Ranters room

[The Cloaked One]

I've seen 93% of old Who. Everything but 48 episodes of Peter Davidson, and Happiness Patrol of Sylvester McCoy. I've seen the best: Arc in Space, Spearhead in Space, Power of the Daleks, I've seen the worst: Edge of Destruction, Paradise Towers, the Invasion. Bleh. XD
I finally got the never to watch the Doctor's Christmas Carol and 7 minute comedy relief.
The Christmas Carol was okay. Not particularly good, not particularly bad. For a person who has never seen Doctor Who, I might recommend that as a so-so introduction. Matt Smith gibbers just a bit too much, he's got an on switch and no off button at times more so than any other doctor. The time travel into the old man's past and showing it to him was really timey-wimey. If I were the old man, I would have been very pissed that the Doctor was screwing with my past like that (like he was towards the end). The shark was cool at the end, the pulling the sleigh, but the 'trying to stun it, not kill it while it wants to eat you' was kind of really stupid. To a stronger doctor like Tom Baker, maybe, because he would always have an air of confidence even in the face of death, not the 'two tries and then it's your turn.'
The companions were not very useful this episode, they were just kind of there. I do not like the companions being 'stronger' than the Doctor, having to carry him around (Castrovalva), but companions are supposedly a cut above the rest (depending since several were kidnapped and others were stowaways). They usually hold their own in old who (since most virtually never listen to the Doctor and wander on their own) and assist the Doctor.
In the end, the Christmas Carol can be marked as one of Doctor Who's silly episodes along with Planet of the Giants, The Chase, Enemy of the World, Death to the Daleks, the Two Doctors, Remembrance of the Daleks, and the Silver Nemesis. Just about every Doctor had a serial where the comedy was upped to counteract a more serious plot, and for me, I usually enjoy them.

As for the comedy relief Space and Time, it was nowhere near the quality of the Curse of Fatal Death. More Timey-wimey stuff, Amy looking at herself was decidedly very creepy, and most of the jokes just kinda slid by me. Not to say I didn't laugh once, "The wobbly one!" got me, but the rest was more run of the mill.
I like to watch Curse of Fatal Death, I turn it on every now and again, it is the first video I recommend to new fans who have never seen Doctor Who. This one, however, I probably won't go back for a rewatch.

[The Cloaked One]

I say "ha" to myself. That's what I get for judging content I have yet to see.
The Impossible Astronaut was a very good episode, a weird mix of the Library and Blink. Kind of a dejavu is this all Steven Moffat can think up? But still good. The second part was really strange with too many references to previous episodes hurled at me all at one time. The aliens were goofy, but the old-who goofy. A bit reminiscent of the sensorites in design (I know they're based off the cheesy 'aliens' that probe people oh well). A brief insult on Nixon, he keeps popping up in the weirdest of places, has strange council, and now we know why he recorded everything in his office, apparently it was for a good cause. They used him for a fun episode and not to mock him or particularly make him look bad unlike which they did to Churchill. Personally I respect both historical figures, but that's just me.
Makes me wonder how all the previous doctor's missed the silence, why they never bothered to mess with his Tardis, and why they wanted a space suit of all things which somehow led to the construction of NASA. A lot of weird stuff.

The Black spot was another interesting one. Weird with sirens/healing programs using mirrors. Leads to pirates in space. Unfortunately they will never be able to leave their ship, a single cut to their healing devices and they're in serious trouble. They can name their ship "The Greatest Window Shopper."

Well while these episodes are good in ways, they are not Doctor Who anymore. Moffat has created his own series (probably why he had season 5 become 1 again) But then Nu Who has been a different animal the entire time. It's gone back to being a space opera which Doctor Who originally was intended to be at season 1 (as well as educational and all), but there's a reason why season 2 changed things up. The difference between Hartnell season 1 and season 2 is very stark, and Nu Who is on the other side.

I still stay back on my word, Nu Who is its own series which happens to have a blue police box for a Tardis and a timelord called the Doctor. I much prefer the years of Hartnell through Baker in old who, but that was the end of Doctor Who's greatest era for me. Five I never got into, six was okay when he wasn't being an insuferable jerk to poor Peri, and seven certainly had his moments of charm. I say nothing on the actors, but they were not able to overcome the shadow that loomed over them, they were best liked by looking at their own merits. Nu Who is the same way.

