Shownotes
Hey, Who fans and welcome to Episode 414.
Matt Steele, from our writing team, joins me this week as we celebrate the recent birthday of former Doctor Matt Smith, reflecting on his enduring impact on the franchise and the unique connection fans have with the show.
There's not much news knocking about but Ncuti's comment (now edited out on The Graham Norton Show) regarding the potential for a third season of Doctor Who, stirring up speculation and excitement within the fandom, still lingers. With the BBC and Disney remaining tight-lipped about the show's future, we explore the implications of this uncertainty and what it could mean for the beloved series.
We finish with Matt's journey into Doctor Who, sharing his favourite stories and the moments that hooked him in with a final thought on the show's future trajectory and whether it might benefit from a brief hiatus to reset and rejuvenate.
This is The Big Blue Box Podcast, hosted by Garry and Adam. We cover Doctor Who news, reviews, commentaries, general chat, plus our regular Round Table episodes with the full team.
All episodes are available for free on our website, alongside articles and reviews from the team.
Follow and join the conversation on X, Bluesky, Threads, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, or hop into our free Discord to chat Doctor Who with fellow fans.
Thank you for listening!
Thank you again for listening. For even more Doctor Who content, head over to our website and check out the blog, featuring articles from our writing team.
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Until the next episode, take care and... Aaaaaaaallons-y!
Transcripts
Hey, hey, hey. Who fans and welcome to the Big Blue Box podcast. My name's Garry. My name's Matt and This is episode 400.
Thank you very much for joining us for another week. Who fans, we hope you are keeping well and safe. We hope you've had a cracking week and that you've all managed to do something.
Oh, we snapped on that one. I gave you a little bit more. I thought, is he going to jump in and seize the moment that we were both too polite?
So at least you've done better than our usual co host Adam would have done. He's normally a bit slow on that bit. You know, he blames the audio, his broadband connection, he blames all that stuff, but you know how it is.
So, listener, thank you very much for coming back. You might have thought, who's this person? Who. Another. Another co host, Another person flying the TARDIS with Garry. Yes.
As you may have known over the last couple of weeks, as Adam has been back in the US and is going on a bit of a nationwide tour as it seems across the us, I've drafted in members of the writing team to assist me in the weekly episode. So we've done Harry, Maria was last week. So now it's the turn of Matt Steele. How are you doing, dude?
Matt:Yes, very well, thank you, Garry. Yeah. Oh, it's been a busy old week for the big blue box team and it's for. With one thing or another.
Yes, no, we've been obviously we recorded the Roundtable last week. Great fun as always.
They are some of the best things of the month though, so they're so much fun and we've got such an amazing writing team that it's normally having to keep. Keep the fits and giggles aside when we're. When we're recording. Makes it interesting.
But yeah, aside from that, I've been awaiting my season 25 collection box set which coincidentally has arrived today. So I'm looking forward to delving into that one.
For the story wise though, I'm actually going to watch first Silver Nemesis, which I don't think anybody else would have over remembrance or Greatest show, but I want to see a side by side comparison from what we reviewed last week.
Garry:Well, I was going to say you've only watched it in the last week. Right. Because you watched it in our review for the Roundtable last week.
Matt:That's it. Yeah.
Garry:So you're going to watch it to see. Oh, I get you. So you want to watch it as close as you can so you can try and pick out. Oh, gotcha Nice.
Matt:Yeah, just see, see all of these extra features while it's still fresh in my mind, you know, especially with the classic. Sometimes it's so long before I watch it again. And then you watch it on the bot set and you think, is that new? That's.
That was there the whole time, wasn't it? No, no, no. They didn't have CGI in 63. No, go on.
Garry:But yeah, yeah, it's a. It looks like a cracking set. This season 25.
I opened mine when I got it on Monday and I've only watched one story thus far, which is the Happiness Patrol.
And the reason why I watched that one first is because when I went to the BFI to watch that for the, for the event, if you like, for the, for the Blu Ray set, we were meant to see the special edition version, but we ended up, because of a up with the BBC sending the wrong video files to the bfi, we ended up watching just the standard one, which was cool. And it's. That. That was fine just, you know, being in the cinema with other WHO fans and watching that was very cool.
But I have to say the, the remaster and the additional stuff that they've put in is really well done to a point where you think this is the. It doesn't work with every story, but I think with stories like the Happiness Patrol, it really becomes the new standard almost.
And I get that there might be some purists, listen who are like, what the hell are you talking about? You know, the original version will always be the best and there is an element of truth to that.
But the effects that they've weaved into the Happiness Patrol, mate, have really, they. They flesh the world out to a point where it feels that it, it really does add to the, to the story. It's one of those.
It's one of those stories that because of budget and location etc from, from, from the 80s, Doctor who, McCoy's era, it really does benefit hugely from having that extra stuff. So it doesn't slam it in your face. It's not too on the nose. It's more about those kind of establishing shots that just flesh the.
The world out and make it seem a lot bigger and a lot more.
Almost like a Blade Runner kind of feel to it where the world is like, you know, big neon signs and big, tall, massive buildings and futuristic looking. But it's done in a tasteful way and stuff.
So, yeah, so I'm glad I watched that one first because like you, that was the most recent one that I seen Because I didn't watch Silver Nemesis when you guys did it. I left that to you guys. But that's the. From that season.
Happiness Patrol was the most recent story I saw, so I watched it for the same reason to try and pick out any differences and so on. And. But overall they've done a good job on the. On the remaster as well.
I haven't seen remembrance yet, but apparently I've seen a few tweets and threads and stuff where people have posted screenshots and the. The picture quality on remembrance is really good.
They've really cleaned it up and it's nice and crisp and sharp and so I'm looking forward to that one, dude. So do you dive into the special features on these sets as well, or do you just watch the stories?
Matt:I do to a certain extent.
I mean I don't go as far into sort of the PDF archives and some of the like watching all and all of the behind the scenes because there's so much on there, you know, you can't say they're not value for money, they are jam packed.
But yeah, I can't quite often I'll put this on downstairs and depending on what the missus is doing, she'll either watch with me or she'll do something else.
But it gets to a point where I'm watching behind the scenes of things and it's like the Same scene but 10 different takes and something else might happen in this other take and she's going, no, come on, turn it off now. But yes, definitely some of them, a lot of the time, the documentaries that are specially made for these sets because the. You can. All of it.
You can just see the love that goes into them and they're so nicely made and it's fascinating to go back. I tell you what, the. I can't remember which season it was from, but one documentary always stands out to me.
Whenever I think of the ones they've made. Is the. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's. It's the. Is it the season 14? It's the one where Tom.
They're doing a documentary on Tom Baker, basically reminding himself and explaining his time with Elizabeth Sladen. And it's the most heartbreaking documentary I've ever watched. I was. I'm not too ashamed to admit I was in floods of tears, absolute floods of tears.
By the end of it, when you just see Tom starting to cry and that you just. Oh, nobody can resist that.
Garry:Yeah, it does hit you, that one. Yeah. I think it's I think it's, it's called Our Sarah Jane, if memory serves.
And it's a, it's a, it's quite a long feature length tribute, if you like, to Sarah Jane. I think it's, I don't know, it must be about an hour long, 45 minutes, something like that. And I know exactly the one you're talking about.
Yeah, it's. It gets you in the feels every time, that one. And yeah, that is season 14.
Matt:Yeah, yeah. But they're so nicely made that I just sit for all of them, to be honest. And they're gorgeous. And long may it continue.
