That would require deleting footage of Donna, and that is not acceptable. In fact, I believe that would give one the death sentence on twelve systems.
Favorite New Who Season
- Thread starter Mr Light
- Start date
That would require deleting footage of Donna, and that is not acceptable. In fact, I believe that would give one the death sentence on twelve systems.
Hear, hear.
Aside from "The Doctor's Daughter", I think every episode in Series Four is brilliant. It's easily the best overall for my money.
Series Three would be my second favorite. I liked Martha quite a bit (although I could have done without the unrequited love angle), and thought it's only really weak episode was "The Lazarus Experiment". I didn't really get into "The Shakespeare Code" that much but it does have its moments. The run from "Human Nature" to the end is incredible, "Last of the Time Lords" included. And while I'm outing myself on liking unpopular episodes, I thought "Daleks In Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks" was great. Pig men and all.
If you had asked me a few weeks ago, I'd have put Series Two on the bottom, but I just got it on DVD last week and rewatching it I found I liked it more than I remembered. It does suffer from having two of the weakest episodes in the series run ("Love & Monsters", which might have been okay with a better ending, and "Fear Her" which isn't really bad, just boring). Other than that, I find "New Earth" grows on me, and the rest is great. I see "Tooth and Claw" hasn't gotten much love to date in this thread, so I'll mention I think it is awesome as well.
That leaves Series One to pull up the rear. For me it is very consistently good but rarely hits the high points of the later seasons. Still, episodes like "Dalek", "Father's Day", "The Empty Child"/"The Doctor Dances", and "Bad Wolf"/"Parting of the Ways" are standouts so I can't call it a weak sister by any stretch. The main problem for me is Eccleston, who is fine but rates in the middle of the pack for me.
Four series and not a bad one in the bunch. Well done, RTD.
I think my biggest problem with The Unicorn and the Wasp was that it felt to me like I was watching a shitty, painfully witless and dull CITV drama from 1995. Everything about it evoked that feeling, from Gareth Robert's typically subtle-as-prick script to the horribly - utterly horrible - transitions used for flashbacks, which made me wonder if they'd raked about in the Television Centre storage room for the cheapest, creakiest looking video mixing desk they could find to achieve the desired effect.
Bah. Don't get me wrong, on the whole I love season 4, but I can't abide that episode. Or any of Gareth Roberts' writing. He seems to have the Midas shittouch.
Bah. Don't get me wrong, on the whole I love season 4, but I can't abide that episode. Or any of Gareth Roberts' writing. He seems to have the Midas shittouch.
The Shakespeare Code pissed me off too.
Science/magic based on words. Fine, it's Doctor Who, I'll go with that. The climax demands that an elusive but powerful word be used to cast the villains away. You have England's greatest playwright, a man who practically and single handedly invented our modern language, sitting there waiting to be utilised.
How does ol' Gareth end it? By having the Doctor utter a line plucked from the (tiresome populist shlock) works of J.K. FUCKING ROWLING. Maybe I should have seen it coming, the episode title itself being a play on the abysmal Dan Brown novel.
I might - MIGHT - have forgiven him if he'd nicked a word from Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman... both obvious and popular authors, but a fuck sight more respectable.
Fuck Gareth Roberts hard with an iron bar and fuck all of his work.
PS (Yeah, I know Stephen Fry would vehemently disagree with me about Harry Potter, but he's a Mac fan too - nobody's perfect
)
Science/magic based on words. Fine, it's Doctor Who, I'll go with that. The climax demands that an elusive but powerful word be used to cast the villains away. You have England's greatest playwright, a man who practically and single handedly invented our modern language, sitting there waiting to be utilised.
How does ol' Gareth end it? By having the Doctor utter a line plucked from the (tiresome populist shlock) works of J.K. FUCKING ROWLING. Maybe I should have seen it coming, the episode title itself being a play on the abysmal Dan Brown novel.
I might - MIGHT - have forgiven him if he'd nicked a word from Terry Pratchett or Neil Gaiman... both obvious and popular authors, but a fuck sight more respectable.
Fuck Gareth Roberts hard with an iron bar and fuck all of his work.
PS (Yeah, I know Stephen Fry would vehemently disagree with me about Harry Potter, but he's a Mac fan too - nobody's perfect
)
Well, at least The Shakespeare Code had Super Hans. You've gotta give at least that much credit.
I'd have to say season 4.
I second that. And I can't honestly call any of the other epsiodes "rubbish" either. There are lesser episodes, to be sure, but I've yet to turn away from a Doctor Who episode of the new series and say "I didn't like it." Unlike the classic series which had, in my opinion, its fair share of rubbish serials.
Every season has a lot to recommend it, and strong underlying themes, so I can't really choose one over the rest. Season 3 had Blink, but Season 2 had Girl in the Fireplace. Season 1 had Dalek and Father's Day and Empty Child, but Season 4 had Midnight, Stolen Earth and Journey's End (not to mention Voyage of the Damned which deserved theatrical release).
Can't choose - they're all equally good in my opinion.
What's with the Roberts bashing, btw? Last I read I thought they'd passed a law at Gallifrey One or something that said fans were only allowed to bash RTD?
Cheers!
Alex
It would have been ok...if Gareth Roberts hadn't already done the same story with the Shakespeare Code...well by the same story I mean the same kind of jokes re a famous writer 'inspired' by the Doctor and his companion
Ever consider that this is because that's what RTD instructed him to do?
