"Doctor Who" season 9 is going to be the most epic yet

Warning: Do not click link unless you are prepared for major spoilers.

http://mashable.com/2015/09/04/doctor-who-season-9/

On the one hand:

On the other:

Doctor Who sucks....yeah...I said it.

/enters witness protection

Don't worry, Moffat will fuck it all up.

I have literally never watched an episode of Doctor Who (old, new, whatever) but the trailers for the new season look really, really good and I like the actor playing the doctor now.

I started about a year ago and watched through the end of Season 4, then picked up at Season 5 pretty recently ... I think I'm near the end of the Amy Pond episodes, which is too bad since I like her better than any companion since Rose Tyler.

I saw an episode during Matt Smith's tenure and I enjoyed it. Dr. Who is one of those shows I plan to get around to somedsy.

I gave up about three episodes into the Rose era when it was obvious this bint had no depth beyond her 21st century life and wanted to apply her values to every situation. It's like Rose is the personification of the Starfleet holier than though attitude that drove people up the wall.

Fuck,why didn't Billie Piper's singing career take off?

I watched the first episode of the new incarnation...manikins and garbage cans trying to eat people..yup, I'm done.

You really need to give it three episodes before making the call.

At the very least, if you're only going to watch one episode, it needs to be Blink (Series 3 Episode 10).

What worries me.

The only British sci fi show I've actually liked is Primeval.

The first couple of minutes summarize the first 3 seasons...major spoilers obviously.

A whole ten years worth of the revival and you give it one episode?

Wow.

For those reading this that plan on giving it a try, I would recommend the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor. It's a ideal introduction for new viewers IMO.

So you don't need to see the really old episodes to "get" the new ones?

OK...your pilot episode to a shows rebirth should be something amazing.

Imagine if Spock's Brain or The Way to Eden had been the first episode to Trek? CBS would have buried Gene in the desert.

I don't think so, as long as you know that basic idea of the show. I've been watching the show since I was 4 years old, but even I still haven't gotten through all of the classic serials. I think the dodgy production values would be a turn off for some coming to it in the modern era of fancy SFX, etc.

The pilot wasn't the first Trek episode to air though. Frankly I've never much cared for The Man Trap and it certainly doesn't represent what I like about TOS.

As for Rose, yes it's cheesy (as are two of three other episodes of that season), but the beauty of the show is it's constant reinvention. Perhaps what you don't know or appreciate is that the villains in that episode were actually returning ones from the seventies, so it was an attempt to bring in the old crowd as well as a new audience.

Besides, Rose isn't the pilot anyway. This is.

Any instance in which the words "Tom Baker" appear in relationship to Doctor Who is a source of war fuzzies to me. That many? I might have to retire to my bunk.

It's worth pointing out that the stuff like burping bins was due to a director who really really wanted to make Doctor Who as a kids show. He directed a handful of series one episodes and then was banished forever.

If you were looking to give modern who a genuine look I'd suggest Series Five Episode One, the first Matt Smith episode.

The dodgy production values of the old shows were a turn off to me 35-40 years ago when I first saw them on PBS.

They make TOS, Space: 1999, and even Lost in Space look positively cinematic in comparison.

No.

The Matt Smith years were dodgy at best and went downhill very fast toward the end of his tenure.

Start with the first episode of the reboot (Christopher Eccleston) and work your way through. There will be some silly and downright stupid shit, but there will be moments of sheer brilliance. A lot like Star Trek in that way...

I'm curious about what makes you say that ... I've found a lot more moments in the Matt Smith years where I go "wait, what the fuck is going on?" and have to back up about five minutes, but I haven't really been able to figure out why. Did the plots just start getting more convoluted?

I started with the new series. As with Trek, there will be a lot of in-jokes and Easter eggs you might not get, but there are enough hardcore fans here who can fill you in.

To be honest, I only started watching when they announced Capaldi would assume the role. Did a marathon watching of the entire season leading up to him and, yeah, some of the episodes are silly and, to me at least, Matt Smith's interpretation (whether it was the writing or the actor or both) was really, really annoying, but overall it's worth a look.

The useful thing about there being a new Companion every few seasons -- and about the Companion being conceived as the central character and audience surrogate -- is that there's always a good excuse for exposition. The audience isn't expected to know anything right off the bat about, say, the Nestene Consciousness. Although looking up the references on Wikipedia or one of the various fansites can be interesting, it's not necessary in order to follow the plot.

My concern is we're heading into 7th Doctor territory, back when it started getting so self-referential it wandered up it's own arse all the way to cancellation.

I'm not bothered about fanboy tying things together, I want good stories. Sure if you can merge the two, winner, but inform the fanboy aspect with the story, not the other way around. Moffat hasn't been great in doing that in charge, he really needs someone to reign in his excesses.

A little unfair. The latter half of the McCoy era is when the show began to find it's feet again, but by then the knives were out and there was nothing to save it. A bit like Enterprise's season four.

Ahem.

if this is a TINY indication of the arc they have in mind this year - and if the fucking FOCUS on it - then I'm all verklempt just thinking about it!

Rumor is...

(Nuclear spoiler if true, so exercise caution....)

Although that may not be as big a deal as it seems if...

does this trump the previous mega-rumor?