4 ms·

I remember seeing Doctor Who for the first time circa 2011 when it was on Amazon Prime. First few seasons were very much early 2000s TV, and then suddenly it go

I remember seeing Doctor Who for the first time circa 2011 when it was on Amazon Prime. First few seasons were very much early 2000s TV, and then suddenly it got all big budget Netflix style in season five. The older look doesn't bother me, though. The same thing happened with The Expanse.

hinkley 11mo ago
The Eccleston episodes are a bit on the rough side.
- cm2012 11mo ago
  But, some of the better storytelling.
  - astrange 11mo ago
    I watched some of it at the time and thought it was cool, but never paid much attention. When I checked in again around the Matt Smith era it seemed to have become, um, unwatchably twee[0]. Was that on purpose or are the people who work on it just permanently like that? [0] if you need an American English translation, maybe "theater kid energy".
    - cm2012 11mo ago
      Theater kid energy is a great description of the Matt Smith era onward.
    - saghm 11mo ago
      IIRC the show runner changed at the same time that Matt Smith became the new doctor. The tone change is pretty noticeable pretty much right at the start of Season 5 in my opinion, even as someone who enjoyed pretty much all of it before and after (although I haven't kept up with it the past few years mostly due to my TV watching habits having changed due to different life circumstances).
    - pndy 11mo ago
      New face, new showrunner and better budged worked pretty well and maybe even better than during Tennant's time. They hit a good spot with 11th and Amy - social media were thriving and I've seen characters all around in fan works, memes and discussions.
    - thaumasiotes 11mo ago
      > if you need an American English translation, maybe "theater kid energy". It wouldn't have occurred to me to call twee a foreign word. However, my feeling of its meaning was... very close to the gloss given on wiktionary (and marked "UK"): >> Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice. The unambiguously American Merriam-Webster agrees: >> affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint "Characteristic of theater kids" conveys something different to me. Do you disagree with the dictionary gloss, or do you think it's a good description of how people might describe a performance by theater kids?
      - astrange 11mo ago
        I think that definition is missing something, yes. Modern(?) British twee is less "dainty" and more "manic and campy". Which is not to disparage Monty Python, who were good at it, but everyone descended from them can't really pull it off. https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-unstoppable-rise-of-british-twee https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-unstoppable-rise-of-british-t... (nb I'm not sure about the political analysis here but the citations are good.)
    - DennisP 11mo ago
      Did you entirely miss David Tennant? He was pretty different than the Matt Smith version, and quite good. They had some great storylines too.
      - astrange 11mo ago
        He was good. Have you seen him try to do an American accent? Kind of sounds like he's from everywhere except California at the same time. https://youtu.be/_gp9K-rMdxg https://youtu.be/_gp9K-rMdxg
  - hinkley 11mo ago
    Some of the best story arcs start in those episodes. I warned the family when we sat down to watch it together.
- MathMonkeyMan 11mo ago
  When I saw the first episode of the first season of the reboot, I was hooked. I couldn't believe that there was really a show that went all in with that zany, campy, sci-fi vibe. There's something about the britishness that makes it work. A time traveling alien with a Northern accent investigates killer mall mannequins, one of which possesses a trash bin that then eats the costar's boyfriend and transforms him into a plastic golem. They get to the heart of the infestation, and the Doctor readies his weapon -- "anti-plastic," of course -- but desires not to use it as he struggles to talk intergalactic law with the malignant plastic blob. Then he runs off with the girl for adventures in future episodes. Many of the flavor-of-the-week sci-fi concepts were quite good, and some were not. But anthropomorphic cat nuns! A giant head! Evil buckets with eye stalks! Killer statues that can only move when you're not looking! Maybe it was some inner child aging out of me, but I feel like the show's writing took a nose dive about halfway through Peter Capaldi's Doctor.
  - electroglyph 11mo ago
    gotta check out Lexx
    - gnabgib 11mo ago
      Lexx (790 the robot head) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx Starhunter (Caravaggio) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starhunter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starhunter Farscape (Claudia Black before her voice was in every computer game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape
- stickfigure 11mo ago
  Eccleston had the best dynamic range of any of the actors that played the Doctor. He could do funny, sad, angry, dorky, brooding, mean, lovable... everything. I wish we could have gotten another season or two out of him.
  - hinkley 11mo ago
    He’s the creepy husband in The Others which took a second to get over. He’s so happy to be there as the Doctor.
- giancarlostoro 11mo ago
  He was my favorite doctor and my first I am a little sad he didnt do more than one season.
dylan604 11mo ago
Season 5 makes it sound like it was a this century show the way you've stated it. Dr. Who is older than I am, and we don't need to get into how old that is. "Who" has been restarted so many times that it seems strange to refer to season five without any more info. In fact, not being a Who follower, how do they differentiate just by the actor playing the doctor? Season 5 of actorName?
- tredre3 11mo ago
  I also got caught on how GP said Season 5 which would have been from the 60s, not the 2000s. But apparently it is correct (unless you want to be pedantic about the choice of word Series/Season). The listing of seasons on Wikipedia goes: Season 1-26 (1963-1989) Series 1-15 (2005-2025)
  - MathMonkeyMan 11mo ago
    Yes, I meant the 2005 series.
  - jaredsohn 11mo ago
    And they started renumbering at 1 for 2023-2025 when it went to Disney Plus (to onboard new people and because they don't have rights to older episodes.)
- hsbauauvhabzb 11mo ago
  To add to the confusion, the series recently started at S01 again. Not a reboot, same doctor as the previous season.
giancarlostoro 11mo ago
It doesnt bother me outside of the fact that theres way older shows and movies that look much higher quality. It would be nice to watch it in a higher quality.

