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CS Weekly Archive > DVD > 06/15/07
High Concept Conquers
High Comedy
by jason davis
Doctor Who: New Beginnings
Johnny Byrne and Christopher H. Bidmead
 
 
After a year of sophomoric humor presided over by Douglas Adams (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), Doctor Who's 18th season saw an emphasis on concept-driven stories under the auspices of incoming script editor Christopher H. Bidmead. High-concept stories abound with the Doctor (played by Tom Baker and, later, Peter Davison), a wanderer in time and space, finding himself on a planet devoid of evil and under threat of imminent corruption, a world where mathematics reshape reality, and finally trapped in a story of recursion inspired by an M.C. Escher lithograph. The three stories are generously supplemented with documentaries detailing their origins and execution, and writers Johnny Byrne and Bidmead join cast members on the commentary to detail the writing of their scripts and the challenges of reintroducing the Doctor's long-dormant arch-nemesis the Master (Geoffrey Beavers), as well as the death and rebirth of the Doctor himself as actor Tom Baker hands the reins of the series over to Peter Davison—a new incarnation of the virtually immortal protagonist.
Doctor Who: New Beginnings
BBC Video
Not rated; 292 min.
$49.98
Buy it now
Jason Davis is the DVD Manager for CS Weekly , a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.
Doctor Who: New Beginnings courtesy BBC Video
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