Dr Who

First topic message reminder :

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?

Can I just say last nights episode was, really, really, really good

I thought last night's episode was dreadful. This series is dreadful thus far. Oooooh a sun / pumpkin face! Ooooooooh some silly faced whispering dudes. Oooooh the secret song aah aah aah aah aah

I've long disliked the writer for Who, but he's taking the cake now. I can't keep watching such utter dross.

I thought it was alright, but for a series that is only six episodes long, I did expect a lot more. It just felt a little like a filler episode, much better than the filler episodes of Russel T. Davies' era, it actually had a very good emotional bit, Clara was continued to be written for well, my only real gripe with it was the little girl was annoying as hell. I liked the setting as well, too often everything happens on Earth, in London, or has only human-esque aliens, it's good to see them show a lot more aliens who aren't the villains of the week.

Spoiler:

I think the series is 8 episodes this time, Crimey.

It was alright but it ended very quickly.

It seemed like that the fate of the God/ Planet were incidental - this was all about Claras story.

I liked some of the throwbacks and bigger ideas (like the doctor mentioning travelling with his grand daughter and the TARDIS not liking Clara). Average episode lifted by how good Smith and JLC continue to be.

There shouldn't be ANY filler episodes really, what excuse is there for such poor TV? I'm still expecting Matt Smith to leave after this series and do something that's actually challenging / stimulating, rather than the circus clown act they've got him doing on Who.

Who these days is all about the sidekick. We had two series about Amy Pond, now a series about Clara, there was a series about Billy Piper too. I'd rather have stories about the Doctor, or the people he's trying to save, than give so much screen time and so much script time to the side-show. It's really aggravating when the sidekick continues to get far better storylines than the main character of the show.

Imagine watching an Iron Man film that's all about Pepper Potts and not Iron Man? Who's in the background doing stuff that's almost co-incidental to the story? Or watching a week's worth of Eastenders episodes and it being all about Wellard rather than the main characters?

I can't see Who lasting for much longer with the way it's being written currently. Moffat is a doofus.

Obviously...

Dr. Who, however much you want to criticise it, is miles better now than it was under Davies. The Doctor is better, the companions are better, the monsters are better. Moffat always wrote the best episodes in Davies' era, and it shows as I think the past three series with him at the helm are much better than almost everything written by Davies.

Moffat has also co-wrote possibly the best BBC Drama ever in Sherlock.

Tennant for me, thought he did a fantastic job of bringing the doctor into the 21st century and helping the franchise achieve main stream popularity.

Honourable mention to Matt Smith though who has taken the batten and ran with it, one of my favourite shows on TV.

Tennant did well, but for me was unfortunate that he was saddled with the ridiculousness of Davies' writing, whose best work was the Master when he was first reintroduced, the second time in Tennant's last episode was awful.

I really enjoyed the tennant/piper combination, I thought they worked very well together.

I would admit that since Moffat has taken over the stories have been more intense, dark and gripping than in the previous era.

Crimey what were your thoughts on torchwood? Yay or nay?

Definitely no. I think it was just Russel T. Davies method of writing Queer Folk in a Dr. Who universe. I felt it started quite well, but over time became pretty poor. I didn't mind Jack Harkness as a every now and again character in Dr. Who, but as a main character he did very little for me.

I liked the idea of a more edgy, adult Dr Who which is what torchwood promised to be but failed to deliver in so many ways, adding in the odd sex scene and homosexual kiss doesn't make a show edgy by default. Found some of season 1 ok and the start of season 2 however it went on for far to long.

Clearly this is about preference again, I much preferred it when RTD was writing Who. And during Moffat's 'reign', my favourite episodes have been the ones he didn't write:

The Lodger (with James Corden)
Vincent and the Doctor (the van Gogh one)
The Rebel Flesh and The Almost People (so creepy)
The Girl Who Waited (my absolute fave)
Closing Time (again, Corden)
The Power of Three (the funny cubes one)

I'll give Moffat credit for creating the Angels, they are the best monsters in the Who universe, but Let's Kill Hitler, The Wedding of River Song, The Beast Below...some of the very worst Who I've seen.

And I didn't like Torchwood, I'm not a John Barrowman fan.

The James Corden episodes (especially Closing Time) are up there with the worst ones.

Vincent and the Doctor is a terrible script only saved by the ending and cinematography. I think it divides Who fans like no other.

Moffats era has been far superior to Russel T imo.

Well I know which one of us will be enjoying this series then

I normally dislike Corden, but The Lodger was quite different to a 'normal' Who episode, so I quite liked it. And if we're talking about scripts, then no Who writer can get credit, they're all full of cheesy lines, obvious comments, poorly executed dialogue because of incessant loud music in the background...

