"You made me dress up as him!" (Discussion on current Doctor Who episodes)

[Sgarre1]

seriously! didn't one of the early doctors mention something about his mother being closely tied to earth?

The Fox TV one-off contained the revelation that the Doctor was "half-human".

Also worth mentiong that Susan was floated as another Gallifrey woman option....

[Ocicat]

The Fox TV one-off contained the revelation that the Doctor was "half-human".

...which has not only been ignored, but flat out contradicted since.

[stePH]

The Fox TV one-off contained the revelation that the Doctor was "half-human".

...which has not only been ignored, but flat out contradicted since.

And rightly so!  I maintain that while the 1996 TV movie did happen (else there is no eighth Doctor), that particular line did not.

[Heradel]

Ok, don't read this if you're waiting for it to air in America.




First off, and I meant to link to this days ago, even if it wasn't by Al, but it is, so I am.

I’m overweight. I have been most of my life. I’m much, much less overweight now than I was when I was a kid but I’ve long since resigned myself to the fact that I’m probably going to be carrying a few extra pounds for the rest of my natural life. I’m okay with that too, if nothing else because it sort of comes with the body I was given. I’m 6′1″ and I’m built broad with it so if I have to carry some extra weight as the price to pay for looking a really tiny amount like Helo’s younger, chunkier brother? I’m cool with that, especially as being a grown up means that I don’t actually get bullied for looking, thinking or acting differently. Or at least that’s the theory.
[...]
The truth is even fandom has its ugly side and this week, it showed up. As I first set out to write this we’re less than 24 hours away from the broadcast of “The Lodger”, the Doctor Who episode guest-starring James Corden and the bile is rising. On one level it’s justifiable: Corden’s over-exposed in this country, trades off a stereotypically laddish persona and managed to spectacularly blot his copybook with an on-stage bust up with Sir Patrick Stewart. On another though, it’s anything but acceptable. Some of the comments have focussed not on Corden’s person or talent but on his size, on the fact he’s overweight, he’s too fat, he’s different.[...]

But onto Pandorica Part One. Or as I would call it, Episode-in-which-the-Doctor-gets-what-is-coming-to-him. I mean, it was glorious. I barely know where to start, except with Rory, for whom it is proven was always a hero in Amy's mind (as that's the only place his personality could have come from). Also, and unfortunately, a plastiform automaton whose programming makes him shoot Amy, but c'est la vie (or pas-la-vie in his case). But still, entirely predictable and yet still perfectly amazing scenes between them. I'm not the first one to point it out, but there was not really any acting like this during the show's original run. Honestly I thought we were going to get the Valeyard coming out of the Pandorica, but it was better that it was the Doctor going in (though you could tell something was off when you didn't see the Daleks shooting at everyone in orbit). I liked Amy, even trying-to-sleep-with-The-Doctor Amy, but honestly if this is a switch from Amy over to Riversong as next season's companion I won't mind that much.

More in the morning, but this was a seriously well-done episode. Could only have been better by the inclusion of a duck pond.

[eytanz]

I was away for a week now, and my girlfriend made me promise I won't watch Dr Who without her, so I just caught the last three episodes of the season in rapid succession. #10 (The Lodger) was forgettable, but the two-part finale was absolutely amazing. Since it's just a few hours old I'm not posting spoilers (even the UK people may have not seen it yet if they recorded it or watch it on iplayer), but let me just say - my expectations were very high and it really, really delivered.

[Heradel]

I was away for a week now, and my girlfriend made me promise I won't watch Dr Who without her, so I just caught the last three episodes of the season in rapid succession. #10 (The Lodger) was forgettable, but the two-part finale was absolutely amazing. Since it's just a few hours old I'm not posting spoilers (even the UK people may have not seen it yet if they recorded it or watch it on iplayer), but let me just say - my expectations were very high and it really, really delivered.

It really, really did. And Ha the flirtiness was still part of Amy's character.

