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Open to changing the thread title, especially once the "new" feeling of the new forum goes away.
Anyway, talk about Doctor Who here! I'm currently watching the entire series in order from 1963 onward, one episode per day. I started over a year ago and am halfway through the 4th Doctor's first season! There's a lot of Doctor Who lol. It's here, if you're curious.
And I recently got inducted into the cult of New Who by my girlfriend; we're doing a re-watch for her and first watch for me. Started with Eccleston, got through all of Tennant, and we're currently a few episodes into Smith, having just got to the return of the Angels and River Song.
And I recently got inducted into the cult of New Who by my girlfriend; we're doing a re-watch for her and first watch for me. Started with Eccleston, got through all of Tennant, and we're currently a few episodes into Smith, having just got to the return of the Angels and River Song.
Post your thoughts as you go, if you like! I always enjoy reading what people about individual episodes. As I went through the series, I went back and read the old posts about episodes as they aired.
Eccleston was my first Doctor, and I was bummed out when he only lasted one season. Several Doctors later, and even though I've settled on Tennant as *my* Doctor, Eccleston's energy for the role remains unmatched.
Post your thoughts as you go, if you like! I always enjoy reading what people about individual episodes. As I went through the series, I went back and read the old posts about episodes as they aired.
Well okay. I just watched "Vincent and the Doctor", which I kind of already knew about, especially the touching bit at the end, because literally everyone loves the touching bit at the end so I've seen it referenced all over the place. It was indeed touching! Bill Nighy was a fun cameo, and the guy playing Van Gogh was great.
Let's see, before that was "Cold Blood", and it's always fun when they're obviously putting some spin on a race seen in the old show to explain the difference in effects - at least I'm assuming that's what the masks on the reptile-people race are about. Speaking of effects, they're actually kind of pretty decent by this point? Which is a new development in BBC SF I've watched. I assume the whole Rory being erased from existence thing we'll be coming back to fairly soon, as I'm pretty sure I've seen clips of him that I haven't got to yet...
Before that, "Amy's Choice" was a bit of an odd one. It's obvious to viewers which "dream" has to be the right choice, since only one is plausible for this point in the overall plot (nevermind the final twist). Still, it mostly exists to be a character interaction piece, and that succeeded well enough.
"The Vampires of Venice" was pretty silly. Which is not a criticism.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this is about the point at which I've become totally accustomed to Matt Smith as really being The Doctor (though obviously I'm not making any personal fave calls as I've still seen way more of Tennant than anyone else yet).
Here I am! I'm hoping to be a more active participant in this thread this time around, as my wife and I are both in love with Doctor Who, and have hot takes.
We're also currently going back through New Who, second time for both of us. We're up to Season 7, part 2, having just finished "Cold War". I'll hold back on giving impressions of where we're at, so Kirin can catch up a bit. I also need to mull over what we've watched so I can form a decent post.
I will say, rewatching New Who has given me a renewed interest in trying the Big Finish side of things, but....there's just so much of it, and they cost a bit of money! To think there's all these Doctor Who stories I've never touched, just waiting to be discovered. As a guy with not a lot of audio drama time and money, are there any recommended standout stories I could jump into?
Sometime last year my mom got interested in Matt Smith through his role in The Crown, and asked me to show her a DW episode he was in. I picked Vincent and the Doctor because I thought it'd be relatively easy to follow and has a real emotional heart to it. She really liked it! I also showed her Blink way back in the day when I was going through the Tenth Doctor's run for the first time, and it made a real impression on her; to this day she'll sometimes reference the Weeping Angels if there's a creepy statue or something similar in a movie she watches.
I've been into Doctor Who since the days of the Fifth Doctor, fell off it again when Six came around, then properly got into it after the double whammy of seeing the Doctor Who play "The Ultimate Adventure" with Jon Pertwee and the arrival of the Seventh Doctor. Which translates to "God I'm old"
Eight came around and I hated it, and finally the glorious rebirth. The great thing about Doctor Who is it constantly reinvents itself. It can do anything. Preferably something insane that nobody else in their right minds would try...
I will say, rewatching New Who has given me a renewed interest in trying the Big Finish side of things, but....there's just so much of it, and they cost a bit of money! To think there's all these Doctor Who stories I've never touched, just waiting to be discovered. As a guy with not a lot of audio drama time and money, are there any recommended standout stories I could jump into?
I'd go for some of the older ones, if you're just looking for quality - although doing that means you won't get any New Who Doctors, none of which have stories that stand out to me as must listen anyway. Granted, I haven't heard them all, but I can tell you to avoid the John Hurt stuff - he's a great actor but the scripts he got were terrible. As for the old stuff - Spare Parts, Chimes of Midnight, and Scherzo are all favorites of mine. I also absolutely adore Damaged Goods, which is a 7th Doctor story adapted from a book Russell T Davies wrote in the 90s. I'd almost recommend that one first, as it's my favorite audio story.
