Peter Capaldi The New Dr Who

[interestrateripoff]

Looks like the swear filter will be needed!

[Bossybabe]

Looks like the swear filter will be needed!

Or the Scottish interpreter.

[frank rizzo]

I like Peter Capaldi, he does 'furious' better than anyone. Not sure how that'll relate to Dr Who but what do I care, I don't even watch it!

[RentingForever]

"Oi dalek, you f*cking tin pepperpot nancy, take this f*cking sonic f*cking screwdriver and shove it up your f*cking plunger"... Etc

[@contradevian]

Great choice. Suggests a darker more serious Doctor again?

[frank rizzo]

Great choice. Suggests a darker more serious Doctor again?

Hopefully. I never liked it since it returned with a teen friendly modern feel.

[The Generation Game]

He'll have to tone it down a bit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9arSotadmY

[happy_renting]

Interesting choice!

Tucker was one of my favourite TV characters.

I wonder if he will play it very differently to Tucker to avoid being typecast.

For such a slightly built man, he does malevolent very convincingly!

[The Knimbies who say No]

Davros doesn't stand a chance.

[Frank Hovis]

Decent choice, good actor.

I would have preferred the guy who played Moriaty but the Producer said he wanted to follow a young Dr with an older one, he's probably right.

Can we have the opinion or our resident Whovian (DTMark) and possibly our ex-resident Whovian, 'Bart'?

[Big Orange]

Hopefully. I never liked it since it returned with a teen friendly modern feel.

I can understand that sentiment with the Matt Smith seasons, but not so much with Christopher Ecclestone and David Tennant (who, while significantly younger than Capaldi at the time, were significantly older than Smith was a few years ago).

[DTMark]

Decent choice, good actor.

I would have preferred the guy who played Moriaty but the Producer said he wanted to follow a young Dr with an older one, he's probably right.

Can we have the opinion or our resident Whovian (DTMark) and possibly our ex-resident Whovian, 'Bart'?

I still wonder where Bart has got to,

Bit surprising as Capaldi is a known actor. The last time that was tried was with Peter Davison and, although, actually, I think he was the best Doctor to date - and he's very well rated by long term fans from what I can see - his alleged downfall was because people couldn't see him in any role other than Tristan the vet, or being called by his wife and being told to put the dinner on because she'd be home in twenny minutes (you need to be a certain age to get that reference - the Tefal ads).

I never actually saw him in All Creatures Great and Small because I never watched it. I have seen some of "The Thick of it", which personally I thought was slow witted, predictably cliched, hammed up and a bit over-rated so I didn't watch very many episodes. Though I'm in the minority on that one, I know.

I'm actually not sure what to think. And it's extremely rare for me not to have an opinion on something and everything. I agree with a comment above - it must surely hint at a darker Doctor, which plays well with what appears to be the return of the Valeyard, a dark amalgation of the Doctor's later regenerations.

If what this means is that the producers have recognised that one of the reasons for the show's success in the past has been its appeal to both children and adults, and realise that it has lost its way in its appeal to the latter, then I think this is a Very Good Thing. Because the last time the show was tipped towards a child audience and came across as a little cringeworthy and childish it was taken off the air - the end of the Sylvester MyCoy area which the series has come - IMO - dangerously close to.

But then I have to recognise that things have moved on, TV has moved on, and people have moved on - and despite my serious reservations about the latest crop of series', it has been a huge success. So a darker Doctor may not play well with children at all. It's a risk and I hope it pays off.

[happy_renting]

I still wonder where Bart has got to,

Bit surprising as Capaldi is a known actor. The last time that was tried was with Peter Davison and, although, actually, I think he was the best Doctor to date - and he's very well rated by long term fans from what I can see - his alleged downfall was because people couldn't see him in any role other than Tristan the vet, or being called by his wife and being told to put the dinner on because she'd be home in twenny minutes (you need to be a certain age to get that reference - the Tefal ads).

I never actually saw him in All Creatures Great and Small because I never watched it. I have seen some of "The Thick of it", which personally I thought was slow witted, predictably cliched, hammed up and a bit over-rated so I didn't watch very many episodes. Though I'm in the minority on that one, I know.

I'm actually not sure what to think. And it's extremely rare for me not to have an opinion on something and everything. I agree with a comment above - it must surely hint at a darker Doctor, which plays well with what appears to be the return of the Valeyard, a dark amalgation of the Doctor's later regenerations.

If what this means is that the producers have recognised that one of the reasons for the show's success in the past has been its appeal to both children and adults, and realise that it has lost its way in its appeal to the latter, then I think this is a Very Good Thing. Because the last time the show was tipped towards a child audience and came across as a little cringeworthy and childish it was taken off the air - the end of the Sylvester MyCoy area which the series has come - IMO - dangerously close to.

