It depends on the section of fandom you choose to listen to. There’s a big chunk of fans who love Colin enough to have heard his side of the story and realise that he’s an innocent party. It was a very intriguing time with a lot of claims and counter claims. I think most of it has come out in the wash now, but there may yet be new revelations that surprise us. That’s what’s so interesting about history: it keeps changing!
Anyway, I welcomed the opportunity to further clarify my hot take. 
I think you’re misinterpreting me lol. I’ve never heard anyone put guilt on him, so the point I’m trying to make has nothing to do with whether he’s innocent or not. I’m saying that, in the fandom, Colin and the demise go hand in hand. Whenever anyone talks about the show’s cancellation, it’s Colin whose name comes up, never Sylvester’s. This doesn’t make sense to me because, at the end of the day, Six was not the Doctor when the show eventually got axed. It was Seven.
But in every magazine spread, newspaper article, interview, panel, etc, it’s Colin who gets asked about the drop in ratings, the cancellation, behind the scenes drama, Michael Grade et al, etc. As far as I’m aware, no one includes Sylvester in these contexts. That’s all I’m saying. He was the last one on the battlefield and yet everyone puts the microphones in the face of the guy who got discharged three years ago.
I suspect we’re arguing along parallel tracks and don’t really disagree. I’ve tended to see that interpretation shown more in the wider media than in fan takes, but I agree that it is a common misrepresentation. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to any panels, but I’m happy to take your word for it that Colin gets asked these questions. I also agree that it doesn’t make sense, since it was McCoy’s era that was deliberately scheduled against Coronation Street, which of course would have impacted ratings at a time when linear television was all you got and most households only had one TV. Home video had taken off, but it wasn’t habitual by then.
I think I understand your point, and hope I’ve managed to show that I do!
Alrighty, I have a few
-No story needs to be longer than 4 parts, 5 at a push. Don’t get me wrong, I love the likes of The Silurians, Inferno, etc, but even those stories - which have a really strong story and supporting cast - can just drag on and on and on!
-Genesis and Earthshock are both very overrated. The things they are both known most widely for - Davros’ introduction andAdric’s Death respectively - are both excellent but are otherwise pretty mid.
-Both Tennant incarnations are MASSIVELY overhated in a lot of fandom spaces and I will die on this hill.
-Empire of Death was a goodass episode!!! People act like it was the worst finale we’ve ever had and that’s just patently false. The Mum twist, sure, I’m not the greatest fan either, but that doesn’t ruin it at all for me.
-Most of the Chibnall era does not deserve its reputation as the worst thing to ever happen to the show. This isn’t particularly controversial here, thankfully, but it bears saying anyway.
-Ark in Space is mid. Mid, mid, middity mid.
-Natural History of Fear sucks. Never have I seen a story so up its own arse before. Trying to do both Kafka, Orwell, and Doctor Who at once is a recipe for disaster.
You’re being too kind.
Truth. It’s the way of fandom, though, isn’t it: react negatively to the general public’s favorite, whether they deserve it or not.
My hot take: Not only is Genesis garbage, Davros is too. I vastly preferred the concept of the Daleks as a natural evolution caused by their need to avoid radiation, rather than an evil genius’ creation.
There are probably some in fandom who are being a bit contrarian when it comes to David Tennant’s multiple Doctors 
David Tennant is by all accounts a fantastic person and I think his acting is immaculate.
For me it is simply the direction that the production team chose to take with this incarnation that I just don’t like, almost nothing the Tenth Doctor does in series 2 and 3, and especially the specials feel like “the Doctor” to me 
Is it a controversial take to like the expanded universe more than actual show?
At this point I think it is a controversial opinion to even like Doctor Who 
In some parts of the internet this is definitely true of certain types of Doctor Who ‘fans’.
Bob Baker and Dave Martin were really inconsistent, as was Bob Holmes.
They were, 'tis true. Yet (and here’s another controversial opinion) their ideas were often so much richer and better than they are given credit for. Sometimes, what they really needed, was a stricter script editor. I have real fondness for Bob and Dave’s stuff. It’s often hugely inventive and almost always enjoyable. I see their flaws but Doctor Who would undoubtedly be the poorer without them.
I think the biggest flaw with the Bristol Boys is that they’ll often have too many ideas so no single idea gets as much exploration as it perhaps could on its own.
I don’t care for Day of the Doctor. Pinning the destruction of an entire planet on one person, who is from said planet that is currently being occupied by literal fascist death machines is… A very interesting narrative choice. Zygon plot felt very half baked, and I would have preferred 8 over John Hurt. I don’t get having an entire new Doctor for the Time War. I know in the real world, Eccelston would never come back to the screen, and that’s fine, but it seems like if you call Paul McGann and ask him to come to a Doctor Who related event, he’ll just show up. Weak story. Stupid resolution. I don’t think Stephen Moffat understood the scope of what a planet is.
I thought of a controversial opinion yesterday. I thought “Oh, that’s one to post on the forum!” Can I remember it this morning? Can I $@&*!
