The first episode finished a short while ago. Billie Piper is very nice on the eye. Plotwise I felt it was a little slow-moving.
Friggin TV’s out at work! I wanted to watch it too :sad:
I really enjoyed it. I’ll be watching it next week.
I don’t remember Doctor Who from the first time round, as I was too young, but I’m tempted to watch them.
This thread wandered away from it’s intended home, Cafe Society, so I’ll nudge it back that way.
Veb
Thoughts?
The Doctor was better than expected, but I didn’t think he’d go for a camp/humourous tone over a more serious one.
The assistant Rose wasn’t bad either (to ogle or accept as the new assistant)
SFX was up to scratch and cannot be used to berate the series needlessly any more. Future aliens look good enough to be in Farscape 
The storyline was engaging enough (even if I preferred the Autons as they were in the older stories, robots weren’t they?) and, to me, well directed.
On the downside there was no regeneration scene (although it was referred to) and it seemed a little watered down for a child/family centred audience compared to Who of old, but these are mild criticisms for me.
I’m satisfied and I’ll be watching again 
I don’t get BBC on my cable. Is any other network carrying it in the U.S.?
The pilot episode was leaked by the Canadian company that bought it apparantly. Not encouraging anything illegal, just saying, its no doubt out for all and sundry.
But then plenty that the BBC license payers stump up for is available for viewers/listeners outside the UK already…
Doctor who?
While I get the station, our local paper doesn’t carry the schedule. When does it run?
There were always going to be problems continuing a series with so much history. I watched the original episodes (yes, from behing the couch!), but find it amazing now that those low-quality monsters could have frightened me. No doubt it was a combination of the music and keeping the threats off screen as long as possible.
They seem to have changed from a number of episodes to just one 45 minute plot. (I blame this on the shallow concentration of the video generation!)
I liked the Doctor, although he seemed rather callous about Rose’s boyfriend.
I like Rose, coping with her education and work situation. (I noticed there was a shot of her heaving bosom after one running scene :eek: )
They both seem practical and there were some humorous touches, plus the usual tension builders.
I missed the regeneration scene, although the BBC are trying to get a whole new audience, so they presumably left that out to avoid confusion. (They also explained the TARDIS acronym for newcomers.)
There was quite a mix of backgound (the Doctor had met the creature before in a war over whole planets) and unexplained plot holes (who put the transmitters all over London? How did the large alien get into the underground lair?)
But although I quite liked it, there were two annoying things:
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when Rose is first invited to travel the Universe, she says she’s got to stay with her ‘big lump’. Aaah. But when she gets the offer of time travel thrown in, she instantly and sarcastically breaks up with him. “Thanks”. “What for?” “Exactly.”
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GUNS? The shop mannequins have guns?
Look, the idea is that these things are regular plastic and surprise their victims (plus being difficult to kill). Where do the guns come from? Why do they need them?
You get BBC1 in Colorado? Or do you mean BBC America? At the moment there are no deals in place for Dr Who to be shown in the US – not even on BBC America. Sci-Fi Channel was considering it at one point but passed. The way things look so far, the show will be on DVD in the US before it’s broadcast.
I thought that seemed very believable, myself. When the Doctor first asks her to come with her, she’s just been through quite a harrowing experience, and turns him down in favour of returning to the security of her normal life. A natural enough reaction – except that as soon as he’s gone, she regrets it: she HATES her normal life, and she’s got nothing to look forward to. So when the Doctor comes back and offers her a second chance, she jumps at it.
In the Jon Pertwee episode in which the Autons first appeared, the Nestene Consciousness had taken over a plastics factory as part of its invasion plans, and was manufacturing special mannequins complete with weaponry. Presumably it’s been up to the same thing again, but since we were dropped into the story from Rose’s point of view, which seems to be about halfway through as the Doctor sees it, we don’t get to find out about that.
The original Autons (Jon Pertwee era) had guns. They’re made of plastic, they can mould into anything.
Definite thumbs up from me. It wasn’t perfect, and some of the special effects weren’t quite up to what you’re maybe use to from movies and American big budget sci-fi tv, but when you consider just how badly wrong it could have gone… It had a nice mix of pacey action and a bit of humour, although as is the tendancy of late, the whole useless boyfriend bit was over done.
