Dr Who... we're getting to the end of the series now: thoughts?

[Whiternoise]

two lines of ... well... the contents of my wheely bin tbh.

Russell T is the lord and Athlete was utterly perfect for the episode and the ending....

I'll get my long scarf...............

Russell T Davies yaws wildly between excellent scripting and abysmal scripting. Some of his episodes were inspired - most of Eccleston's series was very well written - but I got the feeling that he knew what makes a good television show and he had a big bag of "things that Doctor Who does". Every week he'd jumble the bag and pull out a lot of things that sort of connected together to form a story. To quote the man himself:

Instead of all those months of thinking and consideration, rewriting somebody else’s script is more like plate-spinning — keeping lots of things in the air, making them look pretty, hoping that they won’t crash. In an emergency, I throw lots of things in there — soothsayers, psychic powers, prophecies, funny squares of marble — and hope that I can make a story out of them as I go along, like an improvisation game. [...] The psychic powers are caused by the dust, which is the aliens, and the aliens are thwarted by the volcano erupting, etc, etc, etc. Ram them all into each other. It’s [...] a car crash! Fun, though.

(on The Fires of Pompeii)

Once again, there were some sublime parts in his writing, but they were lucky headshots rather than consistent marksmanship.

http://www.andrewrilstone.com Andrew Rilstone is remarkably lucid on the matter.

Athlete was perfect for the episode.... had it not been Doctor Who. Yes it was a great moment, yes it was soppy, but was it Doctor Who? No.

[Brucelles]

I am not impressed, and I don't get the whole 'sexy assistant' thing, either. I think that was more a marketing buzz than reality. There are way sexier women out there. I fancied Billy Piper (despite her wide bum) more than Karen Gillan, who just seems cute but irritating.

The Vincent episode was OK, but the whole series seems to be a case of "let's go somewhere cool and meet someone famous". Must do better.

[Zak33]

I am not impressed, and I don't get the whole 'sexy assistant' thing, either. I think that was more a marketing buzz than reality.

The Vincent episode was OK, but the whole series seems to be a case of "let's go somewhere cool and meet someone famous". Must do better.

agreee... totally

[chuckskull]

I am not impressed, and I don't get the whole 'sexy assistant' thing, either. I think that was more a marketing buzz than reality. There are way sexier women out there. I fancied Billy Piper (despite her wide bum) more than Karen Gillan, who just seems cute but irritating.

The Vincent episode was OK, but the whole series seems to be a case of "let's go somewhere cool and meet someone famous". Must do better.

Agreed on the "let's go somewhere meet someone famous point", never been a huge fan of those episodes, unless there's a really good alien plot mixed in, but that's the point. It's about aliens from any point in time from the history of the universe. With all that to choose from, the show spends to much time on Earth in the past IMO.

I actually prefer Gillan to Piper in looks and talent. Although Freema Agyeman beats both hands down, I reckon. Think I might be the only one who thinks that though, never see her mentioned in relation to the doc, maybe it's just because no-one else can remember her name without googling it either?

[Hicks12]

I agree, Freema Agyeman was probably the best of them (from what i have seen!) and was quite annoyed when i learnt that they were cutting her for some bizarre reason. I think the current assistant is doing alright, much better than tate and tbh i didnt like the piper one much so shes in second place xD.

I like this new doctor aka matt smith, i feel hes doing a good job and much better than i expected because i thought at the end on the last series (where you see matt for a few seconds) that i was going to stop watching doctor who .

Now i watch it all and enjoy it more than the previous series so im happy . Plot holes are everywhere, but remember there are always plot holes in doctor who.

[Konan555]

From the point of view of someone who sits and watches along side a fan....

I'm able to get through an episode without swearing at the TV now that Russell T has packed up with his tripe. That kind of pretentious writing on prime-time-bbc-cheese really winds me up.

[Behemoth]

From the point of view of someone who sits and watches along side a fan....

I'm able to get through an episode without swearing at the TV now that Russell T has packed up with his tripe. That kind of pretentious writing on prime-time-bbc-cheese really winds me up.

Keeps you cool does it ?

[Konan555]

Keeps you cool does it ?

Come again?

[matty-hodgson]

Come again?

You sit next to a fan..

Really bad gag, I know .

[Konan555]

Ahhhhhhhh

moving swiftly on....

[Spud1]

I think this series has been "okay", mainly because of the very weak storylines that matt and Karen have been forced to play..but both of them have given really good performances.

I really wasn't sure about Matt at the start - he looked (and still does look) wrong for the role, but all credit to him he plays it really well and has made it his own. I like Karen Gillian as his companion too - she is *much* closer to the companions of the original Dr Who - back to being a "pretty young girl" rather than the old and haggard Catherine Tate, who imo was the worst Dr Who companion of the lot (she really dragged down the previous season).

I'm hopeful for a good finish now since we seem to have been promised Daleks and Cybermen again..which is in many ways kind of a cop-out as those two enemies (along with the master) will always pull in the ratings and make an episode "good", but isn't that imaginative.

Bring on the next series, and lets hope for some better stories to show themselves.

[Phage]

Matt's fine - I like him and whatserface very much. The new storylines definitely seem weaker though. Oh and whatserface can be fine, but...

[directhex]

*much* closer to the companions of the original Dr Who - back to being a "pretty young girl"

[MSIC]

Ah! Adric!
I personally grew up on the tail end of Tom baker and very much in to Peter Davidson, I remember crying when Adric went...

Anywho (), as for the current show, it's actually the first of the new (2005 onwards) Who's when i've not been too fussed about missing an episode here or there, although i'm sure i'll catch up at some point.

Am liking the actors alot, but writing has generally been poor, although i reckon even some of the direction hasnt been great. This was brought in to focus with the Van Gough episode, which I really enjoyed, although was a little 'Richard Curtis'y. I thought that the script and the direction was much better, and the guest actor who played Vincent should be given an award.

For me, it's just been too silly, too often. Dr Who has always of course had humour, however humour (and sillyness) work well as a counterpoint to seriousness (which many of the Tennant eps had, and especially some of the Ecclestones). It should be fundamentally a Sci Fi Drama, not a comedy.

MHO.

[Behemoth]

Ah! Adric!
I personally grew up on the tail end of Tom baker and very much in to Peter Davidson, I remember crying when Adric went....

Earth Shock ! To be honest I always found Adric an annoying whining pain in the rectum.

[Spud1]

pfft even when adric was on he had nyssa (mmm) and teegan to counteract the teenage angst Was very rare (i'm excluding the two films which don't count and are not canon) for the Dr to ever have an ugly/non female companion without an attractive one to compensate