Doctor Who-Series Ten Revisited: Smile [Fanedit]

SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE AND EDIT FOLLOW:

Smile was a story badly in need of a mystery to go with the exploration…something that the pre-titles unfortunately eroded right from the outset by revealing what the problem was, what was behind it, and the fate of the colonists.

As Moffat once said about unsurprising reveals on the Earthshock DVD, ”if the story was called Robots of Death, it’s whodunnit status was completely compromised”…well, while the title may not give much away here, maybe you should try to make sure the first few minutes of the episode don’t do the same…so out it goes, the first of some rather minimal changes overall to the story.

Yes, I actually like this one despite the lack of a good strong hook for The Doctor and Bill as they build on their relationship and banter. It’s a very nice step-by-step guide to the wonders of The Doctor’s world and there’s your typical moment where a companion learns a harsh truth about where it is that humanity is going. The only other thing at fault with the story that I can’t fix admittedly is the I.T crowd ending.

As it stands, I like the episode so much that there’s not much to edit other than provide a much stronger opening for proceedings…which is supplied by using what was cut from my edit of ”The Pilot”…The Doctor inviting Bill on board the TARDIS. Simple as that.

From there, a few trims repurpose ”Smile”s original pre-titles footage [the parts with The Doctor and Bill anyway] into post-titles footage, and they’re soon on the planet exploring the colony and we build on the now newly instated mystery of what happened to everyone.

For the ending, it’s back to the story arc we begun in the edit of ”The Pilot” involving Bill’s future dwelling, and we learn the fate of one of the new residents…I don’t really know how much of ”Knock, Knock” I’ll be left with once the time comes to wrap this devil up, but we’ll see. Thankfully the footage here is minimal.

Don’t look for any fancy custom next times or end credits this time to reflect the changes…I really, really, can’t be arsed doing all that. I have no time. So we crash after the final scene into the executive producer credits at the very end.

Next week, the more radical changes resume…but I must ask a question made famous by a most animated talk show host of the nineties…are you getting enough OXYGEN?

password to view edit: tardis

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Doctor Who: Series Ten Revisited-The Pilot [Fanedit]

 

And so we have arrived, in two weeks time, in another place, The Doctor WILL fall. What awaits us? More of Moffat’s risk-free resurrections? Will Pudding Brain Joe Public be left scratching their heads in the Timey Whimey wilderness?  Will Simm Simmer down? All this and more will be answered whether we like it or not.

In the meantime, now is as good as ever to start sorting out this particular series. Join me on a journey of rediscovery as I go back in time to try and make this series, weak in many aspects of storytelling and suspense, into something that will hopefully keep people coming back for more week after week.

Starting today, and updated weekly, will be Doctor Who Series Ten as I would have it. A series without unnecessary mystery box teasings, under utilized guest stars, new episodes for Michelle Gomez to chew scenery in, a series with maybe even a few twists and turns in established stories, some stories may even be out of transmission order. So many options as time is rewritten and scenes are re-edited.

 

The following details contain SPOILERS for the series and the edit:

 

 

 

As you’ll find when you open up the first episode…you may find it begins not at The Doctor’s study…but somewhere a lot more distant, both in time and space…on a planet of professional executioners…that’s right, we’re getting the Vault mystery out of the way right off the bat. This is all of the Missy scenes from ”Extremis” repurposed for ”The Pilot”, we cut to the credits just as Missy urges The Doctor to let her live, and from there we find a chap at the door..Bill’s door, as her friends are out house-hunting.

That’s right, the first few minutes of ”Knock Knock” a fun but immensely flawed entry in series ten, pops up in this one too, setting up the events of a future edit, and making a recurring guest star out of David Suchette’s Landlord character.

From there, we cut back to Bill attending The Doctor’s lectures, we don’t need her being formerly introduced to him, all we need to learn is he’s her tutor and that’s it.

While she has selected a new house with her friends, it’s still going to take her a while to move, so don’t worry if you think she’s forgotten about her new digs.

After we pop over to Puddle Lane [god, whoever will get that reference?] after it locates The Pilot, we breifly go back to Doc and Missy before we check in on christmas with the crank and Bill, and from there the episode proceeds as normal until Bill arrives in a panic at the campus. Heather ripping off the Midnight monster and padding out screentime is cut and Bill makes a bee-line for The Doctor’s study.

From there, the only thing left to cut is the trip  to Australia, and then most of the episode is the same, save for the conclusion of the Extremis spots right after The Doctor gives the photos of River Song and Susan a stern telling off. We conclude our edit with footage borrowed from ”Lie of the Land” and then head into next time and the coming soon.

Stay tuned for next week as we put on a brave face and SMILE

password: tardis

[I will eventually remake this edit along with the remainder with the DVD sources when they become available]

New Ducktales Intro With Original Theme

Doctor Who-The Impossible Astronaut [Fanedit]

 

Special thanks to fellow Faneditor contributor TomH1138 for inspiring me to get off my toochie and finish the job I started with the trim of Day of the Moon I put together…this time I’ve decided to merge both parts of the opener of series six together to form a more coherent experience

What’s different? For starters, the pre-title sequence is now the minisode for the opener that came out online before the episode aired, which is a lot more serious and a great hook for the relevant plot points of the story. Why we didn’t get this I don’t know, Moffat thought it was better to have The Doc waltz in on Laurel and Hardy as well as up someone’s skirt. Family show folks.

Next, we skip Doc and River comparing notes in their diaries and head straight to Lake Silencio where The Doctor ”accepts” his ”fate” at the hands of the Astronaut. Following a fairly unedited and smooth trip to the White House, our next big edit comes when The Doctor is confronted by Canton and Nixon. We skip over the cerfuffle that ensues with The Doctor pinned down by security, as I find The Doctor seated in the White House commanding all of the attention seconds after detection much more in-keeping with the character.

Also gone is Amy’s first encounter with The Silence, and with the removal of the Silence killing the obnoxious White House intern. Again, less is more, and what you don’t see leads to a better pay-off with the info-dumping later on.

And then comes the part that  TomH1138  suggested…although he meant it as something to occur in a Day of the Moon-only context, I thought it would be much better if the now THREE Month time skip after Amy shot her own daughter opened with Melody regenerating in the street…adds a whole new and chilling layer to the mother/daughter dynamic. Stuff like that rubs off on an engineered psychopath out to kill good men in their youth you know.

Canton  no longer pretends to chase Doc and company at all ,we get our info dumping, and in a cut I’m particularly proud of, I get Rory to talk about the Silence editing themselves out of conscious memory right after River reminds Canton they met them at the warehouse.

A few light trims here and there omits Amy encountering Melody again later and her capture at the orphanage comes much quicker. Couldn’t entirely omit the Astronaut suit being found at her location, but it still works.

From there, the last edit is a simple cut-off after Doc and River have their first/last kiss.

Edit should be dropping later tonight