Best Doctor Who Companion - nu-Who era

my current unconsidered ranking:

Donna/Martha
Rose
Amy
River
Rory
Jack
Mickey
Adam

this is...difficult. both RTD and SM have managed to screw the pooch a few times on the longer-running companions (Rose just had to come back and end up with not-Doctor Doctor, etc...)

tbh those are the main reasons why I like Donna and Martha more than Rose and Amy; they had well-defined story arcs that resisted them being constantly dragged back into the Doctor's orbit, where Martha had the happy ending and Donna had the tragic ending

also, the male companions spend a little too much time being defined in terms of their relationship to the female companions, which sometimes works (I think the Amy/Rory interaction is mostly great but it often shortchanges Rory as an individual) but oftentimes just makes the male companion look like a churlish boob (OH HI DERE MICKEY)

i have finally gotten around to watching through this thx to streaming netflix (i know djp, i know) but oh man rose tyler annoys the shit out of me.

note i am not actually through the second season yet so maybe she gets better. either that or the future companions get a lot worse

lol

how far have you actually gotten? I didn't think she started really clicking until halfway through season 1, around the Dalek episode, and I think she's really, really great for most of the rest of the season

season 2 kind of does a number on her again, though

I'm voting for rose and you can't stop me

is adam the 2 off dude that ended up with the dataport in his forehead?

y

Rose - definitely annoying at times, halfway makes up for it in her cameo reappearances but some of her season 2 episodes are the most unforgivable things the show has ever done in its entire history

Adam - more a cautionary tale than a companion, I find his whole arc hilarious and would love to see a cameo reappearance where he's been majorly dicked over. Obv no one with sense actually gives a shit about his well-being.

Jack - I liked him so much more before Torchwood. Now I just want to see him crubstomped

Mickey - THANKS NU-WHO FOR MAKING THE FIRST TELEVISED COMPANION OF COLOR A MEWLING, TERRIFIED BLACK DUDE, REALLY APPRECIATE THAT (his subsequent badassery always rings fake to me because of how they introduced him)

Donna - awesomely hilarious and fearless, plus not at all in the mold of the normal/expected Doctor Who companion; what ended up happening to her was so, so sad, plus she benefits from a few of the show's best stories

Martha - not as strong-willed as Donna, not as annoying as Rose, believably crushing on the Doctor without making it the entirety of her character, plus possessing a skill set that made her more useful/self-sufficient than companions of old; also WOW CUET; my only strike against her is the stupid pairing they threw her into at the end of Doc10's tenure

Amy - once she developed her own personality and stopped being "young Scottish Donna" she became a lot more interesting; it was kind of a painful slog up until that point. Also the casual cruelty towards Rory got old

Rory - hapless done right, IMO, with a believable transition into someone who is capable of kicking severe ass when the chips are down, largely because we were allowed to watch this transition on screen. Easily the most believable male companion

River - points off for being a walking deus ex machina, but points added for the ridiculous, batshit origin. Also, I just love Alex Kingston to bits.

Does River count? I would argue no, the status quo is never "River travels with us"

she does get an above-the-title credit

crubstomping :)

River is an edge case but she's been in so many stories and has actually piloted the TARDIS, so I included her

you know, I think I like "crubstomping" as a concept more than "curbstomping"

like you're kicking someone with incredibly dirty boots so you're not only breaking bones but you're also giving them nasty infections

crumbstomping

http://deniskitchen.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/MNPC.155.B.gif

also I know it's bad form to be That Guy but I've already started down that road with Martha and I'd just like to point out that they have hired some ridiculously good-looking actresses to be on this show, like it's absurd how attractive Freema Agyeman and Karen Gillan are

you know, reading these over, I might have to go with Rory--is there an episode where he's hateable?

I can't think of one, although there are multiple episodes where he's very whiny.

Amy. Because of the wang hair.

No wilfred?

I debated about him, too

My current ranking:

Donna
Martha
Mickey
Amy
River
Jack
Rory
Adam
Rose

although there are multiple episodes where he's very whiny.

He's very whiny, seems miserable about being in space, dies easily, etc.

Lol@ Adam over Rose, that is gangsta

motherfuckers act like they forgot about Cribbins

Does River count? I would argue no, the status quo is never "River travels with us"

Sara Kingdom never did IIRC* and the Brig and Benton maybe did once or twice only?

