Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Doctor Who: Series 1

Never underestimate the amount of advertising that cable stations will try to cram in...although SciFi is usually better than, say, SpikeTV which has eviscerated DS9 episodes to fit in more penis-hardening medicine commercials.

Actually, those commercials are courtesy of your cable provider. Just flip channels while one is on and you'll find a few stations playing them at the same time. Comcast regularly pushes its own commercials in place of a cable channel's. The ones about "Bob" and his miracle pill seems to be their favorite.

Comcast ranks just below oil companies on my most hated list. I'd pay my satellite provider another ten-twenty bucks a month just to stay away from those bloodsucking bastards.

Somehow I just had the feeling that "The Empty Child" was gonna end of a cliffhanger...!

Yeah, but it ended great!

This Doctor has grown on me. Right off the bat I could tell that the actor was good, but didn't come across as a genius to me. As you learn what's happened, you can understand why he's grown so bitter, but he still doesn't carry off the "I'm the Super Genius Doctor who knows pretty much everything" bit...

And I think he's sweet on Rose.

Not that I blame him ...

I continue to be amazed. Now, apart from everything else... It seems to me the subject of sex has come up in EVERY episode so far, a real contrast to the first 26 seasons where they often tried to pretend it didn't exist. In this one episode alone, we have one reference to gay sex, one characters who's bi, and an unwed teenage mother. Good grief! And of course, something that would have really turned Eric Saward's stomach... a story where (GASP!) nobody dies!!!!!

I've long felt there were a few characters The Doctor-- potentially-- could have gotten romantic with. I just think he's so old and often is "past that" that it might take him awhile to even think about such a thing. Sarah Jane, Romana 2, the scientist from "Kinda"... and Rose. Definitely Rose. "Why does everyone keep saying we're a couple?" she asked. Sometimes it's more obvious from the outside... I think the potential is there. As I said, in the past, any possibility of it was stifled because WHO was considered by many "a children's show". Unlike many, I happen to think people can (and even should) become friends FIRST. Otherwise, eventually you'll wind up wondering is there anything more, which is why so many couples break up-- or stay together being miserable.


Now I wonder how long this new "companion" will last?

saw the part one and two and I have found them quite pleasing and innovative. I am now from now will watch them on every Friday night.

I'm still behind--just watched the ep where Rose saves her Dad. It was a bit formulaic, but still well done. I really like how they're digging into the implications of time travel right away--it really doesn't seem like there has been the filler that dogs so many scifi series.

Re: The Doctor and Rose--I'm more interested in how a 900 year old guy relates to other beings than in getting a "big kiss" or seeing them wake up on the floor of the Tardis together. She seems so young...

With regards to the whole Doctor and sex thing (without trying to give anything away) in Season 2 there is the episode called 'School Reunion' that features Sarah-Jane (yes, *the* Sarah-Jane) which actually asks the question about how he relates to his companions and why he leaves them behind and stuff and without really going into it explains why he doesn't really become romantically involved with any of them. It's hard to really explain any more than that without taking away from the emotional punch of the episode since it is by far the best Who epsiode of the two new seasons (imho).

But yes, sex is suddenly present in the world of Doctor Who. And with regards to the new companion are you talking about Captain Jack? You're up to the 'The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances' two parter aren't you? Jack is great and is around for a while. His best scene comes with Trinny and Suzanna and a gun in one of the last few episodes. He he he.

And in the Madame de Pompadour episode, the sex thing raises its head yet again.

I wont spoil it on this thread but I might start discussing it over on the season two thread.

I agree there is a lot of good deep thought gone into some of these thorny issues which gives a pathos to the doctor I, for one, am really enjoying.

"I really like how they're digging into the implications of time travel right away"


Me, too.

After 42-1/2 YEARS (since its debut) it's about time!

Yay. Another good episode last night.

After the show wasn't on last week... I ALMOST forgot to turn it on last night! Remembered 10 minutes in. Lucky they rerun it again at Midnight.

