When you're discussing Doctor Who and a Baker is mentioned, always assume its Tom unless its explicitly mentioned to be Colin.
Doctor Who
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In other news, Big Finish is going to be completely revamping its audio drama releases. Most notably, the Monthly Adventures, which have been going consistently since 1999, will be ending with #275. In short, Big Finish will just be releases ranges for each individual Doctor. Of course, this won't all take effect until January 2022, but still quite a change.
https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/revamped-doctor-who-audio-ranges-from-big-finish EDIT: Oh man. Those McCoy and Capaldi impressions were painful.
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Well, it's happening: Christopher Eccleston is doing Big Finish audios as the Ninth Doctor.
I did not think this would happen anytime soon, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see this! I always figured all he needed to do was at least one, and try one of Big Finish's famous lunches, and he'd be hooked. But to have him signed up for 4 box sets? That's more than I ever hoped for.
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@Mr.:
Well, it's happening: Christopher Eccleston is doing Big Finish audios as the Ninth Doctor.
I did not think this would happen anytime soon, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see this! I always figured all he needed to do was at least one, and try one of Big Finish's famous lunches, and he'd be hooked. But to have him signed up for 4 box sets? That's more than I ever hoped for.
Oh shoot! I'm so hyped for this! My favorite Doctor is finally back!!!!!
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@Mr.:
Well, it's happening: Christopher Eccleston is doing Big Finish audios as the Ninth Doctor.
I did not think this would happen anytime soon, so I'm pleasantly surprised to see this! I always figured all he needed to do was at least one, and try one of Big Finish's famous lunches, and he'd be hooked. But to have him signed up for 4 box sets? That's more than I ever hoped for.
Well, you know there isn't a lot of movie/TV filming happening atm due to COVID, so I guess he is finding some unexpected free scheduling. ;)
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As cool as the news is, after his attitude all these years about the franchise and its fans and hating the entire staff (despite none of them being on the show for a decade) , it feels like he's just conceding this because lockdown is forcing him to do ANYTHING, not because he actually wants to.
Or maybe 15 years later and after skipping the 50th he's finally lightening up. I dunno.
Great for those that are fans of his, but he was always one of my least favorite doctors and one of my least favorite seasons. (Though yes obviously the Empty Child/Doctor Dances two parter is brilliant.)
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As cool as the news is, after his attitude all these years about the franchise and its fans and hating the entire staff (despite none of them being on the show for a decade) , it feels like he's just conceding this because lockdown is forcing him to do ANYTHING, not because he actually wants to.
Or maybe 15 years later and after skipping the 50th he's finally lightening up. I dunno.
Great for those that are fans of his, but he was always one of my least favorite doctors and one of my least favorite seasons. (Though yes obviously the Empty Child/Doctor Dances two parter is brilliant.)
Eh, I don't feel that's the case anymore. He did conventions this year and said he had enjoyed them.
And in regards to this news, he even mentions how doing conventions has made him truly feel good about the work he did.
Relevant bit from link:
"These days, I feel nothing but positive about the show, to the extent I have even started doing conventions, something I’d been wary of because I always wanted to earn my money from acting," he wrote. "People bring memorabilia from across my whole career, which makes me feel good about my work and also about myself. It has healed something in me.
"Forget producers, forget politics – here are real people who have seen me do my stuff and want to shake my hand."
And yeah, when it comes to my fav. Doctors, Eccleston isn't up in my top 5, but I'm excited to see the direction Big Finish will go and expand his stories.
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My understanding has been that Eccelston declined to be involved with the franchise due to the manner in which his fellow co-workers were treated by producers and the network. In that regard, I really don't blame him one bit. Everyone in the workplace deserves respect and if boycotting the franchise helped him have a clear conscious about it all I don't see it being an issue.
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I'm excited for it. Tom Baker had his own hard feelings about the franchise for the longest time and now he's doing a great job playing the 4th Doctor again.
And I believe this makes every surviving Doctor actor that has come back to play the role for Big Finish. Except for Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi of course, but we gotta give those guys a little more time to do other things with their careers.
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Did Hartnell or Troughton do Big Finish work before they passed? I know Pertwee did at least one audio story.
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I'm excited for it. Tom Baker had his own hard feelings about the franchise for the longest time and now he's doing a great job playing the 4th Doctor again..
Yeah, Louise Jameson was trying to convince Tom for a decade to do Big Finish and he wanted nothing to do with it, until he tried it, and then loved it. Janet Fielding who played Tegan was very vocal about disliking Doctor Who as a franchise and fandom and said she'd never work on it again, and when she was finally convinced to do Big Finish, she said she'd do it once, and told them to kill off Tegan. They didn't do that of course, and now she's a regular and has turned around on Doctor Who fandom.
Did Hartnell or Troughton do Big Finish work before they passed? I know Pertwee did at least one audio story.
No, none of them did, they all passed away before Big Finish started in 1999. Hartnell died in 1974, Troughton died in 1987 and Pertwee died in 1996.
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My understanding has been that Eccelston declined to be involved with the franchise due to the manner in which his fellow co-workers were treated by producers and the network.
And by the time he was asked back for the 50th no one that was around then was still involved. He couldn't even film a 10 second regeneration cameo in front of a green screen wherever he was at the time? AH well, past is past and he gets to have that as an interview question for the rest of his life.
I don't hold it against him, any more than I do on Baker missing out on the 25th anniversary, but it is a shame.
I'm excited for it. Tom Baker had his own hard feelings about the franchise for the longest time and now he's doing a great job playing the 4th Doctor again.
In Baker's case it was because he'd played the role too long and wasn't known for anything else, and really hasn't gotten much work since that wasn't connected. In the nearly forty years since he's been in only a handful of things. (But man, imagine if he'd actually been cast as Gandalf instead of McKellen.)
Still, good to hear Eccleston has warmed up to the community after being cold to it for so long.
Except for Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi of course, but we gotta give those guys a little more time to do other things with their careers.
