Doctor Who opinions

RC 4 LIFE !!!

RC and Jelly Bellys !
HERETIC!
RC and Moonpies

Veering back on topic:
I would gladly settle for less dramatic SFX and location shooting for more episodes in a simpler style.
IMO Dr Who works best when it involves ideas and the resolution of the problem is not obvious but solved by thinking sideways. Using the Apollo TV coverage to free humanity from the influence of the Silence was one of my favorite solutions...
 
When WIndows 8 was released I referred to is as a 'New Coke' of operating systems to some friends and some of them did not know what the 'New Coke' reference was about.

Windows 8 actually did it's job believe it or not.

There was a developer that explained why they did it that way. If you bypassed the start screen, there wasn't really anything wrong with 8...but that start screen was a killer. :)
 
It's not good news for the show,...the long wait to see Series 11,....now another long wait till we see it again

It's obviously not hot property any more,......hopefully they take the criticism on board & correct their course

J
 
I also noticed during last nights episode that the Christmas Special is now the New Year's Special. For some reason it won't be ready for Christmas so they pushed it back a week, at least that is what they said, but since the name of the episode is Resolutions that has me wondering if this wasn't planned all along.

Going for over a year between seasons is a good way to lose fans who are already questioning the show.
 
My wife and I have been waiting forever for the next season of 'Game of Thrones' to air as well.

We really did like that last episode in Dr Who- she said it was the first show this season that really felt like a Dr Who episode to her (she has not cared much for the whole new style of filming/writing).
 
Well, I made it through Episode 5 of the new season. I haven’t totally bought into the new cast, but it always takes me a few episodes to adjust to a new doctor.
 
It's just not a good show and I have no idea if that's Chibnall's fault or the BBC, but I can't even say if Jodie is any good because she's been given crap to work with all series. Every episode has been vastly underwhelming. There are no real stakes to anything that's going on, Jodie keeps running around saying she doesn't know anything, which has been a massive problem this year, I honestly don't care about any of the characters, she does stupid things in one episode that are immediately solved in later episodes, like calling the Tardis via remote control in the finale where she should have just done that in the first episode. It's just dumb. They ought to take a decade off. Let this politically correct crap die a well-deserved death, find someone who actually knows what Doctor Who is, or just give up entirely. I'd rather not have it exist at all than to have this be what we have to look forward to.
 
I don't have an issue with Jodie as such, but there's been very little in the episodes that made me feel warm and happy to have watched it, and excited to see the next one. It just seems to have lost that bit of fire that was burning hot with CT and MS, started to falter with PC, and now seems to be a fairly dull ember.

They're telling stories that aren't interesting, in a way that isn't interesting. I still watch because of OCD rather than pleasure. I remain hopeful that it will pick up after a slow start.
 
The last 2 episodes have been closer to the old style Who story lines and as such I find much more entertaining. I don't want to watch a fantasy scifi program to be given current or previous political / social regurgitations. Thats what the News and or history channel are for. The cast is ok, not steller but doing a decent job with what they have been handed. Some reason 3 extras seem a bit excessive, but I think they have the older gent there to garner the original Dr audience, someone to relate to. Or just someone with some past experience to draw from.
 
I don't want to watch a fantasy scifi program to be given current or previous political / social regurgitations.
To everyone who keeps saying things like this: Have you actually paid attention to any sci-fi/fantasy from the last.... forever? It has always been used for social/political commentary. Everything from Star Trek to Blade Runner (anything by Philip K Dick), Gulliver's Travels to Frankenstein. A lot of Lord of the Rings is Tolkein's reaction to the horrors of WW1.
Doctor Who has been doing it from the start: The Daleks were a warning against nuclear war, xenophobia, etc... The Cybermen were bodily augmentation taken too far. It's covered environmental issues, war, the European Common Market... If you think Doctor Who has only gotten political now The Doctor is a woman? You just haven't been watching it.
 
Not to the point where that was the whole plot of the show.
Yep when Kirk kissed Uhura the cat was out of the bag, and not just the fact he was chasing all the skirts on the set :)
 
Not quite the same.

The difference is, it's not fun when it's blatantly obvious. It's the difference between influencing and flat out copying - or maybe doing it wrong vs doing it right. I'd wager most people who read LOTR, for example, didn't have WWII enter into the equation unless they knew beforehand that it was a huge influence. Star Wars had it's influences, too, but you don't watch it and think 'hey the is based on WWII' or anything.

The line about 'the american president in episode 4ish is an example of 'the bad'. Not that i agree or disagree, but you knew the moment it was said why it was said and it wasn't to do with the story. When it takes you out of the story, it's bad.
 
I just finished the last episode. I've thoroughly enjoyed the season, I didn't dislike any of the episodes. I think Bradley Walsh has been brilliant in this, he really conveyed his sense of loss for his wife very convincingly, without it being too over the top.
My 2 faves would be the Rosa Parks and Pendle Witch episodes.
Looking forward to the New Year special. I may go back and watch some more of the new stuff as I really ducked out of it after Eccleston's stint.
 
