Dr Who

[Martino]

I'm so excited. I don't know if you lot have even heard of it, but a British institution is returning to our TV screens this Saturday. A SF serial called Dr Who has been remade, and slightly reinvented, for the 21st Century. Beeb one have been running trailers, and I'm quite hopeful this might actually turn out to be good.


http://photobucket.com/albums/v201/unofficial_bdwongweb/th_dalek.bmp

[raacluse]

I just hope it doesn't have the cheesy special efx of old. Those low budget serials must've been made when video was in its infancy.

[Martino]

I just hope it doesn't have the cheesy special efx of old. Those low budget serials must've been made when video was in its infancy.

The show began in 1963, of course production values have changed a lot over the years. The new show seems to have been updated, with some nods to the past, and some changes to the show's continuity.

The new/old theme is very good.

Trailer:

BBC Website trailers (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/video/index.shtml)

[Martino]

I watched episode one tonight. Overall, I loved it. It was pacey, tightly scripted, and very-well made. Yes, there were one or two cheesy moments, though they seem to have been deliberately scripted. These were during moments of comic relief which I thought wasn't really needed, such as when Rose's mum tries to seduce the Doctor, and some of the new incarnations of the killer Autons were not as well realised as I'd have hoped.

This was an sfx-lite episode, set in contemporary London, but when effects were called for, they were pretty good.

Eccleston's Doctor was very watchable, giving the character a supercharged lust for life, a line in bad jokes, solid charisma and, yes, some neat comedy moments. Billie Piper's character, Rose, looks worringly like a would be Buffy-clone, but has an otherwise nice down-to-earth Londoner feel to her.

Overall: great stand alone episode. Here's hoping I'm not the only one to like it.

[s1eve]

that girl who plays rose looks like billie...

btw, are there daleks in this new version?

[Martino]

that girl who plays rose looks like billie...

btw, are there daleks in this new version?

It's confirmed that this series will feature two Dalek stories. The first story features just a single Dalek being held in a prison or museum ...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/amdnema/doctorwho/darlek.jpg

... and the season finale features a far future version of the whole Dalek race.

[s1eve]

Saw the ep. Loved it.

Well shot and edited. Good pace and good use of outdoor locations including The Eye. Thought Billie's performance was impressive and Eccleston seems comfortable as Dr. Who. Didn't mind some of the obvious humour eg. Rose's mum trying to seduce Dr Who which made me chuckle.

Anyway, looking forward to the upcoming eps.

[Martino]

The show had 10.6 million viewers and 43.2% audience share, which is quite fantastic considering it was competing with a popular family show on ITV.

[DaMuo]

This news has made my decade! I soooo miss the Doctor. One can only watch re-runs for so long... I wonder how long it will take to get to the stateside? Anybody know?

Hmm... time to check out bittorrent.

[s1eve]

^ http://www.btefnet.net/

[Martino]

See a trailer for the first new Dalek story here:

'Dalek' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/video/index.shtml)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/unofficial_bdwongweb/dalek.jpg

[Martino]

They're really baaaaack ....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/unofficial_bdwongweb/badwolf.bmp

[Boy_Hong]

i actually rather enjoy the new series. for the longest time i couldn't bring myself to watch them cause i thought they were really cheesey. but my friend kind of went through the story with me a bit, and no i regret not watching all those old episodes

[pablohoney]

I used to watch Dr. Who regligiously on PBS when I was a kid, I loved the sci-fi stories and serialized format, it was as close (at least in spirit) to a comic book on tv as I've ever seen. Looking back at it now I can't get over the fact that the Dr. never hooked up with or even showed the slightest interest in any of his companions. Especially the 5th doctor, he was relatively young and spending all that time with Nyssa and Teegan...hmmmmmm!

[Martino]

I started watching in 1975 ...

There are currently two companions. One is really hot. The other is Billie Piper.

[Martino]

Tonights episode was the best episode ever.

Ever!

[Martino]

"Hmm, new teeth. That's weird. Now where were we?"

[Martino]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/Penbrook/t2.jpg

New Doctor, new look.

[Martino]

A chic geek to save the galaxy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4717755.stm

He's been a dandy, an Edwardian cricketer and most famously wore a long scarf. Doctor Who's togs change as he regenerates. So what are the fashion tips from everyone's favourite Time Lord?

Flamboyant. Garish. Bizarre. Seldom does Time Lord fashion make it to the High Street.

Until now. When David Tennant takes over the role later this year, it will be in what he describes as "geek chic".

Gone is his predecessor's tailored leather jacket. Instead Tennant will look like the type of man Kate Moss might date, with a just-got-out-of-bed, dragged-through-a-hedge-backwards, only-thing-I-could-find look.

So what are the key points of the look, which was devised for the programme's makers by a freelance costume designer?

Brown pin-striped suit: Gone are the days of Angus Deayton-inspired stigma for men wearing brown suits. And this is surely a sign that pin-stripes have been well and truly reclaimed from City bankers.

White shirt, unbuttoned at the collar with loose tie: Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor wouldn't have gone near a tie, preferring Michael Douglas-style V-necked jumpers. A signal perhaps that the Tennant Doctor will be a slightly more erudite character than Eccleston's action-and-sarcasm hero?

Skinny trousers and trainers: Converse trainers are white hot items this summer, selling out within hours of hitting the shelves in some shops. The trousers are skinny and crumpled - think Pete Doherty - and if they were much tighter, Norman Wisdom would be demanding royalties.

Long brown trench coat: A cross between an old hack's Mac and flasher attire, with a twist of debonair gent. A lo-fi contrast to the high gloss trenchcoats Keanu Reeves swirled through The Matrix in?

The look is Franz Ferdinand cum Kaiser Chiefs. But is it Time Lord? Does it have the gravitas, the power and the magic that goes with such an eminent position? Will it make the Slitheen, the Autons and the Gelth quake in their boots, or will it simply reduce the Daleks to helpless laughter?

Only time will tell, but the new look should further cement the popularity of the series, says Mark Hooper, associate editor at men's magazine Esquire.

The programme makers seem to be trying to move with the times, to catch a hipper demographic's eye, he says.

"[The outfit] looks really good. Someone said to me it looks a bit Jarvis Cocker, kind of geeky but cool. It is a much younger look, like he's in an indie band. The pinstripe suit is quite tight-fitting, quite timely. It's a bit of an absent-minded professor look, but trendy with it. It's slightly eccentric."

So how do Tennant's Soho-louche kecks compare with those of his predecessors?

The original Doctor, the rather grandfatherly figure of William Hartnell, was fond of a black frock coat. His twinkly successor Patrick Troughton wore baggy trousers, while Jon Pertwee was a bit of a dandy with his capes and frills.

But for Hooper, there is still only one Doctor Who outfit.

"I still think the Tom Baker scarf is a classic - that's what I grew up with. Peter Davison's cricket outfit didn't do it for me. And I just remember Jon Pertwee having big cuffs."

But there are risks from flirting with high fashion, as the new Doctor might find out when he comes on to TV screens after Christmas. Fashion - just like time itself - moves quickly, as any time lord should know.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41344000/jpg/_41344385_newdoctorlong_pa.jpg