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27 December 2013 at 20:46 #23497
Did anyone think the voice bellowing “Doctor Who” sounded like the voice of the Great Intelligence?
I’ve got to rewatch the episode. On first viewing it felt rushed to me, like too many gags got crammed in there. Really liked the last 15 minutes or so, however, and thought that Matt hit all of his marks.
20 December 2013 at 15:24 #23158Saw this over on the Doctor Who tumblr: it’s apparently Thank You, Matt Smith in Circular Gallifreyan.
3 December 2013 at 23:10 #22222@wolfweed said
Nobody complained when Liz 1 (& Zygon Commander) kept pawing David Tennant’s Dr that she was (they were) molesting him…
That’s because no-one at the BBC asked me! I felt bad for Tennant’s Doctor, getting grabbed and snogged all the time. Madame Pompadour seemed like the only woman he didn’t much mind being kissed by. I thought that the rough-handing he received from Elizabeth I went a bit over the top. Seemed a hallmark of his tenure, though. It’s just not pleasant when someone gets kissed when they don’t want to be, be it the Doctor (Tennant and Smith) or Jenny, or Rory. I don’t mind if the Doctor kisses (someone mentioned the nice one with River, and I think Eccleston’s Doctor enjoyed the one with Bad Wold), but I dislike the dubious-consent/assault bit played for laughs. Bit of a sticky wicket, that.
1 December 2013 at 14:43 #22100@phaseshift @wolfweed Perhaps y’all saw that the Doctor Who movie sales were second only to Catching Fire on release day. Pretty spiffy!
In that vein, the 50th Anniversary was the largest TV event Tumblr has seen, with 5.0 million posts, 4.9 million reblogs, 3.1 million likes and 1.0 million contributors (source: Doctor Who Tumblr). It was a social media record-breaker.
1 December 2013 at 14:32 #22097A funny comic I saw recently (it’s a number of panels so I didn’t embed it): http://www.funnyism.com/i/funnypics/82064 — ribs the fans a bit.
And there’s this gorgeous artist that I’ll be hitting up for some of my holiday gifts (her art can go as prints, on tote bags, mugs, etc). She’s so good that some of her pieces got officially licensed by the BBC. Official shop here.
More of the 50th Anniversary pieces here: a gorgeous TARDIS (that’s my fave), and one of each of the three Doctors featured in the Anniversary episode.
30 November 2013 at 16:51 #22043This is a barely coalesced theory but. “Silence must fall when the question is asked; Doctor Who?” The War Doctor has been redeemed and now counts as one of the Doctors. Time streams have moved. Has the question been answered? Darn my toddler anyway; she’s singing the ABC song on constant repeat this morning and I can’t quite think it through.
@bluesqueakpip Clara as The Ideal Companion. Hrm. If that’s the case, I wish that she had a little more depth and development. I like her; her dialogue is snappy and her energy with Matt was excellent, but — well, I’ve liked other companions better. Though I agree that his Ideal is probably not in any way romantic, hence Donna being the (previous?) Best Friend.
30 November 2013 at 16:33 #22042Maybe y’all knew about this, but I recently discovered a site that makes fandom teas. It’s got a lot of fandoms to explore (and I think you can make your own, too). And of course for something as nerdy as a tea fandom there are multiple Doctor Who teas. I tried the tea for the tenth doctor and it’s pretty tasty. As I read through all of the threads above it made me wish that I could put on the kettle and pass everyone a cup! I really do love reading everything y’all have to say here.
30 November 2013 at 16:17 #22040I’ll preface this by saying that I think Moffat does pretty good most of the time, and I’m very satisfied with the 50th anniversary, overall. However, this article raises some good points.
30 November 2013 at 16:06 #22039@craig, thanks for putting that back. It really makes a difference to my ability to participate on the site.
27 November 2013 at 16:02 #21777Eleven was reading a book on quantum mechanics at the beginning of the episode. (@ardaraith says that’s because they’re still stuck in the time stream, which is a lovely idea). I also think it was a clue from Moffat that things were going to get quite timey-wimey.
Isn’t there a multiverse theory, one that Heinlein used quite often, that every major decision spins off a separate universe? If we go by that then Gallifrey did burn and is still burning because the Doctor never redeemed himself, and in another universe Gallifrey never burned and was lost instead, and in another Gallifrey burned and was then saved. All possibilities happened because everything is always happening all at once.
