Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Dr. Who - Season Four (SPOILERS!)

I know that Catherine Tate was a controversial choice for the Doctor's new assistant and I'm sure that there must be as many fans hate her as love her by now, but I just have to say that, for me, she has been an absolute joy and this season has been thoroughly enjoyable so far. I was dubious about her myself to begin with, but she just grows on me more and more with each episode.

I just love the relationship she and the Doctor have. Her pluckiness and the way she's finding her feet more and more with each episode (although she did scream for the Doctor when she was attacked last night, I cheered when she thought to use the magnifying glass to help herself instead). Her compassion (Fires of Pompeii has to be one of my all-time favourite episodes - what an ending!). The way she keeps the Doctor grounded and doesn't let her obvious admiration for him get in the way of slapping him down when he needs it, and the sense of wonder she carries with her when they step out of the TARDIS into new worlds.

And I love the humour between them. I love the running joke of their reactions when people keep assuming they're a couple. And wonderful exchanges like last night's 'plucky young girl' ("I'll pluck you in a minute..." )

For me, this has been one of the most enjoyable seasons of all so far.

LabRat

I love the Catherine Tate Show and was surprised to find her in Dr Who a few weeks ago. I'd never really given the show a chance until recently, and although I don't get to see it very often, I'm rather enjoying it.

My only qualm is that I have difficulty seeing her as someone unrelated to the CT Show. I keep expecting her to come out with an "I ain't bovvered!" or "Who dear me dear gay dear no dear!"

So far she's being immense fun, looking forward to more - not, alas, for two weeks (sob) thanks to the blasted Eurovision Song Contest.

What?! Damn them! Damn them all!

LOL. Fortunately, I've only had one of those moments, and that was in the season opener. Just for a second she was 'too' CT, if you know what I mean.

That was actually my worry when I first heard CT was being taken on board the TARDIS. The problem with bringing in someone to a show like Dr. Who who has such a strong personality offscreen and strong, iconic characters onscreen in her own show is, of course, that they take over. But it hasn't been like that at all. She's blended in seamlessly , far as I'm concerned.

So much so, in fact, that - although I'm still less than happy at the way AF was apparently dumped by TPTB - when Martha temporarily returned recently I found her to be an irritating intrusion and was glad when she was only around for two episodes.

LabRat

I just recently caught up with Dr. Who. I was actually watching last season (series?) while watching the current one, lol!

I have to admit, I was sad to see Martha go, and was a little ambivalent about Donna. I thought the Dr's reaction to Donna was pretty funny, though, when she pretty much forced him to take her (and her luggage!) with him.

Marcus Rowland said:
We're going to have to wait 2 whole weeks? Even over here? Tara

I was one of those who was horrified to hear that Donna was returning; I'd found her mostly abrasive and irritating in The Runaway Bride. However, even before this season began, I rewatched TRB (because someone asked me for a Donna fic) and I realised that she had some beautiful moments of real empathy and understanding. I think a lot of my original problem was that I wasn't ready for a new companion after Rose.

Now, I adore Donna and have said so many times over at my LiveJournal and on Doctor Who and Donna communities. She's shot right up to the role of my favourite companion, although I still ship the Doctor and Rose (and adore Jack too). Like LabRat, The Fires of Pompeii is my favourite episode, especially for the scene where Donna helps the Doctor make the decision to set off the volcano. Brilliant.

The acting this year has been stunning, too, and that combined with the quality of episodes on the whole has propelled this season up there along with Nine's sole season, after a really disappointing year last year. I tried to like Martha, but got put off very quickly by her characterisation as whiny and self-absorbed (Why doesn't he love meeeeeeeeeee!). She was better this year - the absence of her crush because she's finally got another man really did help - but once her three episodes (for the moment) were over I was happy to see her go again.

If anyone's interested, I've got a post reviewing the year so far and commenting on each individual episode, as well as a favourite/least favourite episode poll, on my LiveJournal . You have to have an LJ account to vote or comment, but the post's open so anyone can read it and the discussion so far. Just be aware that there's a brief mention in my post of some characters who appear in later episodes, so if you don't already know about appearances in the finale you may get spoiled.




Wendy

Oh, whew. I was afraid we were going to get another week behind when SciFi started airing its Memorial Day marathons.

I've not kept up with this season of Dr. Who. I'm not a big fan of David Tenent so his Doctor doesn't particularly appeal to me. I've have managed to see parts of some of the episodes (including the Pompeii one) but can't say the the new companion (Donna?) works at all for me.

For a companion to work there should be an undercurrent of sexual tension between the two. I don't think an actual romantic relationship would ever actually work for the show, but you have to make the audience want that.

I don't see that here at all. The best that I can see working currently is a bickering brother/sister dynamic. I can't see Donna as even remotely romantically interesting.

I'll admit that the fact that the woman is at best 'plain-looking' might have something to do with it, but I've also found her personality abrasive and annoying, but not in the endearing way the Lois started out.

My all time favorite companion still is Sarah Jane Smith and probably always will be. Of course, she was the companion when I first discovered Dr. Who.

