Published on 12, July, 2020
A thought just occurred to me. We now have a female Doctor, not bothered by that, but the writing is meh.
There were some good episodes but also a lot of meh.
It occurred to me, if the figurehead is a female, why do we have a man overseeing the whole series and writing for itIe the chap from Broadchurch.
Surely the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridger should oversee and write the series. I know that she is currently writing Bond but, do you see my point?
Hated 'shouty' Tate. No subtlety. Another FAIL assistant. Just like Martha.
"Po-faced, witless political programming" - brilliant description!
I agree about McCoy - awful! Couldn't watch his series.
In terms of companions/assistants I also liked Rose, and Catherine Tate's character.
I'm an old fart so I've seen Dr Who since the old days.
The early ones were good because it was all new - a bit cheap & cheerful, but new.
Pertwee was ok - it was the first time the BBC used the old ChromaKey special effects in a cheap programme so it was scary and new. It's a shame that the assistants were alwsays just screamers.
Baker was good but let down by the BBC hippy-trippy culture of the period - it infected almost all programmes of the time. He had a couple of useful, competent assistants like Romana & Leela so it's the beginning of proper female characters.
Davidson & McCoy were dreadful - let down by poor scripts, useless assistants, low budgets and the BBC trying to be 'down wiv da kids' with Ace.
Chorlton (Eccleston) brought it back well but Rose was by far the best assistant ever - competent, fun and her own person - so when Tennant joined it I think it hit its golden era - best scripts, (Girl in the Fireplace, Blink etc) and useful effects.
And it's been down hill from there - Ultra-PC BBC dogma with terrible scripts, terrible production and it feels as though the Beeb want it dead - so how can we offend the most fans by rubbing their noses in this garbage.
This is nothing to do with male/female characters & writers - it's just terrible is every way. Po-faced, witless political programming.
I try to watch it, but I just can't.
It has taken a soap opera feel. Until you said I hadn’t realised, but that is exactly it. It would have been better for the previous writers to cast the actor who played Missy as the Doctor.
The Doctor needs to be quirky, off the wall.
I have never liked 3 companions. I felt Matt Smith came into his own once Rory and Amelia has gone.
Oh, that's interesting. I didn't watch the early Jon Pertwee episodes. I did watch Peter Davison, but I didn't remember him having multiple companions. Maybe I don't like multiple ones because I prefer " one to one " relationships rather than groups?
In the early years, three companions was quite common. There have been varying numbers of companions throughout the doctor's history.
It started out (after the very first episode) with having three companions (Susan, Ian, and Barbara). It was only when Jon Pertwee took over that he only had one 'assistant' although there were other regulars during his tenure, since the majority of time he was confined to Earth. Peter Davison had multiple companions again.
Oh, by the way, why does the female doctor need 3 companions? The male ones only had one - with a boyfriend tagging along sometimes, but not really acknowledged as a second companion, just tolerated by the doctor, not befriended). Bradley is good, but I'm afraid I wasn't impressed with the younger two . I think just one companion gives a better dynamic.
I find it difficult to get used to a new doctor, and Jodie is quite different to Matt, who I came to really like. It does feel a bit odd having a female doctor after so many years of them being male (not a sexist view - I'm female - just my opinion). I loved Missy, but we didn't know at first that she was a reincarnation of the master so I had no preconceptions - I was able to get to know her as a character with no expectations.
However, I do think Jodie is a good actor and I agree that the writing has been pretty poor. There were some good ideas, but it seemed to me to always come back to family relationships, friendships and moral dilemmas. When I watch Dr Who I want exciting sci-fi stories, not soap operas! It's not Coronation Street in space! Perhaps they should rename it Coronation Universe, or East End Galaxy?
I think, in light of the controversy regarding the writing. A female head writer and producer would be a refreshing change.
Do men write male characters better and women females? Or does it matter?
It is interesting that in the original days of Dr Who, the producer was Verity Lambert (who went on to produce such programmes as Budgie, Minder and Jonathan Creek).
It was quite a lot ahead of its time!