Sometime last year my mom got interested in Matt Smith through his role in The Crown, and asked me to show her a DW episode he was in. I picked Vincent and the Doctor because I thought it'd be relatively easy to follow and has a real emotional heart to it. She really liked it! I also showed her Blink way back in the day when I was going through the Tenth Doctor's run for the first time, and it made a real impression on her; to this day she'll sometimes reference the Weeping Angels if there's a creepy statue or something similar in a movie she watches.
I haven't really watched the Crown, but my wife has, and every time Matt Smith was on screen, I marveled at the sheer Matt Smithiness of him. The man can act, but he has such a peculiar gait that I couldn't help but see the 11th Doctor all the time.
I've been into Doctor Who since the days of the Fifth Doctor, fell off it again when Six came around, then properly got into it after the double whammy of seeing the Doctor Who play "The Ultimate Adventure" with Jon Pertwee and the arrival of the Seventh Doctor. Which translates to "God I'm old"
Eight came around and I hated it, and finally the glorious rebirth. The great thing about Doctor Who is it constantly reinvents itself. It can do anything. Preferably something insane that nobody else in their right minds would try...
I'm still jealous you got to see "The Ultimate Adventure." Pertwee is far from my favorite Doctor, but I wish all those old guys would have lived longer. So cool.
The line that really stuck with me was the Daleks (shockingly) got into the TARDIS and wrecked the control console, and Pertwee with trademark exasperation semi-turned to the audience and said "it's amazing the damage you can do with an egg whisk and a sink plunger".
They had lots of amazing (in the 80's anyway) laser effects
Edit: As Kazin said, listen to Spare Parts! I need to get into Big Finish and it's the only one I've listened to, but it's really very good indeed. I'll take your recommendations on too, Kazin.
The line that really stuck with me was the Daleks (shockingly) got into the TARDIS and wrecked the control console, and Pertwee with trademark exasperation semi-turned to the audience and said "it's amazing the damage you can do with an egg whisk and a sink plunger".
They had lots of amazing (in the 80's anyway) laser effects
Something tells me Pertwee had a blast doing that play, lol.
Also, a Big Finish recommendation for the 6th Doctor - Jubilee. It's what the 9th Doctor episode "Dalek" was based on, though loosely - Jubilee is it's own thing, really, and excellent in its own right. Colin Baker, it turns out, at least during the first few years of Big Finish, was the best Doctor on audio in terms of being consistently good.
It helps that Colin Baker is an absolutely wonderful person IRL. Met him at a convention a few years ago and he was both entertaining during his panel and vocally supportive of the (then newly cast) Jodie Whittaker. Like, he brought the casting of a woman up, not a member of the audience, during the Q&A. He also made fun of/complained about Trump. I adore him.
Just watched the first Matt Smith season finale, The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang. That was fun! It was very intent on being continually *twisty*, but that just meant that even though I saw a lot of the twists coming there were always some other ones I didn't as well. Also that might be the most, well, thorough cliffhanger I've ever seen. Anyway, a good season capper.
And then I had to figure out where to buy the next Xmas special (apparently in a whole "season" pack of Xmas specials, as opposed to the Tennant Xmas ones which *aren't* in that pack and I think were just tacked on to seasons. Except his final set of five non-Xmas specials which was it's own whole other package. Buying Dr. Who is weird.)
Speaking of buying, has there been any other Amazon Prime promotion lately? During the first couple of months of pandemic lockdown, they'd drop the price of particular episodes to $0.00 to promote semi-official watch parties, but I only remember two or three of them and haven't seen any more watch parties recently.
282 Points, 10 Lists, #1 Alex, Daikaiju, Kirin and Johnny Unusual
Source: Doctor Who
Traveler-Type: Explorer
Method of Transport: The TARDIS
The Doctor is an alien from Gallifrey, a member of the elite class known as Time Lords, as the ruling class holds dominion over time due to their powerful time travel and manipulation technology. The Doctor (real name unknown) left for reasons that remain murky, though it is known he was not a fan of Time Lord society and is considered somewhat of an eccentric. To do so, he stole a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimensions in Space), a powerful machine that allows him to travel in time and space, along with his granddaughter Susan. Over time, in his wanderings he would meet many humans and have many adventures, growing as a person. He went from runaway from his own people to one of the most notable individuals in the universe, having saved people, planets and even the universe on multiple occasions. However, while he will face evil as it comes, he is primarily interested in wandering for the sake of adventure and the love of meeting new people and places.
