I grew up in the 70’s and also think of Tom "Would you like a jelly baby?"Baker as “The” Doctor. Although, I remember watching the episodes with the previous doctors as well.
Doctor Who has always been quite popular in Canada along with Monty Python or Coronation Street. Back then we could watch it either on PBS or the CBC.
I lost interest in the show sometime in the 80’s, I was excited when they brought it back with Eccleston and then Tennant but sadly lost interest again with the last season.
My wife and I watched Torchwood as well and were disappointed that they ended the series prematurely.
Nope. I did recently “meet” Sarah Jane in the “School Reunion” episode, but her character didn’t leave me wanting more. I wasn’t amused by K9, either. I might feel different after I’ve seen some of the original episodes that feature her, but I’ve been figuring that I might just skip that particular part of the 'verse…
Then I should just skip it! Brilliant!
(No kids, and won’t be having any. :D)
Noted; thanks!
Well you’ve imagined that I’m a “he,” and you’ve managed to completely ignore my response to you and just continue bantering with the other posters (none of whom seem to have understood my point, either). Who knows what else might be going on in that head of yours.
Netflix should have The Key to Time (warning: contains spoilers - don’t read past the first two paragraphs), a 26-episode arc from the Tom Baker era. Four episodes were written by Douglas Adams, who also took over as script editor for the last serial in the arc.
Between that and the BBC filming Doctor Who in Monument Valley (very smart marketing of BBC/Moffat & Co to do so), I’d expect that the stateside viewing numbers for BBCA will increase overall.
Barrowman makes a very pretty front man for the importing of British tv product in general, and Torchwood has certainly grown up since it’s Monster of the Week format. ‘Children of Earth’ was completely awesome and if you haven’t seen it - run, do not walk, to your nearest Netflix and order it.
FIY: T. Baker was my first and favorite. Eccleston is still the best doctor of the reboot.
Doctor Who, up until the reboot, was an obscure (and therefore not mainstream) show in the U.S. Seeing as the OP is in the U.S., her statement comes from the point of view of teh U.S. It doesn’t matter how mainstream it is in the U.K. It’s not mainstream here, and therefore the OP’s statement is correct, and your claim that she was wrong is incorrect.
No one is arguing past each other. You are just using an odd definition of mainstream that apparently requires viewing the status of a work of fiction from the perspective of the entire world. The problem is, with that standard, Doctor Who is also not mainstream, and thus your argument falls apart.
This is the U.S., and thus we are dealing with a much larger group of people. There are therefore more people for whom the show is not mainstream than there are people for whom it is. So it would make more sense for us to say that your locality’s mainstream status doesn’t matter, and the show is not mainstream.
Or we could just admit that what’s mainstream is different depending on which culture you are referring to, and not tell the OP that her observations are incorrect.
Does that make it clear what we are trying to say?
I just read through the above, and I’m afraid it might sound snarky. That was not the intent. It was a little frustrating trying to think of how to explain what I was saying, and I’m afraid a little frustration may have come out. I don’t see it myself, but I keep getting a nagging feeling that it is there, so I’m trusting my gut.
You too? (Though my memory is 1 hour on Saturday mornings.)
Bet this and this are somewhere in your childhood memories too!
CMC fnord!
I too had a knee-length coat with a ridiculously long scarf and a [del][COLOR=“Black”]tire pressure gauge[/del][/COLOR] sonic screw driver. :smack:
It has now been just about a month since I jumped into all of this: as mentioned in the OP I’ve watched all of Torchwood, and last night I finished Season 2 of the reboot. I had mixed feelings about Rose’s fate, but on the whole I think it was done well and I find myself looking forward to meeting Martha (she appeared in Torchwood, right?).
A question about the season-ender (“Doomsday”), though:So the whole thing was that anyone or anything that had passed through dimensions would have that “stuff” on them, and be sucked into the void when the Doctor opened it. He avoided the void by hanging on to the super magnet thingy, but wouldn’t the TARDIS have been sucked in along with the Daleks and the Cybermen??
I’ll probably wait until I finish the reboot to watch any of the older episodes, though Who knows…I may get a Peter Davison craving and have to watch some of that. I’m sure I’ll watch the Baker stuff eventually, but likely not for a while yet.
You know, one of my friends (a new friend; the jury is still out) called Eccleston “nearly unwatchable” (or “barely watchable,” or something like that). Even though David Tennant has grown on me and I now quite like his Doctor, I also really liked Eccleston’s! I may be developing a soft spot for him, though, as my first Doctor.
I really was able to appreciate his reaction the first time.
If you’re liking the Doctor, listen to the music too. Obligatory Youtube link. This goes to a piece from the Dr Who Prom (BBC Concert) from 2010. Click around after that, there’s tons of good modern classical in the Dr Who world.
James Horner, Murray Gold, John Williams, Bear McCreary. Good composers relegated to film and television. If you watch the clip linked above, you can see how people get enthralled by music - when the “vampire” with the parasol walks across the stage, look at Ben Foster (the conductor / orchestrator) as he moves. One of the few instances (OK, the only one) where I can look at someone performing and think “Dance, monkey, dance!” in a good way
He’s in tune with the orchestra, in his groove, and the giddy smile is perfect. There are several (subtle) levels to the Doctor, and that’s why I like the show, and the Beeb in general.
Plus, in the second part of the Tenant Season 4 ep “The Poison Sky” he makes a callback to the events in TLC/TDD, wearing a gas mask and asking"Are you my Mummy?" (26:30 into the episode)
(26:30 into the episode)