What is your most controversial opinion?

[turnoftheearth]

I have stepped into the future.

[realdoctor]

@deltaandthebannermen

I do agree to some extent, but it’s also good to know I can stop listening to something with a definite cut off point and pick it up the next day rather than having to just stop between scenes.

See, I’m fine with longer single episide stories but I do love the shorter 25-30 min episodes for exactly the reason that @deltaandthebannermen expounds. Sometimes, it’s much more convenient to just listen for 30 mins and much more satisfying to feel like the point you pause is an actual episode end that was written that way rather than the ‘ah well, guess I’ll just have to pause and carry on later’ i sometimes feel if I have to break up a longer episode.

[shauny]

@realdoctor

Sometimes, it’s much more convenient to just listen for 30 mins and much more satisfying to feel like the point you pause is an actual episode end

The thing is, when I just want 25-30 mins, this is perfect and I actually enjoy the short episode format.

But when I want to listen to the whole thing in one sitting, which is most of the time, I really resent the (mostly bad) cliffhangers, the repeat of a few lines at the start, and the theme tune over and again.

So ultimately most of the time I prefer the more modern 45min-60min stories!

[realdoctor]

@shauny

The thing is, when I just want 25-30 mins, this is perfect and I actually enjoy the short episode format.

But when I want to listen to the whole thing in one sitting, which is most of the time, I really resent the (mostly bad) cliffhangers, the repeat of a few lines at the start, and the theme tune over and again.

Ahhh, yes… but surely this is why choice is so wonderful! I mean, there is literally so much to choose from (in both formats), there’s always something that fits to our wants/needs.

That’s surely the golden zone right there… and long may it continue!

[WeAreInACar]

@Mindfog

I understand why keeping a record of the show as broadcast is good, and I think everyone should have the option to see it complete and unedited.

I don’t have any technical knowledge but I always wondered, once the stories moved onto DVD and now Blu-ray, why they didn’t offer branching alternatives so you could choose how you wanted to watch. From the outside, looking in this seems a simple feature.

[SophieScarlet]

@ChrisStokes

NO MORE GAP YEARS was a direct promise - turning around a third season after second is broadcast may be possible depending on when a third is confirmed but he could wind up looking a bit silly.

“Read my lips: No new gap years!” - Russell H.W. Davies

@WeAreInACar

I don’t have any technical knowledge but I always wondered, once the stories moved onto DVD and now Blu-ray, why they didn’t offer branching alternatives so you could choose how you wanted to watch. From the outside, looking in this seems a simple feature.

It is. It’s exactly what they implemented on the Blu-rays already for the optional updated SFX.

[WeAreInACar]

@DarthGallifrey

there was no chemistry with Jo despite being a supposed love interest.

To the extent that I completely missed it the first time round because I can’t imagine Jo being the slightest bit interested in him beyond friendship.

[WeAreInACar]

@turnoftheearth

I’m pretty sure the lack of chemistry comes from the fact that Franklin was so clearly a gay gentleman

A better actor could be convincing, regardless of their personal preferences. I agree that Franklin wasn’t convincing.

[WeAreInACar]

@deltaandthebannermen

You don’t want to get me started on how hyperbolic and unfair the criticisms of Chibnall and Whitaker were.

I agree with what you are saying but, whenever people start on the Chibnall era, it reminds me of that TV clip where he’s bad mouthing either the Sixth or Seventh Doctor series that was an extra on one of the classic boxsets.

[monkeyshaver]

Well. He was correct in that lol.

[monkeyshaver]

Is it controversial to say that, with the odd exception, I hate the nostalgia that creeps into Who with Classic era characters & references turning up in the show?

[hurriedsue]

Before The Legend of Ruby Sunday / Empire of Death, I would’ve disagreed with you entirely, but I think that everytime a character returns from classic, it’s like they’re missing something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

I would always hope that Susan would come back, or a former companion, or even K9 again. Would I like it if they came back? I’m not so sure anymore.

I think that the fates that a lot of companions (yes, Susan included) met in the classic era were fine, and they don’t need to be brought back. To me, I think it’s best if the Doctor never goes back to see Susan, even if he did say that he would. I think it works better, and leaves the original serial intact. I know this is a bunch of waffle, but I’m thinking as I write this.

TLDR; bringing things and characters back from the classic era is often unsuccessful in improving on their original appearance or fate, but instead tarnishes the original serial in one way or another.

[monkeyshaver]

It seems any returning classic character now works for UNIT. Just let them rest up ffs.

[SophieScarlet]

@monkeyshaver

Is it controversial to say that, with the odd exception, I hate the nostalgia that creeps into Who with Classic era characters & references turning up in the show?

