Doctor Who Sucks
I’d really like to know who decided that Doctor Who is supposed to be campy. Doctor Who is not campy. At least, it never was. I’ve been watching some of the classics and they are never campy. Cheesy, sure. It’s low-budget 1970’s production style all the way. But they take it seriously. They try their best to create real drama. They didn’t always succeed, but they always tried. But the new Doctor Who is abysmal. Season one was a waste. Season two was a big improvement, but still way off the mark. Now we’re three episodes into season three and it looks like they’re trying to recapture the lost magic of season one. It’s just dumb. Awful. The only thing that makes less sense is why I’m still watching it…
Update:
I did in fact stop watching shortly after I wrote this post.
April 16th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I agree. I watched a couple of seasons of the old Doctor Who when I was in middle school, and I don’t remember them being campy. Humerous at times, but not campy. I’ve watched a grand total of 1.5 episodes of the new one, and that’s all I can stand. It reminds me more of Lexx than the old Dr. Who.
April 16th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
Yeah, that’s a great comparison. It really does have the same feel as Lexx (though with significantly less nudity). It’s the “sci-fi/fantasy isn’t real, therefore we shouldn’t take it seriously” mindset combined with the “dumb is funny” mindset. Pathetic.
May 9th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
EXACTLY. I wish you 2 would go to IMDB and post this. I mean, those idiots are practically soiling themselves over this new shit.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:00 am
The only thing that’s “good” about the New Who is the effects. It feels like they’re overcompensating for the budget they never had in the first run by blowing it all on pretty, and they’ve forgotten about what made Who good in the process. The only episode that holds even a glimmer of a candle to the Good Old Days (Baker, Pertwee, etc) is the New Series s1 two-parter set in the second world war.
The rest of it is hyperkinetic supercamp with ADD. It doesn’t help that the show seems to now be aimed at ten year olds. I kept holding out a smidge of hope until this week’s episode introduced “universal roaming” to the companion’s phone. Zero to “what’s next on the tivo?” in under a minute - no good.
Fire Davies (or take away his teddy bear and happy helmet), cut the budget, maybe go back to the serialized format… and then maybe it’ll get interesting. Right now it’s just filler I can’t even bring myself to pay attention to.
May 28th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Solios made a GREAT posting
June 11th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Oh come now, I grew up on the old Who and it was campy beyond belief! Cheesy, goofy, stupid at times, nonsensical, fantastic, unscientific…
…excellent…
…just like the new one.
June 14th, 2007 at 4:42 am
David Tennant cannot act at all. all he does is run around shouting at people.
I can’t believe how everyone keeps harping on about how he’s the best doctor.
the stories are absolute bilge.
I only watched and partially enjoyed last saturday’s episode Blink, because I had heard there was a lot less doctor and Martha in it.
perhaps that’s what they should do. cut him out of every episode until nobody watches it and finally we’ll be rid of the stupid gurning arrogant git.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:12 am
I actually like David Tennant pretty well. There were a few moments in season 2 where the writers slipped up and gave him some legitimate drama, and I think he did quite well with it. I also like his basic take on the Doctor’s personality. Put him with an entirely different set of writers and producers and I think he could make a fine choice. However, as it is, he all too gleefully embraces the excrement they give him (of course, that’s his job).
June 28th, 2007 at 1:19 am
I don’t even call the new series Doctor Who. It’s the Russell T. Davies Show. Not much more than Benny Hill with a police box in it. Sorry, Benny. You deserve better than to be associated with that.
And what’s with the Doctor kissing everyone on the mouth all of a sudden? He’s like a Warner Brothers cartoon character.
Fascinating that a 60’s sitcom intended for children became a cult hit for adults. Now the new series is aimed at adults but is hardly suitable for children…..what a pile of kack.
September 8th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Either they kill off Tennant’s doctor and make him regenerate into a better actor, or I seriously hope that they cancel this crap-fest.
Everything about it just screams “waste of time”.
September 11th, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Anyone ever watch “The Happiness Patrol” with Sylvester McCoy (Doctor 7)? If you did, do you remember the “Kandy Man”? I will take any episode of Tennant or Eccelston’s over that mess. Campy dosen’t begin to describe it (Godawful comes close). And Colin Baker? - in a phrase; “Don’t get me started. As for Tennant’s acting. Here in the States we just saw “Family of Blood”. The “human” doctor afraid to “die”; those were some excellent sceanes. OK it is not the same as the old Doctor(s). So what. The Doctor constantly changed and not always for the better. The series was always a series of ups and downs at best. These new ones have some good solid episodes. There is a lot to be enjoyed here. But if I was going to complain - and at the risk of a lynching - Enough with the Daleks! Move on!
