Dr. Who

[suzie-sheelf]

The Doctor the Widow and Wardrobe was awesome.
No idea on who will be the new companion.

[tinidril]

I don't have BBC America, so I had been watching it at my friend's house in re-runs (or On Demand) and out of order. So, I signed up with Netflix for the free month in order to catch up on all the DW episodes and see them in order so I could make some kind of sense out of the story arcs. We just watched the Series 7 premier last night! I am so stoked for some new episodes

[Primula]

I've been tempted to do something like this m'self, to update on NuWho - I've only seem part of Ten and part of Eleven and it would seem a nice thing to catch up/fill the gaps eventually, in spite of my irritation at what Rusty and The Moff have done to the character/storyline at times.

[daughter_of_kings]

I'm surprised my hubby hasn't signed up for Netflix for that very reason. I have enjoyed the episodes that I've watched, but he's totally hooked. In fact, he's as much a Whovian as I am a Ringer. He even has the Van Gogh TARDIS print on the wall.

[tinidril]

I hope you will pardon my ignorance, having only really seen part of 4th and all of 5th Doctors before the reboot... In your opinion, what way has Moffat changed the character of the Doctor or the stories? I don't have the best memory, and it has been decades since I watched any classic series DW...

[tinidril]

Oh, and I finished a music project notating one of the soundtrack scores for Series 6: "The Majestic Tale (of a Madman with a Box)". This is the first stage of creating files I can play in LOTRO. Click the play button and you can listen to it as the sheet music goes by... it's pretty cool

[tinidril]

Just completed a classic Doctor Who portrait: Peter Davidson

[True-Hearted Easterling]

Avondster introduced me to the first new season when I visited her in the Netherlands. It's taken me awhile to get back to it, but I'm now on season four and have watched all of this year's episodes. I'm defnitely a Whovian now!

[Primula]

Tini, that's a really good portrait of Fivey! You do so well with people, always impresses me.

And True, welcome to the family (fan-mily?) There's a LOT of fans out there, and with Nu-Who the number has increased mightily. If you get a chance, do go back and enjoy the earlier Doctors too, there's so much fun to be had out there.

And looking back, my apologies I missed your earlier query, Tini - my main gripes with Rusty and Moffat are the way they've made the Doctor too human and emo - he turned into a strangely tortured soap-opera character with psychological problems and a disturbing tendency to allow romantic associations with people 900 years his junior (and a different species as well). And what the heck was with suddenly making Gallifrey evil? It was stodgy and up to its neck in red-tape, not bizarrely evil with witches and megalomaniacs and who-knows-what... Just....what???

And what the heck did they do the Master? He's only been faintly recognizable in Nu-Who. Someone needs to go back and remind the writers of Delgado, the person who originally brought that character to life, and how he defined him. He wasn't a sociopathic psycho with inner 'drums' (what the heck, Rusty?), he was a suave gentleman with a taste for cigars, crossing swords (sometimes literally) with the Doctor and ruling the universe on his own terms instead of those dictated by the stodgy Gallifreyan government.

With Eleven at least there's been some wonderful lurches back to the original character, even if he's a bit manic and still retains a fair bucket of Ten's problems stirred in. Don't even get me started on River. I wish they'd brought back Romana instead...but on the other hand I would hate to see what these writers would have done to Romana's character, so maybe it's better she hasn't come back yet.

Anyway. I bet you're sorry you asked now - heh... don't get a fan started on what's wrong with their fandom, right?

[tinidril]

No, that's quite all right, Prim! I was not very steeped in Classic Who, so I didn't know why New Who would be so jarring to a long-time fan

I just watched an episode of the first Doctor (William Hartnel) in which he ends up in ancient Mexico among the Aztecs. In this episode he meets an older woman who fancies him and gets him to (unknowingly) propose marriage to her! She gives him a small token, a little amulet, which at the end of the episode he begins to leave in the tomb where the TARDIS had materializes at the beginning of the story... but a soft look comes over his face and he decides to keep it. Even the First Doctor was touched by the love of a human woman... so it might not be such a stretch to think he could become so emotionally attached to a long-time companion. Regardless, the writers have made a point of him restraining himself from allowing a relationship, no matter how he actually felt... with the exception of River, whom he married.

The existence of River begs the question of how the Galifreyans attained their ability to regenerate to begin with. Was it, in fact, their contact with the Time Vortex? Keep in mind I have not read any Doctor Who book, listened to any audio dramas, not seen all the previous episodes of any iteration of the Doctor except Five, and I have not seen those since the '80s.

