Doctor Who : Fifty Years of Phone Box Travel

[Lord Toblerone]

To continue discussion of Doctor Who, and the upcoming 50th anniversary year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZcPqbGlvo

new opening sequence:

[Lightning Lord]

Continuing from the previous thread...

Eccleston is the best of the Nu Who Doctors, even though he had only one season to showcase. He brilliantly played a man still raw from war, desperate to get away from what he did, but still burning with rage over what his enemies pushed him to do. It was a fantastic exploration of the extremes that the Doctor can be - the happiest, kindest, saddest, angriest being in the universe. Ah, I miss his days...

But he never had a line like "it's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."

[felice]

I miss the days when the Doctor didn't have a catchphrase...

[Werthead]

Interesting comment on YouTube (normally an oxymoron, I know) regarding Clara:

"Born on November 23rd; cancelled twice but keeps coming back; winks at the camera, can seemingly read the Doctor’s mind (“Pond”); keeps both the children and the adults entertained; continually asks “Doctor Who?”- the first question asked on the show, ie in the “Whoniverse”; died at 26 years old; not to mention the weird connection with JFK, who was assassinated by Oswald on November 23rd 1963, 50 years ago. Meta much?

[ztemhead]

Best moment from the Christmas Special:

Doctor: Go on, say it. Everybody does.

New Companion who's name I dont' remember yet: It's smaller on the outside.

it was one of those "I shoulda seen it coming" moments which is why I love this show.

[Lord Toblerone]

I think Black Wolf smith was making the argument that David Tennant isn't weird looking enough to be a good Doctor.

I disagree. When he started grimacing and gurning, his chin almost touched his nose, that's weird enough looking for me.

[Black Wolf Smith]

I think Black Wolf smith was making the argument that David Tennant isn't weird looking enough to be a good Doctor.

I disagree. When he started grimacing and gurning, his chin almost touched his nose, that's weird enough looking for me.

My point was that every other actor that The Doctor(even the guy that only thought he was the doctor, and now plays the most evil man in Georgia) had either oddly shaped/ or freaking ginormis heads. They all look a freak, no matter what they did ( ok maybe not Ecc, but his head is a bit off, and most of what else I have seen him in he has played freaky people) and Tennant doesn't fit the bill.

@Jasscock, I like the new opening. It is brand new, modern opening, with a nod to the old who(showing the Doctor zooming in)

[Lord Toblerone]

I like the new opening. It is brand new, modern opening, with a nod to the old who(showing the Doctor zooming in)

I really like it too.

ETA:

This fan made opening is pretty impressive, but I don't like the attitude ("as it should have been")

[Black Wolf Smith]

I really like it too.

ETA:

This fan made opening is pretty impressive, but I don't like the attitude ("as it should have been")

Not bad, but not as good, IMO.

Anybody see this? Damn luck Brits....

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2013/01/02/Doctor-Who-50th-anniversary-postage-stamps-on-the-way/UPI-44861357150101/

[Teng Ai Hui]

I started watching the new Doctor Who a month or 2 ago. Now that I've made it through all of the current episodes, which Doctor Who season should I watch next? I tried the 8th Doctor's movie set in San Francisco. It was one the biggest pieces of garbage that I have watched in a long time. Also, I've watched the 20th anniversary Five Doctors special. It was a good storyline, but the pacing was very slow. Any suggestions? Or should just I forget about the old episodes and wait until April when the mid-season break ends?

[Werthead]

It was a good storyline, but the pacing was very slow. Any suggestions?

The Five Doctors was fairly well-paced by DW standards at the time, so that might be an issue. The old-school adventures I normally recommend are

The Ark in Space (Fourth Doctor)

Genesis of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor - ties in with the Sarah-Jane Smith/Davros stuff in the Tennant stories)

City of Death (Fourth Doctor)

The Caves of Androzani (Fifth Doctor)

Remembrance of the Daleks (Seventh Doctor)

These are generally regarded as the best (Androzani), funniest (Death) and most action-packed (Remembrance) episodes of the old show's run. Ark in Space also features some fantastic dialogue (some of it requoted in the new series, as it is Russel T. Davies' favourite serial) despite some very ropey creature effects. Genesis of the Daleks is also one of the hardest-edged DW serials of all time, with an interesting moral dilemma. Plus Davros before he was over-used to death.

[mormont]

. Genesis of the Daleks is also one of the hardest-edged DW serials of all time, with an interesting moral dilemma. Plus Davros before he was over-used to death.

And a hilarious giant plastic clam. Never forget the hilarious plastic clam.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Talons of weng-chan (spelling) is quite a good sherlock holmesy episode. The doctor even wears a deerstalker.