[Heradel]

Christ.



Also, so happy it's back.

[Ocicat]

Okay, so until next week we get to speculate on the opening episode's mysteries and cliffhanger ending. 

So... who is the astronaut?  It kind of looked like the young Amy Pond...

[eytanz]

Different actress, though.

First episode was awesome.

[Alasdair5000]

I'm guessing the little girl is either a young version of River (She fires at the astronaut to no effect then mutters 'Of course not') or her identity is less important than the suit itself. Oh and why the hell are the Silence apparently using the pseudo TARDIS from 'The Lodger' last year?

[Heradel]

I'm guessing the little girl is either a young version of River (She fires at the astronaut to no effect then mutters 'Of course not') or her identity is less important than the suit itself. Oh and why the hell are the Silence apparently using the pseudo TARDIS from 'The Lodger' last year?

Well, I actually re-watched that episode recently, and there was some sort of a Silence reference in there during the scene with the someone's rubbish attempt at recreating the TARDIS.

[Heradel]

So... who is the astronaut?  It kind of looked like the young Amy Pond...

So it turns out, not quite the thing in black.

Can I just say, it was a very un-doctor-like thing to do at the end there. Since when does he not go after children?

[Alasdair5000]

See I didn't really get on with the second episode because...it's not really a second episode. It's certainly not a conclusion to a lot of the dangling plot threads which is a really audacious thing to do (And holy CRAP is the last ten minutes or so of the episode audacious) but it felt unsatisfying. I suspect it's all going to pay off but right now it feels a bit...off.

That being said, consider this a vote for much, MUCH more Canton Everett Delaware III:)

[eytanz]

See I didn't really get on with the second episode because...it's not really a second episode. It's certainly not a conclusion to a lot of the dangling plot threads which is a really audacious thing to do (And holy CRAP is the last ten minutes or so of the episode audacious) but it felt unsatisfying. I suspect it's all going to pay off but right now it feels a bit...off.

That being said, consider this a vote for much, MUCH more Canton Everett Delaware III:)

I felt the same - except that how I see it, the problem was that it was very much a *second* episode. The first episode was a series of cool mysteries being introduced one after the other. The second - well, it's clear that Moffat's storytelling approach views the whole season as a single arc. The second episode is too early to fully answer or resolve anything. It's role is only to elaborate on the questions already answered - give more details. Some of those go some way towards a solution (e.g. the final scene with River Song). Others reveal that the mystery is deeper than we thought - anything to do with the little girl or Amy or the astronaut suit, for example. And yet others provide what is very clearly a false resolution - the Doctor's answer to the Silence is very clearly him winning the battle, not the war.

Now, all the above doesn't necessary end up as being unsatisfying, but the problem was that there are simply too many plot threads being juggled. There is an art to pacing season-long arcs, and it seems like here too many mysteries were crammed into the first episode and this made it pretty difficult for episode two to fully deliver. And I think it's made worse by the fact that we all know that next episode is going to leave most of these questions untouched - the whole "let's go on an adventure" thing at the end of the episode felt rather forced to me. Of course, this could very well be a smokescreen - Moffat is great with those - so who knows.

I'm really enjoying this season, mind you - I think, much like Alasdair, that ultimately all will pay off. The problem is the pacing - a stunning episode one followed by an episode two which just didn't have nearly as much to do and suffered for it.

[stePH]

I have a serious problem with the Doctor's plan being "have the humans slaughter the aliens wherever they see them".

Non-violence has always been his preferred tactic (Jon Pertwee fisticuffs notwithstanding). Genocide has never been his M.O.

[Heradel]

I have a serious problem with the Doctor's plan being "have the humans slaughter the aliens wherever they see them".

Non-violence has always been his preferred tactic (Jon Pertwee fisticuffs notwithstanding). Genocide has never been his M.O.

The Time War?