hinkley 11mo ago

The Eccleston episodes are a bit on the rough side.

cm2012 11mo ago
But, some of the better storytelling.
- astrange 11mo ago
  I watched some of it at the time and thought it was cool, but never paid much attention. When I checked in again around the Matt Smith era it seemed to have become, um, unwatchably twee[0]. Was that on purpose or are the people who work on it just permanently like that? [0] if you need an American English translation, maybe "theater kid energy".
  - cm2012 11mo ago
    Theater kid energy is a great description of the Matt Smith era onward.
  - saghm 11mo ago
    IIRC the show runner changed at the same time that Matt Smith became the new doctor. The tone change is pretty noticeable pretty much right at the start of Season 5 in my opinion, even as someone who enjoyed pretty much all of it before and after (although I haven't kept up with it the past few years mostly due to my TV watching habits having changed due to different life circumstances).
  - pndy 11mo ago
    New face, new showrunner and better budged worked pretty well and maybe even better than during Tennant's time. They hit a good spot with 11th and Amy - social media were thriving and I've seen characters all around in fan works, memes and discussions.
  - thaumasiotes 11mo ago
    > if you need an American English translation, maybe "theater kid energy". It wouldn't have occurred to me to call twee a foreign word. However, my feeling of its meaning was... very close to the gloss given on wiktionary (and marked "UK"): >> Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice. The unambiguously American Merriam-Webster agrees: >> affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint "Characteristic of theater kids" conveys something different to me. Do you disagree with the dictionary gloss, or do you think it's a good description of how people might describe a performance by theater kids?
    - astrange 11mo ago
      I think that definition is missing something, yes. Modern(?) British twee is less "dainty" and more "manic and campy". Which is not to disparage Monty Python, who were good at it, but everyone descended from them can't really pull it off. https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-unstoppable-rise-of-british-twee https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-unstoppable-rise-of-british-t... (nb I'm not sure about the political analysis here but the citations are good.)
  - DennisP 11mo ago
    Did you entirely miss David Tennant? He was pretty different than the Matt Smith version, and quite good. They had some great storylines too.
    - astrange 11mo ago
      He was good. Have you seen him try to do an American accent? Kind of sounds like he's from everywhere except California at the same time. https://youtu.be/_gp9K-rMdxg https://youtu.be/_gp9K-rMdxg
- hinkley 11mo ago
  Some of the best story arcs start in those episodes. I warned the family when we sat down to watch it together.
MathMonkeyMan 11mo ago
When I saw the first episode of the first season of the reboot, I was hooked. I couldn't believe that there was really a show that went all in with that zany, campy, sci-fi vibe. There's something about the britishness that makes it work. A time traveling alien with a Northern accent investigates killer mall mannequins, one of which possesses a trash bin that then eats the costar's boyfriend and transforms him into a plastic golem. They get to the heart of the infestation, and the Doctor readies his weapon -- "anti-plastic," of course -- but desires not to use it as he struggles to talk intergalactic law with the malignant plastic blob. Then he runs off with the girl for adventures in future episodes. Many of the flavor-of-the-week sci-fi concepts were quite good, and some were not. But anthropomorphic cat nuns! A giant head! Evil buckets with eye stalks! Killer statues that can only move when you're not looking! Maybe it was some inner child aging out of me, but I feel like the show's writing took a nose dive about halfway through Peter Capaldi's Doctor.
- electroglyph 11mo ago
  gotta check out Lexx
  - gnabgib 11mo ago
    Lexx (790 the robot head) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexx Starhunter (Caravaggio) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starhunter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starhunter Farscape (Claudia Black before her voice was in every computer game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farscape
stickfigure 11mo ago
Eccleston had the best dynamic range of any of the actors that played the Doctor. He could do funny, sad, angry, dorky, brooding, mean, lovable... everything. I wish we could have gotten another season or two out of him.
- hinkley 11mo ago
  He’s the creepy husband in The Others which took a second to get over. He’s so happy to be there as the Doctor.
giancarlostoro 11mo ago
He was my favorite doctor and my first I am a little sad he didnt do more than one season.

dylan604 11mo ago

Season 5 makes it sound like it was a this century show the way you've stated it. Dr. Who is older than I am, and we don't need to get into how old that is. "Who" has been restarted so many times that it seems strange to refer to season five without any more info. In fact, not being a Who follower, how do they differentiate just by the actor playing the doctor? Season 5 of actorName?

tredre3 11mo ago
I also got caught on how GP said Season 5 which would have been from the 60s, not the 2000s. But apparently it is correct (unless you want to be pedantic about the choice of word Series/Season). The listing of seasons on Wikipedia goes: Season 1-26 (1963-1989) Series 1-15 (2005-2025)
- MathMonkeyMan 11mo ago
  Yes, I meant the 2005 series.
- jaredsohn 11mo ago
  And they started renumbering at 1 for 2023-2025 when it went to Disney Plus (to onboard new people and because they don't have rights to older episodes.)
hsbauauvhabzb 11mo ago
To add to the confusion, the series recently started at S01 again. Not a reboot, same doctor as the previous season.

giancarlostoro 11mo ago

It doesnt bother me outside of the fact that theres way older shows and movies that look much higher quality. It would be nice to watch it in a higher quality.