back to article Beeb unveils new Doctor Who logo

The BBC has unveiled the new Doctor Who logo - due to grace the nation's small screens when Matt Smith takes over as the latest incarnation of the Time Lord in 2010. The new Doctor Who logo The Beeb explains that the revamped logo is the 11th to front the sci-fi series and the first overhaul since 2006. Before Smith gets the …

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  1. adrianww
    WTF?

    Is it just me...

    ...or does that new logo really, really, really suck. It's not quite as unspeakably awful as the Olympics 2012 one, but it's still rather dire.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Very meh ...

    Lose the stylised Tardis on the right hand side and it wouldn't look too bad.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    New or Old

    Something about this logo reminds me of the older style logos with the lettering stacked like that, which would seem to tie in with reports that Moffat wants to take the programme back to it's roots. We've seen the TARDIS has been restyled externally, and this logo seems to hark back to a scarier time.

    Personally, I really like it, and it's nice to see it reflects the Doctor and the TARDIS, as the TARDIS is arguably a equal character to the Doctor himself.

  4. Rob Crawford
    Flame

    So when will

    the gay Daleks and bi-curious Cybermen turn up?

    As for the new Emo Doctor I assume we will have a selfharm special

  5. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    @all

    I quite like it actually - harks back to the early 70s.

    Now, if I could just get used to the idea of the Doc regenerating into a 15-year-old...

  6. ben 29

    @adrianww

    IMHO its better than the amber lozenge thing...

  7. John Ridley 1

    My god that's wretched

    It looks like some BBC exec's son drew it in a high school art class using some cheap software. Horrible.

  8. Matthew Smith

    @Is it just me

    It is uninspiring as though someone has just learned how to use the metal sheen effect is Photoshop, but then the current ovoid on just reminds me of the little signs above the cabs of London taxis. So it is better.

  9. Toastan Buttar
    Boffin

    I like it

    The old logo was a bit like a cross between a super-hero logo and Blake's Seven. This new one looks dark and mysterious. Hope they also revamp the theme tune to get rid of the epic strings and make it more like Delia Derbyshire's haunting orginal.

    Mind you, it's good to see the Beeb are playing to the 'dad vote' by putting Karen Gillan in a policewoman's outfit with miniskirt.

    Go on - ask me what's with the 3D glasses ?

  10. Bilgepipe

    RTD

    "Who fans may find the fact that Russell T Davies co-wrote the episode a chilling enough prospect."

    Great, more fart jokes.

  11. Jelliphiish

    wierd

    but that new emo doctor puts me in mind of a very young Keith Floyd.. and as for the logo, meh. what's that font?

  12. paul brain
    Stop

    5 minute photoshop pants

    that is all

  13. Peter Kay

    I quite like it really

    Perhaps it isn't what I'd have chosen personally, but stylised TARDIS - why not?

    At least they're not tempted to change the TARDIS' exterior - always a possibility given that most people who've seen a real police box must be at least 50.

  14. Eponymous Cowherd
    Thumb Down

    Ugh.....

    Looks like it was designed by someone after doing a few Blender tutorials.

  15. Lloyd
    Headmaster

    Erm

    Was it designed as part of a Blue Peter competition? Surely it wasn't designed by a professional designer?

  16. Deckchair
    Alien

    Perhaps...

    Adults can now all refer to the series as "DW" so as not to be mocked at work when discussing it.

  17. William Towle
    Paris Hilton

    Cool!

    "The BBC earlier this year announced that Tennant's final exit will feature the return of John Simm as the Master and former 007 Timothy Dalton - a fact confirmed when a still of the three leaked onto the interwebs".

    I've not seen the new boy in anything so I can't comment on him - but Dalton should be interesting, and I'm definitely looking forward to Simm's return (as good as known from the careful not-saying-anything when fans quizzed the producer and directors ... though you can't beat an official confirmation, of course).

    [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009szrh, if you missed it - and there are still a couple "Eighth Doctor Adventures" and "Beyond the Vortex" specials left to boot].

    // PH icon for the "?", natch.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    @Rob Crawford

    Too late now for the gay Daleks, as RTD will not be writing any more episodes.

    Of course, the leaked photo could be showing Timothy Dalton officiating over the civil partnership between the Doctor and the Master.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Retro

    More retro stuff, along with the retro look Tardis and quite a break from the current style. Lends more weight to certain theories regarding a reboot ;)

  20. Greg J Preece

    Well it's got to be better than the current one

    With all its 13-year-old-learning-Photoshop lens flarey goodness.

  21. jason 7
    Alert

    Yes logo looks familiar to an older version.

    I dont mind it at all. Just hope it didnt cost the usual large 6 figure sum a BBC re-brand usually costs.

