BOOK 2 NEEDS YOUR HELP!
The deadline for ordering the Ultimate Fancy Edition AND getting your name in the book on the Fancy Wall of Fancy Fame is January 15th!!!
There are less than half of the 150 UFE’s left and I really need to sell ALL OF THEM to get the print run covered. Show your support for HE and preorder the shit out of Book 2!
Episode 75 of the HijiNKS ENSUE Podcast is live! It is a doozy if I do say so myself (spoilers: I do).
Two Doctor Who comic in a row!? Unprecedented! I have been shotgunning Doctor Who episodes 5 or 6 at a time for the last 3 days and the experience has definitely taken it’s toll. I haven’t shaved (though I rarely do), bathed or fed myself since 2010. I only respond to the cries of my wife and daughter with the occasional guttural “yawp,” and I’ve gone completely insane due to lack of sleep (much like Dalek Caan when he flew directly into The Time War). I am only 2 or 3 episodes from the end of the 10th Doctor. After that I can either catch up with 11 or go back and watch 9, and the first 2 seasons of 10. Either way I have dozens of hours of geeky enjoyment ahead of me.
I came up with the idea of this comic while trying to think of a way to describe Tennant’s Doctor to my wife. I stand by the Batman + Picard assertion. I have also worked up a theory that 10 doesn’t actually regenerate due to death, but rather due to suppressing so much god damn pain and rage over the years. He’s constantly putting on a happy face when you know the weight of the universe is burdening his multiple hearts. The regeneration process is like a Time Lord soul-colonic.
Any Who fans should check out these Doctor Who nesting dolls by Molly Lewis. Simply fantastic.
Thats how I felt when the series hit Netflix.. MUST WATCH ALL!!!
Ditto here, except I felt MUST WATCH ALL…AGAIN!
I started when it was re-running one episode every day in order. By the weekend I had five glorious geeky hours to fill. Except I started at "The Empty Child" so I had an excuse to watch the first 2005 ones. Now I'm watching the OLD old ones. They're like crack.
This makes me intensely happy. A warning, though, Ten will probably become the standard against which you measure all other Doctors. It's tough to compete with him.
True, but 11 is definitely kicking ass and taking names. This year's Christmas special beat everything but The End of Time in my opinion, and it was far more Christmasy than pretty much anything I've ever seen in my entire life.
All the rest were invasions. It's like all the alien dads said "Son, I'm giving you Earth this Christmas." It would be interesting if the Earth was taken over while the Doctor was gone.
I, too started watching Doctor Who this past weekend, thanks to the divine gift of Netflix. Only two episodes into Series 1 (Christopher Eccleston-era), but I'm digging it nonetheless.
Also, Corpse-Ass-Face is the name of my Slipknot cover band.
That might just be the best description of the Doctor ever.
Ah, but which Doctor? Same for all of 'em?
I like that each regeneration allows the doctor himself to start again, or gain a little distance. Nine was completely burdened by the Time War, a burden that Ten managed to gain some distance and perspective on. Eleven manages to distance himself from Ten's woes (and even admits to needing a companion again). However, as Matt Smith himself said you know his Doctor is losing himself in trivialities because otherwise he'd be left in a very dark place. Infact the Dream Lord nails him for it pretty clearly. I like that the character always gets some evolution and arc, but you always know the previous personality things are lurking in the background.
And then of course, you have 26 seasons of backstory to work through! (Favorite moment: Peter Davison's doctor using a very minimally modified Norelco razor as a futuristic gadget.)
I'll be interested to see what you think of Eccleston when you get to his series. I still like his doctor best.
I thought it was just me! I LOVED Eccleston's Dr! He was SO emotive, so passionate that I felt that Tennant was a bit….stilted at first. I didn't feel that he had the same chemistry with Billie Piper that Eccleston had, and Martha seemed to just moan quite a lot. I didn't feel that Tennant came truly into his own until Donna came on the scene, at which point he totally flew.
For me, a lot comes down to the acting. I find Eccleston a lot more interesting as an actor, with more levels at once than I get from Tennant. (Though Tennant's performance in "Midnight" is just great.) Tennant too often just seems frantic.
