Doctor Who

[Jimmy]

I just hated Martha with a passion so I liked Donna because she wasn't Martha. And I just remember the season 3 finale feeling really epic and I was blown away with how good Simm was because it was so different from his Life on Mars character. I was like 14 at the time, and I haven't rewatched since, so maybe I just remember it with too much fondness.

[Benji]

Martha was almost intentionally Rose-lite, I don't think she was ever intended to be anything other than that for obvious reasons. The episodes themselves were still pretty fun. John Simm was in his element as The Master, he had all the likeability of Tennant, but twisted by hate, which is pretty much what I want from the character.

[Katsuya]

Martha was better in the couple of episodes she appeared in when she wasn't the companion. She's definitely the one with the least to her out of all the companions we've had (barring Xmas ones like Astrid). Donna always seemed to be the one who would stand up to the Doctor and was clearly independent, whereas Rose & Martha both followed him around a lot more and didn't do a lot of questioning.

[Your Mom]

Have you been watching the Christmas Specials as well?

I saw the one with Kylie Minogue. That was pretty good.

[apsham]

He's asking.. likely.. because Donna was originally from one of the Christmas episodes, hence why the Doctor knew her and all that. I like her though.. stick with it though, Donna has a really good payoff story wise.

Also, I hate Martha with the burning passion of a million suns. Companion or not, she is god damn intolerable.

[Skummy]

So after going back to watch some of my favorite episodes from season 1 in lieu of our standard "catching friends up on Dr. Who" Sunday night sessions.. I could gladly place my Modern Doctor list at 11, 9 and then 10. Is that weird? I know people that would shit their pants if I didn't say that Tennant was my number one, much less behind Ecclestone.

I can't stand Ecclestone, but I'd put Matt a few spots ahead of Tennant on my favourite Doctors list. I think Tennant's let down by bad writing and awful direction, though - he's good, but Matt Smith, in my eyes, is improved by not having to deal with as much ridiculous melodrama and "THE FATE OF TIME ITSELF HANGS IN THE BALANCE" cliffhangers. Tennant did a damn good job to be seen as one of the best Doctors despite having to deal with that dross every other week.

I expect towards the end of this season Matt Smith will finally move into moody, introspective mode, and that will be when we see how well he matches up against Tennant. I think Matt does silly, goofy Doctor - both legitimately and when he's hiding his pain - a lot better than Tennant, and psychobabble made up science-y stuff better than Tennant, but Tennant's probably better at the mopey and emotional stuff, in his way, though Matt's not had to do much of that yet, he's just been on the sidelines of Amy and Rory doing it. Matt Smith has it in him to do scary, angry Doctor with a lot more conviction, though.

[apsham]

I supoose you are right in saying that the writing and direction of the Doctor at the time has a lot to do with how a person would enjoy them. There's this one particular scene that sold Ecclestone for me though, and even though he had a short run.. it just sold it entirely for me. It's when he's getting cocky with some Daleks, saying something along the lines of "So you're all alone then." and he just kind of smiles and grins and then the Dalek returns with "So are you" and then the look.. the look on his face when that happens.. I really liked that era of guilt ridden, war survivor.

And it's not even that I dislike the Tenth Doctor really, I do quite enjoy him.. but I like the two extremes of the Doctor's personality and Smith covers the goofy better while Ecclestone covered the dark side a bit better for me.

And yes, I too am looking forward to seeing what happens when Smith has to take it to another place entirely. In the new episode when he

Came across the intensive care unit, the look that he had on his face as he moved through the room and the panic that he went into when they activated.. best moment of the episode. The room that we were watching it in was dead silent.

EDIT: Oh, and I now remember this comic strip that shows the difference between the 10th and 11th Doctors.

[Dingle]

I don't even truly get it (beyond maybe Tennant always being sad), but I love that comic so much.

[Skummy]

Haha, you actually managed to pick the moment I gave up on Ecclestone >_<

I can see your point, but moments later, he's back to bullying the damn thing, and later on in the same episode, it takes Rose telling him to realise they're "the same", rather than coming to that conclusion himself, or after the Dalek said so. While it could be argued that he was blinded by his hatred for the Daleks, it seemed like an incredibly stupid and un-Doctor move.

Doesn't help that it was one of the worst offenders of the modern Doctor Who's tendency towards giving the Daleks emotions, and has a couple of horrible moments where characters act on information they couldn't possibly know...

[Your Mom]

Whats the Sarah Jane Adventures? I plan on watching Torchwood when I'm done with all the Who stuff, but Sarah Jane came up in my search too and near as I can tell it doesn't tie in at all. Did Amazon just think I might like it because it's similar?

[AnnIQ Edison]

I think this weeks episode was actually worse. They were flip flopping on whether Daleks had emotion the whole episode.

[Skummy]

Whats the Sarah Jane Adventures? I plan on watching Torchwood when I'm done with all the Who stuff, but Sarah Jane came up in my search too and near as I can tell it doesn't tie in at all. Did Amazon just think I might like it because it's similar?

It's a kid's spin-off series, starring on-again off-again long-time Dr Who assistant Sarah Jane Parker, and (I think) the Doctor's robot dog, K-9.

I think this weeks episode was actually worse. They were flip flopping on whether Daleks had emotion the whole episode.

I wouldn't say this one was worse - and certainly not as bad as some have been - though I winced at the Doctor saying "hang on to fear, fear isn't Dalek" to Amy about ten minutes after the revelation that the Daleks feel fear.

