Shark Bytes

Another shark-jump moment's just occurred to me, but maybe one of the experts here can clear it up for me.

If all of the Time Lords 'vanished out of time and space' for the Time War - never to return, and leaving TenDoc as 'the last' in the universe - then how is he able to bump into the Fifth Doctor in 'Time Crash'??? Surely all the previous Doctors (and previous Masters, Ranis, Borusas, etc.) would be gone from existence, otherwise the whole 'last of the Time Lords' idea becomes meaningless.

It's one thing to play a little loose with continuity - the show has always done that. It's another to chuck logic out the window like this. (The regeneration cop-out in 'Journey's End' is another teeth-grinding example, but don't get me started on that one . . .)

One of the points of Doctor Who was that he was an alien who could "cheat" death by regenerating, so of course he's not going to look the same! This is the kind of show that you can't take too seriously. It is one of my favourite TV shows, and in my opinion it has never JTS, though I have to admit that I haven't seen any of the 'classic' episodes, being a little young when they first aired.

I really liked the "Midnight" episode because it didn't rely on special effects. The Doctor always seems to be able to win an arguement until this episode when nobody will listen. I thought the actors having to talk at the same time saying the same thing was very interesting/creepy. I feel that Tennent is the best actor of all the doctors. The "one set" I believe is supposed to convey a claustrophobic feeling of being trapped while something is trying to kill you. (and there's your story.)

Just watched the episode "Midnight" in the the latest series. God awful and cheap as a macca's pig fat soft serve.

Absolutley awful, one set, a pathetic graphic of an outside scene, no companion and no story. Was the crew on holiday or something?

hope this isn't the shark being jumped

While Jon Pertwee(#3) added wonderful dramatic flair and Tom Baker(#4)comedy and whimsy (but too much, became camp) Colin Baker was dreadful, only exceeded by the excruciating Sylvester McCoy. Truly awful, awful years.

But amazingly...the show regenerates years later and is a ripping good yarn! Fell in love all over again.

does anyone remember that episode where the Tardis lands in a Wendy's and they had to keep eating "wendy's chicken nuggets" until the cybermen died?
i think the episode was "Dr. Who and the Return of the Hawaiian Cybermen"

"That's like one of the basic tenants of the show!"

:D

Did you meant "tenets" ?

Still, it's rather appropriate at the moment, especially if you add another 'n'.

Hmm... It seems that Doctor Who, simply looking at the plotlines, has jumped about twenty times... Same character different actor, of course with the Doctor and numerous time lords (some actors playing the same incarnation of certain time lords) you also have, well lets go down the list:

BIRTH: (SPOILER FOR THOSE OUTSIDE THE UK AND AUSTRALIA) The Doctor has a fully grown daughter cloned from his extrapolated DNA.

DEATH: The doctors companions, Jamie (killed by Cybermen) and Adric (killed also by Cybermen) spring to mind. Oh, yes, and ALL THE TIME LORDS DIED.


TED MCGINLEY: Ok he has not been on... YET.


PUBERTY: the Original Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman grows up


Singing: In Daleks in Manhattan, Martha is involved in a song and dance number


THE MOVIE: Two movies in the 60s (starring Peter Cushing, not a TV doctor see Same Character Different Actor) and an even WORSE jump the shark sin A TELEMOVIE.

THEY DID IT: The newest incarnations are ALWAYS kissing their companions for different reasons.

MOVING: Well, the Doctor is constantly moving around, but he did spend a season stuck on Earth. Which is a big a change as actually moving.


SPECIAL GUEST STAR: Kylie Minogue. In a christmas special. Need I say more?



A Very Special...: Every time the Doctor dies...(see Same Character Different Actor) The Three Doctors. (See Same Character Different Actor) The Five Doctors (SCDA) The Two Doctors (SCDA)


NEW KID IN TOWN: Every new companion. Especially K9


HAIR CARE: Two Words: Tegan Jovanka.

EXIT STAGE LEFT: Captain Jack. Every Doctor. Every Companion.

COLOR: When the Third Doctor took the helm... and you know where that leads.

WEDDINGS Jo Grant... And even Donna Noble was introduced in her wedding dress...

BACK FROM THE DEAD: Daleks. The Master. Captain Jack.



