Doctor Who In 2007... Your Thoughts!

[Pip Madeley]

Two Doctors! Two Masters! Kylie! Martha Jones! Captain Jack! Human Daleks!Judoon! Carrionites! Macra! Jacobi! Simms! Daleks! The Angels Have The Phone Box! Scarecrows! Shakespeare! Gatiss in the buff! John Smith! Anne Ried! Utopia! Timey Wimey! Allons-y Alonso! Carey Mulligan! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, yeah.

2007 has been a memorable year for Doctor Who - the show has gone from strength to strength, building on its success with acclaimed episodes, big surprises and larger audiences. But what did you make of this year's adventures?

Smith And Jones
The Shakespeare Code
Gridlock
Daleks In Manhattan
Evolution Of The Daleks
The Lazarus Experiment
42
Human Nature
The Family Of Blood
Blink
Utopia
The Sound Of Drums
Last Of The Time Lords
Time Crash
Voyage Of The Damned

What order would you put them in, from best to worst? Which were your favourite stories? What would you have rather done without? And what do you think they should carry on in the future? Let's review a great year!

[Andrew Curnow]

I've absolutely loved season 3! Last year I found season 2 very uneven, and a real letdown after season 1, but this year I don't know why, I've just been in the right frame of mind to sit down on a Saturday evening, watch an episode and just lose myself in it. The Dalek two-parter was probably the weakest of the lot, and I think a lot of that was probably due to heightened expectations, but as a whole the season has been absolutely superb.

Particular highlights:

Martha - before Smith & Jones had even finished, I'd warmed to her and wasn't missing Rose at all. Freema has been superb, making Martha just as good a companion as her predecessor(s) with a lot of warmth and intelligence.

The Master - right up until we heard Delgado cackling in Utopia, I was certain the rumours weren't true about the Master coming back. But that climax to Utopia was superb, really 'punching the air' stuff.

Gridlock - a total surprise, mixing some truly moving moments with some great laughs (the 'jumping from car to car' sequence in particular).

And... Time Crash, of course. For an 80s man like m'self, it was just glorious.

[SiHart]

It's been a very strong year I think. Aside from the Dalek story and that Blink episode there wasn't anything I didn't really enjoy and I think we've had some of the strongest episodes of new Doctor Who so far this year. Certainly the best Christmas special.

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Tennant has been superb this year, and I think Freema has been a real find - for me at least, she did the very difficult job of replacing the 'first' companion, who was incredibly good, and made Martha just as likeable. "We're on the bloody moon" was a great line, and I loved the stuff about the butterfly in TSCode.

[Si Hunt]

My feeling is we got the best opener yet in "Smith and Jones" but then the quality took a tumble until the mid-season point; only "Gridlock" pleased, whilst I found "The Shakespeare Code" oddly unsatisfying and the Dalek story was pretty terrible. "Lazarus" was average and the less said about "42" the better.

But then something odd happened with "Family of Blood" and suddenly the classics started rolling. That story was one of the best we've had so far, and "Blink" possibly THE best. Which leaves us with the final three episodes.

Hmmm. A curates egg, I think. "Utopia" seemed a waste of time, largely because for some reason they let it standalone, so it seemed inconsequential. As a "part 1 of 3" (which is how we can watch it with hindsight) it made much more sense. "The Sound of Drums" similarly initially seemed dissapointing because it appeared to be heading in the old 'hoardes of sky-born enemies obliterate the Earth in a big CGI battle' route, but then "Last of the Time Lords" threw us a curve-ball and frankly I quite enjoyed it. John Sim was reasonable, but there was a suspicion he was a bit too over-the-top and the swiftly-dispatched Derek Jacobi (possibly the finest actor to have appeared in the show and he was killed off in under an hour) might have made a more sinister, less silly Master.

So a really funny season - it contained the best stories since the revival, but also the worst. How you rate it as a whole given that, I really don't know.

Si.

[Larry]

pretty much agree with Si Hunts, summing up of the season apart from one or two minor quibbles about Last of the Time Lords, the final 6 stories of the series are amongst the best episodes seen in Doctor Who's 44 years.

