Dr Who, done the new series yet?

Opening episode was really good, imho, Capaldi’s rocking it and Michelle Gomez is great

some good plot twists chucked in too

Lovin’ a bit of Davros.

The only Dr Who baddie that actually scared me as a child.

Thought it jumped about a bit too much at first but it settled down once they found him. I think they tried to squeeze too much exposition into too little time. Michelle Gomez is fantastic though.

Not watched it yet as JLC drives me up the wall. Best news I’ve heard this past week is that this is her last series.

Not directed at You OP.. But..

I
Just
Don’t
Get
It

😐

Really, really good! Gomez and Capaldi are excellent.

Thought the mine field of hands was very, very creepy…

Not watched it yet as JLC drives me up the wall.

Yeah, me too ,with his stupid beard and long hair and that annoying West Country accent.

I’m with you bikebouy, baffles me as to why so many people like Dr Who?!?!? 😕

Capaldi’s a really poor Dr Who IMO

Capaldi’s a brilliant Doctor, just needs the writing to catch up and work with him. I have high hopes for this series (and will probably be disappointed, but hey ho).

Cougar+1.

Capaldi (along with Eccleston before him) nails the unpredictable, almost human but not quite nature of The Doctor. Just needs less Moffat writing and more Gaiman (among others) scripts to allow that to shine.

Capaldi is riffing off of Tom Baker big time… especially on this episode… which as it’s leaning heavily on Genesis of the Daleks… is a good thing.

ads678 – Member
I’m with you bikebouy, baffles me as to why so many people like Dr Who?!?!?

Baffles me why people don’t. What’s to get? It’s not complicated, yer average ten year old can get the gist.

twang – Member
Capaldi’s a really poor Dr Who IMO

Yeah? Compared to who. (Ha! See what I did there?) compared to Peter Davidson? Colin Baker? Sylvester McCoy?
How many Doctors have you actually seen, in order to make a comparison?
I go back to the very first episode, with William Hartnell, who I consider the best Doctor. After him, Capaldi comes pretty damned close, he has a similar, irascible personality, with a look on the eye that suggests you dare not turn your back on him. I prefer him to Tom Baker, even. Been there, seen the lot.
I don’t remember Skaro looking like it does now, I remember the petrified forest, with the Thals wearing cloaks patterned to look like the dead tree trunks. Pretty scary, my kid brother use to watch later episodes through the crack in the kitchen door! He was only eleven months old when the first episode was shown, so Tom Baker was his Doctor.

Enjoying it so far, waiting for Capaldi to be unleashed properly

How many Doctors have you actually seen, in order to make a comparison?
I go back to the very first episode, with William Hartnell, who I consider the best Doctor.

Apropos of nothing,

It occurred to me a while back that I only had vague memories of “Classic” Who, Tom Baker era mostly. I had no idea what any of the other incarnations were really like. I decided I wanted to go back and watch some classic episodes, so I solicited ideas as to what to watch, compiled a list, and set about it.

I documented what I thought as I went, and blogged it here[/url]. I only got as far as the first four and it’s not my greatest writing, but I thought I’d mention it here in case anyone else had the same idea and wanted some guidance.

The one thing I took away from it was just how great Troughton was. I’d no idea.

What Cougar said
I also think the Dr was starting to disappear up his eccentric rear [ though i did enjoy all the recent incarnation] and it needed to be reigned in and return to a more strange Dr with the hint of extreme danger about him and a tortures soul.

Capaldi can act and he does know his Dr Who

The filming budget cuts have affected the production quality

Capaldi is great ! The only reason I started watching again, it had all got a bit Mills and Boon.

He plays it nice and dark, and has something for the Mums, for a change.

I really liked David Tennant. “The Girl in the fireplace” is still my favorite of the new episodes. Just thought the acting between him and the Sophia Myles character (I did have to look that up) was brilliant.

I am from the Tom Baker generation and the Genesis of the Daleks era 🙂

When the music starts I am 7 years old again.

Edited to add

Last episode was great and I hope Capaldi is given the right scripts to shine this series.

We’re referring to the latest series, based on episode one, as “Doctor Who’s Bogus Journey” since it seemed to have some not very subtle homages to Bill & Ted, what with the “Dude” thing alongside the widdly-widdly rock guitar, and the emerging actions in the minefield which need to be accompanied by some dialogue along the lines of “so, dude, if we go back to just before that and exterminate Davros..”

Not saying it’s a bad thing, but perhaps it could be subtler?

I’m still trying to figure out how he fitted a Chieftain tank through the doors of the Tardis?

When the music starts I am 7 years old again

So very this.

I’m still trying to figure out how he fitted a Chieftain tank through the doors of the Tardis?

