Doctor Who: "Nu Who" controversial opinion (discussion)*

In the very first story, they make reference to having had travels in the TARDIS before settling on Earth for a while (during which Susan went to Coal Hill School). It was after the first TARDIS trip with Ian and Barbara on board that the Doctor notices that the TARDIS was still in the shape of a Police Box. Therefore, it seems as if the Chameleon Circuit had been working when the Doctor stole the TARDIS (and thus transformed into a Police Box when they made their visit to Earth), but then stopped functioning after that point.

Sorry, just had to geek out there for a minute.

 

To add to this: The Fourth Doctor attempted to fix the Chameleon Circuit (CC) and it led to his regeneration. The Sixth Doctor did get the CC working but disliked the results so much that he restored the TARDIS back to the Police Box form and disabled it. I've heard that The Ninth Doctor destroyed the CC to make sure that the TARDIS did not change shape due to its form being a key element throughout the history of Earth.

 

To add to my original post, it is likely that there are many unrevealed stories of each Doctor so that while each Doctor has been with us for only a few years (in our real time), each regeneration could have lasted for decades.

If The Doctor was 650 years old when the series began, and he is over 1,400 years old now, then there are probably hundreds of stories that have not been revealed. As an example, even though the 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctor have departed their adventures have continued in the form of comic books (as there have previous been some stories of The Fourth Doctor [drawn by Dave Gibbons, the artist on Watchmen]).

Using the above numbers, the average number of years for each regeneration (from the Second Doctor to the Twelfth Doctor) was 58 years (rounded).

 

Well that was great, looks like a great new Doctor and scary enough for the children. Great to hear Northern accents but where was Shaun Bean?

Jodie Whittaker's and inspired choice as an all action hero, I'd tailed off my viewing but I'll be back for episode 2.

For a child new to this series great beginning no Tardis and who the hell is the Doctor?

 

Sean Bean.
Don't recall watching an 'all action hero' in the past when I've watched DW. Must be thinking of William Hartnell.

 

I thought so too. Some brief but handy infodump, tedious for longtimers but a perfect intro to someone who's never watched it.

 

A Volvo station wagon driving around Sheffield, "haven't you done well for yourself", lots of teeth, but I like the welding goggles!

David Tennant as a woman, but there are some hints of future development. I'll be back too.

 

We'll have to see but we may have the best Doctor ever and as for Hartnell is reminded me very much of the seeing the original broadcasts, without a grumpy old man..

Viewing figures of 8.2 million and the consensus seems to be why all the fuss about a woman Doctor. It may be that those naysayers may raise their heads but they'd probably be shot down at the moment.

 

I thought it was okay, but not great. Jodie was fine and I'm sure she'll settle into the role in no time.

Of all the unbelievable things that go on in any DW episode, the thing I found most unbelievable in this ep was the Docta building a sonic screwdriver from scratch using nothing more than 'stone knives and bear skins'!

 

Making a Sonic Scredriver, I don't think Doctor Who has relied too much on what's possible, the idea must be exciting for a 8 year old and it's being done by a Women engineer, my daughter would approve.

I do wonder if the new Doctor is going to be more action, as they think she has to rebuff the doubter, which may prove be a mistake. On the other side this is not our programme it being claimed by those 8 year olds, so complaints about change may not be pertinent.

There seems to be lots of room to play with gender stereotypes, on the humor front I thought the Tim Shaw mistake was hilarious.

 

I'm undecided about the JW Dr concept. I was so glad when Capaldi got the job - I enjoyed his more mature and serious character. I liked the darkness of Moffats's writing and Capaldi reminded me of the classic series - more like a Pertwee type.
Nu-Who is (as the OP says) a bit light, it doesn't take itself seriously, there's no suspension of disbelief and it's too much family orientated to try to appeal to a family audience. I'm tired of emotional disfunctional families and relatives. Who never needed that in the classic era.
I like scary and dark Who not rainbow tops and Narnia-like Christmas specials.



Still - I'll give it a go. Even Nu-Who is better than No-Who. I will say this - score was wonderful, as is the old theme remix.
I'm re-reading the Virgin New Adventures at the moment.
DARK!

 

I wonder how old you were when you came in when you say Pertwee was classic, not taking itself seriously disappeared many years ago.

I thought a alien ripping people's jaws apart and then having them as false teeth was pretty scary and a bit of disbelief may be required when aliens attack your train.

The problem the BBC has is, this is the last Doctor, I wonder what that means.

 

Yeah - the teeth monster was great! BTW I didn't that think this was the last Dr - I thought they had changed it so there were now unlimited regens.

My feeling is that the warm and cuddly manic madcap eccentricity is laid on too thickly. I think it must have started with Baker's first (Robot) but then he got very serious, gothic and scary with the Hinchcliffe season. That was so crukking good. Baker's peak.
IMO subsequent Drs have taken that Robot manic regeneration aspect and turned it into the Dr's main character trait. It remains to be seen with the new actor.

