Doctor Who is back!
 

Saw two new episodes on Sci-Fi tonight. I'm really liking the new doctor, and Rose looks awesome.

Cool! Just realized that my DVR recorded it last night. Looking forward to watching it this weekend with Mrs. Eaglesfan (who also loves the show.)

I've seen the new season. Another excellent one (though there are a couple stinker episodes in there), and the finale is stellar.

Took me awhile, and there are things about the old Doctor I still like better, but I did enjoy the new Doc a lot this season.

BBC America were advertising that they were going to show the new seasons starting this month, but that announcement seems to have vanished from their website now. Wonder if they've sold them onto SciFi?

I really liked Eccleston so I'm a little worried about this new season. I have the two new eps on tape but haven't had a chance to watch them yet.

SI

I didn't remember anyone posting this or mentioning but Billie Piper who plays the too hot Rose is leavin gthe show. That might signal the death of show. First the orignal doctor who I liked much more than Tennant and now Piper. Boo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5082668.stm

I felt the same way, but trust me when I say Tenant really hits his stride as the Doctor. After a full season of him, he is on par with Eccleston in my book.

I thought he started out very well. It must be easier that he get's to play a whole new character, rather than having to try to become another Darren.

Yeah, he did. But I was fresh off the first series when I started the second, so it took awhile for me to warm up to him. :)

Allow me to restate my bitching about the fact that this series is SO far behind the UK release of it. Season 2 ended in June or July across the pond.

Ahh yes it is back and as good as it can be.

Haven't liked the new episodes as much as I liked most of the first season so far. I'm still on the fence about Tenant as well.

I had forgot about Dr Who returning but luckily happened to notice it about an hour before the Christmas Special aired.

So far Tenant seems to be doing fine and I'm looking forward to the season. The last Doctor was good aswell, I really enjoyed Ecclestone.

I have seen one other episode from this season. I guess it is the one on this Friday. One of my friends who has seen the entire season has also said that this season's finale is phenomenal.

He was right. FUCKING BRILLIANT! This was a wonderful season, and the storylines were nicely wrapped up. Well, most of them. :)

Man, that was a great finale!

I initially read the title of this thread as:

"A Doctor Who Is Black!"

I was very confused for a second there.

I only got caught up in the past couple weeks. Tennant definitely grew on me a lot as the weeks rolled on. I thought the finale was a very, very well done end to things. I was surprised at how well done it was, honestly.

The first season of the spinoff series, Torchwood, has already aired in the UK, no idea at all if sci-fi plans on airing it here. It's interesting, as it's definitely darker and has way more language and sexual content... but the episodes were *very* hit or miss. I would say I really liked 6, felt "meh" about 3, and didn't like 4 at all. Worth checking out for Doctor Who fans for sure, but I don't think I could recommend it strongly to anyone else (though it is certainly watchable as a standalone as far as stories).

Tennant grew on me as the season passed as well. However, Mrs. Eaglesfan prefers Christopher Ecclestian (spelling is wrong I'm sure.) I also thought the finale was great. We'd certainly check out Torchwood if it airs on any of the channels we get.

Btw. The opener to season 3 (the xmas episode) is excellent. The plot itself is a little um...over the top and weird (another tribute to the Old Ones), but Tenant is an *excellent* actor. He finally, after all this time, mentions Gallifrey.

I'm itching for the real start to season 3.

My overall take is that Eccleston is a far better dramatic actor, while Tennant is a better comedic one. They really did seperate into two distinctly different Doctors over the course of their respective seasons. I guess overall the Tennant/Rose chemistry was better than with Eccleston, so at least it suited the story well.

I strongly prefered Eccleston for a while, now I like them both a lot but in totally different ways. Like different ice cream flavors or somthing. Looking forward to next season.

I never even saw the original series, but I've liked the show enough to probably go back and check out the old series (well, some of it at least, i realize it's like 27 seasons). They've made a fan of me.

I've watched every episode I could of the original on PBS. I fell in love with the original when I was 13 or 14. Some great seasons to be sure.


When does the Tennant's 2nd season start getting aired on Sci Fi?

Season 3 starts in the UK in March. The Xmas episode...dunno when that hits the states. I download em off bittorrent them as they come along.

If you want, PM me and I'll post the episode for download.

Watching the new Doctor Who series has really kickstarted my love of the old one, I've been buying a lot of the DVDs and watching a lot of the old episodes. Ah...nostalgia.

Get her to watch Heroes. Ecclestian is probably going to become a regular on the show.

This was the best season so far, which is a rare thing to find in a series third season. Wonderful wrapup to the season, and great start to the next season!

What?

What?

What??

......what.

Season 2 finale was better. :)

I don't know, I stopped watching. They are taking it way to seriously. Tennant's over acting compunds it.

I thought they kindof went cheesy for the finale but nothing that horribly ruined it. Definitely will be watching the 4th season when it finally makes it over here.

SI

A disagree strongly. I think they keep a great balance between drama and comedy.

torchwood has been on BBC America. I'm really, really liking that show. It reminds me of the XFiles in a team setting. Really enjoying it a lot.

