This Gave Me Chills

I haven't watched Dr. Who in decades - but Reddit had a link to this amazing short scene where Vincent Van Gogh is taken to the Paris Museum of Art and is shown the effect his work had on future generations - it's incredibly touching. I'm going to have to check Dr. Who out again, this is great film making.

Regular YT link didn't work, so this:

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: SentientCentenarian
You will find a number of changes from the style of the old Doctors, some of them irritating.

Perhaps the most important difference is that he is no longer a true wanderer, picking up passengers at different points in time and space. He is implicitly "based" on Earth in the current era, and is joined by companions from the present time.
That is one reason why he has to have female companions and be flirtatious with them; now that they are no longer "trapped" on the Tardis and taking part in each story by necessity, something has to motivate them to join him in his off-planet jaunts. They spend all their time either saving earth from very public dangers which get forgotten in a few months, or going off on tourist trips which suddenly turn dangerous.
That is also the reason why most of his companions have to meet some very drastic fate. Since otherwise he and they would continue sharing a planet, it is the only plausible way of writing them out.

Irritating features include the re-styling of the interior of the Tardis, into a very impractical space which doesn't even provide anywhere to sit;
The Tardis shown moving through physical space, especially when visibly "crashing".
The over-use of the joke of allowing the Doctor to encounter people in the wrong order, so that his first meeting with them is their second meeting with him and vice-versa. The old Doctors were never allowed to do that. For example, they always met the Brigadier in the correct sequence in his own timeline.

Being a child at the time, I watched the very first episode. Wasn't immediately impressed.
Never quite got used to the fact that the second Doctor wasn't William Hartnell. Not the real thing.
Got into it again with Tom Baker and Peter Davison, but then lost access to television for a spell.

Would you agree that Sarah-Jane Smith was the best "assistant" of the lot?

a reply to: DISRAELI

Ya didn't watch the video, did you?

a reply to: SentientCentenarian
I watched the original story, but chose to comment on your remark about "checking out Doctor Who again after not watching it for decades" and reflect on what differences you might discover.

My daughter was a huge fan of Doctor Who a couple of years ago when she was 13. I remember her specifically telling me about that episode and that scene. I think Doctor Who is great because the show sometimes features famous people in history and puts a real human face on them. Great learning opportunity for kids AND adults.

Just as an aside, my daughter was such a huge fan that my husband built a TARDIS bookcase for her as a birthday present. She still has it in her room (next to the life-size cardboard cutout of her favorite doctor).

a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Yes, the Van Gogh episode was pretty touching indeed!

However, Heavensent, with Peter Capaldi, is one of my favourite episodes ever.

www.dailymotion.com...

I've seen all doctor who episodes, all the way from the start with William Hartnell. Heavensent is the one which chilled me the most, it left me gaping in awe with tears in my eyes.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of the David Tennant Dr. Who episodes. You can buy the episodes on Amazon.com in the Amazon video section and watch them on your computer or if your TV is set for Amazon on your TV.

My all time favorite is "Blink". The best written episode in TV history imho.

The Van Gogh episode is on Amazon too. It's a great story!

That Tardis bookcase is AMAZING!

And lol, I've got the Tardis cookie jar, Darlek salt and pepper shakers, a Weeping Angel sweatshirt and my favorite, a "Don't Blink" coffee mug.

STM

a reply to: SentientCentenarian
I love that one.

originally posted by: seentoomuch


My all time favorite is "Blink". The best written episode in TV history imho.

That one is very popular. My housemate's gaming business/Twitch is called "Don't Blink Gaming" from that.

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Yes, the Van Gogh episode was pretty touching indeed!

However, Heavensent, with Peter Capaldi, is one of my favourite episodes ever.

www.dailymotion.com...

I've seen all doctor who episodes, all the way from the start with William Hartnell. Heavensent is the one which chilled me the most, it left me gaping in awe with tears in my eyes.

The Doctor Who episode " Heaven Sent " was a televisual masterpiece.

originally posted by: SentientCentenarian
I haven't watched Dr. Who in decades - but Reddit had a link to this amazing short scene where Vincent Van Gogh is taken to the Paris Museum of Art and is shown the effect his work had on future generations - it's incredibly touching. I'm going to have to check Dr. Who out again, this is great film making.

Regular YT link didn't work, so this:

www.youtube.com...

*heart* as the stupid system wont let me use the usual angle bracket and 3...

My partner recently saw this episode too and was so touched by it..