There’s only one constant in Doctor Who and that is change. Despite being the title character, Doctor Who really began as more of an ensemble show with the Doctor, Susan and her kidnapped school teachers Barbara and Ian. The show was cheap but ambitious, sending the cast into both sci-fi and historical adventures (the latter of which is almost now merged with the former). The cast would split up, have their own adventures and regroup for the finale. The show was so popular that the cast changes couldn’t end it. But then the elderly lead was getting to the point where the show was too hard for him to do. He was forgetting lines (which due to how the show was quickly film, can be seen within the show as aired) and it was clear he could not do it. Though never overtly said early on, it was strongly hinted the Doctor was not human and with that idea, the creators decided the show not need end with Hartnell’s exit. Instead, after a final farewell, the character died of the exhaustion of his frail body following a harrowing adventure, only to transform into a different actor. It was a very simple, practical fix that would inadvertently create an immortal franchise.
Hartnell played the Doctor as irascible, curious and pragmatic but with a sense of justice as the series went on the other actors weren’t only playing the same character, they were playing VERSIONS of the same character. There are consistencies. As the series bible states “Never cowardly, never cruel”. Usually eccentric. A love of exploring. But he could also be aristocratic (Doctors 3 and 5), an earthy tramp-like wanderer (2 and 4), a real asshole (6 and 12), gentle of soul (5 and 13), a Machiavellian schemer (7), a lonely romantic (10) and whatever the actor and writers can bring to the character. The show can endlessly reinvent its tone. And yet despite HOW varied the Doctor character could be, it always felt like you would believe this was the same character. His deaths were often tragic and heroic but also despite the fact you know he’d be reborn, it could still be sad because it would be a real death of a sense.
And it’s telling that only one person who voted for the Doctor voted for a specific one. Obviously, I imagine people where trying to spare me a headache and God bless them for that but I also think that each subsequent Doctor felt like part of this larger character continuum, no matter how different the new one might be (often the new Doctors felt like reactions to the previous). Heck, one of the joys is the rare occasions when the Doctor would meet himself. That’s always when even the nicest Doctor seems to be his catty-est.
But as much change as there is to the character, what is key is no matter how the character is in any incarnation, there is a love of exploration and discovery. The character initially makes references to experiments and such but like how Tintin is a reporter we never see writing, the Doctor’s scientist elements only appear when it is time to problem solve. If anything the character begins on the run but even then there’s a sense he just wants to find new places. He’s not looking the dole out justice and save people most of the time, it just tends to turn out that way when evil is interrupting his permanent vacation.
He’s also someone who loves people and humans in particular, even when he can be a bit harsh on them. He has taken a special interest in Earth (which is why half of the episodes are set there) and sees them as people who have many flaws but fight tooth and nail to overcome them. Even his more anti-social versions tend to want to believe in what humans can accomplish not just in terms of technology but following their better angels.
The Doctor’s characterization, in a macro-sense, is born out of necessity, not a grand plan. Just a little strategy to get another season of a popular show in that became something bigger. It allowed actors to take the Doctor in different directions. A silly adventure show that just wanted to have a bit of edu-tainment value became something more as this alien hero allowed us to explore a multitude of ideas but kept coming back to the same ones. Empathy. Peace. Kindness. Wisdom. Granted, these are virtues that are far from rare in any lead character (except ones played by Sylvester Stallone). But with a series of great actors and some great writing, the character became this bigger than life touchstone. Doctor Who isn’t a power fantasy, for the most part. At least not power over other people. But it’s a dream to be freed from the restrictions of time and space and connect with any time, any place, any person and be able to make it better (usually) by being there. Which will actually be bringing us to #3 (momentarily).
The Sixth Doctor was a character with potential marred in execution. I find Doctors are generally a response to the previous one in characterization and asshole Doctor following paragon Doctor made sense. And it mirrored the political cynicism of concurrent popular British sci fi like 2000 AD. But 2000 AD is also silly and fun and that era of Doctor Wgo just felt nihilistic. Even as a kid I could see the difference between "scary" Doctor Who and a grim slog.
Just watched the first Matt Smith season finale, The Pandorica Opens / The Big Bang. That was fun! It was very intent on being continually *twisty*, but that just meant that even though I saw a lot of the twists coming there were always some other ones I didn't as well. Also that might be the most, well, thorough cliffhanger I've ever seen. Anyway, a good season capper.
And then I had to figure out where to buy the next Xmas special (apparently in a whole "season" pack of Xmas specials, as opposed to the Tennant Xmas ones which *aren't* in that pack and I think were just tacked on to seasons. Except his final set of five non-Xmas specials which was it's own whole other package. Buying Dr. Who is weird.)
