So epic! Love the callback to the '60s intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lUz0xU5d9g
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So epic! Love the callback to the '60s intro:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lUz0xU5d9g
That's great. Very reminiscent of the old school Who title themes.
I do like the new intro! The new Tardis is interesting. When the new Doctor gets excited she sounds like she is on helium. That kinda grated on me.
I haven't seen the second episode yet, but I thought the first ep was a solid Monster of the Week episode. Not brilliant, not great, but so far, so good.
I thought Jodie Whittaker was fine as The Doctor, but was trying a bit too hard, as many new Doctors do for the first few eps. Hopefully she'll settle into the role as the season progresses.
HBJ
I'm liking the new era so far. Not loving it, but liking it. It's definitely early days yet. I like Whittaker's performance. It'll be a long time before I love her as much as I loved Capaldi, but that may come down to the right script. As for the intro: looks cool, but definitely missing something. But I adore the new theme tune.
Sunday's Rosa Parks episode was definitely my favorite this series, and probably one of the best I've seen in a long time. Did anyone else enjoy it?
I def enjoyed the Rosa Parks episode. It reminded me of the Classic Who series where they were actually trying to teach children about history. Everything in that episode was on point about her and her history.
This. So much this. I'm a big fan of the historical episodes because they usually got to focus on character more, and added a different flavor into the mix. I'm a little disappointed that Rosa didn't go all the way, but it's definitely the closest we've had to one of those pure historical stories for a long time.Quote:
Originally Posted by mystima
Five years already since I first watched The Night of the Doctor. Still never get tired of it. Only seven minutes long, and yet one of my favorite episodes.
Would have loved to have an Eighth Doctor spin-off season. Just one. Paul McGann was so great in this little episode.
He was absolutely amazing. It's why I love his audio stories so much. Those stories have given him the era he so badly needed on television, and more.
I did not enjoy this series very much. No matter how much I tried to like her, Whitaker just annoyed me. Most of the time I had to use subtitles to understand what the fuck she was saying. Her companions were mostly just window dressing and mostly annoying also. For me, there wasn't much to like about this series.
If anyone wanted to listen to Big Finish's Doctor Who audios for free, you're gonna get your chance next month:
Big Finish will celebrate major anniversary with twenty hour live stream
Fascinating thing about Doctor Who is that while there are many episodes - and some whole series - missing, I think they have audio from all the series.
Oh yes. And that's only because of fan recordings. I don't think I realized how lucky we are to get even that much until I started listening to audio recreations of Sixties spy series The Avengers. Most of the first season is completely missing, and not even audio - or, in some cases, even original scripts! - survive of them. They had to recreate so many lost episodes from scratch with a new cast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunchback Jack
And yet, for every single missing Doctor Who episode, we have audio recordings of every single one of them. Definitely says a lot about the dedication of Doctor Who fans, even back then.
It's a weird feeling being old enough to remember watching episodes that now have been lost, or were lost but are now recovered.
HBJ
I can imagine.
Oh, and for anyone wanting to check out the audios, check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haf6OxeoqHA
I've been catching up on the last season of Doctor Who, and thought I'd share my thoughts. Because we all need to hear yet another opinion on it, right? :)
Before I do though, I will say that I was initially skeptical of a female Doctor - only because I thought they were breaking the established canon of the series. As far as I was aware, Time Lords did not gender-swap, and the Doctor was firmly established as a male character. And while regeneration could conceivably allow for a change to a female appearance, changing gender hadn't been established as possible in the show's 50-year history, as far as I knew. So I questioned the legitimacy of introducing it now.
Then I decided to find out whether that was actually true - and found to my surprise that it wasn't. There *were* references - and even examples - of Time Lords having different genders throughout both the Classic and New series. Some of those references were tongue-in-cheek, to be sure - but they were there, and meant to be taken literally. So, my objection didn't stand, and I dismissed it. I approached this series genuinely interested as to how they would handle the switch - and looking forward to what Jodie Whittaker would bring to the role.
And, well, I must say that the series was pretty weak. I liked the actors - Whittaker, especially - but I think they were horribly let down by the writing.
Generally, I think the episodes were over-complicated by too many plot elements, and there were too many companions. We didn't really get to know them very well; there was too little for them to do.
I also think the Doctor wasn't written very well. She was too frenetic, too busy leaping from one action or one explanation to the next. There were very few scenes of her stopping, listening, and showing that she *cared* about the plight of the characters they encountered. There were too few scenes of her showing a deep, burning anger at injustice, or empathy for someone's suffering. The Doctor - particularly in the new series - no matter how hyperactive, always takes time to be compassionate, throughout all the incarnations. I think they missed that aspect of the Doctor's character in this series.
And I must say - and I'm probably going to get into trouble here - that I was disappointed that they didn't do more with the Doctor being female. She was written as being very androgynous or - dare I say it - tomboyish. There's nothing wrong with that - I didn't expect the Doctor to be a girly girl, necessarily - but I think it was a wasted opportunity to write the Doctor from a female perspective, with recognizable character traits, but still firmly feminine.
Contrast that with the Missy character. I thought they handled her masterfully (ha ha) - making her the female equivalent of a mustache-twirling villain, a character who enjoys being evil, and thwarting the Doctor just for the sake of it. She had all the recognizable character traits of her male counterpart - but perfectly feminine. I really loved that character. Or consider River Song, a badass character if ever there was one, and a women who enjoys being more traditionally feminine.
It would have been nice if they could have found a way to do that with the Doctor's character. The fact that they didn't made me wonder why they made her female, if they weren't going to write the character differently and explore the change a bit. I also thought it prevented Whittaker from bringing some of her own influence to the role.
HBJ
If I'm honest, while I'd love to defend the show and say why it was brilliant, or at least had its strong points...I agree. I was never keen on the idea of Chris Chibnall taking over as showrunner - none of his Doctor Who episodes had particularly stood out. For the first female Doctor, I actually like that she's rather androgynous, especially at this point. She's been used to being a man for centuries, so I like that she's still being reminded that things have changed, especially when history treats her differently and thus she has to face things with a little more difficulty. But beyond that, she doesn't come across as having much substance. I adored Capaldi as the Doctor because he was a Doctor full of self-doubt, one that went through a lot of character development over his three seasons. Even his first - which had some weak plots - developed him very nicely.
I'm hoping things improve in the next series, I really do. I like the Doctor and her team - especially Graham, who got some of the best development this series - but Series Eleven has been my least favorite in a long time.
I certainly didn't hate the season, and don't even think it was bad. But yes, I think they need to simplify the stories so that there is more focus, have more episodes that give the individual companions more time to shine, and figure out what to do with the Doctors character. I'm hopeful things will get better in the 2020 season.
Your point about the Doctor being androgynous after having been male for so long does make sense. But then, in the past we've seen each new body bring with it a new personality, so I think they could have evolved past the more androgynous characteristics quite quickly. Maybe that will happen next season.
I really can't wait for next year.
https://www.bigfinish.com/image/release/2197/large.jpg
And if that wasn't exciting enough:
https://www.bigfinish.com/image/release/2272/large.jpg
Wow, that looks amazing.Quote:
Originally Posted by DoctorDodge