Where should Doctor Who focus?

[HellCat]

Currently, the show has keep a strong Earth focus with only fleeting glimpses of alien worlds. Closest it gets tends to be sattelites or spaceships. Where would you like the show to focus?

[Lord Dalek]

Speaking from experience, the BBC doesn't have the budget to give alien planets their due unless they're claustrophobic or set in a space station orbiting the planet. Earth based Who is fine for me.

[Undrave]

Speaking from experience, the BBC doesn't have the budget to give alien planets their due unless they're claustrophobic or set in a space station orbiting the planet. Earth based Who is fine for me.

They could do it like Power Rangers and just head to some stone quarry XD

Just limit the location.

[Gatomon41]

The Doctor has access to a machine that can go to many different timnes and places. This is a great opprotunty to explore a wide range, from the future history of human exploration, to ancient aliens pasts.

The best Docotr Who is often when they go arround the universe and time to a variety of places. The show should at least have a good mix of both Earth and alien worlds.

[Temple Fugate]

They could do it like Power Rangers and just head to some stone quarry XDFrom what I understand Who fandom is sick of quarries. :sweat:

Alien world stories would be welcome, however I understand and agree with the general decision to stay with Humans and stay with Earth. But at least ONCE per season it would be nice to just drop the conventions and visit some place beyond imagination, something really far out there. "The Impossible Planet" was going in that sort of direction. The Doctor can easily show Martha something more amazing than the Globe Theatre or Hoovervilles.

[Frozen]

I'd like to see not just different places in space, but different places in time. Manhattan and Shakespeare were good examples and harken back to stories like the Gunfighters and Marco Polo.

I could weep when I think of all the time wasted with Rose and her family when we could have been doing--and seeing--something more interesting... :mad:

[James]

Speaking from experience, the BBC doesn't have the budget to give alien planets their due unless they're claustrophobic or set in a space station orbiting the planet. Earth based Who is fine for me.

Same here. I mean, it's moon on a stick philosophy. We get a beautifully rendered show, and the producers make no qualms about hiding the fact that alien worlds are high in budget to feasibly render, and I see a lot of demands (not saying HC is demanding, but I've seen "DEMANDS") for more space stories.

Whether in space, on the moon, on Earth, a good drama will play the same. I agree with Frozen, I PREFER the more unusual settings that "Rose's family" but again, the reason the family was chosen (partially anyway) was because it gave the show a root to return to; not just London, but to specific location, which meant an ease for shooting, casting and set reusing. So again, budget issues.

I'm happy to tolerate these sort of constraints when they help save money so we can occasionally travel to other planets.

[Undrave]

I'd like to see not just different places in space, but different places in time. Manhattan and Shakespeare were good examples and harken back to stories like the Gunfighters and Marco Polo.

I could weep when I think of all the time wasted with Rose and her family when we could have been doing--and seeing--something more interesting... :mad:

Oh yeah! I'd like to see them go to some place more exotic...maybe ancient China or something...that'd be fun.


New Earth had an alien planet, but it was mostly a CGI backdrop while the rest of the episode was indoor... I think they could do it again but with some aline civilisation...hopefully one thatn ever had contact with humans!

[Stewie]

I'm less concerned with where than I am with when. Put it on Earth, fine. But don't set it in modern times. It's just boring.
Of course, a few of the stories taking place on our current Earth have caught me, but none of the ones about Martha or Rose's family.


Whether in space, on the moon, on Earth, a good drama will play the same.Sure, I just don't think we've gotten good drama on Earth.

I couldn't care less for budget concerns. I understand, and on a certain level, sympathize. But as a viewer I don't care about excuses.


I agree with Frozen, I PREFER the more unusual settings that "Rose's family" but again, the reason the family was chosen (partially anyway) was because it gave the show a root to return to; not just London, but to specific location, which meant an ease for shooting, casting and set reusing. So again, budget issues.The family is still boring.

[James]

Sure, I just don't think we've gotten good drama on Earth.


That's your call. I personally enjoyed School Reunion, Christmas Invasion, Runaway Bride, Love and Monsters, Doomsday, Army of Ghosts. I would say there has been as much interesting Earth drama as there has been not so good stuff (and quite honestly the only episode of contemporary stuff I found underpar was Fear Her).


I couldn't care less for budget concerns. I understand, and on a certain level, sympathize. But as a viewer I don't care about excuses.

I'm surprised at you Stewie, that's lazy thinking. TV is all about excuses because, there are always elements that drive, shape and produce shows that work beyond the imagination of the creators. If you don't accept that shows are limited by specific quantifable factors, then you are hardly being fair by not acknowledging them. By such an argument you could say "well, I expect a whole year of Doctor Who with no gaps, yes I appreciate there are problems doing that, but as a viewer I don't care about excuses."

It's an extreme example, but essentially, if you will accept that Doctor Who can't be on all the time for budgetry reasons, I don't see why you can't accept the limitations on the adventures for the same reason.

For in the end, you get the great "Satan's Pit" because of "Fear Her" and "School Reunion". You get "Gridlock", because you've had "Smith and Jones" and "The Lazarus Experiment".

