Doctor Who

[captainbasil]

www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/nov/22/doctor-who-best-doctor?commentpage=1

The Guardian rates the Doctors. I don't agree with the New series rankings but the Classic Doctor ranking is pretty close to my own.

[CRAMBAM]

It's very hard to rank.

I have never seen a Doctor I didn't like, though admittedly, I haven't been exposed to all of them.

I'm interested in seeing more Third Doctor episodes.

I've seen NO Tom Baker stories.

I would argue that more people are watching the show now than ever in its history, which means that naturally, things are going to skew toward the newer Doctors.

I like all 3 from the new series a lot. Wish there was more 9th Doctor (or should we call him 10 now)?

Tennant is my favorite by far. But I like Smith. He did a good job with the role.

I have high hopes for Capaldi despite not having a clue what he does.

We need to see the Doctor turn into the 9th.

[captainbasil]

Yes I like all 3 of the newer Doctors. Eccleston is probably my favorite. Doctor 3 (Jon Pertwee) was my first Doctor and he has a lot of good episodes. Terror of the Autons, The Green Death and Colony in Space spring to mind. The best Tom Baker episode of all is probably Genesis of the Daleks. It's one of the best Dalek stories ever done and Michael Wisher is the best Davros ever. You can get these all through Netflix if you have the DVD service. We have both of their services, streaming and snail mail.

[CRAMBAM]

I only have streaming, so unfortunately, I won't be able to see those until they get there.

As for the 50th, my expectations were so high, that maybe it was impossible to meet them, though I liked it a lot.

SPOILERS....














I did not like the use of Billie Piper. There was really no point except to say, "look, it's Billie Piper."

Curious as to which point in 10's history this took place.

It was great seeing Tennant again.

I would have liked to have seen more interaction between them all.

We get an idea of just how old the Doctor is. He was Smith for a long time.

The regeneration of Hurt was a bit strange. Why would he regenerate?

And if he did, why not show a clearer shot of Eccleston?

But ultimately, there were some great scenes here, and great surprises.

They did well.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

[StarFuryG7]

I've posted a review of "The Day of the Doctor" over at The Neutral Zones on Reddit if anyone is interested.

[TrekBeatTK]

I'm going to go see it tonight I think. Then I'll probably check it out.

-TK

[CRAMBAM]

It took some guts to come into this thread. There could have been big spoilers involved. I'll wait a bit.

[TrekBeatTK]

Just came back from the cinema. Having seen only maybe half of a Tennant episode years ago, I go in as a relative newcomer to this era of Who, apart from what I glean through popular osmosis. And I quite enjoyed it overall.

The cinema experience was fun in that it was preceded by some little welcome bits. For example, Matt Smith welcomed us to the 100th Anniversary in 12-D before being corrected. He instructed us to put on our 3D glasses, and informed us someone in the theater was a Zygon.

John Hurt is a legend so of course he was great. What are we going to call him now, Doctor Eight-and-a-half? To put the character in Trek terms, Hurt was the Joran of The Doctor's life, and I liked that. His self-deprecation of not calling himself Doctor and the references to the later Doctors trying to block him out of their memory help to smooth over any canon inconsistencies (though part of me wonders if they couldn't have just used McGann for the role, even if it would have been different).

I don't know whether it's worthwhile to go into spoilers or not, so I'll keep it to a minimum. I will say I was somewhat disappointed by the ending. The episode was at a place where it was taking a very mature sci-fi look at timeline determinism and that mass genocidal actions taken to end a war may have positive effects in the future. It was about learning from mistakes, and to preserve that perspective, the willingness to go through with the plan. I found that all fascinating and really quite moving. For me, it played out as an allegory for Hiroshima. The US's drastic action that ended WWII may seem horrific by modern eyes, but without that we wouldn't have the perspective we have now. Our efforts globally to quell nuclear proliferation are due in large part to knowing first-hand what happens when you use them. Without having done it once, we wouldn't have the wisdom to say "no more".
So I felt a little bit cheated by the more "happy" ending where this was averted. We're left with quick "time stream" explanations to avoid paradoxes of memory. Just not as strong as needing to go through with it. But I suppose on the other hand, how else were they going to get the brief appearance of all the Doctors in there? Even Eccleston, in what seemed to be a stolen shot from some episode.

And the cameo at the end! People in the theater literally gasped. I did feel like the episode was a nice homage to the series overall. Loved how it opened with a nod to the very first episode, and it was nice to end on that image of all the Doctors together, even if most of them were imposters with CG faces.

