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Doctor Who Series Seven |OT| The Question You've Been Running From All Your Life

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A

Axiom

Member
Every jacket and coat I ever want to wear, I see first on Sherlock or Doctor Who. Shocking how that works.

Shame they're all so crazy expensive.

I wonder if Sherlock and Watson are the first TV duo in which shipping is specifically acknowledged and encouraged in the writing. Much like RTD needed his outlet for sex with Torchwood, perhaps Sherlock is where Moffat is gets his kicks.

I had been hoping for a new Master, but if Simm can get to play it differently in a send-off the same way Anthony Ainley finally got to in Survival then I'm all for it. The man can act.


Fiction said:
I was actually surprised at the amount of male Buffy fans here, as my corner of fandom is almost entirely females.
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Buffy was probably my first exposure to proper internet fandom since I was there while it was still an actively fresh and popular thing. Before that it was largely finding out after the fact things like everyone seemed to hate Wesley Crusher and Ewoks but me...and on that note of things everyone else seemed to dislike, The Zeppo is a great episode, I kind of prefer Oz and Tara together or alone to Willow/Either of them and Faith the Vampire Slayer should have been a show.

Billiechu said:
Watch Firefly. Serenity can be skipped. But watch Firefly :)
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I always keep meaning to, I ended up with Summer Glau's autograph through a stranger handing me an autograph token and I feel bad given I have no context for it.
 
U

User 100115

Banned
Axiom said:
Every jacket and coat I ever want to wear, I see first on Sherlock or Doctor Who. Shocking how that works.

Shame they're all so crazy expensive.

I wonder if Sherlock and Watson are the first TV duo in which shipping is specifically acknowledged and encouraged in the writing. Much like RTD needed his outlet for sex with Torchwood, perhaps Sherlock is where Moffat is gets his kicks.

I had been hoping for a new Master, but if Simm can get to play it differently in a send-off the same way Anthony Ainley finally got to in Survival then I'm all for it. The man can act.


Buffy was probably my first exposure to proper internet fandom since I was there while it was still an actively fresh and popular thing. Before that it was largely finding out after the fact things like everyone seemed to hate Wesley Crusher and Ewoks but me...and on that note of things everyone else seemed to dislike, The Zeppo is a great episode, I kind of prefer Oz and Tara together or alone to Willow/Either of them and Faith the Vampire Slayer should have been a show.

I always keep meaning to, I ended up with Summer Glau's autograph through a stranger handing me an autograph token and I feel bad given I have no context for it.
Click to expand...

Since people have been shipping them since the 1800s, I imagine there is no other way to do it hehe.

I loved the Zeppo! I'm not even a huge Xander fan. I loved Earshot too, which is apparently a pretty reviled episode as well. I loved Tara/Willow, but Willow wasn't good enough for Tara. *sniff*

Edit: My autographed copy of the River cover for the comics is one of my most treasured possessions.
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
Axiom said:
Every jacket and coat I ever want to wear, I see first on Sherlock or Doctor Who. Shocking how that works.

Shame they're all so crazy expensive.

I wonder if Sherlock and Watson are the first TV duo in which shipping is specifically acknowledged and encouraged in the writing. Much like RTD needed his outlet for sex with Torchwood, perhaps Sherlock is where Moffat is gets his kicks.
Click to expand...
There is plenty of shipping on Supernatural, and the writers love making jokes about it.
 
U

User 100115

Banned
HolyCheck said:
...shipping?
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Fandom practice of rooting for two people to get together on the show. This can be just idle interest, or extend into writing fanfic fulfilling that wish.

Slashing is where people 'ship' (short for relationship) two people of the same sex.

Shipping is serious business in larger parts of fandom. Massive shipping wars can break out (see Buffy/Angel vs Buffy/Spike vs Buffy/Xander or Doctor/Rose vs everyone else).

Shipping is also the origin of celebrity relationship name smushing, as its quicker to write say, Spuffy than to write Spike/Buffy. This has led to much hilarity due to funny as hell ship names (Sherlolly, Spander, Drose, Bangel, and my personal favorite, the OT4 Spanyanka Spuffywood)

In other words: Fandom, it doesn't make sense.
 
