Doctor Who Season Four (Spoilers)

[Hawkaris]

I started with the new series, just like you, and while I agree that no episode has been "crap", I have been seeing them get steadily worse. There have been below-par episodes in every season, but it feels like they've been getting steadily more frequent.

My anger isn't that the episodes are bad, but rather, it is channeled frustration at the idea of the series going downhill to the point where it gets canceled, robbing me of future Doctor Who episodes. When I've watched the most recent episodes, I think to myself, "This could have been better," not because they did a poor job of it, but because I've seen Doctor Who do some amazing things. It's still possibly the best sci-fi on television, but not every episode is "I'm going to show this to my kids someday" good, which they could be.

But, hey, the next episode should be excellent (although the "Stay out of the shadows" from the teaser feels eerily close to "Don't blink"). Maybe it can wash away all my fears of a fifteen-year hiatus and I'll be able to sit back and enjoy Davies' last few episodes.

P.S. Your tags need a bit of touching-up.

[AlexanderDitto]

See, I enjoy nearly every episode when I watch them, just because they're exciting and usually fast paced, but I'm not at all a fan of the romance, because it feels like it gets away from what makes Doctor Who wonderful, and turns it into a soap opera.

Really, I had to be pressed to produce a list of episodes I didn't like much, and none of them were really "AUGH CRAP I'M NEVER WATCHING THIS AGAIN," it's more like, "well, meh, but not one of my favorites."

Don't worry, Sable, the Ninth Doctor was my first, too.

I don't care what Hawkaris says. They can keep going back in time and meeting famous writers as much as they want. And in-jokes are lovely and fantastic and make me giggle.

[korri]

i think we all enjoy each episode.. but some of them are so good, we begin to expect all of them to be brilliant and we can't help but feel let down when they aren't up to par...

anyways, this episode was quite good... I really want to read some of Agatha Cristie's books now.. because well i never did. I liked the fact that the entire world wasn't in danger and all that...

[Melendwyr]

This most certainly isn't the best science fiction on television. It's barely science fiction at all - it's really modern fantasy with some space-age trappings. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but the coherence of the fantasy has been degrading.

The quality of the writing has been getting worse and worse. Instead of character development and intriguing concepts, it's become increasingly about fan service and turgid sexual tension.

[Karkon]

I realise I've been putting alot of hate onto Doctor Who recently, but that's because I love it so-and when you see something you love be degraded you get mean. Ever since the second episode I've been rooting for Doctor Who, but I haven't seen them match it yet. Blah.

Anyway, about the episode, when everyone kept having flashbacks with wave out and harp music was it just me or did people start thinking about Wayne's World? Overdid a tad. And... a wasp? A giant wasp? Ergh. All the aliens in the galaxy and they vouch for the giant wasp. With pink light. Ergh. Oh, and about the Doctor/Donna kiss...

No.

We danced this dance before. No more. That's why I like Donna. No love story. Something different, please.

On a positive note, I did like Agatha telling off the Doctor for getting all excited and forgetting the dead person. Yah.

[Zombaholic]

DEAR GOD BEES!

[AlexanderDitto]

DEAR GOD BEES!

Did they deliver? I don't think Donna is going to mention the bees anymore.

Bees vs. Wasps?

I thought the Flashbacks were funny, especially with the Doctor's "ALL the way out." And then he sits in the chair, and HE has a flashback.

Go Agatha Christie, telling off The Doctor for getting excited about murder.

Melendwyr: bah, stop splitting hairs. Science fiction and fantasy usually get lumped together anyway, and I could argue that Doctor Who IS science fiction, but what's the point? It's all semantics and interpretation.

Doctor who wasn't meant to be deep or Earth shattering. It's meant to be funny, exciting, and very British. When it delivers on these three points, it is satisfactory. This episode is a good example of these.

[Melendwyr]

I'm an old-school fan, Alexander. The series' writing was always excellent, even when the stories were a little Pulp-ish.

The writing isn't excellent any longer. And that fills me with a terrible rage.

[What?]

No, no it wasn't. Even with my limited original Who experience, I've seen several episodes with writing that's at the very least sub-standard. Though that may have been exacerbated by mediocre acting on the part of some arc-specific characters.

[Graham]

I'm an old-school fan, Alexander. The series' writing was always excellent, even when the stories were a little Pulp-ish.

So am I, and it really, really wasn't.
I LOVE the old series, but it was just as camp and cheesy.

This season overall hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm enjoying it.
How can I not?

It's the Doctor!

[AeroCmdr]

I'm really looking foward to the abandoned library episodes.

[Melendwyr]

So am I, and it really, really wasn't.
I LOVE the old series, but it was just as camp and cheesy.

But it was excellent camp and cheese! Not this sub-standard camp and cheese of the modern-day Doctor.

There's quality cheese, and there's not so much. This - this is not so much.