I never have been able to figure out the time theory of Doctor Who (I’ve got the Brian Cox special queued up), but I’m ok with believing that we are all stories, all happening all at once, and that the Doctor is good at occasionally slipping into a better/different multiverse (perhaps without noticing). Or maybe it’s all Clara working her re-writing. I wish I had a good understanding of it, but love the show even though I don’t.
26 November 2013 at 14:44 #21671@badwolfie My personal headcannon for 9/Rose Tyler had been that while Eccleston doesn’t remember her, he maybe remembers her subconsciously. Hence the instant connection and fondness. But I think I like your idea better: that he remembers her from before the time stream memory loss and goes to look for her!
In my theater Billie Piper, Tennant and Baker got the biggest cheers, with Eccleston being a close second. Lots of older people in 4th Doctor scarves in the crew. Couple of girls in the TARDIS dress, lots of bow ties, and an enterprising young man in a handmade Cyberman helmet. At first I wondered why Matt got little audience reaction, and then I figured that everyone’s used to loving him and so was cheering for the special treat of their favorites onscreen. @geoffers I too am glad I saw it at home; I would have missed some key lines otherwise, and this way I could enjoy my favorite parts on the big screen. Someone got up to nip to the loo just before the scene with John Hurt and the Big Red Button — I felt really bad for him.
Upon rewatch I concocted a fun potential Moffat could have done. Not should have done, by any means, but could have. When he had to sneak in an extra regeneration of the Doctor, he could have made it a woman. Or a person of color. On the one hand, everyone would have screamed: how come it’s the woman/PoC that would have committed genocide, oh how sexist/racist of you Evil!Moffat! And yes, since the story is in large part about the Doctor integrating and healing himself, probably a gender switch at this narrative point didn’t make sense.
All that aside, it would have been really interesting had the Sisterhood decided that “Warrior” meant Woman — and why wouldn’t they think that? — and regenerated the Doctor into someone like Zoe from Firefly, or Helen Mirrin, or [insert tough&awesome woman here]. I’m actually quite pleased with what Moffat chose to do instead; I even think that inserting Hurt rather than playing the story out with Eccleston made for a better story (even though I would have LOVED to see Eccleston on the screen again). Still. I think Moffat needs to find some opportunities to play with the Doctor’s gender and race in a story where he can back out of it if everyone hates it.
24 November 2013 at 17:57 #21389Does Hurt regenerate into Eccleston? I sure thought I saw Eccleston’s face bleeding through but it wasn’t clear, and I can’t check it just now. If Hurt doesn’t verifiably regenerate into Eccleston, then we might have another gap in which to insert another hidden regeneration. It would be pretty cheesy to do so, IMO, but Moffat does like to leave loopholes. (Certainly Hurt into Eccleston is implied with the comment about the ears sticking out.)
And I’m definitely ready to have the nomenclature settled. Is Hurt Nine? Or outside of the numbering? It’s going to be terrible to be talking about Ten if one party means Eccleston and the other means Tennant.
24 November 2013 at 17:41 #21386I’m sorry, but I can’t figure out how to subscribe to a forum in the new layout. I knew how to do it before. I can’t be on the web site that often, so I subscribe to a forum and follow it via email on my phone. I’ve diligently searched all over; can you help me figure this out?
24 November 2013 at 17:33 #21383Real Life With Toddler often keeps me from things but I managed to participate in some of the 50th events anyway, at least the ones I could get to online. We watched the first half of the Day of the Doctor while my kid was out with her grandmother and then they came back right in the middle! We had to stop watching until she went to bed! So we had a seven hour gap in which to writhe on tenterhooks. Weather permitting, we’ll see the episode in the theater on Monday. It’ll be nice to see it all in one go, and re-watch for details.
I loved so much about this, all of which y’all have already pointed out. 🙂
My head is exploding about the idea upthread that Clara might be Osgood’s big sister. And I’m dying to know when in the Doctor’s timeline this took place — when we left Eleven and Clara they were inside the Doctor’s time stream at Trenzalore. The Day of the Doctor could have happened at any time, I suppose, but inside the Doctor’s time stream is the first time that Clara saw the War Doctor, so that implies that The Day of the Doctor occurs after the events at Trenzalore. (And since when does Eleven talk about the Time War with Clara all the time?) So I can’t figure out when the 50th was situated. Perhaps it’s the second half of the story, and we’ll see the first half when the series resumes.
If Gallifrey is still around, though timelocked, might The Master still be alive? And the Doctor’s family?
