Terry Pratchett says Doctor Who 'breaks most of the laws of narrative' and is 'pixel thin' as plausible sci-fi.
I agree wholeheartedly. I've never understood why people rave about it.
Nah you're wrong.
Spitfires in space! You can't really argue with that.
Forget the laws of narrative, it's just crap.
Right load of crap - now if we're talking old skool with tom baker then it was great
I've been quite enjoying the new series, I must say. The new Doctor is far, far better than that irritating Pet Shop Boy, and Amy Pond is the perfect assistant. Thought the last two episodes with the Weeping Angels was quite good. Quite a disturbing idea.
It's essentially kids telly though in't it? Family entertainment. I've never read any of Mr Pratchett's works, but maybe his target audience is different?
Sci-Fi ranges from Button Moon to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Plenty of room for all sorts in between.
to give Terry Pratchett his due
he's a bit crap too
If Terry Pratchett says it's crap.. then it's crap.
Spitfires in space versus a discworld riding on the back of elephants which in turn are sat on a giant turtle travelling through space....
I'll take the Spitfires any day!
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Vs.
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Tough call.
Dr Who has always been crap. Even when I hid behind the sofa... it was shite.
Pratchett is a rubbish too.
The new Doctor is far, far better than that
irritating Pet Shop Boy
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Neil Tennant (Pet Shop Boy)
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David Tennant (Tenth Doctor)
It's. A. Children's. Programme. FFS
If you want plausible sci-fi, watch Stargate or something. But since just about ANY science fiction violates Special Relativity, you may actually be forced to develop an imagination.
That said, I didn't like the Spitfires in space either.
What about the Space Whale?
I've always really enjoyed Dr Who. I think it's gone a bit downhill since the (very short) golden age of Chris Eccleston to be honest, but even my heart sank when I watched that Spitfires episode. The worst ever?
this has to be the best sci-fi on tele
Suprise suprise, STW thinks 'it's crap' (that pretty much applies to anything you can think of).
My 6 year old loves it and I'm rather partial to watching it with him, come 2nd to a few hours of serious lego time but it's still pretty good fun.
Ummm
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JESUS CHRIST YOU CANT PUT PICS LIKE THAT ON HERE WHEN MY GF IS AROUND!
Is that Amy Pond??
Jesus Christmas....
better look away now then
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but to prive everyone has their off days...
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Even pissed with laddered tights, she still gets my vote...
Talkemada +1!!!
Russell T Davies did write an adult Dr Who - bring back Torchwood always made my home town look good
I used to like Button Moon.
What duck?
my heart sank when I watched that
Spitfires episode. The worst ever?
That said, I didn't like the Spitfires in space
either.
Whaaaaaaaat?
That was awesome. How could that not appeal to the little boy in every man?
Who cares about Dr Who, lets just have an Amy Pond show 😀
it is rubbish... but I like it, and the lass that plays Amy Pond is possibly the best looking woman in the world...!
a few hours of serious lego time
I was round me mum's recently, doing some DIY stuff- found me old box of Lego. Just got to pop round again sometime (had to carry me tools that time), and then I'm going to build this:
[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2687/4368522936_896c4fdd3c_b.jp g" target="_blank">
Clicky pic for more info...
Dr Who is excellent most of the time. A few misses but no-ones perfect. This new guy is absolutely spot on, good actor and brings a new slant to the character. Add the head writer Stephen Moffat into the mix and quality!
Terry [b]Prat[/b]chett? Clue's in the name, innit?
Dr Who + Weeping Angels = Win.
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I was really disappointed by the Daleks/Spitfires episode. All just too rushed. Saved by the Weeping Angels double episode though.
When I were a lad, the story covered the whole series - i.e. it was a proper serial (no - not Corn Flakes). I do wonder if they're trying to pack too much into each episode.
The SFX budgets have been slashed...
...all of a sudden Dr Who has returned to it's seventies tackiness, but (Stephen Moffat scripts excepted) without the depth of writing to carry it through.
