Afraid not Granny, sorry, so so sorry

Why not? Other people do!

(Thanks for the 10 reminder. )

This ^^^

op can get lost for all we care.

Ditto!

A disloyal follower has less integrity than a sincere enemy!

... So I've got more respect for Michael Grade

Well I'll certainly be tuning in, about episode 6 after Amy and Rory. Really can't stand them as companions. They more or less turned me off watching series 6.

It was the same with Rose and Mickey being on the TARDIS together. I far prefer companions not be involved romantically.

Well, you're going to have to wait until Christmas then.

A break after episode 5 could work really well as it is goodbye to the Ponds. It gives viewers a chance to get used to them being gone, and feel that some time has passed for the Dr to get over them before the new girl arrives.
Personally i will be recording the first 5 and watching them in the gap ready for the Christmas episode, then Moffet has mentioned that the season isn't going to break again until all 13 eps are shown.

Message to the poster of this thread, next time put first..."in my singular humble opinion, I think that....What are other peoples opinions on this?"

I once posted that the new 'Torchwood - miracle day' was tedious and drawn out, and nearly got strung up by a crowd of demented whovions and Torchwoodites!

I personally don't want him to get over them inbetween episodes, as I'd rather see the effect it has on him instead of just ignoring it.

I think it will stay with him longer, Dr 5 was asking for Adric as he was dying so his death must have affected him greatly. More for the viewers to get over them than the Doctor. I have a feeling they may appear, if only in flashback, in the 50th anniversary, cos love em or hate em they have been an important part of the 11th Doctors life to date.

I agree. It's probably a good idea to give the audience time as I remember a lot of people hating Matt Smith for simply not being Tennant after his minute or so cameo in End of Time. i know amy and rory may not be as beloved as the 10th Doctor, but introducing Clara while still in mourning may have a negative effect.

The main reason for the break this year is to show Merlin uninterrupted from 29th September to the weekend before Christmas.

Is this true? If so: brilliant!

Can't argue with you there - Moffat has made a real mess of Who, something which I didn't think was possible after RTD's efforts.

Tsk tsk not allowed to be critical these days
Didn't you know that Moffatt is a god and can do no wrong ?

Critical is good. Lobbing negative words with no thought or reasoning backing them up is not criticism. It will, however, provoke criticism.

Firstly I'm not a troll, I can't live under bridges as I hate draughts.

At the end of the day its about individual taste really. If you post because you hate Matt or Steven or the direction the show is going in, with the intention of finding like-minded friends, then you might get one or two but don't be surprised if there are a few who disagree.

Myself I think Arthur Darvill is great but dislike Rory Williams.
Also I think Amy Pond is great but dislike Karen Gillan.
Can't win, eh?

And I'd like to say I'll start watching again at Christmas, not before, because I've got a really good feeling about Jenna Louise Coleman, and I have!

But curiosity will get the better of me despite expecting these first 5 episodes (with the possible exception of the last one) to be a re-run of "The Doctor does tellytubbies", and being the sheep I am I'll watch these first five as well.

It series 7 going to be awful? Possibly in the beginning but I hope I'm wrong. Is this time for Matt to leave? De[pends how things go with the new companion, but if its as good as I expect then no. Is it time for Moffatt to leave? If he keeps resurrecting the same old creatures (Vastra & co.) and the originality starts to wane then yes. But getting him to realize it might be a different matter.

I have no answers to this last point, but lets be controversial for a minute (and if you call me anything abusive I'll come round and stamp on your Dalek soap-on-a-rope). What should be a really interesting point is why after three years nearly are people still going on about David and how great he is and (in some cases) will he return. How long was it before people had moved on from Christopher? Is this because David was so good or is there a problem with the current show. Ratings would say the former, what do you think?

[quote=Joanne1938;59806158] I have no answers to this last point, but lets be controversial for a minute (and if you call me anything abusive I'll come round and stamp on your Dalek soap-on-a-rope). What should be a really interesting point is why after three years nearly are people still going on about David and how great he is and (in some cases) will he return. How long was it before people had moved on from Christopher? Is this because David was so good or is there a problem with the current show. Ratings would say the former, what do you think?QUOTE]

No dalek-soap-on-a-rope but feel free to set fire to my Cyberman tea cosy.....

I think Tennant will remain the essential New Era Doctor in the same way that until he came along Tom Baker was the iconic image of the character....in both cases ratings play a part but just as much is that inchoate, fluffy, unfocused zeitgeisty thing when for a variety of reasons they caught fire with the imagination of the general public in an unpredicable and unpredicted way that you can't control or plan for.

Matt Smith has been terrific and ratings suggest the show is holding steady, but in Tennant's period the show infected British popular culture in a way that just doesn't seem to be case now.

Watch the first 5 episodes. Not doing so is cutting your nose off to spite your face. You may well not like them, but you'll never know for sure until you've seen them.

I think the reason so many people have taken so long to get over David Tennant is that he himself gained a huge fan base. Many teenage girls only watched Doctor Who because they thought he was attractive and stopped watching when Matt Smith came along because he has no face (according to someone I was talking to once).

Also, I personally believe that another reason is not that the show got any worse, but that it changed. Many people have difficulty coping with change and prefer things to be the way they are.
When Eccleston left, there wasn't much change. Only the Doctor changed, but the companion and the production crew remained the same.
However, when Tennant left, a new head writer took over, the style changed slightly (but only very slightly. I honestly don't see too much of a difference and cannot understand why so many people are moaning), the logo, the titles, the music all changed, and there was a completely new cast.

