Slashdot Mirror
First Impressions of the 11th Doctor Who
Mirk writes "The first episode of Doctor Who's new series 5 has just aired on BBC1 in the UK. This is an important episode for the show because so much has changed: Matt Smith plays the new Doctor, replacing David Tennant, and Karen Gillan portrays a new companion, Amy Pond. Maybe most important, Russell T. Davies is replaced as showrunner by Stephen Moffat, who is known for acclaimed Doctor Who scripts including The Empty Child and Blink. Here is an early review of the new Doctor, companion, showrunner, and series."
The new Doctor is quite impressive! A little bit on the stranger side, but fans of Doctor Who are no strangers to strange Doctors!
Who>?
is hot.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Dr. Who, actually.
Enough said.
Who is the guy who's blog is linked and why is his opinion worthy of being linked to in a Slashdot story summary? (And will his wordpress account handle the traffic?)
Were the best, by far.
Watching it on an old 405 line UHF black and white set, this was before man had walked on the moon, the TV worked on thermionic valves, back in those days it was genuinely good, the scripts were good and the stories pushed the envelope of props and effect to the limit, and often moved the boundaries.
Nowadays it is a bunch of feeble, lowest common denominator camp crap.
You only have to watch the original movie Gone in 60 seconds and the awful remake to understand what I mean.
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
I haven't watched it since Tom Baker
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
I've watched enough Cops with Camera's to know that. However, she's not a police officer. She has a job befitting her good looks.
Pic 1 ;)
She is not really a police officer or a nun nor a nurse.
While Matt Smith seems capable of playing the Doctor, the new TARDIS on the other hand really was disappointing.
I'm sorry but a pinball plunger, an old typewriter and a decor that looks ripped from a kid TV show just doesn't suit the supposedly alien look of the inside of the TARDIS. Too many earth parts, levers and buttons too obvious. The new TARDIS is a pale joke compared to the previous one.
I wasn't excited when David Tennant left, but Matt Smith is a very worthy replacement. Two Thumbs Up!
How do people like it? All of the new episodes (never watched the old, so can't comment) just, to me at least, seem like dull, predictable, poorly-written, poorly-acted and overall not very good TV. I just don't get why people like it. I have caught an episode every now and then and it just seems so... poor.
-- Lattyware (www.lattyware.co.uk)
I think they went a bit too overboard with the "Tardis is dodgy" thing. Last tardis interior was a nice mix of steampunk and random bits. This one just seems to be random bits.
Lets not even mention the Tardis Rotor (the thing that pumps up and down in the middle of the console) because it now looks like a giant glass time dildo.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
Always liked Christopher Eccleston more, he was much cooler. Tennant was also darn good though. Matt Smith got off to a decent start but as far as I'm concerned the jury is still out on him, after all we've only seen one episode so far. Didn't like the new intro music at all, a time vortex doesn't have smoke, for one, and the music was a lot worse - it didn't quite have that Doctor Who feel to it. The episode also seemed more low-budget than episodes from previous seasons, but that could be because it was the first time I've watched it in FullHD. My impression is that the acting performance was strong but almost everything else was a bit lacking, including the script. It was a still good, but I hope it gets better because I've come to expect a lot more from the show.
Exciting and interesting. I'm looking forward to the new series
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
I never watched Dr. Who before, but I would like to give it a try. What should I watch to start?
English is not my first language. Corrections and suggestions are welcome.
Here is a rather more intelligent take: http://iainjclark.livejournal.com/222121.html#cutid1
(for me: someone shoot Murray Gold and put a call into to Christophe Beck to write decent music)
...Everyone who is in the US and saw the premiere last night please raise your hand now in a two fingered salute to whoever the executives are that have decided they still can't give us same day showing of Doctor Who on BBC America!
I'm honest enough to admit I lie to myself.
The episode also seemed more low-budget than episodes from previous seasons, but that could be because it was the first time I've watched it in FullHD.
