The Dr Who thread

[HGFB]

Two and a half men? Jesus Stu. That thing rots braincells quicker than a dose of gamma rays.

But hell. I like to chill out to Buffy so I can't talk. We all have our dirty little vices

[Harlequin]

I think also that it would have been better had the cybermen not been destroyed.

"Destroyed"? One of Mickey's main reasons for staying was that there are still thousands of Cybermen on the planet. And do you think a fall of a few dozen feet into a bit of fire would be enough to kill an ordinary Cyberman, let alone the Controller? And did nobody notice that streak of light in the sky?

H.
_________________
"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.
[Rene Descartes -- "Principles of Philosophy"]

[aureole]

I think the first Cyberman episode spent too long doing the build-up - it was a massive tease to something everyone knew was going to come. As such, the payoff was kind-of weak. There were some great bits in the second episode - walking down the line of iced Cybermen was fantastic tension, as was having the "empty" cyberman in the Zeppelin. Some of the shots of the Cybermen walking in unison and the factory scenes managed to grab the little bits of

Also worth noting that they didn't show anything about the trip back or the repairing of the interdimensional rift. Also that Rose's "dad" - with a big tech company behind him - just walked off. I think there's every chance the Cybermen will be jumping across to our universe soon .

[HGFB]

I think there's every chance the Cybermen will be jumping across to our universe soon .

You think?

[Alarm]

I think there's every chance the Cybermen will be jumping across to our universe soon .

You think?

Possibly with another 'old friend' making an appearance...

[HGFB]

I think there's every chance the Cybermen will be jumping across to our universe soon .

You think?

Possibly with another 'old friend' making an appearance...

I've got gas so I couldn't possibly comment on any rumours.

Roll on next week for cool 50s action.

[Alarm]

Nice comment.

[Mele]

Great episode , loving it.
This is the one program all my familly can sit down and watch and enjoy together and for that alone I salute you Dr Who !

[Tred]

FWIW, I enjoyed it.

I thought Darth Trigger was brilliant. Great casting - didn't know he could act that well. The cybermen were pretty menacing, but the break-dancing routine should have been dropped.

Mickey staying to mend his granny's carpet and liberate Paris in a blue van was good, as was Rose's dad walking away from her.

Yeah, you can pick fault with the odd thing here and there but this is still one of the best shows on TV...

[Zoot]

Just watched both episodes back-to-back.

First one - meh.

Second one - loved it.

[merman]

I quite liked this episode, just too often I had deja vu - the tunnel seemed to play off various Borg episodes, the dangling below the Zeppelin took us back to last season, and to my mind disabling the Cybermen at the start of the episode just felt TOO EASY...

Still, kudos for the way the Doctor led Mickey to the solution and Mickey's own clever move to stop the transmitter. And a clever twist at the end.

[WiredWorm]

I have to admit that I never got into Dr Who when it came back on TV again - and i'm ashamed to admit that I never really read any of the Dr Who threads on Yak Yak - and thus I never realised what a good series it would be.

I feel particularly humbled that in the end I watched it as a result of my 5 year old daughter.

I only get to see her on weekends but on one of our recent DVD buying expeditions she was adamant that she would like the Dr Who DVD (think it was Season 2 Volume 1). I didn't think she'd like it but humoured her anyway and bought it.

She thoroughly enjoyed watching it again - and so did I. It seems that the 'feel' of the series is still maintained from the old days (back when I was young). The SFX are somewhat better and a little less cheesy but the series still doesn't take itself too seriously - I liked it.

[KlaxonCow]

I am - personally, I think he's more suited to the role than Eccleston.

I can't remember if I've said this already on this thread or not but...


I think Eccleston is the better actor in a general sense but Tennant is the better Doctor in a specific sense.


There are two main types of acting.

Someone like Ronnie Barker exemplifies "character acting". He totally becomes the part. Every role is completely different to the last one (and none of them, apparently, are anything like his own personality). He makes you believe in the character and that he is that character totally.

