ChrisM

[ChrisM]

If this had been a Moffat episode you’ve gotta wonder whether he would have been able to resist a gag about the probe. As in…well. she has been alone for 36 years…

I confess my mind went to a naughty place when she was discussing her ‘Rory-bot’ with Rory. Especially looking at her delivery of ‘a pet’. I think I was seeing way too much into it though.

By the way, I’ve seen complaints concerning Karren Gillan’s acting in Doctor Who (not that I agree with them). I thought her portrayal of the two Amys was great this episode.

[ChrisM]

And finally, Rory didn’t make the choice. He was about to open the door and damn the consequences until Old Amy gave in and told him not to.

Sure he did. She certainly influenced his decision, but she didn’t force him to do anything.

Your other points are good, although I’m not entirely sure The Doctor did know bringing both along wouldn’t work. I know his reaction at the end seemed to suggest so, but his murmuring to the Tardis “What did that nasty Amy do to you”, made me wonder if he had thought it possible before hand, albeit I’m sure he always thought it unlikely. Of course he could have just been referring to the stabilising of their present situation until young Amy was brought on board…

Anyway. A great episode.

>What has Amy been eating for 36 years?

This week in “People Who Haven’t Paid Attention To the Episode”…

The compressed time thing perhaps explains the lack of hunger although 36 years is a good deal longer than two weeks, so I’d have thought she’d have gotten the munchies at some point in that time. (Compressed time doesn’t mean ‘no time’.) I don’t have a problem assuming she managed to raid some supplies in that time though. She was able to make a sonic-screwdriver, sorry, sonic- probe in that time after all.

If compressed time is the only explanation for her needing no food, then surely she wouldn’t have aged that much either? Then again, as old though she looked, she looked younger than her mid fifties. In fact she didn’t really look that old at all.

[ChrisM]

> If I wanted to be pedantic I’d say ‘stasis isn’t the same as cryo-sleep’

It’s spelt completely differently.

That too.

[ChrisM]

Very interesting! If I wanted to be pedantic I’d say ‘stasis isn’t the same as cryo-sleep’, but what the smeg.

[ChrisM]

They used physical sets in BtE too, along with the CGI of course.

But yeah, it’s nice to know they’re building some other stuff.

[ChrisM]

Very nice. I particularly like the bazookoid.

[ChrisM]

Yeah. There’s something about dolls and ornaments and statues I find creepy. If I’d seen Blink!* as a kid, that would have really freaked me out. That white doll’s face… brrr.

*Yeah, I know different writer, but the same applies.

[ChrisM]

The one she nobbled off the blue man? (I think it was the Blue man it was a good while ago.) Just be nice to have seen a small indication of it as these episodes occur earlier in her timeline, so to speak, i.e before she got that particular device.

Yeah, I know she no doubt had it taken away when being searched after each break out and had to grab another on her next escape but…

Oh never mind. It’s not a big deal, really.

[ChrisM]

>We got that three months ago – the Doctor told River to get Amy and Rory home before he popped off in the TARDIS.

I remember that now you mention it. I’d like to have known how though. Another Tardis? A Captain Jack kind of time vortex manipulator? I don’t doubt she can do it, she got there despite not taking Rory’s offer after all.

[ChrisM]

That episode seemed to have sneaked right up on me! I know there’s be advertisements for a while but I didn’t expect it so soon.

Spoilers!

Decent episode. I was quite surprised they wrapped up the Melody arc so quickly.

I’d have liked to have known how they got off of that space station where the Doctor left them at the end of the first half of the series. I suppose the fact River turned up in that episode by herself means that she’s got her own transport, probably a time vortex device, or some such thing, but it would have been nice to have seen/heard some reference.

What we found out concerning The Silence was curious too. I assumed it was the species of aliens we saw in episode one, and although that’s right, that’s not all they are.

I liked the numskulls in terminator idea silly though it was. (Partly because it was silly.) I wasn’t so keen on the controlled use of regeneration energy, but it explains River’s ultimate fate, somewhat. And it seems they’re keeping to the limited regenerations rule after all.

[ChrisM]

>but thats just judging by the trailer…

Yeah. They’re not really going to show that much plot stuff in a trailer (or they shouldn’t, I’ve read spoiler complaints with other trailers) so that leaves the basic situation. Guys in Antarctic. Some critter stuff. All stuff that was in the original, hence the remake look.

The description concerning just how much the Norwegian guys will be involved is promising.

