What's wrong with the new Doctor Who?

[retyopy]

So I've been watching Zero Punctuation, and to say that he dislikes the new Doctor Who is an understatement. He despises it. He detests it. He wishes to throw it under a bus and fuck its mom while it watches, its intestines being spun around the wheels of aforementioned bus like string around a yoyo. But I like the New Doctor Who. I watched a few o fthe old ones and I scampered back to David Tennant and Matt Smith faster than you can say "but" in "but..." and then sputter out an argument. Which is were YOU come in, escapists! tell me what was so great about the old doctor who. Or what is so sucky about the new doctor who. Or something.

 

[JoJo]

I've never seen a whole old Doctor Who episode, but from clips I've seen I guess they were fun in their time but a little out-dated now, especially in the special effects department. Therefore I'd say that it's simply the same sort of nostalgia that has some people swear that the original Pokemon games are superior to the modern day ones, or that cartoons/music/games/kids were so much better when they were young.

 

[Seishisha]

What i personaly dislike about this new series by that i mean the latest and is the main reason i stopped watching it, the plot seems to have taken a massive dive of a bottomless cliff, where are all the good villians like the cybermen or just some strange brush creature on some random planet; all dead apparently? now its focused too heavily on the woman screaming "doctor" and him spending 30 mins looking like a pillock before pulling some magic ending out of his arse.

 

[ThorneRainfall]

When did he say that? I don't remember it myself.

I personally am a very recent fan of Doctor Who, but I really like Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and I enjoy the little I have seen of David Tennant and Matt Smith. Chances are that his image of the Doctor is not the same as ours, and as such he cannot bring himself to accept the character for what it has become.

Of course it is important to note that it's his opinion and his opinion alone. He's not necessarily RIGHT by any regard, but neither are we.

 

[tomtom94]

snip

You want to know where all the good villains went? Firstly the majority all went into the mid-season finale, and then, more urgently, into the MAJOR production and budget issues affecting Doctor Who at the moment. The random Ood in Neil Gaiman's episode, for instance, was brought on because they couldn't afford to make the alien he wanted.
Two of the shows' producers have left, which is having an effect on production values and timeframes.
Rumour has it that the series next year won't start until the autumn at the earliest and that the BBC might be being forced into doing four specials again, cause that worked so well before -.-

If I'm honest, I love new Doctor Who, and I think that it's mostly because of the writing - Steven Moffat is just leaps and bounds ahead of Russell T Davies. Can't wait for the new episode on Saturday.

 

[alrekr]

Well this may be due not because Matt Smith isn't very good but because Russel T Davis isn't doing the proper Doctor Who episodes anymore and instead we have the some of the people who did many of the Doctor Who Lite episodes.

The current plot just doesn't thread together that well, feel organic enough.

Back to Smith. The problem is that sometimes he lets Amy and Rory steal the show (Amy often comes across with more than Smith. This is a problem because he's THE DOCTOR. Tennat's Doctor seemed to know what was going on most of the time and just wasn't letting on; whereas Smith's Doctor seems to be a bit more on spot with his ideas. However this is most likely down to a downgrade is script quality

Bottom Line: People writing most of the episodes (some of my favourite ones this season had guest writers) are not as good as the people from previous versions.

 

[Timmehexas]

I enjoy them, I try and take each new doctor as a slighty different show, it keeps me from thinking how much I liked whatever doctor better.

especially in the special effects department.

I loled.

 

[CrashBang]

I adore Matt Smith. Granted, the only other Doctor Who episodes I've seen were the Eckleston ones (which were awesome) but Smith is everything I imagine the Doctor to be. He's enthusiastic but serious, wacky yet under control. He shows so much emotion and passion yet remains mysterious and his wardrobe kicks all kinds of ass!

 

[Rawne1980]

There hasn't been a good doctor since Sylvester McCoy.

 

[chaosyoshimage]

The Matt Smith version of The Doctor is the only one I've seen and I love it. I finally found a character I can relate to.

 

[retyopy]

There hasn't been a good doctor since Sylvester McCoy.

Wow... Thanks for the clarification on why the show isn't good any more.

 

[DannyJBeckett]

The problem with Doctor Who nowadays is that they've turned him into an action hero. Back in the old series, he destroyed the Dalek race and ended the time war by touching two wires together.