I'd also recommend The Invasion, with the 2nd doctor. Its long and quite slow paced, and a couple of the episodes are animated, but it introduces Unit and reintroduces the brigadier.

[the maid of woodlynne]

The Five Doctors was fairly well-paced by DW standards at the time, so that might be an issue. The old-school adventures I normally recommend are

The Ark in Space (Fourth Doctor)

Genesis of the Daleks (Fourth Doctor - ties in with the Sarah-Jane Smith/Davros stuff in the Tennant stories)

City of Death (Fourth Doctor)

The Caves of Androzani (Fifth Doctor)

Remembrance of the Daleks (Seventh Doctor)

These are generally regarded as the best (Androzani), funniest (Death) and most action-packed (Remembrance) episodes of the old show's run. Ark in Space also features some fantastic dialogue (some of it requoted in the new series, as it is Russel T. Davies' favourite serial) despite some very ropey creature effects. Genesis of the Daleks is also one of the hardest-edged DW serials of all time, with an interesting moral dilemma. Plus Davros before he was over-used to death.

Talons of weng-chan (spelling) is quite a good sherlock holmesy episode. The doctor even wears a deerstalker.

I'd also recommend The Invasion, with the 2nd doctor. Its long and quite slow paced, and a couple of the episodes are animated, but it introduces Unit and reintroduces the brigadier.

Excellent! Thanks for the recommendations. I'm new to DW as well, and the huge backlog is quite intimidating (it's what had kept me from starting for such a long time, really). I caught some of the 11th Doctor's episodes and was hooked, so I'm working my way through Doctors 9-11 but had no idea where to start with the classic episodes - it feels impossible to start at the beginning.

[DaveSumm]

Am I right in thinking the first episode doesn't exist anymore? I thought I'd read something about that.......like there's only audio of it or something? In my head, I think of the NewWho as pretty much a reboot and work from there, it's too overwhelming to add in all the old stuff. NewWho only hangs together extremely tenuously as it is.

[Maltaran]

A lot of the First and Second Doctor episodes are gone, due to the BBC's old policy of wiping videotapes so they could re-use them. There are novelisations of most of the stories

[Faraday]

First episode and most of the first doctor stuff exists. A lot of the 2nd Doctor's stuff is lost, though. There are only audio/stills of several episodes though.

I've only watched Hartnell of the Old Doctor's. I thought the Sensorites and the Dalek Invasion of Earth were the best episodes. First Episode and first Dalek episode are worth watching too.

Pedit: Well there's a fair amount of harntell left. Troughton got completely fucked, unfortunately. I'm watching my first Troughton episode now (Tomb of the Cybermen) though. I really like him but being dropped in with new companions and stuff is offputting for me. (Yes I am watching up through the doctor's, I'd find anything else weird)

[Werthead]

And a hilarious giant plastic clam. Never forget the hilarious plastic clam.

You mean the GIANT RADIOACTIVE PLASTIC CLAM OF THE DEATH?

Am I right in thinking the first episode doesn't exist anymore? I thought I'd read something about that.......like there's only audio of it or something? In my head, I think of the NewWho as pretty much a reboot and work from there, it's too overwhelming to add in all the old stuff. NewWho only hangs together extremely tenuously as it is.

The first episode, the entire first serial and even the unaired pilot version of the first episode all still exist.

The entire series from Season 7 (Jon Pertwee/3rd Doctor's first season) exists. Some of Pertwee's stuff only exists in black and white, but with colourisation technology that's not as much of a problem as it used to be.

Of the 256 episodes in the first six seasons, 106 are missing. There are 27 serials in total (out of 50) which are incomplete and 10 which are completely missing. Audio tracks are available for every single story, AFAIK, but otherwise they are simply unavailable.

There is some hope: 41 episodes were formerly missing but have been recovered over the years, and there may be a few more floating around out there. But the chances of a full recovery of every single missing episode are sadly almost non-existent.

[felice]

(That's 10 out of 27 which are completely missing, leaving 23 intact)

All the Pertwee episodes are being released on DVD in colour; mostly using fancy techniques to recover colour from b/w film recordings made off a colour screen and/or merging high quality b/w video with low quality colour video, but a little bit of purely manual colourisation. And some of the incomplete stories are being restored by creating new animated versions of the missing episodes to the original soundtrack - the Invasion mentioned earlier, and Reign of Terror out this month, and probably more to follow (The Tenth Planet seems a ring in, as Hartnell's final story and only one episode missing).

[DaveSumm]

The first episode, the entire first serial and even the unaired pilot version of the first episode all still exist.

Turns out that Tardis that's been staring at me on Netflix all these years is precisely that. For some reason I always assumed it was NewWho. Might give it a watch.