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Post by Whovitt on Apr 3, 2020 4:58:26 GMT
When I see people talking about watching Classic Series stories, one of things that always surprises me is how many people say "I watched the first two episodes" of something, then later "I watched the last two episodes". Whenever I feel like watching a Classic story, I always pick one that I have the time to watch all in one go. If I don't have the time, I won't watch any of it. I find the idea of breaking the story up into chunks a strange one (and I get how stupid that sounds, as that's how they were originally meant to be viewed in the first place). I get that it's not always easy to find the time to watch a complete six-part story (two-and-a-half hours is quite a time sink), but I tend to wait until I know I have the time for one before starting. And call me weird and say I have far too much time on my hands, but I only ever watch The War Games in a single sitting Basically, I'm just curious to know how many people are happy to watch stories in bits and how many prefer to watch it all at once? Or do you do both depending on how much time you have?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 5:34:18 GMT
I prefer to watch them all in one sitting. It's an old tradition of serials with me, I don't like breaking them up into separate sessions. A lot of these stories being created in an era where binge watching just wasn't possible, they build up their own momentum, an emotional inertia that propels you from one episode to the next. Stopping midway tends to damage that. It feels like stopping halfway through a film. Like recently, with the last three episodes of Series 12, it was glorious to go immediately from the mysterious buildup of The Haunting of Villa Diodati to the desperate rush of Ascension of the Cybermen to the methodical explanation of The Timeless Children. Overture, allegro, crescendo. The results were rather powerful. Each episode being a reward for the last.
I tend to look on it this way. With the credits removed, a four-parter is usually 90-minutes; a six-parter is 2-hours and 10-minutes(ish). Film length. Anything an hour longer than those and I'll take a break about halfway. Say, a breather between "Coronas of the Sun" and "Volcano" for Master Plan, "Episode Four" of The Invasion or "Episode Five" of The War Games. Because as much as I'll enjoy it, I won't actually take it in, which defeats the purpose somewhat.
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Post by constonks on Apr 3, 2020 6:37:19 GMT
As many episodes as I can do at the time. If I lose momentum/start losing focus, I'll let the episode I'm watching end and shut it off.
Sometimes that's only one or two episodes. At the beginning of February, though, I watched Krotons 2-4 & Seeds 1-6 on a single day.
(And when I watched through Classic Who back in 2012, I did NINETEEN one day!)
PS. Regarding The War Games - we're watching it one or two at a time this week, but last time I watched it I sat down and did the whole thing in one go and it was magnificent.
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Post by sherlock on Apr 3, 2020 9:04:57 GMT
I’ve never split up serials. I even once watched the entirety of The Trial of a Time Lord in a single day (I haven’t rewatched since, but one day I might).
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shutupbanks
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Post by shutupbanks on Apr 3, 2020 9:17:34 GMT
I’ll usually watch them like a movie ie all in one go. That way you can take in the whole lot in one gulp. The problem with that is that the pacing on some stories sometimes jars from episode to episode simply because you aren’t waiting a week between them (most of Pertwee, I’m looking at you).
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mbt66
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Post by mbt66 on Apr 3, 2020 9:25:29 GMT
I watch the story in one go and I wish the makers of the Blu-rays would put a “feature film” version on the sets for every story. Even if it was simply the four episodes knitted together without the cliffhanger duplication.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 10:28:46 GMT
I usually watch old Doctor Who episodes one or two episodes at a time, although when I have had nothing much to do and ended up watching a whole story in one go I found myself getting a bit bored. You notice the padding more when watching all the episodes together. (Even I can't do Planet of the Daleks in one sitting!) Most six episode Doctor Who stories would fit in to four episodes and you'd lose nothing, while the four episode stories could easily be tightened up too if you lost all the running around, and it wouldn't affect the actual story. But that's how Doctor Who was in those days, the BBC weren't making a film they were making episodic TV.
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Post by number13 on Apr 3, 2020 11:19:00 GMT
It varies, but these days more often than not I'll split a story into pairs of episodes on successive evenings for the practical reason it fits my schedule. In the past I would often watch a four-parter in one sitting and I still do sometimes, but perhaps because I grew up in the broadcast-only, no videos, no 'boxsets' age, it feels right to watch 'Doctor Who' in episodic form.