In the current series they have him flying damaged spaceships through massive aerial battles. They're sacrificed the fact that he's NOT a tough-as-nails war-hero armed to the teeth with a death wish for sheer spectacle.

I liked the Eccleston's series, and the first 2 Tennant series', but after that it went arse-backwards off the cliff of stupid.

 

[WolfThomas]

Regardless of the ups and downs of quality, it's still Doctor Who. Which means it's still awesome fun for the whole family.

 

[nothingspringstomind]

I adore the show and have seen most of the old series as i grew up on them. (Pyramids of Mars scared the shit out of me when i was little.)

The new series have been some of the only t.v. shows i actually get excited about since i was a kid.

This weekend is going to be awesome. Deus Ex on friday and then the new Doctor Who on saturday!

*Squees until had explodes*

 

[Rawne1980]

There hasn't been a good doctor since Sylvester McCoy.

Wow... Thanks for the clarification on why the show isn't good any more.

ooookay, allow me to elaborate.

Sylvester McCoy was The Doctor in the 80's when some of us here were kids and he was our first Doctor. I'll grant you the bad guys didn't look all that great but they never really have in Doctor Who anyway. So with him being the first Doctor we saw and slapping on a pair of lovely nostalgia goggles, he's my favourite.

Now then, on to the modern.

It returned to our screens after a long absence with Christopher Eccleston stepping in as The Doctor.

Now Eccleston already has a pretty large fan base from his previous acting roles in the likes of Cracker, 28 Days Later and Gone in 60 Seconds. We already knew he was a decent actor and would probably fit the role well.

And he did, he played it a little bit nuts to keep in line with previous Doctors but didn't go too far over the top and when he did serious parts it was believable.

So he did one season and decided he didn't want to just be known as "The Doctor" so he stepped down and made way for David Tennant.

As soon as Tennant arrived you could hear girls tongues slapping on the floor all over the country including my eldest daughters. Instantly he'd done a good job because he was likeable.

Not only did he manage to pull off the less serious side of the Doctors Character he pulled off the more serious side aswell. When he made threats you could believe them. When he got into a fight you could believe it. When he started to lose control a bit towards the end of his reign it was utterly enjoyable.

When he left, no one knew who could fit the role as well as he did. He'd won the nation so to speak.

Now before I get to Matt Smith I just want to remind the people that Doctor Who was always seen as a family show that everyone gathered around on a Saturday to watch.

So up pops an unknown entity in Matt Smith.

Previously we'd been given Doctors who managed to pull off the serious and the insane and do it pretty damn well. Now were given a Doctor that looks like he's barely past puberty.

He does manage to pull off the whacky side fairly well but it's just not believable when he tries to be serious. He makes a threat and I have visions of the "bad" guys giggling wondering if they hurt him will he get his mum.

But that I can tolerate, Doctor Who has never been a serious show it's entertainment so lets suspend disbelief for a minute and look at the real reason a lot of people hate the show now.

The old head writer writer that did Eccleston and Tennants story lines quit.

In step Steven Moffat to the role of head writer. Now he'd already written for the previous 2 Doctors but this would be his first time running the show.

For a show that had been a family show up until now it went entirely the wrong way. It tried to do far too much and leave far too many twists and ask far too many questions that people eventually said "look, bollocks to it I give up". Not because they couldn't follow it (although there are people out there who couldn't and I don't blame them, most of it made no fucking sense) but because it never answered any of the questions.

So it went through bollocks after bollocks and dragged through a few more twists and turns just incase anyone managed to follow what thin plot they had and they wanted them shook loose. In the end all we were given is "who is River Song" which most of us had guessed quite a few episodes ago.

In closing, the main reason it's not as "popular" as it was before Matt Smith isn't really his fault. It's gone from an easy viewing family show to trying to turn into a psychology mind fuck with a guy who isn't the best writer who's works i've been subjected to.

Matt isn't a terrible Doctor. Yeah he's a bit young and baby faced and about as firghtning as a jelly baby but he is trying and he isn't doing a really bad job.

It's the story lines that are letting it down and turning off the families that make up the bulk of the Doctors fans.

Hope that help, sorry for my lack of input before.