September 11th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Jeffery makes an important point about my comments. Of the classics, I’ve only really ever seen the Tom Baker stuff. So when I say the classics were never campy, I’m really saying the Tom Baker years were never campy. Yeah, I know that makes me a very superficial Doctor Who fan. But I can live with it.
And yeah, they had already ruined the Daleks before I gave up a few eps into season three. I can’t imagine what garbage they’ve done with them since.
September 11th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
PS.
Matt:
60s sit-com??? I’ll swear the first ever episode “Unearthly Child” had exactly zero (intentional) laughs. Dr. Who was never a sit-com.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
It sucks, indeed. The first new season was OK, if mediocre, and the second went downhill fast with all the romance (Ecck!–if you’re looking for one thing past Who NEVER was, it’s romantic) and David Tennant, who brings no “alienness” to the role at all, but constantly screams, “I’m a normal, likable guy.” The “plots” consist solely of 3-4 chase scenes held together by chunks of babbled exposition, all resolved happily by a deus ex machina. This is mindless drivel, and I only hope the rumors are true that the show may continue in Series 5 without the talentless Russell T Davies, who doesn’t understand the genre, much less this show. It’s a genuine mystery to me why so many fans of classic Who (like myself) actually love this unrecognizable piece of fan fiction.
To the comment that the show is similar to Lexx: Lexx is an example of exactly how humorous SF should be done. There’s no camp in Lexx at all, just dark humor that never moralizes at the viewer like all the Star Trek inspired, holier-than-thou SF shows. If Lexx resembles Doctor Who, it’s the classic series–which is a favorable comparison I’ve seen made many times.
September 27th, 2007 at 2:08 am
Jeff:
Thanks - I thought ’sci-fi’ and typed ’sitcom’. Stupid mistake.
January 15th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
I can’t stress at how much the new Doctor Who’s Suck!! Ok let’s face it, the originals were never shakespeare but the new ones are so incredibly bad!!
The casting, the score, the script, the acting - it’s just one huge mess and then to make things worse and to cash in on the franchise they decided to do a really crap spin off. The tragic thing is many people don’t know the difference between quality programmes and true S**T nowadays.
February 10th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Horrid.
I watched up through #7 of series 3, and then saw this Christmas episode with the gratuitous Titanic. What a mess. If the writing was corrected I believe the actors could rise to the occasion. The film and effects are good. But due to the writing it is absolute crap.
Well noticed: old series was cheezy, not camp.
This new series just throws items together with little logic or reason, and live on dumb cliches from action films and bad tv dramas. People mostly want to merely see some effects, and regurgitated scenarios, I think. Doctor Who now lives on that alone.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:29 am
Seriously. Americans know nothing. Doctor Who is one of the most watched shows. Its more famous than “American” Idol.
Of course, Americans don’t know good television. Thats why they have reality shows.
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June 14th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I cannot stand the new Doctor Who. There is never any sense of danger because the characters are always saying one liners and cracking jokes.
Why does almost every show take place on earth? What a difference the first doctor (Hartnell) was. Yeah, it may have been cheesy, but the actors always played it straight. Are there any actual villains in the new Who? It seems like every villain is just misunderstood. They even ruined the Daleks trying to make them sympathetic. No villains, no danger, no alien planets, what’s the point?
July 19th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Some Americans are dumb, yes. However, those decrying the new series as rubbish.campy/soap opera/devoid of intellect/etc are 100% correct.
Not to mention NuWHO’s characters could be replaced with Buffy and her gang and everybody would think it’s a new season of that vampire slaying show (equally dumb, soapy, corny, horny, and campy).
I will give the show some credit - after the first year’s (2005) farting aliens, belching aliens, vomit jokes, and such, it’s nice to see those family un-friendly moments removed from a show people want to think is family-friendly.
Though to those who say it’s aimed at 10 year olds, try mentally deficient 14 year olds who are addicted to MTV and Nickelodeon…
July 26th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
“I cannot stand the new Doctor Who. There is never any sense of danger because the characters are always saying one liners and cracking jokes.”
Thank you! I thought I was the only one who hated the new production. The stories are weak, and David Tennant is about as welcome as a rash on the ass. He is so annoying! I stopped watching the new ones. They have ruined this classic show.
Is it my imagination, or is the Doctor getting younger and dumber? It seems each new Doctor is fresher faced and a little more clueless, and lacking the one thing that kept me watching it, namely a persona that isn’t a blank dvd.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I watch a lot of british shows and more often than not they are better than the yanks crap. this new dr who is better than the yank’s sci fi and if it’s just the the british accent that makes the it better so be it.
Now as far as the org dr who and this one i like the fact that they have money to spend on the new one. jelly baby anyone?
January 4th, 2009 at 1:37 am
Leave it to the brittish to fuck a good thing up. Matt Smith is terrible. I thought chris was irreplaceable but the bbc got lucky with david. oh well maybe i can watch it again in another twenty years if it’s good again, if i’m still alive,