Doctor Who

[i.fight.weevils]

I was especially interested in seeing the first regeneration after seeing seven to eight in the 1996 film.

Beyond 1996 and an unearthly child, I'm limited to nine, ten, and eleven as well as Torchwood.

Is it worth watching through despite the missing episodes?

[GhostMachine]

I was especially interested in seeing the first regeneration after seeing seven to eight in the 1996 film.

Beyond 1996 and an unearthly child, I'm limited to nine, ten, and eleven as well as Torchwood.

Is it worth watching through despite the missing episodes?

Watch as much as you can of the First Doctor, then all of the Third and Fourth. Some of the Fifth is a bit....what's the word the British use?....naff? I haven't seen all of the Sixth or Seventh, so I can't comment on them beyond recommending avoiding the Seventh Doctor serial Paradise Towers, as its boring as hell. (Basically, if its a 6th or 7th adventure and has Mel in it, you might want to avoid)

For the Sixth, I'd also recommend listening to the Big Finish audio shows, because Colin Baker was more or less screwed over by what was going on with the BBC at the time and never got to develop his character. The Big Audio shows give you a taste of what could have been, and I've heard he's great in those. (I've not heard any of his Big Finish shows....yet)

(Most of the Second is missing, and I'm honestly not sure what still exists from his era.)

[Benji]

[Lineker]

That's a Christmas present for the missus sorted.

[Your Mom]

I want one!

[TheWho87]

I was especially interested in seeing the first regeneration after seeing seven to eight in the 1996 film.

Beyond 1996 and an unearthly child, I'm limited to nine, ten, and eleven as well as Torchwood.

Is it worth watching through despite the missing episodes?

Watch as much as you can of the First Doctor, then all of the Third and Fourth. Some of the Fifth is a bit....what's the word the British use?....naff? I haven't seen all of the Sixth or Seventh, so I can't comment on them beyond recommending avoiding the Seventh Doctor serial Paradise Towers, as its boring as hell. (Basically, if its a 6th or 7th adventure and has Mel in it, you might want to avoid)

For the Sixth, I'd also recommend listening to the Big Finish audio shows, because Colin Baker was more or less screwed over by what was going on with the BBC at the time and never got to develop his character. The Big Audio shows give you a taste of what could have been, and I've heard he's great in those. (I've not heard any of his Big Finish shows....yet)

(Most of the Second is missing, and I'm honestly not sure what still exists from his era.)

Even though most of Troughton's stories are missing the ones that are surviving are amazing, Mind Robber, Invasion and War Games are a must see.

Also there are ways to enjoy the missing stories, either from the surviving audio (every single story has surviving audio) or some of the recons that are about, some of the best can be found here (might celebrate Who Day with a little Web of Fear another must see/hear Troughton.

Edited November 23, 2012 by TheWho87

[Ruki]

I just watched the two parter (Impossible Planet and Satan's Pit). Great episodes! Really enjoying this show, really glad I got into it.

[GhostMachine]

Couple of things about the Christmas special (these aren't story spoilers, but you still might not want to read anyway):

The TARDIS is getting a new control room. That's been confirmed, as there's a picture out there of Matt Smith standing in front of the new console. (Posed shot, not from an episode) It looks more like the classic Doctor Who consoles, thank God. Smith is wearing a new outfit in the picture, as well.

There's also going to be a new title sequence and a new version of the theme.

Edited December 21, 2012 by GhostMachine

[ADG]

So let's talk Christmas special!

Loved, loved, loved the Sontaran assistant and the memory worm, very funny. Curious to see what's happening with Clara and what exactly she is in all this. She's also insanely pretty.

[TGC]

Spoiler tagged for obvious reasons:

I loved that Christmas Special! Last year's was ok to good, but it didn't leave me super excited. This one though, oh yeah super excited and can't wait for the return in April.

I loved the new opening and the tweaking of the theme as well. It just worked well for me.

The Santaran assistant was brilliantly done and had me laughing more than once.

I kind of wish The Doctor would keep the clothing and the hat seen in this special though, it worked so well with him.

The only thing I kind of disliked was Clara's kissing him and the sexual tension and teasing, mainly because I am tired of the companions clearly falling in love with him, but it was overpowering. Yet.

Really digging the TARDIS redesign as well.

Oh Clara Oswin Oswald, who are you? I feel like a kid, just spectacular.

[King.]

I cordially invite all of you to me and Jenna-Louise Coleman's wedding. Wonderful episode.

[Vamp]

I might not have been in the right mood to watch it but, it was okay. Better than the last two episodes in the last half of the series which were, if we're entirely honest, shocking in places. This felt like it wasn't a first draft and was all the better for it. And if there hadn't been things in the press about how they consider the Clara thing to be a soft mystery and might not actually reveal the answer (because if there's one thing I don't want any more of from Moffat it's "ooh what does this mean? Actually I can't be arsed, fuck it" followed by some idiots thinking that that's clever writing and not intelligence insulting) I'd have probably been into the Clara thing. Sadly I find it difficult to give a shit about the Moff's overarching plots though. There's no point. None of them actually mean anything. It's like he has all the ideas and then loses interest. The episode itself had some fun moments, a couple of dull spots and a bit of a shitty plot point at the end where they'd had a decent explanation for a monter, which felt like a nice change of pace, only for it to become something else and I got a bit frustrated because it was still killed off in a matter of minutes anyway. Seemed rather pointless. As does repeating a "this companion always dies" trope. Although this time there seems like there might actually be some depth to it as opposed to Rory. I say might, because again, it's hard to trust that anything in Moffat's writing at this stage is ever going to get to the depth that's presumably there in the first place. I tend to think you can only rate Christmas episodes by comapring them to other Christmas episodes, in which case this was much better than lqst year's poor-decent effort but not as good as the Christmas Carol one. If there's a Snowman people should watch it was The Snowman and the Snowdog which was simple, ellegant and wonderful despite the odds. Doctor Who's The Snowman was a decent episode that promises much which is probably exciting if somehow you havent' become cynical to Moffat's grand schemes by now.

