[DrWho] And the new companion is....

SF: discuss futuristic sci-fi series, ideas, and crossovers.

Moderator: NecronLord

User avatar
Stark
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 36169
Joined: 2002-07-03 09:56pm
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: [DrWho] And the new companion is....

Post by Stark »

Sorry. The thread got bumped and a quick skim back highlighted the same-old same-old. I'll be a bit more grown up now. :)
User avatar
Straha
Lord of the Spam
Posts: 8198
Joined: 2002-07-21 11:59pm
Location: NYC

Re: [DrWho] And the new companion is....

Post by Straha »

I had hopes for the New Doctor. An actual depressed Doctor could be interesting.

Then they brought in the girl, and I knew they weren't actually changing anything from the first four seasons. BUT, I thought, they couldn't make it any damn worse!

Now they have.

Maybe he'll be a Time Lord from another dimension? Dropping Rose off back in dimension 1 saying "Oy, don't give us your Chav trash!"

I am soooo looking forward to the next series. Yes I am.
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic

'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
User avatar
Thanas
Magister
Magister
Posts: 30779
Joined: 2004-06-26 07:49pm

Re: [DrWho] And the new companion is....

Post by Thanas »

BT - one more thing:

RTD stated earlier one he wanted to avoid using the screwdriver to fix everything.

Well - how's that for creative bankruptcy?
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
------------
A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------
My LPs
User avatar
Stark
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 36169
Joined: 2002-07-03 09:56pm
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: [DrWho] And the new companion is....

Post by Stark »

It was pretty serious even in the first season; statistically the 10th Doctor doesn't really use it that much more per episode than it seems. It just moved from 'avoids trivialities and keeps plot moving' to 'entire storylines are based on buzzing blue light'. :)
User avatar
Starglider
Miles Dyson
Posts: 8709
Joined: 2007-04-05 09:44pm
Location: Isle of Dogs
Contact:

Re: [DrWho] And the new companion is....

Post by Starglider »

Uraniun235 wrote:Who wants to bet that when it looks like he's going to "run out of regenerations", that's when they decide to file for creative bankruptcy and bring back Gallifrey & The Timelords
Done well, that would actually be good. I think as an interesting sci-fi civilisation they have a lot of potential. The whole 'Doctor is the last of his kind LOL' thing was a combined angst trip (from the peak of the 'darker and edgier!' trend) and supposed reduction in the amount of continuity to confuse new viewers (but not really with the amount of time war flashbacks/references). Having a season long arc of the Doctor going on an epic quest to bring back his civilisation could be good, particularly if he ends up getting hold of a McGuffin like the Key to Time or the Skasis Paradigm and for once actually decides to use it rather than destroy/hide it. Then the next season could be about the harmful side-effects.

The chances of actually getting a well written arc along those lines are low, but now that RTD has departed they are no longer zero.
User avatar
Straha
Lord of the Spam
Posts: 8198
Joined: 2002-07-21 11:59pm
Location: NYC

Re: [DrWho] And the new companion is....

Post by Straha »

Stark wrote:It was pretty serious even in the first season; statistically the 10th Doctor doesn't really use it that much more per episode than it seems. It just moved from 'avoids trivialities and keeps plot moving' to 'entire storylines are based on buzzing blue light'. :)
Actually, the 10th Doctor uses it ~33% more than the 9th, because the 9th Doctor used it just over 3 times an episode, and the 10th uses it about 4.5 times an episode.

Aside from the fact that the ubiquity of the Screwdriver sucks all the danger from the story (most stories these days seem like they'd go equally well if the Doctor was replaced by a man who'd read the manual for the screwdriver) the thing that really annoys me is that the writers don't seem to acknowledge that they're using a blatant crutch. In the old days they acknowledged it, tried to minimize its use and even made fun of it, like in the Invasion of Time where the Doctor tries to open a door, fails and then looks deadpan at the camera and says "Not even my sonic screwdriver can get me out of this one." They even blew it up in the Visitor (a really fun episode) to keep it from coming back. Here they just whip it out constantly and use it like a magic wand from Harry Potter, expecting to build up tension by putting the Doctor into a perilous situation when the viewer knows that the Screwdriver will just get him out in the end.
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic

'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
User avatar
Stark
Emperor's Hand
Posts: 36169
Joined: 2002-07-03 09:56pm
Location: Brisbane, Australia

Re: [DrWho] And the new companion is....

Post by Stark »

Yeah, but it's not as bad as it looks on an overall thing - just like how the 4th isn't really that high, since he was around for 7 years. I think it's more meaningful to talk about it as you do, 'times per ep' or 'times per hour' or whatever, than totals.

And you touch on why I didn't mind it in the first season; they used it less as a 'do anything'. I don't mind it being a magic wand, really, but not a plot-central one. He blows up cameras, fixes barbed wire, steals money, tracks plastic hands... all shit that woudl just be done by ANOTHER prop and isn't necessarily related to jeopardy. In the 10th he uses it for pretty much motherfucking everything, all the time, and it removes danger because it can defeat any threat.
Post Reply