It kind of surprises me they didn't jump on board to do some almost immediately. Alex Kingston has already done a ton of River Song stuff and they got in some John Hurt War Doctor stuff before he died.
Is there some kind of actual legit licencing issue with Big Finnish that they have to wait a certain amount of time before a modern doctor has passed before they're allowed to do things with them? I know for a long time they didn't have the rights to anything from the NuWho era, though that's obviously not been the case for a while.
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Is there some kind of actual legit licencing issue with Big Finnish that they have to wait a certain amount of time before a modern doctor has passed before they're allowed to do things with them? I know for a long time they didn't have the rights to anything from the NuWho era, though that's obviously not been the case for a while.
Well, they have done 11th and 12th Doctor stories, just not with Smith or Capaldi. They actually got Jenna Coleman (Clara) to narrate one of the stories.
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No, none of them did, they all passed away before Big Finish started in 1999. Hartnell died in 1974, Troughton died in 1987 and Pertwee died in 1996.
Pertwee didn't do Big Finish then, but he has done an audio story, The Paradise of Death. I got it on audible a few years ago.
It actually advertises itself as the first Doctor Who story made originally for radio
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I'm almost caught up with the show! Almost done with series 11! I really enjoy this TV series a lot, it helps motivate me in a way, like giving hope for my own future. I heard some people didn't like the 13th doctor, but she isn't bad at all. Though my favorite has to be the 12th doctor! He was really funny and I loved the sunglasses he wore.
Also, there was mention about Big Finish. What is this exactly? And where can I watch it? (I have been watching Doctor Who on Prime, where I actually bought the episodes xD)
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Though my favorite has to be the 12th doctor! He was really funny and I loved the sunglasses he wore.
Hmm, I think you're definitely in the minority there, but that's cool. Always nice to see someone with different preferences. 10th and 11th are my favorites from the new series.
Also, there was mention about Big Finish. What is this exactly? And where can I watch it? (I have been watching Doctor Who on Prime, where I actually bought the episodes xD)
Big Finish is a company that produces audio stories and their hottest property, naturally, is Doctor Who. The best part of it is that they've recruited the actors who played previous Doctors (Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, etc.), as well as many other actors who have worked on Doctor Who, and gotten them to reprise their roles. So yeah, you can't "watch" them, per se, but you can listen to them.
There are a couple of free audio stories on the site you could try out to see if it's up your alley. There's also a large range of audios that are only $3.00 for a 2-hour story, so it's quite a deal (others, however, can be a bit pricey).
In any case, here's the website.
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Hmm, I think you're definitely in the minority there, but that's cool. Always nice to see someone with different preferences. 10th and 11th are my favorites from the new series.
Yeah, I know a lot of people like the 10th doctor the best, but the 12th just brought a lot of good laughs to me.
Big Finish is a company that produces audio stories and their hottest property, naturally, is Doctor Who. The best part of it is that they've recruited the actors who played previous Doctors (Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, etc.), as well as many other actors who have worked on Doctor Who, and gotten them to reprise their roles. So yeah, you can't "watch" them, per se, but you can listen to them.
There are a couple of free audio stories on the site you could try out to see if it's up your alley. There's also a large range of audios that are only $3.00 for a 2-hour story, so it's quite a deal (others, however, can be a bit pricey).
In any case, here's the website.
Oh! I will check this out in the future! I'm gonna bookmark the site right away. Thanks so much! :happy:
This means I can learn more about the lore of Doctor Who with this audio episodes too, which be nice. Thank you so much for your explanation on what they do as well! I thought it was some type of Doctor Who movie called Big Finish
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I think Doctor 11, Matt Smith, is probably going to be my favorite forever, him combined with Moffatt, early on at least, brought basically exactly what I always wanted Who to be… even if the later seasons fell apart somewhat.
After that, 2, 3, and 4 fight for the next spot for different reasons. 3 being the one I started with, 4 being the most iconic, and 2 being the one I decided I liked best at some point for some reason.
Haven't watched any of 1, and most of his stuff is lost to time, so... 5 I just find really boring, even in his very best and final story. I've not really listed to the audios that fix 6 or flesh out 7,8 and War, but I think I liked 7 the best of that bunch, I certainly liked Ace.
I'm meh on 9, Ecleston, but I think that's more because I hate Rose than anything else and I found most of his season to be REALLY stupid. That's more on the writing and production than on him though.
10, Tennant has similar issues with the first season of his run, though he gets better stories later on and all his Moffatt stories were fantastic.
12, Capaldi, I still don't know what to think of. I liked him, he was the Doctor, had a couple good stories, but even after three seasons I dunno. I think Clara may have been an anchor her didn't need.
13, Whitaker... I just can't get into her take. Aside from some quips at the very start about "oh, I was a man just the other day" and having a generally appropriate expression of wonder, I haven't felt her really nail the actual role at all. She's pretty bland, much like 5.
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Guess I'll weigh in on all the Doctors too, though my opinions more or less align with Robby's. I do want to clarify that I don't think any of the Doctors have been bad, just…some are better than others.
! 1st -It seems kind of unfair to compare Hartnell to the rest of the Doctors since it was the first few seasons and they were still figuring everything, but…yeah, he's kind of on the lower-tier of Doctors. He's a bit quirky, but doesn't really have the eccentric energy that would define later Doctors. And even though he had three seasons, I have trouble thinking of any real standout episodes for him.
! 2nd - Troughton definitely provided a great leap forward in how the Doctor was characterized. He provided a fun playful energy that really brought the Doctor to life. That said, for some reason, I still have trouble listing him among my absolute favorite Doctors. I mean, he's definitely up there, but...I dunno. Maybe the slower pace of the older episodes is still too tedious for my Millennial brain. Or maybe I just need to rewatch some of his episodes since it has admittedly been a while.
