Open Non-Whovians Can Look Away Now Thread November 22, 2013 tigtog Designated thread for the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who (airing this weekend in the UK, check your local BBC affilate for when you get to see it where you live). Opinionate!
I’ll be watching the Season 3 premier of My Little Pony tomorrow, because I’ve yet to get into Doctor Who. *ducks from things that will inevitably be thrown xer way*
Have you tried or can you just not get into it? I have tried and just… can’t. I kind of dig on the older ones though (from what I’ve seen which I think is mainly ‘best of’ DVD type of thing). sidenote though: I hope this isn’t inappropriate to say but I clicked on your name thinking it might take me to a blog (bc I look at everyone’s blogs) and I freaked out! I never run into anyone online who is from my neck of the woods (not that I live there now).
My 12 year old daughter has just gotten interested in Doctor Who.. Oddly enough, she found out about Doctor Who through watching My Little Pony.
Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker . Sarah Jane and Layla. The days when the Doctor did not snog and the sets were clearly made of cardboard.
Jon Pertwee’s still my favourite Doctor. He was more obviously compassionate than some of the others. Plus, the clothes! Bessie! I’m looking forward to Peter Capaldi’s take, and just having an older actor again. I liked Tennant, and don’t care for Smith at all, but I’m really looking forward to the special, especially seeing David Bradley as William Hartnell in An Adventure in Space and Time.
I agree that an older Doctor on the show (again) will be a refreshing change. Have you been following any of the Who fandom sites/social media outlets? You could power a small city with all the ‘omg, the Doctor isn’t young and hot!??!’ dismay from some of the fans. Given that there is much more romance in NuWho than in classic, I sincerely hope that Steven Moffat doesn’t write in a romance subplot between twelve and Clara. I understand that it’s the same person and all, but it would still be a wee bit squicky to behold.
I never saw any romance subplot between Eleven and Clara, just sayin’. I saw two people mutually intrigued and mutually wary and using arch flirty banter to explore each other’s wit in an unspoken spirit of “we are so totally never going to ever snog, and isn’t that great”, and who were far more likely to give somebody new a positive recommendation for the other rather than pursue a romance together. Particularly given Clara’s very odd timeline, and her finger-snapping to close the TARDIS doors, and what all of that may mean for future storylines – the Doctor still just wants to know what’s making her bloody tick, and whether it’s safe for the rest of the universe to have her at large without him nearby. RTD was the one who wrote romance into new Who with Ten and Rose. Moff wrote a weird timey-wimey forced-by-destiny marriage for the Doctor and River that is all about him feeling guilty about how she ends up in the Silent Library and then how she was born in the first place and trying to make it up to her in retrospective advance by giving her lots of wonderful adventurous memories because he doesn’t actually love her (at least not romantically). I very much doubt that Moff has anything so prosaic as any Doctor romance in mind for Clara. A different Timelord on the rediscovered Gallifrey, maybe?
I’m alternating between ROSE HELL YES ROSE MY ONE TRUE LOVE and no moffat no no no no no don’t mess up my rose don’t you dare don’t you dare I’m so afraid
I love Billie Piper and I loved how Rose was game. However, she was smarter than the Doctor. The Doctor is supposed to be a Time Lord: mysterious and aggravatingly superior in knowledge and skill. Also, no-one alive could possibly not fall in love with Rose and it was clearly inevitable that the Doctor would snog.
I knooooow! Bad Wolf Rose was amazing – I didn’t understand why ten didn’t push John Hurt’s Doctor for information. He was all, “Bad Wolf!?!” and just.. kind of dropped it, which didn’t seem very in-character for the eternally curious Doctor. I mean, why even put that bit of dialogue in there if it isn’t going to be pursued? I understand that it was important to make the ep balanced and not turn it into the Rose/ten show or the eleven with a long monologue show, but that whole exchange felt like a loose thread.
However, she was smarter than the Doctor. The Doctor is supposed to be a Time Lord: mysterious and aggravatingly superior in knowledge and skill. If you’re talking about the lady in the Day of the Doctor, that wasn’t Rose. The Moment’s interface took her form out of his future in one of those creepy-ish alien entitity “We thought this form would be less disturbing to you than ***TENTACLE MONSTER***” So it’s not really Rose, it’s an aeons old WMD that would prefer not to be used and probably acts directly through the Time Vortex hence its ability to just break all the rules.
I wasnt really sure because Moffat has been saying for some time that Billie Piper would be back to reprise her role as Rose Tyler.. so, that coupled with some of her behaviours on-screen weren’t consistent with what the character on the special said had me feeling confused. I think I just want it to be Bad Wolf Rose. 🙁
For anyone who isn’t in on the loop yet: go to the Google homepage (Canada, UK or NZ for the moment)!!! There are DW themes.
Watched it this morning Sydney time. Fairly happy with it, given that these special episodes need to be more mainstream-friendly than just fandom-squee. Nice balancing on that tightrope.