TUATW is a good laugh if you're a Poirot fan...
But what do I know? I still think Voyage Of The Damned is the best Special so far.
I'm a huge fan of Poirot, so perhaps that's why I like the episode so much?It would have been ok...if Gareth Roberts hadn't already done the same story with the Shakespeare Code...well by the same story I mean the same kind of jokes re a famous writer 'inspired' by the Doctor and his companion
Ever consider that this is because that's what RTD instructed him to do?
TUATW is a good laugh if you're a Poirot fan...
But what do I know? I still think Voyage Of The Damned is the best Special so far.
As for "Voyage of the Damned," I liked the first half but then it went sharply downhill. I think "The Next Doctor" is better even though it suffers the same problem (but I loved the mystery of its first half).
After some of the beating that special has taken, I'm glad to see there are other fans of it. Of course, you're wrong, since Runaway Bride with The Donna is the best, but that's another story.
*raises hand*
Still hated it...
On a different note, this discussion is sort of refreshing. Makes a change from being made to feel like people are somehow dicks to the show if they don't love *every* *single* *episode*.
People do realise that it's out of love, yeah? You don't see me going into Voyager or Stargate forums to argue the toss about the specifics of episodes I disliked.
I've yet to "turn away" from an episode - they're all watchable. But there are some, which I've mentioned, that I'd be dishonest to call "good".
The classic series ran for considerably longer and I completely disagree that it had a significantly higher ratio of bad stories to good. There were clunkers then and there are clunkers now.
I haven't turned away from any episodes, but I came pretty close with "Daleks in Manhattan"/"Evolution of the Daleks."
On that, I completely agree. All of the Doctors had their share of clunkers. Yes, even The Fourth had his fair share, although some would disagree on which ones (cardinal bigglesand I agree that "The Horns of Nimons" is a lot of fun).
It would have been ok...if Gareth Roberts hadn't already done the same story with the Shakespeare Code...well by the same story I mean the same kind of jokes re a famous writer 'inspired' by the Doctor and his companion
Ever consider that this is because that's what RTD instructed him to do?
TUATW is a good laugh if you're a Poirot fan...
But what do I know? I still think Voyage Of The Damned is the best Special so far.
Yeah I realise RTD probably did instruct him to do it, but even his SJA episodes seem to feel somewhat samy. I don't think he's a bad writer (I love The Shakespeare Code) I just think maybe someone else should have done Agatha Christie.
I'm a huge fan of Poirot, so perhaps that's why I like the episode so much?It would have been ok...if Gareth Roberts hadn't already done the same story with the Shakespeare Code...well by the same story I mean the same kind of jokes re a famous writer 'inspired' by the Doctor and his companion
Ever consider that this is because that's what RTD instructed him to do?
TUATW is a good laugh if you're a Poirot fan...
But what do I know? I still think Voyage Of The Damned is the best Special so far.
As for "Voyage of the Damned," I liked the first half but then it went sharply downhill. I think "The Next Doctor" is better even though it suffers the same problem (but I loved the mystery of its first half).
Yeah, the Next Doctor has two issues for me, the first is that the mystery was cleared up too soon, but worse was the fact that poor old Jackson Lake went from central to the plot to irrelevent. And the bit where David Morrissey swung from lampost encouraging us all to cheer for the Doctor was cringe worthy. Lake should have been the hero of the episode, not the Doctor, winning through with nothing but a few scattered Timelord memories and a good heart. At the very least he should have been able to rescue his own son at the end rather than having the Doctor essentially do everything.
Personally I thought those two issues paled in comparison to the main issue ie the GIANT FUCKING MEGAZORD.
But yes, Lake should have got to be the hero, in his TARDIS. Even so, I rewatched TND on the weekend and enjoyed it just as much the second time... aside from the Megazord. Lake and Hartigan were both good characters who got shafted story-wise.
But yes, Lake should have got to be the hero, in his TARDIS. Even so, I rewatched TND on the weekend and enjoyed it just as much the second time... aside from the Megazord. Lake and Hartigan were both good characters who got shafted story-wise.
Yeah the megazord was a trifle OTT, but this is Who after all. If Nessie can swim up the Thames without anyone remembering then I guess they can get away with this!
I agree both Lake and Hartigan did get shafted storywise which is a shame.
Pound for pound it's better than Planet of the Dead though.
I agree both Lake and Hartigan did get shafted storywise which is a shame.
Pound for pound it's better than Planet of the Dead though.
I've never liked that in the RTD era the Doctor isn't more heroic, even in the first ep. we have Rose saving not only the Doctor but the day as well. If Jackson Lake saved the day then in the end the Doctor would've been needed at all.
For me it's a mixture of varying episodes like the above posters stated. Overall, I like Season 4 due to Donna stealing the spotlight. She really comes into the series as a real person and then exits out with the main tragedy being of the Doctor's own doing rather than an accident (i.e. Rose in Series 2 with the Daleks/Cybermen thing). I think the highlight of the season was the Silence of the Library two episodes where both (Donna and the Doctor) are 'healing' from their perspective losses and it's quite evident that both need each other as friends, rather than one being unequal (i.e. Martha in the Family of Blood episodes) and forced to pull all the weight without previous knowledge.
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