*from reading L'Officier² thirty years ago, never seen/heard/read DMP

Amy Pond
Rory Williams
River Song
Jack Harkness (basically for his first three appearances and the Torchwood ep where he lezzes up with Spike off Buffy, hate his RTD-written stories and T'wood generally)
Donna Noble
Mickey Smith (totes redeemed in S2 imo. esp as they actually wrote him back in to apologise for Boak stuffing up his first appearances, though share DJP's reservation re Martha)
Rose Tyler
Adam Mitchell (love that they did a short-term dodgy companion though)
Martha Jones (look I'm sorry but 42 was on last night when I got home and I saw a few minutes of it)

Amy is honestly the most interesting I think (also coincidentally the best looking).

tough choice between Donna and Martha

Donna would be my second choice. Freema Agyeman can't act for shit.

cuet tho

Fuck yeah, no one's debating that.

Donna or Amy/Rory combo would be my instinctive coice. After The Runaway Bride was really dreading Donna as regular companion, but she was great; watched 'Turn Left' the other day, was heartbroken.

Donna by miles and miles. She was sharp and smart and funny, and kept the Doctor in check. No bullshit pining for the Doctor, which imo is some of the most annoying stuff in nu-Who. Plus she was the heart of some very intense/weird/deeply emotional episodes like Turn Left and the library ones.

I really like Donna! I totally want to kick it with her!

Donna making Catherine Tate tolerable was miracle enough.

Yeah I watched the Catherine Tate show after seeing her on Doctor Who and was like:
"......"

she seems to be about 1/3 the width of Donna on The Office iirc (also funnier than on The CT Show)

why is Adam in the poll and not Rose's mother?

Never got to sleep over in the TARDIS, I guess.

Donna
River
Jack - solely on DW appearances, fuck Torchwood
Rory
Amy
Rose/Martha - thought I really hated Rose but have found her kind of endearing upon repeat viewings
Adam - I wish we had seen more of him screwing things up tbh
Mickey - sorry, find his early episodes super annoying. Also had more chemistry with Rose's mother than with Rose, so... ick.

Amy
Martha
Donna
River
Mickey
Jack
Adam
Rose

Rory

Donna was always my fav. nu-who companion because the dynamic was the most like the original show. Cuteness of the actor/actress or whatever -- that seems really shallow to me but I guess most people think of Dr. Who as pretty shallow, and it can be... IDK I'd probably vote Wilfred Mott, but this poll is lacking in certain options...

ok i just finished watching the runaway bride and man donna must do some amazing turns and twists and improve a lot because that episode suuuuuuucked

Yep! She totally does! There was a lot of rolling of eyes and gnashing of teeth when she was announced as the companion, but stick it out (IE basically through her re-appearance episode) and it'll pay off.

yeah what happens with Donna is basically incredible and defies logic because she should be terrible and unforgivable

Partners in Crime, her first episode as regular companion, is pretty dreadful too.

it is bad in many many ways and makes me angry every time I think about it, but they do a good job of establishing the ongoing Donna/Doctor ~vibe~ in it

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

ok

POLL closes: July 01 (in 31 seconds)

never seen that before

It makes me sad that Mickey didn't received a single vote when even Rose got three, I would have voted for him if I had known that was going to be the case. Oh well, at least he is going to be in the next Star Trek movie.

Don't mess with ginger hottness, kissograms 4evr.

Tbh I'm just psyched Martha beat Jack ^_^

Also I do like Amy but I think ppl may be overrating her a little

donna robbed

I don't think people are overrating Amy so much as voting with their boners.

i know i did

Touch typing, amirite.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/worldisnotenough/2013/03/25/anti-gay-forces-not-giving-up/

If your picture of heterosexual marriage is one where it basically serves the husband’s interests, where he is in charge and wife and children are his subordinates, and where controlling the wife’s sexual behavior is fundamental to it in a way that controlling the husband’s is not – and this is still the ruling picture in much of America (not to mention the rest of the world) – then same-sex marriage really is a threat, because it shows that marriage need not be a union of unequals and can be non-hierarchical.

