Doctor Who

[new2this]

Thanks on both counts, I felt my first post should be something that did me some justice, lol.

Originally Posted by Doctor

The TARDIS changed from 9 to 10? I figure you mean the interior and the lighting etc? If you do, I agree. The lighting was often weird and varied from director to director in each story. If you mean the general coral theme, I now also agree. At the time, I liked it. These days, I don't. But I prefer it to Matt's playhouse of randomness.

I meant the lack of change between 9 and 10's TARDIS's, it was something that bugged me intensely, every doctor has had their own TARDIS style, and poor 10 had to stick with 9's, which I also thought was nice at the time (esp. 5's comment about 10 changing the desktop theme!), but imo there perhaps should have been more of a "war" feel to 9s, and left the coral with 10. What I love about 11s TARDIS is that it really expresses the vastness and randomness that is the TARDIS, it's one of those things that I've noticed a lot more of in the novels and comics of classic, just how many rooms etc there are. And I think Moffat wanted to bring that out with the mention of the pool and library in The Eleventh Hour.

Originally Posted by Doctor

The thing with the Silurians that has annoyed many fans is this... these days, they make the aliens fit human faces so they can convey emotion. The classic series was happy to use rubber masks and actors had to use their voice and other body parts. And I, along with many others, prefer that. Suddenly, every alien is humanoid and every alien has a human-like face. Bannakaffalatta, the Vinvocci, the Cat Nuns, heck even the Sontarans. The Sontarans having teeth also irritated me. And the major niggles I have with the Silurians are - the breasts () and the lack of a third eye. Sure, they are a new batch of the race, but they should have the third eye. And it's irritating to see earlier designs the production team made which actually featured the third eye.

Ok, I definitely cannot argue about the third eye, I have yet to watch the old Silurian episodes, but even I know they have 3 eyes! And yes, it can be frustrating when such a thing is disregarded. And you're definitely right that they've been "humanising" every alien they can get their hands on, but personally I like the more emotive faces. Although I can see your point that the acting needed to be a much higher standard when it was rubber masks and no facial expressions. I guess it can be difficult to find a good balance between not looking fake, and not being too human.

Originally Posted by Doctor

Yes, the Daleks suck

I don't think there's a Whovian out there who could disagree with that!

Originally Posted by Doctor

Woah, 9 was the worst ever? I have to disagree. Eccleston brought an edge to the Doctor and, out with the quirks, in with the post-Time War badass. Not every Doctor has to be this eccentric buffoon. We have to remember 9 had just done the whole Time War, killed his own race, battled millions of Daleks, possibly blown up a few planets, etc etc. So I love him and I'd do anything to have a second series with Eccleston.

Oh I agree about him bringing the ravaged, what-have-I-done guilt, back to the core Doctor, however I found him to not embrace the role as other have before and since. This was evident from his refusal to continue with the role, his refusal to be involved in Confidential, his refusal to be involved in a lot of the extras that go with the role! I mean, having discussed some aspects of Who with Tony Lee briefly at Comic Con in 09, he was the most difficult to attain permission to use him image in IDW comics, and even the BBC have trouble getting permission to use it! There's an interview with him on the first series DVD, and it is so so obvious that he had no love for the role, and I find that came across in his acting. In fact, it's been commented on by actors who had worked with both him and Tennant, about how much more enthusiastic Tennant was, and how apathetic Eccleston was.

Originally Posted by Doctor

I do agree, however, on Matt. He's suitably eccentric and naturally so, bringing charm and delight to the role. He's an old man in a young body, as Moffat said, and he's just brilliant in everything. He even saves some of the shit plots just because he's there being awesome.

He has definitely saved some of the not-so-well written episodes from being as bad as they could have been! (Vampires of Venice springs to mind!)

Originally Posted by Doctor

7 is not awful. If you think he is, we need words.

I should really have explained myself better on that point. I LOVED 7, loved the stories, thought he played the part well, loved Ace. But as you know, he is considered one of the worst in the general Who community (or at least his seasons are!), hence the comparison. What I should probably have said was that 9 is the only Doctor that I didn't love to watch, and I find his series is the least re-watchable, to me anyways.

Originally Posted by Doctor

RTD started out great but ran tired. The same with Rose Tyler. She was pitch-perfect with Eccleston but far too smug with Tennant and then she became this horrible warrior Torchwood girl which didn't work. Imagine seeing her in "The End of Time" without her in Series 4. How brilliant would that have been? Also, she never gave Martha or Donna room to breathe and I'll always dislike her post-S1 for that.