I’m so, so, so glad that Rose was back on screen — and as the Bad Wolf, no less! She was such a powerful, passionate, brave, well-developed character. It broke my heart to see her expression when she was perched behind ten — like all she wanted to do was reach out but she couldn’t, couldn’t. My heart broke again as ten hopped into his TARDIS, re-uttering his famous last words: “I don’t want to go.” I was shocked to see Tom Baker at the end! Some actors don’t keep ‘it’ as they age, but damn it, TOM WAS ON HIS A GAME. From his terrible nose jokes to the sparkle in his eyes, he was absolutely, 100% still the Doctor. Tom Baker is my favourite of the classic Who crew! John Hurt, David Tennant, and Matt Smith were brilliant together! So much incredible energy. John, especially, brought this broody passion to the screen that was very different from what we’ve seen on NuWho. I can’t wait to see Peter Capaldi’s incarnation of the Doctor.. maybe we’ll get a female Doctor next time around! Oh! It was nice to see more done with Clara’s character – I really hope that Moffat develops Clara a bit more for series eight than was done for S7P2. There was a palpable Christopher Eccleston and John Barrowman-shaped hole in the episode. Jack Harkness would have made it perfect. I wonder if the Christmas special will tell us what winds up happening with UNIT and the Zygons…
There was a palpable Christopher Eccleston and John Barrowman-shaped hole in the episode. Jack Harkness would have made it perfect. Seriously! I was defiantly hoping to see more companions (namely Martha, Jack, and River). When they showed the clip of 9, and then of 12, I did a little dance though, complete with squeeing. But with U.N.I.T being involved, was defiantly hoping for Martha, Jack, Mickey showing up (and given what changes were made, I think they could have found a way to have them involved with UNIT again). I am really happy with the show overall, and it made me feel all sorts of feels. I was not let down at all.
Mrr. I was glad to see that River wasn’t included. I liked her character but couldn’t get into her very forced relationship with the Doctor.
I’m not a Whovian (though some of my favorite writers/comedians have written or co-written Dr. Who episodes,) but I trawled through my iMessage to find the following exchange between my friend Al and myself because I thought Whovians might find it amusing: Al: You’ll never guess who I’m sitting ten feet from at Costa in the bay!!!!! Fat: Who? Al: Rory! Fat: Rory B_____? Al: No, Rory, Amy Pond’s boyfriend. Fat: Remind me who Amy Pond is… Al: From Doctor Who Fat: Is that the character’s name or the actor’s name? Al: Character Fat: Ah, so Rory is the character’s boyfriend. You see the actor who play’s Rory. Al: Ok, Mr. Pedant, stop being a pain in the a-hole Fat: just getting things clear Al: Yeah, he’s here and I should go introduce myself, but you know what I’m like. Fat: You do the morning show at Red Dragon, surely you’re more of a local celebrity than he is. Al: Are you kidding me? It’s Rory! Cardiff is Dr. Who central. Fat: I know, we ran into 5 different location shoots last time I was there. You’ve been an extra on Torchwood. Which is kind of why I’m shocked that you’re getting so excited about seeing an actor from the Dr. Who. Al: Dude, it’s Rory! ==== I hope Whovians get what he was on about because I still don’t see what’s so awesome about Rory.
Please excuse the horrible English, but the conversation was pasted verbatim apart from taking out the surname of a BBC executive and I clearly was not overtly concerned with correct grammar or spelling during the actual exchange.
Hmmm…sounds like you two should move to Cardiff. Reading between the lines (and browsing google images), it seems like Rory is pretty hot looks wise. I would also wager that he’s quite charismatic and talented at acting hence my married heterosexual (then- now he’s a divorced heterosexual) male friend getting weak in the knees seeing him in Costa Coffee.
Steve I can’t tell if you’re being serious or if this is some Andy Kaufman-esque wind up. Because either way it is absolutely brilliant!
Thoroughly enjoyed both shows! Loved the in-jokes; my favourite was Lethbridge-Stewart sending someone off for a file and saying it would be marked “Cromer”. Easy to miss that line, but for those who don’t know the classic Who, it’s a joke Nicholas Courtney inserted into The Three Doctors. The Brigadier’s had his first trip in the TARDIS, refuses point-blank to believe the bleak landscape outside could be anywhere other than the Norfolk coast, and mutters that it looks like Cromer.
Forgot to add that Claudia Grant as Carole Ann Ford in “An Adventure” was just the best likeness, but Nicholas Briggs as Patrick Troughton … nooo, he looked like a fan dressed up. I really liked seeing a show with such a focus on William Hartnell, though I’ve no idea how accurate it was. The way he left the show certainly isn’t the same as either story I’ve read about it. Lovely piece of drama, though.
This comment was just on our radio station’s message board: did anyone else feel robbed that tom baker didnt offer matt smith a jellybaby?
Oh my God – what an incredible oversight! He totally should have! Here I was getting all excited about the nose tap!
So happy to see Paul McGann get redemption on film! I wasn’t all that taken with the tv-movie thing he did and the radio dramas are good but just not the same as the new fangled moving pictures.