Did you see Doctor Who? – Spoilers!

[penny]

So much better than the Chrismas ep, which lets face it was cheesy humour with eye candy for guys and girls…the part with the sparks behind Tennant bit was lovely, but I did think the episode had turned in to an aftershave advert when they did that.

Anyway, on to today’s one…So went “What!? What!? What!?” when Rose turned round.
I’m still not totally in to Tate’s character (she’s a bit annoying). I kind of liked her as a one off type character.

The fat tissue baby creatures were cute though…awwwww!

Topic

[pfm]

No, the worst line EVER is in Voyage of the Damned. It’s when Foon won’t carry on, the Doctor says ‘it’s what he would want’ or whatever and she says ‘He doesn’t want anything! He’s DEEEAADD!!!’

[Seb Patrick]

>?THE. LOCH. NESS. MONSTER!!!!!!!1111111?

I actually quite liked this. But then, I’ve got a lot more time for School Reunion in general than many people.

Ian is right, though. That bit would actually have worked if he just said “Who you gonna call?” But both Rose’s response, and the follow-up and gurning, completely destroy it. As does the music.

[John Hoare]

Right. I have finally just watched the scene again for the first time since broadcast (I *still* haven’t got the DVD yet, but I’m currently making my way through Buffy, so won’t have time for it for a long time) – and… I still love it. And I never even noticed the music on the original broadcast because I was too busy laughing, but it makes me love it even more. It’s just so deliberately silly, and I’m a sucker for things like that. Clearly, I’m beyond redemption.

(To be fair, it’s mainly the Doctor I like there. Rose’s “Ghostbusters!” isn’t that great, although I’m generally too busy laughing at the first bit for it to register.)

[Pete Part Three]

>I?m currently making my way through Buffy

This is a good thing

>because I was too busy laughing

This is not a good thing

[pfm]

I honestly don’t know why people whinge so much about more recent episodes when you consider what crap was served up in series 2, as that clip exemplifies. Aside from the Dalek ending Army of Ghosts has redeeming features totalling zero. As if having to stand Camille Coduri’s ‘acting’ wasn’t bad enough, here we get Tracy-Ann Doberman competing with Cindy-from-Eastenders and Roger Lur-Pack for the title of Worst Guest-Star Ever.

Nice to see Martha in the clip too, sorry, I mean Areola.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Very good this week. Tim McInnerrerrerry was good, Tate did her best stuff so far…

Nice idea with the Ood brains, even if it didn’t make much sense.

But most exciting bit? The Doctor’s song is soon to end…

Last season for Tennant, then?

*EDIT* Oooh, and the reference to The Sensorites made me explode in a shower of sticky geeky delight.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Just had to share this with you all…a comment from imdb message board about tonight’s episode. Who needs punctuation?

“Brill gd episode an more about the missing bees maybe davros is up to his tricks with bees or epiode 7 will tell more the dr song will end regenaration again or in nxt few yrs i’d love to c tennent stay an bet tom bakers 7yr run can’t wait till txt wk”

On the other hand, someone came up with an excellent observation – that Donna’s Grandfather “Wilfred Mott” is an anagram of “WTF Timelord”

[ChrisM]

I liked it.

The brain set up didn’t make a whole lot of sense, but it can be explained by the sheer alieness of the ood which is no bad thing.

The guy turning into an Ood after drinking a spiked drink was implausible and kinda silly, but cool gross out fun. I particularly enjoyed it when he coughed up his own brain! Does that make my brain wrong?

[pfm]

It was censored too. Hopefully the normal cut will be on the DVD.

[Pete Part Three]

Hmmm. OK. Not as good as last week, better than week one. Far too much running around and Tim McInnerny turning into an Ood was signposted a little too overtly.

Enjoyable, but forgettable.

[Ridley]

Was better than the last Ood one I thought. Captain Darling’s Ood tonic was a bit much mind.

