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The New Series of Doctor Who: Fleeing From Format?
An anonymous reader sends in this thoughtful article about the format of Doctor Who:
"The New Series has given itself two basic tasks. One, to put back and keep on our screens a program by the name of Doctor Who that maintains substantial visible continuity with the classic series in many ways. Two, and this is where conflicting elements start to come in, to seek to define this resurrected program against many aspects of the classic series, even fundamental aspects, in pursuit of task one. In itself this is neither good nor bad. If anything it is on balance probably a good thing to seek to redress the shortcomings of the classic series, but what matters, ultimately, is the choices involved and their execution."
So little to say, so many words to say it.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Keep the Doctor Who series the same quality show that I have come to love, it is the very last show I can bear. You have to love a show where the main character's weapon, is his mind.
The nice thing about Doctor Who is if they screw up, it's just a one minute visual effect and a new actor away from being fixed. So relax people, have some custard and fish sticks.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
This seems to me like someone doing lots of talking but not actually saying anything. I get the impression that the author likes the sound of his own voice.
This article is nothing more than flamebait.
>> good thing to seek to redress the shortcomings of the classic series
Special effects, check. What else?
>> (Doctor tries to get into his companions' pants.)
Sex, really? I thought you were British.
Actually, the angels are widely regarded as some of the best sci-fi monsters in recent history. You have lots of legitimate complaints, but I believe you're all wet on that item.
I'm probably burning Karma here, but, I've heard alot of people say Dr. Who is becoming 'Atheist Jesus'. In the Classic series the Doctor was an Alien detective/investigator who merely lived a long time with a set number of Regenerations. He didn't always save the day. (Up until the latter part of David Tennant, he didn't save the day either.
But with Matt Smith, he's become like, a Demi-god or an Apollo type god. (River/Melody calls him 'an ageless god'. Now it's the case there are no limits on how many times he can regenerate, and he can use his regeneration abilities to heal others. The series doesn't make contiguous sense the way it did under Tennant and Eccloston. Basically, it's non-sense after non-sense plot. (The last Episode with the Angels is quite good really EXCEPT THE ENDING SUCKS.
This was a problem in the old series as well, you start watching classic and you'll see it doing all kinds of weird things as well. There was one period/doctor where they decided it had gone too far and almost banned it from showing up and being used just so they could break the writers of the "and the Sonic Screwdriver saves the day" addiction they had going.
DEMETRIUS: Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON: Villain, I have done thy mother.
Shakespeare invents 'your mom'
They tried something like that. It was called the 4th season of Torchwood (Miracle Day).
Everyone agreed it was god-awful, and that it was never to be spoken of again.
"Blink" was one of the finest DW episodes of all time. Up there with "Genesis of the Daleks," "The Deadly Assassin" or "The Caves of Androzani."
"The Time of Angels" was an overblown crapfest. More angels + More aggressive = LESS dramatic tension than you had in Blink. It was a twice-over waste of an episode. It took a great concept (the Weeping Angels) and ruined it the way "Victory of the Daleks" ruined the Daleks.
In "The Angles Take Manhatten," the angels were back to having a little dramatic tension. Not on the same level as "Blink," but pretty good.
Other than that, I'm with the GP. I am so happy to be rid of Amy and Rory for good (PLEASE, for good). I keep watching New Who because there are moments of excellence, like "The Empty Child" or "The Doctor's Wife," but then you get "Love and Monsters" or "The Power of Three," and you wonder why you're wasting your time.
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I'm a long-time Doctor Who fan. I like the new series, but maybe not as much as the classic series. The actors are good, but I think the writing and stories aren't as strong. I've heard Lalla Ward mention in classic episode commentaries, for example, that it would do a world of good in the new series to cut their budget in half, so they learn to focus on making the stories tight (and not rely on special effects as much). The linked blog also mentions that some stories in the new series did really well because they had small budgets and had to keep the story tight and within that budget.
Now that we're coming up on the 50th anniversary season, I'd really like to see some hard references to the classic series. I came up with a great idea a few weeks ago that I'd love to see. With 7 Doctors in the original series, you can have 7 episodes to use as references. (Or 8 if you include McGann.) Imagine a series arc like this:
Story 1 : The episode starts with the Doctor, Clara (the new companion they'll introduce at the Christmas episode), and "Colin" (new companion .. see later) discovering a strangely quiet space museum on the planet Xeros. Exploring the museum, they discover themselves on display in the museum, with the TARDIS nearby!
