I too remember first watching this series during the Tom Baker era. But Matt Smith is still one of my favorite actors to play as Doctor Who (big season 6 fan). Just how he went about it all was too entertaining for me.
Though not my cup of tea, the "new" show and Doctors have to be doing something right, I expected it to die a death but if I'm not mistaken Smith and Tennant were well received indeed.
Tennant was near perfection. Smith started out amazing only to fall apart halfway through and his final season a train wreck. Capaldi had a rough start, then was given an incredible second season that harkened back to the story telling of the Hinchcliffe years, only to fumble the ball in his third season. Whitaker never had a chance.
There was a story from the Sylvester McCoy era that I remember watching alone in the afternoons and getting perhaps more than a wee bit scared of these shambling sea zombies, even though I was like 10 years old and thinking I shouldn't be. I never knew what it was until tonight (I did some digging)...it was "The Curse of Fenric". I guess I'm hunting that one down next!
Want to bring people back to Doctor Who? Gotta go with what works: boyfriend Doctors. Yes, I was cheering when Capaldi was cast in the role. But yeah, in retrospect, that was a mistake that cost Dr. Who the international acclaim it was building towards. The momentum really came to a grinding halt with him, unfortunately. Whitaker is a gimmick. I'm sure she's a brilliant actress but she has to know she's been played as a tool for ratings. If I were Jodie, I couldn't exit the franchise fast enough - but it seemed like she bought into the whole "The Doctor can be anyone and anything" gimmick the Beebs peddled in the past couple of years. Male, female, black, white, tadpole, fire hydrant...it's all game because who are the Beebs to gatekeep a role that's been ever-changing yet incredibly consistent - an amazing feat by the way - for the past 50+ years? SMH.
A gimmick that was then undermimed by another gimmick. "Oh, you wanted a female Doctor? Then how about a female Doctor but this time she's black? But wait! There's more! The Doctor was female all along!"
If you can, watch the special edition version from the Blu-Ray set. They combined all 4 parts into one long movie and added some additional scenes to it that turned it from a pretty good story into an amazing one.
Oh come on now. They have been talking about turning the Doctor into a woman since the late 70s/early 80s. I forget if it was Tom Baker or Colin Baker in the interview, but they asked him if the Doctor could be a woman next and he said there was no reason why the Doctor couldn't be. The idea itself is brilliant and makes total sense. The problem is they never did anything with it. The Witchfinder General is the only story to do anything interesting with the Doctor now being a woman. As for Whitaker, she is friends with Chibnall, so I doubt she has listened to the criticism against him.
A few people keep saying this, citing two or three classic Doctors, but I’ve never actually seen it. I’d never heard anything about it that I considered serious until at some point during Moffat’s run. And now they act like Time Lords don’t even consider it a big deal, but Eleven panicked when he had long hair and thought he had turned into a girl.
It was asked about once or twice...and then parodied in Curse of the Fatal Death. It was never taken seriously until modern Who.
Perhaps, but even Patrick Troughton loved the idea when it was brought up during an interview for The Five Doctors.
I have always hated the idea that they switch genders because it leads to a whole lot of questions regarding reproduction.
They're essentially gods, why would they need to reproduce like a human? Romana was probably born via someone with a headache.
I don't think that's necessary at all. The constant talk of Doctor Who's viewership falling largely ignores the context of viewing figures for most shows being down. Doctor Who is still one of the most watched shows on British Television. While I'm personally done with the Chibnal Era and I don't know if I'd ever want to return to watching the show (at least new episodes, as I'll always return to the Classic show and some of the RTD and Moffat eras), I still think the Chibnal Era has proved successful in growing or at least maintaining interest in Doctor Who, without needing to pander to tween drama, like RTD did (and early Moffat, to a lesser extent). Of course, this was largely accomplished through stunt casting, but I think Doctor Who's held a place in the public consciousness for long enough to be able to ditch gimmicks, at this point. If someone with actual talent as a showrunner took over, I think solid writing would be more than sufficient for holding viewers' interest.
I'd like to ditch the gimmicks. But if you look back over ratings, the tween drama was what hooked the audience and held them. :/
No, he just shoves his personal political views down the audiences throat every episode 100 times over.
Like I said before, ratings are taken out of context. You can't expect Doctor Who to have the same ratings it used to when very little does. Doctor Who is still doing about as well as ever, compared to other shows. I know this discussion can't get too deep, because of the rules, but I would like to know what's being referred to, as I've watched Series 11 and I'm aware of what happens in Series 12 and I just don't see anything that's more political than normal for the show and the political themes generally are only in a small number of episodes. I'd be genuinely curious to see a list of things you found too political, even if we can't discuss them, since it seems you're seeing something that I'm not.
