I remember seeing a big portrait sized, huge poster of Doctor who. But I think that was a Disney thing that. Yeah, I don't think that was a BBC could be, but I don't think it was a BBC led marketing campaign. I think that was more Disney plus. But anyway, here in the, here in, in this country in the uk would love to see those. Yeah, just a bit of spend on old traditional stuff, you know, an ad, full page ad in SFX magazine and add in the paper, a billboard. Anyway, I'm waxing about this now, but anyway, there was, it was really cool to see loads of you posting photos of those billboards online. And it just had sparked a little memory, you know, a little flashback of, of seeing that stuff. And then also just reading all of the, all of your sort of mini stories of, you know, the. You're reminiscing about your first experience watching Doctor who in 2005 and watching the episode Rose and, and all that stuff. It's a, it's, it's a lovely, it's a lovely little walk down memory lane to go back to that episode. So once again a big, big, big happy birthday to the Doctor who's come back. The revival year since 2005. I for one love the episode Rose. I think it's a, a solid, solid story. I think introduces the characters really well. It's got just enough in there for the classic Doctor who fans, of course. With the. The nesting and consciousness and the Autons and stuff. Obviously that's a. That's a bring back from. From the Pertwee stuff, but I think it sets up the television of its time 20 years ago. I think it sets up that beautifully for newer viewers, like newer people coming into Doctor who. So nods to classic who. And it's got that magical we're off on it. We're starting a new journey feeling to it. And. And that's something I. Yeah. So I'll be watching Rose later over dinner. I'm gonna stick that on and it's gonna be very cool. So. So 20 years for old classic who. And then also before I leave, you guys just would update you on some of the up from going from an anniversary for Doctor who 20 years ago. Let's fast forward to Doctor who that's coming up. So. So season two, which is out next month, we've had a couple of trailers dropped for that actually looks pretty cool. Not gonna lie. Some of those episodes, they look very, very creatively interesting. And I'm looking forward to a few of these. And we've now got the episode titles for all of those. So every episode, which. Of which there are eight, we now have those in order, and who they are written by. So episode one, the Robot Revolution, this is written by Russell. Episode two is called Lux, also written by Russell. Episode three is called the well, that's written by Russell and Sharma. Angel wallfall. Episode four is called Lucky Day, that's written by Pete McTighe. Episode five is called the Story and the Engine, that's written by Inu Ellums. Episode 6, the Interstellar Stone Contest, written by Juno Dave, juno Dawson. Episode 7 is called Wish World, that's written by Russell T. Davies. And finally, episode eight is the Reality War, also written by Russell T. Davis. So how many has he written then? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So he's written five out of the eight. Hmm, interesting. Anyway, Russell goes on to say, excitement mounts as the new season gets closer, and there's nothing a Doctor who fan loves more than facts. So here's a whole bunch of them with titles and writers. Everything you need to get ready for transmission. I won't go through all the writer, the directors and so on, but yes, some interesting titles there. And like I said, looking forward to a few of these. It should be pretty cool. It's one of those things where although we celebrate 20 years of Doctor who and we're. I think we're all in a. We get a nice cozy nostalgic feeling. When we think about 2005 and that first series with Chris and Billy and, and those stories. I think Doctor who is in a very, very different place these days, as you expect it to be, of course. But I think certainly myself, my co host, Adam, I think I speak for him reasonably confidently and for most of our writing team, and also more importantly you guys, I think just judging the mood and feel across all the socials and whatnot, It's, I think Dr. Who's in that place where although we have a new season literally round the corner, that's going to drop on us in the next, what is it, a month for three weeks time? Something like that. I think a lot of fandoms like, yeah, it should be cool. Yeah, should be. You know, there's not that big spark of yes, it's gonna be amazing, like, absolutely cannot wait. And yes, it's an interesting time for Doctor who. And then I think, did I talk about this on the last episode or one before that? I think it was the last episode, actually. I spoke about this whole controversy thing that's doing the rounds over the last month, six weeks with, with our Disney plus going to commission another series. Are they going to, you know, is this going to be