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The Right Honourable Bill Maynard

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Posts: 6970

Jan 7 12 5:08 PM

HarryLong wrote:
Which is sort of like saying an appendectomy is better than root canal...

I wouldn't go that far. I like the Cushing movies better than some episodes of the series.

"Never expect much from your fellow man. It save a lot of disappointment." - Samuel A. Peeples

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Al Paige

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Posts: 2682

Jan 9 12 4:30 AM

Fair enough. Even some episodes of CRAPTICA 1980 are probably better than Delta & The Bannermen or Silver Nemesis.

The Right Honourable Bill Maynard

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Posts: 6970

Mar 19 12 10:05 AM

I finally saw the Christmas special. Pseudo-Narnia worked better than "Scrooge in Space" at the outset primarily because it didn't have flying sharks. However, what started out as "let's give the kids a nice Christmas before telling them their Dad is dead and souring all of their holidays forevermore" quickly turned into "the Doctor is a guardian angel who grants wishes if you pray to him and brings Daddy back from the dead just cause it's Christmas, after all." I realize it's a Christmas special, but I thought the overdose of Mary Poppins-style sentimentality killed it. There was an opportunity to do something very good with the premise, but it just turned into yet another "Believe in Miracles and all your dreams will come true" story. I find myself rewriting Mr. Davies' line and thinking, "Just this once, let someone die" as the series moves along these lines. I also had no clue why Amy and Rory thought the Doctor was dead. Perhaps I blocked something out from how the last season ended.

And to think the next episode has the Return of River Song. Does she ever really go away? It's a bit like the JNT years where every time the bloke in all the make up chewing the scenery snorted when he laughed, you knew the episode would climax with the reveal that he was the Master. Ah well, I'll just repeat the mantra, "it's just a kid show, stop obsessing."

"Never expect much from your fellow man. It save a lot of disappointment." - Samuel A. Peeples

luluthebeast

The Doc's new companion-Jenna-Louise Coleman

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Posts: 8005

Mar 21 12 2:03 PM

Al Paige

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Posts: 2682

Mar 29 12 11:10 PM

>> I find myself rewriting Mr. Davies' line>>

You mean Mr MOFFAT Bill - Davies has been gone for two seasons now.

>> I also had no clue why Amy and Rory thought the Doctor was dead. Perhaps I blocked something out from how the last season ended.>>

Indeed you did.

I was surprised to find myself enjoying it (I've really disliked most of the last two seasons) - but as we entered the home stretch, once again any decent writing was subsumed beneath a whole lot of glibness. More than anything that's what I can't abide about the current approach to the show. Apparently "kid's show" = we have to be postmodernly cool at all costs. This runs contrary to what Doctor Who is all about to me.

I once read quite a scholarly article about what happened to Spider-Man when Ditko left as artist and Romita took over and how the whole approach changed to make the strip more commercial. This is the same thing that's happened to Doctor Who in recent years. I just can't abide being told the Doctor is cool - the Doctor right from the first episode has been the archetypal outsider, an iconoclast, a non-conformist. He is not concerned about how he is perceived by others and *ESPECIALLY* not by self-aware 21st century twentysomething Brits.

But we now have a Doctor who insists on telling us that bow ties or fezzes or whatever he's wearing are cool, we have an actor and supporting cast and production team who constantly tell us in interviews that the Doctor is cool, that the show is cool, and that being a Doctor Who fan is cool. Enough, I say, enough !!

Lelia Loban

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Posts: 5920

Mar 30 12 8:33 AM

>> But we now have a Doctor who insists on telling us that bow ties or fezzes or whatever he's wearing are cool, we have an actor and supporting cast and production team who constantly tell us in interviews that the Doctor is cool, that the show is cool, and that being a Doctor Who fan is cool. Enough, I say, enough !! >>

I agree, and the main reason I agree is: I think the show is cool, too (off and on, with its ups and downs over the decades), and I'd like to see it regenerate ad infinitum. But the minute the production people and even the actors start telling fans over and over, "We're cool, we're so cool, honest, we really are cool -- can't you see how cool we are?" ... they're not cool any more. That kind of boasting sounds beyond lame. It backfires approximately 100% of the time. Let the fans tell you that you're cool. Or better yet, insist that you're not cool, that you're not into fads and that acting cool is for losers and wannabes.

http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.

