Review: Doctor Who, The Rebel Flesh/Almost People : comments.
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Re: A *bit* of apples and oranges, yes
Yeah, OK, I worded that badly. My point was that it's really easy to find new episodes of Doctor Who on iPlayer, because they tout it on the front page every week. It got to the point where I couldn't be bothered to type 'ipl' into Firefox's address bar and hit enter, then click a link. Which is the minimum amount of effort required for doing anything online anyway ;)
I liked Eleventh Hour and The Doctor's Wife, and I was mostly on board with the S05 finale. The majority of the other episodes... I like them intellectually, but I don't find them fun, and that's a killer for me when it comes to TV. If I want intellectual then I'll read Chaucer or try to translate Thucydides or do a crossword or something.
Watching a lot of Eleven's plots, for me, is kiiind of like watching a chess tournament. I can see that something very clever is going on, I can appreciate the cleverness of it, but socially speaking it's just some guys playing with their little puzzle. I'm completely locked out of the experience.
By comparison, something like Glee is the complete opposite, which is why I call it mindless entertainment. There's very little intellectual about it. It's completely silly, people spontaneously burst into song every chance they get, and it's all about engaging the audience. That actually doesn't work 100% on me either, because I do generally prefer to have my brain engaged, but. You don't get a much greater opposite to the chess tournament than a meaningful look and a spontaneous singalong, and oh, look, the band just happens to be standing by.
Oh, yes, absolutely. But I liked those characters (except Mel. Yes, I even like Adric). I'm not after character development every week, I'm just after characters who I don't despise. I'm fond of Rory, I did like River but I'm steadily going off her the more I see of her, but don't get me started on Eleven or Amy. There's a massive difference between a cast of static characters who are likeable and enjoyable, and cast of a static characters who the viewer wishes would all get drowned together.
tl;dr: I get that change can be hard, but I honestly do just find Moffat's plots dull and Eleven and Amy soulless. There are good bits. For me, they don't make the bad bits worth it.
Re: A *bit* of apples and oranges, yes
Fair enough as to the rest. At some point, it really does come down all to a matter of personal preference. For example, I love the movie "Pi" (actually, it was the symbol but I don't know how to get that off my keyboard); I think it's intellectually engaging and roller coaster ride emotional. On the other hand, one of my dearest friends with whom I agree on matters of taste more often than not found it utterly detestable because he found it more cerebral and thinking/paying attention-intensive than he'd thought it was going to be; this same friend loves all of Ten's tenure but won't watch anymore for, in part, similar reasons to yours. (He also won't watch Series 1 or any Classic Who with me beyond a very few of Five's episodes, so I'm sure there's a whole walloping dose of "Gimme teh pretty! Gimme smokin' hot, sexy-boy David Tennant right now! Gimme, gimme, gimme!" going on there, but there ya go. I love him all the same.) Taste and preference are as different as people, which is really a wonderful thing.
Old fogie here What is this tl; dr I keep seeing? (I could use Google, but I'm lazy, too.)
Re: A *bit* of apples and oranges, yes
It's definitely a large part personal preference with me, yes, which is why I'm doing my best to keep quiet and biding my time until Twelve turns up or Amy dies in a fire, whichever happens first. I do think there are writing problems there too, especially with River and the Doctor, but as you said - to each their own.
Re: A *bit* of apples and oranges, yes
Also thanks for the link to Twain. I hadn't read that essay in 30 years. Still love it.
Re: A *bit* of apples and oranges, yes
I guess whether they have antlers depends on the gender of the person who wrote the teal deer?