So I stopped watching Doctor Who about halfway through season 11. I really couldn't get on board with the writing, and felt that Jodie's performance wasn't really clicking for me. Graham (was that...
So I stopped watching Doctor Who about halfway through season 11. I really couldn't get on board with the writing, and felt that Jodie's performance wasn't really clicking for me. Graham (was that his name?) was really doing it for me as a companion, but the other two felt really underutilised and boring, to say nothing of the convenience of the young lad's coordination condition disappearing and reappearing at the behest of the plot.
I took another punt on the New Year's episode at the start of 2019, and enjoyed the shell-less Dalek stuff immensely, but the tail end I thought was pretty ropey (in truth I don't even remember what happened at the end now).
With all that in mind... Would anyone recommend me to watch the latest season? I've watched since 2005 with Chris Eccleston as the (best) Doctor, and I feel like I may have simply grown out of the show, but I'd like to give it another bash if season 12 is better than 11 was.
I strongly disliked the show during the Matt Smith years, and during Peter Capaldi's first season. Smith and Capaldi themselves were fine, but the plots got too self-referential and the show...
I strongly disliked the show during the Matt Smith years, and during Peter Capaldi's first season. Smith and Capaldi themselves were fine, but the plots got too self-referential and the show started disappearing up its own arse. The Doctor's companions became the parents of the Doctor's wife? And his next companion ended up existing throughout the entirety of the Doctor's lives?
When Bill Potts turned up, the show stopped trying to be so mystical, and went back to normal adventuring. Capaldi's last season and Jodie Whittaker's first season were good Doctor Who. Not great, but good enough. And the show is a bit more settled and confident in Whittaker's second season. There are lots of worse ways to spend one hour a week than watching this show.
100%. The constant "WHO IS THE DOCTOR" bollocks wound me right up, but a lot of the stories outside of that arc were pretty decent I think. [EDIT: trying to think of examples during Smith's era,...
I strongly disliked the show during the Matt Smith years, and during Peter Capaldi's first season. Smith and Capaldi themselves were fine, but the plots got too self-referential and the show started disappearing up its own arse.
100%. The constant "WHO IS THE DOCTOR" bollocks wound me right up, but a lot of the stories outside of that arc were pretty decent I think. [EDIT: trying to think of examples during Smith's era, and coming up blank!] Moffat's style-over-substance approach and his determination to leave his mark on the show were really grating aspects of Smith and Capaldi's eras, though I adore Capaldi as the Doctor. He was bringing some absolute A-grade talent to some occasionally very sub-par writing.
Moffat and J.J. Abrams should team up to write something. With that many mystery boxes in the room we might solve some kind of quantum entanglement problem.
Completely agree about Bill Potts. She was the best companion since Donna, though I found her ending to be really weak the first time around. Less so the second, admittedly: it was grim enough to make her a Cyberman for an episode.
I'll dip into the new season while it's still on iPlayer, no harm in having a bash! I would like to rekindle my love for the show, and my daughter mentioned over the weekend that she's not seen Doctor Who in a while either.
Disclaimer: I only watched about 3 episodes of the current Doctor. I liked all the doctors since 2005. Tennant is my favorite, but at the end of his era things became overly complicated and...
Disclaimer: I only watched about 3 episodes of the current Doctor.
I liked all the doctors since 2005. Tennant is my favorite, but at the end of his era things became overly complicated and self-referential. as you said. I started having trouble to follow the show, everything was too convoluted. This was also an issue with Capaldi, so I stopped watching. I tried to like the 13th doctor, but it felt like an entirely new show, and not one I liked. The doctor was bland and lacked personality. All the other post-2005 doctors had interesting personalities that were presented in a very efficient manner. The grumpy, the eccentric genius with a dark side, the sweet old man in a young body, the rockstar (okay, IDK much about Capaldi) and... the reasonable? The predictable? The preachy? In one word: despite a great performer, the 13th doctor is just plain boring. I couldn't keep watching. I might go back and watch my missing Capaldi episodes, but this new era started as some sci-fi after-school special. I don't want lessons and moral certainty. I want moral ambiguity and crazy sci-fi stuff!
Maybe? It feels a little more classic than Season 11. Skyfall had a good start, kind of had a lot to wrap up in the back half, along with starting a D E E P L O R E arc for the season. Orphan 55...
Maybe? It feels a little more classic than Season 11. Skyfall had a good start, kind of had a lot to wrap up in the back half, along with starting a D E E P L O R E arc for the season. Orphan 55 didn't do it for me, but Night of Terror was kind of nice, similar to Vincent and the Doctor where we spend time with historical figures, has a bit of Edison and Tesla conflict, but doesn't really make Edison a malicious bad guy once the aliens show up. It's fun and comfort food, and if you like Doctor Who, it's more Doctor Who-y than last season, IMO.