As far is characterisation is concerned, the new Doctor is most definitely the Doctor. Compared to others he’s probably closest to Tom Baker’s in behaviour, and as everyone knows he was the best, so good choice. Weakest bit was Rose apparently spending an entire lunch talking to her boyfriend unaware that his face was made of shiny plastic. But lordy, lordy, surprise of the night; Billy Piper can act! She’s not just a has-been poppette and laddette! Who knew?
I think it hit its target family audience square on and there’s no reason why it can’t be a massive hit. Well done BBC Wales. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series. The big test will be how it handles the meeting with the Daleks.
Indeedy doody. Looks like we’re going to see her involved in some good repartee with Zoe Wanamaker soon.
Programming advisory for American fans:
Those of you who receive CBC on cable will be able to start watching the new Doctor Who beginning on April 5th at 8 PM.
Zoe isn’t looking so good in that episode, I think. Creeeeepy.
I think this was always going to be a tremendously difficult challenge. They were trying to resurrect a series that was conceived in the 1960s, and which (for most people) lost its way not long after the Tom Baker era. They were trying to remain true to the most sacred traditions of the show, and yet at the same time make it modern enough for today’s audiences, both young and not so young. Plus they had to cater for at least three different audiences: kids who’d literally never even heard of the show before; younger people who knew a bit about it from the low years; and older people who could remember back to the classic Pertwee/Baker years and earlier.
Good points: the BBC actually threw some decent money at it, and cared enough to get some good writing talent and actors. I thought they did very well in marrying some traditional elements with a modern feel, and catering for the different levels of viewer knowledge and awareness. I wouldn’t say I was necessarily a great fan of Chris Eccleston, but all credit to him here: I thought he found an excellent characterisation and handled the role superbly well. I also join the ranks of those who are pleasantly startled to discover that Billie Piper is excellent as The Companion, can actually act, and is far easier on the eye than I thought she’d be. The special FX weren’t brilliant, but weren’t downright awful either. I think they were wise not to try and go for cutting-edge special FX, since that’s not what the show is about and it would have chewed up the budget. I’m glad they spent the cash on writing and acting talent, and decided the FX only needed to be ‘good enough’.
Moving on to the not-so-good…
They messed around with the theme tune and made it worse. This was definitely one element that they should have left alone. The version from the Baker years just cannot be improved upon, and would still hold up well today.
The decision to make each episode self-contained (okay, with some promised two-parters to come) was a bit pointless. The traditional Who structure of a 4 or 6 part story with weekly cliffhangers was an integral part of the show’s flavour, and would do perfectly well in the modern era. This compounded the difficulties of the season opener. 45 minutes is not enough time to introduce the two new lead characters, explain all the back story that the newcomers need to have explained, and also include a self-contained start-to-finish battle with a major villain. Russell Davies handled the assignment about as successfully as it could be handled, but it still made for a rather awkward 45 minutes in structural terms.
It’s on the CBC, eh? Looks like it’s time to haul out the old VCR (for its tuner) and hook it up…
Here<s the CBC’s blurb:
http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/program/index.jsp?program=Doctor+Who
I saw it last night on VCR. I am pleasantly suprised - I go back to Pertwee for the Doctor and liked Baker (tom). The SFX were a step up from people in rubber suits running around quarries and sand pits. I liked the use of the London Eye, and the London background generally.
I wasn’t that suprised by Billie Piper, as I’d seen her in the Canterbury tales, and she was very good in that.
I think it got all the necessary back-story out of the way for a new audience, and the story was pretty good.
My kids liked it a lot - my son (11) was rather interested in Billie Piper (That’s my Boy!) and my daughter found her sweet and could relate to her. They both liked the doctor and his sense of humour and neither found it frightening (and both thought the scene where he’s attacked by the arm laughable). But we’ll be back next week. From what they tell me it’s gone down well with kids in general.
I must be getting old … I no longer bother about those details, nor consider them “plot holes.” At the point we enter the story, it only matters that they’re there.