Doctor Who: "(Scottish noises)"

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Which season of Doctor Who should get a Blu-ray set next? This poll is closed.
One of the black-and-white seasons	16	29.63%
Season 7	7	12.96%
Season 11	1	1.85%
Season 13	0	0%
Season 15	2	3.70%
The Key to Time	21	38.89%
Season 21	0	0%
Season 25	7	12.96%
Total:	54 votes

[Edit Poll (moderators only)]

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Gaz-L posted:

Voiceover: "In this episode, the role of Mickey Smith will be played by John Boyega"

Doctor: "Well someone's had a glow up since I last saw him!"

*studio audience laughs*

Mickey desperately trying to tell UNIT that he really is the person on his badge, he just went to the Land of Fiction with the Doctor, got turned into a cardboard cutout, and the Doctor put his face together improperly.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2024 21:42

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# ¿ May 10, 2024 06:13

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Infinitum posted:

*Accents exist*
Random American: "YOU BRITS EVER CONSIDER SPEAKING ENGLISH?"

It's bullshit that Doctor Who (and most other media, esp. British and other foreign) does not default to the objectively correct way to speak English, the most quintessential American way: the Boston accent! :patriot:

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 00:06

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Honestly what Moffat needs most is an editor who can sand off some off some his bad habits, so assuming Davies actually does some redlines on stuff like sonic boner jokes, then he can come back once a year. I'll allow it.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 15:06

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Now that Doctor Who has the Disney money and they're doing spin-offs, pitch five Doctor Who spin-off ideas. Here are mine:

Time and Relative Dimensions in Space - an anthology show that just invites big name creators who grew up with the show to pitch their own stories using the Doctor Who setting.
We Will Survive! - using the "Cybermen will always pop up" from the Peter Capaldi years as a springboard, follows some characters in a world that begins doing Mondas-esque conversion. Emphasizing some real, human stories so that the dehumanization and body horror hits hard.
The Proclamation of Peladon - The "Shadow Proclamation" is brokered on Peladon just as the monarchy is collapsing into a republic.
That's Our Davros! - Four camera sitcom based on that Jeru post in which Six and Davros are roommates. Tom Baker's wax dummy stars in an important role.
I Hate Doctor Who! - Someone loses a bet to a sadbrained friend and has to watch and review every episode of Doctor Who for a dead comedy forum and as he writes his reviews, he gradually discovers that he actually loves the show, even after his friend leaves in a huff.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 16:35

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

PriorMarcus posted:

The bad news is that the pattern will repeat endlessly, and once RTD2 ends we will begin MoffaTwo in vain.

If Moffat improves as much as RTD did, that's okay by me, lol.

Not that the new specials are perfect, but I do feel like he learned from some of his past mistakes and has evolved.

The last time I gave Moffat a chance, he had not, and for some reason he wants to do "The British West Wing" whatever that loving means, so, on second thought, don't hire him for now.

# ¿ Jan 5, 2024 16:47

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

I know there are some parents in the thread: how early did you start show them Doctor Who? My oldest is five, which still feels young to me, but he wants to watch it because he got a few Doctor Who books from relatives.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2024 15:23

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Yeah, that's what I'm worried about. It's hard to remember what the "behind the sofa" moments are, or sometimes even to know what's scary for him specifically. He's fine, for example, with the big scary Ursula in The little Mermaid, but he gets really upset at the scene where King Triton blows up all of the mermaid's stuff. I think I'll just wait for now, there's plenty of Number Blocks.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2024 15:29

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

If the message of the Weeping Angels episode were "You have to eat your vegetables," then I'd consider it...

# ¿ Jan 6, 2024 16:10

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Classic Who, particularly when serials were more in the 6 episode range than 4 episode range, definitely have a lot of padding. It helps if you, watch, like one episode a day so that you get that 25 minute dose of formula serial, but we're all insane completionists and binge-watchers these days, so nobody does, lol. Having gone through two watchthroughs myself, I find the earlier black and white stuff easier to watch, on the whole, than the period of time from about when Tom Baker gets the dog bite on his lip all the way up to when Seven gets a little less goofy.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2024 21:01

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Yeah those first few with Colin are rough, lol

# ¿ Jan 10, 2024 02:26

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

The Invasion of Time has the greatest Doctor Who scene of all time: the Sontarans vs. the pool chairs.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2024 19:50

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

TheBigBudgetSequel posted:

it's wild to me that of the two Cyberman-only stories that Matt Smtih got in his era, I prefer the James Corden/Gareth Roberts joint over the one written by NEIL GAIMAN

lol yeah, same feeling.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2024 02:25

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Fil5000 posted:

Nightmare in Silver is one where you can feel the floor moving under Gaiman as he's writing his drafts. I wonder if we'll ever see another episode from him, given his writing methodology doesn't seem to really match the needs of TV production.

He has a pretty heavy hand on Sandman and it's good IMO. I honestly think that the Cybermen just aren't in his wheelhouse.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2024 20:45

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Jerusalem posted:

The Sandman special they did a little after the first season ended was excellent too, and starred Arthur Darvill, and Derek Jacobi too!