My biggest question is: how was Four there, looking old? Don’t we see Four regenerate into Five (I haven’t seen that ep; I don’t know)? If so, when and how does Four get old? And are we meant to believe that the National Gallery is in a TARDIS? Or just that Curator likes those round things?
Niggling questions aside, I haven’t a complaint. It was everything I like best about Doctor Who, even in the wobbly bits. I don’t need my plots to be perfect as long as the story is good, so I’m quite pleased. Can’t wait to see what happens next.
5 August 2013 at 19:19 #15491I’d been putting these on the sofa but they probably go better over here. (Here’s the intro to the project and the links to the weighted chart and sonic uses by writer. Thist post has the tally of sonic uses by story.) Here’s the latest, a sonic screwdriver infographic.
5 August 2013 at 13:36 #15470I watched the special with my daughter; she’s 3 and liked the glitter so I didn’t complain. It did feel exciting, especially since I was also following some liveblogging at the time. I loved PC as the Angel Islington, and I look forward to seeing what he does with the role of the Doctor. I like his face.
2 August 2013 at 17:02 #14872Oh dear, it’s my third comment in 20 minutes. Done after this, I promise, but @bluesqueakpip said over in this post:
oh, Rory’s attraction for Amy has always been something completely obvious to me. He’s her anchor; the person whose sheer stability and ordinariness means that she can bound off in her crazy life without it becoming so insane she can never get back.
And Amy’s attraction to Rory is that she keeps pushing him out of his comfort zone and stops him being exactly like his Dad.
They may look as though they have nothing in common; in fact, they complement each other.
I suddenly realized where I’ve seen this kind of dynamic before: in Moffat’s Sherlock. I’m not saying the two pairs are identical, or that he’s a one-trick-pony or anything like that. But he does like to explore relationships like these, doesn’t he? Ones where it doesn’t make sense at first, and you wonder why on earth one or both of them would stay together, but in the end they turn out to be perfectly complementary.
2 August 2013 at 16:44 #14870Sorry about the double post, didn’t get back to the edit link in time. In any case, I just read an author I like (Sarah Rees Brennan) talking about fan engagement:
One of my favourite stories is actually a Dickens story, too: novels used to be put out in serialised form, and a boat was arriving bearing the latest installment of the Old Curiosity Shop, a book whose heroine was called Nell. And a MOB ran down to the harbour and they all yelled to the sailors: ‘DOES LITTLE NELL DIE?’
(Presumably the sailors were like: HER MAJESTY’S NAVY DOES NOT GIVE SPOILERS, or something.)
But the energy that’ll propel the mob of readers to wonder and to care is in the not knowing, and feeling you’re a part of the story as it happens…I think that’s cool.
Readers (& viewers) have been engaging with and passionate about stories for as long as they’ve been told. I personally can’t imagine being so excited about a Charles Dickens story, but I definitely feel that way about waiting for the next Doctor Who episode.
2 August 2013 at 16:33 #14867@bluesqueakpip don’t forget Captain Jack/Everyone, which is actually true to Jack’s character even though not every character would have been open to the idea.
On the one hand, I think that “shipping” — trying to figure out who will get with whom, and who we’d prefer to end up together — is something endemic to television. I think that watchers have been having these imaginings since watching began. I don’t know when writers twigged to the fact that a little relationship uncertainty kept viewers hooked, but at this point writers obviously do it on purpose.
On the other hand, the phenomenon of shipping can cause the problem of writers doing too much “fan service” (writing stuff just to make fans happy) or drawing a dynamic out just to keep people guessing (I personally thought Amy and Rory’s ups and downs, not to mention the issue of whether she preferred Rory or the Doctor, went on too long). So it can sometimes interfere with good storytelling.
Either way, viewers (or readers) caring enough about characters to have opinions about their relationships is something that writers should want, I would think, because those viewers (or readers) are passionate about the story being told. Passion keeps shows alive longer. Though I am getting the impression that passionate fans can also be jerks? I’m always shocked when I hear about fans going amok, but I guess it happens.
In general I support the making fanworks of any sort, just on the creative principle of the thing. I believe that any good story is worth telling, and having fans inspired enough to create derivative works is good for keeping fans engaged with the source material. But I’m not going to clog my brain with much of it because few amateur stories are told well enough.
28 July 2013 at 15:50 #14551That was great. And @ardaraith, seeing Matt with an attractive haircut makes me doubly rue the fringe the Doctor sported. He’s much better looking out of the guise of the Doctor!