No, my reaction also was that the effects in this one were a bit naff. I thought that of the very first episode, too, though. Remember Mickey wrestling with the Dumpster? And the Nestene Consciousness wasn't very impressive. I figure they're just saving their budget for the best bits to come.
Breakfast served all day!
Not bad so far, but has a lot to live up to, to match David Tennant.
... who, in turn, had a lot to live up to, to match William Hartnell. Or Patrick Troughton. Or Jon Pertwee. Or ...
Do we have to have this comparison every time there is a new doctor?
I think he will be brilliant! A cross between Patrick Troughton and Peter Davison, I am so glad that David Tennant has gone, I was growing tiresome of his over-the-top emo acting. The show is back on form: the Doctor is a nutty professor who has adventures in his time/space machine, not a skinny douche in a suit who cries all the time...
http://nathanlindsell.blogspot.com/
"We saw some amazing actresses for this part. But when Karen came through the door, the game was up - she was funny, clever, gorgeous and sexy. Or Scottish, which is the quick way of saying it. A generation of little girls will want to be her. And a generation of little boys will want them to be her too." -- Steven Moffat
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
The Doctor is 900 years old. There are dozens of seasons.
Start with 2005, work forward. THEN go back and watch some of the classics. I like Tom Baker, but an Unearthly child is also worth a look.
Also, if you've seen even one episode, this is priceless.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
I think the new Doctor both looks and acts too goofy. If that doesn't somehow tie into the plot, I'm going to be very disappointed.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
Especially when it started thrusting at the end
That makes this significant because up until now, only specials were done in HD. The BBC had previously said it was too expensive to make Doctor Who in HD due to all the special effects, so obviously we've reached a turning point where the money made from selling overseas has made it viable in HD. Win.
Looks like the new season finally starts on April 17 at 9 eastern here in the States.
AccountKiller
...a time vortex doesn't have smoke...
Next time you're in one, you should take a picture for us. The producers would surely appreciate the original research.
The Dalek was not showing an English flag. It was in fact the British flag. England is no more the whole of this country than Texas is the whole of the USA. I agree that there are many Texans and English who may not fully appreciate the differences but people on /. are generally less parochial...
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
The vortex was never made of smoke before, so I don't see why it would be now. That was the basis of my argument, but I suppose you do have a point, I tend to get hung up on details.
...a time vortex doesn't have smoke
The time tunnel had smoke.
Thought thinks itself.
He's more aware of the budget, I reckon. Things like shape-shifting, Rusty would have tried to show it and it'd have looked crap. Cutaways, good actors, good response, good writing kind of makes up for it.
I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
The Steampunk look of the console; the cathedral ceilings. What what's not to love about that design.
Yes, I'm a Yank, but I love Python, I love Adams and the HHGTTG, I love Peter Sellers...so I think I'm at least a bit in tune with British humo(u)r.
I also love SciFi, from Foundation to Lost, from Heinlein to Farscape, so I think my tastes there are eclectic enough.
But Dr. Who, in every incarnation I've tried, has never been funny to me, never exciting, never clever, never interesting, and never even campy fun. It's always been boring, uninspired, trite, B (hell, not even B but maybe D) grade drivel. *shrug*
"all right, I'm never saying *that* again..."
-- it's ridiculous how many people misspell ridiculous... (damn, damn, damn...)
Although the overall script was somewhat routine, there was still a reasonable sprinkling of the snappy lines that have been a staple of the show since Douglas Adams was script editor (maybe before). Apart from the silly flying through space bit at the start, and the utterly naff new theme and opening credits, at least it didn't suck and looks worth following. A bit of bizarre behaviour was a staple of newly regenerated doctors in the classic version, so the daft stuff with the food was in keeping with that.
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Tennant was ok, but only about #3 or #4 on the list... I put Tom Baker at #1, Patrick Troughton #2 and probably Tennant, but if he keeps up, Matt Smith might just take #3 or even the #2 spot.
Don't rush me, Sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles.
Well, the new TARDIS isn't the best.
