Doctor Who

[renton]

On 19/05/2023 at 14:24, scottsdad said:

Zoomed forward to see Resurrection of the Daleks with Peter Davison. One of his very best stories, I think.

And finally we see the back of Tegan, who was for me the most irritating companion of them all. Even then, she walked away and left the Doctor but skip to the Power of the Doctor and, if I remember correctly, Tegan was all miffed at him for leaving her behind. 

Resurrection always amazed me in how it managed to have the highest on screen death count of any Dr Who story, and yet also be tediously dull.

Some absolutely quality over acting throughout, mind.

[Bully Wee Villa]

Tennant II…

The Girl In The Fireplace – this story is regarded by a poster who used to post on here and had a couple of Doctor Who books published as the very best Tennant story. I can’t really agree. The baddies seem largely incidental to the plot and The Doctor falls for the protagonist unrealistically quickly. Also, the assistants, especially Mickey, have sod all to do here. It seems bad planning to have picked him up then have nothing for him to do, and would have made more sense to film this episode earlier in the series before he entered the TARDIS. Still, it’s far from bad. The central character is always sympathetic, and I enjoy that actual time travel plays a part in the story. For a show based around space and time travel, the show very rarely features time travel as a plot device once the story has got going, they usually just arrive somewhere, fix the Problem of the Week, and bugger off again. So kudos for that. Overall then, this is a perfectly fine story but not the best of the Tennant Era. It isn’t even the best in this series. 7/10

The Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel – the Cybermen are back, they were always going to be. I don’t really like this design, not really sure why but just don’t. As for the story, well, Doctor Who was off air for sixteen years and has absolutely shitloads of novels/audio adventures/comics and all manner of other media produced during the wilderness years, so no surprise that some of that makes it into the series proper. So, this is basically the Peter Davison audio story “Spare Parts”. Which is fine, as that’s one of the best audio stories ever produced. Thrown on top of that is an alternate universe plot, a sci-fi trope which is underused in Doctor Who. While that serves as an intense plot device in “Inferno”, it’s just here to provide light relief, and it works well. I like the alternative Mickeys, Jackies and so on, and the idea that Cyber-universe Rose is the dog was a decent line. For Mickey, this is, finally, a great send-off for a generally unloved character. This is a perfectly fine “Genesis of the Cybermen”-type effort. It won’t be the last time the show tries that and it probably isn’t as good as “Spare Parts” or the Capaldi origin story later on, but I still like it. It’s a shame that this was as good as it got for the Cybermen in NuWho for many years. 7/10

The Idiot’s Lantern – whereas this… is a load of shite. I can’t be doing with the twee pissing about on a scooter, Lipman’s over-acting or, basically, any of it. Plus not everybody loves The Queen you tedious lickspittles. All of history to explore and you go somewhere where there is a bit of bunting because a woman’s about to put a hat on. 2/10 and it’s lucky to get that.

The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit  - and, we are back on form again. The Ood are great, there are genuine jump-scares and moments of pathos throughout and even the CGI Devil looks pretty decent. If I’m going to be critical, it would be of the inconsistent way in which the Doctor/Rose relationship is written. Seemingly ten minutes ago he was quite happy to snog Madame de Pompadour and not give a shite about Rose, now he’s willing to spend the rest of his lives with her? That never felt convincing as is the case with much of their relationship up until her departure. Still, overall, this is excellent. 9/10

[Bully Wee Villa]

Smith II…

Vampires of Venice – I’ve no problem with vampires in the programme, indeed I’d probably have preferred it if they had just let them stay “normal” vampires rather than having to shoehorn aliens into the plot as usual. They generally look pretty decent and Venice is nice. This is another of those not particularly great, not particularly offensive, episodes. Perfectly decent for the middle of a series. Helen McCory makes a more convincing intergalactic space vampire than she does a Brummie. 6/10

Amy’s Choice – this is twisty, turny and, at times, funny. Toby Jones is excellent, as you’d expect and The Dream Lord is an interesting character that I wouldn’t mind seeing again. Much more so than The Celestial Toymaker, for starters, but I will still give him a chance when he re-appears later this year. If there is a criticism it’s that, again, the relationship doesn’t ring true. Amy was willing to cheat on Rory with The Doctor before now she will die for him? Much like Rose/Doctor, it never really convinced me. Still, this is a good one, that element not-withstanding. 8/10

The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood – in many ways this is a remake of Pertwee’s first encounter with the misnamed reptile foes, but it still has enough about it to stand on its own feet. Helped by a good support cast who managed to convince you to give a shit about whether they live or die, this is a solid re-introduction for The Silurians. It’s also a good Rory/Amy instalment. I don’t like the new Cybermen design, but I reckon The Silurians look pretty good. Again, not really sure why, I just do. 7/10

[scottsdad]

Not been here in a wee while. My youngest started nagging Scott and I to watch Doctor Who with her, but she only wanted to watch the newer ones. 

So, starting with Rose (again), we've been working through the Eccleston/Tennant years. Been enjoyable. When we get to the Jodie Whittaker ones, Scott and I will probably head back to the originals. 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Some of the Jodie ones are decent. It's a minority, admittedly.