26 July 2013 at 23:02 #14492I had a lovely experience this afternoon. At the art museum with my daughter we encountered an interactive installation full of pennies (600,000 to be exact). As might be expected, it had a steady stream of kids playing with it. While exploring it with my kid, a boy somewhere between 8-10 years of age sat down next to us and told me he liked my shirt (“You never forget your first doctor“). I asked him what he liked about the show, and he said, “Doctor Three is my favorite, with Four as my second favorite.” It shocked me to find out he’s never seen AG Who, only the BG episodes on Netflix (he wishes Netflix had more).
We bonded over our Pertwee love. He likes Daleks and wishes his sister wasn’t so scared of the monsters (she’s 5) so that he could watch with her. He also really likes the Master, but his mom doesn’t, so he doesn’t get to see those episodes as often. I was delighted by the whole thing. Those parents are doing it right!
18 July 2013 at 13:54 #14004Of course you may say it was difficult to get to Trenzalore, but then I think we’re about to find out that the Doctor doesn’t die there after all because his personal future is (somehow) about to be changed to kick off a new regeneration cycle.
@nick, Doctor #10 said that a regeneration is a death, feels like a death. It could be Moffat is pulling one of his favorite tricks: telling us the absolute truth in a way that is easy to initially misinterpret (e.g. the episode title The Name of the Doctor). “I do not think it means what you think it means.”2 July 2013 at 23:30 #13105Here’s another sonic usage chart (couldn’t seem to go back and add it to the other post, sorry), this one about sonic uses by story.
1 July 2013 at 04:47 #13053Some fans want to respond to Matt Smith’s thank you video by inviting everyone to join them in making one of their own.
1 July 2013 at 04:43 #13052Not sure if this is the right forum in which to post this, so please correct me/move it as necessary. Some fan over on one of the Livejournal Who groups watched all the episodes and categorized the uses of the sonic screwdriver in each:
I have completed the scrubbing of all the Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Sarah Jane Adventures and have a final sonic use total. This includes all sonic screwdrivers, Liz Shaw’s door opener, Gwen’s Gizmo, Mrs. Wormwood’s phonic ring, River’s screwdriver, Romana’s screwdriver, Jack’s sonic blaster, Sarah Jane’s sonic lipstick, Toshiko’s sonic modulator, Ms. Foster’s sonic pen, and old Amy’s sonic probe. It does not count the Master’s laser screwdriver cause, well it wasn’t a sonic device.
The grand total is 790 uses up to, and including, The Name of the Doctor. I am now categorizing all the uses as closely to real world science as possible which means that “open door” is not a function of the screwdriver, it is merely the end result. The function would be “how” that door was open. Think about this. The Fourth Doctor opens a door in City of Death. It is a simple lock on a shop door which is nothing more and a mechanical mechanism.Is that the same as when the Fourth Doctor open a door in The Planet of Evil where the door was a powered door? No, that’s two different functions. The first was mechanical and the second was electro-mechanical. The end result is the same, the door gets open. And so that’s how this is proceeding.
The researcher has made some charts: a weighted network of uses and a list of sonic uses by writer, and undoubtedly has more to come.
30 June 2013 at 16:18 #13031I love Leela in this episode. Especially kicking ass while wearing bloomers.
The Doctor has a gun. This happens much more frequently in the AG eps than the BG ones, but it always shocks me when it happens.
As a side note, my 3-year old daughter wandered in while I was watching. I had the screen turned away but she heard one of Weng-Chiang’s rants. She said, “that Daddy is mad. He’s having a bad day.” I did let her watch the Doctor and Litefoot on the river, which she enjoyed, before I had to turn it off for a bit: she doesn’t get to watch a trawl through rat-infested sewers!
@shazzbot and @bluesqueakpip I enjoyed your comments about the pacing. I wouldn’t go back to episodes as slow as some of the AG ones, but I definitely miss having multiple segments in which to watch a story unfold. One of my complaints about Moffat’s tenure is that I think his writing (and the eps under his approval) throws too much at viewers too fast. I’m (barely) under 40; I grew up in the post-Star Wars era of faster, fancier, flashier television; yet sometimes I can’t keep up with the speed writers use nowadays. I wouldn’t give up the mini-computer in my pocket for anything, but I do wish things in our world weren’t quite so fast.
29 June 2013 at 14:35 #12978@craig, do you run a Facebook Doctor Who thingy? It pops up in my “suggested” feed all the time. I’d mostly been ignoring it, since FB suggested it arbitrarily, but if it’s YOU then that would be different. 🙂
24 June 2013 at 16:58 #12867@miapatrick – enjoyed your thoughts about the Doctor marrying an archeologist. Of course he would!
