At the very least, Vincent and the Doctor is worth your time. It instantly shot into the rankings as my second-favorite episode of NewWho ever. I enjoyed most of the season, really, with the exception of the Silurian two-parter. But I agree that it feels quite different from the previous era. This impression has intensified in the current season--it's almost too sci-fi for its own good. For me, I think it's partly the pacing; maybe they're trying to cover too much territory within the span of an episode. Still, I'm curious enough to keep going and hope that Moffat has something amazing in store at the end of it all.
Too sci-fi, interesting. Hm. I think that does touch on what's bothering me and making me uninterested in the season to come. All of this it's-her-but-it's-not-her-or-it's-a-dream-and-he's-a-projection-or-she's-controlling-him-but-she's-only-real-in-his-mind or whatever the heck goes on just seems to me like so much distraction from a good story I'd actually connect with.
I like sci-fi as a way of exploring how people work - not for its own sake. The fewer bizarre twists - unless they create emotionally real-feeling situations - do nothing for me.
So, yes. I'm super fond of Nine and loved Ten, and fully expected to love Eleven. I can't put my finger on why I don't, either. He's weird enough to be the Doctor, surely. But there's just something he doesn't convey, and it's not his sense of highjinks or his intellect. I don't know. I love Amy Pond, pretty much without reservation, and I enjoy Rory. The season does get better, although I should warn you, it also gets worse. I'd even go so far as to say some of it's upsettingly bad. I guess it came together in the end, but this past season, despite what ought to have been a compelling premise, I haven't even been watching regularly. Even with nothing else on.
The second episode, "The Beast Below," had a (really overdone, anvilicious) moment where Amy said she understood the beast's motivations because it was very old, and very kind, and very lonely, just like someone she knew (THE DOCTOR, GET IT? GET IT?). But my response was, "you've only met Eleven, so where'd you get that characterization from?" Is that what's missing from Eleven? Ten gave off all those readings in spades...
Also, "it gets better and it also gets worse" is about the least helpful comment ever :P
Well, Vincent and the Doctor is a great episode, and I really like the season finale, too. Or so I recall. But they revisit ideas which I loved and make them boring, which infuriates me.
modernmorland is completely right, Vincent and the Doctor is just one of those must-see, wonderful Doctor Who episodes - even the visuals are just stellar <3. Watch at least until then. And I didn't absolutely love season 5, though I liked it, but seasons 6 is soo good.
The Eleventh Hour The Vampires of Venice Amy's Choice Vincent and the Doctor (though not as much as others) The Lodger (the Doctor trying to pass as a normal human roommate...) The Pandorica Opens The Big Bang
I thought the rest were generally crap, and given that they recap any important bits at the beginning of the next episode you could skip them.
Moffat's Who is quite different from RTD's. I like the fairy tale feel, more downplayed emotions, and determination to give out happy endings, but Moffat does have significant weaknesses too. I'd say that RTD's was certainly richer, but at least we finally get some happy endings.
Hm. I see what you mean about happy endings to seasons, but the average season 1-4 episode did end with a gratifying defeat-of-bad guy, except on rare occasion. And of the first three eps in s5, we have one defeat-of-bad-guy ending, one episode with a super tacked-on, ignores-the-original-problem "happy" ending, and one "we saved the good guys but the bad guys got away" ending. So thus far on that score, no big change towards happiness.
"Richer" is a good word, I think, for how the old episodes strike me in comparison to these. It's like we've traded emotional complexity for plot complexity.
So I basically love Eleven to bits and pieces, and adore S5 (except for "Victory of the Daleks," which...er, no). It's also worth observing that I was completely OVER the RTD version of Doctor Who, which had originally captured my attention but had come to feel like it was all overblown tragedy, all the time, and Ten had just gone down this callous, look-at-my-Lonely-God-pain path that I really didn't like anymore. (Total Martha fan, me--so things started to sour at the end of S3.) So for me, S5 was a breath of fresh air. (Jury's still out on s6, but I think I can tell that I won't love it as much
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I felt the same way about Ten's run toward the end, especially his last episode... it was so unbearably melodramatic and angsty, and it was getting tedious. Change was really necessary -- not just change in the Doctor's personality, but a change in the tone of the show. Eleven may be younger-looking but he's emotionally more mature; he handles his pain/grief/guilt much better and doesn't burden his companions with it -- none of that "IT'S THE CURSE OF THE TIME LORDS, ROSE." Plus there's the difference between David Tennant's style (manic showboat) vs. Matt Smith's style (soft-spoken goofball), which also accounts for why the show's new tone isn't so emotionally overwrought. (Sometimes I can still hear Ten when Eleven speaks, but the delivery is softer. I can imagine David doing those lines and how much more CAPSLOCK!!1 they would be, lol
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I guess that really is what it comes down to. This is just a different show with the same name. Some people might like both, but I'd imagine there's no reliable correlation.
some people prefer RTD's sentimentality and straightforward story arcs and others prefer Moffat's more tempered emotion and complicated plots
Ah, well put. And I like the sentimentality. It's why I'm a Victorianist :)
I watched the first half of "The End of Time" when it aired, and I couldn't even bring myself to watch the second half. I just looked up the regeneration on YouTube later. And I was so disappointed, because I had really started off by loving Ten.
Plus there's the difference between David Tennant's style (manic showboat) vs. Matt Smith's style (soft-spoken goofball)
Hee, yes! I love David Tennant (particularly his Hamlet), but they play the Doctor very differently in that regard.
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I like sci-fi as a way of exploring how people work - not for its own sake. The fewer bizarre twists - unless they create emotionally real-feeling situations - do nothing for me.
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So, yes. I'm super fond of Nine and loved Ten, and fully expected to love Eleven. I can't put my finger on why I don't, either. He's weird enough to be the Doctor, surely. But there's just something he doesn't convey, and it's not his sense of highjinks or his intellect. I don't know. I love Amy Pond, pretty much without reservation, and I enjoy Rory. The season does get better, although I should warn you, it also gets worse. I'd even go so far as to say some of it's upsettingly bad. I guess it came together in the end, but this past season, despite what ought to have been a compelling premise, I haven't even been watching regularly. Even with nothing else on.
I can't account for it, I really can't.
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Also, "it gets better and it also gets worse" is about the least helpful comment ever :P
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The Eleventh Hour
The Vampires of Venice
Amy's Choice
Vincent and the Doctor (though not as much as others)
The Lodger (the Doctor trying to pass as a normal human roommate...)
The Pandorica Opens
The Big Bang
I thought the rest were generally crap, and given that they recap any important bits at the beginning of the next episode you could skip them.
Moffat's Who is quite different from RTD's. I like the fairy tale feel, more downplayed emotions, and determination to give out happy endings, but Moffat does have significant weaknesses too. I'd say that RTD's was certainly richer, but at least we finally get some happy endings.
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"Richer" is a good word, I think, for how the old episodes strike me in comparison to these. It's like we've traded emotional complexity for plot complexity.
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That is everything I find problematic about seasons 5-6 in a sentence.
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some people prefer RTD's sentimentality and straightforward story arcs and others prefer Moffat's more tempered emotion and complicated plots
Ah, well put. And I like the sentimentality. It's why I'm a Victorianist :)
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Plus there's the difference between David Tennant's style (manic showboat) vs. Matt Smith's style (soft-spoken goofball)
Hee, yes! I love David Tennant (particularly his Hamlet), but they play the Doctor very differently in that regard.
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