No point in being grownup if you can’t sometimes be childish
Monday night Starr was working on her laptop, so I wanted to put something on the TV that she didn’t have to watch. I ended up putting on the 20th anniversary DVD of “The Five Doctors“. Starr got sucked into it anyway, and at the end stated firmly that there was something about style and feel of the Who of the 80’s that she rather appreciated.
I don’t want to just sit and bash the new show – it’s not my position at all. I am quite the fan of the Ninth Doctor, and the recently-aired (here) episode “Blink” is one of the franchise’s finest. But I get what she’s saying, and I’ve been trying to pin down what it is that I miss. Is it a certain innocence about the older show? The rampant charisma of Tom Baker? The shinier, more futuristic TARDIS interior of the period? Or should I chalk the whole feeling up to nostalgia on my part? I’m not sure.
For those who abstain from BitTorrenting, I greatly look forward to opinions on the end-of-season three-parter. After that, I look foward to series four next year. At least I’ll be caught up this time!
There’s a cold that’s been going around. For the past three days, I’ve been ill. Tonight… I’m VERY ill.
Tags: doctor who, philosophy, tv
I liked “Blink” too. It was, however, a great contrast to “Love and Monsters”, Series Three’s ‘Episode with almost no Doctor and Companion to help make the schedule work’ episode. Then again, it looks like this time they planned on needing a week or so to catch up, while the last looks to have snuck up on them. Also, this time the episode didn’t have to use a Creature created by a ten year old who won a contest.
Man, could that paragraph had any more qualifiers in it? *rolls eyes*
I know what you mean about the older shows, even if I can’t define it any better than you can. I don’t think this unknown factor is the White Control Room though, while I do prefer it (apart from having always wondered myself where the Police Box doors went once you stepped inside. 😉 ).
Darn it, now I want them to start releasing box sets of the old shows. Which is, of course, impossible, at least in the short term.
End-of-season-three-parter:
What did you think of that little … *ahem* … revelation near the end of the program in part three?
Those are the main things I’ve pointed out when comparing old Dr. Who to new Dr. Who also… Personally, I still can’t bring myself to *really* enjoy the current Dr. Who and maybe I shouldn’t comment since I’ve only forced myself to watch 3 episodes…
And, I *hate* how the inside of the TARDIS looks…
Mostly I chalk it up to nostalgia… It’ll never be the same as it was to me when I was a kid!
the props
The older Dr. Who shows with their cheap sets look kooky (and this is a good thing). The bits of the current series that I have seen look too slick for me to associate with Dr. Who. It is the same attraction I have for the original Star Trek show. The sets don’t look convincing and the effects aren’t eye popping, and I love the show for it. It makes me smile more than any of the other, more recent shows.
Now that this is spoiler-free, I have to say I loved it. I just fit so nicely with what’s been revealed, and as a big Captain Jack fan, it’s good to know he’ll be around for a long time 🙂
The “don’t-miss” episodes of the new version are, IMHO:
“Dalek”
“The Empty Child”/”The Doctor Dances” (two-parter)
“School Reunion”
“The Girl in the Fireplace”
“The Shakespeare Code”
“Blink”
They all had solid stories and great characters, and even some good acting. If you like the Doctor, you ought to try to see these at least. (I should be giving some DVDs to Rain soon, if you are curious.)
But those have been balanced by many that were depressing, or downright stupid. I guess that’s the curse of episodic TV.