How Is America Reacting To New Doctor Who?
Well anyone who reads this site knows I'm a huge Doctor Who fan. I credit it with getting me interested in science fiction and fantasy in the first place. I was also largely impressed with the new series of Doctor Who when I acquired copies of it. But I'm hardly representative of the US audience (being Scottish for a start). So how is America, or at least the target segment of Americans, reacting to Doctor Who now that the first two episodes have aired?
So far it looks like reaction is pretty mixed. Doctor Who fans remain unsurprisingly supportive of the series and largely optimistic. Those who are more general fans of sci-fi but not very (or not at all) familiar with Doctor Who don't seem nearly as positive.
Ever Increasing Entropy: The Return of Doctor Who To America
fcodc's blog: Doc Who @ SciFi
The press however has been remarkably positive in its reporting of the new Doctor Who, which is promising for the ratings. And you know if those ratings are any good SciFi will be telling us all about it.
I'm glad SciFi showed the first two episodes back to back as I think the opening episode Rose is one of the weaker ones in the season. On the other hand episode three The Unquiet Dead is probably the first really good episode so lets hope the audience sticks around.
One of the problems I see is that it was presented in several places as a replacement for Battlestar Galatica. I most definitely isn't. For a start it's far more of a family show than Battlestar. The whole vibe is different and it probably attracts a different audience.
So anyone get a chance to watch these episodes for the first time, and if so what did you think?
Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his personal website eoghann.com..| 2.9 |
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
DW is most definitely aimed at a much younger audience than BSG. DW is rarely “gritty”, beyond introducing vague allegories which are soon swept over. Whilst teens and adults will get a lot out of DW, it has to be approached from the mindset of a family series.
To be honest I think this is why the BBC put off remaking/continuing Doctor Who for so long - they agonised over comparisons with ST:TNG, then they agonised over comparisons with Buffy, etc… there was always some cooler, hipper, more adult sci-fi show. But it took someone like Russel T Davies to appreciate it for what it was, a family show. There’s been a lot of press coverage in the UK about DW heralding the return of the family show in general, a genre that many considered dead since the early 90’s. However, no other shows seem to have captured that wide audience.
Mar 18th, 2006
I enjoyed the episodes. It was a good idea to run the first 2 back to back; we don’t really get any hints about the Doctor until “The End of the World”. Nice to see the Nestene again. I almost expected to see UNIT and Bambera.
Mar 19th, 2006
Yeah, I thought that showing it at 9pm, in the BSG slot, was maybe setting the wrong expectations. The audience being very different from 7pm on a Saturday night on BBC1.
Mar 20th, 2006
Reply to “How Is America Reacting To New Doctor Who?”