Comments on: Blink

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:11:46 +0000

I was one of those kids that grew up watching Tom Baker on channel 54 in the 1980’s, and as you commented, I liked concepts and ideas on the show but the BBC z-grade production values always made me wince.

When the new series launched several years ago I eagerly (ahem) downloaded the lot and have been a fan since. The recent Tennant season has been a bit clunky (and I don’t think it has anything to do with Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) as a lot of disgruntled fans have muttered), but “Blink” is just brilliant. The lead characters barely even show up and yet it still fits wonderfully into the Who-verse. It’s like a slick Night Gallery episode.

All in all I’ve enjoyed the epic scale of the recent seasons, although I do think they might be jumping the TARDIS a bit soon (Kylie Minogue on the Titanic in the upcoming Christmas special? groan…). You might want to check out the spin-off series Torchwood for an interesting X-Files/Whedon-esque take on Who.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:06:54 +0000

Yeah, I’d recommend all the episodes I linked to. (Two are in the Christopher Eccleston first season, two are in the David Tennant second season, and my favorite so far is “Blink”, which is in season 3). Like I said, I was never a Doctor Who fan growing up. But you can tell that everybody involved in making the show was, because it just feels like one of those labor-of-love things.

That means you see more repeats of past stuff (Daleks-apoppin’), but it also means that you get people who take everything they loved about the old series and turn it up to 11. For instance, from the little I saw of the show on PBS, I never realized that it thought of as a kids’ show, or that it was supposed to be scary. But the new version seems like it’s aimed at people who watched it as kids — still family-friendly, but I think the “core” audience is supposed to be older. And some of the stuff, especially in “The Empty Child” and “Blink” is really, genuinely scary!

I read a rumor online that Steven Moffat, the guy who wrote those two episodes, is slated to take over as show-runner once the current guy leaves. I’d love to see that.

By: DRP

DRP — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:24:59 +0000

I grew up on Doctor Who, specifically Tom Baker as the Doctor. I lived out in the sticks, and didn’t get cable…but I did get PBS, and every afternoon they would air an episode. I was in my twenties before I realized those shows were filmed in the 70s. At age 10 you think everything is filmed and aired just for you. Needless to say, I was hooked. But, I’ve rarely liked a Doctor other than Mr. Baker.

That is, until I saw a few of the episodes on tv from the new series. Some stared Christopher Eccleston, and some David Tennant. I actually liked both. I haven’t seen a complete series yet, and seem to always forget to buy them when I’m out, or put them on my Netflix. Hell, the first one I saw had Simon Peg as the villain! Shows like this are right up my alley, so I should just bite the bullet and buy everything. So thanks for the reminder that the show even exists, and re-affirming that it’s actually good.