8x10 In the Forest of the Night (Grading/Discussion) SPOILERS!

[Ar-Pharazon]

I watched the classic series over 30 years ago. If I see one of those classic eps now, I think it's so slow & plodding I can't believe I used to be able to make it through the whole thing.

I still enjoy them, but it's hard to sit through most of them now. Sure, some of the nu-series eps could use a little more padding out.

 

[Richard Baker]

I watched the classic series over 30 years ago. If I see one of those classic eps now, I think it's so slow & plodding I can't believe I used to be able to make it through the whole thing.

I still enjoy them, but it's hard to sit through most of them now. Sure, some of the nu-series eps could use a little more padding out.

I introduced my Fiance to Dr. Who with 'Rose'- she loves the show and since we have no cable we buy each new episode on Amazon Prime. I tried to show her a couple of the classic shows (Tom Baker era) and she hated them- "Looked like a high school play" was how she described it. Since I started watching in that era it never bothered me- like ignoring the puppet strings in Thunderbirds.
The Tom Baker era I have a special fondness for- I got a chance to visit his TARDIS set when it was at an exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology in London. I twas part of an exhibit on how they did SFX in films and TV. Saw fog machines, cobweb sprayers, then I found myself walking past a wall of glowing hemispheres and onto what appeared to be the bridge of a starship (I had never seen the show before and thought this was just a demo mock-up like the haunted mill I just left). There were some walls where the camera was normally- one was a window into space showing several spacecraft miniatures flying in formation, one had a view of a planet with Cyberman, Dalek and a couple of other aliens and this interesting hexagonal console in the center, They had protective covers over some of it, but some of the controls you could activate. It was a couple of months later I saw my first Dr. Who on the local PBS channel and there was the same set with Tom Baker at the controls. Despite the advances in production his era is still one of my favorites...

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Trying to make the dates in Doctor Who work is really tricky. They've even joked about the whole UNIT dating mess a few times in the series, such as The Sontaran Strategem and Day of the Doctor.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

I have the opposite reaction to the Classic Dr. Who. I first saw the franchise in the 1980s on a PBS station. The only episode I had difficulty with was "Colony in Space". (I am strange, for I like "The Web Planet".)

 

[Velocity]

I watched the classic series over 30 years ago. If I see one of those classic eps now, I think it's so slow & plodding I can't believe I used to be able to make it through the whole thing.

I still enjoy them, but it's hard to sit through most of them now. Sure, some of the nu-series eps could use a little more padding out.

I introduced my Fiance to Dr. Who with 'Rose'- she loves the show and since we have no cable we buy each new episode on Amazon Prime. I tried to show her a couple of the classic shows (Tom Baker era) and she hated them- "Looked like a high school play" was how she described it. Since I started watching in that era it never bothered me- like ignoring the puppet strings in Thunderbirds.
The Tom Baker era I have a special fondness for- I got a chance to visit his TARDIS set when it was at an exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology in London. I twas part of an exhibit on how they did SFX in films and TV. Saw fog machines, cobweb sprayers, then I found myself walking past a wall of glowing hemispheres and onto what appeared to be the bridge of a starship (I had never seen the show before and thought this was just a demo mock-up like the haunted mill I just left). There were some walls where the camera was normally- one was a window into space showing several spacecraft miniatures flying in formation, one had a view of a planet with Cyberman, Dalek and a couple of other aliens and this interesting hexagonal console in the center, They had protective covers over some of it, but some of the controls you could activate. It was a couple of months later I saw my first Dr. Who on the local PBS channel and there was the same set with Tom Baker at the controls. Despite the advances in production his era is still one of my favorites...

Mine too! Part of its charm is the cheesy sets and monsters. I'd catch it late at night after the kids were in bed. My first Dr. Who was Tom Baker and I totally loved it. Back then, we also watched local Creature Features with goofy hosts dressing up and selling siding during some commercial breaks, so cheese wasn't as despised and disparaged.

 

[Mr Awe]

I have no problem at all watching Classic Who, it's what I grew up with. Although unlike Lakenheath, I'm currently rewatching The Web Planet and it is a slog. However, I did fully enjoy Colony in Space!

My wife likes new Doctor Who but can't stand the Classic series. At this point, I think it's an acquired taste.

Mr Awe

 

[Lakenheath 72]

One of my issues with this season was that there was little detail on Sgt. Pink's service in Afghan. I was reading on Den of Geek that this will be addressed in the next episode, of which I am glad that they are finally addressing. (The episoder's reviewer wrote a spoiler-free review of "Dark Water" that mentioned this part of the episode.)