Could they simply have less adventurous stories which involve cheaper sets, set off world and in space, that don't attempt such epic ideas as "Satan's Pit", "Parting of the Ways" or "End of the World"? Sure, that's valid, but you have to accept that their perspective is equally valid: to use constraints on certain episodes to allow episodes which can really push the boundaries room and money to do so.


The family is still boring.

That's your opinion. I personally grew to really like Mickey, and Martha's sister was quite fun this week. Given that the family helps earth the young audience to dynamics they relate to, there is rationale for it, even if some fans would prefer it not to be there. Yes, I would prefer it not to be there, but Doctor Who isn't made exclusively for fans. In fact, it's a rare case of a scifi show being made for a spectrum from tots to mature adults, and being accepted by all. To make a show like that on a limited budget, each demograph will probably find they have to expect elements they might not always enjoy. I'm sure little tots didn't enjoy The Impossible Planet as much as I did!

[Kury Wagner]

I'm sick of all the Earth-based episodes. Mix it up a little! Don't stay off of Earth forever, but I'd rather see more adventurous episodes.

[HellCat]

For me, the biggest 2 problems with the Earth based eps are:

1) The soap opera like plots with the companion's family.

2) The fact they keep doing these big invasion stories then by the next story everyone has forgotten or tried to ignore it.

The second one especially annoys me. A minor incident like the Autons I can accept being played down. But after Sycorax and Cybemen, the crew are just pushing it.

[Kury Wagner]

For me, the biggest 2 problems with the Earth based eps are:

1) The soap opera like plots with the companion's family.

2) The fact they keep doing these big invasion stories then by the next story everyone has forgotten or tried to ignore it.

The second one especially annoys me. A minor incident like the Autons I can accept being played down. But after Sycorax and Cybemen, the crew are just pushing it.
Ah, HC, I agree completely. With the second issue, especially. Apparently mortals are just stupid as hell in the Whoverse?

[Temple Fugate]

Hasn't that been a running observation about humans? That's why nobody "notices" the TARDIS, and the Runaway Bride was dumb as hell, she was indoors or out of the country for everything and apparently doesn't watch the news or have very gossipy friends. Heck, even the entire city of London EMBRACED the fact that "ghosts" started appearing on a regular schedule.

After "Aliens in London" I was a little miffed that the human race accepted the fact that aliens existed pretty nonchalantly, but with so much sci-fi stuff permeating our fiction, why wouldn't we be receptive to the idea?

I've taken it all to mean that Humans are versatile to a fault. We can adapt to unusual situations, we always come out on top (with or without the Doctor's help) and in order to keep our sanity we just brush off alien invasions as a minor inconvenience.

[Gatomon41]

After "Aliens in London" I was a little miffed that the human race accepted the fact that aliens existed pretty nonchalantly, but with so much sci-fi stuff permeating our fiction, why wouldn't we be receptive to the idea?
Because only a small minorty of humans are sf geeks. There are plenty of people out there who don't like idea that we're no alone in the universe.


I've taken it all to mean that Humans are versatile to a fault. We can adapt to unusual situations, we always come out on top (with or without the Doctor's help) and in order to keep our sanity we just brush off alien invasions as a minor inconvenience.
I just thought the writers wern't really consistant :p

[HellCat]

The problem is, you can only take this kind of social commentary so far. In Doomsday, we saw entire families held captive by the Cybermen in their homes. Christmas Invasion dealt with the government trying to cover everything up and things escalated to the point they couldn't. I'm sorry, people might be ignorant but the show's cheap writing off of these things is stupid and insulting. You can't keep doing these big "The world will never be the same again" stories then reset to the status quo. The creators can't seem to decide if they want to do classic style modern day Earth stories or an Earth that's discovering it's future in the galaxy. The whole fact that these incidents are then covered up with "Oh, you were drugged" is silly. Everyone drugged imagined the exact same thing? You can drug an entire planet?

[Lord Dalek]

T Everyone drugged imagined the exact same thing? You can drug an entire planet?
There's a great line in Remembrance of the Daleks where the 7th Doctor is chiding Ace over the fact that she's never heard of the Zygon Gambit of 1979 or the Yetis in the underground, because the human race is so capable of deluding themselves by dismissing such things as silly season.

I think that can be applied to this as well.

[HellCat]

There's a great line in Remembrance of the Daleks where the 7th Doctor is chiding Ace over the fact that she's never heard of the Zygon Gambit of 1979 or the Yetis in the underground, because the human race is so capable of deluding themselves by dismissing such things as silly season.

I think that can be applied to this as well.

People keep quoting that but seriously you can only take it so far.

[Rasputin]

Quite frankly, at this point, the wilful self-delusion of the human race is becoming a running joke on the show. You can see in 'The Runaway Bride' that they were poking merciless fun at their own writing crutch: "...there were Cybermen in Spain..."

Things do seem to be changing, though. I think this 'Mr. Saxon' meme that's running may tie into a change of perception amongst the populace that something is up and someone needs to do something about it...and then there's this guy who promptly pops up to exploit this fear for his own personal gain.

Then again...it's a writing crutch for a reason. :shrug:

As to more 'off-world' stories, or even more 'other time' stories, I agree there should be more focus, but only when they're confident they can pull it off. So long as they add incrementally to the budget, this seems pretty do-able. It won't need much of a change of focus to satisfy me. It's corking enough as it is.