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Doctor Who |OT| Talkin' 'bout my Regeneration

Toecutter

Member
It's totally down to Chris Chibnall, the 'genius' that gave us Torchwood's "Cyberwoman" - why they gave the keys to the franchise to him, I don't know. Then again, while "Orphan 55" was the weakest episode I've seen for a while, it's not like Doctor Who isn't peppered with weak episodes every season, even in the golden Tennant era (looking at you, "Fear Her" & "Love & Monsters").

For what it's worth though, I think that Jodie Whittaker is good at the part - you could pretty much replace her for Matt Smith in any of his episodes and get much the same effect. It's the writing that's at fault. While Steven Moffat kind of ran out of steam at times towards the end of his run, he did write some of the strongest episodes going back to the first series of the 2005 revival. Now that he's gone, there seems to be a bit of a void.

If you didn't stick with Capaldi after his rough first series though, I'd recommend at least watching season 9's "Heaven Sent" - it's possibly my favourite ever episode of Doctor Who and shows what Capaldi can do outside of the awkward writing of his early episodes.
 

nush

Member

Some of you will get mad at this.
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I didn't like the War Doctor and I don't like this, except this time it's even worse because it's clearly only being done because of the writers political ideological view that race and sex are more important than telling a good story or acting ability.

I am sick and tired of these overt sexist racists parading around women and minorities as if it makes them saints, when all it does is expose their own bigotry that they clearly see these people as inferior, in need of their charity like they're some sort of side show freak.

Then they then have the gall to expect all the rest of society to be shocked at the inclusion of said minority, and accuse us of misogyny and racism for pointing this out and that what they wrote was shit. It's maddening.
 
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I have only ever watched Peter Capaldis first two seasons and a bit of Matt Smith (who I got bored with soon), so I am not too accustomed to Dr Who really apart from its pop culture siginificance.

It seems to be being a bit trashy, campy and bad with the occasional brilliant mind bending episode strewn in is part of its charme, isn't it?

I liked what I have seen, but it gets quite tiring after a while. Also, "Heaven sent" and the final episode of that season seemed like a perfect closure to me, so I don't have any longings to see any further Dr Who, weirdly enough..
 
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Lanrutcon

Member
I have only ever watched Peter Capaldis first two seasons and a bit of Matt Smith (who I got bored with soon), so I am not too accustomed to Dr Who really apart from its pop culture siginificance.

It seems to be being a bit trashy, campy and bad with the occasional brilliant mind bending episode strewn in is part of its charme, isn't it?

I liked what I have seen, but it gets quite tiring after a while. Also, "Heaven sent" and the final episode of that season seemed like a perfect closure to me, so I don't have any longings to see any further Dr Who, weirdly enough..

You missed Tennant. He was fucking awesome. He had a ton of charisma.
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
It seems to be being a bit trashy, campy and bad with the occasional brilliant mind bending episode strewn in is part of its charme, isn't it?

People will probably argue about the ratio, but you’ve pretty much nailed it.

It’s such a weird formula, but it works, even if I’m kind of at a loss to explain how.

Also, "Heaven sent" and the final episode of that season seemed like a perfect closure to me, so I don't have any longings to see any further Dr Who, weirdly enough..

This is a really good insight. I’ve been thinking the same. Capaldi’s last season was really underwhelming, woke to obnoxiousness, and a pretty poor finish, all at the same time.

Ending it with Heaven Sent and Hell Bent actually seems to work a bit better. Just about everything gets wrapped up in an appropriately epic story, with a kind of beautiful, hopeful tone for the future (if I’m remembering right).
 
Also, gotta agree, if you haven’t seen Tennant, you haven’t seen the single best example of modern Doctor Who. As always, not every episode is a winner ( :messenger_grimmacing_ ), but the entire run is some of the most fun I ever had watching TV, and packed with brilliant stories and moments.
I'd argue Matt Smiths first series is at least the second best of New Who, but yeah, Tennant's run is up there with Tom Baker's for the best the show has ever been.
 
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TriSuit666

Banned
Found out someone I know is a background extra in one of the scenes of the latest episode, and even met the 'new' Doctor, but didn't realise what part she was playing until the show was broadcast.
 