Julie Walters is also amazingly good at this type of character acting too.


Then there's the type of acting that people like Michael Caine or Gene Hackman or Laurence Fishburne often do, which is where they instead bring their own forceful, magnetic personalities and fill a character with themselves.

Not to say there isn't characterisation or they can't do it (on the contrary, the above listed are supremely talented actors. They can do the other, even if no-one ever gives them a script asking them to do it) but that it isn't the point of this type of acting. It isn't as much about fooling you that they are someone else, as it is bringing the emotions and story alive. This type of acting can actually seem more realistic and better drive a story, even though people tend to associate "acting" as only being "character acting".


Tennant is the one type of actor and Eccelston is the other type.


For example, Tennant doesn't actually sound like that. He's got a Scottish accent (which they let him use in the Werewolf episode). But, for the Doctor, he's constantly "putting on a voice" and he has not let his real accent come through even momentarily and, if Cassanova is any judge, then he won't ever slip up even once.

That's actually - in acting terms - a monsterously difficult thing to be doing all on its own. Maintaining a "false voice" all the way through a long-running series? Very few actors would voluntarily sign up to that.


And, quite possibly, that's entirely why Eccleston didn't alter his voice at all.


Tennant wears the Doctor's proper long coat.

While Eccleston had a leather jacket that he could wear and probably does wear at home.


Tennant maintains the Doctor's mystery, strong moral sense and eccentricity.

Ecclseton - while beautiful to watch doing so, as it's like being struck with an acting sledgehammer - cried like a baby shitting himself and converted the Doctor's mild eccentricity into sheer grinning insanity (in fact, if the new Batman movies need someone to play the Joker, Eccleston's got the perfect insane grin down pat).


It's the two types of acting in juxtaposition: Tennant is trying - and generally succeeding - to play the part of the Doctor.

Tennant became the Doctor.

Eccleston was acting, acting, acting. Oh, and the fact that the part was called "the Doctor" and that other people had played the role beforehand? Irrelevent.

The Doctor became Eccleston.


You could argue character acting takes more skill. But, then again, are we saying Michael Caine or Gene Hackman can't act and don't have skill? You'd be a brave or foolish man to ever suggest that.

It's not better or worse. It's a different approach to what acting is really about: Making the audience care about the characters and feel their emotions and make the story work.

Different actors don't necessarily all take the same approach to achieving that.


Eccleston is the better actor - that's pronounced "ac-tor", luvvie - in a more RSC emoting sense of the word. He delivers "emotion" to an audience incredibly well. He subscribes to "the method".

If he were a member of Fox Force Five, that would be his "special skill". If you've seen "Team America" then Eccleston has that "magic power of acting" over people.


Tennant does it the more "traditional" way of sticking on a costume, sticking on a voice, sticking on a personality, sticking to the script and getting stuck into the actual technicality of making people happily follow and enjoy the story.

Tennant can act. Extremely well. But he's not a "showy" actor. He does it the subtle way. The "I'm not such a diva that I'm going to make a song and a dance to make people notice" kind of way.

The fact that Tennant is constantly hiding his own Scottish accent? He does not draw attention to the fact or care if anyone notices or not. Modest getting-the-job-done acting.


It's like comparing apples with oranges and, personally, I don't have a preference and actually enjoy seeing the diversity and changes and seeing how different actors tackle the same role.


So, as I say, I think Eccleston is the better actor in a general sense but Tennant is the better Doctor in a specific sense.


This is just my opinion, of course, and not a "fact" or anything.

[teamonkey]

I've finally caught up and watched last Saturday's episode. It were well rubbish.

[Kronos]

last few stories have made me begin to warm to the new Dr Who. ok the cybermen story was a little cheesy but the character himself has become less "pipskweeky" so its ok its finding its feet slowly

can someone honestly tell me if the xmas special was upto scratch or just another R.T.Davis "wet fart" ???????

edit:yeh and this weeks episode could be a classic alrite, interesting