Review Doctor Who (2005)

[The Seeker]

Was it any good?

 

[Doctor Omega]

It did a strange narrative thing of killing off someone who had been clearly set up as the main character of the book about a third of the way in, then never mentioning them again. The only other thing I remember is Jo Grant nagging the Doctor into shaving his head along with her to satisfy local alien customs. Other than that it is a blank.

Here is a randomly plucked sample of a review from Amazon, which gives some idea of the (largely forgotten by me, apart from the bald bit) story.....



The Blurbs of Back-cover

The book I enjoyed is not even hinted at on the back. It's about an alien who falls from the sky and has to adjust to working-class England. It's also the story of "Doctor Who"'s quintessential poor shlub, Simon Haldane, a factory worker with a strong SF bent, whose fantasy comes to life when the alien moves into his bedroom. Simon believes her story and starts working with her (thanks to some nifty computer graphics that might've looked great on TV) to phone home. The Doctor and Jo are a million miles away from all this, but it's OK. Meanwhile, Simon has a problem... he's been so conditioned by the culture that all he can do is count down until the inevitable moment when the nympho alien, stranger in a strange land, will seduce him. Only that never happens, and when Simon tries to (drunkenly) force the issue...

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Jo are getting involved in some Time Lord intrigue of the kind the EDAs can no longer provide. There's a renegade Gallifreyan lording his scientific advances over another exotic alien planet. There's his one-time consort, a Time Lady who (thankfully) is nothing like Iris Wildthyme. The Doctor's on a rescue mission for the Time Lords, but this time, the CIA is not involved, and there are no men in funny hats telling him what to do.

The back cover blurb, naturally, ignores both these stories, and instead leads off with three oblique mysteries, all of which are incidental to the story I just described. Meanwhile, Simon is casually tossed aside in a two-sentence parenthetical, thus giving him the PDA equivalent of Liz Shaw's departure scene in "Inferno".

"The Suns of Caresh" is evocative Pertwee, with gadgets, a sympathetically-drawn Jo Grant, and interesting TARDIS mythology. It's also, however, a victim of the six-part format that plagued stories like "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" and "The Time Monster", as the shifting focus knocks the original story clear off the table and brings in something far less interesting to end the day. Why couldn't Simon travel to Caresh? Why is Masada mentioned on the blurb when we leave that locale for good on page 13? When the Epilogue causes all of the story's Earthbound catastrophes to unhappen, why isn't Simon brought back?

Anyway, these are first-novel excessives compounded by an editorial blunder. "Caresh" is endlessly inventive and fairly readable. Let's let this Saint pseudonym loose on the UNIT gang and see if we can't turn out anything better than "Eye of the Giant" or "Amorality Tale".

 

[Doctor Omega]

Oh Gawd!

I just know he's going to turn up here and take me to task!

Still, at least it's a new member!

 

[The Seeker]

Hopefully not, I’ve had enough of that guy.

 

[The Seeker]

This website has some work left to do. I was going to share this discussion with the Facebook group via the “Recommend” button and it’s not doing anything for me.

 

[Doctor Omega]

I just put a mention of it to Alex. Hopefully he pops up soon and can sort it out.

 

[The Seeker]

Yes, wouldn’t it be nice to see Alex again?

 

[johnnybear]

I've never seen the original series as flawed one bit, Doc! Just because things have changed, those things are not always for the best either and not everyone approves of them! I for one much prefer television from the seventies to the PC riddled trash which is forced down our throats today! And nothing made today can quite eclipse the Doctor Who TV series of 1963-89!
JB

 

[Doctor Omega]

I just posted the full ROTTEN TOMATOES scores for CLASSIC WHO here....

https://www.imdforums.com/threads/classic-doctor-who.3695/page-13#post-54262



So here is an update of the MODERN WHO Scores to complete the picture......

AUDIENCE SCORE (Updated).....

SERIES 1: 85% liked it

SERIES 2: 90% liked it.

SERIES 3: 93% liked it.

SERIES 4: 94% liked it.

SERIES 5: 91% liked it.

SERIES 6: 85% liked it.

SERIES 7: 83% liked it.

SERIES 8: 79% liked it.

SERIES 9: 84% liked it.

SERIES 10: 72% liked it.

SERIES 11: 25% liked it.

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/doctor_who/s01

 

[The Seeker]

I see the ratings were the highest for the Tenth Doctor. He did have the best stories. Poor Jodie, she’s not getting much love!

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

I think the match of Tennant and RTD was brilliant. Russel knew how to write for David, and in turn, David was able to do his prose justice. I think if David had stayed on after RTD left, Moffat might have had a better go of it. Moffat proved time and again he could write great stories - Blink is still in my Top 5 Modern Who stories - but he couldn't seem to find a perfect mix of silly Doctor moments and dark Doctor moments like RTD did for Tennant.

