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"Doctor Who," He's Back and it's About Time!

deadpandiva

Call Me a Cab
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2,174
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Minneapolis
Sincerely-Dee said:
I like Amy as well. She seems more down-to-earth.

It's strange how the Doctor got angry with her so early into the season...it usually takes them a few weeks to really upset/annoy him.

It'll be interesting to discover his relationship with River.

Those stone angels scare the hell outta me though...

They scare me also but that's why I love them. I didn't love this weeks episode but I love Sophie so it's all good.
 

Hemingway Jones

I'll Lock Up
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6,099
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Acton, Massachusetts
Once again, I am enjoying this season very much. I like the new doctor and his edgy, over-the-top, passionate-professor persona. Say that several times fast. Anyway, I am noticing an odd trend of adversaries that aren't really that scary. Even the daleks seemed rather tame. Still, it's all in good fun.
 

Edward

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25,066
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London, UK
Rumour has it that they're trying with this latest season to take the show back more to its roots as a kids' programme, albeit one that will also appear to adults. Toning down the scary could be part of that. [huh]
 

Yeps

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2,456
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Philly
Edward said:
Rumour has it that they're trying with this latest season to take the show back more to its roots as a kids' programme, albeit one that will also appear to adults. Toning down the scary could be part of that. [huh]

I really doubt, in light of the most recent episode, that they are trying to make it more kid friendly.

And the angels are terrifying.
 

Creeping Past

One Too Many
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1,567
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England
Edward said:
Rumour has it that they're trying with this latest season to take the show back more to its roots as a kids' programme, albeit one that will also appear to adults. Toning down the scary could be part of that.

Which un-scary roots are these? Certainly not the 1960s or 1970s. Dr Who's always getting more scary for kids over time, apparently. It's the reverse of nostalgia... ;)
 

LordBest

Practically Family
Messages
692
Location
Australia
Potential spoiler below:





I found Victory of the Daleks to be more scary not so much for what the daleks did (which wasn't much) but for the fact that they got away and the thread of what they may do is now hanging over the Doctor. The Angels too are distinctly creepy. But I do agree the first two episodes were not particularly frightening.
 

Warden

One Too Many
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1,336
Location
UK
On a WWII forum I belong to, there is much debate that the Daleks webbing / paint work is the wrong colour for early Brit WWII webbing.

Darn it they got it wrong

Harry
 

Mahagonny Bill

Practically Family
Messages
563
Location
Seattle
Creeping Past said:
Which un-scary roots are these? Certainly not the 1960s or 1970s. Dr Who's always getting more scary for kids over time, apparently. It's the reverse of nostalgia... ;)
Ya, I have to agree with this. In the very first Doctor Who episode, two people get kidnapped by a creepy old man who lives in a junkyard and keeps his granddaughter locked in a police box. :eek:

The series then goes on to have our heroes taken by cavemen, held in a cave full of human bones, and threatened with death unless they make fire. Once they escape from that they land in a radioactive wilderness where the mutated natives try to kill them. And this was all broadcast in 1963!
 

Chas

One Too Many
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1,715
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Melbourne, Australia
The Latest Dr. Who?

Anybody watching this? I just can't get into it - the writing isn't too bad- but the production values seem a bit high. I guess I will always want my Daleks to be overturned plastic rubbish bins with little people inside them turning the turret and wielding a deadly toilet plunger.

aliendalek.jpg




Maybe It's me. Tom Baker will always be my Dr. Who. THE BEST theme music of a TV show, ever. IMHO.
 

Smithy

I'll Lock Up
Messages
5,139
Location
Norway
I grew up with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker as the Doctor scaring the hell out of me when it was on telly when I was a nipper. These new fangled Doctors are crap, and what the hell have they done with the music??!!

One of those things they've arsed about with and made a shambles out of.

I won't be watching the new ones.
 

Miss Scarlet

One of the Regulars
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161
Location
Tring, Hertfordshire
I loved the David Tennant Doctor Whos, but the writing for the new one has been appalling. I'm so sad Russel T Davis left because I found his writing excellent. I have no problem with Matt Davies as the new Dr, but there are just too many inconsistencies with the plot every week and severe mistakes made in the writing that completely demeans the story.

I understand there is need for artistic license, but in the Van Gogh episode, for example, they met him in 1890 and made a big deal about getting him to paint the sunflowers and inspiring him to paint them, even changing the ending so that Van Gogh wrote Amy's name on the painting. However Van Gogh painted the sunflowers in 1888 before they even turned up. Other mistakes throughout the episode I let go (like the fact Van Gogh had a whole ear and the church he painted was actually about 200 miles away from the yellow house), but to base a huge element of the plot over an error was ridiculous. Furthermore the writers sounded stupid in Dr Who confidential when they said "We wanted to be accurate and get it right" and emphasizing how they'd read big books on Van Gogh. I'm not even going into other plot devastating flaws throughout the other episodes as I've ramled enough.

If you hadn't guessed, I'm a major Dr Who fan :p
 

Chas

One Too Many
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1,715
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Well, your knowledge of it certainly exceeds mine. But I do feel better, at least a little. If an expert feels the same way I do, I guess I can move on.

Blech.
 

Miss Scarlet

One of the Regulars
Messages
161
Location
Tring, Hertfordshire
It's just nice to know others feel the same! As much as I love Doctor Who, I've actually forgotten to watch the last two episodes. Completely slipped my mind. That's never happened before! How terrible xxx
 

Nathan Dodge

One Too Many
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1,051
Location
Near Miami
The 11th Doctor- He's a serviceable Doctor but he's such a non-presence that he risks being relegated to being a supporting character in his own program! Smith is the least-charismatic Doctor since Peter Davison. They're either not writing enough for him to do or he's just not up to the task. And with the youth obsession in the marketing of the show, I doubt we'll ever get an adult Doctor again...

