The [very cool] doctor who thread

[Homercidal]

I'm holding off my judgement until I see the show with him as The Doctor. I think Matt Smith has proven you can put almost anyone in as the Doctor and still have a great show...

 

[mcspanner]

I'm holding off my judgement until I see the show with him as The Doctor. I think Matt Smith has proven you can put almost anyone in as the Doctor and still have a great show...

Sylvester McCoy was the exception to prove that rule IMO.

He's a great actor although DW is somewhat different to one of his best known roles as Machiavellian director of communications Malcom Tucker in the satire The thick of it. He will probably get to swear less in DW lol

 

[Beernik]

I'm still hoping that the New Doctor + New Companion = Less Romantic Comedy. Moffat is great at writing romantic comedy (Coupling was brilliant) but it isn't what I want from Doctor Who.

 

[stratslinger]

Folks, there's no new companion just yet, just a new Doctor. Clara's gonna be with us for at least another season.

And, while there was at times been a tension between Smith's doctor and Amy Pond, I don't think there was ever really anything I'd call a romantic comedy after Rose left the show. I think the writers learned that sort of thing doesn't really belong in the show. And I think it's less likely between Clara and the new Doctor than it ever was with Smith.

 

[Homercidal]

FWIW I really enjoyed the romance between Rose and The 10th Doctor. To show true humanity, which the Doctor professes to be fond of, you must include human nature, which is also love.

 

[stratslinger]

You know, I dug the story line at the time, and I love everything Tenant did. But, at the same time, I really like stories that play up the alien nature of the Doctor. I think Tenant's Doctor, especially towards the end of his run, got a little bit too human, and Smith's has always been very playfully alien. I think the new Doctor has the potential to be a much more serious character, and I hope the writers find a way to further empahsize his alien nature... But I'm not sure how that will play out.

Look at Tom Baker, for instance, who's widely regarded as one of the best Doctors of the bunch. In his appearance, in his speech, in just how he carried himself, in his smile (oh that smile!), the man was utterly alien, but still somehow relatable.

I'm not quite sure how the new Doctor, if they do go for a more serious turn, would "measure up" to previous Doctors. By all accounts, the actor is a wonderful one, and should do an amazing job with whatever's handed to them (dang, just almost screwed up my pronouns!), but I'm not sure if the actor would be believable if the writers continued along the lines of a sillier Doctor. I just can't picture, for example, this particular actor, ever uttering the term "Timey-wimey" in anything but a derisive tone. But we'll see.

And I almost hate myself for this - but I as we were watching the special the other night, and I was realizing how much of a spectacle the BBC had made out of the announcement of the new Doctor, I turned to my wife and said "I really hope that, after 50 years, this show didn't just go and jump the shark... again."

 

[Beernik]

By new companion, I mean not Amy & Rory.

IMO Amy & Rory thing was all about bringing romantic comedy and romantic tragedy to the show. I found Series 6 to be quite draining. I thought their final episode in Series 7 was better than anything in Season 6, except perhaps Gaiman's episode.

The Doctor - Martha thing and Doctor - Rose thing i thought were more mentor - infatuated student. The Doctor - Rose thing didn't really come to the front until she was exiting from the show as a regular.

 

[Homercidal]

I thought Tennant's turn was ending when he started getting a little too less human. I've always assumed the companions were there to help keep him human, and when he starts losing it he regenerates with a fresh attitude. It would be very easy to start thinking of yourself as a God with his abilities. I don't think he travels with humans almost exclusively because he's lonely.

 

[brewmcq]

FWIW I really enjoyed the romance between Rose and The 10th Doctor. To show true humanity, which the Doctor professes to be fond of, you must include human nature, which is also love.

I don't think they were showing his "humanity"... I think they were showing him getting taken out at the knees... Moffat is pretty brutal on Doctors.

 

[Homercidal]

He's no George R. R. Martin...

 

[brewmcq]

This makes me a little giddy..

 

[motobrewer]

This makes me a little giddy..

Holy f--k.

 

[Homercidal]

So this picture shows characters stranded in Hell with the TARDIS demolished in the sky above??

 

[Beernik]

Had my wife's family over for dinner tonight. Which means coffee was served with dessert. Which means its after midnight and I'm freaking wired.

So I'm watching The Doctors Revisited - The 8th Doctor - aka The Doctor Who TV Movie. This must be the 3rd or 4th time I have watched it. And if anything can help me get to sleep faster, it's this.

You ever notice how nobody disputes that's its cannon, but nobody ever talks about it. You never come across any 8th Doctor fans. Nobody ever says, "Paul McGann was a great Doctor. It was wrong to cancel the 1997 TV series before it went into production."

 

[stratslinger]

Really? That was only the second time I've seen it, and I kind of liked it. Granted, for most of the movie he's in his post-regeneration state of confusion, so you don't entirely get a feel for his character - but I always felt like there was just enough there that I was curious to see more. Well, except for all the "kissing his potential companion" (at least, that early in their relationship) and "he's half human on his mother's side" stuff...

