James Smithurst

I've been a fan of Doctor Who since the 60's when especially the Cybermen scared the nappies off of me. The concept of an alien from another planet who can travel through time and space was appealing. The new doctors have become a joke over time as the stories and concepts have been bastardised to accommodate political correctness and to appeal to a different ethnic audience, or, increase its audience. When Thunderbirds was brought back to life, they bastardised the lovable character 'Brains' and turned him into an Indian. Why? I reject the new Thunderbirds because the concept and characters have changed for no other reason than greed and political correctness. The same with the Doctor. In the 50 years of Doctor Who history, I have never heard of a Timelord turning into a woman (except for one more recent episode where the Master turned into a chick). Has anyone noticed the stark increase of ethnics of a particular country in this season? I dare not say what country is dominating this series. I am not a racist. I am married to an Asian. But the way Doctor Who has been bastardised is not what I want to see. The story lines, characters, Cockney and Scottish accents and acting are bad. Add the issue of ethneticising and twisting the Doctor into something HE was never meant to be is an insult to viewers. In my opinion, David Tennant was the last Doctor.

Cinematography and landscape are great. The story is great as is the acting (generally speaking). The dialogue stinks. It's like seeing a 45 minute YouTube video on a scientific topic but the narrator talks and talks and the relevant information is only revealed coincidentally at the very end of the program - even worse, the topic wasn't addressed. The translation from German into American is horrible. Too much 'rrrr', 'mom' etc. with exaggerated US slang. I am bi-lingual so I understand both versions. I ultimately switched back to German because the 'rrrrr' got on my nerves. Then again, listening to German also got on my nerves. There's too much rambling on about God and the fate of humanity. Not sure if this came across in the American version. German drama actors stress their voices too much with endless pauses, as if reciting a poem, waiting for the climax. What a lot of viewers may not know is that just as American TV has a style of presentation, acting and recurring themes, so does German TV. Every older guy has what's called a 'Reibeisenstimme', meaning hoarse and throaty... a tough voice John Wayne style (e.g. the old cop), probably from too much booze and cigarettes. Some actors, most likely classically trained, speak in a certain dramatic, theatrical way. The facial expressions come with it. Acting-wise, generally speaking, it surpasses your average US acting. However, many conversations are contrived and meaningless. They ramble on. Too much zooming in on faces and waiting for the other actor, like the clock-maker, to respond and say something ethereal. Too many 'awe' faces. How stupid can the old cop and his female colleague be? Then there's the 'time machine'. A piece of mechanical clockwork and cogs and wheels and this can produce a black hole? OMG. How lame! It's like Doctor Who's Tardis. He uses a rubber mallet to hit controls - and that's how he flies his space ship/time machine. There's no realism here. I have to really use my imagination. If you like a story s l o w l y unfolding, that's great. I prefer a short, sharp and succinct movie as I have little time. I've now flicked through most episodes of season 2. When the cop from the special investigations unit arrives, he conducts himself like any German actor would in a German police drama. He appears emotionless, appears to know more than he's letting on and then asks specific, probing questions, like Derrick, a German police drama that went on for decades. I have no idea why people would fall for this boring progression of facial expressions and dialogue. The same when future Jonas meets his mother. Instead of telling her that he's her son from the future and shows her his scar etc., there's the shock, the awe and endless delay... too much delay for my taste. Get on with it. Do German students really have sex in female change rooms? Not while I was there, incidentally also in the 1980's. Also, I don't remember it raining every day all day long either. Give it a viewing. Generally well made with some caveats but I can't really immerse myself in God, unrealistic time machines, endless dialogue and unrealistic scripts.

Oh my god. I had to skip through this utterly pointless movie. Bad acting, bad script, the gratuitous slow motion violence and blatant lack of realism was really painful to watch (e.g. getting hit again and again in the face by a baseball bat and the guy is still lucid and talkative?). Hence the skipping through it. No wonder it ended up on Cheapflix, oops, Netflix. I should have practised guitar instead.