Tag: Dr Who

I’ve been a Doctor Who fan as long as I can remember

Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor, what a wasted opportunity in a sea of wasted opportunities

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I finally watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special. I’d put it off for a bit, but finally I decided to watch it. What an enormous disappointment it was.

Now it’s only fair to say that the last season or so of Matt Smith’s doctor hasn’t been something I’ve enjoyed. On the whole I think it’s been way too sentimental, without clear individual stories, or indeed any real story arc. The main focus of Doctor Who has changed since the ‘reboot’. Over time it has moved. In the ‘original’ or ‘pre-reboot’ stories, each episode or story was about how the Doctor solved a particular problem or crisis, usually involving one or more alien races or enemies. The relationship with his companion(s) was there to serve the story and help to move it along in a variety of different ways, and different companions had different methods to assist the Doctor.

This has all now changed. In the post re-boot Doctor Who world the situation is completely reversed. The story now only exists to serve the relationship between the Doctor and his companion. Notice that there is almost never more than one companion now. This is best shown by the latest Christmas ‘special’, although I can find precious little that is special about it. In this episode, you had the daleks, the cybermen, and the sontarans, together with many others mentioned although not shown. The daleks had the most to do, although that’s not saying much at all. The cybermen had almost nothing to do at all and the sontarans were merely there for comedy value. What a waste of good aliens.

But the actually story (what exceptionally little of it there was), was only about The Doctor and his companion. Everything else was entirely superfluous. Even the Christmas dinner seemed to serve no purpose at all.  So what’s the whole thing about now?  It’s not the aliens, it’s not the planet, it’s not even about the regeneration, which was dealt with in just a couple of minutes. In effect Doctor Who has just become about the relationship between the Doctor and his current companion, that’s it, that’s all, and nothing more. The science fiction element is almost entirely incidental now, and that’s why I almost can’t watch it anymore.

I have high hopes for the new Doctor, but it’ll only work if the writing is spot on, and so far it’s just got worse and worse, and shows no signs of getting better. The really sad thing is that there’s no need for Doctor Who to be this bad. When you compare the current state of the television show against the stories that Big Finish put together there’s no contest at all. So why don’t the BBC just get Big Finish to take over the whole thing and make it awesome? That’s the question I’d like them to answer, although I’ve no expectation that it will happen.

So it’s an enormous shame, a great missed opportunity, and a terrible way to end Matt Smith’s Doctor. Please, someone at the BBC, sort this out. It really isn’t that hard.

Doctor Who: Hornets’ Nest – the Dead Shoes

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

The second story in this first series from Paul introduces the third of the trio who are to be so significant throughout these stories. I won’t say who, as it might spoil it if you ever do listen to these stories, and they’re well worth it too in my book.

The second story is a nice time traveling jaunt with some lovely typically english characters and the Doctor being his usual self. It moves on the story arc just the right amount without giving away too much and delivers on its own story just as well. It also sets up a few things very nicely for later on, much later on in fact.

So of course I’d recommend it without a second thought. It’s a great story (as part of the arc) and it’s available on iTunes. Click below.

Doctor Who: Hornet’s Nest – the Stuff of Nightmares

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

I can remember finding out about this story and buying it on iTunes and then listening to it on a train home one winters evening and being struck by just how much fun it was to listen to. Whilst on the one hand it was a very traditional fourth Doctor story, it was also different in the way it was told and how it was constructed. A nicely congruent departure for number 4. Added to that was the excellent script, which I’m sure was added to by Mr Baker, it was, and still is a joy to listen to.

My favourite line from that particular story is “Glumly I had a terrible pot of tea and a damp Garibaldi“, which speaks volumes about the story and the writing.

Even though I know the story very well I can still safely say that it’s one of my favourites out of all of the stories in the whole series. Perhaps because it’s the beginning, perhaps because it’s lovely to hear old and new characters come back into a story. I don’t know, and perhaps it’s better like that.