F

FillerB

Member
Mister Saturn said:
Shipping wars? Like, if the pairing makes sense or what?
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When two shipping groups get into an, often hysterical argument over which pairing is better for completely non-nonsensical arbitrary. Think "Rose is purrrrrrrrfect for the Doctor, Donna is just a slut" "Nuh-uh Donna is way better. She blablabla".

That stuff. Super annoying. Best to just ignore it at all costs.
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
Never in a million years a shirt I would ever wear, but Teefury had a lovely design of a Rose shirt the other day. Would make a nice PC background in high res.
1349124001_left.jpg
 
F

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
Shipping seems to be in every fandom no matter what these days, I'm not really interested but I don't mind it either. Although it can be funny to see people arguing and writing essays about this stuff like it's serious business. It's one of those things like cosplay and roleplaying, you don't hear about it until you do.

PhoncipleBone said:
There is plenty of shipping on Supernatural, and the writers love making jokes about it.
Click to expand...
Teen Wolf is another one where the actors and showrunners acknowledge it nonstop and it's hilarious. The characters Stiles and Derek aren't remotely interested in each other but the pairing is so popular that the actors did a video on a ship to ask for Teen Choice Awards votes while doing some funny fanservice.

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


APZonerunner said:
Never in a million years a shirt I would ever wear, but Teefury had a lovely design of a Rose shirt the other day. Would make a nice PC background in high res.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WVZjOO4Kfns/UIZmfDDP3cI/AAAAAAAAVzo/lXjBUuVQAmM/s1600/1349124001_left.jpg
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Here's a higher quality version:

ibfQweudfjqaTh.jpg


And Ten fanart by the same artist:

ibpjhE0oXKwHId.jpg


http://chesheyre.deviantart.com
 
A

Axiom

Member
I really need to watch Supernatural sometime.

While I never objected to romance in Doctor Who, even when Paul McGann was enraging people for it - I always felt it a valid argument that the Doctor is both himself impossibly smart and from a civilization so far evolved compared to humanity that him romancing a human is equivalent to us romancing a monkey.

And when I say valid I mean for Rose specifically, because I never heard an explanation for that I understood which didn't involve post-war trauma.
 
E

Exterminieren

Banned
The show that has the biggest amount of shipper-pandering has to be Merlin.

Seriously, it's stepped past innuendo into something that I can hardly believe is allowed to be broadcast at Saturday teatime.
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
Axiom said:
I really need to watch Supernatural sometime.

While I never objected to romance in Doctor Who, even when Paul McGann was enraging people for it - I always felt it a valid argument that the Doctor is both himself impossibly smart and from a civilization so far evolved compared to humanity that him romancing a human is equivalent to us romancing a monkey.

And when I say valid I mean for Rose specifically, because I never heard an explanation for that I understood which didn't involve post-war trauma.
Click to expand...

I think the Doctor's reaction to Amy coming on to him early in Matt Smith's run was Moffat's attempt to set the Doctor back on that kind of not-interested-in-humans path. In the end, given the number of people who think Amy's still got a torch for the Doctor, I kinda wish he'd just left it a non-issue from the start instead.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
maharg said:
I think the Doctor's reaction to Amy coming on to him early in Matt Smith's run was Moffat's attempt to set the Doctor back on that kind of not-interested-in-humans path. In the end, given the number of people who think Amy's still got a torch for the Doctor, I kinda wish he'd just left it a non-issue from the start instead.
Click to expand...

I thought Amy's Choice put that argument to rest, though apparently people didn't drop it because the series then went on to re-prove Amy was all about Rory like seven more times.
 
U

User 100115

Banned
FillerB said:
When two shipping groups get into an, often hysterical argument over which pairing is better for completely non-nonsensical arbitrary. Think "Rose is purrrrrrrrfect for the Doctor, Donna is just a slut" "Nuh-uh Donna is way better. She blablabla".

That stuff. Super annoying. Best to just ignore it at all costs.
Click to expand...


I'm of the 'why can't we all just get along?!' camp, but even I can find it hilarious. I used to be a HUGE Spuffy shipper, but I never got into arguments about it and *gasp* liked Angel too.