All that being said, I imagine the plot will be pretty similar to the other film. There’s only so much one can do with the premise, setting, etc. Maybe it’s best to see it as an extension of the story. Kinda like Star Wars… although hopefully this will be better received. (Saying that, the Star Wars prequels commercially they did well, even if they were panned.) I’d imagine a chunk of the enjoyment will be seeing how it all fits together.

[ChrisM]

I’m certainly interested to watch it, although I hope they bring some surprises so it’s not just, essentially a remake in plot, albeit set before. The information in Cliff’s post (what’s the source by the way? Not that I disbelieve it without proof, it’s just nice to provide a link) looks promising.

I think that if it’s a prequel they should give the film another title than just ‘The Thing’ though.

[ChrisM]

Thanks for posting. Good to know.

[ChrisM]

New Game of Thrones RPG.:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6579356/game-of-thrones-rpg

Well… sort of.

[ChrisM]

If it was the previous Ace(s) i.e. the first, or the version we saw in series 7 I think it would get old fast.

If it was our Rimmer going off to be Ace as he was in series 7… I think that could have a lot of legs in a kind of fish out of water story arc sort of way. (Not that fish have legs.)

I suppose it could actually be any one of a number of parallel holo-Rimmers in between. The suggestion was they all started off as caterpillars and ended up as butterflies (so many would share a similar background and history to our Rimmer) so there might be room in that too.

Of course… if the BtE Rimmer IS that Rimmer, does that mean the spin-off would be kind of a prequel too? On the other hand, it could be the next Rimmer in the sequence, who is drafted by our Rimmer before returning to Red Dwarf having failed. Maybe that would explain what happened to the resurrected human Rimmer of series VIII….

[ChrisM]

I saw a pretty raunchy scene in Camelot today. And that one WAS explicit. I noticed that they didn’t show the the actress’s face and naked body in the same shots though. A booby double maybe? ;)

[ChrisM]

>http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/videos/p00jb05r

Thanks. Very interesting, and potentially VERY spoilerific in one case…. although I think that’s a bit of misdirection…

[ChrisM]

I particularly like the fact that he states he isn’t bitter, then says that the bloke he yelled at on the phone wasn’t even the person he had intended to contact.

Poor drummer. ;)

I like Norman though. He makes me smile, if not entirely for the right reasons.

[ChrisM]

>Danes is the best thing on it.

I agree, he’s a great character, but that doesn’t change my belief that I don’t think he would have been set free that easily.

>I didn’t really buy the CIA agent just being given a gun, just like that, on British soil last week either.

That’s actually quite realistic.

I’ll admit I don’t know much about the procedures there, but thinking about it, I believe you. (Not being sarcastic.) Maybe I’d change my sentence to “I’d like to think they wouldn’t give the CIA a gun just like that on British soil.”

It’s worrying.

[ChrisM]

SPOILERS for episode 2.
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I enjoyed the second episode, although the ‘do it yourself’ antidote bit was silly (but not in a bad way). It occurred to me that the young lady CIA agent (she from Doll House) probably should have been paralysed… but then I remember that body parts seem to function apart from the brain in this scenario (judging from the arm). That moment was actually pretty freaky!

I still don’t really buy the paedophile rapist character being set free -albeit he’s been watched- but I didn’t really buy the CIA agent just being given a gun, just like that, on British soil last week either.

It’s enjoyable stuff though.

[ChrisM]

but not being a prick to your sibling isn’t really exceptional behaviour, regardless of how the rest of the family acts.

I totally agree. I was just providing an early indication there’s more to him that didn’t spoil anything, if that makes sense.

I guess I’d also make a distinction between finding a character interesting and redeemable.

I won’t say any more on it as I don’t want to get into spoiler territory. Keep watching/reading though, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the ride whether your opinions change on him or not.

[ChrisM]

>Hmm… that’s gotta be some good writing to redeem Jaime.

I wouldn’t say it so much redeems him as… makes him easier to empathize with. (Not that we ever condone what he did to Bran.)

For an example of his more complex nature in stuff you’ve likely already seen, look at his relationship with Tyrion (as mentioned by Arlene). Then compare with how the other Lanisters like Cersei and Joffrey treat Tyrion.

[ChrisM]

>Jaime… really?

Minor spoilers, so ignore if you like. I’ll leave a few lines.
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I’m not going to spoil much, but I’ll just say that in later books we get to see some of Jaime’s POV his thoughts and inner world, etc. While he has done some despicable things, he’s a lot more three dimensional than one might think.

