Doctor Who

[Sprite Machine]

Even as a child who devoured Dr Who novelisations I couldn't be bothered with stuff like The Crusades. You've now seen more Hartnell than I ever did, but I suspect that you won't start really enjoying Who until Tom Baker arrives. How early does your Classic Who memory start, or have you never seen any of it?

I think my earliest memories of watching Doctor Who (as broadcast) are from the Sylvester McCoy era, and then the TV movie. I may have seen bits and pieces of Tom Baker era on repeat (UK Gold or whatever) but basically I've seen very, very little of it!

Space Museum is next. This one seems pretty good. Slow, but mysterious. And timey-wimey.

[linkster]

I think my earliest memories of watching Doctor Who (as broadcast) are from the Sylvester McCoy era, and then the TV movie. I may have seen bits and pieces of Tom Baker era on repeat (UK Gold or whatever) but basically I've seen very, very little of it!

Space Museum is next. This one seems pretty good. Slow, but mysterious. And timey-wimey.

Wow, you've got some treats to come. Jon Pertwee is a bit of a nob but he's got the best Master and some amazing stories

[Harsin]

Is that Alistair Reynolds Pertwee-era Doctor Who book still coming out. I don't usually buy licensed novels, but I may make an exception in this particular case?

[Davros sock drawer]

Wow, you've got some treats to come. Jon Pertwee is a bit of a nob but he's got the best Master and some amazing stories

His first season is pure gold. The rest not so much, with notable exceptions. Roger Delgado as the master is great though, he's always watchable.

I think Sprite will really dig the classic Philip Hinchcliffe era of Tom Baker though.

Edit: Oh heck, you've got The Chase next, which is one of the worst stories ever. The Time Meddler comes after that though, which I rather like.

[CarloOos]

Where's all the love for Troughton in here? That's the birth of 'proper' Who in my mind, with his hilarious space-hobo Dr along with some of the best companions. I've never even been tempted to sit through the Hartnell stuff but still dig the shit out of Tomb of the Cybermen and Seeds of Death, etc.

I also love Pertwee running around judo-chopping his way through everything, but then again he was 'my' Doctor after seeing Spearheads from Space on VHS (which unbelievably had a U rating. That cabin scene! Horrific to this day).

I'm actually excited on Sprite's behalf for him to get through all the turgid shit and onto the entertaining pulp.

[linkster]

Isn't he watching on Netflix? If so, no Troughton

[Davros sock drawer]

There's just so few remaining stories, alas. But I do really like Troughton. I've got The Invasion on DVD with the animated episodes, and it's ace.

Isn't he watching on Netflix? If so, no Troughton

Really? Why so?

[linkster]

Dunno, rights? Last time I looked "Classic Dr Who" had 72 individual episodes and they were all William Hartnell

[SonOfSoAngry]

Netflix has some Troughton episodes; there's at least Tomb of the Cybermen, The Dominators and The Mind Robber on there. I was watching the latter a few weeks back.

It's mental.

[linkster]

oh nice one, i'll check that out

[Sprite Machine]

I have... *ahem* acquired the episodes that aren't on Netflix. I'm just looking to get through the Hartnell eps for now, then I'll see what's what with the rest.

The Chase... isn't that a Dalek story? Can't be that bad, surely?

[Bluejam]

Yep, Daleks who basically build their own time machine. I like The Chase. It's too long, completely mad and there's a scene with 2 doctors which is laughably bad (you will know what I mean as soon as you see it) but it has something.

Worth a watch

[Davros sock drawer]

I honestly can't recommend it, although it is notable for containing the only surviving footage of The Beatles on TotP.

[Comrade]

I'm enjoying this run of Doctor Who but the criticisms she gives in the blog post are entirely valid, especially the stuff about River Song. Just because she particularly liked one particularly terrible episode doesn't mean her observations and those of her little sister about the Moffat stories are easily dismissed, there are still some rotten things about New Who that deserve to be picked to bits and scattered on the wind, and she skewers most of them.

No, I'm going to side with Moffat on this one. This woman is talking complete bollocks. I suppose it's true that River Song's got a bit annoying, but the simple fact is that this show has improved immeasurably in every single regard since RTD left. Have people forgotten that in the end he had convinced himself that his skills as a writer meant that he could ignore basic narrative rules? Just think that if he'd stayed the last series of Doctor Who could have been as good as Torchwood: Miracle Day! The rest of her complaints involve complaining that every episode is too "epic" (the last-but-one proper ep broadcast involved James Corden running around a department store, the one before that was entirely set in an 80s hotel - meanwhile RTD had Daleks invade the earth seven times), and a bunch of imagined nonsense about sexism and homophobia.

[Made of Ghosts]

I pretty much agree with the article. Except for "Fear Her" being good, obviously. (It's not THAT bad. OK it is. But not irredeemably so.) The "too epic" thing I think was referring to Moffat's own episodes, which do tend to be a tad overblown. I'm dying for another "Blink". I look forward to the non-Moffat episodes more these days, which is something I never thought I'd say.

While I don't exactly miss RTD, I think the show has lost something since - well, not since he left, but since he went off the boil some time in series 4. The show's become sort of... colder, somehow. Less imaginative. Less fun-family-teatime-entertainment and more po-faced-sci-fi. Which seemed like it was going to be a good thing but I'm not as keen as I thought I would be.

