I'm a fan of what would be now known as the 'classic series' of Dr who. I didn't like the way the series went when Eccleston took over, and stopped watching altogether when Tennent took over. I happened to watch Matt Smiths first story, and I liked the way he portrayed the Doctor - It reminded me of Tom Bakers first few minutes. However, the story seem rushed, and more like a Children in Need skit than a proper story. My Wife sky +'d the last story, as I'm a WW2 and churchill fan. It started well, it could have been a story from my era, until the jammie dodger appeared as the TARDIS self destruct. When the spitfires went into space I lost confidence altogether. I know that a suspension from reality is required, but that is just too much! Not to mention being more like Star Wars. The android becomimg 'human' was a bit close to Data from Star Trek.

I do think that 4 episodes gives the characters more time to develop, they remain a bit 2 dimensional with the current time frame. I know the effects were dodgy in the Seventies - but the stories seemed far better. I know there were Turkeys there too - but far fewer.

Well, they are just as out of place yet strangely fitting as the sailing ships of Enlightenment.

A Poster (and I apologise for forgetting your name but please add to this thread) pointed out something quite insightful which is this:

The haitus between 1989 and 1996 and then 1996 and 2005 meant that rather than being broadcast and reflecting changes in TV fashions and life, DW returning came as a culture shock because the last episode was ten years or so ago each time...when it was a constant feature, it adapted, reflected and often dictated TV fashions.

The new format is not to everyone's taste but to be honest I would rather have a rushed 45 minute story leaving me wanting more than a tired, flabby 6 x 25' episode which could have been dealt with in half the time...when Classic Who hit the mark it did so brilliantly but then, as (my own choices before I get flamed) "Blink" "Midnight" "Turn Left" "The Eleventh Hour" and "Boom Town" have proved over the past five years, the new format can work just as effectively.

No story/episode is ever going to satisfy everyone which, to be honest, is the immense difficulty of producing the only truly family-orientated drama left on TV...

...sit down with your kids (or nephews/nieces), parents and grandparents sometime and try and agree on your favourite TV Drama (no Talent Shows and Reality TV allowed) and see if you can come to agreement...that discussion is what goes through the DW Production Team every series...and that's before they start...

I come away thinking that every new Who story is rushed. I never really feel anything towards the stories or characters, and never really feel any sense of peril that the planet is in danger in just 45 minutes.
Shows like Buffy only go on for 45 minutes, but when each story starts we are already familiar with most of the characters and the setting. Apart from the Doctor and his companion, everything is reset at the beginning of a story, so time has to be taken to actually get used to where they actually are and who the hell everybody is.

I don't think it is rushed at all, take the second show of the 11th. The first one in a long time back to its 45 minutes (well 42) time period and that was nowhere near rushed. In that you had Amy discover who The Doctor was, how lonely he was and the impossible choices he sometimes faces. Not just that, The Doctor needs someone to stop him making mistakes. A running theme from the Donna's time with the 10th Doctor and the 9th with Rose. When The Doctor is alone, nobody is there to stop him and explains why he chooses companions. He knows himself he is actually dangerous and told many times by the likes of Davros (by saying he turned his companions into soldiers) and The Master.
Was the last show rushed, nope. You still had the danger there, the Nazis about to destory London and once agains The Doctor had to choose between The Earth and destroying the Daleks once and for all. Amy again showed she understands The Doctor by seeking the help of the robot. Churchill was well Churchill and showed how the war impacted on their lives (death of love ones, the never die attitude etc)
As for the Daleks themselves, they have been known to sacrifice themselves in order to save the Dalek race (Caan for example during the 10th)

People have to remember, its not the 1960's, 70 its 2010 and the show has to widen to a whole new audience. Its not the same show and for that reason it works.

Dangerous? on his own? That isn't the Doctor that I remember. He coped OK during 'The Deadly Assassin' on his own. Was it not the 5th Doctor who coudn't bring himself to kill Davros? and the 3rd who wanted the Silurians to live in peace with the humans, while the Brig blew them up? The 4th who questioned his right to destroy the Dalek mutations as sarah told him he should?

When I grew up , he was a benevolent alien, who was superficially an eccentric human. He took companions along for company - they were never anything else.

Sarah Jane Smith was shocked when the Doctor showed little compassion to the death of Scarmans brother in Pyramids of Mars - Tegan left the Doctor because she was fed up with all the death and destruction that tended to follow him - Adric!! - Colin Bakers Doctor was not exactly renowned for his compassion and was quite capable of some very dark behaviour as was Sylvester Mccoy - his manipulation of Ace was a good example of this...

