
Good news, nerds. (I think?) Your beloved Doctor Who television show is set to become a movie from Harry Potter director David Yates. Though according to Yates, it won’t follow the storyline from the TV series. Hopefully that means no British people. EEK, ACCENTS ARE SCARY!
Yates, who directed the last four Potter films, told Daily Variety that he is about to start work on developing a “Doctor Who” movie with Jane Tranter, BBC Worldwide’s L.A.-based exec VP of programming and production.
“We’re looking at writers now. We’re going to spend two to three years to get it right,” he said. “It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena.”
“Doctor Who” follows the adventures across space and time of a super-intelligent alien in human form, who battles a variety of cosmic bad guys aided by plucky human companions.
“The notion of the time-travelling Time Lord is such a strong one, because you can express story and drama in any dimension or time,” Yates said.
The series ran from 1963 to 1989, and then was successfully rebooted in 2005 by writer Russell T. Davies and subsequently by Steven Moffat (“The Adventures of Tintin”). Tranter oversaw the revival when she was the BBC’s drama topper in London.
Yates made clear that his movie adaptation would not follow on from the current TV series, but would take a completely fresh approach to the material.
“Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch,” he said.
Yates and Tranter are looking for writers on both sides of the Atlantic.
“We want a British sensibility, but having said that, Steve Kloves wrote the Potter films and captured that British sensibility perfectly, so we are looking at American writers too,” he explained. [Variety]
I’ll probably end up in a Warcraft dungeon with a Bat’leth up my ass for saying this, but I tried to watch Dr. Who once on a plane and I was just confused (also, British TV has a way of looking like it was filmed on a cell phone in a dingy office building). But seeing as how it involves time travel, I’m holding out hope that there will be velociraptors.
“Oh, ‘ello, guv. Top a da mornin’ to ya. Say ol’ chap, did you ‘appen ta catch oo won lahst noight’s cricket match onda footy pitch– OH GOD NO!”
(*elevator arrives at your floor, filled with dead Englishmen and velociraptors*)



My goodness, the British bone* in me is getting tickled with all this news today.
*slang for half-digested crumpets
Brace for nerd-rage.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Da ‘Stafe as Dr. Who or GTFO*
*Great, Thanks For ‘Oll that!
Would the intense Britishness cancel out the sci-fi and make this Oscar bait?
I can’t think of a worse movie idea, except maybe a Hallmark Original about Jerry Sandusky titled “The Kid Diddler”.
I’m as big a nerd as they come and I can say that Dr Who has never interested me in the slightest. About the only thing I can get behind is that red head that is on the newest series.
I’m British and I fail to see how Harry Potter captured the British sensibility. I have never sat in a banquet hall in my life. Let alone opposite three gingers.
Whom.
To completely distance themselves from the TV show, they should spend more than $6 on the dildo monster looking things that are supposed to be scary.
Doctor Who’s on first?
This could be anotherSerenity/Firefly if they have use the TV cast: no bad thing. Starting from scratch sounds unnecessary although it could mean there are no gays involved this time. AS IF!. *laughs like Vizzini. keels over*
God, this is worse than a UNC game.
Bat’leth up my ass
Guy’cha! That’s not where they go! You are really bad at armed combat, Lince.
*******************
Truth be told, there have been pseudo-movies for Dr. Who before and they are basically just…uninteresting. The Mighty Feklahr is not saying it is impossible to adapt the Doctor to the big screen, just that it is kind of impractical and wholly unnecessary.
One can enjoy Dr. Who a billion times more by watching it episode by episode as sort of a “serial” on Netflix, so why bother dropping money at a theater for a “might be ok”? They will get the diehards to go, but it is hard to imagine many casual movie-goers becoming interested.
Do not move.
DO NOT MOVE.
Vince has Dr. Who news.
DO NOT MOVE.
And He sticks the nerd landing! *Ghyslain Rhaza stumble*
[www.youtube.com]
This sounds Englisher than Benedict Cumberbatch spilling tea on his ginormous scarf.
I am, however, a fan of Dr. The Who.
“Is my tumor malignant?”
“YEEEAHHHHHH!!”
More like Dr. Who Greenlit This Fucking Thing?
*gets pelted with scones*
You’re worse than a UNC game.
The last time we let a brit do time travel we ended up with a giant glowing head chasing a bunch of midgets who stole his map. Coincidentally I think that is the plot of a new Snow White reboot.
Do you hear that? That is the sound of a million Whovians crying. Also, the sound of Dr Who revving up the motorcycle for the big shark jump.
Is it wrong that I want to see them give this movie the Akira treatment and piss off all the Whovians by miscasting the shit outta it? Just put C-Tates in nothing but a tweed speedo and bow tie and give him a big gun that shoots explosions. Also, he time travels by doing windmills at 88 miles per hour. USA USA!