Hey!
After seeing that the other thread (the 'I miss RTD' thread)was shut down for its lack of constructive criticism (and too much of an emphasis on criticising each other) I thought I would set up another thread because i think there is a point to some of the new 'Who' critics. Now before I go on any further I just want to tell you all that i absolutely LOVE Doctor Who.
I'm a new 'Who' girl who has been with the show since Eccleston and Tennant and although I can't pretend to be as nearly dedicated to the older incarnations as many of the other posters, I doubt you'll find my Doctor Who fan status lacking. I have a Tenth Doctor cardbord cutout and Dalek balloons for my 21st birthday to show just a little of how much of an obsessed fan i am! :P
That aside, when i heard about DT leaving I was devestated and yet at the same time i was really excited because i LOVED Matt Smith in the Sally Lochart mysteries and in the first episode he was absolutely brilliant as the Eleventh doctor. He has a lot of DT's mannerisms, which i suppose is only right seeing as the inner person of the doctor hasn't actually changed and so it seems quite natural that there is a similarity. But better than that, in the first episode he carried off the new persona amazingly (and the bowtie as well!!
) However, I don't know whether it's because of the way the eps are filmed, ie out of sequence, or whatever, but the whole episode for me was completely off-balance tonight. I thought Matt Smith looked a bit gauche and uncomfortable in his role. Amy barely did anything except for the bit at the end, which was really moving but still, a bit random consdering she's been travelling with the doctor for a couple of days.
But anyway, going back to the episode, there were so many things that just felt out of place and not quite focused. Like why the Daleks were in the middle of WW2 in the first place (I know why they were there but i just think it was a bit misplaced in the context of the episode). I think there were far too many competing ideas to contend with: daleks returning majorly overshadowed churchill being there and then the bit in space was just appallingly cringeworthy. Is anyone else getting a bit fed up with the Star Wars rip-offs??
I hate to criticise the writing because i really love what Mark Gatis has done for Dr Who, and his other work as well, but i just found the dialogue in this episode a bit too slow and forced. At least with RTD everything was fast paced and you really felt that sense of urgency that i think was lacking in this episode. Having said that the bit with the jammy dodger was genius!
I know it's only 3 episodes in and therefore arguably VERY premature to be criticising and writing this new series off but the point i'm hopefully getting across is that perhaps the hype was built up a bit too much (i know i was far too excited for Who's return) and that we can only really judge the series until we reach it's conclusion in the next few weeks. Really, I want to say that i think it was quite shocking that some of the posters in the other thread were being so critical of the posters who were harking back to the times of RTD. At the end of the day these forums are concerning critiques of Doctor Who, not an opportunity to bash each other's opinions!
I love Moffat, have done since his eps in RTD's era (Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead were by far the best he's ever written!) and in his show 'Coupling'. But at the same time, I can see why people are missing RTD. He had a different quality of writing, and whilst some of it was quite terrible (Planet of the Dead still makes me shudder) eps like Turn Left, Doomsday, and then that heartbreaking ending of Journey's End with Donna's memory being erased....still makes me cry! And the shock of the timelord victorious meltdown in Waters of Mars....
Anyway, what i guess i'm concluding with is that I understand what a few people have been saying already on this forum, that there seems to be something missing, a spark that should be there but isn't. Everything was great in the first ep but each ep since has been slightly less exciting. Hopefully the rest of the series will build up to something more, and if anyone can do it, the Moff can!
After seeing that the other thread (the 'I miss RTD' thread)was shut down for its lack of constructive criticism (and too much of an emphasis on criticising each other) I thought I would set up another thread because i think there is a point to some of the new 'Who' critics. Now before I go on any further I just want to tell you all that i absolutely LOVE Doctor Who.
I'm a new 'Who' girl who has been with the show since Eccleston and Tennant and although I can't pretend to be as nearly dedicated to the older incarnations as many of the other posters, I doubt you'll find my Doctor Who fan status lacking. I have a Tenth Doctor cardbord cutout and Dalek balloons for my 21st birthday to show just a little of how much of an obsessed fan i am! :P
That aside, when i heard about DT leaving I was devestated and yet at the same time i was really excited because i LOVED Matt Smith in the Sally Lochart mysteries and in the first episode he was absolutely brilliant as the Eleventh doctor. He has a lot of DT's mannerisms, which i suppose is only right seeing as the inner person of the doctor hasn't actually changed and so it seems quite natural that there is a similarity. But better than that, in the first episode he carried off the new persona amazingly (and the bowtie as well!!
) However, I don't know whether it's because of the way the eps are filmed, ie out of sequence, or whatever, but the whole episode for me was completely off-balance tonight. I thought Matt Smith looked a bit gauche and uncomfortable in his role. Amy barely did anything except for the bit at the end, which was really moving but still, a bit random consdering she's been travelling with the doctor for a couple of days. But anyway, going back to the episode, there were so many things that just felt out of place and not quite focused. Like why the Daleks were in the middle of WW2 in the first place (I know why they were there but i just think it was a bit misplaced in the context of the episode). I think there were far too many competing ideas to contend with: daleks returning majorly overshadowed churchill being there and then the bit in space was just appallingly cringeworthy. Is anyone else getting a bit fed up with the Star Wars rip-offs??
I hate to criticise the writing because i really love what Mark Gatis has done for Dr Who, and his other work as well, but i just found the dialogue in this episode a bit too slow and forced. At least with RTD everything was fast paced and you really felt that sense of urgency that i think was lacking in this episode. Having said that the bit with the jammy dodger was genius!
I know it's only 3 episodes in and therefore arguably VERY premature to be criticising and writing this new series off but the point i'm hopefully getting across is that perhaps the hype was built up a bit too much (i know i was far too excited for Who's return) and that we can only really judge the series until we reach it's conclusion in the next few weeks. Really, I want to say that i think it was quite shocking that some of the posters in the other thread were being so critical of the posters who were harking back to the times of RTD. At the end of the day these forums are concerning critiques of Doctor Who, not an opportunity to bash each other's opinions!
I love Moffat, have done since his eps in RTD's era (Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead were by far the best he's ever written!) and in his show 'Coupling'. But at the same time, I can see why people are missing RTD. He had a different quality of writing, and whilst some of it was quite terrible (Planet of the Dead still makes me shudder) eps like Turn Left, Doomsday, and then that heartbreaking ending of Journey's End with Donna's memory being erased....still makes me cry! And the shock of the timelord victorious meltdown in Waters of Mars....
Anyway, what i guess i'm concluding with is that I understand what a few people have been saying already on this forum, that there seems to be something missing, a spark that should be there but isn't. Everything was great in the first ep but each ep since has been slightly less exciting. Hopefully the rest of the series will build up to something more, and if anyone can do it, the Moff can!
