New Doctor Who

[ccrobinson]

Somebody else who just watched The Beast Below again.

More hints about S6 have come out in the last week.

Doctor Who executive producer Piers Wenger has hinted that the upcoming sixth series of the sci-fi drama will be focused on establishing new villains.

In an interview with CraveOnline, Wenger was questioned as to whether any returning monsters will feature in next year's episodes.

"No, we're bigger fans of new monsters," he said. "That's where we are. I think [Who showrunner] Steven [Moffat's] written the best new Doctor Who monsters in a long time in the [series] opening two-parter. That's where our energies are focused, really."

Better than the Weeping Angels? Hard to believe that, but definitely something to look forward to in 2011.

 

[Matt Black]

Somebody else who just watched The Beast Below again.

.

Got it on DVD, old boy.

 

[Thinkingstuff]

I finally got to see season 5 and though it was a good ride and I ended up liking Matt Smith as the Doctor I had a few problems. First my major problem is that there seems to be a lack of ideas on how to bring the Dr from the edge of annialation. Though I could buy in Season 3 having the whole world united in thinking about the doctor at the same time to invigorate him enough to take on the Master I was at a loss when it came to a girl simply remembering him. I wanted to do what I've seen all those happy eaters across England do daily. (at least when I was there) Stick my finger in my mouth. (and gag! BTW English people how is that appetizing?) Sorry couldn't buy into it. I also had a problem with the showdown in Pandorica. I was disapointed with the season end to say the least.
However, Matt Smith has been a good Doctor. I found him more quotable than Tennant such as "bow ties are cool"

 

[ccrobinson]

First my major problem is that there seems to be a lack of ideas on how to bring the Dr from the edge of annialation. Though I could buy in Season 3 having the whole world united in thinking about the doctor at the same time to invigorate him enough to take on the Master I was at a loss when it came to a girl simply remembering him.

Easy. The Doctor had to determine the space/time coordinates to make sure he knew where he was going to land to make sure he was in the correct universe. He only had 1 shot to get it right, so he locked onto Amy and when she remembered him, he had the coordinates he needed to get back into the universe. It's just like Han Solo being unable to make the jump to hyperspace in Star Wars. Without knowing the end coordinates, there was no way he could make a safe jump.

I also had a problem with the showdown in Pandorica. I was disapointed with the season end to say the least.

"You lot are all whizzing about, it's very distracting, could you all just stay still a minute because I am talking!"

You didn't like that showdown? That was awesome. One of the best moments of the entire season.


Season 5's finale is far better than Season 4's. Season 3 was forever ruined when the Master aged him again and put him in a birdcage. That was stupid. Doctor Who reached its plateau under RTD during the last 15 minutes of Utopia and all of The Sound of Drums. Seasons 1 and 2, in that order, were the gold standard of season finales.

Even with the gigantic plot hole in The Big Bang, I still loved it.

It was really cool to be able to see A Christmas Carol on Christmas Day via BBC America. Best Christmas story since Christmas Invasion and arguably better than that one. Moffat seems to be one of the only writers who uses time as a plot device and not just background. He writes stories with scripts that have a little bit of comedy without overdoing it, and hitting all the emotional marks without becoming overwrought. If you've seen the trailer for Season 6, then you can guess how much I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[Thinkingstuff]

For me a highlight of the season was the first episode where the doctor calls the aliens to answer a few questions ending with something like "is the earth defended?" aliens review past annialation attempts and pictures all the previous doctors with Matt Smith stepping through the hologram saying "hello, I'm the Doctor....so... basically run!" And of course I like the doctor refering to himself as the "on coming storm." After all he is the baddest (old american slang for awsome) thing in the universe. I just found a unifying of all the doctors enemies unlikely despite the crack in the universe.
I'm curious to see how Dr. and River Song finally hook up. However, the series is still enjoyable. And I like Matt Smith, he is a little more unpredictable I think.

 

[ccrobinson]

I just found a unifying of all the doctors enemies unlikely despite the crack in the universe.

Yep, we've talked about this. Why would the Daleks need to be allies with anybody? If you accept the possibility that they could be imaginative enough to come up with that plan in the first place, why do they need the help of the Cybermen, Sontarans, etc. to pull it off? Why would they share their time traveling technology with anybody? It doesn't make any sense to me.

We're supposed to find out in S6 who's behind the Silence and making the TARDIS explode.

