New Dr Who

[Iolanthe]

Amazing! I had no idea that Dr Who was so popular "overseas". I started with William Hartnell in b&w. The only one I didn't see was Sylvester McCoy. My children were not of an age to watch then, but now I am up to date again as my two grandsons love it (5 and 6). They had a huge amount of Dr Who stuff for Christmas, and they love Matt Smith.

My favourite Dr was David Tennant (he was also in Harry Potter - became Mad Eye Moody using polyjuice, although his part in the film was much smaller than his role in the book).

Didn't see Colin Baker mentioned - I think he came after Tom Baker. CB played the baddie in our local pantomime here two Christmases running - must have been when my kids were small - 1970s/1980s.

Do you get the Sarah Jane Smith Adventures? The grandkids love this too. Sadly Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played her, died last year. The programme is on the CBBC (Children's BBC) channel.

Someone said "some ginger sociopath who used to be on the radio" - Chris Evans, does the breakfast programme on Radio 2 and is brilliant. He was married to Billie Piper for a while, now happily married with a young son called Noah!

[sindatur]

Amazing! I had no idea that Dr Who was so popular "overseas". I started with William Hartnell in b&w. The only one I didn't see was Sylvester McCoy. My children were not of an age to watch then, but now I am up to date again as my two grandsons love it (5 and 6). They had a huge amount of Dr Who stuff for Christmas, and they love Matt Smith.

My favourite Dr was David Tennant (he was also in Harry Potter - became Mad Eye Moody using polyjuice, although his part in the film was much smaller than his role in the book).

Didn't see Colin Baker mentioned - I think he came after Tom Baker. CB played the baddie in our local pantomime here two Christmases running - must have been when my kids were small - 1970s/1980s.

Do you get the Sarah Jane Smith Adventures? The grandkids love this too. Sadly Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played her, died last year. The programme is on the CBBC (Children's BBC) channel.

Someone said "some ginger sociopath who used to be on the radio" - Chris Evans, does the breakfast programme on Radio 2 and is brilliant. He was married to Billie Piper for a while, now happily married with a young son called Noah!

Hi Iolanthe

Colin Baker, yes he was after Tom Baker, but, Peter Davison was in between Tom Baker and Colin Baker. Colin Baker is probably the msot disliked by fans in general, of all of the actors who played The Doctor

#1 William Hartnell
#2 Patrick Troughton
#3 Jon Pertwee
#4 Tom Baker
#5 Peter Davison
#6 Colin Baker
#7 Sylvester McCoy
#8 Paul McGann (American TV Movie)
#9 Christopher Eccelston
#10 David tennant
#11 Matt Smith

I like all the actors myself, they all brought something different to the role, and I wouldn't want to be deprived of the contrinution any of them made.

Sarahjane Adventures, we got Series 1 here in America on the SyFy Channel, but, I guess Ratings didn't make it, so we were deprived of Series 2-5, though we did get the DVDs. I think it got better with each season, and it was horribly sad when Lis Sladen passed away, she was already iconic just from her time with Pertwee and Tom Baker, and became even moreso with her David Tennant appearances and The Sarahjane Adventures

[Iolanthe]

Thanks for the list, Sindatur. I had completely forgotten about Paul McGann, but I didn't see the film.

Interestingly, Patrick Troughton's son, David I think, was in a fairly recent episode with David Tennant. I wasn't really watching, and am not sure whether my son had current TV on or iplayer.

I think it was John Pertwee, not Job! I remember him well from a Sunday dinnertime radio programme called "The Navy Lark" where he played more than one character using his excellent talent for doing strange voices. I seem to remember that he said "left hand down a bit" a lot, or was that Leslie Philips??

I did enjoy the S J Adventures, particularly the one where she married Nigel Havers - lucky girl!!

[sindatur]

Ooops, typo, yea, Jon Pertwee (darned fat fingers, hit the next key over)

Although Paul McGann only got the one opportunity on TV to play the role (I'm hoping there's a multi-Doctor special for the 50th Anniversary and he'll be involved), his Doctor Who Audio Plays are fantastic.

[I'm Murrin]

Doctor Who has won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation (short form) for the 6th time, with Neil Gaiman's The Doctor's Wife.

[sindatur]

Really loved the Season opener, and really anxious to see the Christmas Special now (Anything else leading up to it arc-wise)

[I'm Murrin]

Typical Moffat episode - entertaining, but not a real standout. Most of the season opener/ending eps since Moffat took over have been underwhelming. He's not a great writer, IMO.