I liked everything y’all liked. This is a great episode!
Being American, I always notice the language. “It’s as black as Newgate’s knocker!” Had to look that one up. How’s the usage for that one these days? (I’m still in love with “that takes the biscuit.”) Also, lots of use of the word “queer” in its original context. How funny to see how much usage of that word has changed in a few decades!
Cheese factor: the glowing eyes during the hypnotism bit. Not even some Delgado-esque eyebrow action! Speaking of Delgado…I know that actor can’t be under the duct tape mask, but the dialogue sounds quite Master-esque.
Oh, yay, Baker smiled! Glad to see him cracking some jokes. This is the price of meeting him out of order, I suppose. But ooh, I quite like him. I can see that once I bid my dear Pertwee farewell I’ll be having a good time with Tom Baker…
19 June 2013 at 20:12 #12608@shazzbot, I don’t. This just popped up on another Who site I follow.
19 June 2013 at 18:21 #12604This just came across my radar:
Call for Papers — Companions in Doctor Who: Roles, Characters and Themes.
“This volume of collected essays will examine the Doctor’s companions both as individuals and as a whole. The editors welcome chapter proposals which deal with the companions as individuals, thematic groupings of companions by era/Doctor, gender and sexuality, feminism and its many permutations, or other related treatments dealing with the Companions’ roles in the series.”
More details here. I don’t know anything about this beyond what’s in the link, but it might be a fun opportunity for those of you with a deep knowledge of Who and some talent at the keyboard.
17 June 2013 at 19:21 #12439I do want there to be more episodes, I really do. OTOH, I’d then have to go back and watch them. I’ve missed most of Troughton because they are incomplete or missing — so I’d have loads of eps to see. With Classic Who, that’s both good and bad. 🙂
16 June 2013 at 19:16 #12375@Shazzbot in re this reply:
No, I’m not in Ireland, alas! I did spend a lovely three weeks there with @ardaraith last November, after which I yearned to spend a year abroad. We just couldn’t figure out a way to be allowed in the country for that long (would you believe that neither being employed nor being a student in Ireland ensures that you get to bring your family with you?). It’s not really an option for me to marry an EU citizen, so I guess we’ll just have to visit again.
I do frequent a local cafe run by an English ex-pat (that shows Doctor Who episodes, natch) so I sometimes drink proper tea and feel wistful. As the “y’all” may have indicated, I live in Texas. (Austin, to be precise, which is only Texan in the good ways.)
16 June 2013 at 18:05 #12369@Shazzbot, sometimes I do a happy dance and tell my husband, “someone liked what I had to say on the board!” (Perhaps I shouldn’t have admitted that out loud…) Y’all have so much knowledge and smarts it’s a bit intimidating sometimes!
15 June 2013 at 22:37 #12345I did catch the Sherlock Holmes nod. I love the idea of The Doctor and the Detective hanging out together sometimes.
@chickenelly I was surprised to see Baker seeming serious; my understanding is that he’s a lighthearted one. Maybe the detective hat puts him in a certain kind of mood. I’m waiting to see what he does next. Of course, it is murder, and he doesn’t like it when people die.
15 June 2013 at 16:44 #12320Hope it’s ok to be commenting early: the kid is asleep and I have to take time when I can. I’m still a bit tweaked by going out of order (I’m only on Pertwee in my personal rewatch), but as my husband pointed out, BG Who doesn’t really have the same kind of continuity as AG so I’m not getting important spoilers. And I really wanted to play along with y’all. 🙂
Would you believe I’ve never seen a Tom Baker episode? My parents watched his era of Who but I was tiny during his run, so I wasn’t interested yet. 🙂 My first impression of him is that he’s a bit cranky and serious.
It’s always so exiting to see the new opener and the face of a new Doctor. Nice tunnel effect with the music, though I miss the geometric designs. Production quality isn’t dreadful; it’s on par with the Pertwee ones I’ve been watching. Chang has great eyebrows. And I’m glad he’s a decent ventriloquist; it’s not too painful watching him with the puppet. I like that Leela got some fighting in, and that she was better at it than the Doctor. (No backlash about being a woman caught in trousers in Victorian England? Well, no-one goes to the bathroom in Doctor Who either; perhpaps some details are best glossed over.) Hooray for 70’s TV; we didn’t have to look at the corpse.
