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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 8, 2015 6:30:53 GMT -5
I'm still going through the revived Doctor Who in order. I finished the Eccleston episodes and I'm five episodes into David Tennant's stint. I really liked "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" two-parter. "Father's Day was good as well. But I was surprised by the first three episodes of Tennant. To me, it wasn't as good as the Eccleston and Capaldi episodes, but I've heard that Tennant was the most popular of the recent Doctors. Could it simply be that he's the nice one? Well, my mind is changing a bit now that I've watched "School Reunion" and "The Girl in the Fireplace". They're both very, very good episodes. They provide a good perspective on what it likes to be the Doctor. David Tennant was Dr. Who for a long time, so there are a lot of great episodes he's remembered for. His first season is overall rather weak, but Girl in the Fireplace is one of my all-time favourites, I was not a big fan of School Reunion though (but I know a lot of people who did like it). It also has some very weak episodes like "Fear Her" and "Love&Monsters". The next season of Tennant has some very good episodes though, especially in the 2nd half (Human Nature, Family of Blood, Blink). |
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Post by Jesse on Jul 9, 2015 20:20:07 GMT -5
The first teaser for the upcoming 9th season!
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Post by foxley on Jul 10, 2015 0:38:58 GMT -5
Capaldi seems to be becoming even more Jon Pertwee-like. And that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.
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Post by foxley on Jul 10, 2015 0:42:56 GMT -5
I'm still going through the revived Doctor Who in order. I finished the Eccleston episodes and I'm five episodes into David Tennant's stint. I really liked "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances" two-parter. "Father's Day was good as well. But I was surprised by the first three episodes of Tennant. To me, it wasn't as good as the Eccleston and Capaldi episodes, but I've heard that Tennant was the most popular of the recent Doctors. Could it simply be that he's the nice one? Well, my mind is changing a bit now that I've watched "School Reunion" and "The Girl in the Fireplace". They're both very, very good episodes. They provide a good perspective on what it likes to be the Doctor. David Tennant was Dr. Who for a long time, so there are a lot of great episodes he's remembered for. His first season is overall rather weak, but Girl in the Fireplace is one of my all-time favourites, I was not a big fan of School Reunion though (but I know a lot of people who did like it). It also has some very weak episodes like "Fear Her" and "Love&Monsters". The next season of Tennant has some very good episodes though, especially in the 2nd half (Human Nature, Family of Blood, Blink). I think people's opinion of "School Reunion" has a lot to do with your opinion of Classic Doctor Who. For those of us who grew up watching Classic Who, "School Reunion" was a glorious acknowledgement that all of the history we knew and loved still existed, and that the show runners had respect for what had gone before, and that it hadn't all been swept away by the glitz of nu-Who. And it was wondrous to Elisabeth Sladen again. I miss her (and The Sarah Jane Adventures). |
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Post by Dizzy D on Jul 10, 2015 1:57:26 GMT -5
David Tennant was Dr. Who for a long time, so there are a lot of great episodes he's remembered for. His first season is overall rather weak, but Girl in the Fireplace is one of my all-time favourites, I was not a big fan of School Reunion though (but I know a lot of people who did like it). It also has some very weak episodes like "Fear Her" and "Love&Monsters". The next season of Tennant has some very good episodes though, especially in the 2nd half (Human Nature, Family of Blood, Blink). I think people's opinion of "School Reunion" has a lot to do with your opinion of Classic Doctor Who. For those of us who grew up watching Classic Who, "School Reunion" was a glorious acknowledgement that all of the history we knew and loved still existed, and that the show runners had respect for what had gone before, and that it hadn't all been swept away by the glitz of nu-Who. And it was wondrous to Elisabeth Sladen again. I miss her (and The Sarah Jane Adventures). I had seen Classic Who before seeing new Who (bits of Tom Baker and Peter Davison and later the McGann movie), but as with comics, I care little for continuity. I just found that it completely wasted Anthony Stewart Head, who had one nice scene with Tennant, but for the rest had little to do and the Mickey/K9 scenes were just basically all the same joke, explaining that joke and repeating it again. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 10, 2015 12:04:58 GMT -5
The first teaser for the upcoming 9th season! Was that Maisie Williams at the end? I wonder who she'll play? A young River Song perhaps? His Grand Daughter? The Master? |
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Post by spoon on Jul 10, 2015 19:37:24 GMT -5
The first teaser for the upcoming 9th season! Was that Maisie Williams at the end? I wonder who she'll play? A young River Song perhaps? His Grand Daughter? The Master? Yes, it was. I read a while back that she would be appearing in a two-parter. |
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Post by foxley on Jul 10, 2015 19:43:47 GMT -5
Maybe she's a new incarnation of Susan!