! 3rd - Pertwee's run marks a very unique time in Doctor Who history. The shift to color, the Doctor's time as UNIT's scientific advisor, the Doctor being earthbound, his duels with the Master, ol' Bessie, etc. There's just something very distinct and charming about that whole period that makes his run very memorable. And I guess I would say the same about Pertwee himself. He forewent Troughton's playfulness for a (fittingly) more down-to-earth approach, but he really made it work with his natural charm and warmth. Not quite a top-tier Doctor for me, but somewhere between mid and high.
! 4th - It's...the 4th Doctor. And yeah, he's iconic for a reason. Not just because he had the look, not just because he had a plethora of amazingly well-written episodes, and not just because he played the role for seven years (still longer than any other Doctor), but because of Baker's performance. He took Troughton's eccentric playfulness and ramped it up to 11, while also being capable of having very profound moments of reverance. He set the standard for all future Doctors that many have since tried to emulate. And yeah, I'm totally onboard with it. He and 6th are my two favorite Doctors of the classic era.
! 5th - As Robby said, he's honestly just kind of bland. Which is a shame, because he totally looks the part of the Doctor. And, I hate to say it, but I think it very much may just come down to Davison's performance. I can tell he was trying to take a more reserved gentlemanly approach, which is fine, but...he just couldn't quite make it work. But as I said in my opener, I do think he's good, like all the other Doctors. He certainly behaves the way the Doctor should and he certainly has his moments. He just doesn't have that "oomph" that other Doctors have.
! 6th - Poor Colin Baker had the misfortune of being saddled with probably the worst writers the show has ever had. Two seasons, and most of it was just dreck. Which, of course, was due to everything except Baker himself, because my god this guy can act. And I'm so happy he finally got his chance to shine through the audio dramas. He has the eccentric energy of Tom Baker, but also, somehow, seems more down-to-earth and...competent, I guess? It's just a perfect blend of serious and fun. Really, I can't recommend the audio dramas enough. Just pick out any Colin Baker story and you're almost guaranteed to have a good time. As I said, he and Tom are my favorite classic Doctors, but in Colin's case only because of the audios.
! 7th - I've always had trouble getting a handle on McCoy's performance. He's just such an oddball of a Doctor. Not in the way that the Bakers are, he's just...kind of hard to pin down. He's just a generally quirky and amiable Doctor who doesn't go too far in any direction and, I suppose, he has a penchant for scheming. But, that said, I suppose he still works pretty well, even if had the final run of the classic series, which continued to be plagued with bizarre and subpar writing. And I do have to give him credit for being in the Greatest Show in the Galaxy, one of my all-time favorite Doctor Who stories, which also contains one of the most badass Doctor moments.
! 8th - Ah, the William Henry Harrison of Doctors (...what? No one else got that?). Only a TV movie and a mini-sode in terms of onscreen performances, but, like Colin Baker, McGann did get a second chance through the audio dramas. And, having listened to a large portion of his stories, I think he's...good. Not great, but...good. Like Davison, he seems to take a more gentlemanly approach to the Doctor. And while I think he does a better overall job than Davison, I guess he just feels a bit too serious. Of course, that's not helped by the fact that his Doctor has some pretty dark story lines (seriously, fair warning, the 8th Doctor audio stories can get pretty bleak). But still, I am glad McGann at least has gotten a chance to be the Doctor and I still enjoy listening to his stories, even if they can be a bit draining.
! War - By the show's own admission he's not really a "Doctor", and he was never meant to have a regular run like any of the others. So, yeah, seems a little unfair to compare him to the others, but here we go. So, keeping in mind that this is supposed to be a different "war-like" take on the Doctor...I'm still not a huge fan. John Hurt was fairly old when he played him and I feel he doesn't have a very commanding presence for what is supposed to be the darkest time the Doctor's history. I guess you could argue he's supposed to be old and worn out from all the horror he's seen, but I don't that makes him very interesting either. I listened to all the War Doctor audios a few months ago and I barely remember any of them (except for that kickass "War" version of the theme song). So yeah, for the whole War Doctor angle for me has just felt like kind of a missed opportunity.
! 9th - He's fine. With only season, Eccleston didn't get much of a chance to explore and develop the Doctor, but he did fine with what he had. I guess this is kind of a nitpick, but, for me, he never really quite looked the part of the Doctor, at least in terms of his wardrobe (can you imagine any other Doctor wearing a leather jacket?). Honestly, I don't have too much to say about him. Eccleston gave it his all, but he just didn't have the energy or stage presence (or lots of well-written episodes) to make him a truly iconic Doctor. Unlike...
! 10th - If Tom Baker is the face of classic Who, then David Tennant is definitely the face of modern Who. And, again, I'd be lying if I said I didn't see why. Tennant just slid so effortlessly into the role and gave the Doctor new life with his manic energy and clever quips (even if his first season, writing-wise, was a bit ass). Really, I just had a blast watching all of his stories while catching up on the show and...yeah, not much else to say. I just think he's great.
! 11th - I just want to say I think the first 11th Doctor season is phenomenal. Yeah, I guess there are a few clunkers, but damn everything else is so good. Matt Smith pretty much instantly sold himself to me as one of the best Doctors the show has ever seen, and the overarching story line promised some really incredible things to come. Too bad Moffat completely botched it in the follow-up seasons. Yeah, sorry to say, I really don't like how things played out after season 5. It just felt like Moffat had a lot of plans that he was never able to pan out and the whole Silence/Trenzalore story line became kind of a hot mess, and that really does hurt the 11th Doctor's run for me. But, that said, Matt Smith himself is still amazing and he gave it his all throughout his run. If only the writing quality had been consistent, I would probably call Smith my definite favorite Doctor of the new era, but as it is, he's tied with Tennant.
! 12th - Well, Capaldi's run was certainly a thing that happened. In retrospect, everything about it just feels kind of phoned in. It was like "Well, we need someone after Matt, so...I guess we can have this Capaldi guy do it, and...I dunno. We'll bring the Master back as a woman. And I guess we'll just keep Clara around for another season, even though she's completely worn out her welcome. Whatever". But hey, this is supposed to be about Capaldi himself, right? And...yeah, I think he did fine. He lost some points for me early on in being such a buzzkill in that Robin Hood episode, but luckily that didn't stick. Unfortunately, I just don't think he had the chance to have any really amazing iconic moments as the Doctor. Like, I can name maybe 2-3 really really good episodes from this run, but that's it.