[yaralindi]

Another Whovian here Tinidril. I'm not quite on par with Prim, who I think has actually memorized every episode of each incarnation of the good Doctor, but I've been watching the episodes since I first saw them while living in England as a very young lad. We actually had one of those tiny, almost round, black and white sets in our tiny living room, though the first episode I saw was at a friend's home. As a physicist, Father was a bit obsessed with the TV. According to him, it was the best example of what good physics could give people - though in later years he changed his mind especially after watching an episode of Starsky and Hutch.

My son bought me a pretty good compilation of DW episodes when he was living in England. He claims he found it at a place that recycles old DVDs. It's a beautiful set and each disc is marked with the year and episodes. The Aztecs is on the first disk and I've watched it more times than I can count. Hartnel is my favorite doctor. I disliked Troughton, loved Pertwee and Tom Baker who some claim to be the ultimate Doctor, tolerated Davidson who I think is closer to the Nu-Who Doctors than any other. I don't have much of an opinion on Colin Baker since I disliked the writing more during his time than the actor. I think a combination of poor writing, and poor acting by McCoy and McGann almost killed off the Doctor and only a dedicated fan base kept it going and brought it back.

There's a lot that can be gleaned from the long list of episodes about the Gallifreyans, however. We do know they did not descend from apes and are more closely related to the reptilian Terileptil than to humans. They were not always able to regenerate but their medical science gave them very long lives. The fourth doctor, Tom Baker was aged 500 years in one episode and just looked like an old man.

There is some argument about whether all Gallifreyans are Time Lords and whether all Gallifreyans or just Time Lords can regenerate. The power to regenerate comes from the Immortality Virus, a biogenic virus created during the time of Rassilon. It's been called The Legacy of Rassilon or simply nanites as well. It does more than regenerate them, also. Time Lords heal faster than humans because of it, for example.

The show was originally created to teach history in a more interesting way. Teaching science was added as well since it seemed to fit. It has gotten very much away from that. I haven't much liked what they've done to the show since its reboot with Eccelston, though there are some noteworthy gems. I cannot watch the show with Smith as the Doctor. His acting is just so horrid it pretty much destroys any story he's in.

I'm sure Prim can add more than I have, but welcome to the fans of Who. Your painting of Davidson is amazing. I truly envy you and your discovery of Who. I wish I could go back and rediscover it all over again.

[tinidril]

Yar, I agree that Colin Baker was ok, but that the stories themselves were getting ridiculous by the time he came along, and especially during McCoy's time. (never saw the movie with 8 in it). I watched only occasionally at that time. Colin put me off at first, the only Doctor I did not instantly like. It was the stupid costume that *really* put me off...

I have thoroughly enjoyed the reboot! Like Colin's Doctor, Eccleston's Doctor put me off at first, and every time he called humans "stupid apes". But he grew on me so that now I am sorry he did not stay for another season. I loved David Tennant immediately and was very sad when he left. Unfortunately my introduction to "New Who" was all out of order! I finally had to sign up for Netflix for a free month in order to watch all the new series in order so I could get a better grasp of what was going on! Since the start of this season, however, I have been seeing each episode as it is released.

I disagree with your assessment of Matt Smith. I loved him the moment he popped up, all drenched, the TARDIS crashed and sideways, and smiled. He had me at "hello", LOL. But maybe that's because I'm female It could also be because he reminds me a lot of Five, who was "MY Doctor".

[yaralindi]

I disagree with your assessment of Matt Smith. I loved him the moment he popped up, all drenched, the TARDIS crashed and sideways, and smiled. He had me at "hello", LOL. But maybe that's because I'm female It could also be because he reminds me a lot of Five, who was "MY Doctor".

Were I doing the casting, which I'm fairly certain will never happen, I'd have picked Arthur Darvill who plays Rory Williams over Matt Smith. Darvill is simply an amazing actor. His timing and pacing are impeccable. His expressions are very unique and often surprise me. He seems to truly enjoy what he's doing and he almost makes it worth watching just to see him work.

I'd have also chosen Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) over Matt Smith for much the same reason. There was considerable talk following the announcement that Tennant was leaving that the next Doctor would be female. It would make for some interesting stories. Gillan could have pulled it off easily as she quite often is the only reason an episode even works at all.

I object most to the writing on the rebooted Who because it seems as though the writers have never actually seen an episode with the original Doctors. It seems more like they are pulling their knowledge from the canon rather than from actual experience.

