D50 - Who's pumped? (Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Episode)

[Alan Smith]

Only 2 more sleeps (and counting) until the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who!!!

Anyone else a bit excited?

For those who are longtime fans but have somehow missed it, check out "The Night of the Doctor", asap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U3jrS-uhuo  

And, Tom Baker dropped a spoiler, sweeties, that he will appear in some form!

Blimey...

Favourite Dr - Tom Baker.  Favourite Episode - Seeds of Doom.

For those who don't care, but like a good tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm16_PLSzJo

[Jason]

Yeah, I'm pretty psyched.

I heart me some Tom Baker. Also my favorite Doctor. I've seen Sylvester McCoy at Dragon*Con a few times. Dude is hilarious.

[Jason]

Who remembers this piece of garbage? AND WHY DID JUSTIN HAYWARD AND JOHN LODGE DO THIS?!?

"There were evil metal creatures who tried to EXTERMINATE!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p1AjE4eDH8

[Alan Smith]

Who remembers this piece of garbage? AND WHY DID JUSTIN HAYWARD AND JOHN LODGE DO THIS?!?

"There were evil metal creatures who tried to EXTERMINATE!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p1AjE4eDH8

Holy Hell...I've never seen that before; no wonder Colin Baker got the boot.

I can only hope Hayward and Lodge got involved because they were called by Colin Baker, pretending to be Bob Geldof, who told them it was a fundraiser for Medicins sans frontieres, or that their families were being held hostage.

What a no-star cast - I did notice the dizzy blonde from "Man about the house" around the 1.50 mark; the only time I've seen her in anything else.

[pixletwin]

I and my sons have tickets to see it in 3D on Monday. Super excited. I have been watching the show since 1981!  We watched the docudrama "An Adventure in Space and Time" tonight and absolutely loved it.

[Dead Parrot]

Holy Hell...I've never seen that before; no wonder Colin Baker got the boot.

Funny thing is, when asked if he regrets anything about his time on Doctor Who, Colin always mentions being involved with this.

[Dead Parrot]

One of the nicest things to happen with Doctor Who, is the fact that I can now watch all of Enemy Of The World, and almost all of The Web Of Fear whenver I want. Didn't think i'd be able to say that just a few months back.

Plenty more to come as well, if you believe the so-called "omni-rumour". Quite a few British newspapers reporting that the 1964 story Marco Polo is about to be announced as recovered. And if (it's it's a very big if) you belive the omni-rumour, then such delights as Power Of The Daleks, The Massacre, Fury From The Deep, and The Tenth Planet Episode 4 are on the way too.

[Alan Smith]

I and my sons have tickets to see it in 3D on Monday. Super excited. I have been watching the show since 1981!  We watched the docudrama "An Adventure in Space and Time" tonight and absolutely loved it.

2013 INTERNATIONAL DAD OF THE YEAR! goes to Pixletwin!!!!

I haven't watched Adventure yet - it's on tomorrow night after the rescreening of the 50 ep (so, in Australia, the 50th anniversary ep is on at 6.50 AM, then replayed at 7.30pm, followed by "An Adventure in Space and Time' - I've seen the ad's, it looks really well shot and designed, to say the the very least!

[Alan Smith]

Holy Hell...I've never seen that before; no wonder Colin Baker got the boot.

Funny thing is, when asked if he regrets anything about his time on Doctor Who, Colin always mentions being involved with this.

   I did not know that.

In events similar to my BB's fandom, I kinda lost interest in Dr Who circa '87/88 - equating to when I started uni, and there was a lot more cutting edge stuff on offer.

I often wonder if the BB's and Dr Who have used the same wharehouse facility - just as you thought that mix of Barnshine, or episode 3 of Patrick Troughton's second season was gone forever, well, lo and behold, it's turned up in a fan's garage sale, or the BBC's Angolia office's third drawer

Whoever is in charge of said facility needs a word 

[Andrew G. Doe]

One of the nicest things to happen with Doctor Who, is the fact that I can now watch all of Enemy Of The World, and almost all of The Web Of Fear whenver I want. Didn't think i'd be able to say that just a few months back.

Plenty more to come as well, if you believe the so-called "omni-rumour". Quite a few British newspapers reporting that the 1964 story Marco Polo is about to be announced as recovered. And if (it's it's a very big if) you belive the omni-rumour, then such delights as Power Of The Daleks, The Massacre, Fury From The Deep, and The Tenth Planet Episode 4 are on the way too.

