The Doctor Who thread

[snaketales]

I've literally watched only five minutes of the new version of Shada and it's already better than the 90s version - mainly because it doesn't have that godawful synth soundtrack and has replicated the 70s sound of Dudley Simpson.

[valkyrie_76]

I've literally watched only five minutes of the new version of Shada and it's already better than the 90s version - mainly because it doesn't have that godawful synth soundtrack and has replicated the 70s sound of Dudley Simpson.

Yeah I watched that too and enjoyed the latest version.

[snaketales]

Yeah I watched that too and enjoyed the latest version.

....bit bummed there are no episode breaks though. The other night I was planning to go to bed at the end of the first episode, and I'm waiting, waiting....

[GoktimusPrime]

With the new series about to start, the internet is flooding with so many negative comments about how Jodie Whittaker will ruin the series forever. So I decided to trawl through comments about the previous Doctors, and lo and behold I was able to find negative criticisms on each Doctor. At the end of the day, people thought that each actor would ruin the series forever, but this was clearly not the case. Anyway, good to see that Transformers isn't the only fandom that experiences "RUINED FOREVER."

[snaketales]

Andrew Cartmel, the script editor for Sylvester McCoy’s three seasons as the Doctor, thought Sylvester McCoy “ruined Doctor Who forever”?

That’s the first I’ve heard of that.

The only reference I could find using the quote attributed to him was in reference to the writers of McCoy’s debut story, not the actor.

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, it was really a quote about the story rather than the actor (as explicitly stated in the quote itself). Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that with each new Doctor Who actor there have been people saying that the franchise is ruined forever. Whether because they feel that the actor themselves will ruin it or because the writing or other production issues related to that actor's run will ruin it (this is what I get for making memes and posting at such ungodly hours ).

Anyway my basic point is that all the negative comments that has already surfaced about Jodie Whittaker's Doctor, despite the fact that Episode 1 hasn't even aired yet, seems to be more like the "RUINED FOREVER" mentality that we see with Transformers and other fandoms. i.e. new things will ruin the franchise forever.

With each Doctor there have been people who cast doubt, but ultimately those doubts were disproven. Except for Paul McGann. And again, not a criticism of the actor but the writing (again, as shown in the actual quote attributed about him). I say this because it's a fact that the Doctor Who series died after McGann's short run in the Doctor Who movie, and it would be 9 years before Doctor Who returned to the screen. So it's obviously not impossible for the franchise to die after the introduction of new Doctor - it's happened once before. But I think it's a tad immature to make this judgement when the show hasn't even started yet.

I mean, as much as I dislike Cyberverse, I'm not going to start claiming that it's going to spell the death of the Transformers franchise. I don't think it's terribly helpful, but we'll be fine.

[GoktimusPrime]

spoilers ahead

So what did people think about the first episode of the Thirteenth Doctor?

I like how the Doctor was more of a mystery-solving sleuth, something that was endearing with Classic Who that some might say was not as strong in the New Who series (which have been more action based). Also interesting to see the Doctor attempting to crack this mystery and save the world all while dealing with post-regeneration stress/trauma. I like how the new companions are just random people who, through circumstance, are now with the Doctor. Hopefully it won't be revealed that they don't turn out to be some form of universal fate spanning Gary Stus/Mary Sues, which is something that we had with some of the more recent companions. And I hope that none of them will fall in love with the Doctor, cos that's also gotten old. But so far so good.

It was also cool seeing the Doctor attempt to solve the plot complications without immediate access to Time Lord technology (e.g. Tardis, sonic screwdriver). She had to rely on her wits, which was compounded by her post regenerative trauma. I also liked how the show hit a balance of not making the Doctor's gender change a big deal but at the same time also not completely ignoring it. The advantage of having all new companions is that they've only ever known her as a woman. They mostly cannot imagine the Doctor as a man. But at the same time, the Doctor realises that she's had a gender change - but of course, this is a natural thing for Time Lords to do (as we've seen happen with other Time Lords like the Corsair, the Master/Missy and that Time Lord General etc.). And there are minor things that the Doctor needs to contend with such as having shorter limbs, getting used to wearing women's clothes etc. The gender change is acknowledged but it's not a huge deal.

And importantly, we can still see elements of the Doctor's core personality being retained. Especially when she admonishes Karl for attempting to kill Tzim Sha (or as the Doctor kept on calling him, "Tim Shaw" ) - "You had no right to do that."←possibly one of the most emotionally powerful moments in the episode, said in a short, simple sentence.