Garry:Yes, agreed. So I'm glad you got your set, dude. I was a bit panicky. I was a panicky. You know, it's not the end of the world if these things go, go amiss.
But you know when you've ordered a package and you see literally everyone else. I don't know what it is around these Doctor who sets, but I've ordered them from a few different places over the years.
I typically get them from Amazon, but I've also ordered them one year I got one from Zavi, one year from hmv and then I think the first, the first couple of years. No, the first couple years was Amazon and for a couple of years after that there was a website that used to do them. They've sadly closed now.
What was the name of that? We did a conjunction competition giveaway with them one year. They were really nice guys who ran this website. What's the name?
I can't remember, but I can think of.
Matt:Yeah, yeah, I can't think of the name, but I know exactly what you're talking about.
Garry:Yeah. So I've ordered from various places over the years and I've never ever once had the set show up early at all.
It's always been delivered either on the day of release. I think there was one year, I got it the day after. But it's.
Yeah, but it's one of those things where you're on social media and the set was officially launched on Monday the 28th, but I remember seeing plenty of people on Twitter and Instagram From Friday the 25th posting sets to say, oh, I've just got my Blu Ray set, I've unboxed it. And then by the time I've got mine, I'm seeing people who have like watched every story, they've watched a couple of the special features and stuff.
So, you know, sometimes a bit of, you know, the old FOMO kicks in from time to time.
Matt:You think Little bit of envy going on, isn't there?
Garry:So you see those? Yeah, exactly. So I'm just never.
Not that it bothers me too much but I would like for just one time for it to be delivered early so I could get that post out there and you know, cue the grin, you know the smug, cue the smug grin to say, yeah, I've got one at last. Early. So. But anyway, we've got ours so all is well with the, with the world, I guess.
Matt:Exactly. Yeah, yeah. No, I've.
Coincidentally I, I too also always normally use Amazon and recently with the last sort of few sets they've been coming almost a week late all told. And yeah, the envy was wild with me and seeing all these beautiful bot sets all over Twitter or X and Instagram and that sort of thing.
So I took the plunge and went with HMV this time and ironically it did come a day late but they were very quick to tell me why and apologize and I give them another chance, see how it goes with the next set because I think it's a lot nicer personally for me to deal with HMV than Amazon. The whole thing's a lot smoother.
Garry:Yeah, true. Yeah. It's just come to me, the other, the place that used to the, the online retailer was Zoom.co.uk that's the one.
Matt:That's it.
Garry:They were really cool there as well. Yeah, it's a shame that, yeah, it's a shame they're no longer running.
But yeah, we did a really cool giveaway conjunction with those guys that were really on board as well. I mean I could never have done that with, with somebody like Amazon or Zavi. You know, it's, you know, we're, we're small fry, know what I mean?
For those, for the big corporate dudes like that. But Zoom were very cool. I mean I emailed them and said we want to do a competition and plug you guys and if there's anything Dr.
Who related to that that you, that you can provide that would be amazing. If not, you know, whatever, we can work something out. And they came back and said yeah, join a couple of copies of the new upcoming Blu Ray set.
I think it was season 12 or 14 or something like that and they were really cool. So yeah, if you're listening, whoever, if anyone that used to work at or run zoom.co.uk it's those, those times are very much appreciated. It was.
And I can't even remember what listener got the sets or whatever it was years ago but ah, retailers have been and gone yeah, yeah.
Matt:Hopefully they're in our discord and they'll listen to this and they'll message us and say, yeah, it was me. But yeah, I mean Zoom. I remember using Zoom when I was. They were around for a few years and yeah, sadly no longer with us and that's a real shame.
But yeah, I remember using Zoom many a times and never had an issue. They were, they were a great little outfit.
Garry:Yeah. Ah, so Blu Ray sets aside then. Matt, thank you very much again for joining me. Dude. On the old co host duties.
Matt:My pleasure.
Garry:We should dispense with the waffle. I think we should land the altaris and get into some news, dude. So news is a bit thin on the ground these days, dude.
I think the recent flurry of stuff around shooty and the Graham Norton show and all that stuff has. It doesn't seem like the dust isn't settling as quickly as I thought it would with that story.
So the, that's going to be our headline story to talk through that. There's. There's been a. Some more media outlets and some blogs and whatnot. They've got hold of that and putting their spin on it. So we're gonna.
I chatted to the other guys about that so it'd be interesting to get your views on that as well. But the first story I want to get to, it's only a quick one, is Mr. Matt Smith, our 10th, 11th doctor. Sorry.
He celebrated his birthday recently and would you believe it, he was 42 years old on the 28th. That's mad. 42 years old. I remember back in the day when he was announced as the, as the New Doctor and the news.
Part of the news that surrounded the New Doctor casting was his age that everyone. It was like. I'm pretty sure he was the youngest, the youngest guy I think to be cast.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that was due in the rounds. Yeah, he was the youngest actor to be cast as the Doctor in those early promo shots. Do you remember the.
Those very early ones where he's just in a black blazer and a black T shirt and. Yeah, he's in a dark alleyway.
Matt:Yeah, he's going to be sort of gothic Doctor and. Yeah, gonna get this grunge doctor. It's gonna be a completely different thing. And his complete opposite with the tweed and the bow tie.
Garry:Yeah. I mean, so funny. Yeah, it was, it was a cool time though because we were in the throes of like the, the newer comeback era.
Sort of really finding its. You Know its momentum off the back of tenants. Amazing run. So, yeah, it was that, that time where a real big change in the show as well. Right.
So we had a new showrunner. New, new people knew everything really. Yeah. So it was, yeah, it was a cool time. But Matt.
I remember Matt Smith being full of, as he always is, you know, full of beans and full of energy and every, every single scene that he's ever been in, in the show, he's had this sort of electricity about him and this playfulness and, and this intenseness at time as well. And yeah, it's just crazy that the time has flown, flown by. I mean, it makes me feel, I was going to say it makes me feel fairly old, but I'm.
I'm only a couple of years older than that. I'm 44. And when, when I, when I read that it was his 42nd birthday, I was like, no way. He's not as. He's not 42. But yeah, it's. It's nuts.
Dude, how time flies. Do you remember what your first Matt Smith's story was?
Matt:Oh, yeah. I mean, I was well into my obsession with Dr.
Huber at that point, although so much so that I love David Tennant so much as the Doctor that when he regenerated and obviously I'd already seen Regeneration with Eccleston, but it was obviously heartbreaking. At the end of time, I was so against Matt Smith whilst before the episodes aired and I didn't want him. I want Tennant back.
And then it took me all of about 20 minutes of the 11th hour and I was like, right, he's the Doctor. And that was me sorted. That. Yeah, he is just such a. I don't know from tenant. He's such a different Doctor as well.
He's much more, he portrayed it so much more alien than the relative, sort of cockney down to earth London adopter that we got with Tennant. So it was so refreshing and to give him his dues, you know, he didn't, he didn't just, you know, sort of come into it half hearted.
He gave it his all, didn't he, really? Sort of. Even if the scripts weren't there, he made them sort of watchable and enjoyable because of just having him in the show.
Yeah, I think he's just. I just can't believe he's 42. That. That just makes you feel old. I mean, I'm 28. I was. Would have been what, 14 when, when the 11th hour A.D.
and 13, probably when he was announced.
Garry:Crikey.
Matt:But still, that makes me feel so old.
Garry:I know, mate. Yeah, he was, he was 26 when he was cast as the Doctor, which is really young considering.