how only 18 hours later am i realising this is the wrong thread

The Doctor's back next weekend anyway

dying over here

Doctor Whomo

that helped control the laughter, thanks

I assumed it was gonna be about http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4860044/Dr-Who-pervert-had-links-to-Savile.html

Not clicking that link but assuming its abt JNT, he went for 18-22yo guys afaik, dude was a giant cougar who exploited a perceived power dynamic but "pervert" is grossly 80s-tab homophobic rhetoric

Wondered if Adam was responding to the well-meant, but actually tone-deaf and hamfisted, sexual politics in the new post-Demon's Run minis ode by Moffat

dyac

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/mar/22/jnt-scandalous-doctor-who-review?INTCMP=SRCH
review of the book that may be the reason for the story taht the URL a few messages above links to being in the paper.
I thought th ereview was either in Saturday's Guardian or Sunday's Obseerver so surprised at he date given there. So hoping that is the same review looked like it from a quick glance.

there's an active thread about it already but

The most bizarre narrative involves a wealthy fan who, in exchange for visits to the studio and the occasional souvenir from the set,

this circumspection feels designed to point a particular finger that I would be mildly surprised by

new slightly-considered ranking, including the one-offs I left off initially (still don't think Jackie counts tho):

Donna/Martha
Adelaide
Rory
Amy
Craig
River
Sally
Wilfred
Jack
Clara
Jackson
Rose
Mickey
Christina
Astrid
Elton
Adam

I can't work out whether that's in ascending or descending order.

rewatching season 1 I'm surprised how many people disliked Rose. ON second (maybe third) viewing of these, she really strikes me as a great companion

this is largely because you haven't gotten to season 2; 10/Rose became really, really unbearable

I've seen season 2 (I'm finishing season 4 now)! but I guess I haven't rewatched season 2. Honestly I think I might have liked Jackie more than Rose.

my list (ascending I guess? Anyway, its top down) would go something like this:

Jack
Donna
River
Mickey
Martha
Rory
Amy
Clara
Rose
(all the rest of the "technically companions" who I don't care about at all)

I also liked the meathead "boyfriend" from the first episode of season 5 who ended up talking to all the world's leaders on his laptop. I thought he would have made a decent Ian-esque constantly bewildered companion but alas, it wasn't meant to be. I tried to look up his name but the wikipedia article of the episiode doesn't even mention him, lol.

That's Tom Hopper - he was also in Merlin.

http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Jeff_Angelo

thank u based internet

Viceroy, I am disappoint, looking up Wikipedia instead of the TARDIS Wikia FOR SHAME.

finally about to catch up to the 11th Doctor and Amy Pond. I've basically just been waiting to get to the redhead based on assorted insalubrious photos.

She's definitely the hottest of the new companions, and that's saying something.

Her first season is mostly decent too.

The Eleventh Hour ranks up there with the best regeneration stories (best ever? Opening myself up for a beatdown from sic there)

I wouldn't put it above Spearhead From Space. Or Rose, if that counts as a regeneration story. But otherwise, yeah. Though in fairness it's not hard to come out looking good when you're up against The Twin Dilemma and Time and the Rani.

nah I agree, Eleventh Hour is the best "new Doctor*" episode ever by miles

(Spearhead From Space also great but doesn't establish the set-up for new viewers so well, Rose an excellent script but v troubled production; Unearthly Child is incredible piece of TV but doing a different job)


*actual regeneration-happening episodes are usually p shoddy

I quite like The Christmas Invasion actually. Not a patch on 11th Hour, obviously.

ha xpost

christmas invasion was good fun

I remember enjoying The Christmas Invasion lots at the time, but it was Christmas and I was drunk and I've never seen it since so I don't trust my memory of it. I should give it another go.

the best part of The Christmas Invasion was the showdown with Harriet Jones

The Eleventh Hour was pretty great but I still kind of wish they'd actually made Amy a police officer (yes I know the costume wouldn't have been what it was if she'd been a real cop, still think it would have bee better for the character in the long run)

Yeah I have to finish the season 4 specials (End of Time Pt 1 & 2) still. Martha Jones probably my favorite so far.

Though Kylie Minogue ep probably my favorite one-off companion so far.

