The Doctor Who Club v.4

[Crasher]

I'm pleased. I like Capaldi and I think he'll be a good Doctor. I'm happy we're going older this time, since I think it'll be a nice change from the more youthful previous two Doctors. I'm hoping for a somewhat less whimsical Doctor this time, more sarcastic and acerbic, which is admittedly quite similar to Peter's most famous role. I should think that he'll be heading in a vaguely different direction to Matt's Doctor, since I expect that Moffat would like to differentiate the two somewhat. In regards to the issue of his longevity, it's a good thing that he likes the programme because that, I think, is likely to compel him to stay for longer.

I enjoyed the special, although the appearances from 'celebrities' were annoying. I liked Peter Davison and Bernard Cribbins, and the messages from the ex-companions and Colin Baker. I especially enjoyed the various montages. I could have done without the grating "THIS IS IT!" attitude of Zoe Ball, but overall I quite liked it.

Does anyone else think (the strangely beardless) Rufus Hound made a Freudian slip by saying "Peter Ecclestone"?

 

[fitzy909]

I'm actually really excited about this. I know how much he loved the series as a kid, and I know that the best Doctors are the ones who are life-long fans, so I have faith that he'll do perfectly.

And for anyone who thinks he's too old, the First and Third Doctors disagree. And I don't think we'll have to worry too much about him being a "grandfather-figure" like the First Doctor. I can see him being more like the Third Doctor: a Bond-esque scientist. I'm very happy to see him in the role, personally. We'll have to wait and see how it goes.

Well i wouldn't have called it, but i think he will do well. he is a more experienced actor so he may bring something new to the show. also, all of my friends think he seems too old, but then again the most recent Doctors have been younger than most. I mean he isn't the oldest and i think it will be a good contrast from Matt. Personally, I am looking forward to seeing how he does.

 

[MooseSmuggler]

Well i wouldn't have called it, but i think he will do well. he is a more experienced actor so he may bring something new to the show. also, all of my friends think he seems too old, but then again the most recent Doctors have been younger than most. I mean he isn't the oldest and i think it will be a good contrast from Matt. Personally, I am looking forward to seeing how he does.

Actually, he ties with William Hartnell as the oldest Doctor. Both were 55 when they started. It's just that Hartnell didn't age as well (not sure if that was just more common in the early half of the 20th Century of if his illness had something to do with it), and Capaldi looks younger than he is. Also, Moffat stated that part of his reasoning for aging up was that it would be nearly impossible for another 20-something to beat Matt Smith's example without being nearly identical. Or something like that, I'll get the interview if anyone wants it. (EDIT: Interview)

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing how the Doctor reacts to aging up for the first time in a while. Given Capaldi's range of characters, it'll probably be interesting.

 

[LokiTheGengar]

@Crasher you caught on to that too? But granted, he was at the time a couple feet away from Peter Davidson, so it probably is just a coincidence.

As an American I can't say I knew who Capaldi was before the show aired and can't really form an opinion on the guy. An older Doctor is a bit of a change of pace for the new series, I think, and I really want to see Capaldi's take on the character.

 

[Green Blockhead]

lol, of course some fangirls are crying over how they can't lust for a 50-year-old.

But, I believe that since Peter is one of the oldest people to play the Doctor, we might be seeing an ending to the whole story soon. Boy I can't wait to see what sort of trends he'll bring to the show.

 

[VampirateMace]

Well Blockhead, they could, but it would be rather creepy...

I kind of wonder if the impending 'ending of the show' with the doctor now being out of regenerations and all, is a scare tactic. The doctor himself has made comments regarding that the limit (and other rules) were being imposed by people who no longer exist.

The age up things is kind of odd to me, seeing as regeneration usually results in a younger time lord, and has been used to keep the doctor from dying of old age.

 

[MooseSmuggler]

Well Blockhead, they could, but it would be rather creepy...

I kind of wonder if the impending 'ending of the show' with the doctor now being out of regenerations and all, is a scare tactic. The doctor himself has made comments regarding that the limit (and other rules) were being imposed by people who no longer exist.

The age up things is kind of odd to me, seeing as regeneration usually results in a younger time lord, and has been used to keep the doctor from dying of old age.

I think it was said once that a Time Lord can go at least 1,000 years, I think, without regenerating. But a Time Lord can't fully die of old age until they run out of regenerations. The fact that the Doctor's regenerations seemed younger was stated my Moffat himself to be coincidence. He "picks a face of the rack and goes with it, young or old". Besides, Five was 29 when he took over and Six was 40. Not as drastic a spike, but a spike nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm curious to see how/if they explain Caicillius being played by Capaldi. I mean, Colin Baker played Commander Maxillian and to my knowledge, they never discussed it on the show, they just went with it. But I'd like to see them try this time. Maybe 12 went back to see Donna? Or used a Fob Watch? Or at least the Doctor points out the similarity and says it's coincidence?

