Saw the second episode today (I missed the fact that they were airing two eps on Friday and so, didn’t set my tape appropriately).
Liked it much better than the first. It is great fun!
Are they all this much fun? (I mean previous incarnations–though you can speak to the current season if you like)
On the Doctor being half-human:
A couple of different possible explanations have been offered, mostly through the novels:
(Spoilers for the novels, particularly “Lungbarrow”)
[spoiler]During the novels, we find out that the Doctor is a genetic reincarnation of one of the ancient heroes of Gallifrey, a mysterious figure known as the Other, who helped Rassilon and Omega found Gallifreyan society and discover time travel. The Other died by throwing himself into a Loom, one of the devices that “weave” Gallifreyans into existence (as they are no longer able to reproduce naturally). Several thousand years later the Doctor pops out of a Loom and is mocked by his cousins for having something none of them have: a bellybutton. So one possible explanation is that The Other was half-human. We don’t actually know much about him at all.
(Incidentally, the Doctor then manages to travel back in time to ancient Gallifrey, where he meets The Other’s granddaughter Susan, who instantly recognises him as her grandfather, and the two head off to have adventures in time and space, as per the first episode of the old series.)[/spoiler]
Another speculated explanation is that it is only the Eighth Doctor who is half-human – that for various reasons, he regenerated into a half-human form. (This is not without precedent either – if memory serves, when Romana was cycling through different forms during her first regeneration, one of them was clearly alien). Some have speculated that this is why he immediately seems to behave so differently to other Doctors – more emotional, snogging the first chick who comes along, etc.
Incidentally, some of the novels (which were produced between the old and new series, detailing the adventures of the seventh Doctor up until the time of the Fox TV movie, and then the eighth Doctor) were written by people involved with the both the old series and the new. Andrew Cartmel, Ben Aaronovitch and Marc Platt were writers during the last few seasons of the old series, and planted lots of questions and hints about the doctor’s origins, which were intended to be played out in Season 27, until the show was cancelled after Season 26. This material was explored futher in the Seventh Doctor books and then explained in Marc Platt’s novel “Lungbarrow”. Paul Cornell (who wrote “Father’s Day” from the new series) and Russel T. Davies (who is the executive producer) also wrote novels for the series. So even if the production team on the new series don’t consider themselves bound by the events of the novels, they are at least aware of them.
Amen to that. I’m a Baker fan to the point that I found the shows without Baker in the old series unwatchable, so I guess I’m not a diehard Doctor Who fan either. This new guy did pretty good, though, and I’m definitely going to be watching future episodes.
Now if only they’ll come through with new Futurama episodes like Billy West promised …
Other people have stated before that Dr Who is primarily a childrens show. Granted, the last time I saw the old show I was, in fact, a child but what make it a childrens show any more than other light sci-fi fare like Farscape or Stargate SG-1?
Anyhow, I’ve managed to…ahem…aquire the series and I would say overall it’s clever, fun and amusing. IMHO, later episodes are much better. The only complaint I have is there’s TOO much continuity across all the episodes (although it is explained why) and too much time spent in England circa Rose’s time.
For those who are interested:
The introduction of the swashbuckling ambiguously gay Captain Jack (are captains ever NOT named Jack) later in the season ads some additional comedy.
Best line: “Who looks at a screwdriver and says ‘hey! I bet this could be MORE sonic!?’”
But they (the Producers) have said it was a childrens show since the beginning. There is even a Dr. Who Episode where he is back in November 23, 1963 and you hear in the background the announcement of the new Childrens Program on BBC starting that Evening. This doesn’t mean adults can’t enjoy it, it is just the primary target audience for the show.
Great Childrens programming should appeal to adults. Bugs Bunny, Animaniacs, Incredibles and many others all appeal to adults while being aimed at kids.
Even the New Scooby Doo Cartoon has added a lot of in-jokes aimed for the adults watching with their kids. I was watching with my kids an epsiode where Scooby is doing a stunt for a bad movie and leaps over a pool with Sharks. Velma says “Who would have ever thought that Scooby would Jump the Shark”. Not a joke aimed for kids but for their parents.
Jim
I’ve started a new thread over here so we may catch people up to the current series, and not have to clutter this thread up with massive spoiler boxes.
– OP –
I really enjoyed “End of the World” it felt like a classic Doctor Who episode. Another nice touch was the “retro” or Steampunk feel of the TARDIS controls. Much less high tech than what Peter Davidson was flying around.
The explanation is that this abomination, which was supposed to somehow pique the interest of the American TV industry pulled out one of the hoariest devices in TV dramas. Somehow it’s supposedly more interesting if the character is half human. Or half-white/half-Indian, etc. Maybe they thought they could milk this in a Spock sort of way, setting up some sort of internal conflict. Who knows.
Anyway, it’s best to just forget this tripe. Paul McGann would probably have made a good Doctor, but I consider the whole thing a forgery.
In The Five Doctors, …
…the Time Lords offer the Master another full cycle of regenerations if he will rescue the Doctor from the Zone… so this is another indication that there are already discussed methods to bypass the 12 regeneration limit.
Right, but it seems a little violent and (sometimes) dark for what I generally associate with childrens programming.
Maybe I’m just used to our American programming standards. We have “childrens” shows which are pretty much infantile and obviously designed for small children. You have heavier shows like Law & Order or even the new Battlestar Galactica which is pretty dark and violent. Then we have shows for everyone else.
I would consider Doctor Who to be along the lines of shows like The A-Team, Knight Rider and half the crap on the Sci Fi or USA Networks channels. Not specifically childrens programming, but light, adolescent and escapist. Stuff that would appeal to a 15 year old, as opposed to an 8 year old.
When I was a kid there were a few episodes that scared me senseless. Just differences in what the BBC classes as aimed at kids.
There are episodes later on in the run that deal with bi-sexuallity and are also quite freaky(even for an adult). I wondered in another thread how this would be handled in the states.
I thought Doctor Who was actually celebrated in England as the Kids show you watched by “peeking from behind the Couch.”
Any UK dopers that can confirm this? I don’t remember where I read it.
Jim
I’ve heard this, too. I think I saw it on a “special feature” on a DVD I bought, but I don’t remember which one. I have so many. Maybe it was “Dr. Who and Curse of Fatal Death” which was a Comic Relief spoof. There were several commentaries on that one. It’s very much worth seeing BTW. You have Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Grant, Richard E. Grant, Jim Broadbent and Joanna Lumley all playing the Doctor.
Nicola Bryant said something like this when she was hired to play Peri – that she had watched it that way as a kid. Maybe that’s where you saw it.
Hee-hee.
Opus the Penguin: “The truth, Steve, is that ‘Knight Rider’ is a kid’s show.”
Steve Dallas: “No way! NO F*^%&('n WAY!!!”
Yes, it’s true. Supposedly everybody can remember a particular Dr. Who monster that scared the crap out of them so much that hiding behind furniture became necessary.
I bet a lot of today’s eight-year-olds had that reaction to the episode set in WWII London, which I think is one of the ones yojimbo was alluding to. But indeed, that episode probably gave everybody the willies, it was extremely creepy.
(bolding mine)
Forgive me if I’m being dense, but how can there be too much continuity?
It aint over 'til the flat lady singes.
It’s like this - Dude has a ship that can appear anywhere and anytime in the universe. They spend all their time around Earth and it’s all somewhat interconnected. At least one episode to some random planet might have been cool.
I was actually thinking that, but I couldn’t remember the reference.
I personally had the shit scared out of me by a Doctor Who story when I was a kid, yes. This would have been in the early seventies.
God, I loved that program. 
And still do …