I feel Martha just never had a chance as a companion, which is so evident from her brief stint in Torchwood, where we had a chance to see her true potential. She was totally overshadowed by 10s "love" for Rose, which imo was the worst kind of relationship to ever try to express between Doctor and companion. We all know that's not how it is, and RTD should have been shot for it. She was perfect for 9, esp at the start, but it quickly descended into a nonsensical, almost romantic relationship, which annoyed me to no end, and left her as one of my least favourite characters ever.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between 10 and Donna, felt it got back to what a companion/Doctor relationship should be, essentially a friendship between 2 people from different places but both looking to escape their former lives and have fun! However, I hated that the whole season was overshadowed by the return of Rose! The End of Time would have been infinitely better (and, in fact, some of the other episodes!) without the return of Miss Tyler.

Originally Posted by Doctor

The Slitheen are for the kids. Interestingly, I like the concept. However, they are the same as the Zygons (who are infinitely better) and they could've done without the farting. But, as I said, this is a show for 5/6 year olds too. So we've gotta have a balance. And RTD got that so right. For every farting monster, we got a "Midnight" shit-scary beast.

Have to disagree that RTD got the balance right, I find that similar to saying that balance is having 2 items from completely opposite ends of the scale! Balance is about having it all in the middle ground, and deviating from that slightly to either side. Moffat has the right idea, kids like to be a little bit scared, and the Slitheen were a joke, esp with their constant recurrence. They are one monster I will not miss in Who, and I dread their inevitable return in SJA.

Originally Posted by Doctor

I disagree RTD dumbed the show down but I agree Moffat is a lot more skilled in his stories. I have to massively praise RTD for his work though. Have you read "The Writer's Tale"? If not, do so. Seriously. One of the best non-fiction books ever. It details his work, his ideas, his concepts, and you'll end up feeling sorry for him because of the amount of work and effort. He is quite legendary and, as you said, without RTD, we'd have no new show.

And we wouldn't be discussing this now.

Haven't yet read The Writer's Tale, although it is sitting on my Who shelf, I shall definitely be interested to go through it.

Lol, I didn't expect to be having this kind of discussion on a site like this LOL

[Slenderman - Doctor]

I meant the lack of change between 9 and 10's TARDIS's, it was something that bugged me intensely, every doctor has had their own TARDIS style, and poor 10 had to stick with 9's, which I also thought was nice at the time (esp. 5's comment about 10 changing the desktop theme!), but imo there perhaps should have been more of a "war" feel to 9s, and left the coral with 10. What I love about 11s TARDIS is that it really expresses the vastness and randomness that is the TARDIS, it's one of those things that I've noticed a lot more of in the novels and comics of classic, just how many rooms etc there are. And I think Moffat wanted to bring that out with the mention of the pool and library in The Eleventh Hour.

To be fair, the console revealed in "The Five Doctors" remained throughout Five, Six and Seven's eras as the Doctor. But I know what you mean. Also, I'm not a keen lover of Matt's TARDIS but it may yet grow on me.

Regarding Eccleston, well, I dunno. He saw it more as a job, whereas the others have been fans or loved the whole publicity surrounding it. He's still nice to the kids though when they meet him as the Doctor. And he only left due to a bad atmosphere and hard working conditions, which he revealed later. Nothing to do with the enjoyment of the role. And obviously as he'd only done a year, they wouldn't want to change the console room due to it being iconic and expensive to change after just one year.

And yay for Seven <3

[Captain Harkness]

they didn't change it for 1 too too 2 either which didn't bother me because the TARDIS really doesn't need completely redecorating for every Doctor. I think 9 was better than 3. 9 did a good job i think. He couldn't be enthusiastic as the Doctor as it may have been his regeneration that whipped out the Timelords so galloping around time and space is really very disrespectful as the Timelords once forced his regeneration because he broke the golden rule of never to interfere.

Jon Pertwee was my least favorite with David Tennet, Matt Smith and Patrick Troughton been my favorites so far.

As for companions; Rose should have stayed away tbf and i Hated Martha. She may have been a much better companion had she not gotten captured or kidnapped or fallen for the Doctor and then really badly explained her departure. Plus she choose to leave him where as recent ones and past ones have had little choice in the matter. Donna was much better but went from a sidekick into a humanmetercrises and was 'brilliant'...No save the world another way dude.

RTD ran into a cornor and then made something really terrible to escape it. First series yeah can go with that. Second aww sad ending over powers the fact Torchwood helped the Doctor whom were supposed to dislike atm. Thrid no fuck of your not god you can't just grow back your youth and say the greatest secret of all is the master can't commit suicide which he later does. Forth yeah make an idiot kill the Daleks with there own control panel and bring back Rose for no reason.

