Doctor Who - Best Doctors, Episodes, anything!

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

So yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, and seeing as I've become absolutely addicted to the show, I thought this weekend would be the perfect time to ask you guys your opinions. What do you think of the show? Who's your favorite Doctor, what's your favorite episode, companion, anything! How do you think Peter Capaldi will match up to the astounding performances that David Tennant and Matt Smith delivered?

So far I've only got through Seasons 4 and 5, but I should be getting 6 and 7 soon.

[Duckyian Empire]

Psy?

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

Yeah! Ducky you would love Doctor Who. If you like British TV, then this is the show to beat.

[Duckyian Empire]

*doesn't have BBC America at home*

Also, I'm not a fan for science fiction and a friend attempted to convince me to watch PhD Whom by using the British angle, because he knew that HOA is a British show and I love it a lot.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

Well, it's your call, but I caved too. You won't regret it, it's a lot more than science fiction. It's just a lot of fun, and if you have a thing for British redheads you might like watching Seasons 5-7.

[Duckyian Empire]

Listen, the British redhead angle ain't gonna work either.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I know.

Bowties.

Bowties are cool.

[Duckyian Empire]

Your least convincing argument as of late.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

It's not an argument. It's a reference.

Allons-y.

[Duckyian Empire]

*blinks and stares at W&S oddly like this*

[Benevolent Thomas]

Nov 24, 2013 12:12:22 GMT -5 Witchcraft and Sorcery said:

So yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, and seeing as I've become absolutely addicted to the show, I thought this weekend would be the perfect time to ask you guys your opinions. What do you think of the show? Who's your favorite Doctor, what's your favorite episode, companion, anything! How do you think Peter Capaldi will match up to the astounding performances that David Tennant and Matt Smith delivered?

So far I've only got through Seasons 4 and 5, but I should be getting 6 and 7 soon.

What did you think of the 50th anniversary special? I liked most of it, including how we finally saw what happened the day the time war ended. What I did not like though was how Moffat pulled a George Lucas and changed the lore of the show. Of course he found a way to cop out at the end so the episode doesn't fly in the face of the last 8 years of the show which was pretty weak as well. Eccleston should have been in it, but that was his choice to make...

My favorite Doctor would probably have to be 10. Tennant was just an all around excellent Doctor who was youthful and playful yet really dark when he needed to be. The 4th Doctor is up there on the list as well. He was always so mysterious to me. Eccleston was a pretty decent Doctor as well since he was the first one of the revamped series. Out of the newest Doctors I'd rank them (first being best) Tennant, Eccleston, Smith. Don't get me wrong, Smith is doing a good job, but I think the storytelling has gone down in quality in recent seasons. Doctors ranked as a whole would be:

10
4
9
11
7
1
2
5
8
3
6

My favorite episdoe(s) would have to be The End of Time which would be the last episode for both Tennant and Russel T. Davies. I wasn't a big fan of the newest incarnation of the Master, but the storytelling was just masterful. I also liked the return of many characters including Wilfred Mott (best companion ever). I also loved the way everything tied up in the end. And who could forget about the line "I don't want to go". I was getting all emotional watching it. Definitely one of the greatest episodes of the show ever made.

I'm looking forward to the next series so that we can finally have an older Doctor since the revival of the show. I think Capaldi will be an excellent Doctor and I'm hoping for an eventual introduction of a companion not from the 21st century. Hopefully a male as well, I always preferred Rory and Mickey over there female counterparts. Captain Jack Harkness is also one of the greats. I think that's all I got for now, I welcome the debate that will soon unfold though

[Duckyian Empire]

BT, your nation's pretitle "The Wall of Text" is appropriate.

That is all.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I think I'll just kind of go down your list here Thomas, you've got some great ideas.

Oddly enough I still need to watch the 50th anniversary special. I don't have BBC America and it's like $8 on iTunes right now, so I'm gonna try to watch it when my dad gets home in the next couple days. I think it will definitely bring a lot of closure to some story lines, but it does suck that they changed a whole bunch of the lore. I mean, with stories like this you simply can't do that. Star Wars is a great story and all, but the prequels are kind of out of sync with the rest of the story.

On best Doctors, I agree. Tennant is the best. Tom Baker may be the most iconic Doctor, but Tennant is the best. He just embodies so much of everything that made each Doctor good. He's great fun to watch and just seems to have a blast with the role. He can do anything and be anything with the role, just molding to whatever happens in any given episode. It's so great to watch. I personally love Matt Smith, more than Eccleston. He seems to bring to the table something that Eccleston lacks, a bit of craziness that I just don't see in a lot of other Doctors. The first scene where we really meet him just sticks out to me. He goes and digs through Amy's refrigerator, spits out an apple, then pretty much everything else she has, then settles on fish sticks and custard. Fish sticks and custard? That must have been awful to eat. It just... I don't know how to explain it. He's so full of energy and combative, and having only watched seasons 4 and 5 really, I see him grow in similar ways to those that Tennant's Doctor did.

I don't feel qualified to rank them all since I haven't watched a lot of the older episodes, but I'd say my ranking for the newer Doctors would go Tennant, Smith, Eccleston.

