Actually yes I can imagine him saying that....considering that he makes bad jokes like that all the time in Little Britian!!!!

Oooo, I'd not picked up on that one - where does that occur, Camera?

We'll add that to 'The Power Of Kroll' as yet another fart gag in the Classic Series, which, of course, never ever sank to the level of toilet humour...no siree!

Regards,

Cypher

I find most Pertwee stories to be utterly abysmal.

Which is a shame really; as a child, I really enjoyed the novelisations, but the on-screen realisation was just horrific!

Of the four parters, I like 'Spearhead From Space' and 'Carnival Of Monsters'; 'Death To The Daleks' and 'The Three Doctors' are OK too. I'd say the rest of 'em were all atrocious.

Some of the six-parters like 'Colony In Space', 'The Monster Of Peladon', 'Planet Of The Daleks', 'The Sea Devils', 'The Green Death' and 'Planet Of The Spiders' I find to be so unremittingly dull, they're a struggle to watch.

I'll happily sit through what some folk consider to be the nadir of the Classic Series - stuff like 'Time & The Rani', 'Timelash', 'Timeflight', 'Paradise Towers', 'The Twin Dilemma' etc... cos' those eps are bad in more of a slightly enjoyable B-movie kinda way.

Plus, the silly ideas, bad dialogue, bad production and bad acting can be kinda endearing if you don't take it too seriously.

But dull is something entirely different, *the* most unforgivable sin; to me, it means the programme has utterly failed as a piece of television.

Regards,

Cypher

That was a joke about bad breath.

I didn't think I'd ever find myself defending "Warriors of the Deep", one of the most embarrassing serials from the original series. However, the difference between that and what RTD does is that at least with Warriors of the Deep they were taking the story seriously, even if it was badly realised. Doctor Who always had jokes in it, but by giving the Doctor a woeful line like "Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm trying to save the world?", it is a sign that they are not taking the story seriously. They are taking the piss out of the show in a way that would have even made Douglas Adams cringe.


The jokes never got that bad in the original series, even when Douglas Adams and Tom Baker were taking the piss. A line like that would have been considered too vulgar in those days, anyway. The show wasn't vulgar until RTD came along.

He wouldn't have said something like that in Doctor Who because the writers, producers and directors had standards in those days. Little Britain is rather different, although not a million miles from RTD's Doctor Who.

Yes, it's terrible isn't it, one line out of four series means they are not taking it seriously, what a vulgar show, your surname isn't Whitehouse by any chance is it?



No, the show had become a complete joke, an absolute joke and had become so since later TB days, lets not pretend that we are talking about Shakespeare here we are talking about a show that had become an embarrassing badly written pastiche of itself, until RTD came along. Warriors Of The Deeps is a good example, take the effects out of the equations and lets look at the actual story, it's pacing, and ideas and it shows that Dr Who had not moved forward from the days of Pertwee. To say RTD has made the show vulgar really is wide of the mark.


It is when the Doctor dons the 'suit' he wears for the rest of the story

RTD has made the show a success, which isn't the same as saying that he has made it good. A lot of the time it isn't. It's embarrassing rubbish. I rewatched New Earth last night and it was absolutely dreadful, worse even than I remembered. The same goes for The Sound of Drums, The Last of the Timelords, Aliens of London, WW3, The Doctor's Daughter, The Voyage of the Damned, Fear Her, The Shakespeare Code and The Girl in the Fireplace. And whatever anyone says, I hate the direction in which RTD decided to take the show, most especially the fixation on Rose throughout four entire series and the often ludicrous 'Doctor-in-love' scenario (and Tennant's early episodes make me cringe, so much mugging, gurning, grinning and shouting). And let's not mention how RTD has reused the Daleks so much that they have become irrelevant, as well as resurrecting the Master only to kill him off and perverting the origins of the Cybermen via the ridiculous Lomax.

I'll be glad to see the back of RTD. Yes, the programme is a ratings success but then so is Eastenders and Coronation Street. Maybe Dr Who isn't so far removed from soap opera these days anyway.

You have a bit of a thing for bad acting in old Who don't you, I have noticed you mention this before.

I find this strange because excluding a few obvious candidates I would say that overall the acting is worse in New Who than in the Old Stuff. Maybe that is because I prefer the old school type show and thus prefer the acting wheras you prefer more modern style of drama. However these people are professionals and I don't see that many cases of bad old hams or people not giving a crap and phoning it in like your words suggest.

Suppose it will come down to personal taste but I don't Old Who being chocker block with Bad acting, far from it.

This really does beg the questions:

Why do you bother watching if it is so bad? (and rewatch it?)

What exactly are you after, this is Doctor Who after all?

I agree with that thought. Why are you watching DW if you don't like it?

I would also agree with a lot of the concerns raised: Doctor in love, endless bloody Daleks, "smarmy Mockney git" Doctor ... but those are just small objections in what is still a thoroughly watchable series with occasional bits of absolute genius.

Generally, i am much happier with the old series than the new, but that's because I'm not eight years old anymore (as I was when the old show was on). I don't get my knickers in a twist to such a huge extent about the new series not being what I want it to be. It's not healthy to get so worked up!

Just chill out and watch Talons of Weng-Chiang.