The current season is somehow giving off a kind of twilight zone vibe. There's no narrator, most of the time, but there's a lot less rhyme and reason to everything. You never know when Matt Smith is going to run into a fortune telling device which will read his future. I'll probably shorten this post later, maybe its because I watched 3 episodes in a row, but I have an immense feeling of a head rush at the moment.
I guess I'm rambling at this point so I better call quits before I go another full circle.

[tch]

I never get when people say New Who isn't Doctor Who. It's different in some aspects, but still Who to me.
Matt Smith has managed to capture that essential Doctor-ness.

My only gripe is the sub-plots are starting to take over. I much prefer the approach of 'Bad Wolf' in Series one to the out of control amount of sub-plots in series 6.
Hope once this series is wrapped up, Moffatt takes a breather and tones the sub-plots down.

[MCH]

Sub plots can be so annoying. Especially the conspiracy ones. This one with Amy and River is already getting old.
It reminds me of when Zena the Warrior Princess and her side kick gabrielle had babies and started to try and kill one another. sheesh!

And don't get me started on LOST.

[tch]

Oh lord, Lost. Really tried on that one, but by halfway through season one I was ready to give up.

and like Lost, Season 6 of Doctor Who only seems to be answering one question for every three they ask. I generally trust Moffatt, but man, is he putting me to the test.

[The Cloaked One]

Well, I finished up to current. The season was a lot better than I thought it would be. My main problem with the episodes is that Moffat is making the series a tad too adult. The constant threat of Companions dying, racism in the Rebel Flesh, etc. The Doctor is continuing his grandstanding, scaring off the Atraxi with his name, building armies now, collecting 'debts.' I know he was ridiculed for such, but the Doctor is a man of simple things, a man of paperclips and chewing gum. He was the MacGyver before MacGyver.

The only other issue is that Moffat is starting to brush against ideas I had for Doctor Who, but only brushing against them at the moment. XD

Almost all threads have been resolved by this point. The girl from the first episode is Amy's daughter who is Riversong. She is slightly timelord, enough for one regeneration and meets her end in the Library. She also kills the Doctor to complete her 'role.' Whether or not that was the 'real' Doctor has yet to be seen though.

Hopefully the next half of the season won't get overly complicated though. Odds are it will. Then we get another season of Matt Smith. If the Silence will fall arc is not ended this season and the Doctor isn't killed until next season, well then everyone will be thrown into chaos with too many plot threads between now and the end of next season. Good luck remembering these episodes too, a bit too much chaos compared to old who.

I guess a good way to describe this season is its like a strange form of Doctor Who fan fiction. Many events Moffat always wanted to happen which never happened in Old Who nor would the old producers permit. For example: The Rebel Flesh and the Almost People was a strange remake of Demon from Voyager, Curse of the Black Spot being a partial reference to The Smugglers and more a tribute to Pirates of the Caribbean, the Tardis having a soul that could be transmuted to a human body (I like the idea that the Tardis 'might' be alive, never confirmed, though the Doctor always treats it as being alive), the Doctor keeping and collecting debts, lightning striking and Amy giving birth to a partial timelord with one regeneration, etc.

[tch]

Shame, because if they'd lost the huge amount of sub-plots, I would rank it as one of the best seasons of the new show, but they tended to cause a bit of drag and the less said about who River Song really is, the better.

I've got to quibble on 'Black Spot' being a tribute to any other pirate shows/movies and more being Moffatt's awareness of the fact that adding pirates to anything makes them better.

and while I agree that the adult humor and themes get laid on a bit thick, the threat of companions dying has been going on since episode two of 'An Unearthly child'.

and am I the only one that wants the Victorian Silurian lady to get her own show?

[The Cloaked One]

You might be alone. XD Could be interesting depending on the writers.

The connection to Pirates of the Caribbean include the name pun and the black spot, the captain also being a bit reminiscent of Barbarosa. But oh well. I'm a fan of Space Pirates, it's what made Outlaw Star so awesome, but everything depends on the writing and the acting. A 'ship is a ship' philosophy and the captain and his crew getting a ship with sudden knowledge on how to fly it plus possible immortality from a medic that's as likely to kill them as help them based on communication break downs. The whole situation was surreal to say the least. Not bad, just surreal and how much was resoled is left to our imagination as well as the fact that the captain showed up in episode 7 again. Though how he keeps his 'lackeys' in line I'll never know. Fifty questions raised on that episode.

