Dr. Who

[Ironwood]

First part is going to be an Aliens ripoff.

I fucking guarantee it.

[Ard]

Okay Ironwood.  I'm coming around to your mindset.  This season is not off to a good start, and not due to the actor.

[Ironwood]

I WANT TO BE WRONG.

[Ard]

I want you to be wrong too, but this is not a promising start.  I'm not going to magically stop watching, but it's definitely gone down a peg, which is a sad state of affairs after the absolute tripe RTD was dishing up at the end of his run.  The first episode had such promise too.

[Khaldun]

Now I'm getting depressed, given that the first one seemed pretty good. But ok, new show runner, a few clunkers and misfires are allowed, eh? It would be worse if the casting or basic direction on how to play the character was off--Jesus Christ and Orson Wells working together couldn't have made Colin Baker anything but bad, for example.

[Ironwood]

Heh.  What would the script for that have looked like ?

Nothing like Trial of a Timelord, methinks.

[Simond]

DALEKS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzxnHANU6oU

(Also, if you don't think Spitfires in space dogfighting a Dalek flying saucer is not  you should probably stop watching a family scifi show that airs at half six on Saturday evenings)

[Raguel]

I've basically only watched Tennant's run as far as Dr. Who is concerned, so maybe someone can answer some questions for me:

1. In one episode, the Doctor says he can't go back in time in his own timeline, but I've heard of shows where all the previous incarnations of the Doctor show up.
    I'm guessing it means same incarnation can't go back in time and meet himself or somesuch, but that sounds stupid.

2.  If there were a whole race of Time Lords, why is it that the Doctor only runs into more than one of them? (ok I think Patrick Stewart played one as well, but I didn't see that ep).

[Slyfeind]

1. In one episode, the Doctor says he can't go back in time in his own timeline, but I've heard of shows where all the previous incarnations of the Doctor show up.
    I'm guessing it means same incarnation can't go back in time and meet himself or somesuch, but that sounds stupid.

2.  If there were a whole race of Time Lords, why is it that the Doctor only runs into more than one of them? (ok I think Patrick Stewart played one as well, but I didn't see that ep).

1. The Doctor breaks his own rules. Sometimes it turns out all right, but sometimes there are terrible consequences, usually in the form of big screaming monsters or...cracks in the wall HMMMMM!

2. The Doctor killed all his own people to kill the Daleks. That's why when he plays the "I'm The Doctor" card, other alien races run. Or he killed most of them. Or let them die/made them never exist in the first place. Or just time locked them all. They're pretty nebulous about the details, but he wiped them out of existence at any rate.

[Mrbloodworth]

And just because, it came up when I was looking.


And I found a whole image history of them.

[01101010]

1. In one episode, the Doctor says he can't go back in time in his own timeline, but I've heard of shows where all the previous incarnations of the Doctor show up.
    I'm guessing it means same incarnation can't go back in time and meet himself or somesuch, but that sounds stupid.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0562989/

I actually enjoyed this episode more than I thought I would, even with the paradox problems.

[palmer_eldritch]

1. In one episode, the Doctor says he can't go back in time in his own timeline, but I've heard of shows where all the previous incarnations of the Doctor show up.
    I'm guessing it means same incarnation can't go back in time and meet himself or somesuch, but that sounds stupid.

2.  If there were a whole race of Time Lords, why is it that the Doctor only runs into more than one of them? (ok I think Patrick Stewart played one as well, but I didn't see that ep).

1. The Doctor breaks his own rules. Sometimes it turns out all right, but sometimes there are terrible consequences, usually in the form of big screaming monsters or...cracks in the wall HMMMMM!

2. The Doctor killed all his own people to kill the Daleks. That's why when he plays the "I'm The Doctor" card, other alien races run. Or he killed most of them. Or let them die/made them never exist in the first place. Or just time locked them all. They're pretty nebulous about the details, but he wiped them out of existence at any rate.

Or another way of looking at it is that the writers break the rules. The show doesn't always worry about internal logic or continuity. There are fans who try to make it all fit together but it's best just to not worry about it. It's not that surprising when you consider the show began in 1963 (and some of the basic concepts of today's show, like the fact that he is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, had not been invented then).

Having said all that, when the Doctor meets previous incarnations it usually involves them being plucked out of their proper timeline by some great force such as the Time Lords so maybe that explains it in story terms.

On that topic, here's a video I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4knUJKUNbqI

[palmer_eldritch]

That doesn't count! Grr! That's not the real Doctor!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Who_%28Dalek_films%29

[Slyfeind]

On that topic, here's a video I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4knUJKUNbqI

Heh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7boeBf5pbQ

[Slyfeind]

That doesn't count! Grr! That's not the real Doctor!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Who_%28Dalek_films%29

IT'S BEST JUST TO NOT WORRY ABOUT IT.