Yeah I have to finish the season 4 specials (End of Time Pt 1 & 2)

srsly suggest skipping these

why

LOL. Yeah i just finished them, they were alright, but I see what you mean! A bit melodramatic? Doctor just got all emo towards the end there.

Thing is, I've skipped episodes before and paid dearly.

still not there yet but it feels like he's been leaving for about 30 episodes already.

BTW: netflix doesn't have Planet of the Dead for some reason (the second of the specials between 4 and 5). I downloaded it; it was rather good actually.

Googling for 'insalubrious pictures amy pond' is disappointing, thanks for getting my hopes up, akm.

Yeah Amy Pond quickly becoming my favorite new companion (about to start "Victory to the Daleks"). Really rmde at Martha and Mickey ending up together.

Martha and Mickey made me shout so loudly at my television, so so so stupid

also hold on to that "Amy Pond is awesome" feeling because Victory is going to make you want to die (it gets better, though)

Aw, Victory's not that bad. The only truly crap story in Smith's first season is the Silurian two-parter.

Victory's great if you turn it off about 30 minutes in

end of time was too long but I didn't hate it as much as everyone else.

yeah Victory was alright.

Victory was the worst episode since season 2

victory was terrible

New Daleks are atrocious impetus of marketing dept, resolution of both plot strands is appalling, but Ironsides set-up is joyful

yeah the new Daleks are horrible. They've kind of quietly been done away with haven't they?

hopefully

you can't do shit with a dalek

but then doctor who has become so shallow and one note that they might as well just be all daleks all the time

you can't do shit with a dalek

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Zvz_WbcwJ9k/TGggJWZtDeI/AAAAAAAABK4/C5o5Aoy__tQ/s1600/Jubilee.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sc7oC1mstYw/UXQVbUMSnKI/AAAAAAAACcs/l10qsSFBV5s/s320/doctor-who-remembrance-of-the-daleks.jpg

also 'dalek'

my point being that it has all been done (at least as this crappy showrun is concerned)

Well 'Dalek' is a reworking of 'Jubilee', so it's not that surprising.

Last season's Dalek episode did at least 2.5 things that had never been done before with a Dalek tbqh

That's not a lot of things.

Asylum of the Daleks was really, really good IMO

Victory was a rancid pile of shit from beginning to end, also IMO; the only episodes of nu-Who I've seen that I've disliked more were "Fear Her" and "The Idiot Lantern"

okay yeah, asylum was pretty good, fair call

does everyone hate moffat's era then? because I finally watched 11th hour and it was great.

so I'm assuming I should not get my hopes up

I thought the first season of Moffat era was tremendous. After that...

I'm not very critical when it comes to Doctor Who, mind.

Moffatt is generally very good.

alright I trust you

Dan is right

see all you other people are whiners. doctor, tardis, pretty girl, some alien thing, some spooky shit, that's all I need to be entertained, frankly

moffat was quite good to begin with, but this year was well below par

Part of the fun of Doctor Who for me is throwing up my hands and picking holes, but something about this year... well, I just couldn't even motivate myself to watch most of it. I still haven't even seen the finale.

Finale is the best ep of the season by a wide margin

doctor, tardis, pretty girl, some alien thing, some spooky shit, that's all I need to be entertained, frankly

akm so otm

wibbly wobbly timey wimey

There should be a separate Who thread for people who share akm's enthusiasms.

i was a huge moff stan at rge beginning... started souring on him last year but this year i'm like DONT EVEN SAY HIS NAME

Last episode didn't win you back?

yeah, it did kinda. but he had so much ground to gain back with me, it almost felt like the exception that proved the rule :)

remember how quickly coupling went off the boil, i don't hold out much hope now

remember*ing*

may I remind you all of John Nathan Turner?

go watch any bit of poor colin baker's run then come back to me and tell me moffatt sucks

i really can't get past the creepy abusive relationship in series 22 (although that dissolved in the trial series)

Moffat's had five seasons effectively, one whole and four halves. 1, 2 and 4 are all up-and-down, as Doctor Who seasons always are, but still pretty great. 4 even has some decent Chris Chibnall episodes (!).

The third has a bunch of blah monster-of-the-week episodes and makes some terrible narrative choices in the River Song arc. The fifth has a really dull companion and some of the poorest quality episodes since McCoy's run, but the last episode is pretty exciting.

