Doctor Who

[bearded]

[Kenn]

"It's a fez.  Fezs are cool."

Season closer rocks!!!!

[B A D]

Thoroughly enjoyed the season ender. Finally a freaking happy ending. Looking forward to multiple companions next year.

[Mr. Hamrick]

Ok, at the risk of being a bit blasphemous here...

Can someone explain to me the allure of this show?  Please?

They have been running blocks of the shows on BBCA lately so I have only seen a few of the Tennant episodes.   I don't get the allure of the show.  Some of it seems a bit hard to follow, though I gathered pretty quick who was who on the season finale thing "Stolen Earth/Journey's End".  But honestly, I lost interest in Journey's End about halfway through.

I have tried watching a few more episodes.  I really wasn't interested in the least in Tennant or the new guy. 

I normally like most of the British TV series that I have seen.  I don't get this show, though. 

[Reepicheep]

BLASPHEMER!

[Mr. Hamrick]

you're not helping, Mouse boy!

That said.  Watching the Planet of the Dead episode now.  Much better than the other ones I have seen thus far.

Michelle Ryan being in it helps. 

[kkhohoho]

you're not helping, Mouse boy!

That said.  Watching the Planet of the Dead episode now.  Much better than the other ones I have seen thus far.

Michelle Ryan being in it helps. 

Obviously, we have different tastes; I thought Planet of the Dead was rather weak. Give me Blink or Silence in the Library any day.

[daglob]

Geez, Mr. Hamrick; if we explain the trick it won't be magic anymore.

It actually is hard to explain: some people like the crazy characters, some like the adventures, some like Leela (Hubba hubba), some like The Fourth Doctor, some people like the Daleks, some like Romana (both of her), others like the Third Doctor...

If you watch the series for any length of time, you will find something to like. I still remeber the streak of classic movie homages they did (Forbidden Planet, The Thing (interspersed with the Avenger episode The Man-Eater of Surrey Green), Frankenstein, Dracula, The Phantom of the Opera (and Sherlock Holmes)... The there is The Key of Time sequence, and almost any episode with Cybermen or Daleks (Sontarans are wussies).

I like it, but I have copies of Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Giant Gila Monster, The Killer Shrews, and The Attack of the Crab Monsters.

[Reepicheep]

I like it, but I have copies of Plan 9 from Outer Space

I approve of your collection.

Hamrick: I recommend Blink, as Kkho rightly acknowledged. It was the first one I watched before I really got into the new series.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

The beauty of Blink is it is a great Dr. Who episode but doesn't use hardly anything from other episodes.  Even the Doctor and his companions are hardly in it.  It's a great one to get into.  Hope you don't have any statues nearby if you watch it though.

[GhostMachine]

Apparently they're going to do away with the 12 regeneration limit without any explanation. But it happens on Sarah Jane's show, not Doctor Who, in a 2-parter guest starring the Doctor. 

[kkhohoho]

Apparently they're going to do away with the 12 regeneration limit without any explanation. But it happens on Sarah Jane's show, not Doctor Who, in a 2-parter guest starring the Doctor. 

While I can understand that there will probably be many that have issues with this decision, I can see why they're doing it; so they don't have to worry about getting new Doctors and continuing the show. As for where I stand, honestly, I never really cared about that bit one way or the other.

[Mr. Hamrick]

you're not helping, Mouse boy!

That said.  Watching the Planet of the Dead episode now.  Much better than the other ones I have seen thus far.

Michelle Ryan being in it helps. 

Obviously, we have different tastes; I thought Planet of the Dead was rather weak. Give me Blink or Silence in the Library any day.

Obviously, you missed you why I was very partial to "Planet of The Dead".  Here, let me help you.

Spoiler

MICHELLE RYAN IS IN IT!

[kkhohoho]

you're not helping, Mouse boy!

That said.  Watching the Planet of the Dead episode now.  Much better than the other ones I have seen thus far.

Michelle Ryan being in it helps. 

Obviously, we have different tastes; I thought Planet of the Dead was rather weak. Give me Blink or Silence in the Library any day.

Obviously, you missed you why I was very partial to "Planet of The Dead".  Here, let me help you.

Spoiler

MICHELLE RYAN IS IN IT!

Yeah, Michelle Ryan; Sorry, but I've never heard of him/her before, and even if I did, I wouldn't like the episode just because this one actor is in it. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

[daglob]

Apparently they're going to do away with the 12 regeneration limit without any explanation. But it happens on Sarah Jane's show, not Doctor Who, in a 2-parter guest starring the Doctor. 

