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

[20thCenturyTim]

Friday evening at 9 pm on the SciFi channel will be a moment I have waited for since 1989. My favorite television series of all-time returns to America.

Outside of the one off TV movie in 1996, there has been no original, televised "Doctor Who" story since 1989. I never thought it would come back. The BBC, much as I love them, can also be big idiots at times. Despite the fact that the show was the biggest money maker in terms of merchandizing and video sales, they were determined to kill it off in the late 80's. Like Star Trek, it could never quite stay dead thanks to fans from around the world who kept it alive in every other medium, novels, CD stories, comics, on-line stories and the like.

The producers of the new "Doctor Who," were fans themselves when they were young. They promise to honor the past while making it truly a modern show. No more wobbly sets and rubber suit aliens. Though that gave it charm, the power of "Doctor Who" was always in its writing. While not every story was a winner over its first 26 years, there was a lot of great writing. And what made it special also was it's simple concept. A mysterious traveller, know only as, "the Doctor," can travel to any place at any time in history via his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) machine. The ability to do this offers writers a wide palette. One week, the Doctor and friends can be in ancient Rome in an action adventure, the next in 1920's England solving a murder mystery, the next in 1968 America meeting Martin Luther King, Jr. and fighting for social justice. Or they can go into the far future, other dimensions and alternate realities. You name it!

English actor, Christopher Eccelston took on the role for it's return. The tenth actor to play the part. Another great concept is not that it is just another actor playing the same part, but each actor plays it a little differently. Ten aspects to one personality. Sadly, you will only see Eccelston in the first season of the New Who. He bowed out and now in favor of David Tennant who looks really cool in the part. He wears a nice brown stripe suit. Whomever is playing the Doctor, I am just thrilled to see it again. It was agonizing to know it was on last year in the UK, but not here. BBC America dropped the ball, but the SciFi Channel which I have much maligned, I am glad to say picked it up. Can't wait till Friday night!

http://www.scifi.com/doctorwho/

P.S. : Over the years the Doctor has been a man of some hats, even a few fedoras. I haven't seen a hat yet on the newest Doctors, but Eccelston does have a top hat and Victorian garb in one story coming up.

 

[binkmeisterRick]

They've done good with the new series, this coming from a long-time fan of the show! Of course, they've already aired the first new season in the UK and Canada last year, and having connections, I've seen all the current episodes. (I'm not going to provide any spoilers, sorry. ) I think the writing is good and the special effects are very much up to speed with the times. I think they've successfully combined plenty of the "old Who" along with "new Who." They've got a good crew at the helm now, unlike like John-Nathan Turner, who drove the series into the ground in the eighties. I expect some good things for the new series and am already looking forward to the next season, which will air in the UK/Canada soon!

 

[Nathan Flowers]

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I've seen all of them too (though I don't have connections, I do have BitTorrent and Azureus to download the episodes a couple hours after they air in the UK and Canada), and I highly recommend it. A fantastic show.

 

[20thCenturyTim]

They've done good with the new series, this coming from a long-time fan of the show! Of course, they've already aired the first new season in the UK and Canada last year, and having connections, I've seen all the current episodes. (I'm not going to provide any spoilers, sorry. ) I think the writing is good and the special effects are very much up to speed with the times. I think they've successfully combined plenty of the "old Who" along with "new Who." They've got a good crew at the helm now, unlike like John-Nathan Turner, who drove the series into the ground in the eighties. I expect some good things for the new series and am already looking forward to the next season, which will air in the UK/Canada soon!

Please no spoilers! I have put myself in the cloister room. as it were, as far as knowing in depth plot details and such. As for JN-T, well, during his years there was the good, the bad and the ugly. Two out of my three favorite Doctors are his, Slyvester McCoy and Peter Davison.

 

[binkmeisterRick]

No worries, Tim, I won't spoil anything for you. I agree that there were some good Doctors during the JNT years. I like Davidson and McCoy, though I think McCoy especially was a victim of some bad writing. All time favs are Troughton and Tom Baker, though I like the new Doc, too.

bink

 

[Kt Templar]

In retrospect, although Eccleston did a fine job, he always seemd to be a little unconfortable in the role. He has some great moments but you occasion get the sense that he isn't too sure why he's there.

It's early days with No. 10 but he seems instantly more at home. The Xmas special is good stuff.

Saying that, in the 1st series there are not too any duds, "Station 5" is a bit flat, but most of the rest are cool.

 

[Sefton]

Thanks for the 'heads-up' on Who...

I've loved Dr.Who ever since I really started to watch it in the early eighties with the Tom Baker Doctor. I actually first saw the show in the mid seventies when the local TV station (KTVU in San Francisco,now a Fox tentacle,er,I mean Network!) aired some of the Jon Pertwee episodes. I look forward to watching the new show although I still enjoy the old low-tech 70s "special" effects. I wonder if people could enjoy the show if they used the exact same level of effects today? Good writing and performances to carry the show along and the audience's own sense of wonder to generously smooth over the rough edges? I'd like it...but then I hang out here where being a bit behind the times is a virtue!

 

[Brad Bowers]

I'm looking forward to "Who" tonight. I, too, first watched it in the early '80s when our local PBS station showed Tom Baker episodes. I had my grandmother knit me a scarf just like his, and I was insane enough to wear it to Junior High!

