|
Post by foxley on May 17, 2021 8:59:24 GMT -5
Classic.
In 1975, my eldest sister was watching something on TV and said to me something along the lines of "You should watch this. You'll like it". The it in question was "The Time Warrior, Part 1", the first episode of Jon Pertwee's last season as the Doctor. It was also a couple of important firsts in terms of Doctor Who: the first appearance of Sarah Jane Smith, and the first Sontaran story. I had never seen anything like it, and my 5 year old mind was officially blown. In a half hour, I had discovered my favourite show of all time. Forty-six years later, my opinion has not changed. Doctor Who is still my favourite show of all times.
I love all Who, and the return of the series in the 2000s was a great joy for me. I love new Who, but it was classic Who that hooked me, and it is no exaggeration to say that it shaped the person I would become (whether that is a good thing or nay I leave for others to judge). And unlike most of my generation, my Doctor is Jon Pertwee, not Tom Baker. The chance to have a conversation with John Levine (Sgt. Benton) at a convention is one of my most treasured fan experiences.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 17, 2021 10:17:00 GMT -5
New Who. I've never seen any classic Who. PBS just wasn't available when I was a kid and I have never felt any desire to visit it in the years since. The new show hit about the time that my youngest son was the right age and we watched it together through the Matt Smith era. We both kind of burnt out on it at that point. But it was enjoyable at the time.
I actually like Eccleston a lot and was bummed when he left after one season.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on May 17, 2021 18:12:34 GMT -5
So Which shall it be for you? Classic Doctor Who or New Doctor Who? Bit of both. I hate that New Who slowly evolved into nothing more than some kind of Action, Pseudo-Scifi, romance when Moffat took over (it got really bad when Matt Smith started). If you want an idea of what I'm talking about, go watch the Star Trek TNG movies then compare them to the TV series, totally different feel
I love Hartnell the most, this crotchety old man in police box tormenting everybody. Peter Capaldi's run as the doctor was closest to matching it in feel
|
|
|
Post by berkley on May 19, 2021 20:45:44 GMT -5
Like some others, new Who by default, not having grown up with the original Who seies, which I didn't see until the 80s when I was in my late teens or early 20s and never really gave much thought to. I intend to go back and see as much as I can of all the previous series, now that I've become a fan through Ecclestone and later. I haven't see anything since Capaldi and Cole left, though.
I did see the Peter Cushing movie as a very small child - in fact it might have been the very first movie I saw at a theatre, certainly one of. I mostly remember Cushing as the Doctor and the visual impression made by the Daleks. Too bad we didn't get the tv series on our channels in the 60s or early 70s, I would have been primed by the film to become a young fan.
best Companions of the new series? Clara, Martha, and Karen Gillan's character, whose name escapes me at the moment. And IMO the writing ruined all three by the nature of the romantic relationships that were introduced - Martha falling in love with the Doctor, and Clara and Gillan written as emotionally unstable, selfishly relationship-obsessed, willing to sacrifice the entire multiverse for their boyfriends. Bad writing, a disservice to the characters and to women in general.
|
|
|
Post by berkley on May 20, 2021 13:06:48 GMT -5
So Which shall it be for you? Classic Doctor Who or New Doctor Who? Bit of both. I hate that New Who slowly evolved into nothing more than some kind of Action, Pseudo-Scifi, romance when Moffat took over (it got really bad when Matt Smith started). If you want an idea of what I'm talking about, go watch the Star Trek TNG movies then compare them to the TV series, totally different feel
I love Hartnell the most, this crotchety old man in police box tormenting everybody. Peter Capaldi's run as the doctor was closest to matching it in feel
I was excited with the news that Capaldi was going to be the next Doctor, having enjoyed his performance on The Thick of It. And he was good, but I found the writing of the series on the whole had gone into a downswing by the time he came on board. There were still some good individual episodes but I found his tenure a bit of a disappointment, in spite of liking his Doctor and Jenna Coleman's Clara, one of the best Companions ever.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 20, 2021 21:19:05 GMT -5
So Which shall it be for you? Classic Doctor Who or New Doctor Who? Which Who for you? It's a tale of two different times in my life. My cousin introduced me to classic Who on a camping trip, when he meticulously manipulated the bunny ears on a tiny 9 inch black and white TV so that we could get PBS in. It became a Friday night ritual for me after that, well into my high school and college years. Sometimes I would forgo going out on a Friday night just to watch. I was incredibly sad when they retired the PBS reruns. As for new Who, well, it's been incredibly enjoyable to watch it alongside my girlfriend. She sat down and watched the 50th Anniversary Special with me and from there we binged through everything from 2005 onward until we caught back up with that special. We've also watched all series since. We've also listened to quite a few of the Big Finish Audio Dramas and i am a proud boyfriend when I hear her mention "Moffatting" as part of conversations.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on May 21, 2021 18:40:54 GMT -5