While I can understand that there will probably be many that have issues with this decision, I can see why they're doing it; so they don't have to worry about getting new Doctors and continuing the show. As for where I stand, honestly, I never really cared about that bit one way or the other.

I figured out a way around it years ago, even allowing for The Valyard and letting The Master steal a regeneration or two so we could keep him around. (Hint: The Madawyn Undead).

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

It's already been established that the leaders of the time lords could grant additional regenerations or even bring back those who have died with a new set. (like the Master)  If he's the last Time Lord, then who do you think has control over all those regenerations?  The way I figure they don't need an explanation--he simply possesses all the regenerations of his entire species.

[Mr. Hamrick]

you're not helping, Mouse boy!

That said.  Watching the Planet of the Dead episode now.  Much better than the other ones I have seen thus far.

Michelle Ryan being in it helps. 

Obviously, we have different tastes; I thought Planet of the Dead was rather weak. Give me Blink or Silence in the Library any day.

Obviously, you missed you why I was very partial to "Planet of The Dead".  Here, let me help you.

Spoiler

MICHELLE RYAN IS IN IT!

Yeah, Michelle Ryan; Sorry, but I've never heard of him/her before, and even if I did, I wouldn't like the episode just because this one actor is in it. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

It's a her.   She was in the short lived remake of The Bionic Woman.  And she was a substantial enough part of the episode that her interaction with The Doctor was more interesting than the other companion I saw.  (Didn't catch the character's name but it was the red head who was in the previous season.)

[kkhohoho]

you're not helping, Mouse boy!

That said.  Watching the Planet of the Dead episode now.  Much better than the other ones I have seen thus far.

Michelle Ryan being in it helps. 

Obviously, we have different tastes; I thought Planet of the Dead was rather weak. Give me Blink or Silence in the Library any day.

Obviously, you missed you why I was very partial to "Planet of The Dead".  Here, let me help you.

Spoiler

MICHELLE RYAN IS IN IT!

Yeah, Michelle Ryan; Sorry, but I've never heard of him/her before, and even if I did, I wouldn't like the episode just because this one actor is in it. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

It's a her.   She was in the short lived remake of The Bionic Woman.  And she was a substantial enough part of the episode that her interaction with The Doctor was more interesting than the other companion I saw.  (Didn't catch the character's name but it was the red head who was in the previous season.)

Which I never saw, no offense. But again, different people have different tastes. I don't want to turn this into a lengthy disagreement or argument of any kind, so I'll just end this here.

[GhostMachine]

If you didn't see the Bionic Woman remake, count yourself lucky. It wasn't that great. Aside from Michelle Ryan and Katee Sachoff, who was a villain, it didn't have much going for it. Plus there wasn't even any actual bionics involved. Instead of bionics her powers came from nanotechnology.

As for the Doctor's regenerations being unlimited now, I figured an explanation could be that the Time Lords have a means of limiting the # of regenerations a Time Lord had, which explains the Master's decayed form in the 4th Doctor era and him surviving by stealing Tremas' body, and the # is set at 12 regenerations (for a total of 13 lives). This artificial limitation is also what enabled Time Lords to be executed. With the Time Lords time locked, the Doctor isn't bound by that limit anymore. But unfortunately, neither is the Master.....if he ever returns.

And to Mr. Hamrick, my advice would be to get your hands on some episodes of the original series. Especially from the Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker eras. Whatever you do, avoid the Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy eras, as they're bad for a variety of reasons. Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor, was also the worst dressed, and came off as a jerk. Unfortunately, the BBC was going through problems at the time and the character never did a chance to develop (his attitude was supposed to be due to the circumstances of the regeneration and was going to get better, if the series had gone on). Sylvester McCoy is the worst Doctor. His character was far too grumpy and she show had some pretty bad writing from that era. Plus it had Mel, who is hands down the worst companion in Doctor Who history.... (I haven't seen a lot of McCoy, myself; just enough to know he stunk compared to the others)

[kkhohoho]

And to Mr. Hamrick, my advice would be to get your hands on some episodes of the original series. Especially from the Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker eras. Whatever you do, avoid the Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy eras, as they're bad for a variety of reasons. Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor, was also the worst dressed, and came off as a jerk. Unfortunately, the BBC was going through problems at the time and the character never did a chance to develop (his attitude was supposed to be due to the circumstances of the regeneration and was going to get better, if the series had gone on). Sylvester McCoy is the worst Doctor. His character was far too grumpy and she show had some pretty bad writing from that era. Plus it had Mel, who is hands down the worst companion in Doctor Who history.... (I haven't seen a lot of McCoy, myself; just enough to know he stunk compared to the others)

