Jump to content

Doctor Who


Quiver

Recommended Posts

Doctor Who doesn't do that. It says "The world is full of grey, people die, and it can be horrible. Good people can do terrible things. Yet, if you keep your chin up and put a smile on your face, you'll find that life is still worth living, and more than that, life is fun!" And it is so very rare to find works of merit in any media that acknowledge this. Moral greys don't have to mean the world is dull and grey, lifeless and joyless.

 

I personally think that is the greatest strength of the series.

 

Thank you for quantifying this. I know that part of the fun for me is coming back to a connection I made with the series as a kid, but that would not be enough to keep me coming back. But DW is fun, because the characters seem to have fun. Not all the time, or it wouldn't work. Maybe not even most of the time, but to do have fun. And the struggles and their joy are each better because of the other. Cheesey? Often. But who cares. It's silly and ridiculous... and fun.

 

Looking back, Tom Baker was the same for me. And why he is still my favorite of the older group.

 

Here is hoping they don't lose that with the new doctor. He looks so solemn, it is hard to know what he will be like.

Edited by lyht
Link to comment
Share on other sites

About the serials... I kind of forgot that, actually. I haven't seen much old!Who, but when I do, Itry to watch them, and tend to view serials, as a one sitting episode. Old!Who episodes are a bit shorter than current ones, so a four part story seems like a modern two parter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

About the serials... I kind of forgot that, actually. I haven't seen much old!Who, but when I do, Itry to watch them, and tend to view serials, as a one sitting episode. Old!Who episodes are a bit shorter than current ones, so a four part story seems like a modern two parter.

 

 

Yeah, the old ones ran 20 minutes or so each (30 minutes with commercials), and i think the new ones are at 40 minutes, 60 with commercials, so most of the serials are usually, at most, 3 or 4 episodes of the new series for the longest of the old serials.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The trailer was a flashy show that said nothing at all. 

 

Still excited for the new season, though. 

 

Whoah, TwiLyght, you're a Whovian? I really hadn't pegged you as one. :P

 

Does anyone have a favorite episode or storyline, in either Old! or New! Who?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whoah, TwiLyght, you're a Whovian? I really hadn't pegged you as one. :P

 

Does anyone have a favorite episode or storyline, in either Old! or New! Who?

 

You hadn't? Well, I can see why. I kind of keep it under wraps. 

 

No, I didn't knit a replica of the Fourth Doctor's scarf, and I most certainly do NOT curse my inability to knit garter stitch, keeping my masterpiece from being completely faithful to the original. Not at all.

 

"Genesis of the Daleks" is a fantastic Classic Who arc. As for New Who, I'm rather fond of "The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances," and "Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead" is one of the most elegant arcs I've seen yet. 

 

Go back to your roots, Moffatt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You hadn't? Well, I can see why. I kind of keep it under wraps. 

 

No, I didn't knit a replica of the Fourth Doctor's scarf, and I most certainly do NOT curse my inability to knit garter stitch, keeping my masterpiece from being completely faithful to the original. Not at all.

 

"Genesis of the Daleks" is a fantastic Classic Who arc. As for New Who, I'm rather fond of "The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances," and "Silence in the Library/ Forest of the Dead" is one of the most elegant arcs I've seen yet. 

 

Go back to your roots, Moffatt.

 

Sadly I haven't been able to watch Genesis of the Daleks yet. I definitely want to though. I'm not what you would call a hardcore fan of Old!Who, but I love Carnival of Monsters and The Face of Evil as much as any New!Who story. (Third and Fourth Doctors, respectively.)

 

New!Who-wise, I love 9 out of 10 Moffat stories, especially The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, Blink, The Eleventh Hour, and Day of the Doctor. Paul Cornell's Human Nature two-parter never fails to make me shed tears and start shouting whenever I rewatch it. And of course, I love Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, the season finale which introduced me to the show in the first place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly I haven't been able to watch Genesis of the Daleks yet. I definitely want to though. I'm not what you would call a hardcore fan of Old!Who, but I love Carnival of Monsters and The Face of Evil as much as any New!Who story. (Third and Fourth Doctors, respectively.)