-TK

[captainbasil]

I have only seen about half of Day of the Doctor. My wife and I got real busy with Thanksgiving and we will probably watch the rest in the next few days. So far it's just okay. I'm not as impressed as I thought I would be, but I'm only half through it.
What I really like and I need to watch the whole thing is Adventures in Time and Space. It's a great docudrama. They really did a good job with it. I also liked the mini-story Peter Davison directed about the 5 Doctors. It was hilarious. They even got Peter Jackson to go along with the gag.

[CRAMBAM]

Interesting about using McGann for the role. I actually thought it would have made more sense if Eccleston was used in the John Hurt role, assuming he wasn't a dick who didn't want to return.

We first meet Eccleston after the time war. We never saw his regeneration. McGann probably makes a little more sense, though suppose McGann just regenerated and the first thing Eccleston did was end the time war?

[TrekBeatTK]

Nov 26, 2013 9:44:54 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

Interesting about using McGann for the role. I actually thought it would have made more sense if Eccleston was used in the John Hurt role, assuming he wasn't a dick who didn't want to return.

We first meet Eccleston after the time war. We never saw his regeneration. McGann probably makes a little more sense, though suppose McGann just regenerated and the first thing Eccleston did was end the time war?

I considered both. Indeed, John Hurt's leather jacket aesthetic implied to me it may have been planned for Eccleston originally. Wouldn't surprise me at all. Then you would have had a story with all three new Doctors, in celebration of this current iteration of the show.

I suggested McGann since he seemed more game to return than Eccleston, but yes it would probably have been in character for Eccleston's Doctor. I just wonder why Moffat decided to go the route he did with a "secret" Doctor.

-TK

[CRAMBAM]

I've heard some reports that Moffat had picked a secret doctor all along, though it really makes a lot of sense that the story be done with Eccleston.

But yeah, we got 7 minutes of Paul McGann, and I think almost everyone wants more. I wish something like that would be under consideration.

A spin off, where we get McGann's adventures, airing when the Capaldi stories are not. It's a different era in the Doctor's life, so they could come up with different things, like having the time lords as a regular presence.

Or just do stories that don't fit within the arc of the Capaldi story.

[captainbasil]

I finally saw all of Day of the Doctor and it improved a great deal and I enjoyed it. That being said, it was just a tarted up multi-doctor episode contrived so the writers could get out of the corner they painted themselves into when they rebooted the show in 2005. The whole Gallifrey is destroyed and he's the last Timelord was a stupid idea from the start. Thank God they finally figured it out. Smith, Tennant and Hurt were excellent. As much as I loved Hurt I think they should have used McGann in lieu of Eccleston, but Moffat didn't ask me. Using Tom Baker as the Curator was a very nice touch and he was the perfect Doctor to give the current Doctor the good news. I want to see a separate McGann series done at least on the Internet. And speaking of the Internet, if you want to laugh your ass off watch Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann in The Five-ish Doctors Reboot. It's hilarious..

[CRAMBAM]

You could argue that EVERY story is contrived.

Ultimately, you have a goal, and you do things to get yourself there.

I saw the Five-ish Doctors reboot, and I agree it was hilarious.

Love the idea that the Doctor will figure out a way to choose his form so he could revisit Tom Baker or any other former Doctor. It's a way to re-use the classic doctors.

I started with the 2005 series, so for me, the time lords have always been gone, and it's no big deal to me.

That said, I do like that they revisited this chapter in the Doctor's life.

Couldn't agree more about McGann, yet my guess is that they don't even have that on the docket.

[captainbasil]

I'm looking forward to the Christmas Special. I have to set up my DVR because I will be out of town. Some years my DVR "thinks" the episode is part of the regular Doctor Who rotation and sometimes it doesn't. ;D

Well, I'm just glad McGann will be doing plenty of Big Finish audios for everyone to enjoy. I'm still waiting for my Big Finish Anniversary Special. I hope to get it in the mail from across the pond today. I agree that the BBC will probably not give him any episodes or movies. It's their loss.

[CRAMBAM]

It really is. He was very good. Would love to SEE more.

[CRAMBAM]

Fun video below:

[Mel]

I started with the 2005 series, so for me, the time lords have always been gone, and it's no big deal to me.

I don't follow this thread closely, but this surprised me. Doctor Who doesn't have Time Lords anymore??