[scottsdad]

Just now, Bully Wee Villa said:

Some of the Jodie ones are decent. It's a minority, admittedly.

The originals were fantastic up to Tom Baker's last series, then it went really boring and dull.

The new ones started to go downhill during Peter Capaldi's time but the Jodie ones were mostly terrible. Not her fault, I thought she was fine, but the writing was dross. 

Funny seeing the similarity.

[KingRocketman II]

My order of favourite Doctors (based on how I enjoyed them in the role as well as quality of episodes, plus number of episodes seen on which to base assessment - minus McGann, the War Doctor and Cushing):

1. Chris Ecclestone 

2. Tom Baker

3. Matt Smith

4. Patrick Troughton

5, William Hartnell

6. Peter Davidson

7. Sylvester McCoy

8. Colin Baker

9. Jon Pertwee (hated: his cloak, UNIT/laboratory, Bessie, and the way he spoke)

10. Peter Capaldi (stopped watching around this time as the stories were boring/annoying me)

11. Jodie Whittaker (not seen a single episode but keep meaning to. Quiz show host companion worries me)

12. David Tennant (time-wimey - oh do f**k off. Catherine Tate)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scottsdad]

4 hours ago, KingRocketman II said:

My order of favourite Doctors (based on how I enjoyed them in the role as well as quality of episodes, plus number of episodes seen on which to base assessment - minus McGann, the War Doctor and Cushing):

1. Chris Ecclestone 

2. Tom Baker

3. Matt Smith

4. Patrick Troughton

5, William Hartnell

6. Peter Davidson

7. Sylvester McCoy

8. Colin Baker

9. Jon Pertwee (hated: his cloak, UNIT/laboratory, Bessie, and the way he spoke)

10. Peter Capaldi (stopped watching around this time as the stories were boring/annoying me)

11. Jodie Whittaker (not seen a single episode but keep meaning to. Quiz show host companion worries me)

12. David Tennant (time-wimey - oh do f**k off. Catherine Tate)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not yet seen Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy. So my order to date is:

1. Tom Baker

2. Jon Pertwee

3. Matt Smith

4. William Hartnell

5. David Tennant

6. Christopher Ecclestone

7. Peter Capaldi

8. Patrick Troughton

9. Jodie Whittaker

10. Peter Davison. 

[KingRocketman II]

14 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Not yet seen Colin Baker or Sylvester McCoy. So my order to date is:

1. Tom Baker

2. Jon Pertwee

3. Matt Smith

4. William Hartnell

5. David Tennant

6. Christopher Ecclestone

7. Peter Capaldi

8. Patrick Troughton

9. Jodie Whittaker

10. Peter Davison. 

Troughton not doin v well there!

[scottsdad]

25 minutes ago, KingRocketman II said:

Troughton not doin v well there!

I never really got into Troughton all that much. He seemed to be quite panicky, saying "Oh dear" a lot of the time. 

I liked him a lot in Enemy of the World, though. 

[GordonD]

50 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

I never really got into Troughton all that much. He seemed to be quite panicky, saying "Oh dear" a lot of the time. 

I liked him a lot in Enemy of the World, though. 

Troughton was actually "my" Doctor when I was growing up. Unfortunately the BBC chose to junk about half of his episodes and it's only fairly recently with the animated reconstructions that we're able to see them again.

[Guest]

Not been here for a while either. Got fed up with 6's poor writing and the episodes going to 45 minutes. Will get the classics done before the 60th though

[scottsdad]

39 minutes ago, Autistisches Nilpferd said:

Not been here for a while either. Got fed up with 6's poor writing and the episodes going to 45 minutes. Will get the classics done before the 60th though

I'm in the same boat, just about. 

[Bully Wee Villa]

17 hours ago, scottsdad said:

8. Patrick Troughton

[scottsdad]

Finally finished off Peter Davison. 

Somewhat sadly, his last 2 stories were really, really good. Having suffered through the Tegan/Adric series, it really went out on a high. 

Peri joining the Tardis...reminds me a bit of when Leela came in. They've gone for the teenage boy audience here. 

Finally, the Caves of Androzani - excellent. Knew it would be good as soon as I saw it was written by Robert Holmes. Very rich story, with the baddie doing a bit of a Francis Urquhart talking to the camera.

[scottsdad]

Anyone willing to list a top 5 and bottom 5 list of companions? 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Off the top of my head:

Best: Barbara, Ian, Sarah Jane, Jo, Bill

Worst: Dodo, Mel, Adric, Ryan.... I can't really think of a fifth I really dislike. Maybe Katarina but she wasn't really there long enough to judge. For the same reason I haven't included Kamelion or Adam.

Edited July 8, 2023 by Bully Wee Villa

[Bully Wee Villa]

Oh FFS missed Jamie and Zoe off my best list.

[scottsdad]

2 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

Oh FFS missed Jamie and Zoe off my best list.

It's a top 5...who are they replacing? 

[Bully Wee Villa]

I'll count Barbara and Ian as one, as they arrived and left together. Yes, I know this is cheating. And Jo goes, sadly. I really liked Bill, shame she only got one series!