As Stevo says, they were written to be watched that way and many stories probably look better for doing so. Occasionally and just for the fun of it I've even done an 'era-authentic' rewatch spread over successive Saturdays and enjoyed that too.
On the other hand, sitting down with a top six-parter like 'The Sea Devils' or 'Genesis' or 'Talons' or the finally-completed 'Shada' is a great way to spend a winter evening!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 11:20:10 GMT
In general I tend to encourage two episodes a time if it's a four part or three episodes if its a six part tale. That's usually so the final part episode does not lose impact. Too often when watching with family, they will say - lets have the next episode, but will be ready for something else by episode four. Too often the final episode(s) get missed as they have been watched so many times before and after a few days gap, we don't get around to completing them. Hence the two evenings viewing strategy to ensure they get completed.
I used to like putting in the early VHS releases when I had my own place, as there was no obvious break point, so found that I would watch the lot in a sitting, just like the old times.
Modern attention spans seem to have had an impact on the amount watched in one go.
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Post by barnabaslives on Apr 3, 2020 11:20:25 GMT
I certainly prefer to watch an entire story at a time but sometimes I have to watch a story as I can. Same as with the audios, I very much prefer to listen to an audio in one sitting but if it's something I really want to hear I might listen to it in eight sittings if I have to. That's actually happened a number of times. I guess that means whatever is convenient?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2020 11:43:56 GMT
It varies, but these days more often than not I'll split a story into pairs of episodes on successive evenings for the practical reason it fits my schedule. In the past I would often watch a four-parter in one sitting and I still do sometimes, but perhaps because I grew up in the broadcast-only, no videos, no 'boxsets' age, it feels right to watch 'Doctor Who' in episodic form.
As Stevo says, they were written to be watched that way and many stories probably look better for doing so. Occasionally and just for the fun of it I've even done an 'era-authentic' rewatch spread over successive Saturdays and enjoyed that too.
On the other hand, sitting down with a top six-parter like 'The Sea Devils' or 'Genesis' or 'Talons' or the finally-completed 'Shada' is a great way to spend a winter evening!
Terry Nation and Malcolm Hulke's stories tended to be very forgiving towards audiences just tuning in halfway. The first two/three minutes nearly always had that moment of being patted on the shoulder and allowed to get your bearings. A sort of... narrative airlock, almost, balancing between pressures. It was very much geared towards those cliffhangers as hitching posts for narrative changes. That's in stark contrast to something written by John Lucarotti or Bob Holmes where you step in and immediately feel like you've missed something. I think you can separate a lot of stories out into two broad categories: those structured around those cut-off points and those that just used a serendipitous moment of peril to bow out. The Robots of Death is a good example. The scripted end to "Part One" (D-84 advances on Leela) is quite different to what was actually used in the final programme (the Doctor's trapped in the hopper).
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Post by mark687 on Apr 3, 2020 11:46:30 GMT
A whole Serial at a time mainly in random order.
Regards
mark687
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Post by number13 on Apr 3, 2020 13:01:17 GMT
It varies, but these days more often than not I'll split a story into pairs of episodes on successive evenings for the practical reason it fits my schedule. In the past I would often watch a four-parter in one sitting and I still do sometimes, but perhaps because I grew up in the broadcast-only, no videos, no 'boxsets' age, it feels right to watch 'Doctor Who' in episodic form.
As Stevo says, they were written to be watched that way and many stories probably look better for doing so. Occasionally and just for the fun of it I've even done an 'era-authentic' rewatch spread over successive Saturdays and enjoyed that too.
On the other hand, sitting down with a top six-parter like 'The Sea Devils' or 'Genesis' or 'Talons' or the finally-completed 'Shada' is a great way to spend a winter evening!