Cheese factors: the husband delivered his lines in one tone of voice, as did the woman who found the body in the river: bit parts, overplayed! Chang’s accent, super cheesy. The shot of the axe just before the assailant threw it at the Doctor, cheesy only because it’s so classic. I do understand that these things are tropes largely because of this era of television. It’s part of what I love about Doctor Who: seeing the tropes in their natural habitat, as it were, when people took them seriously. (My sister and I laughed and laughed through the dramatic freaking out guy in the beginning of The Sensorites, for example, and I think the wetsuit aliens from the Keys of Marinus are delightfully funny.)
“If that don’t take the biscuit,” says the cop. Never heard that one. Do people still say it? Or is it like “Jeepers” in its archaism?
GIANT RAT OMG. Fantastic!
And this is why Classic Who is good: even though it’s laughable compared to (some) current television, I want to know what happens next.
13 June 2013 at 19:52 #12233Darnit, I’m still on Pertwee (halfway through The Time Monster) so whatever you pick to watch will likely be ahead of me. Though this board has already given me some Classic Who spoilers, so. This is me getting over my obsessively nerdish desire to go exactly in order. 🙂
I’d love to watch a Classic episode and talk about it with y’all. I like the idea of doing a shorter one over a weekend, or a longer one over a week. Maybe two weeks if people really are that short on time. If I can watch the eps with my toddler then I can certainly keep up, but if she can’t participate then I’d need more time. I liked @chickenelly‘s “Summer School” moniker, too.
(As a side note, I would love to show my kid some Classic Who, but she’s pretty sensitive to violence and people looking scared/screaming, so it’s probably not possible yet. Anyone have suggestions of early eps that are super mild?)
7 June 2013 at 16:57 #11993@bluesqueakpip I’m glad to hear that you also perceived the first half of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell different from the second half. I put it down about halfway through; I just couldn’t take it droning on any more. I left it for nearly six months. However, unlike other books that I’ve abandoned forever, I kept thinking about it. When I picked it up again, I was surprised at how good it was. It was like a whole ‘nother book!
7 June 2013 at 16:07 #11991I haven’t seen all of Classic Who (I’m watching from the beginning, and due to the aforementioned toddler I’m only up to Pertwee. But oh, what fun I’m having!) so I can’t weigh in on everyone, alas. I have to second a deep love for Ian and Barbara. I feel as though I should love Jamie, but the Troughton eps are a bit of a late-pregnancy blur for me and I don’t think he made the impression he could have. I do like Jo Grant, but I’m looking forward to finally meeting Sarah Jane properly.
As far as AG Who, I like all of the RTD companions for different reasons. Rose is important and wonderful, but I liked Martha better than Rose and Donna best of all. (And I must agree with @htpbdet about Captain Jack. He’s delightful on Doctor Who.)
I’m sorry to say that I don’t think much of Matt’s Smith’s crew. I appreciate the work that went into making Amy’s damaged, flawed character, but her character development took too long to pay off: I only liked her in the beginning of series 7! (I disliked the Amy/Rory soap opera, too.) Clara showed flashes of being a fantastic companion, but sometimes she was brilliant, and sometimes she seemed to be there only to showcase the Doctor. So Rory wins from the Matt Smith lot. I love his honorable, loyal, funny character.
6 June 2013 at 16:42 #11939@ardaraith Many “there, there, dear”s sent to you .We may not agree on Matt Smith as being the best Doctor but I knew you’d be sad at the news! He did grow on me, and it’s mostly your fault that I gave him a closer look. I look forward to re-watching his eps when I’m not sleep-deprived from raising a toddler. I hardly like anyone on days when I’m underslept; maybe I’ll like him better in this hypothetical and longed-for future of good sleep! You may tell me “I told you so” if I have a sea change. 🙂
Neil Gaiman offers his thoughts about casting (no spoilers save a few names he’s heard bandied about, which I’ve seen posted here as well). I think that I agree with him: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2013/06/on-casting-doctor.html
As to the Doctor being a woman, I suppose this might be TMI but I slightly prefer fancying a male-gendered Doctor. I have no doubts that the right woman would provide good female-gendered fancying though, so my personal ability to mentally explore back rooms of the TARDIS with the Doctor are irrespective of gender. People that feel strongly about a certain flavor of sexual expression probably care a great deal about the Doctor remaining in the gender role that they most fancy.
