Doctor Who (2016) - Meet Bill
And when you say "family show," is that code for children only? If it's all geared toward kids, most grown-ups won't be very interested. When I was a kid I had to sneak next door to watch "Dark Shadows" because my mother thought it was too creepy for me.
I have never thought of Doctor Who as a children's show.
Not for children only, but shared with them. There really is lots you can do with that, and keep things reasonable; after all, that's partly how we teach young people about critical thinking and about how to deal with growing into adult concepts. It's just how they're introduced and handled.
(Peggy, it's traditionally been promoted as tween/teen viewing here from the very first Ep, with crossover audiences both younger and much older. I think my brother was 5 when he first started watching)
It's worth visiting marksierra's blog and checking out the Triple J Hottest 100 video for teeny glimpse of TARDIS and Doctor. Very sweet.
PeggyC said:
And when you say "family show," is that code for children only? If it's all geared toward kids, most grown-ups won't be very interested. When I was a kid I had to sneak next door to watch "Dark Shadows" because my mother thought it was too creepy for me.
I have never thought of Doctor Who as a children's show.
The term coined for Doctor Who in the UK was "hiding behind the sofa", meaning you were compelled to watch, but hid behind the cushions or somewhere whenever it got too creepy. And when you're growing up with Tom Baker as the Doctor, pretty much everything from his wide-eyed over-enthusiastic smile to the amazing electronic soundtracks and atmospheric beds were creepy (not quite Sapphire and Steel creepy, but close).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_sofa
I don't remember doing that, but I know my oldest sister used to, and she was in her early 20s when Baker was the Doctor.
I am understanding more and more the fundamental differences between the show Joanne loves and the one I came to like.
While I haven't seen all of the new Doctor Who (probably all of first and second season, and scattered other episodes) and I know this could be considered as trolling but I'm truly not I'm merely befuddled, can I ask you all exactly what was so bad about Steven Moffat?
I didn't mind Moffatt as much as many seem to. I thought he could be a bit too glib and I didn't love his female companions, but by and large I thought his writing and plot lines were clever and entertaining.
But I have noticed recently that the two shows I watch that are both written by him and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock is the other) are too much alike now. I think he has fallen into a rather glib rut.
it's the formatty-glibness, yes, and that almost any series Moffat's writes falls into that pattern after the first 6 episodes. Only the costumes and names seems to change. Which is indeed a pity. We loved Press Gang when we were young; no we're older, we'd like more variety.
We'd also noticed the pattern in Gatiss' other writing, although D now doesn't remember. Gripping at first but then very formulaic.
Part of the trouble might be the way that studios now insist storylines are developed. There's an attitude of 'rediscovering' the heritage of the originals without really accepting 'the true canon' until the fans reel in horror (because nothing makes sense) then there's a lot of patchwork backstory that's tongue-in-cheek (almost irreverent but not quite) and in the process a whole new universe is created so new fans don't know anything else, old fans have left and merchandisers have made a mint. [Why else re-create Dad's Army???] I'm sure that there's sound economics behind it all, it just needs a bit more originality to spark.
(Did you hear any of Idris Elba addressing UK Parliament? Thought provoking)
joanne said:
(Did you hear any of Idris Elba addressing UK Parliament? Thought provoking)
(Addressing the rest later). I didn't see it, but I just read it. His voice bursts through the transcript. I listened to an interview with David Oyelowo just after Selma came out and he was saying many of the same things, that even now there are no parts for black actors in Britain, that if you want to get a good role on screen you have to get a dialogue coach and go to the US. It's a sad state of affairs, really, that we can't just use the best talent whatever they look like.
ridski said:
While I haven't seen all of the new Doctor Who (probably all of first and second season, and scattered other episodes) and I know this could be considered as trolling but I'm truly not I'm merely befuddled, can I ask you all exactly what was so bad about Steven Moffat?
Well, there was that fun sassy female character that was a flirtatious, smug, unflappable quip machine whose sole purpose is to be super amazing and put the lead character in his place while practically threatening him with sex.
Am I describing River Song, Clara, or Sherlock's Irene Adler? Even Amy Pond was jumping the Doctor at the conclusion of the Angels story, even though she was supposedly getting married the next day. The ladies often dropped hints about being bisexual, not because it was part of their identity, but solely to be titillating. I'm not a prude, but it started to become predictable and tedious (and made me not want to watch it with my son).
There was even a fundraiser mini-episode where Rory crashed the TARDIS because he was staring up Amy's skirt. Amy then meets a version of herself from the future, considers sleeping with herself, and then slaps Rory because he wants a threesome. Fun for the whole family!