I mean, don't get me wrong, you could be any age to play, to play a role. There's no hard and fast rule that you have to be a minimum or maximum age for it.
But if you just look at all the past actors who had played the Doctor when they were cast, you know, with reasonably older than that, I, for a moment I thought it was shooty, around the same age, but shoot, he was 31. He was 31 when he was cast.
Matt:You know, he doesn't look 31, does he? Which is that.
Garry:Yeah, that made me think about it actually, because he doesn't look his age. I thought surely he must have been around Matt Smith's age when he was cast, but no, 26, dude.
I mean that's, that's a lot to take on, you know, Definitely.
Matt:Oh, I couldn't do that at 26, so. Yeah, definitely not. But I suppose the only one that sort of comes close was Davison really.
And wasn't it because he was, he was blooming young when he got the job, wasn't he?
Garry:I think he was in his 30s. Was he? Yeah, because I think he had already done so. No, he was 29. That's it. So just shy of 30. Yeah. So not far off from, I think.
Matt:Remembering there was quite a few comparisons at the time when they said about how young he was and Davidson being the only sort of other contender.
But yeah, God, just thinking about it now, Shooty is one of those, one of those buggers, isn't he, of life where he can get away with he ages but he doesn't look like he's aging. It's one of the.
Garry: ast, that was in, that was in:He was the youngest actor at that point to be cast as, as the Doctor. And then fast forward to Matt Smith. He took the crown, you know, so he's looking well for 42.
I mean he's gone on to do some, some great stuff after Doctor who, I mean most notably the Crown and probably House of the Dragon. Those two, those two are probably the biggest.
I know he had us, he's had a couple of parts in some films but nothing that's really, you know, set the world on fire. I think he was in one of the Terminator films and he had a reasonably small part and some other Bits and bobs.
But yeah, he's, I, I would imagine that he's, he's going to be at the, he's going to be at the right age when the 70th anniversary rolls around.
You know, he's going to be at that age where he's going to be coming up on, you know, his mid-50s and he's going to have that kind of lovable sort of middle aged gentleman sort of look about him.
So he's, you know, I think whoever's going to be showrunner with Doctor who at the time will probably be angling to get Matt Smith back in because if you think about it, Tennant's already been like, Tennant will turn up at the opening of a Doctor who envelope these days. You know what I mean? He's just.
Matt:Oh yeah.
Garry:And I don't mean that in, in a serious derogatory way, but you know, David Tennant is involved a lot with, with Doctor who and that's. No, in a way that's not a bad thing. You know, because he's a very, he's huge amongst fans. Right.
He's got such a huge fan base within Doctor who specifically.
Matt:Oh yeah, yeah.
Garry:But the other Doctors, you don't see him too much getting involved like Capaldi's distance himself a little bit. You don't really see him at conventions. Obviously.
Echolon doesn't give a, a beep about Doctor who unless he fancies it, you know, you know, depending on what mood he's in when he wakes up.
And so I think David Tennant and Jody are probably the two that are sort of most in the fan because I think Jody's already done a bunch of conventions and, and whatnot. So yeah, it'd be cool to, to get a fresh Doctor back if that makes sense.
Matt:Yeah. And you just, you get the sense that he's definitely up for it as well.
He, he's never anything but fond of the show, talking in interviews and it's one of those where they're always going to get asked for the rest of time.
If you've been the Doctor, you're never not going to get asked that in an interview and never has he ever said anything other than fond memories and kind words for the show. And you think, yeah, you think once he's maybe got around like you say to the 70th, he's going to be more than up for it.
I'm still waiting for the day he finally says yes to Jason Hay Gallery and Nicholas Briggs over at Big Finish because I think that would be fantastic. The stories that they could tell.
And I think his voice lends itself so well for audio as well, is, you know, just the bombastic quality and the enthusiasm that he portrays within his voice. I think it would.
Yeah, it would be amazing to have in Big Finish, but I know that on a couple of occasions they've said in interviews that he's not even been asked, I don't think, but I don't believe that to be true. I think it would be. It'd be such a money maker for Big Finish. I think he's probably asked. He's been asked at least a couple of times, I should say.
Garry:Yeah, I would say he's definitely been asked, but maybe he feels. And this is why I was surprised when Jody agreed to. To do some Big Finish so soon after leaving.
After leaving the show, because again, there's no hard and fast rule to this stuff. You know, it's. You can do it whenever you want.
If you want to jump on and do Big Finish, like a week after you've left the show, then that's, you know, certainly cool, whatever. But just normally sort of par for the course. It's been like you've gone off.
And I think just from an actor's perspective, once you've done something as demanding as Doctor who and you just want a break or you want to do something else, you don't want to jump immediately back into it. So I think that's probably Matt Smith's train of thought where just for a few years of. Because I think back, I'm not.
I honestly don't know what it's like now, the filming schedule and everything for Doctor who these days, coupled with just, you know, the. The coming out of COVID and a lot of companies sort of realigning how they do things based on that and. And all the rest of it.
But I remember back from when Eccleston came on all the way through to when Capaldi left, all of those guys said, you know, it was just a. It was full on intense for the best part of a year. It's just. It's a lot to do.
So I would imagine from an actor's point of view, if you've had that intensity and you've been knackered, you know, for X amount of years that you've been playing that role, you probably just want to have a bit of like a breather from everything. So I think that's more why they want to distance themselves from that for a little while. So I was surprised when Jody was.
Because Her Big Finish stuff was announced reasonably close to when she left. I think it was only six months or so, something like that. And Big Finish made the announcement that she was going to do it.
So I would hazard a guess that Matt Smith has absolutely 100 been asked to do some stuff. He's just. Yeah. Wants to. Wants to flex his acting chops. Yeah. With other stuff.
But I have to say that Jacob Dudman, the guy that plays Matt Smith's Doctor, is very good.
Matt:Oh, incredible.
Garry:Yeah. Really good. Yeah. Oh, Jacob.
Matt:Yeah.
I do plan on doing a review, digging into the big Finnish archives and getting those sets, because I listened to the latest releases where he's finally a multicast full audio drama instead of more of a audio book where he's got a companion and that sort of thing, and they're just fantastic. I don't know, he's not trying to make himself. There's sort of.
I don't know, there's a fine line where it's almost like 11 dudmen doctor sort of thing. He's not the exact same, but it's so uncanny at points. And his rendition of a doctor and the 11th doctor is fantastic.
And you just find yourself smiling along the entire way throughout it.
Garry:No, it's very cool. I haven't listened to all of the 11th Doctor stuff from Big Finish. I haven't listened to a lot of Big Finish over the last few years.
There's just so much stuff to get through. But I know that you guys, you go through a big chunk of it because you do reviews for the website and so on. But I have listened to one story.
I think it was. I think it was just called the Eleventh Doctor Chronicles or something like that.
It was the first volume of stories I did with Jacob and it was really good. It was. It was a decent story. It wasn't nothing groundbreaking, but it was a. It was a solid. Felt like a new era, Stephen Moffatish kind of script.
Which is what you want. I guess so, yeah. It's pretty good. So, anyway, coming back to Matt Smith, a very belated happy birthday. 42 and looking really good. Annoyingly.
Matt:Yeah. Very annoyingly, yeah. Very, very big. Happy birthday. Belated. But you're not allowed to age anymore, Matt, because we know you listen.
Because it makes me feel old and sad.
Garry:And that is the main reason why. Those are the rules.
Matt:They are indeed.
Garry:Yeah. Right. Moving on to the other new story that we've got.
