Ayone into the new "Doctor Who" show?

[Neville]

Thanks to the wonders of sat TV I'm watching a new season of this legendary English show. I had a taste of it during my childhood so when I learned new episodes were being made I knew I had to give it a chance.

For those unfamiliar (I don't know how the show did in the U.S.), the series stars an imaginary character, "the Doctor", an alien that travels through time and space while fighting all sorts of alien threats, usually with some humans as companions. The show features a prominent sense of humour, and settings and FX are deliberately kept low-key.

So, this new chapters feature Christopher Eccleston ("28 days") as the doctor, and former singer Billie Piper as her travel mate, and they are lots of fun. Eccleston makes a fantastic doctor, always finding situations, no matter how extreme, as lots of fun, while Piper keeps her character as the necessary human point of view.

About the adventures themselves, they're very varied and often lots of fun, although some episodes are deadly serious ("Dalek", for instance, where the Doctor finds the last of the Daleks,  bio-mechanical entities that decimated his race). So far, I've seen the Doctor tackle an invasion of plastic replicants, travel to the end of Earth, find the last of the Daleks and discober aliens in London. Cool. And I'm told there's another season going on already, although with a different actor playing the Doctor.

[trekgeezer]

I've seen all 27 shows. The Doctor regenerates from Eccleston into David Tennant in the final episode of the first season.

Overall I like Tennant more than Eccleston, he supposedly is a real fan of the original show. The show also ramps up the action in the second season. The Daleks do make another appearance, an old companion from the Pertwee/Baker years makes an appearance along with a certain mechanical pet. Also look out for a new take on the Cybermen.

The effects are stupendous compared to the old shows, but the show is not overwhelmed by them and the writing and acting is spot on.

Sadly Billie Piper will not be returning for the third series, Freema Agyeman will be the Doctor's new companion Martha Jones.

[Neville]

A pity, I though Billie Piper was great. Love that looks of constant amazement, her arguments with the Doctor and that sound English accent.

As I said, I'm following the episodes with Eccleston right now, and I don't know yet when they plan to air the second season. Looking forward, of course.

[akiratubo]

I saw the Dalek episode, entitled "Dalek", and I thought it was just kinda blah.  It was about like a lesser episode of Stargate.  I haven't delved into any other episodes, though I'm told "Dalek" was actually the worst by far of the Eccelston episodes.

[Neville]

Yeah, that one is probably the lesser of the bunch I've seen. Too talky and serious, although it had its intersting bits, such as showing a hateful Doctor -as I said, during Eccleston's tenure he seems to look at everything with more amusement than any other emotion- and providing more background about the Daleks themselves. Not having seen most of the show's earlier seasons, I found that interesting, although I'm sure these things were mentioned as well on the previous seasons.