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Author Topic: New Doctor Who  (Read 53328 times)

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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #120 on: February 15, 2009, 04:58:06 PM »

Nrama: new monthly Who comic coming; will feature the Tenth Doctor with a new companion.  Tony Lee, who wrote The Forgotten, will be writing this one too, which could be a good thing or a bad thing.  Of course, as I've said before, I'd much rather see him continue with short stories about the previous Doctors, but the article says that's unlikely; The Forgotten was an exception and in general the Beeb's not likely to wade into the legal morass of contracts and likeness rights.
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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #121 on: February 16, 2009, 10:20:34 AM »

...and apparently, prior to the ongoing series, there's going to be a one-shot called The Whispering Gallery, written by Leah Moore and John Reppion, who I am sure are ambivalent about being described as "Alan Moore's daughter and son-in-law".  Ben Templesmith of Fell is doing the art, which looks pretty neat.

The only Moore/Reppion book I've read is Albion, which I thought was solid but not outstanding, more interesting for its big ideas (relaunching obscure British comics characters) than its plot.

That said, I like the look of this one -- between the premise and Templesmith's art, I get a slightly surreal, distinctly Moffat-ish vibe.  And hey, a done-in-one story is always a pleasant surprise.
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Royal☭

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #122 on: February 16, 2009, 11:54:36 AM »

The only Moore/Reppion book I've read is Albion, which I thought was solid but not outstanding, more interesting for its big ideas (relaunching obscure British comics characters) than its plot.

Of course, won't those big ideas by Alan Moore in the first place?

Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #123 on: February 16, 2009, 12:37:50 PM »

...yes.
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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #124 on: February 28, 2009, 10:07:11 AM »

It came out pretty well.  Story's decent; not particularly fantastic or original but it works.  But the art's what really makes the book.

I'm not sure how I feel about Templesmith's use of photos -- it's fairly jarring to see the Doctor go from a crude watercolor to a photo of Tennant's face in the span of one panel -- but really they complement the story pretty well.  And they're never really photorealistic -- that may be Tennant's eyes, nose, and mouth, but they don't sit quite right on the outline of his face, and his hair's clearly a comic drawing.  The contrast is interesting and fits the tone of the story well.

I love what he does with his colors -- as I've said before, I'm not an artist and don't really have the vocabulary here, but it's kind of a washed-out, muted watercolor.

Anyway.  Well worth picking up for the art, especially if you dig Fell.  And it's a good Doctor Who fix to hold you over until the Easter special.
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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #125 on: March 13, 2009, 04:33:27 PM »

Lee on ongoing comic series.  Basically, the first 18 issues are going to be structured as a "season" that takes place probably right before Tennant's last two specials, and then #19 will pick up with the Eleventh Doctor.

He talks in big paragraphs and in my head he is speaking very fast and enthusiastically in the Tenth Doctor's voice.
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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #126 on: March 21, 2009, 11:36:43 AM »

This could go in a few different places, but: Hugo Award noms.

Two Who eps are up; the obligatory Moffat arc and Turn Left.  (I thought Midnight was better than Turn Left, but Turn Left might be a better sci-fi story I guess.)

I love Moffat and I loved Silence/Forest, but I'm hoping Dr. Horrible gets it.  Moffat's gotten the last three and I'm sure he'll get more.
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Mothra

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #127 on: March 21, 2009, 11:46:23 AM »

I can't have been the only one to think Turn Left was incredibly, incredibly retarded. I mean as much as I love Doctor Who, RTD simply cannot write, and the mere fact that Left was slightly better than his usual drivel doesn't really mean it's suddenly Hugo material.
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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #128 on: March 21, 2009, 12:42:40 PM »

Again, I thought Midnight was pretty good.  That was him too.