I don't like the anti-soldier bias this season. There are many soldiers who don't follow orders blindly, who will stand opposed to what they have been ordered to do. I know of good men, from reading history, who at the Sand Creek Massacre and the My Lai Massacre stood between the men who obeyed the orders and the victims of these men. These good men had consciences, who were troubled by what they experienced.

I am hoping that Sgt. Pink is portrayed as one of these good men.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Don't get me wrong, I love classic Who too, I grew up on it.

But, I can understand the issue some people might have that have only seen the nu series.

 

[The Wormhole]

Actually, I'm wondering how the Twelfth Doctor's attitude towards soldiers is going to go with this finale two parter featuring UNIT. With Kate Stewart also showing up, I wonder if anyone is going to comment the Doctor is okay with the Brigadier despite, you know, being a soldier.

One of my issues with this season was that there was little detail on Sgt. Pink's service in Afghan. I was reading on Den of Geek that this will be addressed in the next episode, of which I am glad that they are finally addressing. (The episoder's reviewer wrote a spoiler-free review of "Dark Water" that mentioned this part of the episode.)

I don't like the anti-soldier bias this season. There are many soldiers who don't follow orders blindly, who will stand opposed to what they have been ordered to do. I know of good men, from reading history, who at the Sand Creek Massacre and the My Lai Massacre stood between the men who obeyed the orders and the victims of these men. These good men had consciences, who were troubled by what they experienced.

I am hoping that Sgt. Pink is portrayed as one of these good men.

Honestly, the impression I get from what we know of Danny's past so far is just that he was in a firefight in which a civilian was accidently killed, perhaps definitively from a bullet Danny fired himself. Presumably it was a legitimate accident, the civilian wandering somewhere he/she shouldn't have been, and straying into the line of fire, to explain why Danny didn't face any disciplinary action or even prison time, but naturally this is something that would haunt Danny and make him feel guilty over. I don't think there's anything more to the story than that. While I don't doubt Danny would gladly disobey orders from a superior officer he felt were wrong, I just don't think he was ever in that situation during his military service. Just a bad situation which turned worse due to the effect it had on non-combatants.

 

[Mr Awe]

^ I'm wondering that too. Could be interesting between that and a showdown with Pink.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I came on OldWho after NuWho, and I was fairly older with both - and I like both. Its the stories - stories like Genesis of the Daleks and Talons of Weing-Chiang work enormously well, despite the cheap effects and longer running time, cause they entertain throughout. Stories like Web Planet are really terrible, not just because of the horrid pace and ludicrous costumes, but also because of the STORY. The story is asinine, at best. And the same goes to many other DW.

 

[Mr Awe]

I'd say that the idea behind the story for Web Planet was fine--insect life and a grow, evil kind of cancer that is polluting the planet. Pretty interesting in fact. However, they simply didn't have the resources necessary to pull it off successfully. So, what we got were a bunch of people standing around talking in funny costumes. (And what was the need to make the surface of the planet look blurry?! Apparently they put vaseline over a lens filter for that effect.)

Mr Awe

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Its simply too long. 3, maybe 4 episodes would be fine. But 6 episodes? So boring.

 

[Mr Awe]

Length is one of the problems.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

With a few exceptions (Such as The Gunfighters), I think that the Hartnell era did the historical stuff better than the sci-fi stuff. Sure they still had limited sets and stock footage on ocassion, but I thought the performances and costumes worked well for the most part. Even stories which mixed sci-fi content with historical stuff (Such as the Time Meddler) also worked out OK I think.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

My personal theory has always been that The Web Planet is the closest thing to Lord of the Rings that Doctor Who has engendered, but I've never found anyone who agrees with me.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

Yeah, I agree. I think its because BBC has always been good at portraying period times on TV, and sci-fi was still unmarked territory.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Yeah I think it helped that they could recycle the props/costumes from period dramas. Recycling props of course is something that WHO has always done, even in the new series. The classic Dalek props are a good example of this, by the 80s they were still using parts of casing from the 60's-and other props such as the Earthshock human helmets saw a large amount of use as well.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

My personal theory has always been that The Web Planet is the closest thing to Lord of the Rings that Doctor Who has engendered, but I've never found anyone who agrees with me.

I agree. I think The Web Planet is highly underrated. It's a very ambitious serial whose greatest fault is its obvious budget restraints.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

I could not disagree more. The story was tedious and boring.