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All-purpose, running Geek thread (formerly Battlestar Galactica thread)

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Piotr Rasputin, Jan 31, 2007.

  1. Spartan Squad

    Spartan Squad Well-Known Member

    I think fans are excited. Admittedly I'm not following my usual nerd shows on YouTube that would give me a better sense, but Twitter and some reviewers seem positive. My wife is over the moon a) Jody Whittaker was good on Broadchurch b) she is replacing Peter Capaldi (who my wife detested as the Doctor) and c) it's the first woman. I imagine people are falling into similar camps.
     
  2. JimmyHoward33

    JimmyHoward33 Well-Known Member

    It was good. Maybe not Matt Smith good but good. Jody has more energy than Capaldi. It feels more like the Doctor and the two main friends seem really interesting and relateable to me in a way Bill never was.

    I’m more excited for the upcoming season than I was before I watched this.
     
    Batman and Spartan Squad like this.
  3. Spartan Squad

    Spartan Squad Well-Known Member

    So good. So very good. Reminded me of what I liked from Ecclestein, Tennent and Smith but her own twist. Can't wait for more.
     
  4. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    I've always thought that's what each new Doctor needs to be, familiar enough to be a version of the same character, but with enough that is new to move things forward.
     
  5. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    I was afraid they were going to beat us over the head with the "Girl Power!" theme in the actual episode, like they've been doing in the promotion of it. I was happy to see that that wasn't as big a deal as simply introducing the new Doctor and letting her stretch her legs. If anything, the idea of a female doctor was downplayed to a surprising degree.
    It was weird, though, that that final scene ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, they cut to the 1,433rd commercial break of the broadcast, and then went into the postgame discussion. I kept waiting for another scene that never came.

    And one other thought, on that postgame panel. One of the guests said they were happily stunned by how many "women and brown people" were featured in the show.
    Ummm ... have they ever watched modern Doctor Who? The last companion was a gay black woman. I think the show has featured more black Britons than there are actual black Britons. Other than the Doctor, almost every prominent role has been filled by minorities and/or women at one time or another. Its producers have been extremely progressive in their casting choices.
     
  6. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    I didn't see it, but I'm guessing some people were never going to give Doctor Who proper credit for progressive casting until they put a woman or a minority in the title role. It's crap, but that's the way these things are often perceived.

    It's one of the challenges with these characters that have been around forever. Even if you want to be progressive about it, do you lose too much of the identity of the character when you make those changes? If you make the change just to put a minority or a woman in the place of a character that was a white male, is that worthwhile? Or would it have been better to create a new character and actually put in the effort to do something great.

    Comic books have been dealing with this for a while. Marvel killed off the Ultimate line version of Peter Parker to make room for a minority in the role of Spider-Man. It worked because Miles Morales is a great character. It also worked because Peter Parker still existed elsewhere, and they play off each other well now that they are both in the main Marvel universe. The real strength of good Spider-Man stories is Peter. It's about the guy behind the mask. The path the comics took let us continue to have Peter Parker, but also gave us another strong character behind a very similar mask.

    More recently, Marvel has added more spiders. That gave us a female version in Spider-Gwen, or Ghost Spider or whatever she is called now. It also gave us Mayday Parker carrying on the family business.

    The old Captain Marvel was before my time, but seeing the Carol Danvers character grow into the mantle has made for a good story. But she is very much her own character, not a female version of the original.

    That said, I'd much rather see new characters created, such as Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) or Laura Kinney (formerly Wolverine). It works so much better than just having the same character show up with darker skin or a gender swap.

    There was a fan backlash against Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four reboot. I liked him in the role. My issue was making Johnny and Sue different races. It just seemed like they were trying too hard to be progressive at the expense of the story. Also, the movie was crap, so that didn't help.

    My questions regarding changing the gender or race of a character isn't a complaint about what they are doing with Doctor Who. Based on my limited understanding of the character, it makes sense for the Doctor to regenerate as a woman. If anything, it probably should have happened sooner.
     
    Batman likes this.
  7. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    That pretty much sums up my thoughts on it, as well. It's the change for the sake of change and for the sake of yelling, "Look at how noble and progressive we are!" that makes me nauseous. When you introduce characters and have them evolve into the bigger roles (like James Rhodes becoming Iron Man or Sam Wilson taking over as Captain America), that works because it's true to both those characters and the bigger franchise. When you reboot the Fantastic Four and Johnny Storm is a black guy, it feels weird because it goes against the grain of all that the franchise has been for decades.

    That's how Doctor Who went about this the right way as far as storytelling. They dropped references to other Time Lords switching genders as far back as the Matt Smith era, then brought The Master back as a woman, and last season even had one on-screen regeneration from man to woman, all to establish that this was something that could happen. It didn't just happen. They planted the seeds for it and then paid it off. So it makes some sense in their universe now.
    I could do without the "this is the greatest anything in the history of everything" marketing approach, but it is an interesting change that I'm curious to see how they address.
     
  8. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    I didn't know how they set it up, though I do remember hearing that Time Lords could change gender. I like it.

    As I mentioned, the black Johnny Storm didn't bother me nearly as much as him having Sue be adopted. At least I assume that's it. That movie was so bad that maybe they didn't even bother to explain why she was white and her brother and father were black.
     
  9. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Power Man and Iron Fist are together again, this time on the list of shows cancelled by Netflix.

    The news came out about Iron Fist a week or two ago. Now Luke Cage is done, too.

    ‘Luke Cage’ Canceled by Netflix

    I read a column elsewhere pointing out how odd the timing was for the cancellation. The news came out yesterday, the day Season 3 of Daredevil dropped. Why do that on a premiere date?
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2018
  10. Spartan Squad

    Spartan Squad Well-Known Member

    Isn't Disney coming out with their own streaming service. I think the Iron Fist and Luke Cage will be migrating over. Iron Fist was better this season and aside from some painful to watch ESPN cameos Luke Cage was solid.
     
    2muchcoffeeman likes this.
  11. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    So maybe Luke Cage's services are being shopped around, making him a Hero For Hire?
     
    Spartan Squad likes this.
  12. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    This could be a set-up for a Heroes for Hire on Disney's new streaming service. Iron Fist was better in season 2, but it still wasn't very good. Luke Cage is the more surprising cancellation. Apparently there were creative differences involved, which makes me think there was an issue with Mike Colter. So maybe we see the character again, but with a different actor.
     
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