Saward or Cartmel?

Which script editor do you prefer?

Cartmel.

I feel like he believed in the show and the Doctor, in a way Saward simply didn't.

In Cartmel's hands the Doctor came off as a maverick. In Saward's he came off unfit for purpose.

In fairness to Saward, I think he would've been an okay guest writer. But not someone who should've guided the direction of the show.

Bidmead.

Smartarse

Indrid Mercury wrote:Bidmead.

Boring Bidmead.

Indrid Mercury wrote:Bidmead.

Another vote for Bidmead.

Tanmann wrote:Cartmel.

I feel like he believed in the show and the Doctor, in a way Saward simply didn't.

In Cartmel's hands the Doctor came off as a maverick. In Saward's he came off unfit for purpose.

In fairness to Saward, I think he would've been an okay guest writer. But not someone who should've guided the direction of the show.

Cartmel had a clear vision. Nothing really connects any of the Saward era scripts. There doesn't seem to be an overall goal.

The true classics of the Saward era for me were Kinda, Earthshock, Snakedance, Mawdryn Undead, Enlightenment, Frontios, Resurrection of the Daleks, The Two Doctors and Revelation of the Daleks There's also some really good stuff like The Five Doctors,Attack of the Cybermen and even Vervoids. He was script editor for twenty-six stories so there was clearly a problem in terms of consistency. Cartmel was script editor for twelve stories and I consider at least seven of those to be proper classic material.

I think Saward just got demoralized and apathetic more easily than Cartmel did. I don't think he was quite prepared for the job.

I saw Eric in Leeds a few years back. I told him how wonderful he was and how  brilliant his era was. He told me how grateful he was to hear such kind and courteous words. It was only later that I found out that Douglas Adams was actually dead and that I had spoken to some guy called Eric Saward. I'm forever confusing people.

Most of Saward's scripts were great with Resurrection being the only weak one IMO. I always thought he would've been a better script editor for Blake's 7 or at least just the occasional writer for Who.

Indrid Mercury wrote:Most of Saward's scripts were great with Resurrection being the only weak one IMO. I always thought he would've been a better script editor for Blake's 7 or at least just the occasional writer for Who.

Someone told me in 1982 that the fifth series was in production. Is this still the case? I can't find any information about it in the telly guide.

Just comparing them by the seasons: Saward had 19 and 20 which were two of the best and way better than any of Cartmel's. Then, he had two weaker seasons: 21 and 23, and one good season: 22. Cartmel had two weaker seasons: 24-25, and one good season: 26.

Saward wrote a few scripts: he had one I really like a lot in The Visitation, and the others were just ok.

I think Cartmel had this idea that the Doctor was going to turn out to be one of these big figures in Time Lord history like Rassilon and Omega. But we never got to see how it turned out because the bastards at the BBC cancelled the show after season 26.

I think given what was actually made I have to go with Saward, but given what might have been if we had a few more seasons - who knows? But I'll still take Bidmead over both.

Ken Grubshaw wrote:

Indrid Mercury wrote:Most of Saward's scripts were great with Resurrection being the only weak one IMO. I always thought he would've been a better script editor for Blake's 7 or at least just the occasional writer for Who.

Someone told me in 1982 that the fifth series was in production. Is this still the case? I can't find any information about it in the telly guide.

I'll tell ya if you promise to stop sending me KKK propaganda videos in the mail!

Indrid Mercury wrote:Most of Saward's scripts were great with Resurrection being the only weak one IMO. I always thought he would've been a better script editor for Blake's 7 or at least just the occasional writer for Who.

I always feel the problem with Saward is he seemed to want to turn Doctor Who into a Blakes 7-wannabe.

Cartmel. Big ideas, seemed to have no trouble finding new writers, and displayed a bit more professionalism than ol' Eric in developing his lead characters, while Eric decided that both Davison and Colin were miscast so couldn't be bothered to do his job for them. Er...

Cartmel is a very intelligent man. I think he's wrong about The Destroyer costume, though. No NuWho monster has ever looked as striking as that guy:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-22617439/have-80s-doctor-who-special-effects-stood-test-of-time

"We're so outclassed by what they're doing now"

Oh, Andrew.

Oh for heaven's sake...

We forgive him though because he's Andrew Cartmel

it's ironic him talking about the advances of high definition media in an online video where the buffering is so shit.

It's one of those typical "what we did was shit and what they're doing now is awesome" things. I just don't understand it. Surely he knew the limitations of the time?

The Destroyer was one of the best realized villains of the original series and an clear example that the McCoy era was far from the cheap childish pantomime that a lot of fandom make it out to be whilst praising NuWho for being the same thing.

The Ancient One was another great looking monster. They both have a really cool, unique look to them.

There's nothing particularly unique about this lot:

Pepsi Maxil wrote:The Ancient One was another great looking monster. They both have a really cool, unique look to them.

There's nothing particularly unique about this lot:

The Slitheen look bloody awful by comparison. They’re basically the archetypal shit looking “man in a rubber suit” that TruWho was unfairly condemned for allegedly having. NuWho has always been creatively vacuous when compared to any era of TruWho.

Pepsi Maxil wrote:The Ancient One was another great looking monster. They both have a really cool, unique look to them.

There's nothing particularly unique about this lot:

It still baffles me to this day that Aliens of London/World War III didn't see the revival die on its arse.