Whatta ya know? A modern version of "Vengeance On Varos" / "The Running Man" / that OUTER LIMITS episode with Molly Ringwald. "You've GOT to be kidding!" he said. The "android" reminded me a bit of The Candy Man from THE HAPPINESS PATROL (one of my favorites) and of course off-the-wall bizarreness like this goes back at least as far as THE CELESTIAL TOYMAKER.

Having the story take place 100 years after a previous episode, and The Doctor realize what happened since was HIS fault was also reminiscent of THE ARK, a Hartnell 4-parter that felt more like 2 2-parters welded together.

All this "Bad Wolf" stuff-- I swear!-- I kept expecting FENRIC. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...!!!

The ending: AAAAAAUGH!!! (Obviously your budget can look pretty limitless with CGI.) When The Doctor said "NO"-- and then got REALLY worked up-- I was reminded of Sylvester McCoy, or Colin OR Tom Baker at their most arrogant. YAY!


It's not easy going on like this without including any spoilers!

You know... I'm really, REALLY hoping somehow that "A Parting Of The Ways" is the LAST Dalek story anybody ever does on the show (unless they do flashbacks or cross over into some earlier time in their history-- but with time-travellers that doesn't seem to happen often on this show).

I'm astounded. Rose Tyler saved the universe!!!!! (And Captain Jack, too... though they didn't realize it. Oops! It's Tegan Jovanka all over again...)

LOL.

I have faith in Captain Jack's ability to get himself out of a jam.

I'm not really happy that Rose saved the universe, though. I wanted the Doctor to do it. It seems like starting with Ace, there was a tendency to make the Doctor's traveling companions Mary Sueish ...

From his debut, Chris Eccleston's Doctor reminded me of certain aspects of the 6th & 7th Doctors (and the goofiness of the 4th). But when he BACKED OFF right at the end, it was a flashback to "Genesis of the Daleks"-- or "Ressurection of the Daleks" (Baker & Davison respectively). BOTH times the Doctor COULDN'T do what was called for, and at least in Davison's case, regretted it. (I've long theorized that Davison's & Colin Baker's "flaws" led McCoy's Doctor to stop shirking his "duty" to the universe and start really "taking care of business".)

It struck me that, if the Doctor HADN'T sent Rose home, the story wound not have ended the way it did. MAYBE she could have "thrown the switch", as he was unable to do (in fact I was quite expecting it when she returned), but most likely both of them would have died, along with any survivors on Earth-- and Jack (like EVERYONE ELSE on the station-- MY GOD!!!!!) was already a goner. The ending completely blew my mind. Rose (or was it REALLY The Tardis??) did what The Doctor couldn't-- and with MUCH more precision and efficiency. If there's ANY survivors left on Earth after the bombings, it's due to "Dark Rose" (did anyone else think the visuals in the 3rd X-MEN movie were a BIT too similar to what went on here??). I was a bit let down by X3... "A Parting Of The Ways" was, very much, MORE like it!!!


Afraid I don't know who Mary Sue is, but Rose is only the 2nd "companion" since Ace (if we count the one in the movie).

While I generally dislike deus ex machina plot resolutions... It worked, more or less. I hope the Tardis saving the day doesn't become de rigeur, tho.

The first part I found a bit out-of-joint... the Daleks at the end didn't fit; not the dalek's style. But corrupted by millenia of humanity? Oh, the possibilities.

Eccleston has been nothing short of brilliant. He leaves as my favorite Doctor, actually... displacing Baker I, Pertwee and Davidson. "Always leave them wanting more" indeed!

I think the writing has been absolutely BRILLIANT on every single episode so far. It makes SO MUCH of the writing on the old show-- even the "good stuff"-- look 2nd-rate by comparison!!

That said, while I've enjoyed the 9th Doctor, it may take a long while for him to rise in the ranks as a favorite. For me, it's just the momentum of history working... usually. My top favorite Doctors are still, at the moment... McCoy, Troughton, Baker & Cushing-- in that order.