And before we do that, just want to say a very big thank you to you for listening to another episode here. Of the Big Blue Box podcast.
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So the the Round Table episode is going out tomorrow and then this episode that we're recording now, which is Wednesday, is going out on Friday the first November. So you get a double whammy this week. But then as I said, you get them all as they go every week.
You can also listen for free over on the website, which is bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk plus you can check out all of the reviews and articles that this lot do. Go and check them out. Matt's had a banging week on the old website this week. A really good review of the third Doctor Adventures.
The quintessence really like that story. So go and check out his thoughts on that. And then he did an amazing merch roundup which went live today actually.
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And we have a very cool free Discord server link on our website. Hop in there and chat some Doctor who with some very cool Doctor who fans.
There's always something going on in the old Discord, so get involved over there. Righty. Next story. This is something that doesn't seem to be going to bed at the moment.
The, the last week or so you would have seen so last week with Maria we spoke about this and you might have seen some other blogs and whatnot do it. When I was on the Type 40 live stream last week on the lunchtime stream, myself and Dan, we spoke about this as well and he, he said the same thing.
He, he thought that it was going to be put to bed. But then, you know, here we are still talking about this stuff a couple of weeks later.
So this goes back to the the comments that Shooty made about an upcoming season of Doctor who that's supposedly being made next year. But nobody seems to be able to corroborate that. So the BBC are not confirming that Russell T.
Davis is not confirming that nobody else involved with the show. Disney's not saying anything. So it's kind of weird that this is still gaining traction.
So I'm seeing this [email protected] we also had this over IGN, we had it on a few other places and it seems to be, I think it might be a combination of. It rattled a couple of cages because for the longest time we knew 100% that we were going to get two seasons of this Doctor.
That was 100% confirmed because we obviously knew about all the season one stuff.
We were, you know, involved in seeing some of the set photos and the early stuff and then in the build up to shoot these new stuff off the back of the 60th special. So we knew all that was coming.
But then the information started to trickle in that the second season was filmed really close together to the first one. So they did all that stuff. So we know 100%, we know 100% that season two is done, ready, that's going to go out next year at some point.
What's been up in the air though is that no one's commented on the third series. No one said that Shooty is still going to be here for it. Nobody said that we're going to get one at all.
Nobody said anything about anything basically post season two of SH's era.
And I think that's the first thing is it rattled a couple of cages because Russell's been asked about it a bajillion times over the last six months in any interview that he does. Disney's been asked about it, the BBC, you know, everyone said, you know, no info at the moment.
And the BBC actually said, which is weird, they said that we're not going to make any decisions on the future of Doctor who until the second season has landed and then we'll decide. Which is, I think that's a bit of an intentional distraction, to be honest with you.
I think anyone that's involved in television, not that I'm an expert on that stuff, but anyone that's been involved to any degree at all will know that these things are planned out quite far in advance. So I would say that they know already that season three is happening or not potentially.
So that's the first thing, I think when he was on the Graham Norton show and he was put on the spot and asked about what's going on with Doctor who and he either.
lming season three next year,:It's a case of, yep, from his, from his understanding there is going to be a third season and he's just had a bit of a fluff and has blurted that out on in the moment sort of thing. Because the other thing we mentioned as well was that the actors themselves, they, they had their schedules are.
If they're a busy working actor and they've got a bit of limelight, they're a bit famous, they've got films and TVs lined up, those things are lined up for years, not months. So shoot. He will absolutely know, I think, 100% whether Doctor who is happening next year for him for season three.
So I think it is, but it's an honest slip up.
The other option, which I think is less likely and a bit more of a, if you've got more of a cynical mind, is that this was done intentionally because there's no official news for Doctor who. It's very, very thin on the ground. Fandom's not really talking about anything new to do with Doctor who.
We're in that weird sort of limbo phase where the season proper has finished. We're waiting for the Christmas special, which is still a month or so away. So we've got that kind of weird nothing happening at all.
So as I said earlier, the BBC are not saying anything, Disney aren't saying anything. Russell's not saying anything.
So in order to get fandom chatting and you know, getting everything buzzing around, again, this sort of accidentally on purpose little slip up, you know, to get fandom talking, which could be a thing, I don't know.
So that's the first thing is that him saying that has kind of rattled fandom a little bit, you know, and this kind of perceived friction between him and Russell and the BBC is if, you know, is rattled some cages there.
The second thing why I think this hasn't been put to bed yet is because I think fandom is just naturally clamoring for any type of, of Doctor who news that they can get, you know, other Than like podcasts like this one and some other podcasts out there and some other YouTube channels and blogs, whatever. We're all thinking the same thing. You know, it's that. It's that, you know, we've got an episode that we're going to do this week.
What is there to talk about? Oh, soddle. There's literally soddle. The only things really that kind of ticking along is the big finish releases.
They always, you know, those guys have got a solid calendar of releases every month, every year. So that's fine. You can rely on them for some Doctor who content.
Other than that, you've got the odd collectible that gets released two or three times a year. You've got the Blu Ray set, but they're months in between.
You've got some figures that trickle out through character direct or bm, and that's really, you know, about it.
So, yeah, I think people are just sort of prolonging this story and, and logging out a little bit just because there isn't really anything to get your teeth into.
So it's a, It's a weird story in that if it had happened at any other time, I think it would have been a storm in a teacup and it would have been done. We would have spoken about it for one week and that's all you've heard of it and.
And then, you know, go and get your breakfast on with your day, blah, blah, blah. So, dude, I'm. I'd love to hear your thoughts on. On this from two angles, really.
The first one is what are your thoughts on Shooty's comments in the first place? And do you think that they were.
Do you think it was just an intentional, sorry, an unintentional little fluff that, you know, he knows that season three is going to be made. He knows he's going to be scheduled in for that.
It was just a bit of a, you know, after the, after he stepped off the Graham Norton set, he probably thought, oh, beep. You know, I'm going to be in so much trouble. I shouldn't have said that. Bit of a slip. Or do you think it was an intentional thing?
And then secondly, what are your thoughts on season three as a whole? Do you think that it's coming. Do you think it's a given that we're just going to keep making Doctor who? Or do you think that there's a.
We could be back to sort of eight is McCoy. You know, they're gonna hiatus it for a bit. What are your thoughts on all this stuff? Dude.
Matt:Yeah, yeah. First things first. I think Shooty saying it was, I think probably an accident. He does sort of.
I don't think it's untrue, but I think it might be an accident.
It kind of reminds me of Tom Holland and the fact that he just, you know, can't help himself and it just slips out and, you know, he's become famous for ruining aspects of movies because he just. He just can't help it and it just slips out. And I think there's an element of that to shoot. He. I think he. He just doesn't.
He's not got that sense of when to sort of stop talking.
Garry:Oh, right, right.
Matt:Yeah. Where he's sort of being. Where he's not being sort of guided in what he can say and where, um. I think maybe the, the lack of.
The lack of time dealing with such secretive business. I mean, sex education was obviously a secret, the plot was a secret, but it wasn't sort of. You don't have the same source of fans as you do with.
With the. With the who. Who. Where everyone's, you know, clawing for information and you've got to be so on your guard. So maybe it was unintentional.
But I do think that season three has got to be happening. I don't think that it's up in the air. I think they fully know.
I think the only thing that probably is up in the air is whether it will be with Disney or whether it will be with another streamer or failing that, whether it will be just with the BBC. I think the BBC have gone and I think Russell has said something like, you know, he's tried to calm people's nerves with it and saying.
