bbc [Official] Doctor Who Thread

[margrave]

https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/rtd-doctor-who-series-14-ratings-102279.htm

[Good Bot, Bad Bot]

On 13/06/2024 at 09:54, margrave said:

https://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/rtd-doctor-who-series-14-ratings-102279.htm

<rant> They are so concerned about a younger audience than why did we go thru Capaldi's Doctor and the Graham O'Brien companion with the 13th Doctor? LOL Why do they think need a gay Doctor and a trans character every other show with queer references non-stop to get a younger audience? I have been a Doctor Who fan since the Tom Baker era but rarely ever ran into someone that was a fan of the show until David Tennant.  I was running into people that were fans all the time and guess what? They were all younger and mostly female. It's almost like a Charismatic and younger, good looking Doctor that shows his emotions will pack in the younger ladies just fine even if white and straightish.

I am not against a different Doctor as of course it is a character that changes his appearance. I thought Jodi Winkter was great but the writing was terrible. I am not against trans characters as the Maestro was awesome. I loved Ncuti Gatwa in Sex Education (but the last season was horrible) but his Doctor is the same character but just more flamboyant/confidant but who also cries all the time. Good grief Charlie Brown! The thing that bugs me the most is why the hell is the sonic screwdriver not shaped like a screwdriver anymore but like a female vibration device? LOL

It feels like a different show and it's not doing anything for me so I removed it from my Disney+ watchlist. I never thought that would ever say not interested in Doctor Who anymore but that is where I am.</rant>

[FloatingFatMan]

On 13/06/2024 at 15:58, Good Bot, Bad Bot said:

It feels like a different show and it's not doing anything for me so I removed it from my Disney+ watchlist. I never thought that would ever say not interested in Doctor Who anymore but that is where I am.</rant>

For me, as far as Disney goes, this was the final straw that broke the camels back.  I cancelled my Disney+ membership.  If they ever have anything worth watching in the future, I'll ask Captain Jack Sparrow to get it for me.

[margrave]

I always said family is just a liability

[margrave]

This season may not have been 100% but these last two episodes were fantastic!

 

Loved them. All kind of feels.

[+mram Subscriber²]

On 13/06/2024 at 07:58, Good Bot, Bad Bot said:

<rant> They are so concerned about a younger audience than why did we go thru Capaldi's Doctor and the Graham O'Brien companion with the 13th Doctor? LOL Why do they think need a gay Doctor and a trans character every other show with queer references non-stop to get a younger audience? I have been a Doctor Who fan since the Tom Baker era but rarely ever ran into someone that was a fan of the show until David Tennant.  I was running into people that were fans all the time and guess what? They were all younger and mostly female. It's almost like a Charismatic and younger, good looking Doctor that shows his emotions will pack in the younger ladies just fine even if white and straightish.

I am not against a different Doctor as of course it is a character that changes his appearance. I thought Jodi Winkter was great but the writing was terrible. I am not against trans characters as the Maestro was awesome. I loved Ncuti Gatwa in Sex Education (but the last season was horrible) but his Doctor is the same character but just more flamboyant/confidant but who also cries all the time. Good grief Charlie Brown! The thing that bugs me the most is why the hell is the sonic screwdriver not shaped like a screwdriver anymore but like a female vibration device? LOL

It feels like a different show and it's not doing anything for me so I removed it from my Disney+ watchlist. I never thought that would ever say not interested in Doctor Who anymore but that is where I am.</rant>

Everything evolves.  

Writing is what it is.  If it were up to me I'd have a billion episodes written by Douglas Adams or Neil Gaiman.   Or both of them.  So I don't fault the acting for the writing.

Ncuti is really a nice breath of fresh air.  I have zero complaints.  He's engaging, he's charismatic, he's got the range and the rage but mostly brings the energy I like.  I can totally appreciate not all docs are for everyone.

We don't hold a show by catering to the aging audience.  I've seen zero disrepect to the Who that has come before.  Hell, to see Tom Baker (even as clips) was just cool.  But honestly some of the older stuff is just cringe.  The Sonic is just a tool, and it's always evolved.  Why did it need to extend?  Actually, how bout this - why exactly does it need to look like a screwdriver?  It's almost comical that it can do a lot of things but always looked like a glorified wand.  Jodie had a habit of whipping it out like it was a magic wand.  That flourish was completely odd to me.  It's just a tool.  But to expect it to never change is also like expecting the Tardis interior to never change.  In fact, it's practically iconic and lore that the sonic changes for every iteration. 

It is absolutely the same show.  It's silly pulpy scifi (and fantasy now to a degree).  Now with LessBrooding(tm). 

 

[branfont]

On 22/06/2024 at 16:52, mram said:

Writing is what it is.  If it were up to me I'd have a billion episodes written by Douglas Adams.

There's a rumour that "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was supposed to be something for "Doctor Who" in the 1970s.

[FloatingFatMan]

On 22/06/2024 at 23:52, mram said:

The Sonic is just a tool, and it's always evolved.  Why did it need to extend?  Actually, how bout this - why exactly does it need to look like a screwdriver? 

Because it's not "a sonic", it's a sonic SCREWDRIVER.  It was always just meant to be a tool, but it just started to go all weird since Capaldi...

[+mram Subscriber²]

On 25/06/2024 at 22:55, FloatingFatMan said:

Because it's not "a sonic", it's a sonic SCREWDRIVER.  It was always just meant to be a tool, but it just started to go all weird since Capaldi...

