Old Doctor Who - Part 4

[notjosh]

I remember the opening section of Sleeper being surprisingly emotionally affecting, but I can't remember if the rest of the episode was any good.

I quite liked Meat just because you don't get many TV shows about the cruelty of factory farming.

There must have been some other decent episodes in there cos I watched all the first 3 series and even had Tosh on my desktop wallpaper for a while.

[Norton Canes]

Gave up after Cyberwoman, like most right-minded people.

(actually think it might have been during Cyberwoman)

[Alberon]

One to avoid

[daf]

Well, that's tonight's wank sorted!

[Alberon]

Terrible episode. Worth it for this cosplay though.

[purlieu]

Whatever you might say about Chibnall's time as showrunner, at least he hasn't gone with the "women = breasts and high heels" route that some feared he would.

But yes, fucking awful.

[Ambient Sheep]

I wonder if Jodie Whittaker has ever seen it?

I'm betting not.

[Replies From View]

Whatever you might say about Chibnall's time as showrunner, at least he hasn't gone with the "women = breasts and high heels" route that some feared he would.

But yes, fucking awful.

I never assumed he would do this.  It was obvious he wouldn't be able to write for women though. What's a tad more surprising is that he treats men as equally alien.  It's as if he has never properly listened to how real people speak or understands what motivates them.



I keep forgetting and remembering that we have Chris Chibnall as Doctor Who showrunner; fuck's sake.  When will it be time for a new one again?

[pigamus]

Brothers!

Sisters!

"its going to be some massive magic space clunge"

[JamesTC]

Early on in Miracle Day, "its going to be some massive magic space clunge"

And it was.

Fucking hell. Just remembered when Jack had to bleed into the space clunge to save the day.

[Replies From View]

I wonder if Jodie Whittaker has ever seen it?

I'm betting not.

I don't think she even saw any Doctor Who.

[Replies From View]

Fucking hell. Just remembered when Jack had to bleed into the space clunge to save the day.

To be fair, we've all done this.

[purlieu]

Doctor Who and the Goth Infinite Requiem by Daniel Blythe


Here's a book that could have been good. The opening section, set on contemporary Earth, based around an English Indian family torn apart by a daughter's abuse boyfriend, is gripping, with some wonderful characterisation of Nita and Tilusha. Sadly, about a third of the way through, the whole story is ditched in favour of another worn-torn future Earth colony populated by people with names like Livewire and Trinket, a soldier called Cheynor who is apparently from Blythe's previous novel (The Dimension Riders, memorable only for being a Shada ripoff) who is set up as a future Brig-like character (The Doctor even absent-mindedly calls him Brigadier at one point) but ends up dead, ending the potential for a likeable recurring guest, and a far-far-future race of empaths, who have potential but get little fleshing out. The enemies are fairly generic telepathic psychopaths after universal domination, called Sensopaths.
It's another one of those stories that feels inconsequential. The Doctor and Benny arrive, do a bit of investigating, there's an anticlimactic ending and it's done. For a story with cosmos-wide consequences, it all feels very slight. The Doctor is fine, Benny is good as usual. The last couple of chapters - the main plot ends 20 pages before the end - do some lovely character wrap-ups that flesh out most of the guests in a way the bulk of the tale doesn't allow. Ultimately, Blythe seems capable of writing compelling character-based material, but is totally unable to write an engaging plot to place the characters. A much smaller-scale story would have benefited the likes of Cheynor, Suzi and the Phractons, and potentially ended up as an excellent book, rather than simply another "some military people get caught up in a dull universe conquering plot" story, the likes of which seem to come along every other book at this point.

[purlieu]

In other news, every classic series doctor who serial described by Red Dwarf.
Underworld and Attack of the Cybermen are particularly good.

[Norton Canes]

Creature from the Pit was funny.

[Deanjam]

In other news, every classic series doctor who serial described by Red Dwarf.
Underworld and Attack of the Cybermen are particularly good.

Brilliant. Clearly made by someone who has watched both shows a ridiculous amount of times. I thought Earthshock was really good too.

[VelourSpirit]

Countrycide - ending a bit abrupt, but a solid creepy work
Small worlds - I remember liking this, good use of a common fairy tale
Out of Time - good time travel story

Seconding these (I don't really remember Sleeper) plus Captain Jack Harkness, Something Borrowed, and maybe Adrift. I was so blindsided by the final scene with Jack and the older man in Out of Time, I get teary eyed just thinking about it really.
I have a soft spot for the first two series. A lot of it's a bit shit but even in the worst moments of Chibnall's worst episode it's still more fun than his Doctor Who. Adrift is probably the only good thing he's ever written. The cast is really great obviously, it's no wonder the Big Finish stuff is so good. Really charming bizarre show.

[Norton Canes]

"An apple a day keeps the... no, never mind"

Peter Davison is 70 today.

[pigamus]

Jesus. Can't think of him as an old man. Does he still have a young/old face?

[Norton Canes]

A pleasant open face, last time I looked

[pigamus]

Who had the young/old face, was it Pertwee?

[Norton Canes]

Yeah, I think so.

Davison didn't get a single decent 'sums up the Doctor' quote in his three years, did he. People usually default to that awful one from Earthshock about a well-prepared meal. Had to Google to remind myself of the one from Castrovalva I've used above. The only other half-decent one is from Frontios:

"If anyone happens to ask whether I made any material difference to the welfare of this planet, you can tell them I came and went like a summer cloud..."

[Bad Ambassador]

"There should have been another way."

[Norton Canes]

Bit meta.

[Replies From View]

It has always felt a bit bonkers to me that Peter Capaldi is younger than Peter Davison.

[Poison To The Mind]

Capaldi at the time Davison was Who:







At least his run hasn't really changed.

[Replies From View]

Capaldi at the time Davison was Who:

Looking a bit Hugh Grant.

[Norton Canes]

And well whaddaya know, Peter Capaldi turns 63 today.

23 when the Fifth Doctor was cast? Not too young. Would also have made an interesting alternative to McCoy.

[purlieu]

Speaking of McCoy, I really am finding the NAs a bit of a slog at this point. Halfway through Sanctuary at the moment, which is a well written historical (next to no SF in it at all so far), but it's been quite a while since I felt the spark of joy that the best Who has. With everything going on at the minute, I need to be reading something that's actually really pulling me in rather than reading something for the sake of plodding through a series, so I think after this one I'll take a break for a bit and read something else for a while. Still have a few Murakami novels to get through.

[Bad Ambassador]

The next one after this is Human Nature, so you might want hang on a little longer...