Doctor Who

fez said:
Exactly. I want ridiculous plots to take over the world. Large scale stories with good bad guys. Not silly little history lessons with Doctor who characters shoehorned in. Even in the past series when they have been episodes with limited danger or scope they still manage to make them interesting and focus on the enemy or the aliens. I reckon 80% of the episodes this series have been devoted to personal stories that I give not a single **** about.
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It's become so bland, I quickly found myself thinking about fitting an outside light to my shed planning in my head where to run the cables as it's a little dark in the garden in front of the shed. Then I got up and went and made dinner leaving it on for my missus who is also a fan to watch, however she was already scrolling through Facebook on her phone.
 
Vern1961 said:
This weeks episode seemed to be a take on the
Soul Hunters
from Babylon 5 combined with the inevitable SJW history lesson around Indian Independence. However the writing and acting remains weak - even the worst B5 episode and occasional wooden acting were 5x better. The producers and writers must have watched decent sci-fi to get their ideas, can only think they have been inhibited by BBC insistence each episode has to represent diversity or the struggle of some oppressed minority.

Will be watching some more of The Expanse Season 3 later to remind myself how sci-fi should be done
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Dunno what Sci fi you've read, but I reckon most I've consumed has addressed social issues. Same for much of TV and film science fiction
 
cheesyboy said:
Dunno what Sci fi you've read, but I reckon most I've consumed has addressed social issues. Same for much of TV and film science fiction
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Not in such an overt OTT BBC SJW manner, though. B5 often featured the desperation of those living in "Down Below" no doubt a parallel to real life homeless issues. However it played an important plot element in many episodes and blended into the story in a matter of fact manner, not rammed down your throat like the BBC are doing.
 
Vern1961 said:
Not in such an overt OTT BBC SJW manner, though. B5 often featured the desperation of those living in "Down Below" no doubt a parallel to real life homeless issues. However it played an important plot element in many episodes and blended into the story in a matter of fact manner, not rammed down your throat like the BBC are doing.
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Is it just more comfortable if it's an ignorable allegory, rather than a direct retelling?

The partition of India might not be taught in schools, but it's one of the most important acts of Britain in the last 100 years. British actions lead to the deaths of millions, and the displacement of many millions more, and set in motion a conflict which even today reverberates worldwide. It's within Doctor Who's genetics to deal with big historic events, and I thought they did a good job to condense some feeling into a 45 minute show.

It wasn't the most exciting episode, but it sure was moving. My son (8) reported from his conversations with classmates that a few were quite shocked and saddened by the dude copping it at the end.
 
Actually surprised no one has mentioned the fact it took about 5 seconds of um-ing and ah-ing before the Doctor decided it was fine to cross the timeline of a current companion.

Not a tortured decision by the Doctor from a companion's request who never knew her dead father, but just "I wanna see my gran for ***** and giggles".
 
fez said:
Exactly. I want ridiculous plots to take over the world. Large scale stories with good bad guys. Not silly little history lessons with Doctor who characters shoehorned in. Even in the past series when they have been episodes with limited danger or scope they still manage to make them interesting and focus on the enemy or the aliens. I reckon 80% of the episodes this series have been devoted to personal stories that I give not a single **** about.
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Couldn't agree more.

Taking into account the Doctor can travel to any point in the universe at any point in time, so far we've had Sheffield (current time), alien planet (current time?), Alabama (1955), Yorkshire (current time), alien planet (current time?), India (1947). It seems the script writers had zero imagination considering the limitless constraints of Doctor Who. It's almost heartbreaking to see such an amazing series turn into something so dull and unimaginative. Maybe they've deliberately held back on budget spending for the first few episodes and saved it all for the latter half of the series....I hope.
 
think the decision to cast jodie w as dr could have been good with her serious drama background, but they have really under used her and have just made her act like tennent/smith.

also the constant need to through social issues in our faces, instead of making points about it just show it naturally. have a varied cast of actors if there good enough, but stop ticking boxes for the sake of it. if anything its holding these issues back because your making them stand out
 
cheesyboy said:
Dunno what Sci fi you've read, but I reckon most I've consumed has addressed social issues. Same for much of TV and film science fiction
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Going back to the original Star Trek from the 60s. That was heavily influenced by politics and other issues. even TNG was too. although I think they disguised it enough that most people didn't notice it. Or maybe people now just have politics on the brain so much that they are getting obsessed with it, even seeing it in places where its not actually a thing.
 
VincentHanna said:
Exactly, TNG was the most 'Social Justice' show in the World.

All really good (intelligent) sci-fi is mirroring contemporary issues.
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Very True! Unfortunately in the light of shows that have done similar, it just highlights the new DW as a little bit.... well... severely lacking.

All good having a message as trimmings... but not at the expense of the meat of a show.

Now I love(d) DW, Issue covering and all, it made it what it is.. also think Jodie is doing a decent job as the doctor, better than Capaldi's last outings which were snooze fests.

But these last few series in general have just felt like the creators only intention is to roger you with a big "social issues" stick after luring you into the BBC van when under the pretence you were going there to get some Grade A Sci-Fi viewing.
 
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I know the show aimed primarily at kids, but isn't one of the most famous selling points about Dr Who that it makes kids "hide behind the settee"? I don't recall a single moment of this current season that would fit that description.
 
Malevolence said:
I know the show aimed primarily at kids, but isn't one of the most famous selling points about Dr Who that it makes kids "hide behind the settee"? I don't recall a single moment of this current season that would fit that description.
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Try watching with an 8 year old then. My boy has found scary moments in almost every episode, including the last one.
 
There's a phrase that editors use to their authors: "Your research is showing". It's when a writer goes off and learns a lot about a subject, but then ends up inadvertently trying to stuff all this unnecessary information into the writing. It breaks up the flow of the book, stalls out the story, and makes it obvious the author is copy/pasting all this "interesting" info into the book.

Based on what people are saying, I think the same thing is happening with Doctor Who's writing. There's so many agendas going on, stuff that they feel has to go into the script to get their messages across, meet the BBC quotas and targets, that it's getting in the way of writing good stories and characters. Or they've just gone full on kids show and don't care to cater to anyone else in the family.
 
cheesyboy said:
Try watching with an 8 year old then. My boy has found scary moments in almost every episode, including the last one.
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Goddamn weakass ********* generation :p

Edit : good lord...is the individual form of snow blocked on here now? Quite surprised by that, but I dont suppose I should be. Ruined a decent joke though...well ok...semidecent :)
 
Malevolence said:
the most famous selling points about Dr Who that it makes kids "hide behind the settee"?
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... the parents are now cringing and grimacing.

Watching the episode, the unexpected lack of accents of the punjab inhabitants, did ruin the atmosphere too, which contributed to the sensation of black-washing,
(edit wrong terminology .. were they all indian actors ?)
felt like we were watching an episode of half-remembered - now non-pc drama, it a'int half hot mum.
 
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