This is as surprising to me as when you said Superman (not Clark Kent) had renounced his citizenship (because the writers wanted it that way).

[TrekBeatTK]

Apparently between McGann and Eccleston there was a Time War which destroyed Gallifrey and killed all the Time Lords.

But not to worry, the recent "Day of the Doctor" special ret-conned all this and saved Gallifrey and the Time Lords.

-TK

[CRAMBAM]

I never felt like all of the time lords were dead anyway. And I still have difficulty seeing the difference between the pre-50th time lock, and sticking them in a pocket universe.

[captainbasil]

I find the whole thing a bunch of nonsense. I'm glad they crap-canned the Time War thing. I never liked it. I always enjoyed the Time Lords interfering with The Doctor's day just to keep him humble. ;D

I finally got my Big Finish Anniversary Doctor Who Audio The Light At the End in the mail. I usually download my purchases from them but I wanted a hard copy. I will post a review after I hear it. It features Doctors 4, 5,6,7 and 8 and their companions. All the original actors reprising their TV roles.

[CRAMBAM]

I hope that's a story worthy of everything. Doctor Who is so visual that it may be hard to pull that off.

[captainbasil]

I'm pretty sure they will pull it off. They always do. Doctor Who makes a smooth transition from TV to audio, as did Dark Shadows. These guys spare no expense with their sound-scape. From the wrath of the Daleks to the wheeze of the TARDIS, you hear it all.

[CRAMBAM]

Thoughts on TIME OF THE DOCTOR?

[StarFuryG7]

You can respond to me here or there, whichever you prefer should you feel so inclined.

"Doctor Who": A Town Called 'Christmas' On A Planet Called Trenzalore [Spoilers]

www.reddit.com/r/theneutralzones/comments/1tvv0g/doctor_who_a_town_called_christmas_on_a_planet/

[CRAMBAM]

It's interesting. Looking at your first paragraph, I'm reminded of something from the 9th Doctor when Rose mentioned how his accent sounds like it comes from the North.

He said, "lots of planets have a North."

So regarding the name, we don't know where the people from that planet come from, and we don't know if they are humans from a far off future. But it just could be a coincidence that the name of the town is Christmas.

I think it's actually possible his time as Matt Smith was longer than all the other incarnations combined.

The 300 year time span of this episode is not complete. He was middle aged at the 300 year point. I would argue that it's possible that another 300 years passed when he started to look like Hartnell.

So it's possible the Doctor is now a good 1800 years old.

[TrekBeatTK]

This is the little introduction they showed us at the cinema screenings of Day of the Doctor.



I enjoy the bit about popcorn.

-TK

[captainbasil]

I actually liked Day of the Doctor better than Time of the Doctor. Time just seemed protracted to me. I did enjoy seeing Capaldi and I was surprised he had a line. While I will miss Matt Smith, I think his last season was pretty terrible. I loved Asylum of the Daleks and a few others, but most of the episodes were bland. I also hope that Louise Coleman has better chemistry with Capaldi.

[CRAMBAM]

That was a very good intro.

[StarFuryG7]

Dec 29, 2013 13:41:20 GMT -5 CRAMBAM said:

It's interesting. Looking at your first paragraph, I'm reminded of something from the 9th Doctor when Rose mentioned how his accent sounds like it comes from the North.

He said, "lots of planets have a North."

So regarding the name, we don't know where the people from that planet come from, and we don't know if they are humans from a far off future. But it just could be a coincidence that the name of the town is Christmas.

I hope you got passed the first paragraph and read it all the way through.

At any rate, yeah, but why be ambiguous in a story they'll never go back to or follow up on somehow more than likely? I'm sure it'll be mentioned because it was where the Eleventh Doctor met his end, but the town of Christmas is destined to be nothing more than a footnote otherwise probably.

Also, they touched on the name of the town more directly in the episode than the previous episode which came to mind for you. Clara asks, "How can a town be called Christmas?", to which the Doctor replies, "How can an island be called Easter?" That's a dodge however, and if Moffat actually knew anything about that island, he'd know it got its name because it was discovered by a Dutch explorer on Easter in the 1700s.

He wanted it to play like a fable, and probably felt he could get away with that approach because it was a Christmas episode, but to me it also came across as lazy writing.

The town looked as though it had been plucked right from Earth, even though the townsfolk all seemed to be oblivious of Earth and their own restricted environment, which just raised questions that I personally would have liked a few answers to.