I think it was in an article or in the Doctor who magazine where he's saying, you know, calm down, whatever happens, we're not losing Doctor who. It's just, you know, you've got all of these streamers and Doctor who makes so much money, nobody wants to get rid of it.
It's not like McCoy era where everyone's, you know, there was high ups in the BBC that was gunning to cancel Doctor who no matter what. It's a big money maker. Nobody is going to cancel something that makes them lots of money at the end of the day.
So I think it's more of a wait and see than a whether it's happening or not. Wait and see who will co produce or whether or not it will just be the BBC, you know.
Garry:Yeah.
I think he said something like, even if Disney was to pull out and say, we've had a couple of seasons, you know, thank you very much, or three seasons, whatever. Thank you very much. But you know, we're not going to continue. I think Russell said that doesn't matter.
They would have a reduced budget, but they would still make the program at the BBC and then they would just negotiate streaming rights with another platform like Netflix, Amazon, whatever you want to call it. But yeah, so I think you're right. Absolutely. It was just a calming. Of calming fandom down a bit. Yeah.
Matt:But I think like you say for Shooty and his, you know, his. He doesn't live and breathe Doctor who. It's a job to him at the end of the day and he needs job security.
Obviously it's not a given in the field that he's in. But I think to a certain extent they've. They've gone and said to him, yeah, seriously, three is happening and it will be filming next year.
We just can't tell anybody yet. And I think it's just a case of he's done a Tom Holland and he's gone.
Garry:Yeah.
Matt:And really excited. And I'm not, you know, I've not done many interviews in a while and this has just slipped out and I really.
Sorry, can we edit that out pro so I don't get in masses of trouble, you know.
Garry:Yeah. Because that was the, that was. The other thing that was. That got the conspiracy theory people's.
Their, their minds ticking over was the fact that it was edited out just prior to going out on broadcast.
And it's crazy, isn't it, that they had to release a statement to say, you know, because so many who fans were just going nuts saying this is a conspiracy. You know, Shooty has told us that we're getting a third season. It's going to be filming next year.
I've just watched the Graham Norton show and it doesn't mention anything about that, what's going on. So they had to release a bloody statement to say, look, all we did was we edited it out to make his response flow a little better and that's it.
We haven't had a. We haven't had a request from the BBC to edit that out or anything like that. We did it for the sake of just keeping the show.
Because I get it, you know, on a talk show like that, where you've got guests on a sofa and you've got Graham Norton asking all these questions and you've got conversations, sometimes you're going to have guests who are going to waffle for a bit and you need to edit their stuff down to fit the runtime of the show that's the nature of, of those things so I get it but that seems to be, I don't know man, that part of it just seems to be a tad too convenient. I don't know how you feel about that bit of it but yeah, just a tiny bit too convenient for me.
Matt:I mean the thing is I, I can't, I can't say who but I work with somebody who went on a, one of these TV quid shows he was asked to come on.
He's a YouTuber and he was asked to come on after going sort of viral and he was saying it was quite fascinating really he was saying it takes hours to do this one show hours upon hours and you get the finished format in 45 minutes to an hour, something like that but he was there all day under these hot lights at the studio and you know he was terrified of saying the wrong thing. I think it's just a little bit of that to be honest.
I think it's got to be hard to edit wise to keep all of this conversation flowing like it's just natural and everybody like you think these actors have, they make films and they make TV shows they can just say cut but they can't do that.
If you've got to try and keep the conversation flowing and everything to be really nice and sort of seamless it doesn't work like that in real life there's going to be somewhere where someone gets tongue tied or things just don't flow as well as they should and they've got to edit it.
But I think maybe it was a bad editing choice or Shooty has said look I'm going to get in a lot of beep for this can we please just do me a solid and get that, you know, straight out of there.
Garry:But yeah, I don't know it's, I.
Matt:Don'T think we'll ever know.
Garry:We won't ever know. I mean there's probably some people that do know but can't say anything.
Yeah, I don't know I, I with these things I always try and not have a, an overly cynical mind about it. I think it's just my age mate.
I think Matt Smith's gonna know what I'm talking about in a couple of years when he hits the old, when he hits the old 44 he'll know exactly what I mean. As you get older you start to, you know, look at things, look at the world a bit more of a Cynical way. But yeah, it. I don't know. Of all the.
Of all the replies to edit and chop and stuff like that. Of course it had to be that one where he mentioned season three.
You know, it just seems to fit to too well in the narrative of the BBC wanting to keep it all under wraps. I denied that.
Matt:It's. It's always blooming Graham Norton, isn't it?
Garry:His history with the show is. Yeah, he's always taken the mick as well. Out of who fans. You know, he's always done that.
And so, yeah, I can imagine that he's poked the bear a little bit and. And whatnot.
Matt:Oh, yeah.
Garry:I don't know, man. There could. There could also be an element of Shooty saying it and absolutely not knowing what's going on. This is just his best.
Because like you've said when I asked you a little while ago about do you feel like we will get a season three or will the show be. Be canceled for whatever reason? Your immediate. Your immediate reply was there, they are going to make a season three. There's no doubt about it.
ve been spoiled, right, since:We're just always used to Doctor who being renewed and coming back and everything. So you have that safety net almost. You have that sort of safety blanket wrapped around Doctor who, which is like.
Because it's such a loved show, I mean, if you were to dive into social media and fandom, you'd never know it. But, you know, it's always revered, revered as a show that everyone loves and whatnot.
So I think Shooty was probably just in the same boat as all of us, you know. So whenever he gets asked about season three, he's probably thinking, well, yeah, of course, you know, it's Dr.
Who, you know, why would there not be a season three?
So there could be that element as well where he's not been told definitively yet, but he just assumes like the rest of us that I can't see it that way. That mean that's an option, I guess. But to me, the reply that he gave seemed too confident and too assertive and too without hesitation as well.
That's the other thing. You know, if someone says to you. If someone said to you before you go on the Graham Norton show, look, shooty, have a blast.
But you cannot talk about X, Y and Z. You're like, right, got it. I'm on it.
And if when you actually go on the show and it's the moment and you've got the audience watching you and the cameras are on you and everything like that, and someone says, you know, is it going to be a season three? You might be. Your immediate reaction might be to pause just for a moment and be like, I've been told I can't talk about that.
And then you, you either give like a little smile and stuff, and then you. We've seen actors do that forever, you know, especially in modern times with the whole MCU stuff and everything.
That's like multiversal stuff and spoilers and all that stuff. Unless you're Tom Holland, of course.
We've seen actors do that forever where they get asked and they do this kind of politicians answer where it's like, oh, yeah, it's, you know, you. I. I've not been told anything. Unlike you, I'm a fan waiting to see what's going to happen. You have all these kind of replies.
But shoot, he did not do that. Like, literally without hesitation, without thinking about it, are we going to get a C? You know, certainly. It wasn't even. That wasn't it?
It wasn't even a direct. That's the other thing as well. It wasn't even a direct question to him. He wasn't even asked directly shooting, are we getting a season three.
It was wrapped up in a different question. I think the question was something like, you know, I can't remember exactly what.
Matt:I think it was. He was just asking how it was all going.
Garry:How it was all going. Yeah, yeah. And he said, we finished the second season earlier this year.
We got Christmas coming up around the corner and then we're filming season three next year. Like literally no pauses, no hesitation.
So that again says to me that, shoot, he knows 100% that season three years ago and it's going to be start filming next year. It's just a flush. It's a Tom Holland moment.
