no one noticed the building size statue walking through the city???

no one ever noticed the huge space ship almost crashing into Buckingham Palace in the first Angels episode (whose name escapes me at the moment).

no one ever notices a TARDIS appearing and disappearing on various street corners in various places.

To mix science fiction metaphors, it's an SEPF. (Somebody Else's Problem Field).

~tigs(yes, i've read a lot)

no one ever noticed the huge space ship almost crashing into Buckingham Palace in the first Angels episode (whose name escapes me at the moment).

If you are talking about 'Voyage of the Damned', those weren't Weeping Angels. The Hosts were machines, not aliens. And certainly the Queen noticed the Titanic, as she was shown fleeing the palace in case the Doctor couldn't stop the crash.

no one ever notices a TARDIS appearing and disappearing on various street corners in various places.

Perception filter.

Wasn't Rose "gone for good" three times?

Absolutely. And yet she still seemed to be able to find her way back through.

No one remembered the steampunk robot walking through London. But that was another issue.

Yes, that had to do with the crack in the universe and the Tardis exploding, which also caused Amy to forget the Daleks and the planets in the sky from 'Journey's End'.

TG

I am, however, looking forward to the new compainion!

Me too. I'm hoping that the companion is as spunky as the character in Asylum of the Daleks. And I'm hoping that the Dr. will no longer be a helpless little child without the Ponds around.

[._.]

That brings me to a question; how are the old episodes compared to the new ones?

I'm new to the series as of June. I'm caught up with everything for Doctors 9, 10, and 11 except the last Christmas episode. There was nothing mentioned about it airing before 7.1.

Do you mean the first seven Doctors? The stories were okay, but they didn't have much of a special effects budget. You will have to forgive them and just concentrate on the stories. I came in during the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker. I haven't seen much before that. However, it ended in 1989.

The Eighth Doctor was in a made-for-television movie in 1996. I think that it was filmed and shown in the U.S.A. as an attempt to get U.S. audiences interested in Doctor Who that they could bring back the series. It didn't catch on, but it did have decent special effects.

Eventually the current series started in 2005.

Unless you appreciate the older special effects you won't like the older series. I like the stories so I can appreciate the special effects.

they didn't have much of a special effects budget. You will have to forgive them and just concentrate on the stories.

Dr. Who has always been the triumph of brilliant writing over terrible budgets. That was why the 1996 movie was received so poorly: it looked great, but the story was crap. If you look back at a story like The Mind Robber from the Second Doctor, you get some very ambitious and surreal sci-fi concepts, even if the sets and costumes do look a bit silly.

The reason the new series is so good is that, not only was it given a decent budget, but all the people working on it grew up watching the program. From the producer down to the lowest grip, this is a labor of love and they all put their best efforts into it. It's now a show created by fans, for fans.

Kelsung

Well my main draw to Doctor Who, other than the time travel, is the connection between The Doctor and his companions. The Doctor and Rose, The Doctor and Martha, The Doctor and Donna, and The Doctor and the Ponds (including River) were reasons that made the show more engaging for me. Also, the actors portraying everyone ended up being excellent. My main worry is that the original seven are not going to be like that. During my reads on wiki, wikia, and whatever else I read that the first seven do not have that element so much except a little bit around the time Sarah Jane was added. However, I was curious on what others thought other than the statement on a wikia article. I probably should just give them a whirl and see.

Well my main draw to Doctor Who, other than the time travel, is the connection between The Doctor and his companions.

The Doctor ("Space Gandalf") explains why he needs companions. And [why he can't have just one]. I do sense more of a relationship with the companions now, but that may be just better writing. Douglas Adams (who wrote "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) was a writer for the Fourth Doctor, so they weren't as serious as they are today. In fact, I don't think that the stories back then were as serious as they are today. The new Doctors just aren't going to wear celery on their lapel or carry a question mark shaped umbrella.

They also only had half of an hour at a time. Stories were strung together over several episodes. The Key of Time story was even longer because they had to string together seven separate stories into one larger story. But still only half of an hour at a time.

my main draw to Doctor Who... is the connection between The Doctor and his companions.

Russell T Davies made a deliberate decision to give the companions more backstory outside their relationship to The Doctor, wanting to explore the reality of how the people they left behind would react to them leaving. But that's not to say the old show didn't have companions who were complex characters.

The Third Doctor spent three seasons with Jo Grant, and many fans argue that in her final story it was as close as you were going to get to The Doctor confessing his love: while Jo was joining a group of ecological protestors and falling for their leader, The Doctor travels to Metabelis 3 to acquire a rare giant blue gem, much to his own peril. He presents it to Jo as a gift, almost like a wedding ring, but she doesn't want it, and ends up marrying the group leader. The final shot of The Doctor driving Bessy off into the sunset, never to see her again, is a tear-jerker of unrequited love, but only if you're paying attention because it isn't overtly written.