Hate to say, but Matt Smith also really grated on me by the final half-season, but the writing's equally to blame.

definitely writing imo. he can only do so much with nonstop clown antics

some of the poorest quality episodes since McCoy's run, but the last episode is pretty exciting.

Considering McCoy has four of the (let's say) 15 best classic-era stories ever, this is a pretty sick burn

(S7.2 >>>>>> 7.1 for mine, even despite Akhetan)

There is no fucking way that McCoy has four of the 15 best classic Who stories. There are way too many Tom Baker stories and the overall quality of Davison was higher, plus every Troughton story I've seen has been incredible. The only McCoy story with a chance is Remembrance.

Davison has the tedious taint of Saward over the vast majority of his run.

(Remembrance, Greatest Show, Fenric, Ghost Light.)

I mean, T Baker alone has The Ark In Space, Genesis of the Daleks, The Seeds of Doom, The Brain of Morbius, The Hand of Fear, The Pyramids of Mars, The Face of Evil, The Robots of Death, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Ribos Operation, The Pirate Planet, The Androids of Tara, The Stones of Blood, City of Death, Full Circle, State of Decay, The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis. That's before looking at any of the other Doctors' stories.

Greatest Show and Ghost Light are full on terrible.

ZYGONS

FITE

Most of Troughton's seem-to-be-platinum-standard classics barely exist so we can't really count them (eg 1 ep out of 7 on Evil, 1/6 on Enemy Of The World). Thank goodness The Mind Robber was recovered, even the fill-in bottle episode.

Greatest Show is maybe one of the three best ever, I rewatched it for the first time a couple of months ago and was amazed

Greatest Show is dreadful, Ghost Light is fine when you read the rest of the story and know what's supposed to be going on.

BTW Dan we should maybe have a separate Who-fite FAP in Boston to not clog up everyone else's pleasant night

idk, I wish there was a bodgy edit with the timecoded deleted scenes, but the "science" is so incorrect allegorical that the abstract nature of it kinda enhances the feel

It's still more leisurely paced and 19x more coherent than an RTD ep!

Oh absolutely and I do enjoy it whenever it's on. But then I'd rather watch The Mysterious Planet.

I remember reading the novelization of Ghost Light and thinking "oh what a great story" and then seeing the episode and thinking "wow what an incoherent mess"

My wife was watching at the same time and basically was like "why do you like this horseshit" until nu-Who started

BTW Dan we should maybe have a separate Who-fite FAP in Boston to not clog up everyone else's pleasant night

FYI this is a wonderful idea

BOSTON THUNDERDOME TWO WHOVIAN ENTER ONE WHOVIAN LEAVES

I meant the really early McCoy eps. Any way you slice it, they're dreadful.

McCoy's first story is one of the four or five worst in the history of the series, even worse than Chibnall, but it was written by Pip & Jane Baker and script-edited by JNT, without a Doctor cast yet, so no surprise there. Paradise Towers is his second and Cartmel's first, and does the remarkable job of becoming immediately better, and I'd argue straight-up good. Certainly more ideas in it than all but one story from the previous three years*. There's a lot dodgy about the production in Dragonfire, but some great writing and McCoy's almost fully found his character (that would then blossom further in Remembrance).

I've not yet managed to rewatch Delta & The Bannermen.

"Paradise Towers" is a great story laboring under horrible, horrible production values.

One of Cartmel's best tricks in (attempting) revitalising the series was to give up fighting embrace the production values that could be achieved, and make stories that looked exactly like after-school children's programming, but were actually pretty smart and adult. Later stories struck the balance better, but its impressive they tried so wholeheartedly on the very first go.

(If you have a high tolerance for camp, PT works almost 100%. The cleaning robots are clunky and the teenage girls are clunkier, but the cannibal old biddies are fantastic.)

I'm a Pertwee-era fan. I feel like I'm playing Belgium in whatever war is happening upthread.

I don't think I've ever seen a Pertwee episode am I missing anything?

The Sea Devils!

Also Spearhead from Space, Inferno and The Ambassadors of Death are pretty fucking good--Pertwee's first season was a really strong one

Second "Inferno."

Pertwee was my canonical favourite Doctor until Smith. Once unplaced from his sentimental seat he fell to about fourth though.