But Steven Moffat over Russell T Davies any day.... wayyyy better. He actually takes the trouble of finding a reasonable explanation.
...a time vortex doesn't have smoke...
Traveled through a few time vortexes have ya?
No sig for you!!
Seriously, what's with you guys? No of course I haven't, but I've seen them on the damn show.
It was smokish but it never looked like actual smoke, it looked a lot more.. cosmic? I suppose this new one is visually ok but it also looks more like traveling through a tornado or something. Oh yeah, and it had fire, and lightning.
Doctor Who is my one weakness. Well, my big weakness, anyway.
It's what makes me a NERD! -Not just some garden variety geek fanboy, but a full-on Nerd. My girlfriend looks at me funny and wonders where the other me went when Doctor Who comes up. I don't expose that part of myself to her very often, but I did make her watch a couple of episodes just to show her what I was all excited about. She liked "The Girl in the Fireplace", and I described the Rose arc to her. -Her reaction to that was the correct one, (no, she didn't walk out on me. She fell into story-listener mode and caught her breath at all the right parts as I described them. I tell stories fairly well and can sometimes even do decent voices. This was one of those times). And I made her watch the first twenty minutes of this new Matt Smith show. Figured she'd like the food-tasting scene. She did.
Best two scenes in the episode. . .
Amelia: "I'm not scared!"
Doctor: "'Course your not, you're not scared of anything! - Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of the box, man eats fish custard... and look at you. Just sitting there. So you know what I think?"
Amelia: "What?"
Doctor: "Must be a helluva scary crack in your wall."
And. . .
Doctor: "Twelve years! I'm not six months late. I'm twelve years late."
Amy: "He's coming!"
Doctor: "You said six months. Why did you say six months?"
Amy: "We've got to go!"
Doctor: "This MATTERS. This is important! Why did you say six months?!"
Amy: "WELL WHY DID YOU SAY FIVE MINUTES?!"
Wonderfully done! When big, important characters meet each other for the first time in a story, it's important to make it explosive or at least interesting. This was one of the reasons in the Phantom Menace, when Obi Wan and Anakin first met, it was stunningly stupid. (Remember how that went? It was a hand shake.) But this meeting was fantastic!
Anyway, as I figured, it takes about three viewings to "click" with a new Doctor, assuming that the Doctor is worth clicking with. And I think he is; the production values, casting, writing and acting were all top-notch for Doctor Who, but the Newness of it all takes a bit getting used to and certainly colors a viewer's reactions. The first Tennant episode, for instance, left a sour taste in my mouth the first time I saw it. But after a season of Who, going back to it was a joy. This leads me to thinking that the enjoyment of a show or film is far, far more than the sum of its parts. This is where Joseph Campbell and his various theories regarding mythology come into play. By the third viewing, the characters become familiar and comfortable. Matt Smith was very well cast; he's confident enough to walk through a scene and own it, and the new girl is going to challenge him nicely. And I hope to see some of the people of that little town become semi-regulars in the future. (I really like the new idea that family and friends matter in the DW universe.)
This is going to be a wonderful ride, I think! Hats off to everybody who put this together. -And thank goodness for 'pirate' distribution. The US broadcast version was cut down, I heard, to fit in more commercials. Lame.
-FL
There was something a little too convenient about the Doctor meeting a little girl who found him fascinating and then skipping ahead to when she's 18.
I lost interest when it became clear that the BBC was using the good doctor to push homosexual tendencies and politics onto children.
Thats after its be found that the BBC previously used the Doctor to write anti thatcherite propaganda in one of its previous lives. The BBC is supposed to be a non biased organisation, paid for by the people. And yet it acts like a broadcast political wing of the left, and with leftist, and labour tendencies.
I love sci fi, however, when big brother and the 'state' and its values is being driven through the form, its a form I can't enjoy.