I'll agree that the 6th Doctor is the worst to offer, but I'll have to disagree on the Sylvester era. As I understand it, whereas the Colin Baker era is universally despised, the McCoy era splits fans right down the middle. As for me, while there's some stories that aren't so good, there are also some that I enjoy, and I also liked Ace, (McCoy's primary companion,) as well as McCoy to a degree. Not the best era, but far from the worst. (Which we've already gone over. )

[cmdrkoenig67]

I'll agree that the 6th Doctor is the worst to offer, but I'll have to disagree on the Sylvester era. As I understand it, whereas the Colin Baker era is universally despised, the McCoy era era splits fans right down the middle. As for me, while there's some stories that aren't so good, there are also some that I enjoy, and I also liked Ace, (McCoy's primary companion,) as well as McCoy to a degree. Not the best era, but far from the worst. (Which we've already gone over. )

I found Colin Baker (no offense to those who may have liked him), the most annoying and aggravating Doctor ever, not-to-mention his episodes became heavily camp.  I liked Sylvester more than I did Colin (I also liked Ace....Hated Mel, though), but McCoy's seasons fell even more into camp territory IMHO (I rolled my eyes at a lot of it).  I was sad, as well as kind of glad that the series was cancelled then....It basically became a parody of itself (IMO).

I really feel the new series had a more fresh approach and breathed new life into the series...I'm glad it came back.

Dana

[cmdrkoenig67]

As for the Doctor's regenerations being unlimited now, I figured an explanation could be that the Time Lords have a means of limiting the # of regenerations a Time Lord had, which explains the Master's decayed form in the 4th Doctor era and him surviving by stealing Tremas' body, and the # is set at 12 regenerations (for a total of 13 lives). This artificial limitation is also what enabled Time Lords to be executed. With the Time Lords time locked, the Doctor isn't bound by that limit anymore. But unfortunately, neither is the Master.....if he ever returns.

And to Mr. Hamrick, my advice would be to get your hands on some episodes of the original series. Especially from the Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker eras. Whatever you do, avoid the Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy eras, as they're bad for a variety of reasons. Colin Baker, the 6th Doctor, was also the worst dressed, and came off as a jerk. Unfortunately, the BBC was going through problems at the time and the character never did a chance to develop (his attitude was supposed to be due to the circumstances of the regeneration and was going to get better, if the series had gone on). Sylvester McCoy is the worst Doctor. His character was far too grumpy and she show had some pretty bad writing from that era. Plus it had Mel, who is hands down the worst companion in Doctor Who history.... (I haven't seen a lot of McCoy, myself; just enough to know he stunk compared to the others)

I agree with GM on the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker eras (they are a wonderful intro to the series and are my most favorite Doctors).  I would suggest seeing the first Doctor (William Hartnell) too, if only to see the series' roots (the first few episodes are a bit slow, but I found them to be pretty interesting).  Unfortunately, a lot of the Second Doctor's (Patrick Troughton) episodes are gone, missing, destroyed...It's really sad.

Not sure I agree with you Ghost on McCoy being the worst Doctor (for me, Colin was the worst), but I do agree with you on Mel...Aaargh!  I nearly couldn't stomach Mel and Colin Baker together in The Trial of A Time Lord episodes...I actually thought about quitting the show then.  It was like a root canal on the screen!

Dana

[Talavar]

What's appealing about Doctor Who?

I think for a lot of fans it's the character of the Doctor.  Here's someone who is basically immortal, incredibly intelligent and with access to technology beyond belief and all of space-time, and he chooses to use all that, basically, to do good.  He almost never resorts to violence yet has something of a temper, and loves the weird, exciting and new.  He tries to get people to better themselves, and demonstrates an (imperfect sometimes) example of how to do so.

Then there's a host of other factors: the creepiness - most of the best Who episodes are at least slightly scary - the dialogue (which, when done well, can be quite funny), the twists to historical time periods and visits to interesting ideas of the future, and the companions can be fun or compelling characters in their own right (though not always).

[Reepicheep]

You could say a big attraction of the show is how it is almost a mockery unto itself, yet does so with both dignity and fun. It has its own style, which is subtly commented upon. It may be substandard in terms of quality in places, but it kind of works.

I think thats a large reason for why I enjoy it.

[Viking]

Much of my enjoyment of Doctor Who comes from the appeal of the Doctor himself.  His earnestness is engaging, especially when it couples his brilliance in all things scientific with a great deal of cluelessness in many things social.  And the fact that he can turn that personality on a dime to be deadly serious and protective.