My favorite episode of the ones I've watched is the first episode of Season 5, for the reasons enumerated above. I just found it so hilarious when he's trying to find his way as a newly-regenerated Doctor, and suddenly has to face a giant alien menace threatening the entire planet. And to top it all, he's wearing a bow tie. Because bow ties are cool. I'm watching the finale of season 4 tonight, so that may change since there's a great setup and the Daleks are some of my favorite villains from any TV show. They're so brilliantly single-minded and I can't wait to tie a conjoining knot between the Tenth and Eleventh tonight.

Companions are such a great part of the show. I think Rory or Rose Tyler are probably my favorites, and even though I didn't see much of when Rose was actually the Doctor's companion, I love the scene in "The Stolen Earth" where she just pops out of nonexistence with a huge assault rifle and nonchalantly walks down the street, breaking up two or three robberies until she reaches Donna's house. I'd say Rory is my favorite overall because he evolves in much the same way the Matt Smith does throughout the course of their first season, going from a completely clueless individual who gets drunk and just parties all the time to someone who genuinely cares about the people around him, as seen in "The Pandorica Opens" and "The Big Bang". The storytelling in both seasons that I've watched has been absolutely phenomenal and I'm really happy I finally caved to all the pressure at school this summer. Probably 30-40% of my school watches the show and most of them follow it religiously.

[Duckyian Empire]

Nov 24, 2013 21:03:28 GMT -5 Witchcraft and Sorcery said:

Probably 30-40% of my school watches the show and most of them follow it religiously.

What a conformist. If you are a comformist, don't expect me too watch PhD Whom.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

Keep in mind this is a very small school (about 100 students) who apply to get in and are generally of the type to watch Doctor Who. At my big high school it's definitely very much smaller than that.

[Benevolent Thomas]

Nov 24, 2013 21:03:28 GMT -5 Witchcraft and Sorcery said:

The first scene where we really meet him just sticks out to me. He goes and digs through Amy's refrigerator, spits out an apple, then pretty much everything else she has, then settles on fish sticks and custard. Fish sticks and custard? That must have been awful to eat. It just... I don't know how to explain it.

My favorite episode of the ones I've watched is the first episode of Season 5, for the reasons enumerated above. I just found it so hilarious when he's trying to find his way as a newly-regenerated Doctor, and suddenly has to face a giant alien menace threatening the entire planet. And to top it all, he's wearing a bow tie. Because bow ties are cool.

That was indeed a great episode. Probably the best introduction of a new Doctor they've had so far. Even at the end of the episode The End of Time they had already begun introducing him brilliantly.



Just amazing.

[Ardreas]

Ah, I'm glad to see a topic for this here. I was never a fan of British tv for most of my life, but I must say Doctor Who has definitely stood out.

I came to the show with the beginning of the new version. Christopher Eccleston was my introduction to the show: "Nice to meet you Rose, run for your life!"

I've been watching faithfully ever since, and it's been a fantastic ride. It had its ups and downs, sure, but I always kept coming back for more. And that's something I can't say about any other British tv show. Over the years I've watched everything they made since 2005, and I even went back and watched some of the classics once they were available on Netflix. On the one hand, it was very interesting to see the old-style Doctor Who and learn some of its backstory. But then, the old episodes were so slow-paced it was hard staying interested more often than not, unfortunately. I don't fault the show for that though, that was tv in general back then. Of the classic episodes I did watch though, I tend to think Tom Baker's were among the more watchable. His travels with Romana, the female Timelord, were rather interesting, especially putting them into context as being long before the Time War. I guess the slower, more relaxed style the Doctor had then does fit into a pre-war period. His high energy and constantly running now makes sense in the context of what happened.

As to the new seasons, I would say I like David Tennant's Doctor the best. He had some amazing episodes, his style was great, and I just liked the way he fit the part. It all fit just right, like I couldn't imagine a better person to play the role. Probably one of my favorite moments in the entire show was the Stolen Earth - Journey's End arch. Just seeing all of the Doctor's companions in the TARDIS together, working as a team to fly the Earth home. You could say it was a bit cheesy, but I think it was epic.

I also liked Blink and Silence in the Library as two of the other best moments of his Doctorate. But who didn't like those, right?

Matt Smith has been pretty good as well, but he took a bit of getting used to. He was similar enough to Tennant that the transition just felt a little off. You know? Like, he was a new Doctor, but not really a different one. So I look forward to a real difference with Capaldi.

Smith did have an amazing story-arch though. The whole thing with the Silence and the Pandorica was great. And I liked seeing his relationship with River develop. And to find out who she really was! That was pretty awesome. I vividly remember that moment, when he read the writing on his crib and found out what her name meant. That was fantastic. The understanding hit me at the exact same time it hit him, and I was just sitting there grinning stupidly like he was. It was great.

Anyway, if you're looking for a good source to watch the show and not have to buy episodes or anything, Netflix has it all on streaming. So that's a good deal. Well, not the latest, but it'll be there eventually.

And always, start from the beginning. I mean the 2005 beginning. There's a lot of good stuff you'll miss if you dive in with the newest seasons.

