Dr. Who Returns to SciFi March 17th at 9PM!

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The new season of Doctor Who premiered on the SciFi channel on March 17th at 9:00 PM, generating discussions among fans about its quality and connection to the classic series. Many viewers expressed nostalgia for earlier Doctors, particularly Tom Baker, while acknowledging the charm and silliness of the new episodes. The series received positive reviews, with some praising the emotional depth of the new Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, and the originality of plot elements like sentient plastic. The female lead, Billie Piper, was noted for breaking typical casting molds in sci-fi. Viewers appreciated the return of classic elements such as the sonic screwdriver and the TARDIS sound effects. The show has potential for character development and plot expansion, with some fans expressing excitement about future episodes and spin-offs like Torchwood and the Sarah Jane Adventures. Overall, the new Doctor Who series appears to be well-received, with a mix of nostalgia and fresh storytelling appealing to both old and new fans.
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Coming to the SciFi channel March 17th, at 9:00 PM.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/scifi.shtml

One of my college physics professors got me hooked on Who. We even named a dog after the good doctor; Who that is. :biggrin:
 
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Far out! :cool: :biggrin:

I watched it with my father, starting in the 60's. Tom Baker is my favorite Dr. (the 4th). And I was very impressed with Romana (Mary Tamm)!
 
Series one of the new Dr. Who got some very good reviews on the BBC.
I watched a couple of episodes because some of it was filmed in my http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/doctorwholoc_s1e3/pages/swansea.shtml
 
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Who watched?

It scared me a few times - when they started with the aliens, I was afraid we were in for a Star Wars bar scene - but all in all I thought it was pretty good. And I really liked the last human. :biggrin:
 
I watched the premiere this past friday, and to tell you the truth, the show was a bit silly for my taste.
 
You guys are behind, these 13 episodes were on CBC in Canada last year, I think at roughly the same as the BBC premiere (iirc) :-p.

Hard to top the old Baker and Davison incarnations in my opinion, but Eccleston did a good job. I miss the old days when the bad guys ray guns involved the screen flashing, then the victim would be shown as a negative exposure as they keeled over and died. The old cheapo special effects were more charming than run of the new run of the mill computer effects, but I guess they had to change with the times. I did enjoy the new season though.
 
dduardo said:
I watched the premiere this past friday, and to tell you the truth, the show was a bit silly for my taste.

Did you ever watch the old series?
 
Ivan, no I haven't
 
It wasn't bad. Worthy of its traditition.
I did get a bit of chuckle from the scene with the giant fans, though. It reminded me of the "chompers" scene from Galaxy Quest. ( I mean, they couldn't have put the walkway so that it passed under the fan blades?)
 
  • #10
I used to love Dr Who as a child, although it scared me stupid :)
 
  • #11
dduardo said:
Ivan, no I haven't

Part of the charm of Dr Who has always been that it's soooooo bad. :biggrin: As Janus pointed out, this was worthy of the tradition.
 
  • #12
Janus said:
It wasn't bad. Worthy of its traditition.
I did get a bit of chuckle from the scene with the giant fans, though. It reminded me of the "chompers" scene from Galaxy Quest. ( I mean, they couldn't have put the walkway so that it passed under the fan blades?)

I thought exactly the same thing!

All in all I was really happy with the effort. In fact... I watched it again tonight. :redface: This seems to have real potential given time for plot and character development. As a first pass...pretty good; it could end up as the best Who series ever.

I would love to write a Dr Who plot. Wouldn't that be fun!
 
  • #13
I think I might have watched some of it tonight. There was a very cute blonde girl being chased by manekins. This guy who saved her explained they were some sort of sentient plastic from another planet. I thought "Sentient Plastic? That's pretty original. Very cute girl? That's worth watching."
 
  • #14
Is that Billie Piper? Failed pop star. lol. I always wanted to watch the new Dr. Who cos I remember hiding behind my sofa while dad watched the older version. I could only stand the cybermen and the daleks. In fact the music scared me the most.

I don't think I watched a single episode of the new version :(
 
  • #15
zoobyshoe said:
I think I might have watched some of it tonight. There was a very cute blonde girl being chased by manekins. This guy who saved her explained they were some sort of sentient plastic from another planet. I thought "Sentient Plastic? That's pretty original. Very cute girl? That's worth watching."

Cute girls are a Who standard. And, actually, I think all plastic was made sentient by the signal transmitted by the ferris wheel.

Luckily the Dr had his anti-plastic. :smile:
 
  • #17
I used to watch the old series whenever I could find it and I enjoyed it a lot. I also watched the SciFi premiere and I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed at first. It did finally take off and the second episode with the end of the Earth was good. I'm glad they kept to the original with his sonic screwdriver and using the same soundeffect for the Tardis (I loved that part). I'm hoping to see K-9 re-appear, but perhaps that wishing for too much.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the female lead. The thing that struck me most was that if this show had been made in the US, she would most likely not have been cast as the female lead. Nothing against her and I'm not saying this is right, but she didn't fit the typical type-cast sci-fi female that has an athletic build and maybe it's just me but she wasn't as attractive I would have expected. Now the Doctor wasn't a rugged guy either, but he never was in the previous shows so I wasn't expecting that. I'm not trying to be shallow here, just giving my perspective from having watched sci-fi for many years. Overall, I liked it and I think I'll watch it again. Hopefully it will live up to the classic.
 
  • #18
Dr Who?

I've only seen one episode of the new Doctor Who, but it was pretty good anyone else watch it?
 