! 13th - Well, her run is still going, but as of now I guess I would say she's pretty good. The first season was a bit rough, but I think the last season was definitely an improvement. Whitaker doesn't have too much going in terms of her own take on the Doctor (aside from the being the first female Doctor, which itself shouldn't be a character trait), but I think she's serviceable. Like Capaldi, I'm kind of just lukewarm on her. -
I think Capaldi's biggest problem was at the start, all the writers wanted him to be angry Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It, while Capaldi wanted to be Tom Baker from Doctor Who, and those things clashed somewhat. He's so famous for being an angry character, so he should be the angry doctor! And Clara can be the one that calms him down!" just didn't work.
Aside from Clara long overstaying her welcome, (especially since her story arc wrapped, TWICE, before her final season) she just never had the same chemistry with him as she did with Matt. The doctors just weren't similar enough for that companion sticking around to make sense.
They also tried to lean really hard into Capaldi being the OLD doctor, even though he wasn't THAT old compared to the original doctors, just the most recent ones.
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Yeah, I know a lot of people like the 10th doctor the best, but the 12th just brought a lot of good laughs to me.
Both 12th and 10th are close to my heart. Although 12th edges him out . I love 10th but he is such a specific doctor for me. As in he almost feel like the Doctor's little brother more than the doctor himself. I also think 12th has the best acting or at least best at giving dialogues.
I dont like 11th althought I think series 5 is the best written(but 4 is my favorite). But At least I feel he is the doctor and he has the best regenration scene ever. Never have I felt so much that it was an old man in a young body. Its one of my favorite scenes and it's in a episode I dont even like and was ready to hate.
9th is fine
13th I felt Whitaker was trying to do Tennant which came of as unnatural instead of be her own doctor. Also I dont really feel the doctor intensity of her.
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I think Capaldi's biggest problem was at the start, all the writers wanted him to be angry Malcolm Tucker from The Thick of It, while Capaldi wanted to be Tom Baker from Doctor Who, and those things clashed somewhat. He's so famous for being an angry character, so he should be the angry doctor! And Clara can be the one that calms him down!" just didn't work.
Aside from Clara long overstaying her welcome, (especially since her story arc wrapped, TWICE, before her final season) she just never had the same chemistry with him as she did with Matt. The doctors just weren't similar enough for that companion sticking around to make sense.
They also tried to lean really hard into Capaldi being the OLD doctor, even though he wasn't THAT old compared to the original doctors, just the most recent ones.
Interesting I actually prefer Clara with 12th. They reminded me 10th and Donna which the kind of pairing I prefer where they are legit friends and kind of equals even if the doctor knows more. And I wasnt a big fan of the Clara wants to bone 11th story so no romance was a plus for me.
I do think Clara should have gone in that Christmas episode. Or even the raven.
I liked the idea of treating Capaldi like the 12th doctor as in the end of his natural timelord life and he goes back to droping the mask and looking more his age and looking into his past to see if he's leaving a nice legacy. And then meet first as kind of closing the loop where the ending meets the begenning.
Im guessing that was the plan until War messed the numbering because they couldnt get the actor for 9th.
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Im guessing that was the plan until War messed the numbering because they couldnt get the actor for 9th.
Not at all. If they wanted to they could have just ignored crisis doctor forever where Tennant regenerated into himself and not counted that as a real one and literally no one would have complained or felt it was a copout to ignore. As is, the numbering doesn't bother with it. (The umbering also skips War because no one wanted to deal with rebranding thousands of old things, so just leaving it as an asterik was fine with everyone.)
But with the addition of War, Mofatt realized that "hey, we can be two doctors further than we thought, we're actually on 13 now! We can act like this is the final one and play that up!"
But it's really, REALLY clear that when he wrote the script for the anniversary special Mofatt thought he was getting Smith for another season because Smith just hadn't decided yet. The way he ended the 50th, and then offhand crammed tying up all those loose ends with the Silence into the next episode AND squandering all the "final regeneration" drama within a single episode? 11 getting older and older in a montage instead of actually lasting hundreds of years? That and the search for Gallifrey were pretty clearly things he'd planned to spend a season on to build up to a payoff, not… 20 minutes.
Yes obviously, by the time the episode aired in November they'd made the decision and we got that two second cameo of Capaldi's eyebrows and the public knew the replacement was coming, but at the time they wrote the script a year and a half earlier and filmed it ten months earlier they didn't.
Similarly, we know as fact that they wrote the following christmas special to write Clara off, but she decided then she wante dto stick around so they hastily redid the ending, which had been a perfect sendoff. (Instead of the nonsense she got the next season.)
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Well, here's my take on the doctors I seen. I still need to watch classic Doctor Who, and I mainly see the modern series.
1st: The only time I seen of the first was in the Twice Upon a Time special, though it honestly doesn't really count.
2nd through 7th: Have not seen any with them, but I get there eventually!
8th: I only see the 8th in the one short story Night of the Doctor where he regenerated into the War Doctor. He was pretty intense in that mini-episode.
War Doctor: He was alright; he didn't really feel like the "doctor" to be honest.
9th: I started with him. He was alright. He felt very different from the rest of the doctors after him. I guess it was the leather jacket xD I liked a lot of his episodes though like the finale, the one with the grim reaper creatures, and the one where they met Jack.
10th: I really liked his acting, he was my favorite before the 12th doctor came along. My favorite episodes with him has to be the one where he defeats "Satan", and the episodes between him versus the Master. Also, Blink. I think I like series 3 and 4 for me the most and End of Time specials.
11th: I liked him too. I liked series 5 and 6 a lot with him. Well six more, I really like the Silence. I felt like they were extremely original in their concept. The first half of series 7 felt weird, probably because it didn't feel like there was any overarching story till Clara came along in the second half which I enjoyed more. I also really loved his regeneration episode. It felt very powerful in a way.
