Topic: Doctor Who Marathon

[Tom]

Doctor Who

As agreed, let's start our joined Doctor Who (2005 series) marathon. Everyone is welcomed to join. You are free to slip in some classic Doctor Who episode reviews.

Should we set a pacing (e.g. four episodes per week) or would you prefer to set your own pacing?

[DJ Doena]

In the very early nineties I got up every Saturday on around 5:00am to watch a show called Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future (written by Babylon 5's J. Michael Straczynski) on RTLplus. Afterwards I would watch Rawhide on Der Kabelkanal which started around 6:30ish.

The night programming of RTLplus wasn't very accurate back then and so I often caught the tail end of a show about a time traveller who travelled in a police box. I cannot honestly tell you which episodes or even which Doctor it was but the name stayed in the back of my mind.

Then in 2003 I heard of a re-imagining of another of my favourite shows: Battlestar Galactica. I ordered the DVD from Amazon UK in May 2005.
In the years that followed I got fed up more and more with the airing of TV shows in Germany and began to rely heavily on DVDs ordered from the US and UK as well as downloads from the Internet.

And then in 2009 the Doctor and I started crossing paths again and watched all episodes that had been aired between 2005 and 2009.
At some point I infected my mum as well (who's been a sci-fi fan since before I was born and who introduced me to Star Trek) and this past Christmas we've been watching the Doctor Who special The Time of the Doctor de facto live on a German pay TV channel (Fox HD) only one hour after the original airing in the UK.

I even bought myself some classic Doctor Who but mostly episodes that have some link to the present.

My favourite Doctor (so far) is Ten(nant) and my favourite showrunner is Russel T. Davies. While he may have gone back to the Daleks all the times, I still feel his arcs were better crafted. Steven Moffat has great ideas (like the Weeping Angels) but fails to create a finish that doesn't come off as deus ex machina (let's face it: The Time Lords giving the Doctor a new regeneration set through the crack in the universe was an almost literal god from the machine!). Also he destroys his own creations. Let's take the Angels who cannot move if someone's looking at them and yet he wants us to believe that the Statue of Liberty is an Angel that can actually move at all while establishing at the same time that New York is the "city that never sleeps"!

[Tom]

I agree that recently the series finales put too much stuff out of their asses. Always doing stuff which was long established that it isn't possible. Like if you just try hard enough you can do it anyway. E.g. land the TARDIS somewhere which shouldn't be possible and the TARDIS trying to refuse to do so. But I still enjoyed. Probably because the eleventh doctor (Matt Smith) is my favorite so far. Also I enjoyed his companions very much (Amy and Clara).

Here again my list of my preferences regarding the doctors, based on the episodes I saw. Which are only a few for the classic doctors:

1) Eleventh (Matt Smith)
I just like his energy he brings to the role

2) Ninth (Christopher Eccleston)
He was my introduction to The Doctor. He became the definition for me how the doctor should be. The excitement he shows when facing dangers.

3) Tenth (David Tennant)
He was a really good doctor and I can understand that he is a fan favorite. But as I said before, his voice just reminds to much of Chris Barries's characters Rimmer and Brittas. Which were great, but they were buffoons, and being reminding of them with the doctor does not fit the character.

4) Third (Jon Pertwee)
This is the classic doctor I think I saw the most episodes. At the most enjoyable ones to me. And I really liked the character there.

5) Seventh (Sylvester McCoy)
He showed great promise, but I don't have much of him. Though he reminded me a little of Rowan Atkinson's Blackadder.

6) Fourth (Tom Baker)
For many the best. Mostly because most seem to have grown up with this version. But for me he was a little stand-offish. Also the episodes I saw were boring.

7) Second (Patrick Troughton)
From the old episodes I saw he didn't impress me much. But he won me around in "The Three Doctors" and his following appearances in such specials.

8 ) Fifth (Peter Davison)
Nice enough, but I had the feeling he let his companions dance on his nose too much.

9) Sixth (Colin Baker)
I only have one episodes. And I saw his regeneration, when the fifth became him, which made me hopeful, because I liked his first scene. But the episode I saw then bored me.