[Graham]

So am I, and it really, really wasn't.
I LOVE the old series, but it was just as camp and cheesy.

But it was excellent camp and cheese! Not this sub-standard camp and cheese of the modern-day Doctor.

It's only quality cheese at the time because I was 12, in hindsight, they're the same.

[Melendwyr]

I disagree.

Therefore, we must fight with knives.

[Graham]

Okay, but not near a hill.
People were ALWAYS falling down green, grassy hills on old Doctor Who.

[Melendwyr]

And into old, disused gravel pits in Kent! It seems all planets have interdimensional co-localities with Kent.

[Cake]

You know, I was enjoying Doctor Who season 4 up until he ignited all the gases in the entire world with no adverse effects. I can only suspend my disbelief so much.

[AlexanderDitto]

Seriously, what is it with all the grassy hills and gravel quarries and old 1950's industrial plants? Bah!

Actually, I'm starting to watch the old Tom Baker episodes, and most of the earlier ones are pretty bad. The only truly great one I've seen is The Pirate Planet, which had Douglas Adams as one of its writers, and thus is absolutely fantastic.

I think a lot of people's judgment is clouded on the old series by nostalgia and associations of an era. Then again, maybe modern special effects have just stolen my soul. I don't know.

Whatever it is, it IS the Doctor. It's all about the Doctor. Funny, exciting, British. That's all I ask!

[Melendwyr]

The special effects were always bad. The writing was good.

Now we have it the other way 'round.

[AlexanderDitto]

The special effects were always bad. The writing was good.

Now we have it the other way 'round.

C'est la vie. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

[Unlucky]

The special effects were always bad. The writing was good.

Now we have it the other way 'round.

C'est la vie. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I'm sorry but Firefly? BSG? They had\have great writing AND fantastic special effects.

Considering I'm about a month and a half behind, I need the Whovians opinions - Is this season worth acquiring? Because judging from the sound of things, it's just continuing its downhill slope. :S

[korri]

i would suggest downloading the newest season and seeing if you like it.. or renting it first... Thats how i like to choose the movies/tv shows i'm plannng on buying in dvd...


also, everytime i watch dr who i wish i was british..

[Hawkaris]

I had to go to the second page to resurrect this thread. Shameful.

Anyway, linky.

Doctor Who guru Davies steps down

Davies is credited with breathing new life into the show he brought back to television screens in 2005.

Bafta-winning writer Steven Moffat will succeed Davies as lead writer and executive producer of the fifth series of Doctor Who.

Moffat, who was behind Coupling and Jekyll, said the whole of his career was "a secret plan to get this job".

BBC Fiction controller Jane Tranter said the past four series of Doctor Who had been "brilliantly helmed" by the "spectacularly talented" Davies.

"As lead writer and executive producer, he has overseen the creative direction and detail of the 21st century relaunch of Doctor Who and we are delighted to have his continued presence on the specials over the next 18 months," she added.

Davies will remain in charge of four specials to be shown in 2009.

The fifth series, with Moffat at the helm, is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One in spring 2010.

Moffat has already written some of the most memorable Doctor Who episodes of recent times, including The Girl in the Fireplace and The Empty Child.

Earlier this month, he picked up the best writer Bafta for the Blink episode of series three, which featured terrifying weeping angels.

Moffat said: "I applied before but I got knocked back 'cos the BBC wanted someone else. Also I was seven.

"Anyway, I'm glad the BBC has finally seen the light and it's a huge honour to be following Russell into the best - and the toughest - job in television.

"I say toughest 'cos Russell's at my window right now, pointing and laughing."

Doctor Who's return after a 16-year break from the screen received praise from critics and fans alike.

Speaking after the first series of the revamped show in 2005 - which starred Christopher Eccleston as the Time Lord - Davies said Doctor Who had been in desperate need of regeneration.

"I love Doctor Who and I love the old Doctor Who," he said.

"But, even with all that love, you have to admit that the name of the programme had become a joke and its reputation had become a cheap joke at that - you know, rubber monsters and shaky sets."

He added: "It's been everything we planned and more, and it's very rarely in life you get the chance to have that happen."

The programme originally ran from 1963 to 1989. In that time, the lead role was played by seven different actors including William Hartnell, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker and Peter Davison.

And, just so you have some extra media: The Mid-Series Trailer
Speculation (spoilers): Ambassadors of Death, Daleks again, and was that Davros?

[korri]

let me guess... rose brings the daleks with her... and then in order to save the universe, he has to sacrifice himself, but rose jumps in at the last second and sacfices herself instead...

[AlexanderDitto]

I had to go to the second page to resurrect this thread. Shameful.

Anyway, linky.

Doctor Who guru Davies steps down

WHAT? WHAAAAT?! It is like a dream come true.

Somebody pinch me, then pinch Steve Moffat. Then pinch me again. Then give me a pinch of Steve Moffat.