Doctor Who Series 7

[Jonathan Capps]

A brand new Doctor Who thread for the modern man about town.

There were a few series 7 based comments in the old thread here, but frankly we need a new one at this point to avoid that pagination BULLSHIT.

So, that Mark Williams, eh? He’s in Doctor Who, isn’t he?

Topic

[ChrisM]

I liked that episode a lot and I liked the new (rather saucy) character.

There were things that struck me as odd, although ‘plot hole’ would be a bit strong. They certainly didn’t ruin the episode for me:

SPOILERS AHOY!!!

1) There’s shielding on the planet that will deflect dalek weapons… yet they can beam people straight to the surface.

This might be explained easily enough by the kind of shielding. I.e. in the Star Wars films there are domelike force-shields which protect an army from energy weapons yet allow physical objects and people to pass through. (See the thing used by the Gungans in The Phantom Menace for example.)
A little explanation would have been nice though.

2) The girl’s* mention of ‘the bad news’ at the end of the episode- namely that the Doctor was about to pass through the last few most insane daleks. That in itself wasn’t strange, just the girl’s later surprise when they reactivated. If she thought they were dormant, why was she so afraid in the first place? Just their reputation?

3) Why would removing the memory of the Doctor from the Daleks’ minds have been enough to make the insane daleks ignore him? They may not have hated or feared him as much, but surely just not being dalek would be reason enough to kill him in their eye(s) particularly being right there in front of them?

This could be explained perhaps by their earlier dormancy, and the fact that it took the return of their arch enemy to wake them up. Maybe this apathy runs through their waking state too, which again makes one wonder why they were so feared.

4) Convenient teleporter on a prison planet. Right near their destination. Okay so it didn’t work right away, (and there was the shielding) but even so.

As for the twist, I guessed there was one coming (I made the mistake of reading a spoiler, but I think I would have guessed that there was a twist coming) but I didn’t forecast the full nature of the twist. I.e. I thought it would be a similar deal to what happened to her mother and the other ‘dalek puppets’.

All-in-all great stuff. I was curious to find that quite a few people on another forum I frequent found the new female character very irritating with her chirpy flirting. Personally I thought she was lovely.

As for how she and the Doctor will hook up again, well, he has a time machine right? That doesn’t really explain why she doesn’t know him, but the fact that the first stages of ‘dalekification’ affect the mind and memory could explain this.

Or maybe she actually got out somehow at the last minute and some physical alterations were later reversed. Again we don’t know the full extent of her physical changes. Would she have become one of those one eyed tentacle things or be essentially just a girl wired into a giant moving pepper pot?

Sorry, this post ended up longer than I expected.

*Her name has slipped my memory.

[si]

There’s also the fact that the Doctor doesn’t actually know what she looks like, does he? He may have heard her plenty, but they could meet up sometime, and he plausibly could not recognise her at all.

[pfm]

> but the fact that the first stages of ‘dalekification’ affect the mind and memory could explain this.

This is exactly how Moffat will explain this away. The Christmas episode will be the first time they meet but by the time of ‘Asylum’ her memory has been affected by the conversion (she also forgot her right name). Also, the Doctor won’t recognize her (at first…) because he never actually saw her in ‘Asylum’. No doubt she’ll say something like ‘chin boy’ or maybe she’ll bake a soufflé (:P) and that makes him twig.

[Pete Part Three]

So have we ever had an explanation as to why Amy didn’t know what Daleks were back in Season 5?

Re; irritating Oswin. Nah. She’s too damn cute to be annoying. Shame that Moffat only ever seems to write overly confident sexpots for major female characters though.

[Ridley]

So have we ever had an explanation as to why Amy didn’t know what Daleks were back in Season 5?

It was the crack, wasn’t it?

[Pete Part Three]

>It was the crack, wasn’t it?

Ohhhh. Hmm. I guess the mystery was a lot more interesting than the explanation.

[Smeg4Brains]

> So have we ever had an explanation as to why Amy didn’t know what Daleks were back in Season 5?

Everybody I mention that to says it was something to do with the crack but I don’t agree. They never got erased from time so there’s no reason that would affect it.