I initially disliked the River Song episodes after the Library, especially Flesh and Stone. In the later, she's become more tolerable, though a bit redundant and a bit too much showing off/making out with the Doctor/refusing to interfere with his 'darkest hour' *little does she know about Inferno and the Doctor's fear of fire*. She's being made to be like the ultimate fan girl or something. Being given time travel, being able to 'talk as equals' with the Doctor and correct him all the time, kiss him, perhaps marry him, etc. Either way, she's running out of appearances soon.

The companions have been threatened with death in old who, true. The first Doctor was especially rough, kidnapping people on more than one occasion *The massacre of Saint Bartholomew's Eve*, laughing as Rome burns, letting a companion get shot out an airlock and another one age to death (generally ignored and forgotten about by fans since it is part of a missing episode, or simply unknown to some), etc. Adric's death was also a waste.

While situations got desperate, you never had moments like in Nu Who where River jumps off the side of a building while Amy and Rory fake their deaths, Rory really being killed and brought back as a robot, Rory aging to death in a mind game *though he is supposedly immortal being a robot and all*, or Fake Amy getting turned into a puddle of goo. By my count, Adric's died at least 6 times here, but then Moffat keeps telling the audience everything's alright.

Eh, it's easier to write Doctor Who then trying to explain why some things work and others don't. I can't quite put the mechanics to words. I can see it, I just can't say it.

[The Cloaked One]

I talky talky too much. Here's why I liked the First four doctor's the best.
I liked the fact that the Doctor was unknown. Wherever he went, no one knew him. It was him, his companions, and the universe. He's a wiry old man, a space hobo, a fatherly figure, and a traveler.
I liked the Doctor being 'A Doctor of many things,' moreover a Doctor of simple things who had a medical degree from 1888. The Doctor who gleefully exclaims that he destroyed the Daleks with the key from his ship. A goofy Doctor who parks his Tardis on the edge of a cliff and watches it topple, or who gets buried up to his ankles in cords and wiring.
I like the Doctor who gives off an aura of safety and strength which is why Masque of Mandragonna is among my top favorites. The feeling that everything is going to be ok, once the Doctor is on the scene. Is he infallible? Not exactly (The Face of Evil), but he always goes in and usually comes out in one piece, but always makes sure his companions are alright.
He has a nose for knowledge, more often knowing more than he lets on.
While he has a streak of arrogance, he reserves it to occasional quibbles with his companions and when trying to take command of a situation. He doesn't want to be thanked for doing anything, he more or less just satiates his curiosity and moves on.
The Tardis is a safe place. It's the entrance of an episode and the exit of one. The first had the most stuff happen to the Tardis (Planet of the Giants, The Romans, The Webbed Planet especially), the second watched it dodge a missile and got it mostly buried in lava, the third carried the main concil around for a while and once nearly wrecked it into a ship during interstellar travel, and the fourth gave an idea of just how large the interior was.
I liked the Doctor's second chance routine. "Is there no other way."
I liked the way the second Doctor would bluff his way through most any situation, the third's Venusian karate.
I liked the Second Doctor's slapstick, the Third's dry humor, and the fourth's weird humor.
Bessie was a good addition, The Brigadier was a load of fun, the sonic screwdriver and its occasional use was good, the jellybabies... a lot of fun additions.
Overall, there was always a feeling of hope among them. The Doctors seemed to have a good sense around them and a good set of morals. At many times it is hinted that the Doctor is far more powerful than he lets on, but he refuses to use this power much preferring the strength of his own mind. A good example would be what the First Doctor did to the Time Meddler in The Dalek Master Plan or the third's karate. I always figured the reason the Doctor never really used a gun was because he knew he was far more powerful using other items. Guns also can lead to a spot of complacency which the Doctor has used to his advantage from time to time.

[tch]

Was thinking ( boring day at work): people have said that New Who isn't Who and I started wondering:

Is there a new Who episode that you can't see being done with a Classic Doctor? I could think of a couple that would need some minor tweaks ( can't see Colin Baker calling anybody sexy) but none that couldn't fit an old Doctor.

Not trying to pick a fight on this topic, it started as just a thought to pass the time and then my son and I had fun putting past Doctors into new stories.

Would love to see Tom Baker dealing with Judoon, Curse of the Black spot has the same sort of historical goofiness as some Hartnell's and I think Sylvester McCoy and River Song would be an interesting combo.