Amy Pond- Just for once I'd love to be spared the sight of her stick-like legs. She and Smith generate zero chemistry together. And will the writers please stop having the assistant fall in love/lust with The Doctor???

Assistant's Families- Not to mention any spoilers but I'm dead tired of the new show's continued obsession with assistant's families! Rory, Rose and Mickey, Rose and her mum, Rose and her father, Martha and her nasty mother with the eyebrows, Martha's philandering and weak-willed father, Martha's dopey brother, Martha's blah (though not bad looking!) sister, Donna and her nasty mother and "loveable" grandpappy...it never ends!!!
 

Miss Scarlet

One of the Regulars
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161
Location
Tring, Hertfordshire
What I would like to see is the Doctor actually going one episode without using the sonic screwdriver to get out of every situation! One old episode he actually lost it and had to make do without. I'd like to see them do it again.
 

Wire9Vintage

A-List Customer
Messages
411
Location
Texas
Miss Scarlet, I'm with ya... Matt Smith is OK... just OK. I find Amy annoying.

My kids and I were talking the other day... the storylines in this series leave us saying, Oh, OK... Rory will be back at some point... River Song will be back at some point... etc. There's no real element of surprise. In the 10th Doctor series, even when you hoped so badly that Rose or who/whatever would turn up again, it would happen when you least expected it. It was always a touching thing.

I frankly don't care about Rory or Amy, and I'm already wondering who the next Doctor will be. And I know what you mean Scarlet, instead of dreading the end of the series and the major cliffhanger you know would be looming, I'm not even sure where we are in this one... sad thing is, we've only just begun. Meh...[huh]
 

Mahagonny Bill

Practically Family
Messages
563
Location
Seattle
Well, I have found the new series passable. There have certainly been worse years in the past (I'm looking at you Trial of a Timelord). Matt Smith has an interesting, quirky quality and is not the most annoying portrayal of The Doctor we have seen (AHEM.. Trial of a Timelord). But I agree, compared to the Davies/Tennant era things have seemed a little slack.

However, last weeks cliffhanger makes up for everything this series may have lacked. The Pandorica Opens was jaw droppingly awesome. I dare you to watch it and tell me you weren't surprised at least once if not several times. I have absolutely no idea how they are going to get out of this one. Don't give up on the new production until you have at least watched this episode.

but we can't talk about it here...no spoilers.
 

Matt Deckard

Man of Action
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10,045
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A devout capitalist in Los Angeles CA.
I'm really becoming non plussed by this new Doctor.

He just seems very weak. Not an old soul in any way shape or form, just an indecisive young man that doesn't trust any decision he makes. Unlike any other Who I remember. This guy is just someone I think I could outwit in an argument on made up quantum physics. Also when it comes to style I think he's too plain jane. Not as bad as the leather jacket T-shirt combo Eccleston had, but plain jane as in no real flare is in the outfit. If the bowtie had heart, the jacket had a quirk, the trousers weren't so... so... so exactly what you find in fit and style to what the guy next to me on the sidewalk is wearing. He also appears to be trying to channel the last Doc too much and it wears.

This Dr. has no kick to his stride, and when he fakes it you can tell he doesn't trust it.

Not every gal in The Doctor's life has to be a head over heels love interest. I think that's also taking this version down.

As for the cliffhanger... I paused the show in the second part and have yet to finish it since I decided the news was more interesting. This never happened with the last guy.
 

Hemingway Jones

I'll Lock Up
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Acton, Massachusetts
I really liked the first episode of the season when they seemed to be taking things in a different direction. For instance, when they back-tracked to what the Doctor was thinking and you saw him figuring out a situation. That was visually arresting and an interesting take on the character. Though they didn't continue with it.

I like Matt Smith's zaniness, his lust for experience, his sheer joy at the endless possibilities of traveling anywhere and any when! He captures this quite well and, as a younger man, this is especially affecting.

What has been hurting the show is the same cancer that affected it during the last year and a half of the Tenant days, abysmal writing. They have a kitchen-sink tendency to throw everything in. In my opinion, there have been few good episodes after "The Library" and nothing consistently good since "Blink."

This season, all the monsters seem toned down. Even the Weeping Angels were neutralized by the voice they were given through the dead character. The Daleks were positively decorative and little else. The scariest thing all year has been a light shone through a crack in the wall. The drama has been neutral, that is until last week's shocker. Suddenly everything felt immediate and thrilling.

Matt Smith is quite good when given something to do. He does the slightly alienated, slightly befuddled by his own brilliance quite well. He just needs to be given something to do.
 

Nathan Dodge

One Too Many
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1,051
Location
Near Miami
I neglected to mention that composer Murray Gold's music has become intrusive, bombastic, and now verges on self parody. The lame intro to the new version of the theme and then the wannabe Pertwee/Baker era synth arrangement just does nothing.

The underscore to the episodes themselves reek of Gold being in love with his own signature sound--he needs to do less, and in an era where theme tunes and underscore are virtually nonexistent, that's saying something! I should be thrilled that Murray Gold is scoring the heck out of the series but it just comes off as trying to make up for the lack of riveting drama--and abysmal attempts at comedy--that makes up the Matt Smith Doctor.

I'll still be watching, though! lol
 

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