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I
have to admit that I’ve never been a fan of “Doctor
Who.” If you talk to our resident contributor
William Garcia, you’ll find a Doctor Who fan who
surpasses every other Doctor Who fan before him. But
me as a casual viewer found Doctor Who thanks to the
Sci Fi channel here in America who broadcast the
entire series every week. I was never a fan before
so I went into it with a general ignorance on
everything associated with the universe and found it
entertaining. I thought Billy Piper was a cute
heroine, I liked her charm and courage, and I
thought she was a great pairing with Christopher
Eccleston, my original lure to the series. Then came
David Tennant who was an infinitely better Doctor
Who. Goofy, weird, and demented, with a hint of
Errol Flynn heroics, Tennant really took the series
by the throat and was the absolute best of the
Who’s. Once Piper left, “Doctor Who” took an
admitted plunge in quality, and Garcia’s
observations on the series pretty much was what I
began to notice. No longer was the show intent on
focusing on Doctor Who’s travels into space; now all
of his exploits were centered on Earth and
storylines just became incredibly repetitive. Take for example the two
episode arc focusing on New York in the
thirties, a flat and boring plot about the Daleks
attempts to control the Earth through time travel,
and then New York in the future, which ended up
being a great episode about endless traffic on an
outer space highway where millions of people
confined to their cars, awaited passage into the
high way.
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| “Doctor Who”
though pretty much repeated the same concepts
over and over and soon the episodes were often
boring, flat, and outright tedious. The series
then took the black comedy from the first two
series, and really just flat out opted for total
comedy, with villains who were more than a bit
tiresome, in spite of the great creature
effects. Series Three isn’t the best that I’ve
seen from this continuity, and while I’ve had a
blast, I just don’t see myself delving into the
entire mythos after this. “The Complete Third
Series,” now with a great boxed set of six discs
and tons of extras, features the cute but
ultimately empty film “The Runaway Bride” where
Doctor Who attempts to save a shrill woman from
monsters in Earth no less, and introduces the
stunning Freema Agyeman, once featured in a bit
part in the past seasons and now plays Martha
Jones, the scientist introduced to Doctor Who on
the second episode. Agyeman has a lot to live up
to with Piper and the scripts sadly never flex
the charisma and personality of the actress
whose character Martha is passive,
inconspicuous, and lacks any real depth. Martha
instead just serves as a spectator to Doctor
Who’s escapades rather than playing Watson to
his Holmes. “The Complete Third Series” features
a tour of the set with Agyeman, video diaries
from David Tennant, and outtakes, which are
always a good time. Just the same, it’s a good
enough show, but just not one I intend on
following any longer. Better luck next time. |
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Felix Vasquez Jr.
1/29/08
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