Dr Who

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Can't believe no-one has posted anything about quite possibly the greatest TV show ever made!

Well the new series is nearly upon us, and as I found this on youtube today Clicky, I thought I would start a new thread (its a new long trailer for the new series).

Feel free to talk about all of the series and doctors on here, although I would imagine that it will be predominantly made up of the reboot.

From the reboot, Matt Smith is by far my favourite. Never liked Ecclestone and although I liked Tennant, I just feel that the last lot of specials were terrible and tarnished his memory. Matt Smith plays him brilliantly and doesnt make me miss DT one bit.

So what are your opinions of this fantastic show and how good does that trailer look?

I'd like to see the Ice Warriors back in it, I like the Daleks but they have been done to death and so have the Cybermen

I like the galaxy to be explored more with the power structures in place, though it falls down somewhat being that he can just go back and forth in time, so it's like Star Trek where you know the Federation are in control of the Alpha Quadrant, Borg in the Delta etc.

I wouldn't mind a proper spin off set in space, with the Shadow Proclamation and the Jadoon

Dicey Reilly wrote:I'd like to see the Ice Warriors back in it, I like the Daleks but they have been done to death and so have the Cybermen

Amen to that. The Daleks are the easiest enemy to defeat in TV history, whereas at least with the Cybermen it's a challenge. Daleks are pathetic, I wish they'd never appear on screen again.

Azzy wrote:

Dicey Reilly wrote:I'd like to see the Ice Warriors back in it, I like the Daleks but they have been done to death and so have the Cybermen

Amen to that. The Daleks are the easiest enemy to defeat in TV history, whereas at least with the Cybermen it's a challenge. Daleks are pathetic, I wish they'd never appear on screen again.

I wouldn't go that far but it's time they put them into storage for awhile so the next time they appear its a big deal not a meh moment

A while? Even if they appeared in five years' time, it would be too soon. In the interim, the Doctor would have died for 3 more 'final' times, used two 'new' Tardises, regenerated 2/3 times more than he should have, and gone through 2/3 new sidekicks. Still too soon. They are pathetic creatures.

I wouldn't call them pathetic, overused yes but they are one of the most iconic scifi villains and engrained into Dr Who, I say put them away for awhile with the Cybermen and showcase other races or new ones, bring back Capt Jack and find out where the Doctor's Daughter is

I'm pretty sure that the BBC don't hold the licenses to the Daleks and would lose them if they don't have them appear every season.

I feel like they have been used fairly sensibly since Moffat took over, this is the first time they've had a really big plot around them. Other than that they've had the odd appearance and episodes centered around a small group of Daleks.

As far as I am aware the BBC own the programme rights. However specific character/creatures are owned by their creators. For example the Daleks creator was Terry Nation. The rights to the Daleks are owned by the Nation Estate and the BBC had to pay for the right to be able to use them in the series.

There was also a court case about the use of the TARDIS in the show

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/who-owns-the-tardis-son-of-man-who-invented-doctor-whos-time-machine-is-challenging-bbc-over-breach-8930947.html

If that's the case, the Daleks are wasting taxpayers' money

Have to say that I found last night's episode painful.

Wasn't great, the way he defeats the Daleks is becoming more and more absurd, this time using the dripping remains of the dying.

The Dalek poo death was bad enough, the indoor sunglasses bringing the tardis back tipped me over the edge.
Sorry to say this as I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt but Capaldi is a poor Doctor.

For me, Capaldi is a great actor. However, it's the Americans who have ruined Doctor Who.

Watch that last episode again. Both Missy and DW are hamming it up, proper British quirkiness. You have the attractive yet down-to-earth girl surrounded by 'craaazzzyyyyy' Brits - it's just what the Yanks like.

Remember that there are more Americans watching the show than Brits, and that the BBC makes a fortune from selling it abroad. They have commercialized the show to its great detriment.

If the BBC want to hook the American audience in more do you think we will get an American companion?

No, because the selling point is how 'quintessentially British' the show is. They did the wild-west episode to appease the Yanks too.

They've had a U.S. Companion (Perry?).

And for what it's worth, I really enjoyed the last episode. I thought the doctor/ Davis scenes were very good.

Adam D wrote:They've had a U.S. Companion (Perry?).

Adam - yes, Peri was a U.S. companion although played by a Guildford girl - the fragrant Nicola Bryant.

