[Martinus]

The Doctor is back.

Seen the advert yesterday, looks great.

[an0n]

I still think it'll be lacking without Eccleston.

I'm sure it'll be a good campy sci-fi series regardless, but Eccleston kinda kicked it up into the realms of serious entertainment.

[karajorma]

Been waiting for this one since the final episode of the series. The Children in Need 5 minute teaser was about as useful as an aperitif 4 hours before the meal

For those who don't know what we're talking about. Click me

[Fineus]

I'm also really looking forward to this... as for Tennant, well I guess we'll see how he does.

Talk about being under pressure though... premiering on Christmas Day and all...

[an0n]

I hope they stick with Earth-based stories for the next series.

It's better having them explore Earth's past, present and future, as opposed to just jaunting all over the time-space continuum.

And they better have the Cybermen and the Daleks in the next series (yes, I know the Bad Wolf supposedly wiped out the Daleks once and for all, but it could be argued that she simply ended the time-war aspect of the Daleks). It'd actually be pretty cool to see some inter-weaving of old plots. Like having the Daleks conquer the Cybermen, and bringing back Davros and stuff.

, they should do that, and have David Hewlett (McKay from Stargate Atlantis) as Davros:

GateWorld: They should ask you to be Doctor Who for Season Two.

David Hewlett: As soon as she heard that he'd walked away from it [my girlfriend] was like, "We've gotta call them!" I was like, "Call them and say what? Can't you wait until Atlantis is over?"

That will never happen. I love this show. This is so much fun, and I've committed to it, and I'm more than happy to do it. Doctor Who is funny, though. In the back of my mind I keep thinking, "Oh, but imagine Doctor Who ..."

Doctor Who is one of those things that have definitely influenced McKay, as well. The original Doctor Who, going way, way back, the John Pertwee and [William] Hartnell and all those guys -- they were grumpy old men. So hopefully by the time, when Atlantis finally winds down and they're wheeling me around the set, I can come back as, you know, Davros or something.

[karajorma]

Not just on Christmas Day but as the flagship of BBC1's Christmas Day line up.

Probably makes them the only mainstream channel in the world that's going with a brand new episode of a Sci-fi TV program. Most channels would consider that ratings death

The Cybermen are a definate for the next series and I very much doubt that anyone will ever get rid of the Daleks. They're just too good an enemy. The enemy I wonder about is The Master. IIRC he's out of regenerations though.

[Fineus]

Technically yes... but again I wouldn't be suprised if they found some way around that as well. That's the beauty of the time-travel ability... you can do all kinds of neat and (fairly) unbelievable things and get away with it.

As you say though - the Cybermen are definitely in the next series (if you check out the website, there's proof enough of that). The Master would be an equally good enemy to come up against. It might be a good idea for them to introduce some new elements as well though... the Daleks got the shows ratings and attention up again but they can't rely on the old bad guys forever.

Personally, I'd quite like an increased explanation of the Time War and the Time Lords themselves. The Doctor is generally flying around on his own but at one stage he was part of a well known race of powerful people. They could certainly expand a bit on that if they wanted to.

[karajorma]

Yeah. There's no reason that the Doctor can't run into one of The Master's earlier incarnations. I can't remember much about him so this might not be possible but how about him running into an earlier incarnation, letting slip that he kills him and thereby starting the whole Master =  Doctor's Nemesis thing   It would be one hell of an irony

I agree about new enemies but the Sleveen (sp) were new and although they're all dead their race isn't. Speaking of which. Click me

[an0n]

They better show the 'million ships burning in space' thing.

It'd be cool to have the Doctor back at the last battle of the Time War, having to watch Gallifrey burn again.

[Clave]

I still think it'll be lacking without Eccleston.

I'm sure it'll be a good campy sci-fi series regardless, but Eccleston kinda kicked it up into the realms of serious entertainment.

My thoughts exactly..

[Kie99]

Did anyone read in The Sun about the final 2 episodes being

Spoiler:

Daleks Vs Cybermen

The Daleks have been utterly eliminated at least 4 times already, they'll be back, whether it's next season or not.

[an0n]

I do kinda think they should end the Daleks as a major enemy once and for all.

Not wipe them out completely, but fudge with them enough that they never again become a time-faring race and imply that they eventually either fade away or are conquered by Humans.

Then in a few seasons have Davros or the Master come along and turn the last few Daleks into something much worse. Maybe something half-way between a Time Lord and the Bad Wolf. Have the Evil Wolf rebuilding all the Doctor Who bad guys (like the Daleks and the Cybermen) and facing off against the Time Lords. The new Time War ****s things up to an extent that not even the Great Time War managed, so the Bad Wolf returns to set things right, wiping out the Time Lords and the Bad Guys once and for all.

It'd be a ****ing awesome way to end this run of series. Especially if they left the Bad Wolf intact, inhabitting Rose, so it could watch over time and make sure no-one started screwing things up again.

[karajorma]

One word.

Wow!

[an0n]

Well that wasn't great.

It was kinda all over the place, and Tennant was trying too hard. , everyone was trying too hard. And the editting and direction sucked.

The only really good bits were:

"And this new hand - it's a fightin' hand!"
"No second chances. I'm that kind of man."
"Don't you think she looks tired?"

And the next episode looks to be more of the same 'all over the place' crap. I'm not optimistic. The only way they can turn it around is if Tennant becomes a quasi-evil Doctor.

[karajorma]

I liked it. Didn't see that much difference between the style in this episode and the style of the last series.

The lines you quoted were the best lines in it though. Well apart from the prime ministers response to the American president. Good thing I wasn't eating at that point

[an0n]

I thought they were trying too hard to get across the whole "WHEE! NEW!" thing.

And I think the thing that made me hate it most was the sets. In all the previous season the sets have been largely uniform for each episode - whereas this episode had them jumping from Tardis to the flat to the bunker to the ship to the street every 30-40 seconds.

And there wasn't really even a plot. It was just: Aliens show up, be evil, Doctor wakes up, kills the leader, aliens leave, aliens die horribly.

No foreshadowing, no subplots, no gradual exposure of the plot arc.....

And I'm not a fan of the lighting in the episode either. It fails to create a sense of atmosphere.

Oh and Rose's speech annoyed me. She should've started out all panicy and ****, then got mocked and toughened up. She vapourised a Dalek fleet not 3hrs previous, for **** sake. She shoulda just made some big speech about Earth being under the protection of the Time Lords - tried to psyche them out instead of bull****ting them with treaty mumbojumbo.

[karajorma]

Whenever I see anyone rubbishing an episode of Dr Who for the lighting or set then I know that they're just looking for reasons to dislike it.

The isn't everything new angle was no doubt partly due to BBC trying to reach a new audience who don't usually watch Dr Who. The whole bit at the start when Rose's mother calls him Dr Who pretty much shows you that. Personally I think it worked within the storyline though. I quite liked seeing the Doctor act strange after his regeneration.

[WMCoolmon]

Totally

Does this show in the states?

[karajorma]

AFAIK you can only get it in the states via p2p. Dr. Who would only ever be cult in the USA though. Most yanks wouldn't get it so the networks don't particularly want it.

[Fineus]

I kinda liked it... I'd agree that the new Doctor seems to be very much a "nice to those he likes, f-ing horrible to those he doesn't" kind of guy..

It was nice to see Harriet Jones (or however her bloody name is spelt) making a return.. as well as the Earths spanky new planetary defences. Nice to see a bit of "we've got hold of some tech now..." pointing towards the beginning of Earths evolution so to speak.

That said I'm still vaguely undecided. As a stand alone episode it was fun enough to watch, but how the next series goes is another matter.