The Doctor is coming, the Doctor is coming!!

[SuperBeaverInc.]

That has to be the most ignominious death of any Doctor. Still, that film was really a mess from start to finish, although it had lots of good moments.

Worse than Colin Baker bumping his head and waking up in Time and the Rani?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I wouldn't want to get into the argument about who counts as a "fan" of something or not; as far as I'm concerned, anyone who considers themselves a fan of something is a fan of that thing. But I would say that McGann's audio work as the Doctor, which he's been doing prolifically for over ten years, is far more extensive than his visual work, and as far as I know he himself regards it as more definitive.

I re-watched the McGann film myself last week and I was rather less impressed than I had expected - his Doctor seemed to me a bit wussy, to be honest. He didn't seem to do all that much. Though he still got a better deal than poor Sylvester McCoy, who did little more than stupidly step outside the Tardis into a hail of bullets and die on an operating table. That has to be the most ignominious death of any Doctor. Still, that film was really a mess from start to finish, although it had lots of good moments.

It wasn't the bullets that killed the Seventh Doctor. It was Grace's bumbling around during the surgery, plus the anesthetic that did it. The Eighth Doctor said it himself that the anesthetic messed up the regeneration, and for a fair part of the movie he wasn't actually physically or mentally capable of doing much.

I am just annoyed that I'm apparently considered less of a fan of the Eighth Doctor because I haven't heard any of these audio adventures. How easy or hard is it to imagine what everything looks like with those, anyway?

 

[_random_]

I am just annoyed that I'm apparently considered less of a fan of the Eighth Doctor because I haven't heard any of these audio adventures. How easy or hard is it to imagine what everything looks like with those, anyway?

That depends a great deal on the individual I suspect. I tend to listen to them while driving, so I don't picture things with a distracting level of detail. They are well done though, and if I feel like sitting down and just listening to one, I can usually get something pretty vivid out of it. But your experience might be totally different.

Still, if you like McGann as the Doctor, you'd be doing yourself a massive disservice to ignore the vast majority of his work in the role.

 

[Tee Kay]

I am just annoyed that I'm apparently considered less of a fan of the Eighth Doctor because I haven't heard any of these audio adventures. How easy or hard is it to imagine what everything looks like with those, anyway?

You should give it a try.

Personally, I discovered Doctor Who (well, apart from references to it on CFC) listening to audio episodes of a fan-made Doctor Who x My Little Pony crossover. I enjoyed it a lot, so I thought I would enjoy the actual show even more. And boy was I right.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I used to enjoy listening to an audio tape of Genesis of the Daleks (one I taped off PBS) when I was puttering around with my craft projects upstairs. That was before we had a VCR, but I'd seen the episode numerous times so it was easy to imagine what was going on. It must be harder when you've never seen any of the characters besides the Doctor himself.

 

[Plotinus]

Not being able to see the characters doesn't stop audio drama being popular. The longest-running soap opera in the world is on the radio, and it has possibly the most fanatical fans of any soap opera even though they've never seen any of the characters. And I suppose if you're talking about science fiction, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was originally a radio series, and that radio series is still superior to the film, the books, and the TV series (just). The comparison is more appropriate than you might think - I've only listened to a couple of the Dr Who audio episodes (with Paul McGann), when they were on the radio, and they were quite funny ones - not unlike Douglas Adams.

 

[Arakhor]

That link doesn't work, Plotinus.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Not being able to see the characters doesn't stop audio drama being popular. The longest-running soap opera in the world is on the radio, and it has possibly the most fanatical fans of any soap opera even though they've never seen any of the characters. And I suppose if you're talking about science fiction, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was originally a radio series, and that radio series is still superior to the film, the books, and the TV series (just). The comparison is more appropriate than you might think - I've only listened to a couple of the Dr Who audio episodes (with Paul McGann), when they were on the radio, and they were quite funny ones - not unlike Douglas Adams.

Plotinus, you forgot the actual link.

I first saw the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as a TV series. My grandmother happened to walk into the room during the scene about the "Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster" and the images on the screen horrified her. Luckily I was over 18 by then, or she'd never have allowed me to watch another minute of the show. As it was, I had to figure out a way to see the rest of it without her knowing, or I'd never hear the end of her complaining.