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Post by spoon on Jul 10, 2015 19:56:02 GMT -5
David Tennant was Dr. Who for a long time, so there are a lot of great episodes he's remembered for. His first season is overall rather weak, but Girl in the Fireplace is one of my all-time favourites, I was not a big fan of School Reunion though (but I know a lot of people who did like it). It also has some very weak episodes like "Fear Her" and "Love&Monsters". The next season of Tennant has some very good episodes though, especially in the 2nd half (Human Nature, Family of Blood, Blink). I think people's opinion of "School Reunion" has a lot to do with your opinion of Classic Doctor Who. For those of us who grew up watching Classic Who, "School Reunion" was a glorious acknowledgement that all of the history we knew and loved still existed, and that the show runners had respect for what had gone before, and that it hadn't all been swept away by the glitz of nu-Who. And it was wondrous to Elisabeth Sladen again. I miss her (and The Sarah Jane Adventures). I told my Doctor Who story upthread. I had watched Classic Doctor Who for a few years in the 1980s as a kid (mostly re-runs of the Third through Fifth Doctors). I watched the TV movie in the 90s. But other than that, I don't think I'd watched any Doctor Who (Classic or New) since the 1980s. I only started again when I caught a Twelfth Doctor episode a couple months ago. Since then, I've been watching both Classic and New. It had been so long that I didn't remember the names of any Companions. I'd probably seen some episode with Sarah Jane as kid, but didn't remember her. So before I watched "School Reunion", I'd only watched recently in "Robot" and "The Five Doctors" (and read some Wikipedia stuff). So it's really a tribute to "School Reunion" that it moved me so much despite that. They way they dealt with an "abandoned" Companion was so thoughtful. Since that previous post, I've only see watched a bit more of Tennant (the Cybermen two-parter). Mostly, I've skipping around with Classics, including another one with Sarah Jane ("Genesis of the Daleks"). I'm in the middle of a Second Doctor story now ("Web of Fear") and think he does a really good job. |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 11, 2015 1:23:41 GMT -5
Maybe she's a new incarnation of Susan! It's definitely someone he knows based on both of their reactions. I'd love to see Susan again, and the more I think about it the more that makes sense. She's in the game of thrones so an ongoing role like the Master is out I think, though she seemed suitably sassy for that, which would leave either Susan or a young river song. Either way (or neither as the case may be) I'm excited. |
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Post by foxley on Jul 11, 2015 1:50:19 GMT -5
I really hope it's not River Song. I find River Song incredibly annoying. Although my guess is that the current Doctor would not fawn over her like the previous two did, and it might be enjoyable to see Capaldi's doctor put her in her place.  |
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Post by spoon on Jul 21, 2015 21:40:37 GMT -5
I continue to watched New Who in order and skip around in Classic Who. Generally, I like New Who better. We are living in the Golden Age of Television. New Who doesn't just have better special effects, it goes into greater depth in the mindset of The Doctor and his companions.
In New Who, I watched through "Smith and Jones" which introduced Martha Jones (and have also watched the last episode of Matt Smith and the Capaldi season). The latter part of Rose Tyler's run is very poignant. It's weird to see The Doctor so moved. "The Runaway Bride" started slowly, but picked up momentum. It's pretty interesting that Donna Noble, who had been rejected by Lance and emotionally beaten up in the episode, ends up rejecting The Doctor. It's not what one would expect. Martha Jones has a nice introduction. At least in that first episode, it looks like they knew enough to make her similar to Rose in some ways, but different enough to avoid unfair comparison. She's obviously more academically-minded. She has theories for everything along the way. However, I'm surprised she also has what I perceived as a working class accent (like difficulty properly pronouncing "th"). I don't how common that is in Britain (never having been there), but it seems fairly common in New Who. I'm more used to hearing RP.
As annoying as it is to stir the hornet's nest, "The Runaway Bride" shows a pattern that I couldn't help but notice from New Who. We have three examples of white female Companions being romantically paired with black men. In each case, this man faces the animosity of The Doctor. The Ninth Doctor repeatedly puts down Mickey. Thankfully, he gets some development and redemption during the Tenth Doctor's tenure. It's nice to see. It got uncomfortable after a while for him to play the punching bag. Then, of course, Lance is a collaborator with an evil alien. Danny Pink, by contrast, is competent. He ends heroically in a very moving way. However, he is on a receiving end of a lot of The Doctor's jibes and is also the killjoy annoyed by Clara spending time with The Doctor.