it for Doctor who? Is all this stuff, it's all shaping the landscape of things. So I think a lot, I wouldn't say, you know, Dr. Who's in trouble, but I think a lot rides on the success of season two and that stuff. So as always, we wish it well. Of course, it's, it's the show that we, that I've loved for the past 15ish years. And it's been a part of my life every single day for those 15ish years. And that's no over exaggeration. There hasn't been one single day where I've not interacted with somebody about Doctor who or I've watched Doctor who or I've listened to Big Finish or I've written a blog post, or I've recorded a podcast episode, or I've gone to an event. There's literally been something, some, some at some point in every day, whether I've checked socials and replied to somebody, or I've text Adam about this cool Doctor who thing, or I've gone on Discord and chatted to people or whatever every single day, or even, even if it's contained within my own house, I've had a conversation with my wife about Dr. Who, you know, like I said, or I've watched it, whatever, and I'm extremely thankful for that. So, although it's not an anniversary or birthday, about the podcast, I am extremely grateful and thankful that the people that. Back in 2005, of course, Russell T. Davis and Julie Gardner and Chris Ecclestone, Billy pike, all those people, you know, the responsibility and the team of people responsible for bringing the show back was vast. So, like this podcast episode and anyone else's podcast or YouTube video, whatever it might be, there's just not enough time to reel through every single name and credit and thank everybody. But I'm extremely thankful to all of those guys that were like, actually, yeah, Doctor who deserves a place on tv and, and they worked their nuts off to do that and get that back because it's no, it's no. I think sometimes going a bit of a rant here. Sorry, who? Fans. Sometimes I think we take for granted just, well, two things. Number one, just how difficult it is to make a television program, let alone something that's with expectations of fans. So we've seen this across a few different franchises. If you're involved in any kind of chatter around Lord of the Rings, Star wars, you know, comic books, the DC stuff, Marvel, any of those big franchises, anything where there's like a billion fans and they're all very passionate and so on, it's extremely difficult to, to satisfy everybody, to keep everybody happy, to try and make a program that everybody's going to enjoy it. Just the nuts and bolts of getting a TV program off the ground. It is in an immense, huge task. And I, I've said this a few times. I honestly don't think that, that enough people appreciate that and enough people understand just how much of a. A lifelong life, occupying time, draining commitment it is for many people to make a show. When you then times that all by a hundred to make Doctor who, then it's. It, it's massive, monumental task. Huge. And there are decisions that have been made around the show by certain showrunners, by executives, by whoever. And although we've sat here many times and I've seen other YouTube creators and just people in general talk about how, how bad some of Doctor who is and, and all this stuff, it's. I, I would not want that responsibility, put it that way. You know, we can sit here till the day is long and say, actually this episode wasn't great and this is what I would have done and blah, blah, blah, Let me tell you, it's not as easy as just saying and I would have done. And so I think that's the first thing everybody that's involved in making the show deserves a huge, massive round of applause, several pints bought for them and a big bloody medal. To actually make a show like Doctor who, it's such a difficult. Anyway, so many difficult things, but. And then the second thing that we take for granted is that just think how long we've been enjoying Doctor who on our screens. If you take away, if you take out the, the other long running shows, especially here in the UK, I'm talking about the soaps, right? So EastEnders, Coronation street, whatever the other ones are, I'm not talking about those because that's the, that's the whole point of a soap is like an ongoing thing. With Doctor who, there are no guarantees. There are absolutely no guarantees that we would have got anything past Chris Ecclestone series. There are no guarantees that, you know, as each era of the show transitions from a new showrunner and a new Doctor into another one, there's no guarantee that the people at the BBC are going to say, actually, yeah, we want to keep doing this because we've seen that in the past. We've seen that with, with McCoy's era, where those guys were fully 100% under the impression that they were just doing multiple series of Doctor who. And then literally at the snap of the fingers, it's like, actually, guys, you don't have a job on Monday, so sorry about that, but the show's