10) First (William Hartnell)
I only saw the first few episodes. I have read, that after these, the character changed for the better. But what I have seen of him, he was unconscious and/or unhelpful. He seemed just to be a frail old man.

11) Eighths (Paul McGann)
The Movie doctor. I had hopes for this movie, but it was a huge let-down. And the doctor was forgettable.


Maybe I should do a similar list with the companions (for the ones which I know).

[Tom]

The night programming of RTLplus wasn't very accurate back then and so I often caught the tail end of a show about a time traveller who travelled in a police box. I cannot honestly tell you which episodes or even which Doctor it was but the name stayed in the back of my mind.

I just read on the German Wikipedia, that RTLplus was showing the seventh doctor at the time. Which was the latest one. VOX later on bought and dubbed episodes of the sixth doctor.

[Dragonfire]

I have watched a few more of the Doctor Who Revisited specials, which include an episode with the Doctor in question.  I did like the fifth Doctor Episode.  Earthshock I think it was.  The Cybermen were back. 
Not sure what happened, but my recording for the sixth special was messed up...I missed the little extra thing about the sixth Doctor, and it started in the middle of the episode.  It seemed like he ended up in the middle of a mess sort of like what was going on in The Running Man.  I can't remember the planet name, but pretty much everything was televised and people would vote on stuff..including executions.  There was this....nasty lizard like thing there too...rep from a mining company.  It was an interesting episode.  I couldn't get use to the Doctor's outfit though...it looked too much like a clown outfit to me.  Though I did like the actor in the part fine - Colin Baker I think it was.  I did see the special part on the Seventh Doctor and I started watching his episode last night - Remembrance of the Daleks I think.  I feel asleep.  I will finish that though..and go on with the rest of the specials.  I think I will finish those before I start on the newer stuff.  I have a few Tom Baker Doctor stories on DVD that I might watch first too.  I haven't decided yet. 

Once I get going with the newer stuff - 9 through 11 - I may end up not stopping until I finish..I have this..habit.  Especially where the Doctor is concerned.  I just can't stop.  I can try to keep at the pace that everyone picks...I'm just saying I may not be able to stop myself from going faster.   

[DJ Doena]

[Dragonfire]

I've finished with the Doctor Who Revisited specials.  I finished up the one with the 7th Doctor.  I liked that episode and I liked that Doctor. 
The special for the 8th Doctor had the tv movie and I watched it.  Ummm....well.  I'm still not sure what to think about some it.  Some things were fine, and I think the actor was fine.  However, what the hell was going on with the Master?  Since when can a Time Lord do that?

(click to show/hide)

First of all, it freaked me out because it looked like a freaking snake.  Yes an obviously CGI snake made to look like a snake made out of some sort of evil Time Lord goo or something, but still.  What the hell?  Someone surely could have thought of a better way for the Master to be screwing around with stuff than that.  And Eric Roberts as the Master.  Well..that was different.

I didn't watch the episodes with the specials for 9 through 11 since I have those season sets and have the episodes they included. 
I did think it was a bit....odd that River Song was not mentioned at all..not about when she first turned up with 10, or everything with 11.  That just doesn't seem right.

I did post a review on Epinions of my Doctor Who Yahtzee game...so my Who binge is underway and spreading a bit I think.  lol  I still might watch the few DVDs I have with Baker first....  Oh..I also went and added more Who stuff to my wish list.    

[DJ Doena]

Season 1

Rose

Synopsis: Rose Tyler is working in a department store and is about to go home at night when some students try to play a prank on her. They've disguised themselves as mannequins and follow her. Except that these are not mannequins and they're not following her.
She's saved by a mysterious man who calls himself the Doctor but he then blows up her place of work.
Intrigued, she tries to find out who this mysterious man really is…

The Nestene Consciousness was first encountered by the Third Doctor in his very first story, Spearhead from Space. Even back then the NC used window dummies, the Autons.

