"More Warlord misery." Topic

Having a look at warlords range.

Looks like new package design with the new modern logo instead of the generic classic logo. This even on the 4th doc and companions box. Annoying. The classic Blu-ray have been treated with the same disrespect.

Also, I see no 8th doc or his master.

Everything across Dr Who merchandising ranges have the new logo now. BBC decision I believe.

Don't think Warlord have the rights for the 1996 TV Movie.

Just so I'm clear.

You're upset because they changed the logo?

Not an unreasonable attitude. Change is usually bad.

I agree. All change is bad all the time

'Tis the season to be jolly!

I did wonder if they had the rights to the movie or not. Peter Cushings also.

Yeah, the logo change is a pain in the bum. Anyone wanting to display the classic boxes would mostly agree, I suspect.

All change bad? I agree, at least as far as classic TV and films and their merch.

At the end of the day there are Doctor Who fans who want nothing to do with the new tat.

It's hard to find any new classic merch not tarnished by the new series , from DVD special features to books. Slapping the new logo on classic merch just does not help an already frustrating situation, other than trying to get kids to buy them, but with so many having short attention spans and cgi addled brains, most kids would just find them "boring".

I wish I could jolly this up, but it just makes me sad.

I take it you don't like the new series then?

Gale Force Nine are doing a Doctor Who game called Time of the Daleks.

doctorwho.gf9games.com

And

link

They had some sets of the 8th Doctor, and others, that I believe were to be released as expansions.

There is also Black Tree Design miniatures that has the 8th Doctor.

As for the new series. I switched off before it began as I saw it as nothing more than a zombie in the corpse of a once great sci-fi. Looks like my guess was correct.

Many have been switching off as the ratings halved from its opening to about 5 million for the last episode. Even though the opening got a lot of views, there has been a consistent downhill slide to where it is now.

Its a sad death to a show I loved and watched ever since the 3rd Doctor era.

I don't think it's aimed at old folk. My kids love the new series.

You forgot to say "Get off my lawn" in your old man rant.

I'm not a new series fan. I can forgive Christopher eccs season as it was the first season back and was sure to have issues, but after that there really was no excuse.

After that, with David Tennant, there grew the huge fan base. Then Matt Smith scored with the 50th.

But that's is. I think the older Peter C's doctor put kids off (that's where I bailed even watching, not his age, just the continuing mindless stupidity of the show. I was actually grinding my teeth when watching), their only choice was a major dramatic unprecedented change like they have done. I would have gone for the change to a dog, "what do three barks mean doctor?". The new show has also been a big barrow pusher from the start for certain persuasions, mostly due to staffing choices, if that bothers the viewers or not.

I'm not surprised many tuned in for the "sideshow" of the recent series, but, yes, novelty over.

I think one is wise to skip the new stuff. If you want fan fiction, there are other choices.

I do recall seeing an 8th Warlord box, but can't find it on their site.

I guarantee the new tat is not aimed at old folk, or classic fans. So why slap it on "old folks" products?

Kids love used gum from off the ground also. Grain of salt there.

That said I'm sure there are children who love the classics and not the new stuff.

Dr who is not designed for 45min episodes as, knowing only 2-3 characters and a room (the TARDIS, in the new shows) there is not enough time to get to know other characters and tell the story. Star trek, for example, had almost 10 regulars plus redshirts, and many regular sets, so you know most of the people and places going in to each episode.

If people suggest I old, I'm not. I just like old things to be treated with respect. I'm disappointed others may feel otherwise.

Looks like the Gale Force Nine minis of Doctors 3 and 8, in one package, are scheduled to be released around the end of January 2019. Part of an expansion for their Time of the Daleks game.

My family love the Classic Who and have a laugh at the special effects. Still scares them too. Reminds me of the same when I was a kid! There not really interested in the new era that much. It became a very different beast when compared to the Classic era.

Still can't put my finger on what really has been missing from the new era when compared to the old. But something just hasn't gelled with the new era.

I just can't bring myself to watch the new series. Even in watching the trailers one is forced to view on every Who dvd (grrrr!) the thing looks too slick, too hip, too different in spirit from the original to be what it claims to be. It feels a little like a unholy blend of Harry Potter and a bloated Marvel film.

Just watched Death to the Daleks yesterday and loved it. Not a high point in the series, to be sure, but still great fun. Even bored Pertwee (it was one of his last serials in his last year, and he hated the Daleks) is better than what we get today. And yes, the early special effects are charming: this one featured a subterranean cave serpent made of hoover pipe suspended from a string! :D

The effects and production are half the appeal of the classics, even more so after watching the DVD extras (albeit with annoying modern series clutter). At least people had to think more about how to achieve the result than just clicking on a key board (there are still some traditional effects used in the new tat, to be clear, but seem lost amid the mess of pixels).