Well, that was a fun romp. A historical episode, a villain of the week, the Earth in danger. Fairly standard. This was practically a love letter to Nikola Tesla. At points, it felt like the writer...
Well, that was a fun romp. A historical episode, a villain of the week, the Earth in danger. Fairly standard.
This was practically a love letter to Nikola Tesla. At points, it felt like the writer really wanted to push the point that Tesla was better all around than Thomas Edison - smarter, more moral, and generally a nicer guy.
I love Graham. My favourite line this week came from him (as it often does):
Graham (reassuring the locals): This isn't our first time at a rodeo.
So I stopped watching Doctor Who about halfway through season 11. I really couldn't get on board with the writing, and felt that Jodie's performance wasn't really clicking for me. Graham (was that his name?) was really doing it for me as a companion, but the other two felt really underutilised and boring, to say nothing of the convenience of the young lad's coordination condition disappearing and reappearing at the behest of the plot.
I took another punt on the New Year's episode at the start of 2019, and enjoyed the shell-less Dalek stuff immensely, but the tail end I thought was pretty ropey (in truth I don't even remember what happened at the end now).
With all that in mind... Would anyone recommend me to watch the latest season? I've watched since 2005 with Chris Eccleston as the (best) Doctor, and I feel like I may have simply grown out of the show, but I'd like to give it another bash if season 12 is better than 11 was.
I strongly disliked the show during the Matt Smith years, and during Peter Capaldi's first season. Smith and Capaldi themselves were fine, but the plots got too self-referential and the show started disappearing up its own arse. The Doctor's companions became the parents of the Doctor's wife? And his next companion ended up existing throughout the entirety of the Doctor's lives?
When Bill Potts turned up, the show stopped trying to be so mystical, and went back to normal adventuring. Capaldi's last season and Jodie Whittaker's first season were good Doctor Who. Not great, but good enough. And the show is a bit more settled and confident in Whittaker's second season. There are lots of worse ways to spend one hour a week than watching this show.
100%. The constant "WHO IS THE DOCTOR" bollocks wound me right up, but a lot of the stories outside of that arc were pretty decent I think. [EDIT: trying to think of examples during Smith's era, and coming up blank!] Moffat's style-over-substance approach and his determination to leave his mark on the show were really grating aspects of Smith and Capaldi's eras, though I adore Capaldi as the Doctor. He was bringing some absolute A-grade talent to some occasionally very sub-par writing.
Moffat and J.J. Abrams should team up to write something. With that many mystery boxes in the room we might solve some kind of quantum entanglement problem.
Completely agree about Bill Potts. She was the best companion since Donna, though I found her ending to be really weak the first time around. Less so the second, admittedly: it was grim enough to make her a Cyberman for an episode.
I'll dip into the new season while it's still on iPlayer, no harm in having a bash! I would like to rekindle my love for the show, and my daughter mentioned over the weekend that she's not seen Doctor Who in a while either.
Disclaimer: I only watched about 3 episodes of the current Doctor.
I liked all the doctors since 2005. Tennant is my favorite, but at the end of his era things became overly complicated and self-referential. as you said. I started having trouble to follow the show, everything was too convoluted. This was also an issue with Capaldi, so I stopped watching. I tried to like the 13th doctor, but it felt like an entirely new show, and not one I liked. The doctor was bland and lacked personality. All the other post-2005 doctors had interesting personalities that were presented in a very efficient manner. The grumpy, the eccentric genius with a dark side, the sweet old man in a young body, the rockstar (okay, IDK much about Capaldi) and... the reasonable? The predictable? The preachy? In one word: despite a great performer, the 13th doctor is just plain boring. I couldn't keep watching. I might go back and watch my missing Capaldi episodes, but this new era started as some sci-fi after-school special. I don't want lessons and moral certainty. I want moral ambiguity and crazy sci-fi stuff!
Maybe? It feels a little more classic than Season 11. Skyfall had a good start, kind of had a lot to wrap up in the back half, along with starting a D E E P L O R E arc for the season. Orphan 55 didn't do it for me, but Night of Terror was kind of nice, similar to Vincent and the Doctor where we spend time with historical figures, has a bit of Edison and Tesla conflict, but doesn't really make Edison a malicious bad guy once the aliens show up. It's fun and comfort food, and if you like Doctor Who, it's more Doctor Who-y than last season, IMO.
Well, that was a fun romp. A historical episode, a villain of the week, the Earth in danger. Fairly standard.
This was practically a love letter to Nikola Tesla. At points, it felt like the writer really wanted to push the point that Tesla was better all around than Thomas Edison - smarter, more moral, and generally a nicer guy.
I love Graham. My favourite line this week came from him (as it often does):
I love this guy!