Tate was a GREAT companion for Tennant–as quick as he was but brilliant and funny and touching.
4th series is amazing. I think it'd be well worth your time to go back & watch from the beginning of the new series. Christopher Eccleston's 9 embodies a lot more of the pain and rage, in a good way. There are some beautiful episodes in his run. And the first 2 of Tennant help you appreciate the last one even more. And then Matt Smith must be watched too. You've got your work cut out but you really need to watch them all.
Having just finished such an epic marathoning myself, I must now go back and watch the older ones.
Where can you find the older Doctor Who? Youtube isn't that helpful, but I might not be looking hard enough.
I say keep moving forward to Series 5, if only because once The End of Time has reduced you to a puddle of misery and grief, you'll really need 11 to cheer you up. Trust me, you'll go back and catch up. Once you get into a severe nerd addiction to Doctor Who, there is this compulsion to watch more and more and more, and with almost 50 years of episodes, books, comics, and the incredible Big Finish audio plays… Doctor Who is continuity porn at it's absolute best. It's like geek crack!
And it's totally worth it. Take this from a lifelong Trekkie who went from watching her first episode last January (also part of a BBC America marathon!), to spending a year catching up on all the best classic episodes and assorted periphery materials. Totally worth it! Makes the Star Wars extended universe look like child's play. Now if only I could go back in time and introduce myself to Doctor Who as a child, creating an ontological paradox of Time Lord proportions…
It took me like 3 years to get through the whole show.
Watched the first revival series as it aired, then after watching the first few episodes of series 2 went back to the beginning and started hammering through the old show. I was done somewhere in the gap year where there was no series, just the few specials spread throughout the year.
I'm on the audioplays now, and plan to start reading the Virgin New Adventures some time in the near future.
I'll say one thing for the show, you're never going to run out of material.
With regards to the new series, 5 > 1 > 3 > 2 > 4, so I'd say keep pushing forwards and get into Smith's stuff. It's superb.
The same thing kind of happened to me, and I have loved the audioplays. I've read quite a few of the Virgin New Adventures, but let me recommend the Eighth Doctor Adventures to you. I've gotten through a lot of the EDA book series this year since the ebooks are so widely available, and let me tell you, it is some of the best speculative fiction I have ever read in my life!
Not every book is great, since there's like 75 of them, but the vast majority are witty, shocking, smart, endearing, and very modern. Moffat has praised stuff like Alien Bodies as some of the best Who stories ever told. They were definitely a huge influence on the new series and delve into the darker emotional aspects of the Eighth Doctor, who is a much more charming and vulnerable character than the Seventh Doctor. Seven's like a creepy, distant, manipulative god in the Virgin novels! Not that that's a bad thing, heheh…
Oh man, Alien Bodies.
Mad Larry should definitely be writing for the new series.
God, can you imagine him writing for the nutty Eleventh Doctor? It would be so brilliant! And hilarious. He writes snark like nobody's business.
watch the 9th doctor's season before you watch the end of time. it will have more of an impact if you do.
Agreed; it really wraps around back to Ninth Doctor's problems with the Great Time War.
Loved the comic, even though I've never watched Dr. Who. I should. But I am a very very very slow TV watcher (only really watch on school breaks!) and I'm currently working my way through all of Star Trek, so I'll be busy for a while. (Perhaps that's why "Justice. Earl grey, hot," tickles my fancy so.)
Trying to chose your favorite doctor is impossible. They are all amazing in a different way. It is like being asked what kind of beer you like. Your answer may be "cold", but beyond that, the delicious beeriness is enough to make you happy.
I imagine one day if/when I choose to spawn, I may have similar feelings about the younglings that I do about the beer, but until then, I stick my my metaphor.
I started watching Dr. Who this weekend, in large part due to your comic on Friday. I now feel much like you do. I'm halfway through the season with the Christopher Eccleston and enjoying it very much. You really start to feel for the characters pretty damn quickly. The episode "Dalek" was especially heart wrenching. I'm glad I have many more seasons to work my way through.
