About Doctor Who - if the Beebe would hire a good writer, good video editor and good sound mixer, there's a mint to be made going through all the intact stories of the old show and editing them down to the length the story wanted to be, sans the pointless/boring running around that didn't advance the plot and served only to pad that sucker out to 4-6 episodes when 2 would have done.
It's something I've noticed time and again, even when watching the good ones with the 4th Doctor and Romanna - over half is always boring filler. (Mylochka and I watched Castrovalva last night, which was deadly bad for the first half it took to even get to the eponymous locality, then suddenly became not-terrible once TristanDoctor hit town.) I'm not advocating something like Star Trek Remastered with fixing the special effects to so-so results. You'd still be stuck with the old scripts, old performances, much of the old sets, and all the costumes. But good stories and bad alike could all benefit from tighter pacing and getting to the good parts a lot faster.
The BBC could make a mint selling DVDs of the old show to the same fans all over again, and have something much more likely to appeal to new fans and curious fans of the current version. This is something even you or I could do crudely on the computer with something like Windows Movie Maker, provided only the will, the patience, and some good story-telling skills - and I wish some fans would, in hopes of the right people at the beebe seeing it on YouTube and getting inspired.
I'd really like to see a Good Parts version of Castrovalva, you see...
Interesting.
"lezzie"? Dude.
[They] should have just had cheetah eyes and a very faint pigmentation round of cheetah spots, and big canine teeth. And in fact, I think the actors that were cast, from what I was told, were doing all this wonderful expressive facial work, and then these 'Puss In Boots' things were dropped on them – and so then you can't see what they're doing under there. Particularly Karra and Ace, there were whole amazing scenes between them and for me, that was supposed to be my lesbian subtext – and you can't see it!
—Rona Munro, 2007 interview
My knowledge of Dr.Who is next to none as well. I know barely anything about it. All I know is there was something about a time traveling phone booth, but that's it, and I have a feeling that is horribly inaccurate even.
Much beer was consumed, and there was strip poker.
This was in 1982/83...Much beer was consumed, and there was strip poker.
Did one thing lead to another and end up in some kinky SMAC/X talk? ;lol
Which doctor in the revival? Soccer thug, anorexic guy, or the young chin? It makes a difference, maybe.Didn't realize there'd been more than one.
I'm not sure it flies here - personal opinion. We're pretty wall to wall lefties.
Interesting.
"lezzie"? Dude.
Zoid loves gay rainbow doctor, so that ought to be good for a post.
I lost interest around the time celery crochet man and boy wonder took over.You mean cricket, and not crochet I trust...? As for the "boy wonder" - which one? The Fifth Doctor had two male companions (Adric and Turlough). Both were very smart, socially inept, and very annoying. Both found some sort of redemption in the end (Adric by trying to save Earth from the Cybermen and Turlough by helping to save his kinfolk and straightening out his troubles with his home planet).
My knowledge of Dr.Who is next to none as well. I know barely anything about it. All I know is there was something about a time traveling phone booth, but that's it, and I have a feeling that is horribly inaccurate even.No, you're completely accurate. The TARDIS is shaped like a phone booth, and it travels in time. However, you can't actually use it to make a phone call.
Wow Green, you are putting on one of your most awesome displays of charm evah in this thread. :P
Bittervet :D
I'm pretty sure he shouldn't. ;) Eccleston does rock the universe pretty hard, mind, but I saw him humping in one of the Elizabeth movies and wish I hadn't. He was also butt-nekkid that time he played John Lennon...I thought he was delightfully evil in Elizabeth (from a purely eye-candy pov; there is no way that Norfolk could ever not be evil, no matter who plays him).
"Stones of Blood" -that is hilarious, because it makes Mylochka vomit blood.Amelia Rumford is one of my favorite guest characters!
A Cosmic 'Tardis': What the Universe Has In Common with 'Doctor Who'http://news.yahoo.com/cosmic-tardis-universe-common-doctor-223921484.html (http://news.yahoo.com/cosmic-tardis-universe-common-doctor-223921484.html)
SPACE.com
by Elizabeth Howell, SPACE.com Contributor 19 hours ago
(http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/.Nw6OTBT9rJvnlf7QKCxGQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTMyMztweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz01NzU-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_US/News/SPACE.com/A_Cosmic_%27Tardis%27_What_the-83c511666aa3177eeb415f1445f81f4f)
A TARDIS from the TV show "Doctor Who"
Look out, dark energy: A TARDIS may be the real reason the universe is accelerating.
