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Originally Posted by Zeke
I too beg to differ, Valium. I've only seen three episodes so far, but they had plenty of good sci-fi in them. The pilot was great (I've watched it twice now and even based a scene of Cliffhangers 7 on it), the second episode was wacky but fun, and "Dalek" was marvelous, if a bit misguided near the end. ("He's not the one pointing a gun at me"? He was pointing the gun at the DALEK to SAVE you. Blatch.)
Now granted, I'm coming into this as a new Who viewer. But I tend to think that if something stands up well on its own merits, it deserves credit even if it doesn't serve its larger context quite as well. Mega Man X7, for example, does basically nothing to advance the complicated storyline of the first six games -- but while that's annoying, what should matter more is whether it's a good game. Similarly, Season 3 of ENT dropped all the plot threads from the first two seasons in favour of a self-contained storyline -- but the result was the best season of Trek in years. That's a trade I'm willing to make.
Besides, judging from some of the Who fivers I've read, the first eight Doctors had some pretty silly adventures. ("The Ark," anyone?) Surely the Ninth Doctor can't be that much worse. |
Yes, yes he can. While the other Doctors had SOME bad stories they also had a lot more truly fantastic (I hate that word now!) stories, with actual PLOTS, dialogue which wasn't 60% single-entendre and 40% plain bad (although Time and the Rani comes close to s7 of TNG in technocrapple).the majority of this last season was...craptaciously appaling.
Also, Zeke, remember that you have read the fivers written by other people. A fiver is, by definition, a parody. The real stories are not accurately reflected. The new series of Doctor Who has cut just about all ties it can with the old, had possibly the most outstandingly brutish doctor imaginable without casting Ross Kemp in the part, overpowering homosexual overtones, and while such overtones are fine in themselves, are as I said, overpowering, 70s-style stereotypes of sexuality, and the distinct feeling that this has all of the green-around-the-ears of Season 1 broadcast in 1963, but done in 2005. The only saving grace of the past season for me was that Billie Piper played her part so well. Doctor Who has had some downright-awful stories, some crap scripts, and failed special effects in the past. Then that was to do with budget. Now it's that Russel T Davies is crap. I'm sorry, but it's true.