Doctor Who

[Liu Yuante]

I noticed to my chagrin that the Doctor Who thread has apparently auto-pruned, so here is another to replace it because after all, to quote Anthony Ainley's Master, "A world without the Doctor is scarcely worth thinking about."

To that end, I recently was informed that the actor who had been cast to play The Doctor in the new BBC series has quit, stating that he wanted to avoid being typecast so he did only one episode, which makes me incredibly irritated. While it is true that Tom Baker did get typecast in the role to a degree that is also largely because he spent 8 years in the role. Other actors - the late Patrick Troughton, Peter Davison - have had success in other roles and other series. Davison especially is probably just as well known for his role on All Creatures Great And Small as for Doctor Who. I just think it's stupid to quit after a single episode, as if two or three or, God forbid, an entire season were going to ruin the rest of your career. And to be honest there are worse things to be forever linked to than Doctor Who.

I guess we have to continue waiting for The Doctor to be revived. Maybe this will give them an opening to possibly bring in Paul McGann, which I would enjoy, if only for continuity's sake since he reprised his brief performance as the 8th Doctor (from the telemovie) in several of the Big Finish audio productions.

In the meantime I guess I'll go watch my old VHS tape of The Pyramids of Mars.

Adrian

[DAv]

He is actually finishing the series and doing a Christmas series so fear ye not! I've heard the favourites for being the next Doctor are the bloke from the Casablanca series or Alan Davies. It's just a shame Eddie Izzard isn't interested.

[Liu Pi]

Well although i'm not a Dr Who fanatic I watched the first episode in the new series and it wasn't good to be honest. The only redeeming feature was Billie Piper.

[Duncan]

Having missed the first episode, the second episode was fantastic - not quite perfect Doctor Who, but fun nevertheless.

The present Doctor gurns his way through a “Restaurant at the End of the Universe” type episode. He acts and overacts in just about the right proportions, and the script is suitably light-weight but with plenty of character growth and allusions to the Doctor Who back catalogue. Billie Piper provides a sufficient balance of the gutsiness, down-to-earth humour and cute-female-in-peril qualities to be a sound heiress to Ace. However, there was lots of CGI, which was rather disappointing considering the wobbly sets and cheap dodgy costumes I grew up with.

Overall, the new series is much like the Doctor Who of my youth.

[Guan Yunchang]

I noticed to my chagrin that the Doctor Who thread has apparently auto-pruned, so here is another to replace it because after all, to quote Anthony Ainley's Master, "A world without the Doctor is scarcely worth thinking about."

He's right. It isn't worth thinking about. Because, I don't care.

[Liu Yuante]

Having missed the first episode, the second episode was fantastic - not quite perfect Doctor Who, but fun nevertheless.

The present Doctor gurns his way through a “Restaurant at the End of the Universe” type episode. He acts and overacts in just about the right proportions, and the script is suitably light-weight but with plenty of character growth and allusions to the Doctor Who back catalogue. Billie Piper provides a sufficient balance of the gutsiness, down-to-earth humour and cute-female-in-peril qualities to be a sound heiress to Ace. However, there was lots of CGI, which was rather disappointing considering the wobbly sets and cheap dodgy costumes I grew up with.

Overall, the new series is much like the Doctor Who of my youth.

Awesome. I just wish they'd get a distribution deal for it in the U.S. or put the episodes on the net or something. BBC television is commercial-free so there's no monetary problem - except the bandwidth costs.

Honestly my biggest fear about a new series was that somehow Americans would get their hands all over it. There are things we do well but, as the telemovie proved, Doctor Who isn't among them. Between the half-human nonsense and the stupid romance angle, gah; Doctor Who should not play kissy-lips. Paul McGann was the only good thing about that thing.

My other concern is what I'm going to think about this new companion - it took me awhile to get used to Ace, and for every other past companion you could go about odds/evens on whether I like them or not. Ah well, still hopeful news anyway, I'll just have to wait and see.

Adrian

[Mistelten]

PBS really went down the tube when they pulled Doctor Who from its lineup. That was one of my favorite shows of all time. I don't really know why. The cheesiness of it just makes it better.

[Liu Yuante]

PBS really went down the tube when they pulled Doctor Who from its lineup. That was one of my favorite shows of all time. I don't really know why. The cheesiness of it just makes it better.

Doctor Who was a different brand of sci-fi. Certainly the characters had inter-personal relationships and personalities but these things were revealed through the telling of the story - you don't have the constant hammering away at romance and human foibles and all that other stuff that shows like Star Trek thrive upon. The story, the monsters, the characters in action - that was what made Doctor Who so great. And the cheesy costumes and special effects just threw the writing and acting (by the regulars anyway - one-shot characters frequently were not the best-acted around) into sharper relief. The longest-running science-fiction television show of all time, may its new series run for another 30 years.

Adrian

[Mistelten]

Star Trek kind of had two sides to it. There were the mysterious, Bradbury-esque episodes. Then there were the daytime drama episodes of DS9 and some TNG. Later, they just went all out with the trekkie fan service and made them more about alien races, wars, and other stuff.

But I agree that Dr. Who is great. I look forward to seeing the new episodes.

[Big J]

Dr... who?

I wouldnt mind watching it, it looks really goot in my opinion. However, on Sunday evenings I normally play football, so no such luck. Id rather play soccer than watch TV anyday