I never have been much of a radio listener except for CBC, and I haven't even done that for a really long time.

 

[Plotinus]

Very embarrassing - must be my subconscious rebelling against my attempt to link to Wikipedia. This is what I was talking about.

I saw Hitch Hiker's Guide on TV first, too. I think it runs the radio series a very close second for brilliance, despite the ropiness of the special effects.

 

[Arakhor]

Oh, well if you meant The Archers, you should have said so!

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Steven Moffat has now confirmed that Matt Smith is doctor number 13 and that the situation regarding the number of regenerations will be ironed out in the Christmas Special.

 

[sanabas]

Very embarrassing - must be my subconscious rebelling against my attempt to link to Wikipedia. This is what I was talking about.

I saw Hitch Hiker's Guide on TV first, too. I think it runs the radio series a very close second for brilliance, despite the ropiness of the special effects.

I like the TV series the least of all of them. Not that it's bad, just that it didn't match up to the other stuff. Did like the movie, thought it was very well cast. Was really surprised how much I like Mos Def as Ford.

I like the books the best though, and that is the way I first discovered it. Only saw/heard TV & radio series much later, after making an effort to look for them.

 

[_random_]

Man, they really milked the sexual tension between Clara and the Doctor as much as it could before it would seem creepy.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Did anybody ever eat that ridiculous turkey?

What an underwhelming story. A huge part of the problem was that it had been foreshadowed and spoiled for so long beforehand, I found very little dramatic tension.

The official "Matt Smith is Doctor #13" line is going to make some Who sites explode even more than they have already. There's been an argument going on for weeks now over whether or not the Doctors need to be renumbered...

 

[_random_]

Moffat had already explained that that was the case, and he says that renumbering is unnecessary. In Moff I trust.

"Underwhelming" is a bit of a curious reaction I think. Most people seem to consider it amazing or totally baffling. I fall into the former camp.

 

[DroopyTofu]

It just felt short too me. So many of the plot points were just glossed over and crammed in. I like it as a whole, I just with they had developed some of the ideas a little more.

 

[North King]

I don't really understand how you could be baffled by it. Most of it seems pretty straightforward, and pretty much the only weird parts all fell under the "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" philosophy of Moffat. I think he glossed over certain parts -- like the siege -- far too much, but there were some great scary moments.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Moffat had already explained that that was the case, and he says that renumbering is unnecessary. In Moff I trust.

"Underwhelming" is a bit of a curious reaction I think. Most people seem to consider it amazing or totally baffling. I fall into the former camp.

I'll go along with baffling. I didn't actually understand what was going on, most of the time. Mind you, I also saw only about half of the previous season's episodes and therefore missed a lot of the clues and other things that would have made it make more sense.

As far as I'm concerned, John Hurt is Doctor #8.5 and there was only one Tennant Doctor (some fans insist there were two, and even the Matt Smith Doctor said as much in the episode).

It just felt short too me. So many of the plot points were just glossed over and crammed in. I like it as a whole, I just with they had developed some of the ideas a little more.

From what I understand, they were expecting Matt Smith to stay longer, so they didn't develop the stories to take into account his wish to leave sooner. Therefore, they had to cram everything in.

I don't really understand how you could be baffled by it. Most of it seems pretty straightforward, and pretty much the only weird parts all fell under the "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" philosophy of Moffat. I think he glossed over certain parts -- like the siege -- far too much, but there were some great scary moments.

There shouldn't be any need to resort to the "timey-wimey" crap, though. Classic Doctor Who didn't do that, and it's just a lazy way to get around plot holes, inconsistencies, and technobabble.

 

[Evie]

It's not so much that there were two Tennant doctors, but that he used up a regeneration without actually fully regenerating (at the end of the fourth series). So there's no doctor 10A and doctor 10B, just Doctor 10 - but this 10 used up one regeneration keeping himself alive.

 

[Plotinus]

Well, I thought it was splendid. Matt Smith was a brilliant Doctor and this was a beautiful ending for him - not going out in a blaze of glory saving the universe, just eking out his days preserving a small town. It had a nicer feel to it than Tennant's "I don't want to go!"