 

New!Who-wise, I love 9 out of 10 Moffat stories, especially The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, Blink, The Eleventh Hour, and Day of the Doctor. Paul Cornell's Human Nature two-parter never fails to make me shed tears and start shouting whenever I rewatch it. And of course, I love Army of Ghosts and Doomsday, the season finale which introduced me to the show in the first place.

 

I might've liked "Human Nature" better if I wasn't also a hardcore Downtoner. It's well done, and high-quality in every area, it just….felt too much like Downton to me. And if I want to watch Downton Abbey, I'll watch Downton Abbey. Like I said, it's a great arc, and I can see why so many other fans like it, but it's just not for me. 

 

"Doomsday," on the other hand….

 

I still can't listen to the score from the climax. Too many feels. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whoah, TwiLyght, you're a Whovian? I really hadn't pegged you as one. :P

Does anyone have a favorite episode or storyline, in either Old! or New! Who?

Hmm there's lot of stuff I could list from 2005 to present but I ll just say my fav epi is def Rings of Akaten from Smiths Dr 11.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did like Rings of Akaten a lot, but naming a favourite episode/storyline is harder. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a fan of most Moffat episodes, though. (That might make picking a favourite New!Who episode out easier...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The one episode that gets mentioned a lot for new people to try out is Blink from the 10th Doctor; David Tennant, and was written by the current show-runner before he rose to that position.

 

There are two reasons why it is perfect for beginners.

 

 The first is that you do not need to know anything about the show to understand it. The Doctor himself only has a few quick scenes and the story is written from the perspective of an ordinary young woman, called Sally, having a very strange day.

She is exploring an old abandoned house in London at night when she sees a bit of writing peeking out from behind some peeling wallpaper. As she peels the old  paper away she uncovers a message bit by bit which reads - Beware The Weeping Angels Oh, and Duck, No Really Duck Sally Sparrow   DUCK NOW! - She ducks just as a rock smashes through the window and flies through where her head was only moments before. When she looks out the window there is no-one around, only a stone statue of an angel covering its eyes. Turning back to the wall she pulls more paper away to see the last of the message 'Love from the Doctor 1969'.

The episode follows this character as she works her way through this tense and creepy mystery with no knowledge of who this 'Doctor' is.

 

 The second reason is just that it is simply an excellent piece of entertainment from mysterious beginning to paranoia fueled ending. I cannot recommend it enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone read the novels or listened to the dramas? Just wondering if their worth a mostly Nu!Who fan like myself getting into, and if so where to start.

 

I've only recently started getting into some of the written literature of the show. I'm currently reading Shada, which was an unused script written by Douglas Adams converted into a novel by Gareth Roberts. It's excellent in so many ways.

 

Most of the novels I've picked up haven't lived up to my quality standards. (As a Sanderfan, you can guess how high I set my standards.) Last year they released a bunch of short stories for e-readers in honor of the 50th anniversary, each featuring a different Doctor. Some were awesome, some less so. My favorite was "Nothing O' Clock", the Eleventh Doctor story written by Neil Gaiman.

 

This August they'll be releasing a novel about the War Doctor called Engines of War. I'm really ridiculously excited about this one--if it's done right, it could be one of the best DW works ever made. It could just as easily be an abomination before the Almighty and all that is holy, however. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone read the novels or listened to the dramas? Just wondering if their worth a mostly Nu!Who fan like myself getting into, and if so where to start.

I've seen a few people on the Malazan Forums that have read some and seemed to enjoy.

I'd really LOVE to get a War Dr miniseries on TV if Hurt was able.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd really LOVE to get a War Dr miniseries on TV if Hurt was able.

 

I think most of the Time War should be left to the imagination. The names we heard in The End of Time...