done, so see you later. So it's, it's very, I think sometimes we take that little, that little nugget for granted as well. And I'm not even talking, I'm not even referencing pre 2005. That's, that's another big beast on its own to talk about. All I'm talking about is since 2005, think how long Doctor who has been on our screen since 2005. And other TV shows that think about the many, many, many very, very good TV shows that have got two seasons maximum, four seasons at the very very most. And these are shows that have been loved and absolutely they've been brilliant. But, you know, three, four seasons, that's your lot, that's your max. And then we've got Doctor who, which is still just chugging away, you know, 20. So I think that's something we need to, especially on days like today when it's 20 years, I think we really need to just stop just for a second and be like, actually, although we've, and especially like myself and those of you that have not been too keen on Doctor who, and I've had a bit of an up and down over the last few years with it. And, and you've got that whenever you're down a pub, you're talking to Dr. Who or you're at Comic Con or an event of some kind and you're bumping into your mates that you regularly see and you start having conversations along the lines of, oh, yeah, it's Doctor who's not like it. You know, the David Tennant heyday, you know, series three, series four, you know, it's not like that anymore. You know, I'd love to go back to that time. It's not like that. Oh God, Matt Smith's era. Oh, spurt the first series, season five, you know, kicking off with the eleventh hour. That was pro. That for me was peak Doctor who. And it's, it's not like that anymore. And it's like that. Do you know what? There's a, there's some truth in that in terms of your own view of the show. And there's a left, there's a, a layer of subjectivity across all of that as well. What you, what you like and love about Doctor who, somebody might hate and vice versa. And so I think, regardless of your opinion, but especially if you think like, oh, you know, Dr. Who's not that great anymore, I'm guilty of that a little bit. I'm not in the run up to season two with shoot his new season coming up. I'm not sort of chomping at the bit like I used to be a few years ago. I've kind of got that. Yeah. And I'm certainly not going to get up at 3am or 6am whatever it is. I'll just catch it later in the day. I'm still very, very, just sometimes needed to take a second and think, you know what Doctor who's, It's doing all right. You know, for a show that's lasted in its comeback 20 years, it's doing all right. So I think we need to, we need to be mindful of that at times, especially on days like today. So I hope you don't mind my ramblings and my little rants on this quick little solo episode this, this afternoon. It's going out a bit late. I just thought I'd jump on and do this just because I had a little wave of emotion came over me as I was going through the socials and just looking at everyone's tweets and messages about, about Doctor who and your thoughts and your, your memories and your reminiscing and stuff. It's, it's a I love days like today. I honestly, being a Doctor who fan and seeing just how happy people are about their memories of, of watching Doctor who for this long and their memories of the episode rose and, and then going through all, you know, talking about their favorite parts of, I don't know, Matt Smith's favorite episode or what they loved about, you know, that it's just, it, it had a, had a wave of emotion that was like, actually, it's days like today that I absolutely freaking love. Being a Doctor who fan and being part of the Doctor who community with all of you. It's it. I absolutely love it. So I'm gonna wrap up there. So the episode titles for season two, let me know what you think of those. You can hit me up on the, on the the Twitter or the X or Blue sky, whatever. Just do a search for the Big Blue Box podcast. You'll find us on all those. Or if you head over to the website, which is bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk. we are still putting out all of the blog material, by the way, even though the podcast is having a bit of a seasonal format change at the moment, to be honest with you. I think we're going to be doing it's not going to be as sparse as what you think it is with the podcast. We're still going to be coming back and doing episodes like this one. Adam and I will be back in a few weeks time. We're going to kick off our reviews for all of season two. So for those eight weeks that that's going out, will be back every week for that full season to review those. And then after that we'll still come back and we'll do that. Plus, the roundtable episodes are still going to be going out and the writing team is still going to be putting out the big finish reviews, the event roundups, the editorial pieces, all of that stuff. So in some ways it does feel