Airola

Member
I haven't seen the past couple of episodes, but even my gf said there's too much "teaching" in the show now. She leans pretty much to the left politically and has been an environmentalist for 15-20 years and was very aware of the climate change things already over 10 years ago and was actively trying to do her part in helping what comes to that issue, and even she thought the show suffers from being preachy. She especially mentioned the show trying to teach about climate stuff and was annoyed by it. She said she liked the first couple of episodes of this season (which I also saw) where it was more about the Master and less about trying to preach anything.

We both like the new Doctor's performance and have no issues with the Doctor being a woman, but I guess the show getting preachy is quite a problem if even my gf thinks it is.
 
Is it possible to have a series run for this long and continue to be good? Legit question.
There's still excellent Dr Who being made, just not on TV.

The Big Finish audiodramas are mostly excellent, and are creating new stories with old Doctors and supporting characters.

Want to know what Derrick Jacobi's Master got up to in the Time War, how River Song and Tom Bakers Doctor would fight a very Who take on the aliens from Edge of Tomorrow, or how Paul Mcgann's Doctor would react to reuniting with his granddaughter Susan? Then go give then a listen.

They're ace, and bring out new, far better and more creative stories than the show does on a constant basis.
 

Pagusas

Elden Member
Is it possible to have a series run for this long and continue to be good? Legit question.

Absolutely, the show runner is just shit right now. I hope he doesn't drive the show into cancellation. One good show runner + a good actor as the doctor, BAM back to success.

And who the hell is dissing on Modern Who without watching all of the 10th Doctors run? That 4th Season was just insanely good TV, like the quality of writing and direction from Silence in the Library till the End of Time was just lights out insane. Honestly other than a few duds (like really bad), Seasons 3 and 4 were the high mark of Doctor Who period to me.
 
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Nymphae

Banned
All this talk has me eyeing the Tennant & Smith complete collections on Amazon, pretty reasonably priced if you ask me, they're on sale right now about $25 bucks a piece for DVD, and Tennant's includes all of the Eccleston episodes.

Also, it drives me nuts that Brits use "series" to mean a season, while we use series to mean an entire run of something. You can find both usages with BBC video releases and it is maddening to me.
 
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Nymphae

Banned
Wow, the blu ray completes for Tennant, Smith, and Capaldi are like 75% off right now on Amazon.ca....I'm not sure I can say no to that kind of a deal....
 
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All this talk has me eyeing the Tennant & Smith complete collections on Amazon, pretty reasonably priced if you ask me, they're on sale right now about $25 bucks a piece for DVD, and Tennant's includes all of the Eccleston episodes.

Also, it drives me nuts that Brits use "series" to mean a season, while we use series to mean an entire run of something. You can find both usages with BBC video releases and it is maddening to me.
Same but in reverse for me with you yanks using Season for Series, and I find it particularly irritating when British shows use Season instead willy nilly.
 

Nymphae

Banned
It just took me way too long to figure out that "Complete Series Seven" and "Complete Series Ten" were not complete Smith and Capaldi collections, but complete seasons from their runs. Huge discounts on those right now, but I just got the DVD complete Eccleston & Tennant collection, good enough for me! If I get sucked in again I'll get the Smith collection down the road.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
It just took me way too long to figure out that "Complete Series Seven" and "Complete Series Ten" were not complete Smith and Capaldi collections, but complete seasons from their runs. Huge discounts on those right now, but I just got the DVD complete Eccleston & Tennant collection, good enough for me! If I get sucked in again I'll get the Smith collection down the road.
Honestly these were the best (in my opinion) since the Tom Baker era.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
Show's been circling the drain since Matt Smith quit, this last couple of seasons have really accelerated the rate of decline though.

Being honest, although new Who has most definitely had its moments, its always been pretty uneven and there's never been a shortage of stinkers. My take is that without a charismatic center is hard to forgive these frequent transgressions, and the last couple of Doctors/companions have been particularly charmless.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Show's been circling the drain since Matt Smith quit, this last couple of seasons have really accelerated the rate of decline though.