 

[Don]

As unlikely as it seems, it can be explained through a stretch of logic: How many times have the Daleks failed to defeat the Doctor by themselves? So a new strategy was in order.

Looking forward to S6...and the new season of Primeval (Saturday, BBC America).

 

[ccrobinson]

As unlikely as it seems, it can be explained through a stretch of logic: How many times have the Daleks failed to defeat the Doctor by themselves? So a new strategy was in order.

Perhaps, but I can't think of one good reason why the Daleks needed to join forces with the Cybermen. What did the Cybermen bring to the table that the Daleks didn't already have? Or the Sontarans? Or the Judoon? The Daleks needed the Nestenes, but they didn't really need anybody else.

 

[ccrobinson]

2 weeks until the beginning of S6. Very excited about the season. The Silence will be explained, we'll learn who River Song is, and I'm sure The Mighty Moff is already working on new things for the show.

 

[InTheLight]

2 weeks until the beginning of S6. Very excited about the season. The Silence will be explained, we'll learn who River Song is, and I'm sure The Mighty Moff is already working on new things for the show.

I'm thinking River Song could possibly be Omega (The Three Doctors, Pertwee era; Arc of Infinity, Davison era.)

The Mighty Moff? I've been underwhelmed by his era as director. And I'm not happy about the split season this year.

 

[shodan]

My favorite

My favorite Dr. Who was the guy with the long scarf....

Haven't watched it since it was on PBS.

 

[ccrobinson]

I'm thinking River Song could possibly be Omega (The Three Doctors, Pertwee era; Arc of Infinity, Davison era.)

Not a chance. That would be one of the worst plot twists ever.

The Mighty Moff? I've been underwhelmed by his era as director. And I'm not happy about the split season this year.

Moffat doesn't direct, but he is an outstanding writer. And what bothers you about the split season? Because they've never done it that way before? If it makes for a better show, and Moffat obviously thinks it will, isn't that all that matters?

 

[InTheLight]

Moffat doesn't direct, but he is an outstanding writer.

My bad. I meant to say executive producer. He's also the head writer. His writing before he was producer was much better than his efforts from last season. Blink is one of my favorite stories of all time, from all eras. The Empty Child/Doctor Dances is one of my fav stories from the new era. Girl in the Fireplace was very good. But after Eleventh Hour his writing has really gone downhill, IMO. The Beast Below was a silly concept--a flying space whale? That the Doctor was going to brain-kill. Really? The weeping angels story last year had so much potential, but fell flat. Most of the stories he produced last season were riddled with plot holes and just not....interesting. I liked the Lodger, but I don't think Moffat had much to do with it.

And what bothers you about the split season? Because they've never done it that way before? If it makes for a better show, and Moffat obviously thinks it will, isn't that all that matters?

What bothers me about it? Waiting for new episodes in between the first half of the season and the second half. How does that make for a better show?

 

[ccrobinson]

My bad. I meant to say executive producer....But after Eleventh Hour his writing has really gone downhill, IMO. The Beast Below was a silly concept--a flying space whale? That the Doctor was going to brain-kill. Really? The weeping angels story last year had so much potential, but fell flat. Most of the stories he produced last season were riddled with plot holes and just not....interesting. I liked the Lodger, but I don't think Moffat had much to do with it.

You're right, other than being an executive producer and head writer of the show, Moffat had nothing to do with The Lodger. How would you have improved the weeping angels story? What plot holes did you find in the S5 stories and how would you have improved them?

Waiting for new episodes in between the first half of the season and the second half. How does that make for a better show?

How can I possibly answer this question since we've only seen 1 episode of the new season? For all I know, it will be a worse idea than Planet of the Dead. But, I'd like to see how it turns out before calling it jumping the gun and calling it a bad idea. Besides, it's not like we're not used to waiting for new Doctor Who stories.

 

[InTheLight]

What plot holes did you find in the S5 stories and how would you have improved them?

A lot of the stories were just plain silly. Take the Vampires of Venice. If you really analyze the story it's not about vampires at all. It's about giant shrimp disguised as humans that behave like vampires.....except they don't behave like traditional vampires. They're all males so they have to convert local lifeforms (humans) into females so they can mate. (What's wrong with using cows or dogs for this purpose? Oh, you wouldn't have a story...) And they had about a half dozen converted human females, which I guess was enough to pull off their plan.