That doesn’t detract from what he did, of course. I went through much of the first couple of books finding the character despicable, but well… lets just say there’s more to him.

[ChrisM]

When I was reading Game of Thrones I thought of them as seeming older anyway. Who’s to say a year in their time equates to a year in ours?

I think it does. It’s just they’re forced to mentally grow up quicker due to their environment.

Concerning Daenerys, in many societies of the past, (ancient times, up until the middle ages*, I believe, the culture of these stories) a girl was considered a woman once she had reached puberty.

I can’t help wondering how many deaths and complications there were in pregnancies just due to the fact the poor girl’s body still immature. And that’s not even taking into account medieval health care. I’m glad we’ve grown beyond that, and that kids (both male and female) are mostly allowed to remain kids for longer.

I think ageing her for the film was a good idea.

*I’m aware that’s a broad time period, which makes it all the more shocking…

[ChrisM]

I saw it a bit earlier.

I didn’t notice the poor quality, but then I have a fairly old CRT TV with dodgy colouring. (It works well enough for me to enjoy, but maybe this sort of thing would be more noticeable on an HD set. Or maybe I’m just blind to that type of thing.)

Minor spoilers:

Not bad. Something about the delivery of certain characters felt off. It actually reminded me of the Doctor Who McGann film in that regard for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s bad acting or something to do with American delivery of British written scripts (not that I’m saying the British actors are better). And it’s certainly not all of them. The villain who survived execution was delightfully horrible.

Interesting premise though and the story so far isn’t bad. “The old Rhys tells Gwen to keep away” thing is understandable, and probably needs to be there to provide realism, but I found it a bit irritating.

Good overall, but I’m concerned how it well it will work over 10 episodes (is it really 10?) too. It feels like this thread should be a 3 parter. Still, we’ll see. Maybe they’ll mix in some other stories along the way and leave this as the arc. From the preview I get the impression they’ll stick to this thread though, albeit issues surrounding. Fair enough, we’ll see how it goes.

I thought they gave away too much information in the preview at the end. I know they didn’t spoil any plot resolutions but I’d have liked to have encountered those threads when they came. (Still I could have switched it over/off at that point, I guess.)

[ChrisM]

Heh. The shere silliness made me chuckle. I didn’t catch what he Vic said about the cat in the first video though.

“Now she can fly!”
“No, she can’t fly Mr Shakamoto!” (Interspersed with Bob trying not to laugh and failing.)
“She should practice.”

[ChrisM]

>But what about Melisandre?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-znMA4Fdth34/TZyo2-3VX1I/AAAAAAAACyw/V31jiEcJLYM/s400/catherine_tate_2009.jpg

Just kidding.

Certainly fits the first word in the show’s new name though! Phwoar!

[ChrisM]

on a similar thread – anyone seen of of that Camelot yet?
if so – any good?

I’m watching the Channel 4 run, and so far, yes, it’s pretty decent.

I’m not too keen on the Arthur Guinevere thread but the rest is great. I like that Morgan* isn’t just a one dimensional sorceress type character. I.e. she’s responsible for some atrocious things but she has complex emotions (including remorse for certain acts) and understandable motivations.

*Possibly spelt ‘Morgian’.

[ChrisM]

I haven’t seen it yet, (I don’t think I get that channel) but I’ve read the books, which are great!

[ChrisM]

Spoilers.
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I think she said “I had to call someone, I’m sorry.” (Something like that.)

I’m not sure why she would call that particular person, or if indeed she did. She might have called David being one of the people at Ravenhill and the other lady hooked up later. It probably wouldn’t have taken that long to get the connection considering her connection to Robert.

There’s certainly a chunk of unseen stuff we’re not privy to though.

[ChrisM]

>Oh, I thought they were upgrades for the ship? Virus scanners and the like.

As the ship’s computer I’d think Holly would be benefit from the upgrades.

[ChrisM]

She did get to do her thing more in White Hole. And the delivery in a lot of her scenes was great.

Her role was small, but she was a good Holly. It would be great to see her again.

And I’m not just saying that because I’m afraid of SingingPotato’s fists.

Although I am. ;)

[ChrisM]

>What’s so special about the flashing light in the car park?

Spoilers:

It’s a clue to who is in the car* and the twist to come.

*I.e. The flickering lights are a sign of telekinesis.