by the nature of the romantic relationships that were introduced - Martha falling in love with the Doctor, and Clara and Gillan written as emotionally unstable, selfishly relationship-obsessed, willing to sacrifice the entire multiverse for their boyfriends. Bad writing, a disservice to the characters and to women in general. I kind of liked Donna the most, especially her grand dad
|
|
|
Post by foxley on May 21, 2021 21:53:24 GMT -5
As a classic fan, if I have a problem with New Who (aside from the absolute Mary sue that is River Song), it is that there is way too much focus on the personal lives of the companions. I want to watch thrilling adventures in space and time, not listen to the bickering of Martha's incredibly annoying family, or watch Amy and Rory leading a boring suburban life.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on May 21, 2021 22:06:14 GMT -5
As a classic fan, if I have a problem with New Who (aside from the absolute Mary sue that is River Song), it is that there is way too much focus on the personal lives of the companions. I want to watch thrilling adventures in space and time, not listen to the bickering of Martha's incredibly annoying family, or watch Amy and Rory leading a boring suburban life. I never had a problem with River Song until the Matt Smith era where she said "SPOILERS!!!" during every possible instance. Like Jesus lady, we know that you know what happens, but you don't have to shove it in our faces like a mother trying to feed her child
|
|
|
Post by foxley on May 23, 2021 1:27:47 GMT -5
I honestly preferred it when once you were on the TARDIS, yous were stuck there until you finally got dropped home, left to marry alien royalty, got killed by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, whatever. None of this living your normal life between adventures nonsense. Now get off my lawn...er, I mean franchise, you johnny-come-lately whippersnappers!
|
|
|
Post by brutalis on May 23, 2021 2:16:33 GMT -5
Classic Who was such inventive fun. Amazing for what was accomplished with a shoestring budget. Relying upon story and acting for carrying the episodes. Along with all of us watching allowing our imagination to help without big fancy movie style effects.
At times silly, hokey and goofy but yet equal parts stunning, amazing and incredible. I mean come on: Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Silurians, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, science fiction, fantasy, time travel, humor, horror and history all in one spectacular series where we travel beside a often cranky, absent minded, quirky heroic generations old man (yes, I said a man, nothing against women but MY Doctor isn't a woke invention) who saves Earth and the universe sometimes by intent, sometimes by accident but mostly just for the fun and excitement of it all.
We all have our favorite regeneration (now that is a perfect creation to explaining changes of actors) depending upon when we 1st climbed aboard the Tardis (yes we are all companions) to explore the cosmos. Jon Pertwee was my 1st and favorite but Tom Baker quickly became another. I love the New Who of David Tennant and Peter Capaldi. I adore Sarah Jane Smith's travels with the Doc. And I can honestly say that I find things to enjoy throughout every version of each Doctor's journeys both old and new.
|
|
|
Post by berkley on May 23, 2021 15:46:10 GMT -5
I honestly preferred it when once you were on the TARDIS, yous were stuck there until you finally got dropped home, left to marry alien royalty, got killed by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, whatever. None of this living your normal life between adventures nonsense. Now get off my lawn...er, I mean franchise, you johnny-come-lately whippersnappers!
Come to think of it, that alone would have done away with most of the boyfriend problems! Unless they fell in love with a Dalek, or something.
|
|
|
Post by berkley on May 23, 2021 15:54:42 GMT -5
Classic Who was such inventive fun. Amazing for what was accomplished with a shoestring budget. Relying upon story and acting for carrying the episodes. Along with all of us watching allowing our imagination to help without big fancy movie style effects. At times silly, hokey and goofy but yet equal parts stunning, amazing and incredible. I mean come on: Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Silurians, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, science fiction, fantasy, time travel, humor, horror and history all in one spectacular series where we travel beside a often cranky, absent minded, quirky heroic generations old man (yes, I said a man, nothing against women but MY Doctor isn't a woke invention) who saves Earth and the universe sometimes by intent, sometimes by accident but mostly just for the fun and excitement of it all. We all have our favorite regeneration (now that is a perfect creation to explaining changes of actors) depending upon when we 1st climbed aboard the Tardis (yes we are all companions) to explore the cosmos. Jon Pertwee was my 1st and favorite but Tom Baker quickly became another. I love the New Who of David Tennant and Peter Capaldi. I adore Sarah Jane Smith's travels with the Doc. And I can honestly say that I find things to enjoy throughout every version of each Doctor's journeys both old and new. One of the reasons I was happy with Capaldi's casting was that he was a little older, and I hoped that this would be a change from the "Doctor heart-throb" thing they'd been getting more and more into with Smith and Tennant.