I don't object to Smith's look, his outfit, or his manner, since every Doctor has been unique both in appearance and in manner. Matt Smith just can't act. His timing and pacing are horrid and you can sometimes catch Gillan or Darvill attempting to correct it with their acting. I've actually seen Gillan wince as Smith appeared to read his lines from a cue card. It would be sort of excusable if English were Smith's second language, and that's exactly how it feels watching him flail about, but it's not and so I think it must come from a lack of understanding of the craft of acting or just simply not paying attention.

There have been exceptions, of course. Smith is not completely without talent or he would not have been chosen. I really liked The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, for example, though that may have more to do with Chris Chibnall as the writer. I've never seen a bad episode of any series written by Chibnall and that includes his work on Torchwood.

I'm sure part of it is the horror that is River Song. The concept of River is a good one. It's just the execution that is terribly lacking. I also wish they had brought back Romana rather than River, or even better, bring back the Doctor's granddaughter Susan, but as an older woman in a subsequent regeneration. Both would have tied nicely into the first group of Doctors, something the current show seems anxious to avoid.

[yaralindi]

And what the heck was with suddenly making Gallifrey evil? It was stodgy and up to its neck in red-tape, not bizarrely evil with witches and megalomaniacs and who-knows-what... Just....what???

I'm hoping the writers have some scheme in mind to fix that mistake, Prim. Maybe another universe group of Gallifreayans got loose and trapped the real ones? I don't like other universe stories, but if that could fix this blunder it would be worth subjecting the series to yet another "alternate reality" episode. Perhaps a time twist caused by The Daleks and the Doctor is simply looking for a way to fix it? I'd even settle for an experiment on Gallifrey with the Time Vortex gone horribly wrong as cliché as that would be.

And what the heck did they do the Master? He's only been faintly recognizable in Nu-Who. Someone needs to go back and remind the writers of Delgado, the person who originally brought that character to life, and how he defined him. He wasn't a sociopathic psycho with inner 'drums' (what the heck, Rusty?), he was a suave gentleman with a taste for cigars, crossing swords (sometimes literally) with the Doctor and ruling the universe on his own terms instead of those dictated by the stodgy Gallifreyan government.

Amen, Prim! The Nu-Master confused me more than just about anything in the rebooted Who universe. When I first saw they had chosen Jacobi to play The Master in Utopia I cheered. If they had written that episode properly, Jacobi could have brought some amazing things to Dr. Who. Jacobi is simply one of the best actors on the planet currently. Then I watched the episode with its stuttering insect alien and her "tho" shtick that reminded me more of Jar Jar Binks than a Who character. Professor Yana was a good start, but when he turned into the psychotic John Simm as The Master the subsequent episodes were not worth the time it took to pop the popcorn before each episode. They were not quite as bad as the episodes with River, but close. The episodes with that flying U.N. fortress seemed more in line with a James Bond movie than an episode of Dr. Who. Wasn't there a Saturday morning children's show with puppets that used much the same story?

Perhaps the same schemes mentioned above could fix The Master? It would be an amazing thing to find that the alternate Time Lords, Time War, and Simm as Master were all an elaborate plot by the actual Master to get The Doctor to do something utterly evil. Just slowly revealing all of that would make an amazing season of Dr. Who and the climax where The Doctor once more confronts his suave, intelligent, and thoroughly chivalrous nemesis would make most of what has gone on so far in rebooted Who almost worth the effort. A bearded Christopher Lee as The Master would be brilliant!



Imagine Lee, in a dark suit wearing The Crown of Rassilon as The Doctor bursts onto the scene.

"Yes, Doctor, I pulled Gallifrey and all that it was into The Matrix and rebuilt the world in MY image; to MY desires. All that you now are; all that you have done, has been to MY design!"

(And yes, for those who don't know, Tom Baker played in The Matrix, a computer system storing the total knowledge of the Time Lords on Gallifrey, long before Keanu Reeves did it)

We then move on to find that the only way for the Doctor to return everything to "normal" will be to 'undo" his daughter and River, not to mention Amy Pond as a companion. What will he do? (daaa--da-da-DAAAAA!)

[yaralindi]

For those who have questions about The Doctor, his companions, a particular episode, the aliens used, etc. there is a fairly good wiki that covers from Hartnel to Smith and everything in between.

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Doctor_Who_Wiki

If you've got questions, this place probably has the answer with a reference to the writing or TV show that provides the answer.