Re: Should Doctor Who have remained shelved?

I was hanging out with the cool kids in rec.arts.drwho when
Dahahn got out a spraycan and scrawled the following:
> >> and you'd just look at them
> >> marvelling at what they seem to be missing - that one is derivative
> >> crud and the other has integrity. One is Watson, one is not Watson.
> >> But the nerd would say, "yes, it is Watson, it is Watson reimagined,
> >> oik...".
> >
> > The Rathbone movies aren't *that* bad, although Watson as a
> > bumbling idiot does get on my nerves. The Brett versions are
> > probably as close as you'll get to the books, or at least as close
> > as one could reasonably ask for. But for some people when they
> > come to read the books it's a surprise to find that the original
> > Watson had a brain.
>
> Those are incidentals. The point is, one is Watson, the other is not. It
> wouldn't make sense to say, "Rathbones Watson is Watson, Watson
> *reimagined*... can't we just enjoy having Watson on the screen, erk?"

The difference is that in the case of DW, it's not a closed body of work
which is only being reimagined - new characters are being added, and
that includes the new personalities of the Doctor.

> > Here's a piece of information that may come in handy. America is not
> > the world. Really. There are a whole bunch of other countries out there,
> > one of which was the one in which Doctor Who was made and over here
> > it was much *more* popular than Star Trek and Buck Rogers. Star Wars
> > was very different, but the TV successors to it like Battlestar Galactica
> > (the original) didn't do as well as DW either.
>
> It was popular here, too, but it was on PBS - and I think it was Tom
> Baker who was popular. It wasn't network material, which is what I liked
> about it.

The way you've worded that, it looks like you only liked it *because* it
wasn't liked by many others. Wasn't it some quality of the show that
caused both, rather than one leading directly to the other?

> >> Today it is "cockney Buffy" in space.
> >
> > Anything to back that up with, or is this going to be another of your
> > "It's so obvious I don't really need to explain it" hand-waving
> > exercises?
>
> I could use that same schtick on your statements, too, and you could go
> chasing ppl. down on this newsgroup alone until the crack of doom for not
> providing supporting statements with their assertions. Lessee, RTD idolizes
> Whedon and copies his style, has declared as much, RTD also has a deep sense
> of nostalgia for the 1980's, which is certainly reflected in the
> cinematography, the particular colour schemes and the way their contrasted,
> etc. - that "1980's futuristic look".

The phrase "1980's futuristic look" makes me think of the "Blade Runner"
look. I don't think the new Who looks especially like that (a bit
lacking in the dust and grime department), but what's *wrong* with
looking like Blade Runner?

And no matter what you're thinking of when you say "80's futuristic
look", how does that make it either "cockney" (which DW did back in the
60's) or "Buffy"?

> He has declared, and everyone has
> talked about it, that his stories are more about characters having little
> heart to hearts, so called character driven, and less (much less, as in
> none) about science

Oh, there's still plenty of gobbledygook science in there. It's just
that there is some characterisation *as well*, which is no bad thing.

> the same sickly sentimentality that dominates
> mainstream teevee and movies and is used by Whedon (when I think of every
> time I've seen Buffy on teevee all I remember are two emotional teenagers
> standing face to face having some kind of cow eyed heart to heart - followed
> by a waifish blond doing kung fu on a dozen 2 meter tall stunt guys wearing
> Halloween make up).

That sounds like the impression you might get from watching the
trailers, or turning off after the opening titles. Between the
obligatory fight scenes and the occasionally irritating self-deprecating
dialogue, most of the episodes actually have a decent amount of plot.

--
Remove caps to communicate more easily.

"twat ... bogey nosed newbie" - Steve F
"a prize prick ... lol" - FairPlay
"another person for the killfile" - DBurns
"Belt up ... smartarse" - Frankymole
"Go eat Raspberries! ... anyone recalls WWII?" - The Doctor
.

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