Ms Pond isn't unattractive, but my missus has a cuter nose.
Stephen Moffat scripts excepted
He is writing all the episodes in this new season if that is any consolation.
Jamie, take down the pic NOW! "What carries the image of an angel, becomes an angel...."
Jamie, take down the pic NOW! "What carries the image of an angel, becomes an angel...."
This is Angel Bob here....
Shut your eyes man!
did one of you just move my PC closer to me when I wasn't looking?
Would someone move Amy closer to me too. Touching distance, ideally.
[i]Terry Pratchett says Doctor Who 'breaks most of the laws of narrative' and is 'pixel thin' as plausible sci-fi.[/i]
Says the man who's essentially built a career on writing the same book over and over again hoping that his quite frankly manic fans don't/won't care, or because they're 8, haven't formed an opinion...
He's right though... one minute weeping angels can't move when someone looks at them because they are "quantum locked", interesting idea.... next minute they can't move if they [i]think[/i] you are looking. Eh?
It's full of this sort of thing - just forget what we said earlier as we have a plot issue to work around.
Still good family telly though.
I've always been annoyed by stuff I can pick holes in, like Dr Who, Star Wars, Matrix. Dr Who even more so, because of the sets that are always a bit rubbish/cheap. However, the latest Dr who, bespite all the usual script issues as pointed out above, I've enjoyed. I'm not sure if it's because I like looking at Amy Pond, or I don't give a toss anymore.
I still look back at Tom Baker times fondly, but I expect they were just as rubbish, even more so probably, but I was too young to pick holes in the script or scowl at the shonky sets.
They're producing everything to a small budget I expect and within time scales. The ideas have been pretty good this season, school boy stuff with some eye candy and titilation for the Dads.
It's far too fast, too jumpy, too loud and all the characters are bloody annoying as a result! What I hate about Dr. Who though is that it reduces certain people to excitable wrecks - who can't carry a conversation with you anymore because they're too busy screaming and jumping up and down for the entire episode..
Slap them Kat; slap them.
Turn the telly off then miaowing .......that should concentrate their attention.
And then slap them.
TBH, I don't know why you would want to carry a conversation with someone so infantile and intellectually challenged, as someone who is busy screaming and jumping up and down for an entire Dr Who episode.
....try talking to the cat instead 💡
I used to do that to the Test Card, Ernie...
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It's that clown. It freaked me out.
Moffat writing the whole series? I thought mark gattis wrote the spitfire episode?
I like both Doctor Who and Discworld, which pretty much labels me as a geek I suppose.
The spitfire episode was pretty crap, are they contractually obliged to include Daleks in every bloody season? The weeping angels were much better, although again they're reusing ideas from previous series.And I'm halfway through the latest Pratchett, and I can't say I'm particuarly impressed, he's done much better.
What show/Film is Amy P is bed with her un-laddered tights on? might be worth a watch....
arresting sight
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Oh!
I might have to watch this series!
Dr Who is a modern sensation. It's a huge success. Look at how it sells overseas for a start. The BBC should be congratulated in producing something so in tune with the modern viewers.
The new Dr looks a little quirky and not in his early 20's. It's a long way from the Tom Baker days - thankfully!
rOcKeTdOg - Member
Moffat writing the whole series? I thought mark gattis wrote the spitfire episode?
All my posts come with the caveat that they are probably 70% correct.
When I were a lad, the story covered the whole
series - i.e. it was a proper serial (no - not
Corn Flakes).
Every series has at least one overarching background plot that links between the episodes. In the current one it has been the cracks in time, but previous ones had Bad Wolf, the drums, Saxon etc.
I think alot of people in this thread seem to be strapping on a lovely pair of Nostalgia™ rose tinted glasses.
