The Classic Series vs The New Series

[carmen_lj]

There's a curious discussion going on at teh OG just now (worry not, kids, this is nought to do with shipping or beloved companions) that's a general back and forth snarkorama over whether Classic or New Who is better. The answer, course, is that both are rather smashing and 'betterness' is so ridiculously subjective (and, indeed, Lambert is as different from Letts as Adams is from RTD, that viewing the whole Classic series as single entity is silly anyway) that it's an almost meaningless discussion.

Anyway point is that someone said that no-one who's got into Who through the New Series and then gone onto Classic will prefer the Classic one. So I was curious (and I'm pretty sure at least one person on teh flist has pretty explicitly stated that they do) and will thus discover truth by means of that Ultimate Skientific Test, the LJ poll.

[Poll #1041361]

I have reluctantly provided a cop-out choice. I will Totally Judge You for picking it.

Comments

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

Anyway point is that someone said that no-one who's got into Who through the New Series and then gone onto Classic will prefer the Classic one.

I think I need to find that thread, because I can refute them on that. (Dude, I love the new series. It's my show. But I love the classic series even more - there's more of it, for a start. And I love the books and audios more than either because I think they combine the best bits of both eras, which makes me even more of a statistical anomaly.)

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Its Why Is The Classic Series better thread. I was pretty sure about a few people of teh flist did, yes.

[some-stars.livejournal.com]

yeah, i got into it through Nine dvds gifted to me, and currently Eight and Five are my favorites, plus Ace(who is so awesome she gets her own Designated Era). I love love love the new stuff, and it's easier to watch, so usually it's equal, but right now i'm so bitter the scales are tipped.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

The pretty Doctors! :p

[cynjen]

Sometimes the new series is boring and sometimes the old series is boring. Sometimes the new series is exciting and sometimes the old series is funny. I just cannot decide so I am resigned to my filthiness.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Oooh, am being totally judgey at ye, rest assured. :p

[fahrbotdrusilla]

I watched some Four and Seven when I was little, but I'd consider myself to have watched the New Series first... because I only vaguely recall watching old skool, if that makes sense.

Old Series > New Series.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Aye, if that's the one that first made ye fannish, that makes sense. Also, icon!love.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

I honestly, srsly like the new ones better, from the plots to the acting. I just never care about what's going on and it takes too long, and while I don't need super-close-up shots, I do want to see people's facial reactions and hear properly and things like that. Although I haven't seen very much (Curse of Fenric, Castrovalva, and one or two others), so maybe my opinion will change.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Oh, dude, that's totally fair enough. And, yeah, I mean I actually like the slow pacing but it's pretty obvious why someone would find it dull, yes.

[thedorkygirl.livejournal.com]

Classic Who is more fun to watch, and I like that it takes longer to reach the end of the story. And, hell, I prefer the stories more. More aliens! More randomness! More fun special effects!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

More quarries alien planets!

[versaphile.livejournal.com]

What does Eight count as? He was my first.

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

The strange, awkward, and sadly overlooked missing link between the two.

If only the TVM could be overlooked more, and Eight overlooked less.

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

I watched New Who first, as I'm simply too young to have watched it the last time it aired over here. I love it very much, but I just don't associate my childhood with it, a major point when you look at old tv series: We watch it mostly for the nostalgia. My attention span is too short nowadays, but I simply love the storylines, the plot twists and the wobbly sets.

I AM SO NEUTRAL!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

OMG! WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO TURN A MAN NEUTRAL??

[faith-less-one.livejournal.com]

I picked New Series first and prefer Classic - although that's not strictly true. I did see a few old reruns before I saw the New Series - but I was young (around 6/7) and didn't really understand it.

Rewatching the Classic episodes now (aged 18) I find them much more compelling.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Eh, I think that one that made you fannish counts as the first, maybe?

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

The newer series is faster and shinier, but I really do think the older series holds up better. And it doesn't help that the female companions are just as helpless without the Doctor as they were in 1963.

Although Martha is still currently massively win.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Babs wasn't helpless in '64, darnation!

[davidbrider.livejournal.com]

Although I'm a big fan of the classic series, which I've been watching since I was five (Ark in Space is my first memory of any kind whatsoever), I've loved most of the new series. I think I'd possibly argue that the new series has been more consistent in quality (although I realise that's largely a subjective argument), but on the whole I think it's too close to call and I'd probably go for the neutral option.

David.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

And arguement for consistent quality could easily be made either way, and you've only got to pick three contiguous years out of 26 too, which is a fun cheat, yay.

[that_mireille]

The classic series has giant clams. And the Brigadier. And Ace. And Troughton.

I am not sure how the new series (which is lovely, I grant you) is meant to compare to any of that.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I have had one person at the OG volunteering to sign my Giant Clam petition. It pains me that I was not in fact being serious at the time.

