The new Dr Who
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Actually, it wasn’t bad!
It seems like the first episode wasn’t a fluke after all.
There were some very cool graphics and a moderately interesting story. Acting was good (especially the last human being alive, you know, the flat girl with no chin – strangely enough the lamest performance was the good Dr himself :/
Special effects were wonderful – this is a BBC show right? 😕
It has that ‘out there’ feel and always seems a little vulnerable (despite being the worlds longest running sci fi show).
I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
What did you guys think?
Everything was great about the second episode except the story. It was a vast improvement on the first episode: interesting premise that was tied into the new character’s sense of wonder and displacement, leftfield sense of humor and one liners (‘bitchy trampoline’!), wonderful makeup and special effects – even Eccelesten’s performance was well grounded.
The only problem – and to be frank, I think it might be decisive – remains the need to tell a relatively straighforward story in the 45 minute time frame. Just when you get a ‘feel’ of the world you’ve just entered, its time to move onto another disposable story to show off the show’s more memorable and attentive features. Creatively speaking, I can’t help but feel that such an approach is this incarnation’s achilles heel. The show has obviously been tailored made to appeal to audiences with short attention spans seeking instant gratification. From the perspective of ratings, such a ‘liability’ will (unfortunately) also be its greatest asset.
I intend to keep watching – although next week’s preview looks like it might be crap – and encourage others to watch it too.
Well, I just finished watching the first episode, and, was that a steaming vat of Velveeta the Doctor was up against? Cause it sure was cheesy.
Was ‘cheesy’ your general impression of the first episode. Logan, or of just the big bad?
In my view, to call the first episode ‘cheesy’ would be to insult cheese! the second episode – and villian – is rather cool, though.
Velveeta is a particularly vile processed cheese spread.
The whole ep. was as stinky as Limburger, as runny as underripe Brie, as flaky as Red Leicester and, well I could throw in a Swiss cheese metaphor, but I feel I’ve already milked this dry enough.
Now for the whine… to go with the cheese…
Performance-wise, the mannequins were the highlight. The music was overdone. It was very predictable.
On a positive note, it had a few decent moments, I just can’t recall them at the moment.
But, despite its flaws, I still thought it was kinda fun and am looking forward to the next episode. 🙂
I was merely suggesting that before as a possibility. After watching the broadcast I’m guessing they didn’t tweak it.
Aside from the plot, characters, direction, dialogue etc. yeah, one could blame the editing — both audio and visual. I can’t say to what extent without more info, but…
One approach would be to say the the whole episode should have been left on the cutting room floor. Another would be that the way it was edited made it feel frenetic. I didn’t care much for the pacing.
Another problem for me was the sound editing, including overuse of dramatic music which at times I thought drowned out the dialogue a bit, at least on my TV (I won’t get into whether that’s a good thing or not).
Music and sound is a really important element to me — can easily make or break a show as far as I’m concerned. It lacked subtlety and depth, it didn’t serve as an interesting counterpoint , nor was it emotionally resonant for me, nor did it offer insight into the characters’ state of being, I thought.
I really thought when I heard that beloved Doctor Who theme again that it would transport me away, but I was left cold. That had more to do with the wormhole TARDIS graphics that just didn’t quite do it for me.
But, please don’t take my negativity too seriously. It usually takes a while for a show to grow on me. The next episode looks quite promising. I am looking forward to it.
The first ep. was still good enough to keep me watching throughout, and I’d pretty much given up on Doctor Who years before it ended. So…
Positive points:
– Doctor Who was always kinda cheesy, and that’s part of the charm methinks. I’m fairly glad they decided to try and keep it fun and fluffy/light..
– some nice effects work.
– that they kept the the classic Whovian monster attack, attempted strangulation, didn’t choke for me. The severed arm strangling the Doctor reminded me of the Lexx Mantrid Drone Arm strangling Xev, and that fun old B-Movie, the Crawling Hand (crawling hands make me happy) as well as other shows. But what was really cool was the Auton severed arm’s [b][i]Alien[/i] facehugger Vulcan Death Grip[/b]!
[img]http://www.members.shaw.ca/funky2funky/LogansVulcandeathgrip.jpg[/img]
– great interior TARDIS design! And I like Eccleston’s fashion sense.
Guess that’s the Queer as Folk Eye for the Straight Guy influence. 😉Long live Doctor Who!
Yep, a lot of good points.
I tend to get over-enthusiastic about a show which looks promising and then rapidly become dissilusions (eg. Andromeda/Firefly etc.). The Beeb have had a couple of classics in the past and I really hope that they keep the momentum going for the rest of the series. I’m well prepared to put up witha few cheesy moments in the hope of finally seeing another decent Brit sci fi show.
