The new Doctor Who

[vidster 10]

Well i will try applying the rule of Serial TV, and watch another episode or two but that one was painful to watch in places .

[metalman 21]

I thought it was OK - but unless my memory deceives me, Doctor Who used to have something called a plot, which this didn't. Otherwise I'm prepared to give it another watch for the next episode or two. It wasn't the utter disaster I'd feared at least.

[JoeP 11]

Following Dr Who, I then flicked channels and found myself watching the first episode of 'Farscape'.

 

So, with Dr Who you have an existing franchise, main character already partially defined. With Farscape you have new characters, new universe, new everything.

 

The Farscape script beat the pants of the Dr Who script.

 

Watching Farscape has left me rather less sanguine about the future of Dr Who unless they really pull their fingers out with the writing.

 

Joe

[evildrneil 14]

I give it a 5 out of 10 - it had a good beat and you could dance to it! Ermmm OK maybe not - but amusing if predictable - certainly rather better than I was fearing!

[Lestat 10]

I thought it was abit of a mish-mash script. The plot was pants and the acting was over the top and I would like to know why Billie Piper would have such a goon for a boyfriend????? . . . ok, before you say it - I know she went out with Chris Evans!

 

I was really looking forward to Dr Who, especially remembering the great dark & atmospheric episodes from the past. This unfortunately was below par.

 

Also, did anyone notice the music was different! I thought they were going to keep the old theme??... it was jazzed up!

[StarSparkle 10]

Originally posted by Ant

I had the impression this guy was a nod towards the hardcore Dr Who fans (Whovians? Can't quite remember what they call themselves). I don't know why, but I had the impression that he was meant to represent them.

 

I think it was a pretty good start. Slightly too much humour, possibly, but generally it looks very promising. Not quite sure about the concept of the stretchy skin lady (is it right she's meant to have had too many face lifts? Sounds a bit naff to me), but we'd see.

 

Well - Christopher Eccleston's shaping up very well as the new doctor, and Billie Piper's not bad as the new assistant.

 

Other than that .....

 

The script was very self-conscious and the 'humour' didn't fit in at all well. I thought the 'Whovian' character was really taking the michael out of Dr Who fans - the JFK assassination photo was just too much.

 

There was no love there and it was cringingly embarrassing in places. Nor did it seem to know if it was aiming at kids or adults.

 

Let's have a story next time .....

 

5/10 purely for Christopher Eccleston.

 

StarSparkle

[vidster 10]

Originally posted by JoeP

Following Dr Who, I then flicked channels and found myself watching the first episode of 'Farscape'.

 

So, with Dr Who you have an existing franchise, main character already partially defined. With Farscape you have new characters, new universe, new everything.

 

The Farscape script beat the pants of the Dr Who script.

 

Watching Farscape has left me rather less sanguine about the future of Dr Who unless they really pull their fingers out with the writing.

 

Joe

 

And so the merry-go-round comes back to Farscape again and once again i'll say Farscape is without doubt the best sci-fi series made in modern times(IMO), and like Joe points out. If Farscape couldn't survive, Dr Who will need a miracle to succeed (based on this first episode obviously)

[JoeP 11]

And there's more.....

 

That whole stuff with the Whovian just gets worse the more I think about it.

 

If they were going to do something with such a character they could have had him digging stuff out about the Doctor and his involvement with UNIT and similar things in previous years - sort of establishing a link to the Jon Pertwee / Tom Baker years. They might have even saved him for a whole episode - sort of like 'The Lone Gunmen' in The X Files.

 

When I heard some time ago that Russell T Davis was to be involved in the script writing I was a little worried, because I would have preferred a writer grounded in serial science fiction to get the thing off the ground.

 

I need to get a life....

 

Joe

[Mo 10]

Disappointing start to this new series and the story wasn't even original. The dummies came to life in the same way in a series perhaps 35 years ago.

 

Will watch again next week to see if things improve.

[JoeP 11]

What's even worse with the Autons is that they just about repeated the scenes when the mannequins came out of the windows shot for shot (pun unintended).

 

The original series was one of the Jon Pertwee ones, I think, and I seem to remember that questions were raised in the House of Commons about whether it was suitable viewing for children.

 

And how the devil did Billie Piper's boyfriend get from the dustbin to the alien base? And how did the Tardis get there? Oh heck....here I go again....

 

Joe

[Rich 12]

Maybe the mutant wheelie bin WAS the alien base?

[WallBuilder 10]

I liked it for the most part [not the interior of the TARDIS] We're all going to be comparing it with our favorite doctor and it had to start somewhere and give us a good introduction to the new characters. The special effects have definitely improved and I just hope and pray K9 doesn't put in an appearance. I also liked the humour and would like to bet that the younger audience it is aimed at will of enjoyed it and will probably be eyeing up the window mannequins suspiciously next time they're out shopping with their mum! I'm also hoping this new assistant wont be as brain dead as many of the doctors previous ones were, i.e. the doctor tells them not to do something and they immediately go and do it,[those annoying screams of terror from more than a few of the assistants] I'm going to be watching next week with the emergenct rations behind the sofa ready for when the Daleks appear.