The Doctor realizes the TARDIS must have jumped a time track when they materalised. Thus they temporarily occupy a fourth dimension. This lets them be simultaneously in the cases in one reality and standing, looking at themselves in the fourth dimension. The Doctor adds that is why everything seems familiar, yet unfamiliar - for example, why he can remember meeting Clara but is fuzzy on meeting Colin - they're experiencing time out of order and things are all mixed up.
From there, the rest of the story is a one-hour version of 'The Space Museum' (1st Doctor). It was a good story, and would translate well to the current series, but needs editing down.
(The "Next Time on Doctor Who" trailer is not actually from the following story, but a re-cut trailer from a classic story. Same for the rest of the season.)
Story 2 : The TARDIS arrives on Earth in the year 3000 and the travellers quickly discover a base where scientists commanded by Leader Clent are using an ioniser device to combat the advance of a new Ice Age. The scientists uncover Martians (Ice Warriors) frozen in the glacier ice. The Doctor warns that the Ice Warriors are dangerous enemies. He also comments how similar this is to the first time he met them, also in Earth's future, but Colin suggests this is deja vu from jumping time tracks from the earlier episode.
This story re-introduces the Ice Warriors from the classic series, and in fact is a one-hour version of 'The Ice Warriors' (2nd Doctor).
Story 3 : The Doctor and his companions make a test flight in the TARDIS, trying to jump back to their original time track, and arrive on the planet Peladon. Seeking shelter, they enter the citadel of the soon-to-be-crowned King Peladon, where the Doctor is mistaken for an Earth dignitary (Clara and Colin as his aids) summoned to act as Chairman of a committee assessing an application by the planet to join the Galactic Federation.
The rest of the episode plays out similarly to 'Curse of Peladon' (3rd Doctor) but edited down to one hour. Sort of a cheesy episode, but can be improved through editing and some minor re-writes. I'd change the antagonist to one of the delegates, probably Alpha Centauri. The Doctor believes he knows who was causing trouble, but would end up being wrong. Instead, Colin and Clara ferret out the bad guys. The Doctor is really confused by now, especially since things seem familiar, yet unfamiliar (a theme repeated throughout this season).
Story 4 : The Doctor, Clara and Colin arrive on a desolate and apparently deserted Earth in our far future. They soon find a group of shipwrecked astronauts from a human colony in the Galactic Federation, lured there by a fake distress call. The astronauts suspect the Doctor of luring them. One of
I think the worst abuse of the "magic wand" sonic screwdriver was evident in "The Power of Three." It was literally just a magic wand that fixed the problem with no explanation or cleverness on the Doctor's part. At least with Ten, things were sometimes "deadlocked" so the magic wand didn't work.
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This was interesting and well written in many ways. However, the author makes assumptions about the classic series which are unlikely to be shared by a broad audience, as the comments here so far demonstrate. The "classic" version ran for 26 seasons, and was under constant revision. Originally, there were supposed to be no B.E.M.s. Then, Daleks came. Newman wanted 50 percent historical stories. That lasted maybe a season. The concept of Time Lords wasn't even jelled until season 5 or so, during "The War Games". I could go on for pages, but I won't. The series is similar to a long running superhero comic book, in that the content changes to reflect what the producers feel the audience of the day desires. The author of this article really has a problem with the modern audience (meaning most of you), but he's turned it into a faux critical comparison so he doesn't have to be a hater. That said...you know what? I'm not afraid. I'll be a hater. Holmes and Hinchcliffe rule the Who universe, and those who disagree will one day be exterminated!
Cloudiot: A person who does not see offsite storage as a way to lose control over access to his or her own data.
In the original run, Companions very VERY rarely died (only one I can think of off the top of my head is Adrick). A few were psychologically scarred by their time with the Doctor (ie: Teegan), but for the most part they all lived "happily ever after" (well, to some extent anyways).
I see (for all its good points) that the revival edition suffers from its episodic format. We have discrete 45-minute programmes (occasionally 2-parters) within a series which often has a loose story arc. Great for the MTV generation, perhaps, but for those of us who were brought up on classic DW, a bit of a let-down.
Back in the day we had each series consisting of (usually) six stories spread over sets of 4 episodes many of which ended on a cliff-hanger. This was great drama, well and tightly scripted. The special effects may seem crude in hindsight but they were cutting-edge then and kitcsh now. Most importantly there was a story and key to this was the Doctor who was on the side of the moral good. The zenith of the whole canon was surely the Key to Time series which gave a classic quest storyline over the arc with 6 quintessential plots for each part of the key and a reveal of superb quality. I doubt we'll ever see its like again, but I dearly hope the beeb will prove me wrong.