The main changes are the 45 min stories, annoying background singing? And the rush rush, gabble gabble. Others are the face missing for several years, one room steam punk TARDIS (granted the second control room and the movie veered that way), all the lovey doveys…

Basically what ever made doctor who, doctor who, outside of the name, MAN and police box, plus basic baddies, was changed. This set up would allow Peter Cushings doctor to be cannon.

It has also suffered from them trying to make the doctor some type of godly figure. Granted the seventh began to look in that direction, but the modern stuff just got ridiculous.

In the end, break the formula and you break the show. The X files and sg1 went weird in the last few seasons, messing with formula and the axe fell.

I noticed that too! The turning of the Doctor into some kind of demigod. That just wasn't who the Doctor was in the Classic era. His companions were there to act as the strong arm defender or helper in the Classic era, doing what the Doctor couldn't or shouldn't do given his nature. Nowadays the companions seem to be there to either venerate him or fall in love with him. Its just weird and they end up performing a secondary role rather than being an important part of the story's plot-line. They were strong characters in the Classic era too. Just look at Sarah Jane Smith or Romana for example.

It also seems to me that the new era is trying to be a shock horror show first and a sci-fi second. The classic era involved the bad guys pulling the strings in the background and not even being revealed until the second episode in many cases. They were always plotting and scheming whilst working through some double agent. This added depth and intrigue to the story and kept you wondering. It also made the monsters more sinister in my view as they appeared more ruthless and dangerous and a good foil to the Doctor. The Master was a classic example of this type of story writing.

I just finished watching Revenge of the Cybermen the other day and it typified the style of the Classic era Doctor Who stories which were more on intrigue and sub-plotting. The modern era seems more to be to be just running around like a headless chicken before the bomb goes off, kind of stories. So the classic era stories had a lot more substance in my view.

Spot on.

In the modern series defence (???!!!), There are some good story ideas, like the weeping angels or the one where he keeps dying and respawning, but they just are not doctor who stories, more for the twilight zone (which is said to be coming back again) and the like. Showing how flash in the pan the stories have become.

Since you brought up the Weeping Angels, I'll use them as an example of what is happening with the modern Who.

Their first apeparance was a great piece of television storytelling – an episode that could be used to hook a newcomer to the show. They were a unique and interesting adversary, and the Doctor and Company managed to defeat them through being clever enough to use their rules against them.

Then the Weeping Angels are brought back, and brought back, and each time, they are less interesting – because each time, the writers break the rules that make them what they are, and rely on numbers or size to make up for the fact that they are a puzzle that has already been solved.

While each series had at least a couple of poorly written episodes, it was around teh M<Att Smith timeframe that the number grew – and for Capaldi's early seasons good episodes were the rarity (mostly because the show was so Clara focused and the writers were slow to allow Capaldi's Doctor to form as a character rather than a side-kick for Clara). Don't get me wrong, the Clara focus was important when Smith was the Doctor, because heis Doctor couldn;t carry the show, and she could. It's just that after Capaldi was cast, they should have been quicker to allow him to become the focus of the show.

Clara was, perhaps, the definition of what's wrong with the new tat.

Gabble gabble gabble…

Is she gone now?… No she's not!
Is she gone now?… No she's back!
Kill me now…

Being male, I see one redeeming factor in her character. Not enough to make a good character, unfortunatly.

I have also given up trying to figure out the daleks thing and how she was so important.

The classics could allow companions to go gracefully. Clara was a dead horse being shamelessly flogged all the way.

Some people found Mel annoying. Meet Clara.

With the number of new releases for the range so far this year I get the impression Warlord have lost interest in Dr Who.

From what I hear, merch for Doctor Who isn't really selling these days. I believe the Classic DVD's still sell, but not much else. So if that's true, then Warlord would be experiencing the same issue.

I own a number of their Exterminate monster sets. But I don't play Exterminate. I play the Doctor Who Miniatures Game. So I can't say whether the Exterminate game system is letting them down also.

New series fans have probably stopped buying (or never started) and moved into Game of thrones or whatever the new big thing is.

Classic fans may be being put off by the scale, inclusion of modern figures and or the re branding.

Looks like any new releases have been pushed back to late summer while Warlord promote yet another new game.

Or, possibly they are worried about the sinking popularity of the show, and its impact on sales?

I would doubt the classic series is suffering from much of a popularity shrink, especially with the blurays coming out.

Perhaps Warlord should move their focus to just doing classic figures. Those fans would have more guaranteed longevity than current shows could maintain.

Some classic plastics could help. Although I get the idea of only doing classic metal, basic Daleks and Cybermen and unit would be a good cheaper option.

A multi part Dalek sprue could allow for a upgrade sprue or metal bits to make any variety of Dalek.

Also if they did better story based boxes (with more than 3 figures) like lord of the rings did and added a nice terrain price/displaybase in resin that would be topps for gamers and non gamers alike.