The Tardis probably has a tow-bar.

Not saying it’s a bad thing, but perhaps it could be subtler?

Sometimes they remember it’s not a grown up show and remove subtlety to ensure that younger viewers get it without parents/siblings explaining it.

Last episode was great and I hope Capaldi is given the right scripts to shine this series.

I think all of the series have been at their strongest when they dialled back the scope of the writing a bit. The most memorable episode for me are ones like the first Weeping Angels, Fear Her, The Empty Child, Silence in the library, The Rebel flesh and so on…

The quality of the actors the show attracts is too good for the grander episodes with lots of jumping around, alien worlds and set pieces to outshine the ones where the focus is on clever writing and good honest monsters. I’d love to see Peter Capaldi in a properly menacing, claustrophobic episode – though I might sleep with the nightlight on afterwards.

atlaz – Member
Not saying it’s a bad thing, but perhaps it could be subtler?
Sometimes they remember it’s not a grown up show and remove subtlety to ensure that younger viewers get it without parents/siblings explaining it

This is my problem with it – not with the actual show but with the huge mass of people who rave about it. It’s basic SF aimed at kids. Dress it up with big budgets, good actors and loads of hype but it’s still less sophisticated than the stuff pulp SF authors were writing 50 years ago.

I’ve a god daughter who buys me all the oldies on DVD.

Troughton is indeed wonderful, they should consider his son as aa future Doctor.
Brilliant actor.

Loads of classics on The Horror Channel at the mo – Fang Rock recently – it was very, very strange – instant childhood, as mentioned above.

I don’t think anybody is saying it is proper SF, take it for what is is, a kids show about space n’that, and you are all good.

And anyway, just because there is the odd space ship, doesn’t make anything SF (see Star Wars)

When the music starts I am 7 years old again.

In a tent at T-in-the-Park, before the new series was announced, and this came on:

Amazing. Delia Derbyshire was a genius.

Dr Who has some brilliantly inventive baddies. The hand minefield was very clever. The statues in Don’t Blink are wonderfully scary. But then they always go back to the Daleks again. Boring. Very clever ideas let down by a very samey plot.

Dress it up with big budgets, good actors and loads of hype but it’s still less sophisticated than the stuff pulp SF authors were writing 50 years ago.

You’re making a category error there though, comparing it to the wrong thing. As a climber I know that say Cliffhanger is completely daft and lacking in sophistication when compared to proper mountaineering fiction however it’s great fun, has some quality action sequences, John Lithgow hamming it up and shows off some beautiful mountains so I enjoy it.

Dr Who stands in similar relationship to Sci Fi because it cares barely a whit about a basis in science. It uses a theme that looks a bit like sci fi to tell silly, daft, witty little stories. In fact the beauty of the theme is that you could turn virtually any story into a Doctor Who episode – including, it occurs to me now, Cliffhanger…

Dress it up with big budgets, good actors and loads of hype but it’s still less sophisticated than the stuff pulp SF authors were writing 50 years ago.

Remember that at the end of the day it’s popular Saturday night entertainment for the masses. Any sophistication whatsoever in such a setting should be considered a bonus.

I agree as the time travelling regenerating alien with the bigger on the inside ship is so plausible but that tank issue really does take the biscuit

And much as I like Capaldi, please please please can the next Dr Who be female, or gay, or ethnic, in a wheelchair, just anything not an able-bodied middle aged heterosexual white dude.

Genuine lol! at Junkyard. 😀

You’re making a category error there though, comparing it to the wrong thing. As a climber I know that say Cliffhanger is completely daft and lacking in sophistication…..

Afraid not. Pulp sf in the 50s and 60s was meant to sell quickly and cheaply to a younger audience. Authors made very little money from it so had to keep up a high output. It wasn’t meant to be cultured, or sophisticated, or glitzy, it was just meant to sell. The written version of comic books in a sense, and the next step up from them. SF, especially from that era, rarely had any real science in it.

See why I made the comparison?

(I’m aware that Dr Who is a Saturday night mainstream program with a leaning towards kids btw. I’m genuinely puzzled about why so many adults rave about it.)

How about a cat?

please please please can the next Dr Who be female

On the ethnic minority front one was from the North of England and there have been two Scots so… 😉

See why I made the comparison?

I see why you made the comparison but I still think it’s like saying that Scooby Doo is rubbish because of Agatha Christie.

lemonysam – Member
See why I made the comparison?
I see why you made the comparison but I still think it’s like saying that Scooby Doo is rubbish because of Agatha Christie

😆 Oh stop it! 😆

How many regenerations have we got left?

Yes to a female Doctor, should have done it ages ago.

Could happily have done without either Davidson or Wilf Lunn, no matter how good some of the stories and companions were.