Turn Left...well, going back a few pages, consensus seems to be it was perfectly decent if not fantastic.  Unquestionably better than the two that followed, though that's an awfully low bar.
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Ted Belmont

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #129 on: March 22, 2009, 08:26:42 AM »

Making my way through Season 2 via netflix. Is it just me, or was Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel really not very good?
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Royal☭

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #130 on: March 22, 2009, 08:46:06 AM »

That is an agreed about consensus, yes.  It was remarkably dumb, with the true nadir of the episode coming as the Cybercontroller plummeted to his death in a remarkably cheesy scene.  Honestly, the use of Cybermen in the new Doctor Who series has been remarkably unterrifying, with the villains being sort of cheesy and harmless throughout most of the series.

Mothra

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #131 on: March 22, 2009, 09:27:06 AM »

I still think the new Cybermen redesign is really well done, especially the emphasis on weight and power. Makes them seem a lot more of a legitimate threat when it looks and sounds like they could crush a man's skull in their cold, metal mitts.

But yeah, they are the epitome of the throw-away monster of the week. Their philosophy is one of the most overdone and tired in sci-fi, their grandiose plans have become steadily more and more retarded every time they show up, and I'm starting to get the feeling that it's next to impossible to do something interesting with a villian that's not scary, nor remotely complex. Honestly, Age of Steel did the best they could've done in running with the underground punk resistance bit, pulling a serviceable action episode out of the Cybermen invasion. It really would've worked a lot better without an entire episode of buildup before giving us some mindless alt-Earth robot shootin' fun.
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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #132 on: March 22, 2009, 10:31:01 AM »

Honestly, the use of Cybermen in the new Doctor Who series has been remarkably unterrifying, with the villains being sort of cheesy and harmless throughout most of the series.

I've said before that, of the classic Cybermen eps I've watched, I haven't seen what the big goddamn deal was.  Tomb of the Cybermen, which is generally regarded as the best original series Cybermen ep and one of the best original series eps period, just seemed thoroughly bland to me (though I can see the draw of the Lovecraftian "man opens tomb of things he never should have meddled with" angle, and the shot where they come out of their cocoons IS classic).  Likewise, the Davison-era Earthshock was a largely underwhelming exercise until its last episode or so.  (Let's give RTD props for one thing: psychic paper.  A way for avoiding the "Doctor is blamed for something he didn't do and thrown in jail" plot was long, LONG overdue.)

There was an awesome damn Cybermen story recently reprinted in Grant Morrison's Doctor Who, but...that was Grant Morrison.  He could make, I don't know, the Slitheen awesome.

I still think the new Cybermen redesign is really well done, especially the emphasis on weight and power. Makes them seem a lot more of a legitimate threat when it looks a sounds like they could crush a man's skull in their cold, metal mitts.

SHIT yes.  The knew Cybermen designs are one of the great visual decisions of the new series IMO.  They're distinctly recognizable as Cybermen, without being, well, fucking ridiculous-looking.

And again, the Iron Giant Cyberking in the Christmas special was :perfect:.

Of course it bears mentioning that style and presentation ARE vital to Doctor Who, that distinctive designs of alien peoples and settings ARE integral to what makes it Doctor Who.  Nobody'd accuse Moffat of prizing style over substance, but for all the complexity and cleverness of his plots, his episodes all feature some fucking stunning imagery.  And his monsters are the scariest.

That tangent aside, there IS a sense that the Cybermen are on the series simply because it's Doctor Who and they're obligatory.  (There's a quoted interview earlier in the thread where Moffat says, essentially, that things like Daleks and Cybermen were necessary in the first couple of seasons to reassure old fans, but now that the show's caught on they're not necessary anymore and he's not going to use them unless there's a good plot reason for it and would much rather create the new monsters that today's viewers tell THEIR kids about twenty years down the line.)  I haven't seen season 2 in awhile, but my recollection was that the first appearance of the Cybermen had a good premise but was ultimately a victim of RTD's over-the-top style.  My recollection of the season finale was that it worked pretty well, and of course I particularly liked the heckling between the Cybermen and the Daleks.  The ending was over-the-top but really the most logical and coherent of any of RTD's finales, and I commented the first time that I saw it that the episode would have been pretty much perfect if they'd hacked off the ten-minute goodbye scene at the end.