    I just hope going forward they stop using the sonic screwdriver so much. It's just become a lazy get-out for sloppy plot writing.

    "Oh we have a problem!" Waves sonic screwdriver at problem. Problem goes away. Plot continues.

    Very poor!

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Russell T Davies

    "may find the fact that Russell T Davies co-wrote the episode a chilling enough prospect"

    So it's not just me who thought that every episode he wrote was absolute shite then?

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So far so m'eh

    Just one request.

    Can they turn the incidental music down from the current setting of 11 and boost the level of the dialogue? I thought my surround sound system had blown up when I tried to listen to DW - then I heard what RTD had written and wished the music could be ever so slightly louder.

  24. ThomH

    @Deckchair

    Will you not still be made fun of for using an abbreviation that contains more syllables than the original?

    Umm, that's assuming you're not discussing it electronically, of course. But if you are, maybe you just shouldn't include the people who you expect to mock you?

  25. Kotonoha
    Go

    The old logos:

    http://www.throup.org.uk/doctor_who.php

  26. Graham Bartlett

    @AC and RTD

    Not absolute shite, but very close to.

    To be fair, he started all right, but the second series went downhill faster than a runaway bobsled. He's actually pretty good at doing characters and conversations. But he can't write plots worth a damn, and he *definitely* should be kept out of arm's reach of a music editor with access to an orchestra and choir (or samples thereof). The problem is that he doesn't seem to realise quite how bad he is at both of those.

  27. g e
    Alien

    Tautological?

    Seems that DOCTOR WHO - DW is a bit redundant. That DW tardis is hugely contrived, I remember having to fit words and letters into the shapes of thing they described in art class when I was about 9.

    Now if they'd done a large more square 'DW' on top of Impact-style tall lettering of

    DOCTOR

    W H O

    as another square region under the DW they'd have a portrait rectangle to pop the tardis light on top of and a much less redundant looking 'logo' which might actually be cooler, emphasises the 'DW' style thingy (after all don't we all called Heroes 'H' and Lost 'L' *ahem*) while retaining the 'doctor who' branding.

    Agree with the blake's seven comments about the current orange almost-star-trek-federation logo though :o)

  28. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    FAIL

    Shame though...

    That the BEEB are slowly allowing this iconic series to sink into the same quaqmire as their other publicly funded shit like Robin Hood and Merlin.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC at 14:17

    No, it isn't just you. I think a lot of people were very grateful when he brought the series back, but then would have preferred him to disappear and leave it to others.

  30. Toastan Buttar
    Thumb Up

    RTD

    You can't slag him off too much - without his tireless campaigning there might not even have been a new Doctor Who to discuss. Besides, I thought the final story of Series 4 was a pretty cool way to bow out as writer.

    But yeah, most of his stuff was pants.

  31. John70

    Russell T Davis

    [The first, The Waters of Mars, also features Lindsay Duncan, and promises "thrills as well as chills* when the Tardis touches down on the Red Planet".

    * Who fans may find the fact that Russell T Davies co-wrote the episode a chilling enough prospect.]

    You mean there is a RTD storey that isnt in Cardiff??

  32. Mark McC
    Coat

    B- : Could try harder

    Replace the DW with the actual TARDIS. Throw in some animation of the police box light spinning round, creating some moody lighting and ominous shadows and it might be OK.

    At least a new logo helps promote a clean break from Russell T Davies and the era of fart jokes. Although having watched the recent Torchwood mini-series Children of Men, he can write a damn good story when he tries (and I despised everything Torchwood before that). Shame he waited until leaving DW before pulling it out of his hat.

    sonic screwdriver, pocket, etc.

  33. richard 69
    FAIL

    is gerbil face still in it?

    always rubbish, still is. by the way - to any grown men on this forum - the series is for 12 year old girls...move on...

  34. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    re: Russell T Davies

    "So it's not just me who thought that every episode he wrote was absolute shite then?"

    It's probably just you. His early stuff was brilliant but when he ran out of ideas it was downhill faster than a dalek on a waterslide.

  35. Stevie

    Bah!

    [4 adrianww ] It's not just you.

    Bo-ring!

  36. The Metal Cod

    When did the series become

    Doctor Who BBC? The series is called Doctor Who. Not Doctor Who BBC. Keep the sodding BBC logo at the end titles thank you very much. Or are the BBC now adding BBC to the title of every programme they make?

    "Now it's time for Crimewatch BBC/Ooglies BBC/Eastenders BBC/Party Political Broadcast by the Labour Party BBC..."

    Yes, the BBC make Doctor Who. We know this. The BBC also made a shitload of good shows during the 1970s that they haven't repeated or released on DVD. Spend the money on that and not this logocrap.