Really? I'm sure others can come up with more, but it's late, so... off the top of my head:
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield: The 'whole plot' of that episode was "Racism is bad"

That the Rosa Parks episode?

I can see that, but, it's also a throwback to the original run as well. They visited historic times in the past. Marco Polo, etc. I'd have like that episode better without that little commentary tying it to modern day, but I don't consider an episode on Rosa Parks, by definition, a shot at racism in the world today. I thought that on a couple episodes initially (to on the nose to today), but the latter half I don't recall it.
 
I remember as a kid back in the 80s, school got out at 3:25 PM every afternoon. I would literally run home the entire way so that I can be home by 4 PM to watch Tom Baker as Doctor Who. It was magical and wonderful back then.

When it returned in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston, it had recaptured the wonder and magic of Doctor Who. I liked David Tennant, and I thought Matt Smith was absolutely brilliant.

After that the show begin going downhill. Steven Moffat wanted these high reaching story arcs that would go on for two episodes and be resolved in the last two minutes of the second episode. When Clara became the most important person in the Doctor Who universe I started becoming more and more turned off. This new series doesn’t even feel like Doctor Who anymore.

It is sad when the show that you used to love more than any other suddenly has turned into something you don’t even like you anymore. I think I’m only still watching it because of Tom Baker, Christopher Eccleston, and Matt Smith.
 
I really disliked the trend on making the companions far too important. Rose was a good one- yes, she became Bad Wolf, but she was a normal person who happened to be in that right place at the right time and the Doctor liked how she handled herself and offered her a ride. Martha Jones was similar- she earned her seat in the TARDIS by asking the right questions and showing strength and initiative when things got weird.
To me the Companion was an audience surrogate first and providing the insight or observation which helps the Doctor resolve an issue a close second. Making the Companion super important reminds me of Wesley Crusher- the more important he became, the more flattered we were supposed to feel since our surrogate is pulling a Mary Sue.
I liked the character Clara but hated what they did with her. She became more important that all the Doctors combined in one episode even. By the time Capaldi came around he was reduced to providing her side trips for amusement while she still kept her day job.
With the new ensemble of Companions the writers seem to be having some trouble keeping them all busy. Graham could solo and I would be fine with that though people always seemed fixed on having some sort of Special/romantic connection with the Doctor and having a group leaves that potential right out of the conversation.
I do think the other two are a waste of time- Ryan seems to be the designated mess up who blurts stupid stuff and causes problems, even when he does good it can go wrong like sending that time travelling meddler into the past to cause even more problems. Yaz is just there. Thee have been multiple times where her Police skills and training would have come in handy, but aside from a bit of backstory she does not act like a trained officer. I know she was just beginning her career, but when she had a security-thug pull a gun on her she did not even identify herself as a police officer.

The first season is always rough with a new cast and crew, all in all I think they did fairly well even better that I had expected. we will have to wait until 2020 to see the next season, hopefully that enormous lead time will result in a tuned up series and some fantastic scripts.
 
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I generally haven't liked most of the companions in New Who. I hated Rose, more as time went on. She was a moron,an uneducated idiot who left her boyfriend to go off with the Doctor, only to keep running back to him every time she had a problem. Mickey was too good for her by a long shot. When they threw her into an alternate dimension, I celebrated. She was trash. The only companion I really liked was Martha, who may have started with the Doctor out of desperation, even flirted with the Doctor for a moment, but she turned into her own woman, she made something of herself, she walked away from the Tardis and was a better person afterwards. And she was a far superior partner for Mickey than Rose ever was. Donna... sucked. She was loud, she was obnoxious, they tried to make her way too important and in the end, they screwed her over. She never improved as a character, she was still the same loser at the end that she was at the beginning. Amy and Rory were, at times, tolerable, and at the very least, having two of them kept Amy from trying to get into the Doctor's pants. That's the one thing that really makes me mad. The Doctor is an alien. Even the thought of being romantically involved with any of the companions ought to be disgusting. It's bestiality. It's like screwing your dog. What moron thought this was a good idea? Oh right, Davies did. Clara was crap, they kept her too long because Moffat wanted to get her in bed. The new ones aren't good either. Graham is the best, the other two are a complete waste of time. Throw them in a black hole somewhere.

The whole point of having companions in the first place is to give the audience someone to identify with. It's to have a human around that the Doctor can explain things to. The Doctor has to be the focus, but in recent years, it's been The Companion Show, with special guest The Doctor. Fundamentally, I don't think they even know who they are making the show for anymore. It's certainly not for kids. It's not for fans of the classic series. Who is this show supposed to appeal to? Because I know it isn't me.
 
I had forgotten "The Amy and Rory Show"- when that ramped up the show became mostly about them and their problems- I was surprised the Doctor didn't just quietly sneak off and leave them stranded on Kissmyass IV...
 
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