You see, Chessington? Old age gets to us all.
I’ve never disagreed with anything as much as what you wrote here.
Bob Baker’s Nightmare on Eden and Stephen Wyatt’s Paradise Towers could be made into truly terrifying modern versions. The stories are horrifically strong, superficially moulded into family viewing by a production team concerned about adverse reactions at the time.
Without that consideration, and a late time slot, imagine being scared witless … by a Mandrel!
Dunno if this is controversial but definitely heard folks say before that they don’t want more multi-Doctor stories. But I love them! I love seeing how different Docs interact and want more ngl
How so? I’m curious.
I thought the War Doctor was a really great idea for the 50th, waiting from the end of The Name of the Doctor until November 23rd just going what??? constantly was a fantastic way to up the tension.
It could have been cool to have McGann there, but just for that mind-blowing “I’m a Doctor. But probably not the one you were expecting” - I don’t think I would have been any happier by having him in The Day of the Doctor. Man that surprise was awesome in Night, plus the Sisterhood of Karn was there! And having an actor of John Hurt’s renown guest star as The Doctor - it gave quite a bit of attention to Doctor Who.
I thought having the War Doctor blow up both sides of the war, and his planet was a fantastic moral dilemma to place the main character in - the scene where the 10th and 11th Doctor move to assist with pressing that button, saying that it was the right choice even having lived through 3 regenerations with the guilt of that action hanging over him was immensely powerful. And it fitted perfectly with all the little snippets about the Time War we got in series 1-7.
And I think the resolution was a work of genius, to have Gallifrey be frozen in a single moment in a parallel pocket universe, which is how the subplot with the Zygons began, giving the Doctor hope that he might find Gallifrey again, that he isn’t the last of his race, that he didn’t do the deed that has been tearing him apart for centuries while still stopping the Dalek threat to the Universe, and then on top of that have all 13 Doctors, even one that hadn’t been on screen yet, work together to save the day. Doing all of that without rewriting any of those first seven series as the War Doctor still believes he did blow up Gallifrey - I get chills just writing this
So I would call that an unbelievably strong story, telling a compelling narrative without the crutch of nostalgia filling too much which must have been difficult when it was a 50th Anniversary Special.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by the scope of a planet though?
I utterly love The Day of the Doctor! One of the best stories of all time, and one of the best viewing experiences I’ve ever had
Plus it gave us Ingrid Oliver as Osgood and really cemented Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart, Head of UNIT.
Ahh just the way the Fez was passed around from Doctor to Doctor - amazing!!!
Sorry for going on at length 
We can’t all love the same things equally, but by Rassilon’s teeth do I love this one!
(And I haven’t even mentioned the novelisation - genius!)
I’ll preface this by saying I don’t actually care if other people like this episode. I get why people do, and I don’t hate it completely. There were parts that made me smile, I simply think the story was sort of dumb.
My opinion on Hurt, the Zygon plotline, and the more fluffy bits (which I also didn’t care for) is entirely a matter of my taste, and I admit that my taste goes against the grain, especially for a sci fi fan. What I will argue is poor writing is Moffat’s handling of the Time War.
When I say Moffat doesn’t understand what a planet is, I mean we have never seen anything more from Gallifrey than one city. We don’t see other nations. We don’t see other biomes than the desert, hell, we only see one Gallifreyan species, and we don’t have names for any of these things. I am not asking for all these things to be fleshed out, but I am asking that scale be understood when cultures are being written.
Let’s take this criticism and apply it to the Time War. The Time War was a genocide. What else do you call the wiping out of an entire species?
The idea of a planetary genocide is terrifying. Hell, it’s very easy to make Dalek terrifying, when you remember there’s meat inside that pepper shaker. How do they make new ones?
The thing is, however, the answer of “what happened during the time war” was always between the lines for me. Ecceslton’s preformance has always been someone with severe survivor’s guilt to me. He does not give the preformance of someone with blood on their hands. He gives the preformance of someone shaking their fist at the sky, asking “Why me? Stupid, unimportant me?” And that is how I enjoy the Doctor being written. Stupid, unimportant Doctor, when compared to the rest of the culture they come from, and yet, they are important to the people they meet and they help. They don’t need an overblown reputation. And pinning a genocide on them, layered on the fact that they come from the culture being genocided… Do I have to spell that out…?
(Also, I think when presented with a trolley problem, their resolution would be to find out who the hell was tying people to the tracks in the first place, not to kill everyone so more people don’t get killed.)
And then, taking Gallifrey and sticking it somewhere else… What a terrible way to resolve grief. Thematically, what does that say? “If you lose literally everything, don’t worry, just stick it up in the attic, come back to it! Don’t try and move on, or proccess it! It’ll come back to you!” Well, thanks, but I lost all my stuff and that attic when the house burned down.
Does anyone remember in series 1 when the show firmly established you can’t bring back the dead? I remember. And frankly, I don’t think necromancy is a good suggestion to someone grieving.