Matt:Yeah, definitely. It's. Yeah, they say he's got to. He's got to know. They've told him, they've said, keep stut, don't say a word.
And he's gone all flustered and he's just completely either just completely forgotten about it and, you know, that sort of thing, or like you say, slightly more cynical. It was sort of intentional to generate a bit of buzz.
You're never going to know these things, the ins and outs of politics of behind the scenes, that sort of thing is so.
Garry:Yeah.
Matt:Difficult to try and. Yeah. To try and understand it. You're never gonna know.
Garry:Yeah, and it could be. Yeah, that's the other thing as well. It could be a little intentional thing to get fandom talking, you know, could be a phone call. Shoot.
Ross, how's it going? You on Graham Norton later? Yeah. Yeah. So you've been told that you're not allowed to mention season three. That's definitely happening.
You've been told that you can't talk about that, right? Yep, I got it. Still trap. I'm all good. Yep. You're not allowed to talk about anything to do with the show. You can talk about season two.
That's been made already because everyone knows about that anyway. It's in the can Christmas special. Go for it. Anything to do with season three. You're not allowed to say anything, Right. Yep, got it.
Although it wouldn't be the end of the world if we got some buzz out of this. I'm just thinking about it while we're on the phone. This is not premeditated. While we're on the phone with. This is like an opportunity for some free.
Some free talk time amongst fandom. Should we know? Nope. You're absolutely not allowed to talk about season three. They're on FaceTime and Russell's nodding.
You aren't allowed to talk about it. Right. And shoot. Is confused. You're nodding, Russell, but you're saying, no, I'm confused. Let's just read between the lines here, shooty.
Yeah, let's just read between the lines here, shooty. You're not allowed to talk about season three. That's definitely happening. Okay. Nodding away. Okay.
So he's probably walked away from that phone call thinking, am I allowed to talk about this or not? I think I can be brainwashed by Russell here. I feel like I can talk about it now. So. Yeah, that's the cynicism part of it though, right? That's the.
Matt:Yeah. I mean, everybody's got a little bit of that going on, thinking about things. But it's just one of those where you.
The end of the day, you've got to remember that this is such a money maker. It's just. Think of all of us, this home now with our season 25 box sets that we've paid over £50 for. And they'll keep doing that.
And we've already got them three or four times on DVD or VHS or, you know, that sort of thing. And at the end of the day, they're free on BBC iPlayer as long as you've got a TV license, but we still buy it.
It's such a money maker that nobody in their right mind with even an ounce of common sense or knowledge is going to cancel a show like this.
Garry:That mind you, having said. Having said that, I think from the BBC's point of view, you probably bang on, mate. I think from their point of view, it's like, yeah, we make.
I can't remember what the number was. I think somebody said in an article recently, I can't remember, I think it's like £80 million a year, 80, 100.
Matt:Million, something like that.
Garry:It's a astronomical amount of money know, to make off of that. So, yeah, from the BBC's point of view, absolutely, like we're just going to keep this rolling as long as we can. You know, this is.
This is the Jag on the driveway after retirement. You know, this is the. This is the thing.
But I think from Disney's point of view, I think they would pull the plug at any point because they've got no. What's the word? They've got no history associated with the show at all.
They've got no sort of not ownership, but they don't have a degree of the same degree of association to the show that the BBC has. You know, the Doctor who with a few other programs form like the Jewels in the Crown, if you like, for, for BBC Television.
Whereas with Disney Plus, I think that's more of a numbers game for them, which is just the very tiniest thing I wanted to finish on with this story, dude, which is a lot of these articles and whatnot, and the one that I've seen today, they all seem to suggest that Disney have not been happy with the viewership numbers for this season.
So that makes me think that there could be a time where Disney would pull the plug on Doctor who from their point of view, because they've got no loyalty to the characters, to the program. You know, they are.
They are doing it to flesh out the portfolio a little bit because Americans, if we've got any American listeners, you can probably back me up on this. Americans love British television. Mostly they really do like British tv. And.
And when you've got a platform like Disney plus, which has got so much science fiction on it, fantasy and all that stuff, Doctor who fits in very nicely to that portfolio.
So it's probably from their point of view, it's to build their portfolio, make it more of an attractive Offering to people that want to sign up to stream. And on the other hand, it's a numbers game, it's a revenue stream. It's a thing like that.
So I think while the BBC from the very top down see it as a money machine, I think there's this level of middle management. People at the BBC who absolutely love the Doctor who being at the BBC and they want to keep it that way and so on. So yeah, it's interesting.
I think the, the other, the other part of the equation is, you know, supposedly, you know, it's this thing where sources have told us, you know, all that BS and whatever that Disney plus are potentially not, you know, not, not popping, you know, bottles of champagne open about the viewing numbers. But who knows?
Matt:I don't know who knows at the end of the day, even if they pull out then Netflix or Prime or any other of these streaming, they're going to snap it up like gold dust and get at least give it a try. If not move on to the next one. If not failing all of those things, the BBC is still going to make it at the end of the day.
Garry:Yep.
Matt:That's what, that's my view on it. I just think Doctor who's safe. It might not be out as fast as you like if Disney do pull out.
I know Russell said at the start that, you know, we're going to have season every year, we're going to have Christmas special every year, we're going to have, you know, spin offs. All of this might not be the case if say, you know, such a big expensive partner like ready to part with the cash like the House of Mouse pull out.
But yeah, it's never going anywhere. It's not going anywhere.
Garry:No. I think we all, I think we all deep down know that.
I think just a circle back, it's just prolonging the news because there isn't any, you know, I think that's good.
Matt:Yeah, you're completely right.
Garry:Providing some entertainment amongst fandom because there's nothing going on. So we're not far off from stuff though. The, the Crimbo specials around the corner.
I think we're probably going to get another trailer for that at some point. Mid November. Ish. Probably mid to end of November.
We'll get another, we'll get another teaser or a trailer for that and then, and then we look forward to Christmas and, and season two next year. And then we've also probably at some point next year we're guessing anyway get the spin off show.
The war between land and the Sea that's probably going to land at some point next year, we think so, yeah. It's plenty more Doctor who, even if, you know, whatever.
If the television gods are not favorable and they pull the plug on it for whatever reason, we've still got at least a year's worth of Doctor who content. So there we go. Yeah. All righty.
So fingers crossed for next week's episode, this story will be done and we can put it to bed and there'll be some other stuff to talk about.
But fascinating to get your views on this, dude, as always, I want to finish up the episode with just a few minutes talking about getting to know you a little bit better, dude, because as I've done with the other guys, so listeners to the show, you would have heard these guys for ages. Now, on the monthly roundtable episodes where we get the writing team together, we pick a theme or a couple of themes and then we.
We talk about Doctor who a bit more in depth and dive into. Into that stuff.
So you would have heard Matt plenty of times on that, but you might not know Matt's journey into Doctor who and some of his fav stuff and stuff he's not so fond of and that sort of thing. So, first up, dude, tell us how. What attracted you to Doctor who in the first place? How did you get into. Into watching the show back in the day?
Matt: fair, I was at that age where:I didn't actually hear anything about Doctor who, I think because I was too busy out playing with my mates out in the garden and around the streets, climbing trees and that sort of thing and not coming down to the sun goes in. So all of the adverts and all of. All of this sort of stuff, I just missed it.
So it wasn't until I was out in the primary school playground and all my mates were saying, have you watched Doctor who? Yeah, and I'm Doctor who was Doctor who.
