Doctor Who "Rose" - a review of the CulTV review

This is a necropost - resurrected from one of my ancient USENET posts.

In an exclusive preview of the new series, GEORGE MURPHY tells CulTV why the show is possibly the worst thing you will watch on British Television in 2005 CulTV's review of "Rose"

Here's my exclusive review of CulTV's review.

Get over it, Granddad.

I sat and watched it with a bunch of guys (and girls! You know, girls - the ones that are a bit like boys but smell nicer) all in our mid-twenties. We loved it.

I've never seen a "live" episode of Doctor Who - only the repeats on UK Gold or the occasional video a well meaning uncle would buy me.

Let me put it painfully simply for you. The old Doctor Who is rubbish.

The old Doctor Who takes seven episodes to tell a short story. That's not an arc, nor a well paced tale - it's just a measure to keep the budget down.

The old Doctor Who had weird synthesiser squarks and squeals instead of background music.

The old Doctor Who required an encyclopaedic knowledge of past episodes to have any idea of what was going on.

The old Doctor Who had wobbly sets. This was not part of its charm - it made it look crap.

Now - before the lynch mobs attack - let me say one thing. I love the old Doctor Who. My Logopolis VHS tape has holes worn in it, I've played it so much. I once went to a convention and *gasp* had a good time. I've had heated arguments in pubs about whether Tom Baker's Doctor had the right to blow up the Daleks in Genesis.

I love the old Doctor Who. But it is painfully of its time.

Think of Doctor Who like Shakespeare. I love a bit of Shakey - I've acted in a few of his plays and I've even been to the Globe. It's damn good stuff. But do I want every waking moment of the TV schedules filled with thees, thys and wherefore arts? No. I appreciate that it belongs to a specific time and place and, if you want to get people into it again you need to do a Baz Luhrman and make a hyped up, media savvy, tragically hip Romeo+Juliet.

Do you know why?

Because the storys and the themes are universal. How they're dressed up isn't important as long as the story gets through to people.

This new Doctor Who show has to compete with 24, The Office, Spooks, The West Wing, Ant 'n' Dec. And to do this, it needs to play them at their own game. And it does it well.

The other night I watched the beginnings of a great new TV series called Doctor Who. It was different, kooky, funny, creepy, engaging and well made. I'd like to see how it turns out before you consign it to the scrap heap.

All you're doing is criticizing this show because Christopher Ecclestone isn't wearing a long scarf. And how can it be Doctor Who without a long, multi coloured scarf?