Doctor Who v. Patrick Troughton

[ariich]

Opener was awesome. Excellent twist, and much better-paced storytelling than most of last season - I do generally prefer Doctor Who when it has two-parters or longer story arcs as it feels so much less rushed. Definitely made me more excited for this season!

[abydos]

I did not really care for the .. twist. I don't think they'll top the last time they had that character so I was a bit disappointed in seeing how the episode unravaled. Hopefully I'm proven wrong.

[ProfessorPeart]

Bit of a dead thread, but some huge news in the world of Who.

https://ew.com/tv/doctor-who-russell-t-davies-returning-showrunner/

I've not had the issues with the show that many seem to, but I can't say that I'm not supremely excited for Russell to be back helming the show.

[abydos]

I'll definitely check out some of his stuff as the show has been stale and barely watchable for a few seasons and basically, nothing of JW's run was interesting for me, which was a shame as she had a nice performance.

[Kotowboy]

Peter Capaldi was my fave of the RTD Reboot era. I didn't see his final series or any of Jodie as I dont have a TV and you have to pay to watch iPlayer on catch up

and just never bothered to seek it out elsewhere...

[Lupton]

Peter Capaldi was my fave of the RTD Reboot era. I didn't see his final series or any of Jodie as I dont have a TV and you have to pay to watch iPlayer on catch up

and just never bothered to seek it out elsewhere...

Same here! Loved Capaldi. But for whatever reasons the general public did not take to him like they did Smith or Tennant and the show lost a lot of viewers and has never really recovered ratings-wise.

And Chris Chibnall's version of the show is pretty plain vanilla compared to all of Steven Moffat's time twisting plot convolutions. Lots of wooden naturalistic dialogue...almost as if it's being written for younger viewers who need to have everything we can clearly see on the screen to be explained to them as it's happening.

[Kotowboy]

I thought a lot of what I saw had a lot of Deus Ex Machina and a lot of episodes ending on a 'this is the worst thing that has ever happened ever' like every week.

It gets a bit tiresome after a while.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I think Chibnall's run has definitely been really weak, which is a shame because I think Jodi Whittaker could be an amazing Doctor if the writing actually backed her up, but I really don't know how to feel about Davies returning. For as much criticism as Moffat got for his big series arcs, I think Davies' were much much worse. I mean a fair bit of his stuff would be nearly unwatchable if it weren't for Eccleston or Tennant at least putting in fantastic performances.

Not to say he didn't have his hits along with his misses, of course, but....

Maybe Davies can showrun and Moffat can write the episodes. That's at least a template that's never led to anything short of great before.

[SoundscapeMN]

the show clearly got worse once Russel T Davies left.

I would have gone for J Michael Straczynski as Showrunner (it was talked about a few weeks ago), but having him reboot Babylon 5 instead, and RTD back with Doctor Who is probably better than just having JMS take over Doctor Who only.

[soupytwist]

the show clearly got worse once Russel T Davies left.

Disagree.  Moffat as showrunner, Smith as the Doctor and Amy + Rory as companions was the best period for me (that's seasons 5 & 6).

[ariich]

the show clearly got worse once Russel T Davies left.

Disagree.  Moffat as showrunner, Smith as the Doctor and Amy + Rory as companions was the best period for me (that's seasons 5 & 6).

Agreed.

And I've enjoyed Chibnall's run too, though less so than Davies and Moffat's. I didn't think the fully episodic/no story arc approach to series 11 really worked - for me, Doctor Who is the type of show that benefits from longer narratives, whether that's multi-part episodes or single episodes but with a strong story arc over the season. I liked series 12 more as a result and I thought the twist/revelation at the end was great.

[Polarbear]

I got into Doctor Who around the tail end of Matt Smith era.

Capaldi is easily my favorite doctor, and I followed the show actively through his run. Capaldi had almost a "Clint Eastwood" like intensity to his approach to the doctor. I have no idea how the show lost so many viewers during his run.