Spearhead From Space is fantastic - first Pertwee, first colour establishes next three-four years' status quo, first VILLAIN REDACTED, looks great due to accidentally being shot on film and location

Silurians is good but loooong - watch an episode a time or skip about a bit

Ambassadors Of Death is great, just out in colour-recovery for the first time

Inferno also great if you've watched the rest of S7, don't start with it though

--

Terror Of The Autons - second BLANK, second BLANK, first BLANK, Holmes is now cemented as the Moffatt of the 70s

Mind Of Evil prob second-best from S8 - also just released in colour for the first time

The Daemons is one of my favourites but some people hate it. Fuck those people tbh

--

Day Of The Daleks - great ideas, not written to be a Dalek story, would be better without them. DVD adds more of them and Nick Briggs redubs their voices.

Curse Of Peladon - classic, does stuff not done since Hartnell

(Sea Devils I don't remember as being good)

--

The Three Doctors - terrible but watch the first episode for banter at least

Carnival Of Monsters - lots of fun. Camp as some of McCoy visually.

Rest of S10 falls down gradually

--

The Time Warrior is great, first CLASSIC VILLAIN, first CLASSIC COMPANION, Holmes' funniest Pertwee script.

Rest of S11 is of variable quality with two huge duds.

The Three Doctors - terrible but watch the first episode for banter at least

WTF this is the best.

if you mean "the best Baker & Martin ever managed" maybe

if you mean "the best multi-Doctor onscreen proper episode" then probably

but it is very very dumb. Pert'n'Trout are great but everything else is barely of televisable quality

I liked the Peter Cushing movies !

(runs away)

First series Wurzel is straight up great all the way through - Silurians drags a bit and could possibly be trimmed by one or two eps, but is the forst appearance of the REDCATED plot point stolen from Quatermass which reappears in Inferno, and I have in my head turns up later with other Doctors (in fact, doesn't Moffat crib it?).

Colony In Space is probably the only clunker from S8, especially if you think Claws of Axos is the Bristol Boys' best script like what I does and also features BLANK, and even then it's mainly because the union politics is so, so heavily laid on the plot struggles to free itself from the constraints.

Day of the Daleks is the most Moffatty the 'Classic' series got, and I wish he was ever as good at it as Lawrence Marks is here. It's arguably the only thing that works properly in S9 as political allegory just overwhelms the rest of the series. Sea Devils is rightly remembered for the interface between the Doctor and BLANK (I used to work for a submariner called Captain Hart, you know) but apart from that is a bit of a BLANK-of-the-week story. Time Monster should be loveable but, erm, isn't.

S10 is great despite OOOH POLITICS. Carnival of Monsters is a hoot, and there's an exchange between BLANK and an Ogron in either Frontier or Planet that's hilarious. Interestingly since we were talking about production values, on one of the extras on a DVD features two bits from Target novels and the disparity with what ends up on screen. They're Three Docs and Death to the Daleks. Green Death is great/unintentionally hilarious.

S11 is really kind of crap outside of Time Warrior. The journey of BLANK since leaving BLANK is at least interesting though.

What do you mean by political allegories? I haven't seen these episodes since I was a kid so I don't remember this element and I'm intrigued. Is Colony in Space pro or anti-union? What's OOOH POLITICS in S10?

Am I the only one who really likes Invasion of the Dinosaurs? Super atmospheric opening episode, endless betrayals, Sarah Jane being cool, too bad about the dinosaurs...

I haven't seen Invasion of the Dinosaurs in decades but I remember enjoying it.

Colony In Space is rampantly pro-union, the colonists are being supressed by the robber baron figure who is the chief engineer of the mining company and the will of the bosses turns out to be enforced by BLANK. See also Radioaktivitat Kein Danke as a major plot point.

In S10, Carnival of Monsters is all about class struggle, Frontier In Space is just a giant Cold War analogy and is almost completely dialogue until BLANK appears, Planet is The Daleks reworked to reflect CND and the Peace Protests, Green Death is about ecology, vegetarianism workers rights, class struggle, gentrification of rural countryside and inverse Luddism...