[Andrew]

> It was censored too. Hopefully the normal cut will be on the DVD.

Are you sure it was censored? As opposed to toned down by the production themselves, I mean? Because I’d be willing to be it was delivered that way.

It was certainly conspicuous in its avoidance of violence during the bulk of the ep – loads of bullets fired, but we never saw and Ood get hit. But that seemed to be a way of ‘saving up’ goodwill for the final transformation which, though still kept brief, was a genuinely nasty bit of body horror. Seemed about as extreme as would be possible for the timeslot and audience – and a likely candidate for a 12 on DVD. Had the bullet hits been in there t6wo this would have felt like one of the violent Who eps ever.

> Was better than the last Ood one I thought.

Very surprised by this. It’s hard to top The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit for me – that story was absolutely top-drawer.

I preferred last week’s, but this was still a great time in front of the TV. Not sure I buy that the Ood come from an ice planet (they don’t seem especially built for the cold), but then I’m not keen on life-supporting planets in fiction being entirely defined by a single environment anyway. Otherwise, loads of fun – it was snappily directed,Tennant and Tate were good…the memory of Partners in Crime is being washed away.

[John Hoare]

Yes, that shot of the skin peeling away especially was VERY explict! I bet there was discussion amongst the production team as to whether to go that far. (A million times worse surely than the much-debated skull cracking sound in The Empty Child – actually on the DVD version, but not the broadcast…)

It was alright once it got going – not as good as Fires of Pompeii, but a million miles better than Partners in Crime. Tate was OK once she got past her usual Tate-ism at the start (but I wish she’d stop calling the Doctor ‘Spaceman’, because it’s really irritating) – but I’m looking forward to Martha next week, which is a companion I actively like, rather than just tolerate.

The massive brain was pretty bad CGI. I wish they’d done it as a live action model, and then composited everything in, although I suppose it’s all down to cost. (Yet again with Who trying to achieve a bit too much on its effects budget.)

It all *really* reminded me of a Troughton story, anyway, which was nice. Particuarly The Invasion. But I think, if it wasn’t for the transformation scene, and the “Doctor’s song may soon end” stuff, I’d be tempted to call it slightly dull. Certainly, I think I came away from the episode thinking better of it than it perhaps deserved, purely because of those two scenes near the end.

They’ve done FAR too many of those “final scenes that hint out of nowhere something bad is going to happen”, mind you, but the fact it was specifically targeted to the Doctor for once gives it an added thrill. But after this series, they *really* need to lay off them for a while.

Nice handcuffs bicycle joke, though!

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Thought the Ood transformation scene could’ve done with some gagging / choking / squelchy sound effects as the tentacles erupted from his gob. I did like that shot.

Ooh, and it struck me that the Ood are the closest thing to a live-action Zoidberg.

[Andrew]

> I wish she?d stop calling the Doctor ?Spaceman?

I have zero problem with this at all. Appropriate, character specific. ‘Tis fine!

> The massive brain was pretty bad CGI.

I didn’t think that at all. The absorption wasn’t great, but the brain itself was okay. ‘Obviously CGI’ I guess…but ‘obviously animatronic miniature’ wouldn’t have been a great deal better.

> I?d be tempted to call it slightly dull.

It had a less frantic pace than Pompeii, but I quite liked that. Clear movement towards discovery, seeing all the angles of a situation. As you said, it was old school Who in many ways. I found it substantial without being frenetic. (Though I did enjoy the giant arcade grabber!)

[ChrisM]

Not sure I buy that the Ood come from an ice planet (they don?t seem especially built for the cold)

I know what you mean, I think it’s the tentacles. They make us associate them with creatures like squid, essentially cold blooded. (Actually giant squid can dive very deep, which suggests they have a tolerance for the cold too although I don’t know how that works…)

I’m sure that’s just a outward similarity though, the Ood are alien and probably don’t fit into the various species types (mammal, reptile, fish, amphibian etc) we have.