And I don't like Sherlock either, surprise surprise

well personally I've been a bit underwhelmed by the last couple of episodes. Smith continues to be as excellent as ever (he's definitely become my favourite Doctor) but I'm a little bit let down by Clara's character so far, and the plot of the last episode was pretty poor TBH. Thought the episode was somewhat saved by another excellent Smith speech, but other than that below par.

Disagree with Azzy re Moffat though: have loved the last two seasons of Who and the first half of this one was very good too. Also I don't get how people can dislike Sherlock, for me it's genuinely one of the very best things I've seen on TV or in the cinema in the last 20 years.

The problem with Sherlock is that I find the whole 'I'm so smart, check out how smart I am' really tiresome. And Cumberbatch is a dreadful actor, though I appear to be the only person who thinks that.

I have to admit i have not been impressed so far this series

What would people say is the best modern age Dr Who episode?

I dont know about best , but my favourite episode of the modern era has to be Tennants finale it was brilliant . I admit i shed a tear

Hero wrote:What would people say is the best modern age Dr Who episode?

Those that spring to mind for me are:

* Rose - reintroduction and reinvention of the character and series, told from Ms Tyler's perspective
* Dalek - having been led to believe they were all destroyed along with the Time Lords, one turns up in chains in a collector's museum
* Blink - very original, with some nice touches (debut of the Weeping Angels, Carey Mulligan only meets the Doctor for real at the end of the episode, whilst he and Martha are in the middle of a completely different story [involving a bow and arrow???] etc)

Kenny wrote:I dont know about best , but my favourite episode of the modern era has to be Tennants finale it was brilliant . I admit i shed a tear

Really? The episode where he visits everyone in the most protracted death scene ever.

Utter mince as were the other specials too (Waters of Mars was alright).

Out of New Who, the best episodes for me were:

The Girl Who Waited
Amys Choice
Blink
Midnight
The God Complex
Human Nature/ Family of Blood

I also really enjoyed the two part opener with the Silence, Vincent and the Doctor (although its a weak story) and this years Xmas special. The best finale was most probably the Pandorica two parter.

Kenny wrote:I dont know about best , but my favourite episode of the modern era has to be Tennants finale it was brilliant . I admit i shed a tear

Really?

I thought it was awful.

- The Master that they brought back ruined the character, rather than sticking to what was successful the last time, they changed the character so much that it was just ridiculous.
- The Time Lords coming back was handled even worse, such a huge build up and suspense only for them to leave almost immediately without any consequence.
- As a goodbye to the Tenth Doctor, I struggled to be upset because for the two years previously, Doctor Who had gotten worse and worse. Donna has a companion was really bad for him, the storylines were getting worse and worse and the goodbye lasting so long took away any emotion because it summed up the last couple of years in that I just wanted him to go, for a new slate to be made.

I was a big fan of Tennant as the Doctor, but by the end of his tenure I couldn't wait for it to end, so the emotional goodbye just didn't strike any cords. I thought the whole episode was also terrible.

I think some of the best episodes of the modern era though are:

- The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, one of the first to be genuinely scary.
- Blink was also very good, but has perhaps been soured with the Angels being a tad overused since.
- The Girl Who Waited was another excellent episode.
- Amy's Choice is another very good one.

I do like some of the bigger episodes such as the Pandorica Opens etc. but the ones that tend to stick in the memory are the smaller-scale episodes. I think this is because they aren't the norm.

That must be the best episode of the series so far. I felt it was perfect,and once again it shows that the smaller-scale episodes tend to be better. It was very much Alien-like for some parts of it and I thought Clara was much better in this episode and the supporting cast was a very good one.

I felt the first two episodes didn't quite hit the heights of the rest of Smith's tenure, but this episode once again showed that when Doctor Who is good, it is really good. Next week's also looks really good. I'm hoping we start to get at least some answers as to who Clara is, which seemed to be forgotten in this episode.

I thought it was alright and better than the last two from a pacing point of view. I think the Doc always benefits when they set the episode in a tight space (thinking Midnight for example).

Clara looked stunning throughout and the supporting cast was great.

Enjoyed the monster too - hopefully the Ice Warriors will feature again this series.

I fell asleep after 20mins, easily the worst Doctor Who I've ever seen. A total yawn-fest. What happened after the ice warrior escaped his confinement?

Azzy Mahmood wrote:I fell asleep after 20mins, easily the worst Doctor Who I've ever seen. A total yawn-fest. What happened after the ice warrior escaped his confinement?

Disagree I really enjoyed this weeks episode, the Ice Warrior was very interesting

Yeah I thought it was an excellent episode to be honest. A good monster and a really good supporting cast. Best since Clara was introduced. Hopefully this Saturday's episode will be even better, it's the "ghost" episode.

