Dr Who

[poliphilo]

I'm old enough to have seen the second ever episode of Doctor Who. I don't know why I missed the first, but I think it had something to do with rehearsing a play at Church.

My favourite Doctor is Patrick Troughton. He was fey, comedic, otherworldly- a magician and trickster, part Pied Piper, part Wizard of Oz.

He became my role model.

By the time Tom Baker arrived I had stopped being a regular viewer. I guess I was away at boarding school.

The Colin Baker episodes were the worst. His Doctor was a roaring bully and there was too much sadistic violence. I wasn't sorry the show got cancelled.
It had gone off.

I liked Sylvester McCoy. I was watching with my kids by now.

The TV film with Paul McGann was utterly misconceived- a poor stab at a Hollywood action movie. Dr Who isn't about freeway chases, it's about magic and wonder and anything being possible.

The new series with Christopher Eccleston is a miraculous return to form.
It has witty and imaginative scripts, great effects, expensive actors, fascinating aliens. Last night's episode gave us a tree woman (several billion years into the future) who said she was descended from the rain forests.

You'll believe a Dalek can fly!

Comments

[butterscotch711.livejournal.com]

*hyperventilates*

I can't wait to see the new Doctor Who.

Like an immature fanboy, I got a bit peeved at the news that Christopher Eccleston has quit already (you sign up to play the Doctor for at least three years, dammit!), but that's just silly of me. But it is disappointing that his Doctor won't get rally fleshed out, and that we won't look back on 'the Christopher Eccleston years'.

Patrick Troughton is one of my favourites - the funnest Doctor, as well as the most mystical in a way - although I haven't seen everything of his, and if you were a regular viewer at the time you saw a lot of stories I'll never get to see coz the stupid BBC threw them all out in the early seventies.

I think Doctor Who could actually work a lot better now. The language of television has started catching up with the kind of stories Doctor Who likes to tell, and television audiences have become more savvy, so there can be more story-telling and less endless expositions.

Anyway, I will continue to drool every time someone in Britain talks about it on the net - I'm so jealous!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I was disappointed too when I heard that Eccleston was quitting. I felt cheated. But it's his life and career and- the way he tells it- filming this first series was punishing.

Besides, they'll find someone else. This country isn't short of A1 character actors. The gossip is that they're talking to David Tennant, who's just finished playing Casanova for the BBC, and he's amazing.

[butterscotch711.livejournal.com]

Yes I read that. Having not seen Christopher Eccleston's Doctor yet, I don't know much about his character - but I hope they can do the traditional thing of having him transform into a new Doctor who's a stark contrast, even though his Doctor won't have been around for long.

When Tom Baker quit he jokingly suggested that in the future a woman might be cast as the Doctor. I don't think they're going to be casting Joanna Lumley in anything other than a Comic Relief skit any time soon, but sometimes I wonder if they'll ever cast anyone other than a vaguely academic-looking white guy in the part. If regenerations can change the Doctor's regional accent, I don't see why he should be locked into a caucasian body.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I agree. I think if the show carries on long enough- and I don't see why it shouldn't- we'll sooner or later have black doctors and female doctors.

Eccleston plays the Doctor as a Mancunian cheeky chappie. He's good enough, but I'm not sure we're going to take him to our hearts.

[pdcawley.livejournal.com]

He was pretty good in the live Quatermass remake on BBC4 last night as well.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Tennant was in that? Bah, I'm sorry now that I missed it!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The guy with the bad affro was Tom Baker. He's most people's favourite Doctor- mainly because he played the role longer than everyone else.

The new Doc, Christopher Eccleston, wears his hair very close cropped.

I'm honoured that you're quoting me like that.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

[suzilem.livejournal.com]

My favorite Doctor was alway Jon Pertwee -- probably because he was my "first" doctor. :-)

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

My favorite was Tom Baker UNTIL the local PBS station started running the series.

I rather liked Peter Davison, he was fun. And I liked Sylvester McCoy.

I'm dying to see the "new" Who.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

At the time I thought Davison was too young, but I liked his cricketing gimmick.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Pertwee was a very distinctive Doctor. I'm sure Mike Myers borrowed his costume for Austin Powers

[seaslug-of-doom.livejournal.com]

I think The Doctor is one reason I didn't just end up a married fellow with 2.5 kids, a dog, and a mortgage. No wait, it's my unstable mental state. Yes, that's it. Now, when is The Doctor going to be on in 'murrrika (George Bush pronunciation) and when will Congress denounce it?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well I guess that's up to your networks- whether they buy it or not.

The last attempt to revive the Doc had "mid-Atlantic" written all over it- they even set it in New York- and it pleased nobody. This latest version is thoroughly, uncompromisingly English.
Might that go against it?

[seaslug-of-doom.livejournal.com]

Well, our Public Broadcasting Stations (PBS) have always revelled in that which is uncompromisingly English, like beans on toast and having a garden in your yard instead of a rusted 1972 Chevy Impala with the engine gone, but the way things work now it will probably end up on the Sci Fi cable channel.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Do you have cable? will you be able to see it if the Sci-Fi Channel snaffles it?

[seaslug-of-doom.livejournal.com]

I do and I will.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Excellent. I hope someone on your side of the Atlantic hurries up and buys it.

[queen-in-autumn.livejournal.com]

I started watching Dr. Who during my freshman year at college, when an older friend introduced me via "Earthshock," a Peter Davison episode with a tragic ending. I was hooked.

Christopher Eccleston? Wow. The only work of his that I've seen is the Duke of Norfolk in Elizabeth! I'll now be keeping an eye out for his Doctor!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Eccleston's casting came as a surprise. He has a reputation for playing heavy dramatic roles. We rather expected a comedian to get the job. Eddie Izzard was the front runner.

But Eccleston has range. The one episode I've seen gave him opportunites to crack jokes, shed tears and (of course) heroically save the day.

But he's only signed on for twelve episodes- after which he will hand over to someone else- so we mustn't let ourselves get too attached to him.