I really like the new Doctor, Christopher Ecclestone is a very good actor, i have liked him in many of his other acting roles, i didn’t think Billie Piper was a good choice as his assistant, though she is growing on me.
All in all a great first 3 episodes. Fingers crossed it stays this way.Yeah the new Doctor Who grows on you nice to see they’ve kept it quite hammy like the old series but the new show is much much better. Eccleston will be hard to follow… shame he jacked it in so soon..Billie’s good too… theres a good chemistry between them.
What I’d like to see would be a movie of Asimov’s novel The End of Eternity.. which has to be the best time travel story going…
Each series (incarnation of the good Doctor) has its own charm, methinks. Some more than others in my opinion.
My favourite Doctor Who years were the 70s (liked some early 80s ones). I’m a child of the 70s and was weaned on the show — amongst other sci-fi/fantasy shows such as Land of the Lost.
I started with Pertwee (mostly repeats) as I was really young when he was doing it.
There’s a really strong nostalgia factor for me when it comes to the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker years as those were the Doctors I grew up with. Still no others even come close, not the ones prior to Pertwee & Baker, and not the ones after. Jo Grant (Manning) remains my favourite companion (as a kid I had a crush on her — she had a terrific set of lungs — great screamer). Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart (Courtney) rocked! He was in the show for a long time — several Doctor regenerations if I recall correctly.
Doctor Who has always been aimed at kids (though adults, certianly, can enjoy it). I enjoy those ones I watched as a kid the most because I’m still able to look at them through the lens of my childhood. Was that (70s to early 80s) the best time for Doctor Who? Objectively no, subjectively yes. It was for me. And the eps from that time will always be my favourites.
It was maybe the most important show in my upbringing — the sense of wonder it evoked. I’m pleased that new kids are being exposed to Doctor Who, and no matter how many years the show lasts, if they start with this Doctor incarnation (regeneration) it will remain their favourite, I suspect.
I enjoy the new Doctor Who, but I’m not getting into it in a big way. It’s so fast-paced that it jars me. I’ve grown up, sort of, I guess I wanted the new Who aimed at my generation, but could never have expected that. Still, they do try to appeal to older people at the same time. It is fun. My wife really likes it which is cool since, although she’s a scientist or maybe because of it, she usually doesn’t much like sci-fi.
It is rather frenetic… I’d say it’s Doctor Who for the ADD generation if I didn’t prefer to describe Eccleston’s take thusly: Christopher Eccleston — the Doctor Choice For a New Who reGeneration.
If it gets more kids into sci-fi, and helps foster a sense of wonder in them as Doctor Who did for me long ago — well that’s GREAT, and I really couldn’t ask for more. 🙂
-Logan
P.S. I enjoyed the very Adamsesque “End of the World,” but I’d rather rewatch the Baker ones that Douglas Adams worked on.
It’s the first time I’ve enjoy watching Dr Who since Tom Baker and that small assistant Rose is a darling.
I really enjoyed the Eccleston Doctor Who series even though I thought it poor at first. It grew on me in a big way, but despite any criticisms I initially had, I must say I made it a point not to miss a single episode. I can’t say that for any other recent show (oh, other than [url=http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/R/realdeal/ramsay/]Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares).[/url]
If I had to choose a favourite episode it may have been Boom Town. Gotta give Annette Badland, as Margaret Blaine, her props. I thought she was the most engaging character in the show.
I’m not sold on Rose, actually. I would have liked someone more mature in the role. I was rather hoping in Bad Wolf that the actress who played Lynda would become the companion for the newest Doctor.
It really was a ripping good series… So much variety in terms of the storylines — creative. Humour, drama, it reminds me that Doctor Who is probably my favourite show of all sci-fi offerings. Eccleston was in one of my favourite shows before — Cracker. Shame they never got a cameo from Robbie Coltrane.
Really looking forward to the newest Doctor too. Hope Stephen Fry does write one of the episodes as has been reported as a possibility.
Now going back to the beginning of the Eccleston series, I love the whole thing.
Overall, putting aside the (typically british?) attempts of injecting humour into the series by making fat people break wind 😕 , I suppose that this first season of the new doctor who was OK.
Was definately a good series. Good how to bring back, plus the BBC made a good go of it. retained some of the funny aspects of the old episodes, and seemed new and inovative. I’m looking forward to the Christmas Invasion!
(Plus Eccleston was a great Doctor, as os the Doctor would put it, Fantastic!)
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