Dr Who Season 28 (?) aka series 1

[ikojo]

video...do you have it...what do you think? I've not bought it yet due to tight finances at the moment.

[Deja Q]

1. It's officially "series one". It's not season anything.

It's not the same as the Classic Series in terms of intellectual depth.

The original series, apart from seasons 17 and 24, was typically family friendly and had intelligent 14 year olds in mind. And the times it resorted to glossiness was to point out how faux and empty it is. (e.g. the Urbankans in "Four to Doomsday".)

The new series is loaded with needless sexual innuendo (when not actual content) and is geared toward any dim 8 year old. It's got a style, it's got gloss, and you'll be hard pressed to find ANYBODY in it that doesn't look like a clothing model; which helps only prove how intellectually empty the new series is. But it's watered down and often feels like it could be any other TV series, if it wasn't for the "Doctor Who" logo and trademarked figures and sound effects being thrown in. It's mostly gloss and emotive music. And Christopher Eccleston needed real hair; not the army buzzcut! And a more eccentric outfit too... All that having been said, we get the occasional Doctorish remark about hating money and how humans are stupid and all (akin to the 7th Doctor's cynicism towards humanity...) Which is odd as the producer, Russel T Davies, recently said how WHO is supposed to be an optimistic show. (okay, so why call humans mindles sheep, say that if a person sees something strange they just walk away, and other examples of gross cynicism - which is not optimism?)

Series one does present some interesting ideas at times, but they're typically not followed through. The one time they do, they say so much it ruins the whole thing. :(

And the jokes inspired by family guy (farting, belching, et al) - WHY???

Series Two is quite an improvement, all things considered, but it's still got a way to go before being what made "Doctor Who" successful for 26 years; the intellectual factor. Those elements still aren't fully there. Particularly alien planets and cultures; the 3rd Doctor was on forced exile as means to cut costs. What's the excuse for the 9th and 10th Doctors? (You don't want to know the producer's reasoning. He sounds really dumb in doing so as plenty of Classic series stories had alien worlds, situations, and characters we could relate to despite being alien...)

How's that for a :popcorn: :rant:? :D

[Anarcho-Socialist]

3. I find the Earth-centrism frustrating too

The show actually has a reasonable budget so the Doctor can go to other worlds and it won't lack visually.

I never liked Rose, but she gradually become less annoying as series 2 progressed.

I quite liked the 9th Doctor as he had an edge to him, dealing with the pain of the Time Wars.

I think that all of RTD's scripted episodes from series 1 were very weak but he did show some improvement in series 2. The strongest episodes in series 1 came from other writers.

[Bryan]

2. It's a lot of fun

It's not really an adult-oriented drama like the new Battlestar Galactica; like the old series, it's essentially a children's show cunningly designed to hold the attention of any adults who might be watching. Wild and woolly science-fantasy adventures interlarded with humor and pop-culture references one minute, and sober examinations of the effects of war and abuse of power the next. Very handsome FX by TV standards, and uniformly strong acting; not all the episodes are great, but it's like nothing else currently on television.

[BreweryYardRat]

4. Yeah.

The Slitheen, for example, were a vehicle for exactly two things

a: Crude, lame jokes.
b: A big stick to beat adults over the head with. "THIS IS SIMPLIFIED NEO-CON PHILOSOPHY!"

[Deja Q]

5. Quite true

:D


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