[Mattemeo]

First part is going to be an Aliens ripoff.

I fucking guarantee it.

Not that it was a particularly difficult leap of logic, but you may set your face servos to smug now...

The best way to explain the difference between Blink and these two episodes would be to say that I think the best conceived movie sequel ever was Aliens following Alien. It took the same monster into an entirely different type of film.

That is very roughly the model for this. Blink was a small, low-key one and this is the highly coloured, loud, action-movie one.

 

[Ironwood]

Yeah.

I'm shocked.

(Was it an older model.)

[NowhereMan]

Something about putting the Doctor into an Aliens rip off doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it'll be fun but if they're doing big budget stuff episodes like Water of Mars really seems a better inspiration. I think I enjoy light hearted survival horror sci-fi.

[Ironwood]

Ach, it can work both ways.  There have been a hell of a lot of 'Aliens' stories in the past.  I just prefer 'The Thing' type stories.

[Ironwood]

Judgement Deferred.

[Simond]

Apart from cartoon Graham fucking Norton ruining the end, that was pretty good all the way through. Moffat needs to find some new gimmicks, though.

E: And I've seen more than one person post on other boards elsewhere that there's a bunch of kids terrified that an Angel is going to appear out of their telly and eat their brains. Which is as it should be. Doctor Who isn't really Doctor Who unless it's scaring the crap out of kids. 

[Viin]

Sorry to interrupt, I just came here to say that the new companion is *smokin* hot.

[Mattemeo]

Well, tonight's episode should certainly dampen the naysayers' ardour. I simply don't have a complaint (and if I did, it'd be the same one from Blink - I find the Angels much more sinister when they're passive faced, but that's the psychological response of an adult). An episode to showcase exactly why Moffat taking over is such a good thing.

[Fraeg]

I am pleased, nice step up from the cheese of the last two.

[Ard]

Yup, that episode was a big step back up from the last two.  We'll see how they actually end it.  My only complaint is that it really does feel like a rehash of the library episodes, but if this also means remembering that time travel can affect things asynchronously from the Doctor's point of view again, then I'm okay with it, for now.

[palmer_eldritch]

The bit with the video was genuinely creepy. It reminded me of some of the scenes in The Ring and Grudge. I really like the way Amy Pond is figuring stuff out rather than always being saved by the Doctor.

I've always found River Song annoying but that was actually a bonus in this episode because the Doctor seemed to find her annoying too, and it made for some funny moments. He's also asking probing questions and doesn't seem entirely to trust her.

[Tale]

That doesn't count! Grr! That's not the real Doctor!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Who_%28Dalek_films%29

I had the misfortune of capturing one of these Doctor Who movies with my "everything Doctor Who" Tivo rule, and it was so bad. The writers (who were most likely experimenting with LSD given the content) re-imagined the Doctor as an eccentric human inventor who travels through time with his young granddaughter, so it should not be considered canon.

[Ironwood]

It reminded me of some of the scenes in The Ring and Grudge.

Really ?

[palmer_eldritch]

I guess it's possible Moffat has seen those films.

[Samwise]

The writers (who were most likely experimenting with LSD given the content) re-imagined the Doctor as an eccentric human inventor who travels through time with his young granddaughter, so it should not be considered canon.

According to Wikipedia, the movie fits into the canon as something the Doctor helped bring about to warn people about the Daleks without telling them too much about himself.

[Mrbloodworth]

Doesn't really matter, I am quite sure they didn't make new Daleks for that movie. The second link I posted is a visuial history of all the different versions for different productions.

[Tebonas]

Liked this one. The second part could still screw it up, but this one I enjoyed.

[Tale]

I'm still sick of every second line being "I am the Doctor and this is what I do, you don't mess with me!".

If you really were the Doctor, mate, you would be having internal struggles about who you are, not massaging your ego.

And it's STILL pantomime. Another "it's BEHIND you!" episode. I'm not enjoying it.

[NowhereMan]

It wasn't amazing but it was a good Dr. Who episode. Lots of bits that will scare kids and they weren't going silly with making it into Aliens like I was afraid (though I might want to wait till the second part has aired on that). It was definitely pantomime, the Angels seem to have randomly developed new powers and techniques while the Doctor suddenly doesn't seem to know that much about them anymore but fuck it, it's stuff that'll scare kids and was fun in the context of the episode without being totally nonsensical. Tale's got a point that we've gone from Tenant's episode long self-doubt and playing followed by a climactic "I Am The Doctor!" moment to Smith just saying it 4 or 5 times an episode. They seem to be playing up his ego/being silly contrast but the way to do it is not having him keep switching between the two every 5 minutes.

[rattran]

I thought it was dreadful. It feels more like Doctor Who fanfic.