So... The Doctor (Spoilers)

[DGTWoodward]

I know that this may seem odd coming from a fan of of arc-centric stories like B5, but this season had too many things working against it for it to be anything like as well done as the previous one (which i thought was excellent!).

The show had roughly a half-and-half mix between full-arc and minimum-arc stories. Though, the mid-season break did pretty much enforce which eps were going to where in the overall sequence, and that just added to the show's disjointed feel. There seemed to be far too many 'red herrings/clues' to keep track of which may be step-ups for next year (who/what was in the Doctor's hotel room?) or may not be...the significance (or not) of the Doctor's changing clothes...Top Hat & Tails, red bow, blue bow, regular jacket, long coat.

The introduction of a previously unseen, unknown or even unmentioned character of 'Mels' with the added expectation that a person this integral to the story would just be believable so very late in the story...considering her true identity (Wow, it's difficult being cryptic!). Considering Moffatt had from the middle of Tennant's tenure as DW to work all this out, she should have been there right from the start of the Doctor/Pond story.

Only that way would the revelation have had the real 'pop' she should have had, instead of the "You what?" she ended up getting.

There are several other things but these. I think are the main ones. Sadly, there will be another mid season break, it seems, for the next season too. Luckily, it does not seem to have affected the ratings badly this time around...but it will.

The UK is not the USA. We DO NOT have mid-season breaks. We have shows commissioned, they are all filmed and then they are all broadcast, one-per-week, and they do not stop half way through...until now, with the advent of PAY TV/cable/SKY services and where our imported shows usually follow the US screenings only by two weeks or so, some times only a couple of days.

But our own home-grown stuff...NEVER until this season of Dr Who.

The poor old American audiences get mid-season breaks for most the time, and seem to be treated like idiots for the rest of it. As an observer, it's a minor miracle that anything gets passed one season on the networks, it all seems so chaotic. As evidence (as an aside), I remember a story told to a convention audience by the late, lovely Jeff Conaway (RIP ) about how he was sick in bed and awoke in the middle of the night, could not sleep, he turned on the TV at that insane hour and found B5...at the time and to him a totally new show!

If anything needed to change first and foremost...that mid-season cliff-hanger has to go. After the opener (which usually resolves the sequence of the previous season) there just are not enough eps in a 13 part series to build any expectation for another halfway cliff-hanger. If anything is going to kill Dr Who again, it is going to be this stop-start-stop-start story telling technique.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Have to say I am a fan of DW since the early teenage times. But I have to agree with those who state that this season was the worst and boring ever.
Really, Karen makes me drool all over my keyboard. But right now am fed up with her character. Also I'd say eversince Rory joined them on their voyages things went downhill. When I saw "The Girl who waited" I thought I might have zapped into a soap opera instead of watching an ep of DW...
Heck, even the last ep was crap. And I just can't get into the new Doctor either. The only thing worse than this year's season of DW was this year's season of Torchwood, which was the untoppable cream of the crap.

I haven't seen the season finale or whatever yet, but the one before that lost my interest pretty severely. It was cool seeing the little "Here's what Amy's accomplished!" which is pretty funny since Karen Gillan came from modelling to begin with. The little nods to the overall plot were the only redeeming part of the episode that seemed to be centered around one big gay joke?

The whole Amy/Rory/Doctor triangle at the beginning was really cool, and since Amy/Rory were solidified as a couple it kind of made the personal parts more boring. I thought they really didn't capititalize on the beginning episodes having her creepy obsession with the doctor which could have made a lot more conflict if they didn't resolve it so soon.

Yup, as I've always said, show needs more Karen Gillan. Less everything else.

[I love Lyta]

Have to say I am a fan of DW since the early teenage times. But I have to agree with those who state that this season was the worst and boring ever.
Really, Karen makes me drool all over my keyboard. But right now am fed up with her character. Also I'd say eversince Rory joined them on their voyages things went downhill. When I saw "The Girl who waited" I thought I might have zapped into a soap opera instead of watching an ep of DW...
Heck, even the last ep was crap. And I just can't get into the new Doctor either. The only thing worse than this year's season of DW was this year's season of Torchwood, which was the untoppable cream of the crap.