Regions in space-time that are bigger on the inside than the outside — just like the sci-fi character Doctor Who's TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) time machine — could help explain the universe's quickening expansion.
These theoretical bubbles are named "Tardis regions." They're not a perfect explanation of how the expansion occurs, but they are a first step in making a model that is closer to reality, its proponents said. [Gallery: Dark Matter Throughout the Universe]
"The idea was to get this proof of principle, that this is possible that you can do it," Syksy Rasanen, a lecturer in theoretical physics at the University of Helsinki, told SPACE.com. "We're not claiming the inside of the hole is realistic, but it's the first model where we have an exact solution where structures that are distributed randomly in space have a significant effect on the expansion rate."
Tapping the accelerator
The universe is not only expanding, but its growth is accelerating. That startling realization occurred in 1998 after two research groups measured cosmic distances using Type Ia supernovas, which all have similar absolute brightnesses. A Type Ia appears fainter the farther away it is from Earth.
Instead of gravity slowing things down as expected, the universe was growing at a faster rate. A popular explanation offered today is a mysterious force called dark energy, which is believed to make up nearly three-quarters of the universe. No one knows what substances are in dark energy, but the leading theory proposes it is a property of space itself.
Dark energy is not the only explanation out there, however. Perhaps gravity does not behave as scientists expect it to. At great distances, maybe gravity speeds up expansion instead of slowing it down, or perhaps the acceleration is due to how certain types of structures form.
Rasanen's team is looking at that third possibility. Their model assumed that small perturbations in the structure of the universe at the age of 10 million years (an arbitrary starting age for the model, he said) could alter the universe's growth in a few billion years. The aim was to better understand how the universe evolved if, as the model assumed, the structures have a large effect.
"In this model, at early times, the holes expand [at the same rate] as the background, but as the universe becomes older and older, the hole expansion becomes more and more," Rasanen said. "The expansion rate is bigger than what you expect."
Cosmological Swiss cheese
Rasanen's team built on a cosmological model first proposed by Albert Einstein and Willem de Sitter. In simple terms, it portrays the universe as mostly homogeneous, but peppered with regions that are different than the background — almost like Swiss cheese.
Most variations of the model have the regions and the background grow at the same rate, but Rasanen's team put in variables to make those inhomogeneities grow independently. (One limitation of the model is the regions do not interact with each other or the background, something the researchers plan to address in the future.)
"With the holes in the Swiss cheese, we have built them so they are specially curved such that they get the expansion rate that we want," Rasanen said. "Though the Tardis regions we used are not realistic, the property that regions can have larger volume than expected based on their surface area is a general feature of gravity."
"This is an expression of the fact that according to general relativity, the geometry of space is not Euclidean," he added, referring to the type of geometry taught in a typical high school class. "Different regions of space are curved differently: Some have smaller volume than in the Euclidean case, others are larger. In the case of our model, we only have regions that are larger. When you take a realistic model, it is not clear whether the regions that are smaller balance out the regions that are larger."
One demonstration of space-time curvature occurs with gravitational lensing, a phenomenon that happens when a huge mass (such as a group of galaxies) bends the light of stars or galaxies behind the mass from Earth's vantage point.
The research has been submitted to the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics and was detailed online on the preprint website Arxiv.
This is amusing. A fan got his wife to watch Who from the beginning and wrote up her reactions. Have a look....For what it's worth, THIS is what I've been doing for two days, and they're only up to Carnival of Monsters. It's that engaging.
http://wifeinspace.com/2011/01/introduction/ (http://wifeinspace.com/2011/01/introduction/)
Omega and the universe of antimatter?
Oh,It's better because the Doctors got out alive!
so in one of my bouts of insomnia the last week or so, I got the pleasure of seeing a who special with 3 doctors and some sorta conundrum about destroying some world or some nonsense.
Anywho, they instead FROZE the whole place in time, right before it was wiped out. Somehow, this solved their conundrum and made them all feel happy joyful with themselves while I was sitting there...how is that any better?
Omega and the universe of antimatter?It was a departure that made sense, both storywise and character-wise. Romana didn't want to go back to Gallifrey, so she took the first "out" she had, which was to travel with the Tharils. And K-9 was basically fried anyway, although he could survive behind the mirrors. It would have been too cruel and sad to let him die, or leave him behind on his own. The Tharils wouldn't have given a damn about him.
K9 is, indeed, teh awesome. E-Space, on the other hand, is of the devil - you go in with K9 and Rommanna; you leave with Adric.