12th: My favorite honestly. Well, to me he got better in series 9 and 10. I really enjoyed his humor, his sonic sunglasses and even his guitar. The scene with Clara dying with the raven was quite sad, I think I almost cried. I also felt like the 12th was in love with Clara with how he reacted to her death and tried to change time. I'm also glad he got his memory back of her too at the end of his run.
13th: I'm still focusing on finishing up series 12, but I like her around the same as the 10th. She feels like a female David Tennant to me for some weird reason. Though I'm not used to the doctor having three different companions compared to just one in previous seasons. Finished the Spyfall episodes and those were very well made. Probably my favorite along with the Rosa Parks one and the one with India/Palestine which actually made me want to learn more about its history.
I hate Rose than anything else
What's wrong with Rose?
Both 12th and 10th are close to my heart. Although 12th edges him out . I love 10th but he is such a specific doctor for me. As in he almost feel like the Doctor's little brother more than the doctor himself. I also think 12th has the best acting or at least best at giving dialogues.
Oh, I see xD
I do agree 12 had good acting and I loved the humor he produced in his run.
13th I felt Whitaker was trying to do Tennant which came of as unnatural instead of be her own doctor. Also I dont really feel the doctor intensity of her.
Yeah, glad I'm not the only one that sees her as a female David Tennant xD
Similarly, we know as fact that they wrote the following christmas special to write Clara off, but she decided then she wante dto stick around so they hastily redid the ending, which had been a perfect sendoff. (Instead of the nonsense she got the next season.)
I never knew this. I wonder how the ending would have played out if this happened.
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This means I can learn more about the lore of Doctor Who with this audio episodes too, which be nice. Thank you so much for your explanation on what they do as well! I thought it was some type of Doctor Who movie called Big Finish
I don't know if you'll really learn much about the "lore" in the audios, but they are quite fun adventures in their own right! Some dabble in continuity, and some don't. You can listen to quite a lot without knowing much about the classic stuff. There's even a handful of companions that are exclusive to the audio stories.
As Nobodyman pointed out, you can get the first 50 Monthly adventures for dirt cheap on their website. Or alternatively, they're on Spotify, if you have a Spotify account. Even if you don't, I think you can get a one month free trial.
Some of my recommendations:
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The Holy Terror- This audio is what won me over for Big Finish, and got me really interested in the 6th Doctor. Dark (more than the tv series ever will be), suspenseful, and just nonsensical fun in a few places. Written by Rob Shearman, the guy who did the Dalek episode for Chris Eccleston.Also has a shapeshifting penguin with a Boston accent for a companion.
The Mutant Phase- Probably my favorite 5th Doctor, Nyssa, and Daleks story. I love fun sci-fi concepts, and this explores a pretty fun one.
Storm Warning- Paul McGann's first audio, and a pretty good story. Features his first audio companion Charley, and starts a story arc that goes through the 8th Doctor material to Zagreus.
Chimes of Midnight- Another really good story written by Shearman. I'm still in love with a lot of the twists in this story, and it's a neat little Christmas mystery, so you can break it out every christmas just to terrify yourself. Happy holidays.
Project Twilight- 6th Doc with Evelyn, and some vampires.
Project Lazarus-A good follow up to Project Twilight, it kind of features both the 6th and 7th Doctor.
Colditz- 7th Doctor and Ace in a POW camp near the end of WWII. Features a certain David Tennant playing a nazi, while also introducing Elizabeth Klein, one of my favorite Big Finish characters.
The One Doctor- This is about as close to farce as Doctor Who gets, while still containing all the fun and wonder that makes Doctor Who great in the first place.
Doctor Who and The Pirates (Or just "And The Pirates" on Spotify): This one is fun, and part way through you're thinking "what the hell is going on with the storytelling", but that last scene with the 6th Doctor really ties it all together, and completely won me over as a 6th Doctor fan.
And Part 3 is essentially a musical!Omega- Eh, to really get the most out of this one and its surprises, you need to see The Three Doctors and Arc of Infinity. Or at least read their Wikipedia entries, I guess. But it's so worth it for that Part 3 cliffhanger that just blew my freakin' mind.
Master- A bit of a slow burn, but Geoffrey Beevers as the Master is phenomenal. Beevers' Master is just straight up evil and cruel and other stories, and this one has an interesting commentary on the nature of evil.
This story also adds a really ballsy element to the Doctor and Master's childhood.Zagreus- Haha so this one is a TRIP, I always go back and forth on this one. I would say listen to this once you listen to the essential McGann stuff (Storm Warning, Chimes of Midnight), and especially after Neverland. I love most of this story and I hate some of it, and I don't even know if the run time is earned (nearly 4(!) hours!)… but it's ambitious as hell and loaded with continuity that will either annoy you or make you happy. There's a reason this story is notoriously loved/hated in fan communities.
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Ah that's more than I thought I would write. There really aren't a lot of bad stories in those first 50, but a few of them I really didn't care for. Minuet in Hell isn't good, and even though it has the 8th Doctor meeting the Brig, it's literally too little too late. It doesn't happen until near the end, and even then they don't really do much together. Wasted opportunity. And I'm certainly in no hurry to listen to Nekromanteia, where a companion gets raped and it's brushed aside like nothing happened. Davison disliked this one so much that he asked Big Finish to never let that writer work for Big Finish again, apparently.They also tried to lean really hard into Capaldi being the OLD doctor, even though he wasn't THAT old compared to the original doctors, just the most recent ones.
I always found it interesting that people complained about his age. Like, I get why on a surface level they'd think that, but it really doesn't show that much through his performances.
Really interesting to know that McGann is only a year younger than Capaldi. McGann just happens to age really, really well:
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Is he like Tom Cruise/Jackie Chan, who never age?
[/hide]What's wrong with Rose?
Season 2.
She had an air of… entitlement? To the Doctor, acting like only she could be close to him (and even had a petty jealousy with Sarah Jane).