[Ocicat]

I think he's hoping that the aliens will run, rather than get slaughtered.  It still was a bit harsh, but he's shown willingness to help humans fight off invaders before, so long as he personally isn't picking up a gun.  I'm thinking about the fight against the daleks in the end of season 1, and also the rebelion against the cybermen the alternate universe...

As to the episode, I enjoyed it.  It was pretty clear half way through that it had no intentions of clearing up the mysteries regarding the little girl and the death of the doctor.  And of course I knew going into it that the Silence were a series long threat.

And yes, I expect next week's episode to deal with exactly none of this, especially since it was originally slotted for towards the end of the season, and moved up later.  The episode after that will probably be fairly stand-alone too, since it's Neil Gaiman's.  But with him you never know...

[Heradel]

My point on the Time War/Genocide bit is that while the Doctor has somewhat of a stated preference for non-violence, it's gotten a lot weaker over time, and Ten and Eleven both have not really shied that far away from violence when it made sense and is in the larger pursuit of justice. The last time I really remember the Doctor refusing to take action was when Nine refused to unleash the Deus Ex Machina wave that would have killed the Dalek battle-fleet but would also have killed off all the inhabitants of Earth. Probably forgetting something though.

Ten did object to the humans killing the... Siggurax? battleship after he'd defeated them, however.

And yes, I expect next week's episode to deal with exactly none of this, especially since it was originally slotted for towards the end of the season, and moved up later.  The episode after that will probably be fairly stand-alone too, since it's Neil Gaiman's.  But with him you never know...

I expect the same, though the Gaiman episode is apparently titled The Doctor's Wife, which could bode well for at least returning to one of the not-quite-as dangling threads in the last episode.

And on that subject, I'm just going to say that Riversong kind of annoyed me when she appeared back in the Library episodes with Ten, but she's rapidly become my favorite swashbuckler, and a good replacement for Jack-who-we-will-hopefully-see-again-someday-once-Starz-gets-around-to-it.

Actually, now that I googled it, there's a new episode in July. And Jane Espenson wrote something like half the series. Please rescind prior complaints.

[Gamercow]

Ten did object to the humans killing the... Siggurax? battleship after he'd defeated them, however.

IIRC, he had a problem with that because they were no longer a threat to humans, and the act of destroying their ship was pure malevolence, in his mind.  That said, I think that both 9 and 10 were both more anti-violence than 11. 

I definitely think we'll see the Silence again.

And can I just say that I find Amy and Rory's relationship wonderful?  Here's this very ordinary guy who adores a beautiful adventurous woman, and she's been off with a time traveling alien who can do just about anything.  He's justifiably worried, but I'm glad they keep Amy seeing him as her number one hero.

[Heradel]

Woo this: http://io9.com/5806852/its-official-doctor-who-producer-says-the-daleks-are-taking-a-nice-rest

--

I'm not really sure what to say, except that this season is going to a really dark place.

[Gamercow]

Woo this: http://io9.com/5806852/its-official-doctor-who-producer-says-the-daleks-are-taking-a-nice-rest

--

I'm not really sure what to say, except that this season is going to a really dark place.

I'm afraid Moffat leans on some monster crutches a bit much, namely space suits, things with weird faces, misshapen mouths and clown/harlequin masks in particular, and creepy children. 

Moffat written episodes:
Empty Child/Doctor Dances - creepy child, weird face(gas mask)
Girl in the Fireplace - Masks
Blink - fangs/mouth
Silence in the Library - space suit
11th hour - fangs
Beast Below - Masks
Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone - fangs/mouth
Pandorica/Big Bang - None?
Christmas Carol - Fangs
Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon - space suit, creepy child, mouth

[Heradel]

The ending of the latest episode almost made up for the fact that they're taking a break until August.

[stePH]

WTF? Have they ever taken a "summer break" before?

[eytanz]

No, but they announced it months ago, so it's hardly a surprise.

[stePH]

No, but they announced it months ago, so it's hardly a surprise.

Except to those of us who don't obsessively follow Doctor Who news.