Doctor Who Season Five

[Thorin]

Has anyone been watching the latest season of Doctor Who with Matt Smith?  I caught a couple of episodes on TV but missed some, so I ended up downloading them all this weekend (and then having a six hour Who marathon!).

I've been mostly impressed with the stories, and now want to do an Eccleston-Tennant marathon (four glorious seasons of Whovian goodness!)

[Lazybones]

I have seen every episode of the new doctor who accept last weeks. Only one episode behind.

It is fun to watch. Even with the actors changing so often.

[Mr. Analog]

So far it's really not grabbing me, I don't know why...

[Thorin]

I have seen every episode of the new doctor who accept last weeks. Only one episode behind.

It is fun to watch. Even with the actors changing so often.

Well...  You could always download all of the old stuff?  I have a 200gig drive I can't find a power cord for that is chock-full of it.

I gotta say, the new millennium put much better special effects in Doctor Who

[Mr. Analog]

I gotta say, the new millennium put much better special effects in Doctor Who

Well, it couldn't be underfunded 70s British public broadcasting forever!

With such a gigantic cult following over the last 40 odd years you'd think it would have gotten star treatment long ago.

[Lazybones]

Ya it has moved up to campy lex
Level cg, however the effects seem to be improve every season.

[Mr. Analog]

Ya it has moved up to campy lex
Level cg, however the effects seem to be improve every season.

I think it's somewhere between Lexx and Farscape with hints of Battlestar

[Thorin]

I think the special effects still fall flat sometimes.  The Weeping Angels (creepy moving statues) are top-notch.  Prisoner Zero from the series opener was alright, but had that computer-animated look to it.  The alien monster from the Vincent Van Gogh episode looked like cheap 1994 computer-generated crap.

Looking back across the new series, that same pattern appears - sometimes the special effects are great (skies turning black from flying Daleks?!), sometimes you wonder if the studio is at the end of it's funding and waiting for new funding to arrive.

[Lazybones]

The Weeping Angels (creepy moving statues) are top-notch.

That is an excellent example of where not seeing the monster is more frighting than seeing a poorly animated one completely.

I think I generally find the episodes where the aliens / monsters are done with practical effects instead of CG are better, however there are exampled of that looking bad as well.

What about the episode where the clockwork robots where going back in time and stealing body parts. Or the library where the shadows instantly reduced people to bone?

[Thorin]

So I decided to have a Doctor Who summer with my kids, and we started watching from the first episode of the new millennium.  I'm proud to say my kids know what clockwork robots you're talking about!

Although there have been kids coming into my bed in the middle of the night lately.  Hmm, I wonder if that's connected.

Oh, and I've made sure to download all the little specials - for instance, there's a seven minute special between the last Eccleston episode and the first Tennant Christmas special.  The kids got a kick out of watching a seven minute show.

We've watched 19 separate episodes and specials so far, and according to Wikipedia we have 56 to go.  Good lord, I just realized there are 75 "new" Doctor Who episodes already!

[Mr. Analog]

That's really cool, half of what makes Dr. Who magic when you are a kid is being scared by it, then the addiction spreads...

[Lazybones]

I recently discovered we had missed a few of the specials, it was a nice to have some more dr who to watch.

[Stewie521]

The Weeping Angels (creepy moving statues) are top-notch.

That is an excellent example of where not seeing the monster is more frighting than seeing a poorly animated one completely.

I think I generally find the episodes where the aliens / monsters are done with practical effects instead of CG are better, however there are exampled of that looking bad as well.

What about the episode where the clockwork robots where going back in time and stealing body parts. Or the library where the shadows instantly reduced people to bone?

I really agree with that! The last one we saw was on a planet orbiting a Black Hole, and there was a beast trapped inside the core, and well you didn't see it until the very end! once you saw it,  the whole scary effects, made in between, literally disappear! That beast looked like one of the best aliens from the Fourth Doctor!

[Thorin]

I dunno, The Beast looked much better than anything from the fourth doctor.  Still obviously computer-generated, though:

[Mr. Analog]

Oh man, you reminded me that that scene is an homage to a much earlier (Pertwee?) episode! I'll try to find a screen shot later.

A lot of people criticize Dr. Who for its cardboard sets and gravel pits but you really have to grasp how little money they had to spend on special effects and even with that the amazing writing still shone through and made it great. In fact, that's what I think has really set this reboot apart from other Sci-Fi series, the writing has been pretty good coupled with some decent effects has made some great television.

Edit: Okay, I *think* the serial episode was "The D?mons" (1971). I'll have to find some clips as my collection skips the Troughton/Pertwee years (hard to find)