[pfm]

I thought it was a pretty boring, uninspiring script this time. Though still executed in an acceptable fashion. I hated the overblown sequence with the claw because it was beyond obvious that someone said ‘let’s have an overblown sequence with a huge claw!!’ to make up for the lack of action.

Humans of the future really are bastards, aren’t they?

[Jonathan Capps]

What I liked is the complete lack of redemption for the PR woman. I was expecting her to join the adventure and help the Doctor and Donna but… she didn’t. And then she was killed. Excellent.

[ChrisM]

What I liked is the complete lack of redemption for the PR woman. I was expecting her to join the adventure and help the Doctor and Donna but? she didn?t. And then she was killed. Excellent.

YES! I expected that too. She did show signs of conscience after all, and it would have been pretty easy to take her down the accomplice route. How many times have we seen that before? And to be fair if they had done that, that would have still been interesting.

It was great they chose not to follow that cliche too. And somewhat realistic. Often in real life people will turn a blind eye on things that they know are suspect. And those people aren’t particularly wicked themselves, they just go with the flow.

[Al]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7240456.stm

Intriguing. When is who gonna stop foreshadowing things with the subtlety of a shotgun blast to the bollocks though?

[Al]

Actually, this is the right link.

FAIL.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7358098.stm

[si]

Actually, somewhat unusually for me, I found this episode rather uninteresting (I wasn’t gripped by Gridlock last year either, but I put that down to having a large epileptic fit that afternoon).
It was alright, but that was all. Nothing too exciting – though I agree about the death of the PR girl – she deserved it!

Sorry, though. Overall, it didn’t really do anything for me. The CG brain was like the Nestene Conciousness (ie not very good), and the moral of the story – Slavery is bad! Don’t do it! – was written all over the episode in a big black indelible pen.

(And I said that about the similarity between the Ood and Zoidberg two years ago. Nyeh. :-P)

[Ben Paddon]

Yep, this season is definitely about questionable morals.

[si]

So this week’s wasn’t as good as usual – but I’ve just seen a trailer for next week’s episode, and it looks absolutely brilliant!

[Andrew]

> So this week?s wasn?t as good as usual

See I’d say it absolutely was. Ep one – far worse than usual; ep two – much better than usual; ep 3 – as good as usual.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

I’d say episode 1 – worse, episode 2 average, episode 3 – far better.

[Jonathan Capps]

Don’t the Sontarans sound excellent? I think the voice is spot on.

“GLORIOUS WAR!”

[Zombie Jim Undead]

It did my heart good to overhear a bunch of kids discussing Doctor Who on the bus this morning.

“Yeah, man…you need to wait to see the ‘coming next week’ bit. This week’s has those weird shrinky guys with the Judoon helmets”.

[Al]

Anyone notice that Dave Hedgehog/ Mike from the Young Ones is the lead Sontaran?

[si]

Yes.

[Pete Part Three]

Uh huh

[Ben Paddon]

*deep breath*

OOOOOOOLLLLLLLD.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Ah, was rather good. The Sontarans weren’t great….but this series is feeling the most like old school Doctor Who than the previous 3.

Why didn’t they just smash the window of the car?

[John Hoare]

Lots of fun. I especially enjoyed the pathetic explosion of Atmos, but there was a huge amount to enjoy all-round. And I thought the Sontarans were brilliant – fantastic prosthetics that really allows the actors to get across proper expressions, and highly amusing into the bargain.

You can easily make the argument that Donna is a far more interesting character than Martha, but Freema just lit up the screen for me this week. And I did my usual “FUCK OFF TATE” during the scene where Donna tells the Doctor she’s leaving. The second part of the episode was a massive improvement on the first for me, as much as for the lack of Tate as anything else.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

My ladyfriend yelled “YES! FUCK OFF!” at the telly when it seemed Donna was to depart. Nicely.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Interestingly though….I do like donna’s family. Far more so than Roses or Marthas.