When Thatcherites are able with a straight face to declare that Liberalism = Big Brother, you know that they're either putting something in the water or that the notion of Liberalism has fallen a long way from what the con-artists running under its banner are practicing today. Liberalism, when done right, is the opposite of Big Brother. Heck, Orwell was a huge socialist. Read some of his letters and short essays some day.
Oh, and garbage bag aliens are part of the Doctor Who charm. It's supposed to be part "Muppet Show".
-FL
I don't keep a television in my house. Is there anywhere on the net to watch Dr. Who streaming that anyone could recommend?
when they modernized it, then tried to appeal to a younger market they shut out us die-hard Doctor Who fans from the 1970's and 1980's. They did the same thing when they rebooted Star Trek with all new actors and the time travel paradox that didn't make any sense. George Lucas did the same thing for Star Wars Episodes I to III, but at least the Cartoon "Clone Wars" is good enough to watch and better than the other prequels.
But this is why Hollywood and California as well as the BBC keep losing money and having to fire the good actors and actresses and replacing them with younger and not as good ones to save on salaries.
The BBC should bring back the old Doctor Who actors that are left for special episodes where the current Doctor Who meets his past selves in a Time Travel paradox. While they beefed Doctor Who up and he kicked the asses of the Family of Blood using time lord technology, that was the best thing they could have done. But after that Doctor Who went back to being a non-violent prat and bleeding heart liberal. At least punish the evil aliens non-violently once in a while, put dwarf star matter chains on them, trap them in a mirror, trick them into the heart of a giant black hole in the center of a galaxy, or freeze them in time and make them a scarecrow. Stuff like that is good TV and gets good ratings. Boring ultra-left-wing non-violent crap only makes ratings go down esp when they add in political crap and propaganda and make Americans look bad by making US characters like Captain Jack Harkness look like a jerk, when clearly he is not and is a Time Cop and never shoots innocent aliens but only shoots the evil ones. No need to sonic screwdriver his time travel wrist watch and stick him in the past, he was a good character that could have been a great character. I don't mind that he was an omnisexual and shoot first before asking questions kind of guy, but we needed to see more of his human side, his love for Earth and Justice tempered with mercy and compassion. They need to make a new Torchwood and bring back Jack Harkness or someone just like him and have humans using alien technology to fight evil aliens and protect the good aliens and protect the good and innocent people. Then throw in more UNIT support and bring in Sarah Jane and K9 to make the show better so it doesn't get canceled again. The BBC killed off most of the popular and interesting characters.
Bring in Romama in a new regeneration as a Time Lady looking for Dr. Who who escaped the destruction of Gallifrey by hiding in E-Space. Bring back Drax, and while The Master is gone and inside that ring, see if The Randi can come back. Invent new aliens who stole Dalek, Cybermen, and Sontauian technology to create a new better race of evil aliens for Doctor Who and Torchwood to team up and fight.Have the Sea Devils come back and plot their revenge against Earth and Doctor Who for trying to wipe them all out in the Classic Doctor Who series when he said "There should have been a better way." and survivors of their race hunt down Doctor Who and his friends and allies.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Doctor who never 'pushed' any fixed agendas. The writers may have written things that directly related to (and was thus more scary to) a contemporary audience, because, well, that's how good story telling works.
Being a family show, the stories/'horror'/humour is written on multiple levels.
As for 'pushing homosexual tendencies'; that has to be the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard. No kid is going to 'turn gay' because of something they saw on Dr Who (or anywhere for that matter). The Doctor has always been a little 'lawless' with all the trespassing and break-and-enters he seems to pull off. So would you say that the show is also pushing that kind of behaviour?
Yeah, RTD had his own biases when writing for his episodes, as I'm sure did many other writers over the years. However, nothing of what I've ever seen on Dr Who could ever really be classed as 'pro government' propaganda (either left or right wing). In most cases I'd say it took the opposite stance to whatever the government of the time was 'pushing'. Usually turning it up a notch to enhance the fear factor.
If you truly didn't recognise the Big Brother/Nanny State elements as satire, then I can understand why you might have thought it was promoting those things.
