Yeahbuhwhaandwho?
Apr. 1st, 2010 12:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Was just about to head to bed, but since I've seen some on my flist discussing it already, I might as well comment on it too...
The Doctor Who universe is about to explode with a planned set of new spinoffs around the globe, the BBC has announced.
The ambitious new initiative to create a set of regional spinoffs of the classic series already has one project in production in Canada, with others on the way.
While rumors have swirled for weeks that there were attempts afoot to remake Doctor Who for the US, the first hint that there was something more occured on a radio interview on BBC 7, where producer Beth Willis, asked about the rumors, offered the cryptic hint, "Well, we all know about Who, but have you thought about the others? Where, What, When, Why, and How?" To end the flurry of speculation on blogs, BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter decided to make their announcement and unveiling a new strategy of making partnerships with broadcasters in other countries to produce local spinoffs of Doctor Who. The first of them is readying production, with Michael Shanks, a face familiar to sci-fi fans as Stargate's Daniel Jackson, set to take the role of a Time Lord in Canada.
"It was actually Russell (T. Davies, original showrunner of the new Who) who first proposed the idea, while we were trying to sell the rights to a U.S. remake of Torchwood," Tranter revealed, talking to reporters after the announcement. "He worried that a straight remake might not be viable. We've had this problem before. Doctor Who already has a big fanbase in the U.S., and they don't really like the idea of a remake. But people have been very receptive to the spinoffs we've created." With Torchwood, Russell thought the same dynamic might apply and suggested, "Couldn't we just create a new show set in the U.S. of the Doctor Who universe? We could do the same for other countries, too."
That idle comment sparked off a flurry of secretive discussion and consultation with the BBC. "We created five concepts. In-House we referred to them as Where, What, When, Why, and How." Many of them are still in active development, but they all focus on other Time Lords. "Davies set up the situation in his finale episode, the criticially acclaimed The End of Time. As we all know, the Time Lords returned, and were sent back, but he left us an out. Not all of them went back into the Time Lock." Some of the free Time Lords will be seen in the new series of Doctor Who, with Matt Baker as the Eleventh Doctor, but others will be the focus of the new shows. Russell T. Davies will have an Executive Producer title in the projects, but his role has been described as more of a consultant. "Each series will be self-contained. They'll all take place in the same overall universe, but we're not going to be strict about it because crossovers will be difficult. There'll be little chance of the Daleks or Cybermen invading any of the spinoff series, either, although there's talk of including the Ice Warriors in one."
The first of the spinoffs, developed as a partnership with the BBC, and, in Canada, CTV and the Space channel, will be titled Infinity Apartments (after shedding the original title "The House of Where"). "CTV was eager to work with us, and we hammered out a deal. Canada was a natural choice, as Doctor Who was co-created by Sydney Newman, a Canadian." It will focus on Michael Shanks' character, a Time Lord who's just regenerated with total amnesia in Vancouver. A doctor, played by Shanks' wife, Lexa Doig, tries to help him find answers, but then they discover that his apartment is far bigger than it should be, going on seemingly forever. "Fans are familiar with the TARDIS, but this is a special type." One door will be permanently anchored to the present date, while other doors inside open on different times and places. "But when history is in flux due to the character's adventures, the present changes to match. So in addition to time and space, we get to play with alternate history."
"I'm incredibly honored to be able to play the role of a Time Lord," Shanks said when contacted for a comment. He was mum on how long his contract was for, however. "Right now we're just going to be filming a pilot. I could die at the end of it, and even if not, it could be one year, it could be five. That's the one risk of being a Time Lord," he joked, "they can always hire somebody else."
But while Infinity Apartments may be the first of the new spinoffs to make it to air, it's by no means the only one planned. In addition to the U.S. version of Torchwood (which, Davies promised, is not a remake, but "connects to regular Torchwood continuity in a really unique way"), Russell T. Davis is also pitching to U.S. Networks "Agents of HOW", involving a sexy female Time Lord who recruits a team of agents from Earth to join the Historical Operations and Wetworks team go back in time and make small changes in history, for some purpose known only to her. It's described as "Alias meets Leverage meets Quantum Leap". The BBC is also planning to team up with ABC1 in Australia for a project with the working title "The Thief of When", involving a dashing Time Lord rogue who steals treasures from history and alien worlds.
The other two concepts (presumably "What" and "Why") were not addressed in detail, but they suggested "You may be hearing more about them in the days to come. But not on April 1st. Because that would be foolish. In fact, anything you read when it's that date anywhere in the world should be taken with a grain of salt."
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I guess I would have to agree, particularly with the last line, seeing as it's after midnight here.
There's a bit more at the link, but it's not really the interesting stuff, and I think I covered most of what I wanted to talk about.
The Doctor Who universe is about to explode with a planned set of new spinoffs around the globe, the BBC has announced.
The ambitious new initiative to create a set of regional spinoffs of the classic series already has one project in production in Canada, with others on the way.
While rumors have swirled for weeks that there were attempts afoot to remake Doctor Who for the US, the first hint that there was something more occured on a radio interview on BBC 7, where producer Beth Willis, asked about the rumors, offered the cryptic hint, "Well, we all know about Who, but have you thought about the others? Where, What, When, Why, and How?" To end the flurry of speculation on blogs, BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter decided to make their announcement and unveiling a new strategy of making partnerships with broadcasters in other countries to produce local spinoffs of Doctor Who. The first of them is readying production, with Michael Shanks, a face familiar to sci-fi fans as Stargate's Daniel Jackson, set to take the role of a Time Lord in Canada.
