I’ve been told, and have verified it, that Google UK has a special interactive Google Doodle today honoring the 50th anniversary of the first episode of “Doctor Who”. (Because it’s also the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination, I assume it’s not on the Google US site out of respect.) The doodle is in fact is a game in which you can rack up and post high scores.
I never watched Doctor Who, but I know we have a lot of fans here, so if you’re interested in playing the game, go here and knock yourself out. (The rules are here). A screenshot:
Whoo hoo! I’m counting down to tomorrow’s Day of the Doctor, which will be broadcast simultaneously around the globe (well I know it’s in NA & UK).
Don’t you just love what Matt Smith brought to the character? At first I didn’t like him; he was hard to understand. But there he is, almost like a cartoon himself, in his movements and reactions. I love the way he slides around and gestures with his whole body. Just watched “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”. The sense of glee on his face at that adventure was a delight to watch.
Yeah, you always think the new doctor is never going to be as good as the old doctor but then you are surprised. I remember how hostile people were toward Matt Smith before they saw him in the role because #10 was a hard act to follow. Everyone came around after they saw him though!
True enough, although #4 will always be my favorite.
Of the old school, I’d like to prefer #5, but I don’t think I can.
I always respected what they tried to do with #5, and Peter Davison was excellent and had a tough act to follow, but #4 had better stories, and an incredible run of companions:
Sara Jane, Leela, K-9, both Romanas, even early Adric was not annoying yet.
Obviously, Tom Baker deserves credit for working so well with so many companions.
The only #5 companion who wasn’t grating was Nyssa, and she was terribly underutilized.
Matt Smith is best of New School for me, and aside from his winning performance, it’s also due to more consistently good stories and engaging companions.
I completely agree.
Stephen Moffat is brilliant.
I agree also. I am looking forward to seeing how the new one, Peter Capaldi, will do since I still remember his strong performance in Local Hero. I wonder if he will use his Scottish accent or soften it up like David Tennant.
I’d love to see one ‘adult’ episode where Capaldi utilised his ‘sweary’ skills (fans of The Thick of It will know what I mean).
It was with David Tennant that I started watching myself.
Can’t let this go by without asking if you have seen that YouTube “Don’t Blink” kitty. Make sure sound is on.
youtube.com/watch?v=JJT39M8Y2F8
That’s when you got your first mirror?
(Sorry…. couldn’t help myself… I’ll be leaving now…)
; )
Due to a severe affliction of staircase wit, I hereby add this justification for my abominable English. As was Shakespeare’s Dogberry (in Much Ado), I am merely too cunning to be understood.
Many times. Showed it to some kids who knew nothing about Dr. Who, and it scared the crap out of them. In a good way, I mean.
Yeah that’s great, isn’t it?
Oh, it’s on the Canadian Google site too: http://www.google.ca 🙂
Isn’t the 50th for Doctor Who actually tomorrow?
Yes, the day after the JFK assassination. I expect the doodle to show up tomorrow in the USA.
The US has it now. I suspect it flipped over at midnight on the East Coast.
Offered to take my son to one of the local 3D screenings, not yet sold out, he just turned to me, cupped his hand in front of his face and said, “Are you my mommmy?”
There are 3D screenings?
Yep, check here for where.
We tried to get tickets to a screening tomorrow here in Ottawa, but they sold out in minutes. I understand that the cinema is repeating it Monday.
Yeah, I don’t live near anything offering the Nov 23 viewing and the closest theatre to me is sold out Nov 25 for the early show. However, I mostly despise 3-D so I’m not really worried about it. 🙂
That’s a shame… here’s hoping you’ll be able to nab some tickets for the Monday screening! That’s the only time it’s being offered at my local cinema, oddly…
Best child ever!
Hah! Great kid. I can’t wait for mine to be old enough to join me in watching Doctor Who. As much I enjoy trains, there is a limit to how often on can watch Thomas the Tank Engine… Thank Ceiling Cat he loves watching Attenborough as well.
I have watched many Dr. Who episodes. I would enjoy them enough, but there were a couple particular episodes that really stuck with me. Namely the 1st episode about the stone angels, and the episode about the library *shiver*.
What other episodes really stand out for people?
Horror at Fang Rock.
The Girl in the Fireplace
The Doctor’s Wife
Midnight
are standalone episodes that work really well.
Left Turn and Demon’s run are two other stellar single episodes but they tie in to their season arcs heavily.
Sorry that’s Turn Left.
The season arcs of the Matt Smith seasons really work in a way that the earlier season arcs did not, IMHO. There some duds, but the Matt Smith seasons start and finish strong. (Again, IMHO).
Turn Left was really clever and I liked Donna as his companion even though many didn’t. I also thought Martha Jones was great and it’s sort of a strange symmetry that in the series she saves the world but no one remembers and as fans of the series, people don’t think of her as much as they do Rose or Donna but I thought she was great, especially because she told The Doctor she wasn’t going to wait around for him so he could have her phone because when she needed him, she would call and he better show up.