It probably doesn't help that I wasn't fond of the romance, and a lot of Season 4's end really soured my feelings even more (Metacrisis Ten going off with Rose to be lovers). Felt too much like fan fulfillment, and not really earned romance.
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What's wrong with Rose?
Too long a list to get into without getting annoyed, but basically she treated everyone like crap. Her mother, old companions like Sarah Jane, or even her boyfriend who she strung along, abandoned for a year, people thought he had killed her! and she never really sets that right.
She feels like she owns the doctor and is entitled to him, and the writers never seem to realize these massive flaws as actual flaws. Because she was the Showrunner's pet, the doctor acted like she was perfect, completely messed up his next companion Martha because he couldn't get over Rose, and then at the end even made a clone just for her so she could get a happy ending… while other much better characters like Donna just... got their memory wiped and lost all their development.
I don't have any problems with the actress but her character was awful. Single handedly makes those two seasons nearly unwatchable for me.
Other later companions like River or Clara also became creator's pet and had issues as a result of it, but that was more them being Mary Sues and less them being awful people.
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I think Rose was really good in series 1. She's a working class girl who gets invited to travel with The Doctor and plunges right into it. She's heroic in her own right and they form a tight relationship. For me Series 1 is still by far the most solid all the way through. The worst episodes (3 and 4) are better than every other series worst and the best episodes compete with the best and there's lots of them! Dalek, Rose, Father's Day, The End of the World, Hell, every episode from The Empty Child until The Parting of the Ways is great to me. 9 was fun and slightly quirky while being able to dip into serious stupid human mode at the drop of a hat, but a lot like Capaldi, he was only barely keeping it together. I also love the way that the story as him as the final timelord plays out, both with how he initially treats (and is eventually changed by) Rose and his reaction to the Daleks.
I've rewatched everything through season 9 since the pandemic started and it's my highest rated series, with 4 next, and then 6, and then 9.
Also, River Song is no more a Mary Sue than the Doctor, in fact she's decidedly less so. It's easy to see why one would think Clara is one, but her ultimate fate was a play on how she was written. She was becoming too much like the Doctor without actually being him and she was too reckless with her own life (the luxury that lets him be himself.) I think that story was really well told in series 9.
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The first half of series 7 felt weird, probably because it didn't feel like there was any overarching story till Clara came along in the second half which I enjoyed more.
Series 7 was pretty weird in that it was split in half, so they aired the first half with Amy and Rory one year and the second half with Clara the next.
@Mr.:
As Nobodyman pointed out, you can get the first 50 Monthly adventures for dirt cheap on their website.
Actually, the first 100 are dirt cheap, so even better! But, that said, the first 50 adventures do probably have a better selection than 51-100.
In addition to what you said, here are some of my favorites from the Monthly Adventures.
Jubilee: Fun fact, this story was the inspiration for the "Dalek" episode from the 9th Doctor's season, and arguably pulls it off even better.
Davros: Davros has never been more intimidating. That speech at the beginning always gives me chills.
The Natural History of Fear: An ingenious story with a twist that could only work in an audio story.
Live 34: Probably the best 7th Doctor story I've heard. A chilling look at a dystopian dictatorship through the eyes of the press.
The Nowhere Place: The science in this story makes no sense, but it's still one of the most effectively eerie and disturbing Doctor Who stories I've heard.
The Reaping: Mentioning this one if only for the fact that it completely redeems and justifies Peri as a companion.
And, although you already mentioned it, I'll throw another shoutout to The One Doctor because I love, love, LOVE that story! An awesomely creative, funny, and lighthearted adventure. I wish Doctor Who was always like this.
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I liked Rose. Wasnt a fan of Martha since she felt like a constant guilt trip for missing one of the original cast. Like even when Jack meets back with the doc and they have a brief nice moment about how the third member of their group didnt actually die, you have to get a shot how Martha is sad we're talking about Rose.
I did love Donna since her 10th were just buddies having fun together and being able to openly share things and with both a desire to discover new things.
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I really like all the actors that have played the Doctor. Some unfortunately had some really bad decisions made for them, Colin Baker being at the top of that list. I'd say Matt Smith was the one that really felt like my Doctor. But when I went back and watched the older stuff, Peter Davison became my favorite. So 5, 11, 4, and 2 have been my top favorites. I have noticed that while people complained about Capaldi endlessly during his time on the show, since he left, it feels like appreciation for him has gone through the roof. Personally I thought he was amazing, though I think he was a little too gruff at the very beginning.
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@Mr.:
I don't know if you'll really learn much about the "lore" in the audios, but they are quite fun adventures in their own right! Some dabble in continuity, and some don't. You can listen to quite a lot without knowing much about the classic stuff. There's even a handful of companions that are exclusive to the audio stories.
That's great! That's good to know about extra companions.
As Nobodyman pointed out, you can get the first 50 Monthly adventures for dirt cheap on their website. Or alternatively, they're on Spotify, if you have a Spotify account. Even if you don't, I think you can get a one month free trial.
Some of my recommendations: list
Awesome thank you! I need to make a Spotify account xD
Season 2.
She had an air of… entitlement? To the Doctor, acting like only she could be close to him (and even had a petty jealousy with Sarah Jane).
It probably doesn't help that I wasn't fond of the romance, and a lot of Season 4's end really soured my feelings even more (Metacrisis Ten going off with Rose to be lovers). Felt too much like fan fulfillment, and not really earned romance.
Oh, oki. I was fine with the romance, so it makes sense why. I actually like Rose and that scene where the Doctor had to give up on her was really touching. Though I'm not sure how much I would want to be with a clone of the person I'm in love with. Though she's not my favorite companion, I never had any dislike for her.
Too long a list to get into without getting annoyed, but basically she treated everyone like crap. Her mother, old companions like Sarah Jane, or even her boyfriend who she strung along, abandoned for a year, people thought he had killed her! and she never really sets that right.
