The Dr Who thread

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:54 pm 0

I've watched it three times so far

offyoutoddle · Post by **offyoutoddle** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:57 pm 0

HGFB wrote:I've watched it three times so far

Oh I'm so sorry, I hope you feel better soon.

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 8:14 pm 0

HGFB wrote:I've watched it three times so far

Good man - think I'll watch it again tomorrow.

Sid James · Post by **Sid James** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 9:52 pm 0

HGFB wrote:I just lifted this review from a post on the OG forums.

*snip* And then uber-fan Victor Kennedy arrives and suddenly there are rules, goals, expectations thrust upon the group. The original group lose sight of why they got together in the first place.

hmmm.....KlaxonCow<>Victor Kennedy...or is that just me?

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:10 pm 0

Sid James wrote:
HGFB wrote:I just lifted this review from a post on the OG forums.
*snip* And then uber-fan Victor Kennedy arrives and suddenly there are rules, goals, expectations thrust upon the group. The original group lose sight of why they got together in the first place.
hmmm.....KlaxonCow<>Victor Kennedy...or is that just me?

William James, in one of my sigs wrote: There are no differences but differences of degree between degrees of difference and no difference.

Thanks for bringing to mind the episode's relevance to this forum. We are mostly here to be with friends, enjoy each other's virtual company and have fun. Sometimes, I think, many of us (including myself) forget why we're here and start taking things far too seriously.

*** HUGS ALL, including KC and Andy ***

H.
_________________
If we're here to help others, then what are the others here for?
[Unknown]

Kelloggs · Post by **Kelloggs** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:29 pm 0

Well, I've just (well, about three hours ago) watched it again, and I'm of the careful and considered opinion that it's just BIZARRE. No, really. Weird. Strange. Odd. Ood, even.

But I think, if I squint at it in just the right way, I think I get it. With lots of help from everyone here. It's definitely a "RTD does his own thing" episode, only barely a "proper" Doctor Who (old-school) one, and I hope they don't make a habit of it. I was chatting with a bunch of young girls (ages 12-15) about it this morning (steady on, there's almost a perfectly reasonable excuse...) and one of them said "If you introduced someone to Doctor Who with that, they'd never watch another episode." which I think is dangerous, but in its own way rather interesting. Both watchings (in company; I'm not just talking to myself here) when it got to Jackie's Strop And Huff, I made the comment "RTD does EastEnders" and I stand by it.

Bloody hell. The point? Buggered if I know. I think I liked it, but only as an "average" episode. I don't consider it bad, mainly because we have Bertie Bassett to thank for that particular nadir, and I don't think RTD's going to plumb that depth any time soon, but I've seen better, and only last week at that. But I felt similar with ST:TNG's "Below Decks", and with B5's whatever-it-was, and with Stargate:SG1's "The Other Guys" - all episodes where the "focus" of the series takes a back seat, and I think they all felt unfocused because of it.

Flabio · Post by **Flabio** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:32 pm 0

Yet noone batted an eyelid when they did it in Buffy. Tsk.

grue · Post by **grue** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:34 pm 0

I'm watching Dr Who. I expect to see him a lot doing what he does best, tackling aliens or alien situations through wits or gadgetry.

If I wanted to see a psychological profile of slab fetishists and average Joes I would watch one of the billion others series that focus on that.

Simple as that.

Sir_LANs-a-lot · Post by **Sir_LANs-a-lot** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:01 pm 0

I want to know what the story was with the other creature he was luring with the chop...

Gorecki · Post by **Gorecki** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:03 pm 0

Kelloggs wrote:...and I think they all felt unfocused because of it.

Can't comment on the other programs you mentioned because I haven't seen them but I didn't think this particular episode of Doctor Who was unfocused. Quite the opposite. As I've said several times, the overall focus of the past two series has been the characters and what happens to them on the Doctors travels. This episode was no different, the focus was still on what happens to people involved with the doctor, it's just the angle was different. But the focus was still the same.

I'm watching Dr Who. I expect to see him a lot doing what he does best, tackling aliens or alien situations through wits or gadgetry.

If I wanted to see a psychological profile of slab fetishists and average Joes I would watch one of the billion others series that focus on that.

Y'see, that's what drives me away from most sci-fi, the focus on the 'alien' rather than the 'human'. Here's an analogy: Red Dwarf was a fantastically funny sit-com for many, many series. It was funny and loved by many (especially on this forum) not because it was a 'sci-fi comedy' but because it understood that the use of sci-fi could place it's characters in a massive variety of situations and then watch the characters react and bounce off each other. It started becoming more and more crap when it started to focus far more on the sci-fi situations and far less on the characters. The ideas were there but the character weren't and it stopped being funny.

The re-launched Doctor Who gets this. It understands that, for the vast majority of people, you can have as many sonic screwdrivers, alien planets, evil aliens and robot killing machines as you like but if we don't see what happens to the characters that we care about then it's all for nothing.

I do want to know about ordinary Joe's. I want to know what happens to ordinary Joe's when they come into the whirl-wind presence of the Doctor. So far we've had the long running story of Rose changing from a shop girl to some one who can take on the devil, we've had Mickey growing up and being counted, we've seen more and more of Jackie dealing with the loss caused by Rose's change and now we've had what happens to the bit part players, the people who only see the Doctor briefly before he disappears for good (well, almost).

That's what sci-fi is about, putting both extra-ordinary and ordinary people in bizarre situations and seeing how they react, and that's why it can be so special.

Zoot · Post by **Zoot** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:06 pm 0

Well, it made me go and watch Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire again today, and I was just as impressed as ever at Myrtle's performance.

41? Strewth!

Tetra Elemental · Post by **Tetra Elemental** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:06 pm 0

grue wrote:I'm watching Dr Who. I expect to see him a lot doing what he does best, tackling aliens or alien situations through wits or gadgetry.

This is definitely what I want from Dr Who.
What I very much don't want to see is an episode where RTD disappears up his own arse.

Post by **Jedburgh** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:11 pm 0

Cor, some people. The BBC provides one of the best 45 minutes of televisual entertainment in recent memory, and it's an episode of Doctor Who as well, and all they can do is moan that it doesn't match up to some magical ideal Doctor Who that exists solely in their heads.

All adds to the entertainment, though

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:15 pm 0

The tables could be turned next week y'know .......... all us 'Love & Monsters' lovers could well hate the next episode, while those who hated 'L&M' might love it.

grue · Post by **grue** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 11:16 pm 0

IronGiant wrote:The tables could be turned next week y'know .......... all us 'Love & Monsters' lovers could well hate the next episode, while those who hated 'L&M' might love it.

I hope so or I'll be wasting precious bandwidth again