peanutbutterlatte
Member
THE ABSORBALOFF YES
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Doctor Who. More like Doctor "What??"
- Thread starter super-heated plasma
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THE ABSORBALOFF YES
They filmed in Trogir, Croatia. Similar architecture.
Exterminieren
Banned
Nah, all the Venice stuff was filmed in Croatia.
The Doctor Who Confidential, however, took Matt Smith and Toby Whithouse to Venice.
I work so hard to maintain my memory lock around that episode, Master. It never. Happened. Why do you do things like this to me?
super-heated plasma
Member
Oh yeah, one more big thing that bugs me: the TARDIS.
It resembles a police box to not raise suspicion of people of what it is. Ok fine, I'm sure that works great. IN THE SIXTIES.
When you're hundreds or thousands of years into Earths past or future, (hell even in the present), a big blue police call box is not a normal sight to see. And not just Earth. When he actually travels to an alien world, why would something from Earths culture be the perfect way to 'blend in' to this alien society?'
Wouldn'nt it make much more sense for the TARDIS to adapt its looks to that specific time period and culture? Surely it has the power to do so.
I know I know, budget reasons. But there is no logic in leaving the TARDIS as an old British police call box form all the time.
It resembles a police box to not raise suspicion of people of what it is. Ok fine, I'm sure that works great. IN THE SIXTIES.
When you're hundreds or thousands of years into Earths past or future, (hell even in the present), a big blue police call box is not a normal sight to see. And not just Earth. When he actually travels to an alien world, why would something from Earths culture be the perfect way to 'blend in' to this alien society?'
Wouldn'nt it make much more sense for the TARDIS to adapt its looks to that specific time period and culture? Surely it has the power to do so.
I know I know, budget reasons. But there is no logic in leaving the TARDIS as an old British police call box form all the time.
The one thing Moffat never gets credit for is, even though his budget did not drastically increase, his Who looked about fifty times better than RTD's.
Seriously, The End of Time and The Eleventh Hour were shot like four months apart from each other. The difference is night and day.
Seriously, The End of Time and The Eleventh Hour were shot like four months apart from each other. The difference is night and day.
That actually is discussed in-universe. There's this thing called a Chameleon Circuit which is supposed to make the TARDIS adapt to whatever environment it lands in. Thing is, that's been broken since he landed in the 60's back in the day. He's just never gotten around to fixing it. Who even knows where he'd find the parts nowadays with Gallifrey gone.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Doesn't he say he probably could but actually just likes how it looks at this point?
SigmasonicX
Member
Moreover, this is pointed out in the second episode of the entire series. As in, in the 60's. This is something they're well aware of, but decided to go with it.
More even than that: the Sixth Doctor got it working again for a few episodes. He didn't like it and broke it again.
dark_prinny
Banned
This.
Missing episodes are slowly turning back up.
SigmasonicX
Member
Some episodes are available on Netflix, most are available on DVD, and the living Doctor actors are still doing Doctor Who radio plays with companies like Big Finish.
Also The Horror Channel (Just recently added to Freeview, has been on satellite for a while) has classic Who daily.
Edit: Well, that's quite a coincidence. The story where Six fixed the TARDIS chameleon circuit briefly? Attack of the Cybermen. The story just started today on The Horror Channel? Attack of the Cybermen.
Yeah the big finish stuff is great, especially as McGann is my favourite doctor.
I love Big Finish audio dramas. I have trouble with the Tom Baker ones. I can hear his age in his voice and it's hard for me to go, "Ok, this is supposed to fit in right after The Key to Time" when I hear his voice and think Curator rather than Doctor, if you know what I mean.
Which makes me super sad. Who wouldn't want more adventures with this delightful fruitcake?
poopninjamvc3mk
I sucked six dicks to get this tag.
I wanna get into Doctor Who and was starting to, then they took it off amazon prime 
Dammit Amazon get the license back
Dammit Amazon get the license back
It's an uneven show, especially in the early seasons. But when you get one of those great episodes I think it's some of the best TV you can find. The most recent one, season 8, is really good. It has one or two clunkers (*cough* Forest *cough), otherwise very solid. It's also thematically quite dark and has some nice characterization.
I also dare anyone who calls it "kiddy" to watch something like Dark Water and then call it that again. The show is obviously never graphic, nor ever truly scary (not to me at least), but some of the scenes and concepts are unnerving to say the least.
So it's a very flexible show; it can be very goofy and "childish" one episode, and then be creepy the next. That's part of what makes it fun, I think; if you are to fully enjoy it you have to abandon any belief of what you think it should be, and just go along for the ride. Sometimes you simply don't like what you see, that's natural, but I've found that with an open mind I've grown to really like episodes that on paper shouldn't have been my cup of tea.
I also dare anyone who calls it "kiddy" to watch something like Dark Water and then call it that again. The show is obviously never graphic, nor ever truly scary (not to me at least), but some of the scenes and concepts are unnerving to say the least.
So it's a very flexible show; it can be very goofy and "childish" one episode, and then be creepy the next. That's part of what makes it fun, I think; if you are to fully enjoy it you have to abandon any belief of what you think it should be, and just go along for the ride. Sometimes you simply don't like what you see, that's natural, but I've found that with an open mind I've grown to really like episodes that on paper shouldn't have been my cup of tea.
APZonerunner
Member
It's not a 'kiddy' show, but it is a kids' show. I think Alex Kingston (River Song) said it best in an interview once - we all watch it, but the show really belongs to that 8-16 bracket. It's their show. The BBC, Moffat, RTD and people seem to agree with this concept broadly, too.
It's taken on an interesting shape in recent years though, as that's strictly a UK view but in the US it's taken on the veil of this cult nerd thing and isn't really watched by children much at all.
