Doctor Who

stiggie;n3554594 said:
I'm one of the most liberal people on the forum Dr_Grip. I fall on the progressive side of almost any argument. I'm pro-equality, pro-immigration, pro-voluntary euthanasia, pro-LGBTQI rights, pro-civil liberties, pro-socialised medicine and education. So what does it say that even I think they have gone over the top.




You may not have noticed that I clearly said that there is nothing wrong with that, or any of the other things on the list. Just that they were all part of a long list of actions carefully designed to avoid giving anybody the opportunity to accuse the BBC of not being politically correct. Such concerns should not be prioritised over good storytelling.

BTW, I don't use "agenda" as a dirty word. Everybody had some sort of agenda. That isn't a bad thing.




Be careful what you wish for. :p

The opening credits are terrible. The new recording of the theme tune does nothing for me and I don't know what the graphics are supposed to be, but they certainly aren't the time vortex. I can't comment on the closing credits sequence because every time it comes on it is spoken over by an annoying little man inviting me to switch to a sister channel to watch a bunch of tragically obsessed fans discuss the episode that just aired.

The crystalline-looking new TARDIS interior lacks character. It reminds me of being in a cave.

I'm on the fence about Jodie's performance as the Doctor. There are times (when she is acting manic) that she seems to be channeling David Tennant, who is my favourite Doctor. Even the shape of her smile reminds me of Tennant. But I don't think the writers are doing her any favours. I'm still waiting to see her demonstrate the sort of self-confidence usually displayed by Doctor. The kind of thing where the Doctor declared that Earth is defended, or revealed themselves as a Timelord, making the alien menace realise just how much trouble they're in. Or when they are faced with only having a few minutes to save the universe and announcing that it is more than enough time.

The episodes so far haven't impressed me much. The bad-guys haven't been very scary or very memorable. I've already forgotten what the bad-guy in the first episode was called and what his motives were, he was so forgettable. The Rosa Parks episode annoyed the fuck out of me. Instead of simply stopping the bad-guy from interfering with the timeline, they let him keep doing it then ran around after him trying to fix his meddling piece by piece. It made no sense. I also didn't like that he was just a racist bigot from the far future. It might be the Trekker in me speaking, but I like to think that humanity will have moved on from racism in the future. The arachnids episode wasn't as scary as it should have been. It was a trapped-while-being-hunted episode in the vein of the Scottish werewolf episode "Tooth and Claw", all the weeping angels episodes or the "Silence in the Library". It didn't live up to any of those. Generally, the episodes haven't been scary enough, funny enough or space-faring enough and none of the new companions have contributed much.

That resume it also for me. Thanks.

Maybe when they will meet "natural villains" like the Darliks or the Cyberbermen it will all change, but for now I am not impressed.
 
Ep. 5 spoilers:

[IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/d\/d2\/Stitch_%28Lilo_%26_Stitch%29.svg\/220px-Stitch_%28Lilo_%26_Stitch%29.svg.png"}[/IMG2]

It reminded me of 42, one of Chibnall's other scripts. Only instead of a screaming sun thing we had Stitch.

Didn't think the end result was particularly successful but it wasn't far off. Moffat would've worked wonders with something like this though.
 
Last edited:
I was thinking about him:

[IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"https:\/\/i.pinimg.com\/originals\/4d\/11\/0f\/4d110f0e42ad6cbdc04e4080c2dd69f2.jpg"}[/IMG2]
 
That story was much more up my street as it was set in space, but I felt it was still rather weak. Combine that with one of the least scary monsters I've ever seen and I was a bit underwhelmed. That thing made the Slitheen look terrifying and at least they were real monsters instead of more CGI. I don't understand why there was a bloke giving birth either, it didn't seem to add anything apart from giving two of the spare-part trio of companions something to do.

Some context or story-setting at the start would've been nice too, we had no idea why they were on the junk planet or anything else about it, other than that people randomly put mines in there that seem less lethal than any other type of mine invented.

I want to see more stories like Asylum of the Daleks, one of my all time favourite episodes. There's a real sense of danger in that episode and a lot of atmosphere. For some reason I don't think we'll see it this season, maybe never again.
 
Matt2000;n3554650 said:
That story was much more up my street as it was set in space, but I felt it was still rather weak. Combine that with one of the least scary monsters I've ever seen and I was a bit underwhelmed. That thing made the Slitheen look terrifying and at least they were real monsters instead of more CGI. I don't understand why there was a bloke giving birth either, it didn't seem to add anything apart from giving two of the spare-part trio of companions something to do.

Some context or story-setting at the start would've been nice too, we had no idea why they were on the junk planet or anything else about it, other than that people randomly put mines in there that seem less lethal than any other type of mine invented.

I want to see more stories like Asylum of the Daleks, one of my all time favourite episodes. There's a real sense of danger in that episode and a lot of atmosphere. For some reason I don't think we'll see it this season, maybe never again.

For how long do we have to put spoilers quote?