This will be my wife's first introduction to the good Doctor, so I'm interested to see her reaction. She knew little about any science fiction when I met her. She's since come to really like "Star Trek: Voyager," and "Enterprise," as well as the Star Wars films. She really loves the new "Battlestar Galactica."

I wonder, folks in the U.K., has the Call Box exterior of the TARDIS become so much of an anachronism that people ask, "What the heck is that?" From what I remember, folks said they were pretty much gone by the 1980s. I wanted to see one when I went to the U.K. in 1984, but couldn't find one. There's a whole generation now that is probably not familiar with them at all.

Brad

 

[20thCenturyTim]

Police Call Box

I wonder, folks in the U.K., has the Call Box exterior of the TARDIS become so much of an anachronism that people ask, "What the heck is that?" From what I remember, folks said they were pretty much gone by the 1980s. I wanted to see one when I went to the U.K. in 1984, but couldn't find one. There's a whole generation now that is probably not familiar with them at all.
Brad

As of 2001 there were only two known working boxes. One, I got my picture taken in front of, near a tube stop in London. The other is in Scotland, but I forget where. Oddly enough, the London one had a blubous security camera mounted on top of the blue light. I always wondered how the Doctor could see outside the TARDIS on the view screen in the Console Room!lol

 

[Sefton]

I also had a long Tom Baker style scarf back then (my sister knitted it for me) that I wore to a Dr.Who convention. I got to meet Tom Baker at the convention although sadly, I no longer have the autograph...probably lost during a move.:cry: It's too bad about the call boxes being a thing of the past. I'd still love to have one although I don't think it would go over too well with my wife...

 

[binkmeisterRick]

Heck, I recently aquired another Tom Baker scarf! Yesh, I'm still a Doctor Who geek. I have a remote contolled Dalek I like to chace the cats with from time to time.

 

[Matt Deckard]

The first episode was not so good, the dsecond was closer to classic Who?

I liked it, though the episodes are too short.

 

[Brad Bowers]

I concur. The first episode was pretty weak. The second did feel like the old Who, and also seemed like a tribute to Douglas Adams. Don't know if that was intentional. It will take some getting used to the one-hour format.

I sure hope they explain what happened to Gallifrey and the Time Lords. All of them gone? Even the Master? I doubt that.

Brad

 

[Matt Deckard]

I want them to explain too. I need to revisit the old series.

This Doctor is very London street clothes of today, while all the past Doctors wore clothes that were timeless!

 

[Kt Templar]

The first episode was not so good, the dsecond was closer to classic Who?

I liked it, though the episodes are too short.

They do explain the fate of Gallifrey, Time War.

There are some ups and downs, but the series is worth keeping up with. There are also a couple of multipart episodes. Seeing the budget restraints they have to cope with it is a great achievement. They fly a spaceship through Big Ben in one ep and that is amazing.

The 42 minute format is to fit in with US timeslots it does take a little getting used to but works ok once you get used to it.

BTW I was lucky enough to visit Cardiff whilst they were filming the first series. They had a big white cloth covering a large panelled box right in front of the cultural centre fountain. No one batted an eyelid. But when they took it off, a crowd of people gathered and a journalist turned up within 10 minutes!

If you walk around London and infact any old town in Britain you'll find bit's of street furniture that has just been forgotten and have sort of faded into disuse, lot's of old post boxes and a few smaller blue telephone boxes.

BTW an old friend is coming back next year, and Bink, he would be far more appropriate to chase your cats than a Dalek!

 

[binkmeisterRick]

I'm looking forward to that "old friend," Kt!

Yeah, the first episode wasn't the very best, but seldom is that the case with any first episode. Keep up with the show. It really does have some good moments and gets better as it progresses. True, there are some real differences from the original show, but I think they're doing a grand job with updating it appropriately. There are a couple of episodes this season which litterally had me on the edge of my seat. There's some good creepy stuff, too.

Muuuummy... Are you my mummy?

 

[Sefton]

I didn't catch all of the premiere but what I saw was o.k. I look forward to seeing how it progresses. I agree that the Doctors clothes aren't too interesting...they look like he might have picked them up in any modern mens outlet store. I miss the eccentric flair of Baker and Pertwee! Oh well, that's the way things are now...

 

[Matt Deckard]

Just wish the episodes were longer, the special affects worse, and the acting droll.... just like it used to be!

 

[binkmeisterRick]

That's why you watch the old reruns! You know, Matt, I don't think the new show would last by trying to keep it as campy as the original. Still, I think there's a ton of potential for the new show. The writing gets better as does the character development. I think the first new season ends quite strongly. I'm a die-hard fan of the original show and held serious reservations about it when it came out, but I've grown to really like the new show. Season two has some kick ass stuff coming, too!

 

[Kt Templar]

There seems to be an story missing from the Ecclestone era. Because of the need to jump straight into the story we don't get the regeneration from the 8th to the ninth Doctor and all the "growing pains" that comes with it.

I started watching for real with the Davidson episodes and his regeneration story was a big factor in building that Doctor's character. Luckily the 1st Tennant story is a good regen ep.

Just to be ON TOPIC can anyone identify Tom Baker's Hat, I think it might have been a fedora from memory! Davidson wore a Panama, McCoy a Straw Boater.