Is nuWho too complicated for newbies?

[Yminale]

I don't know if you Brits have the same campaign but BBC America has this newtoWho campaign where they urge long term fans to introduce DW to new viewers.

Well I got my sister who never watched DW but is a big sci-fi fan to watch AOD. I tried to explain the whole back story of the Doctor, the Daleks, Amy and Rory but I just sounded ridiculous and my sister just didn't get it. Any one else have a similar story.

 

[Turbo]

I don't think it's too complicated at all. The voiceover Amy did for Series 6 on BBC America is a pretty good description:

When I was a little girl, I had an imaginary friend. And when I grew up, he came back. He’s called the Doctor. He comes from somewhere else. He’s got a box called the TARDIS that’s bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in time and space. I ran away with him, and we’ve been running ever since.

Series 6 itself, however, did get a bit bogged down in continuity. Series 5 is a pretty good jumping on point, though.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

At the very least, I'd say Asylum would be a terrible episode for anyone to jump in on.

 

[Yminale]

I agree with both of you but some parts of DW are getting ridiculous. How do you explain the Daleks, the most powerful race in the universe getting beaten by some Deus Ex Machina. Good Grief how about Rory's entire character arc in season 5 or the whole messed up timeline for River Song.

I really missed RTD because he kept things simple.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

How do you explain the Daleks, the most powerful race in the universe getting beaten by some Deus Ex Machina.

Aren't they always?

Good Grief how about Rory's entire character arc in season 5 or the whole messed up timeline for River Song.

I do think lately a lot of things get glossed over, I can't say that I fully get all that Silence stuff, or that they thoroughly deal with everything that happens to them.

 

[Turbo]

How do you explain the Daleks, the most powerful race in the universe getting beaten by some Deus Ex Machina.

Aren't they always?

Well, Moffatt seems to be making a point of not having this happen to the Daleks and restoring them to the Big Scary Monsters they used to be. "Victory of the Daleks" was, well, a victory for them. "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang" was a step in the wrong direction IMO, but "Asylum of the Daleks" got things back on track.

Spoiler: Asylum of the Daleks

The Daleks were really hoist by their own petard in "Asylum"; they converted genius Oswin, who then turned their own tech against them.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I don't think it's too bad. Say he's an alien who travels through space and time with human companions. You'll miss a few details (the Rory-Amy subplot), but the episode otherwise makes sense. I watched it with my brother, who has only passing familiarity and he was fine.

River Song requires some time, but you can wait until she appears before you do that.

 

[MacLeod]

You've got to remember in the UK, DW is iconic. Quite a few of us grew up with it over the course of the 1963-1989 era of the show. So when it returned we didn't need a massive introduction to it, for kids watching it, it might be a case of ask your parents.

The overall plot is fairly simply.

It's about an alien who travels time and space usually with a companion or two (not always human), fighting evil and injustice.

 

[Mr Light]

In the RTD era it was pretty viewer friendly, but Moffat episodes are so fast and manic and twisty and confusing I'm astonished this is still considered a family show.

 

[Kelthaz]

Doctor Who's overall plot is quite simple, but the individual episodes are bogged down with a pretty bad case of Continuity Lockout. Hopefully next season will start off with a focus on attracting new viewers.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Isn't this why the Time War was introduced - to eliminate what little continuity DW had, and start over for new viewers? So how could nuWho be too complicated for newbies, as opposed to "oldbies"?

 

[The Wormhole]

I wouldn't say it's too complicated, but it is a weird show with a lot of off-the-wall ideas. Whenever someone asks me to explain the show, I keep it as simple as possible. "It's about a time travelling alien who visits Earth in its various eras." The only thing to ever cause confusion is explaining the Doctor's name.
"He's named the Doctor, not Doctor Who."
"Then why is the show called Doctor Who instead of The Doctor?"

 

[PorthosShadow]

I've been reading of this same thing for a while now in regards to other shows and it kind of ticks me off. Personally, I love TV shows that are serialized because ones that are stand alone bore me to tears (cough! House! Cough!). I really don't like the idea that someone is going to cater to the "casual" viewer and do less arc based stories because new fans might not "get" it.

Now that might be true of about ten years ago but now we have the Internet, DVD, Blu-Ray, On-Demand and etc... So if you as a first time viewer are too intimidated by a show that has a long running serialized story line then go watch "House". I'm not lashing out at anyone but there really isn't a good excuse for not getting into a long running serial.

Bottom line is that nothing is too "complicated" to get into. You just have to be willing to start at the beginning or at the very least read about it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You start with Blink.

Then go back to the beginning and don't let them know how long it will take to get in front of the series.

 

[DWF]

I've been reading of this same thing for a while now in regards to other shows and it kind of ticks me off. Personally, I love TV shows that are serialized because ones that are stand alone bore me to tears (cough! House! Cough!). I really don't like the idea that someone is going to cater to the "casual" viewer and do less arc based stories because new fans might not "get" it.

Now that might be true of about ten years ago but now we have the Internet, DVD, Blu-Ray, On-Demand and etc... So if you as a first time viewer are too intimidated by a show that has a long running serialized story line then go watch "House". I'm not lashing out at anyone but there really isn't a good excuse for not getting into a long running serial.

Bottom line is that nothing is too "complicated" to get into. You just have to be willing to start at the beginning or at the very least read about it.

Nobody's been able to explain Lost yet.

 

[The Borg Queen]

If you think Doctor Who is too complicated to understand, then you probably shouldn't be watching it to begin with.

 

[Starbreaker]

I didn't have a problem starting with Series 1 of nuWho. Of course, I watch a lot of science fiction to begin with, so it wasn't a huge stretch for me to be able to understand what was going on.

 

[Guy Gardener]

On the ABC preview, they were interviewing Terry O'Quinn and asked him as an aside since he explained 666 park Avenue so succinctly and well, if he could please explain Lost too as well, while he was on a roll.

Terry chuckled and said "No thank you, that's almost impossible."

 

[Kelthaz]

I didn't have a problem starting with Series 1 of nuWho. Of course, I watch a lot of science fiction to begin with, so it wasn't a huge stretch for me to be able to understand what was going on.

Well, yeah, typically people are not going to have trouble starting with Series 1. It's Series 7 that's the problem.

 

[davejames]

In the RTD era it was pretty viewer friendly, but Moffat episodes are so fast and manic and twisty and confusing I'm astonished this is still considered a family show.

Well the ratings are still pretty strong (both here and overseas), so apparently most families are able to keep up with it.

And even if it DOES take more effort to follow the plot now, the witty characterizations and Smith's nutty Doctor are usually fun and entertaining enough to carry you through an episode anyway.