[ChrisM]

Nice to see!

And that Feckingbillgates! Grr. (One of the commenters under that youtube video.)

[ChrisM]

Okay, I watched it again yesterday. I actually noticed a couple of things which had passed me by. One of those things I did notice at the time but it just didn’t quite click..

SPOILER
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… the flashing light in the underground car park. It pretty much confirmed something I’d surmised already, but it was nice to see it there. Part of me would have liked to have seen a bit more showing how those three characters came together though, but I guess that would have ruined the surprise a bit.

[ChrisM]

I thought the mystery of the locket thread was resolved sufficiently. In fact I liked that a lot. The same is true for the main characters we’ve been following.

Spoilers ahoy!

It was mainly what came later that I wondered about. Not so much WHAT happened but how that particular character GOT there. (Trying to keep things vague so I don’t spoil too much, until after Thursday.)

In short there’s a whole thread of adventure we haven’t seen showing how they got from A to B. I can guess some of the connections along the way, and I suppose we could infer that on those occasions where a mysterious person was contacted, or a limo was parked that they were the unseen protagonist, since we saw nobody else. But that still leaves me wondering how they made the connections they did, who pointed them in the right direction. (There was another person who provided a pivotal moment who may have been responsible but I don’t understand why they would have chosen them if they were even aware of their existence!)

I can guess some of it, but that’s all it would really be. A guess.

I don’t want this to come across too negative though. It’s been a great series, and the last episode was very enjoyable and had me laughing out loud in places. I’m just a bit perplexed, I could just be missing something. Maybe a rewatch is in order.

[ChrisM]

Spoilers. But I won’t go into details, just in case people are waiting for the Thursday broadcast.

That was an enjoyable finale, but unfortunately, by resolving the story the way they did (and I understand it was partly for the surprise factor) they’ve left a large thread of story untold.

Maybe they’re planning on covering some of that ground in a third series should that happen. Or I’m being dense.

I can sort of join the dots myself, but it’s as much guesswork as anything.

[ChrisM]

>our people’ knowing him by a different title

I guessed near the end that she was referring to Rory, partly due to the fact they did a bit of similar misdirection in the earlier episodes when Rory overheard her remarks while incarcerated via her hand implant.

I didn’t buy her comment about ‘our people knowing him’ though as it made Rory out to be much more famous than he ever was. The majority of people from the present day wouldn’t know anything about him. She was likely referring to those historical references, while his auton waited through the years, but even that’s a bit of a stretch.

A minor nit for me to pick though.

I’d say that “who River is” does have a connection to the Doctor… even if her Time Lord DNA was only caused by being conceived in the TARDIS, it means that he isn’t truly the last of his kind (again)…

There’s Gennie/Jenny too! Although she might have died off-screen at this point…

I am very curious at the time lord DNA though. It means that being a Time Lord (at least from a species if not from a vocational perspective) is as much to do with time-vortex mutation as genetic inheritance. And the fact The Doctor states that it happened with his people over billions of years means it’s not just something that happens when when a Galifreyan child is forced to look into the vortex. (Mind you I initially thought that the effect there was mental rather than physical. It drove The Master insane…)

[ChrisM]

SPOILERS!

I enjoyed the episode a lot, although Tealeaf’s demise was a shame. He doesn’t say a whole lot, but I thought he was a great character. With all the nutters in the show (who I like as well, don’t get me wrong) it was nice to see the viewpoint of someone relatively normal. That being said, the twist of the toyshop owner as a camp nazi was brilliant.

And the death scene of Maureen was genuinely sad, even considering the fact that she was a despicable person, albeit a very likeable character. And that last ‘dance’ scene someone managed to be both macabre, creepy, sad and amusing all in one.

Incidentally, I’ve put the whole code into the Psychoville experience now and it’s certainly correct as I get a ‘loading..’ screen. It never goes beyond that though. At least, it didn’t last time I checked. I’ll probably try again later.

[ChrisM]

She wasn’t a patient at Ravenhill though. IIRC she only ended up there with Jelly at the end of the first series because she was handcuffed to him as part of a magic trick he was performing at the old people’s home where she lived…

Thanks Clem. Now you mention it, I remember that (although not the key eating)!

My memory is strange…

[ChrisM]

Also, he didn’t kill the Amy Ganger. He severed the psychic link between Amy and it

I understand that it wasn’t quite the same in that the duplicate doctor used his screwdriver to generate a resonance signal to break down the ganger, while our Doctor just broke the link. He did state that he would try to make it as humane as possible though which suggests that it was a painful experience for the Flesh.