Same for the girls. Rose is fab... but somehow, she isn't hitting me the way some earlier ones have. Hmm. Gotta be chemistry or something... My top 5 girls (in chronological appearance) are Zoe, Liz, Sarah, Romana 2 & Mel. (Yeah-- Mel!)



Obviously my choices have little to do with how many episodes someone did or how many I've seen... or even what order I saw them in. Strange, but true!

I haven't seen quite every version of the Doctor, but I have found Eccleston to be a revelation. If he were a little younger, he would make an intriguing Brainiac 5. His portrayal is very smart, very arrogant and quite powerful in a physical/emotional sort of way. He is the first Doctor to have any real sex appeal, for lack of a better term. When he kissed Rose at the finale ("sounds like you need a doctor"!), it was really moving and almost sensual. I've enjoyed the confidence and physicality of Eccleston's Doctor. The new guy seems like a rather unfortunate return to the pencil-neck geek form.

Prof, I was thinking of Phoenix through the whole finale myself. I probably won't see X3 until the DVD, but I feel like my cousins across the Pond got the feel of Phoenix just about right.

It always intrigues me to see how each Doctor is "different" on the outside-- yet with similar characteristics on the inside, confirming that, yes, it's the "same" guy. Eccleston reminds me in part of Baker-- if he weren't so CONVINCINGLY stupid (with Troughton, at least, you KNEW it was an act); Colin Baker (if he were ACTUALLY in control, instead of so off-balance) and McCoy (if he were a lot younger and taller).

Many old-time fans tend to think of their first Doctor as the "real" one, and that goes all the way back to Hartnell. Whenever I think of him in the context of his later personas, it really makes me wonder, WHAT was he REALLY like, when HE was younger? Although he is, to me definitely the "original", I feel you don't really see the "real" Doctor come out until Troughton, as Hartnell is someone who's just SOOOOOOOOOOO old he's probably worn out, tired and forgotten most of what he used to know... like, for instance, how to pilot the TARDIS.


I know Peter Cushing doesn't count... but in comic-book terms, I tend to think of him as the "Earth-2" Doctor! And I liked his Susan so much better than the "real" one! (Now if only we'd had a chance to see the "Earth-2" Master... played by Christopher Lee!)

I loved that they had Captain Jack be bi. Kissing both Rose and the Doctor before heading off for war. I am sorry he got left behind.

Well, the way the new series keeps coming back to previous story threads, I wouldn't be surprised to see him again. I agree that the bi thing worked.


Agreed, although I don't recall a Mel. Baker II or McCoy? I'd add Tegan to my list, too.

He's in Torchwood (confirmed) and DW S3 (supposedly).
Both.

"Agreed, although I don't recall a Mel. Baker II or McCoy?"

Late Colin Baker and early Sylvester McCoy-- Bonnie Langford! I remember when they cast her, thinking it was the "Vanessa Williams Miss America" thing all over again... as certain factions had complained about Nicola Bryant's Peri being an example of "sexual exploitation" (big boobs and tight or revealing outfits-- yeah, and producer JNT claimed THAT wasn't intentional!). So Bonnie Langford's casting was very specifically a case of trying to make the show more-- ahem-- "wholesome". Who knew I'd fall for her when she walked onstage at a convention in New Brunswick? If you don't recall her on the show, it's not surprising... apart from her debut story, the 3rd segment of the "Trial" ("Terror of the Vervoids"-- the writers CLAIMED it was an Agatha Christie tribute, but REALLY, it was a SWIPE of Alistair MacLean's GOLDEN RENDEZVOUS), most of her stories were NOT all that well written.

Ace, who I did NOT like at all in HER debut story, wound up getting MUCH better writing than MOST of the companions over the years, growing as a character from story to story. They hadn't really done that since Verity Lambert was producer (the 1st 2 seasons).

Funny thing about Bonnie Langford... of all the people who ever appeared on WHO over the years, she has MORE fan websites dedicated to her than anyone else!

I don't recall ever seeing a full Colin Baker episode; only the Davidson regeneration; and I only saw 1 or 2 McCoys, with Ace. Lost track of the show after Davidson; the gap before CB episodes was too long, and life was too busy.