Why Peter Capaldi has a bigger challenge than any Doctor Who in historyhttp://theweek.com/article/index/265153/why-peter-capaldi-has-a-bigger-challenge-than-any-doctor-who-in-history (http://theweek.com/article/index/265153/why-peter-capaldi-has-a-bigger-challenge-than-any-doctor-who-in-history)
There are more than a few hurdles ahead for the 12th Doctor
The Week
By Mark Juddery | 9:31am ET
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No pressure. (Facebook.com/Doctor Who)
In just a month, 56-year-old Peter Capaldi will make his formal debut as the 12th actor to play one of Britain's most revered television heroes: Doctor Who.
On paper, Capaldi seems like an unusually safe choice to play the titular role in the long-running series. He's a well-respected actor, best known for playing the potty-mouthed political advisor Malcolm Tucker in the comedy The Thick of It. He is the only Doctor Who star so far to win an Oscar (in 1996, for writing and directing the best short film). He is also a recognizable face from — among many things — Local Hero, The Musketeers, World War Z (as a character listed as the "W.H.O. Doctor"), and Doctor Who, on which he played a different role in 2008. (Showrunner Steven Moffat promises that the Doctor's resemblance to this guy will be explained on the show.)
Doctor Who invites such feverish speculation because its very nature is unpredictable. Apart from certain traits (eccentricity, genius, heroism), the Doctor completely changes his personality each time he "regenerates" into a different actor. Naturally, the rumors have started. Is the new Doctor actually evil? (Probably not.) Is he the Doctor's nemesis, the Master, in disguise? (Again, probably not. The fans have vivid imaginations.) Will there be a crossover with Sherlock, Moffat's other Big Show?
But for all the speculation, one thing seems clear: Capaldi, for all his talent, has a tough job ahead of him. Of all the actors who have played the Doctor over the past 50 years, the only one with a comparably daunting task was Patrick Troughton, the second Doctor, who took over from the original, William Hartnell, in 1966. At the time, the idea of changing the hero into someone with no resemblance and a different personality seemed crazy — and while the concept is now central to Doctor Who's very premise, Capaldi's takeover may not be a smooth one:
1. The expectations are sky-high
Capaldi replaces Matt Smith, some 25 years his junior, who came on the show as a little-known young actor best known in Britain for the ensemble drama series Party Animals. The fans, while still mourning the departure of his predecessor David Tennant, accepted him with an open mind. Capaldi has such a great reputation, however, that everyone already presumes greatness. Anything less will disappoint.
2. His sex appeal is questionable
When Doctor Who began in 1963, it was a kids' series — and though it's commonly described as having lasted 50 years, it was actually axed in 1989. When it was revived in 2005 as a prime-time series, the Doctor had a new trait: sex appeal. The new Doctor was played by the surly (but sexy) Christopher Eccleston, who would be replaced by the handsome Tennant, followed by the adorably goofy Smith. All the while, the series' U.S. popularity has grown — Smith was the first Doctor to make the covers of both TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly — making him a tough act for Capaldi, who's decades older, to follow.
Smith proved that the Doctor is now a sex symbol, and the show's new, younger fans expect that to continue. Smith's Doctor had plenty of sexual tension with his travelling companions, and Capaldi has inherited Clara Oswald, played by 28-year-old Jenna Coleman. As he is twice her age, he might keep it to himself this time.
3. Changes are always controversial
However you look at it, Doctor Who is a long-running series (even if it hasn't gone for 50 years non-stop). The classic series, which lasted 26 years, is by far the longest-running science fiction show in television history. But even the revival has already gone on for nine years — longer than any Star Trek series. When a series lasts that long, it occasionally needs renewal. Moffat has already said that big changes are in store beyond the Doctor's new face. Whatever form these changes will take, it remains to be seen whether the fans and casual viewers will like them.
4. His fate is tied to Steven Moffat
And while we're on the subject: Moffat is controversial among passionate Doctor Who fans. He is perhaps the series' all-time most popular writer (readers of Doctor Who Magazine recently voted that he had written the two best stories of the past 50 years). But since becoming showrunner, he has won a lot of haters, unhappy with the direction the show has taken: deviations from the canon, unconvincing twists, a long record of troubling attitudes toward women. If they are angered by his coming changes, Capaldi might be caught in the crossfire.