Their cunning plan to sink Venice into the ocean is way more convoluted than merely finding a suitable ocean area already in situ. They had technology that would have allowed them to take over the world without resorting to disguising themselves. At the end the giant shrimp that prefers dry land who is disguised as a human that resembles a vampire decides to end it all by removing her holographic cloaking device and feed herself to the giant shrimp in the water below Venice.

 

[Arbo]

This may be a stuppid question, but can someone explain in a very general sense what the show is about? I've tried watching it a couple of times, and perhaps it is the type of series one needs to watch from the beginning, but I don't get it.

Thanks.

 

[Matt Black]

The original premise (starting with the first episode which was screened here the day after JFK was shot) was that the Doctor was a mysterious alien (it turned out that he was a renegade Time Lord on the run from his own people) who travelled in time and space in a machine called the TARDIS which was bigger on the inside than the outside with various, mainly human companions having adventures; the idea was that the TARDIS wasn't very accurate whihch accounted for the somewhat random nature of the adventures and an element of unpredictablity in the show. Also sci-fi in concept, there was also an educational element in the show which was meant to convey both scientific and historical information to the viewers, hence its official billing as a children's show (indeed, the first companions of the Doctor were a science teacher and a history teacher who helped provide that educational side to things).

Now things are slightly different: the Time Lords are all extinct apart from the Doctor (and the Master, another renegade but an evil one) and the TARDIS seems much more pilotable, which means that element of unpredictabllity has largely gone ( a Bad Thing IMO); although the educational side is still there, it's much weaker and the show is basically sci-fi.

Now to Episode 1 of the new season: The Impossible Astronaut. Trying to avoid spoilers, but I quite liked it. Good, nasty aliens, a few twists and turns. Don't know whether I like the timey-wimey stuff and I'm defintiely getting tired of the whole story arc idea (maybe it's just that I'm getting older) though.

 

[InTheLight]

This may be a stuppid question, but can someone explain in a very general sense what the show is about? I've tried watching it a couple of times, and perhaps it is the type of series one needs to watch from the beginning, but I don't get it.

Thanks.

The Doctor is a time traveler from another planet. His ship is called the Tardis, a construct that defies traditional dimensions in that it resembles a police box on the outside (4' X 4' X 7') but has a vast interior.

He travels through space and time and seems to always get involved in crazy adventures. A common theme is that he arrives on a planet just as some calamity is occurring or arrives and becomes a suspect in some insidious plot. Using mostly his brains (he rarely fights) he unravels the problem and saves the day.

The Doctor almost always travels through space/time with a companion or companions, usually an earth person(s) that joins up with the Doctor in his adventures. The companion fills a role as a proxy TV viewer, by asking questions, getting into danger and needing to be rescued.

There are recurring villains and enemy aliens, megalomaniacs that attempt to destroy earth and/or kill the Doctor and/or take over the universe. Another common theme is a faction on an alien planet being repressed by a cruel dictator until the Doctor arrives and frees them.

If the Doctor's life is endangered to the point of dying, his body has the ability to regenerate, that is, rearrange his DNA and cellular structure whereby his life is saved but his appearance is that of another man. This is a traumatic physical and mental process for the Doctor. (This is a neat plot device whereby the production crew can replace an actor with another actor as the series continues.)

If you like time travel stories, aliens, mind-bending plots, political intrigue, adventure, freedom fighting, detective work all rolled into one, you would like Doctor Who.

 

[InTheLight]

Now to Episode 1 of the new season: The Impossible Astronaut. Trying to avoid spoilers, but I quite liked it. Good, nasty aliens, a few twists and turns. Don't know whether I like the timey-wimey stuff and I'm defintiely getting tired of the whole story arc idea (maybe it's just that I'm getting older) though.

I liked it but with reservations. It's another confusing fast paced runaround with convoluted plot lines and rapid-fire dialogue. It will all depend on the resolution of the plot.

I'm getting a bit tired of the plot arc as well. I thought one of the best stories from last season was The Lodger. It was a standalone story that wasn't a part of the arc. And it had some interesting characters (for a change.)

One thing about the Moffatt stories is that there is scant character development. We hardly know anything about Amy or Rory. In contrast, the Russell T. Davies stories, while sometimes almost soapish, esp. early on, had character development. We knew Rose, her Mom, Mickey. We knew Donna, her Mom and Dad. I don't get that from Moffatt.

 

[Arbo]

Matt Black, Inthelight- Thanks. That helps.