One thing I did wonder though - did they re-master some of the soundtrack to bring it more in line with modern Who? I honestly can't remember from the first time watching it if the soundtrack was like that or not, but it seemed VERY similar to what we hear today.

 

[Beernik]

I watched it when it aired back in 1996. This was after I had spent a few years watching most of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Doctors on PBS. They would broadcast an entire 4 or 5 part story late on Saturday nights.

So when I watched it, I was like "the Master has green eyes and spits slime?" "The Doctor is half human?" "The Doctor is kissing his companion?"

I have watched on video once and on Netflix once in addition to the re-airing this week. Both of those times I had forgotten I had already seen it until I was 30 minutes into it.

When I aired in 1996, I guess it did well in the UK but flopped in the US.

 

[brewmcq]

I'm gonna have to watch it.. I never did see it.

And in other news... the trailer for the 50th is supposed to be released this weekend. And I understand that it's been revealed that the Eleventh Doctor will find regeneration a "frightening" experience...

Of course, Moffat lies.. lol

 

[ACbrewer]

Had my wife's family over for dinner tonight. Which means coffee was served with dessert. Which means its after midnight and I'm freaking wired.

So I'm watching The Doctors Revisited - The 8th Doctor - aka The Doctor Who TV Movie. This must be the 3rd or 4th time I have watched it. And if anything can help me get to sleep faster, it's this.

You ever notice how nobody disputes that's its cannon, but nobody ever talks about it. You never come across any 8th Doctor fans. Nobody ever says, "Paul McGann was a great Doctor. It was wrong to cancel the 1997 TV series before it went into production."

I watched the movie when it first came out, I even VCR'd it at the time, and never watched the tape. Any how the problem imo wasn't teh Dr, but the writers. A brillent idea,"we will take to Fox an old BBC show that is sci-fi has a reasonable American fan base, and rewrite it enough to make more sense to americans, how can this go wrong?" :smack:
I'd counter that the tv-executives don't know the audience they wanted to reach. Notice when Doctor Who came back, it came back as all British, not some Hybrid. And it is good.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I watched the movie when it first came out, I even VCR'd it at the time, and never watched the tape. Any how the problem imo wasn't teh Dr, but the writers. A brillent idea,"we will take to Fox an old BBC show that is sci-fi has a reasonable American fan base, and rewrite it enough to make more sense to americans, how can this go wrong?" :smack:
I'd counter that the tv-executives don't know the audience they wanted to reach. Notice when Doctor Who came back, it came back as all British, not some Hybrid. And it is good.

TV execs don't give viewers any credit for having imagination shocker!!

 

[Beernik]

I watched it again partway through because my daughter was interested in it. Three things I noticed the second time through:
1) Moffat addresses the kiss
2) Moffat doesn't address the half-human thing
3) for Doctor's 1 - 7, the TARDIS tends to be futuristic. For Doctors 8 - present, the TARDIS tends to be steam punk. Also, I don't think the little messaging TARDIS TV screens were in the TARDIS sets before the 8th Doctor.

 

[DromJohn]

I'll say it.
Paul McGann was a great Doctor. It was wrong to cancel the show after the pilot.

 

[brewmcq]

So.. two weeks before the 50th. Can't believe it's coming up so quickly.

Anyone else excited?

Anyone else like me without cable or satellite TV wondering how the hell you're going to watch it? lol

 

[motobrewer]

I'm pissed.

that's on opening day.

i won't get to watch it until probably thanksgiving.

 

[mcspanner]

They're showing it simultaneously in selected Uk cinemas in 3D.

Guess who's got tickets? :-D

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Anyone else like me without cable or satellite TV wondering how the hell you're going to watch it? lol

The Hola plug-in for Firefox. You can watch region restricted live TV. It will be on BBC's iplayer live.

Edit: Guys, anyone using Hola, I recommend QI. It's a humorous faux quiz show with Stephen Fry......Gotta love Stephen Fry!

 

[stratslinger]

They're also showing the 50th simultaneously in very select theaters in the US, then in more two nights later... Of course, it looks like I'm also going to a football game that weekend, so my time is kind of tapped out to make it down to NYC for the simultaneous showing, but maybe I'll make one of the local showings on Monday night.

 

[DromJohn]

Gotta love Stephen Fry!

I recommend "Kingdom."
To keep this post on topic, I especially recommend episode 3.2.
I saw it on Netflix streaming.

 

[Punity]

I took the day off from work to watch, wife is planning a whole Dr.Who themed spread of deliciousness with tasty beverages. Cant wait was late to finish this last season and have been itching for my fix.

 

[CCBrewer]

FYI I am a doctor Who Fan, and have almost every episode made, I believe there were some lost in a fire at bbc.

 

[brewmcq]

FYI I am a doctor Who Fan, and have almost every episode made, I believe there were some lost in a fire at bbc.

They just found some lost episodes in Nigeria.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24467337


SWMBO and I are re-watching Series 7... Episode 5 is still devastatingly heart-wrenching.