Great point.  I mean we're literally debating what something should look like, when a time machine looks like a police call box and is different on the inside, so why can't a "screwdriver" look like anything it really wants to, especially since it's always been able to scan and report on stuff besides just opening things.  It always seemed odd to me that a "screwdriver" points at something and a glance from the Doctor always got some sort of "well this thingy-I-just-scanned is 6128 years old!"... when it has no screen.

So I mean, basically, we can't really blame Ncuti's Doctor for changing up the sonic screwdriver to something more relatable to what it actually does vs what we think it should look like.  I mean, seriously, Tennant literally made a force field with the sonic and projected a screen.  So, I guess I'm saying we shouldn't be too hung up on names. 

[FloatingFatMan]

On 26/06/2024 at 08:00, mram said:

Great point.  I mean we're literally debating what something should look like, when a time machine looks like a police call box and is different on the inside, so why can't a "screwdriver" look like anything it really wants to, especially since it's always been able to scan and report on stuff besides just opening things.  It always seemed odd to me that a "screwdriver" points at something and a glance from the Doctor always got some sort of "well this thingy-I-just-scanned is 6128 years old!"... when it has no screen.

So I mean, basically, we can't really blame Ncuti's Doctor for changing up the sonic screwdriver to something more relatable to what it actually does vs what we think it should look like.  I mean, seriously, Tennant literally made a force field with the sonic and projected a screen.  So, I guess I'm saying we shouldn't be too hung up on names. 

TBH, it's just a minor issue as all it really is, is a McGuffin.  A device that enables the writers to get themselves out of the hole their poor story telling skills got them in to in the first place.  If they're just going to call it a "Sonic" now, then it can look like anything, but if it's the original name, it should at least try to look a bit like a screwdriver, no?  

Anyway, Dr Who has far worse problems than just a simple badly named plot device, as demonstrated by the plummeting viewing figures.

 

[margrave]

[+mram Subscriber²]

On 26/06/2024 at 04:50, FloatingFatMan said:

TBH, it's just a minor issue as all it really is, is a McGuffin.  A device that enables the writers to get themselves out of the hole their poor story telling skills got them in to in the first place.  If they're just going to call it a "Sonic" now, then it can look like anything, but if it's the original name, it should at least try to look a bit like a screwdriver, no?  

So what do we call this strange orange alcoholic beverage, also called a screwdriver?  Should this lose its cup-like shape?  😇

Just sayin man -- names be names, and it's just a macguffin (aptly put).  But once it became sunglasses quite a few years ago, I think we lost the argument that it had to look anything like a rod with a glowy bit at the end (which also is not present in any "screwdriver")

 

On 26/06/2024 at 04:50, FloatingFatMan said:

Anyway, Dr Who has far worse problems than just a simple badly named plot device, as demonstrated by the plummeting viewing figures.

Not plummeting!

[FloatingFatMan]

On 26/06/2024 at 17:00, mram said:

So what do we call this strange orange alcoholic beverage, also called a screwdriver?  Should this lose its cup-like shape?  😇

Just sayin man -- names be names, and it's just a macguffin (aptly put).  But once it became sunglasses quite a few years ago, I think we lost the argument that it had to look anything like a rod with a glowy bit at the end (which also is not present in any "screwdriver")

I did say it'd started going weird since Capaldi...

 

On 26/06/2024 at 17:00, mram said:

Not plummeting!

Sorry, but utterly plummeting...

 

It's at it's lowest level in 32 years.  Once upon a time, Who used to command audiences of 15+ million per episode...

https://m.imdb.com/news/ni62755417/

So it's not all the fault of the latest season, it's been going downhill for a while, but the current series is the worst so far when it comes to ratings...

I'll grant you that shows should reflect the mores of the era they're made in, but what's the point of catering to modern societal sensibilities when people don't want to watch it? All you do is lose your audience, and Gatwa's been doing an especially good job of alienating the audience with his idiotic comments...

Just my opinion mind, but an actors job is to do the role they're hired too, not to lecture people and tell them to go outside and touch grass if they don't like his portrayal.  Because they will do exactly that, and have.

 

 

[Xenon]

Doctor Who has become a love hate show for me. The last couple of doctors for me have had a lot of problems. 

Peter Capaldi - I really was not a fan of him. Out of the episodes I watched of his (about 3/4) I never was like wow that was a really good story.

Jodie Whittaker - Loved her! But she has had the worst scripts in years. I watched all of her episodes. I really wasted my time with that. 

David Tennant (14th doctor) - Its David Tennant. The return of Donna was great. But the end of his small run was really stupid. 

Ncuti Gatwa - I kind of like him. But the leak before the season started that Ruby Sunday character was gonna leave at the end of the season kind of turned me off and once again the scripts were meh, although the last couple were good. 

 

The next doctor should finally be a ginger. 

[FloatingFatMan]

On 26/06/2024 at 19:35, Xenon said:

The next doctor should finally be a ginger. 

I agree, but I think they've kinda forgotten about that gag...  

[Steven P. Administrators]

Who has become yet another vehicle out of Hollyweird to force feed the woke nonsense destroying yet another show I used to love watching. Does he have to cry every episode? Oh, wait a minute Hollyweird is telling us that it's okay for men to cry, thanks for the lesson TV! /s

The other show I couldn't stand to watch, was ST: Discovery and I love Trek!

I've been rewatching a lot of shows from the 70's and 80's like The Fall Guy, Star Trek The Next Generation, The New Avengers and I plan to start rewatching The Muppets Show. Back when TV didn't try to force feed you social narratives from minority groups every 5 minutes of every episode.

There are many exceptions, some great TV I watched recently is Them and Outer Range on Amazon Prime, and I rather enjoyed NOS4A2.