Doctor Who Thread

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Have something of a love-hate relationship. It can sometimes be dreadful. But normally it is  better than most things on television and is occasionally excellent. The recent series managed to avoid any dreadful episodes and wasn't so... problematic... at times, which was a nice change.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Blink would rank as my favorite episode.

Probably the best Doctor Who episode ever.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I would recommend not watching it, actually. Some astonishingly shoddy writing, unfortunately.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The writing left much to be desired, but it still reveals a great deal about the Doctor's past.

Only by wrecking the previously established backstory.

There was also those unintentional (?) incest vibes. Did. Not. Want.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Amy is amazing. What I like about this relationship (and part of the reason why I liked Catherine Tate as Donna) is that her and the Doctor are friends. No romantic tension; they are just 'mates.'

Better still; no contrived romantic tension.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Antonio, if you think Episode 2 was heartbreaking, just wait until you watch Episode 8 (Vincent and the Doctor), or even A Christmas Carol (this year's Christmas Special).  Those are the two most emotional stories I've seen since Matt Smith took the helm.

Why must they make the Christmas episodes so confussing.  They are going to get a lot of people watching the show for the first time (because a lot of people are at grandma's house or whatever) and they give them that?  I watched it at the inlaw's place with a handful of people that have never seen the show and they were left confused.

I like the new Doctor and Amy.

Christmas telly is always a little whack in the evening. By the time it's shown most people are too pissed and/or full to take much in anyway.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I can't believe TV is so popular on christmas day :/

It's actually the one day of the year that most people base their day around telly.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

She is whatever Moffat do decree.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I know Cardiff well enough to find the various in-jokes in Boom Town (and there are a lot) utterly, utterly wonderful.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

New Earth was beyond vile.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

but I really thought Tony Head did a good job of being the stereotypically-polite-but-menacing Doctor Who villain.

Absolutely.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I would suggest "Rose", the first Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) story, which is the start of the "new" show. You'll get the key concepts very quickly and there's only five "years" (roughly 14 episodes a year) of re-runs. You won't need to watch any of the "classic" episodes to get into it, although you will probably find yourself doing so at some point.

I would recommend that, yeah. That particular 'year' also had the advantage of having significantly less lazy writing than most 'years' after; probably because it had something to prove.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Anyways, the one today was good and very promising. Hopefully the second half doesn't disappoint, because there's some much that's... you know.

So nice to see a non-fluffy opener.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Why is Matthew Graham allowed to write for television without someone holding his hand?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Why is Matthew Graham allowed to write for television without someone holding his hand?

Because Life On Mars kept up on viewer ratings.

Yes it did. It was good as well, though the first series was better than the second. But I think that we can safely conclude - especially when we remember Bonekickers (one of the most egregious wastes of license fee money I can think of) - that that may have been something of a fluke.

It's not that the episode I'm complaining about was terrible or anything, just that there was so much utterly unnecessary button pressing, lazy writing and bad (by which I always mean clichéd; I'm not one of those morons who demands 'realism' in all things) dialogue. It's such a shame as the first half of this two-parter wasn't bad; very much a standard-issue sci-fi scenario, but not without some promise.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Doctor Who isn't supposed to make sense, silly. Anyway, I liked it; better written than most concluding episodes have been by some margin. It wasn't great televisual art (unlike, say, this), but it was good telly. The twist wasn't surprising, was actually the most logical of the possibilities and was heavily signposted near the start of the episode, which makes it alright.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You in the UK are an episode ahead of us Americans. I was referring to the second part of the acid factory/living flesh people thing.

Oh, right. In which case I agree with you absolutely. See my bitching about the writer a few posts up!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

It wasn't great televisual art (unlike, say, this), but it was good telly.

Going to have to disagree that The Shadow Line is great televisual art - I'm finding it very slow.

It is slow, but then the best television drama has always tended to be fairly slow; I'd argue that The Singing Detective was the greatest thing ever shown on television, and it moved at a snails pace.

But then these things are entirely subjective

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sorry, I'll clarify: The Shadow Line is slow and boring. Nowt wrong with slow. Plenty wrong with boring.

It's not boring, it's art, you philistine.

Though you could easily play a drinking game based around spotting the Godfather references.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ok, so I'll have to avoid reading this thread for almost one year...

River is actually the Master.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sorry, I'll clarify: The Shadow Line is slow and boring. Nowt wrong with slow. Plenty wrong with boring.

It's not boring, it's art, you philistine.

Though you could easily play a drinking game based around spotting the Godfather references.

I couldn't - I've never seen The Godfather...

Really? Now that does come as a surprise; but if at any point you decide to watch any of them (even if only for the sake of it), I would strongly recommend missing the last of the three. Everyone says its bad, but it's actually much worse than that.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Right

Two episodes in to the return of Series 6. Thoughts?

So far, so good; very much at the upper end of potential for television with a dual appeal to children and the rest of us (obviously its no Box of Delights, but then what is?), hoping it stays that way.

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When?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeah, that was good. Very much in the tradition of the better sort of British sci-fi telly (that is, dark and surreal). Nice to see no pulling of punches or lazy happy endings.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Aesthetically pleasing (a 1980s hotel as a form of prison; lol), well acted and generally well done in general. Bit of a major plot hole lurking around there (if you extend the concept of 'faith' to include any strong/guiding belief in anything - as was explicitly done - then in no plausible universe will you find anyone lacking in any. I should note that I'm not entirely sure if it's a good idea to do that) but entirely forgivable, oddly enough. I do like how the show deals with issues like that (and, bluntly, on other issues, quite different, as well) in a more mature way than it did under it's previous overlord.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oh, and on a slightly more highbrow level, I did like the use of the Minotaur myth. When that kind of thing is placed in a sci-fi context it usually ends pretty badly, but it worked quite well in this case.