New Doctor Who

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Imp-Chan
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New Doctor Who

Post by Imp-Chan »

Let's hear everyone's notions and observations, then.

I'll start... so far, the new Doctor strikes me as terribly manic. He also strikes me as having a bit of that addiction to it that happens when you've been manic just a hair longer than you ought to be (not that you ever really should be, but it's relatively normal at lower range and for shorter periods... his isn't that kind of soft mania). It's an interesting portrayal, and I can see it going great places, but since I can quite clearly recall exactly what that feels like, and what kinds of mistakes it brings about, I find it a little uncomfortable to watch. Still, that's maybe a good thing, so I'm prepared to be won over.

Amy Pond is... too pretty by half. I do like that she tells the Doctor no a lot, and that she doesn't blindly follow in his wake as much as earlier companions have, and she doesn't acknowledge his authority (which even Donna did on more than one occasion... begging for something indicates that the person has a right not to). I think mostly it's the production end's fault that her prettiness irks me. It's there in every way she moves, in the way she's lighted, in the way she's dressed and coifed and made up, and in the way she uses her face in relation to the camera. It's fine to be pretty, I enjoy looking at her, but that needn't be the constant in how she's portrayed and I hope they'll downplay it in future episodes. At least let her hair get mussed when she runs or pulls it into a ponytail! I guess I just don't like that she's yet another increasingly pretty girl running away with the increasingly younger Doctors. I would like to see that companion cycle broken, if only for variety. I feel that boys make decent friends and fellow adventurers, too, and would welcome the change in dynamic brought about by someone scruffy and vague, or even several companions.

^-^'
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Re: New Doctor Who

Post by Viking-Sensei »

Fair warning - I've seen all 3 of the current episodes, having less of a moral block against obtaining them through less reputable means. I'll try to de-spoiler-ify my answers so as to not ruin anything, or to make general statements that will make much more sense once you've seen what I'm talking about.

The New Doctor:
I had issues with Tennant's Doctor... I think he was well written, I'm not arguing that, but I think he was probably as close to the Doctor becoming the Valeyard as we may ever see... wanting to cheat space and time, wanting to decide the consequences of his own actions, fearing his own personal incarnation's death... hell, fearing death period. None of these were very Doctors-of-old-y. And what he did to Donna - I'm not as hung up on what he did as some people are (taking the opinion that he essentially killed her, or at least the her she'd become since meeting him) but even if it was the lesser of two evils, the Doctor's not one to normally go around letting two evils be the only choices. And then at the end... even after receiving a fatal dose of radiation, he can't just let it go, he's still got to save everyone one last time and make sure they all get their relative happy endings before he can officially let the change happen.

As afraid as I was of someone as young as Matt Smith taking over the role, now that I've seen him in it, I think I actually like him. He may be a bit manic, but he has an air of easy-going-ness, humility and a sense of self and place that the last Doctor greatly lacked, which almost echos back (favorably) to the 4th Doctor at the beginning of his regeneration. It feels a bit like they're trying to get a fresh start across the board - new Doctor, new companion, new Tardis design, new Sonic Screwdriver, New opening sequence, new director and writing staff... and that general "wipe the slate clean" optimism has trickled over into the nature of the show itself.

Also, Smith's Doctor seems to want to be more of a "teaching" Doctor, like Sylvester McCoy's Doctor was with Ace. The scene towards the beginning of the second episode, where he essentially sets Amy free and instructs her to go meddle is in stark contrast to the traditional Doctor lines of "stay with me, don't wander off" or "wait in the Tardis" that we're used to getting. The fact that he does so in the face of (probably) certain danger speaks volumes... either for his casual disregard for his companion's safety (probably not), his trust in her abilities (not likely, since they just really met), or his belief in her potential and willingness to let her make her own mistakes (more on the money than not).
How could a plan this awesome possibly fail?
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