I have to be honest, I don't think I've seen a single Jodie Whitaker episode in it's entirety..

[Kotowboy]

I have no idea how the show lost so many viewers during his run.

Probably all the teen girls going EWWW HES OLD LOL!!!!! and No longer being Matt Smith or some other floppy haired young dude.

I think they should go older than Peter next time. Just to really rub it in.

" You've had the Doctor you SAID you wanted - but you still complained. . We're going old school. The first three Doctors were all old dudes..."

Imagine Patrick Stewart or Ian McKellen as the next Doctor.  Or some other English Shakespearean Actor like Ken Brannagh.

[soupytwist]

The rating were sliding during the end of the Matt Smith era.  I think the reason is simply this was the time streaming TV really started to take off (in the UK at least) - and TV show quality ramped up with massive budget - all of a sudden Doctor Who no longer seemed top tier TV.

[ariich]

The rating were sliding during the end of the Matt Smith era.  I think the reason is simply this was the time streaming TV really started to take off (in the UK at least) - and TV show quality ramped up with massive budget - all of a sudden Doctor Who no longer seemed top tier TV.

I think that's probably right. Doctor Who has always been a show with production values that have been good for its budget, and it's got away with it because most shows even at the higher-budget end still didn't look that great. But suddenly once literally millions of dollars an episode were being invested and shows looked comparable with Hollywood movies, a gulf in quality opened up.

It's never bothered me, some of the effects in the first rebooted series were so terrible but I've always watched it for the narrative and the creativity and the characters. But I can see how people who were less into it had their attention pulled away to other things.

[Kotowboy]

I can forgive bad TV fx if the story and acting are good and for the most part - Capaldi's first 2 seasons were great. The one where he is stuck in his confession dial

for 4 billion years was amazing. And the one where they're stuck on a train and he's channeling Tom Baker.

[hefdaddy42]

I don't have any problems with Davies, but I preferred the Moffat era overall.

Either way, I look forward to better storytelling than we've gotten for the last several years.

[masterthes]

So, looks like Doctor Who is coming out with an all star monster episode called Flux on Halloween, featuring new baddies called Ravages

[ariich]

So, looks like Doctor Who is coming out with an all star monster episode called Flux on Halloween, featuring new baddies called Ravages

Actually Flux is the name of series 13. It's a single 6-parter story. But yes the first episode airs on Halloween, which is quite fun.

[SoundscapeMN]

new Doctor cast
https://twitter.com/i/events/1523290964462252032

Ncuti Gatwa, the 1st Black Doctor, and the 3rd from Scotland.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6967441/

Kind of an unknown, but it's probably a good thing

[Adami]

Not a doctor who guy but he was fantastic in Sex Ed.

[abydos]

Hopefully the writing they give him is better, Whitaker was wasted on what they came up with.

[soupytwist]

Not a doctor who guy but he was fantastic in Sex Ed.

Surprises me.  I'd have thought it'd be your thing.

[ProfessorPeart]

Hopefully the writing they give him is better, Whitaker was wasted on what they came up with.

I mean, with Davies back in charge, I really didn't care who the next Doctor was since I kind of expect it to be really good.

[Adami]

Not a doctor who guy but he was fantastic in Sex Ed.

Surprises me.  I'd have thought it'd be your thing.

I知 a completionist. So if I start a show, I have to watch all of it. No way I can do that with Dr. Who so Ive just avoided it.

[soupytwist]

Not a doctor who guy but he was fantastic in Sex Ed.

Surprises me.  I'd have thought it'd be your thing.

I知 a completionist. So if I start a show, I have to watch all of it. No way I can do that with Dr. Who so Ive just avoided it.

The easy thing to do is to treat the old and new versions as separate shows and start with Chris Eccleston when it was brought back in 2006(?).  It was written as a fresh start so new fans could enjoy it without prior lore of the original run.