 

[Green Blockhead]

I think it was said once that a Time Lord can go at least 1,000 years, I think, without regenerating. But a Time Lord can't fully die of old age until they run out of regenerations. The fact that the Doctor's regenerations seemed younger was stated my Moffat himself to be coincidence. He "picks a face of the rack and goes with it, young or old". Besides, Five was 29 when he took over and Six was 40. Not as drastic a spike, but a spike nonetheless.

Anyway, I'm curious to see how/if they explain Caicillius being played by Capaldi. I mean, Colin Baker played Commander Maxillian and to my knowledge, they never discussed it on the show, they just went with it. But I'd like to see them try this time. Maybe 12 went back to see Donna? Or used a Fob Watch? Or at least the Doctor points out the similarity and says it's coincidence?

They would've done the same thing with Amy if that happened. Karen Gillian also appeared in The Fires of Pompeii, and there is no in-show reference to her role in that episode.

 

[melonjaywalk]

I was wanting a woman but hey. At least it 'aint another young guy.

Hey so I've watched Doctor Who since I was like five so I was thinking of joining.

But, like..

Hardly anyone here seems to have seen any or much of pre-2005 I mean

even the club owner / administrator says he hasn't. Of the Doctor Who club? Seriously. I mean that's fine like who am I to say who counts as a fan or not. It's great that people watch it and enjoy it at all. I don't wanna' be no die-hard killjoy.

I dunno'. I feel like if I joined I'd talk a lot about pre-2005 and I'd have like nobody to relate to. It's like.. I dunno' how much of a problem this is for anyone else but

have you ever been to a party and someone says that they're the 'biggest' Doctor Who fan and in response I mention 'Dorothea Chaplet' or 'Karfel' thinking that I'll finally get to have a decent discussion with a fellow fan and they're just like 'Whaaaa?'

For what it's worth my favorite Doctor is The Fifth.

 

[MooseSmuggler]

I was wanting a woman but hey. At least it 'aint another young guy.

Hey so I've watched Doctor Who since I was like five so I was thinking of joining.

But, like..

Hardly anyone here seems to have seen any or much of pre-2005 I mean

even the club owner / administrator says he hasn't. Of the Doctor Who club? Seriously. I mean that's fine like who am I to say who counts as a fan or not. It's great that people watch it and enjoy it at all. I don't wanna' be no die-hard killjoy.

I dunno'. I feel like if I joined I'd talk a lot about pre-2005 and I'd have like nobody to relate to. It's like.. I dunno' how much of a problem this is for anyone else but

have you ever been to a party and someone says that they're the 'biggest' Doctor Who fan and in response I mention 'Dorothea Chaplet' or 'Karfel' thinking that I'll finally get to have a decent discussion with a fellow fan and they're just like 'Whaaaa?'

For what it's worth my favorite Doctor is The Fifth.

I'm actually in the process of collecting Classic Era serials, and I know Eleventh has a collection going.

And on that note, I could use some recommendations for some good serials to start my collection. I've seen the entire list of episodes on Netflix except for the Key to Time serials (I'm planning to order the box set, and want to watch them all in order, though I did see the Pirate Planet) and the Mind Robber, and I've seen Vengeance on Varos on DVD. I'm looking to start with DVD's of episodes I haven't seen. If anyone has any advice in that regard, I'd be grateful.

 

[VampirateMace]

@ melonjaywalk: I can appreciate how you can feel like you'll be lonely about the old episodes. Most of us weren't around or didn't know about Doctor Who, when the original series was on, and some of us don't really have money to buy a bunch of DVDs, so we can only really watch what we can get a hold of.

BUT if every old fan decides not to join for that reason, then we’ll never collect enough old fans for new old fans to have those conversations. It’d also be nice to have your point of view when we finally manage to see older episodes, because times have changed and there may be things in the episodes that have significance we might not realize or have misunderstood. So, I’d really like to encourage you to join.

 

[melonjaywalk]

I'm actually in the process of collecting Classic Era serials, and I know Eleventh has a collection going.

And on that note, I could use some recommendations for some good serials to start my collection. I've seen the entire list of episodes on Netflix except for the Key to Time serials (I'm planning to order the box set, and want to watch them all in order, though I did see the Pirate Planet) and the Mind Robber, and I've seen Vengeance on Varos on DVD. I'm looking to start with DVD's of episodes I haven't seen. If anyone has any advice in that regard, I'd be grateful.