Comparing the Sci-fi coming out of the US/Canada to Dr Who is quite valid, but IMO it appears that the opposite is true. BSG/Caprica/V/Heroes are all great shows, but I much prefer the self-contained story lines of Dr Who over the long winded 'story-arcs' that seem to consume those other shows. Story arcs are great when used sparingly, but can become a bit annoying when nothing seems to get resolved until the end of the season. Production-wise, all of those shows have their warts, none particularly worse than the others. It's probably just that Dr Who has spent more effort trying to depict the alien/fantasy angle - which requires a greater effort to maintain suspension-of-disbelief.
I lost interest when it became clear that the BBC was using the good doctor to push homosexual tendencies and politics onto children.
Do you think that was more BBC or more Davies? I don't watch any other BBC show so I really have no clue.
I have hope that Moffat focuses more on scifi adventure stories than creating a Doctor Who Messiah (even though the prayer to Santa being answered by the Doctor worries me on that front.)
End of Time (Part 1) felt like an Obama promotion. It amazes me to see a British show showing such hero-worship (to the point of Obama going to save the Britain's economy - until the evil white master foiled him) of an American president. It felt out of place considering that the previous American presidents and British Prime Ministers in Doctor Who and the last Torchwood series were clearly not current presidents / Prime Ministers.
I thought Moffat's episode "Blink" was one of the best scifi episodes ever. This crap was even clumsier and weaker than Russell Davies. I'll probably give it one more hour before giving up.
I wasn't aware that Stephen Moffat wrote blink - it's an absolutely fantastic episode and one of my favorites to date. I was a little concerned at Russell T. Davies' departure but this fact + watching the episode (which wasn't half bad) gives me some faith.
Fiona, the three boys and I squashed in together on the sofa and watched the broadcast -- with some trepidation on my part.
If it wasn't for the trepidation, I'd say his day job was Catholic priest.
http://doomedtoretweetit.wordpress.com/
I'm betting the 're-imaging' its getting is so it'll appeal to kids more.
Then they should probably include Sarah Jane Honeywell as a serving android....
Actually, we saw SJH in a panto dressed as "The Little Mermaid" and let's just say there was a certain appeal to the dad's in the audience as well. ;-)
Homosexual agenda? That wasn't Doctor Who. Torchwood maybe, but I always thought the point of Captain Jack wasn't that he'd sleep with anyone, but anything.
The season premier worried me because it seemed too much like the series premier. It is as if the new writers don't know how to fill the shoes of their predecessors, so they are recycling elements from the previous seasons that they know were popular among fans. These similarities include:
A heroine who is the "girl next door" and strong-willed, but still somewhat naive and vulnerable.
A schmuck boyfriend/fiance of the heroine who struggles with being overshadowed by the Doctor. This Mickey #2 has been living in the Doctor's shadow since he and "Rose" Pond were children.
A Doctor who is youthful, overconfident, and presumably over-friendly with his companion as time progresses.
I am hoping that I will be proved wrong as more episodes air. I've been a fan of Doctor Who since the Fourth Doctor though, and will remain one regardless of where these new writers take the show.
Several years back I let my son watch an old Tom Baker episode, Pirate Planet. He became obsessed. So after we exhausted what was available on dvd/netflix from his episodes, we started in on the new ones on Netflix Watchnow. We loved Christopher Eccelston and I was sure his replacement would be a disappointment. I couldn't have been more wrong. My son loved David Tenant's doctor so much, he has a pinstriped blazer, converse sneakers, and sideburns. He used to carry his toy sonic with him everywhere. He cried when the 10th doctor "died." This morning I downloaded the new episode and Matt Smith officially has the full blown endorsement of at least one American 6 year old boy (and his dad). Though I hope he manages to interpret the doctor in his own way. He had a bit too much of the DT manic goofiness going.
Oh and where the !@#$%! do I order up a kissogram!!!??!
-- QED
Next time you visit Australia you might want to go anywhere but Mt Druitt this time.
