Blink – S29 (3) 10

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian   I think the Angels were (and are) the best Who monster ever.   And the Village of Angels episode was the best episode of Chibnall’s tenure.    As I said somewhere, I was quite apprehensive what he might do to Moff’s creation, but I think he treated them well, at least up to the end of that episode.   (I lied in my comment on ‘Utopia’, I’m not about to watch the final ep (6) of S13, but the penultimate one (5).   I started watching 5 very late and dozy last night and decided to postpone watching it till tonight, to do it justice.)

You have quite a way to go to reach the Chibnall years, but at the rate you’re romping through episodes it may not take you so long, at that.   I don’t know if you mentioned it, but how are you viewing them – online, or DVD sets?    I use DVD sets myself, they often have interesting extras on them, specially in the Moffat era.   Such as prequels and webisodes and the like.   I even made myself a spreadsheet of what was on each DVD, just so I could watch them in the correct sequence with the episodes.   (I found the list of episodes on Tardis.fandom.com, which gives the date of first screening, very useful in compiling my spreadsheet).

[Rewvian @rewvian]

@dentarthurdent Excellent question!  So back in 2010 I started getting the DVD sets for series 1-4 and the specials set.  I never got around to buying any of the Eleventh Doctor series, just because it was already quite expensive to buy British shows on DVD here in the US, and it took a little while for Matt Smith to grow on me.

I no longer own those DVDs, but I remember how cool the main TARDIS menus were, and how in season 4 or something the TARDIS was on fire.

(I actually watched Time Crash on Youtube recently, but I forget which special had the Doctor making music in the air or something.  I never saw the cartoons with the 10th Doctor.)

But now I’m watching the episodes through streaming.  Here in the US that means HBO Max.  I like it, and I hope HBO is smart enough to hold onto DW rather than let it go over to Disney +.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian    OK, I’ve never been a customer of a streaming service.   Partly because I’m always several years behind the current technology.   For example all my laptops have been second-hand IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads, at least three years old, at maybe a fifth the price of a brand new one (Thinkpads are almost indestructible.    They are eminently repairable and by the time they seriously break down they’re so old and obsolete as to be worth almost nothing and I’ve usually got two newer models anyway.   But I digress).   The other reason is, I think streaming is mostly via cable?   We only got fibre broadband a couple of years ago, so I’m not sure if streaming was ever an option before that.

Back to DVD’s – yes I agree DVD sets are often horribly expensive.   So again, I’m a cheapskate, I rarely buy the latest DVD’s, I either rent them (back in the day when video stores were a thing) or I wait a few months (or years) until they’re all over the second-hand market, or remaindered.   If I really want a newish one I check Trademe (in New Zealand) or Ebay.com.au or even Ebay.co.uk for the best prices.   That helps to keep my DVD habit reasonably affordable.

Matt Smith – yes, it took a while for him to grow on me, too.   At first sight he seemed awfully weak and undecided, and also too young, for half an episode anyway.    I liked Eleventh Hour much better on re-watching, knowing that his new-Doctor helplessness was going to wear off quite quickly.

 

[Rewvian @rewvian]

@dentarthurdent Streaming works much better in modern times.   Broadband, it should work just fine.  I use a wireless wi-fi connection for all of my Internet-connected devices.  Sometimes I watch the occasional episode on my phone.

From what I can tell the DVDs are much more reasonable in price nowadays than they were back when I bought them, at least the ones I owned before.  I saw people on Poshmark selling seasons 1-13 for under $70, but I did notice that doesn’t include Tennant’s specials from 2009 and 2010.  There may very well be other specials or Christmas episodes missing as well.

You know Smith did a pretty bang-up job when he stepped into the role.  I think he did a great job playing an old and brilliant mind in a youthful body.  I think it was hard to adjust coming off of Eccleston and Tennant, and the writing for the show certainly changed a lot with series 5.  I think Karen Gillan got me first as this fiery young woman who knew the Doctor all through her life, and somewhere along the way Smith really nailed it and knew the character of the Doctor inside and out.  I will miss the RTD years when I complete my rewatch of them, but I am looking forward to seeing how I feel about the Moffat years when I get to watch them again.

[Dentarthurdent @dentarthurdent]

@rewvian   Smith was good.   I didn’t like him at first (too young) but within a couple of episodes I’d accepted him.   The flavour of the show did change with S5, of course the Moff took over as showrunner.    Karen Gillan was excellent as Amy.   In fact all the companions in the RTD and Moffat years were good; assertive young women who rarely took any nonsense from the Doctor.   I’ve always considered the Companion as important as the Doctor.   I liked them all  (except Donna.   Too shrill.   First impressions can count for a lot and unfortunately the first impression we got of Donna was when the Doctor was grieving the shocking loss of Rose, and Donna burst in haranguing him for causing something he was completely innocent of.   Donna wasn’t written as sympathetically as the other Companions).

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