On the by, the new title sequence is fantastic. The TARDIS control room I'm less sure on, mainyl because I'm not sure it suits Matt Smith's portrayal as much as the last one but maybe it'll just take some time getting used to it. Talking of Matt Smith, he is just gettign better and better. How they'll keep onto him is beyond me. As much as I love him as the Doctor, and really I do, I can't wait to see him through himself into other parts.

Oh and the Sontaran was fantastic, probably the best thing about the episode actually. Some fantastic one liners, and all delivered incredibly well.

Edited December 26, 2012 by Vamp

[Your Mom]

My fave thing about the episode was his friends. Not Clara really, Potato man and the green lady and her wife. Sorry I'm horrible with their names but they were all great.

[Benji]

First 30 minutes were tremendous, it dipped off massively into generic enemy tosh, then the last five minutes had me excited for who or what Clara is.

Oh and the new intro video is AMAZING. Loved the old school vibes with Smith's face.

[TheWho87]

Before it started i was saying how they really should bring back the yeti for a christmas story cause it would fit in so well and then this happens (if you know your classic/missing Who's you know what im on about if you have seen the crimbo special)

[King.]

Why is everyone mad at Stephen Moffat? Is it legitimate anger? I don't get it. I just watch the show and enjoy, but a lot of people were angry at Moffat following the Christmas special.

[Benji]

Why is everyone mad at Stephen Moffat? Is it legitimate anger? I don't get it. I just watch the show and enjoy, but a lot of people were angry at Moffat following the Christmas special.

What for?

[King.]

I don't know. On Tumblr and Facebook my friends who are a lot more in to the series posted stuff like "Fuck Moffat. Burn in hell." and I'm like... "Cause it was so good that you don't want to wait til February?" It's just one of those behind the scenes things that if you're a real fan you're supposed to hate Moffat. I think.

[Skummy]

I think people are just fed up with the "WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?!" storyline arcs he insists on using. Not that Russell T. Davies was any better, and I'd take gradually escalating Moffatt bullshit over RTD's "say the same word every episode, that counts as building intrigue" approach. But, yeah, as much as I enjoyed the episode - it was suitably silly for a Christmas episode, while still providing some great character-building for the Doctor - I felt a little annoyed at the end to get yet another "SHE'S IMPORTANT - BUT HOW?!" that seems to coincide with every introduction of a new character from Moffat. I imagine that's why people are annoyed at him.

On the positive side, though, Richard E. Grant was great, Matt Smith continues to be fantastic, Clara was considerably less annoying than I imagined she would be, considering she showed potential to just be a sassy female Matt Smith, which would have been overkill. I really, really want to see more of the Sontaran medic and the Victorian interspecies lesbian couple, who have been incredible in every episode they've appeared in, but were just amazing in this one. "I'm a lizardwoman from the dawn of time, and this is my wife."

I would not be opposed to a "Veiled Detective" spin-off series.

One thing I do like that Moffat's been doing for the last series is that he's made it very unclear how long stories have been going on for, but it's been made clear that the Doctor was with Amy & Rory for a good ten years, but has aged over a hundred years in that time - presumably while he's been travelling the universe removing his name from records and so on. Now, we're not sure how long he's been staying in Victorian London. Probably an awfully long time.

I'm hoping that the Clara thing is something of a short-lived cliffhanger to keep us interested when the series starts, and it can be out of the way in the first episode or two. We've got a 50th Anniversary to build for, and I don't want that to be taken up with "but WHY?!" mysteries that carry through the rest of the series, I want it to be a solid standalone episode that'll stand the test of time.

[Vamp]

I think people are just fed up with the "WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?!" storyline arcs he insists on using. Not that Russell T. Davies was any better, and I'd take gradually escalating Moffatt bullshit over RTD's "say the same word every episode, that counts as building intrigue" approach. But, yeah, as much as I enjoyed the episode - it was suitably silly for a Christmas episode, while still providing some great character-building for the Doctor - I felt a little annoyed at the end to get yet another "SHE'S IMPORTANT - BUT HOW?!" that seems to coincide with every introduction of a new character from Moffat. I imagine that's why people are annoyed at him.

I think it's mostly this, that's certainly what's annoying me about Moffat's 'Who'. Although I find Moff's arcs more annoying than RTD's. While I agree that RTD's process of just using a character mentioning a word was a little lackluster it also meant they didn't overbear the episodes so much. A lot of Moffat's story arcs tend to feel a little overbearing, and seem to get in the way of the standalone episodes, at least that was the case last series. That coupled with the fact that some of his concepts or ideas ultimately don't seem to conclude and just get mentioned a couple of times and then that's that. I suppose things could conclude later, but I'd have preferred the whole 'who blew up the TARDIS' thing to have been answered by now really. It's like when fans say the show is really intelligent now and critics say the show is too intelligent. Neither are right, because what they really mean by intelligent is there's loads of mysteries that never get solved. You either like that or you find it incredibly annoying.

The first three or so episodes of this series were fantastic, because they were just fun without any of this arc nonsense. But I really don't see how anyone can get excited for Moffat's builds now. They have far more faith in him to actually deliver on his promises than I do I suppose. I don't hate the show for it, I still like it, but I actually found myself getting annoyed with myself at the end of the Christmas special for thinking "yeah, who cares about that, it isn't going to go anywhere".