But then I have to recognise that things have moved on, TV has moved on, and people have moved on - and despite my serious reservations about the latest crop of series', it has been a huge success. So a darker Doctor may not play well with children at all. It's a risk and I hope it pays off.

Dr Who is a children's programme. It ceased to be adult-oriented very early on it's history. There is too much ham acting, weak storylines, continuity problems, inconsistencies, cliches and lazy ex machina problem resolution for it to be seriously considered an adult programme. But at it's best, it's worth watching along with the kids.

I wish it was an adult program, because underneath there are some excellent ideas, but never properly explored. Dr Who as a personality has never evolved, we never get underneath his skin, know about what makes him tick, his history, his psyche. That's not being mysterious, it's just 2-dimensional characterisation.

Ecclestone got nearest to making the character real in recent times.

[DTMark]

Dr Who is a children's programme. It ceased to be adult-oriented very early on it's history. There is too much ham acting, weak storylines, continuity problems, inconsistencies, cliches and lazy ex machina problem resolution for it to be seriously considered an adult programme. But at it's best, it's worth watching along with the kids.

I wish it was an adult program, because underneath there are some excellent ideas, but never properly explored. Dr Who as a personality has never evolved, we never get underneath his skin, know about what makes him tick, his history, his psyche. That's not being mysterious, it's just 2-dimensional characterisation.

Ecclestone got nearest to making the character real in recent times.

I agree with all your comments in light of the most recent series since the come back. Indeed I find myself making those same comments. And agree about Ecclestone too. Some real depth to the character. Not risible, shallow "spoilers".

How much of the original series have you seen?

For example - to pick just a few:

Peter Davison - Enlightement, The Caves of Androzani - both outstanding sci-fi, the latter just possibly the best story ever despite dreadful CGI

Tom Baker - Genesis of the Daleks, The Talons of Weng Chiang as a couple of examples

Jon Pertwee - The Silurians - moralistic, really very classic Doctor Who

Patrick Troughton - The War Games

William Hartnell - The Macra Terror, The Savages (actually, nobody has seen these in recent years as they're lost stories, but the audio versions remain and endure)

There are times when Doctor Who has struck the balance just right and long term fans remember those and yearn for someone with decent story writing skills to pick it up again.

Here's a fan "trailer" for the aforementioned "Caves of Androzani" - if you've never seen it, order the DVD to see how good Doctor Who can be at its finest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjH_hZZhaXw

.. and especially poigniant as Davison's last story - and a really fine send-off.

Edit to add: we only have that on VHS. Just checked Amazon - this is good value for 3 hours of marvellous TV and, er, a fairly average film with Paul McGann in it.

Revisitations Box Set

(added to wish list for next order)

[StainlessSteelCat]

The Macra Terror is a Troughton story. For Hartnell, I'd plump for An Unearthly Child, The Time Meddler or The Romans as the best of the surviving stories.

Agree though - most seasons usually have one or two stories which good TV sci-fi. It's rare for everything to come together just right though - usually something lets it down. You might have a good script or a fantastic concept, but an appalling guest star's performance or special effects to let it down. Sometimes it's ahead of or behind the times in some way. Even the classic stories DTMark mentions usually have something risible about them.

I'd say that at its best, Doctor Who is a family programme - and able to be appreciated on different levels by adults and kids alike.

[Turned Out Nice Again]

I watched the silly "reveal" programme last night with my kids. It occurred to me that given the level of breathless hyperbole generated over a children's TV soap, when a a real world-changing event occurs, say a first contact with genuine extraterrestrials, the outbreak of global thermonuclear war, or a (cough) proper house price crash, the bbc has now left themselves nowhere to go.

I was half expecting them to cut live to the Vatican for an instant papal response.

[@contradevian]

Seems only the Tennant fan girls are more upset at the casting. Doctor Who was never meant to be "hot."

It does leave the way for younger sexier assistants. If you watch some of the early Hartnell episodes, the Doctor is noticeable by his absence (sometimes due to illness and occasionally in Dalek Invasion Earth due to injury when he was dropped being carried out of the Dalek saucer).

Ian was certainly more of the protagonist and action man in the early episodes.

[thecrashingisles]

I was half expecting them to cut to the Vatican for an instant papal response.

We're not far away from them cutting to an instant 'retrospective' with z-listers telling us where they are as they hear the news and how it's affecting them.

[R K]

The only character that matters is his female assistant.

What f*cking planet are you lot on!?

[happy_renting]

I agree with all your comments in light of the most recent series since the come back. Indeed I find myself making those same comments. And agree about Ecclestone too. Some real depth to the character. Not risible, shallow "spoilers".

