A Hater Revisits nuWho

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by Bones2, Nov 30, 2009.

  1. Jax

    Jax Admiral Admiral

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    The only reason I put Nu for doctor Who is because I consider the shows two different things. Despite being the same cannon universe there is so much of a gap between the last season in the 80's and the 2005 one its a soft reboot/relaunch without tacking it away from the universe its set in. I don't consider myself a fan of the old one, I was born in 1987 my childhood had no Doctor Who so I like to put NuWho to keep the two seperate.

    There are so many gems within the last 5 years of Doctor Who, I hope you watch them and for fans of the old "School Reunion" in season 2 you should like. I personally find these episodes to be the top standout of the 21st century Who...

    * The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances
    * Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways
    * The Christmas Invasion
    * The Girl in the Fireplace
    * The Impossible Planet/Satans Pit
    * Army of Ghosts/Doomsday
    * Blink
    * Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Timelords
    * The Fires of Pompeii
    * Planet of the Ood
    * Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead
    * The Stolen Earth/Journeys End

    IMO they are the best of the best from 2005-2009 though am sure I will add The End of Time to that list come January 2nd 2010.

    Rose was a soft opener and the 1st proper episode of Who I can remember watching but it was enough to keep me watching the show and the 1st season was there to help RTD find his feet. DT reign has kicked DW into top gear and I love how epic the show can feel at times yet the Doctor seems the loneliest character ever.
     
    Last edited: Dec 2, 2009
  2. Bacl

    Bacl Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Wow, I agree with your list 110% except for The Stolen Earth/Journeys End, which I disagree with 110%. Heh. Interesting.
     
  3. The Mirrorball Man

    The Mirrorball Man Vice Admiral Admiral

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    How about making the extra effort and typing "new"?
     
  4. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    I have absolutely no problem recognizing the current show as a separate program (but still a continuation of the classic series) and I simply refer to the two as the Classic Series and New Series. My beef is with the prefix "nu."

    Bingo.
     
  5. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Hey I've been wondering. Since EMH was away from the board for a while, should he not have changed his user name to reflect this difference between the EMH that was and the EMH that is?

    I dunno...

    NuEMH?

    (Ducks!)
     
  6. Orac Zen

    Orac Zen Mischief Manager Super Moderator

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    nuMeh would work, too. :devil: :D
     
  7. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    You're both dead to me. :borg:
     
  8. Jax

    Jax Admiral Admiral

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    NewWho two ww's nah :p I am very comfortable with my Nu if other people aren't then they are more than allowed to stay up at night to worry about it.
     
  9. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Sorry!:hugegrin:
     
  10. The Mirrorball Man

    The Mirrorball Man Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Hey, don't worry, "nu" is kul. There are only a fu of us who don't like that spelling. Just, you know, me and my cru. I guess we're scrud.

    Now excewse me, I'm gonna eat an Irish stu, and make sure I chu properly.
     
  11. Bones2

    Bones2 Commodore Commodore

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    As I say, I'm no big fan of the spelling, but...well, there it is. It's what people use, and so have I.

    Anyway, I should be watching The End of the World today or tomorrow, so that review should be here soon.
     
  12. Count Zero

    Count Zero No nation but procrastination Moderator

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    I prefer "The End of the World" over "Rose", too. That was the episode that hooked me on the series. (Before sitting down to watch "Rose", I had never seen a snippet of Doctor Who.) "Rose" wasn't bad, though. I thought it was a bit weird but intriguing.
     
  13. Chaos Descending

    Chaos Descending Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Drink some Irn Bru.
     
  14. Orac Zen

    Orac Zen Mischief Manager Super Moderator

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    In my case, that's hardly news. :p

    Or should that be "nus"? :D
     
  15. Captain Pike

    Captain Pike Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    TBH I didn't find End of the World to be that big of an improvement over Rose. At times it seemed very kiddie-oriented with all the blue munchkins running around to carnival music, the novelty aliens who spit at people and such. I never really warmed to the talking patch of skin gag either, and the garish pop-music made me wince (was it Britney Spears or some similar rubbish?).

    About the only slightly redeeming moment came when the tree lady confronted the doctor about who he was and Eccelston shed a tear for his fellow timelords.

    In fact it wouldn't be until the next episode, The Unquiet Dead, that the new series showed it's full potential and I would truely accept this new incarnation as being the real deal. That for me was the first good episode.
     
  16. The Castellan

    The Castellan Commodore Commodore

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    :bolian:

    Plus the gay stuff does not feel forced to me.

    My only gripe is that 5 billion years from now, people wear the same clothes we do now. :rommie:

    I want to see the story where humanity actually has the first contact with aliens. I bring this up cause one character I liked at first, Harriot Jones, showed promise to be a great leader, according to what the Doctor was saying about starting a new golden age under her direction, but in Tennent's first story, when an alien race is discovered, she asked the millitary guys, "do you got acover story ready?" I hated that character from then on. Double that for what she did to the aliens at the end of that story, and I'm glad the Doctor was able to set in motion her getting kicked out of office.

    I also do hope we get to see some more classic creatures, like the Zygons, the Kraals, the Fendahl, Sutek, and so on.


    It's a pity Eccleston's time as the Doctor was short, he was the better of the two (I'm really getting tired of hearing Tennent saying, "I'm so sorry!" each time he sees a dead guy.), and he reminds me of Tom Baker in many ways, who was my favorite Doc. :cool:
     
  17. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Yes and having Harriet Jones kicked out of office had no detrimental effects on the UK and planet Earth did it? Cough Harold Saxon, Cough Prime Minister Green.

    Made 10 seem like a sanctimoneous arse from the get go, and I always felt Harriet Jones was very badly done by by RTD, so I was glad he gave her some redemption in Journey's End.
     