They didn't go to Venice, but they shot chunks of that episode in... Bulgaria, I think. Somewhere like that.
Yeah, the 'chameleon circuit broken' was the original reason, but IIRC when MS answered the question he said 'It isn't broken, the TARDIS has chosen to disguise itself as a Police Box.' or something similar.
But yeah, just about the oldest piece of Who-lore you can get.
super heated plasma - there's a ton of stuff in the OP that familiarity with the 'old' Who would provide answers for...although you'll really be dealing with a combination of really bad FX and full on British TV SF surrealism for the most part.
Also - its a fun, family show that has a reputation for making the kids hide behind the sofa during the scary parts. I realise that it now has this massive global audience, but at heart its a UK Saturday night primetime show and not some deep piece of drama dealing in complex social commentary like The Wire.
The worst part about Series 4 is what they did to Donna at the end. Goddamnit, she was my favorite companion and they ended her story like that.
Love and Monsters isn't even close to being the worst Series 2 episode (that's Fear Her by a loooooooooooooong shot).
It's supposed to be a kids show, but I always thought it was a pretty poor kids show due to how scary and creepy it is (but I think that's just because it's British). If it was ever remade in the US to go after the same audience; it would be a lot more childish.
Coffee Dog
Banned
I really love and hate this show. When it's on, it's fucking ON. But this show has a strange knack for ruining the ending of plotlines.
Kill The Moon's ending was so good that it actually destroyed the believability of both Clara and the doctor's character arcs afterwards because they could never follow through on it.
Kill The Moon's ending was so good that it actually destroyed the believability of both Clara and the doctor's character arcs afterwards because they could never follow through on it.
don't listen to this man. please
Hiding behind the sofa while watching Who was a big part of millions of kids lives when I was growing up, and New Who bought that back.
Why would being scary and creepy make something a poor children's show anyway?
Indeed scary and creepy moments have been one of the best thing for me in the series, but I think last season was quite weak on that side, Matt Smith era had the awesome Silence, but it's kind of hard for me pointing something remotely as unsettling in S8.
Except for the bit which means you watch Children of Earth.
This is how I feel most of the time, but I find myself coming back to it time and again partly due to nostalgia, and partly because there is the occasional fantastic episode.
The show oozes charm and has brilliant imagination. It's just a shame the writing is usually terrible and they don't give the slightest shit about plot holes or the story making sense.
Journey
Banned
It's definitely not at it's best right now due in part to Moffat's overuse of needlessly convoluted plot elements just for the sake of it.
That said, it's still a shitload better right now than it was during the time we had Davros and his Dalek Death Star... which was just the most truly awful time for the show.
Also, Capaldi and Coleman have fantastic chemistry, which is a big saving grace for the current form of the show.
Seconded. Torchwood is the fucking pits.
That said, it's still a shitload better right now than it was during the time we had Davros and his Dalek Death Star... which was just the most truly awful time for the show.
Also, Capaldi and Coleman have fantastic chemistry, which is a big saving grace for the current form of the show.
Seconded. Torchwood is the fucking pits.
War Peaceman
You're a big guy.
Agreed.
I've tried to watch it so many times but every time it disappoints. Just cheaply made and embarrassing.
To be honest, I was in Glasgow recently and there was a Police Box in the middle of the highstreet and everyone walked past it like it was part of the furniture. I joked to my girlfriend that maybe the Doctor was real all along and the TV show was just to make us comfortable with seeing these blue boxes around
Tick all of those down by 1 and I'd agree with you. Except Marsters was the only good thing about S2.
I don't know how RTD pulled off Season 3 considering everything that surrounded it.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
I don't get people calling it a kids show. Must be older kids if they can follow some of the crazy plot twists and insane pregnancy theories and stuff like we got in the Matt Smith series'. The plot is not really a kids show level plot.
Also some of the episodes deal with much more mature themes.
It's not Torchwood-level of adult, but I don't see it as a Spongebob counterpart.
Also some of the episodes deal with much more mature themes.
It's not Torchwood-level of adult, but I don't see it as a Spongebob counterpart.
"It’s camouflaged. It’s disguised as a police telephone box from 1963. Every time the TARDIS materialises in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing, it analyses its surroundings, calculates a twelve-dimensional data map of everything within a thousand-mile radius and then determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment.... and then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963."
The chameleon circuit is broken, and the Doctor doesn't really seem like he wants to fix it. He seems to like it blue. At one point in season 6 he does manage to
make it invisible briefly.
In the older Doctor Who shows, the Master's TARDIS works correctly, so you'd see him running into a fireplace or a pillar or something and making his escape.
super-heated plasma
Member
So this Captain Jack guy...they keep alluding that he's gay, but sometimes he seems interested in women. Like flirting with Rose and Martha. So is he bi?
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Omnisexual.
Would probably sleep with an Oscavarian chick for information.
runningjoke
Member
He will bang any and everything
Besides the in-universe reasons people said, the writers really don't dare to change it at this point, considering it has become such an iconic symbol of the show and it would probably make a lot of hardcore fans unhappy. I think Doctor Who fans are in for the adventures and humour, not so much narrative logic.
Well, it is a kids show. It's childish and cartoony and completely disinterested by "realism". But that's a problem because...?
This is ultimately like the "Nintendo is kiddy" thing. Yeah. It is.
Still gunna play fuckin' Mario, thank you very much!
Listen, let people who are apparently just far too mature of a grown up to watch Doctor Who look down their nose at it. In the meantime everyone else still interested in madcap time travel shenanigans can join me on the TARDIS for better entertainment than should be legally possible.
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