[Damelon]

I haven't watched the new Doctor Who, so I can't judge this bit of a skewering that the columnist for the Economist gives it:

This back-patting has been a habit of the series for the past few years. The Doctor’s companions have come to speak of him in awed tones, as if he were a time-travelling messiah. “He’s got a plan,” they say, reverently. “The Doctor always has a plan.” His enemies view him as the most dangerous entity in the universe. And if other people’s encomia weren’t enough, the Doctor himself loves to quip about his own brilliance and sexual magnetism. He is also prone to hyping up the severity of his plight. How much trouble are we in, one of his companions asked him last week. The Doctor’s response: “Out of ten? Eleven.” Talk about writing your own reviews.

All this self-mythologising isn’t very British, frankly. It is off-putting, too, especially as the character was conceived, in 1963, as a dotty old meddler in a time machine that did not work properly. The essence of his charm was that he was not an intergalactic superhero in the Flash Gordon mould, but a wandering eccentric. The programme was a celebration of the nerdy underdog, not the strutting bully-boy that the Doctor has become. In the show’s early days, he could rarely get his TARDIS to land where (or when) it was supposed to. Not anymore. Last week’s episode concluded with the Doctor bragging about his pinpoint accuracy with a teleporter. In the same episode, we had to listen to his new assistant, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, telling everyone what a genius she was, which makes the prospect of her joining the Doctor in the TARDIS a worrying one. It may be bigger on the inside than on the outside, but is it really big enough to fit in two egos as swollen as that?

[Sunbaneglasses]

I am getting quite fed up with plotholes, easy/illogical outs to situations and retcon.

[I'm Murrin]

The last episode made no sense at all.

[Tefazipipo]

In the same episode, we had to listen to his new assistant, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman, telling everyone what a genius she was, which makes the prospect of her joining the Doctor in the TARDIS a worrying one. It may be bigger on the inside than on the outside, but is it really big enough to fit in two egos as swollen as that?

Hiya Damelon! Well, that reviewer must know something I don't. That's not too hard to do. In order to enjoy future episodes, I do try to avoid spoilers. I'd only heard that the same actress would be playing another character.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

I am getting quite fed up with plotholes, easy/illogical outs to situations and retcon.

Illogical outs and ridiculous plot holes have always been part of Dr. Who. I don't know about other people like me who were watching it back during the mid-80s, but the new Dr. Who series has become a victim of its own "cool" factor. The stories are written to play to the audience, not written to be high-quality standalone stories in and of themselves. Most of the interaction between Rose and Tenant's Doctor looked like fanfiction. I haven't watched any episodes featuring the new guy, whose name escapes me at the momen, mostly because I have no interest in it. When the stories become good again, I will try to catch up.

[I'm Murrin]

The new Doctor (Matt Smith) started out pretty good, IMO, but has gone downhill from his 2nd series.

Steven Moffat, the showrunner since this Doctor started, seems to be behind all the weakest episodes... They do seem to try too hard to be cool and exciting rather than good. The good news is, Neil Gaiman has written another episode and IIRC will be doing a third at some point.

[Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm]

...
The good news is, Neil Gaiman has written another episode and IIRC will be doing a third at some point.

Now this does sound like good news Thanks for posting this.

[I'm Murrin]

Gaiman's episode has now been confirmed as being the penultimate episode of the 2013 series.

[MsMary]

I've been watching Doctor Who obsessively the last few weeks.

It's such a fun show.

[Tefazipipo]

Hello! My biggest problem ever since 10 started is the obsession with convincing us that the Doctor is sexy. I was so glad to have Donna on the series. Then they not only write her out of the series, they construct it in a way that she can never really interact with The Doctor again. Jerks.

Mind, I'm pretty darned delighted with River. I feel that storyline was settled too quickly, though it had to involve the usual "You didn't say he was hot!"

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Unfortunately, that is the collective wish of many Doctor Who fans, especially younger ones--they want, even expect, the Doctor to be romantically involved with female companions. That was never part of the show and is not supposed to be in character for him. Aloof, apart, and alone despite having company; that is how the Doctor should be.

I do have to admit that often the writing of the new show is better than the older episodes.

[Tefazipipo]

That was never part of the show and is not supposed to be in character for him. Aloof, apart, and alone despite having company; that is how the Doctor should be.

I do have to admit that often the writing of the new show is better than the older episodes.

*sullen mutter* I don't want or expect it.

I do love most of the writing, there's no question about that. I can pick favorite episodes, too! 9's "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances", 10's "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead", 11's short on absolute favorites, but ""Vincent and the Doctor" "Closing Time" and "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship" are three that spring to mind.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

*sullen mutter* I don't want or expect it.

I cast a wide net. I neither intended to catch you within that generalization nor meant anything personal by it. *shrug* I am often opinionated but that is simply part of my charm.

Sometimes, Doctor Who falls into the trap that Star Trek writers kept running into--they have to creatively find ways of retconning themselves without really doing a retcon.

I was partial to The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit.