My take on the new Doctor Who season

[Mikey]

Well, i'm a little late on this but I finally watched the first 4 episodes of the Matt Smith series and now can give a little input on what I like and dislike so far.

I know i'm going to get a lot of heat for this from the fans but ...

First thing, i'm not a big Matt Smith fan ...
Yes, I know a lot of people seem to like him but personally I think he's barely "ok".

He's too young for my taste as to what the Doctor should be... I also think he acts too much like Tennant ... He's basically Tennant on meds.

As for the show itself, like Smith I think it's "ok" but barely anything better than that.

For some reason the whole show seems to give off a feeling of a cheap spinoff series rather than the direct continuation of Doctor Who... It feels like Sly McCoy's first year.

I don't hate Amy Pond but I wish for once they'd make the companion a secondary character instead of the star of the show.

Why must all new series companions have to be the savior of the universe EVERY SEASON ?

Some good things ...

Even though I don't like the few beginning bars I do like the new intro theme music ... Reminds me a little of the Trial of a Timelord intro theme.

I read Moffat actually wanted Smith to dress like a pirate as the Doctor and Smith refused saying he'd rather dress similar to Patrick Troughton ... Luckily for us AND THE SHOW Moffat agreed.

I do like the new classic outside look of the TARDIS ...

I'm not a fan of the TARDIS inside though... The inside really isn't outstandingly Doctor Who ... There were a few times they were in the TARDIS and I thought they were still somewhere else.

So to sum up ......

I like the show - of course I will keep watching it, but I don't love it.

IMO, the show is at it's worse point since the beginning of the New Series.

We all have our opinions, and that was mine

Thanks for reading

[wolfie]

I agree with you on the series, i watch it every week and it is ok and fun to watch but i do not think it is something great.

I just can't decide if i like the Doctor and Amy, more time needed here i think.

I thought the episode we just watched about which reality is the real one and which is the dream is the best one so far.

[ODBJBG]

I think the show is getting better, but I still have some cosmetic griefs myself as well. I haven't quite attached to the Doctor yet. And I agree, I don't think Amy should be a big important person. I liked that with Donna and with Rose, it wasn't so transparent. Even Martha's "saving the universe" bit wasn't hinted at. Amy's thing seems a bit like a retread, but we'll see. Surprisingly my GF seems to like the new Doctor fairly well, which is good because she gave early indications that she was going to hate him and I thought she was going to stop watching Who with me... But he's grown on her.

I know everyone LOVES Amy, but I've kind of found her annoying the last two episodes.

[johnmiic]

I just completed Vampires of Venice and am going to watch Amy's Choice next. I think that the show is pretty good but needs time to grow. I agree with Mikey in that the style of the show seems to be very Sylvester McCoy-like. Things are moving maybe a bit too fast and the level of the music seems to be too loud for my tastes, and some of the environments seem too obviously tricked in as a background matte, these are some of the hallmarks of the Sly era as I perceive them.

I don't think Matt is too young. I detect a certain professorly, aloofness in his Doctor we have not seen in Tennant's or Ecclestion's preformances. Tennant and particularly Ecclestion had very fresh takes on the Doctor. Ecclestion showing us a very mainstream, average bloke, type Doctor we have not seen before. It must have taken a lot of self-control on the producers parts not to just give Matt Smith a black leather jacket and make him be an average bloke but to try something else.

The biggest vibe I'm getting is a Peter Davison vibe. I feel Matt is either channelling Davison or perhaps because he is now the youngest actor to portray The Doctor, maybe the Davison vibe is sneaking in. Or perhaps he is channelling young Hartnell as Davison said he was doing in the 1980's.

I felt that his first story, The Eleventh Hour was a good intro. This is not technically a spoiler. He basically has to use his witts to solve the situation and his old standby's, the Tardis and Sonic Screwdriver, are of no use. I don't mind the new Tardis interior so much, (round roundels again-wheee!), as I dislike the change of console. Leave the console and change the walls. This seemed a bit like a merchandising ploy. Do you think everyone who bought the 2005 console toy will really run and go out and buy a 2010 console toy? They could have just got away with changing the details on the console faces and shrink the room down a bit.

[jds1911a1]

I agree with Mike so far this feels like Mccoy season 1 (which were the sillier ones).

I HATE the new Dalek design.

river song - disliked her in Silence of the library and even more so in angels (or maybe I just dislike the actress I can't be certain), I already expressed my distaste of the "you leave the brake on" statement since it is contrary to the tardis sound for all tardis's (or is that tardii) in the classic show not just the Doctors. - Moffat if you want to be clever or change things call Nick Briggs (BF productions producer and voice of the modern daleks) and run it by him he is enough of a hardcore fan to keep you from stepping in the proverbial dog poop with another statement that is entirly contridictory to the classic show

BTW if you watch episode 1 at the end when the doctor is showing amy the control room the scanner ociliscope also has the crack shape in it's read out - my guess about why that is:


the explosion through time is becuase of the damage done to the tardis in end of time and it's corresponding need to regnerate itself

[Mikey]

I HATE the new Dalek design.

I don't hate the new Dalek design, but i'm not very fond of it.
To me it's just another example of something JNT would do in the late 80's - meaning change something for no other reason than for the sake of doing so.

The problem with Moffat is I think he's a good writer but not a very good producer.

Everyone loves (or at least likes) City On The Edge of Forever --- But NOBODY would ever even consider hiring Harlan Ellison as Star Treks producer.

Producing is a talent in itself.

[palitoy]

I think Moffat is a great producer, this feels more like the classic series than it has in years.

Smith's take on the Doctor is new but familiar, he's forgotten his social graces, has a temper but he's still the Doctor.

I'm not real in love with the Tardis console either, it feels like it's from a kids show but it can't ruin the rest of the show for me either.

[Mikey]

I've always hated the later Davison+ console too.

http://whovian.us/img/oldConsole.JPG

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