h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"Well I watched Dr Who. It was ok until the shop dummies started their walkabout. It reminded me of the old Dr Who baddies."

Well, yes, the Autons *are* old Doctor Who baddies which is why the Doctor didn't have to investigate what they were - he already knew because he's encountered them before

"Were they suppose to be taken seriously, it was more like a comedy take off by French and Saunders, especially the plastic bin that swallowed the young man."

A lot of it was a bit tongue-in-cheek. Don't forget that the new shows are written by fans of the original series and the often-silly villains is part of what makes Who what it is. The plastic bin *was* meant to be funny (hence the comedy burp) because there's no other way you can do it.

If I here a bad word said against the wheelie bin, I'll ask it's great uncle the Dalek to exterminate you

If I here a bad word said against the wheelie bin, I'll ask its great uncle the Dalek to exterminate you

If I hear a bad word said against the wheelie bin, I'll ask its great uncle the Dalek to exterminate you

Bamn begger and blast

Yeah, the wheelie bin was . It's kind of a shame we didn't see more of that sort of thing: People being attacked by computer keyboards, rampaging traffic cones etc. One of Kate Orman's Dr. Who books has an Auton spatula in it.

I am not against having a few comic moments in Dr Who but I like my baddies to be frightening. By the way I watched Dr Who from the beginning when I was 13 until I was well into my twenties, I rarely used to miss an episode. I was converted to being a startrek fan especially startrek voyager, a very good series indeed, but the last series Enterprise was no good , I gave up on it.

But didn't Dr Who start out as a kids' show? After all, you didn't get to see Clive die...

Excellent stuff. Ecclestone was great as the Doctor. His performance was serious-ly manic - he bounced through the whole episode. He reminds me of the old doctors but without the dandyish clothes. Billy Piper was very good. Having seen her on Parkinson last week she did impress me. She did train as an actress before being dragged into the music business. As she never really registered on my radar when she was doing pop records (apart from the name) I have no baggage with her. The 45 minutes episode was quite a rush/ride so there was little chance of good character development apart from Rose being able to put the boot in and the Doctor going for the peaceful solution to conflicts.

It was good to see Mark Benton as Clive the Dr watcher who was also in Second Coming (buy the DVD it is stunning). And any geeks out there Google Nicholas Briggs who was the voice of the plastic thingy in Rose.

A text from a friend was 'Welcome back to Cheeseville. That was fab.' and I have to agree. Dr Who has grown up a little bit for this century(the modern clothes work well I am glad to say) but we still need that cheesiness. It puts a smile on everyones faces, we enjoy it and that is what Dr Who is good old fashioned honest entertainment. And it isn't trying to be anything other than that.

I thought the dummies were scary. Yes, they're funny too, but didn't you fear for Rose's mum?

The new Doctor Who is sex-on-a-stick.

I'm going to enjoy this series, poor singleton that I am.

"But didn't Dr Who start out as a kids' show?"

It certainly did. The original series was supposed to be a kids sci-fi show with a subtle educational edge (largely about history). Then the Daleks appeared in the second story and they changed the emphasis. It's never really shaken-off it's "kids show" tag. Look at TV Cream.

"After all, you didn't get to see Clive die..."

There's already speculation that this means Clive hasn't died but, yes, I think that was to avoid us seeing his head blown clean off which is what my imagination said happened.

Does anyone remember the yeti wandering about the London underground.

Am I showing my age but I found Rose's mom more attractive than Rose.

Galaxy Babe - Oh yeah , it's enough to keep me watching *Stands by for they howls of 'HEATHEN!!!'*

We have to remember that this new series of Dr Who is aimed at fans of the original series as well as younger folk hence the tongue in cheek moments and the obvious pastiche(sp) moments, be fair it is the first episode so I'll give it a few weeks before I say it's cr@p or it's brilliant, at least Billie Piper isn't going to be a screamer like Bonnie Langford

GB, he's lovely in a really scary sort of way. He scared the pants off me in Revenger's Tragedy!

He was they quiet geeky psycopath in Shallow Grave, never trust the quiet ones

"I was converted to being a startrek fan especially startrek voyager, a very good series indeed"

You think that Voyerger was "a very good seires" and you're Criticizing Doctor Who?!! Voyerger was painful to watch. A big long expensive badly written missed opertunity that only bloomed into something worth suffering in the finalt 2 part episode. Doctor Who is an example of what's great about about British TV and Voyerger was one for the bad aspects of US TV.

Yes voyager was very good and very well written.

Please don't let this turn into a Trek vs Who arguement.

Sci-fi series vs Sci-fi series arguements never get anywhere.