I've been looking at Doctor Who ranking online. I'm surprised to see my impressions differ from those opinions. For instance, my high expectations for both Genesis of the Daleks and the Caves of Adrozani weren't met. Caves was good, but not in handful of best ever territory, which is how it was hyped. The structure of Genesis is fairly poor. Rather than moving around dynamically, the story beats are very repetitive. It just a monotonous series of captures and escapes paired with people repeatedly trusting Davros and being betraying. Why do folks repeatedly do what Davros orders them, even after they've openly rebelled against him? The Face of Evil (the first story with Leela) is a much better Tom Baker story than Genesis.
I've just watched The Twin Dilemma (the first full arc with the maligned Sixth Doctor). Call me a blasphemer, but I like it better than Genesis or Caves. Pairing the not terribly capable Peri with the Sixth Doctor actually works well. The animosity and distrust makes it interesting to watch. An arrogant Doctor can be interesting. I've noticed that the Fifth Doctor stories I've watched were coincidentally toward the end of his run (The Five Doctors, Frontios, Planet of Fire, Caves of Adrozani). Nicola Bryant's American accent gets a good deal better (but is still shaky) from Planet of Fire to The Twin Dilemma.
I'm pleasantly surprised by The Second Doctor, who I didn't grow up watching. The Mind Robber is a brilliant story. Zoe and Jamie are great Companions.
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Post by Jesse on Jul 22, 2015 21:44:10 GMT -5
Over the last few weeks I managed to watch the entire Seventh Doctor run (seasons 24 through 26) and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It doesn't have the best start but it picks up quite a bit and finishes pretty strong. Sylvester McCoy is pretty charming as the Doctor and who doesn't love the way he rolled his 'R's. Although he starts out a bit clownish eventually we see his darker more manipulative side. Season 24 overall is kind of mediocre but ends with a solid finale.
"Time and the Rani" is arguably one of the weakest debuts of any Doctor and sadly we don't get to see Colin Baker regenerate into Sylvester McCoy. Still it manages to be silly and fun. The design of the Lakertyans was pretty bad and they wore these awful orange and yellow costumes. I thought the Tetraps three-eyed bat design was interesting however they do feel like theme park mascots. Highlights include a wardrobe montage that homages the second, third, fourth and fifth Doctor's costumes, Albert Einstein showing up and great performances from both Sylvester McCoy and Kate O'Mara who returns as The Rani.
"Paradise Towers" gives us a look at the breakdown of society when the Doctor and Mel visit a futuristic residential building complex. The robotic Cleaners are a bit clunky looking but they still manage to be pretty threatening. Richard Briers give a good albeit over-the-top performance and the stories Nazi-esqe villain. Seeing Mel have tea and get captured by cannibal old ladies was kind of funny. I also liked the design of the robot that attacks her in the swimming pool.
"Delta and the Bannermen" not a great story but still pretty fun and is full of cheesy 1950s music and fashion as the Doctor and Mel go to a holiday camp. One of the bus passengers turns out to be the Chimeron Queen escaping the genocidal Bannermen the Doctor must protect the campers, the Queen and her egg hatched daughter and heir who are the last of their species. The old beekeeper was kind of funny as was the Bannermen getting attacked by bees after being covered in honey. I also thought the two American CIA agents were pretty funny as well.
"Dragonfire" is easily the best serial of season 24 and introduces Ace as a companion as well as sees the departure of Mel. Can't say I was sad to see Mel go as I found her rather annoying. Ace on the other hand is one of my all time favorite companions. This story also sees the return of Sabalom Glitz who had previously appeared in "The Mysterious Planet". Edward Peel was pretty good as the story's villain Kane and I liked the use of his icy touch to freeze people to death. The 'dragon' design is a bit goofy looking and reminds me of a cheap knock off of the Xenomorphs from Alien. The scene where The Doctor is hanging from the railing appears again in "The Name of the Doctor" witnessed by a splintered version of Clara Oswald.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jul 23, 2015 10:34:10 GMT -5
Ace is definitely cool but my favorite companion is still Jamie.
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Post by foxley on Jul 23, 2015 17:31:16 GMT -5
Ace is definitely cool but my favorite companion is still Jamie. Leela for my money. She was such a brilliant counterpoint to Tom Baker's Doctor. |
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