5. The curse of Doctor Who looms large
Like Superman, the role of the Doctor seems cursed. The character is so revered that, once an actor takes it on, he will be forever known as "the Doctor." Eccleston only played the role for a single season, afraid of typecasting. Even Paul McGann, a popular and highly sought-after actor well before he did Doctor Who, has been branded for life as "the eighth Doctor" — despite his run being comprised of a series of audio plays and one telemovie!
Here, Capaldi has an advantage: he has already been typecast as The Thick of It's Malcolm Tucker. (Indeed, some fans have joked that he will be "the sweary Doctor.") Doctor Who, in which nobody ever swears, is actually a chance to shake off the shackles of his other iconic role. But even if he can shake off Malcolm Tucker, he might well be typecast all over again.
There are hopeful signs in modern actors who have found new work after Doctor Who. Not every Doctor Who star is so typecast with the role that they are forced into a life of Comic-Con appearances and fan book signings; Tennant's career has been going well since Doctor Who, and Smith is in demand since leaving the role. Like them, Capaldi might ride Doctor Who from fame to superstardom — but he has more than a few hurdles to face first.
When it was revived in 2005 as a prime-time series, the Doctor had a new trait: sex appeal
Everything you ever wanted to know about Doctor Who, but were too embarrassed to askhttp://www.vox.com/2014/8/22/6055755/doctor-who-explained-who-is-doctor-who (http://www.vox.com/2014/8/22/6055755/doctor-who-explained-who-is-doctor-who)
Vox.com
Updated by Todd VanDerWerff on August 22, 2014, 1:30 p.m. ET @tvoti
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See, now don't you want to know what this is? There's fire everywhere! BBC America
A new season of Doctor Who — the eighth since the series' revival in 2005 — begins Saturday night on BBC America at 8:15 p.m. Eastern. The British sci-fi institution — which ran from 1963 to 1989 in in its initial incarnation — commands a legion of fans all over the world, who await Saturday's new episode with feverish anticipation.
There's good reason for this: this premiere features not just the debut of a new season but the debut of a new Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi, one of the best actors of his generation and a decidedly odd choice for the role. The Doctor has been played by men of Capaldi's age — 56 — before; he's never been played by a man whose best-known role was as foul-mouthed as Capaldi's role on British political sitcom The Thick of It.
You may be vaguely aware of Doctor Who, but you also might feel intimidated by just how much history there is to the show and feel like you'd have to watch 33 seasons of television to get caught up. To which we would say a.) don't and b.) you couldn't even if you wanted to.
To that end, consider this quick guide to the world of Who.
Who is Doctor Who?
He's the Doctor, that's who!
You're the worst
Right, but that's the joke. Get it? The character is known only as "the Doctor," and thus, the title of the show is a question: Doctor Who?! But nobody really has asked that question since, like, season one of the show, so you'd be forgiven for thinking this an elaborate, medical-themed riff on the "Who's on First" routine.
So who's the Doctor, then?
He's a time-traveling alien from the planet Gallifrey. He makes his way through all of space and time in a spaceship/time machine shaped like a British police box (think of a blue phone booth). This vehicle is called the TARDIS, which is short for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It should be able to assume any form but somehow broke and got stuck on the police box. The TARDIS is larger on the inside than it appears to be on the outside, and it's the greatest vehicle known to man (or alien).
The Doctor and the TARDIS are the two constants of the program, even if the former has been played officially by 12 different actors. (He's also been played by other actors in other instances, but let's not wander too far into the weeds here.)
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The first 11 Doctors (BBC)
Hold up now, really?
When original Doctor William Hartnell was ailing toward the end of his run on the show, the series' producers hit upon something ingenious: since the Doctor was an alien, he could appear to "die," then stand right up as another actor. This was known as the Doctor's "regeneration." Hartnell was replaced by Patrick Troughton, and a terrific way to periodically refresh the program was discovered. (For more on Hartnell and the early days of Doctor Who, check out last year's excellent TV movie An Adventure in Space and Time.) Matt Smith regenerated into Peter Capaldi at the end of December's Christmas special.
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Peter Capaldi is the new Doctor. (BBC America)
What's the show like?
Generally, the Doctor and a human companion (at present, Jenna Coleman's Clara) fly around the universe, having sci-fi adventures. Different writers on the show like different things, some enjoying epic science fiction, with others liking to explore the show's roots as a children's educational program. (The Doctor was a time traveler so he could show kids earlier eras.) Current showrunner Moffat loves complicated puzzles, and his seasons have been filled with intricate structures that reveal themselves at the last possible moment. Then the Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at something.