RTD was always worst at the series finales, but I have to say Moffat's finales haven't been any great shakes either. I'd take "Parting of the Ways" over either of them.

[SonOfSoAngry]

It's a strange world where one of the criticisms people level at Moffat is that his run is somehow "less imaginative" than RTD's. I could understand if the complaint was "he throws a thousand cool ideas at the screen but he doesn't spend enough time on them" but less imaginative? Really? Compared to the guy who gave us two separate species of aliens who were just anthropomorphic animals?

Also Comrade's bang on the money about RTD and narrative. As far back as Ecclestone I remember getting into arguments about how "then the TARDIS does something magic" didn't really feel like an acceptable resolution to a story.

Horses for courses though, I suppose. Anthropomorphic space horses in some cases.

[Harsin]

Don't make me post the Ghostbusters clip again.

[SonOfSoAngry]

Thanks, Harsin. I'd forgotten about that. And the Den's Ghost in Eastenders bit. "The only spirits we serve here are [runs joke into the ground]"

[Professor Puzzles]

No, I'm going to side with Moffat on this one. This woman is talking complete bollocks.

No she isn't; her criticisms may be a bit OTT in places and a few of them miss the mark but the stuff about the plot of the Dalek Asylum episode, the River Song character beats and the weird sex/gender references are all valid complaints, at least from her point of view.

[Rev]

When Mr Moffat meets a female I'm sure things will get better. He made a right mess of Amy, he didn't do much better with River and the women in Coupling were pretty much the low point of history. He just can't write them. And building big arcs is fine, but when the conclusion is

It's a robot that looks like the doctor that dies, really!

The idea of big arcs becomes a lot less tempting. Neil Gaiman's episode, complete with Blue Peter tardis, was so much better than all the rest.

[Professor Puzzles]

Apparently Neil Gaiman's writing another episode. I can't remember where I heard that so it might be a dream.

[kensei]

He said on Twitter.

First Moffat series arc was good, the second a bit of a mess but generally fun. I'd rather see the show have some ambition, and RTD conclusions were *appalling*. Gollum Jesus anyone?

[davidcotton]

I pretty much agree with the article. Except for "Fear Her" being good, obviously. (It's not THAT bad. OK it is. But not irredeemably so.) The "too epic" thing I think was referring to Moffat's own episodes, which do tend to be a tad overblown. I'm dying for another "Blink". I look forward to the non-Moffat episodes more these days, which is something I never thought I'd say.

. Which seemed like it was going to be a good thing but I'm not as keen as I thought I would be.

In other words, be careful what you wish for.

[Made of Ghosts]

It's a strange world where one of the criticisms people level at Moffat is that his run is somehow "less imaginative" than RTD's. I could understand if the complaint was "he throws a thousand cool ideas at the screen but he doesn't spend enough time on them" but less imaginative? Really? Compared to the guy who gave us two separate species of aliens who were just anthropomorphic animals?

He also gave us stuff like the Doctor ending up in Big Brother. Which not everyone liked, fair enough, but the current series wouldn't dare to do anything like that.

And Midnight, obviously.

[Harsin]

And a blowjob paving slab.

[Exidor]

And the Doctor carrying the Olympic flame. There's good imaginative and bad imaginative.

[The Bag]

When Mr Moffat meets a female I'm sure things will get better. He made a right mess of Amy, he didn't do much better with River and the women in Coupling were pretty much the low point of history. He just can't write them.

He's married to Sue Vertue, the producer, Coupling's Steve and Susan are loosely based on them.

[sweetdaddyg]

I quite enjoyed the last two episodes. I think Doctor Who works better when it is single stories. I find that it gets a bit too tedious when there are big story arcs and continuity becomes the thing. Kind of how I used to view the X-Files. I loved it when it was monster of the week, but when they started getting too far into all the alien conspiracy/invasion stuff I switched off.

I like the idea of things like the bad wolf story arc which was nice and subtle, but the whole river song thing felt a wee bit laboured to me. But thats just my personal taste.

Either way, I really enjoyed Asylum, and my little boy and I loved the Dinosaurs on a spaceship. Not too sure about this weeks one but hey, even mediocre Who is better than no Who.

[whizzo]

He also gave us stuff like the Doctor ending up in Big Brother. Which not everyone liked, fair enough, but the current series wouldn't dare to do anything like that.

And Midnight, obviously.

Ooh lets do big brother!

Thats literally the opposite of imaginative surely!

[Sprite Machine]

So, The Space Museum. Four parts, the first of which is quite a cool creepy sci-fi thing with a time travel twist. After that, it becomes a more standard fare, with our heroes trying to figure out how to escape their fate of becoming museum attractions. They touch upon the futility of escaping a fate they've already witnessed, how choice is pointless without knowledge (something the Matrix sequels went on about in a more bloated and wordy fashion) and it all ends rather anti-climactly with the planet's original inhabitants (with really silly eyebrows) launching a coup and taking over the place with ray guns that make screaming sounds.

Fashion disasters aside, it was reasonably entertaining, and ends with a teaser clip of the Dalek story coming next...