Doctor Who Discussion (All Forms, Spin-Off Series Welcome)

[Ninja D!]

I've seen threads like this pop up before when our random thread becomes a little too on-topic, people start discussing something in the Tavern, or another thread is threatened with hijacking. I figured it was about time to do this, for the first reason stated.

This thread is for the discussing of Doctor Who.

EDIT : (04/25/11) I changed the title of the thread from Doctor Who Discussion to Doctor Who Discussion (All Forms, Spin-Off Series Welcome) to openly expand its purpose.

[Elemental_Elf]

David Tenent is the best doctor ever and Rose was his best companion. :)

[Steerpike]

I tend to agree, though I like how angry Christopher Eccleston could get.

I love the show but I tend to be divided in terms of episodes.  I love the episodes where they either go to some exotic locale in space/time or at least face some particularly odd monster... I'm not so big a fan of the episodes where the Daleks/Cybermen/Master invade present-day London.  I also like the more claustrophobic episodes, where the Doctor and some ragtag bunch are stuck inside some kind of ship/space station/base.

Favorite episodes of mine:

Blink
The Girl in the Fireplace
The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit
The Shakespeare Code
The End of the World
Tooth and Claw
The Waters of Mars
Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
Midnight
42
The Doctor Dances

Least favorite episodes:

Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel
Sound of the Drums/Last of the Time Lords
The Stolen Earth/Journey's End
The Christmas Invasion
Aliens of London/World War Three

Anyone seen any of the Matt Smith episodes yet?  We're torrenting the first episode of the 5th season as I write this...

[khyron1144]

I'm rather behind.  We lost our cable, so no BBC America, and our antenna isn't picking up PBS or really any local channel with reliability.

We own season one (the Christopher Eccleston season) on DVD.  I have also borrowed season two  and three of Dr. Who and season one of Torchwood from the library.  

I rather like David Tenent's take on the Doctor.  Manic seems to be the word most frequently associated with him and that makes for entertaining TV.

Rose was cool, but in a way I liked Martha better because of the whole unrequited love angle, and also because being an M.D. she was a competent individual in her own right.

[XXsiriusXX]

I was never really a fan of eccleston as the doctor, he was far too angry and I think him leaving the show was for the best. Tenant's doctor was far more interested and entertaining. I do think that what really limited Tenant's doctor (besides the writing) was his last two companions Martha and Donna. I found Martha to be rather bland and Donna was annoying.

Just got done watching the new ep.
[spoiler]
The episode is good, but not great. It does do a good job of introducing the new companion, but I think that the writers could have found more a subtle way to set up the season long story arc.  

so far I like the new doctor, but it worries me that he is still acting like the old doctor. at least that is the impression that I got. I am really hoping that they begin to move away from Tenant's Manic doctor and really give this new doctor his own personality.

I do not like the new tardis set, it looks so incredibly campy and lame. The design style looks like a mixture of the 60's series, the 8th doctors from the TV movie, and the last set. none of it seems to really go together.  
[/spoiler]

[Elemental_Elf]

Personally I get kind of bored with those episodes where they go back in to earth's history and meet important people of that time period (like the Shakespeare episode (yuck!).

My favorites tend to be the episodes that are off on far flung worlds, deal with difficult issues or involve the Daleks, Cybermen, Captain Jack, the Master or Rose (dunno what it is about her but I really enjoy her character). So... In reality I typically really like 3/4s - 2/3s of each season and just enjoy the rest.

A lot of people say they hate Donna Noble. Well, all I can say is stay far away from the Cathrine Tate show, lol. I thought she was a good companion because she was so very different that kick butt rose, romantic Martha and Captain Jack.

Eccleston... Yeah he was a weird one. Tenent is by far his superior but Eccleston  wasn't that bad. Sure he was dark, brooding and couldn't dance but, he was alright. Having said that, XXsiriusXX is correct, him leaving was for the best, though the season endings of season 1 were some of the best of the entire series (Can't beat poking fun at the BBC and having Daleks as the enemy!).

[Steerpike]

For whatever reason the Cybermen annoy me.  They just feel like campier versions of the Borg... obviously they came before the Borg but the Borg are much scarier, IMO.

Just saw the new episode:

[spoiler]Undecided about the new TARDIS but don't mind Smith... I like the sort of ragamuffin thing he has going on, versus the suaveness of Tennant.  He also feels a lot ruder (stealing the laptop) and more full of himself, which help to distinguish him.  Tennant was great, but he got a bit brooding and dark towards the end.[/spoiler]

[Elemental_Elf]

For whatever reason the Cybermen annoy me.  They just feel like campier versions of the Borg... obviously they came before the Borg but the Borg are much scarier, IMO.

I loved the Borg until I found out they were originally supposed to be an Insectoid species but due to budget constraints, they (essentially) copied the Cybermen and used more money to make them cooler visually.

(I still LOVE the Borg (I'm a trekkie/Trekker at heart!))

[Kindling]

I agree with Steerpike about the episodes. It's that Russell T Davis... he always writes these big overblown epic things with the fate of (at the very least) the world at stake, but the more intimate and/or creepy plots that other writers come up with tend to be, IMHO, a lot better and more fitting for a show like Doctor Who.... there's plenty of blockbuster films that do "epic", but Doctor Who brings me something different :)

[Ninja D!]

I really like the Cybermen. Usually when they're around, they end up dealing with issues of conformity / noncomformity and I usually enjoy that in such an extreme setting.

My favorite thing about Doctor Who is that there really isn't anything else quite like it.

Eccleston's Doctor was supposed to be a post trauma kind of thing. He was still closer to the Time War and trying to deal with that. And he DID dance!

I think Mat Smith is going to make a pretty good Doctor and I really wasn't expecting that.

[spoiler=XXsiriusXX]Aww, c'mon, what isn't subtle about chanting "doesn't know! doesn't know! doesn't know!" or were you referring to zooming on the wedding dress with loud music trying to make you think it was Batman?[/spoiler]

[Steerpike]

I have high hopes for this season because of Stephen Moffat... looking at some of the episodes he's done (Blink, The Girl in the Fireplace, Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, the Empty Child) makes me optimistic.  A lot of body horror and creepiness but still inflected with plenty of whimsy.  Plus he wrote the first episodes with Captain Jack!

[Ninja D!]

I really, really, really did not like Captain Jack on Doctor Who. In Torchwood, I was really looking forward to seeing him get killed repeatedly. Then they changed Jack on Torchwood...then did it again...and again...I don't know what is background is supposed to be anymore.

[Superfluous Crow]

Have only seen it sporadically, since it doesn't air often here, but I do like what I've seen.
I really like that episode with the child with the gasmask. And the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit were pretty neat as well. Doctor Who is just generally enjoyable because so much can happen. So what if you have buddhist monks and werewolves in the same episode.
I don't know how I feel about Rose exactly, though. And Torchwood didn't really catch my attention.

[Ninja D!]

Exactly - on Doctor Who, anything can happen.

My favorite thing about Torchwood is that they do, show, and say things that just wouldn't fly on TV in the US.

[Elemental_Elf]

They're making a US version of Torchwood...