Doctor Who

[Vamp]

I think it's a stretch to suggest that RTD's cliffhangers are much worse than the ones under Moffat. Lest we forget that Moffat has had love save the day and set up the Doctor's name as the mystery of the show and sort of hand waved it off into there being a secret Doctor. Not that you should reveal the Doctor's real name and of course it's a really boring plot point anyway. 

Both are guilty of having bad resolutions, if you even think that is a crime when doing Doctor Who. I think it's sometimes part of the charm in all honesty. 

I still think Series 6 is the worst series of the revival. Which is odd because individual episodes in it are great but overall it's a painful slog. The Pirate episode being utterly dismal and the only live transmission of an episode where I felt like giving up. And everything that happens to Amy feels like it should have a far bigger character response than it does. 

[TheWho87]

8 hours ago, Skummy said:

Also, Rose is tied up in one of my least favourite Doctor Who moments ever. I watched the first couple of episodes of New Who and hated it, so skipped until the Dalek episode. I liked the idea of the museum, loved that there was a Cyberman head in there before we'd ever seen them in the series, and figured this was the start of them acknowledging the show's history, and in a reasonably subtle way. Instead, it was one of the most appalling episodes I've seen. Aside from introducing the Dalek only to all but immediately kill its credibility as a scary monster with, "I just want to see sunlight", and aside from the Dalek giving a "we're not so different, you and I" speech to the Doctor that goes completely over his head, only for it to work perfectly when Rose says it later on, it had one scene that I just fucking hated, I was practically shouting at the TV at the time.

Rose runs up a flight of stairs to escape the Dalek. She then shouts down at it, mocking it for not being able to climb stairs. Two things wrong with that - Rose has never seen a Dalek before, so has no idea about them not being able to climb stairs, and Daleks had been able to fly/hover since the '80s. So it doesn't make sense as a bit of in-character continuity on two levels - either Rose has never seen or heard of one, so "it can't climb stairs" would be a bizarre conclusion to jump to, or she's at least heard of them through stories from the Doctor, who has inexplicably forgotten that they developed the ability to fly, despite the fact that he's just spent hundred of years in the Time War fighting them - and it doesn't even make sense as a bit of fan-service, because it ignores the stories in the '80s. It's a blatant cheap line and one instance of the "audience surrogate" approach being a mis-step, for me.

And to piss you off even more, the Dalek design for NuWho was specifically made so Billie Piper could look them directly in the eye, thats why they tried to reboot them with the teletubbie coloured ones, that seemed to be taller so Karen Gillan could look them in the eye, but due to them not being popular they fell back to the older "Rose" daleks.

It was always a joke that the Daleks couldent climb stairs, even after Rememberance, their design was always never stair friendly even though there are examples of them climbing them as well as ladders off screen in the classic series.

I don't think its too far for Rose to comment about stairs as well as other humans since they are experiencing them for the first time. especally since it's always been the logic that UNIT cover up any alien contact with Earth, plus considering that the Doctor at the time was under the idea he had wiped both the Time Lords and the Daleks out of existance due to the Time War I don't think he would need to mention anything about the Daleks until they showed up.

[DFF]

Really enjoyed that episode. 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Will be watching tonight's episode tomorrow when I get home after cricket.

 

However, I agree with Skummy about Moffat vs RTD. Yeah Moffat's got carried away in Who machina and suchlike and making companions the centre of the universe...and I definitely hope Bill stays as the "eyes, ears and mouth" of the viewer......but I'd hapily take Moffat over RTD all day long. ESPECIALLY when it comes to two-parters.

 

I also agree with everyone who loves Bill. Seriously, the stuff she says, like referring to the Dr as "Dr What" in a radio trailer....or asking all these slightly silly questions/making statements that just make perfect sense but were never asked/said, it's just spot on. I find her extremely likeable as a character.

[hugobomb]

Yeah that episode was great. Possibly the best of this series so far. Which is shaping up to be strongest series of New Who so far seeing as the worst episode is still a perfectly decent bit of television. 

[Skummy]

I mostly enjoyed that one...incredibly bleak, genuinely scary in places, but I do get the feeling that the whole "simulation" bit could be used to be a bit of a cop-out and retcon all sorts of things, or just get brushed under the carpet in the next episode. The bits with jumping from Missy's "execution" back to present day was very Moffat, just needlessly hopping between continuity points for no real purpose, though didn't take away too much from the story.

I'm not feeling the blindness gimmick, either, it didn't add anything to this episode, and unless it's going to seriously tie into something in the next, it feels a bit of a waste of time.

I get the feeling that The Master is going to be behind whatever this alien invasion is, and the blindness of the Doctor will just be a heavy-handed metaphor for him not having been able to "see" that all along.

[GhostMachine]

Someone at another board called it the weakest episode of the season so far.

I've yet to figure out what he's snorting or smoking.

[Benji]

I thought that episode was okay, it wasn't bad, but I have to admit it didn't really hold my interest and I felt myself looking at my phone several times after they all entered the TARDIS. Will have to give it another go.

[DFF]

Another really solid episode! I'm going to be so gutted when Capaldi and Mackie leave

[GhostMachine]

For the record, I'm not a fan of three-parters.

I still think the Doctor being blind is a huge plothole. If Eleven could use up some regeneration energy to fix River Song's wrist, then why can't Twelve do the same to fix his own eyes?

 

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Next week's episode looks better than this week's, but at least it did build nicely and had the fella from My Parents Are Aliens and Bluestone 42, which is always a winner.

 

Bill's comment about whether the aliens were zombies was excellent. It totally followed up on a thought I had after them needing to be "invited" and showed again that she's the voice of the audience.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

So is next week's Earth a real Earth that has been alternate-historyised or is it a Matrix which only Bill has awareness of and the Doctor has been left outside of hence the TV messages?

 

I could roll with more simulation/Matrixy stuff.

[Ruki]

Parts of this episode really felt like a finale, but there are still 4 more episodes left.

[GhostMachine]

The 2 and a half/3 parter was one part too long.

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I've JUST started watching this episode, but surely it's not a fluke that Bill's hair is swept over to look like Winston Smith's in 1984. The overalls are basically the same.

 

Very lush set-up with the whole "truth" thing.

 

Looking forward to the rest of it.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

...So Michelle Gomez is now 50 and I still fancy her.

[DFF]

I thought the last episode wasn't bad, though not great either. For me, it suffered from modern multi-part Who stories where the set-up is a lot stronger than the pay off.

I hope we get the monks back down the line - they were a pretty neat villain.

[Benji]

17 minutes ago, DFF said:

it suffered from modern multi-part Who stories where the set-up is a lot stronger than the pay off

To be honest, I don't even feel like the set-up was that good. They weren't bad episodes, but they've been by far the weakest of the series so far. I don't know why they insist on doing multi-part stories because outside of maybe Impossible Planet/The Beast Below and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, I can't recall any others that I really liked in the 12 years since it was revived.

[DFF]

A further thought on the monks-  weren't we told that they only took 'monk' form so that it was something that humans could relate too? Could be neat to have them turn up on another planet in another guise and have the doctor have to work it out.

[Naitch]

2 hours ago, DFF said:

A further thought on the monks-  weren't we told that they only took 'monk' form so that it was something that humans could relate too? Could be neat to have them turn up on another planet in another guise and have the doctor have to work it out.

A plot hole regarding this in the latest episode is that Missy immediately knew who the "Monks" were when the Doctor and Bill went to her for help.