There are also Christmas Specials... Charity mini episodes (where the doctor meets himself) Revamped old monsters updated for the 1970s 1980s and for the 21st Century.

There is only one thing that I can make of this. Doctor Who is immune to shark jumping. They could take Ted McGinley, having him singing live while marrying off character after character after character while having the TARDIS flying over shark cages and walking a robot dog and STILL be better than ever.

Huh?!? One of the reasons for Doctor Who jumping is that he regenerates?!? That's like one of the basic tenants of the show! And without it we wouldn't HAVE a show! I would have ended in 1966 when Hartnell was too ill to continue in the role! Putting that on as a reason for Doctor Who 'jumping the shark' is rather like saying Star Trek jumped the shark the first time they used the transporters or Red Dwarf jumped the shark the first time Lister mentioned a vindaloo. Seeing it as a reason for Doctor Who jumping the shark makes me think that Jump The Shark website has finally... jumped the shark.

It is not that I don't think it jumped, I think that happened when Collin Baker took over the role. However, I think that with the darker movie that came out in 1995 and the new series being what it was, it has a status of returning from the pits of hell. Although, I would like to see Christopher Eccleston return at some point.

They can't use American "locations" because Americans have better teeth. Any British actor trying to act American would be spotted right off for the bad chompers (Rose would be more beautiful if she got her overbite fixed).

The original series jumped when Turner took over. Baker leaving soon after sealed the deal. The Doctors after failed to become legendary like the ones before.
The new series hasn't jumped yet, but each year it becomes more about razzle-dazzle action and special effects than actual story. Even the Doctor only gets a few real character moments per episode, and they seem forced. So it hasn't jumped, but it does have me worried about its future.

Doctor Who never jumped the shark. The new series is quite a bit different, but still amaingly good. David Tennant is the best Doctor since Tom Baker in my opinion. The fact that he's absolutly goregous certainly doesn't hurt.

You'd have to put me in the camp that says Dr Who jumped the shark at one of three key points: 1) the hiatus during the Colin Baker period, 2) the initial cancellation in the Sylvester McCoy period, or 3) the Fox movie, where the Doctor claims to be half-human "on his mother's side" (does he mean that his mother, or his grandmother, was human?). I would argue that post-2006 Dr Who is an entirely different series, just as the theatrical films are a different series, but it jumped the shark the minute we went from "The Time Lords and the Daleks destroyed each other in the Time War" to "Oh, crikey, here's a flotilla of Daleks". Dr Who is remarkable, though, for having on several occasions made sharkburgers. I mean, William Hartnell is deathly ill, so somebody gets the bright idea to have the Doctor regenerate? It's so much a part of the culture that I think we forget what a shock that must have been -- recasting without worrying about matching? The Third Doctor being earthbound could have been boring -- but UNIT and its officers are some of the most popular characters of the series, and I still think the Brig should be considered a companion. Not his fault the TARDIS didn't fly. The Tom Baker era, where Douglas Adams was script editor and all the scripts sounded like situations out of Hitchhiker's Guide. The Watcher.

Treasured memory of my childhood, watching reruns of the 4th & 5th Doctors in the mid-80s, on the local Public Broadcasting Station. That said, even in my tweener years I knew the show wasn't meant to be rocket science!! Just a fun show that would reference "sci-fi science" (which often contradicts established science), and pull off an episode on a 99¢ FX budget!
I'll gladly admit the show jumped the shark back around the latter days of the 5th Doctor when the powers-that-be figured upping the violence quotient was one way to stay edgy (dead wrong!); that the 6th & 7th Doctor years were the "lost in the wilderness" era; and that "continuity" is something unknown in the Who-niverse. Still as an old-time fan, the new series is more than adequate.

At times it kicks butt on a grand scale, tho it still disregards its own show continuity in spite of referencing some aspects of the past (i.e. the Daleks & Cybermen invaded Earth lots of times before yet in the new series no one had any idea what they were or how to fight them?? UNIT got a name-check early in Eccleston's year yet this most experienced team at dealing with extra-terrestrials is nowhere to be found in the new series?!)

Jumped the shark? NAH!! The new show may have flexed its knees with Slitheen farts & the "Love & Monsters" episode from Season 2 (and made a few people queasy with modern nods towards homosexuality). For me, though, it's stayed strong and, importantly, contemporary!