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I have only seen through "Vampires of Venice"; please don't spoil me for more (unless you can honestly tell me that it will get better, in which case feel free to comment "It will get better!—but I've had the sense from what people have been putting before their own cuts that I won't be seeing that comment).
I really, really want to like the Eleventh Doctor and Amy/Amelia Pond. Sometimes I do like them. Then I don't again. I have seen things I never, ever wanted (nor expected to see) on Doctor Who. Call me a prude (really, feel free; you won't be the first), but I don't really want the Doctor undressing onscreen. What I want far, far less is for a companion to ogle the Doctor undressing! No! Wrong! Stop!
I understand that Amy has emotional problems. She has blatantly obvious reasons for abandonment issues (thanks, Steven Moffat, for whacking us over the head with that repeatedly so that we couldn't possibly miss it). She also seems to have conflated Daddy issues and Boyfriend issues and attached them to the person of the Doctor. Fortunately, "Vampires of Venice" suggests that all she needed to clear that up was a romantic holiday in Venice with her actual fiancé to cure her of those problems. If they've actually cured them, I'll forgive them the facile way in which they did it. I suspect, however, that Amy's emotional troubles will rear their cute little red head again soon.
I like that companions are more complex than some of the early ones. Ace remains one of my favorites, and she seriously needed counseling! Amy, however, not only has problems, but she also seems to have one of the same problems two of the previous three companions had: unrequited love/lust for the Doctor. I managed to ignore it much of the time with Rose and Martha. I know a lot of people got disgusted with one or the other. Honestly, though, they never jumped the Doctor! (Well, okay, it looked like Rose did in one episode, but that was really Cassandra.)
I don't dislike the Eleventh Doctor; I just don't like him tremendously yet. I'm not sure why.
I liked a lot of things Russell Davies did, including bringing back the series, for which he has my undying gratitude. However, I saw two problems as hallmarks of his era (besides the aforementioned tendency of the companions to go gaga over the Doctor):
1. Stories began in truly intriguing ways with great mysteries and then often wound up with WTF? 'resolutions': I can't even bring myself to type the word without scare quotes, and I hate scare quotes.
2. Over the years, Doctor Who has retconned more history/ideas/places/people than I will ever be able to count. However, the pace seemed really to pick up with RTD. Time works differently than we ever knew before: not only can changing timelines create the obvious SF problems, they can allow gargoyle-dragon things into our space-time continuum to eat people! The Doctor can call any time in time and space on his mobile! The TARDIS works! The Doctor can travel to an AU! But he can never go back! But wait—he can! The Doctor can refuse a regeneration! The Doctor can have a regeneration crisis! I'm only hitting the highlights here. It felt as if almost every episode changed or bent something we thought we knew—even if it was something we'd only learned that episode (or the previous).
I had hoped Steven Moffat would put an end to those two kinds of nonsense, or at least diminish them a little. Um, no.
1. The captors of Prisoner One were willing to blow up the entire Earth to kill Prisoner One? The Doctor did not stop with saving the Earth but went on to threaten these aliens? Was that wise? Was that necessary? Was the episode running short?
Convincing an android he was human turned off his bomb. Then we let him go free. Oh, and Rainbow Daleks. 'Nuff said about that episode.
I could go on, but the only resolution I really liked came in "The Beast Below"—except that I had strong déjà vu of Donna insisting that the Doctor could at least save one family from Pompeii. Again, we have the (relatively new) Companion reminding the Doctor what he can and should do, because he seems to have forgotten and/or given the matter insufficient thought.
2. The sonic screwdriver heals neck wounds? Dude, I think you confused it with some vaguely similar-looking tech from Star Trek! Have we ever seen it heal before?
Time seems to have changed how it works again.
The Weeping Angels changed in the course of the story! The Doctor said they relied on a quantum lock: they only move when not observed. Then he said that if they thought Amy could see them, it was as good as if Amy could see them! I need that Rodney McKay "They broke science!" icon here! Brilliant Husband and I are pretty sure quantum physics is not affected by one pretending to observe but not actually doing so. (Of course, how would we know? We weren't actually observing.) Then we saw Weeping Angels move, which not only ruined the physics and the illusion of the whole thing, but showed really poor f/x.
I think I have several other complaints along the same lines, but I expect the rice to finish any minute now, so I should wrap this up.
I want to enjoy the show. I've certainly enjoyed bits!
I like Amy when she's not mooning over the Doctor: curious, eager to get involved, compassionate, everything a companion should be.
I love her boyfriend's description of just how the Doctor is dangerous: he makes people want to impress him!
I like River Song even though I feel she's always on the verge of tipping into Do Not Like in a big way. (I know some people do not like her.) I think Alex Kingston pulls off nearly impossible scripts. I adored how she got her message to the Doctor, relied on him showing up, and threw herself into space.
I loved Liz 10 (aside from the fact that every few years she chose to forget everything and start over, which gave me trouble).
I enjoyed much of "The Time of Angels."
If you can suggest more I should love in the ones I've already seen, or persuade me it's not really so bad, I'd appreciate it. I haven't read anyone else's reactions yet; I have to go hunting for those, so feel free to link below and save me the trouble, if you want me to read your own episode posts.
I'd implore you to tell me it improves, but then I'd know if no one told me that that the situation must be dire, so I won't even ask.
I really, really want to like the Eleventh Doctor and Amy/Amelia Pond. Sometimes I do like them. Then I don't again. I have seen things I never, ever wanted (nor expected to see) on Doctor Who. Call me a prude (really, feel free; you won't be the first), but I don't really want the Doctor undressing onscreen. What I want far, far less is for a companion to ogle the Doctor undressing! No! Wrong! Stop!