I don't get BBC America :(

SI

I agree with Sachmo. I thought this was the strongest season yet, although the finale was a bit disappointing.

I didn't like the first two episodes of Torchwood, but we've enjoyed the last 4-5 episodes much more and are hooked. I loved the episode with the small village.

The one with the small village was truly frightening. The fairy episode (that is not an insult, I'm talking about the flying kind people) was good as well.

Wow the most recent Torchwood episode on BBCA - "Random Shoes" was really a great one.

Now if we can just talk them into executing Catherine Tate and bringing Rose back full time.

--
Piper Returns To Who

Billie Piper, who played Rose Tyler during the first two seasons of the
BBC's revived Doctor Who series, will return for three episodes in
season four, the BBC confirmed. The news was leaked on Nov. 26 by a fan
who snapped photos of Piper in costume on the set in Cardiff, Wales.

Piper will be one of three actresses to join David Tennant's Doctor in
the upcoming season, including Catherine Tate, who first appeared as
Donna Noble in last year's Christmas special, "The Runaway Bride," and
Freema Agyeman, who played Martha Jones in the third season and returns
for a limited run in season four. It is not clear whether Rose will meet
any of the Doctor's other companions during her three-episode run.

Doctor Who returns to the BBC for a Christmas special on Dec. 25 titled
"Voyage of the Damned." The episode, set on the Titanic, will co-star
singer and actress Kylie Minogue. The fourth season premieres in March
and will run for 13 episodes. -Cindy White

I've been enjoying Torchwood and Doctor Who on BBC America. They only just ended the second season of Doctor Who, haven't seen any eps of season 3 yet.

I have a question though, is Captain Jack on the 3rd season of Doctor Who or the upcoming 4th season?

It looks like BBCA will be airing Torchwood during its first run in the UK as season 2 premiers on January 26th.

Just to get caught up and chime in regarding the early conversation in this thread, I really liked Eccleston as the Doctor. I didn't really give Tennant a chance, but after the 5th or 6th episode finally started accepting him and now enjoy him as much as I did Eccleston. cthomer5000's assessment was right on.

Anyway, I know I don't post often (at all), but I thoroughly enjoy both these series.

He's in the last...3 episodes of season 3, if memory serves (the finale is basically a 3 part arc).

News is about a month old, but I just found out about it. Unfortunately, Russell T Davies will be leaving the show. He was always great at writing the big, grandiose episodes- all 4 season finale multiparters, for instance. Some of the other episodes were ok, but the others more than made up for it. And Doctor Who needs a grand feel to it sometimes- I rewatched the season 2 finale with the Cybermen vs the Daleks on my DVR last night (since I accidentally taped all episodes of the show rather than all new) and it's positively brilliant in that regard.

Steven Moffett will be taking over as head writer. He's done some of the more memorable episodes but he's more of a horror writer who has few creative boundaries, which can be bad or good. If he can keep some of the continuity (doesn't have to be perfect- this is Doctor Who, after all) and the great homages to the old series, and, most importantly, the right feel to the show, lighthearted but grand- pop sci-fi, then great. He's only written 6 episodes but all have been very memorable- the first season 2 parter with the gas masked children, the girl in the fireplace, blink (the stone angels from last season), and the silence in the library 2 parter that just aired last week and this week.

As an aside, Silence in the Library is one of the best episodes I've seen but I haven't seen the 2nd part yet. Still on the DVR until a friend of ours gets a chance to come watch it with us tomorrow.

Also, Doctor Who will be taking a little hiatus so that David Tennant can go pursue other acting for a year. In the UK, there will be 4 specials next year and it will return in 2010. No clue here as it's still airing season 4. Then again, season 4 is still going over there and they are only about 4 weeks ahead of us.

SI

Without giving out any spoilers, I thought Silence in the Library was predictable in a few spots, but still an absolutely great 2 parter. Among my favorite Dr. Who episodes ever, but I'm also a fan of Alex Kingston.

The Library episode was pretty good, but thus far season 4 has been terrible, IMHO. There were some clunkers in season 3 but the great episodes more than made up for it. There have been precious few high points this year.

The best part of the Library episode was discovering that that unlikeable cow Donna Noble will get replaced at some point. Soon, I hope.

She isn't hot like Rose and Martha, but she is hardly a cow. Also, I find her sense of humor to be the best of all of the companions from the new Doctor Who and find her to be very likeable.

To each his own. I can't wait until she moooooves along. :)

Moffatt has written pretty much all my favorite episodes of the series, so i'm not fearing any major drop-off when he takes over.

You touch on this... but I do guess the one possible thing to worry about is the fact that his writing (while great) hasn't exactly been deep in Doctor Who mythology. They're more been interesting stories that were just adapted for Dr. Who.

Part 1 of the finale is very strange.

I get BBC America, so I'm at season 3. Haven't seen 4 yet, and if it goes on leave for a bit I'll resist the temptation to watch them on SciFi so I can stretch them out!
I grew up on Doctor Who, my wife hasn't got the concept yet that assistants come and go. She hated Rose leaving...then started liking Martha, then she left. I'm not sure if she'll like Catherine Tate. I prefer British comedy, but I've never been a big fan of Tate.
As for Tennant, I'll say he is my favorite Doctor since Tom Baker (#4 of old series). I like how he has this lighthearted comedic sense to the role. A sarcastic geek I guess you could call it. Eccleston is a good actor, but better suited in serious roles. Doctor Who should have a little bit of an easy going feel to it.