[Ben Paddon]

Everybody I mention that to says it was something to do with the crack but I don’t agree. They never got erased from time so there’s no reason that would affect it.

No, but that particular set of Daleks may have been, just as it apparently ate the Cybermen from “The Next Doctor” (as explained in “Flesh and Stone” when the Doctor realises no bugger remembers the CyberKing).

Closing the cracks also supposedly sealed the Cardiff rift, if Russell T Davies’ view on the matter is anything to go by.

[Connell]

Also, I thought the it was offensive to kill Daleks… but then at the first chance they get they blow the planet up anyway? What’s going on there?

And why did everyone hear Clara / Oswin’s voice as human right up until the Doctor was in the room with her? No matter how much she’s dreaming she should’ve sounded Dalek.

It was certainly one of those episodes with a vast amount of plotholes I presume we’re supposed to ignore.

[pfm]

> No matter how much she’s dreaming she should’ve sounded Dalek.

This isn’t a plot hole. She didn’t think she was a Dalek so didn’t broadcast a Dalek voice, but instead the one she has always thought of being her own. Obviously when the Doctor reached her she could only physically speak with a Dalek voice.

I thought Moffat did a decent job of holding it all together and (for the first time in ages) delivering a twist or two that weren’t absolutely groanworthy or contrived. This is my favourite episode of his since ‘The Eleventh Hour’.

[Jimboid]

> Also, I thought the it was offensive to kill Daleks… but then at the first chance they get they blow the planet up anyway? What’s going on there?

I think the idea was that they thought the planet was no longer secure, due to someone apparently having landed and survived…hence the mental Daleks could’ve escaped. As much as they admired their insane hatred, I doubt the “normal” Daleks would’ve wanted a bunch of directionless loons running around the universe.

Hence they wanted the planet to be purged.

I presume the Doctor heard Oswin’s voice as human for the same reason that Amy saw the Daleks as humans….and that was the reason we got that part. He had taken the bracelet off, innit.

[Connell]

> She didn’t think she was a Dalek so didn’t broadcast a Dalek voice, but instead the one she has always thought of being her own.

Fair point, I just want to hear the Dalek voice saying ‘Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest, and a tiny bit sexy?’ and ‘Careful dear… you’ll put someones eye out’.

[srmcd1]

> Fair point, I just want to hear the Dalek voice saying ‘Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest, and a tiny bit sexy?’ and ‘Careful dear… you’ll put someones eye out’.

There should be an app for that…

[Jimboid]

There is:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iamadalek-doctor-who/id374939832?mt=8

[Tarka Dal]

> Me and my mates enjoyed it.

Nigel’s looking a bit pale. Are you feeding him properly?

[Pecospete666]

It does not work on my Ipad,Keeps saying theres a problem with the recording. I was looking forward to driving people crazy with it!
I have the Red Dwarf talking key chain and was asked not to bring it into the bar anymore!

[si]

>Nigel’s looking a bit pale. Are you feeding him properly?

Yes, don’t worry, he’s fine. Derek caters to his every need, they’ve grown quite close. I sometimes wonder what they get up to when I’m not around.

[Ben Paddon]

I presume the Doctor heard Oswin’s voice as human for the same reason that Amy saw the Daleks as humans….and that was the reason we got that part. He had taken the bracelet off, innit.

It astounds me just how many people appeared to have missed the mention of Time Lords being immune to the Daleks’ nanogene technology (which is silly – if the Daleks would want to keep anybody off of a planet like that, it’s the Time Lords). It was mentioned in the episode, bold as brass, clear as day.

[Smeg4Brains]

> It astounds me just how many people appeared to have missed the mention of Time Lords being immune to the Daleks’ nanogene technology

I’ve watched it twice and not heard that. If he does as immune why did he wait till Amy was almost daleked till he gave her his bracelet? Is he just a bit of a cunt?

[srmcd1]

No.

…Well, yes, he is a bit. It’s been made canonical that the Doctor is a bit of a cunt. But a very *loving* cunt. He only did it to force Amy and Rory into a situation where they would be forced to talk out their differences and save their marriage.