And William Hartnell in the very first story was actually prepared to smash someones skull in

The Doctor is an alien who has trouble follow him around and sometimes has to act in rather dark ways to muddle through. This has always been the case to some degree or another, but nine times out of ten he does have someone with him to reign him in. In deadly Assassin he was not completely on his own because he had Borusa around, a Time Lord for whom he had a great deal of respect for at that time. But in the Matrix, he gave as good as he got.

Granted I didn't grow up with the classic series, and haven't seen all of it unfortunatly....but from what I have seen the the companions even in the classic series were not just that as you describe them to be. Sometimes they were the ones who helped mellow and change the Doctor...like Barbara, sometimes they were his best friends and he encouraged them reach their full potentail... Zoe ....sometimes they became his conscious by the questions they ask...sarah and harry...and sometimes he gives his whole life to his companion...peri


to say they were there just to give company to the Doctor is selling them short very much so..

I won't argue that the companions in the new series are much more part of the show than they were in the past....but they weren't complete "yes Doctor whatever you say Doctor" "ahhhhhhhhhh what is the Doctor?" type of companions.

Darn it Marty's ghost....you beat me to it!!! That is what happens when your in the middle of replying and your friend calls!!!!

Didn't Tom Baker once threaten someone with a "deadly Jelly Baby"? Sounds like the show is more like the old days than even you remember.

I do think the perfect running time for Doctor Who is about 90 minutes (roughly the length of an old four parter once you remove the credits and reprises). They should make each story a two parter, I think. Or the majority, at least. 45 minutes can work, but it's all too frequently just not long enough.

He did!!! Nine did a similar thing with alcohol at Number Ten too.

As you stopped watching when DT was the Doctor, you'll have missed the most ridiculous piece of SF ever with the Tardis towing the earth back home through space. The Daleks were involved and this is why Amy should at least know about them. I like both classic and the new series. I think series 5 is worth staying with as Steven Moffat (who didn't write ep.3) has written some of the best episodes of new Who.

I agree - the story needs time to breathe. I understand the reasoning behind the 45 minute single-episode stories, that any new viewer tuning in for the first time doesn't need to have watched the previous week in order to understand what's going on. But even so, I'd prefer 6 stories per series, 5 two-parters, and 1 3-parter to end the series. You can still retain the overall story arc across the whole of the series, something that's worked really well.

I have to say I've not really taken to the new series - Matt Smith does in fact seem quite good as the new doctor - it's not him , just something about the stories , or maybe it's the writing - sorry I just can't put my finger on why it's not working for me - but it's not .

To be very FRANK how many cliches and use of other Films can you find in EP 3 Dr Who I spot 7 can you do any better ??

Why are people making threads about the fact they don't watch doctor who?! I don't go to the X Factor forum to moan about the fact that I don't like the X-Factor.

Er, not exactly. Hartnell's Doc was at best awkward, grumpy and capricious who thought nothing of putting his companions in danger when he felt like it.

So is a star whale carrying England on it's back, just as ridiculous.

I am not alone when I think a SACRED piece of Television has been thrown out with the Dish water because RTD did not fit the mould.

Matt Smith,,. chosen as he was to be very different and I mean different has done that ..I mean being quirky different.

But if David Tennent scripts where so bad Why..... did he and CHRIS. E make it so watch able again.

I am a Fan a Huge Fan , but what was once polished now seems to of lost a lot of hard fought for lustre.

Not as unbelieveable as, say, carrying England AND Scotland on its back! Be reasonable!

lol, too true. He was a miserable, acidic, short-tempered, grumpy old sod. I thought he was great.

I don't think there has been too much reduction in quality in this series so far. If anything, I think it's got better. Okay, TBB wasn't ideal but it had an originality about it missing from a lot of the previous series. Not only that, so far the whole Doctor/Companion dynamic has been more akin to the classic series and so has the series as a whole. It's moving on and that's why I think it's improving and it will improve, even more.

Personally, I thought the Jammy Dodger gambit was genius. Pure genius. But it's only a matter of time before someone says Corbomite Manoeuver...

Quite right...as is the defusing of the bomb by love...



sorry I don't really understand what your saying?


As much as I loved TBB...I'm sorry to say it wasn't very original....RTD has been doing stories like it since the Long Game




In what way is it more like the classic series? You mean to say that its platonic? what you mean like the Tenth Doctor and Donna??? Seriously...selectiveness....you are the definition of it!!!