My Opinion: I don't really remember what I thought about all this when I first watched it but I am a fan of Farscape as well, so wacky sci-fi doesn't bother me.
Upon rewatch I still like the episode, it's a good (re)pilot. The characters are very well introduced (except maybe for Mickey) and can portray both the seriousness as well as the humour ("There's a strange man in my bed").

My guess is that Mickey was supposed to be a one-off character who was supposed to show why it was easy for Rose to leave it all behind and start travelling with the Doctor. Well, he grew out of it.

While I was slightly familiar with Eccleston (he played the invisible man on Heroes' first season) the only person I truly knew was Rose's mum (Camille Coduri) because she played John Goodman's love interest in a guilty pleasure favourite of mine: King Ralph (also starring: Peter O'Toole, John Hurt and Richard Griffiths).

In hindsight and through knowing more about Doctor Who as a show I love how they mix modern CGI special effects with their classic foes like the ridiculously looking Autons.

[Tom]

Doctor Who
Series 1.01 Rose
Writer: Russell T Davies (Writer), Robert Holmes (Original Characters By)
Director: Keith Boak
Cast: Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Mark Benton (Clive), Elli Garnett (Caroline), Adam McCoy (Clive's Son), , Alan Ruscoe (Autons), Paul Kasey (Autons), David Sant (Autons), Elizabeth Fost (Autons), Helen Otway (Autons), , Nicholas Briggs (Nestene Voice)

This is the third time that I was watching the pilot episode. I still think it is a good introduction to the series. I agree, Mickey seems a little out of character. But I think he was the same the first few episodes. He changed when he first travelled with the doctor.
Eccleston is still one of my favorite doctors. He was just the right kind of guy for re-establishing the doctor. Rose is a great companion. Her chemistry with the doctor is one of the things which makes the series great.

[Dragonfire]

I watched An Adventure in Space in Time.  It has been on my DVR since November.  It aired the night before the 50th anniversary special.  It is about how the series was first created..shows some stuff that went into the casting and things..like how the female producer had to fight her boss to get the Daleks episode - he thought they were stupid robots.  It covers the first three years of the show, showing how William Hartnell's health was going down and it ended when he left the show.  I don't know how accurate some things were - like what was going on with Hartnell - but the way it was done in the movie was very well done.  And heartbreaking.  After he told his wife he was leaving the show, he broke down, saying he didn't want to go.  That got to me just as much as it did when 10 said it just before regenerating. 

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie and thought it was an interesting look at how the show got started.  The cast was great.  I can't remember the one actor's name now...the one who played Hartnell.  He was wonderful.  And it was Filch from Harry Potter.  I looked it up to make sure I wasn't imagining things.

This was very entertaining and I think worth checking out for fans of Doctor Who.

[Tom]

Doctor Who
Series 1.02 The End of the World
Writer: Russell T Davies (Writer)
Director: Euros Lyn
Cast: Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Simon Day (Steward), Yasmin Bannerman (Jabe), Jimmy Vee (Moxx of Balhoon), Zoë Wanamaker (Cassandra), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Beccy Armory (Raffalo), Sara Stewart (Computer Voice), Silas Carson (Alien Voices)

The first episode where we see time-travel in the new series. And by making it a trip with five billion years into the future, it makes it clear that the series shouldn't be taken too seriously. Don't expect the series to be scientifically realistic.
It also introduces a more ruthless side of the doctor because of the experiences of the time war where his planet died. Also it is the first time that we see the Face of Boe
It is a good episode, but not one of the better ones.

[Tom]

Doctor Who
Series 1.03 The Unquiet Dead
Writer: Mark Gatiss (Writer)
Director: Euros Lyn
Cast: Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Alan David (Gabriel Sneed), Huw Rhys (Redpath), Jennifer Hill (Mrs Peace), Eve Myles (Gwyneth), Simon Callow (Charles Dickens), Wayne Cater (Stage Manager), Meic Povey (Driver), Zoe Thorne (The Gelth)

Originally I only wanted to watch one Doctor Who episode today. But then I saw that Eve Myles guest starred in this episode. I now know her from the main cast of Torchwood. Her character here is very different. If I hadn't read the name, I am not sure if I would have recognized her. Even though knowing it is her, it is rather obvious. She did a good job.