I loved the 50th special episode. Seeing so many of them together again was great. And no, I don't think this was at all like Lucas retconning the story. If you think about it, nothing has actually changed. The Time War was still time-locked. Davros was still destroyed as that had happened earlier in the war. The Council still tried to escape the Time War through the Master as that, too, had happened before the "last day" when Gallifrey was to be destroyed. So none of that changed, and really, Gallifrey still "ceased to exist" in a sense, in that it was preserved. But to the rest of the galaxy, it still would have appeared to be destroyed. So essentially all this time nothing has changed, except now we know that it's actually still out there somewhere. New material for future seasons! Yay.

Also, seeing that last cameo at the end of the episode. That was cool. I had heard he would be in this episode, but couldn't imagine where or how since he's so old now. But it was still very cool. And as I said earlier, he was the only one of the classic-era Doctors that I found interesting enough to watch much of. So that was a special moment.

Anyway, I've rambled enough. Take that BT!

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

Yeah, I know there's a lot of stuff I'll miss if I were to dive in late, but I don't have cable TV and as such I don't get BBC America. I have to get them as they're available so I have to watch them out of order. I can connect the dots easily enough though. I probably will watch them through the normal way at some point though, just like I did with Star Wars. I am really excited to see the 50th special this week, so I'm just trying to not read the spoilers in your posts.

[Ardreas]

You don't have Netflix or Amazon Prime or anything, W&S? They're all there, in order. Definitely the better way to go. I don't have cable either, and thus no BBC, so I watch all mine online. And anyway, watching episodes of a show about a time traveler in order, isn't always watching them in order, if you know what I mean.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

I don't have Netflix or Amazon Prime either. I hope I can get it sometime in the next year... my dad is going to hopefully get it on iTunes soon so we can watch it this week.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

What did everyone think of the Christmas special? I rather liked it. Capaldi looks like he'll be a great Doctor.

[Benevolent Thomas]

The Christmas special made me yell "Damn you Moffat!"

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

See I must not have gotten to that part yet. I'm still not finished. Although something tells me it's coming...

[Benevolent Thomas]

The pacing of the episode was just... off for me. I think if they had made the special 2 hours instead of 85min it would have been better. I also hated the way they did the regeneration. Not nearly as epic as when the 10th Doctor died.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

Yeah for sure. Tennant's regeneration was quite amazing, and the scene following it was one of my favorite of all time. This one was just... strange. I saw the clip of it on YouTube and I was a bit puzzled. Why did they do it that way?

[Benevolent Thomas]

Beats me.

[Tsim Sha Tsui]

I'm excited for Capaldi as I was a big Eccleston fan and would love a return to a more mature Doctor.

Damn shame that Eccleston and the producers had such an apparently toxic relationship; would loved for him, if not to have more seasons, to at least have been in the Anniversary Special.

[Ayvuir]

Oh, New kidneys.

I don't like the colour.

[Witchcraft and Sorcery]

That was a pretty great line. Sucks we have to wait ages to see him in action. At least I'm still catching up, got season 7 to keep me busy for a while.

[Barry]

Without aging myself too much – although resistance is futile to that biological fact – my wife and I have been huge fans of Doctor Who ever since PBS had the good sense to bring it across the pond about three decades ago. We immediately set aside our Sunday afternoons to watch Tom Baker’s seemingly endless running from one British quarry to another, and his never ending walking around to look for stuff. Just as everyone has a soft spot in their heart for their first love, that’s the case for me with Tom Baker. Scarfs are cool!

My favorite episode of his is “Horror of Fang Rock”. Although perhaps one of the lesser known or acclaimed episodes, I just loved this deliciously claustrophobic Gothic thriller set in a damp and dreary lighthouse. I’ll admit that the monster is rather silly, but the moody, brooding tone and its (cheesy?) stage sets make it my all-time favorite.

As far as companions are concerned, The Doctor’s had tons of great ones. My favorites are newer ones, Amy Pond and Rory Williams. One of the brilliant things that Steven Moffet has done in the show’s revival is to make the Doctor’s companions every bit as much a part of the story, and its dilemmas' solutions, as the Doctor himself. Although I think Moffet is sometimes a bit too complex in his story telling (it’s not really a kids’ show anymore), his development of characters that almost perfectly complement The Doctor’s personality and quirkiness is nearly flawless. I think that both David Tennant and Matt Smith actually owe much of their own personal popularity to the strength of the companions that Moffet surrounded them with. Whereas Tom Baker, for example, was really clearly THE focal point of the series, Moffet has altered the Doctor/Companion chemistry in his re-incarnation, which I believe is to both the show's and individual Doctors' benefit....Oh....And I just love The Impossible Girl, who we all know now is more responsible for The Doctor's success over the centuries than the Goofy Old Gallifreyan himself!

Finally, like Tsim, I’m really looking forward to the advent of Peter Capaldi. I’m looking forward to a bit older – yet still undeniably weird – new Time Lord. I’m hoping he’s kind of like an animated Tom Baker and wears a cool scarf of some sort.