Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Doctor Who Reveals Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Doctor Teamup Story
io9.gizmodo.com: The BBC has officially unveiled a new transmedia initiative stretching across multiple mediums—including “audio, novels, comics, vinyl, digital, immersive theatre, escape rooms, and games”—called Time Lord Victorious, which will see Paul McGann, David Tennant, and Christopher Eccleston’s incarnations of the Doctor united alongside Billie Piper’s Rose Tyler to face an unknown threat from the dawn of time itself.
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4 comments:
I've only been a Doctor Who fan for about a year so I can't speak for those that consider themselves hardcore, but I think laziness on the part of the audience may capsize this multi-media attempt to convey this story. I personally can't imagine this going the way they hope it will. Trying to tell a single story across many platforms is an alluring idea but that completely disregards or at least tries to overcome/ignore important things about their audience. Questions crop up like what if they don't have time to read? Or don't like reading? Or don't like comics? What if they can't attend the live-action due to travel distance? Or what if they don't want to pay for a magazine subscription just to get that little bit of plot they're missing? What they're attempting is certainly interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing what content they end up putting into the world but I'm just going to say it now: I'm skeptical.
Growing up in a British-American household, Doctor Who has always been a staple on the tv. I used to be very involved and up to date with the Doctor Who universe and I still enjoy watching older episodes but I have not kept up with the show since Peter Capaldi held the role of The Doctor. I have to agree with my peers when they say that they have a hard time believing that this will work out the way the BBC is imagining that it will. Personally, I watch tv shows because I enjoy the format and ease of access to the content. The thought of a story that takes place over a number of different mediums sounds expensive and cumbersome. Like with a number of science fiction shows, the following behind the shows is quite strong so perhaps this will be a fascinating new adventure for the people that are really dedicated to Doctor Who.
This sounds like a lot of fun and like a really cool artistic and storytelling project. I think I share the concern that it's going to be hard for all but the most die hard fans to connect with the entire story, but if it's done in a way that is modular enough, so that each piece stands on its own but is enhanced by the others, it could have the opposite effect, bringing fans of one particular medium to venture at least a little bit out of their comfort zone to other formats. I imagine that the success or failure of this project will inform others, both within the BBC and, if it goes well, possible other media producers. In this world of increasingly immersive art, I would be unsprised if more large franchises and well funded producers began to push stories out of traditional boxes and into cross-platform systems that extend into various aspects of our lives.
I think that the BBC definitely has an interesting idea here, but I am also a bit worried about its execution. The eighth, ninth, and tenth iterations of the Doctor were effectively what “broke up” the 16 year gap that the series took and were what reintroduced the series back into the mainstream. I am personally very excited about this, though, because Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant are probably my favorite of the “new” doctors. However, I am skeptical because when I was growing up, even though I knew about other mediums in which the Doctor’s stories were being portrayed, I did not follow through and look at them; I only ever watched the television series. While I think that a “transmedia” initiative sounds really cool, I also think that it might make the story harder to follow, especially if the audience does not have access to a form of media.
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