It all comes down to people not being adaptable to change; something which I think is essential to being a Doctor Who fan. If you can't cope with change, you're never going to last long as a fan.
In fact, being adaptable to change is necessary to everything. Life even.
Also, as with life, never become too comfortable with what you have now, because when change comes, you will be left behind.

Another suggestion: Stop analysing the episodes and running a critical eye over everything in them. Just do what I do and sit back and enjoy the show.

Not looking good for Series 7? I couldn't disagree more.

Series 7 is going to brilliant, perhaps not as brilliant as Series 6, which was by far the best Series since the 2005 re-launch (imo), but brilliant nonetheless.

Those who still pine for Tennant &/or RTD will continue to spout their usual negative comments, of course, and in a democracy they're fully entitled to do so, but the rest of us should keep upbeat and positive.

Not long now!

Thank you, very much appreciated. I agree wholeheartedly with the change in production style affecting people, I myself proffer the RTD style very much. Yet I still like what Matt is trying to do with the character. I know I am like many who get involved in the programme too much as its been with me since childhood, But people do change.

The other day I rewatched Genesis Of The Daleks and whilst loving the story I found i no longer liked Tom's Doctor (now I'm ignoring the cries of "Sacrelidge"). Yet watching The Christmas Invasion last night I found, having moved on quite nicely, that suddenly I wanted David to come back again. Whatever his acting ability, that man has certainly got charisma.

The best actor of new Who though, even if he's not my favorite Doctor, is Matt Smith. His portrayal of an old man in a young man's body is amazing. But as you've said, it's not very sexy.

Yes I'll watch series 7, but if I hear "Rory the Roman" and see that grin on Arthur's face, there'll be wine glasses hittting the telly again!!!

Why should Matt's portrayal of the Doctor be "sexy" anyway? Since when was the Doctor supposed to be "sexy"? I suppose some would call the Tenth Doctor "sexy", but he would be the exception rather than the rule and should remain so.

Exactly this. I'm never quite convinced by those that insist that 'lots of people only liked Tennant because he was sexy' - I think that's somewhat insulting to a significant number of fans. But the Tenth Doctor - and David's portrayal of him - was a very charismatic and personal one. He was approachable and charming and a romantic hero, whereas Matt's incarnation has much rougher edges and quirky behaviours which can be too much for some people's tastes, but fit in perfectly with mine.

And yes, there are lots of other aspects of the series that have slightly shifted, but I think they follow the changes in Doctor, rather than the other way round.

I feel we currently have a much less solid grip on what the Doctor is about than we used to, and I find that much more interesting. If Matt had been cast as the Doctor before David, I would probably be in the situation of missing Matt, but being perfectly happy with David's version.

Apologies for only picking out some bits of what were interesting posts.

Surely part of the enduring success and popularity of DW is not that everyone has a favourite doctor, but that they have love of the series as a whole? Isn't that what matters, not individual preferences? I understand that it can be a little irritating when it's not 'your' doctor who's being idolised in a thread or forum post, but it's swings and roundabouts - 'yours' will be the subject of debate again sooner or later!

The ratings issue isn't really a cast-iron method of deciding who is the 'best' doctor either - many other factors are part of ratings, including the time of year the episode was shown, other things on TV that night, even the weather! You can't say "a was better than b because ratings for his series were higher" because statistics only count for something when you are in a controlled situation - and a moving series of programme episodes certainly isn't that!

I wish it wasn't "he was better than him" all the time, to be honest. I've enjoyed all three incarnations of the 2005 onwards Who, and all for different reasons: I thought CE gave the series a good deal of gravitas when the classic series was remembered at its end for being a bit 'naff'; I thought DT gave it a kind of cheekiness and humour (and, yes, attractiveness), but the sugary-ness and 'do-good' attitude was a bit cloying; I love MS in the role because he's just so darned eccentric and 'lives' the role in a way the other two didn't (although DT certainly 'lived' the role too, and has a great deal of respect for his time there).

But none of them are 'my' doctor - I'm not sure I've got one, to be honest; my loyalty is to 'Doctor Who' the series, not to the actor playing the role (nor to the companion, or actor playing the companion, for that matter, either) although I came in with Jon Pertwee when I was about six in 1972, so I suppose from a viewing point of view he's 'my' doctor... on the other hand I remember more of Tom Baker, so maybe he is 'my' doctor?!

It's all too subjective! And opinions are not facts, however much we'd like them to be. Can't we just enjoy DW for what it is rather than bickering over which doctor/actor-as-the-doctor is best? (Or companion?). We can have favourites, or not, as we like, but that's not reason enough to descend into petty arguments because of it. Is it?

Are people still going on about Tennant? I've not noticed it. Even I'm not (except as a joke) and nobody's a bigger fan of 10 than me. (I'm a fan of 11 too. )

If anyone says people can'rt acccept Matt/Moffat because they don't like change one more time, I'll scream. Sometimes people don't like things because they don't like them. I have been not very happy with some of the events of series 5 & 6 because (mainly) I have thought them way too sentimental for DW. Solving the problem of rampaging monsters by loving them into submission just makes me cringe, I'm afraid, and it has happened much too much.

Also the story arc was a bit daft, imo.

That said, I still think Moffat is great when he gets it right. And Matt is so wonderful as an actor I could watch him in anything.