I am with you for the pregnant man that does not do anything to the story. I liked this episode except for the ending. I don't understand why nobody seems to know the Doctor, even the general heard vaguely about her... Weird...

The spaceship was really dull, it was reminding me that I have to paint my house.
 
Is it just me, or did we just witness everything we knew previously being destroyed? Are we really supposed to believe that someone can go back in time, interfere directly with the life of a family member and somehow that person doesn't remember? Are we supposed to assume that Yaz's grandmother has amnesia somewhere along the line? The alternative thought is that her grandmother knew it was her but of course doesn't know when she goes back in time, so she has the option of telling Yaz the story but it may be too soon. That still doesn't explain why the watch is described as Yaz grandfather's though, it never was and they both know it. Seems odd to me.

Has anyone ever met their grandchild in a DW episode before? Imagine living your life knowing that it would lead to you having said grandchild no matter what choices you made...

Otherwise I felt it was quite a weak episode. I can accept that it was essentially a memorial episode for the forgotten victims of war and violence, but the story around it and the inclusion of the 'demons' didn't do it for me.
 
It's interesting that in the past, the historical episodes have always been the lighter ones with Albert Einstein fighting mutant space badgers etc and the sci-fi heavy ones have always been the metaphors for weightier issues, but now it's the other way round. Can't really say I prefer it as a sci-fi fan but this show is all about change. :) Hope the sci-fi parts improve though (maybe they will when it's not Chris fucking Chibnall writing them). I need to watch it again but I think I liked this one.

If the show isn't shying away from the nastier parts of history anymore, I'd like to see an episode set behind the Iron Curtain someday.

Matt2000;n3554815 said:
Is it just me, or did we just witness everything we knew previously being destroyed? Are we really supposed to believe that someone can go back in time, interfere directly with the life of a family member and somehow that person doesn't remember? Are we supposed to assume that Yaz's grandmother has amnesia somewhere along the line? The alternative thought is that her grandmother knew it was her but of course doesn't know when she goes back in time, so she has the option of telling Yaz the story but it may be too soon. That still doesn't explain why the watch is described as Yaz grandfather's though, it never was and they both know it. Seems odd to me.

Has anyone ever met their grandchild in a DW episode before? Imagine living your life knowing that it would lead to you having said grandchild no matter what choices you made...

Otherwise I felt it was quite a weak episode. I can accept that it was essentially a memorial episode for the forgotten victims of war and violence, but the story around it and the inclusion of the 'demons' didn't do it for me.

I just assumed she didn't remember. I'd be hard pressed to remember a face from 70 years ago, even if that face appeared during a major life event.

I didn't actually make the connection of it being a remembrance episode, good scheduling there. : o
 
Last edited:
PaperBiro;n3554634 said:
Ep. 5 spoilers:

[IMG2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/d\/d2\/Stitch_%28Lilo_%26_Stitch%29.svg\/220px-Stitch_%28Lilo_%26_Stitch%29.svg.png"}[/IMG2]

It reminded me of 42, one of Chibnall's other scripts. Only instead of a screaming sun thing we had Stitch.

Didn't think the end result was particularly successful but it wasn't far off. Moffat would've worked wonders with something like this though.

That was exactly the thought I had when watching it.
 
Nice episode this week, my best one up to now. It reminded me doing that job a long time ago. Except that my friends were hiding in boxes to make the warehouse run on the conveyors.
 
So a very thinly veiled dig at Amazon featuring the Johnny Cab from Total Recall fitted with legs.

In spite of that I rather enjoyed it.

Still more Northerners per episode than I would like, but as Christopher Ecclestone's Doctor said to Rose Tyler "Most planets have a north."
 
Also my favourite so far, felt like there was an actual threat that we could relate to. Definitely had a political message, seems like every episode has to now.

Looks like we're back to historical re-enactments next week, that's three history lessons in one season! Could still be good though.
 
^ They go down every series. Overnight ratings actually went up with last Sunday.

I thought the political message last episode was handled really badly, but the actual writing was the sharpest and wittiest it's been all year. Finally a Doctor Who episode that actually feels like a Doctor Who episode :)
 
Last edited:
Reportedly Chibnall and Whittaker are considering leaving the show at the end of next season, which may be shorter than usual. This guy discusses it:

[video=youtube;3UI-Sa-7NuM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UI-Sa-7NuM[/video]

At a guess, and this is nothing but speculation, the heavy handed idiot political messaging is not getting the results the BBC expected. But that's fine because it detracts from what I see as "meh" at best levels of writing. Who fanfic written by 14 year old girls (...or boys... or cats... or sentient toasters of indeterminate gender and sexuality...) would be better than some of these scripts.
 
Last edited:
Didn’t even watch last night’s episode, did I miss anything?
 
Matt2000;n3555084 said:
Didn’t even watch last night’s episode, did I miss anything?

You missed Alan Cumming chewing the scenery like there's no tomorrow.
 
Episode 9 - really, really cool. Best of the series by a mile.
 
Top