    Back on topic. Much as I love the Peter Howell theme (Peter Davison era) for me the classic theme and logo are the late Jon Pertwee and early Tom Baker theme and diamond logo.

    Some of us remember the abysmal logo and music for the McCoy era. Are we heading down that slipper slope again? I hope not.

  37. Havin_it
    FAIL

    @Deckchair

    Yup, that'll work.

    "Hey, anyone see 'DW' [nudge nudge wink wink] last night?"

    "Yeah, wasn't it great when the Doctor fired his sonic screwdriver at Peter Kay and he farted? LOL etc."

    Could just as easily be discussing The Money Programme, huh?

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    German invasion! DW = Deutsche Welle

    Sorry to have to inform you Brits that the first thing that comes to my American mind when I see the letters "DW" is Deutsche Welle, the international German news outfit.

    German DW news is replayed on CBC (Canadian) radio:

    http://www.cbc.ca/overnight/broadcasters.html

    DW is also available on U.S. television:

    http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4290768,00.html

    Odd that a decidedly British TV show would choose to prominently display such an acronym as its logo. But you don't have to take my word for it; AcronymFinder reports Deutsche Welle as the very first hit for the letters DW:

    http://www.acronymfinder.com/DW.html

    One can only presume that the creators of Dr. Who don't spend much time listening to foreign (particularly German) news broadcasts, and were unaware of the DW = Deutsche Welle connection.

    Oh well, WWII was a long time ago, maybe the British have forgotten by now - yet another "minor footnote" in thousands of years of British history, perhaps?

    - AC because I admit to ignorance/forgetfulness of British history[1], except that I was under the impression that the British don't like both the French *and* the Germans.

    [1] They don't teach much British-specific history/culture here in U.S. public schools, except for facts like how the British burned down the White House (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/09/0920_washingtonwar.html) and suchlike.

    All that aside, Dr. Who is an interesting program, although I haven't really liked any of the Doctors since Tom Baker :)

  39. LaeMi Qian

    @Simon Ward

    "Lose the stylised Tardis on the right hand side and it wouldn't look too bad."

    Was thinking just the same - the text looks great, the stylised 'DW' TARDIS looks like the kind of throw-away marketing pap that the advertising sector would come up with.

  40. Reverend Brown
    Pint

    Ow!

    Maybe I'm alone in this, but it sure looked a lot like Dr. OW to me. Those are some mighty small serifs on that D.

    Beer, 'cause I'll go cry into it now.

  41. Muscleguy
    Boffin

    I agree

    That the Russ Davies stuff was generally poor. Too much magic tech waving to paper over gaping plot holes and far, far too much supernatural stuff like the Devil living in an asteroid, ghosts etc. Someone should have taken him out the back of the studios in Cardiff and told him It Is a Sci Fi show with emphasis on the Sci. Punctuating each syllable with a kick to his balls. Even then it might not have done any good.

    Bring back Christopher Ecclestone too.

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC 15:05

    What you said. Saying that, he'd have been a fantastic co-writer. Churn out interesting characters and scenes, get someone else to actually make them into storylines.

    I'd like to see the return of multi-episode storylines. Cramming in the Doctor saving whole worlds in 45 minutes just leads to lots of Sonic Screwdrivering to get past obstacles. A few nods back to previous Who stories would be quite nice. Landing on Prehistoric Earth as the space freighter from Earthshock flies overhead- and shedding a tear for Adric. Avoiding "classic" cybermen in the London sewer system in 1968- or two types of cybermen in 1986 (a group hiding out to help aim halley's comet from Attack of the Cybermen and some earlier ones from the Tenth Planet that got lost on the way to the 10th planet). A quick visit to Skaro, helping the Thals rebuild after the Daleks have been sealed up- or a trip to Mondas where he helps someone work on a medical procedure (or prevents them being stopped) that eventually forms the basis of the early Cybermen. Maybe even bumping into his first incarnation during the 10th planet and giving himself a heart attack- causing his regeneration!

    apologies for length...

  43. Sarah Davis
    FAIL

    sigh !!

    what idiot decided Dr Who needed a logo.

    It's survived over 30 years without one, AND more importantly it's NOT American so it has never and will never need one.

    It adds nothing positive, but does somehow cheapen.

    Is there anyone out there who would be in anyway confused by not having a logo.

    What a waste of time and money. Whoever proposed the logo should be fined then fired for being a time-wasting uninspired peice of dog-toffee.

  44. Adam White
    Thumb Up

    I like it

    The text is OK but the TardisDW block is superb

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    D.W.?`

    Dora Winifred?

    DarkWing Duck?

    The pink toddler-sized Arthur one thanks.