  18. Captain Pike

    Captain Pike Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Agreed that Harriet Jones was shafted..
     
  19. Count Zero

    Count Zero No nation but procrastination Moderator

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    I liked that about "Christmas Invasion", that we got to see a darker side of the Doctor. Also, those few lines by him really made a point about how politics often work. Great stuff.
     
  20. Bones2

    Bones2 Commodore Commodore

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    The End of the World (**½)

    Here's the thing: 2 stars seems a tiny bit too low (especially considering how low Rose was in my esteem, and that got 1.5), but 2.5 seems a little bit too high. I'm not going to start going to quarters, so we'll call this 2.5. Dead on average then. And I suppose that sounds about right.

    So, we pick off immediately where Rose left off (that tacky slow motion shot of her grinning and running into the Tardis). And here comes the first gripe. In Rose, we never really saw the Tardis interior, but now we do. The Tardis interior looks ok I suppose, perhaps not my favourite (the TV Movie gothic is I think). But those controls? Good grief. As I said about Rose, however cheap classic Who was, as least it took itself seriously. This is just ridiculous.

    Right, so this is the first thing we're going to see of a different place, a different time, and...

    Well hang on, that looks like a recently built community center. Nice bit of wood panelling, but even playing a rip off of Pink Floyd's Cluster One won't convince me that this is what the year 5 billion will have for decor. This soon passes though, because then we get a look out of the window.

    And the CGI looks great, here and throughout the whole episode. I'm not sure I've ever seen such good CGI in a British TV show, and almost certainly not before 2005. Money well spent. We then get a shot of the station, and again, this is meant to be the year 5 billion? This could easily pass for within 500 years.

    So, the sun's going to expand and engulf the earth. I can't recall what they called the science of it here, but I don't think they were that technical. Rose says she saw about it on Newsroud Extra once, and said she thought it took hundreds of years, which either confirms that she really is an idiot, or that Newsround is really missing John Craven. Apparently the National Trust (not Planetary then) has been holding the sun back somehow, meaning they have technology that awesome, but still build space stations that look like scaffolding and cranes.

    We now get introduced to the psychic paper. For when pointing the sonic screwdriver at someone's head and pressing on just won't do. After this, they bring on the aliens, while silly music plays. Nothing especially original in the designs here, but at least they're convincing. The tree woman gives the Doctor a clipping of her grandfather (which if she gives to everyone she meets, means he must have been about the size of the Great Deku Tree from Ocarina of Time). The Doctor repays her with the air from his lungs. And considering Christmas is coming up, I'm at least greatful for the cheap gift ideas. The Mox of Balhoon (I'm guessing with the spelling there) gives some spit. We can all guess the next logical gift, but I think that was all used on the script for Rose.

    Then we meet the villain of the piece, Cassandra, the last human left. Though considering what she thinks of as an iPod and an ostrich, she may well be confusing human with trampoline. And if she's the last human, what are those guys with her meant to be? We later learn that she's the last "pure" human, so I suppose they could be "mongrel" humans who are still happy to work for what we're meant to believe is a racist.

    What I did like is that Rose freaks out. That's believable, but not everyone would have though of writing that in. After all, at the end of the last episode, she decides to just go away with some weird bloke in an anachronistic old box who sounds like he hates humans. That she later addresses how hasty and unwise this may have been in dialogue is a nice addition. And I still say Piper is a great actress, even if she doesn't pronounce a single "t" in the entire series.

    Also nice is the explanation of why everyone in Who seems to speak English. Yes, it relies on the idea of damn near impossible technology, but then, this isn't Star Trek.

    And so the rest of the episode plays out. One thing that is completely stupid, and is of great detriment to the episode, is the propellers that block the walkway. What idiot would design that? A walkway you can't walk along, but - oh no! - the Doctor has to get to the end of to save everyone. Either design the propellers 3 metres higher, the platform 3 metres lower, or don't put the controls in an impossible place. Eeeeeesh. Was this the best way of manufacturing tensions and excitement that RTD could come up with? As well as a clichéd saving just in time. I sure hope he was saving his good ideas for a later story.

    Ignoring that, and our second go with the impossible screwdriver (it computers around and opens a door, but only just in time, as per manufactured tension/excitement), what does work is the intrigue that builds up around the Doctor. Assuming this is in the same continuity as the classic shows (at the time, it looked like it could be either way), then poor old Galifrey's bitten the dust, due to some unnamed race. Hope we find out more.

    One other thing though: when the Doctor reversed the teleportation feed to bring Cassandra back, should that have brought back her servant moisturisers too? But then, that wouldn't suit the ending RTD wanted.

    So yeah, all in all, it was ok. Not great, not awful, but certainly a step up from Rose. 2.5 feels a little high, but it kept me entertained at least, and didn't have the awful attempts at humour that Rose had. This had something of the feel one would want from a new Doctor Who. Though I recall McCoy used to carry enough money to get by, whereas this guy doesn't. Maybe he thought he could just show psychic paper to chip shop workers, or use his sonic screwdriver to get a bite to eat. And have a look at the man selling the Big Issue at the end. He looks neither homeless, nor like he's even trying. Still, no gay reference this week (though we did get a sexual innuendo from the liana).

    Couple of notable bits of dialogue:
    Don't say that Doctor, people will realise how bloody stupid that propeller thing is.
    Hypocrite. Nah, I'm joking. Eccleston puts in a much better performance here than in Rose. Indeed, the Doctor even comes within driving distance of likeable.
    This episode all over, really.
     
     



    Extraordinary screwdriver:
    1. Stops plastic arm from receiving signal.
    2. Disengages computerised lock on door.