Television Doctor Who

Find it interesting how there's so many Ecclestone fans on the internet. Never actually met one in person - everyone I've ever met always preferred Tennant.

Weird for me it is the opposite. Everyone I know and including myself prefer Ecclestone. He was a huge reason why I got into Doctor Who in the first place. Tenant was cool, but kind of hammy.. Smith was decent but after that lost interest.
 
Find it interesting how there's so many Ecclestone fans on the internet. Never actually met one in person - everyone I've ever met always preferred Tennant.

I didn't want to bring the unspoken Dr Who snobbery into it (yes it exists) but we connoisseurs know what we're talking about. :p

Seriously though I thought I'd hate him having been fed the old doctors. But he's right up there. Maybe he had the best series (Bad Wolf) and got out before the next one or he was just fecking good.
 
Have to admit David Tennant's been my favourite Doctor over recent years. Never thought I'd ever see anything as frightening as the Daleks back when I was a kid, but the Weeping Angels (with Tennant as the Doctor), some 40 years later, had me hiding under the kitchen table once again. They were the stuff of nightmares, & if I ever have to walk through a graveyard, I'll be dammed if I'm going to blink just once.
 
Really enjoyed yesterday's episode, it tackled an important & relevant topic - thought they all did well in their roles.

Still hoping they lose atleast one of the companions in the next couple of episodes.
 
It’s fine... like, just, perfectly fine. Jodie and Walsh are good and everyone’s trying very hard to sell the character stuff, but story wise it’s been incredibly pedestrian. Of the ones I’ve seen so far anyway. I mean, Dr Who is incredibly patchy on a good day but at least it was often quite imaginative (“the moon is an egg!!”) even if it was for the worse (“the moon is an egg!!?”) so far this ones been very ordinary, ideas wise.

You certainly get the impression they’re very keen to move away from the “too clever for its own good” Moffat style, but as a consequence have landed too far into “just perfunctory.” It’s all very straight forward and linear. Which isn’t the ideal descriptor for a zany kids time travel show, IMO.
 
Last edited:
Chibnall has written 5 of the 10 episodes including 3 we've seen so far. He also co-wrote the other one. That seems unusual to me.
 
The stories are really basic this season & they seem to want to emphasise social issues more than usual.

I'm enjoying Jodie's performance, but the stories really need to pick-up & be more varied.
 
Am I allowed to suggest it is more important to tick certain boxes by the BBC?

Not trying to be controversial but it seems obvious to me.
 
Am I allowed to suggest it is more important to tick certain boxes by the BBC?

Not trying to be controversial but it seems obvious to me.

Been like that for a while. Might as well just get used to it. I just roll my eyes now when it happens. Jodie has got some of the worst episodes ever so far, hope it picks up. She deserves better.
 
Too many characters traveling with her. You can't give enough time for everyone to have good character development.
Jodie is great in Broadchurch, but for one reason or another, whether writing or performance, she's missing something in her character and/or performance. Also, Jodie's doctor just feels like one of the gang, rather than larger than life and a screen magnet of presence.
Tackling social issues is a big thing, not just in Dr. Who, but in almost everything this past year, and for every one show that does it well without sacrificing the art of story and character development, there's dozens that just fail.

Show, don't tell.
 
Too many characters traveling with her. You can't give enough time for everyone to have good character development.
Jodie is great in Broadchurch, but for one reason or another, whether writing or performance, she's missing something in her character and/or performance. Also, Jodie's doctor just feels like one of the gang, rather than larger than life and a screen magnet of presence.
Tackling social issues is a big thing, not just in Dr. Who, but in almost everything this past year, and for every one show that does it well without sacrificing the art of story and character development, there's dozens that just fail.

Show, don't tell.
Jodie is amazing in Broadchurch, in this she just seems so detached. It feels like she's phoning it in or holding back, and the way she looks around the sets and environments makes it look like she's performing in front of a green screen.
 
I kind of wish Bradley Walsh was the Doctor now.

On another note: did anyone else think that the goblin version of Nibbler from Futurama looked really cheap? Has the budget on everything on the BBC been cut to pay for Strictly Come Feckface or something?
 
Jodie is amazing in Broadchurch, in this she just seems so detached. It feels like she's phoning it in or holding back, and the way she looks around the sets and environments makes it look like she's performing in front of a green screen.

Sometimes good actors can struggle to connect with a character. Her character lacks gravitas. Tennant dominated the screen. In a room of dozens you'd be drawn to him. Her doctor is getting lost in the mess of so many protagonists. Not her fault, really. Hard to get invested in so many characters when there's little time to give them all the necessary attention.

If they narrow it down to her and Bradley Walsh and explore that dynamic then they've got a chance with it moving forward.
 
Am I allowed to suggest it is more important to tick certain boxes by the BBC?

Not trying to be controversial but it seems obvious to me.

You are, but considering the biggest problem with this iteration is the very bland straight white middle aged man who writes it, it’d be a fairly weird thing to pick on IMO..
 
Last edited:
I’m finding the series very dull so far and I have absolutely no quality control when it comes to Doctor Who. The stories are so bland: every one has felt like a filler episode. The Rosa Parks episode seems to be popular but the plot line and dialogue was atrocious I felt. This is the worst Who since early McCoy and at least then we had things like land mines that turned people into trees on a BBC budget which was hilarious.
It’s not very good...and it’s not Jodie’s fault, it’s the absolutely terribly boring writing.

Edit: I’ve just realised I’m saying that I would compare Pip and Jane Baker’s writing favourably to Chibnall’s. Has it really come to this?
 