  46. Sean Timarco Baggaley
    Stop

    Does this mean...

    ... we'll also get a decent title sequence to go with it? The current one looks like it was knocked up in an afternoon by pointing a camera at an old PC running a WinAMP visualisation. Circa 2001.

    Delia Derbyshire's arrangements were also accompanied by equally memorable title sequences right up to 1973. (The more famous 'tunnel' animation was an admitted rip-off of the "stargate" sequence in Kubrick's earlier "2001" movie. Very well done, though.)

  47. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    "What are the mysterious canisters?"

    That'll be the last of the Daleks. Again.

  48. Matthew Smith

    @Anonymous coward

    "and shedding a tear for Adric".

    Oh no. Not ever.

  49. Dave Bell

    What's it for?

    Will it look good on a t-shirt?

    Wide-screen TV?

    I'm not really impressed.

    RTD does let his big plots get out of hand. I'm a little apprehensive about what he might do this time. He gave us the whole Last of the Time Lords thing, which cut off so many possibilities, but at least there was a work-around. He needs somebody else to impose a long term structure: he's a one story at a time man.

    And look how he threw away the Donna problem in the last minutes of an episode. You could have got a whole Special out of that.

    The logo isn't that important. Looking at the guy's history, I'm very hopeful about RTD's successor.

  50. TRT Silver badge
    FAIL

    Oh no.

    Terrible. From a typographic point of view, a crime against the series.

    Blech. They need to go back to the original format too - shorter episodes but more of them in a story. Then we'll see some proper story development rather than "ooh, I'm the doctor and I know what to do." And can we have some stories WITHOUT aliens for a change, e.g. The Romans had the doctor's peril sourced from the barking mad emperor Nero, not some barking mad alien from Glom posing as a Roman Supremo.

  51. FreeTard

    I absolutely love Dr, Who

    Even the wife likes it, and she hates everything I like on the telly, we're just not telly compatible.

    Here's hoping Donna Noble comes back, she was just fab.

    Not super happy with the 15 year old Doctor and "girlfiriend". I'm sure my kids will like them though. A bit too much like twilight for my tastes - bloody useless "vampire" movie.

    All I could hear was the wife and daughter swooning over yer man.

  52. Kurashima

    Well it could be worse

    Actually .... no , it couldnt , if it was designed by a 4yr old with crayons.

    As for the scriptwriting , its been weird seeing Doctor Who storylines rapidly runnning out of steam , and "Dead" characters reborn so quickly when they run out of ideas. Used to be the scriptwriting was ace and the sets were wooden. Now it seems the opposite.

  53. Quirkafleeg
    Badgers

    Yet more logo agreement

    Each half is fine on its own, but I do agree with those who say that the "DW" part should be the actual police box.

    Oh, and the Tardis has been slightly changed over the years: it originally had an extra marking – Maltese cross, or something like that – on the centre panel of the right-hand door (looking at it from outside).

    As for the theme music: something approaching the original or its immediate replacement a bit more than the current version (the ending isn't quite right) would be nice :-)

  54. Sean Timarco Baggaley
    Stop

    In fairness to the BBC...

    ... the image shown in the article is probably a media / press release. For instance, the "DW" logo might be used for icons, book spines and possibly at the end of the credits sequence. (Apparently, the BBC recently introduced some harsh guidelines for those, hence the new theme and US-style rapid scrolling in Season 4.)

    The main "Doctor Who" logo is likely to be the one we see in the opening titles, on BluRay / DVD covers, etc. Anywhere it'll fit without being too dominant. Where it won't fit, the smaller, "DW" icon is likely to be used instead. (E.g. on the spine of the DVD, and possibly near the small print stuff.)

    In other words: It's extremely unlikely *both* will appear at the same time. And certainly not as shown.

  55. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The last one was no better

    A pretty horrible looking logo but so was the before it, and I got used to it. It is actually kind of nice it looks a little like the older series ones.

    Honestly, this show hasn't really been able to hold my attention since Martha left. The last series was pretty bad, and the specials have been ho hum. Before that though, I really enjoyed it most of the time.

    And say what you will about Davis (who I think is one of the series biggest strengths and biggest weaknesses), but this new direction looks even worse thus far. Hope I'm proved wrong. I miss being a Who fan. I'm staying as ignorant as I can about the whole thing, but everything I've seen hasn't left me impressed.

  56. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Harumph !

    The new logo is awful. In fact, the show has descended to such

    dumbed-down depths of late that I'm surprised the Tardis isn't

    made up with the letters DH for Doctor Hoo.

    AND another thing..... How the frickin frick can there *ever* be a last

    surviving member of a race who travel through time fercrissakes!!

    Sheeez !

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