[Dale Baldwin]

Leaving was Eccleston's choice. (BBC News from the time: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4395849.stm)

[Huz]

Eccleston wanted to avoid being typecast!

They're not exactly changing them often as a matter of course - only one of the previous doctors ever got the sack! (Well, two if you count Sylv as the original series came to an end...)

[Maquisard]

But is there truth to the rumors that the Doctor has 13 lives? Aren't they up to 12 now? edit: Correction, 10.

[Huz]

Depends how you count!

If you include only BBC TV Doctors, they're up to 9.

If you include the guy from the American TV Movie, they're up to 10.

If you include Peter Cushing from the rubbish 60s movies, they're up to 11. Except you really shouldn't do this.

If you want to be really geeky, the classic 80s serial Trial of a Timelord...
(disintegrates under extreme panning from all)

Where do you get your twelth from?

And yes, it's true - the US TV movie was based around... (not much of a spoiler this)

Spoiler:

the Doctor's arch-nemesis, The Master, exhausting his 13 regenerations.

[Maquisard]

Dunno, it was just a guess. I'm a Dr. Wn00b. The BBC article says the new guy would be 10th. So...three more to go after him? (Sorry, I keep asking the same question, I'm so concerned )

[Huz]

I'm sure they'll think of some way around it when the time comes! Doctor Who continuity was never really set in stone, even if a lot of hardcore "fans" wish it were...

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Mares

Dunno, it was just a guess. I'm a Dr. Wn00b. The BBC article says the new guy would be 10th.

Yes. The BBC accepts Paul McGann as part of canon (and I actually think he was pretty good, albeit in only a single, slightly iffy episode), but doesn't accept any of the other incarnations that have had only one or two outings (Cushing, Rowan Atkinson in a Comic Relief special, Richard E Grant in a webcast).

So...three more to go after him? (Sorry, I keep asking the same question, I'm so concerned )

Well, given that there are already a number of plot inconsistencies the writers may well find a way to get around this. Hell, they will find a way to get around it so long as people keep watching .

[Maquisard]

Thanks, that's what I figured.

Funny how this show has retained some of it it's old goofy self (unlike Star Trek). I mean, what about those 50 year-old Tardis sound effects ! >Insert Seinfeld joke here<

[Huz]

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about those little cameos. Good job the Comic Relief episodes aren't accepted as canon, because the Doctor regenerated about ten times in one of them!

And you can't replace the Tardis, or the Tardis noise. The sound is instantly recognisable to anyone who ever saw the original series - as is the Tardis itself! In fact, the BBC recently won a legal case against the Metropolitan Police, because the image of the "police box" is now associated more with Doctor Who than with the police themselves.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Huz

And you can't replace the Tardis, or the Tardis noise.

Yep. Just like you can't get rid of the reverse scream (or whatever it actually is; I did find out once) that plays at the end of every episode, or the theme tune itself (though it has been reworked a lot).

Speaking of which, I remember a number of people complaining about the version of the theme tune used in the new series, but, having heard a load of the variants, I actually think that it's the best .

[Huz]

Originally Posted by Laceytown

Just like you can't get rid of the reverse scream (or whatever it actually is; I did find out once) that plays at the end of every episode, or the theme tune itself (though it has been reworked a lot).

Not sure what that noise is. I know the Tardis sound is a key being rubbed along a piano string, extensively played with of course!

I think I prefer the very first version of the theme tune, used in the Hartnell episodes. It's so... unearthly and haunting, just the perfect set-up for the episode to follow!

But the current theme is probably my second favourite. Have you noticed that it became a little more like the original in The Christmas Invasion? They added the "middle 8" - hopefully a musician like yourself will know what that means!

[RLacey]

Yeah. The thing that upset me about the version used while Eccleston was there is that it's actually very short, but the middle eight brings it back to a decent length (with a supremely cool orchestration to boot!).

[Huz]

Have you heard the version used towards the end of the Colin Baker era?

It will make you cry.

[RLacey]

For anyone interested:

Theme tunes and title sequences

And the scream...

Originally Posted by [URL="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Mark_Ayres/DWTheme.htm"

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Mark_Ayres/DWTheme.htm[/URL]]
The "Electronic Scream"

The major innovation in the new closing titles was the "electronic scream" emphasising the cliff-hangers. How this sound was made has been the subject of some debate among fans. Here's how Delia Derbyshire realised it.
The sound consists of two elements, a rising bubbling sound and a descending scream effect. First of all, let's deal with the rising bubbling sound. The process used to create this was very simple. The first couple of notes of the closing titles (as the theme melody enters) were copied onto a new piece of audio tape. This was leadered, then flipped over so that it played backwards. The output of the tape deck was then fed into a frequency shifter set for a downwards shift at a short delay, and fed back into itself. When the tape was played into the shifter, it came out the other end milliseconds later with its pitch shifted down slightly. This output was fed back to the input and so on, creating a downwards cascade of ever more distorted sound. This was copied onto a new tape, and when this piece of tape was in turn flipped over, Delia was left with a rising flood of sound starting very distorted and slowly resolving into the opening couple of notes - this was then spliced onto the beginning of the theme.
The downwards scream was created in similar fashion. The source sound is a downwards-sliding hard-edged tone produced using an audio oscillator. Again, this was fed into the pitch shifter with very short delay, a downwards shift, and heavy feedback. Aliasing distortion within the shifter added to the overall effect. The result was mixed with the rising echoes to give the sound we are all familiar with.

[Huz]

All clever stuff. The original titles were created in a similarly innovative way, feeding a camera output back into its input!

Anyway, I was looking through some old CDs to find the Colin Baker theme to torture Lacey with. Didn't find it, and don't need to now, but I did find

THE BEST THING EVER!

It's a montage of shots from all of the classic series. It's a bit of a hefty download (you might have to right-click and be all "Save As" too) because I can't be arsed converting it to a less unwieldy format, but go for it!

It's ACE.

You'll need some DVD playing software...

[Maquisard]

So, the new English kind from "Dalek". A good addition to the cast? Discuss. (w/o spoilers, if possible)

[Gordon Bennett]

The earliest clear memory that I have from childhood is watching an episode of Doctor Who on TV. It was something with Tom Baker. I clearly remember the titles, which at the time seemed to come and go every few minutes, and I remember seeing him running around with the floppy hat and scarf.

To this day nothing else brings back that lovely sense of childhood wonder for me as watching Doctor Who. It's lovely.

I never understood all of the criticism regarding the special effects and costumes. They're not important. Anyone with a fully functional imagination is perfectly capable of suspending disbelief to the point where they look exactly like what they're supposed to be effortlessly. It's the characters and the stories that are important.

[RLacey]

So, it's finally here. This evening it's the new series!

And... I'm out. Oh well, at least I can record it.

[Huz]

Originally Posted by Mares

So, the new English kind from "Dalek". A good addition to the cast? Discuss. (w/o spoilers, if possible)

Unwritten Doctor Who rule: all male companions want shooting.

Except Harry. Harry was ace.

[Maquisard]

Originally Posted by Huz

Unwritten Doctor Who rule: all male companions want shooting.

Shooting what?