Doctor Who — Page 4

It was the usual RTD megablast of notional ideas with no story to back them up and no logical structure to knit them together.

The Doctor Hubris strand from The Waters Of Mars looked like it was going somewhere but it didn't.

The Ood plot strand looked like it was going somewhere but it didn't.

The Woman plot strand looked like it was going somewhere but it didn't (I didn't need to know who she was but for crying out loud what purpose does she actually serve other than add a bit of faux mystery to a non-story?).

Wilf seemed to be more than any grandfather, that gun seemed more than just a gun.

Only RTD could have Lucy Saxon muck up the Master's Hammer House Of Horror meets Prisoner Cell Block H resurrection so he was actually stronger (so long as he had London/Cardiff's homeless community to munch on like Super Mario powerups).

Then there was Super Master turning everyone into his clones like Agent Smith.

Oh no! Poor Donna will remember who she is and burn like the Doctor told her as an excuse for her to go home without all those life affirming lessons she picked up traveling with him.

Only he was only joking.

Cut to silly escape to Starbug crewed by the Meglos couple and a long long wait on a ship doing nothing while Rassilon (the hardest Time Lord in the history of Gallifrey) throws a bit of diamonique from Ratner's into his Google Earth.

Cue Luke and Han!

Leading to Gallifrey looming in the sky like Yavin (surely the people of Earth are used to this sort of thing now) and the Doctor free falling from a space ship, through a glass dome, onto a marble floor (Tom regenerated after falling 250ft onto grass) only to get up and start waving a normal WWII pistol around (it's bleedin Rassilon even J.R.Ewing survived a well aimed bullet and the Doctor is deliberating between shooting a guy who can shoot lightning out of his hands and a god like being who can shoot lighting out of his magic gauntlet) and he just gets a few cuts.

Lucky he noticed yet again that there was a stupid bit of easy to destroy equipment to shoot instead (RTD loves undoing giant planetary and Universal threats with a handy piece of machinery that happens to be in the dangerzone).

Cue Spock!

And then 25 minutes of goodbyes.

Cue Mos Eisley.

I had to laugh at how he gave Donna a lottery ticket from her dead dad.

He could have at least of had Bad Wolf written on the Tardis door before he left the Powell estate for the last time heralding his flamboyant demise and rebirth instead of a little Ood music (it wasn't even "The Song For Ten").

Well at least it's over now. RTD is as annoying as Lucas when he does these stupid epics and like Lucas his talent is undeniable but not at doing this sort of thing which makes it so much more frustrating.

Matt looks fun (even if I can't shake the resemblance to Crispin Glover out of my head).

The trailer for the 2010 series looks good but Flavia's Bones it better get better.

The voices in my head which have troubled me since watching the bath water go down the plug hole when I was eight predict this year Steven Moffat becomes Nobel laureate for Literature simply because he isn't Russell T Davies.

Still if there was no RTD this video would not be possible :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLnk-A1OkKk

I don't know if this plays everywhere but I'm pretty sure the Dalek is saying "They stole my Jaffa Cakes!".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDHjbKQ6H1s

And while we are the subject of Daleks was Tesla a Dalek agent (take a look at the centre of his letterhead and see if you can see what I mean)?

I've recently started getting into Doctor Who - I've watched all the Ninth and Tenth Doctor episodes, some random ones throughout the rest of the series (the first two First Doctor serials, the Fifth Doctor's last serial, and one of the Fourth Doctor's serials), and the Eighth Doctor movie.

I really liked the Eighth Doctor (despite the movie not being particularly good), and was disappointed that he was only in one "episode."  So I started poking around, and lo and behold, there's a shit-ton of Eighth Doctor short stories, comics, novels, and audio dramas!

The problem is ... no one seems to know for sure what order they should go in.

So, I managed to find the Doctor Who Reference Guide (http://www.drwhoguide.com/who.htm), which has a list of everything in order.  But this order conflicts somewhat with the Doctor Who Wiki and other sources.