Doctor Who, Paul Magrs, and some wonderful stories

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

Having just finished listening to all three story arcs by Paul Magrs I thought I might write a little something about each of these lovely stories. So expect some waffling on about Doctor Who over the next few days. Not that you wouldn’t expect waffling on about Doctor Who if you’re a regular reader of this blog.

Starting Serpent Crest

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

I’ve listened to the Hornet’s nest and Demon Quest, and now it’s time for the third in the Paul Magrs set of stories, Serpent Crest. I don’t think I’ve listened to this for about a year or so and I’m looking forward to hearing it again this week. The whole thing is in 5 episodes and runs for about five and a half hours, which is just about right for listening to in a week.

That should keep me going until some new Doctor Who arrives in January anyway.

New Who!

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

Ok, not exactly new Doctor Who, and, in fact, arguably not Doctor Who as these are of course “Companion Chronicles”. However, they are the remaining Mary Tamm stories that I haven’t heard, so I’m looking forward to listening to them a great deal.

 

Doctor Who: The Sands of Life

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

Another great fourth doctor story with Mary Tamm, and with the excellent inclusion of David Warner. This is the second story in Big Finish’s second season for Tom Baker, and this story is really the kick off for the main story arc in the series. It’s a great story arc too, and David Warner is at the centre of it. It’s far more like a serious Doctor Who story as opposed to the Auntie Matter, which was quite frivolous and yet wonderful to listen to.

The Sands of Life is quite a traditional story in many ways. The doctor meets a life form he’s not met before which is threatening all life on earth but only due to a mistake caused by Cuthbert (played by David Warner). I won’t say anymore about the story in case you do listen to it. I’d recommend it, it’s an excellent story and it continues with “War with the Laan”, but more of that another day.

Doctor Who: Demon Quest

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

So I’ve moved on to the next set of 4th Doctor stories from the Hornet’s Nest, the Demon Quest story. Again it’s a five part story, each part being around an hour long and it has the same core characters as hornet’s nest as it is in effect a continuation from the end of the hornet’s nest.

But five hours is a good long time to develop a whole story. Of course each episode is a self contained story in its own right, but the whole thing hangs together very nicely too. It’s a nice arc and that’s what I really like about these three stories or arcs from Paul Magrs. It’s a shame in a way that there won’t be any more of these, or at least it’s my expectation that there won’t be more of them as Tom Baker has moved on to working with Big Finish now. Not that that isn’t a great thing in itself as the work he’s done there is excellent. But like any fan I always want more!

What else would you expect?

Doctor Who: The Auntie Matter

Posted by on in Books and Audiobooks

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After watching the Day of the Doctor I decided to go back to listening to some old(new) doctor who. I thought I’d listen to the second season of the fourth doctor from big finish. The first episode, the auntie matter, is just awesome. Great fun and a very good way to start off the season again.

The Day of the Doctor

Posted by on in TV

Well I watched it, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. In fact there were bits I actually quite liked about it. However, my one question overall is about why there’s a new doctor inserted into the chronology, and what does that mean for the overall chronology of doctor who. I suppose it means that overall every doctor after Paul McGann moves up a number, making the new doctor (who I very much approve of) number 13. Isn’t that a problem?

If I remember correctly, in the Keeper of Traken the Master was on his 13th regeneration and couldn’t regenerate after that, although of course he did regenerate but it was at someone else’s expense, Tremas’ expense actually (and of course Tremas is an anagram of Master).

So will the latest doctor be the 13th regeneration? If so, what happens after him? Obviously I’m guessing that the writers will just find a mechanism to get around it. Hopefully not like the master though, I don’t think it’d be very popular for the doctor to subsume another person.

Of course the best thing about it was the return of Gallifrey, or at least its restoration. I always thought that the whole thing with the time lords at the end of Tennant’s doctor was awful and massive mistake not in keeping with how the time lords had been described before. At least now all of that nonsense has been undone.

Anyway, so a not bad effort overall. With a 50th celebration it’s always going to be hard to pull off and this one wasn’t bad at all.