I'm not worked up about it I resigned myself to RTD's 'vision' of Dr Who a long time ago. I enjoyed most of series 4, despite the odd let down, and there are good episodes in the previous series, such as The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, School Reunion, Silence in the Library, Love & Monsters, Utopia, Human Nature/Family of Blood. I rewatched New Earth because I hadn't seen it since it was first broadcast

You said before if whether we could imagine any of the past Doctor's saying that line, and I honestly can hear TB, you didn't say whether can we imagine if the writers of the classic series could put that line in.....so thats why I made the comparison with Little Britian, where I still think of TB as sounding a lot like the Fourth Doctor, rather than just a narrator, I can't help it


And again I know that I haven't seen all of the classic series, but if the Kandyman is proof of anything, then it proves that the classic series can also come up with the most ridiculas and stupid things, and even if they are being serious, as you say they tend to be, well then as an audiance member, I still cannot take the likes of the Kandyman very seriously, and it has nothing to do with effects and costume, well in this case it did put me off my favourite sweets....

With Tom Bakers reputation he probably would have threw the scripts for Aliens of London and World War III across the room, proclaimed them as rubbish (In albeit stronger language) and stormed out of rehearsals.

Seriously however I must agree with you Crazzyaz7 He is the only one who I could imagine saying that line, probably under protest but I could Imagine him saying that line.

As Jon put it It would never have happened in the 70's as the line would have been too vulgar for BBC 1 on a Saturday night (Quite right too!) I am far from a fan from Aliens of London/World War III but i reckon it would be greatly improved if Tom was the Doctor involved
Than again so would a lot of stories!
Last edited by Taren Capel : 28-08-2008 at 11:49

I know people say that quantity doesn't equal quality, but what people forget is that those who are watching do see it as quality, hence they keep watching....I hate all sorts of Reality TV programmmes, and these are watched by the masses, and despite it never working for me, I will never say that its braindead TV as some people call it, because for those who love watching, obviously get something out of it....and I have to admit I did find it hard to understand exactly what, untill RTD's interview with the BBC after Stolen Earth, where he said that the reason people love reality TV so much is because of the uncertainty of what will happen next, and that makes sense, just like I love a very good Cliff hanger in Drama's, people who watch reality shows, love the unpredictable drama that takes place in people lives, and that is their prerogative.


Half of the episodes that you mention are some of my all time favourites, therefore for me not only has RTD made DW a success to get a new viewer like me, my sister and my friend into DW, but also give us a good quality show that we laugh, cry, and get scared with.....

Oh by the way I hate soaps as well.....so what kind of catogary do I fall in???????
Last edited by crazzyaz7 : 28-08-2008 at 11:52

Hartnell "Kindly refrain from passing wind, I've got a universe to save"

Troughton "Crumbs do you mind not trumping loudly, this is a delicate operation"

Pertwee "Reverse the polarity of your colonic movements, the situation is very serious"

Baker, T "More jelly babies vicar"

Davison "What have you been eating?"

Baker, C "It sounds like an argument from the backyard...sorry Valeyard Ma'am"

McCoy "If you can do that in tune I'll accompany you on the spoons....and unlimited rice pudding"

McGann "Gee I didn't know Americans were capapble of toilet humour"

Eccleston "Lots of people in the North are like that. Ey up now t'save t'universe 'appen....where's me whippet?"

How the other Doctors might have addressed farting at a critical point.

Actually take out the farting and sort out the ending with the internet missle thing and there isn't a lot wrong with the scripts for AoL and WW3. It's the fact they filmed it as a camp run around which makes it utter crap (it's my second most disliked story of the new series after the season 3 dalek 2 parter). Film it seriously (and sort out the points I mentioned) and it would stand up a lot better. There's a lot of good stuff in there hidden by the camp nonsese it was filmed as.

I can so imagine this
Oh my giddy aunt!

I think I find that with every New Who episode, especially the ones written by RTD, and I think this is down to the fact that he tries to have something for everyone, for example as I said before, that the Farting jokes, while silly for me, had my Niece in hesterics.....while I enjoyed the other moments, like the fact that the story had intersting angle to the fact that things were not all as they seemed, with what was the exact plan of the Slitheen.....its not a story I hate, I just think its defenitly the weaker of the series...and the Slitheen are brilliant monsters for the kids to enjoy....so is it really a bad thing in the end????

I agree actually it was reminiscent to me of a bad CBBC drama but more in the filming and acting than the script. To be fair it was in the first block they filmed of new who so you can reserve it a few excuses that they were trying to find the level pitch it at etc

So why exactly is the Tardis control room in the shed?

Sorry to go off topic here

agree completly, I was rushing out the door as I wrote this, and I forgot to add that I think the single biggest thing wrong with this two parter is the acting

Inferno is quite early on in Pertwee's era so he still has a lot of gaps in his knowledge after the Timelords mind-wipe so he is experimenting with the consol.
IIRC the doctor was at the drill site as scientific advisor with the priviso that he could tap into the power plant as his experiments need far more power than UNIT has.
I can't remember why the whole TARDIS isn't there as it wasnt too difficult to move it into UNIT HQ - perhaps the Brig veto'd it as he didnt really trust the doctor to not just go off if he had got the thing working again.

Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

It did look like something one of us nutters would probably make in our sheds and then get on The One Show with it.

I bet he had some job getting out the Tardis door

It's flat-pack - from IKEA.

In the catalog look for "Knöbbö" TARDIS consol.