Chew

Per Groucho's suggestion, I'm starting a general season 2 discussion thread.


Episode 1, April 15 "New Earth"



Weekly one minute mini-episodes can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/tardisodes/index.shtml

Chew

Has anyone seen the first episode of Totally Doctor Who? Just how "kiddie" is it?

The Valeyard

I've heard it's VERY kiddie. I'm gonna "search" the episode out over the weekend and see for myself tho.

Joe Molotov

I wonder if Season 2 of Doctor Who will immediately follow Season 1 on the Sci-Fi Channel.

riley_dude

That would be nice but if I were them I would announce soon because people getting it by other means takes a sizable audience away from viewing the episodes.
I wonder what kind of ratings they are looking for to keep showing it.

bub2000

Any word on when CBC will show this? They were pretty good in season 1, they were only about a week or so behind.

turborobb

Totally Doctor Who was great fun, it's aimed at the 8-14 crowd, but I enjoyed it for what it was, good interviews and behind the scenes stuff and the host was easy on the eyes.

riley_dude

Just found this link for the new season preview:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2iIyjQGHHDY

Chew

If anybody has a way to get ahold of that fan film series they were talking about, a link would be appreciated.

Detective Thorn

There is a commentary for the episode available on the official site in mp3 format. The file is about 20 MB.

Now I just have to find the episode itself.

wmansir

Saw the first episode. I won't spoil anything.

It was good, but a little uneven. Much like how I felt about the series 1 premeire it seemed to switch between serious and silly a little too easily. It was a bit jarring at times. The effects were the same way, with the CGI being noticably sub-par, but costumes, sets and model work looking very good. Tennant and Piper were great. Unlike Eccleston, I'm having no problems transitioning to the new Doctor. The plot allowed them to streach a bit as actors, with entertaining results. The way the episode played out I'm not sure what is up with their relationship. Personally I find it uncomfortable at times and a bit creepy.

Panda Phil

Technically it was very good, and Tennant is shaping up rather well, but it suffered from a bad case of havign too much story squeezed into too short a timeslot. There just wasn't enoughtime to take everything in. The Doctors resolution also seemed just a wee bit too easy.

But hey, Season 1 started out kinda weak too, but got better, so I'm still feeling positive. Next weeks Werewolf episode looks very promising though.

Love the new ending theme music, but dear lord I want to smack that perky 'coming up next' announcer!

Groucho

Question about "New Earth":

wmansir

The Valeyard

Just finished watching the episode. Not bad at all. I wasn't too sure about Tennant as the Doctor after watching the X-Mas Invasion but he's won me over now. Very charming.

Achtung

"Chav" and "cockney" are basically used to describe sort of working-class, poorly-educated Londoners, speaking in the style of Jamie Oliver, or, oddly enough, that gecko in the Geico commercials. Someone from high society like Cassandra would probably have looked down on folks like Rose.

There was a line where after Cassandra had taken over Rose, she tried to talk like a cockney and used terms like "guv'nor" and said something like "I can't Adam and Eve it", stereotypical cockney rhyming slang for "I can't believe it". You'll recognize that type of talk from Guy Ritchie movies.

I don't know if we really have an equivalent term in America, since most negative terms here relate to ethnicity and not economic class.


I'm warming to the new Doctor, although he doesn't instantly grab me like Eccleston did. Thought that if anything they tried to go too much with the comic route on this one, and the ending seemed to be a litle too serious for that. Dunno, so many familiar characters made it feel a little recycled though. Doesn't look like that'll be a problem next week with the

Chew

Let's not have this be a thread filled with black boxes. It's a thread to discuss season 2. Those of us watching should know well enough to stay out of the thread until they've seen the current episode.

The S2 premiere felt like the second episode of first season in a lot of ways. I am glad the show is creating it's own continuity though and it set up a future story right away.

Groucho

I got all the cockney stuff, it was just that one word that was throwing me off.

Achtung

Fair enough. If a Moderator wants to change it back, they can do so.

riley_dude

I wont be able to see the episode until tonight but here is a poll taken of viewers on Outpost Gallifrey:


Fantastic! Best of the best (excellent/5) 249 8.71%
An all around enjoyable tale, well done (good/4) 1364 47.73%
An average Doctor Who romp (average/3) 932 32.61%
Just not my cup of tea (fair/2) 217 7. 59%
Ewww! It's awful! (poor/1) 96 3.36%
2858 Total Voters

riley_dude

I agree. A bit rushed but some interesting stuff along the way. So the Big Head guy said he will be back. Anyone think he will be the Bad Wolf of the season?

Chew

The second "Tardisode" is now available. First post in the thread has been updated with the link.

davidoflondon

I watched New Earth on Saturday, then watched it again Sunday with the RTD and DT commentary.

Personally I think RTD has done a fantastic (sic) job creating the series but his episodic writing farts (sic). I think most of the weaker episodes from Season 1 were those he wrote and wasn't desperately impressed with the season opener for season 2. To my mind he's way to fond of trying to be very "clever" with the script. Such as the sequence where Cassandra is critiscising Rose and says she's a ...

At which point the scene cuts to the Doctor and Rose entering the hospital and as we cut-in Rose is in mid-sentence and says

"bit rich ..."

Amazing, we get the hysterically funny juxtaposition so Cassandara never actually says the word. The same gag is used later to avoid the word "ass".

To my mind "clever" scripts are those with good ideas, solid characters, and solid drama. For me the high points of Season 1 were Unquiet Dead, Dalek, Long Game, Father's Day and The Empty Child (personally and unfortunately I think Empty Child is somewhat let down by Doctor Dances as I don't think the story justifies a full two-parter, so a lot of Doctor Dances is filler with chase sequences until we can get close enough to the 45 min mark and start wrapping the plot up).

Slumbering Fist

I thought it was okay. The story was decent. I thought the wittier moments worked much better than the action or suspense. I thought Piper was very good and I’m not a big fan, but she had some shining moments.

I think they really need to move away from CGI as anything other than a backdrop. Anytime they use it in close up detail or really interactive with actors, it looks terrible. There are many times when old school techniques would work just as good, and cheaper, no doubt. But, of course, I say that and next week they have a totally CGI creature episode. *shrugs*

I’m not sold on Tennet’s version of the Doctor. I think the eccentric, serious to happy-go-lucky Doc has already been done to death, from Troughton, to Baker, to McCoy. Do we really need another? I guess what I enjoy about they switch to a new Doc is the chance to see the Doctor change, his alieness and drive is the same, but the personality sees a shift.

Making yet another goofy but heroic Doc seems like the easy and most obvious path to take and therefore its boring. Its about time they showed a Doc who was... maybe a bit lazy, sarcastic, and bored yet comes through when he’s needed, or how about one that was reluctant, not cowardly, but in spite of his innate drive to help, actually a tad fearful and nervous. There are so many ways they could tweek the character and have some fun, still make the Doc have the nature of an explorer and rise to the occasion when needed, but totally avoid the character paths they’ve already used quite a bit.

riley_dude

With 10 actors that have played him he is known to be Happy go Lucky. I think Eccelston was the first "Intense" Doctor.