As for the Silurains the third eye was the key to them been the supreme race once so wtf do the current ones have that's speical? A gun which sucks. The Siltheen worked for me. The Farting wasn't necessary but made kids laugh and so help get them hooked as we are now.

I love the new Daleks. Yeah i prefer the old body work but i love the retro colours. Also the original Daleks couldn't leave a city on skaro, the second ones had disks on there backs to move and the third one had timelord technology so really... Lets be grateful that they've not done anything stupid.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

It did change though from 1-2. Many elements were added and removed (ie the bank of computers on the wall etc.) But, yeah, generally, it remained the same. I do miss the old interior though. BRING IT BACK YOU BASTARDS.

Pertwee is a low-marking Doctor for me. I just find his era dull. Probably because a lot is Earth-based. But, that said, so is Eccleston's era. It's probably all the UNIT stuff that bores the frig out of me xD

And I love your little rant. And even though I hate the end of S3, I completely disagree about the Master dying. That was a master-stroke. Though how the Doctor could believe it is a bit weird, as the Master has died loads of times before. Dope.

They have done something stupid. They added that horrible hunchback and gave them horrible colours. I *like* the idea of colours but they're too primary and bright. Go go Power Rangers, indeed. Give me one white, and some red ones, and I'd let it slide. Fuck me, a yellow Dalek? Seriously?!

[Slenderman - Doctor]

[Stellz]

On companions...
I really, REALLY miss Donna. I know she and the Doctor's story had to end at some point...But I adored the dynamic the two characters and actors shared. I thought Catherine Tate and David Tennant were amazing together. It truly seemed like they were best friends. There wasn't any weird un-requited love...Just two people that were almost like soul mates on a friend level. That entire series was just so...fun. I always got the warm and fuzzies with those episodes. >w<

Although I've grown to love her, I HATED Amy at first. She royally pissed me off. Maybe it was partly a 'Bitch get off my man' sort of feeling...But something about her attitude just put me right off of her. The Martha Jones episodes just got me annoyed with companions being in love with The Doctor. I suppose at least Amy went for things instead of being sulky all the time...I still wanted to cunt punt her when I saw her jump him. But as I said, I love Amy now. She has that ability to stand up to the Doctor that I loved so much in Donna. Plus she and Rory are so totally 'Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww' I'm really looking forward to next season.

On another note, I <3 this.

[Slenderman - Doctor]

Don-Don-Donnaaaa <3

She should've stayed for the specials. It's even more gutting when you know Catherine actually *wanted* to do a second series. She was robbed

[Stellz]

I think who plays The Doctor and his companion should be voted on during the elections.
Although, with the way people loved him, Tennant would be The Doctor for a looong time. Maybe there could be a 5 season limit xD

[Slenderman - Doctor]

Well count me in as one of the people who wouldn't vote Tennant.

*ducks*

[Stellz]

:O
HOW DARE YOU!

Nah, I kid. I did love him, and he's what made me fall in love with Doctor Who (Wasn't as big over here when I was growing up and we now get BBC America, so it's easily available) but I'm actually starting to prefer Smith...Especially after the Lodger episode. I think he has a prefect balance of quirkiness and awesome.
Plus he's not to bad minus a shirt...

[Arthur Dent]

Jon Pertwee was always the Doctor for me - probably becasue he was the first Doctor I knew. The episodes do look a bit dated now though - partly becasue things have moved on in 30 years, but also because several episodes were filmed during a BBC strike at the time. Thats why some of them are in black and white even though they had colour then. I can remember an episode of Blue Peter which went out from the Tardis room at UNIT HQ - becasue it was the same studio and the scene shifters weren't working!

[Captain Harkness]

A lot of Doctors leave for the reason they don't wana be type cast. Something the second Doctor did (love Patrick Troughton) and David Tennent is a wee bit weird leaving when he did.

Love that Dalek picture and shows the oldies are sometimes the best ones. However it does have the worst ones vs the best ones. The white or Red Dalek in the 2010 and the Emperor guards as the 2000s or maybe Sec in s2. Love the black head (something supreme Daleks used in the Dalek Invasion of Earth)

[Slenderman - Doctor]

Troughton left because his wife was pushing him along, as was his agent. Add to this the departure of Frazer and Wendy and we have quite a decent reason for him to leave. And what a story to leave on!

[Captain Harkness]

God how i wish the old episodes weren't nearly two hours long on the same fucking story!

[Arthur Dent]

They were shown in half hour episodes - it was a story a series.