Heh. I've loved Who for as long as I can remember being alive; that said, I'm completely aware of the series' widely varying quality levels. Contrary to popular belief, I've actually loved this season, as the ratio of "embarrassing campiness" to "unbelievable coolness" has been surprisingly balanced. I'd say it's comparable to season 3 of the new series; an inconsistent companion, but nicely constructed myth arc (the Cracks in Time vs. The chameleon watch and "You Are Not Alone"), with quite a few standout episodes. A few mediocre ones too, to be sure, but given the consistency of the myth-arc, I can live with it. Hopefully "The Big Bang" will be more satisfactory than "The Last of The Time Lords", which was one of the most disappointing conclusions to an otherwise-strong narrative I've ever encountered.
I was so excited to see
John Simm as the Master and it was so awesome and that finale was just such a nonsense. But then,
all of the Davies finales were rubbish. Every. Single. One. And then, what maddens me more and more, is that after he does the crappy ending and resolves it all, he puts an
excellent tag scene on the end of it. The Doctor
begging the Master to travel in time with him; the Doctor's tirade at Wilfred for getting locked in the rad chamber...
brilliant. So why all the crappy reset button technobabble before, dammit?!?!?!
Also, for me, the current season stacks up like this; it's worst episodes are better than the worst episodes of the previous seasons. And it's best episodes are better (with the exception of Moffat's BLINK). The whole show, for me, has just done a giant leap forward in quality in every respect. Before, DOCTOR WHO, as you say, had a ratio between embarrassing and unbelievable, and I think this season is just a ratio between "pretty nice" and "holy hell, that was the bestest thing evar".
I'm slightly more critical of Matt Smith than most of my contemporaries, that's for sure. On the other hand, I also like him more than most of his detractors. New Doctors tend to be so divisive in fandom, and this definite, polarizing "Love it or hate it" attitude seems really silly to me. Eleven hasn't had enough time to establish himself amongst the greats, but he's also never really faltered in his performance. Right now, I'm sort of squarely in the middle, mostly because Eleven is so much fun to watch; Nine and Ten were so humanized. It made them sympathetic and relatable, but the heroic qualities that The Doctor often does (and definitely should) embody suffered as a result. They felt like the protagonists of a Greek Tragedy, not a sci fi adventure show. Eleven has definitely elevated The Doctor back up to the culturally iconic heroism that he's famous for, and I really appreciate that, even if he's sort of harping on Tom Baker's whole routine.
You hate everything, unlike me who never complains ever.
Also, Doctor Who is a crappy Bill & Ted.
We were all thinking it, now you don't have to live the lie.
Interestingly enough, I read a theory by Mark Waid (of all people), where he pointed out the inconsistencies of the same sequences as Bass did. He thought that he saw a vortex manipulator watch on The Doctor's wrist, but upon closer inspection, it's obviously just Eleven's normal watch. I guess the only logical conclusion is that Bass is smarter than Mark Waid. Who knew.
ME ME ME I KNEW!!!!