Terry Nation and Malcolm Hulke's stories tended to be very forgiving towards audiences just tuning in halfway. The first two/three minutes nearly always had that moment of being patted on the shoulder and allowed to get your bearings. A sort of... narrative airlock, almost, balancing between pressures. It was very much geared towards those cliffhangers as hitching posts for narrative changes. That's in stark contrast to something written by John Lucarotti or Bob Holmes where you step in and immediately feel like you've missed something. I think you can separate a lot of stories out into two broad categories: those structured around those cut-off points and those that just used a serendipitous moment of peril to bow out. The Robots of Death is a good example. The scripted end to "Part One" (D-84 advances on Leela) is quite different to what was actually used in the final programme (the Doctor's trapped in the hopper). Agree, they were very good at the 'Saturday Matinee' type of storytelling where you could even miss an episode and pick up the story again (with a bit of help from friends, telling you all about it and just how fabulous an episode you'd missed... )
There's also a third category - those where the episode ran out of time for some reason or had a technical hitch and we finish with (for example) a perilous floor pattern...
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Post by number13 on Apr 3, 2020 13:03:37 GMT
A whole Serial at a time mainly in random order. Regards mark687 The serials in random order, or the episodes?
(Oh the serials, obviously yes of course... )
EDIT: I was joking, but I did once play a BF DL with 'shuffle' on by accident and thought it was very timey-wimey storytelling. (It was a CC - 'Resistance' I think; if it had been 'The Jigsaw War' it wouldn't have mattered, but it wasn't!)
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Post by mark687 on Apr 3, 2020 13:09:26 GMT
A whole Serial at a time mainly in random order. Regards mark687 The serials in random order, or the episodes?
(Oh the serials, obviously yes of course... ) Well that's happened once or twice thanks to early 90s UK Gold Showings LOL Regards mark687
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Post by number13 on Apr 3, 2020 13:13:08 GMT
The serials in random order, or the episodes?
(Oh the serials, obviously yes of course... ) Well that's happened once or twice thanks early 90s UK Gold Showings LOL Regards mark687 And don't forget the Twitch special showing of that Pertwee classic story 'Invasion of the DinoDaleks'
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Post by OneTen on Apr 3, 2020 14:02:00 GMT
I've selected "in groups of episodes" but what that really means for me is groups of maximum one.
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Post by project37 on Apr 3, 2020 14:10:22 GMT
I discovered Doctor Who in the 80s and my local PBS station in America aired them as omnibus editions. I didn't really get to see them in episodic form until the DVDs started coming out years later. That was a revelation! They're not really written to be watched like a Netflix binge model, but I have the nostalgia of watching them as movie-length features so my preference is all in one go. That's my preference, anyway. Being a parent and currently in COVID-19 lockdown means that I'll take whatever I can get! There's no option for "A few minutes at a time"!
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Post by tuigirl on Apr 3, 2020 17:58:01 GMT
Since I am a working person with limited time... plus the genetic inability to sit still for a longer period of time... I most of the time watch one or two episodes, sometimes I even split the episodes and watch half during breakfast and the rest at night. If I decide to watch a whole story, it will be with breaks. Enemy of the world for example, which I have now seen a couple of times, I watched half of the serial around lunchtime and the rest in the evening. But the ants in my bottom would prevent me to do it all in one go. This is also the reason I have never been to a Star Wars/ Lord of the Rings cinema marathon. I think after 2 hours, it would turn into some modern type of torture for me.
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Post by polly on Apr 3, 2020 18:03:16 GMT
Well, I usually sit on the couch, with my eyes open and gazing in the direction of my television, which, with any luck, will be displaying an episode of classic Doctor Who. But seriously, folks. I say "groups of episodes" fits best. Mr Polly and I watch 2-3 hours of TV most weeknights. We usually have multiple series on the go and watch a few episodes from each on any given evening. It's like our own home video version of prime time, I guess. For example, Wednesday night, we watched 2 episodes of Doctor Who, 2 episodes of Fawlty Towers, and 2 episodes of MASH. Sometimes it's divvied up differently depending on what's on the roster. No regard for when individual stories begin or end. I know for a fact we did Kroll 3-4 and Armageddon Factor 1 on the same night. I do however make sure we don't finish a season and begin the next on the same evening. Just doesn't feel right.
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