I'm generally disdainful of the recent fashion of arbitrarily gender-swapping characters, but the regeneration thing makes it a little more plausible with Doctor Who so I don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other. Maybe I'd feel differently if I knew more about the Classic Who mythology - is there something in there that contradicts the idea of a gender-change with regeneration? I haven't seen the current Doctor yet, but I did read something to the effect that back in the 80s or 90s, one of the creators of Who suggested Joanna Lumley as the next Doctor - now that would have been interesting!
|
|
|
Post by foxley on May 23, 2021 16:39:29 GMT -5
Classic Who was such inventive fun. Amazing for what was accomplished with a shoestring budget. Relying upon story and acting for carrying the episodes. Along with all of us watching allowing our imagination to help without big fancy movie style effects. At times silly, hokey and goofy but yet equal parts stunning, amazing and incredible. I mean come on: Daleks, Cybermen, the Master, Silurians, Ice Warriors, Sontarans, science fiction, fantasy, time travel, humor, horror and history all in one spectacular series where we travel beside a often cranky, absent minded, quirky heroic generations old man (yes, I said a man, nothing against women but MY Doctor isn't a woke invention) who saves Earth and the universe sometimes by intent, sometimes by accident but mostly just for the fun and excitement of it all. We all have our favorite regeneration (now that is a perfect creation to explaining changes of actors) depending upon when we 1st climbed aboard the Tardis (yes we are all companions) to explore the cosmos. Jon Pertwee was my 1st and favorite but Tom Baker quickly became another. I love the New Who of David Tennant and Peter Capaldi. I adore Sarah Jane Smith's travels with the Doc. And I can honestly say that I find things to enjoy throughout every version of each Doctor's journeys both old and new. One of the reasons I was happy with Capaldi's casting was that he was a little older, and I hoped that this would be a change from the "Doctor heart-throb" thing they'd been getting more and more into with Smith and Tennant.
I'm generally disdainful of the recent fashion of arbitrarily gender-swapping characters, but the regeneration thing makes it a little more plausible with Doctor Who so I don't have strong feelings about it one way or the other. Maybe I'd feel differently if I knew more about the Classic Who mythology - is there something in there that contradicts the idea of a gender-change with regeneration? I haven't seen the current Doctor yet, but I did read something to the effect that back in the 80s or 90s, one of the creators of Who suggested Joanna Lumley as the next Doctor - now that would have been interesting!
The idea of a female Doctor was apparently considered as far back as when Tom Baker announced he was leaving. And nothing in the canon of classic Who contradicts it being possible. It is first confirmed as possible in "The Doctor's Wife" when the Doctor makes a throwaway remark about the Corsair once having been male. And firmly established when the Sisterhood of Karn offer the dying 8th Doctor the option of 'male or female' in "Night of the Doctor". And finally writ in stone with the Master/Missy revelation.
In retrospect. I now see that the whole Missy business was a dry run to see how fans would react to a major character changing gender(as I suspect the current incarnation of the Master may be testing the waters for a race change). And I quite like Jodie Whitaker's portrayal. My only real concern is that with Doctor you had the rare male hero whose defining trait was his compassion, who used his brain to a way out trouble, would talk things and try to a find a peaceful solution to problems, and only resort to violence when all other options had been exhausted. As others have pointed out, these are rare traits in a male hero and make for a pretty good role model for young boys.
And as for Joanna Lumley, I don't know how seriously she was considered for the role, but she does play the Doctor in the decidedly non-canon Comic Relief special "The Curse of Fatal Death". Rowan Atkinson plays the Doctor battling Jonathan Pryce as the Master. At the end of it, the Doctor rapidly cycles through his remaining regenerations and is played in quick succession by Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Richard E. Grant and finally Joanna Lumley.
|
|
|
Post by Batflunkie on May 23, 2021 17:27:53 GMT -5
One problem I had was that it was shown (not totally clear on it fyi) that because Donna had gotten some radiation from the Tardis that was slowly turning her into a Time Lord and was also killing her. Wouldn't the same have happened to Missy?
|
|