Better episode, think I've decided that when they do two part episodes that the first part is always better, as Moffat cannot do conclusions, the answer is always pretty lame compared to the initial problem.

Much better episode this week than the previous two - Actually enjoyed Capaldi as the doctor and the rhythm he followed throughout the show - I think this series has definitely seemed darker, if only in the scariness of the bad guys so far - Not any I would be willing to let my kids watch yet

I have to agree with Hero though I'm not hopeful with the second part maintaining the same levels - It's not a problem I would only label at Moffat though, the cliffhanger is always a lot easier to build up than delivering with an ultimate payoff - I am hard pushed to think of a series of recent years that has been able to tie up loose ends to a satisfactory level come the end of a series or episode run

Think it's been a pretty good start to the season myself.

First episode was very good. Second episode a bit too meandering for my liking, I quite liked the Doctor-Davros scenes but the Clara-Missy ones not so much. Ending of the episode was good though

Spoiler:

Saturday's episode was excellent I thought. Cliffhanger maybe a bit predictable

Spoiler:

but the atmosphere and build-up throughout the episode were top notch.

I think Capaldi's really growing into the role, and Clara has a much better dynamic with him too.

One point I thought was badly missed on the show this weekend.

Danny.

The entire last series was about his and Clara's relationship and his then sudden death. They then went to find him in the afterlife and Missy brought forward an army of zombie cybermen.

So they already know there's life after death in the Dr Who universe yet they're all giddy about ghosts?

To answer that Hero, the "afterlife" wasn't actual ghosts, this seems to be.

Much better episode, more enjoyable when they introduce new antagonists but to echo Hero you just know the second part will be a let down; my favourite post Tennant episode was the first Pandora's box one and the conclusion of that was awful.

I take back somewhat my 2nd episode thoughts as that was a very good one.

The fish king looked scary as Frak.

Was alright, not a big fan of them using the bootstrap paradox which they've done a few times now, it's an easy out.

I didn't like the to-camera monologue at the start; however, I did enjoy the episode and it may have been Capaldi's best so far.

I also wish they'd stop with the 'every group scenario they write always has a couple of characters who secretly love each other'. It's not realistic at all. The one at the weekend, the deaf woman was 40ish and apparently a 20-something Asian man was deeply in love with her. Because that's something we've all seen on a daily basis.

Enjoyed the episode but felt the ending was unnecessarily confusing. Somebody gave Doctor the message to say but we don't know who?

Also shouldn't there be two Doctors now he went back on himself?

I'm with Hero on this one, thought that was a cracking episode, quite possibly Capaldi's best so far (up there with Listen). At the risk of agreeing with Azzy, I did think the romantic involvements were a bit unnecessary (I'm not too fussed about realism, this is after all a show about a time travelling, regenerating alien...) but just felt the episode didn't really need them.

Really enjoying the show this year so far. Only the second episode was a bit of a let-down for me, not bad as such, just a bit meh. Capaldi has grown into the role very nicely, his chemistry with Clara is very good, and this season seems to have gone for a dark and sometimes claustrophobic atmosphere over loud bangs, which I think is working brilliantly.

Marky - I think the timeline is as follows:

1. Doctor lands in 1980
2. Blah blah blah travels in time
3. Arrives just before #1
4. Blah blah blah tricks Fisher King, hides in preservation box
5. Doctor #1 catches up with #2

So he's fine.

As someone who's approaching 40 it very much comes across as the Doctor is having a mid-life crisis with the glasses and guitar.

I liked that episode. Even the opening monologue - which , rather bravely , highlighted one of the paradoxes which render the whole premise of the entire series essentially absurd
Good monster , plenty of suspense and menace , and an elegant (if paradoxical ) solution.

Also another touch of the "darkness" around this particular incarnation of the Doctor : as the crew member accuses him of using the death of another character as a test of his theory he doesn't altogether deny that Clara's life is valued at a different level...

I like the way this pairing is developing.

This weeks very much reminded me of last years Robin Hood one but actually done well!

The ending is intriguing. Do you think she gives the other immortality tablet to captain jack?

I reckon she will end up as The Minister of War that keeps getting mentioned, either that or Missy's daughter.

The first half hour was standard Who fare, danger, no chance of victory, huzzah! We win!

Then it descended into chaos. Why the hell would The Doctor, the most careful individual in the entire universe, do that for a random girl he's never met before? I thought it was absurdity at its finest and yet another poor piece of long-term uninteresting scriptwriting.