[lotjx]

Robot dogs rock, they even made mention of it in Closing Time. Rose started off fine, but got to clingy and she getting the Doctor while Donna got mind wiped left a bad taste in people's mouths. So, the Doctor is not dead, good, but I can't buy him being low profile. Loved seeing Charles Dickens back.

[OmahaStar]

Yikes. Two of your top five are my absolute worst two characters in the history of television.

[Chipmunk]

Also, the correct answer is Sarah Jane Smith for best companion ever.

+1

When I heard Elizabeth had passed beyond the veil, it was almost as bad as hearing of Andreas' voyage.

I'm just glad she had the opportunity to go in style, with School Reunion and (almost three decades late) the SJS Adventures series.

Even Barrowman admits he stole from that character to play Captain Jack.

Shiny! If you've got a link or two about that, I'd enjoy reading it.
I generally abhor "video diaries", but David Tennant's were generally fun, and the parts with Cap'n Jack were doubly so. Only thing better than one Who-fan-boy is two of them, working off each other.


If we're going to rank Companions, K-9 also "must" be on the top five list. I'm still thinking about my other three (leaning to Jo-Jo-Grant, since she was my first, and Leela, since she kicked butt, and possibly Ace because she was that rare thing, a generally believable female Geek).

Honorable mention does have to be given to Rose.
I introduced Who to two PBS-deprived friends (yes, Iowa is weird), and Rose was a significant factor in hooking both of them. She was an excellent foil for Dr.Eccleston.

The saddest thing for me is that the kids have lost interest, and it is going to take something special to win them back, but such is life.

Khannnnnnn!!!

{in Delenn's voice} Butt-butt-butt...
they're still willing to watch old, good eps, right?!?
If not, that's a Geek tragedy.

If they're old enough, shift them over to Babylon 5, mainly for itself, but ostensibly to "fill in" the time until they fix Who (it has lost its way before, and been fixed).

And there's also Steven Moffat's Sherlock, which (delightfully) reminds me of Eccleston's Who (with a bit of BBT's Sheldon Cooper).
His Holmes reminds me of Wash (from Firefly), with just the right amount of Garibaldi.

[Jonas]

I have to admit... I hate Amy. I find the character extremely dislikable, and the acting usually sub-par. (A lot like Torchwood's Gwen Cooper, really.)

More than that... I hate the 11th Doctor. I realize the Doctor is different from incarnation to incarnation, but the current one is clearly the winner of the Upper-Class Twit of the Year competition. Even his TARDIS looks like an office.

The RTD seasons were flawed, sometimes ridiculously so, but at their core were characters that I liked and moments that moved me. Right now the show has completely lost me.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

There's always Inspector Spacetime...

http://io9.com/5844151/it-only-took-a-few-days-for-communitys-doctor-who-spoof-to-become-a-full+blown-internet-meme/gallery/1

[lotjx]

The Olympics probably have a lot to do with this. There are rumors already starting that part of the reason for 2012 is light is to make the budget to get the past Doctors for one of the 2013 episodes or the Christmas special.

[Andrew_Swallow]

Found today on the Zocalo Today:

DOCTOR WHO -- NOT UNTIL 2012
The trouble with Time Lords is they're always jumping around the calendar, but we probably can't blame the Doctor for this. We've seen it coming for a while, and now it's confirmed: Doctor Who season seven won't premiere until autumn 2012.
Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed what's been suspected for quite some time about the Doctor's next set of timey-wimey adventures. There's no clear-cut schedule from the BBC yet, but it's clear that Doctor Who won't be returning for a good long while. Season seven won't even begin shooting until early next year, so everything is still very murky in terms of details, but fan site Doctor Who TV offered this schedule prediction:
2012
Easter Special
Autumn - Series 7 Part 1
Christmas Special
2013
Spring - Series 7 Part 2
Autumn - Series 8
Christmas Special
So, that's a little glimpse in the spring followed by a handful of episodes, one special, and then another handful of episodes. Those are just predictions, but it seems likely that the BBC's official schedule will look something like that.