Though Darvill was playing about as far from Rory as you could get in it

That episode was such a cool surprise, it was maybe the best one in the season. Jenna Coleman is also good in it.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2024 21:26

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

TheBigBudgetSequel posted:

Well it didn't help that Moffat kept changing what was going on for the second half of the season. Clara was originally supposed to be the governess from The Snowman, and the kids were going to be the ones in that episode, and the whole Impossible Girl thing was not really something Gaiman had included and had to be adjusted.

Not to mention they seriously slashed the budget. I got to ask Gaiman about it like three days after it aired, and he was told me about the "upgrade" to be water resistant wasn't in the script and was supposed to be Cyberman after Cyberman getting electrocuted and dying, until enough had died that it formed a bridge for the still alive ones, which is so much cooler but he said the budget was not in the cards. That whole conversation was wild because the episode was brand new and Gaiman was very polite but very firm that it wasn't his favorite.

I truly do think his experience on that episode, and then his experience with the showrunners on American Gods are why he is now showrunning Good Omens and the upcoming Anansi Boys show, plus co-showrunning Sandman.

It's a shame how badly things went with American Gods. It has this promising first season that turned very swiftly into something nobody wanted to work on or watch.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2024 23:33

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

The_Doctor posted:

People need to stop hiring Bryan Fuller.

It's baffling watching people continue to blame somebody else when it happens to literally every show he touches besides Hannibal. Like, yeah, he has a unique style, his shows would all be good if he could keep them on the air, but it's pretty clear that he's the problem!

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 00:10

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

TheBigBudgetSequel posted:

what kind of sucks about Bryan Fuller and American Gods is that the season he ran is the best...but he left it such a shape that it couldn't recover. I never bothered to watch season 3 because of how bad season 2 fell off.

Same thing with Dead Like Me, except I think he lasted like 6 episodes. Like Wonderfalls was probably low ratings, but a lot of the time he seems to storm off and take his ball home with him.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 00:24

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Leaving three shows is a lot! And yeah, those environments do all sound terrible, but the common element is always Bryan Fuller. From a practical standpoint, if you see his name, wait two seasons to see if it's going to get cancelled on a cliffhanger before picking it up, IMO. Not that I learned this lesson, clearly.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2024 00:35

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

HappyCamperGL posted:

watch city of death.

This. Two of Tom Baker's best lines.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 00:45

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

I started by watching whatever was on Netflix for Classic Who, then gave up and realized I was a completionist and just watched the full run, repros and everything. I had seen all of New Who at that point, which I think had just reached the Matt Smith era.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 14:03

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Matt Smith definitely does one of the best jobs at conveying all of the different aspects of the Doctor and it's particularly impressive that he does it so young. That scene where Peter Capaldi does a weird combination of like four previous Doctors in 10 seconds of movement is probably more impressive, but he's had a whole career and a lifetime of watching the show to hone it.

To hone in on what makes Tom Baker so enjoyable to watch, I think he is particularly good at portraying the Doctor as a benevolent but unsettling alien. Some of it is probably just that he was drunk, but he always looks vaguely distracted by thoughts we could never hope to understand, his grin is both welcoming and vaguely unsettling, his jokes are all delivered like they're just for him, because nobody else will get them, etc. The only time he gets self-conscious and human is when Romana I shows up, probably because he just had a genuine unrequited crush on her, lol.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 19:37

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Sydney Bottocks posted:

I'd say once she regenerated into Romana II, that crush didn't remain unrequited for very long

lol yeah, but the dynamic also changes then, both in terms of the performance and writing. He's back to the inscrutable space wizard and she's suddenly his pupil, from what I remember.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 19:50

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Sydney Bottocks posted:

Even if someone didn't know that Tom and Lalla dated and got married off-screen, they'd likely still guess that the Doctor and Romana II were a bit more than just buddies.

Oh, for sure.

It's also one of the only times the Doctor/companion romance being implied is appropriate, because they're both immortal geniuses. They just come from different sides of the tracks and learn to appreciate each other's worldview. Lalla just has enough glee at being more like the Doctor that sometimes you can feel the 17 year old age difference and she comes across as a bit like she's learning more from him than he is from her.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 20:30

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Jerusalem posted:

Tom Baker has mentioned that he absolutely approached the role as,"I'm an alien, there should be something "off" about me", which he very deliberately made a physical part of his performance. He'd make his facial/emotional reactions slightly off to a given situation, and do things like turn 270 degrees when he could have just made a simple left or right turn to get where he needed to go.

You definitely get the impression from him, or at least I did, that there is something "other" about him. Inhuman would be the wrong word, but he (the Doctor) doesn't act like a human would normally act, and it's mildly unsettling but also makes him utterly fascinating, you can't take your eyes off of him (which of course Tom Baker loved!).