like the Big Blue Box podcast side of things are slowing down. But in reality, I think we're just going to give you more sort of better quality content as opposed to trying to slog it out every week when there's not much going on. Because guaranteed, when season two's finished and at the end of whenever it is beginning of May, end of May, something like that, when season two has finished and it slows down a bit, we're back in that situation where, okay, what do we want to talk about this week? Well, there's no Doctor who news and we've reviewed everything and there's nothing going on. So what do we do? We might, we have got some ideas, by the way, for some other types of content that we might start to do. A lot of you have asked us to do commentaries, so we might, you know, we might pick a doctor or we might pick, you know, a series of cool episodes or we might take, do a poll, get you, see what you guys think if you want us to do a commentary and then we'll do a bit of a watch along. So you know the deal where it's like you start a podcast episode and we'll be like, right, okay, we're going to hit play in 3, 2, 1. And then we'll all watch an episode together and then we'll give you our thoughts and our feelings on, on that episode as we watch through it and some trivia and stuff like that. So that might be cool. And we got a couple of other bits lined up as well. So yeah, we've got plenty of stuff. There is loads going on for the big blue box still. So. And we'll be, we'll be back with sort of mini episodes like this as well. So fear not, there'll be stuff going on. So anyway, head over to the website bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk you can read all this stuff from the writing team. Maria, Jordan, Matt, Harry, check out all of their stuff. Very, very, very cool guys. And those of you in the uk, if you've got your ticket for the Capital Cutaway event that's coming up really fast, that's next weekend. So that is on Sunday 6th April, we will be there. We'll be in London the whole weekend. The whole big blue box team is there. Other than Adam, unfortunately. He's back in the US at the moment. But the rest of us will all be there. We're there from the Saturday evening. So if you want to catch up with us, you know, chew the fat on everything. Dr. Who, we'll be having a few drinks out on Saturday night and, and then we'll of course be at the event on Sunday. So we'll hope to see and meet listeners that we've not met before. We'll hope to see and meet listeners that we have met many times before and have a good old chinwag on things and, and all that stuff. So if you've not got your ticket yet, has it sold out? I, I could be asking you to book a ticket and it's actually sold out. Oh, it is sold out. Oh, bummer. Right, anyway, those of you that have got your ticket. We will, we will see you around. So come and track us down and have a chat. So on the. So that would be very cool. And then lastly, just as I normally do to round this stuff up, I'm going to cue the music and then we'll do a couple of last bits. But thank you very much though for joining me for episode 419. Thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to another episode of the Big Blue Box. That was a quickie, a quick little episode from me just to keep you updated. Say a big thank you to those of you that keep coming back and listening. So we love you guys so much over the years, you know that we really appreciate you listening to the show. And once again a big Happy birthday to Doctor who since 2005, the big 2o the 20 years. Very, very thankful, grateful regardless of your opinion on what the show is like these days versus that or anything to do with that, it's just very cool milestone for the show. As I mentioned, you can hit us up on the socials, just do a search for Big Blue Box podcast or head over to the website which is bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk and you can read all of the reviews and articles from the team there. Plus you can link off to the socials. Plus you can link off to our Discord server which is free. Really cool. Loads of cool Doctor who chat happening over there. So sign up there and and join in and and chat. Just Doctor who. Everything to do with Doctor who there. It's really cool. Don't forget to remember to check out my co host channel, adam over on YouTube. It's called the Geek's Handbag. Adam's got loads of cool geekery stuff there. So go and check out Adam's channel and and get comfy and consume all the geekery over there. And lastly a little plug for our other podcast which is Federation strike. It's about Blake 7. There'll be a link in the show notes or just do a search for Federation strike Blake 7 as we go through series A of that show which is really cool. And until next time, which will probably be our season 2 kickoff reviews now please take care of yourselves. We'll see some of you on Sunday but otherwise we'll see you soon. And remember a.