It's a weird blend of actual sci-fi and self-parody, funny and yet serious at the same time. I think it's a great if ambitious combination, something only the Brits could do, and it works really well for me. On the whole. It's certainly conceptually very different from most stuff, which I love, and is to be applauded.
And LAWS of narrative? WTF? I don't think I'd like to live on a planet where everyone had to stick to the rules for any artistic endeavour. Actually, we did do that sort of thing a few years ago, didn't we? Spanish Inquisition, Cultural Revolution, McCarthy..?
Says one of the 2 SF writers that I can't read...
Terry Pratchett's one to talk - the last three or four Discworld novels have all had exactly the same plot, and its rehashed from Soul Music anyway.
I gave up on Pratchett after the Lost Continent. It was a really stupidly lame attempt to fit Australia into the discworld.. Yes big southern continent that has yet to be discovered BUT all the parodies were of post-colonial stuff.. grr 🙁 And it was crap in lots of other areas too.
I was annoyed this week by the continuity errors.
Dr leaves his jacket, next scene he's in it. Next scene - gone again.
Sloppy.
we love dr who in our house.
i quite like pratchett too. his books are a bit samey but i still enjoy them. i liked the lost continent mainly for the lame takeoffs and also rincewind is a genius character.
dr who is a bit of afternoon fun for the family not some national geographic documentary.
Watched 5mins of the first "new" Dr Who (with Billie piper).
Read 5mins of a Terry Pratchett book once.
5 minutes of each was 5 minutes too much. Still not worked out what all the fuss is about for either.
You know, much as I like redheads, and yes, she's a very nice redhead, I can't help thinking the new doctor reminds me of either a younger version of Gordon Ramsay, or George McFly.
Quite off-putting.
Hmmm (going back to the top of the thread) Mr Pratchett is being a bit pot like, or errmm well <ahem> perhaps a bit ill in the grey matter, to knock Dr Who's failings.
Considering his career is built on parodying other authors and one could argue about the physics of a flat world carried on the backs of elephants riding a huge turtle thru's space....
However, I've never found suspension of disbelief too tricky, particularly after the 2nd pint on a Sat night. So I love Discworld and Dr Who.
That new ginger one is fit, but doesn't make up for the crap acting/storylines and VFX!
dr who has never been about hard sci-fi or believable situations
there were some shocking monsters early on and anyone remember the bertie basset bad guy in one of the sylvester mccoy episodes
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is he talking to biggins there?
and as for the daleks what a terrifying planet dominating force, as long as the world is perfectly flat and smooth and they have nuked all stairs from orbit before landing- at least the can fly now
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Is there another kind of simulacrum?
Ok, Lego and Amy Pond together, could it get any better
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probably....
I think alot of people in this thread seem to be strapping on a lovely pair of Nostalgia™ rose tinted glasses.
Agree.
Some of the 'lesser' channels are re running the old Dr. Who's (Baker, Davidson etc.) and they're quite shockingly shabby in comparison to the more recent (eccleston/tennant/smith) episodes.
Sure you can pick holes in them, but they're (mostly) great telly.
Not too sure about the Spitfire episode though.
jon, Is that a G string?
When i was five i saw the first ever Dr.who. I remember an old man enticing two young children into a police phone box.....
Not too sure about the Spitfire episode though.
Spitfires = awesome.
Space = awesome.
Batlle scenes = awesome.
Ergo
Battle scene with Spitfires in space = awesome³
Surely the maths is undeniable?
Due to the Darleks, I spent at least 6 months of my childhood wetting the bed, that wasn't very awesome.
Old Dr Who was rubbish... New Doctor Who is occasionally very good, occasionally rubbish. Like, in this new series, some of the dialogue in that first episode was great... "All I've got is a post office. And it's closed"... But then the daleks at war episode, which could have been cool, turned out to be pure mince. Then the first of the angels episodes turns out to be pretty damn good (not seen the second one)
Oh, and you can keep your Amy Ponds, Sophie Aldred was where it's at. The s**ttest doctor but the best sidekick