Tintin Forums

I have to say, being just slightly older than the show itself, and having grown up with it, that I was looking forward to the new revival of the BBC’s seminal sci-fi hero - and I wasn’t disappointed!

It’s not perfect, but it was very good, and looks like it has the potential to get even better. Given the amount of exposition which it contained - I believe that they are aiming at an audience from eight years old up, so they would be coming to it all cold - I thought they got a lot across, without losing the momentum of the story. It was a clever idea to basically begin half-way through, and then fill in what had gone before, and I liked the idea of the guy with the web-site who had tried to follow the trace left through history by the Doctor.

What did other people think - try to avoid spoiling things by giving away plot points, if possible, as some people may not yet have seen it, or give warning that there is a spoiler ahead.

Well since I started watching during the Sly Mccoy period I'll always have a soft spot for his Doctor, although I must admit that Tom Baker is my favourite.

I watched this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not the best effects ever made but adequate. Billie Piper was better at acting that I expected as well.

Did anyone else have Graham Norton at the beginning? I think they forgot to turn off his mike after come dancing.

Really looking forward to the next episode, but paticurlarly the Daleks episodes which i imagine won't be until near the end of the series

Rik

Today's episode should be very interesting. It's actually written by Mark Gatiss, of The League Of Gentlemen, is called The Unquiet Dead and is based in the Cardiff of 1969. From the Radio Times :

"At a theatre, Charles Dickens (Simon Callow) is on stage, holding an audience rapt with A Christmas Carol. But at an undertaker's, corpses are coming back to life, and later, Dickens is interrupted by some scary spectres. Something ethereal and troubled is on the loose, and it's up to the Doctor, Rose and Mr Dickens to find out what it is, and what it wants. It's all terrific fun and everyone throws themselves into it with gusto. There are genuine shivers, so be warned - tinies may find it disturbing."

I'm looking forward to it !

What I think is hilarious is that (apart from a brief sojourn in London to take in some shots of landmarks) they filmed most of the series in Cardiff, using it to represent all their major locations; they then had to go to Swansea to film “Victorian Cardiff”, as Cardiff didn’t have the period buildings they needed… Ahh the magic of TV!!

Simon Callow is by far the biggest star that they have had in years, so it says something of the quality that they have got him to do it! (Useless trivia note - I have twice stood behind Simon Callow while waiting to pay for CDs, on two completely un-related days, several years apart, in two different shops…).

The trailer looks very promising!!

It's really funny to see a shot of a landmark in London, and then they've turned a corner, and it's part of Cardiff ! Hilarious ! By the way, I would have thought Swansea would have much fewer historic buildings, since it was heavily bombed during WWII ...

Useless trivia note - I have twice stood behind Simon Callow while waiting to pay for CDs, on two completely un-related days, several years apart, in two different shops…

Wow ! That sounds great ! How did you manage that ?! ;o)

Haven't seen the trailer, will have to watch out for it in the next few hours !

tintinuk
I would have thought Swansea would have much fewer historic buildings
That it may do, but obviously it had the setting they needed. Having now seen the episode (which was really excellent - kudos to Mark Gattis, and also to Simon Callow!), it may have been something to do with the way the area they used was essentially enclosed, without any distant eye-lines, thus reducing modern intrusions.

Yes, I agree, it was a really great episode ! I thought the Mark Gatiss' love of old horror films really showed in this episode as well, which brought an added sense of originality to the plot. I especially enjoyed the Edwin Drood reference near the end ! I also think that Christopher Eccleston is really good at playing the Doctor, and brings his own style to the part.

You're right about the chosen area - it was pretty enclosed, some of it looked like a studio, I think, though - and there probably weren't any modern intrusions anywhere near there !

Another great episode of Dr Who! Next week's invasion of London looks nice as well

Rik

tintinuk
some of it looked like a studio, I think, though
The exteriors were all location work, although interiors have been a mixture of “studio” (actually a warehouse on an industrial estate) and location work.

Charlie Booker in The Guardian - not normally the voice of reason in his reviews - got quite carried away:

I simply can't stand by and let this week's episode, The Unquiet Dead, pass by without comment, for the following reason: I think it may be the single best piece of family-oriented entertainment BBC has broadcast in its entire history. It's clever, it's funny, it's exciting, it's moving, it's got shades of Nigel "Quatermass" Kneale about it, it looks fantastic, and in places it's genuinely frightening. TV really doesn't get better than this, ever.

So I think he liked it then.

The “Doctor Who Confidential” documentary was a real treat too - it showed the problems they had laying the artificial snow, and the fact that the “flakes” (which were shredded paper) kept blowing away on the wind!

Next week is the start of a two-part story, and the chance to expand the story-telling a bit…

According to the BBC site, the outside of Sneed's parlour was actually part of Monmouth, and the inside was a house in Penarth !

I'm looking forward to the two-parter a lot - the invasion of London sounds really interesting ! I miss the old style where a story would be continued for weeks on end ! :p I think I'll check out the repeat of Doctor Who Confidential that's on this evening on BBC THREE - as I'm annoyed I missed it yesterday !

The fact that the “flakes” (which were shredded paper) kept blowing away on the wind

Heh heh ... the magic of television ! ;o)