No new Doctor Who thread yet?
Then allow me to be the first. :)
Last night's episode was great. I think Freema Agyeman is going to be a brilliant companion. The Mr. Saxon subplot is also intriguing (and is probably going to be this year's Bad Wolf). It's rumoured that
Necros.
Last night's episode was great. I think Freema Agyeman is going to be a brilliant companion. The Mr. Saxon subplot is also intriguing (and is probably going to be this year's Bad Wolf). It's rumoured that
Spoiler:
Necros.
Post edited by Ian Hamilton on
Comments
Fantastically done.
Freema does look like she'll be a good companion.
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
Necros.
The third series is already out in the uk
darn.
It'll come in the fall in the US.
Sci-Fi Channel just cancelled "Stargate SG-1", so "Doctor Who" will be sandwiched between "Heroes" reruns (not that i'm complaining, the show is excellent...and Christopher Eccelston is in it) and some original show called "Eureka".
Sci-Fi channel is OK here. However, ECW is on it.
No April's Fool Joke.
There is wrestling on the Sci-Fi Channel.
Necros.
Oh. Jeesh They renamed it?
Hm. Well we deserve it for the infinite inferior remakes of Fawlty Towers.
- An assistant with no defining personality (but we see lots of her family, of course...)
- the sonic screwdriver used for just about everything
- a new species of aliens with little background or character
- a Deus Ex Machina makes-no-sense problem resolution
- it happened not only on Earth (surely even Davis's limited imagination could stretch to a different planet?), but in Great Britain (again...)
- a black male/white female relationship (well, Davis is nothing (except mediocre) if not cosmopolitan)
- the Doctor is still mooning over Rose (it's supposed to be drama/sciene-fiction), not a sopa opera
- the Doctor lacks compassion (which until Davis came along, was NEVER the case, excepting occasionally the first Doctor, and the sixth Doctor's post-regenerative state)
- the Tardis is still the mad-Victorian-inventor type shakes-when-it-moves-and-looks-rubbish-inside, which has no place on Doctor Who
- the Doctor AGAIN needed to be saved by someone else. Before Davis ruined the series, the Doctor was a master of assessment, improvisation, and survival. Now it's largely luck that keeps him alive.
I'm not necessarily calling the series crap, but it's not Doctor Who. It's like a parady of Doctor Who. And yes, kids love it, but in the hands of writers who actually understand Doctor Who, it could be so much better. Look at the best episodes of Eccleston and Tenant; The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (the "Are you my mummy?" Blitz story), The Girl in the Fireplace, The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, The Unquiet Dead, and even the fatally flawed Father's Day, and all of them are written by writers other than Davis. Yet he's still allowed to write the majority of the episodes. And didn't he write the awful Torchwood, too? I love science fiction, but I stopped watching that after a few episodes. I really doubt that I'd still watch this program, if it wasn't that I love the earlier Doctor Who series (and more especially the 1990-onwards Virgin and BBC books).
I really wish they'd:
- Sack Russell T. Davis, and replace him with someone who understands Doctor Who (i.e. someone who can write a decent ending, who doesn't think that Doctor Who is either a pantomime or a soap opera, and who can create an assistant with some personality),
- Redesign the interior of the Tardis,
- Forget about the Sonic Screwdriver, it was just a lame one liner from the 1970's anyway, and then used a couple more times to quickly unscrew locks,
- Make all stories at least two episodes in length,
- set some stories on different planets,
- bring back old enemies,
- make the Doctor behave the way he used to,
- realise that good special effects don't compensate for bad stories/dialogue/plots.
There's talk of bringing back Blake's 7, but I really hope not. Not if they're going to dumb it down as much as this.
When we first saw one of those guys in the episode and what's-her-name gets bashed aside by him we though "got a cold sore?" :-D
I don’t think I have the stomach for it.
--Raziel (Legend of Kain: Soul Reaver 2)
https://www.youtube.com/user/VincentTSFP
He also found out the REAL reason for Christopher Eccleston's departure and also what Freema's like is real life.
Do I tell here though? ;)
Which bit? The MRI scanner being unplugged or the Judoon sending the hospital back to earth? I don't see why either of those "makes no sense".
The version I saw was set mostly on the Moon.
Why's that a problem?
He sets the situation up for Martha to save him.
Only the first episode.
I think the current interior is gorgeous.
I'm fairly happy with the current balance. Although some stories feel like they'd be better with 60 minutes instead of 45, I don't think many could cope with 90.
To be fair, they have done this - more than I expected, too.
Change is good.
Well we're getting some kind of podcast for Blake's 7, not sure how that's going to turn out.
And make the Doctor behave the way he used to?
One of the reasons the series has lasted is because they introduced regeneration (a way of keeping the Doctor alive in a different form - a damn good idea) - each Doctor has been different, from Hartnell to Troughton to Pertwee to Baker (Tom that is!) - so how can you expect Tennant to behave like another Doctor?
No, The Doctor beiong dead, then somehow coming back to life.