Being honest, although new Who has most definitely had its moments, its always been pretty uneven and there's never been a shortage of stinkers. My take is that without a charismatic center is hard to forgive these frequent transgressions, and the last couple of Doctors/companions have been particularly charmless.

I quitted after his ending.
 

JSoup

Banned
You have a magic telephone box that can travel anywhere through time and space and yet they hang around earth.

Putting on my nerd hat here, but A. It's established by the Second Doctor that he has a weakness for Earth and B. It's one of those cash saving methods. Don't need to build a set, just make another establishing shot in that same British cul-de-sac, call it whatever you like.
 
F

Foamy

Unconfirmed Member
I will never understand the love for this show. It's absolutely horrid.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Same, i saw 1-2 episode in the past and i was fucking done.

And i even like a lot actors like tennant or eccleston.

So the worst episodes of the worst seasons are garbage.

But.

In general, the modern seasons are fine. It's the occasional glint of brilliance that really makes the show stand out. Episodes like Silence in the Library and Blink are the ones that really stick with you.
 

Gavin Stevens

Formerly 'o'dium'
I watched them as a kid, and I caught up late about 10 years ago, starting with Eccleston and moving up from there.

For me, David Ten Inch will always be top tier, he was awesome. The others sort of fight for number two spot, at least in terms of the new Doctors’s anyway. I had a convo about this with the wife not long ago where it essential was along the lines of “I always hate the new doctor, until they get replaced, and then I miss them again”

But for us, we watched them all, watched them Christmas Day etc, it was always the big thing. But the new ones... they are just dull. There isn’t anything there for me. It’s not that the doctor is female, it’s that the stories were peak on the Tennent days, then Matt Smith came in and they went all weird fairytale and I didn’t like it so much (though loved smith as the doctor). Even capaldi was great, he was just given shit Stories to work with (though his theme is up there as one of the best).

I really do feel like the team writing these things has got it all wrong. They need to go back and see what was so good before. It was never about massive scale and massive budgets....

Also, Chris Marshal should have totally been given a shot. Maybe next time.
 
I will never understand the love for this show. It's absolutely horrid.
I liked the "britishness" of it. Plus some very campy but interesting shit when comes to costumes and set designs.
It felt really refreshing compared to the usually safe choices we have in modern cinema and TV.

(and Capaldi, which run I viewed two seasons of, is an amazing actor, imo. Saw a bit of Smith, but never liked him as much.)
 
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plushyp

Member
As soon as I saw the announcement of Chris Chibnall as the lead writer for Doctor Who I knew it was going to be bad news. More so given how Seasons 2+3 of Broadchurch went and him going with Beth Latimer instead of Olivia Coleman as the new Doctor.
 

TriSuit666

Banned
People seem to not talk about Christopher Eccleston's doctor as much, his doctor was great, a shame he had a short run with the role , another season with his doctor would have been so great to me.

He only ever committed to one season, they pretty much had Tennent lined up to take over.
 
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Nymphae

Banned
People seem to not talk about Christopher Eccleston's doctor as much, his doctor was great, a shame he had a short run with the role , another season with his doctor would have been so great to me.

My problem with him is that he was intentionally downplaying the quirky aspects of the character. Every iteration basically had a physical quirk or something interesting about their costume.


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10th Doctor eschewed the costume quirks entirely, and literally is just a dude with a leather jacket. He did not look out of place on modern Earth 2005 in the slightest, and that's what I found off-putting. Eccleston was really good actually, but his Doctor didn't look enough like what I know the doctor to be.
 
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MudoSkills

Volcano High Alumnus (Cum Laude)
I'm not sure why I still watch this because I'm not sure it has actually had a great episode since Blink, and so much of it is painfully mediocre. I keep saying that it's okay for Dr Who, rather than it being good.

I actually think this crew has a decent on screen chemistry but the stories have been weak.
 

Caffeine

Member
i just caught up on season 11 and the first 5 eps of 12. the characters are alright but the writing for the most part is not good. bring moffat back.
 

Mistake

Gold Member
For a second I thought this was about a particular doctor who suddenly bombed in his medical career
 
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