Oh my God, I'd forgotten about that scene! *dies laughing*The_root_of_all_evil said:
And yeah, they were all pretty guilty of that...
Doctor Who Ratings Rise in the US, Fall in the UK
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
- Start date
And yeah, they were all pretty guilty of that...
well, the last season wasn't really popular in the UK, and now they're moving it to america, so i think we feel a bit betrayed
there's one thing i absoloutely didn't understand about the episode, and that is that at the end of the last series, amy and rory were WITH THE DOCTOR and now in the one they were back at home, HOW DOES THAT WORK
there's one thing i absoloutely didn't understand about the episode, and that is that at the end of the last series, amy and rory were WITH THE DOCTOR and now in the one they were back at home, HOW DOES THAT WORK
It better not be cool to hate doctor who now just because it's too popular
I hated the fact it opened the series with a two parter
but i wasn't to know that before watching it
thing is, it was on at 6pm here.
When it was very sunny
and everyone was outside getting a tan on, eating ice creams or just enjoying the sun
i watched it on iplayer, which assumedly didn't count towards ratings
it wasn't as good as it can be sometimes. But it was nowhere near as bad as certain episodes that bored the crap out of me
So i'll remain a fan
for now. and hopefully it'll all perk up
I hated the fact it opened the series with a two parter
but i wasn't to know that before watching it
thing is, it was on at 6pm here.
When it was very sunny
and everyone was outside getting a tan on, eating ice creams or just enjoying the sun
i watched it on iplayer, which assumedly didn't count towards ratings
it wasn't as good as it can be sometimes. But it was nowhere near as bad as certain episodes that bored the crap out of me
So i'll remain a fan
for now. and hopefully it'll all perk up
i kinda have to agree, i HAD to watch the episode on iplayer because i didn't know the episode was out until 2 days after it aired, although i was in spain for a week, so maybe i missed itHydro14 said:
I missed the beginning of it because of traffic, however I was still disappointed. It's like they tried to throw every plot twist they could in the first episode. And not matter what you say, those aliens were based off of the slenderman, yet the writer claims it was his own original monster. I think the cherry on the cake was "I'm pregnant", let's not lie, that's for your soap operas your mum watches...in fact I was surpised this wasn't playing at the end
Seriously? You're complaining that they used the word "gasoline" while they were in America? You people will complain about anything.
The comments regarding it just trying to appeal to an American audience could not be more wrong - it's trying to appeal to British viewers by portraying America in as exaggerated a manner as possible. It's throwing as many American things in as they can think of to make it obvious that this is America. They want to please non-American viewers who want to see the exotic stereotypical things they expect from America.
To my own mind, this ended up making a pretty entertaining pastiche of stereotypical Americana. But seeing all of that didn't make the show somehow more comforting and entertaining for me as an American. If anything, it was mildly grating, though I think that was made up for by getting to see precisely what things the makers of Doctor Who consider strong American icons (especially given that this is a positive portrayal of America in a mainstream foreign production, which is relatively rare - we see the popular negative attitudes from abroad much more often).
I think the real reason we saw the ratings that we did was twofold: the nice weekend and simple attrition over time hurt ratings in the UK, and the US, with a large number of people who happen to have just gotten into the show, has no such problem with attrition. I think the fact that the episodes are being set in America and the fact that this season happens to be just when it got popular are probably not as connected as people are assuming.
The comments regarding it just trying to appeal to an American audience could not be more wrong - it's trying to appeal to British viewers by portraying America in as exaggerated a manner as possible. It's throwing as many American things in as they can think of to make it obvious that this is America. They want to please non-American viewers who want to see the exotic stereotypical things they expect from America.
To my own mind, this ended up making a pretty entertaining pastiche of stereotypical Americana. But seeing all of that didn't make the show somehow more comforting and entertaining for me as an American. If anything, it was mildly grating, though I think that was made up for by getting to see precisely what things the makers of Doctor Who consider strong American icons (especially given that this is a positive portrayal of America in a mainstream foreign production, which is relatively rare - we see the popular negative attitudes from abroad much more often).
I think the real reason we saw the ratings that we did was twofold: the nice weekend and simple attrition over time hurt ratings in the UK, and the US, with a large number of people who happen to have just gotten into the show, has no such problem with attrition. I think the fact that the episodes are being set in America and the fact that this season happens to be just when it got popular are probably not as connected as people are assuming.
Oh thank goodness. I'd almost given up hope that someone else would notice what he'd done to the series. Sick of my tv times telling me 'you'll be hiding behind the sofa with this even MORE terrifying episode of Doctor Who!' I'm not a retarded child, why would I be remotely frightened of oooooo picking one off the top of my head...A BIN MONSTER.DalekJaas said:
I think the only thing that would keep me interested is the Amy Ponds endlessly flirting with each other
other then that its been sunny for a change and while I cant speak for the rest of the UK, I was out enjoying twisty roads on my bike
other then that its been sunny for a change and while I cant speak for the rest of the UK, I was out enjoying twisty roads on my bike
They're fans. Obviously they'll complain about MANY new things and say that the old stuff was better.Jaime_Wolf said:
All fans do that at some point, whether or not it's true or just fueled by nostalgia.
