h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Personally I'm hoping to see the Master back, but the Doctor Who fan-request police are out in force putting down any suggestion of the like...

I think that bringing the Master back would be quite tricky for the writers to handle, because in the 1996 TV movie (which was far too American-ised by the way, and was therefore not very good at all) he was more or less killed off by being sucked into the Eye of Harmony (how the hell did that end up in the TARDIS?), and I think he could only be brought back if the writers could think of a plausible explanation as to how he survived the Eye of Harmony.

It's interesting to note that in the 2003 episode broadcast over the Internet, called "Scream of the Shalka," the Master was brought back as a cyborg with the Master's 'life essence' contained inside.

Yeah I thought that was a very clever way to handle it. I actually quite liked the web cast, and particularly how they did the Master - though I prefer the TV series they've now produced. I think actually the way they've managed to "open up" the TARDIS, could go a long way to explaining how they could bring him back.

I think it would need to be something along the lines of the Doctor opens up the Eye of Harmony inside his TARDIS for some reason and doesn't expect the Master to still be alive, and then he looks deeper into the Eye of Harmony and then the Master's emaciated body (hmm, bit of deja vu there!) or his 'life essence' rises up out of the Eye and escapes. Then he comes back maybe one or two stories later, perhaps with a new body (but not another Roger Delgado lookalike!), and starts menacing the Doctor again.

Obviously it would be told more intelligently and precisely than that, I'm just thinking off the top of my head here, but that would be the general idea.

I loved the last series of Doctor Who and was deeply impressed by it. It completely outlived my expectations and really surprised me with how well it had been done. Bring on the next series!

Traditionally he should just pop out from behind a curtain and shout "Tadaaa!!". He did after all survive being gratuitously burnt to death in front of your eyes in Planet of Fire with no explanation at all. Anyway, as we are getting SJS, K9 and the Cybermen this series I reckon we will have had enough dips into continuity for one year.

I think that the writers of the second series of the new Doctor Who are going to have to be very careful with continuity, because that is the real heart of Doctor Who and if a writer ignores the continuity, or changes it slightly, then that can have dramatic consequences for the story they are writing as a whole. This is especially true with races such as the Daleks, the Cybermen, the Ice Warriors, and to a lesser extent the Sontarans.

Take for example the season twenty-two opening story from the old series, "Attack of the Cybermen," featuring the Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) and Peri, with guest companion Lytton and a returning Cyber Controller. That story was a real hotchpotch collection of past continuity, featuring references to "The Tenth Planet," "The Tomb of the Cybermen" and "The Invasion." That story, although visually impressive, did not work entirely successfully because it had too many continuity references going on for viewers to keep up with. Also it was written by a complete novice whose scripts were heavily edited and virtually completely rewritten by script editor Eric Saward.

That's the danger of ignoring continuity. BBC writers of Doctor Who, if you want to know what I'm on about, go watch "Attack of the Cybermen"!

Just incase you were wondering what the continuity references in "Attack of the Cybermen" are that I am referring to in that previous reply, they go as follows:

"The Tenth Planet" - The plan that the Cybermen come up with in "Attack of the Cybermen" is to steal a time vessel from another race so that they can crash Halley's comet into the Earth before the destruction of their home planet Mondas in 1986. The references to "The Tenth Planet" here are Mondas and the Cybermen's attempts to prevent the destruction of their home world in 1986 by invading Earth.

"The Tomb of the Cybermen" - On the icy planet of Telos, which the Cybermen occupied after the destruction of Mondas, they built huge underground tombs carved out of the ice, in which they stored themselves once their supplies had been depleted (thanks to the Doctor's interference in "The Moonbase"). In "Attack of the Cybermen," these tombs reappear and eventually get blown up along with the Cybermen themselves.

"The Invasion" - The Cybermen invaded London sometime around the 1970s and were eventually destroyed by the newly-formed UNIT organisation, along with the help of the Doctor of course. In that story, the Cybermen entered the streets of London through the sewers, rising up out of manhole covers in force. In "Attack of the Cybermen," you also have a black-painted Cyberman lurking in the sewers, only to be destroyed by the Doctor using a small red stick that apparently gave out an intense amount of heat, strong enough to melt the Cyberman's inner organs when it was embedded in his chest panel.

There are other references to Doctor Who in that story of course, and they are 76 Totter's Lane ("100,000 BC") and Lytton ("Resurrection of the Daleks").

No more continuity! K9, Sarah and cybermen are quite enough.

Continuity is not the heart of the programme, good story-telling is.

I'm with KA there... the continuity of Doctor Who is ropey at the best of times.

What was it Robert Holmes said? "It's about telling stories. Nothing else matters."

But the continuity cannot be denied.

maybe K9 mark 3: the rustbot, will be replaced by K9 mark 4: CGI Mutt!!!!

and as far as continuity is concerned, it is very important. however, it could be argued that the timeline has been majorly changed due to the eradication of the daleks and the timelords.

Thank you Spook! It's nice to know I've got at least one friend out there who agrees with me! And I think you're right, now the Daleks and the Time Lords have been eliminated, what will happen with the continuity? I bet the Cybermen will have been involved in the Time War somehow. I hope Russell T. Davies doesn't overstretch that idea by having every single major alien race involved in the Time War.

Actually, the movie was too English in tone. See my entry on the Wilderness Years!!
SBE

Who cares how many touches to the past there are? If it makes a good story, who cares?

But it's those "touches to the past" that make Doctor Who what it is!