JNT era appreciation thread!

An incredible era of Doctor Who which frequently delivers in every department. I love the companions, the scores, the fashion and the experimental nature of the stories. I'm really getting back into the Colin Baker stuff again as well as finding a lot of enjoyment in some of Peter Davison's lesser regarded stories that I didn't initially rate that highly. There's a lot of good stories in the era which retain that unique Doctor Who feel while also doing something different and innovative.

The JNT era sure helped me appreciate the better eras beforehand a hell of a lot more.

80s Who is my least favorite decade of the original series but I can still find a lot of enjoyable, interesting good stuff in there and for all it's faults. I find the stuff I like outweighs the stuff I dislike.

Indrid Mercury wrote:80s Who is my least favorite decade of the original series but I can still find a lot of enjoyable, interesting good stuff in there and for all it's faults. I find the stuff I like outweighs the stuff I dislike.

Hmm... I suppose sometimes the flaws were just a matter of not being able to quite stick the landing with the given story. The Visitation, for instance had a pretty solid script but could've really done with a director like Harper to make the Terileptils more effective and menacing.

But sometimes they did indeed get lucky, and we got gold.

I liked the era. Consistently well written stories with the occasional turkey. The main problem for me was the occasional casting decision when totally innapropriate choices were made be it a companion or guest actor / actress, but with the exception of the Hinchcliffe years this was as prone to happen in any era of the show. I dont think Turner ever had as good judgement re companions as Hinchcliffe or, for that matter, Williams. Whatever i think of Williams as a producer, he made excellent choices in Mary Tam and Lalla Ward as companions.

I agree with Stegnos re the casting decisions.
Generally speaking, you could say that NuWho has helped me to appreciate 80s Who more.
For me, a lot of enjoyment of Dr Who comes from striking the right tone, and also my enjoyment is very performance based. If a story gets these elements right then it won't stop me enjoying a story with a few plot holes or whatever. So long as the writing maintains the integrity of the characters doesn't let the overall tone lose its core gravitas, then I'm less affected by direction and plotting than I am by poor acting or loss of tone.
Probably the best example of getting all these things right is Caves of Androzani, which is a true classic.
Revelation of the Daleks would be another one, but although the tone is perfect, (Alexi Sayle's terrible panto death aside) it's let down by a couple of poor performances, most notably Jenny Tomasin.
Whereas Resurrection of the Daleks, although the plot is a mess, it doesn't stop me enjoying it because all the other factors are largely right. Similar with Ghost Light, which gets a pass for me because I enjoy the atmosphere of it. Time, repeat viewing, and early Big Finish audios have helped to mellow my reaction those areas where McCoy and Aldred's acting skills are somewhat limited. Those moments no longer effect my enjoyment of Remembrance of the Daleks, which is probably my favourite story of the entire decade. But when the tone falls into pantomime like S24, I find it unwatchable; despite several attempts to mellow towards it. But in S26, because they moved away from the panto and deliberately re-set the tone, I find it far more watchable, if I'm in a forgiving mood towards some of the acting.
It was the 70s that captured my affections and that will never change, so the 80s will always be lesser decade for me, (the 60s in second place for atmosphere and creativity alone) but the 80s is not so easy to dismiss in one fell swoop. It has little peaks and troughs  throughout, but apart from the jump in quality in its final season; I really think it began to sink more than it swam (for a variety of reasons) from the Colin Baker era onwards.
Finally, it suits me very well to class S17 as part of the 80s. I think I'd rather watch S26 than 17, because at least they were trying to get it right; whereas some of 17 is almost as panto as 24.

Ludders wrote:some of 17 is almost as panto as 24.

And that's an issue because?

Pepsi Maxil wrote:

Ludders wrote:some of 17 is almost as panto as 24.

And that's an issue because?

If you gotta ask, you'll never know.

Ludders wrote:

Pepsi Maxil wrote:

Ludders wrote:some of 17 is almost as panto as 24.

And that's an issue because?

If you gotta ask, you'll never know.

I would actually be more embarrassed if someone walked in while I was watching this than anything from those two seasons:

If the naffness of S24 could be isolated down to mere moments, then it would be so much easier to forgive.

Ludders wrote:If the naffness of S24 could be isolated down to mere moments, then it would be so much easier to forgive.

I agree. But sadly the 80's was the beginning of the show's post-common sense era.

Tanmann wrote:

Ludders wrote:If the naffness of S24 could be isolated down to mere moments, then it would be so much easier to forgive.

I agree. But sadly the 80's was the beginning of the show's post-common sense era.

I might argue that Williams was the beginning, even if it wasn't immediate.

Ludders wrote:If the naffness of S24 could be isolated down to mere moments, then it would be so much easier to forgive.

You should stop letting a yellowed BBC document influence your opinion on the season

Pepsi Maxil wrote:

Ludders wrote:If the naffness of S24 could be isolated down to mere moments, then it would be so much easier to forgive.

You should stop letting a yellowed BBC document influence your opinion on the season

I've never seen said document, but I agree with Ludders all the same.

Pepsi Maxil wrote:

Tanmann wrote:I agree with Ludders

Okay I'll say one positive thing about Season 24.

It was at least the beginnings of a step in the right direction after the worst excesses of Saward and Levine. Or at least it did effectively wipe the slate clean.

Pepsi Maxil wrote:

Ludders wrote:If the naffness of S24 could be isolated down to mere moments, then it would be so much easier to forgive.

You should stop letting a yellowed BBC document influence your opinion on the season

My opinion is grounded in seeing it at the time it was broadcast, thus before said document existed.

Fair enough. I just love the surreal and whimsical nature of it all.

Pepsi Maxil wrote:Fair enough. I just love the surreal and whimsical nature of it all.

Which in itself is fair enough. Keep on defending it!

I hope that at least you'll understand from my post above what I like and don't like about Dr Who, and it's not all about McCoy bashing for the sake of it, considering that I find S26 much more preferable.

Ludders wrote:

Pepsi Maxil wrote:Fair enough. I just love the surreal and whimsical nature of it all.

Which in itself is fair enough. Keep on defending it!

I hope that at least you'll understand from my post above what I like and don't like about Dr Who, and it's not all about McCoy bashing for the sake of it, considering that I find S26 much more preferable.

Absolutely. I do understand your point of view even if I don't agree with it. We're two very different types of fans. I feel that we'd probably agree more on some of the Davison era, though.

Probably so.
Also, I'm a piss-taking bastard sometimes. And I think you're getting used to that now.

The JNT era is the 80s. And I love 80s Who. Yeah, it's not perfect (replacing Lalla and K9 with the Terrible Trio is a true WTF moment, and Trial sucks arse) but then nothing is (large chunks of the Pertwee era are pretty terrible too, let's be honest) but for the most part it's fabulous stuff with some of the best stories in the program's history.
I'd take JNT back over any of the hacks pretending to be "showrunners" this century any day.

He gave us what I think are the best three seasons of Who: 18-20, and the worst three: 23-25.

You really need to rewatch 25. I really don't get your dislike of it, makes no sense.

Remembrance is great (the only Dalek stories I'd rank significantly higher are Day and Evil) and I like Silver Nemesis and think it's underrated. But I just can't get into the rest of it.

Similarly to 24 (although I'll admit nothing in 24 is as good as Remembrance), I really only like 2/4 stories. I'd actually rank 23 higher because I like 3/4 stories (although again, none of them are as good as Remembrance).

But then, while I watched Happiness Patrol last week and still wasn't into it, I haven't watched Greatest Show in years, maybe I'll put it on tonight...