Doctor Who also does creepy stories in a fashion that I don't typically see in other venues.  Doctor Who gets me to actually care about the poor schmucks who have horrible things happen to them.  And that makes the story so much more compelling for me.  That, and the fact that being a main character does not necessarily insulate one from painful sacrifice and personal tragedy - it makes the happy endings that much more joyful, because there's no guarantee that there will actually be a happy ending for everyone.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

In spite of all this, Doctor Who's just not for everyone.  I has a sometimes campy, sometimes serious tone to it that the more serious and scary moments can't undo.  Some folks will find that aspect enjoyable, as the show doesn't take itself too seriously--it doesn't even try to keep a straight continuity for example and sort of just shrugs that off--but others won't be able to stand that.  Hamrick, you might just be one of those.

[Mr. Hamrick]

I think I may have pinpointed the reason for some of my puzzlement on the matter.

1)   When I made the original post on the subject, the episodes I saw either were with Donna Noble as a companion or Martha Jones as a companion.   David Tennant playing The Doctor in both instances but the difference was the companion.    I found the interaction between Martha and The Doctor much better than Donna and The Doctor.  It seemed better written and better delivered.  I was watching the episodes "Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End" when I felt prompted to inquire on the matter largely because of the writing.

2) The other issue was the camera quality.  The one thing I noticed was the difference between the series and other British series that I have seen.  Some of the camera work, too.  I don't know what it was that initially jumped out at me but it made me wonder why fans were still enamored with the series.  In short, it should've looked better to me that it did.  The colors looked desaturated on the broadcast and it looked like the effects had not been.  (Again, this is specifically on the two episodes in question which were shown as one two hour block so I am not sure where one started and the other ended.)  I could understand if the episodes had been shot 20-something years ago but not two years ago. 

3) After I made the post, I saw the "Planet of The Dead" episode.  A lot of the problems that existed visually on the previous episode weren't there.  I also learned that this was the first episode that had been shot in HD.  It made a lot of difference.  Also, I mentioned that it had Michelle Ryan in it.  Ok, I have a wee bit of an "talent crush" on her.  That is to say that I think she is a very attractive actress with a lot of potential in the right hands.  But more importantly, the character of Lady Christina de Souza had better chemistry with The Doctor than Donna Noble. 

After all this, I can only assume that my issue is more so based on technical things I am noticing about the show and the fact that I found Donna Noble to be annoying as a character.  I suspect that I would find some of the other companions to be equally annoying.

I started watching the beginning of the season with the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond but I was interrupted.  However, I will try to give it another chance.

Anything to note on David Tennant as The Doctor vs. Matt Smith? 

[cmdrkoenig67]

Believe me, Mr Hamrick...Donna Noble is far less annoying than Melanie Bush.

Dana

[GhostMachine]

The thing about Donna Noble is that Catherine Tate, the actress who played her, is a comedienne. Most of the actors and actresses who have played companions have been more serious actors. (I believe the actress who played Mel was a comedienne, also, but the character AND actress were both awful)

Tenth Doctor stories I highly recommend:

The Christmas Invasion (first appearance post-regeneration from the 9th Doctor, and his actions at the end do a very good job of showing you that the Doctor's goofiness is an act)

The Girl In The Fireplace

42

Human Nature/The Family of Blood (2-parter)

Blink

Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords (3-parter, more or less)

The Fires of Pompeii

Planet of the Ood

The Waters of Mars

The End of Time (2-parter, regenerates into the 11th Doctor at the end)

And there's a good reason that the Doctor acts odd/goofy/nuts/eccentric; the 4th Doctor said something like "Being crazy is the only thing that keeps me sane". Its basically a cross between a coping mechanism (so he doesn't actually go nuts for real) and something that makes people underestimate him, ala Columbo. And not every Doctor has acted that way.


The Sixth and Seventh Doctors were bad for different reasons:

The Sixth looked like he was dressed in the dark by Two-Face's tailor. He was grumpy and a jerk, but that was due to the circumstances under which he regenerated. It was intended for him to gradually change and become better, but the BBC was going through problems at the time which led to the show being put on hiatus, so they never got a chance for his character to develop before they ended up with a Seventh Doctor.

The Seventh Doctor was just plain grumpy.

But the series suffered under both the 6th and 7th due to bad writing.

[Mr. Hamrick]

My friend Dee made this.  It made me smile.

Spoiler

http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ladd3cHS9o1qbkjypo1_500.jpg