I actually enjoyed sereies 3 far more then I did series 2 though I think that was more to do with the introduction of Freema Agyeman, who brought a breath of threash air to the series.

[Jonno]

S3 is my favourite of the new series, it was a consistently very solid series with a fantastic run in particular from Human Nature onwards (though it worries me slightly that RTD has stated that he wants to get away from that darker tone for S4). Unlike the first two series, there's not an episode that I'd say I dislike, though I would put 42 bottom. For once, the ex-soap star seemed miscast and it's just one of those stories where, after two viewings, I still can't think of any of the character's names! A good idea to do the "24" concept but fell down in execution - bar the lovely shot of the Doctor mouthing to Martha that he'd save her as she fell away to the sun.

And since then we've had the wonderful Time Crash and the best Christmas special to date, with Radio Times covers and coverage galore (bad mistake on the Dalek Sec cover though) and of course SJA to enjoy too. It's one of my golden eras!

[Jim]

Its been my favourite season. Lazarus was a bit blah but I enjoy all of the others - some instant classics. Tennant was superb this year I think and Freema nailed it (I watched 42 yesterday on the train and both are superb!) It seemed like a darker season (quite literally I suppose as most of it was filmed in the dark!) really atmoshperic, strong, more straightforward stories in some ways and some great characters. I dont quite ache for season four yet for some reason and I am a little wary re catherine tate but sure it will all be good in the end!

[Dirk Gently]

I dont quite ache for season four yet for some reason and I am a little wary re catherine tate but sure it will all be good in the end!

I'm with you there, Jim. I'm not as excited about season 4 as the first three yet, but I may feel different after Torchwood & nearer the transmission time.

[MacNimon]

The Dalek story was the only major disappointment of 2007 for me, but I was also let down a little by John Simm's Master and a dwarf Doctor in the season finale. If only they could have kept Jacobi for all three episodes! Some of the early episodes may have been a bit lightweight compared with some later episodes of the series, but overall I enjoyed it much more than I expected to after the slightly disappointing second series. I thought Freema was excellent as well. SJA was also very enjoyable, those stories which I caught at least. Two excellent stories out of the three I've watched, though they were all fun. I've still to see 2 of them yet, let's hope for another series, eh?!

I'm really looking forward to 2008...I'm slightly dubious about Catherine Tate though, but hopefully by season's end I'll be wondering why I was worried at all.

[Wayne]

This might not be the right thread for this but i'm really struggling to be interested at the moment. I usually like to watch each story again sometime after transmission & before the next season starts, but even good stories like 'Human Nature/The Family of Blood' have not compelled me to re-watch anything from S3.
I can only put in down to:
a) A continued overall dislike of Tennant's Doctor. I've realized that this is not so much about his acting, but the way he plays his Doctor, because i liked him a lot more as 'John Smith'.
b) An overall feeling of being bored with Sci-Fi oriented stuff. After more than 35yrs it just feels like there's nothing new in it anymore. I can't escape that feeling of 'seen it all before', & that everything that can be done has been done.
c) That feeling of the 'novelty having worn off'. It's still there.
d) 'Last of the Timelords/The Sound of Drums'. Especially John Simms' Master. Put me off big style.

Maybe it's just a phase i'm going through, but i feel like i'm going full circle. When came onto the boards in 2002 only really knowing the Pertwee to mid Tom Baker era, & some of the 60's stuff, i found a lot of new stuff to embrace, but lately when i think about watching any Dr.Who & what i might fancy watching, it's rarely anything from that's not from the era that i grew up with.......
Dunno what all this is saying to me, but that's where i'm at, nevertheless.
Bringing it back to the New Series, I feel like i'd rather watch Eccleston's season again than re-visit S3. (or 2 for that matter) I'm looking forward to 'Torchwood' more than S4 of Dr.Who.

(Let the stoning begin)

[Ralph]

b) An overall feeling of being bored with Sci-Fi oriented stuff. After more than 35yrs it just feels like there's nothing new in it anymore. I can't escape that feeling of 'seen it all before', & that everything that can be done has been done.

I think it’s true sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. I’ve caught up with all the science fiction DVDs I’ve wanted to see over the last 3years. But then I lived without it for a couple of decades.

