Monday, March 27, 2006

 

Short TV Post

OK, I gave it a chance, but the new Dr. Who is just not cutting it. First, the great Ron Granier composition for opening and closing credits music has gone through several new but not improved versions and this one is the worst of the lot--it's like the Muzak version of the Dr. Who theme. The new side kick is OK, if you like slightly pretty, chubby blonde Cockney slaterns (at least she's not as bad as Sarah the whiner from the early Tom Baker days). There's no K-9. There seems a complete lack of long multicolor scarves. None of the shows have been the least bit funny (try as they might) and the writing overall has been abysmal if not downright plagaristic of better (Douglas Adams) days, as the earth death one was remarkably like the Restaurant and the End of the Universe without the wit. "Eddies in the space time continuum" would be very welcome indeed.

OK, the good things. I kind of like Christopher Eccleston despite his asymmetrical ping pong paddle sized ears, and his racist dismissal of Rose's black boyfriend. (I put it down to jealousy). There's been liberal use of the sonic screwdriver. The special effects are a little bit better, and the explosions are much superior. The metal spiders were truly scary. Oh, and the new side kick, Rose, is a slightly pretty, chubby blonde Cockney slattern; and is it just me or are there sexual vibes happening between her and the doc? He's always been fond of his young, pretty, female sidekicks but in a more fatherly way; although I always imagined that Baker and Romana 1 were getting it on regularly with some spanking, humiliation and bondage of Romana 1. Again, that's probably just me.

All in all, the current version of the series is like Brooks Brothers--fond memories of past quality, but living off its reputation and no longer delivering the goods.

Comments:
The theme was indeed a classic - I think the original is timeless (like the good doctor) and should be used. Ah it takes me back...to the first Dr, a white haired slightly cantankerous old man whose tardis was disguised as a police box (police version of a phone booth, long since vanished), tiny from the outside, vast when you got in it. The Dr had lost control of where or to when the tardis would travel (maybe he never had it). The central console was round and in the middle of the floor, and when he fired it up (usually to escape from a proximal enemy) a large cylinder would start thrusting up and down in the middle of the consol to what sounded like a colony of seals on heat. Enemies included the renouned daleks, robots equipped with a ray gun and kinda stick with a suction cap on the end of it (we of course used a plunger when playing daleks) and the cybermen, robotic creatures who had huge arteries on the outside, connected together with pratice tennis balls. no special effects, everything was clearly happening in a TV studio, even to a 7 yearold's eyes! and yes the girls were always nicely cute and totally asexual (to a 7 year old). they should rerun a few of those episodes, for grins!
 
I haven't seen many of the original doctor, nor of the Moe haired guy in a fur coat, but I did see some of John Pertwee's work and all of Bakers and then it trails off with only a few here and there. Daleks (exterminate!!said while grabbing your dewlap and shaking) Rude guest cybermen. Good times (of course you were 7 and I was what, 35?) The new ones are not the deal and it's mainly the writing. I remember Red Dwarf was hilarious but sound stage bound and then one season it had great production values and was no longer funny at all. Hope the reverse happens with the new Who.
 
No long colored scarf? Goofin' w/ the theme music? Grim news indeed. You may be right about the Doc and Ramona I.
 
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