Dr. Who

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Hill lover35

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Jan 8, 2017
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Since Whittaker took over it's been extremely uneven. The seasons start out well and then make a massive dive. I still sit watching it live as it airs as enthusiastically and excited as ever. But in general it just seems quite less liked than it was.

it may also been the show writers and producers and directors. the guy who toke over from Moffatt wanted a totally new and different show. that being said i have not watched dr who since the last half of David tenets run as the doctor and I kind of lean towards the classic who with Silvester mc coy and the first doctor. I like it not being spoon feed into me. same with he old twilight zone being in black and white
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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is this the last season with the current actress who plays the dr? has it been 4 years already? wow

It is only her second season, there is no talk about her leaving yet. Since Doctor Who came back in 2005 all the actors have done three seasons, with the exception of the first, Christopher Eccleston, who only did one and revealed later he left because he had problems with some of the people behind the scenes.

To tell the truth, the quality of the show has been so high in all that time (my favourite period being with Moffat), that it only seems natural to me that it is going down at a certain point. Almost no series can stay that good for such a long period.
Personally I like the new series with Whittaker a lot too, even the less rated episodes. It's the concept of the show itself that's so good: every week can be something totally different, you never know what you're gonna get. The possiblities of what you can do with the concept are endless and limitless, that's why it's sustained for so long anyway.
 

Gerald

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it may also been the show writers and producers and directors. the guy who toke over from Moffatt wanted a totally new and different show. that being said i have not watched dr who since the last half of David tenets run as the doctor and I kind of lean towards the classic who with Silvester mc coy and the first doctor. I like it not being spoon feed into me. same with he old twilight zone being in black and white

What's new is mostly the visual look, that's very different now. And when you put a different actor in the lead as Doctor Who obviously you get a different energy to it, regardless whether it's a man or woman.
Apart from that I don't find it massively different. My only complaint in the first season was that the humour didn't work well, because the actors are just not such funny people. And they seem to have been aware of that, because I feel they slightly toned that down in the new episodes so far.

Of the classics I am mainly familiar with the Tom Baker ones. My favourite period being with Lalla Ward. City of Death being my favourite. I always feel if I was somehow transported into a tv series and had to relive an episode over an over again I'd choose City of Death.
I also know a couple of the others, but wasn't as crazy about them as Tom Baker, who along with Matt Smith is my favourite.
 

Gerald

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My wife and I saw the two-part season opener on the big screen at the local cinema -- that was a great experience. There was a live Q&A afterward with the cast, who were in NY. Episode 3 this season was o-kay, but a little preachy at the end.

Do the special and visual effects, and overall look hold up well on the big screen? Even though they have quite the budget, it's still made for tv. Also Doctor Who tends to have sets that look amazing, and then sets that look like they filmed at some local place (factories and places like that) and they didn't change much, apart from lighting it a certain way. A Doctor Who episode can feel quite uneven in terms of looks, some of it great, some average.
 

Bev Vincent

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Apr 11, 2006
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Do the special and visual effects, and overall look hold up well on the big screen? Even though they have quite the budget, it's still made for tv. Also Doctor Who tends to have sets that look amazing, and then sets that look like they filmed at some local place (factories and places like that) and they didn't change much, apart from lighting it a certain way. A Doctor Who episode can feel quite uneven in terms of looks, some of it great, some average.

It looked fantastic on the big screen -- no degradation of the images at all. Made for an immersive experience.
 

Notaro

Stark Raving Normal
Mar 23, 2007
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Here's a podcast by former Doctor David Tennant interviewing current Doctor Jodie Whittaker. Enjoy.....

 

Hill lover35

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My wife and I saw the two-part season opener on the big screen at the local cinema -- that was a great experience. There was a live Q&A afterward with the cast, who were in NY. Episode 3 this season was o-kay, but a little preachy at the end.

I have always whated to do this but its usually at Christmas, and my mom and family are not into doctor who. lol perhaps one day
 

Gerald

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Finally an episode everyone seems to like, the only real complaint being that the Skithra Queen looks too much like the Racnoss Empress from The Runaway Bride (one being a scorpion like creature, the other a spider).
The subject of Tesla/Edison is of course tailor made for Doctor Who, and it's hard to imagine it hadn't been done yet.