Maybe it's just a phase i'm going through, but i feel like i'm going full circle. When came onto the boards in 2002 only really knowing the Pertwee to mid Tom Baker era, & some of the 60's stuff, i found a lot of new stuff to embrace, but lately when i think about watching any Dr.Who & what i might fancy watching, it's rarely anything from that's not from the era that i grew up with.......
Dunno what all this is saying to me, but that's where i'm at, nevertheless.

Well I understand as rediscovering all the Doctor Who stuff in November 2003 it was like opening a treasure trove of my beloved golden era after 20 years. Feeling this way made me quite indifferent to a revamped version with what I perceive as having a very loose connection with what appealed to me back then. Plus with classic who all very fresh to me I reckon I may have a better appreciation than some who have watched so much that they see them more critically than they ought.

So my answer to my lack of enthusiasm for the new series is why have a hamburger when you can have steak?

Bringing it back to the New Series, I feel like i'd rather watch Eccleston's season again than re-visit S3. (or 2 for that matter) I'm looking forward to 'Torchwood' more than S4 of Dr.Who.

Well I’m seriously looking forward more to the X Files movie than a fourth season of new Who. I caught up with the X Files in 2005 as the new series came out and for me X Files is miles ahead in script quality and characterisations. Of course you have to allow for the fact that new Who as old is a family show while X Files is not. So I guess that’s part of the reason. However when Torchwood appeared, to me it was a poor man’s X Files and I realised even when the BBC try to do Sci-fi for adults only it still doesn’t excite me.

The new series is totally different to the classic series. One was made on an extremely tight budget which relied first and foremost on the performances of the key actors and viewer engaging storylines to make it work. Of course it didn’t always succeed but on the low budgets of the past I think they did a fabulous job. Indeed a lot of the charm of the series is that it showed what could be done with more imagination than money. The classic series clearly never received the kind of recognition this current series gets pored upon it. I think this is a reflection of different attitudes by those who make awards as to what is worthy in these current times.

New Who doesn’t hold the same appeal because it often feels the opposite in many ways to what I enjoyed about the best of the original. It’s got all the budget but I’m not convinced it’s used all that well. There’s far too much reliance on CGI and OK it may be what current audiences want but it’s far too rushed for me to get engaged or involved with the characters. Finally because something is popular doesn’t always mean it’s a great thing – many examples can be show of this.

(Let the stoning begin)

Well I’m ready too! But I'm probably more worthy of it

[Wayne]

I think the difference between us is that the New Series never really grabbed you from day one, whereas for me, after a cautious start, by the time we were half way through S1, i really liked it. As the climax to S1, 'Parting of the Ways' to me, was the one of the most exciting things i'd seen in years. I was genuinely on the edge of my seat, & i still like it now.
But with a few exceptions, it's mostly felt 'not as good' for me, from 'The Christmas Invasion' onwards, & whilst i really have genuinely enjoyed many episodes at the time, i'm not inspired to want to watch many of them again. The last episode that came close to 'Parting of the Ways' for me was 'The Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel', & i was ultimately disappointed the by Seaon 2 finale in comparison with S1. I think it was at that point that i first dected the beginnings of a cetain indifference towards New Who, & whilst ironically i think S3 has been better than S2 overall, the season finale is a strong contender for my least favourite New Series episodes so far, & has only served to lessen my interest.
If it's true that Davros is coming back for S4, & I hope they don't do to the character what they did to The Master in S3. I don't blame John Simm, I know from watching 'Life On Mars' that he's a good actor, & he was only doing as he was told when playing the Master, but i thought it/he was dire. Besides, it's not just that factor, there are loads of things that add up to the overall feeling of the New Series starting to go over the same ground. Perhaps i want to like it more than really do - I dunno, but we'll see what S4 brings.

[Ralph]

Well as before I'll watch and see if it draws me in or glazes me over as usual

[MacNimon]

I agree. The second half of Series one is the best new Who that we've had. Despite having a number of excellent stories, I just don't feel that Tennant's stuff has the same impact as Eccleston's stories. I haven't rewatched many stories yet (Eccleston or Tennant) so I really can't say how they hold up to repeat viewing.