I've noticed they're doing homages to other genres recently, with the most recent episode being Alien-esque.

absolutely loved last nights episode.

Best of the series by miles.

It was really good, I did expect to find something more about Clara though!

In next week's episode, did anybody else noticed it seemed to be "Victorian Clara" in some of the scenes?

back on track

great episode last night , i was reeled in from the start and it kept me watching

gave my son a nightmare though

Friend of mine just posted on facebook :-
"First episode of the 8 on this part of the series had the Dr mention his Grandaughter, this week, was mentioning metabolis 3 (or was it 6?) - both ties in with Doctor's 1 and 3, so I figure there must be a hook to Doctor number 2 in the second episode. There's 8 episodes this run - any chance of them mentioning each of the others in each episode you reckon?"

Is he right? Was there a hook to Doctor No. 2 in the second ep?

JuliusHMarx wrote:Friend of mine just posted on facebook :-
"First episode of the 8 on this part of the series had the Dr mention his Grandaughter, this week, was mentioning metabolis 3 (or was it 6?) - both ties in with Doctor's 1 and 3, so I figure there must be a hook to Doctor number 2 in the second episode. There's 8 episodes this run - any chance of them mentioning each of the others in each episode you reckon?"

Is he right? Was there a hook to Doctor No. 2 in the second ep?

Well there's been four episodes so far, so unless your friend is talking about last weeks, I'm not sure that theory works.

Here's his update "igot my weeks wrong - this was week 4 of 8... and there was a throw back last week to the second doctor according to the bbc doctor who website. so that gives 4weeks left and 4 doctors... long scarf come into play next week???"

so what did everyone think to last weeks episode (Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)?

I thought it was quite poor although it is getting quite high praise on the net. For me a step backwards after a brilliant episode.

I thought it was another good episode, I think my issue at the moment is with the entire series where I feel like they need to have given more information about Clara, unlike Moffat's previous series the underlying link between the episodes seems to be lost and it's just a series of adventures which while good makes everything a lot less memorable.

As a stand alone episode I really liked it though.

I didn't enjoy it as much as last weeks , but i did think it was a decent episode all the same

Oh great, the time rift makes a sudden re-appearance :yawn:

There seems to be a trend, that started with Here Come The Drums episode, where time travel/rifts are used to resolve stories. With a program that has been built around time travel (and the rules it enforces on itself) it smacks of laziness that it is used so often.

That said, I thought it was quite a good episode - but I hope something happens with Clara soon that stops me finding her so irritating.

Enforcer wrote:There seems to be a trend, that started with Here Come The Drums episode, where time travel/rifts are used to resolve stories. With a program that has been built around time travel (and the rules it enforces on itself) it smacks of laziness that it is used so often.

That said, I thought it was quite a good episode - but I hope something happens with Clara soon that stops me finding her so irritating.

i want to see her taking a dip in the Tardis's swimming pool

Oh yes

The only reason Ive found to not gouge my own eyes out this series of Dr Who is Jenna-Louise Coleman. What a woman

She is annoying, but pumping gentleman juice down her throat would sort that out.

Could just be me but I've really enjoyed Who this series, maybe I just have lower standards

I thought last nights episode was ok , Diana Rigg was great

If it wasnt for Coleman I'd stop watching, this has been seriously turgid stuff.

I thought it was quite a good episode with some good laughs in it (I particularly liked the Thomas Thomas joke).

Strax was brilliant as always, I liked the flashback story telling technique used and I thought Jenny was super sexy when she went all Matrix!

As always, the ending seemed over very quickly - this series could have done with a two parter somewhere.

I quite enjoyed this episode, though I thought it was all a bit rushed.

Strax, Vastra and Jenny are comedy gold.

I can't belive you are still watching Azzy, I would have given up if I disliked a TV show as much as you seem to.

I love Doctor Who. I am just still waiting for a good episode from the current writing team. They are wasting (in my eyes) the best Doctor they've ever had on a series of uninteresting and mostly dull storylines. I really feel for Matt Smith, with some decent stories and scripts he could have had a serious career after Who. Instead he's going to be the 'comedic Cumberbatch', and follow Tennant's career trajectory. And it's even worse now they have a decent companion!

Very good episode again I thought, probably the only person

Didn't realise it was the finale next week, it's been too quick, looks like a belter though, plus Strax is back!

Dr Gregory House MD wrote:Very good episode again I thought, probably the only person

Didn't realise it was the finale next week, it's been too quick, looks like a belter though, plus Strax is back!

Due to them splitting series' in half, it should just be 1 series per calender year.