Although I was wondering, where do the movies like Planet of the Dead and The Water of Mars fit in? When should I watch them?
Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars and The End of Time are the last of the Tennant era (they ran a mini series that year to allow him to take part in some stage acting). So they're between seasons 4 and 5 of the new series.
Gerhard has the right answer but do what I did and print out an episode guide. I just cross them off as I see them since I know I am starting a weird middly section.
I will never have to watch through the Doctor Who seasons since I've grown up in England where you cant NOT watch Doctor Who. My aunt from America came to my house and said she wasn't a fan of the series… My reaction on along the lines of "…. :O Blasphemy!"
You should also try the series Torchwood! Its closely linked to Doctor Who but more mature and adult, and its as brilliant of the doctor in some prospects. They often cross over characters in the two series. The character of Captain Jack (Who you should have seen by now in a few doctor ep.s) has a leading role in it.
DO NOT BLASPHEME!!!
DO NOT BLASPHEME!!!
Time Lord Soul Colonic is the name of my Red Bull knock-off power drink.
Hi, I'm new around here. Just read the entire archives in about three days. I'm really pleased to join the ranks of Fancy Bastards.
On the Doctor Who question, I'd REALLY suggest watching the older seasons before starting on S5, because, well… They won't seem as good after you watch that. The new stuff is just so much tighter, with more interesting characters. Not that the others are bad, but it's improved considerably.
Serious Nerd Love for this series. In theory, you should watch 9th Doctor (and love Christopher Eccleston), then mourn him while trying to adjust to Tennant in Season 2, then suffer through Season 1 of Torchwood until you come back to the 10th Doctor glad someone knows what they're talking about when it comes to alien life (Season 3), then fall in love and be devastated by Torchwood Season 2, then love the hell out out Doctor Who Season 4 and the End of Time mini series and be even more excited because you know all the Torchwood references being made. Then move on to the 11th Doctor.
There is no Doctor like the fourth doctor.
All these young whippersnappers don't know what their missing.
Get off my phase-induced lawn!
Your comic on Friday convinced me to finally go to Netflix and try Doctor Who, and now I'm addicted! I watched Blink and The Empty Child first, since so many people were going on about how excellent they are, then went back and started at the beginning of the new series, and I'm already more than halfway through Season 1. I convinced my husband to try it tonight, and now he's hooked, too. Kind of surprising, considering we both thought we'd hate it because we'd each seen a single episode of the old series when we were kids and hated that, but it's definitely a nice surprise.
I have never seen an episode but like Joel was I am very aware of its existence. All this talk of how amazing it is is tempting me to dive in but all I am hearing is Doctors called by number and Seasons and Specials and holyfuckhell it seems so daunting! It really sounds like you shouldn't just start at the beginning but with a show this age it makes sense. Where the fuck am I supposed to start!? I'm the type to start at 1 and catch up to current releases but that just seems impossible here. How I am to get satisfaction!!!??
I'm pretty new to it myself (see above), but at least so far, the beginning of the new series seems like a decent place to start. I haven't been overly confused, at least. My husband even started with Dalek (which is roughly halfway through the first season), and he hasn't had any problems so far.
I am slightly concerned about the specials, though, since I haven't been able to find all of them. Is it really necessary to watch all of them, or can some of them be skipped?
Brilliant. Never thought of him as a cross of Jean-Luc and Batman. I also like to throw in a dash of Yoda (“No. Wait. Yes. No. Yes, yes, yes.”) and a dash of Big Bird (David Tennant’s Doctor anyway.)
For anyone that want to start watching http://imgur.com/OYeKM
Oh, that's great! And having started at the beginning of the new series like you recommended, I have to agree that it's a very good place to start. I do get the feeling that there are things I would know already if I'd seen the old series, but everything's explained as you go along so it doesn't really seem to matter that much.
You know Joel, usually I check this pretty religiously, but I went on one damn vacation a month ago, during which you finally decided to become Whobessed, and I missed it! (Caught on with today's Superbowl comic). I feel better about requesting the bananas in my book now….at least you knew what I was talking about. 🙂