Like when shows bring over characters from a different country. Rarely would they actually do research and make a good character, usually they just pull out stereotypes to varying degrees of success.Jaime_Wolf said:
Or do something like Fez from That 70's Show and have a Funny Foreigner from some random non-descript country.
...yes, a number of them probably would.Spangles said:
It's incredibly common for people to adopt the local alternant of characteristic word alternations like gasoline~petrol when they travel.
And you're right about the fact that it's a UK concept, filmed as a UK show, using public UK funds. You just seem to forget that the current episodes are being set in the US. They're having the characters behave as realistic travellers to the US.
There's a major gripe with the BBC becoming more Americanised in their writing, and converting British comedy into American.
Look at the issues with Red Dwarf and Red Dwarf US - even the original Red Dwarf crew blasted the decision to rewrite Red Dwarf to tailor it for American audiences. When British viewers watch comedy like Friends and the Big Bang Theory, we don't need it rewritten and converted to make it British before we can enjoy it. Yet, it seems the reverse isn't true.
Dr. Who is fundamentally British - okay, he's a Time Lord, and can be anything he wants to be, but he's spent so much time dealing with the UK, that he might as well be British. The series itself was originally British, and much of the backstory is British. So, for The Doctor to suddenly start using the word 'gasolene' simply for being in the States, is rather ludicrous. Tourists and immigrants still use their native words out of habit for a long time until they are acclimatised unless they are pretending to be a native - which means either The Doctor was pretending to be an American, or this is an example of the show being Americanised.
However, using the term 'gasolene' and being Americanised wouldn't be enough to stop people watching it unless they had known about this beforehand. So if the continued Americanization is going to affect the series, it will impact later episodes of the series, rather than the current one. Only time will tell - it may be a one off anomaly, or it may be a continuing trend, depending upon the rest of the series.
Look at the issues with Red Dwarf and Red Dwarf US - even the original Red Dwarf crew blasted the decision to rewrite Red Dwarf to tailor it for American audiences. When British viewers watch comedy like Friends and the Big Bang Theory, we don't need it rewritten and converted to make it British before we can enjoy it. Yet, it seems the reverse isn't true.
Dr. Who is fundamentally British - okay, he's a Time Lord, and can be anything he wants to be, but he's spent so much time dealing with the UK, that he might as well be British. The series itself was originally British, and much of the backstory is British. So, for The Doctor to suddenly start using the word 'gasolene' simply for being in the States, is rather ludicrous. Tourists and immigrants still use their native words out of habit for a long time until they are acclimatised unless they are pretending to be a native - which means either The Doctor was pretending to be an American, or this is an example of the show being Americanised.
However, using the term 'gasolene' and being Americanised wouldn't be enough to stop people watching it unless they had known about this beforehand. So if the continued Americanization is going to affect the series, it will impact later episodes of the series, rather than the current one. Only time will tell - it may be a one off anomaly, or it may be a continuing trend, depending upon the rest of the series.
Personally, Matt Smith is by far my favourite of the post-Baker Doctors, and Moffatt is my favourite 'current run' doctor who writer. It's just such a great return to the style of the Troughton doctor and the Pertwee-era horror. RTD was decent, but relied far too much on trying to make each ending 'the biggest epic yet', which got silly very quickly, and almost always couldn't find a way of resolving them, relying on an ultra-schmalzy deus ex machina (e.g. ruining the awesome 3-parter that reintroduced the Master with a goddawful ass-pull ending).
Moffat's also shown a lot more faith in the audience by raising the intelligence of the show, and trusting that the audience will be smart enough to keep up.
Edit: we don't use the word 'gasoline' in Australia, but it struck me as the obvious term to use in the context. Surely the 'gasoline' thing was deliberately put there to emphasise that the characters are in the US? Standard writing, and they'd do that all the time with the original run (I've watched every single doctor who episode from its 1960 beginnings, aside from the ones that were lost in the BBC fire - and of those, I've even listened to the audiotapes and part-episodes that are left, so I know my DW history).
It's just standard scriptwriting for any British TV show - if the characters travel to a location that has a local dialect/custom, the writer starts throwing in a constant string of reminders that that's where the characters are, so that it's easier for the audience to follow where the characters go. If you have someone in Thailand, you have them using Thai words every now and then, or you have them wearing a peace of Thai clothing, just so that the audience can be reminded without having to go 'hey we're in Thailand right now, remember?'. It's pretty straight up stuff that you're going to use gasoline if the characters are in US and the chance comes up - same reason why they have the Doctor wearing a Stetson (though that also being to distinguish future doctor from present doctor).