[thatblindgeye]

I enjoyed the episode. A lot. Probably a lot to do with Oswin. Her interactions with the Doctor and Rory were superb, even though with Rory it was basically trying to get a strip show. Oswin . I did enjoy seeing the Daleks resort to forcing their 'predator' to save them from... themselves, basically.

Donna was also brilliant in the long run. I loved her being the one to stand up to The Doctor, and the finale for her as a companion was so good. Martha I didn't mind. She wasn't great, but she did suffer from following a 'companion loves Doctor' thing. I like her least out of the other companions, but I enjoyed her more than I disliked her. As much as I love Rose, I might have to say Donna and Amy/Rory I love more.

For me, it is incredibly difficult to choose between Tennant and Smith. I love Smith because he is so goofy, but he pulls off the seriousness incredibly well. Likewise, Tennant was such a good serious Doctor who could also be a bit of a goof for me. If Ecclestone had gotten any more series it would be near impossible to choose because I enjoyed him as well. I think Tennant barely beats out Smith for me, at least at the moment. Just near impossible for me to choose outright which one I like better.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Vitamin E

[Berober]

Ooh, I also like that we can expect to see Rory challenging for the Intercontinental Title soon

[Your Mom]

I am starting to like Donna a little more. It's kind of hard for me though because I started with Amy and love her so much I dont think anyone could compare. I still like Martha better than Donna so far but dont hate Donna anymore.

[MGW]

Donna is simply superb! I loved Catherine Tate playing he too. Martha was hamstrung by RTD's obsession with making everything about Rose bloody Tyler all the time (Jo was an awful unlike able character) and was written to be not as good as Rose so bloody obviously that it killed the character for a lot of people.

Tennant is probably my favourite Doctor. Mostly because he's the actor I started watching the show with and later on just how good I thought season 4 was. There's a run of Episodes from Uniorn and the Wasp Until the en that for me is just amazing and has two episodes where Russell T Dcies writes something that's not overblown and ridiculous.

Mary Smith has an awful lot of the 2nd Doctor about him which I love. He is fast approaching Tennant in my estimation, but I agree that the way the characters are written helps that an awful lot.

[Vamp]

It's a kid's spin-off series, starring on-again off-again long-time Dr Who assistant Sarah Jane Parker, and (I think) the Doctor's robot dog, K-9.

K9's barely in it really, for obvious reasons. Towards the end of Sarah Janes it starts to feel more like it was written for fans of classic Doctor Who. Although it is definately designed for kids.

I won't claim to have seen every classic episode, because I'm nowhere near it, but I think any suggestion that the Daleks have only been given emotion now is a little bit bollocky, mainly because any suggestion that they've been written in one particular way is utter bullshit. And since they haven't reached the nadir of a Dalek orgasming as he emerges from sand I think they're good.

I actually enjoyed the Asylum episode quite a bit, I'm quite optimistic that I'm going to enjoy this series more than I did the last. For the first time in ages the thing that mattered was the thing that was actually going on, rather than some storyline we won't get for ages, if ever. I've also mellowed out on Moffat having gaping plot holes in his Doctor Who. He just does, and it seems like you have to grin and bear it. With Nolan's Batman as well I'm guessing plot holes are just the thing to have in "intelligent" fantasy drama. But yeah, I thought the episode was lots of fun, and quite tense at points. My biggest concern with it was that Oswin sounded like any intelligent character that Moffat writes. She sounds no different from River Song or the Doctor at points. Hopefully that will change once she's made into the actual companion. The problem's not at all her being an intelligent character, that could be fun, its more that intelligent characters don't always have to talk like that. That and I think both her and Matt doing it runs the risk of the show seeming unbearably smug.

[Naitch]

Although I did quite like the first episode, there were SO many flaws in the story that I noticed as it was going along. Some of them have already been pointed out, but the main ones for me were

pretty much everything about Oswin. Firstly, if the entire population of the planet/asylum is crazy daleks, who converted her into one? The ones came across during the episode certainly didn't seem capable of that. Secondly, why were the Doctor, Amy, and Rory able to communicate with her human voice? The Doctor later pointed out that she was experiencing a dream that she'd concocted, meaning none of the previous interactions made any sense at all, especially them hearing the music she was playing. The final one is why was she tied up in chains inside what appears to have been the solitary confinement chamber of the ICU? This also leads to the further question of who actually put her there and why, but the first bit makes it flawed enough as it is.

[Dingle]

Nanocloud converted them, not a person or Dalek. Now, as a Dalek, it explains how she could hack into and control a lot of the systems and defences, yet she had created a reality for herself that didn't have her as a Dalek. I think you may be hung up on the word 'dream', because it's clear she wasn't asleep or anything, she just didn't want to face the fact she'd become a Dalek by living there. The last part, explaining why she was in total solitary confinement, will probably be explained at a later date I'd imagine. Right now all we've got is that she's incredibly clever, maybe due to her experiences with the doctor she was deemed a significant threat. That sounds weak to me, but I believe we'll get a better explanation when we actually witness her character in our time stream again.

[lanky316]

I'm tired of the new episode advert... I just loathe the delivery of "Dinosaurs (wait two seconds) on a spaceship!" I'm sure it won't be so bad in the actual episode but it reminds me of trying to goad small children into remembering their lines.