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Anyone else bored of "Elizabethan Era" episodes?

^Well for starters it means you don't have to come up with some cockamayme alien for every, single episode.

Seriously what you you prefer? the slitheen taking over Watford or Alan rickman as some 18th Century pirate Captain?
 
^Well for starters it means you don't have to come up with some cockamayme alien for every, single episode.

Seriously what you you prefer? the slitheen taking over Watford or Alan rickman as some 18th Century pirate Captain?

I want Alan Rickman as an 18th Century pirate captain doing battle with a Slitheen with the Doctor's help. ;)
 
I would like to go back to historical eras, but PLEASE, can we just have a simple historical story? Every event in Earth's history doesn't have to have a CGI monster lurking around in the background.

But it's Doctor Who, it's been that way since the mid-sixties. The chances of having a straight forward historical story are remote.

Actually the last one was in 1982, it was called Black Orchid.

What was really all that historical about it? It just didn't have an alien in it. Yeah, it took place in the 20s and they mentioned the Charleston, but it was basically irrelevant to the plot. Hell, the fact that there was a timelord in it was irrelevant to the plot. The whole thing looked like a made for TV Agatha Christie movie.

A lot of historicals weren't that good, to be honest. Not that they set the bar very high with the remaining episodes in the Unearthly Child serial.

Don't get me wrong, I think they should add some variety for when and where they go, but there's nothing wrong with aliens showing up in the past.
 
But it's Doctor Who, it's been that way since the mid-sixties. The chances of having a straight forward historical story are remote.

Actually the last one was in 1982, it was called Black Orchid.

What was really all that historical about it? It just didn't have an alien in it. Yeah, it took place in the 20s and they mentioned the Charleston, but it was basically irrelevant to the plot. Hell, the fact that there was a timelord in it was irrelevant to the plot. The whole thing looked like a made for TV Agatha Christie movie.

A lot of historicals weren't that good, to be honest. Not that they set the bar very high with the remaining episodes in the Unearthly Child serial.

Don't get me wrong, I think they should add some variety for when and where they go, but there's nothing wrong with aliens showing up in the past.

I liked the cricket game, but the rest of the episode really lagged, even for an old series episode.

However, I think that there may indeed be clever ways to do episodes which take place in Earth's past WITHOUT aliens, but still involve a few slips of fantasy or science fiction.

I do think that efforts to avoid a cookie-cutter "alien of the week...RUN!" format is always a good idea.

Acknowledging that the show does rely of goofy monsters and running down hallways is fine, but embracing a factory-line plastic product under the argument "That IS what Doctor Who has always been" is just a mistake.

And I strongly disagree that "Without aliens, history is stale and boring and no child or young adult could give a toss." I think science is exciting, economics is not dull, and history...REAL non-fiction history was more excitement at certain parts then ten RTD finales combined.

If any show could find a great way to present a slice of history in a way that was interesting and engaging for young minds, without relying on vampires or aliens, it's Doctor Who.
 
But it's Doctor Who, it's been that way since the mid-sixties. The chances of having a straight forward historical story are remote.

Actually the last one was in 1982, it was called Black Orchid.

What was really all that historical about it? It just didn't have an alien in it. Yeah, it took place in the 20s and they mentioned the Charleston, but it was basically irrelevant to the plot. Hell, the fact that there was a timelord in it was irrelevant to the plot. The whole thing looked like a made for TV Agatha Christie movie.
You make that sound like a bad thing!
 
Actually the last one was in 1982, it was called Black Orchid.

What was really all that historical about it? It just didn't have an alien in it. Yeah, it took place in the 20s and they mentioned the Charleston, but it was basically irrelevant to the plot. Hell, the fact that there was a timelord in it was irrelevant to the plot. The whole thing looked like a made for TV Agatha Christie movie.
You make that sound like a bad thing!

Sure, but where's the giant wasp?
 
What was really all that historical about it? It just didn't have an alien in it. Yeah, it took place in the 20s and they mentioned the Charleston, but it was basically irrelevant to the plot. Hell, the fact that there was a timelord in it was irrelevant to the plot. The whole thing looked like a made for TV Agatha Christie movie.
You make that sound like a bad thing!
Sure, but where's the giant wasp?
Agatha Christie doesn't need no stinkin' giant wasp.
 
Black Orchid didn't have an alien, but did feature a monster...sort of ;)

Why on Earth would you want Alan Rickman and the Slitheen? Who really has to gwet away from the cookie cutter alien of the week forumla eventually.

Love and Monsters would have been way better without the Absorbaloff.

White the Krillitaines are there in the background it's Anthony Stewart Head who makes them a threat, and he never changes into the winged version. He could have been just as malevolant without being an alien.

A historical could be every bit as exciting as a sci-fi epic, all it takes is imagination in the writing, direction and casting.
 
A writer of the Moff's calibur should have no problem pulling off a good story without monsters. If he really wanted to. If theres a strong enough protagonist, I'm sure no one would even notice.
And personally I kinda liked Black Orchid. Sure it wasn't the most original story, and apparently the cast hated it. But it was nice seeign the crew actually having fun for a change, instead of the usual being jumped by guards and locked up five minutes after they arrive.

Oh yeah, who remembers the mud beast from Caves of Androzani? Worst shoehorning in of a monster ever.
 
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^ Yup on the robot front.

I quite liked Black Orchid myself. Nice change of pace and something different if nothing else. Might have been awful asa four parter but it has a certain charm for just 50 minutes.
 
Oh yeah, who remembers the mud beast from Caves of Androzani? Worst shoehorning in of a monster ever.
I'm an Androzani nut but nevertheless managed to block the memory of old Muddybollocks the Crap Beastie. Until now. Dammit.

:D
 
Count me in as someone who'd love to see a historical Who. Having just watched the entire run of nuWho, "Doctor Who - Monster Fighter" is getting a little stale. Not to mention idiotic that there seems to be no period of time in which aliens (and I'm not talking one race, but many) were not on Earth.

The defense for this seems to be the Lucas defense of "it's aimed at young children"...never mind that nuWho has had a higher body count than the same number of eps of TNG, which wasn't a "childrens" show.

It's sloppy and as someone said above, Who is going to have to start coming up with a some new stuff to stay interesting.
 
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