The autopilot self-congratulatory style got out of control as well. I still think that Matt Smith's first season was outstanding, but he degenerated into a series of timey-wimey catchphrases and hand-rubbing tics. I blame the writer.
May I just confess that abhor that phrase 'timely-wimey'? It's too pretentiously cute to really fit any of the Doctor's personas and I resent having it foisted upon us.
Rant over.
joanne said:
May I just confess that abhor that phrase 'timely-wimey'? It's too pretentiously cute to really fit any of the Doctor's personas and I resent having it foisted upon us.
Rant over.
I maintain that for having to suffer the indignity of shedding a tear while uttering the phrase "humany-wumany", Matt Smith deserved a specially commissioned BAFTA for Greatest Restraint From Punching Scriptwriter In The Face.
hear, hear! (And stop it! I'm trying to tear myself away so I can go to sleep 
)
Joanne - if you're sleepy-weepy, then you should take a snoozy-woozy! 
project37 said:
ridski said:
While I haven't seen all of the new Doctor Who (probably all of first and second season, and scattered other episodes) and I know this could be considered as trolling but I'm truly not I'm merely befuddled, can I ask you all exactly what was so bad about Steven Moffat?
Well, there was that fun sassy female character that was a flirtatious, smug, unflappable quip machine whose sole purpose is to be super amazing and put the lead character in his place while practically threatening him with sex.
Am I describing River Song, Clara, or Sherlock's Irene Adler? Even Amy Pond was jumping the Doctor at the conclusion of the Angels story, even though she was supposedly getting married the next day. The ladies often dropped hints about being bisexual, not because it was part of their identity, but solely to be titillating. I'm not a prude, but it started to become predictable and tedious (and made me not want to watch it with my son).
There was even a fundraiser mini-episode where Rory crashed the TARDIS because he was staring up Amy's skirt. Amy then meets a version of herself from the future, considers sleeping with herself, and then slaps Rory because he wants a threesome. Fun for the whole family!
The autopilot self-congratulatory style got out of control as well. I still think that Matt Smith's first season was outstanding, but he degenerated into a series of timey-wimey catchphrases and hand-rubbing tics. I blame the writer.
I looked up the fundraiser one and it was Red Nose Day, where shows tend to make fun of the tropes they have fallen into. For example, roughly an hour later that night they showed this:
https://youtu.be/Dr2mPChkTK8
So you really can't blame THAT on the writer. I guess I, too, would be disappointed in Moffat if I watched regularly then. His individual episodes during the RTD days were outstanding IMO, and I just couldn't figure why there appeared to be so much hatred against him.
Good morning! 
Ridski, 'hatred' is too strong a word for this household. We're just finding that often by the end of a season we're disappointed more than we've been excited or on the edge of our seats.
To be honest, I felt some of Russell Davies' reign was like that, too, but as he was able to bring the series back to TV, one can't really complain.
D followed more of the spinoffs than I did, so the Sarah Jane audio chronicles, and some of the novella tales add more background for him. And he paid more attention to the odd companions in the 80s, Perry, Tegan, Adric (with the N-space stories), Ace (I liked her but some of the stories were silly), and there was a self-centred schoolboy who grew up to become Doc Martin...
(D's playing 80s music in the background...gawd!)
Ace! Not my favorite doctor, but without question my favorite original series companion.
Romana 2 (Lalla), Leela and Ace - loved how they seemed to think for themselves, even sometimes beyond the script. Go, grrls!
I couldn't watch Doctor Who while Bonnie Langford was on it. I remember having a crush on Ace, though. Really liked Romana 2 and Sarah Jane and Peri Brown was fun to watch.
All for the wrong reasons, I imagine.
D agrees with you on Mel! And, I suspect, on the reason for 'admiring' the others...
Nicola Bryant still has it: http://i.imgur.com/aTW8cEP.jpg
I also had a little crush on Ace. And Romana I was *stunning* (RIP Mary Tamm).
As a person, and in other roles, yes. As a written part, I felt they ruined the potential. She always started wonderfully then they made her seem to contradict that by doing stupid 'girly' things, or not do anything at all...I think Lalla had more bargaining power. For me, her portrayal felt more real.
They filmed a little trailer - meet Bill:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbMmsShghT4
(love the Purple Rain shirt - I wonder if she'll be from the 1980s?)
have you caught up with the latest news? No, not the Companion news: the new Doctor news!
http://www.doctorwhotv.co.uk/t...
I'd be happy!
well, no-one seems to have bothered with the April Fools joke... I'll confess I was taken in for 5 mins, when my niece told me
But this next article, this is real news, about the season due to start:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/...
The Master returns, as himself. Yep, the Master - and Missy! Could prove interesting!
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It's meant to scare children. I grew up having nightmares that Daleks had invaded my school.