A thread about Doctor Who

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Season 24 release video. Like the previous one a little bit naff, a little bit charming and most of all very odd.

I've got a soft for Sylvester run. I think he was on when I was at just the right age for me to have a strong attachment to him as the doctor even if the episodes are, objectively speaking, not always great.

Season 24 though is the Mel season. No Ace yet. They also hadn't really got into trying to show the doctor as a dark mysterious figure. God knows where they were going with that... I'm guessing they didn't know either but it would have to have been better than the Timeless Child nonsense we've had foisted upon us since.

I do quite like the Paradise Towers episode. Really struggles with budget and direction but there's some nice ideas in there.

[Thomas Wood Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Thomas Wood]

I really disliked Sylvester McCoy. I'm not sure if I even watched the last season with him. I probably did but just erased it from my memory.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

I like the way he roooooolls his vowels. His enunciation is heaps of fun to me. Most of Sylvester's run isn't hugely watchable but he had a couple good serials. The Curse Of Fenris and The Greatest Show In The Galaxy are two that I would think would appeal to cult film fans. TGSITG had some great surreal imagery. A pair of circus folk escaping through an endless desert while colourful kites spy on their position and chase is given by clowns in limousines being one that sticks in my memory. While COF feels a bit more sophisticated than your standard classic Dr Who. I certainly rate it a big step up from anything in Colin's run. Now that was some dire who.

[Thomas Wood Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Thomas Wood]

I like the way he roooooolls his vowels. His enunciation is heaps of fun to me. Most of Sylvester's run isn't hugely watchable but he had a couple good serials. The Curse Of Fenris and The Greatest Show In The Galaxy are two that I would think would appeal to cult film fans. TGSITG had some great surreal imagery. A pair of circus folk escaping through an endless desert while colourful kites spy on their position and chase is given by clowns in limousines being one that sticks in my memory. While COF feels a bit more sophisticated than your standard classic Dr Who. I certainly rate it a big step up from anything in Colin's run. Now that was some dire who.

Funny but I didn't mind Colin Baker.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Good article about "Doctor Who's The Daemons, weird children's TV of the 1970s, and the inescapable presence of Nigel Kneale."

https://headpress.com/doctor-who-the-daemons/

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Good article about "Doctor Who's The Daemons, weird children's TV of the 1970s, and the inescapable presence of Nigel Kneale."

https://headpress.com/doctor-who-the-daemons/

Funny to be talking about Doctor Who being scary for kids back then. Have they caught the show recently? So much in the Moffett era to scar kids for life.

I think I mentioned earlier in the thread that I caught with up The Deamons a little while back. The Quartemass and Wicker Man references are not hidden well but is that a bad thing? I always figured having doctor who riff on popular movies was fun. The Seeds Of Doom stands out as an example.

So much of those early episodes are padded to hell on a rewatch and The Deamons is a particularly bad offender. There's also an hilarious scene where the Doctor gives poor Joa dressing down that has not aged well at all.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

We've recently binged our way through the Capaldi run. It's a different show on a rewatch when you get smash all the episodes together rather than waiting on them week to week/year to year.

Overall I think it was a pretty strong run. Overall thoughts:
- I remember being severely annoyed by Clara the first time round. Didn't mind her so much this go around. I think the issue with her is they keep teasing her leaving over the course of a couple seasons. You keep expecting her to be booted and you're eager for the next bit. Makes her feel quite tiresome. The actress/character is fine though.
- It doesn't really feel like the show reboots with Capaldi till his third season. Usually a new doctor gets a fresh start. Season 3 does that. All of a sudden, with no immediate explanation, he's a lecturer at a university with Nardole as his comic relief and a new assistant in Bill and a mysterious something locked in a vault. His first two seasons can feel a bit stale. His third definitely feels livelier.
-Bill, with the possible exception of Amy, is the best companion the doctors had. Read someone suggesting she should be brought back as the Doctor. I could get behind that.
- Bird is probably the best episode of Doctor Who in its current incarnation or the other.
- Missy was a fantastic master.
- Giving the first two seasons an obvious running theme was a mistake. In the first the Doctor, and the show, is obsessed with if he's a good man. The audience already knows the answer, of course he fucking is! so get on with it.

The main takeaway is the absolute gulf in quality between this and what we have now with Chibnall. I really hope the beeb sees the light and gives him the boot before he gets the show cancelled.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

The Beeb confirms Chibnall leaving alongside Whitaker at the end of this season. I couldnt be happier. Well I could be slightly happier- I'd like to have seen Whitaker get a go with a decent showrunner. It's disappointing that the first female doctors run is largely unwatchable. Just hope Chibnll walks back the absolute Bollocks "revelations" at the end of the last season. It wouldn't even be hard. I was thinking they could make this second doctor that's running around The Choosen Child, or whatever the fuck it's called, and let the doctor just be the doctor.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Christopher Eccleston doing some Doctor Who radio drama stuff for the BBC.

https://bleedingcool.com/tv/doctor-w...finish-dramas/

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Russell T Davies is apparently returning as showrunner. Earns a big "Meh" from me. I know others think of those seasons as the glory days of the show but they left me pretty cold. Even as a massive doctor who fan who had seen all of the available classic who I didn't make it more than a season or so into his run. I've caught up with most of his run in lockdown and there are admittedly some good episodes in there but its still not quite my thing. BUT, anythings better than Chibnall. Time to start hypothesising on a new Doctor. Personally, if it was my call, I'd go with Jennifer Saunders or Joanna Lumley.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

Wow, I put on the new Who last night primed for disappointment and, huh, it was actually pretty good. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. So unexpected I'm still a bit shaken. It really did feel like a totally new creative crew had jumped in. There was nothing about, say, the evils of plastics in the ocean. Yaz wasn't a complete drip. She was actually a serviceable companion. There was a bit of that Timeless Child nonsense but at least they were seemingly trying to tie it into some sort of larger narrative rather than it simply being this terrible back story the doctor just gets told. That new companions Liverpudlian accent is so thick he can be hard to follow but other than that.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Longshot speculation that Helena Bonham Carter will be the next Doctor.

https://bleedingcool.com/tv/is-helen...re-doing-this/

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

They have as much chance of getting Ed Norton. Actually he'd make a good Doctor...

[agent999 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close agent999]

They have as much chance of getting Ed Norton. Actually he'd make a good Doctor...

I don't know, she's doing tv commercials at the moment so she might need cash?

I think they'd be crazy to double down with another female doctor given the ratings slump.

[Dom D Spoon! Find all posts View Profile Close Dom D]

I don't know, she's doing tv commercials at the moment so she might need cash?

I think they'd be crazy to double down with another female doctor given the ratings slump.

Is she still married to Burton? If so I'm sure he'd have the cash to keep her in the manner to which she has become accustomed.

I do see headlines talking about ratings slumps. I've never looked into it but I'm a bit suss on talks of ratings slumps given the way people watch television has entirely changed. I can't see a straight man getting the role. It would like they were running up the white flag. I actually wouldn't be surprised if it's they go with a gay male or transgender. Females not out of the question though. Even if the ratings did go down I'm sure the BBC can see that the quality of the program did too. You can't blame anyone for not sticking around for those last two seasons. In fact anyone who got through the likes of Praxeus deserves a medal. Still enjoying the new season though. Sub Moffatt quality but I prefer it to the Ecclestone/Tennant years.