Note that when Rory demands, “Why didn’t he just tell us?”

Amy then looks at a security screen and sees the Doctor walk past the camera, which he then looks into, and he straightens his bow tie knowingly, and carries on.

[Smeg4Brains]

Yeah, I got that bit. But when did anyone say he was immune?

[srmcd1]

There’s a jumbled bit of dialogue where the Ponds are talking over each other, and I think Amy said, “He’s a Time Lord. He probably doesn’t even need it.” So I think it was just a guess that never got confirmed.

[Seb Patrick]

It astounds me just how many people appeared to have missed the mention of Time Lords being immune to the Daleks’ nanogene technology (which is silly – if the Daleks would want to keep anybody off of a planet like that, it’s the Time Lords). It was mentioned in the episode, bold as brass, clear as day.

Timecode or it didn’t happen.

[Connell]

You should be able to figure it out. It’s a bit of crafty directing, having him assess the Ponds at the start and figure out something’s wrong, then fix his bowtie. Later on in the episode we learn the Doctor ‘probably doesn’t even need it’ and then we see him on the screen, again, fix his bowtie. The bowtie is a symbol of their relationship.

Or some shit.

[Smeg4Brains]

I got the whole fixing of the bowtie metaphor. I just didn’t hear the line where we find out he might not need it.

[Seb Patrick]

>I’m sure I heard it too. When Rory finds Amy is wearing a braclet after all.

That’s Amy guessing he doesn’t need it. Completely different from “confirmation that he doesn’t need it”. How would she know? The Daleks reckon he needs one – hence giving him one – and they invented the tech. Unless he himself says he doesn’t need it, then as far as I’m concerned, he needs it, and it was an heroic act of possible self-sacrifice.

[Ian Symes]

It has to be that – if he didn’t need his, he’d have just given it to her straight away.

[mick]

I’d have given it to her, straight away.

[pfm]

> I’d have given it to her, straight away.

A few days ago I would have said the same but, bizarrely, I’m now into brunettes…

Robb Stark…what a jammy flipping bastard!!

[ChrisM]

That’s Amy guessing he doesn’t need it. Completely different from “confirmation that he doesn’t need it”.

Yes. Although the fact Moffat wrote Amy with that line suggest he might have intended Timelord immunity as the explanation, although giving the line to her for that reason doesn’t make much sense for reasons you state. I suppose Moffat may just have given her the line to show she her esteem for the Doctor, possibly bordering idolisation, although she certainly doesn’t go silly like Rose and Martha did.

I think the Doctor would have been affected, but as the process is slow and he was near their destination when he passed on the bracelet, the nano-things had a negligible effect on him.

I thought the it was offensive to kill Daleks… but then at the first chance they get they blow the planet up anyway? What’s going on there?

I don’t think the daleks find killing the insane daleks offensive so much as they are reluctant to do so. Past episodes have show that they are willing to kill their own kind in certain circumstances. In the case of the insane daleks, I think that the daleks actually admire them in a way. They’re not just hateful creatures. They’re insane in their hatred, and the daleks, esteeming hatred as they do, applaud that, yet understand that they are a danger to them as well. So they compromise and maroon them on a prison world where they can do no damage to the great dalek empire, yet remain as exhibits of the ultimate dalek. In a way.

Of course, when the prison becomes ineffective, they are quick to overcome their reluctance. They’re not stupid.

[Pecospete666]

BBC America reported 1.555 million viewers for Dr Who!

[Kris ‘Drivaaar’ Carter]

That’s Numberwang!

[Jimboid]

Well, that was all rather fun. The riding on the triceratops looked ace. Nice effects.

Not sure about the Mitchell and Web robots.

Hope to see a visit to Siluria in the future.

[Ridley]

An enjoyable romp though I’m not sure about the apparent death of the villain and the twist that Rory’s dad is a cardboard cutout.

[si]

A bit disjointed. Lots of nice stuff, a nice ‘gang’, some funny lines and Rory’s Dad’s balls. But a pantomime villain and…I don’t know. Enjoyable enough, but it didn’t really grip me. I was in a state of non-gripness etc. I did like Brian, though.

