Regenerated Doctor Who Geeks Thread

[RustyDaviesBear]

Sorry for the delay - internet went down just as I clicked create conversation....

Gosh this thread moves fast. DH has been updating the computer, and I've been really busy, and it's taken me ages to catch up.

And at the unmasking of Cappuccino - I'm cr@p at guessing who people are when they name change.

So my answers:

• Did you watch it in the old days? Even the ones with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy?

Yes - I was end of John Pertwee, and mostly Tom Baker (fab, fab, fab) and Peter Davison. Did watch a bit of the Colin Baker and Sylvester Mccoy ones, but was going off them by that point.

• Did you think it was a bit crap? (be honest)

I loved the Tom Baker ones, but my interest waned after that - not sure if it was because they were getting worse, or I was getting older.

• Did people who watched Doctor Who at your school have the piss taken out of them? Was it seen as a bit sad and geeky?

Can't remember one way or another.

• If so, what has changed? Why is it OK to be one of 10 million people who now watch it, when it wasn't OK to be part of the 6 million who were still watching at the end of the 80s when it was axed?

I did wonder whether it was because the people who used to watch it were perceived as 'nerdy' kids, but now they've grown up, got jobs, and are more visible, and it's somehow more acceptable to be a bit of a geek when you've also got money and possibly a bit more power and confidence (am generalising massively here, obviously). And the whole nostalgia thing, even those who (like me) didn't really watch it with the same enthusiasm all the way through feel that it was part of their childhoods.

• Is the new emphasis on "relationship/character" drama important to you, or do you like an old-fashioned monster episode as much as the next person?

I like a bit of both - not too much of the whole lurve thing though.

• Are you less likely to watch an episode set on an alien planet and/or in the far future? Do you think the series is right to spend two-thirds of its time on Earth and variants thereof, given that the TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space?

I'll watch regardless (unless they do decide to employ Russell Brand, and even then I'd try a few episodes just to make sure he really was as annoying as I thought he'd be).

• Would it be a turn-off for you to watch a Planet Zog episode in which the blue-skinned Zurgs battle the green-skinned Thaargs for control of an alien device? Or is this just a myth?

Wouldn't put me off at all.

yes, my eldest two are fearsome on the retaining geek-info already, at 7 and 4. They're in Cardiff today, and 4 yo phoned me excitedly to tell me that they were driving past the rift near Torchwood and she was hoping they could pick up some energy so they wouldn't have to stop at the garage on the way home. She was quite downcast when I explained that a Volvo's engines don't work on the same principle as the TARDIS.

But my Volvo's bigger on the inside...

And it travels through time. Forwards.

Does it have a cloister bell, though?

Only when I forget to do up my seatbelt.

let's do it then....

Did you watch it in the old days? Even the ones with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy?

• Did you think it was a bit crap? (be honest)

I vaguely remember Jon Pertwee (Bessie!), but was a huge Tom Baker fan, I so wanted him to be my Dad I felt betrayed at the regeneration, but carried on watching until the end, although I was a bit hit and miss during the McCoy era (but I met DH in '87 so I'd starting having a social life on Saturday evenings by then) Mc Coy wasn't crap exactly, just very badly budgeted and made imo

• Did people who watched Doctor Who at your school have the piss taken out of them? Was it seen as a bit sad and geeky? I was playing D&D from the age of 11. I was sad and geeky

• If so, what has changed? Why is it OK to be one of 10 million people who now watch it, when it wasn't OK to be part of the 6 million who were still watching at the end of the 80s when it was axed?

agree with however it was that said SciFi and fantasy has a better press now and is more common on Tv than in the 80's (thank god)

• Is the new emphasis on "relationship/character" drama important to you, or do you like an old-fashioned monster episode as much as the next person?

Bit of both - like to have sympathetic characters, but not at the expense of plot and story (monsters good!)

• Are you less likely to watch an episode set on an alien planet and/or in the far future? Do you think the series is right to spend two-thirds of its time on Earth and variants thereof, given that the TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space?

So long as the story is good, I'm OK with whereever it's set. I'd rather they used the budget they have to make good monsters and believable SFX, even if it means they are more earthbound. There's no point spending on exotic locations if financial constraints means other aspects look pants.

• Would it be a turn-off for you to watch a Planet Zog episode in which the blue-skinned Zurgs battle the green-skinned Thaargs for control of an alien device? Or is this just a myth?

No, so long as the above criteria is met (actually it sounds pretty good )

Tiger dd1 is 7, and I certainly wouldn't hvae let her watch it at 4. But with dd2 I was quite happy to let her watch the last 2 episodes,and she is still 3.5. Because they're v different - dd1 scares easily, dd2 is a lot cockier.

sallyforth - "Green! Purple!" Yes, I think that was what I was subliminally thinking of when I wrote that...