..Hugh Laurie be a Doctor? That would be interesting.
I've never watched Dr Who before, which is practically treason as I'm English - however, I've always preferred American sci-fi as its easier to suspend disbelief when the action isn't supposed to be occurring on your doorstep. I decided to give this episode of Dr Who a go, and I've got to say I really rather enjoyed it. Yes it was very British, and a little rough around the edges, but it was enjoyable and kept me watching. Essentially it felt as if Douglas Adams had written it, which is never a bad thing. I will definitely be watching the next episode to see what happens, and finally perhaps I've found something worth my licence fee money.
You know, that's an interesting question re: audience, which I hadn't honestly considered.
Its promoted as a "family" show in the UK, airing around 6pm on Saturdays (and for the last several years, its been one of the big attractions on Xmas day and Easter).
Plus, because it ran for so long (and before multi-channel TV - when it started there were only two channels), most of the adults watching it grew up on Doctor Who, so we're now seeing second and third generation Who fans :-)
Its also one of the biggest TV shows in the UK - usually snapping at the heels of the major soaps and talent shows in the ratings.
I see in the US it airs at 9pm, and I guess BBC So yes, the UK audience is probably different to the US.
So, basically, its Marmite!
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
"Showrunner"? What's that, Simpsons-speak for producer?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/05/2864086.htm
One of them compares the regeneration of the Doctor to the appointing of a new Archbishop of Canterbury.
Never saw any of the previous Doctor Who's, although my mother was apparantly a fan of the old school Doctor. I ended up watching this with some friends while studying for a unix exam, and was blown away. The 'effects' were nothing special, but still enjoyable, and I really liked the new doctor (he reminds me an awful lot of the stats guy from Criminal Minds), and the companion is insanely sexy. Wonder if she'll do something like Confessions of a Call Girl, like the previous companion. I also correctly guessed that she was running away from her wedding.
Defender of Microsoft and Communism!!!
Actually, I thought the exact opposite.
The sets/makeup/costumes all finally look like they were designed to be filmed in HD (and I don't even watch it in HD -- the 2005-era sets must have been made on an incredibly low-budget)
The CG/compositing work is also definitely improved (there's one shot toward the beginning that shows the Tardis zooming through London that I thought was particularly well-done). The Atraxi did look a bit low-budget, but not embarrassingly so -- I liked them, and wouldn't mind seeing them (or their awesome booming voices) recur in future episodes.
The direction and camerawork seem to have been improved -- most of the lingering "soap opera" feel is gone, and everything feels a whole lot more "mature."
That all said, I'd like to see more Mickey and Jack in the current series (especially since Torchwood seems to be on indefinite hiatus). Paradoxically for a sci-fi series, DW has very few few strong male characters apart from the Doctor himself.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Yes, in fact I have. What many people don't know, is that the Time Vortex is where the single missing socks always end up, so in reality the clouds are made of sweaty cotton at a distance.
End of Time (Part 1) felt like an Obama promotion. It amazes me to see a British show showing such hero-worship (to the point of Obama going to save the Britain's economy - until the evil white master foiled him) of an American president. It felt out of place considering that the previous American presidents and British Prime Ministers in Doctor Who and the last Torchwood series were clearly not current presidents / Prime Ministers.
Interestingly I felt like that was more of a double backhanded slap at both the UK and the US governments. It made the UK government seem incompetent and the US government seem both arrogant and incompetent.
But, you're right that identifying the current US president in such an obvious way was pretty lame. It would have been much more appropriate if they'd kept him generic.
Karen Pond is definably hotter then Bill Piper could ever hope to be.
That alone made it a good start already !
Don't be fooled by the surface changes. AntiWho is still the same old offensive parody of the true Who.
Next year maybe a teen hearthrob for the ladies and even better ratings.
DrWho can become a gay fashion designer and they can drop all the scifi too.
Where have you been these last few years? In a Tardis?
Not a troll. Downmodding != I disagree with what you said.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Beans are evil bad bad beans