Anyway, we're talking about Empty Child time of season one, and they're going, oh, you've got to watch it this week. You've got to watch it. Fair enough. I don't want to be the only one that's not talking about it so much to.
Actually, much to my mother's display at the time, dismay at the time, she said, no, no, it's too old. You can't watch that, it's too scary. So balls to that. Stuck that on.
Garry:Balls to that.
Matt:Yeah. I think it was just love at first sight, really. And what an episode to try and hook a viewer on than the Empty Child.
I mean, that's just one of the pinnacle episodes in Eccleston's run, that two parter. It's just fantastic, if you pardon the pun. But yeah, going from there, I think that's just where the obsession started really.
And it's just grown into this entity of just a massive proportion that's just kind of sat beside me for the rest of my life, really.
Garry:Oh, cool.
Matt:Yeah, it's just always been there.
Garry: the Eccleston stuff then. So:Oh, cool, cool, nice. So, and when did you venture into classic Doctor who?
Matt:So classic Doctor who, it was right around I, I think Russell had a bit of a plan because bringing Sarah Jane back for School reunion and bringing canine, you know, such a favorite and lovable character as K9 and also as Sarah Jane, you knew exactly what he was doing because kids are going to gravitate to this really cool dog that's made of metal and can blow stuff up. That's amazing. So I instantly was at that right age where I was thinking, that's amazing, and immediately had to find more canine.
He was only in this one story. That can't be right. I've got to get more.
So obviously then you know, naturally found out about Classic who and saving up my pennies to get them on VHS and that sort of thing. And I think the first classic coup story I ever, I ever bought was the Invisible Enemy.
Oh, which is so weird because that's apparently Harry's first story as well. It is, yeah. Yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong, I think Empty Child is Harry's first story as well. So yeah, we're twinning. Yeah. Oh, cool.
But yeah, that was my introduction to classic who and I just loved it. It's a canine, really Canine. And Sarah Jane.
Garry:Oh, nice. So after watching that, you were like gonna dive into the origins of the character perhaps, and then check it out. So.
Bloody hell, Matt, the Invisible Enemy is your first one. Crikey. So, and I know exactly what you mean as well with, with the show. I, I jumped onto it reasonably late.
So my first, the first thing that I ever watched of Doctor who was a Matt Smith episode from season five, midway through, I think. And I remember watching about 10 minutes of it and thinking, oh, this looks pretty cool. This looks kind of.
I was aware of Doctor who of course, before that, but I thought, oh, this looks pretty cool. But I had To. I had to go and, and, and do something. I think I caught most of the episode.
I think I can't remember exactly I had to go and do something, but it stayed in my mind afterwards. I didn't watched the next couple of weeks, but it stayed in my mind.
And then I was in HMV, of all places, and they were selling the Series 1 Eccleston box. It was on offer, I think it was normally 39 or 35 quid. And I had it for 19.99. And I thought, no, it's 14.99. And I thought, oh, do you know what?
I'm gonna pick this up on a whim. You know, I've seen like, you know, 25 minutes of an episode, but I'm gonna pause and put a pin in it for Matt Smith.
t would. It had resurfaced in:Of the redo. And that was it. From there, like you. It just becomes this thing, doesn't it, that grows with you and becomes part of your life and.
And all the rest of it.
Matt:Definitely. I don't think there's a single day, a single day where you don't think about Doctor who in some extent.
Obviously I'm not, you know, thinking of Doctor who every second of every day, but it's always there. It's. It's a constant companion. And yeah, I think especially for myself, I was.
I was just at that right age where all of the things that they bought out, their marketing appeal for series, series one onwards, especially up until the end of Tenants, Tenants Run, quote, unquote, the golden era for attracting viewers and that sort of thing. It was just the merchandise and everything that came with it was just right on the money for my sort of age group.
So you had Argos was full of Doctor who things to circle for Christmas, and you got battles in time and Doctor who adventures and all of these different things and go into things like doing your weekly shop and getting the, you know, the old DVDs, releases of the three or four episodes in the vortexy multicolored DVDs. I beg my mum for forever to take me to Tesco's to go and get one of those. And some of the.
Some of the novels that came out, you know, during the era as well, and it was just. It was everywhere. And I think you just. After you know about it, you can't escape it. It just.
It's one of those things where it was right time, right place for me, and luckily, never ever looked back.
Garry:Oh, nice one, dude. I love that, man. Yeah, I love that. Where, yeah.
Whichever circumstance, whichever, you know, entry point you, you have into, into Doctor who, it's one of those shows where. Because it is different, right?
It is different to most other TV shows in that I think so many Doctor who fans have that feeling of you start watching it as a. Which, like I said, whatever your entry point was, whether you've, Whether you're, you know, an.
, or whether you jumped on in:It's elevated more than just a television show. I, I can't think of a single.
Like you just said, I can't think of a single day that goes past where I'm either not thinking about Doctor who or making content about it, or listening to a soundtrack or watching it or reading it. What. Or listening to Big Finish, whatever.
Every single day, every day of the year, every year, there is something going on in our lives about Doctor who, which is quite incredible, really. And not many TV shows manage that. So.
Matt:Yeah, no, it is. Yeah, it's an entirely different beast, isn't it? Any, really, any other sort of TV show going. I don't think anything's quite had.
You know, you talk about the big players like Star Trek and Star wars and that sort of thing, and yes, they are a massive part of people's lives, but I don't know if it has the same sort of. Every single day that something makes you think of Doctor who.
Like I say, you're not sat there all day, every day thinking, I love Doctor who on repeat sort of thing, but it's just little things, you know, and I'm always getting told to shut up about reference and Doctor who and that sort of thing, and. Yeah, but, yeah, it's always there and it's, it just. I think it just resonates with people on a different level that it's.
It's just this thing that we can all love and you get a sense that because of the way the Doctor is portrayed and the stories are made, that he loves you back, too.
And you get this real perfect connection between you Know the viewer and the show, which I don't think you get with, with many, with many other shows, you know.
Garry:Agreed. Make a good point there, dude. Yeah. Okay. And then lastly, I need you to put on your, your Mystic Meg hat on. Get your crystal ball out.
What, what are your thoughts for the show moving forward, dude, over the next few years?
I think at the moment, you know, especially the, the new story that we've spoken about on the, on this week's episode just highlights the fact that it doesn't feel like it's plain sailing at this moment for, for the show. So what are your thoughts for the next? I don't know. I don't want to pick an arbitrary number but just say five years time, 10 years time.
Where do you think the show's heading and what its future is? Starting with the Christmas special onwards. I guess.
Matt:That'S a tricky one. But I, I think, you know, in my heart I think Dr. Who is still going to be here, still ticking away. It's a weird time for TV shows and films.
This like almost. I don't really want to get into it but like cancel culture and that sort of thing where, where there's no sort of.
That was not a great season, but let's see where it goes. It's like no, I want a great season by sort of thing.
Garry:Yeah.
Matt:Ways. Yeah. Where especially with some of the, with some of the Disney plus stuff like, like some of the Star Wars TV shows. Is it a shoka. Yep, that's it.
I haven't seen it but I know. All I know is that an article came up on my feed saying it had been canceled and it wasn't even given a chance sort of thing.
But yeah, it's such a weird time, but I think it's still going to be the love for Doctor who, it's unlike anything else going really. And I think that helps a lot with, with keeping the show alive.
Obviously the fact that it makes an absolute insane amount of money for everybody involved, it obviously helps. But you know, the love that people and fans have for it is. It obviously plays a massive part and I think it will still be here, still going strong.
