I was watching X-Men with a friend this weekend when I suddenly realised that Doctor Who was on as well. I immediately took control of the remote and switched to BBC 1. This weekend’s episode was about the Cybermen, of course, and I was looking forward to this. After five minutes, my friend said “Why are we watching this? It’s terrible! I’ve tried watching it over and over again but it just looks awful.”
“Well, uh, that’s the way it’s supposed to look,” I said lamely.
“And what about the stories and dialogue?”
“Some of them are really good!”
But I have to be honest. I still have no good reason for why Doctor Who is as clunky as it is. Maybe it’s just the drama that Britain deserves, I don’t know, but it’s clear that it’s not faring particularly well in the US, averaging only a million or so viewers every week.
mssv 
The part that I don’t understand is why the plots are so much clunkier and less sophisticated than they were during the 1970s. Compare, for example, “Rise of the Cybermen” with “Genesis of the Daleks”.
To be fare, they’ve much less screen time, far shorter season and much more plot to get in. But this can produce clarity and far less running about. ‘The Girl In The Fireplace’ was a classic.
Or even fair.
I think the newer ones are so much better than the old ones. I mean compared to old men as the Doctor, you have David Tennant – who is gorgeous 🙂 Plus I can actualy get through a whole episode!
i think that the newer series of octor who is better than the old series, this is due to many different factors. for a start it is in colour and things are not on strings!!! secondly the actors that play the doctor are more energitic in the way they act and thirdly it appeals to the younger generations more as the plots are more gripping and more on edge. i might seam biased but it does help that david tennant is VERY VERY VERY good looking aswell so if you are not interested in the program, you still ahve something thatais very nice to look at and watch!!
Hey, where’s the Eccleston love? He might be my favourite Doctor…Might.