Absolute Whooey

[Eric Plumrose]

According to Ceefax, readers of Doctor Who Magazine have named David Tennant 'best Dr. (sic!) Who'.

[DavidXBrunt]

Yeah. The one that's in usually wins. And think how many new readers there are who probably don't know who William Hartnell is. Not to be much of a surprise.

[Concrete Block 15]

The only surprise here is that people still read Ceefax...

[Buddy]

I think that was a missprint.

I should have read
According to the ceefax reader.....

[Eric Plumrose]

'Baker, who played the character from 1974 to 1981, has topped every previous poll conducted by the magazine, except in 1990 - when Sylvester McCoy won'.

Heh. That's almost a disclaimer.

[DavidXBrunt]

It's also not true. McGann won after the movie and after he started doing Big Finish plays. Colin Baker won when he got a decent script at last (shortly after starting with Big Finish), Eccleston won last year...

[Adrian Bamforth]

"The only surprise here is that people still read Ceefax..."

Teletext is like getting an elderly relative to read you thin internet.

I looked at Teletext one day and was amazed to see that it has it's own web site you can visit. Now, you would think that Teletext itself was kind of a text-based information service...

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[Leigh S]

Why let the facts get in the way now that we are in the glorious "Year Zero" of Russell T's Who.

Tennant can do no wrong - RTD is a scripting genius - Torchwood is better than Quatermass - FACT!

Worship them! Worship them!  

It's this kind of weird crap that is really pissing me off with regards the promotion of new series (wthout even getting into the content!)- No dissent is allowed, all decisions are good ones, when RTD does something appraently lame, it's actually very clever and ironic, criticism will make them take Dr Who off us again etc. etc.
 

[I, Cosh]

The only surprise here is that people still read Ceefax...

Had this very conversation with a mate recently. Fuck Sky Sports News, Teletext is the only way to watch football scores on a Saturday.

[Adrian Bamforth]

This is how it works:

It's based on series which was fondly remembered by parents now who like to relive their youth through their chldren.

It's very easy even for stupid journalists to fill magazines and papers with articles about it even when there's no new information by comparing old and new, recycling old stuff about who was best, what they might bring back, 'exterminate' etc.

They put fart jokes in for the under eights, blow job jokes in for the teenagers and gay suggestions in for the adults to show it's actually very relivant to today's world.

They cast people who are already famous in the tabloids in it.

They put the show on rotation on BBC3 along with a huge amount of 'making of' material.

They use CGI, which noone ever criticises because it's very clever what they can do these days.

They get a couple of good writers in for a couple of episodes.

They hypnotise Mark Lawson into saying RTD is the best writer of a generation.

They avoid anything that approaches sci-fi,  certainly anything that approaches science, and use magic instead.

They engineer a clumsy 'will they/wont they' apect to the main two characters.

They go on a merchandising blitz and do a deal with the Radio Times to fawn all over the show.

They pump money into a flashy promotional web site.


Have I missed anything?

ADE

[Misanthrope]

They employ 'streetwise' twenty somethings to attract the teenage audience, who couldn't give a shit anyway.

[Floyd-the-k]

Why shouldn't they do those things? Using CGI seems like a good idea. I thought promoting a show was pretty normal behaviour for people who make the show. Fart jokes are fun (I must be innocent, I don't remember the blow job jokes).
  The gay suggestions and will they won't they got on my wick too. there's nothing particularly ground breaking/futuristic about characters who sleep around these days. 'will they won't they' is just silly for Who because you know they won't.
  but have you missed anything? Well, a good show.  I kept watching the Tenant Who wondering when I was going to see the awful shows I'd read about here and then I realised it was all really pretty good.  Lucky me.

[Leigh S]

Presumably you got the Mallett free edit, Floyd!

For me, the problems with the show all centre on the lax storytelling and logic they apply.  Theres a mentality that seems to stem from RTD that you shouldnt think about what you've seen on the screen too much - just feel the love.  

In life, events happen and feelings and emotions stem from those events.  In RTD world, emotions happen, and events conspire to allow those emotions a good third of the running time.  To me, that's putting the emotional cart before the plot horse, and a manipulative cart pulling a lobotomised horse at that!

RTD is supposed to be the greatest writer of his generation, but here he is, sidelining the importance of involving storylines and strong and/or original plots in favour of clumsily tugging at our heartstrings.  If you want your heartstrings pulled, then fair enough - go to RTD, don't hold the plot up to the light and you'll get what you want.  And certainly, it does appear that's what a lot of people want.  I'd just like something that made me feel emotions because I'd been on a journey with the characters, as opposed to a plot that really only amounts to short stroll to get us to the 'important' scenes where Rose cries or the Doctor and Rose laugh or they have a "I'd like to tell you I love you but won't"  moment.

I'd also like a Doctor who wasnt prone to descending into a Timmy Mallett impression at inopportune moments, and whose travels in all of time and space have left him with a frame of reference that seems to start in 1980 and end in 2006 - suspiciously similar to all RTDs characters...

There was talk of the new companion being a Victorian maid or somesuch.  I'm sure RTD soon thought better of the idea once someone pointed out that they didn't have Girls Aloud in the 19th Century!

But yeah, if you are willing to go with it, new Who offers an enjoyable ride.  Ironically (for an RTD product)it reminds me of Religion - you have to have faith, and with that, you feel like you are one of the chosen ones, part of the big gang of Who greatness. Once your faith wanes, it becomes increasingly difficult to feel part of it, and as you hear the fundamentalist cries from both fandom and the production team, it really starts to wind you up! :)

[Leigh S]

Forgot to add - the above theories seem to be backed up by RTD. There's a telling quote where he says the most interesting things in Columbo were the parts where he talks about his wife - that these were the bits that people tuned in to see.  

I think this is a fundamentally wrong headed approach to things (not least Columbo!).  The wife conversations are great, sure, but they are a cherry on the Columbo cake.  You enjoy seeing them in the context of his investigations, but if every episode was purely Columbo sitting down talking about his wife, how long would that last?  RTD wants the cherry, but can't be bothered to bake the cake, so he throws lots of cherrys in a bowl - as many as he can find - his attention and obsession is with those cherries.  Then he half heartedly throws in a Netto packet mix almost as an afterthought.  

Good if you like cherries, and can pick them out of the mix.  Not so good if you were after cake.  

[Adrian Bamforth]

"Why shouldn't they do those things?"

Well, it is a bit annoying when the substance doesn't anywhere near match up to the hype  but by then it's too late, it's a ratings success so so noone dare to say "er, isn't it actually quite poor?"

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