[Andrew]

Not getting much of a glow from Martha, sadly. I think I’ve ended up disappointed in the actress, as well as the development of her character (not far enough during Who 3, with big lurches before Torchwood). It may not be to everyone’s taste, but at least Tate’s presence is alive and vibrant.

Bah, anyway, small potatoes – a good fun episode this week. A Stontaran invasion – front on, straightforward – suits Raynor’s writing in a way the Daleks didn’t. (Though this was also a better directed show than Manhattan.) Arguably less iconic than that story – a factory setting, and the genius school was under-developed – but the whole thing seemed a lot crisper. I was entertained.

Not as good as the last two, both of which I liked massively, but aside from the opening ep I’m having a great time with series four.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

Awww, I liked Daleks in Manhattan. My favouritest Dalek story of the new series so far.

[ChrisM]

Great episode!

I’m glad they gave an explanation as to why the other stuff wasn’t initially detected in the Doctor’s examination of the Atmos, thingy. I thought they might just leave that as a magical thing that just happens. I liked the whole Sontaran gadgets hidden in temmporal pocket thing, but I didn’t like the way Doctor found it out. I don’t mind the sonic screwdriver like many do (in fact I think it’s pretty cool, although I agree it’s used to much.)Using it as a scanning device didn’t make much sense. Sure sound can be used for echo location etc, but where would the readout be?

Sontarans looked great. Genius kid was annoying, but intentionally so, so fair enough. No doubt he’ll get his come-upance.

As for when Donna told the Doctor “I’m going home.” my reaction was “here we go again…” She keeps saying that each episode so far then changes her mind… but then they switched it round on me and turned it into a gag. I.e. doctor makes a long corny speech (that whole “You really saved me.” seemed a bit of an exaggeration though.) and then… “oh right just to visit.” Heh heh!

As for Freyma, I haven’t thought she was particularly good an actress (although I like the character) but I thought she was pretty good in this. The idea that a new doctor is suddenly commanding lots of Unit troops at the start was a bit much though.

[Seb Patrick]

>I do like donna?s family. Far more so than Roses or Marthas.

Well, I find the Mum annoying; but let’s face it, by “Donna’s family”, we mean Bernard Cribbins. Who is great. He’s completely making up for Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD with his performances in this series…

[pfm]

> Why didn?t they just smash the window of the car?

To get a stupidly contrived cliffhanger. Surely this was the worst cliffhanger in new Who so far. It reminded me of some of the worse classic series cliffhangers where people just shout and there’s random smoke or something just because it’s the end of the episode!

Like with the Ood episode I nearly fell asleep watching this. They’re not doing enough to make me want to give a shit. The Sontarans were handled well but the script was lame. Tennant also seems bored, on Doctor autopilot.

[Ridley]

I liked the episode, just didn’t really like the opening and cliffhanger for having stupid moments from people who should know better – to smash a window and the… journalist was she? who should have decided to walk home – and the acting from those two soldiers before they got hypnotised.

Don’t know how but I’d like to see that 18 year old genius as a recurring villain.

[ChrisM]

journalist was she?

I think she was a Unit operative. That was a bit dodgy actually, one minute she is complaining about Atmos, then she’s not only driving with it in her car but she is actually following the instructions. True, it could take control of the car, but she didn’t know that at that point, only that it would cause deaths.

I thought that loophole programming that the Doctor used to escape was a bit silly too. I.e. if you had a device that took control of someones vehicle and killed them, surely you would program it to ignor what the person did/said altogether rather than doing the opposite of what they asked. I.e. “Drive into the river!”, oh wait, must ignore command… yeah right.

True he had to escape somehow, but I think they could have perhaps come up with something else from that.

I did like the exploding box gag though. (It wouldn’t have happened – if an algorithm ends up in a continuous loop or faced with conflicting orders, they tend to just crash or do nothing, but there usually isn’t any actual damage. This is an amusing gag sci-fi relies on though… so not a biggie..)