[ChrisM]

I wonder at what point Amy was swapped? I assumed it was when Amy was abducted in the earlier episode, but someone remarked on another website, that her first sight of the eye-patch lady was before then! How long has she been away?

EDIT- “in above post ‘they’re pain receptors’ obviously should be ‘their pain receptors’. I was going to edit it, but then I realised these posts would be out of order.

[ChrisM]

What I can’t figure out is why did he kill GangerAmy when he’d been so keen to save the other gangers?
Seems a little inconsistent, if not hypocritical.

Yeah. I thought that too. I guess one could argue that ganger Amy is purely a puppet for the human version’s consciousness, unlike the others that had been made autonomous by the sun-tsunami-thing. Trouble is, there was a strong suggestion in this latest episode that the original Flesh feels pain as well. The human puppet masters are unaware of it (or they turn a blind eye), since they’re pain receptors are disconnected at the point of destruction. The Flesh is no longer them at that point, but it feels. There was that big dollop that Rory and the girl (I forget her name) found. It was still alive… and Rory’s ‘friend’ stated that she remembered every time her form was melted, which means her memory goes back before the sun-storm. (I guess that explains why she went crazier than the other gangers too.)

I guess it could be argued that ‘ganger-Amy’ was created from a later adaptation of the Flesh technology, Flesh that could not feel by itself, but that was never explained. Moral issues aside, it would make sense to me to keep ganger Amy around. Surely they would be able to track the signal to source better, rather than breaking the connection, like that! The Tardis could have recorded the source by then, but they don’t know that human Amy wouldn’t be moved later.

Seemed they were going more for emotionalism and drama rather than logic. (And to be fair, the ‘sploosh’ was very dramatic.)

That being said, I liked the episode, and I loved the twist.

[ChrisM]

I was a bit puzzled as to why Mr Jelly went to help the old lady and why the Scottish assassin turned up. I know Jelly and the lady worked together on occasion, I just wondered why he specifically thought she was in danger too (and rightfully as it turned out). Or what Mrs. Wren’s connection was to the locket for that matter.

Then I read elsewhere that she was at Ravenhill too. That passed me by somehow.

Another very enjoyable episode though. And it was good all the main characters survived for once!

[ChrisM]

Heh. Completely missed that…

Me and my fast fingers.*

*Now my mind has been switched into dirty mode, that sentence looks rude too.

[ChrisM]

And the basic premise of 2000ad’s ‘Flesh!’.

I suppose there’s a similarity in the sense they both seem to be based around dinosaurs attacking a community of people (although that pretty much a given for most dinosaur/human stories if you think about it). Thing is… Flesh hasn’t made it to the telly, although that might not be a bad idea.

Anyone seen the recent Flesh strip by the way? (It just fished a couple of issues back.) Not bad, although I found it a bit uneven, for want of a better word.

[ChrisM]

Spoilers:

…. And probably a good deal more of Lomax and Tea-leaf, what with the extra mystery concerning the weird stuff, and messages arriving in the post.

Course… I’ve been known to be wrong…

Quite a twist with Lomax, in more ways than one.

Smashing episode, but I do hope they don’t kill of ALL the original characters.

[ChrisM]

Heh. I like that.

[ChrisM]

I don’t think that will happen with all the older characters. I think we’ll see a lot more of the man-child and his crazy mother. (Although her days are numbered.) And probably a good deal more of Lomax and Tea-leaf, what with the extra mystery concerning the weird stuff, and messages arriving in the post. As for Mr Jelly… I have an idea he’ll be around for a while too, but then again, that’s pretty much all of them, and there’ll probably be at least one more death to go.

The deaths of two in such a small period of time certainly sets the precedent that nobody is safe though. While I’d have liked to have seen more of those characters, I think that may be a good thing for the series as a whole.

I wonder if those deaths were always intentional though, or if they were written in because the current actors either wanted out or had other commitments?

[ChrisM]

I don’t mind the fake killings of Rory so much, but I thought the end part of The Black Spot was bad. Not just because it was Rory again (although that was a big factor) but also the fact it’s the type of scene done again and again elsewhere. It really has reached cliché status!

The fake (if it is fake) ‘aged to death’ stuff in this episode was okay with me though.

[Author]

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