Yes, but firstly (and finally) in Great Britain, and even on the Moon (which was hardly a well thought out distant planet with a working and well defined social structure, such as a better writer might manage), it was still in a British hospital.
Because he does it every bloody time, just to show how "look how cool and modern I am". His first assistant, Rose, had a black boyfriend. The second one (played by that annoying "Do I look bovered?" woman) had a black fiance, and now, his third companion also is conected to a prominent inter-racial relationship that recives air time. Doctor Who isn't about social climates, it doesn't need gay/inter-racial (or any sex-based) relationships, just like it doesn't need "adult" humour.
And you don't call that a Dues Ex Machine? He just happens to be able to transfer his DNA or similiar to her (thereby giving Davis an opportunity for the Doctor to kiss yet another companion, which never happened with any of the old-canon Doctors), and later on she passes it back to him?
Where before in Doctor Who canon is anything like that ever refered to? Davis made it up, as he couldn't think of anything better.
That explains the stereotypical characters, and the stupid background (a top secret organisation, that even the pizza parlours know where to find). All of the episodes I saw were terrible, though.
The original interior was always white for a reason, I always thought. It demonstrated the Doctor's pure nature. Paul McGann's Tardis' interior was interesting, though clustered. But this one just looks terrible, I think, and so do all of the people I've mentioned it to (admittedly not a large demographic of the program's audience ;-) ). And why does it have a Police Box style phone on the inside? Only the outside is supposed to have any Police Box-resemblence, as it's camaflarge for the exterior.
But I can't stand the way the Tardis' interior bucks and shakes when it moves. The Tardis performs far worse for the Doctor than it did with earlier Doctors, when by now the Doctor should be able to control it perfectly (as he did in earlier, pre-Tenant incarnations).
True, but that's down to their lack of contents, which is the writers failing, not the Doctor Who idea.
But what about the Master? The Rani (yummy - Kate Omara :-D ). The Sontarans. Even the Valeyard.
Not necessarily (who prefered Bonnie Langford to Nicola Bryant???)
Oh blimey. My hopes aren't high. Where can I find more details of this, please?
No, not as a carbon copy, but he should have more of the Doctor's defining charateristics. The Doctor was extremely compassionate (more so than most humans on the show, which was one of the program's philosophies, that human's weren't necessarily "good" in a universal sense, and that aliens could potentially be more moral than us), extremely intelligent, and extremely good at improvising (as the Master once said, "the Doctor is at his best when his back is against the wall"). And neither of the two new Doctors (Eccleston and Tenant) have demonstrated much of these three abilities. Yes, they do know lots about aliens, but that's knowledge, not intelligence. And both frequently have had to rely on either luck or a third party to save both them and the world/universe.
Having said that, they have captured the Doctor's eccentric nature, and often his love of life and exploring, but what about in the otherwise superb double parter The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, (one of the very few modern stories good enough to be classed as real Doctor Who, if you ask me), where the Doctor and Rose are trapped in an ordinary room (in the hospital), and they cannot escape. The earlier Doctors used to escape from locked rooms/prisons/deathtraps all of the time, and yet an orinary 1940's locked room could somehow baffle the Doctor? No way. Yet that was what we were expected to believe.
thats what russle t davis slagged off that itv show for, he said it was too white, and they weren't allowed to swear. i think rtd wants to be spike lee or to a lesser extent tarrentino.
Fair enough about the "white" criticism, but then why didn't he introduce a black assistant in Doctor Who when he first had the chance? Instead he chose a white female.
And there shouldn't be swearing on Doctor Who, it's a kids program (though also for adults, like Dangermouse, or the Simpsons).
What ITV program do you mean, by the way?
And thanks for the link, I'll have a look.
the doctor shouldn't swear, in fact swearing should only be used when it has to be, ie if a characters family has just been wiped out by a violence gang, he can't just say, 'blimey'
To be fair, he went half way there with Mickey Smith. Not exactly a companion, but certainly a major recurring character.
Probably Primeval. It's defnitely an ITV attempt to jump on the new Doctor Who bandwagon, that's for sure.
I think the reason for a lack of older monsters is the copyright situation. They are all mostly owned by the writer(s) of the story or the estate of the writer(s) in question so certain monsters could be a copyright nightmare.
I see no problem wiht a black companion. I just wonder why it was never done before.
I'm sure I heard it or read it somewhere before, although I might be wrong.
EDIT: Okay, sorry. Terry Nation didn't solely create Doctor Who...
Terry Nation Career Biog
And the rights question is moot, as it looks like his main creations were the Daleks... Sorry 'bout that :lol:
I'd forgotten about Tate.
But I do quite like the way that Who has just had these relationships without needing to make a big deal about it.
It'd be a dull show if you could only repeat things from earlier stories.
Anyway the point I was making was that it's clear that the Doctor knows what he's doing. He doesn't just get killed and then get lucky that Martha's there to save him - he's engineered the scenario.
Well of course he "made it up"...