I do approve of the example a female-gendered doctor would provide to children, but I don’t support casting a woman solely for that purpose. And, as many of you have said, if the writing team wasn’t up to the task, it would fail utterly. I’m thinking of Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager now, who in her first season was written like “starship capitan who is totally just like any dude.” I don’t think it would have worked had she not gotten to evolve into “awesome lady character who is also a starship captain.” Taking away her gender made her boring; making it part of her strength made for good viewing IMO.
Bottom line, I agree with the prevailing sentiment: they should cast whoever will allow the writers to tell the best stories. A non-white Doctor, a female doctor — those could unlock some amazing tales. That’s the only compelling reason to change the character’s face: to tell more and better stories.
4 June 2013 at 00:39 #11813@bluesqueakpip I’ll try to clear my head before watching. Thanks for the perspective.
@Shazzbot said:
watch the episode, go to the G blog and read about all that was important which I’d missed, and then re-watch the episode to get that ‘aaaah’ of satisfaction in understanding which a casual viewer would skate over.
Yes! That’s exactly what I like to do, except I’ve not read the Guardian’s blog. What you said about the board is all the stuff I’m finding that I like about it (and what drew me in above @ardaraith‘s recommendation). I doubt I’ll be a good theorist. I do love everyone’s attention to detail and I’m in awe of some of the loremasters around here.
@ardaraith I hope that I’m able to engage my suspension of disbelief, too. I haven’t really had the experience of having many theories in my head before watching Doctor Who yet — speculation on the 50th will be my first experiment like this. (Though me and mine certainly speculated about Star Wars ad infinitum and I had no problem saving analysis until after the movie . . . so on a personal level I’m probably overthinking this. Won’t be the first time I’ve done that. 🙂 )
3 June 2013 at 14:56 #11752I wouldn’t mind if the regeneration faded to black without showing the next face. The regeneration sequence is always so emotional for me, I find it jarring the way they’ve done it in recent years with the new face of the Doctor popping off all wacky and trying to be funny. Both Tennant and Smith went right into a comedy routine while I was having feelings. I’ve always needed a bit more of a breather.
3 June 2013 at 14:49 #11751This is a bit of a topic change, but I have a meta question about the board itself. I’ve said before that I generally prefer to do post-analysis: I’m the kind of person who’s got Running Through Corridors in my to-read pile. I watch a classic ep and then mull it over with the relevant TARDIS Eruditorium post (though I read the WifeInSpace post, too). I like to look at the elements of what has gone into the show up to this point. It’s a kind of literary analysis thing, I guess. I’ve vastly enjoyed the perspectives and information brought by those of you that got to see Doctor Who in the Classic years.
I’m enjoying the speculation more than I thought I would — that’s because y’all are so funny and clever — but I still find that too much of it can take me out of the show. Someone on the forum has probably gotten very close to guessing Moffat’s next moves and I’ll have read that when I see the 50th anniversary show. It almost functions as a kind of spoiler. I’ve read so many theories about what I might see that the surprise now will be WHICH one comes true, rather than allowing my mind to be open to whatever Moffat might write. I’m deciding how I feel about that.
But enough about me. I want to know what YOU enjoy about the bonkers theorizing. Is it the satisfaction that one feels when reading a mystery novel and figuring out the whodunit? (I like that feeling, but I like to have it just before the protagonist figures it out, not halfway through the book.) Is it a drive to imagine Doctor stories (related to the drive to create fanfiction, I feel)? Something else?
(@ardaraith may want to chime in on this if she’s not already reading.)
31 May 2013 at 23:03 #11475My daughter (almost 3) just woke up from her nap oddly. I guess she was dreaming, but she sat straight up and said, “Mama, I don’t know where I am!” @_@;;
She doesn’t watch the show.
31 May 2013 at 21:31 #11468Just have to say that I love this thread. It’s the one that drew me to the board, actually. I tend to prefer post-analysis rather than speculation; this topic is quite meaty. I rarely am caught up on new eps, but have been slowly backfilling Classic Who. (I’m still on Pertwee.) I’ll have to just lurk about this thread until I’ve watched more.
I love the idea of reading the Target novels — it’s time in front of the telly that’s hard to come by with a toddler awake and underfoot but I am a pro at sneaking in books during odd moments. (Sometimes the novels are really different, though — I read the Target novelization for The Daleks and it’s got some changes.) On the other hand, the brains on eye-stalks in Keys of Marinus make for one of my favorite Hartnell monster moments, and those seem best when experienced visually.
