Doctor Who

[tattuchu]

Amazon is letting me watch all the episodes for free, so I finally took the plunge. Watched the complete first season of the revamped show as well as half the second season. So far I'm liking it despite the low budget and cheesy special effects Christopher Eccleston did a decent job as the first Doctor but I definitely like David Tennent better. He's much more animated, has much more personality.
Speaking of personality, U.S. shows seem to lack any characters with real personality. The trend has been more and more for understated performances to the point where actors hardly act at all. They're there but they hardly do anything. The first episode of Doctor Who with the living mannequins? The mannequins are much like American actors: no emotion, no anything- they move occasionally but that's about all, and they're plastic and phony. The thing I like about Doctor Who is that the shows are populated with actors who act like real people with real emotions. I love Rose, her mum, her dad, and her shitty boyfriend.
Funny thing about Rose. She's sorta funny looking. At first I wondered why they didn't get a better looking girl. But then the more I thought about it the more I liked her. And I liked her precisely because she wasn't perfect, precisely because she didn't have a bland Hollywood Barbie face and figure. She looks like a real person, and that makes her all the more attractive.
I like this show because it's got a good sense of humor and great dialogue. Also because of the distinctly British characters and settings. But I have a few questions:
1) How does the Doctor always himself in the thick of trouble wherever/whenever he goes?
2) What are his abilities? Because he doesn't seem to have any.
3) How did he live to be 800 years old when he has no special abilities? No special abilities, that is, except a knack for being easily captured and incapacitated?
4) Does he always rely on dumb to in order to prevail?
5) Why is every kerfuffle a kerfuffle of Earth-shattering proportions?
6) Do his companions always do precisely the opposite of what he asks them to do?
7) When the Doctor confronts the enemy at the end of each episode, why do they always do absolutely nothing? They've spent the entire episode demonstrating how utterly deadly they are but then they just stand there inexplicably motionless, allowing the Doctor to berate them until he finally thinks of a solution. A solution they, again, do nothing to stop.
8) If the Doctor is a Time Lord and can travel through time wherever/whenever he likes, then why doesn't he just go back a little bit and correct any mistakes he's made, save the lives that were lost in any particular adventure?
9) At the end of every episode, after the Doctor has saved the day, why do the injured (people who have lost their faces to a television harpy for instance) always magically transform back to normal?
10) Am I over-thinking things?

[SteveB]

Doctor Who?

Never heard of it.

[Jason]

8) Because it would create a paradox in which he goes back in time to fix a mistake he's made but then didn't go back to fix it because he already went back and fixed it. Or something.

[Clinton Huxley]

Answer to 1-10: because its a kids tv show.

[tattuchu]

Answer to 1-10: because its a kids tv show.

Is it? I didn't realize that. I thought it was more of an all-ages show. It could never be a kid's show in the U.S., by the way. The Puritans here wouldn't stand for some of the content. I mean there are occasionally some serious themes, sexual innuendo, bawdy humor, interracial relationships (with kissing!), same-sex kissing (egads!), and there's actually people dying. Granted, many victims miraculously return to normal when the Doctor inevitably saves the day, but still people actually die. Kid's shows here need to be watered down to homeopathic strength in order to avoid stimulating children's fragile minds in any way. I mean, how could they possible survive having to think or consider anything? They couldn't, of course. Far too traumatic.

Anyhow, I forgot to mention the thing I like best about the show: there's real emotion here amidst the cheesy special effects and corny scripts*. When in an early episode Rose's mum begs her not to leave again with the Doctor, I cried. When Rose goes back and tries to save her dad, I cried again even more. I find myself being moved by quite a number of the episodes. For a silly kid's show, if that's what it is, it does on occasion have some real emotional depth.

*Actually, the scripts seem to be getting smarter as they go along. I'm also enjoying seeing some familiar faces like Simon Pegg and Moaning Myrtle. And a whole episode featuring ELO!

[Bella Fortuna]

David Tennant is gorgeous, therefore your arguments are invalid.

[tattuchu]

4) Does he always rely on dumb luck to in order to prevail?

correction

[Clinton Huxley]

Usually the plot goes - grandiose opening, whimsical interlude, threatening shenanigans, capture, imminent doom, remember to wave sonic screwdriver while bibbling something sciency, win.

[tattuchu]

Usually the plot goes - grandiose opening, whimsical interlude, threatening shenanigans, capture, imminent doom, remember to wave sonic screwdriver while bibbling something sciency, win.

Sounds about right. Is there ever an episode where there's no danger, no threat? Surely they might enjoy a nice holiday once in a while?

I'm nearly through the second season now, by the way. I think I'm going to have to skip ahead briefly. I want to see the Neil Gaiman episode and I don't think I'll be able to wait.

[PsychoSerenity]

Usually the plot goes - grandiose opening, whimsical interlude, threatening shenanigans, capture, imminent doom, remember to wave sonic screwdriver while bibbling something sciency, win.

Sounds about right. Is there ever an episode where there's no danger, no threat? Surely they might enjoy a nice holiday once in a while?

I'm nearly through the second season now, by the way. I think I'm going to have to skip ahead briefly. I want to see the Neil Gaiman episode and I don't think I'll be able to wait.

Oh no, you must definitely wait. You don't want spoilers in a show about time travel!

Also many of the better episodes do rely on parts of the earlier plot.

And I think they do go on nice holidays occasionally, - they sometimes mention going other places in passing, - but it would make a boring episode. Also, wherever the Doctor goes, he's more likely than most to dig up something of interest because of his massive brain and dangerous sense of adventure. But I think usually, he uses the TARDIS to find specific points that are particularly important with regards to the time-line of the universe, though he might not know why until he gets there and finds out.

[Clinton Huxley]

The key thing is that all of the most intelligent and dangerous species of the universes really want to destroy Cardiff.

[tattuchu]

Oh no, you must definitely wait. You don't want spoilers in a show about time travel!

Also many of the better episodes do rely on parts of the earlier plot.

And I think they do go on nice holidays occasionally, - they sometimes mention going other places in passing, - but it would make a boring episode. Also, wherever the Doctor goes, he's more likely than most to dig up something of interest because of his massive brain and dangerous sense of adventure. But I think usually, he uses the TARDIS to find specific points that are particularly important with regards to the time-line of the universe, though he might not know why until he gets there and finds out.[/quote]

I think the Doctor finds trouble wherever he goes because he's a magnet for it. He goes in search of trouble but it's his very presence which creates the trouble, so it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The key thing is that all of the most intelligent and dangerous species of the universes really want to destroy Cardiff.

Can you blame them?

Seriously, though, why is it always Cardiff

[tattuchu]

Oh and what's the deal with Torchwood? It's a defense system using culled alien technology, I take it. But isn't there a seperate television series with that name? Is it a spin-off series or is it unrelated?

[PsychoSerenity]

Yeah there was a spin-off, but I never watched so don't know if it's any good or if it's even much connected in after the initial set-up.

[Clinton Huxley]

I know, why destroy Cardiff, when you can destroy Edinburgh? (Hi, Ronmcd)