Moffat loves the idea of the Doctor as the smartest, cleverest being who ever has lived, and his seasons of the show reflect that idea. The puzzles can be fun, but his seasons can occasionally feel like he's pushing the characters around on a giant board to achieve his various ends. Moffat's predecessor, Russell T. Davies, was fond of big, emotional gestures, and that meant he would conclude episodes or seasons with moments when, say, everybody resurrected the Doctor just by believing in him. Every writer makes his or her mark on the show and the character, which only adds to the series' popularity. The endless malleability is part of the appeal.
This show sounds kind of hokey
It's definitely the sort of show that can be hard to explain without making it sound silly. Doctor Who started as a series for kids, and it has kept at least one toe in that world ever since. What keeps the series from going too far over the top is that it always commits to what it's trying to do. It might be doing something unbelievably corny, but everybody involved really cares about the situations and characters on screen. It helps that the Doctor is such an institution that every actor who plays the role brings prior associations with the character to their portrayal.
But the show also isn't hokey, ultimately, because it carries with it the ultimate blank canvas. A Doctor Who story can, essentially, be about anything. The potential for the show's setting is limitless, which is what makes it so enduring.
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Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor (center) and his companions face down the Daleks in an earlier episode. (BBC America)
What about the little salt shaker guys who say "EXTERMINATE!"?
You're talking about Daleks, a species of merciless killing machines and the Doctor's greatest foe, and if there's one reason to anticipate the new season, it's to see Peter Capaldi face off with Daleks.
Do people have allegiances to particular Doctors?
Hello and welcome to the Internet. Of course they do.
Probably the most beloved Doctor — and certainly the longest running — is Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor and wore a fancy scarf. But nearly every Doctor has his adherents. Since the series was revived in 2005, all three actors who have regularly played the Doctor — Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith — have their fans. Since you're new to the fandom, we'll warn you to watch out for Tennant versus Smith fights. They can get nasty.
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Matt Smith (left) and David Tennant teamed up for the 50th anniversary special. (BBC America)
Has anybody other than a white guy played the Doctor?
No, and every new Doctor that's revealed to be a white dude prompts greater and greater irritation with this fact. That reached a fever pitch before Capaldi's tenure was announced last fall, and it didn't really go away, even when a much-loved actor like Capaldi was named to the role. Showrunner Steven Moffat didn't help matters, which speaks to some of his seasons' larger issues with roles for women.
So Moffat's seasons have come under fire?
Somewhat. Doctor Who always comes in for criticism, sometimes because of legitimate problems and sometimes because Doctor Who fans are intensely devoted to their program of choice. But the issues critics and fans have raised with Moffat's female characters are particularly troubling.
Moffat's a sterling storyteller, and his seasons have ingenious clockwork structures that the Doctor has to deduce. But this means that for the most part, his female characters (usually the companions, but also River Song, a love interest for the Doctor) are reduced from human beings who drive the story forward to plot devices the Doctor has to figure out.
Moffat writes superficially strong women, who have facility with a quip and are able to think their way out of sticky situations, but they also tend to be reduced to damsels in distress when it comes right down to it, and they react to hugely emotional situations — like, say, having their child taken from them — in largely unbelievable ways.
The question is whether this is specifically a problem with Moffat's writing for women or more a problem with his writing of characters who aren't the Doctor, and it would seem to skew more toward the latter. For one thing, Moffat has written interesting, believable female characters on other shows, like his much loved sitcom Coupling. For another, Moffat clearly just really loves the Doctor and seemingly would prefer to write only for him a lot of the time.
Okay, so... 33 seasons of television. How much of this do I actually have to watch?
Well, 97 episodes of the original series are lost to us, thanks to the BBC recording over them. We have audio tapes of them, which have been matched to production stills, but it's not the same, is it? So you can't watch all of Doctor Who. And you might not want to anyway.
This leaves you with three options.
Pick and choose episodes from the first 26 seasons, then dive into the new show: There are plenty of people out there who will offer you opinions on those first 26 seasons, and you can get a nice overview of every single Doctor before watching the new series. Several highlights from the earlier show are available on Netflix.
Just start with the new series: Yeah, there are seven seasons (and a weird mini-season of specials made with Tennant), but none of them is very long, and they go by quickly. Plus, the first episode tells you everything you need to know to enjoy the show. It's all on Netflix.
Start with the new episode on Saturday: Doctor Who has serialized elements, but rarely ones that are difficult to follow across seasons. Generally, a new Doctor taking over the role is a great time to hop on board, and Saturday's premiere is very welcoming to Who newbies.