So, I was wondering how you guys would arrange them.  So far, I've read/listened to, in this order:

1. The Eight Doctors (novel; read the Reference Guide's synopsis)
2. Bounty (audiobook read by Paul McGann; pretty good)
3. Model Train Set (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
4. The Glass Princess (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
5. Greenaway (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
6. Totem (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
7. Second Contact (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
8. D.S. al Fine (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
9. The Dying Days (novel; read Reference Guide synopsis)
10. The Company of Friends: Benny's Story (audio drama)
11. Thinking Warrior (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
12. The Ethereal (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
13. ...Be Forgot (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
14. Not in My Back Yard (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
15. The Wickerwork Man (short story; read Reference Guide synopsis)
16. Dreadnought (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
17. Descendance (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
18. Ascendance (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
19. Perceptions (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
20. Coda (comic; read Reference Guide synopsis)
21. Shada (audio drama; on part 3 right now)

That's where I'm at now.  Beyond this, there seems to be a discrepancy over whether the Big Finish audio dramas (from Storm Warning on) take place before or after the Vampire Science novel, or whether the novels or audio dramas are separate continuities (and which of the two is canon).  Any help with this?

Oh, and does anyone know when Matt Smith's season starts?

One of the brave things about Doctor Who stories generally is the lack of officially stamped layers of canon (it's a story about a time traveler so the past can change and snap back). You can if you wish to, even tie the Cushing films (Barbara and Ian sold their story to a film company) in both Shadas and the Unbound audios.

A key point of contention is the novels, audios and television series point to a terrible event on Gallifrey of which the Eighth Doctor is a key player.

You can either read them as three totally unconnected events happening in separate story branches, separate events happening one after another or the same events altered by the nature of the events.

So I wouldn't get to hung up on where the books, television, comics and audios fit in relationship with each other.

To enjoy each media's take on the character it's best to read or listen to them in order but you will very rarely get a comic character name dropped in an audio or an event in a novel turn up in a comic.

It's a time of chaos.

In some ways the Eighth Doctor has the most interesting journey of them all, not bad for a guy who only got one television story.

Matt's journey starts on April 3rd in Britain and April 17th on BBC America.

My Console room prediction was way off (I assumed more symmetry than the final design would allow) if you want to stay spoiler free look away now:

http://cache-01.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2010/03/500x_mainimage6.jpg

Dear lord, that belongs in the optical illusion thread.

Not going to spoil the plot but the first episode of the new look series was fun but spoiled by some 1990's style CGI and the worst rendition of the theme tune since the Sylvester McCoy era (only the hideous Delaware version trumps it and they ditched that after one episode).

Used for one episode of Carnival Of Monsters and hated by Delia Derbyshire :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDTuUe3o7ko

It was used to humorous effect in the Big Finish audio The One Doctor.

The CGI is hideous though, I know they have had a bit of a budget slash but surely they could find a cheaper FX company that could do the job better than this?

Better still write the sort of stories that don't need expensive special effects.

The acting, the writing and the sets are well filmed and directed so why include elements that drag the whole thing down?

The rest of the production is a much higher standard than the relatively cheap and cheerful Sarah Jane Adventures but the CGI would look a bit rushed even on that fun but retro-tacky looking show.

jfett said:

 

Bingowings said:

Not going to spoil the plot but the first episode of the new look series was fun but spoiled by some 1990's style CGI and the worst rendition of the theme tune since the Sylvester McCoy era (only the hideous Delaware version trumps it and they ditched that after one episode).

Haha, the "McCoy" era was the end of the "classic series" unless you count the movie. The new theme isn't great, but it's better than McCoy's theme! The new theme sucks, the new logo sucks, the new tardis sucks, the new companion sucks and the new doctor sucks. I disagree about the CGI though - it should be MORE cheesy after all that's what Dr Who is all about! They should make an episode "the four doctors" out of the four doctors since the end of the classic era.

 

Nonsense! Doctor Who up to a point only looked cheesy when it hadn't the money or technology to articulate the imagination of the writers.