I watched it religiously from the very first episode until Sylvester McCoy took over, at which point it was evident that no-one was really interested any more, notably at the Beeb Drama department (that said, his opening scene in the McGann movie showed what he could have done, given a chance, a decent script and a budget bigger than £2.57 per episode) - yes, even watched the series when the truly appalling Mel was the companion. After it returned, dipped in here and there but... was never the same: the last two have been way too young, and the last full thing I saw was the 2009 (2010 ?) Xmas episode with the sharks, where they seemed to have spent all the budget on the FX and had none left for anything evenly vaguely resembling a coherent script.

To me, Bill Hartnell will always be THE Doctor, as unlike the others, he had to create the character from scratch, and he did a magnificent job. IMO he had something none of the others had, a true sense of other-worldliness. Troughton was a nice contrast, and was capable of unexpected darkness (major bonus points - Zoe Herriott !), Pertwee was too much of a fop, Baker started well then morphed into a charicature of himself (similar bonus points - Leela, and Romana I !), Davison was a bit insipid (plus - Nyssa & Tegan, minus - Peri, even in a very small bikini), Colin Baker was a serious misstep (major minus point - Mel) and McCoy was, in essence, a dead man walking who had the painfully hip Ace to cope with. McGann was surprisingly good and had the movie not failed in the US, who knows ? Eccleston seemed OK, and as stated Tennant & Smith were way too young. The current incumbent has potential, but oh, how I wish Bill Nighy had taken the role when offered !

Oh, and for the sake of completeness, Peter Cushing in the two movies was... dire. You just don't say "Yes, I'm the Doctor. Doctor Who". The question mark is tacit.

You know who should have been a Doctor in the 70s ? Philip Madoc or Roger Delgado. Think about it.

But, how can you not love a series where a straight-faced military man can utter the immortal phrase "Jenkins ! Chap with wings there - five rounds, rapid !"

Finally, although my memory isn't perfect, I have seen, at least once, all the missing episodes, and I can tell you something you probably don't want to hear - some of them are very, very poor indeed.

[Alex]

For those who don't care, but like a good tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm16_PLSzJo

All the KLF did was rip off Gary Glitter. And, no, I've never seen Dr. Who. I'm more of a Star Trek guy.

[Dead Parrot]

Good post AGD, even if I disagreed with a lot of it. It's quite possibly an age thing, but Peter Davison was very much my Doctor. And as far as the new Doctor's being too young. I think one of the things Matt Smith has managed to do quite briliantly is portray tThe 11th Doctor as an old man in a young mans body.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Just been watching the 50th anniversary thing. Can't say I'm all that impressed.

[Alan Smith]

Spoilers may follow, I'll try to keep it vague (won't be hard for me):

I enjoyed The Day of the Doctor at face value in the context of the current direction and feel of the show.  Definitely an enjoyable romp and possibly Moffat's best to 2nd best effort to date.

Beautifully shot and staged - it looked fantastic and set (and maintained) a cracking pace; The gags were quite up to scratch and relentless, and Smith + Tennant are a pretty good  pairing.  Great performances by all - especially Jenna Coleman, probably her best effort to date; Tom Baker was pretty cool and dignified, bringing something similar to Bernard Cribbins in Tennant's last ep.

I don't know why it was necessary to cast Billie Piper in, err, the role she played (other than it's Billie Piper and she agreed to show up); but she did a pretty good job and her craft has certainly improved since her last stint on the program.

Inevitably, the twee dial was turned up to full, hence scenes over stuffed with historical detritus and references were bordering on showing off - but still good fun.

While great to see the Zygons back, their role was no more than monster of the week and in the end sucked up time that could have been better spent fleshing out the big story of the "War" Doctor.  I get the Zygons versus Earthlings thing was mirroring the larger Time war thing and this plot-line provides the macguffin, but why waste time sweating the small stuff when precious screen time could have been used to cut to the chase.

In my opinion, the story-telling and characterisation of the "War" Doctor didn't really deliver; what could have been an unique and original take on a truly dark and desperate character was watered down into the loveable eccentric misfit alien loner Doctor mold.

The recent series portrayal of the Time-Lords as a race as corrupt and meglamaniacal as the Daleks was dialed back; they're now a race under threat of extinction rather than a race needs to be controlled; and the Doctor's motivation to pull the plug seems a bit ropey.  Our sympathies shift from the Doctor to the embattled everyday Joe Time Lords and their scruffy urchin kiddies, and make the Doctor's previously tragic decision seem a bit rash.  

Despite the quibbles, this is great television - but I'll be sure to watch the encore screening tonight.