Some random thoughts on the new Doctor Who
typed for your pleasure on 28 May 2006, at 4.01 amSdtrk: ‘Made in France’ by France Gall
I’ve been kinda putting this post off, cos I wanted to make sure that I could rein in my Ramble Factor™ to a reasonable degree. But I think after watching the entirety of the Ninth Doctor, and six eps of the Tenth, I believe I’m finally ready…
Wee bit of background: I’ve been watching Doctor Who since probably about 1982 or thereabouts, back when WGPR Channel 62 Detroit used to show it every weekday afternoon, in serial form, one part per afternoon. People just getting into the show now have it different, as each story now runs 45min, as opposed to the original serial format, which meant that you had a story arc that could span a number of 30min parts. Example: ‘City of Death’, a story from the years that I first got into the show, when Tom Baker played the Doctor, spanned four parts. Go back even further to, say, the William Hartnell years, and each individual part (or episode) had its own name. You watch something like ‘The Daleks’ Masterplan’ which spanned twelve feckin’ parts, and you see how nutty it got. Maddening, yes, but that’s the way they did things back then.
When the BBC put the show on indefinite hiatus back in 1989, a lot of us thought that would be the end of the series. Then when I heard about the FOX feature film back in 1996, I was chuffed. But after watching it, the dew was quickly off the lily, as I’d realised that it was, unfortunately, a bag of shite. It was too Americanised, for one, and they actually let that non-actor Eric Roberts play The Master? It was wrong, very wrong, and personally I’m glad that nothing more became of it. (Although Paul McGann wasn’t too bad of a Doctor, all told. But then, I’m biased, as he was Withnail’s flatmate.) So the revival of Doctor Who once more became just a mere notion until 2005, when the show was finally greenlighted, with Christopher Eccleston filling in the role of everyone’s favourite renegade Timelord. My friend Jeff, a.k.a. Zip Gun, managed to download a few Eccleston episodes off the Net, and we were pretty satisfied with the results, as it was like the old Who, yet simultaneously a new, hep, Who. Jeff saw most of the Ninth Doctor then and there, but I fell behind so much that I’d even forgotten there were new episodes coming out. Then I started searching for them on various BitTorrent sites, and got all caught up, baby. These days, when my degenerate friends and I get together every Saturday eve, we watch the episode that was just screened a couple of hours ago in the UK, and needless to say, we’re all really enthused.
But yeah, big Doctor Who fan. There are definitely more hardcore fans out there — I never had mum knit me the scarf, for instance, but I still want a sonic screwdriver.
Right, let’s do this!! RAAAGHH
(WARNING! A GIANT SPOILERS IS APPROACHING)
+ David Tennant > Chris Eccleston
David looks more like the Doctor — he kinda resembles a haunted schoolteacher, and the Converse hi-tops are a nice touch. Plus, he acts rather like a cross between Tom Baker and Sylvester McCoy… smug, eccentric, and not afraid to make shit up as he goes along. I liked what Chris Eccleston brought to the role, but I have to say, I didn’t like the way he dressed. He just looked like some random bloke off the street. Although you can probably say that Eccleston’s distinguishing feature is that he has no distinguishing features
+ ‘Dalek’ — WOOOO / new Cybermen — WOOOO
+ I didn’t think much of ‘The Unquiet Dead’ at first — I watched all the episodes around it, having unintentionally forgotten about it, until I actually saw it, and I was really impressed. Then I realised who wrote it; Mark Gatiss, one-fourth of the lads behind the wonderfully grotesque League of Gentlemen series, and a huge Doctor Who fan in his own right
+ ‘School reunion’ was a brilliant episode. Seeing Sarah Jane and K9 again after so many years was fucking amazing, but what made the episode so fantastic was the way that the writers tackled the whole issue of one of the Doctor’s companions seeing him again for the first time in years — they really made Sarah Jane a three-dimensional character.
Liz Sladen still looks quite tasty for her age, as well
+ I sincerely hope the majority of the latest eps don’t take place on Earth, otherwise it’ll be like the Pertwee years all over again. (Apart from the fact that during the Pertwee years, the Doctor actually couldn’t leave Earth, but nevertheless…) Future Earth, Earth in the past, Far-future Earth, contemporary Earth, etc etc. We get the point. How about Tigella? Maybe Skonnos? I hear Telos is nice this time of year
+ I like how the stories are more intertwined — something that’s mentioned in one episode may be given additional scope in a later episode. The series has always been like that, but it’s more immediate now, it seems
+ Don’t like the design for the new Sonic screwdriver — it’s a pen — but I’m digging that psychic paper
+ Simon Pegg & Tamsin Grieg in ‘The Long Game’ — WOOOO
+ Back during several episodes of the Fourth Doctor, much use was made of the second TARDIS control room, for a reason that I cannot immediately recall. Now, if they feel the need to show the second control room in the current eps, they should use the control room that was featured in the 1996 Doctor Who movie. Eh? Eh?
+ Capt. Jack Harkness = total fucking playa. Although I’d have to say, whenever he was in a Doctor Who ep, a little of him went a long way, so it’ll be rather interesting to seem him once ‘Torchwood’ begins airing
+ The legendary Battersea Power Station will undoubtedly never be demolished, simply because it will always be used as a Headquarters for Evil, such as for the megalomaniacal inventor John Lumic. Or as a set for dodgy Eighties music videos, one or the other
+ Regarding the new Cybermen eps: Someone mentioned that with them shouting ‘DELETE DELETE’ all the time, it felt as if the writer wanted to write a Dalek story instead, and I cannot argue. But ‘Rise of the Cybermen / The Age of Steel’ were still quite good
+ TIM (on seeing the daring escape during ‘The Age of Steel’): ‘That’s the second time [Rose]’s hung from a blimp.’
+ One thing that I have an issue with is that whole ‘oh, the Time War with the Daleks killed off all the Timelords’ thing, which I call bullshit on. There’s no way that every other Gallifreyan apart from him is dead. What about the Rani? The Master? K’anpo Rinpoche? They’re Timelords — Time itself is the medium in which they move. After all, it’s obvious that not all of the Daleks were wiped out…
+ Speaking of Daleks, a number of months ago, Zip Gun had managed to get hold of a copy of ‘Abducted by the Daloids’, which is the infamous Dalek porno film. Gods, it was so bad it was… well, it was bad. But I have to mention the funniest part: two of the actresses, a couple of Eastern European wannabe starlets with a rudimentary grasp of English, are looking for their friends in the woods at night. As they arbitrarily begin stripping and getting nasssty with each other, suddenly, they’re beamed aboard the Dalek.. sorry, Daloid, ship. Unaware of their new surroundings, the lasses continue to lesbinate for several minutes, until one of the Daleks actually clears its throat to get their attention. Brilliant!
So there you have it. Now, as I’ve just downloaded ‘The Idiot’s Lantern’, I’ve got to watch that. I’m in love with Doctor Who all over again!
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