Also, convince me it’s not supergay, which is a serious feeling I get from it. Or if it is supergay, explain to me that this is part of the conscious appeal.
Oh, Devin. You rascal. Pushing buttons and taking names.
There’s fans of Dr. Who?
Honest question: how is Dr. Who different from original Trek? They both just seem silly, campy sci-fi shows with rubber monsters.
Note that I don’t have a connection to either and kind of like them both, from what little I’ve seen of them (scattered, random episodes here and there).
Nah, Dr. Who is just on Netflix Watch It Now and I’m wondering if it’s worth the effort of watching four or five episodes (which is what you really have to give a TV show to be fair to it). I have a lifelong aversion to Dr. Who - used to watch it on PBS simply because it was scifi on television - but I hear so much about the new one.
Kinda depends on what you have seen. Some of it IS pretty crap and nigh undefendable but the gold in this property is fucking awesome. Any of the recent episodes that Steve Moffat wrote for example are some of the best television out there, if you can’t get behind his stuff the character and indeed the whole concept of the show just isn’t going to work for you.
From the new stuff try Girl in the Fireplace, Blink and the two parter Unearthly Child/The Doctor Dances. If you can’t get into any of that you won’t like any of it.
But yeah; it’s totally gay.
I think it helps to be british?
I haven’t watched since I was a kid, but I have friends who watch this, as well as other fine programming such as Lost and BSG. These friends also watch Stargate Maguyver and NCIS. Take that as you will.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by devincf View Post Also, convince me it’s not supergay, which is a serious feeling I get from it. Or if it is supergay, explain to me that this is part of the conscious appeal. |
The show runner is openly gay, so that’s a fair reading.
I like the show. I have nostalgia for the original series, and the new one is a decent update, so there’s that. I don’t know if it’s possible to convert someone to the show. There’s an episode in the third series called “Blink” that is the show at it’s best; if you find nothing to enjoy in that episode, it isn’t for you.
HEROES is the worst thing ever.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Chris Miller View Post I think it helps to be british? |
Or Australian.
It’s a weird thing, none of my American friends can stand it. They just can’t seem to click with the show, period. Even the good stuff they think is shit.
I always much preferred this to Trek; its less rigid and poe faced.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Aquafresh View Post HEROES is the worst thing ever. |
Yeah I’ll fight anyone who tries to tell me Doctor Who is the worse shit on tv as long as fucking Heroes is still running.
As bad as HEROES is, there will always just be a manageable number of episodes. Part of what irks me about Who (and I know this is weird) is that there’s 2000 episodes spread over 4 decades.
All I’ve seen is the Tennant stuff and some of it is pretty great.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by devincf View Post Part of what irks me about Who (and I know this is weird) is that there’s 2000 episodes spread over 4 decades. |
Nah that’s not weird, there is so much of it spread out over such a huge amount of time and so much of it is patchy it’s almost impossible to come to grips with if you didn’t grow up with it. All you need to do is watch the first episode of the new series, Rose, and anything from half way through season 1 onwards…first few episodes of the relaunched version are shit.
Honestly there are some of the best science fiction stuff out there in some of the new stuff. It’s pretty good.
I’ve seen enough (of the new ones) to know that I don’t love the show, but I admit that the best episodes are very solid and even the worst aren’t embarrassing. Definitely supergay and definitely far from being the worst anything ever.
The thing about Dr. Who is, it’s for British kids. You can’t compare it to a BSG or even Star Trek because the intended audience isn’t the same. There will always be a juvenile element to Dr. Who; you either roll with it or you don’t. Also, being a fan of British TV helps.
EDIT: The best episodes across the board are written by Stephen Moffat. The good news is that he’s taking over as show runner in 2010, so maybe the gayness will be lessened.
The newer series haven’t been aimed at kids at all. They might be accessible to kids, but I don’t think you can say the Doctor/Rose dynamic was geared towards children.
One of the most successful aspects of the show is how broad an audience it can appeal to. One episode will have shitty retarded looking cutesy pie aliens, the next will have a gag about a womans face being grafted onto a piece of cement and offering her boyfriend a blow job. It alternates between nice and nasty almost effortlessly at times.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by Richard Dickson View Post The newer series haven’t been aimed at kids at all. They might be accessible to kids, but I don’t think you can say the Doctor/Rose dynamic was geared towards children. |
It totally is. It’s a chaste schoolboy/schoolgirl crush.
You’ll hate the shit out of Doctor Who Devin, I guarantee it. And the supergay element is definitely a concious part of the show, the new series is something that I enjoy but it super campy at times.
I love the shit out of the show because I like the character and I like a lot of the writers involved enough to let the occasional transgression past but deep at its heart it’s a show that is designed for 7-14 year olds and you have to have a serious case of arrested development to get anything out of it.
If you do give any episodes a go I’d suggest trying Human Nature/The Family of Blood, probably one of the strongest standalone episodes I’ve seen on the show.
Looking back at that I have to add that it really is designed as ‘light’ viewing, it’s aired in the early evening late afternoon on Saturdays over here and is designed as a lead-in to prime time shows
And Rose/Doctor is probably the most juvenile relationship since the the Twilight Books. Just because it went on forever didn’t mean it had any depth.