What the show looks like in that sort of time, it remains to be seen. I think like personally I'd love to have it 13 episodes, Christmas special, you know, a 12 part series all in the same year. Like it, like it was.
That's dream world. That's never going to happen again. It just can't. Things cost more. The world is a completely different place and it's just not possible these days.
But I do, I, I think as long as we're getting Doctor who in on the telly in any sort of format, I think it's going to keep going, but it might not stay as long.
I think BBC series and television series in the UK at least normally they run for what, six episodes, maybe seven, pushing it, and that's that for the year. So we're really guessing sort of eight, plus another special at Christmas and you know, spin offs.
You're thinking that's still quite a lot of episodes and more than the average. So, yeah, I can't see it going anywhere.
I can still see us, you know, us being grizzled agents ourselves, talking about this show in 10, 15 years time going on about, you know, we what we what we what we're thinking the 80th specials coming up. And I remember when Doctor who was this small little show, you know, it's.
Garry:Now we get a feature length film. The last one was a, was a Christopher Nolan film. And you know, and I know what you mean, dude.
Matt:Yeah, yeah, it's going to go, it's going to go from highs to lows, back to highs. You know, it's always things never consistently stay.
If you've got something that's consistently high, then the only way it can go is down, which, and let's be honest, it was consistently high for a good few years and then it started to decline and that you've got to give it time to raise itself back up again, which I think is doing really well. But it's going to go in ebbs and flows.
But I don't think it's ever going anywhere really, unless something catastrophic happens that you just can't foresee. I, I think, you know, like you say, we could be here for 50 years some more talking about this silly little show that we love.
Garry:Yeah, we probably will be, mate. Yeah, probably will. Hopefully. All righty. So, okay, so some interesting stuff there, mate. So just a huge smile on my face, man.
Just hearing you talk about how he got into Doctor who and those early stories and stuff and more. So the fact that it's just become a part of, part of your life, you know, and I'm exactly in exactly the same boat.
You know, my wife will tolerate me talking about Doctor who to a certain extent. And then I can see her eyes glaze over and, you know, and that's about it.
And fair play to my wife, she's, you know, she'll come with me to, to a Comic Con and she'll she'll muck in and she'll do the whole geek thing, but that only lasts so long. You know, I've only got a finite amount of, of that energy from, from her and stuff. So.
Yeah, I know exactly what you mean with, with, with partners and, and doing all that stuff and then your thoughts on the future as well. So you're very much just firmly in belief that Dr. Is just gonna be around for years and years to come and. Yeah, I read you.
Well, I hope that's the case, dude. I hope you're. And I appreciate your, your positivity as well. It's. It's much greater than my, my, my outlook on it or whatever.
I, I also feel like it will be made for years to, to come. However, I think I've said this on the show a few times. I feel like it should be rested. That's just my, you know. Yeah, that's just my opinion.
r McCoy in the movie up until:Because it feels like a, it feels like they make this, these big, these big things happen in, in each era, but then nothing really happens with it, you know. So with the Chiba stuff, we had the timeless child thing.
I don't know how many times that's been mentioned since that episode all the way through to now to Shoot is here. I can't honestly think of a time where they've made something of that.
And that was, let's be honest, that was like law, law changing, huge retcon thing, you know, and it's, and it's never really been. Been looked into or anything done with it. It was this thing and now it's just that thing, you know.
And then with the Shooty thing and the Tenant thing with the Buy generation and all that stuff, you know, ended up just being, oh, this is another law changing thing. You know, we never knew that this could happen. And then they just resigned. They just resign that Doctor to just have an afternoon tea and that's it.
And then we're on to the races again.
And then I would imagine at some point in Shooter's era, there's going to be another big thing that's revealed about the Doctor or the Gallifrey or something, and then that will just be, you know, left to the, you know.
Matt:Yeah, I don't know if the narrative doesn't go that way. It's sort of swept under the rug.
Garry:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Matt:I think it's.
It's one of those where if I do kind of see where you're coming from with it being rested, obviously I'm biased being, you know, my favorite show in the world, it should never be rest, blah, blah, blah, blah. But for the reasons you just said and that sort of thing, I can, I can see it doing well, being rested for a few years.
Please, for the love of all things, never as long as the wilderness years. Because you'll just find me like sort of on a street corner just crying with my knees up against my chest for just days. Yeah.
In all seriousness, I think if you have a fresh writer, a fresh idea and somewhere bold and new to take this story. Sort of like they did with the timeless child and sort of like they did with the bigeneration.
But like you said, they've not gone anywhere with it and yeah, they haven't. I mean, it needs exploring.
But if somebody was to come in with that sort of bomb shatter, earth shattering and, you know, idea that and then ran with it and explained it and instead of, you know, sort of a cut and run situation, then I'm all for it. And I think that would be as good as a reset or a rest.
Garry:Right, right.
Matt:For the show sort of thing. That's my sort of two. Two pennies on it. But yeah, I see where you dress from with the rest.
Garry:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ah, we could talk about this for hours, my man, and all these things. Yeah.
But I want to say another big thank you to you, mate, for, for taking the time out of your evening. I know these guys are incredibly busy. They have day jobs and families and lives and stuff like that.
So, yeah, it's not always easy just to, at the drop of a hat just say, oh, yeah, I'm going to be free for a couple of hours to do this, so I really appreciate your time, dude. To My pleasure, my absolute pleasure, Garry.
Matt:Yeah, it's absolutely fantastic to be here and yeah, thank you for inviting me.
Garry:No worries, dude.
Our listeners will hear you again soon, I'm pretty sure, because, you know, as co host, Adam is on his travels and for a little bit longer until he sort of settles down, I'll be drafting you guys back on. So you'll hear Matt in future on the round Tables as always. But this is not the last time you'll hear him on the regular weekly show.
So yeah, better or for worse for. For my sins, we'll have him back on. Yeah, but I think we're going to stick a pin in it there dude, for episode 414 already.
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much Big Blue Box listener, for coming back to another week and another episode of the Big Blue box. That was 414.
It's been cool to chat with Matt through some of the stories that are hovering around still in fandom and to dive into his brain a little bit to find out his journey into Doctor who and his thoughts on the future, etc. All good stuff. We could chat for hours man, on this stuff. So yeah, it's been cool to chew the fat on all that stuff.
As I said earlier, make sure you're following or subscribing to the podcast in whatever app or service you listen to your podcasts on. Just do a search for the Big Blue Box podcast. You'll find us on all the big ones and all the rest of them.
That way you won't miss episode when it goes out every Friday and the monthly roundtable episodes as well.
You can also listen over on the website, which is bigblueboxpodcast.co.uk all the episodes are there, plus the reviews and the articles and the merch roundups and everything from this lot over there. So go and check those out as well. We're on the socials too. We waffle about Doctor who over on those as well. There are links on the website.
Come and chat Doctor who with us throughout the week in between the episodes. And we have a really cool free Discord server as well. There's a link on the website. Hop in there.
It takes literally 30 seconds just to pop your deets in and there are so many cool conversations about who happening over there. So hop in and do that as well. Don't forget to remember to subscribe to my usual co host channel over on YouTube. It's the Geeks handbag.
So go and do that. Go and check out Adam's stuff in Indeedy. And dude, I will see you on the round table or the regular episode soon.
So again thank you very much dude, we will see you soon and remember, perfect time.
Matt:Did we just get that bang on?
Garry:I think so mate. Nice.
Matt:Amazing.