Crazy how this silly show is so touching to people anywhere..

a reply to: kaylaluv

The knowledge inside the box, is greater than it appears from the outside.

Brilliant idea to put books in it!!

Really is a Time and relative dimension in space, machine.

a reply to: alldaylong

OH WAS'NT IT !!!!

I disliked Capaldi from him being in torchwood, reusing actors is something to me... but good lord he could not be the best doctor if there ever was a good doctor to be bettered..

And this ep, can you just imagine it... blind sadness, left to wander for so long, yet always just for a short while each time...

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: SentientCentenarian

Yes, the Van Gogh episode was pretty touching indeed!

However, Heavensent, with Peter Capaldi, is one of my favourite episodes ever.

www.dailymotion.com...

I've seen all doctor who episodes, all the way from the start with William Hartnell. Heavensent is the one which chilled me the most, it left me gaping in awe with tears in my eyes.

Oh, thanks for that link! I just watched the very beginning and it's stunning. I'll save the rest for later, I'm going to be busy today.

Would people recommend I watch from the very beginning (and there goes the next several months) or just particular episodes or doctors? I've been known to binge watch (esp West Wing, I know every episode by heart) but I'm thinking this series will be a far more significant time sink...

Any doctor to avoid? The only one I remember is a 'Tom' guy with a long knitted striped scarf, then they changed doctors and it was too much of a shock, like a new captain on Star Trek who was bald for godssakes although he turned out to be the best one. I'm sorry I snapped at the first response up above late last night, but I had no clue who/what he was talking about. Last time I checked out the series was probably the 80s and that was intermittent. I have trouble with English accents sometimes and can't follow the story lines because of that on BBC much of the time.

A site called 'couch-tuner' (with different suffixes from different countries) seems to have the series for free but not sure how far back they go.

Oh, thanks for that link! I just watched the very beginning and it's stunning. I'll save the rest for later, I'm going to be busy today.

A bit of some context: the Doctor just saw his companion die in front of his eyes (but he couldn't do anything to stop it), so he's very angry. Then afterwards he's been teleported against his will into some strange place. Heavensent is what happens where he gets there.

originally posted by: SentientCentenarian
Would people recommend I watch from the very beginning (and there goes the next several months) or just particular episodes or doctors?

I dunno. I personally am a big fan of watching all of them, linearly. However, the 2004 reboot is not related that much to the old series, so if ever you start there at first you won't be missing anything.

Any doctor to avoid? The only one I remember is a 'Tom' guy with a long knitted striped scarf, then they changed doctors and it was too much of a shock

Tom Baker is actually one of the best of the old Doctor Who series. He's pretty much the first to really crystallise the Doctor as a man who can be both dark and light, cunning yet childish.

However most people despised Collin Baker, so be warned.

The Doctor is actually an alien who can "regenerate" - that is, when he dies he resurrects and lives again. The down side is, his body changes form and he gets a new face each time (and thus a new actor gets to play him). They didn't "change doctors", it was the same character but with a different persona. Kind of like David Bowie.

originally posted by: SentientCentenarian
Would people recommend I watch from the very beginning (and there goes the next several months) or just particular episodes or doctors? I've been known to binge watch (esp West Wing, I know every episode by heart) but I'm thinking this series will be a far more significant time sink...

It's getting to the point that watching "all from the beginning" is a daunting task on the scale of reading through the Bible from the beginning.

I recommend starting with particular Doctors, on the grounds that half the interest is in the interaction between the Doctor himself and his companions on the Tardis. Also the stories relating to that Doctor will probably be of the same type.

I suggest going for the middle sequence of Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison.
The avuncular, well-dressed Jon Pertwee arrived on the scene having just been "exiled" to Earth, and spends most of his stories working in conjunction with "the Brigadier", the commanding officer of UNIT (a United Nations task force set up to deal with hostile aliens). He has about three companions at different times, including the perky and feisty Sarah-Jane Smith, who has become my favourite through watching the repeats.
Tom Baker is the one you remember. He took on the role about three times longer than anybody else. He "inherited" Sarah-Jane, but later had assigned to him the suave and elegant Romana. He was also the Doctor who worked with the robot dog K9, much loved by the audience and hated by the production crew.
Peter Davison is the one who gave you a shock. It may be worth trying him again. At one point they deferred to the American audience by giving him an American companion (though she was a British actress).

As for the post-2000 Doctors, the relationship between the Doctor and the girl who accompanies him has been made even more central. For that reason, again, I suggest you try a few episodes of each Doctor to see how much you like that particular partnership.