[Connell]

Turned it off not long after the opening credits. And that’s rare for me and Doctor Who. It just wasn’t appealing television at all. Lets hope next weeks is a return to form!

[si]

> Turned it off not long after the opening credits.

Really? Woah, that’s harsh. I could never do that. It’d have to be fucking *awful* for me to do that. And that wasn’t fucking awful.

[Ridley]

What was so unappealing about it?

[genericnerdyusername]

I can’t understand why you would do that…

[Connell]

Those sort of episodes almost epitomize the aspects I dislike the most about Doctor Who, namely when it is extremely obvious the age group they’re aiming for is about 10-15.

[Jonsmad]

Mark williams!!! On a Space Ship!! again!!! :-)

Absolutely loved it totally just went with it and enjoyed the ride, felt like an adventure movie in 45 minutes, felt like a special and it’s just an normal episode.

Little bit convenient that lestrade bloke the game hunter was taken along incase they needed a big game hunter.

I think my dad would have loved that episode, I normally have to explain the other ones to him since Matt took over.

[pfm]

I often wonder whether Chris Chibnall has some incriminating photos of someone at BBC Wales. There must be some reason why he’s still writing for the show when he’s clearly SHIT.

Some decent effects but a boring episode for me with Matt at his most slappable in parts of it. In fact, everyone would have got a good strangling from me at one time or another. Including Rory’s dad and the rest of the ‘gang’ was a wasted opportunity.

If Chibnall takes over the show I won’t watch. It would simply be too painful!

[HelloMabel]

>If Chibnall takes over the show I won’t watch. It would simply be too painful!

He did The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood from series 5, which I rather liked because it reminded me of ST TNG.

Sorry in advance for my ignorance, but how do these things work? Do Chibnall and the other writers have to run their scripts by Moffat to be voted up or down, or can they do what they want? Or does Moffat come up with the story arc and then break it into episodes and assign writers to each one?

[Pecospete666]

I guess I’m 15, I liked it , 7.5 out of 10 !
I am sick of Rory&Amy! When are they going to companion heaven?

[genericnerdyusername]

They’re going in two episodes, aren’t they?

[Ridley]

>There must be some reason why he’s still writing for the show when he’s clearly SHIT.

Pete >>>>>> 24 > Doctor Who and the Silurians

[Pongo]

The scenes with the Doctor and Solomon – which I liked – were at odds with the rest of the episode. I wonder whose idea it was to add “comedy” henchmen, dinosaur shenanigans, Rory’s dad, Queen Nefertiti, and Lestrade to a story about genocide. The villain was well-acted, at least.

[Pete Part Three]

I’ve forgotten it already aside from the kid-friendly combo of dinosaurs, space-ships, zany robots and lots of running around in circles. I’m sure there was a story in there somewhere but I don’t recall what it was.

To its credit, it didn’t bore me like the Silurian two-parter but, in a season of only 5 episodes (fuck this “split season” nonsense), it just felt like a waste, you know?

[si]

Chris Chibnall infuriates me. I don’t think he’s ‘shit’ as such, but his episodes are always ‘meh’ episodes, and two-parters are a definite no-no. I *hated* The Hungry Earth, yet thinking back, I really liked 42.
I really wanted to like DoaS, to be able to state that he was forgiven for the rubbish he’s thrown our way in recent years, but that was just a bit of a mish-mash of a promising story. It was as though they’d filmed an early draft by accident. If we want to give it a mark, I’d probably settle on a 7/10.

EDIT: Just checking his Torchwood-output…OH MY GOD, HE WROTE CYBERWOMAN. There’s no coming back from *that*. But then, looking at his Who credentials, he also did Pond Life. Okay, it only lasted five minutes, but it had an Ood on the loo.

[Connell]

The Hungry Earth and Cold blood are coincidentally the only episodes of Series 5 I haven’t seen. Again I watched about 15 minutes and just couldn’t put up with the lackluster story. Never made the connection between disappointing Who and Chibnall, but there you go.

I’m sticking to my guns, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship was maybe good television, but rubbish Who.

[Author]

Replies