Both small things though, and overall I thought the episode was really good.

[Andrew]

> That was a bit dodgy actually, one minute she is complaining about Atmos, then she?s not only driving with it in her car but she is actually following the instructions.

There was a hint at an under-developed idea – that the Atmos device is in ALL government vehicles. Which makes total sense – a party looking to get re-elected would want the appearance of being pro-green; not having the device on all vehicles would garner a lot of negative press, smacking of hypocrisy.

Regardless, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to not suspect that your sat-nav is trying to kill you…

[ChrisM]

>Regardless, I don?t think it?s unreasonable to not suspect that your sat-nav is >trying to kill you?

I was thinking that was her point in going to the college in the first case though, to complain that several Atmos devices had caused deaths…

… but then I remembered, the earlier deaths were caused by the poison gas weren’t they… i.e. not the sat-nav part of the system. So yeah, on further reflection you’re right about the sat-nav.

You’d still think Unit would have removed the devices when they became suspicious though, or use vehicles without it installed. Unit are mostly a secret organisation after all regardless of their connection to the main government.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

It annoyed me how they made a point of saying that UNIT is now the “Unified Intelligence Taskforce”.

I know they’re not allowed to say “United Nations” any more…but was there any need to mention the new name?

[Andrew]

> I know they?re not allowed to say ?United Nations? any more?but was there any need to mention the new name?

I was actually a little irked at how LITTLE they explained about UNIT. As a new kid coming in, it must be pretty confusing – the UNIT references have all been pretty small in he new series, never clearly explained. Where was the “Oh, me and these guys go way back” scene? Half the kids watching probably think they’re Torchwood…

The stating of the acronym, frankly, is the absolute minimum they should have done!

[si]

Not getting much of a glow from Martha, sadly. I think I?ve ended up disappointed in the actress

Don’t you let my dad hear you say that, he adores Freema Agyeman. Mind you, he never goes anywhere near a computer, so I think you’re probably pretty safe.

Awww, I liked Daleks in Manhattan. My favouritest Dalek story of the new series so far.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t so keen. A fine example of the overuse of the Daleks in new Who.

Anyway, to this week – miles better than last week(However, I am saddened that my two younger brothers, Chris (13 – he had a drawing of K9 on Totally Doctor Who a couple of years ago and won a mug!) and Tom (18) have lost interest in the show. Mind you, I do tend to shove Doctor Who – in all it’s glorious forms – down their throats a bit. I was sat watching Horror of Fang Rock the other day, much to their chagrin..). The Sontarans look great, and generally I thought the gags – the naff explosion, and Donna’s ‘I’m going home’ riff – worked well, although the flashbacks during Donna’s overlong stroll up the road were just superfluous to events, and dragged. The second part’s been nicely set up, though, and I’m looking forward to next week.

[pfm]

I think the problem with the flashbacks is that they were from, at the most, three weeks ago. And it’s not as though she’d had no adventures before PiC.

Watched it a second time and didn’t think it was all that bad. Christopher Ryan was bloody brilliant as General Staal, with the makeup, prosthetics and costume being easily some of the best in Who so far (certainly bodes well for he-of-the-shopmobility). Tennant’s still on autopilot though. But he was going through a lot of shit making this series so perhaps he’s excused for that.

It was way better than the Daleks 2-parter at any rate. Words can’t describe how much I hated Tallulah-three-‘l’s-and-a-fucking-ache and the utter bollocks of the Daleks’ great big genetics lab. Even though Rattigan seems like another crappily conceived guest character there’s still hope in the second part.

[Seb Patrick]

>My favouritest Dalek story of the new series so far.

You… really can’t be serious, can you? Better than “Dalek”? Better than “The Parting of the Ways”? Better than “Doomsday”?

Most certainly not. Sorry :-p

[Author]

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