Doctor Who SF Reboot! - Series 7 part 2

[starkat]

I highly doubt it. They usually don't air it online. It's airing middle of the day here in the U.S. this time.

[coracle]

It's going to be shown all over the world (even in New Zealand) so try to find a TV channel.

[AslansChild]

Yeah, but you need a tellie with cable to watch it on. I'll just have to look around, the BBC iPlayer has a slot for it that just says: "Coming Soon", so I'll just keep an eye on that.

[Ithilwen]

I watched the 50th Anniversary Special. My thoughts:

SHOW SPOILER

So, the Doctor never destroyed Gallifrey. Which means all his angst and character development during the entirety of NuWho was for nothing. BUT. A few questions...

1. What about the fact that the Time Lords had become just as bad as the Daleks? What about the fact that *they* too wanted to destroy the entire universe, so that they could become "creatures of consciousness alone"?

2. What about the Army of Meanwhiles and Neverweres led by the Could've Been King, and the Horde of Travesties, and the Nightmare Child; the "war turned into hell"?

3. What about the fact that Rassilon and Gallifrey were "brought back" and then -- along with the Master -- were sent "back into hell"?

4. As much as I *love* seeing a Tom Baker/Fourth Doctor cameo, how could the Fourth Doctor get old and "retire", becoming a museum curator, when we all saw him regenerate into Five when he was still young?

5. How did all the previous Doctors know to show up at the Time War, when they had no knowledge that the Time War was going to occur, since it's in their future?

6. Moffat said that the numbering of the Doctors wouldn't change because John Hurt wasn't called "The Doctor". Yet, in the 50th, he emphasized that John Hurt really is the Doctor. So... does the numbering change?

~Riella

[coracle]

Just found this article:

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/11/five-reasons-doctor-owes-c-s-lewis-debt-gratitude/

[King_Erlian]

Not sure of the answers to the rest of Ithilwen's points, but to address no. 4:
I think the dialogue between Tom Baker and Matt Smith implied that at some future time (the problem of the limit of 12 regenerations presumably having been solved), the Doctor would be able to choose the form his regenerations took and on one occasion, he would choose to regenerate into a "copy" of his fourth regeneration - Tom Baker's character said something about "revisiting old faces, but only the favourite ones".

[Puddleglum]

SarahHighland.
Welcome. I too enjoyed the book versions of the classic series when I was able to find them. I remember the one you mention. It is always interesting to read these, and other books from varying series of decades ago. Not only for the stories themselves, which were suprisingly well written, but for how things were politically, and socially "back then".

[Puddleglum]

Unfortunatly I no longer posses as many books as before, much of my "library" being in boxes since shelf space is limited.
I know what you mean about the differnce in authors. But we must remember that many had to write on a schedual, and unfortunatly fell into catch phrases to fill in the required pages.
Not being too off topic, even "masters of sci-fi fantasy" such as Edgar Rice Burrughs fell into that trap. I seldom find one of his Mars books that does not contain, the phrase "barbaric splendore" in every chapter.
It looks like you have a good reading habit, and are willing to examine detail. good. To many today are satisfied in only watching, and boor easily when a book is in there hands. I say they are the ones missing out.
Keep the pages turning!

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Terrance Dicks was fine as a scriptwriter but not so much as a novelist. Malcolm Hulke really was king when it came to Doctor Who novelizations.

[Ithilwen]

Malcolm Hulke was a secular humanist in his beliefs - after his untimely death, he had a humanist funeral - but he often mentioned Christian concepts like heaven and the bible in his Doctor Who novelisations. Of course this isn't really strange - it's not impossible for a secular humanist to have an interest in Christian mythology or to value Jesus for his ethical teachings - but it is interesting.

Oh, that is interesting!

I've really wanted to read the novelizations of Doctor Who stories, but I can't find them anywhere. =/ So far, I've only been able to find one, and that's The Ark in Space. I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, but I think it's pretty cool that it's written by Ian Marter.


~Riella

[King_Erlian]

One thought on the Christmas episode of "Doctor Who":
If it's so easy to give a Time Lord a new cycle of regenerations, why didn't the Time Lords give each other new cycles all the time, and render themselves immortal? It couldn't have been that easy because in "The Five Doctors" (1983), President Borusa went to enormous lengths to discover Rassilon's secret of immortality.

[Princess Frances]

The fifth Doctor says to Borusa in The Five Doctors: "You want to be President throughout your remaining regenerations?"

Borusa doesn't want another regeneration cycle, he wants _true_ immortality.

[parableproductions]

I'm just now watching the new Doctor Who (Netflix to the rescue again) - only on the second season. I also watched all of the Classic Who episodes they had.

I'm enjoying it so far.

As far as which Doctor I like best - well, I like all of them that I've seen so far. But, Tom Baker will always be Doctor Who to me. He played the roll the longest and was my first encounter with the Doctor back when I was in high school. When I see him in anything, I immediately think of the Doctor. (Of course, every time I see Ron Howard, I think of Opie Taylor - so that's not a slam about acting ability).

[Princess Frances]

There are dozens of "the Doctor visits Narnia" stories but they are never as good as CS Lewis would have written it. How would the Doctor really cope facing judgement by Aslan?

[starkat]

They have finally put up season 7 of Doctor Who on Netflix. Finally! I've been waiting for this for awhile. Just wish they'd put up the 50th anniversary show as well.

[stargazer]

I've finally gotten round to seeing the most recent Christmas special. Spoilers follow, but at this late date I won't hide them.

I found season 8 generally disappointing, though it had its moments. In that light, the Christmas show was rather enjoyable. It openly referred to Alien, comparing the aliens in-show to those in the movie ("There's a horror movie named Alien? That's really offensive. No wonder everybody keeps invading you.").

It also has themes from Inception with its dream-in-dream states, totems that let you know you're dreaming (in a sense, at least. Here, it's the dreamers' imaginations bringing in Santa Claus to let them know they're still dreaming), and dreams not always being distinguishable from reality.

Another theme is that Christmas is important because each one might be the last one we spend with someone (hence the title, "Last Christmas"). Sentimental, to be sure, but I reflected on this thought in my old age.