And my 4 year old runs around going "exterminate" sometimes. :)

Loved the two part Silence in the Library too. I am not a huge Donna fan because i just do not see her adding a whole lot. I have loved all of Moffatt's episodes but i wonder if he will be able to write as good on a regular basis. I also agree that he does seem to adapt stories from outside the Who world for Dr Who.

I just watched the second part and was quite pleased. It's interesting because for a show with such an expanded universe already, it gives a glimpse (unsure if it can deliver) at expanding it even more by hinting at an even greater character for the Doctor.



Donna is basically his big sister. She's annoying and bossy and not even that bright but that's the point. There is absolutely no romantic chemistry there and I think she basically facilitates having a season where there is no love interest running around. It got way too deep with Rose and then with Martha was this one-sided unrequited love thing. We needed a season of neither and got it. It's a necessary evil.


Lastly, to touch on a few more points about Moffatt. As said above, great plot ideas adapted to Doctor Who. They are basically phenomenal Outer Limits episodes and you can do that with Doctor Who with the right amount of care. You just can't do it every week. There are lots of other writers so I don't think this is a danger. I don't think that all of a sudden we're going to start having season finales that lack a "grandness" to them, but I'm a smidge concerned.

My greatest concern is that he seems to lack plot consistency. I just watched Blink again- great episode, but inconsistent. In both that and Silence in the Library, the enemy could have easily defeated the group by the rules and parameters set up. Ok, I have to step back from that statement and explain.

As stated above, I've always viewed shows as having a "universe" that they can inhabit. This isn't a physical universe- but a mental positoning of the episode where exposition sets up the rules and guidelines for any given actions contained within. Doctor Who is great at this- it has a huge playing field as it is imaginative and doesn't make a lot of rules for itself, thus allowing it to play mostly untethered to continuity.

I digress for a quick example using just the "science" of "The Day After Tomorrow". At one point, there's a meteorologist and a computer screen explaining that these giant super cold super hurricanes form (read "magic")- there's some exposition to explain it. Maybe it doesn't work in the real world and I'm sure meteorologists just turned the movie off at that point (much like my geophysicist mom laughed at Volcano). But for the uninformed rest of us, they jedi mind tricked the science to the audience saying "see, this is how it could happen in the universe of the movie you are watching". So, the rules were set up (and later crumbled as cold races discriminately through the halls, making some stuff frozen cold but being stopped by a little fire with no explanation- but we'll leave that alone for now).

Characters such as James Bond or Indiana Jones are set up to have inordinate amounts of luck so they are allowed to escape plot devices and it is expected of them. Anyone complaining about realism in a James Bond movie is just missing the point.

Back to Silence in the Library and Blink, there were ample opportunities for the weeping angels and vashta nerada to kill that would have been well within the rules previously set up. There were many times where Sally Sparrow wasn't paying attention and was even in close proximity to the angels without them "killing" her. Similarly, the entire library was one big shadow so it would have been easy enough for the entire party to die quickly and easily because they kept running from shadowy room to shadowy room- sometimes it was important to keep out the shadows, for instance, whenever it was time for a character to die, but most of the time, it was a "boogey man" out there that was mentioned but nothing came of it.

Again, I think it's nitpicking that shouldn't matter on an small scale. I'm just worried a bit about continuity from this point on as if you're careless like that, you inadvertantly set up a lot of rules that can't be followed and giant continuity holes start to annoy even the most faithful of fans.

SI

I will agree with you on Blink because i did notice a couple of spots but decided the episode was great and i could live with a bit of inconsistency. On the Library the Doctor did state that they can hide in any shadow but are not neccessarily in every shadow so that was good enough for me, i'm easy.

Yeah, I was ok with that explanation as well for the shadows. I can overlook the inconsistencies pretty easily as I get so engrossed in the episodes by everything they do right.

Don't get me wrong- I still liked both episodes a lot and it probably won't be an issue. I'm just a little concerned about the handling of the bigger episodes with things like this.

SI

I've been catching up with this season over the last couple of nights, I watched the first episode of this season with Catherine Tate and the fat. That put me off enough that I hadn't kept up.

I'd heard that Catherine Tate got less annoying as it went along so I hit 5 episodes last night and 4 more this evening. A couple of good episodes ("Planet off the Ood" was ok, "The Doctor's Daughter" not too bad, "The Unicorn and The Wasp" pretty clever), but mainly a bit of a down series for me.

That was until tonight's episodes for me, The Library two parts and then Midnight are three of the best, if not the best, Doctor Who episodes since the return. Great stuff, all of them. I'm not sure if Midnight has been shown on SciFi yet so no spoiler, but well worth looking out for (if it hasn't already been on, of course).

I'm still hoping Catherine Tate falls into a tank of rabid daleks in the finale, though.