The Doctor Who Thread

[iank]

Favourite Hartnells:

Time Meddler
The Daleks
The Crusade
The Chase

Favourite companions: Ian, Barbara and Vicki. Ian is a total badass, Babs is cool and Vicki is just plain adorable.

[hivemind]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

I'm still hoping they will do something with Susan, really surprised that they haven't yet.

Its his granddaughter after all these years you should think he would try to find her or at least find out what happened to her.

It would be a revelation indeed for Dr Who. Having Susan back would be terrific, but you know what things are like. Would Chris Chibnall even consider taking on Susan as a possible future companion again..... An older past companion and the granddaughter of the Doctor in the TARDIS would be like a breath of fresh air. The show desperately needs it. I'm not against the idea. Peter Capaldi certainly wanted Susan to return in 2015. But obviously Steven Moffat sees it differently.

Carol Ann Ford would be great to see again as Susan. But I doubt either showrunner's will even consider such a move.

Doctor seeing Susan again would be one of the most emotional moments in Doctor Who. And a great story is needed to deliver the emotional impact.

Whatever Happened to Susan Foreman?

[hivemind]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

They are terrific the first Cybermen. Their cloth faces and odd song type voices only add to the eeriness.

There are rumours that series 10 has a Cyberman origins story which hopefully uses the cloth faces once again.

Seems like Steven Moffat is trying to leave his final mark on Doctor Who. This last series under his leadership will probably have many big revelations to come. Some probably bigger than others. Will Peter Capaldi stay on into the beginnings of the Chibnall era? Christ only knows. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he will.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

My fave Hartnell stories are, in transmission order

Marco Polo - A story i've only listened to on cd as none of it's episodes exist anymore or so we are led to believe. It's a fantastic purely historical story which pits the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan against the mighty Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan in a battle to get the TARDIS back from him after it was given to him as a gift by Marco Polo as a way to win favour in the emperor's court. The story gallops along as the time travelers meet up with Polo in the Himalayas and journey with him to Peking as they come up against terrifying perils on the way.

If i could wish for any story to be returned to the archives it would be this, although it undoubtedly plays out far more spectacularly in my imagination than it would do on screen.

The Aztecs - Following the epic Marco Polo, writer John Lucarotti returned with this morality tale which puts the travelers in the middle of the Aztec empire. Beautifully acted and realized it's a fascinating look at the way the ritual of sacrifice is seen as the entire reasoning for the Aztec life and a great conundrum when Barbara, mistaken for an Aztec high priestess, attempts to put an end to it all.

The Dalek Invasion of Earth - A fantastic fast paced six part story that sees the return of the Daleks. This time on earth. As the stories at the time didn't have wrap around titles the first episode with the moniker Worlds End gave no clue as to what had happened to the earth and in this case London. The shock viewers at the time would have had as a Dalek rises out of the Thames must have been awesome as would seeing the Daleks in and around London's famous landmarks in later episodes. It also marked the end for Susan, the Doctors grand daughter as a TARDIS traveler culminating in a tearful farewell from the Doctor which is as emotional as anything we've seen in the show since.

The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve. - Another historical story from the pen of Lucarotti and another missing completely from the archives. Again thanks to the audio cd and my imagination this is another gripping historical story which pits the Doctor and Stephen in the middle of Paris in a dangerous situation with tensions between toe Catholics and Protestants at fever pitch. This is a tour-de-force for Hartnell who plays not only the Doctor but the sadistic Abbot of Amboise as well.

With Hartnell as the Abbot, Peter Purves as Stephen takes centre stage and is terrific and it all ends in a rather disturbing fashion as the Catholics or Huguenots as they are known as are slaughtered in the streets of Paris by the Protestants.

The War Machines - As Hartnell's time as the Doctor was coming to a close, The War Machines is seemingly a trial run for what the series was to become in the future. Set in present day London under the threat of invasion in the form of mighty robotic war machines under the control of super computer WOTAN. Pitting the destructive machines against soldiers and having them run riot in the streets. This was the first time the TARDIS visited contemporary earth since the very first episode with the hedonistic swinging 60's at the forefront of the story with the introduction of new companions Ben and Polly.

Had it not been for the brilliance of William Hartnell in the role and some ingenious scripts, ideas and of course Daleks, Doctor Who wouldn't be...well, it just wouldn't be! To me William Hartnell isn't the first Doctor. He is the Doctor.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Frontier in Space (1973)

[Susan Foreman]

'Class' isn't performing well on BBC1!

"Episode Four, Co-Owner Of A Lonely Heart, had an audience of 0.28 million, a share of 5.1%. This episode was beaten by Tattoo Fixers on Channel 4 with 0.45 million and by Celebrity Big Brother on Five, with 0.42 million"

Doctor Who News: Class Episode 3/4 Ratings

[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

'Class' isn't performing well on BBC1!

"Episode Four, Co-Owner Of A Lonely Heart, had an audience of 0.28 million, a share of 5.1%. This episode was beaten by Tattoo Fixers on Channel 4 with 0.45 million and by Celebrity Big Brother on Five, with 0.42 million"

Doctor Who News: Class Episode 3/4 Ratings

dont think it will get another season, thank god!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

dont think it will get another season, thank god!

It all depends on how it does on BBC America. It's been a complete muck up from the start. Only showing it online, releasing the discs before it had been on tv, showing it last thing on a Monday night. I hope BBC America don't ask for another series.

They'd be better off doing some more Torchwood.

[hivemind]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

It all depends on how it does on BBC America. It's been a complete muck up from the start. Only showing it online, releasing the discs before it had been on tv, showing it last thing on a Monday night. I hope BBC America don't ask for another series.

They'd be better off doing some more Torchwood.

I don't think I could even be bothered with Torchwood either. Once again, the final series of Torchwood just pandered to the American market. Why not just pander to the British viewers instead. As though the BBC needs more multi-millions or should I say Billions in it's bank accounts. Once Upon a Time..... we had TV that actually cared about it's domestic audience, not any more. Class is just another disaster of trying to milk Doctor Who as much as possible, even though it's just a spin-off series. The fans of Doctor Who could of delivered a much better spin-off series than what these executives deliver with super large pay packets. Class really is best forgotten about. And that goes also for Sherlock: Series 4.

Best placed to languish in Tv Hell....FOREVER!

BURN BABY BURN...

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by hivemind

I don't think I could even be bothered with Torchwood either. Once again, the final series of Torchwood just pandered to the American market

Even from the start, I found 'Torchwood' to be a very patchy show

For every good episode ('Countrycide') there was a poor one (the God-awful 'Cyberwoman', which was the worst episode ever)

When it got to the series' that were full arc stories ('Children Of Earth' and 'Miracle Day') I found it unwatchable

The best spin-off series was 'The Sarah-Jane Adventures', which (in my opinion) often eclipsed the parent show