Ah, right. I remember that about Mickey. ><
She feels like she owns the doctor and is entitled to him, and the writers never seem to realize these massive flaws as actual flaws. Because she was the Showrunner's pet, the doctor acted like she was perfect, completely messed up his next companion Martha because he couldn't get over Rose, and then at the end even made a clone just for her so she could get a happy ending… while other much better characters like Donna just... got their memory wiped and lost all their development.
Well, honestly I think the Doctor really loved her and wanted her to be happy. I don't think the Doctor thought that Martha will fall for him too.
I don't have any problems with the actress but her character was awful. Single handedly makes those two seasons nearly unwatchable for me.
Ah >< I guess I'm one of the few that likes Rose. Thanks for explaining why you disliked her! :3
Other later companions like River or Clara also became creator's pet and had issues as a result of it, but that was more them being Mary Sues and less them being awful people.
Ah… I like Riversong and Clara way more than Rose.
I think Rose was really good in series 1. She's a working class girl who gets invited to travel with The Doctor and plunges right into it. She's heroic in her own right and they form a tight relationship. For me Series 1 is still by far the most solid all the way through. The worst episodes (3 and 4) are better than every other series worst and the best episodes compete with the best and there's lots of them! Dalek, Rose, Father's Day, The End of the World, Hell, every episode from The Empty Child until The Parting of the Ways is great to me. 9 was fun and slightly quirky while being able to dip into serious stupid human mode at the drop of a hat, but a lot like Capaldi, he was only barely keeping it together. I also love the way that the story as him as the final timelord plays out, both with how he initially treats (and is eventually changed by) Rose and his reaction to the Daleks.
Yeah, I agree with this. I don't really hate the 9th doctor, though sucks he only did one season.
Series 7 was pretty weird in that it was split in half, so they aired the first half with Amy and Rory one year and the second half with Clara the next.
Yeah, it was. I'm glad on Amazon Prime they put the two halves together. It would have been annoying to buy the series in splits instead of altogether.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
Also, I'm finally caught with the series! The final episode of series 12 was like woah with the Doctor being the Timeless Child. Now trying to figure out the order of regeneration is gonna be tough. Though honestly I think Ruth/Fugitive Doctor (Not sure how to label her.) was a good version of the Doctor, and I think she was the one who got her memory wiped before being changed into the 1st Doctor. Hopefully, the Doctor can get her memories back and maybe hopefully series 13 can focus more on this.
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I used to love this show very much. But now I barely watched the last seasons to the end.
It is a pity that the series has become boring and mediocre over time.
Recommend a series like this to me -
When do trailers regarding the specials usually appear? I'm honestly hyped to see the new episode and see how the Doctor will get out of that situation.
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It's only a quick promotional video for an audio drama, but this is technically the first time Eric Roberts has played The Master on screen since 1996.
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Web of Fear being released on Bluray, with the missing ep to be reconstructed in what seems to be 3D animation with some nice cel shading. Great to see so many of Troughton's serials getting completed in this way, I think this would make the 7th (with rumours of Abominable Snowmen and Evil of the Daleks recons also underway to be 8 & 9, leaving only 4 Troughton serials left).
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In other news, Jack will be returning in the upcoming holiday special
And the final audio drama from Big Finish's monthly adventures range will be a 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Doctors crossover.
https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-the-end-of-the-beginning-2057
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Man, I still need to watch… the entire last season and a half.
I just really did not dig Jodie's first season. Did it get any better in her second? I know about the batshit crazy retcon twist, so aside from that.
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Man, I still need to watch… the entire last season and a half.
I just really did not dig Jodie's first season. Did it get any better in her second?
I thought it did. Not a humongous improvement, I suppose, but there were still some good episodes (Fugitive of the Judoon and Haunting of Villa Diodait are the standouts). And the new Master is pretty cool.
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In other news, Jack will be returning in the upcoming holiday special
Holy shit! I'm hyped for this! I love Jack! I can't wait to see how he will interact with the 13th doctor! :happy:
Man, I still need to watch… the entire last season and a half.
I just really did not dig Jodie's first season. Did it get any better in her second? I know about the batshit crazy retcon twist, so aside from that.
I think it was better. I liked how it had an overarching storyline compared to the previous season which honestly had none. Like no foreshadowing or anything compared to previous seasons.
I thought it did. Not a humongous improvement, I suppose, but there were still some good episodes (Fugitive of the Judoon and Haunting of Villa Diodait are the standouts). And the new Master is pretty cool.
Yes! The new master was awesome! The actor who played him really pulled off and made me a great adversary for the doctor. Makes me wonder how he survived from the last incarnation, though probably be explained in future seasons like with Missy.
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Makes me wonder how he survived from the last incarnation, though probably be explained in future seasons like with Missy.
Don't count it. It's pretty much standard practice that The Master always comes back from certain death. No explanation necessary. He/She's just here and don't ask questions.
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Man, I still need to watch… the entire last season and a half.
I just really did not dig Jodie's first season. Did it get any better in her second? I know about the batshit crazy retcon twist, so aside from that.
There's a bit of an improvement.
Jodie still hasn't really made the role her own yet, and there's still one companion too many, but there are some pretty good episodes and the new Master is probably my favourite of all of them.
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Man, I still need to watch… the entire last season and a half.
I just really did not dig Jodie's first season. Did it get any better in her second? I know about the batshit crazy retcon twist, so aside from that.
Second season wasn't as unrelentingly boring as the first at least. Had two great eps (the ones Nobodyman mentioned) and two rubbish eps, rest somewhere inbetween. They went really strong on climate change a couple of times, and one of them was done in a cringingly hamfisted way. But yeah, at least had a couple of eps I'd happily sit down & rewatch this time.
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It's only a quick promotional video for an audio drama, but this is technically the first time Eric Roberts has played The Master on screen since 1996.
I'm so excited for this! His performance in Diary of River Song was kind of meh, like he was still exploring/re-exploring the role? His performance in Day of the Master was great though.