When Michael Grade set his sights on killing the show off JNT (rather foolishly) played up the cheese and turned the show into panto when he should have scaled down the stories to match what could be made on the budget he had.

If you listen to the Big Finish audios you get a feel for what the eighties era could have been like with writers taking the concept more seriously.

Peter, Colin and Sylvester were never properly served in the TV show but given good scripts and all the amazing visuals that come with audio they really shine.

Some of the best Doctor Who stories ever have appeared on audio, Spare Parts is the best Cyberman story by a long mark.

It's meant to be bizarre and strange but not cheesy.

Some of the earliest stories where up there with most of what cinema was offering at the time.

Giant rat aside The Talons Of Weng Chiang is a classy production, up there with BBC dramatisations of Dickens.

It's only towards the end we got that disconnect from what Doctor Who was trying to do and what the BBC was trying to do in drama generally.

The latest episode has great acting, great direction is well written and shot but the CGI looks like something from a decade ago and it really threw me out of the story, something a special effect should never do.

This idea that the show is meant to be cheese which wobbles around a small section of fandom is the sort of thing that will kill the show again.

Well, I gave up on the Eighth Doctor audios and such.  Instead, I've gone back and started watching the show from the beginning (I'm partway through the last serial of season 1 right now).  I did, however, get a chance to check out the new episode over the weekend after it aired.

Impressions:

- Story was a bit all over the place, but this episode was more about the new Doctor finding out who he is and taking us along with him.  I can forgive it for this episode.

- Matt Smith = freakin' AMAZING!  I was skeptical, especially after how awesome Tennant was, but damn if he didn't exceed every one of my expectations.  I'm really looking forward to seeing him in action over the course of the next few years.

- Karen Gillan as Amy Pond = super hot, and a nice feisty personality that isn't outright bitchy like Donna was (I know people liked Donna, but, well, I didn't).

- New TARDIS = MUCH improved over the last one.  Some people have been complaining that it's over-the-top, but the way I see it, it's the second time (after the atricous TV movie) that they've really taken advantage of the "It's bigger on the inside!" idea (bearing in mind that I haven't seen seasons 2-26, so I could be wrong on that).  I like it a lot.

- New Sonic Screwdriver = I was really hoping he wouldn't get a new one after his was broken.  It better not become as overused as it was in the Eccleston/Tennant era.  I do like the design, though, and green is my favorite color.

- Ten Doctors Hologram = awesome, if very fan-service-y.

All in all, I was more entertained by this than nearly any episode of series 4.  I'm excited about where this will go!

Also, the CGI didn't bother me too much.  Sure, it wasn't perfect, but none of the CGI in the last 4 series was any better IMO.

I got into a slightly heated tweet discussion with Murray Gold about the theme, he likes it and his friends like it and the Moff likes it so that is that.

I can hardly find anyone else who does though.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention that in my post.

The theme pretty much just sucks.  It's not the worst, but the 2005 theme was better, and I was never a giant fan of the 2005 theme.

I don't mind the animation, though.  I wish the Time Vortex looked more alien and less like stormclouds, but it's more interesting visually than the last one.

I really don't know anything abuot Doctor Who.  But I am a big Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy fan, and wasn't the third book based on a Doctor Who episode or something?  Or maybe Douglas Adams wrote a Doctor Who episoed and then used it for the third book?

Douglas was the script editor for one season.

The Doctor dismisses a book by Oolon Colluphid in Destiny Of The Daleks, it's largely accepted as Fanon that H2G2 takes place in the same universe as Doctor Who just as Quatermass does (the Doctor claims to have met Arthur Dent in The Christmas Invasion which also mentions the British Rocket Group).

Life, the Universe and Everything was largely based on the abandoned Doctor Who script Doctor Who and the Krikketmen.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency has whole sections lifted from the Doctor Who stories Shada and The City Of Death both written (mostly) by Adams under assumed names.

Originally the Daleks were to turn up at the end of season two of Blake's 7 some of the spin off material accepts that join too and have merged the two universes.