I still read Fandom Wank occasionally, a blog where people write up reports of fans being being insane and hilarious.
 
E

Emitan

Member
Last night I had a dream I was back in London. It started off with a tour of Buckingham Palace and ended up with me wandering onto the set where they were recording a Who episode.
 
M

MetalGuardian

Banned
Fiction said:
No no. The reboot started in season one. Anything before that is before that generally referred to by the Doctor number or the name of the actor who played the Doctor in that time. If you want to start with the reboot, start on season one, episode named Rose. Season one isn't my favorite, but it's decent. If you dislike season one (it is pretty cheesy at first, it gets better, I promise) skip to the episode called A Christmas Invasion, which is the first episode of the Tenth Doctor. Season Five starts the Eleventh Doctor's era.
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Exterminieren said:
OK, this is complicated stuff.

Doctor Who began in 1963, and ran until 1989 originally. There were 26 seasons between those points, with a TV Special in 1996 which continued the story.

The BBC revived it in 2005, and the series then is what is commonly referred to as series 1. It shared certain themes, characters and settings with the original series, and is meant to be a continuation of the original series, while being accessible to a whole new audience, some of whom weren't even born the last time there was a series.

Series 5 was the series that aired in 2010. The previous team had been very popular, and all left in an episode that aired on New Years Day 2010. Series 5 was a fresh start, with a new leading actor playing the Doctor, new companions, a new head writer and a fresh new tone. It's absolutely meant as a continuation (in fact, the first episode begins seconds after the New Years Day episode finished) but it's absolutely 100% beginner friendly, focusing instead on building it's own tone and cast. It's the perfect place to start.
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Awesome, thanks so much for the guidance. I think I'll start with series 1 and if I absolutely hate it I'll jump straight into series 5. I'm still confused as to what series 2, 3, and 4 are, but from what you all have said it sounds like that is when a new doctor is introduced... either way, that's neither here nor there for me right now. I'll figure it out over time if I end up liking it.

I shall report back once I start watching, because the people in this thread seem nifty
 
F

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
MetalGuardian said:
Awesome, thanks so much for the guidance. I think I'll start with series 1 and if I absolutely hate it I'll jump straight into series 5. I'm still confused as to what series 2, 3, and 4 are, but from what you all have said it sounds like that is when a new doctor is introduced... either way, that's neither here nor there for me right now. I'll figure it out over time if I end up liking it.

I shall report back once I start watching, because the people in this thread seem nifty
Click to expand...
It gets easier to understand if we use "series" instead of seasons for the episodes after the 2005 revival.

-Season 1~26 = what's perceived as Classic Who. Stopped airing in 1989.
-Series 1~7 = what's usually called New Who, revival of the series. We're currently in the middle of series 7 which would be "season 33".

Series 1 = Doctor is played by Christopher Eccleston.
Series 2~4 = Doctor is played by David Tennant.
Series 5~7 = Doctor is played by Matt Smith.

Series 2, 3 and 4 are the Tennant run. The usual suggestion for newcomers is to either start on Series 1 (Eccleston) or 5 (Smith). Most seem to find it easier to like the series if you begin with series 5 and watch the older material after that.

edit: lol I pretty much said everything Exterminieren had said already but there you have it.
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Tennant also had an "in-between" season after season 4 and before Smith took over in 5 which consisted of 5 episodes leading up to his
explosively destructive
regeneration. If and when you watch Tennant, do not forget to watch them. Especially for the regeneration.
 
F

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
The Real Abed said:
Tennant also had an "in-between" season after season 4 and before Smith took over in 5 which consisted of 5 episodes leading up to his
explosively destructive
regeneration. If and when you watch Tennant, do not forget to watch them. Especially for the regeneration.
Click to expand...
Ah yeah, that too. I always end up mixing those specials with series 4, kind of like the christmas specials sometimes are numbered part of seasons in my head when they're not.
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
I think it's worth skipping around after Series 1 if you don't like it, for what it's worth. Skip to 2, and to the middle of 2 - the improvement is massive. Even 3 and 4 continue to improve. Don't just skip straight from 1 to 5 if you can help it, as you'll miss out on a ton of great stuff (and a some of middling stuff, of course.)
 