And even though I’m new, I’ll join the chorus of appreciation for @htpbdet‘s post (@whohar said it so well) and for @craig setting up the board. I’m having fun. I’ll keep dipping my toe in here and there.
31 May 2013 at 05:31 #11431@timeloop Doctor Who has no canon. RTD and SM agree on this. All stories are Doctor Who stories. (That last sentence is my opinion, heavily informed by the dude at the TARDIS Eruditorium site, not RTD or SM. Wanted to make that clear.)
31 May 2013 at 05:27 #11430Flash Gordon tops my list; I’ve loved that movie since I was about seven.
Hackers. Even people who haven’t worked in tech (I’ve done QA/IT) know that the technology is ridiculous. Plus the villain is cheezy and I’ve never met hackers like those kids. But the music is good, and the movie makes me laugh. (Sneakers, OTOH, is a hacker movie that holds up.)
I will also admit to indulging in the occasional Xanadu cheesefest. Good music and good costumes again (I’m detecting a theme). And this one I can watch with my toddler, which makes a nice break from the replays of Sesame Street and the Miyazaki movies suitable for kids.
31 May 2013 at 00:03 #11410@craig, glad you liked the link. My compliments on your avatar. The 80s Flash Gordon movie was some of my first sci-fi; I can quote the dialogue of certain scenes by heart. Great costumes, great music, terrible movie, but I love it anyway.
30 May 2013 at 21:45 #11400@Shazzbot, it did melt my brain a bit. But I can be fiendishly nerdish sometimes. Plus it was so interesting I couldn’t stop!
30 May 2013 at 21:08 #11396Hi, y’all. I have a toddler who doesn’t sleep convenient hours, so I am often many episodes behind everyone. I couldn’t participate until I caught up. Now that I’ve finally seen The Name of the Doctor, I have stuff to say! Though you seem to have said most of it — 1000+ replies OMG. Which I did read, actually.
I’ll start by saying that y’all are brilliant. 🙂 I tend to prefer analysis of past episodes rather than speculation on the future ones, but I am enjoying all the bonkers theories in this thread.
There was some discussion about how the Doctor could touch supposedly non-corporeal River — well, I’m still deciding what I think about @ardaraith‘s Clara=River theory, but since Clara was effectively inside the Doctor at that point, if River = ClaraEcho then perhaps that’s how. Alternately, the Doctor has shown occasional bits of telepathy (#10 in The Girl in the Fireplace, for example), so perhaps River only intended to telepathically link to Clara but the Doctor picked up on it. (Susan had strong psychic powers, maybe inherited from her grandfather?) If telepathy/psi powers are part of the Time Lords’ genetic heritage, and River is part Time Lord, i t seems plausible.
Another theory for how River knows the Doctor’s name: isn’t it written on his cradle? And, of course, every time this question comes up my husband quips, “he told her in bed, of course!” because it seems a likely post-coital revelation . . . 😉 (I saw that @jimthefish has also had this thought.)
In regards to Moffat rewriting or neutering the canon, have you read this bit from teatimebrutality? Apparently there’s officially no canon to be rewritten. 🙂 Though certainly they’ve mucked about with continuity loads of times.
@Shazzbot said something about wanting a more ordinary companion, rather than these “impossible girl” “crack in wall girl” types. I agree! I think that focusing on Clara’s impossibleness meant we had fewer opportunities to get to know her as a person rather than a plot point. Instead of focusing on the companion, we focused on the Doctor trying to puzzle out the companion. This makes for a different story, and I personally prefer a little bit more time spent on the interpersonal stuff. I’m not talking about romance, either — I miss the kind of friendships we got to see with the classic series companions. (I still miss Ian and Barbara.)
@rema and @bluesqueakpip talked a bit about a female Doctor. Have you seen this alternate history bit?
@juniperfish nice Isis/Osiris theory. I’m also compelled to point out that a significant part of Osiris’ anatomy goes missing, which Isis has to reconstruct. Could account for some of the “asexual” way the early Doctor is portrayed. 😉
I’d thought the TARDIS changed on the inside after Angels in Manhattan because the Doctor grieved the loss of his companions and wanted to TARDIS to look different — he didn’t want the reminder. Now you all are making me wonder if it’s a sign of the Clara/GI rewrite.
@pennyintheair “Blood calls to blood” + all that stuff about the river of time — what if River and Clara are related via participation in the time stream? River’s conception wove in Time Vortex energy and now Clara has entered a time stream; maybe the “blood” is actually “time.”
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