(Torchwood)
No argument from me there.
Bringing back the Valeyard would be a terrible idea.
Terry Nation's estate has control over the rights of the Daleks, which is why they nearly didn't appear in the first series - it was a while before they reached an agreement with the BBC.
This has been explained (in "Friends Reunited", IIRC) - he's now so old, seen so much, and just recently been in a major war that wiped out his entire species that his compassion is in short supply.
I like how they've evolved everything - old school Dr Who was unwatchable for me. Now I don't miss an episode.
I don't care if the assistant is black, white or green. I don't care if the Dr. doesn't behave the same way one did 40 years ago. Its a fun show - it's not real.
I saw no evidence of exposed arse-cheeks in that episode. :D
It was a good season opener and introduction to a new companion. Full of fun, action and aliens. Marvellous. I have no doubt there will be darker more serious stories to come - this was not one of them, it was just the opening gambit packing some punch to launch series 3.
Nor do I (did I imply otherwise) - my point was that Davis was simply trying to show political correctness
>But I do quite like the way that Who has just had these relationships without needing to make a big deal about it.
Without making a big deal about it? Rose's episodes were littered with her boyfriend and her mum, to the detriment of the program.
>It'd be a dull show if you could only repeat things from earlier stories.
I didn't say that they should, merely that they should stay true to Doctor Who's roots.
>Anyway the point I was making was that it's clear that the Doctor knows what he's doing. He doesn't just get killed and then get lucky that Martha's there to save him - he's engineered the scenario.
Are you serious? So on the spot the Doctor somehow develops a way to transfer his DNA into Martha, in such a way that later on when (not if, according to you) she gives him the kiss of life, he somehow generates eight pints of blood from nowhere, and restores life (not to mention counters any brain damage caused by lack of oxygen)? Oh, and he knows that all of this will happen before before the oxygen runs out, just like he knows that the aliens will find the plasms-vore and leave the hospital just in time to send it back to Earth?
And yes, the ideas of time travel, a ship bigger on the inside than on the outside, total bodily regeneration to escape death etc are just as unlikely, but they are part of Doctor Who, so we accept them. If in next week's episode the Doctor is revealed to have always been an android, and that he's programmed to sing the Spice Girls' Wannabe everytime someone says "South Hampton", you might accept it as canon, but I certainly won't.
If it was a new TV program, then Davis could write the rules, but since it's not, then he should adhere to them. And not add whatever mindless rubbish he likes, just because the BBC allow it.
>Well of course he "made it up"...
As opposed to made up something better.
>Bringing back the Valeyard would be a terrible idea.
Not if done properly (i.e. by a good writer).
>This has been explained (in "Friends Reunited", IIRC) - he's now so old, seen so much, and just recently been in a major war that wiped out his entire species that his compassion is in short supply.
Yes, but I don't accept that. He was so compassioante that that wouldn't change; the central characteristic of the Doctor was his compassion for all life, even the Master, who anyone else would have been glad to destroy.
>I like how they've evolved everything - old school Dr Who was unwatchable for me. Now I don't miss an episode.
Fair enough. That's probably the difference in out point of views, I'm judging it negatively against the older series', you're judging it positively.
Anyway, I'm glad it's back, even if it's no longer to my taste. And kids seem to love it, so it's good for them anyway.
Lots n lots of 5th Element moments in this series. The Aliens and the Spaceship landing scene in this episode, and the jumping into Metropolis air-cars in a future episode. More to come I expect... Get counting :)
Did he lose all his blood? He didn't look as grey as Dr Stoker. Either the plasmovore was interupted when the Judoon barged in, or he made use of his funky circulatory system. The old series has shown that the Doctor is fairly resilient to low oxygen situations - see Four to Doomsday for example.
I think you misunderstood that part -- the "transfer of DNA" was just some saliva and skin cells left on Martha that caused the alien detector to go off.
The part about giving CPR to resuscitate him -- I'm with JamesW -- did the other alien have enough time to suck out all his blood? Perhaps she's like a spider that paralyzes the victim while doing the deed (not much sign of struggle while the victims were being sucked dry) that looks close to death so that everyone's fooled? But I'm not RusT, just little ol' me.
Write games in C using Z88DK and SP1
I'm assuming you haven't read the Virgin books? The ones that made the BBC realise that there was still beaucoup de cash in Doctor Who (strange how they didn't renew Virgin's licence, opting to publish books themselves)..
In those, SylvDoc becomes extremely dark. And the character doesn't necessarily suffer because of it.
In the novels which followed, there was a major incident which has been mentioned by the current TV series, but it happens in a significantly different fashion. Which means that the Doctor has to fix it the first time round, only for it to happen again..
Given the significance of this "event", I think it's fair to say that no matter how upbeat a character is, having something like this "event" happen not once, but twice and he is present at both is probably going to put a bit of a crimp in your day..
(Sorry for the vagueness of this, but I don't want to spoil the books for anyone... )
Toodle-pip!
Gerard