[fannishnonsense]

The thing that gets me about this poll is that there are people who haven't seen the Classic series. I'm so sad for them!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

IT IS VERY BORING SOMETIMES.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"...someone said that no-one who's got into Who through the New Series and then gone onto Classic will prefer the Classic one."

*raises hand* Yes, they do! The old series has that nifty B-movie elan (yes, some of us actually like rubber monsters and cardboard sets for their own sake), long leisurely shaggy-dog storylines and far better companions. The new series is...fine, and all that, but if there were a fire I know which one I'd save.

[fannishnonsense]

DON'T MENTION FIRE IN REGARDS TO WHO! *is still traumatized about burnination*

[peeeeeeet.livejournal.com]

ONCE AGAIN THE SCIENCE OF LJ POLLS COMES GOOD!!!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I AM PLEASED AND A BIT SURPRISED. But my flist is obv wise.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

*uses FILTHY NEUTRAL icon* I love them both. Though it would be nonsense to say that there wouldn't be someone who preferred Classic over New having gatewayed though New Who. Or gatewayted though Classic over to New.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

It was said! I thought it silly too!

I am QUITE SHAMED that teh flist has turned out to be quite so NEUTRAL. The noncommital...people.

[glinda-penguin.livejournal.com]

Judge me in all my filthy neutrality. I refuse to acknowledge the difference between old and new series (better special effects Do. Not. Count...) because it tends to leave 8 floating in the ether and I love him too...

THERE IS NO OLD SKOOL OR NEW SKOOL ONLY DOCTOR WHO AND DOCTOR WHO = LOVE

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Omg! Eight/Grace love FTW! Dude! :D

[tellitslant]

Excuse me, the Classic series has TWO Romanas and the New series has none. Debate settled.

(Actually it's a tough, tough call, but yeah, New is too painfully earnest for me to love it quite as much.)

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I think ma big thing is that I find the old series a lot more rewatchable than New. New's so slick, so quick that I don't feel like I really miss anything whereas there's always an Exciting New Harnell Fluff waiting to be discovered.

[evil_plotbunny]

I LOVE THEM ALL AND WILL NOT APOLOGISE FOR IT!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I HATE ALL NEUTRALS, OMG!!

[daiseechain.livejournal.com]

I am filthy and must be hosed down. I love both.

I think Pertwee was my first, but I do not love him, for he had giant green monsters which scared me away. But I did love Baker - of the Tom variety.

But then my great Love! was Seven. And now it's Seven through Ten. Which I believe adds up to 17. Seventeen for win!

[calapine.livejournal.com]

You can love both and have a preference! Curse this neutrality!

[arefadedaway.livejournal.com]

One has Patrick Troughton and Romana. The other doesn't.

someone said that no-one who's got into Who through the New Series and then gone onto Classic will prefer the Classic one.

*raises hand* Yes, they do! This silly American never paid attention when it ran when I was little, and as a twenty-something I dig the nifty plasticine dinosaurs.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Ma flist is a big bunch of old skool freaks; I didn't think there'd be quite so many coming from New Skool, luvin Old Skool more.

[samantha2074.livejournal.com]

I wavered between Classic Series preference and filthy neutrality. The New Series makes me a lot madder, but part of that is its immediacy. The Classic Series benefits in part from the glow of nostalgia, but even its really rubbishy bits don't grate on me the same way as the New Series' do because they're not accompanied by a PR blitz telling me how awesomely genius-y the whole thing is.

To put it another way, I think that in general the New Series strives for a higher standard (this is a gross generalization, of course). When it achieves this standard, it's fantastic. It often doesn't. The Classic Series, on the other hand, more often reaches its more modest goals.

So, yeah, there's stuff I love in both and stuff I am highly critical and judgmental about. I figure it evens out. Or will in a few years time when some of my bitterness fades.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

The PR blitz can be a little...nauseating, yes. I enjoyed things a lot better when I started skipping the Confidentials.

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

On the one hand, Classic Who had Romana and Leela and Ace and Nimons and pants-ripping.

On the other hand, New Who has Martha and Donna and Weeping Angels.

...Actually, tallying that up, Classic wins on the grounds of wardrobe malfunctions. But you may judge me for my neutrality anyway.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

You are, naturally, judged. MOST SEVERLY.

[steverogerson.livejournal.com]

I watched the classic series first then the new series and think both are as good as each other, it's all one big long story.

[calapine.livejournal.com]

Quite so. If I'm dividing it up into bits, it makes more sense in my head to do it by producer era.

[immelmanturn.livejournal.com]

I'm probably a terrible person to claim to prefer the Classic series, as I haven't seen too terribly much of it. I've read some of the books, though, and have discovered a preference for WACKY SPACE HIJINKS over DEEP EMOTIONAL DRAMA AND PLOT. The New Series (or its fans, at the very least) need to stop taking things so seriously~)

[calapine.livejournal.com]

I'm really surprised by the number of New Old Skool fans who prefer the classic one. Wack space hijinks FTW!