In essence, a return to a medium-length plot within a series-long story would be best, but I fear those in control won't countenance it.
Burns: We're building a casino!
McAllister: Arrr. Give me 5 minutes.
I don't think I've ever seen so much waffling outside an IHOP.
The author has, almost verbatim, described my thoughts about the new series. And why I just finally stopped watching it and moved on to other things.
Completely agreed. The angels in "Blink" were actually scary. If you can call them "lame" (silent, deadly, but still a bit vulnerable with cunning planning) I don't know what makes a good monster (well, if by "lame" the GP meant that they lack big lasers then yes, they are lame sci-fi monsters). I actually also liked the concept of "that which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel" - maybe the part that looking at an angel through monitor is dangerous was a bit overblown, especially when mixed with the classic cliches of self-locking doors etc. but it added their bad-assness. The episode was ruined though by bringing in them by the thousands.
Daleks are comedy, angels are true monsters.
And yes, "The Power of Three" was worth...umm...I don't know, I want to forget that. And bringing in relatives - the father of Donna Noble did some scenes and added to the story but on "Dinosaurs on a spaceship" Rory's dad...oh please, please let me forget that episode. The whole thing with River Song and Amy was nice (I did not see that coming up until a few minutes before the scheme was revealed but then again, maybe I'm easy to fool), and I can forgive the faults of Amy as a character, but bringing in Rory and then even his dad, uh, nothing good came out of it.
Continuity sucked with "Miracle Day". After "Children of Earth" the CIA still didn't believe in aliens?
It was a similar waste as dragging Jackie Chan to the USA just to do "Cannonball Run".
Good god, Torchwood was all around awful.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Okay, I should have mentioned that the Statue of Liberty thing was just ridiculous. One, I could see it coming from a mile away when the elevator in Winter Quay had a poster. And two, it was the kind of self-indulgent, bombastic overkill that has been the biggest flaw of the revived show. It was downright cartoonish (see also, "The Wedding of River Song," which looked like some kind of Loony Tunes mashup).
Other than that, I stand by my original opinion. They were back down to just a handful of (visible) angels. The angels were back to their proper attack (time shift instead of snapping necks, which made them basically just goofy space commandos). And the stakes were deeply personal (being separated from loved ones). Again, not anywhere near the level of "Blink," but at least enjoyable this time out.
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Honestly, I think the 45 minute episode is a terrible fit for Who. Assuming four episodes per serial in the old series, you'd have five minutes out of one episode devoted to plot setup, with thirty seconds or so of cliffhanger recap at the beginning of each following episode. I realize that there are reasons why they use the one hour story format now, but it's really narratively confining. Someone in a rubber suit pops up, says 'Hi, I'll be your monster of the week", and the opening credits roll. Then there's a lot of running, the Doctor waves his sonic screwdriver around like a magic wand (ironically, the reason they wrote the thing out of the original series) to magic some exposition up, there's some more running, and finally a denouement. There are episodes that break that mould, but they've sadly been few and far between.
The Angels are a fantastic creation; what they suffer from is over use - the original series had its mainstay protagonists, but it didn't trot them out every story arc.
Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.
OK, just a few tiny points. Firstly, the Time Lords are not extinct. The Doctor is a Time Lord, therefore there is at least one. Plus The Master's fate is uncertain (as in "Heisenberg" uncertain), plus there are several part-time-lords (the "Doctor's Daughter", River Song etc etc) and Rassilon et al may still be out there.
Secondly, "just going back in time to kill all the Daleks" is the definition of a time war - both sides did this continuously, trying to outdo the other, until The Doctor did *something* which wiped pretty much all of both sides out. As the exchange recently went:
House: "Fear me, I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."
Doctor: "Fear me, I've killed all of them."
So he did *something* which resulted in the annihilation of both sides - there must have been a good reason - he had the chance to wipe out all the Daleks back in the Tom Baker days and he decided he didn't have the moral authority.
This is the big mystery of the modern series - what happened between McGann and Ecclestone? What did he do and why?
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Torchwood was generally unwatchable, you can't turn a children's show (Who) into an adult show simply by added sex and swearing, but that's what they tried with Torchwood. Atleast Miracle Day tried something a bit different, and I think was stronger for it.
you can't turn a children's show (Who) into an adult show simply by added sex and swearing
Sure you can. Tiswas --- OTT.