"It was actually Russell (T. Davies, original showrunner of the new Who) who first proposed the idea, while we were trying to sell the rights to a U.S. remake of Torchwood," Tranter revealed, talking to reporters after the announcement. "He worried that a straight remake might not be viable. We've had this problem before. Doctor Who already has a big fanbase in the U.S., and they don't really like the idea of a remake. But people have been very receptive to the spinoffs we've created." With Torchwood, Russell thought the same dynamic might apply and suggested, "Couldn't we just create a new show set in the U.S. of the Doctor Who universe? We could do the same for other countries, too."
That idle comment sparked off a flurry of secretive discussion and consultation with the BBC. "We created five concepts. In-House we referred to them as Where, What, When, Why, and How." Many of them are still in active development, but they all focus on other Time Lords. "Davies set up the situation in his finale episode, the criticially acclaimed The End of Time. As we all know, the Time Lords returned, and were sent back, but he left us an out. Not all of them went back into the Time Lock." Some of the free Time Lords will be seen in the new series of Doctor Who, with Matt Baker as the Eleventh Doctor, but others will be the focus of the new shows. Russell T. Davies will have an Executive Producer title in the projects, but his role has been described as more of a consultant. "Each series will be self-contained. They'll all take place in the same overall universe, but we're not going to be strict about it because crossovers will be difficult. There'll be little chance of the Daleks or Cybermen invading any of the spinoff series, either, although there's talk of including the Ice Warriors in one."
The first of the spinoffs, developed as a partnership with the BBC, and, in Canada, CTV and the Space channel, will be titled Infinity Apartments (after shedding the original title "The House of Where"). "CTV was eager to work with us, and we hammered out a deal. Canada was a natural choice, as Doctor Who was co-created by Sydney Newman, a Canadian." It will focus on Michael Shanks' character, a Time Lord who's just regenerated with total amnesia in Vancouver. A doctor, played by Shanks' wife, Lexa Doig, tries to help him find answers, but then they discover that his apartment is far bigger than it should be, going on seemingly forever. "Fans are familiar with the TARDIS, but this is a special type." One door will be permanently anchored to the present date, while other doors inside open on different times and places. "But when history is in flux due to the character's adventures, the present changes to match. So in addition to time and space, we get to play with alternate history."
"I'm incredibly honored to be able to play the role of a Time Lord," Shanks said when contacted for a comment. He was mum on how long his contract was for, however. "Right now we're just going to be filming a pilot. I could die at the end of it, and even if not, it could be one year, it could be five. That's the one risk of being a Time Lord," he joked, "they can always hire somebody else."
But while Infinity Apartments may be the first of the new spinoffs to make it to air, it's by no means the only one planned. In addition to the U.S. version of Torchwood (which, Davies promised, is not a remake, but "connects to regular Torchwood continuity in a really unique way"), Russell T. Davis is also pitching to U.S. Networks "Agents of HOW", involving a sexy female Time Lord who recruits a team of agents from Earth to join the Historical Operations and Wetworks team go back in time and make small changes in history, for some purpose known only to her. It's described as "Alias meets Leverage meets Quantum Leap". The BBC is also planning to team up with ABC1 in Australia for a project with the working title "The Thief of When", involving a dashing Time Lord rogue who steals treasures from history and alien worlds.
The other two concepts (presumably "What" and "Why") were not addressed in detail, but they suggested "You may be hearing more about them in the days to come. But not on April 1st. Because that would be foolish. In fact, anything you read when it's that date anywhere in the world should be taken with a grain of salt."
-
I guess I would have to agree, particularly with the last line, seeing as it's after midnight here.
There's a bit more at the link, but it's not really the interesting stuff, and I think I covered most of what I wanted to talk about.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-01 12:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-02 03:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-01 11:01 pm (UTC)A Canadian Doctor Who would rock though. Naturally, it would be filmed in Vancouver. ;-) But wouldn't it be funny if the BBC did end up doing something like this in the distant future? Well, not funny, in a good way, but you know what I mean.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-02 03:11 pm (UTC)Actually the idea for this April Fools spun out of one of our discussions, months ago, about a possible Canadian Doctor Who. I figured I'd sit down and try to plot out a rough outline what one might be like, including casting (Shanks seemed like a natural choice) and things that might make the premise a little different from mainstream Who (the "one end stays open on Modern Day Toronto", and the Time Lord being an amnesiac (searching for his identity... like Canadians search for their national identity!) and so not a super-genius at everything... also toyed with the idea of having an avatar of the TARDIS as a character but I think I eventually wiped it out)... and then later I had the idea of just turning it into an April Fools joke, since I was having trouble of thinking of one for this year.
The US and Australian versions were just quick thoughts at what might be a different plot for them to use... with a bit of understated snarkyness on the US one (a "sexy secret Time Agent in an ALIAS knock-off" seeming a bit too much like a cliche of what the US would do with Who).
But even though it was a joke, I actually do think something LIKE this idea, regional spinoffs set in the same basic universe, is a pretty good idea... better, at least, than the rumors (which I heard again a couple weeks ago) about REMAKING the show for the US, because it wouldn't alienate the regular Who fans and might even make them a little more interested.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-02 04:35 pm (UTC)Even if it wasn't Doctor Who related, you've got a cool idea going there, with an apartment that leads to other places. You should pitch it to the CBC. They need a good sci-fi show in their TV schedule. :-)
no subject
Date: 2010-04-11 05:29 pm (UTC)