If you were wondering why a certain Timelord's recent travels through time and space didn't clock up much mileage, its all down to cash flow :
Budget constraints mean the new series of Doctor Who is largely earthbound, says writer Russell T Davies.
What bollocks. Part of the charm of the last twenty odd years of Doctor Who was the wobbly sets and cardboard monsters. Of course back in the day the emphasis was on the writing and you had four or six episodes to get your teeth into. The rebooted Doctor has less than an hour to stumble across an adventure and have it all wrapped up in time for Strictly Come on Graham Norton or whatever follows it.
Davies, who also acts as executive producer of the Doctor Who programmes, admitted the series had become London-centric, despite being produced by BBC Wales. "For your ordinary viewer, it's the default setting," he said. "You've got big vistas and things, and it's good for the image of the programme."
Normally we wouldn’t argue with a show having so much love for London, but Doctor Who should never be anywhere-centric - that's kind of the whole point of him being, you know... a traveler. It was always bitter sweet being a companion with the Doctor in the old days because as soon as you stepped through those blue doors the odds were that you weren't coming home anytime soon (sometimes you just plain died). But recently the TARDIS has been nothing but a handy solution to the congestion charge used to get home in time for supper on the Tyler Estate.
RTD seems to be worried about being mocked for not pulling off an alien in a realistic manner...
However, the writer said he would "love to shoot on the streets of Manchester".
Oh great - have The Doctor outwitting a gang of whippets and a gigantic pie.
Case in point - the TV version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy made on a budget of 55p still stands up today while the mega budget big screen version turned out to be a big pile of embarrassing crap that was unwatchable even once. What BBC Wales needs to do is stop wasting money on crappy computerised effects (that bit when he burst through the mirror on horseback was horrible) and invest in some cardboard and silver spray paint.
Sort out the writing and make us believe.
Or you could siphon off more money into unnecessary spin offs like Torchwood and Sarah Jane's Tweenie Adventure.
