Is nuWho too complicated for newbies?

Discussion in 'Doctor Who' started by Yminale, Sep 3, 2012.

  1. Ghost Bones

    Ghost Bones Captain Captain

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    Well it's not that is it, it's that it requires too much prior knowledge of what's happened in it before to be easily accessible to new viewers.
     
  2. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    Aside from River, I don't think there's anything all that complicated right now. River probably deserves watching the River episodes (maybe not the Angel two-parter, I suppose it isn't necessary).
     
  3. Brent

    Brent Admiral Admiral

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    I can't speak for your sister, only myself, but as an American I did not grow up with Doctor Who (plus I was born during the time it was in its hiatus anyways, wasn't alive during it's original run), but I might have seen a re-run ep or two as a kid on PBS, but I had no idea what it was or the back story it had.

    I honestly did not really introduced to it until nuWho. I liked what I saw, so I made every effort to learn all about the original run of the show. I was lucky to meet someone at a LANNING event who had all the episodes of the original series, including the audio's and whatnot from the lost episodes. So thanks to that wonderful person, I was able to watch all the old episodes of every Doctor, up to the new series. So I have a good grasp on what Doctor Who is all about, and how it all works. I have to say, comparing nuWho to the old series is a bit more "whacky" and all over the place, it's faster paced that's for sure especially under Moffat. But I'm still able to grasp what is going on, but there has been some really big arcs that were just never that big in the old series. I mean, destroying the whole universe and re-birthing it, that's just really out there. Of course then I am reminded of the old serial where basically the Doctor started the Big Bang in the first place :p But definitely things move at a faster pace now, than they did then. But also remember the serials of the old series lasted several episodes, so they were longer and more drawn out. I kinda look at the original series like it is more relaxed, and the new series is amped up more, faster paced, on adrenaline.
     
  4. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    DW isn't exactly losing viewers at a fast rate of knots. It's usually the most watched Drama show in the UK. Sure the BBC would love to have more viewers (what TV station doesn't) but the ratings are still healthy.

    A quick look at some of the ratings for DW show on average it looks like the viewing figure is in the 7-8m mark. Based on the overnight figure for "Asylum.... " and the fact that DW usually gets a strong time delayed viewing figure boost it looks like the final figure will easily be within the average viewer mark.
     
  5. Phily B

    Phily B Commodore Commodore

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    start with series 1 rather than the eleventh doctor

    RTD Who was designed to introduce viewers to the character and concepts
     
  6. Iamnotspock

    Iamnotspock Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Just throwing this out there; Has Doctor Who got too complicated?

    Also, from another interview;
     
  7. intrinsical

    intrinsical Commodore Commodore

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    Steven Moffat is keenly aware that The Doctor's mythology has gotten too complex and has been undoing a lot of changes that have been introduced over the past 6-7 years.
     
  8. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Lets be entirely serious here.

    Less complex means idiot friendly.

    Does that sound like a reward for being so studious?
     
  9. PorthosShadow

    PorthosShadow Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I wouldn't put it that way but that's what I was thinking. I'm sick and or tired of TV shows being dumbed down for people who are too lazy to go back and learn something about the mythology. As I wrote earlier in this thread, look it up. If the mythology is too complex for you then try American Idol. That should be right at your IQ level.
     
  10. Mr. Adventure

    Mr. Adventure Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Well. I'll admit getting a bit lost in all the crack/silence/River/astronaut/eyepatch/etc/etc stuff and I'm not sure how much of it has really been fully answered and addressed.
     
  11. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    That stuff made a whole lot more sense to me the second time around. The story still isn't over, though.
     
  12. Guy Gardener

    Guy Gardener Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Cracks = The TARDIS blew up just right to "shatter" the universe throughout all time and space. effect preceded and acceded cause.

    Astronauts = the Silents forced a series of events (the space program) so that mankind would invent a scuba suit for them. This is what man came up with.

    Eyepatch = Eyedrive. A lens that acts as external storage for your brain which retains information about the Silents for as long as you wearing it.

    Etc = Fish taco

    Etc = the Silence = religious order vs. The Silents = memory proof aliens. (BAH!) The Silents are members of the Silence.
     
  13. Cutter John

    Cutter John Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    I've gotten lost a time or two, for example during the Silence storyline, but I eventually figured out the basics after some thought, and perhaps a second or third viewing. Though I'm still a bit lost when it comes to River's timeline.

    In the end though, I agree with what someone said earlier. I'll take a show that I have to think about over one that handholds me through the plot any day.
     
  14. Methos

    Methos Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    found it all pretty simple honestly...

    So far we've had storylines stretching at most, 13 episodes or so... while that might be long or complicated for a modern audience, i've had no problems following it or understanding any of the storylines...

    people complaining about Doctor Who story arcs being too long... pft... remember the 70's and 80's episodes? One story was between 4 to 6 episodes long... and an arc... Well, The Key to Time arc covered:

    The Ribos Operation - 4 Episodes for one story
    The Pirate Planet - 4 Episodes for one story
    The Stones of Blood - 4 Episodes for one story
    The Androids of Tara - 4 Episodes for one story
    The Power of Kroll - 4 Episodes for one story
    The Armageddon Factor - 6 Episodes for one story

    And that was just one story arc... 26 episodes, so 2 new seasons worth of episodes, all continuing on from each other in one storyline... that was enjoyable and well written Who :D

    M
     
  15. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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    The Key To Time was a good storyline but then nobody liked the idea of a season long stor arc at least they had the benefit of two those stories being written by Robert Holmes. But on the new show River's story arc was stretched out over four years, she'd be a hard character for a newbie to understand at least to me.
     
  16. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Eh, how do you explain The Master, who has a much, much longer Arc? Or Time Lords and Gallifrey? Or the Evolution of the Daleks. There's a rich history throughout, that could be summed up in a sentence or two, or could be discussed for an hour
     
  17. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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    Outside of the Master trilogy I'd hardly call any of those storyarcs. But with River it was known that she'd gone to prison for murder and it wasn't til the end of the last season that we learned the how and why. But with River since we didn't know much about her ourselves she was hard to understand while they were filling out her storyline to try and explain it to somebody else.
     
  18. wamdue

    wamdue Admiral Admiral

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    Cant speak for the majority, but I was in the office on Monday, and a couple of the women I work with said they stopped watching "Asylum of the Daleks" as they found it confusing.

    FFS the episode was not a confusing watch, I saved my review and comments for the people in the office who did watch the whole thing.
     
  19. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Agreed.


    With regards to character arcs, to draw an anology. It's not the writers fault if you start reading a book in the middle and not at the start of the book.

    It's not like DW isn't on near constant re-runs on either BBC Three and/or Watch. So
     
  20. DWF

    DWF Admiral Admiral

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    If a newbie finds the show too complicated I can't see them watching the repeats. One of the nice things about the old show's format was that they started a new story every few weeks and you didn't need to keep up an entire season.