Comments on: Like somebody just gave me the key to the TARDIS

By: Salieri

Salieri — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:16:25 +0000

I far preferred “Doctor Who an the Silurians”.

For Baker, I’d recommend “Destiny of the Daleks”, if only for the wonderful beginning sequence with Lalla Ward.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:48:07 +0000

I knew nothing of Doctor Who before the first Christopher Eccleston episode aired on Sci-Fi. I watched it. I didn’t think it was that great, but I had nothing else to do, so I kept watching the show. Someone linked me to a download of the new guy, David Tennant. I thought recasting a year in was suicide. Eccleston’s portrayal was the best thing about the show; no way could anyone do better. Three or four episodes later, Tennant had become *the* Doctor for me. Season two was the year that made me a hardcore fan.

The next step was looking at the old series. So, okay, I’ll check out these Tom Baker classics, like Pyramids of Mars and Genesis of the Daleks, etc. Uh oh. They’re terrible. This William Hartnell guy who started it all in the 60s is pretty neat, though, as a mean old git with a streak of childlike mischief. But mostly, the old series isn’t very good. I fell asleep during the second Doctor and the not-that-bad seventh is hampered by horrid production values.

But let me check out this Jon Pertwee fella. … Oh snap. He’s awesome. Finally, the Doctor’s got a stable supporting cast around him, and he’s getting into madcap adventures. And, oh my, Roger Delgado is brilliant as the Master.

So, um, yeah, the Third Doctor is my favorite of the old show. I recommend his stuff, especially the following:

Spearhead from Space
Terror of the Autons
The Mind of Evil
The Claws of Axos
The Daemons (best old Who ever!)
The Curse of Peladon
The Sea Devils
Frontier in Space

I just finished my Pertwee marathon yesterday. Loved him. Don’t know if I’m ready to give Tom Baker another chance.

By: Salieri

Salieri — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:03:23 +0000

Yeah, that’s a real problem with both of the main villains – the cybermen get the inevitable comparison with any star Trek story that at all featured the Borg – Torchwood’s “Cyberwoman” was basically “I, Borg” reinterpreted by a rabid five-year-old mass-murderer – and the Daleks very very rarely get a story that is both original and well-written. The last time it happened was the excellent “Dalek” with Chris Eccleston; the last time we got a story that was original, but not well-written, was “Daleks In New York/Evolution Of The Daleks”, and even then just barely.

All in all, it’s time they stopped dwelling on past elements – Davros, the Emperor, etc. – and created more new things, like the Cult of Skaro. Imagine, for instance, a lone Dalek who overthrew an entire alien planet’s corrupt governments and turned into a benign utopia, forcing the Doctor to wonder whether he’d been right about them after all! Or something. Hope is never lost, you know…

By: Will Entrekin

Will Entrekin — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:29:54 +0000

@Salieri ("He’s one of the characters you just can’t get rid of, like the Daleks themselves"): but why not. The moment I see either the Cybermen or the Daleks in an episode, I'm kinda like, well, this one's gonna be kinda crap. Because they mostly are. "EX-TER-MIN-ATE" might have been sorta campy fun in the sixties when Batman was ker-powing, but I don't know: I look at the Doctor next to the over-sized trashbucket with the webcam on its dome like a poor-man's R2-D2 (and yes, I realize the Daleks predated Star Wars, but not in my experience), and I know who's going to win. I mean, he's the Doctor, after all. And btw, way up top, and @Marvin, because I totally forgot to say so earlier: I tend to agree with you about The Shakespeare Code. I didn't think too highly of the episode itself; it was just that single Tennant moment (and the part with the witch feeling his hearts) that inspired me to seek out other Tennant episodes. That was what hooked me.

By: Salieri

Salieri — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:32:50 +0000

@Lister Sage: Heh, I suppose you’re right. He’s one of the characters you just can’t get rid of, like the Daleks themselves. But then again, that just makes RTD’s continual habit of writing endings in which all of the Daleks were wiped out, forever, just that bit more grating when they come back in the next series. I’d much prefer if a less popular villain were killed off for good – how about having the Sontarans knocked off by a short-sighted anorak who mistook them for his collection of piggy banks?

By: Lister Sage

Lister Sage — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:04:14 +0000

@Salieri: As far as Davros’ death is concerned: No body = not dead. There is absolutly no proof you can give me that says that after the Doctor left Davros didn’t trundle over to an esacpe pod and blast off to a planet to start anew.

By: Salieri

Salieri — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:09:27 +0000

I think the pepper pot shape partially stemmed from the original idea to have the person inside the Dalek driving it around on a tricycle.