Do you have some episodes I should watch before Saturday's premiere?
We're going to go with five from the new series. Episodes from the older series are generally best worked into after indulging in the more modern show.
"Father's Day": This terrific installment from Eccleston's first and only season reflects how well Davies handled the problems and sorrows of the companions.
"The Girl in the Fireplace": Moffat wrote this one-off during Davies's tenure, and it's a lovely, moving romance told in one hour, with time travel as the unifying element.
"Midnight": Another Davies episode features Tennant at his best and a great, involving conceit straight out of The Twilight Zone.
"Vincent and the Doctor": Smith's Eleventh Doctor runs into Vincent Van Gogh in a lovely tale of art, depression, and commerce.
"The Doctor's Wife": An ingenious episode written by acclaimed author Neil Gaiman reveals the true identity of the woman in the title.
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Jenna Coleman plays Clara. (BBC America)
Have you seen it?
The premiere? Yes.
How is it?
I'm not going to spoil you!
No, seriously!
It's pretty good! It occasionally seems petrified that the audience will stop watching because the Doctor is now older than any of his prior incarnations in the new series, and it works that idea into the subtext (and the text) as often as possible. To a degree, every first episode for every new Doctor is about defining who that new Doctor will be and acknowledging that, yes, things are different for everybody, and this premiere is certainly guilty of that. It also falls prey to Moffat's frequent mythologizing of the show's past.
But once the episode finally lets Capaldi get his feet under him and pairs him up with Coleman for some gloriously fun scenes, the episode hits the rails in vintage Who fashion. And fans will almost certainly enjoy the episode's final moments.
How's Capaldi? What kind of Doctor is he?
He is about what you'd expect a Peter Capaldi Doctor to be, and that's, predictably, awesome. But he's also game for anything, and that includes grand goofiness. It's easy to be hopeful about his tenure after watching the premiere.
Give me one more tidbit!
Okay, I'll give you two: there's a dinosaur, and the Doctor rides a horse in his pajamas.
Last one: has anyone ever tried to remake this in America?
Sort of. The Eighth Doctor was a one-off TV movie character whom Moffat resurrected for a short to celebrate the Doctor's 50th anniversary last year. Played by Paul McGann, he was British, sure, but he was meant to be the lead of a new series to air on Fox, rather than the BBC, and that TV movie (from 1996) was the pilot for that prospective series. Fortunately, nobody seemed too interested in a Doctor Who that would be an American co-production, so we didn't have to bear the indignity of this show being on Fox.
They would have canceled it anyway
Yeah, you're probably right.
The new season of Doctor Who debuts Saturday night on BBC America at 8:15 p.m. Eastern.
..., and wondering what they call the World Health Organization in the Doctor's world...
The super-fast talking makes the show a little exhausting for me to follow. My brain is working too slow these days... For example, entirely missed how the guest stars became not-dead...Whoever the next companion is, I hope they get somebody who can speak properly. I couldn't understand most of what Clara was saying. The rest of what she said wasn't anything I needed to worry about, because I fell asleep.
I am so used to missing key bits of what's said in British productions -I think it's the sound quality and my poor hearing much more than the accents- that I hadn't bothered to complain. It's pretty bad if I'm not the only one.London alone has a bazillion accents that do weird things with vowels, making some letters silent and pronouncing others, and then there are the glottals and more complex technical aspects of speech. If Clara (the actress) would just slow down, she'd be easier to understand, but apparently they're making a big deal of the area she's from. So that means the incomprehensible speech comes with it.
Did that play badly/jerky for everyone?It played okay.
...If you'd described the plot of that episode to me, I wouldn't have been interested. And it was the best episode of the season, for me - hard to say why, but it kept me interested far more than the previous episodes. Danny said something that speaks, I think, to not just the Doctor's attitude towards him, but ours - we doubt he's good enough for Clara. (-Also, he's boring.)
A teacher wouldn't be able to get away with the constant four-inch long skirts, BTW, by about a foot.
...She should be on Season 4 of Downton Abbey...It's already been filmed and shown. Season 5 is coming up next year. It'd be hilarious if she did get a part in it, considering that "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister" has been a regular on Downton Abbey from the start.
But who does want to date a monkey?
Allow me to prescribe you a dose of spiritualism. :-*How about prescribing a time machine so we can go back and prevent her murder?
Allow me to prescribe you a dose of spiritualism. :-*How about prescribing a time machine so we can go back and prevent her murder?