How much of the original series have you seen?

For example - to pick just a few:

Peter Davison - Enlightement, The Caves of Androzani - both outstanding sci-fi, the latter just possibly the best story ever despite dreadful CGI

Tom Baker - Genesis of the Daleks, The Talons of Weng Chiang as a couple of examples

Jon Pertwee - The Silurians - moralistic, really very classic Doctor Who

Patrick Troughton - The War Games

William Hartnell - The Macra Terror, The Savages (actually, nobody has seen these in recent years as they're lost stories, but the audio versions remain and endure)

There are times when Doctor Who has struck the balance just right and long term fans remember those and yearn for someone with decent story writing skills to pick it up again.

Here's a fan "trailer" for the aforementioned "Caves of Androzani" - if you've never seen it, order the DVD to see how good Doctor Who can be at its finest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjH_hZZhaXw

.. and especially poigniant as Davison's last story - and a really fine send-off.

Edit to add: we only have that on VHS. Just checked Amazon - this is good value for 3 hours of marvellous TV and, er, a fairly average film with Paul McGann in it.

(added to wish list for next order)

As a child I watched the first ever episode, and I still remember the first image ever of a Dalek in the second story (it's plunger arm at the end of the first episode of the second story). I liked Hartnell, some of the stories got a bit eccentric under Troughton. I sort of grew out of things during Pertwee, I never took to him, his style of dress was too camp and contrived, and by then everything was filmed in the BBC gravel pit with unconvincing aliens and the implausible Major.

Things picked up with Baker, in that I liked the humour, but the low budget told by this time.

The plots were always:

1 ) Doctor gets pretty girl companion.

2 ) Tardis lands on some unknown planet

3 ) Doctor tells girl to stay with him

4 ) She doesn't and they get seperated

5 ) Doctor spends ages tracking her down through shaky cardboard corridors with weird-shaped doors that were a cipher for some wierd-shaped alien, but cheaper for the props department.

So Dr Who was basically set in wierd-shaped corridors, with the occasional badly-staged fight in the BBC gravel pit.

After that, my interest waned..So did the BBC's, and it showed.

[@contradevian]

Contains very bad language!

[Frank Hovis]

I still wonder where Bart has got to,

Bit surprising as Capaldi is a known actor. The last time that was tried was with Peter Davison and, although, actually, I think he was the best Doctor to date - and he's very well rated by long term fans from what I can see - his alleged downfall was because people couldn't see him in any role other than Tristan the vet, or being called by his wife and being told to put the dinner on because she'd be home in twenny minutes (you need to be a certain age to get that reference - the Tefal ads).

I never actually saw him in All Creatures Great and Small because I never watched it. I have seen some of "The Thick of it", which personally I thought was slow witted, predictably cliched, hammed up and a bit over-rated so I didn't watch very many episodes. Though I'm in the minority on that one, I know.

I'm actually not sure what to think. And it's extremely rare for me not to have an opinion on something and everything. I agree with a comment above - it must surely hint at a darker Doctor, which plays well with what appears to be the return of the Valeyard, a dark amalgation of the Doctor's later regenerations.

If what this means is that the producers have recognised that one of the reasons for the show's success in the past has been its appeal to both children and adults, and realise that it has lost its way in its appeal to the latter, then I think this is a Very Good Thing. Because the last time the show was tipped towards a child audience and came across as a little cringeworthy and childish it was taken off the air - the end of the Sylvester MyCoy area which the series has come - IMO - dangerously close to.

But then I have to recognise that things have moved on, TV has moved on, and people have moved on - and despite my serious reservations about the latest crop of series', it has been a huge success. So a darker Doctor may not play well with children at all. It's a risk and I hope it pays off.

I confess that's exactly the reason why I didn't give Peter Davison a fair crack of the whip, that and the stupid cricket match early on. However the trailer you've put into your later post looks fantastic.

[@contradevian]

I confess that's exactly the reason why I didn't give Peter Davison a fair crack of the whip, that and the stupid cricket match early on. However the trailer you've put into your later post looks fantastic.

This is one of my favourite Dalek adventures. Some good actors and characters in this one.

If they enhanced some of the special effects with CGI (which they have done with early Star Trek) and dropped the frame rate to make it more cinematic in appearance, rather than 'live studio' then I think it would still put "New Who" to shame, even in terms of production values.

For a "kids show" the death toll is horrendous.

Its also filmed partly on location in Shad Thames which looks considerably different today!

[DTMark]

The Macra Terror is a Troughton story.

Er, yes. I'd had a beer or two. Or three

[Snafu]

Most of my weirdo/geek friends love Dr Who. Not saying anything wrong with being geek/weirdos. But it's not even a good show?