Al Paige

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Posts: 2682

Apr 7 12 5:52 PM

Well put Lelia ... I couldn't agree with you more!

bengi

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Posts: 3056

Apr 8 12 10:48 AM

If you care whether or not people think you're cool, then you're not.

kevin g shinnick

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Posts: 15157

May 16 12 11:24 PM

Jenna-Louise Coleman was quite good in the recent 4 part mini series TITANIC.

luluthebeast

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Posts: 8005

May 17 12 10:25 AM

I'm afraid I took great pains to miss that.

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Jugula

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Posts: 30

Aug 17 12 4:18 PM

Anyone heard of the spin off on CD of the Jago/Litefoot characters from The Talons of Weng-Chiang? I think there are now 6 series, with Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter reprising their parts in the original TV story. Here's the link: http://www.bigfinish.com/

Last Edited By: Jugula Aug 18 12 4:15 AM. Edited 1 times.

The Right Honourable Bill Maynard

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Posts: 6970

Aug 21 12 1:52 PM

I was aware of them, but I've never heard them.

"Never expect much from your fellow man. It save a lot of disappointment." - Samuel A. Peeples

HarryLong

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Posts: 25284

Aug 29 12 11:10 PM

kevin g shinnick wrote:
Jenna-Louise Coleman was quite good in the recent 4 part mini series TITANIC.

Yes, I can see what kept her afloat..

The Mysterious Mr. Long

The Right Honourable Bill Maynard

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Posts: 6970

Nov 17 12 12:38 PM

Just saw the first episode of the new season last night. "Asylum of the Daleks" was more enjoyable than I remember the series being for some time. Although, I must admit the entire Rory-Amy divorce subplot seemed rather silly and contrived particularly since it was introduced and resolved in the same episode. And the ending was a bit irritating with Smith dancing around the TARDIS repeating the series name. Come to think of it, had I not returned home from yet another business trip last night, I might not have enjoyed it so much!

"Never expect much from your fellow man. It save a lot of disappointment." - Samuel A. Peeples

Al Paige

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Posts: 2682

Dec 5 12 8:57 PM

I saw it and wondered why they had called it ASYLUM OF THE DALEKS rather than ASYLUM OF THE IMPENETRABLE FORCEFIELD WHICH PEOPLE CAN NEVERTHELESS PASS THRU AT WILL WHEN IT SUITS THE PLOT BUT THEN BECOMES IMPENETRABLE AGAIN WHEN IT SUITS THE PLOT

The Right Honourable Bill Maynard

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Posts: 6970

Dec 6 12 12:28 AM

I'm caught up now. Overall, I suppose I still liked it better than last year's ongoing arc. I do feel it's not aimed at the longtime viewer so much as it is the younger generation which is okay since I watch it with my kids. To Al's point, I felt one could easily walk through similar holes in every story this season. I've just learned to shrug and write it off as typical NEW WHO.

"Never expect much from your fellow man. It save a lot of disappointment." - Samuel A. Peeples

Al Paige

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Posts: 2682

Dec 11 12 6:50 PM

>>I do feel it's not aimed at the longtime viewer so much as it is the younger generation>>

I agree of course. I just wonder why they felt the need to do that, as I thought the Russell T Davies version successfully appealed to BOTH - certainly I was a longtime viewer of the show and really loved his approach (though I'm sure there were others who felt the exact opposite).

You can't please everyone. Hopefully when Moffat leaves the show will go on and there will again be a version of Doctor Who that I will be able to enjoy watching!

The Right Honourable Bill Maynard

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Posts: 6970

Dec 18 12 10:54 AM