Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

The BBC Master!

Frontier In Space is on DW Classic channel now.

 

Just finished watching Planet of the Daleks.

 

I've just rewatched Genesis of the Daleks. I'm not as keen on it as some, but it's very well done. It's not often you get consistently good acting across the board on a Classic Who serial, but everyone in this gives good performances, and Michael Wisher is outstanding as Davros.

 

I only have one complaint with Genesis; the sledge hammer Nazi-Germany politics.

It's certainly compatible, but if you didn't know any better, you'd swear you were watching a parallel universe where the Daleks were collaborating with Hitler in World War 2.

I'm not just talking about the uniforms - they even gave them the accents!

We get it, they're space Nazis.

 

...the characters in Genesis don't have German accents.

 

Just watched The Sontaran Experiment. I half expected the Sontaran to do the "Sontar-ha!" chant.

 

First episode filmed entirely on location. Actually, not sure if there are any others.

 

Survival was too, basically as the location shoot for Ghost Light's studio sessions There are probably some New-Who examples too, a lot of castle or factory stand-ins rather than sets.

 

Would have to have no TARDIS scenes

 

Heaven Sent could be an easy example then, pretty sure most of that was shot in a bunch of Welsh Castles rather than being in-studio, though there could be an exception

 

"Survival was one of only a handful of Doctor Who serials to be recorded completely on BBC Outside Broadcast video, instead of the mix of OB and studio video that was more common during the late 1980s, and the mix of film and video that was usual before them. The other stories to be recorded solely on OB video were The Sontaran Experiment (1975), Delta and the Bannermen (1987), Silver Nemesis (1988) and The Curse of Fenric (1989)."

Re: Heaven Sent - Definitely filmed in Cardiff and Caerphilly castles, but I'm pretty sure there's studio based stuff - wall chipping scene etc

 

Having watched all of the nuWho through Series 8, here is how I would rank the various Doctor companion teams:
1. The Tenth Doctor and Rose
2. The Ninth Doctor and Rose
3. The Eleventh Doctor and Amy/Rory
4. The Tenth Doctor and Martha
5. The Eleventh Doctor and Clara
6. The Tenth Doctor and Donna
7. The Twelfth Doctor and Clara

Between the Twelfth Doctor's abrasiveness at times and Clara's attempted betrayal of him in Dark Water, I just had a hard time watching them as a good Doctor-Companion matchup. Donna wasn't my favorite of the Tenth Doctor companions, but I liked her better when she became the fulltime companion after the Christmas Special the year before.

One thing's for sure, I doubt the 9th Doctor would have forgiven Clara as easily as the Twelfth Doctor did/seemed to do.

 

Funny, I have Ten/Donna near the top of my Doctor/Companion teams and Ten/Martha near the bottom (his treatment of her is atrocious in S3 and I was glad that she got the exit she deserved, I.E., walking out with her head held high and not looking back.), I think Donna was exactly what the Doctor needed in S4 and I really really still hate Donna's ending.

As for Twelve forgiving Clara so easily, I do think he factors in the fact that she's acting out of grief at that point and not true malice. Plus, the Doctor has forgiven companions betraying/trying to kill him before (Trulough anybody?)

 

I think repeated viewings of Series 4 will eventually raise my opinion of Ten/Donna. In fact, after the most recent viewing of The Runaway Bride, I was appalled about how her family treated her initially after she vanished from the wedding. Her own mother...well, don't get me started on how I view some of the relatives of the Companions. Donna's mother would be at the bottom of that list, while Jackie would be at the top (or no worse than 2nd).

 

Martha's mum wasn't that much better!

I put 11/Amy at the top, followed by 11/Clara. 10/Donna comes in 3rd. 13/fam comes last but only due to Chibnall's terrible writing

 

Martha's mom kind of came around in the end (The Year that Never Was probably had a lot to do with that).

 

There are several scenes shot inside the TARDIS in Heaven Sent, which metaphorically represent the Doctor's thought processes.

 

Not to mention she was worried about her daughter and was being manipulated by the Master's agents.

Donna's mother acted horribly of her own free will.

 

But Donna had Wilf which more than makes up for anything. Wilf and Brian (Williams) in their own spinoff would be immense, with a side of Strax thrown in

 

Attempting to rank NuWho Doctor/Companion teams (and failing )

Loved them - 9/Rose, 10/Rose, 10/Donna, 10/Wilf (fight me! ), 12/Clara, 12/Bill
Liked them - 10/Martha, 11/Amy&Rory
Didn't like them - 11/Clara, 13/Fam

I'm having a lot of fun writing Donna's mother at the moment. I might have to change keyboards after I'm done due to her caustic effect.

Dark Water is actually when I decided I was on board with the 12/Clara duo - "Do you really think I care so little for you that betraying me would make a difference?" And he does understand very quickly what Clara's blackmail is about, on top of having seen her coming.

 

I think you're the first person I've ever met that puts 12/Clara over 11/Clara - especially to that degree!

 

Clara with 11 felt like a plot device, especially after the departures of Amy and Rory. Clara with 12 felt like a real person, flaws and all.

 

I liked Clara whoever she was with , but they seemed to change her character quite a bit when Capaldi came in , suddenly she was a 'control-freak'? that seemed to come out of nowhere to me.

 

Not gonna lie, I think if I went through even a quarter of what the Companions go through with the Doctor, I might turn into a bit of a control freak too.