@ melonjaywalk: I can appreciate how you can feel like you'll be lonely about the old episodes. Most of us weren't around or didn't know about Doctor Who, when the original series was on, and some of us don't really have money to buy a bunch of DVDs, so we can only really watch what we can get a hold of.

BUT if every old fan decides not to join for that reason, then we’ll never collect enough old fans for new old fans to have those conversations. It’d also be nice to have your point of view when we finally manage to see older episodes, because times have changed and there may be things in the episodes that have significance we might not realize or have misunderstood. So, I’d really like to encourage you to join.

Oh man.

You guys have said such nice things.

Originally I was like 'Dude don't bother them they're having a nice time not watching any Jon Pertwee's they're just fine it 'aint their fault' to myself. I dunno'.

Radical!

Hey on that note by some horrible cosmic coincidence I'm actually uh

selling my whole Doctor Who DVD collection. Can you believe it? Well, some sacrifices gotta' be made. For very vague reasons.

As for what I should recommend..

The Caves of Androzani.

I mean it makes me cry. Or it did once. Or twice I dunno'. Because Five is my favourite Doctor! And I'll agree with you if you tell me that the classic series is 'boring'. It is. BBC drama setups just were never right for a kinda' show like Who. But Androzani is the closest thing the classic series comes to looking modern. For it's time. The angles. The close-ups. And as for the story everyone is just out to get something and they're usually real awful people. Furthermore uh,

the Fifth Doctor who's always been described as 'nice' (probably due to bad directionless writing mind you) in Androzani is all like.. Snappy and desperate and vindictive and just.. It's like he's been pushed around a little too much and so now at last.. Well he ends up making the ultimate sacrifice.

I drew a picture of him the other day actually.

Totally watch it! I mean his character makes sense here remember when Adric died at the end of his first season? You probably don't..

As for others uh. Tomb of the Cybermen is real good but BEWARE! Racism. Remembrance of the Daleks is cool because stuff blows up. Revelation of the Daleks is good because it has the same director as Androzani so it looks modern and effective and also, uh, good story. Lots of dying. Uhh. Okay here's my list;

The Tomb of the Cybermen
The Seeds of Doom
City of Death
The Caves of Androzani
Revelation of the Daleks
Remembrance of the Daleks

And know that these are good choices because I can be objective! I mean Remembrance might not be all that great story or direction wise. I dunno'.

For Jon Pertwee watch anything from his first or last season. Oh I dunno'. He has good ones lying around everywhere. And as for uh, The First Doctor I dunno'..

 

[MooseSmuggler]

Oh, I loved Caves of Androzani. It was one of the many serials I saw on Netflix. Unfortunately, their collection is mostly random. But they did have CoA. And it was wonderful. Also noticed the reference to Androzani in the 2011 Christmas special. I didn't notice it before, was quite awesome to see it.

I'm sorry you're in a situation where you have to sell your collection. Unfortunately, I can't afford to spend that much money all at once. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, your location (Wellington, right?) is British, and thus your DVD's would be region-coded. I live in the US, so I doubt they'd work for me. I hope you can find them a good home, though.

 

[VampirateMace]

It's be possible to get them to work here, but not in a US DVD player, you'd a UK machine and a special cord extension, a computer with the proper programming, or some other special equipment to get them to work.

Unfortunately I haven’t seen any of the Fifth Doctor episodes so I don’t have a lot else to add to the current conversation. MooseSmuggler, did Netflix have CoA available for streaming, or just on DVD? I was looking on there with a friend (she was catching up to the current episodes) and it looked like a lot of the older episodes were DVD only (which apparently costs more if you use that service).

 

[MooseSmuggler]

CoA is available for streaming. Just search Classic Doctor Who. It's the second to last one.

 

[melonjaywalk]

Oh. Well,

the reason I was posting about selling my DVD collection was just because, I mean

that's like all of it! Basically.

I needed like fifteen more DVD's and that'd be every Doctor Who episode available.

Ever.

And now I'm letting it all go.

Well I need to "secure my future" so there you go. Anyway.

Also noticed the reference to Androzani in the 2011 Christmas special. I didn't notice it before, was quite awesome to see it.

This is why it's such a good idea to get into pre-2005. yr right. When there's mentions of "Venom Grubs" in 2005 or "The Sense Sphere" in 2009 or "James McCrimmon" in uh, 2008 I think it is, I'm all like 'wow I get that reference obviously! Continuity! Ohmygosh!' or like.. How The Great Intelligence mentions The Valeyard in the most recent season. I mean..