The Fifth Doctor has a slew of interesting companions: he takes Adric out his own universe to his eventual martyrdom, Tegan's aunt is killed by The Master, and Nyssa's father isn't just killed by him, but The Master takes over his body, so every time Nyssa sees him she's seeing her dead father. Turlough comes into the series initially recruited by The Black Guardian and spends half a season secretly attempting to KILL The Doctor.

If you want a taste of The Doctor's relationship to his companions, just watch this clip of his very first goodbye to one of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81gFI9aNSlo

When you watch the original series, you'll need to watch it for what it is and not put expectations on it. It began in 1963 and was a children's show made in the 1960s: black-and-white, low budget with few retakes so you get flubbed lines and wobbling sets, and female characters screamed a lot. There were no reruns in those days, so you got 40+ new episodes a year, with individual stories having as many as 8, 10 or (once) 12 half-hour episodes. But it was well written and immensely popular, so it endured.

Then it was a show made in the 1970s: color, better production values, certainly more action and violence, and with reruns we now got 26 episodes a year of stories that were consistently 4 or 6 episodes. Yes, Douglas Adams worked on the show, but only briefly: he was script editor for one season, and only wrote three stories, one of which was never finished or aired due to a BBC strike.

By the 1980s it was very sleek and flashy, with edgier synthesizer music, and more costume gimmicks (celery on the lapels, question mark umbrellas). The stories were usually 4 episodes, sometimes just 2 or 3 with much quicker pacing, and with a long history of established characters and villains to fall back on.

What I'm saying here is that it changed over the years. Think of American television sci-fi: in the 60s you got Lost In Space and Star Trek, in the 70s you got Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica, in the 80s you got Alien Nation and Star Trek TNG. In the new millenium you get Stargate and the new Battlestar Galactica.

Think about how old Trek and TNG compare: same show, but completely different. That's the First Doctor compared to the Seventh Doctor. Think of the old and new Battlestar Galactica: same show but completely different. That's the Fourth Doctor compared to the Tenth.

Kelsung

Think of American television sci-fi: in the 60s you got Lost In Space and Star Trek, in the 70s you got Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica, in the 80s you got Alien Nation and Star Trek TNG. In the new millenium you get Stargate and the new Battlestar Galactica.

But why don't the American sci-fi series hang on like Doctor Who does? I'm thinking that it's mostly the ratings. Those who make the decisions are willing to give up the constant, die-hard fans in order to get numbers of eyeballs. They too easily kill off a good series (like "The Event" or "Terra Nova"; at least I liked them) for bigger numbers. The BBC at least has the advantage of getting the money whether people watch or not. (And when will they bring back "Blake's 7"?)

I've thought of what they could do in the US to keep a series going over decades, if they didn't have to worry about ratings. The only idea I came up with was "Time Patrol". I didn't think of it because it is time travel but because the story doesn't require the same actors to continue the story. I guess that they could do it with any sci-fi series though, as long as they gradually replaced the crew of the starship. Riker refused a few promotions so that he could remain on Enterprise.

Don't give me the daytime dramas. I know they've continued for decades, but they're not sci-fi (even though some of their plots may be unbelievable).

If you want a taste of The Doctor's relationship to his companions, just watch this clip of his very first goodbye to one of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81gFI9aNSlo

I just watched the clip. Look at the profile of the first other man that we see. Doesn't his profile look like the Tenth Doctor? They even call him David.

And the Doctor still has the parking break on. ;-)

*sigh*

i loved the old Drs. that's what i grew up on. all this new-fangled, actual TV. thanks for posting the link. it was good to see Susan again.

~tigs(a little nostalgic)

Don't underestimate the power of cheap special effects, especially when kids are involved.

I showed my kids City of Death a few years ago. One of my favorites -- Tom Baker as the doctor, Douglas Adams one of the writers. My middle son (then six) ran from the room when he saw Scaroth unmasked. (if you wish, check him out at http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Death#section_1 ) My oldest, at nine, was a bit skittish, but kept watching until one character goes through a sudden rapid aging and turns into an (obviously fake) skeleton. He then lost it. Granted, we watch very little tv, so they aren't exposed much to "modern" special effects. But the suspenseful parts of the story really had them emotionally involved!

sitzmak

i didn't remember that one - until i saw Scaroth's face. Now i remember it!

Ya know, i was a teen when i saw them, and they always made me jump. . .

~tigs(yeah, i should be a chicken and not a tigger)