Jan

Autumn (fall) 2013 is 50 years since the first episode of Doctor Who. There are rumours that several old companions will be back.

[Andrew_Swallow]

Nooooooooo. I protest! Thankfully, we get at least another year of them.

Half year maximum. When the couple were given a house the write out has already been activated.

So who is the next companion?
People are guessing that it will be the Muslim girl who thinks she is English and offered the Doctor a cup of tea. Possibly in a different role.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Found today on the Zocalo Today:

DOCTOR WHO -- NOT UNTIL 2012
The trouble with Time Lords is they're always jumping around the calendar, but we probably can't blame the Doctor for this. We've seen it coming for a while, and now it's confirmed: Doctor Who season seven won't premiere until autumn 2012.
Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed what's been suspected for quite some time about the Doctor's next set of timey-wimey adventures. There's no clear-cut schedule from the BBC yet, but it's clear that Doctor Who won't be returning for a good long while. Season seven won't even begin shooting until early next year, so everything is still very murky in terms of details, but fan site Doctor Who TV offered this schedule prediction:
2012
Easter Special
Autumn - Series 7 Part 1
Christmas Special
2013
Spring - Series 7 Part 2
Autumn - Series 8
Christmas Special
So, that's a little glimpse in the spring followed by a handful of episodes, one special, and then another handful of episodes. Those are just predictions, but it seems likely that the BBC's official schedule will look something like that.

Jan

Did they say why? Is this the thing with Moffet's schedule with the Sherlock Holmes thing? I'm muzzy-headed on the details.

[Jan]

Found today on the Zocalo Today:

DOCTOR WHO -- NOT UNTIL 2012
The trouble with Time Lords is they're always jumping around the calendar, but we probably can't blame the Doctor for this. We've seen it coming for a while, and now it's confirmed: Doctor Who season seven won't premiere until autumn 2012.
Doctor Who Magazine has confirmed what's been suspected for quite some time about the Doctor's next set of timey-wimey adventures. There's no clear-cut schedule from the BBC yet, but it's clear that Doctor Who won't be returning for a good long while. Season seven won't even begin shooting until early next year, so everything is still very murky in terms of details, but fan site Doctor Who TV offered this schedule prediction:
2012
Easter Special
Autumn - Series 7 Part 1
Christmas Special
2013
Spring - Series 7 Part 2
Autumn - Series 8
Christmas Special
So, that's a little glimpse in the spring followed by a handful of episodes, one special, and then another handful of episodes. Those are just predictions, but it seems likely that the BBC's official schedule will look something like that.

Jan

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Its time for new blood.

Nooooooooo. I protest! Thankfully, we get at least another year of them.

[lotjx]

Its been a mixed bag. I think trying to resolve the River Song stuff in Lets kill Hitler was too much. That needed to be a two parter. I really liked the episode where Amy is 30 years old, the Doctor closing the door on her reminded the audience he is a cold man when he wants to be. I even enjoyed last week's episode, but the Night Terror episode was resolved too quickly. I am curious to see the Lodger back and all the names that keep popping up in the cast list has me hella intrigued.

Martha is the worst companion. All of season 3 minus Runaway Bride, Blink and the Master episodes were weak sauce. I just never bought into that character. Although Rose has now become the new Doctor Who companion to hate, she did a lot in those two seasons to help bring the audience in. Although giving her the 10th Doctor was probably too big of a reward considering what happens to Donna. Season 5 was a lot of fun, so I don't get the argument for that. Amy is a good companion, but her and Rory have outlived their usefulness. A bunch of episodes this season felt like they were cramming Amy and Rory into them for no reason. Its time for new blood. Also, the correct answer is Sarah Jane Smith for best companion ever. Even Barrowman admits he stole from that character to play Captain Jack.