Last edited:
I’m finding the series very dull so far and I have absolutely no quality control when it comes to Doctor Who. The stories are so bland: every one has felt like a filler episode. The Rosa Parks episode seems to be popular but the plot line and dialogue was atrocious I felt. This is the worst Who since early McCoy and at least then we had things like land mines that turned people into trees on a BBC budget which was hilarious.
It’s not very good...and it’s not Jodie’s fault, it’s the absolutely terribly boring writing.

Edit: I’ve just realised I’m saying that I would compare Pip and Jane Baker’s writing favourably to Chibnall’s. Has it really come to this?
The next episode will be the first one without Chiball's hands all over it. Might make a difference.
 
The last episode was fecking terrible and a lot of it was due to the terrible acting by all involved.

She's just a poor Tenant copy, there's no tedginess or anger to her character it's just utterly bland. The sidekicks are even more wooden.

I'm really hoping it improves as I've loved all the new generations so far and have very eagerly awaited this one.
 
The show needs a good villain. So far iv been impressed with the cast though the story lines have been garbage let's be honest .

I though Calpadi had poor storyline but they were nothing compared to this .

If they swallow their pride and go back to popular villains the show will succeed . If they continue like this though I can see it getting cancelled
 
The next episode will be the first one without Chiball's hands all over it. Might make a difference.


Going by the plot line looks like another pc by numbers episode and any monsters or villains will be very much secondary to everything else
 
Going by the plot line looks like another pc by numbers episode and any monsters or villains will be very much secondary to everything else
Exploring the complexities of the partition with a four person cast in 50 minutes and fitting in a plot line about anything else seems improbable. I have low hopes.
 
Exploring the complexities of the partition with a four person cast in 50 minutes and fitting in a plot line about anything else seems improbable. I have low hopes.

Yeah so true. I'll be watching it from behind the sofa, but for all the wrong reasons.
 
Fecking hell that was even worse, they've ruined it. It's a shame the first female doctor is getting this treatment
 
The lack of comments here shows how bad it was. Not even worth complaining about anymore. I just saw it today and it was bad. Real bad. We waited a year out for this?
 
The lack of comments here shows how bad it was. Not even worth complaining about anymore. I just saw it today and it was bad. Real bad. We waited a year out for this?


I know I couldn't watch it once I saw the storyline . To think I thought Calpadi had bad writing to deal with , it was Oscar worthy compared to what Jodie is working with .

They are going to have to swallow their pride and get back to the classic storylines or what's the point of continuing ?

Surely Villains are more important to Doctor Who than history lessons
 
I actually liked that episode. It would have been better appreciated if some of the previous episodes were better.
 
I've stopped watching. Nothing against her she could have been really good if the writing was better. But it's awful.
 
Finally got round to watching last week’s episode - thought it was quite good.

That said, I do think they need to get rid of 1 companion & the writing can improve.
 
This week's sounds promising except for guest starring Lee Mack .
 
Finally got round to watching last week’s episode - thought it was quite good.

That said, I do think they need to get rid of 1 companion & the writing can improve.
The writing is the biggest problem. They probably should have done what they did with Amy/Rory and introduced Graham next season.
 
The season's had a few decent episodes and I thought it started off well enough but overall it's been a pretty dull season, Ryan might well be the most boring companion in Who history. I've caught some heat for saying this on the subreddit but Jodie Whittaker doesn't really feel like a "Doctor" to me, she's a fine actress but she doesn't really have that presence that her predecessors had. Personally, I think Yasmin is the best character and actor out of the lot.
 
The writing is utterly abysmal. If you're going to insist on focusing on different social issues every week at the expense of a decent story then at least be competent with writing dialogue.
 
So, I still can't work that episide out.
Be grateful for your menial job pleb? Have a good attitude in your unskilled employment and the corporate machine won't sack you for talking on the job and return you to the poverty from which you came? The Doctor approves of computer systems that kill people? That HR departments are benevolent dictators? If the robots were sentient, which going by the prototype ancient droid, they at least partially were, that their lives are worth less than humans? That the ends justify the means?

What is this shit?
 
Finally got round to watching last week’s episode - thought it was quite good.

That said, I do think they need to get rid of 1 companion & the writing can improve.
That'd help, but this problem is deeper. The stories and ideas are secondary to whatever social aspect they wish to explore to such an extent that this can barely be considered Doctor Who. This is further comounded by writing about said social issues in a dull and, given this weeks episode, incredibly conservative manner.
Doctor Who has always had a social conscience. It's a key part of the show, but these issues are normally discussed through the story and are not the actual story itself. Then tonight's episode accidentally (I hope) became an advert for Amazon management practices.
It's really dumbed down and obvious sixth form social politics written in the most tedious and safe way. Poor Jodie - she doesn't have anything to work with.
 
That'd help, but this problem is deeper. The stories and ideas are secondary to whatever social aspect they wish to explore to such an extent that this can barely be considered Doctor Who. This is further comounded by writing about said social issues in a dull and, given this weeks episode, incredibly conservative manner.
Doctor Who has always had a social conscience. It's a key part of the show, but these issues are normally discussed through the story and are not the actual story itself. Then tonight's episode accidentally (I hope) became an advert for Amazon management practices.
It's really dumbed down and obvious sixth form social politics written in the most tedious and safe way. Poor Jodie - she doesn't have anything to work with.

Totally agree. Capaldi’s Zygon speech a few seasons back is one of my favourite moments but that ‘issue’ was part of an overall story rather than being the sole focus. This weekly focus on a particular social issue detracts from the Doctor’s performance, takes away the fun of the show & honestly feels so forced.
 
The writing is letting the side down big time - reminds me of the first series of Torchwood.