If it wasn't for my wife watching it by sheer force of habit, we'd have turned off by now. Both Capaldi and Coleman are being wasted. And I thought Maisie was very poor.

I was expecting a great final fight to the death between the Mire and the vikings but oh no the doctor had to ambush them and cheat to victory.

So the Dr has seen countless companions bite the dust or be shuffled off to an alternative reality/past to which he's had to stand by and not create ripples to bring them back (Rose/Amy etc) yet the sprog from Game of Thrones turns up and he risks the fabric of space and time to bring her back.

Have to agree with Azzy on this, that was just sloppy and I'm beginning to think Moffat needs to move on.

I wondered how Clara could stand there watching the Doctor save this Viking woman, when he didn't save Danny Pink. Especially now it turns out he could have.

Even last week, the girl died and it was only when Clara was next on the list did he act. Pathetic really. All I can assume is that, as he apparently helped create the Daleks, he's now responsible for creating someone / something else bad.

Which is poor writing if ever I've seen it, using the same storyline twice in the same series...

I think it's more to do with the fact that it was his own actions which directly caused the girl's death ("I used her up... like a battery" or something like that) which affected him more than usual in this instance. All the other examples given he wasn't directly responsible for. Of course, it's not the first time the Doctor has tried to cheat space-time laws (Waters of Mars for instance), so...

Overall I'm left feeling slightly more ambivalent about this one. It started out as a jolly old romp (Robot of Sherwood done right as Adam says), which is fine. Dr Who doesn't always need to be dead serious, and we've certainly had very serious episodes so far this series. Then the last five minutes turn the light-heartedness on its head, introducing what may be one of the main plot lines for this series. We're left with the feeling that the episode was really an "excuse" to introduce Maisie Williams's character.

Overall though it's been a great start to the series. I may be over-analysing this, but I feel that Time Travel and its paradoxes/consequences/rules have really been put at the forefront of the series. First two episodes we had the classic "if you get the chance to go back in time and kill Hitler, should you?" with Davros. Next ones we got the bootstrap paradox (been used before but never been at the forefront of an episode the way it was here), and yesterday the whole "ripples vs tidal-waves" thing. Am I the only one sensing this theme?

I thought it was a horrible episode, it had no redeeming feature and the series is far too up and down for me to keep bothering with.

This episode is on a par with Robin Hood, Van Gogh, Pirates etc for worst ever, probably wouldn't bother next week but Osgood is in it.

It's getting worse, every episode being set on Earth gets very very boring, it was the lure of the Tennant era the different planets he visited.

well that was dreadful I'm afraid. Not sure what the writers were thinking with that one, just very dull, nothing happened basically for well over 3/4 of the episode, and not much after that. Eugh!

Shame as I've really enjoyed the series so far, but that was a shocker.

I agree with Hammer to a point. The Capaldi era seems to have been very very earth-centric, but one of the main attractions of Dr Who is surely the fact the Doctor is an alien, and visits other worlds. Next week set on earth again. Would like to see him visit more planets, please.

Here's hoping though that next week gets back to the good things about this series...

An awful, awful episode which yet again made a supporting cast member the main character and relegated Capaldi to a series of ill-timed, ill-fitting one-liners. Maisie Williams, as much as I like her as a person, if a God-awful actress (coming from a GoT fan since the mid 90s). Her performance here was at best GCSE Drama level. I'd give her a C but nothing more.

Also, worst panto villain ever? The Beast from Beauty & The Beast, with bright yellow eyes and a bit of mouth-breathing fire? Pathetic. The whole concept was terrible.

However, 1% redeemed by having Rufus Hound in it. I thought he did well for a non-actor.

Finally caught up over the weekend, have to agree with the comments above. Shame that given the strong start it's gone down hill pretty quickly. Didn't think much of the Fisher King episodes, could've gone down in one episode.

Anyone else think there has been a bit too much emphasis on The Doctor dying?

I'll be quite relieved when Clara leaves, too much focus on him doing things to save her rather than because he's the Doctor. I'm also not keen on these mad passionate rants about stuff like his face and then it becomes a joke.

I don't remember previous Doctors having such a fixation with his companion and there is an over reliance on him dying which we all know won't happen.

A significantly better episode this week in my opinion, well worth a watch if any of you had decided to stop watching (based on Azzy's comments it's more aimed at him!)