 

Well they can do anything really the regen was only introduced because it was necessary, I'm not a supper fan, so infinite regen may have become a possibility.

We're can't be sure how she'll settle down after all this shape shift, it will be interesting I think Whittaker was very brave to take on this part in a programme which is so iconic. It will be very interesting how well Chris Chibnall address such a sea change the new concept of a female Doctor, will be fascinating, on the basis of ep1 it may be a fun ride if nothing else

 

Pertwee Who had some silly action bits but the themes were very adult and still somewhat relevant today - Global Warming, environmental poisoning, etc. Who didn't get silly to me until the Graham Williams era, and even though I loved the Hitchhiker's books and Douglas Adams, I feel that his work with Who was really not what the show needed, even though City Of Death is entertaining. The second to last Tom Baker series is pretty awful (although it seems brilliant compared to the Colin Baker/Sylvester McCoy era).

My biggest gripe with Nu-Who is the Doctor is portrayed as so much more self aware and self promoting. "I'm the Doctor, I save the world! Everyone knows who I am everywhere and evil fears my name." it just is so out of character with Classic Who that it is a completely different show. If you can enjoy it in that respect, it is fine, but I prefer to think of Doctor Who ending in 1989, and nu-who being a completely different character/concept.

 

The current Doctor isn't the last. The Doctor was given a new life cycle in The Time of the Doctor as all 12 regenerations had been used up (The War Doctor and the 10th Doctor used one up but didn't change his appearance, vanity issues lol), so they'll be plenty of Doctors after Jodie. Promising start and the overnight viewing figures in the UK were fantastic at 8.2 million. I imagine the final figure will be over 10. It'll be interesting to see how many return for episode 2 and 3.

 

He's become a superhero since the reboot. Eccleston less so, but Tennant onwards certainly. I never watched last night. The last few series I haven't even watched more than once and haven't bought the dvd of the last two. I think I'll stick with '63-'89. Watched 'Arc Of Infinity' last night with the commentary on. Hilarious. Explains why the dvd's have higher than PG / 12 ratings!

 

Being a child of Hartnell, Pertwee was not welcome and for me thus began the wilderness years. One thing that did stand out about the episode was the social engineering aspects, so perhaps all those serious Human problems will be back again.

The response here seems to have been very positive, especially among women and young girls, are we going to have "The Planet Of The Amazons" (with product placement)?.

 

I think the OP nailed what I was feeling, but couldn’t quite put my finger on. The original Doctor I’m most familiar with (Tom Baker) played it straight, very serious, even when he was being “quirky.” It was campy, but not goofy. I stopped watching the new series toward the end of Tennant’s run because I was just getting kind of bored. The plots were largely really silly. I really liked Matt Smith in the Crown, so I’ve thought about checking out his series, but it hasn’t been high on my priority list.

 

I used to be a big fan of “nu Who,” but started losing interest after the departure of Karen Gillan, and completely lost interest upon the arrival of Peter Capaldi. For me, Capaldi’s crazy old man shtick got old really quickly, plus I had sort of gotten tired of the series in general by that point.

I should mention that I was not raised on the original show, and am part of the younger audience the reboot was obviously aiming for with its sense of humor. That style of humor has since fallen out of fashion with most (though it does have a dedicated fan base still), but I did really enjoy the goofy depiction of The Doctor when I was younger.

I still think the hint of self-awareness makes the show infinitely more palatable in the 21st century. Science fiction could get away with being both corny and self-serious in the 60’s, but that’s not the case anymore. The sense of fun makes the crazy sci-fi plots much easier to swallow. On the whole, I never though the show was any sillier with its plots than the original show (or at least what I’ve seen of it). The character may be goofier than some of the earlier versions were, but he’s been reimagined all throughout the show’s history, so I don’t see that as a problem. The crazy, silly depiction is what appealed to fans in the reboot, so why shouldn’t they run with that theme?

 

I can't remember anyone who saw the original Doctor as being your typical hero, he was grumpy and sinister, you certainly didn't want him as your Granddad, however he saved the people you liked.

Personally I thought Tennant and Smith really revived the show but recently too clever by half, Moffat's Achilles heel.

 

I didn't think I would like Smith, but I really warmed to him later on. I notice everyone generally seems to dislike Moffat/Capaldi. Personally I loved what they did, and I liked Clara who people usually dislike. Her intelligence and the way she had a love/hate relationship with Capaldi was very reminiscent of Hartnell's companions IMO. Wasn't too keen on River Song though or the Ponds.
I suppose the good thing about Who is that it has enough revamps that eventually you'll get one you like, while that also means the reverse is true.

Spot on. The bloody Creature From The Pit.

 

I liked Capaldi, but felt that he was really done a disservice. I feel like he had the potential to be so much more.

 

I enjoyed it. Music was great, and it was a blessed relief to get away from those never-ending doomy story-arcs which had taken it over in recent seasons.

The new doctor was fine - hopefully the character will be less Capaldian as the regeneration completes itself and we will lose some of the messianic nonsense.