I really like it when it’s done sparingly. The problem for me is that RTD went way overboard, especially immediately following the return of Jack, Ace, and Tegan, and it just seems silly. Like, oh David Tennant’s back. Oh Donna’s back. Oh there’s a character called Rose. Oh Kate’s back. Oh Mel’s back. Oh the Toymaker’s back. Oh a puppet show about past companions. Oh last of the bloody Time Lords again. Oh talk about Gallifrey. Oh talk about Susan. Oh Sutekh’s back… Enough.

I would have liked that time to be spent on more new stuff like the impossible glove and (controversial) the musical numbers.

@monkeyshaver

It seems any returning classic character now works for UNIT. Just let them rest up ffs.

Somebody on Tumblr observed that RTD seems to be making UNIT into a treehouse club for all the Doctor’s friends, which undermines its supposed raison d’être while making the characters seem silly.

There is, of course, a simple solution. Bring back Torchwood!!

@hurriedsue

To me, I think it’s best if the Doctor never goes back to see Susan, even if he did say that he would. I think it works better, and leaves the original serial intact.

I agree. There’s also always the possibility that he did go back to see her; it just wasn’t on screen.

[sircarolyn]

@SophieScarlet

I really like it when it’s done sparingly.

Agree, and I think Tegan and Ace worked perfectly, as did Sarah Jane, but I think series 1/14/40 should have felt more like a fresh start. If RTD was touting it as such, which he was, it’s just a little overwhelming to have so many callbacks and recurring characters. That said, I can never be upset at having an old companion back even if it’s pointless or rubbish. I love them too much to be cross about it forever

[The1_Foxy]

@hurriedsue

To me, I think it’s best if the Doctor never goes back to see Susan, even if he did say that he would

Absolutely this! I don’t think you can really do a Susan return justice at this point. You can’t make the doctor forgivable or even really explain his actions at this point for not ever going back for her (Assuming they retcon any extended media stuff where they see each other again, because let’s face it, they would).

I much prefer the implication that she died in the time war and he’s never going to see her again now.

[monkeyshaver]

& of course the memory TARDIS. Basically, remember this, remember this, remember this etc etc

[SophieScarlet]

See, the memory TARDIS was one of the most successful pieces of it for me. I won’t go so far as to say it made sense in the episode, but it made as much sense as anything would have to get them out of the time window.

I also think Tales of the TARDIS (although my God, how overused is that title now) was a great balance - give us Sixieheads something to enjoy while keeping it out of the main program. Because yes, even as someone who enjoys the original series (at this point I’d even say I prefer it to nu), I am a little worried that RTD is focused too much on looking back instead of forward.

[captainjackenoch]

I like cheeky winks, or new stories with new recurring monsters. I do not like when every character that has ever been on the show shows up at UNIT, and that’s supposed to be a good thing. Does literally anyone remember Zygon Invasion?

[deltaandthebannermen]

The problem with continuity references is that as fans we love them and hate them. The 80s was riddled with them and the production team began to believe that was what we wanted (not helped by having a fan as an unofficial ‘advisor’). But a lot of the stuff is cool in theory (wouldn’t it be great to see Sutekh return is an idea we’d all probably go - yeah, cool) but the realisation of that reference or return doesn’t always work the way it does in our heads.

For a show that thrives on change, we, as fans, do like it to keep returning to the past but its a comfort thing and something that, really, the production team should resist.

Chibnall more or less managed it and got loads of backlash for not having Daleks and whatever in Series 11 but when he went all in with Cybermen and the Master and Gallifrey and new incarnations of the Doctor - and then people didn’t like that either.

We’re always going to want to see thngs return but striking that balance with moving the show forward is so important and fans really don’t know what they actually want. It’s like when fans say they want multi-Doctor epics for anniversaries and that every single incarnation has to be involved. They refuse to acknowledge how difficult it would be to write a story with 11, 12, 13 lead actors fairly. The fact that it’s only actually been done successfully with three Doctors seems to pass most fans by.

Think about it - The Five Doctors actually only has four Doctors and one of those isn’t even the original actor so, for fans, would have less ‘importance’ than Troughton, Pertwee and Davison. The Five Doctors does work but it really is just a series of Doctor Who sketches with a thin plot tying them together.

The 30th rolls around and there are grand plans to have a multi-Doctor story filmed but with Tom Baker being the focus, which understandably, pisses off the other incarnations.

Come the 50th and Moffat knows it won’t work so limits the leads to - oh look - three Doctors.

For the 60th year, Chibnall and RTD both take slightly different approaches. Chibnall goes for the cameo route and RTD for ‘lets just celebrate a popular era’.

Big Finish did The Light at the End and it did what fans say they want but didn’t exactly set the world on fire with plaudits. Subsequent anniversary releases have been collections of adventures with each Doctor getting their own story to be the focus of.

So I suppose my controversial opinion is that multi-Doctor stories haven’t actually worked since The Three Doctors (and even that one is technically only The Two Doctors, so maybe they’ve never actually worked).