 

The Nightmare Child. The Horde of Travesties. The Skaro Degradations. The Could've Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres. What writer, save Brandon Sanderson himself, could possibly come up with monsters epic enough to fill those names with meaning?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have seen a fan depiction of the Dalek Emperor's Nightmare Child... It looked like a Dalek Mutant, out of its shell, but a thousand times the size, towering over buildings... Like a cosmic Kraken...

 

My favourite two parter probably has to be "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit"...

That cliff hanger episode... with the voice of... something. Screaming. "THE PIT IS OPEN... AND I AM FREEEEEE!!!"

 

 

I'll admit, when I read Ruin's release some years later I wondered if Sanderson was a Whovian. But as it happens, I am simply convinced he has a shard of awesomeness in him (See what I did there?)

 

I am also a good fan of Blink, Amy's Choice, The Girl Who Waited, The End of Time, Human Nature/Family of Blood, The Parting of the Ways, Doomsday, and Journey's End...

 

Anyway - that''s my two pence.

Its a fantastic series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think any attempt to quanitfy the Time War is going to be doomed to fail. That was one of the coolest parts of the Davies era; the way the Doctor spoke about it made it sound like the most fantastical, mind-bending... thing. All of history, burning? Timelords and Daleks and citizens mind their own business dying, and being brought back to life, and dying over and over and over again?

 

It sounds like the grandest time-space paradox you could imagine, something that's beyond human comprehension. I hand-wave the scenes we saw in Day of the Doctor as "The most extreme effects were kept away from Gallifrey".

 

That being said... I don't know if a Hurt!Doctor would work as a miniseries. But an Eighth Doctor mini, or him skirting around the edges of the war, trying to save whoever he can while slowly growing to realise just how despised the Time Lords are? Cass was the straw that broke the camels back; his speech to her about how "I'm not a part of this war, I never was," has the feeling of something he's said before.

 

The Doctor, and the TARDIS are held up as symbols of hope. The idea of it being something to fear is kind of-but not really addressed in season 5. An Eight/War Doctor mini could address that.

 

AND OH GOD. I NEVER REALIZED JUST HOW MUCH I WANTED A VILLAIN EPISODE UNTIL JUST NOW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It sounds like the grandest time-space paradox you could imagine, something that's beyond human comprehension. I hand-wave the scenes we saw in Day of the Doctor as "The most extreme effects were kept away from Gallifrey".

 

I believe there's a Moffat quote which states that by this time in the War, most of the more terrible horrors were destroyed, leaving only the two desperate and decadent civilizations with bizarre contingency plans for survival. Like Rassilon's "Let's all become ascended beings" plan.

 

 

AND OH GOD. I NEVER REALIZED JUST HOW MUCH I WANTED A VILLAIN EPISODE UNTIL JUST NOW.

 

A villain episode? Like, an episode from the point of view of the villains? Sounds awesome! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone here read Douglas Adam's - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - that was based on a Doctor Who idea, Reg was supposedly a very old Timelord with a failing memory and his apartment was a Tardis.

 

Dirk Gently novels are awesome. The long, dark, tea time of the soul is great.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Smith lasted about as long as Tenant did. Granted, Ten had an extra year squeezed out with his 'specials', but still; each of them racked up three seasons apiece, which isn't bad.

I mean... it's nothing compared to Bakers run, but it's still more than Colin, McCoy and McGann had...

 

A villain episode? Like, an episode from the point of view of the villains? Sounds awesome!  :D

I KNOW, RIGHT?

 

I mean.. I'm not sure what villain you could do it from the PoV of. I imagine an episode almost entirely composed of EX-TER-MIN-ATE voices would get... annoying... but I still love the idea of an episode where what is usually the heroic turnaround is the side we're watching getting beaten. And it would be cool to see how other species view the Doctor, since they don't get to see the same foppish, goofy behavior that the audience sometimes does; they just get the epic Pandorica speeches and threats to their existence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...