I the old b&w days, they had no problem creating alien planets, they just had a dark stage and some dry ice.
Doctor Who... Page 738
Quote: sootyj @ May 27 2011, 6:24 PM BSTnot to mention the highly thought of Pertwee era was almost entirely set on Earth
Entirely set in the BBC gravel pit?
Not fair UNIT HQ featured, it looked like the set of the Open University
Quote: Matthew Stott @ May 27 2011, 5:01 PM BSTSo I suppose the fact that it causes Godot to Hulk out isn't reason enough for you? You make me sick.
'Hulk out' is right on the money.
Quote: sootyj @ May 27 2011, 6:24 PM BSTnot to mention the highly thought of Pertwee era was almost entirely set on Earth
Let's just scotch that, 14 of the 24 Pertwee stories were set on Earth, which is the majority, but not 'almost entirely'. There were significant problems with this approach which is why they reversed it when Baker took over.
Every element of the show's production has been debated over the years and a lot of hard work was put into understanding why the show declined to the point at which everyone was glad to see it scrapped. The general consensus is that the two biggest mistakes of the shows late years were to set too many stories on Earth and to rely too much on internal continuity.
The continuity thing was the result of Nathan-Turner taking on 'über-fan' Ian Levine as an advisor. This lead to constant references to 'canon' incidents that delighted fans but severely pissed off ordinary viewers who liked the idea of the show but didn't want to have to gen up on it before they watched it.
Too many Earth-set stories also created problems as again viewers wanted to see men in rubber suits and alien environments. And they got sick of aliens being responsible for elements of Earth's history - like the Earthshock bomb wiping out the dinosaurs or the terrileptils starting the Great Fire of London.
In a recent Moffat episode we had the Doctor explaining why the people of Earth remembered one invasion but not another as the Silence had wiped it out of their minds or something. This is precisely the tangled-up shit that causes viewers to turn off and gives the show a bad reputation.
Not content with introducing another alien to the show Moffat has to introduce an alien that has always occupied Earth, since the dawn of time and unnecessarily given himself the need to wade through the tangled cable management of the show's continuity.
14 out of 24 is a lot!
I think that Dr Who may have suffered from perhaps a lack of one commanding vision.
Rodenberry's vision utterly dominatd STOS and STNG for most of their runs. And even when he died it went onto Brannon Braga et al this command vision style remained.
It may have been shit. But it was consistent shit.
But with Dr Who you had multiple aliens occupying earth. SFX once did a timeline for Earth in Dr Who which was accidentally hilarious.
Perhaps if the budget had focussed on having one or two alien races it wouldn't have been so difuse.
The fundamental flaw with New Who is not too many episodes set on Earth, or even Moff's silly 973 episode long story-arc, it's substandard storytelling. Far too many episodes feel like they were written by hamfisted amatuers who couldn't tell a story to save their lives.
It's a problem of all Who's eras.
Sarajane's departure is so underpowered and passion free. The New Who Reunion is so much better.
Quote: sootyj @ May 28 2011, 8:10 AM BSTIt's a problem of all Who's eras. Sarajane's departure is so underpowered and passion free. The New Who Reunion is so much better.
Definitely. There are moments of genius in New Who, which is why the poor overall standard is so frustrating.
Is it the last one tonight, or next week?
Next week end I think, last of the two parter tonight?
Next week I think
New Who may dissolve to slush at times, but in old Who I don't remember any truly strong defining relationships.
STOS probably got the mix about right.
Quote: chipolata @ May 28 2011, 8:20 AM BSTDefinitely. There are moments of genius in New Who, which is why the poor overall standard is so frustrating.
There is a factory approach at the BBC at the moment, which if it continues will see the end of the BBC Drama and comedy departments. Shows used to celebrate individual voices -even shows like EastEnders - but not really anymore.
Quote: Marc P @ May 28 2011, 11:32 AM BSTNext week end I think, last of the two parter tonight?
yup
all that question contains its own answer within
Quote: Godot Taxis @ May 28 2011, 7:38 AM BSTwhy the people of Earth remembered one invasion but not another
Has this been fully explained yet? Last series it seemed like Moffat was building up to retcon RTD's annual Christmas Invasions out of history, but did he ever actually wrap that up? I'm not completely clear in my head whether the "crack" arc has been tied up yet.
Its all got very confusing. The Silence thing doesn't work for me. I tried applying the logic of Who to it (No point with real logic) and given that we were told in Blink that the Doctor and Martha watched the moon landings four times in 1969 (unless that's part of the story arc as well) I'm not sure that he wouldn't actually end up tripping over himself.
However, Moff has rebooted the Universe so why worry about anything that's gone before in the entire history of Who?
Just one thing (I'd do the Columbo voice if I could) if anyone could clarify, which universe was rebooted? The one that the Doctor is stuck in (ie the Roseless one) or all of them?