By: itbox

itbox — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:50:22 +0000

Ha ha, really? Good old Spike – the man was a legend.

Also without clogging up the comments feed with Doctor Who acrimony at least forty years old I always consider it a real shame that the guys that designed the voices (Peter Hawkins and David… somebody) didn’t get a share of the rights. Same thing with whoever it was that designed the pepper pot shape. Not wanting to take away from Nation in anyway shape or form – but without the voice and the look of the Daleks I think it highly unlikely that Doctor Who (let alone the Daleks) would still be around today.

By: Salieri

Salieri — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:51:36 +0000

@itbox – Ah, thanks.

Did you know Nation would never have become part of Doctor Who, nor created the Daleks, if not for the kindly assistance of Spike Milligan when he was on the streets?

By: itbox

itbox — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:17:30 +0000

@Salieri – Terry Nation didn’t write the first two episodes. Despite his high profile as the creator of the Daleks (and the holder of the rights to the Daleks) he was never in any way involved as a show runner. I believe that the person who should be getting most of the credit would be Verity Lambert.

By: Dan Solomon

Dan Solomon — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:02:48 +0000

@ Will- I’m pretty sure he left comics to chase the screenwriting dollar. I was really annoyed several years ago because they were filming this Tommy Lee Jones movie in my neighborhood, which meant street closures every night for weeks, but I learned that Lobdell had written it, and it cheered me up a bit. I don’t think he’s had a stellar career there yet.

–d

By: Salieri

Salieri — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:10:48 +0000

Strangely enough, (SPOILERS!) Davros’ point in the finale – that the Doctor is, at heart, a bringer of death – was the very thing that Terry Nation strived to avoid after the first-ever episode; they’d probably have a hard enough time making their audience emphasize with an eccentric old geezer, so making him ready to split open a man’s head with a rock was perhaps a step in the wrong direction.

@Kyle: Yeah, strangely enough quite a few of the assistants get to be terribly badass, including Mickey Smith, Martha, and surprisingly enough Donna (although, of course, RTD f**ks that up by the episode’s end). There’s also some good bits with Davros screaming with laughter and Daleks saying ‘Exterminate!’ in German.

@MGK: I thank you. Presuming that there may not be another season of *shudder* Robin Hood, he might be a seriously good candidate.

@Derek: I disagree…the Time War was indeed a blank slate, just like COIE, but in the same way it was a chance not just to introduce new things but to also re-introduce old things. The continuity makes sense for fans both new and old – for instance, New fans will just enjoy the idea of the new Cybermen, while old fans will notice the update from ‘Twin Earth’ to ‘Twin Universe’; likewise, new fans would see John Simm’s Master as just very camp and not too threatening, while old fans would be able to compare him to some of the better portrayals, such as Roger Delgado.

I do agree, though, that the finale was a bit too bogged down. Davros got about two previous mentions in the rest of the new series’ episodes, only one by name; just having him trundle in, be a bit threatening, scream a bit and die in a fire just confuses new fans and annoys old fans. Better that he make some hairs-breadth escape, or that RTD leave a tid-bit for future writers – like that part with the female hand getting the Master’s ring, last year.

By: Derek

Derek — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:02:19 +0000

I have watched small chunks of the Hartnell and Troughton and everything from Pertwee through Tennant. I have done so over the course of a few years way back in my pre-teen days, so my memory is not note-perfect. When the writing is just right, Tennant is the best of all of the Doctors. He brings so much energy and savvy to the role, and he comes across as a being who carries the burden of all of his travels.

I think the latest run of Doctor Who is too hyperbolic. I love the episodes that are puzzles within themselves, and I don’t mind the running themes in each season, but Davies is getting too carried away. I hope Moffat can tone things down a bit. This last season’s finale was far too mired in back story, which has been a problem for this new run. There are more clever ways to wink to the fans without bogging down the current story with the Doctor’s long history. The reintroduction of The Master was nicely done, even if the resultant story was hyperbolic, but the writers need to keep in mind that they created the Time War as a blank slate — a sort of Crisis On Infinite Earths for the Whoniverse.

I welcome the pause between the fourth and fifth seasons. I would rather see three or four evolved self-contained stories this next year than another exercise in kitchen sink borderline fanwank.

By: itbox

itbox — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:42:26 +0000

Come on people – Rhys Ifans for the next Doctor Who. You know it makes sense.

By: MGK

MGK — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:39:48 +0000

You know, Salieri has a point when he says Sam Troughton. I just Googled him for a look, and… yes, very Doctor-y. Not bad-looking, but definitely an offbeat nerdy sort of good looks.