Sixie v DWM
Boz_Lowdownl
Posts: 3,232 Forum Member
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Colin Baker has been getting a bit uppity because DWM have dared to publish fan polls in the latest DWM. He is particularly annoyed that they did so in an issue in which he is quoted as saying he dislikes / detests such polls:
www.colinbaker.com
My view is that DW polls are almost as old as the programme itself and people like to see if others share or disagree with their opinions on the show. If they didn't these forums wouldn't exist! I want to know what is the least favourite story, just as I want to know what is the favourite. Apparently CB hasn't spoken much to DWM in the last few years just because ONE of his stories came bottom of the poll they conducted in 2009.
I've always liked CB, but in this instance I think he comes across as a complete arse who wants to ban something just because he hasn't done very well in it himself.
www.colinbaker.com
My view is that DW polls are almost as old as the programme itself and people like to see if others share or disagree with their opinions on the show. If they didn't these forums wouldn't exist! I want to know what is the least favourite story, just as I want to know what is the favourite. Apparently CB hasn't spoken much to DWM in the last few years just because ONE of his stories came bottom of the poll they conducted in 2009.
I've always liked CB, but in this instance I think he comes across as a complete arse who wants to ban something just because he hasn't done very well in it himself.
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Comments
That URL isn't to Colin's website BTW!
Yeah, I didn't realise that was why he'd featured so sparsely over the last few years, and I can see that he doesn't like ranking of stories or doctors, but he must surely be aware that it's a huge part of any fandom and DW fans being the organised lot they are, they like to see things put in order and sorted and so on.
It must be slightly provocative that his one big interview in recent times features in the same issue as the yearly poll, but I can't think it was done on purpose!
Love a good poll myself. Quite a different kettle of fish to a forum. For instance it often seems that the polls for the episode threads in these forums do not reflect the comments. I'm not sure what that means? Perhaps it is human nature that if you don't like something you are more inclined to write about your dissatisfaction, whereas if you do you're more likely to tick a box and then not feel the need to comment?
I can see why CB wouldn't be a fan of them of though as I dare say his episodes don't usually rate too highly in them, but well them's the breaks unfortunately...
BTW When I clicked on the link above it took me to a domain for sale page.
www.colinbakeronline.com
(then scroll down a little bit for his statement)
Also think the 2014 Season Survey was always going to be in this issue. I mean, the next issue is the build up to the 2015 series, so it's about time, really! Sure the fact that the Survey was in the same issue as Colin's interview was not a dig at him. And I assume the writer of 'In the Forest of the Night' will get over his position in the Series 8 poll. Someone's got to be least favourite...
Also people in the creative industry need to have thick skins, to be able to deal with rejected auditions, failed TV series, movies that flop etc and to take on board feedback in a positive way so that hopefully it will lead to a better outcome in future.
(BTW which episode did come bottom? I assume either the one with the moon egg, or the kids running around in the forest?)
Think my post gave that away! ;-)
In fairness to DWM, they always indicate that all stories have their supporters and tend not to quote negative readers comments when they publish the 'Favourite Story' series polls. And I think it's a fair while since they've done the 'Favourite Doctor' question in such polls. (Not sure about that, actually; they might've done such a poll for the 50th? But it's by no means a regular or annual thing these days.)
I think they're both good people, but am with Tom on this 'Polls' issue, as I indicated above. The whole thing does seem to have started with 'The Mighty 200' DWM poll in 2009 where 'Caves...' was voted favourite and 'Twin...' least favourite story. It was a good read. Sorry, Colin.
The problem with the DWM 'season poll' is that, if memory serves, it has been in place since Doctor Who Magazine was Doctor Who Weekly, back in 1979/1980. It did become part of Doctor Who tradition and so I'm not surprised it was re-instated when the show returned in 2005.
I do agree entirely with what Colin is saying about the impact the annual poll has on the current team. I'm just not sure there is an easy answer to it though.
He's complaining about polls about but seemed fine when voted best doctor in the audio poll a few years back.
love Colin and his doctor bit here seems abit of an arse.
But it isn't "repeating them over and over again", the ones in the latest DWM are about Series 8 and merchandise released in the past year. It is free market research. It allows producers of content to see what is popular and what isn't. It also gives consumers information on what is popular when deciding to make a purchase of, for example, a book or audio.
The polls covering all of Doctor Who history are pretty rare in DWM, there was one in 2009 and they obviously wanted to do one as part of their 50th celebrations. Its hardly overkill. In those four years, fans have drifted away from DWM and new fans have started to have an interest in Doctor Who and they will have different views and opinions. This is reflected in the change of rankings for some episodes in the results from the polls.
The yearly polls focus on current series and other current stuff so there is little of the 'My Doctors bigger than your Doctor' stuff anyway, that normally happens in the RT polls, seemingly every other week! Is a poll in a magazine any more useless than the drivel that is posted in Doctor Who Internet Forums? And yet, here we all are...
I'd go along with this drivel. ;-)
And as Spilsbury pointed out, they did a great special looking at good moments from every single Who story. They are v positive generally, and I've read fans who don't like C21 Who referring to DWM as a 'Pravda' type publication! I rate the bloke who does the reviews too. Just his opinion, but he's not afraid to be critical. Don't always agree, but it's not all gushing stuff, thankfully.
He doesn't seem to understand that one enigmatic Curator is infinitely more dignified than the sight of aged actors pretending time hasn't moved on.
I'm starting to wonder whether Colin was Dalekbuster523?:o
Yes, yet when it comes to polls he is vocal in trying to deny what many fans want.
I thought DWM's "Pravda" nickname went back to the 1980s, when it took a rather
rosy view of the JNT period, annoying fans who weren't enamoured of his
reign.
So we had publications like DWB, which went to the opposite extreme and gave
JNT the sort of media coverage normally reseverved for convicted serial killers....
Yes, people don't like the story. They don't necessarily dislike the people in the
story. Hollywood is full of actors like Halle Berry, Michael Caine and Tim Roth who
admit they've been in terrible movies without hurting their careers- Colin should do
the same and accept just because people strongly dislike "The Twin Dilemma", it doesn't mean they dislike Colin as an actor or a person.
The writer said something like "not only did it turn out to be the best Doctor Who story Peter Davison ever appeared in, it was also the best Colin Baker appeared in". I think its that sort of commentary that's seems a bit mean spirited.
And I'm still a little bemused why The Caves of Androzani is such a fan favourite.
Well, for me at least, and in no particular order...
Robert Holmes,
Graeme Harper,
Peter Davison gives his best ever performance as the Doctor,
Nicola Bryant gives possibly her best ever performance too,
Morgus and his asides to camera,
Stotz, Krelper and the other gun runners are some of the grittiest characters ever in Who,
the cliffhanger to Episode Three - one of the best directed and acted sequences in all Who,
the location filming,
Sharaz Jek,
cool androids,
the fact that, for once, the whole of the universe was not in danger and the Doctor had simply got caught up in a grubby turf war for control of a drug supply,
the regeneration (with particular reference to the essential part that Nicola's impressive cleavage played - come on, this sort of stuff makes an impression on a teenage boy...)
The whole story has an urgency and sense of events sliding horribly out of control and there's a tension and realism that very few 1980s Doctor Whos even vaguely had.
I love it.
There's nothing wrong with publishing the full poll list from top to bottom.
If you're constantly at the bottom, over a long period, it says something more credible than the odd pole about his Doctor.
I think he's a good actor. I think he was badly written for, poorly dressed and let down by appalling production in the TV series, and that wasn't his fault but the facts speak for