S08E09 Flatline HD (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x288dkr)Eh - I've never cared for present-day adventures that don't even have UNIT and/or the Master in them. Plus, Clara didn't dress up, the main virtue of the good episodes this series.
Can someone please tell me I didn't hear Danny call Clara "[complaint or disagreeable woman]"?He said "I've got our bench". I don't hear too good, but that's the only thing I heard that sounded even close. He was sitting on a bench in the park.
Others have been asking elsewhere; the closed captioning confirms it, but I was really hoping it was wrong...
S08E10 In The Forest Of The Night (SD) (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x28mjh5)No, pretty much nothing about that episode made sense.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x296f6v_s08e11-dark-water-sd_travel#from=embed (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x296f6v_s08e11-dark-water-sd_travel#from=embed)Okay - that does it. The Who revival does not have my permission to use the Master anymore.
Sorry 'bout embedding not currently being enabled.
I'm 2 3/4 episodes behind - need to put aside some time for watching...
S08E12 Death in Heaven (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x29ocrj)If you're only going to break the toys, you can't have them.
They've had other Santa references in the Christmas episodes (ie. Santas that were really Autons).
I won't spoil this one for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but...
I didn't like 99.9% of it.
I don't get why innerwebs nerdz get so upset when a Dr Who episode doesn't make sense; they've never been reliable about that, and this one didn't make sense by design...I get upset because unless it's some kind of experimental writing that has another purpose to not making sense, a story has failed if it doesn't make sense.
Experienced amateur!(cue theme - Who-screech-intro Avengers)
Qualified new professional!
they are-
The Time Avengers!
Lala Ward don't look like that no more; you kinda HAVE to make a new incarnation.I saw a recent(ish) clip of her on YouTube, sitting in the audience at one of Richard Dawkins' discussions that was recorded and posted. She's got much shorter hair now, but she was still blonde and still cute. I think she could easily reprise Romana II if she wanted.
39:16
You have to wonder what exactly the Master had done at the beginning of the US movie to the Daleks, don't you? It's the Master - you have to figure he didn't just kill a few thousand; more like destroyed at least a whole planet full of them, minimum, maybe multiple Dalek solar systems.
He comes off like a loser, in the aggregate, every time you see him because the Doctor is there, but nobody else in the entirety of time and space should be able to lay a glove on him for long. He always survives setbacks, he always escapes, he dies a lot but always, always always, gets better - and taking him on, even in an annoying reduced MTM incarnation, is a very, very, VERY stupid idea. Even trying to team up with him is sorta like working for the Red Skull; you're probably gonna die. Even if you take him with you, (S)HE's going to get better.
Lots of the Doctor's enemies who have lived to tell the tale STILL shouldn't want none of the Master in any context - he won't take his time talking and running around to destroy you; he'll just kill you. Avoid at all costs.
"There is some evil in all of us, Doctor – even you. The Valeyard is an amalgamation of the darker sides of your nature, somewhere between your twelfth and final incarnation, and I may say you do not improve with age."
I just had another look at the two season 9 trailers I've posted - and it reminds me the Who revival hasn't done well by the Master at ALL. It's been ten years now, and you GOTS to step up your game if you can't do ANYTHING good with your hero's Moriarty He should be as big on that show as the Daleks...I've mentioned it before, but after the first season of the revival, I actually had a pretty good story pitch worked up for bringing back the Master -it was obvious to anyone that with all the other Time Lords dead, he'd get better. He always gets better. (At the End of The Universe, he'll be somewhere -separate from, and infinitely older than, the Derek Jaccobi chameleon-arched incarnation who fled there- doing something Dastardly and Horrific to try to reverse it when he dies like a [girldog] for the Last Time.)
Makes me kind of glad they haven't troubled themselves to fish Romanna out of E Space -fingers crossed- which I would have done the second or third year, but then I would have come up with an appealing/cool Romanna or died trying, which is not the way to bet with the revival...
That brief glimpse of a brown-haired John Hurt reminds me of how he looked in the movie Night Crossing, about a family that escapes from East Germany in a hot-air balloon.I have never watched Dr. Who because it always appeared more as a British show.
...I think I know what that means, but what's wrong with it being British, to you?The accents occasionally irritate me for an unknown reason. I have nothing against people from the U.K.
Maybe because it is a British show?That brief glimpse of a brown-haired John Hurt reminds me of how he looked in the movie Night Crossing, about a family that escapes from East Germany in a hot-air balloon.I have never watched Dr. Who because it always appeared more as a British show.