Unless you've seen some of the classic series, all these references are just going way over yr head and.. Well you don't need to understand who the 'stroppy Australian' was in The Crimson Horror to enjoy the episode itself but yr really missing out on an overwhelming sense of history and continuity.

Also you could always watch them by downloading them illegally.. Not that I'm endorsing any such behaviour.

But people do ask why Doctor Who DVD's are so expensive (they are) but..

You can watch the episode at least three times over. You watch it once, then again with the commentary (they're usually real funny because they're able to, with the power of hindsight, just make fun of the special effects), and then.. Again with production notes. And then there's all these documentaries and.. Well you get the idea.

I'll talk more about the current series when more episodes / news of the 50th starts happening. Capaldi yay.

 

[MooseSmuggler]

James McCrimmon was referenced in '06, the werewolf episode. Some of those references are actually familiar to me. Venom grubs from The Green Death, I think the sense sphere sounds familiar (they referenced it in Nu Who? When?). I know the Doctor also used the crystal from Metabelis 3 in Hide, and in Vincent and the Doctor, pulled out several objects (was the sense sphere among those? Id so, that was 2010).

 

[VampirateMace]

Pretty sure were not suppose to talk about downloading like that... Not that that would work for me anyways. I think I should be getting a chance to watch a few old episodes legally soon though!

You can watch the episode at least three times over. You watch it once, then again with the commentary (they're usually real funny because they're able to, with the power of hindsight, just make fun of the special effects), and then.. Again with production notes. And then there's all these documentaries and.. Well you get the idea.

You can do that with recent episodes too, like the one where the Daleks and Cybermen are shooting glowing paper airplanes at each other. Plungers and paper airplanes, how could the Daleks not be scary? lol... Actually for me, what's really not scary is the plastic clones. Probably partially because the mannequins around here usually don't have heads, and those that do usually don't have faces…

- Only sort of related: In "Closing Time", when the doctor tells the kids Robo Puppy isn't as much fun as he remembers, he’s referring to K9 right?

 

[Will-powered Spriter]

If we're talking about classic episodes, I've seen quite a few of them! My university has a dedicated Doctor Who society in which we watch one or two episodes a week, usually classic because everyone's seen the new ones. The classic ones do seem very different, especially since they're so long.

On the subject, one of the people in the society recently passed around this link to google maps. It's a random police call box in london, which isn't too rare since we still have a few dotted around the country (I saw one at the beach yesterday), but google maps lets you go inside...

 

[MooseSmuggler]

This is from my Tumblr, and I figured I should put it here too.

So, I’ve been looking to post about this for a while, but haven’t had the chance. I’m looking to start collecting Classic Who serials on DVD, and while I intend to get every single one available in the U.S., I want to start with the ones I haven’t seen (on Netflix), and with ones that are more highly recommended. So, like anyone in need of advice, I’m turning to Tumblr.

On Netflix, I’ve seen:

• The Aztecs
• The Mind Robber (well, it’s on there and I plan to watch it)
• Spearhead from Space
• The Three Doctors
• The Carnival of Monsters
• The Green Death
• The Ark in Space
• Pyramids of Mars
• Horror of Fang Rock
• The Pirate Planet (I’m planning to watch the Key to Time Serials in order, some of the others are on Netflix, but I want to be able to watch them all, and I have the box set on my wishlist)
• The City of Death
• The Leisure Hive
• The Visitation
• The Caves of Androzani
• The Curse of Fenric

And on DVD, I have:

• Pyramids of Mars (again)
• Vengeance on Varos
• The Doctor Who Movie
• And I’m about to order Dragonfire and/or Remembrance of the Daleks.

So, does anyone who’s seen Classic Who have any recommendations for serials I should give priority to ordering or searching B&N for? As I said, I haven’t seen enough Classic Who to know which serials are more well-known.

Also, I’m looking to get my partner into Classic Who (they’re a fan of New Who and want to get into Classic). Which serials would be good to start them off with? Including the ones on Netflix. I’m leaning towards Caves of Androzani myself, but if anyone has any better ideas to get someone into Classic Who, let me know.

Also, I saw something rather startling and sad on Tumblr. Apparently Paul McGann has gotten a noticeable amount of trolls telling him he's a waste of a regeneration :/ He said it's a small percentage, but it's a shame it's enough for him to point it out. I haven't seen the movie yet, but even if it does turn out to be bad (I've heard both good and bad things about it, I'll make up my own mind once I see it), that doesn't give people the right to attack the actor :/ Thankfully he said that most people are supportive and appreciate his work.