  • #20
Okay, the episode with the nano-genes was good. :smile:

I really like the tone they are setting. It still feels like the doctor, but he is quite a bit more interesting than most; maybe even better than Baker...? Dare I even suggest such a thing? :biggrin:

They seem to be playing up the emotional side of being the sole survivor of a time war, to which I'm sure we can all relate, but the drama scares me a little. I fear Captain Kirk may appear at any moment. :rolleyes:
 
  • #21
I managed to watch the entire epsiode last night. Good show.
 
  • #22
Did the cybermen episode finish, or will it continue next week - I missed the last 15 minutes or so. Didn't look like it was reaching a conclusion tho'...
 
  • #23
Yeah to be continued... it finished with the Dr and co being surrounded by cybermen, they had surrendered but had been deemed unsuitable for upgrade and were about to be killed.

I don't know though, I kind of miss the camp voices of the classic cybermen. I wonder if they're still allergic to gold? I somehow doubt it. :smile:
 
  • #24
Cheers :cool:

I had a feeling it was to be continued, but the old teletext was showing Thursday so I couldn't check :biggrin:

And Trigger as Lumic :cool:
 
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  • #25
I missed part of the show, but I loved the "angels" that have evolved such that they only exist when not observed! :smile:
 
  • #26
Ivan Seeking said:
I missed part of the show, but I loved the "angels" that have evolved such that they only exist when not observed! :smile:

I believe the term was "quantum locked.":smile:
 
  • #27
The face of Bo is... :smile::smile::smile::smile:

One reason that I love Who is that they often surprise me. The obvious clue was there but I never saw it coming!
 
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  • #28
Little Sarah Jane is all grown up and staring in her own show.
http://www.scifi.com/sarahjaneadventures/

The doctor would be so proud! :cry:

Hey, she has K9...
 
  • #29
Did you not see the episode when the doctor and Sarah Jane were reunited?? K9 was fixed by the doctor and left to her as a present...
 
  • #30
Ivan Seeking said:
Little Sarah Jane is all grown up and staring in her own show.
http://www.scifi.com/sarahjaneadventures/

The doctor would be so proud! :cry:

Hey, she has K9...

And season 4 of Dr. Who starts on the same night (for those of us in the US who get it on the Sci-Fi network.)
 
  • #31
Mike Cookson said:
Did you not see the episode when the doctor and Sarah Jane were reunited?? K9 was fixed by the doctor and left to her as a present...

That was my thought: I wonder if they intend to use K9...? I suppose that's why the doctor was so kind as to rebuild him; esp seeing as how that episode was a pilot. :-p:biggrin:
 
  • #32
Which episode was a pilot? That episode of Doctor Who? It wasn't a pilot in the UK it was well into the second or third new series.
 
  • #33
Anybody watch Torchwood (an anagram of Doctor Who) another spin off with Captain Jack?
 
  • #34
Mike Cookson said:
Which episode was a pilot? That episode of Doctor Who? It wasn't a pilot in the UK it was well into the second or third new series.

TV producers often create "pilots" for new shows as episodes of existing shows. It is a way to test the concept on the cheap. If you shoot a regular pilot and the show doesn't sell, you are out the cost of production. Shot as an episode of an existing show, even if it doesn't sell you have an episode to air that you would have had to shoot anyway.

For instance, the Andy Griffith Show pilot was shown as an episode of the Danny Thomas Show, and the Star Trek episode "Assignment Earth" was meant to be a pilot for a new episode (It didn't sell).
 
  • #35
I know what a pilot is, I'm just confused as to what was shown as the pilot. I'm assuming this is in the states. Pilots rarely occur in the UK.
 
  • #36
Mike Cookson said:
I know what a pilot is, I'm just confused as to what was shown as the pilot. I'm assuming this is in the states. Pilots rarely occur in the UK.

They are talking about the episode of Dr. Who with Sarah Jane. We here in the US saw it just as you did, as a regular episode of Dr. Who during the second or third series. But that does not mean it couldn't have also been a pilot for the new show with Sarah Jane. (as I mentioned above, this is a common practice.)

I guess the real question is, was it shot as a pilot, or did the idea for the spin-off occur afterward? (Again, a common occurrence, Both "Laverne and Shirley" and "Mork and Mindy" were based on characters introduced in "Happy Days" episodes, but those episodes were not originally meant as vehicles to launch the new series.)

We don't always see the pilot episodes of series in the US either. Sometimes the show changes significantly between the shooting of the pilot and airing, and thus airing the pilot as the first episode would be awkward.
 
  • #37
Ah right, I understand. I don't think I have actually seen an aired pilot for a UK program. I have seen some claimed to be pilots after the date but I never heard of one being aired, at the time so to speak. Most 'pilots' for UK TV are fairly old now too, as if they don't bother any more.
 
  • #38
Janus said:
(Again, a common occurrence, Both "Laverne and Shirley" and "Mork and Mindy" were based on characters introduced in "Happy Days" episodes, but those episodes were not originally meant as vehicles to launch the new series.)

And Happy Days first piloted as an episode on Love American Style.
 
  • #39
Art said:
Anybody watch Torchwood (an anagram of Doctor Who) another spin off with Captain Jack?

It is a pretty good show but it gets too torchy at times! :biggrin:
 
  • #40
Is it just me or does Sarah Jane really suck? :biggrin:

Obviously this show was intended for kids.

Regarding pilot episodes: Turns out that Love American Style was known as the graveyard for failed pilots. The Happy Days pilot had been rejected but was picked up after it ran as an episode on LAS.
 
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