Invasion of the Dinosaurs is fun enough, but probably suffers more from non-realisation of ideas than any other serial filmed. The most intersting bit for me is what happens to BLANK and his 'journey' between Green Death and Planet of Spiders, although SJS is great in it and the sequences on the BLANK or what happens when she goes to speak to BLANK and he turns out to be BLANK.

Having said all this, Monster of Peldon is a 6 parter about striking miners.

isn't it also about ruining the BLANKs after Curse of Peladon made the super awesome again?

Yes, but that's a minor part really as it's just another cog in the industrial machinations (it's deliberately engineered to cause a crisis and protect the mineral supplies/increase mining).

Thanks Aldo. That sounds fascinating.

pertwee-era is my fave because of the fairly overt quartermass-kneale vibe to many of the episodes

pertwee era started the annoying switch between film and videotape (maybe not, but it was more visible in color)

pertwee era started the annoying switch between film and videotape (maybe not, but it was more visible in color) every time they went out side

aka "television"

no, they could have stuck with either film or videotape for a whole episode.

they did stick with video whenever a story was studio-bound

Am I the only one who really likes Invasion of the Dinosaurs?

Nope, i really like it too--the deserted london opening, and Sarah Jane's storyline especially. The dinosaurs are awful, but I've forgiven worse in this show.

I've forgiven worse in this show.

Sums up so much

i like the way that the switch between vt and film foregrounds the materiality of the text

^^^
Specifically in Dinosaurs? Haven't watched it. How do they explain it?

Oh sorry I misunderstood your post. Disregard.

I've made it through Season 5, where they reboot the universe. Is The Doctor God? There was some article on io9 or something about the difficulties in writing for Dr. Who, in creating stories for a character that basically has limitless power and seems to not be constrained by time, space, death, etc. Really it's kind of blowing my mind that I have two more seasons to get through after this, after they have rebooted the universe! The continuity of the Eleventh Doctor is just baffling at times.

That was really cool to take Vincent Van Gogh to a modern museum where he can hear all this praise about how he's the greatest artist - NAY - greatest human being alive ever of all time! Cheesy but I really enjoyed it.

Are there any good Dr. Who review blogs? I'd like to geek out over these old eps I am just now watching.

The TARDIS Eruditorum is great great great, has been working through the entire run from 1963 and just finished Tennant's first year.

Adventures With The Wife In Space is v funny but classic series only (lifetime tragic gets his wife to watch from the beginning)

Adventures with the Wife is about to be published as a book by Faber and Faber.

TARDIS Eruditorium is being released as extended-length ebooks--Pertwee years is the most recent.

the Adventures With The Wife book actually isn't the blog, it's new material (Perryman estimates a little more than 5% is quoted from the blog)

Eruditorum books are available in print-on-demand too, with really great covers. dude went to kickstarter to get $1000 to pay his proofreader for a second edition of the Hartnell book, got that in eight hours and ended up clearing $16k and funding two ltd-edn concept-based art books of his Three Doctors and Logopolis entries along the way

oh Adam since yr onto Smith now, I know the AV Club have been reviewing his run - dunno if they were doing it during Tennant.

(for a while they were doing classic series eps in no particular order too, with a non-horrible comments section, but that seems to have dried up last year.)

thanks for adventures with the wife, hadn't seen it before, excellent site!

Just saw the pirate one. Great fun! A green singing shark in an evening gown!

Thanks for the AV tip.

I was floored by the River/Amy/Rory connection revealed at the end of "A Great Man Goes to War". This series is quite amazing in that it can do silly battling aliens one minute and affecting drama the next. Wow, the next episode is called "Let's Kill Hitler"!

Oh yeah, the Tom Baker and David Tennant samples in 'John Smith''s transformation into the Doctor 2 was pretty awesome. Had to go back to "The Almost People" and rewatch it!

Oh and space pirates, yes please!

so glad you're not reading along with the ILX threads of the time! this enthusiasm is a delight to behold

^^^ a million times OTM

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/07/21/article-0-1AEA6BFF000005DC-509_306x982.jpg

idk anything anymore.

This is because she's playing Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy.

idk anything anymore.

i have no doubts. i believe!!

"the legs"

Good point, Adam.

that wasnt supposed to be gross, it was a reference to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MkiC8l2utc

Ok apparently I'm gross now lol.

"now"

I'll get you for that, AG.