Message withdrawn

agree with serenity about the monsters/ sfx very much

mind you even with a budget you can go wrong; I have read how technically brilliant that bug on Donna's back is, but it still looked like a cracker toy to me

but honestly, I think the writing is going to do it - Blink had no monsters, the Library just had some clever lighting, fgs, and they were some of the best episodes for me.

Blink did have monsters! Very scary ones according to DS1, and infact the only one that freaked me out when we saw it at the Earls Court Exhibition (it was watching me!)

oh, yes, serenity, but they didn't have funny voices, or do walking and have guns

dd1 actually took herself off to bed in the middle of that one

Ok, because it's you I'll ignore the claws and fangs and that creepy gliding thing they do when you're not looking.............

I love Blink - proper knicker wetting Doctor Who that one. It reminded me of The Tom Baker one (that I can't remember the name of) that gave me nightmares for years - it had standing stones that glowed and either sucked you up or turned you into another one or something, Anyway, the point is that even now I get very, very nervous if I have to stand near them (and I don't like touching them) I love the idea that there will be another generation of DCs emotionally and irrationally scarred by Doctor Who

Blink was the scariest Dr Who episode I've seen for a looooooong time

Loved it

see further down teh thread serenity

I DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING

it is just like me to have forgotten that the friggin monsters moved

I think the problem with the bug on Donna's back was quite simple: it wasn't attached properly. You could see there was no weight going through its legs. Imagine it gripping on properly with its little claws, rather than just hanging there, attached at the waist, like a few kilos of chitin-enhanced back pack.

Watched Planet of the Ood again last night. Very happy, but I thought there was a bit where the Doctor and Donna were talking about the Medusa Cascade, and I couldn't find it?

I want to live in the Medusa Cascade

I just love the sound of it

Medusa Cascade

Om

Mrs Cappucino
No 7 Medusa Cascade Avenue
Horsehead Nebula
Gallifrey
TA4 D1S

oh yes that sounds lovely

I'm quite liking the idea of little suburban plaque on the side of the door saying 'Medusa Cascade'

I went there when I was a kid - 90 years old...
It's not so good now though. Awful queues for the rides.

• Did you watch it in the old days? Even the ones with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy?

I watched it from Patrick Troughton days - I think even saw Willaim Harnell but I can't conscioulsy remember him. I watched it regualry up until Peter Davidson, think I saw a few Colin Baker episodes, but given that I graduated in 1984, I had probably develop a life by then

• Did you think it was a bit crap? (be honest)

No - I loved it - love all sci-fi. When I was wee I used to watch it from behind the sofa (or a bookcase cupboard door ) In fact, even when I wasn't so wee, I would still get scared (got teased a lot in the TV room of my redicence at Uni )

• Did people who watched Doctor Who at your school have the piss taken out of them? Was it seen as a bit sad and geeky?

Nobody ever commented - it was just part of the "normal" TV watching culture.

• If so, what has changed? Why is it OK to be one of 10 million people who now watch it, when it wasn't OK to be part of the 6 million who were still watching at the end of the 80s when it was axed?

Wasn't watching it by the end of the 80s. Having said that, the new series is very well targetted with something to interest 8all* the family.

• Is the new emphasis on "relationship/character" drama important to you, or do you like an old-fashioned monster episode as much as the next person?

I like the character stuff - and seeing the character development. But I do also like the monster episodes. Don't see the two as incompatible.

• Are you less likely to watch an episode set on an alien planet and/or in the far future? Do you think the series is right to spend two-thirds of its time on Earth and variants thereof, given that the TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space?

I've been complaining to dh that too much is spent on Earth/new Earth/Earth satellites/space stations/earth colony, ie human being orietnted. Even if they had some planets inhabited by human looking humanoids (a la Star Trek), that would make a nice change. I would like to see a few more genuine "off-world" episodes. Don't mind the few "time" travel ones - given that the TARDIS does travel in both time and space.

• Would it be a turn-off for you to watch a Planet Zog episode in which the blue-skinned Zurgs battle the green-skinned Thaargs for control of an alien device? Or is this just a myth?

See above. I think there should be more genuine "alien" episodes - it would make it more interesting. Liked the Ood becasue of that - but even they were part of a story line that involved humans.

Serenity:
You'll be wanting The Stones of Blood, you will.

Don't have nightmares now!

Bugger. Shall I click or not? That one and (I think!) the Talons of Wu someone (horrid little chinese puppet man chasing them up a lighthouse?) were scary, but if I look now and they're pants, will I be destroying an important aspect of my childhood?!

Oh what the hell....I'm going in