I understand that Amy has emotional problems. She has blatantly obvious reasons for abandonment issues (thanks, Steven Moffat, for whacking us over the head with that repeatedly so that we couldn't possibly miss it). She also seems to have conflated Daddy issues and Boyfriend issues and attached them to the person of the Doctor. Fortunately, "Vampires of Venice" suggests that all she needed to clear that up was a romantic holiday in Venice with her actual fiancé to cure her of those problems. If they've actually cured them, I'll forgive them the facile way in which they did it. I suspect, however, that Amy's emotional troubles will rear their cute little red head again soon.
I like that companions are more complex than some of the early ones. Ace remains one of my favorites, and she seriously needed counseling! Amy, however, not only has problems, but she also seems to have one of the same problems two of the previous three companions had: unrequited love/lust for the Doctor. I managed to ignore it much of the time with Rose and Martha. I know a lot of people got disgusted with one or the other. Honestly, though, they never jumped the Doctor! (Well, okay, it looked like Rose did in one episode, but that was really Cassandra.)
I don't dislike the Eleventh Doctor; I just don't like him tremendously yet. I'm not sure why.
I liked a lot of things Russell Davies did, including bringing back the series, for which he has my undying gratitude. However, I saw two problems as hallmarks of his era (besides the aforementioned tendency of the companions to go gaga over the Doctor):
1. Stories began in truly intriguing ways with great mysteries and then often wound up with WTF? 'resolutions': I can't even bring myself to type the word without scare quotes, and I hate scare quotes.
2. Over the years, Doctor Who has retconned more history/ideas/places/people than I will ever be able to count. However, the pace seemed really to pick up with RTD. Time works differently than we ever knew before: not only can changing timelines create the obvious SF problems, they can allow gargoyle-dragon things into our space-time continuum to eat people! The Doctor can call any time in time and space on his mobile! The TARDIS works! The Doctor can travel to an AU! But he can never go back! But wait—he can! The Doctor can refuse a regeneration! The Doctor can have a regeneration crisis! I'm only hitting the highlights here. It felt as if almost every episode changed or bent something we thought we knew—even if it was something we'd only learned that episode (or the previous).
I had hoped Steven Moffat would put an end to those two kinds of nonsense, or at least diminish them a little. Um, no.
1. The captors of Prisoner One were willing to blow up the entire Earth to kill Prisoner One? The Doctor did not stop with saving the Earth but went on to threaten these aliens? Was that wise? Was that necessary? Was the episode running short?
Convincing an android he was human turned off his bomb. Then we let him go free. Oh, and Rainbow Daleks. 'Nuff said about that episode.
I could go on, but the only resolution I really liked came in "The Beast Below"—except that I had strong déjà vu of Donna insisting that the Doctor could at least save one family from Pompeii. Again, we have the (relatively new) Companion reminding the Doctor what he can and should do, because he seems to have forgotten and/or given the matter insufficient thought.
2. The sonic screwdriver heals neck wounds? Dude, I think you confused it with some vaguely similar-looking tech from Star Trek! Have we ever seen it heal before?
Time seems to have changed how it works again.
The Weeping Angels changed in the course of the story! The Doctor said they relied on a quantum lock: they only move when not observed. Then he said that if they thought Amy could see them, it was as good as if Amy could see them! I need that Rodney McKay "They broke science!" icon here! Brilliant Husband and I are pretty sure quantum physics is not affected by one pretending to observe but not actually doing so. (Of course, how would we know? We weren't actually observing.) Then we saw Weeping Angels move, which not only ruined the physics and the illusion of the whole thing, but showed really poor f/x.
I think I have several other complaints along the same lines, but I expect the rice to finish any minute now, so I should wrap this up.
I want to enjoy the show. I've certainly enjoyed bits!
I like Amy when she's not mooning over the Doctor: curious, eager to get involved, compassionate, everything a companion should be.
I love her boyfriend's description of just how the Doctor is dangerous: he makes people want to impress him!
I like River Song even though I feel she's always on the verge of tipping into Do Not Like in a big way. (I know some people do not like her.) I think Alex Kingston pulls off nearly impossible scripts. I adored how she got her message to the Doctor, relied on him showing up, and threw herself into space.
I loved Liz 10 (aside from the fact that every few years she chose to forget everything and start over, which gave me trouble).
I enjoyed much of "The Time of Angels."
If you can suggest more I should love in the ones I've already seen, or persuade me it's not really so bad, I'd appreciate it. I haven't read anyone else's reactions yet; I have to go hunting for those, so feel free to link below and save me the trouble, if you want me to read your own episode posts.
I'd implore you to tell me it improves, but then I'd know if no one told me that that the situation must be dire, so I won't even ask.
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From:
no subject
I'm sort of up to date now with the DW episodes that have aired in the UK. The one after the Vampires in Venice is so far my favorite, mainly b/c it was just a better written episode than the others. But I can't say it helped any of the issues you've listed here as being problems with the New Who.
Moffat has said in various interviews that he's basically trying to target the Twilight age group with the new series and I feel like that's more or less ruined DW for me. Not only because I feel too old for this show for the first time in forever, but it has given Moffat the excuse to make Amy a somewhat inconsistent, emotionally messed up person with little intent to actually resolve these issues.
I continue to give the show a chance because I actually find Matt Smith the actor somewhat endearing, even if his Doctor feels a bit too much like a faded carbon copy of Ten.
From:
no subject
Oh, dear. I haven't seen much in the way of interviews. That doesn't sound good to me. We've stopped trying to interest Small Child in the episodes, because the last thing I think a nine-year-old girl needs to see is something like Amy jumping the Doctor.
I can't say it's ruined for me, though; I'm just a bit disappointed. I hope it never is ruined. I try to take the long view. Showrunners come and go; Doctor Who is forever! (It's older than I am!)