3

3rdman

Member
APZonerunner said:
I think it's worth skipping around after Series 1 if you don't like it, for what it's worth. Skip to 2, and to the middle of 2 - the improvement is massive. Even 3 and 4 continue to improve. Don't just skip straight from 1 to 5 if you can help it, as you'll miss out on a ton of great stuff (and a some of middling stuff, of course.)
Click to expand...

Also, for what it's worth, Series 1 isn't that bad...There are some good moments and there are things introduced which are often referenced in later years
Bad Wolf
. Besides, it's only 13 episodes...it's not a high commitment anyways.

I've only just gotten into it and have spent the last 2 months tearing through DW from Series 1 to (presently) 5 and frankly, even the bad episodes and better than most shows out there. No need to skip any episodes, if you ask me.
 
C

CorrisD

badchoiceboobies
MetalGuardian said:
Awesome, thanks so much for the guidance. I think I'll start with series 1 and if I absolutely hate it I'll jump straight into series 5. I'm still confused as to what series 2, 3, and 4 are, but from what you all have said it sounds like that is when a new doctor is introduced... either way, that's neither here nor there for me right now. I'll figure it out over time if I end up liking it.

I shall report back once I start watching, because the people in this thread seem nifty
Click to expand...

Even if you don't really get into the show from the first few episodes and want to jump to series 5, I would suggest getting a small list of episodes you should watch, Blink and Silence in the Library are both very good and written by Moffat who is the head writer now.

Silence in the Library especially due to it being the star of a character that is pretty heavily weaved throughout Series 5 onwards, and Blink was the introduction of a new enemy that was pretty great.

I'm sure others can suggest a bunch too if you don't want to watch all the series up to now.
 
F

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
I think most people will just want to watch everything if the show clicks for them, honestly. Doctor Who has something irresistible about it when you're on board and I'm a proponent that it's good even when it's bad. I guess if you're time constrained it can be a good idea to skip around, but as long as you know beforehand that some episodes aren't as good as others and adjust your expectations chances are you'll always find a way to be entertained by all of them.
 
C

CorrisD

badchoiceboobies
Don't know if this was posted, though it a bit of a given.

Russell T Davies: 'I won't be involved in Doctor Who 50th anniversary'

Russell T Davies has confirmed that he will not be involved in Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

Davies served as head writer on the BBC sci-fi drama between 2005 and 2010, but told What's on TV that he is unlikely to contribute a new episode in 2013.
Click to expand...
DigitalSpy

IMO good news.
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
He has no interest any more, I think. He still loves the show, but Moffat has said in DWM that he's asked him every year and every year he's said no.
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
I think he hated a lot of things, but he definitely complained about the producers and how they treated the staff. Obviously he may have excepted RTD in that (since he worked with him before and came on because he asked him to), but I haven't heard anything to that effect.

I've always assumed he soured on pretty much everyone involved.
 
A

acheron_xl

Member
maharg said:
I think he hated a lot of things, but he definitely complained about the producers and how they treated the staff. Obviously he may have excepted RTD in that (since he worked with him before and came on because he asked him to), but I haven't heard anything to that effect.

I've always assumed he soured on pretty much everyone involved.
Click to expand...

Euros Lyn and Phil Collinson specifically from what I've read. Lyn in particular looks a bit like a date rapist to me. I can easily see him being a raging cocknozzle.
 
E

Exterminieren

Banned
acheron_xl said:
Euros Lyn and Phil Collinson specifically from what I've read. Lyn in particular looks a bit like a date rapist to me. I can easily see him being a raging cocknozzle.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure; they certainly got Lyn back enough times, so the production team couldn't have been that unhappy with him.

I've always wondered more about Joe Aherne, who directed 5 Eccleston episodes and hasn't touched the series since.
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
maharg said:
I think he hated a lot of things, but he definitely complained about the producers and how they treated the staff. Obviously he may have excepted RTD in that (since he worked with him before and came on because he asked him to), but I haven't heard anything to that effect.

I've always assumed he soured on pretty much everyone involved.
Click to expand...