Not to mention, it makes sense given the context (even aside from being a common writing trick that Doctor Who used all the time in the 60s/70s, especially in the early Hartnell 'historicals'). We know that Amy and Rory must have been travelling through the US for some time now. They have flown to the US and travelled by BUS to some middle-of-nowhere place in the desert. Even if they went straight there, they'd have to have been there for a week or so. When you travel, you end up using the terms of the country you're in. Done it lots of times, myself. Especially in an insular place like the US - people tend to insist on you using 'their' word in their country. But even if they don't, it just happens - the signs and the ads everywhere say 'gasoline', the bottle that you're pointing at says gasoline, when you suggest that you use the stuff in the bottle you end up saying 'gasoline', even though you wouldn't use that word at home.
I can appreciate joking about the 'gasoline' thing, but if you're serious then I'm glad the writers know better than to throw out a standard writing technique (use terminology as reminder of location), and to ignore the word the character would actually use in the situation when he's been travelling through the US and is pointing at a bottle with 'gasoline' written on it in big letters, simply because the word happens to come from an intellectually impaired....I mean, the US.
And personally, I don't see how any fan of the early DW, especially the pre-Baker series (Troughton is the obvious comparison to Matt Smith, but I'm referring to the writing styles of the first season of John Pertwee as the Doctor (1968?) as well), could say that Moffatt's writing is less true to the series' original tone than RTD's writing was. I'm not saying that RTD didn't fit the series - he did a great job on a lot of elements, though he always produced his worst writing in the season finales, but the personality of the current Doctor is a much more natural extension than Tennant was (and I'm a fan of Tennant's work, including his non-DW material).
Moffat's also shown a lot more faith in the audience by raising the intelligence of the show, and trusting that the audience will be smart enough to keep up.
Edit: we don't use the word 'gasoline' in Australia, but it struck me as the obvious term to use in the context. Surely the 'gasoline' thing was deliberately put there to emphasise that the characters are in the US? Standard writing, and they'd do that all the time with the original run (I've watched every single doctor who episode from its 1960 beginnings, aside from the ones that were lost in the BBC fire - and of those, I've even listened to the audiotapes and part-episodes that are left, so I know my DW history
). It's just standard scriptwriting for any British TV show - if the characters travel to a location that has a local dialect/custom, the writer starts throwing in a constant string of reminders that that's where the characters are, so that it's easier for the audience to follow where the characters go. If you have someone in Thailand, you have them using Thai words every now and then, or you have them wearing a peace of Thai clothing, just so that the audience can be reminded without having to go 'hey we're in Thailand right now, remember?'. It's pretty straight up stuff that you're going to use gasoline if the characters are in US and the chance comes up - same reason why they have the Doctor wearing a Stetson (though that also being to distinguish future doctor from present doctor).
Not to mention, it makes sense given the context (even aside from being a common writing trick that Doctor Who used all the time in the 60s/70s, especially in the early Hartnell 'historicals'). We know that Amy and Rory must have been travelling through the US for some time now. They have flown to the US and travelled by BUS to some middle-of-nowhere place in the desert. Even if they went straight there, they'd have to have been there for a week or so. When you travel, you end up using the terms of the country you're in. Done it lots of times, myself. Especially in an insular place like the US - people tend to insist on you using 'their' word in their country. But even if they don't, it just happens - the signs and the ads everywhere say 'gasoline', the bottle that you're pointing at says gasoline, when you suggest that you use the stuff in the bottle you end up saying 'gasoline', even though you wouldn't use that word at home.
I can appreciate joking about the 'gasoline' thing, but if you're serious then I'm glad the writers know better than to throw out a standard writing technique (use terminology as reminder of location), and to ignore the word the character would actually use in the situation when he's been travelling through the US and is pointing at a bottle with 'gasoline' written on it in big letters, simply because the word happens to come from an intellectually impaired....I mean, the US.
And personally, I don't see how any fan of the early DW, especially the pre-Baker series (Troughton is the obvious comparison to Matt Smith, but I'm referring to the writing styles of the first season of John Pertwee as the Doctor (1968?) as well), could say that Moffatt's writing is less true to the series' original tone than RTD's writing was. I'm not saying that RTD didn't fit the series - he did a great job on a lot of elements, though he always produced his worst writing in the season finales, but the personality of the current Doctor is a much more natural extension than Tennant was (and I'm a fan of Tennant's work, including his non-DW material).
I don't know what it is, It just seems different and has done since Tennant left.
And I don't like it as much now.....
(Haven't seen the new episode, living in NZ, so New episodes won't come around till christmas, with very little personal mastery or freedom of the Internet)
And I don't like it as much now.....
(Haven't seen the new episode, living in NZ, so New episodes won't come around till christmas, with very little personal mastery or freedom of the Internet)