And I would bet dollars to donuts that most of the low scores for Jodie is still just butthurt fanboys who are all sulking in their parents' basements, afraid to eat anything with soy in it because it'll turn them into women (another myth that has been thoroughly debunked, but the ultra-conservative "alpha" males still keep pushing it).

 

[The Seeker]

Moffat did so well under RTD and not-so-well on his own. Maybe he would have written better for Tennant, since the Doctor’s persona was already well-established and he knew how to write for him.

I think you’re right about Jodie’s low scores. If you don’t want to watch the show don’t watch it, don’t go on Rotten Tomatoes and trash it.

Soy gives you estrogen? Is that what they think? Did they get that information from Fox News or did they pull that out of their asses? Bunch of incels and losers.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

I believe the soy thing started on Info Wars, which makes Fox News look like distinguished journalism. And while true that soy does produce estrogen in men, it's a very small amount. We're talking about percentages so low they don't even count. But add that to the fact that "librul soshulists" are more likely to be vegans - and thus have a more soy-based diet - it helps them feel more alpha, because we're all turning into women, with our sympathies to feminism, LGBTQ+ concerns, general well being for everyone and equal rights. Yes, that's right, being a decent human being is a liberal agenda. Ya can't make them rednecks stop hatin' fags and coloreds, ya know, and to do so would be acting like thought police.

Also, you know what produces more estrogen in men? Beer. And seeing how emotional Kavanope got in front of Congress, we can see those effects.

I hate "alpha" male conservatives. Sorry not sorry.

 

[The Seeker]

Beer produces estrogen in men? I can’t wait to spread that information around!

 

[ant-mac]

I think the match of Tennant and RTD was brilliant. Russel knew how to write for David, and in turn, David was able to do his prose justice. I think if David had stayed on after RTD left, Moffat might have had a better go of it. Moffat proved time and again he could write great stories - Blink is still in my Top 5 Modern Who stories - but he couldn't seem to find a perfect mix of silly Doctor moments and dark Doctor moments like RTD did for Tennant.

And I would bet dollars to donuts that most of the low scores for Jodie is still just butthurt fanboys who are all sulking in their parents' basements, afraid to eat anything with soy in it because it'll turn them into women (another myth that has been thoroughly debunked, but the ultra-conservative "alpha" males still keep pushing it).

No, the people who are contributing to Rotten Tomatoes are a mix of young and old, male and female, long-time fans, recent fans and casual viewers.

I expect there are some "butthurt fanboys" amongst them, just as there are SJWs amongst them.

I've also heard - although I can't confirm it at present - that RT doesn't actually include scores of 1 star or less in their calculations, to prevent "butthurt fanboys" and right-wing extremists from having too great an effect on the overall score.

 

[chainsaw_metal1]

I only became aware of the whole thing when I was confused by the "Soylo" shit going around when Solo was released. It was the oh so clever way to bash the lack of alpha males in media and the rise of strong females, because men should be men, not the women. Men do the fighting, and women make us sammitches and have a hot dinner waiting for us when we get back from hunting and gathering and spilling the blood of our enemies. The hilarious thing is when you actually see some of these "alphas", and they're either skinny little guys or very heavy set (not judging, I'm a fluffy guy myself). These guys couldn't hunt and gather if their lives depended on it, but they own more guns than most police departments because the government might come in and try to take them.

I live in the middle of Iowa, and I hear this shit from these fuckwits. Every. Single. Day. I need to move somewhere where I can be around more left-thinking people.

 

[ant-mac]

Moffat did so well under RTD and not-so-well on his own. Maybe he would have written better for Tennant, since the Doctor’s persona was already well-established and he knew how to write for him.

I think you’re right about Jodie’s low scores. If you don’t want to watch the show don’t watch it, don’t go on Rotten Tomatoes and trash it.

Soy gives you estrogen? Is that what they think? Did they get that information from Fox News or did they pull that out of their asses? Bunch of incels and losers.

Why shouldn't people be allowed to voice their opinions on RT? That's what it's there for.

It's the basic right of freedom of expression.

We don't live in a police box state, do we?

 

[The Seeker]

Why shouldn't people be allowed to voice their opinions on RT? That's what it's there for.

It's the basic right of freedom of expression.

We don't live in a police box state, do we?

They can voice their opinion, but do they even watch the episodes or just trash them on RT because they hate that there’s a woman Doctor?

 

[The Seeker]

Oh police box state, I just caught thata. Lol

 

[ant-mac]

They can voice their opinion, but do they even watch the episodes or just trash them on RT because they hate that there’s a woman Doctor?

Judging my a variety of the reviews I've read or heard about, they watch.

Many of the reviews are quite detailed and intricate, while others are more blunt and to the point.

However, like the reviews that favour the TV show, they all have one thing in common - they're all valid opinions.