Any Doctor Who Fans? **UK AIR-DATE SPOILERS ABOUND** — Page 2

Daleks -- wouldn't be a proper Dr. Who exhibit without them!

OH.MY.GOD I want to go there.

---

They even had the TARDIS there, but of course it was locked so no one could get inside

See, I didn't like the NEXT DOCTOR. Compared to the season, it just seemed rushed.

Unfortunately, I don't have any money to go

---

I've loved the new seasons of Dr. Who. I've never been able to get into the earlier series - they just seemed to cheesy to me! To me Tenant was fantastic -- I didn't think I'd like him after Eccleston, but I did. My favorite episode was EASILY "Blink" - that was on the level of "Hush" from Buffy for scariest thing I've ever seen on TV. I actually liked Rose as the companion the best - I found Donna to be extremely annoying and didn't like the last season nearly as much as the earlier ones (I did like Martha as well)

Although I don't really like Torchwood (I can't stand the lead actress), any episode with Jack Harness was awesome.

And when we found out what the Face of Boe was -- just brilliant!

---

Honestly, I just found Donna to be whiny and irritating. I couldn't understand how after the previous two companions the Doctor would find her interesting at all.

---

I did like Left Turn -- that was a very strong episode, though I've seen stories along those lines before.

---

I have also become a huge fan of the Doctor. (because of Yoda's urging, I resisted for a long time beforehand becuase I thought I would love it, become obsessed, and then have to OCD my way through 30 seasons of information. All of that happened in the end.) I love NewWho, but I also really am enjoying my research and watching Classic Who.

I have many responses to all the points posted here, and some other things I'm interested in raising at points but I'm tired so I doubt I will get most of it out now.

Like Yoda the Tenth Doctor is "my doctor" (the present doctor when I started, and the first I saw of NewWho, although I have seen and enjoyed a few 4th doctor stories back when I was less than 10) and as empirical evidence over all the years points to, because I that I tend to enjoy him the most.

I agree in principle with many of Plum's points though, he is a bit of a jerk, very inhumane (being inhuman and all, it seems right to me) and obsessed with Rose. All of that makes me like him more, his manic joy at the world is underscored by a depth of darkness that goes far beyond the "warrior" surface anger of 9. Which I don't think is detriment to either, just a difference.
My theory is that this at least in part because 9 was "born of war" whereas 10 was "born of Rose."

Now on the religious imagery of the Doctor as God or Christ figure with 10, my understanding of this is actually the same as Plum's in one way, which is that 10 is a horrible God and inadequate as savior but constantly being put up in that position. Rather than being a failure of writing though, I see this as a triumph of the theme and the character. One of the big, not so secret "socio-political" positions underling the series is a distinct distaste and distrust for religion. There is no "God" in who, but the Doctor has "the power of a God" and it can, and in one of the things I love about the show all the way back, does corrupt him. He has to have a companion who will somehow help him keep his rationality over his need to be a God.

I think each of the companions has an interesting piece of this overall tale, and I really love the differences of the interactions between them. Even the true horribleness that is the way 10 treats Martha is rooted in something that has interest for me. Sometimes this meta argument has to exist on a plane above and beyond the script though, as the script is too weak to support the ideas. (Although that is the joy for me of a fantasy universe as wide as Who's, the Doctor is and can be more than even his writers have him be.)

---

Donna Noble was one of the greatest television characters ever.

Word.

ll of that makes me like him more, his manic joy at the world is underscored by a depth of darkness that goes far beyond the "warrior" surface anger of 9. Which I don't think is detriment to either, just a difference.
My theory is that this at least in part because 9 was "born of war" whereas 10 was "born of Rose."

A description I totally agree with - my reaction was just different, because when I see a 1000-year-old alien getting romantically obsessed with a 20-year-old girl, I get a little freaked out. It was weird enough with Nine, but by the time Ten came along they were totally absorbed in each other, Rose was creepily possessive to the point of not even wanting Mickey on the TARDIS, and I just wasn't feeling the feminist thing the show's creators kept insisting Rose was. Feminism is not saying your entire life and happiness are totally dependent on a man. Rose attempted to blow apart the universe to get back to the Doctor. That ain't right. But then, I've always been more Jane Austen than Emily Bronte.

Then came Martha, who could have been a lovely character in her own right, but then turned out to be created as nothing but the "rebound" for poor Ten's broken heart after Rose, which again, hit my feminism buttons like woah. She was worth a lot more than her romantic value to the Doctor - companions shouldn't be measured against each other that way at all. But that's what was going on in Martha's season, and it made me think less of Ten for being such a dickweed.

Whereas with Donna, thank Betsy, Ten somehow felt free to just be a friend. I really think he and the show were diminished by the Rose romance crap, so to finally be free of it for most of a season was fantastic. I finally felt like Ten cared about something other than a blonde, that he had an emotional stake in this saving the day thing apart from high-handedly screaming and destroying anyone who annoyed him. When he acted like an ass, Donna called him out on it. I liked that they fought.

Rose and Nine fought, early on, but the only time she fought with Ten was when she thought he wasn't his one and only forever and ever. Which...what? He's over a thousand, woman! How vain can you get? Martha only fought once she finally got over the Doctor romantically, which didn't happen until he got her family kidnapped and her apartment blown to bits. I like Doctor-Companion fighting. It means the companion isn't just smiling and letting the mighty Doctor do what he wants because he's the bestest - it means she's still thinking for herself, which means she can yell at the Doctor when he's wrong. It makes the companion better and the Doctor better.

Which is an extremely long-winded way of saying that Donna was brilliant, and there's something to be said for having a companion who isn't barely out of high school. I sincerely hope Eleven has a companion who's older than him (not that that's difficult), because the dynamic should be fascinating.

Also, I'll be grateful to Stephen Moffat forever for making "Blink", not only because it's a brilliant episode in its own right, but because it's the ideal self-contained intro episode to Doctor Who for people who haven't seen it before. Very useful stuff. :)

I need to find some money so I can buy season 2 of Torchwood (or they need to release it on netflix as a "Play Now" show like they did with the first 3 seasons of Dr. Who)

Meh, i LIVE for special features (especially commentaries on TV Shows) so I'd rather get it on DVD.

Spidey, watch "The Shakespeare Code" and tell me he wasn't giving Martha mixed signals. But the larger issue is the fact that the writers thought the unrequited crush thing would actually make a good storyline. It mostly made me retroactively resent Rose and want to smack the Doctor and tell Martha to just get away from him. Seriously agonizing stuff. I wanted to watch Martha for Martha, not Martha-as-inadequate-substitute-for-glorious-Rose.

Does anyone here watch The Sarah Jane Adventures? Because sometimes it's my favorite of the three Who-universe shows - sweet, thoughtful, and not caught up in the romance bollocks that tripped up the original show.