I really like that finale. "We're all stories in the end, just make it a good one, eh?" is one of my favorite quotes from the show.
And yeah... buying Doctor Who is super weird. I'd caught all the way up on the show before I realized there were three Tennant episodes I'd not seen, because Netflix (where I was watching them at the time, they haven't been there in years) didn't carry them - "The Next Doctor," "Planet of the Dead," and "The Waters of Mars" were all watched after I'd finished the Matt Smith seasons entirely (actually, I think Waters of Mars was on there, but it was listed as a different "season" or something, so I just unknowingly skipped it). It was really weird!
Speaking of buying, has there been any other Amazon Prime promotion lately? During the first couple of months of pandemic lockdown, they'd drop the price of particular episodes to $0.00 to promote semi-official watch parties, but I only remember two or three of them and haven't seen any more watch parties recently.
They ended the watch parties, so I don't think there are any discounts running now. The only watch parties I'm aware of now are for the classic stuff, and even then I think those are mostly finished as well.
The Sixth Doctor was a character with potential marred in execution. I find Doctors are generally a response to the previous one in characterization and asshole Doctor following paragon Doctor made sense. And it mirrored the political cynicism of concurrent popular British sci fi like 2000 AD. But 2000 AD is also silly and fun and that era of Doctor Wgo just felt nihilistic. Even as a kid I could see the difference between "scary" Doctor Who and a grim slog.
People tend to blame Colin Baker a good deal for the era, and while I can understand his performance not being to someone's taste, he was given utter shit to perform, so even the best actor would look bad in that era (and I like his acting choices, for the most part. Again, he had to make do with utter shit). There are a few things in his era that I like, but it is because I'm kinda forcing myself to.
Oh, I don't blame Colin at all. I feel like the showrunner needs to take the blame for that one. I'll say that in terms of casting, there never has been a misstep, though I haven't seen the Doctor Who TV movie since it aired/erred.
McGann is the best thing in that movie, and he's great on audio, so I think they succeeded there, even if the movie itself had... problems, to say the least.
Yeah, McGann was perfect for the role, which adds to the tragedy of the movie. Upon being given 8 extra minutes to be the Doctor he absolutely smashed it.
Watched "A Christmas Carol", Matt Smith's first special. Adorable, and just divergent enough from the standard Dickens to keep things interesting. Pity Amy didn't get to do much, but this was one focusing more on the guest characters.
Watched "A Christmas Carol", Matt Smith's first special. Adorable, and just divergent enough from the standard Dickens to keep things interesting. Pity Amy didn't get to do much, but this was one focusing more on the guest characters.
It's jam packed with some of the Doctor's best lines too:
Young Kazran: Are you really a babysitter?
The Doctor: I think you'll find that I'm universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult. [shows him the psychic paper]
Young Kazran: ...It's just a lot of wavy lines.
The Doctor: [looks at the paper] ...Yeah, it shorted out. Finally, a lie too big.
And possibly the best, tied with "we're all stories in the end":
Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before.
The Curse of the Black Spot: Pirates! I figured out what was going on more or less about half way through, but who cares? Pirates!
Oh hey, I guess I didn't comment on The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon earlier. I remember it felt odd to immediately jump into the Doctor's death and playing up the pathos when, like, it's ep 1 of a new season so obviously there was gonna be some sort of immediate reversal. I mean, there wasn't really a reversal because timey-wimey, but still. Anyway that sure was a lot of setup half of which went unresolved, guessing this season is going to be a bit more arc-heavy than some. Canton Delaware and Nixon were both fun. (Oh hey, that guy (the former) was Badger on Firefly, knew he looked familiar.)
Anyway, I'm super looking forward to the next ep bc it's the one written by Neil Gaiman. I've known of its existence for ages but it seemed silly to jump in not having seen any of the rest of the series.
I can't wait to hear what you think of the season as a whole...
Anyway, I'm super looking forward to the next ep bc it's the one written by Neil Gaiman. I've known of its existence for ages but it seemed silly to jump in not having seen any of the rest of the series.
I watched The Doctor's Wife! It was delightful! Idris was great. Figuring out tenses when you live in all times at once *would* be tricky. I thought maybe House torturing the Ponds was a little over the top for a bit, but then, it did turn out to just be quite the asshole of an extradimensional predator. Fun that they had some old sets lying around still for this. Pity The Corsair turns out to be dead, they sound fun, though being dead doesn't always stop a Time Lord from showing up again round these parts.
The Ood was kind of random, but I have a vague memory of Gaiman talking about it once (though I had no context for it at the time of course) and I think he just liked Ood.
