Doctor Who

[Jexral]

Sorry if there's another post... I didn't see one when I looked.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else had watched the season finale.  I was pretty disappointed with the new doctor, until about halfway through this season, and then, IMO, he just got better and better, until the finale is one of my favorite episodes of Who.

Anyone else?  Opinions of Matt Smith?  Amy Pond (whose real-life name, I cannot recall)?  Favorite episodes?  Least favorite?  Anything?

[Renoard]

I think smith has grown into the best or one of the best doctors.  He manages to incorporate the curmudgeon of the First Doctor the practical brilliance of the third doctor and the smarm that only Tom Bakker could summon.  In a very real sense he ties all the doctors back into a single personality.

When I was a kid I agreed, Bow-ties were coooool.  Now not so much.  The problem is they have this wonderful cast (even rory is pretty useful) but the writing has suffered.  The Pandorica was a good idea, but crammed into a two episode arch at the end of the season it was kind of pathetic.

Of course Doctor's elimination and reintegration into the universe frees him to become Rassalon, and there is no reason the Doctor's time lock would continue to work.

Maybe River is the now sane Master. . . . But no, she'll be that female clone.  Hurray for the shear absurdity and long live the series.

[Jexral]

A few spoilers ahead - nothing too bad, in my opinion, but I thought I should warn anyway.

To be honest, I have only seen the new series', starting with 2005, and I'm not really sure how to rank the three doctor's I've seen.  I loved them all for different reasons.

And I agree about the writing having suffered ( The Vampire's of Venice? ), but I feel like they handled the Pandorica pretty well.  They built to it subtly - not as subtly as Bad Wolf, and it wasn't handled quite as well, but still.  I was glad to see how they incorporated some of the seemingly random episodes into the overall arch, like the Van Gogh one.

One of my problems with the newest season is how they threw some ideas around, but seem to have abandoned them.  Like Amy not remembering the invasion of the Daleks.  They hadn't been erased from existence, yet, so she SHOULD remember them, right?  Unless I just misinterpreted something there...

And if you mean, by "female clone", the Doctor's daughter, I'm reasonably sure that they are not one in the same.  It has been heavily implied that she is the Doctor's wife, and so that would be kind of creepy... to each their own, though, I guess....

[Renoard]

Ummm the machine makes clones.  There is very little change from generation to generation and the doctor use the term clone several times.

The power of Smith's portrayal is that when I think back to the episode, I naturally substitute Smith for the seventh doctor.

Of course they may decide to make River Sun(g) into the Ra of the river or Cleopatra.

On a side note: It occurs to me that in formal dress, Smith rather resembles a young William Hartnell, the real first Doctor.

[Jexral]

No... I wasn't questioning the clone part, just river being said clone.  Sorry if I was unclear...  And, if I recall, he refers to her as his daughter on more than one occasion, too.  And there must be some change with the DNA, or she wouldn't have been a woman... <shrug>

I should really check out some of the earlier stuff... what do you think?  Start at the beginning, or is there somewhere better to start?

[Renoard]

I think the Third Doctor is a place to start, then catch Thom Baker.
That will given you a good idea of the stories that went into creating the canon.  Just remember we're talking about 1960's TV and be kind about special effects and setting.

[Jexral]

Oh yes, I know that.  I've loved my fair share of old, campy sci-fi.