In other news, Jack will be returning in the upcoming holiday special
And the final audio drama from Big Finish's monthly adventures range will be a 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Doctors crossover.
https://www.bigfinish.com/releases/v/doctor-who-the-end-of-the-beginning-2057
Quite a bit of material is implying it's 5,6, and 8 teaming up against 7, which sounds delightful. And probably based of that rumored script of 50/50 that a lot of fans talk about (a story about 8 working against 7).
Man, I still need to watch… the entire last season and a half.
I just really did not dig Jodie's first season. Did it get any better in her second? I know about the batshit crazy retcon twist, so aside from that.
Pretty much everyone agrees season 12 is better than season 11. And… I didn't mind season 11 (I really liked It Takes You Away and Resolution), but you could tell they were playing it really safe, which I understand why they went that route. Didn't do the stories any favors, unfortunately.
But good God is season 12 better. There was only 1 episode I didn't enjoy, and the rest were certainly above season 11's output. I heartily welcome the wild twist to cannon, but I thought the delivery was pretty terrible… Neat twist, but could've been better if there was a story to go along with it rather than just telling us about it. Still, solid season that I'd probably put in my top 5.
The episode Fugitive of the Judoon in particular is great because
! Captain Jack returns and it's the 3rd most interesting thing that happens in that episode.
The nostalgia whiplash between seasons is pretty great. From "No old monsters" Series 11 to "Haha okay peasants training wheels are off, guess who that fella is and here's what's up with Gallifrey."
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Don't count it. It's pretty much standard practice that The Master always comes back from certain death. No explanation necessary. He/She's just here and don't ask questions.
True True. Yeah, it's to surprise the Doctor that every time they get him, he still comes back alive no matter what.
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Woo, I'm excited about this new special! A few more weeks! I probably end up buying it on Amazon Prime as it's the only way I can see it since I don't have cable with BBC. It feel pretty epic indeed.
Here's a source where it shows some new pictures from the special:
https://www.ign.com/articles/doctor-who-christmas-special-new-years-day-revolution-of-the-daleks-photos -
New episode is out, and it was pretty okay? Fun plot at the very least. Had the usual problems with Chibnall scripts, with lots of dialogue explaining rather than showing. There were some fun cameos in the maybe-maybe-not-Shada space prison, and Jack was about as Jack as could be. Nice to see him return in more than just a scene.
Apparently this episode was shot in late 2019, which is interesting considering the scene with protesting, and I originally thought it was the show's hamfisted way of addressing the topic of protests and police forces (if they had the daleks replacing/standing in for the police… that would have been one hell of a statement).
For some of the spoiler-y bits:
! What was up with the 4 knocks when the Doctor was in her cell? Are we led to believe it was Jack trying to communicate with her before seeing her in person? I wouldn't be thinking much into it if it wasn't 4 knocks, which has a direct relation to the Master. But nothing was really done with it, nor do I think anything will (or even can?) be done with it in the next series.
! If I have my info correct, the Doc was in prison for 79 years. Looks like Big Finish will have some more ample room to play with once they can do 13 Doc stuff.
! Okay so I know it's only a cameo and not the point of the episode, but having a Silent in prison is a fun concept that should have been played with more. Like, do the Judoon have technology to remember Silents? Do the prison guards (whoever they may be) get surprised everyday to see Silents in a cell? Come to think of it, this episode could have really been more fun if the Doctor escaped prison by using the various aspects of each alien to escape, rather than Jack showing up with a deus ex machina way to get out. Oh well.
! I liked how Jack Robertson had no arc and remained the same throughout the episode. Which is generally odd since stories work great when a character changes, but it can also be interesting to see a character double-down on who they are when given the chance to change. And Robertson had a few opportunities to redeem himself, and he kept choosing to be the slimy businessman/politician. At least Chibnall didn't make many (or any?) strong, obvious parallels to Trump, but it's hard not to associate Robertson with him when… you've been around for the last 4 years.
! Loved the bookending of Ryan and Graham's arc for this show, with them trying to get Ryan to ride his bike. And that Ryan wore a yellow beanie after the Doctor's comment. "If anyone could pull off a yellow beanie, it'd be Ryan".And some news for the next series:
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I'll admit, I had no idea who John Bishop was. I guess I don't pay as much attention to British entertainment as I thought I did. -
The New Year's episode was good.
! I enjoyed how simple Graham and Ryan's departure was. No weird pseudo-death thing, just, yeah, they're done. They've had their fill. Perhaps they'll meet again some day. We haven't gotten much of that recently.
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@Mr.:
! but having a Silent in prison is a fun concept that should have been played with more. Like, do the Judoon have technology to remember Silents? Do the prison guards (whoever they may be) get surprised everyday to see Silents in a cell?
! Just have a written note before it saying "hey, this thing erases memories, don't be shocked when you see the thing you don't remember being there." They only have to figure it out once.
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For a Christmas special it was okay, but one day I hope they do an episode that explains why no one remembers all the various Dalek attacks (and all the other stuff) that have happened over the years.
(Or at least explains it better than that lousy 'Overnight Forest' episode).
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I enjoyed the special. Had problems but good time overall
! The escape happened fast and was too simple making the prison feel unnecessary but I was happy to get to spend some time with Jack. Hopefully the decades in prison get explored in how it affected the doctor in the next series.
! RTD made have a soft spot for Daleks so it was fun having them. And I'm all for them being smart enough to have legit plans that require the doctor some work to counteract. The solution reminded series 2 dinale when they were inside the timelord prison.
! There several good scenes between characters Like Yaz & Jack and the doctor & Ryan. And I think the depature was well done. I didnt like the post tardis stuff tho. When they are on the hills and with the bycicle. It felt like trying to be too cheesy and self referencial after already nailing it.
! Fake Trump was fun but 1 I dont know why they had him kill that guy instead of just bribing or put him to sleep(from sleazy businessman to casual murderer seemed unnecsary). And it was weird when the doctor just let him walk to the daleks after he told her about his intention to betray them. Have Jack help restrain him or do that pinch thing or something.