Dr Who Christmas Special

[Jim_Campbell]

saw this in  the Guardian today and it is a perfedt example of why I thought the new Dr Who was so well thought of.

Well, the problem I have with all that is that you can't simply dismiss criticism of bad writing as "over-analyzing" or with the oft-used "lighten up, it's a kid's show" defence.

I didn't mind the Cybermen one, TBH, but Waters of Mars had plot holes that you could drive a truck through, and the final two-parter simply made no sense at all.

Cheers

Jim

[SmallBlueThing]

Agreed. If it's "just a kids' show", why is it on at 7pm, made by the drama department, etc etc? Why does it contain violence, references to sex, and murder and death on a grand scale? Is the "just a kids show" argument solely to deflect criticism? And if it is a "kids' show", then why? Because it's nominally scifi? Isn't that ever-so-slightly outdated thinking? In that case, 2000AD is quite definately for kids too- because despite Cradlegrave/ John Wagner's development of Dredd over the years/ Dante, etc etc, it's still a scifi comic, and scifi comics are absolutely for kids aren't they?

My understanding of Dr Who- however bad I personally consider it to have been since RTD- is that it's a family show. In the same bracket as Eastenders and Strictly Come Dancing.

SBT

[House of Usher]

OK, first let's just remind ourselves that Doctor Who is a kids' show, and that overanalysing it would be very silly indeed.

Intellectually weak, and shameful.

[starscape]

The opener, The Next Doctor, exemplifies just how right they're getting it.

Completely agree with that phrase.  Wonderful episode and a great 'false' Doctor.

[M.I.K.]

OK, first let's just remind ourselves that Doctor Who is a kids' show, and that overanalysing it would be very silly indeed.

Why is analysing a kids' show any different from analysing something intended for adults? Is that suggesting that entertainment for children is inherently inferior?

[Peter Wolf]

Its overanalysed by adults because it has a fanbase that goes back to when it started and because of that it has a lot to live up to because of its heritage.

If it was a totally new series it would not be analysed anywhere near as much and its obvious that its hardcore fanbase is going to overanalyse it.I dont watch it but its your perogative to analyse it if you like or just watch it without analysing it which seems to what RTD is intending in the same way that you might watch 2012 without analysing it.

I feef that RTD relies far too much on the just watch it and enjoy it without thinking philosophy too much which is like a sort of cop out to excuse bad scripting like 2012 so it becomes just a spectacle and in a sense RTD makes a mockery of the art of writing good scripts.Also RTD overplays the fact that Dr Who has high viewing figures so using that logic DRWho is above criticism simply because its popular and because its popular it must be good.

Not so.

The way i see it is that there is no right or wrong here as its entirely up to the individual.

[Albion]

Didn't Biffy Clyro used to be called Boothby Graffoe?

No, Boothby Graffoe is a comedian who took his name from a village in Lincolnshire.

[Cthulouis]

"Over analyse" implies that people analyse it too much. Yet the show falls apart when people analyse it at all, let alone too much. And by analyse it, I mean think about it.

If they expect people to just not think while watching television, (kids television or not, and I agree that this is not (and should not be) exclusively kids television) then the BBC are employing people who want to turn the medium into everything Television Haters want. You know the ones, those elitist snobs who say things like "Oh, my family never watches television, it would rot their brains. We spend family time playing the piano instead." (general gist taken from an opinion column in the Times a few months back)

Those people really irritate me, and I always want to reel off long lists of all the high quality material that can be found on the television. This argument falls apart somewhat if they can turn around and cite Doctor Who.

[Christov]

Why must people insist on kid's television not being worth a decent analysis?

It's the same kind of thinking that RTD uses to justify his extreme lack of effort, utterly shameful that children have to put up with such shoddy television aimed at them.

[Robin Low]

Couple of interesting reviews here:

http://www.strangehorizons.com/reviews/2010/01/two_views_docto.shtml


Regards

Robin

[Adrian Bamforth]

Ironically, I don't think Doctor Who would make it onto a childrens television slot: They tend to have principles about drama having some kind of integrity.

[Roger Godpleton]

Ok so what another writer is going to run down this british treasure, first gay hints in "touchwood", to full on scenes, then glimpse's of it in the doctor who xmas show, now to full on doctor and companion action.Does anyone else feel this is a wrong direction to take a sci fi show, the bbc tryed to ban the porn movie with the daleks, for what so they can make money on doing it themselves???
Bring Doctor Who back to the british and stop trying to make it into something that takes a cult show into the gutter.
Not to mention the amount of children who now tune into doctor who each week, they will have to give away condoms on the next copy of the doctor who comic book.

[Proudhuff]

Your Dad is RTD.

[Eric Plumrose]

the bbc tryed to ban the porn movie with the daleks, for what so they can make money on doing it themselves???

That was likely the Estate of Terry Nation, not the Beeb.

Not to mention the amount of children who now tune into doctor who each week, they will have to give away condoms on the next copy of the doctor who comic book.

Brill idea. It could be the first in a series of features, telling readers how they can recreate classic Who special effects.