This episode reintroduces the concept, that when the doctor travels to the earth's path, he usually encounters an alien life form, from which he has to save humankind. It is a good episode, even though I am not much a fan of "ghost" stories.

[Tom]

Doctor Who
Series 1.04 Aliens of London
Writer: Russell T Davies (Writer)
Director: Keith Boak
Cast: Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Corey Doabe (Spray Painter), Ceris Jones (Policeman), Jack Tarlton (Reporter), Lachele Carl (Reporter), Fiesta Mei Ling (Ru), Basil Chung (Bau), Matt Baker (Himself), Andrew Marr (Himself), Rupert Vansittart (General Asquith), David Verrey (Joseph Green), Navin Chowdhry (Indra Ganesh), Penelope Wilton (Harriet Jones), Annette Badland (Margaret Blaine), Naoko Mori (Doctor Sato), Eric Potts (Oliver Charles), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Jimmy Vee (Alien), Steve Speirs (Strickland), , Elizabeth Fost (Slitheen), Paul Kasey (Slitheen), Alan Ruscoe (Slitheen)

What I don't like in this episode, is that the aliens are farting constantly. Luckily (as far as I remember), they didn't strife for such a childish humor in later episodes. Also the pigs in space was borderline ridiculous, but luckily that turned out as a hoax, orchastrated by the aliens.
What I didn't notice the first time around is the insistance of the doctor, that Mickey's real name is Rickey. Which is the name, the alternate universe Mickey has. It never made quite sense to me, that all persons in the alternate universe had the same name, except for Mickey. But maybe he really is called Rickey, but he doesn't like to go by it in this universe.
Another now familiar face appeared in this episode. The actress playing Sato on Torchwood. Also here she plays a character called Sato, but it is not made clear, if that is the same person. Here she seems to be a doctor though. In Torchwood she is an engineer/computer genius.
Also U.N.I.T. is mentioned here for the first time, which I now know, that passed doctors (e.g. the third doctor) had worked with.

[Tom]

Doctor Who
Series 1.05 World War Three
Writer: Russell T Davies (Writer)
Director: Keith Boak
Cast: Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who), Billie Piper (Rose Tyler), David Verrey (Joseph Green), Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler), Penelope Wilton (Harriet Jones), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Rupert Vansittart (General Asquith), Morgan Hopkins (Sergeant Price), Andrew Marr (Himself), Annette Badland (Margaret Blaine), Steve Speirs (Strickland), Jack Tarlton (Reporter), Lachele Carl (Reporter), Corey Doabe (Spray Painter), , Elizabeth Fost (Slitheen), Paul Kasey (Slitheen), Alan Ruscoe (Slitheen)

I liked this conclusion to the two-parter episode (Aliens of London being the first). What is strange though is that Mickey turns out to be a computer expert. This episode seems to be the turning point for him. He is more couragous here. But not yet courageous enough to travel with the doctor.

[DJ Doena]

The End of the World

Synopsis: Wanting to show off a bit, the Doctor takes Rose to the day the sun explodes and consumes the Earth. Using his psychic paper they mingle among the high-ranking guests who were invited to witness Earth's death, among them the Face of Boe

(click to show/hide)

who may or may not be a very old Captain Jack Harkness

and the Lady Cassandra, the last Human - if you want to call her that.
But then one of the guests is starting to sabotage the station and killing the guests...

My Opinion: This is the first episode my mum ever saw - by accident. And she thought "Was für ein Stuss ist das denn?" ("What kind of rubbish is that?"). As I said before, we watched the list Christmas special live on her telly - and she couldn't have been more excited about it.
I love the crazy ideas they come up with, for example the idea that they shifted the continents back into their 2005 positions for entertainment purposes. Since this is all CGI they could have arranged the continents in any way - they just chose not to.
I also loved the classic jump'n'run parkour that was so aptly parodied in Galaxy Quest.