He still speaks very highly of him in interviews, and just six months ago said he'd "love to" work with him again on something more traditional than Who/The Second Coming. It was Phil Collinson, I think. That is a man, after all, who 5 days into the shoot burst into tears and just cried because things were going so wrong. That said, I'm sure Eccleston loved Moffat's two series one scripts and RTD would of course support asking him to go back massively, so I can't imagine him not being involved being a massive setback.

You need to remember really that the problems Eccleston had weren't anything to do with RTD. RTD or Moffat is on the set a week of the whole year, and spends the rest in an office or at the BBC. His problems were with minor people, like prop handlers and things like that, getting abused, and giving him shit for his performance. He's repeatedly said it's one of the best roles he's ever played and that he loved the writing. People do love to act as if he's the anti-christ but on this issue I don't think he can be blamed.

Also, minor, nerdy correction: RTD never asked him to play The Doctor. It's an interesting little tidbit, especially as Eccleston didn't watch the show when he was a kid - he thought it was boring and said he only watched when the publicity went insane, like when they showed the inside of a Dalek or had a regeneration - but when he heard on the grapevine that RTD was working on a Doctor Who reboot, he emailed RTD to ask if he could audition for the role. I'm pretty sure the email was reproduced in Doctor Who Magazine around the time of the reboot too, so it is out there somewhere.

Exterminieren said:
I'm not sure; they certainly got Lyn back enough times, so the production team couldn't have been that unhappy with him.

I've always wondered more about Joe Aherne, who directed 5 Eccleston episodes and hasn't touched the series since.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Tennant speaks very highly of Lyn, too. He asked for him for the regeneration. Then again, Eccleston starred in an Aherne-directed show, Perfect Parents, the year after he left Who, so I don't think it was him.

Keith Boak did the remaining three episodes. He's never been back either. What is worth noting, though, is that he directed the first block - Aliens of London, World War Three, and Rose - and that was the block when they had all the trouble and tears, and it was during this block - in his first three episodes(!) - that Eccleston told RTD he didn't want to do any more after that series. So I reckon it was probably him. That first block set the tone for the rest of production, regrettably.
 
E

Exterminieren

Banned
It's pretty much an open secret that Eccleston despised Boak, as far as I can tell. Stand up screaming rows in the middle of the first block, if I remember the rumour mill correctly.

He's the Andrew Gunn of the RTD era: a director who utterly failed to grasp how to do Doctor Who, and turned in episodes with heaping piles of squandered potential largely thanks to the direction. Boak, after all, was the source of the burping bin and the prominence of the Slitheen fart gags.
 
A

APZonerunner

Member
You've made me curious now. I've got the shooting scripts book for series one here - I want to see if the bin burping is in it... Going to have a look!

EDIT: Bloody hell! No burping bin and a whole lot less farting in the shooting scripts. Wow. That explains a lot about those three episodes.

MICKEY goes to walk off, takes his hands off the bin - and the plastic stretches, like melted cheese. He's stuck to the bin. He's horrified, wails, lifts his hands up further - the elastic strands of grey wheely-bin plastic stretching out, pulling taut.

And it snaps back! He's jerked towards the bin.

Scared now, Mickey pulls back again, really hard, struggling, sweating, the plastic stretching out...

And this time, it snaps back hard. Mickey's pulled head-first into the bin. He cries out - a muffled scream - then there's another heave. Mickey's legs are swalloed inside, and the lid swing sup, slams shut, whap!

And all is calm. Pull back, gently; suburbia restored.
Click to expand...

That's... very tonally different to what we got. Huh.
 
P

Patryn

Member
Exterminieren said:
It's pretty much an open secret that Eccleston despised Boak, as far as I can tell. Stand up screaming rows in the middle of the first block, if I remember the rumour mill correctly.

He's the Andrew Gunn of the RTD era: a director who utterly failed to grasp how to do Doctor Who, and turned in episodes with heaping piles of squandered potential largely thanks to the direction. Boak, after all, was the source of the burping bin and the prominence of the Slitheen fart gags.
Click to expand...

Really? I guess it makes sense why that silly stuff doesn't go quite that stupid after those three episodes.

Looking back, it's amazing that I was able to get past that stuff, because when I show those episodes to other people I still kind of cringe at it.
 
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