Tank (who is really bummed that the 'Sarah Jane Adventures' is a kid's show so he can't watch it)

Maybe some parts of the audience, but I'd disagree that's what the whole audience wants, Tank.

Certainly, part of my liking for Donna is down to just that fact. That there is no UST in this relationship. Rose, Martha - been there, done that, thoroughly enjoying the total lack of it really. I mean don't get me wrong - I really liked that element of Rose's relationship with the Doctor and I still enjoy watching their episodes together. But it would have been stretching it way too much for me for a third companion in a row to have a sexually-charged relationship with the Doctor. It would have cheapened what he had with Rose for me if he could move on to yet another companion so easily.

And to be honest, I don't think I'm alone in that. I think there's quite a chunk of audience out there which was tired of the UST - especially as I don't think it worked that well with Martha - and which finds a Doctor/Companion relationship that isn't based on UST somewhat refreshing and energising, bringing a fresh, new dynamic to the show.

LabRat

Oh, sure, attraction's a very personal thing - I can't see what all the fuss is about with some famous people who are apparently considered 'hot' - but Donna's gorgeous!



And that's another thing I love - that they've gone with an older actress as companion and they're allowing her to be sexy and attractive, instead of the way women of CT's age are often shown in TV dramas. Admittedly, Jackie Tyler was intended to look downtrodden and a bit dowdy (and if you see photos of Camille Coduri in real life, she looks very different), but it is a bit of a stereotype.

I'm adoring the dynamic between the Doctor and Donna, personally


Wendy

Best news ever! RTD to be replaced by Steve Moffat as exec producer and main writer for S5. Wonderful!

I know that RTD's input has been positive in the main, but he's rarely impressed me with his scripts and the episodes he's written have often been the ones that have bored or irked me. He tends to go for cliche too much for my liking.

SM, on the other hand, has penned some of my favourite episodes. I can't wait to see what he does next!



LabRat

Moffat's been hit and miss for me, mainly because he has a tendency to ignore series continuity in his episodes. I loved his S1 two-parter (Empty Child/The Doctor Dances) but was very irked by Girl in the Fireplace for a number of reasons, including Moffat's comment during the commentary that he hadn't read the scripts for previous episodes so had no idea that Rose was supposed to be annoyed that Mickey had joined them. With Blink also, otherwise a very good episode, continuity up to that point was completely ignored. So it'll be interesting to see how he handles an entire season arc - though, if he's taking over from next year, he'll only have three one-hour specials to take care of.

This particular development's been rumoured for the best part of a year; I just hope the other rumour that's been around for almost as long (David Tennant leaving soon) doesn't turn out to be true just yet!


Wendy

Have to agree with Tank, she is rather plain looking...but maybe with a nice short haircut...

James

Actually, I'm among those who are very worried about RTD leaving the show. I'm a huge fan of his scripts, apart from the S3 finale, which, to me, felt very weak compared with the previous two finale that he wrote and that remain among what I consider the best written episodes in television (especially Army of Ghosts / Doomsday)

Moffat is hit and miss to me as well. Like Wendy, I didn't like Girl in the Fireplace, though I really enjoyed Blink despite the lack of continuity (but then, S3 continuity didn't fascinate me as much as S1, 2 or 4 did) and The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances are really fantastic episodes.

Still. I had complete faith in RTD to make me love the show. I know how much he cares for the characters, how he considers the Doctor to be a sexual being as well as a fascinating alien, how he makes the Doctor get so close to human emotions. I would drink in his words every time he spoke in the Confidentials.

Plus I hate changes as a rule. They make me uncomfortable. Which is silly, I know. I mean, I was a huge fan of Nine and felt totally crushed when David Tennant took over, and now I'm such a Ten fan that I have a hard time imagining anyone but David Tennant as the Doctor. And the idea that David Tennant will not be the Doctor forever scares me stiff.

I suppose I'll just have to wait and see. RTD has revived the whole Doctor Who concept and made it new while still staying true to what most older Whovians considered appropriate. I can't see him trusting Moffat to take over without having checked first that Moffat has the same sort of view on the characters as he does. Maybe that's naive of me. We shall see, I suppose. At least the whole S1-2-3-4 arc will be complete and RTD probably won't leave much in the way of loose ends there. So if need be, I can happily keep on fanficcing for RTD's era and ignore Moffat's... hopefully I won't have to.

Kae

The trailer for the remainder of the season is VERY interesting but extremely spoilerific

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/s4/videos/

They're not letting you see it if you're not in the UK. However, some enterprising soul has posted it on Youtube

Dr. Who Trailer


They claim it's the same one being shown on the BBC website.

Tara

I haven't watched the link you posted, Tara, though it probably is the right one. This is the trailer link I picked up from LiveJournal, and people who've seen the trailer on the BBC TV or website say it's the same.

It's definitely looking interesting! Though beware: we\'re in for a rocky ride . <--- link contains the front page of the current Doctor Who Magazine, with a one-line comment from Billie Piper about the rest of the season. Nothing specific, but it would count as a spoiler.


Wendy

Starkat's one is the trailer for the season as a whole, and almost everything in it has already been seen in the UK. Wendymr's is the same as the one I linked to, covering the second half of the season.