Next we have a familiar alien race coming back!
 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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With Fugitive of the Judoon Doctor WHO becomes unexpectedly Doctor WOW, with Whittaker's best episode yet and one of the best episodes in the series ever.

It has a very different feel to what we've seen before. It may be because of focusing on a very different character than usual, Ruth, or it taking place in Gloucester (rather than Sheffield), but whatever the reason the results make for an absolute top episode in which the twists just keep coming.
Also by bringing back both a known alien race and a very beloved character we haven't seen for a long time, it ties Whittaker more to her earlier incarnations. Because of the look of the new show, and maybe because of having a female rather than male, her series so far felt like it stood a little on its own. Now it feels much more connected as a whole.
I hope this episode brings back a lot of viewers who left, because it certainly deserves it. If it can keep this up, the rest of the season should be a blast.
 
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Rrty

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Jun 4, 2007
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Just breaking in here to ask a question:

Have any of the modern Who series (from Eccleston on) been shot on videotape like in the old format? I was thinking that might be interesting to do, either simply as is -- i.e., just have the current Doctor do an episode exactly as was done in the Tom Baker years (that's the Doctor with whom I am most familiar, hence why I single him out; obviously the soap-opera tape format was used for other seasons) -- or maybe it could be used as part of the plot: the Doctor and her gang get stuck in a weird world where it feels like they are in a VHS tape and they meet older Doctors/enemies via special effects. I could see one possible scenario: the current Doctor go back to "Genesis of the Daleks" and decide to make sure the Daleks are destroyed once and for all (for those who remember how that episode ended). Of course, the fourth Doctor somehow travels back to stop them from doing so (with Baker reprising his role) and tells them why it must be. Unfortunately, the reason the current Doctor wants to do it is because some person/planet/whatever is destroyed by the Daleks, thus the moral conflict. Anyway, that's just one example of what I am talking about. Might be a fun thing for which fans could lobby on social media (unless this idea is already out there)...
 
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Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
2,201
7,168
The Netherlands
Just breaking in here to ask a question:

Have any of the modern Who series (from Eccleston on) been shot on videotape like in the old format? I was thinking that might be interesting to do, either simply as is -- i.e., just have the current Doctor do an episode exactly as was done in the Tom Baker years (that's the Doctor with whom I am most familiar, hence why I single him out; obviously the soap-opera tape format was used for other seasons) -- or maybe it could be used as part of the plot: the Doctor and her gang get stuck in a weird world where it feels like they are in a VHS tape and they meet older Doctors/enemies via special effects. I could see one possible scenario: the current Doctor go back to "Genesis of the Daleks" and decide to make sure the Daleks are destroyed once and for all (for those who remember how that episode ended). Of course, the fourth Doctor somehow travels back to stop them from doing so (with Baker reprising his role) and tells them why it must be. Unfortunately, the reason the current Doctor wants to do it is because some person/planet/whatever is destroyed by the Daleks, thus the moral conflict. Anyway, that's just one example of what I am talking about. Might be a fun thing for which fans could lobby on social media (unless this idea is already out there)...

As far as I can tell they're shot on digital now:


Doing it the classic way might be fun for fans of the classic series, but might turn off modern audiences. There are moments though where there are clips used from the classic series in their original format which show earlier Doctos, sometimes changed to include a modern character, like Clara Oswald in The Name of the Doctor:

 

Gerald

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Sep 8, 2011
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After last week's highlight, appreciation is down again. It is felt, like the third one, that this episode is too preachy. I quite enjoyed it myself, but clearly most people feel Doctor Who is not what it used to be.
Whittaker seems determined to continue though, as she has already announced her return for a third season. I wonder if viewing figures keep going down if it will happen though.
Next week looks like it's gonna be one of the more scary ones, judging from the short clip at the end of the episode.
 

Dana Jean

Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return
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Apr 11, 2006
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The High Seas
After last week's highlight, appreciation is down again. It is felt, like the third one, that this episode is too preachy. I quite enjoyed it myself, but clearly most people feel Doctor Who is not what it used to be.
Whittaker seems determined to continue though, as she has already announced her return for a third season. I wonder if viewing figures keep going down if it will happen though.
Next week looks like it's gonna be one of the more scary ones, judging from the short clip at the end of the episode.
What's one man's preachy is another's much needed social commentary. I think they've been great.