I loved both Rose and Martha Jones. Greatly liked Human Nature / Family of Blood where Martha had to hold the whole thing together, and it had that great line from Martha, “And then you had to fall in love with a human. A human who isn’t me”. Huge credit to Martha for realising the Doctor was never going to notice her and dumping him – which she did with style, as you noted.
And Rose – ever notice how visually arresting blonde hair and dark eyebrows are? I liked the ‘Badwolf’ theme – Rose’s signal to herself – and she looked awesome when she used the Time Vortex energy to disintegrate the Daleks.
The Empty Child, i.e. the “Are you my mummy?” episode. That and the stone angels one you mentioned, “Blink”.
Oh yeah that too – meant to add that one.
The library because that was creepy how they’d be dead and you’d hear their voice: “hey, who turned out the lights?”
The one where Amy had the angel in her eye and had to close her eye and listen to the doctor to move – that was really tense.
The one with the 10th doctor where he made those videos as easter eggs and it appeared as though you were talking to him when you watched them.
Any of the master episodes from #4.
That one with devil – scary!
That one with the DVD Easter eggs was ‘Blink’ which has been mentioned already. How did the Doctor know what questions Sally was going to ask of the DVD? – because Larry was busy scribbling all the questions and answers, which transcript Sally later gave to the Doctor in the present, and which the Doctor had on him when the Weeping Angels zapped him and Martha back to the past. So the Doctor knew exactly what questions Sally was going to ask. It works brilliantly!
City of Death is my favorite. I do enjoy the newer episodes, especially the weeping angels. Sylvester McCoy and Ace had several episodes I liked too, including The Happiness Patrol.
Oh how could I forget the Fires of Pompeii. I think that was the name of the episode. If you learned Latin using the Cambridge Latin course like I did (the UK version not the US one) you remember the characters (who really existed) fondly. Everyone wanted to save Caecilius and his family and the Doctor actually did it. You just know the writers had to make that episode to deal with the pain we all did when Caecilius died from the eruption of Vesuvius.
Blink (the one you mention about the Weeping Angels) is probably my favourite. It has a complex time-travel plot that actually hangs together perfectly when you think it through, but also, all the characters are beautifully written & acted.
The Girl in the Fireplace is also a delight, but with a very sad ending.
I’m very disappointed. I thought on this of all days the doodle was going to be an animated depiction of JFK’s head exploding and his brains flying everywhere. That would have been in good taste, right?
If that is supposed to be humorous…
Bit late, but I can’t wait for tomorrow either. Did anyone watch An Adventure in Space and Time? I thought it was beautiful. William Hartnell, the first and one of the best in my opinion. Bring on the Day of the Doctor!
An Adventure in Space and Time is showing this evening here in the US and A.
Not really a fan but AAISAT was great. Mark Gatis was the creative force behind it.
I have been corrected a couple of times for referring to that Time Lord in writing as “Dr. Who”
A *true* fan told me it’s always written as Doctor Who… 🙂
And you really call him just “The Doctor” at least since the series reboot.
Right, the conceit is that Doctor Who is the show, not the person.
Never was much of a fan. The Doctor often got himself into predicaments through poor judgment, which is hard to excuse with someone who is so aged, experienced, and, supposedly, intelligent.
And time travel stories tend to be so internally inconsistent that it’s hard to take them seriously.
“take them seriously”
I think you miss the point.
“I think you miss the point.”
Not really. Even comedies need the viewer to buy into the world being created.
I still think you miss the point.
You sound like a theologian. 😉
Not at all, unless you think Doctor Who appeals to other theologians like Richard Dawkins and Brian Cox.
In the old serials, it was necessary to generate a cliffhanger every 22 minutes or so, so a certain knack for getting into danger was required, and that knack all too often took the form of foolishness on the part of the Doctor or a companion.
On the other hand, it’s rare to see an adventure show where the protagonists go about their business unarmed, at least most of the time. That, in itself, might be considered poor judgment, but it is refreshing also.
But The Doctor never uses a gun and always wins by wit (and candies if you’re #4). Plus time is. Timey wimey wobbly stuff.
You forgot an obligatory So
There! 🙂
😉
I understand your sentiment on this but I would like to add that I view Doctor Who as a comedy, not SF. When you look at it like that, you can forgive all the irregularities.
We like to laugh at ourselves, and an inexperienced Doctor who makes human mistakes despite his age or wisdom is one of the best kind of heroes.
It’s interesting that you say that, as some of the early episodes that attempted to do pure comedy were terrible, unfunny failures (e.g., the Christmas episode during “The Chase”).
That said, some of the attempts at grim-dark realism were also pretty leaden.
Wow, I hard a ridiculously hard time reading that headline. The fact that google can be a verb and so many words are capitalized really threw me. I figured there must be a typo, but I still wasn’t sure what the doctor who googles was doing, or what doodle in the UK meant. Boy did I feel stupid when it finally clicked.
HAD a hard time…
Don’t normally watch the show but I’m getting unaccountably excited about tonight’s event. British comedian Mitch Benn is an obsessive fan. He does a heartfelt tribute to the BBC (in song) here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3q2iZuU5WM
Doctor Who is honoured by 3 references.
He also appears in a discussion panel with Dawkins and Krauss here :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k02EoXKP__4