All that to say...I like the IDEA of the Cybermen.  And I think most of the eps, old series and new, that I've seen them in have had pretty good premises but gotten lost somewhere along the way.  Maybe we'll see them again in the next few years and maybe we won't.  I kinda hope they get a rest for a bit, but there's potential there too.

I'd rather see them again than the Daleks, at any rate.

...speaking of.  How big a reset switch do you guys figure RTD's going to pull at the end here?  You think he'll go so far as to undo the entire Time War and bring back Gallifrey and the Time Lords?
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Mothra

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #133 on: March 22, 2009, 11:06:00 AM »

Well it's going to be a super-happy ending, no doubt about that. Honestly, I love the idea of a time war enough that I'd be even more pissed about a reset than I already am about Tennant getting written off before Moffat can take a swing at him. They've admittedly been sketchy on the details how how the war was fought, but two time-travelling races altering and re-altering history in a conflict that literally effects the entire universe seems like an incredibly awesome backdrop for exploring the absurd power Time Lords wield, and how their own aims and politics could affect trillions.

From what we saw of them in the old series, I'd always felt like the Time Lords were way too uptight and passive to be all that interesting. I know they would really need to be, in order to be any sort of effective guardians of time, but I'll be damned if a race of perfect, level-headed demi-gods didn't bore the hell out of me. I like the implication that their own ambitions to craft a better, Dalekless present undid countless lives.

In sort, I'm doing a pretty awful job at getting myself all primed and set for RTD's final full-force kick to Doctor Who's balls here.
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Niku

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #134 on: March 22, 2009, 11:28:01 AM »

The Sun is the unreliable paper, right?  Because they're claiming Billie, Freema, Catherine, and John are all coming back for the big Tennant finale which I could totally see RTD doing.
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Burrito Al Pastor

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #135 on: March 22, 2009, 11:37:42 AM »

Ok, I need to get into Dr. Who. Where do I start?
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Thad

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #136 on: March 22, 2009, 01:47:42 PM »

The Sun is the unreliable paper, right?  Because they're claiming Billie, Freema, Catherine, and John are all coming back for the big Tennant finale which I could totally see RTD doing.

Every British paper is unreliable, but the Sun is the Murdoch-owned one that cooked up a Moffat quote about the next Doctor being over 40, so it should probably be especially suspect.

That said, it's totally plausible.

Ok, I need to get into Dr. Who. Where do I start?

For the current series, Blink is one of the best episodes and requires no context to enjoy.  Maybe start there and, if you like what you see, head on back to the beginning in '05.

For the original series, my personal favorite serial is City of Death, which is likewise standalone and requires no context.  Genesis of the Daleks is probably the best Dalek story, and while it's an important piece of series canon, it comes with enough explanation that you don't need to know much about what came before.

I've got some more original-series recommendations in the other thread.
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Burrito Al Pastor

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #137 on: March 22, 2009, 10:34:52 PM »

For the current series, Blink is one of the best episodes and requires no context to enjoy.  Maybe start there and, if you like what you see, head on back to the beginning in '05.

Good call, now I'm hooked. Nice of Netflix to put all the episodes online for my streaming convenience. (Torchwood isn't, though, so I'll have to wait for that to come before I can hit season 3.)

I was very happy to discover that the airdates for the two shows don't overlap, saving me the trouble of changing the disc every episode to preserve the original context. Because I would do that.
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Misha

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #138 on: March 22, 2009, 10:44:47 PM »

torchwood is shit and also it barely interacts with doctor who. Ignore it.
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Niku

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Re: New Doctor Who
« Reply #139 on: March 22, 2009, 11:01:08 PM »

Torchwood is decent.  Fuck the haters.
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