[Adami]

Not a doctor who guy but he was fantastic in Sex Ed.

Surprises me.  I'd have thought it'd be your thing.

I知 a completionist. So if I start a show, I have to watch all of it. No way I can do that with Dr. Who so Ive just avoided it.

The easy thing to do is to treat the old and new versions as separate shows and start with Chris Eccleston when it was brought back in 2006(?).  It was written as a fresh start so new fans could enjoy it without prior lore of the original run.

Nope haha. Sadly my brain doesn't work that way. Plus, even if I did do that, that's 16 years of a show? I ain't got that time. I have Star Trek to watch!

[soupytwist]

Not a doctor who guy but he was fantastic in Sex Ed.

Surprises me.  I'd have thought it'd be your thing.

I知 a completionist. So if I start a show, I have to watch all of it. No way I can do that with Dr. Who so Ive just avoided it.

The easy thing to do is to treat the old and new versions as separate shows and start with Chris Eccleston when it was brought back in 2006(?).  It was written as a fresh start so new fans could enjoy it without prior lore of the original run.

Nope haha. Sadly my brain doesn't work that way. Plus, even if I did do that, that's 16 years of a show? I ain't got that time. I have Star Trek to watch!

It's a British show - we don't produce 22 episodes a year!

[ZirconBlue]

Not a doctor who guy but he was fantastic in Sex Ed.

Surprises me.  I'd have thought it'd be your thing.

I知 a completionist. So if I start a show, I have to watch all of it. No way I can do that with Dr. Who so Ive just avoided it.

The easy thing to do is to treat the old and new versions as separate shows and start with Chris Eccleston when it was brought back in 2006(?).  It was written as a fresh start so new fans could enjoy it without prior lore of the original run.

Nope haha. Sadly my brain doesn't work that way. Plus, even if I did do that, that's 16 years of a show? I ain't got that time. I have Star Trek to watch!

It's a British show - we don't produce 22 episodes a year!

And there wasn't even a "season" every year.  It's probably the equivalent of 7 or 8 US TV seasons.

[soupytwist]

Soft reboot incoming after the rather disappointing Jodie Whittaker era - not really her fault, the new showrunner (Chris Chibnell) was terrible.

But we are going back to Tennant as the Doctor for 3 specials starting tomorrow (also the 60th anniversary of the show).  After these specials a new series will start next year with a new Doctor in Ncuti Gatwa - all of this is with Russell T Davies returning as showrunner.

Even though I'm more of a Smith/Moffat era guy myself, this is still very exciting after the poor Chibnell era.  The extra money poured into from Disney (it's going to appear on Disney+) should help too.

[abydos]

Halfway through Capaldi's run and after I've kind of lost interest, even in getting Tennant back which is my favourite. If they've kept the same writing team, I'll probably pass as they were pretty terrible or just ran out of ideas.

[DoctorAction]

I'll watch these specials and the new guy come in as I loved it as a kid. After that, we'll just see.

[Jamesman42]

It looks like old seasons will not be on Disney+. Boo.

Seems like to catch up I have to buy them on Amazon.

[chknptpie]

It looks like old seasons will not be on Disney+. Boo.

Seems like to catch up I have to buy them on Amazon.

I've been doing a run through from Season 1 with Eccleston on HBO. I think I would rank these modern day doctors/series:

Tennant - I think I most prefer companion Donna episodes
Smith - the entire River Song stuff is great, huge story arcs and touching moments
Eccleston - solid story arc, Rose is great
Whittaker - She's very likable, but the show is even more preachy and repetitive. Oh another Dalek or Cybermen episode.... again....
Capaldi - So hard to watch. Once the Impossible Girl stuff was over with Clara, it was a mess

[jammindude]

It looks like old seasons will not be on Disney+. Boo.

Seems like to catch up I have to buy them on Amazon.

I bought the first 11 complete seasons (of the revival show) on DVD for $100. I will never have a problem accessing them ever again.