He admits to cultivating the mystique in his public image as well, which I actually kind of like.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2024 23:34

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Jerusalem posted:

Hinchcliffe/Holmes really was just a fantastic run for the show.

Re: the Master, I never got tired of:

Master: No Doctor, you see this temporary alliance with these power-hungry aliens is just to deal with Earth's forces, then once that is done I plan to betray them because I won't need them anymore
Doctor: You know they're probably thinking of doing the same thing to you for the same reasons.
Master: ...

lol yeah. The Master being the Doctor's spoiled "sibling" who never learns their lesson is what makes it great when they bring them back. The characterization for the Master feels like "Was told they were a gifted child, but feels a competitive urge toward the childhood best friend that everyone liked better." It's the difference between a kid who gets Cs and gets curious about setting up their own farm and a kid who argues with the teachers when it's not straight As and spends their spare time holding a magnifying glass up to an anthill.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2024 18:30

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Strax is a little like Dr. Spaceman in that he's just the same joke over and over again, but it's a joke I enjoy, so I don't mind.

# ¿ Jan 18, 2024 15:28

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

lol at placing Jo Martin in season 6B, I'm here for it.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2024 19:15

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Jerusalem posted:

Best acting Matt Smith ever did was pretending he hadn't seen it before, given he's actually Patrick Troughton's spirit occupying a Frankenstein body. They really didn't even bother trying to hide it, Wendy Padbury was his agent!

lol Doctor Who is the world's biggest small town, I love it

# ¿ Jan 21, 2024 16:01

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Jago and Lightfoot do a lot of the work, and Leela being who she is in Victorian times gives them a lot to work with as well. But yeah, agreeing with what everyone has said and its more pernicious aspects.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2024 01:53

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Hollismason posted:

I'm now on season 15 and the first serial is titled Horror of Fanged Rock. I feel like I'm in for a good time.

Say hi to Martha for us.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2024 23:25

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

I was about to try to defend The Sunmakers when I realized that the serial I was thinking of was actually The Stones of Blood.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2024 14:08

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Hollismason posted:

Okay so City of Death was really good! I enjoyed that immensely.

"What a wonderful butler, he's so violent!" and "You're a beautiful woman, probably" are two all-timers for Doctor who quips.

# ¿ Jan 30, 2024 15:25

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Cat glancing around with a distinct "Oh, you've redecorated?" look and then turning away as if to express "I don't like it."

# ¿ Jan 31, 2024 19:34

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Edward Mass posted:

You�re not going to enjoy the 1980s, then.

I mean... did anyone? I guess JNT seems to have.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2024 19:16

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

MrL_JaKiri posted:

I really enjoyed the "Actually the world is built on the ruins of a technologically advanced ancient civilisation that fell as the result of a great catastrophe" which happened all the time in things that otherwise had a completely different tone, such as Gummi Bears or The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin

This is why the 80s were so dire, really. Everything was about total world annihilation from The Butter Battle Book on up.

Teddy Ruxpin came back a couple of years ago, haha. My kids really liked it for awhile.

# ¿ Feb 2, 2024 20:24

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Sydney Bottocks posted:

That's one other good thing about TMotR: Nicola Bryant was actually able to wear something while on location that didn't cause her to suffer hypothermia, pneumonia, etc.

Between what they made her wear, making her do an accent she clearly cannot do, and the writing somehow leering at her more than it did at Leela, it's surprising Nicola Bryant is as positive about the show as she is.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2024 16:48

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

Fil5000 posted:

The line "It�s funny. The day you lose someone isn�t the worst. At least you�ve got something to do. It�s all the days they stay dead." didn't do a lot for me at the time I watched it, but last year when taking my wife on a highlights tour of New Who I got to that and just burst into tears. In 2021 I lost both my parents within six months of each other, my dad died on the day I was moving in with my then-girlfriend, now wife and for the next couple of days I really DID have too much stuff to do. A couple of days later it properly landed, and then every so often since my brain will respond to something innocuous with "wonder what Dad would have thought of that".

Heaven Sent is, for me, an absolute masterpiece in talking about grief. Hard relate, as the kids say. poo poo, it's got dusty in here all of a sudden.

Sorry for your losses.

But yeah, it's a good line and for all Moffat leans on endings in which everybody that dies also lives happily ever after for eternity, he's actually very good at writing grief. The concept of the Doctor keeping this piece of Clara so alive in his mind's eye, that we're all little pieces of the people we've lost and carry their ghosts with us, hit me hard the last time I watched it. I had an ex I was close to that passed away about five years ago . We'd talk all the time, and when I get really stressed, I can still picture them in the second-run movie theater we'd go to, telling me the right thing to do. We all have a TARDIS with some ghost writing on a chalkboard rattling away somewhere in our neurons, probably.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2024 14:09

Bicyclops: Aug 27, 2004

They shouldn't have cast another person to play him, honestly, and it's part of why I could never enjoy Twice Upon a Time. I get that each Doctor is kind of its own character but realistically, they were casting someone to play William Hartnell.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2024 14:28