There are certain accents that grate on my nerves, particularly the ones that sound like the speaker has a mouth full of pillow stuffing and is trying to talk through it; I can't be bothered to try to decipher that. And I also get annoyed with people who talk too fast....I think I know what that means, but what's wrong with it being British, to you?The accents occasionally irritate me for an unknown reason. I have nothing against people from the U.K.
We've never discussed this, but at lunch, I was telling Mylochka I'd found and gotten the episode up already last night, and when I said the Tardis materialized in an isolated base -- her upper lip twitched. She hates those episodes, too.
-Weird how they so far seemed to use up all the boring last year. I actually watch this one last night all the way through without stopping - it's been forever since they've been able to get me to do that.
When you were 12, with the Tom Baker Doctor...I was born during his doctorship. Doctorhood? (Doctorwho'd??)
When you were 12, with the Tom Baker Doctor...I was born during his doctorship. Doctorhood? (Doctorwho'd??)
Tom Baker is pretty much considered "the best Doctor" of classic by many people. Some of those old stories do drag a bit, though.
From my experience for Classic:
1st Doctor: Very dated and A Lot of missing episodes.
2nd Doctor: MOST episodes missing, but very good acting for early TV shows.
3rd Doctor: Don't like it. Very dated 70s vibe.
4th Doctor: THE DOCTOR for many, but episodes drawn out.
5th Doctor: Mr. Celery lapel dude has some great moments, but Mary Sue companions get annoying.
6th Doctor: Has moments, but watching Peri is like listening to fingernails on a chalk board and #6 is a huge prick and horrible writing.
7th Doctor: Early episodes are too silly AND Peri issues. Later episodes were good but VERY LOW production values.
8th Doctor: All you have is a failed TV movie attempt. Maybe audio plays. A non-doctor.
What I've seen of the first season of the show w/ Hartnell was astonishingly good, given the historical context, the budget and that it was a children's show...
@BUncle: This is why I was so annoyed at the Fifth Doctor story where they said that the Mayan civilization was thousands of years old, from South America. Any elementary history text about Mexico/Central America would have told them that wasn't true.
cheat, CHEAT, CHEAT!!!!!!
Dammit, why can't she stay DEAD!!! :mad:
ContinuityBefore regenerating, the Doctor mentions Charley Pollard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Pollard), C'rizz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%27rizz), Lucie Miller (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucie_Miller), Tamsin Drew (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamsin_Drew), and Molly O'Sullivan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_O%27Sullivan), his companions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companion_%28Doctor_Who%29) in audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Finish_Productions).[6] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_of_the_Doctor#cite_note-Den_of_geek-6) This marks the first time that the Big Finish audio series has been directly referenced in the television show.[7] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_of_the_Doctor#cite_note-BBC_America-7) Karn and the Sisterhood also appeared in Eighth Doctor stories, but debuted in the television show in The Brain of Morbius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brain_of_Morbius), a 1976 Fourth Doctor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Doctor) story.[7] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_of_the_Doctor#cite_note-BBC_America-7)
The name of the priestess in this story, Ohila, is a reference to Ohica, the name of the High Priestess of the Sisterhood in The Brain of Morbius, although no direct connection between the two characters is established.[8] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_of_the_Doctor#cite_note-8)
Siiigh.
Looks so far like the new season is going to be nothing but half-hearted horror.
SPACE ZOMBIES!!!Lame space zombies.
Lame space zombies.
[shrugs] The boogerman DID turn up in the third act, but this wasn't about that......In fact, if he's not who I think, they should never have used that character design in this story - but if it is who I think (or deliberately related), good job on that detail.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5o4waf (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5o4waf)
The Master is the Doctor's Moriarty, his evil opposite. Here's his incarnations prior to the revival.
(http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/masters-classic.jpg)
Yeah - I don't believe in a ship able to take that kind of structural stress, or a black hole with that broad/fuzzy an event horizon.
But these are looking more like outer limits than doctor who.
Yeah - I don't believe in a ship able to take that kind of structural stress, or a black hole with that broad/fuzzy an event horizon.
But these are looking more like outer limits than doctor who.
Old outer limits or newer? The one with the crashlanded medication transport ship and the space spiders still gives me the willies...
Yeah - I don't believe in a ship able to take that kind of structural stress, or a black hole with that broad/fuzzy an event horizon.
Read Neutron Star by Larry Niven...
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-_bSdWEYK8#)