An unearthly thread. (Doctor Who).

[Reply #320 on:]

Quite liked "A Town Called Mercy" - interesting plot developments if, perhaps...well I won't say predictable, or "done before" but kinda.

But again, despite downsides (certainly less this week than the one before, and I really liked the one before) I'm really enjoying this season.

I've actually met the guy who played the Gunslinger...'s double! How's that for a claim to fame! xD

Murray Gold's music has been great this season, and there were little nods to various old favourite western themes too (or at least I think I can remember that)
Not long after their arrival though, I certainly felt the music even had a Firefly twang to it, though sadly in that regard it didn't last long.

RTD actually felt that the show needed the "grounding influence" of the families and friends of the companions.

I think next week's is pretty much all about that. I think. Anyway, it looks like tremendous fun. Written by the same guy who did Dinosaurs mind you but, as I say, I quite liked that one

[Reply #321 on:]

Power of Three was much better than the last three episodes (no pun intended) it had a great mystery and had a lot of interesting and funny moments. The ending was rushed as hell and UNIT was only there for a crowd pleaser.
7/10

[Reply #322 on:]

I though it was going along oh so nicely but then sort of crashed into the end, which for me kinda soured what was a really enjoyable episode for the most part.

Sort of like reviewing Futurama episodes and talking about 'Acts'; Acts I and II were great but Act III, it all sort of fell down trying to wrap everything up.

IMO

[Reply #323 on:]

Did anyone else think of David Tennant when The Doctors hearts were stopping?

[Reply #324 on:]

Really liked that episode, the plot wasn't important, simply a vehicle for the character interaction leading up to Amy and Rory leaving the show.

Quite liked the slow burn mystery of the episode (best idea they've had for a story so far this season), and it made a nice change to have an episode on modern day Earth.

I could also buy that the bulk of humans would in fact be stupid enough to pick up and keep the cubes.. in fact it probably wouldn't take long for companies to start harvesting them up for children's letter blocks and building material.

The ending wasn't happy either, what they glossed over is the fact that one third of the population now has serious brain damage as a result of being in cardiac arrest for way too long.

[Reply #325 on:]

The ending wasn't happy either, what they glossed over is the fact that one third of the population now has serious brain damage as a result of being in cardiac arrest for way too long.

This.
Basically to clarify my other grievances, few as they actually are - why were some humans, including Rory's dad, even taken to the alien ship? (The Doctor left the others to die there it seems BTW) and Steven Berkoff kinda comes out of nowhere - awesome as he is as an actor - there's a little bit of exposition, then he removes himself from the picture, literally, because he was "never really there" and the Doctor immediately undoes everything Berkoff has done with a wave of his sonic wand.
Thend.

Zmithy you are right to say the plot wasn't so important, as a vehicle for the character development, but the build-up was so brilliant, so cleverly done...it just wrapped up too irrelevantly.

Gah it sounds like I'm really whining... really not my intention

[Reply #326 on:]

It's a fair point, it's like the episode had every single episode of Lost rolled into one 1-hour tv show as far as the mystery unravelling and pacing went.

First 4/6th's - Subtle mystery as a basis for character development.
Fifth 1/6th - Mystery element starts to get really interesting and exciting.
Sixth 1/6th - Mystery element was more epic and interesting than the actual reveal/ solution to the mystery which gets rushed and falls flat on its face.

It's familiar ground for me, about halfway through the episode I realised "wow, the cubes still haven't done anything, this really is a character episode", and stopped bothering too much about the plot.

[Reply #327 on:]

[Reply #328 on:]

  Brilliant!

[Reply #329 on:]

Did anyone else think of David Tennant when The Doctors hearts were stopping?

Who?

[Reply #330 on:]

Mixed opinions. I'm just glad Amy's gone. Rory was okay-ish...

Seemed a bit rushed. I dunno. I guess I'm disappointed 'cause that was just like an average episode to me, I care that little about the Ponds that it wasn't emotional or anything.

Just noticed, didn't show what happened to the fat guy when those statues started coming into his house, I assume they killed him...

Doctor looked very emo/dark in the Christmas preview, looks sweet.

Oo, oo! Another thing that pissed me off. The "don't blink" rule seems to have been abolished long ago (angel's seem to only move every so often in recent eps, no way could every character interacting with them prevent blinking or all looking away at some point), then all of a sudden Amy brings it up AND proceeds to immediately BLINK in the angel's face. Fuck-all happens. The Doctor and River would have had to have blinked at the same time when she had her back to it too.

[Reply #331 on:]

Yeah I suppose someone's death carries little weight if they are already dead to you.

Me, well, I did care for the Ponds so I was emotional. I think seeing them re-appear on Dave is going to be a bit painful to watch actually. Thought it was a bloody well-written episode and again the production values were supreme.

Looking forward to the Christmas one now...though it's going to be weird for me...

[Reply #332 on:]

Danny, in turning Amy blocked the Doctor's view of the Angel. River (being on Amy's wavelength with this) probably closed her eyes at that point. Although a shot of this would have been nice for some confirmation.

All in all though I think the way they handle the angels in the blinking regard has changed for the better. It works in a dramatic way and allows you to focus on other plots besides just 'blink and you're dead' - I personally don't want to watch Blink over and over in a different wrapper.

[Reply #333 on:]

It was a great episode although I'm sad that that is the last we'll see of Amelia Pond as she has been my favourite companion so far. I thought her send off was well handled at least; a bitter-sweet tearjerker

[Reply #334 on:]

Fantastic episode, it's extremely rare that any form of visual media makes me cry, so that one really hit the right notes.

One of the best episodes of the show ever, it blended the core concepts from "Blink" and "The Girl who Waited" (which IMO are the best 2 eps that Moffat has written) together into something unique.

The book page for the doctor probably wasn't the only thing they left, I imagine they put together loads of pictures, letters and film for River to give to their family.. River was used quite well in this episode, it is extremely interesting to know that she knew this was going to happen all along.

In fact, she could even relay messages back and forth between Rory and his dad from time to time, there's no restriction on that happening (she goes back afterwards to get the book published, so she is capable of back-and-forth), it's only the doctor specifically who can have no further contact. Bittersweet is definitely the word for it.

[Reply #335 on:]

It does strike me that - as long as they are not trapped in that Angel apartment complex for the rest of their life (which I assume is not the case) - they are theoretically free to leave New York. Theoretically speaking I'd say if they all agreed to meet up in San Francisco or something, the Doctor could just go and collect them.

I thought perhaps a more upbeat, alternative ending is that this does in fact happen, but it takes time for Rory and Amy to be able to leave New York - after all, they're sent back and have basically nothing, no home, no money. By the time the Doctor catches up with them, they've aged, they've settled and they're happy, so they say their goodbyes and go their own separate ways.

Hell you could just about head-cannon any happy and fantastical life for Rory and Amy after they're sent back in time, with or without the Doctor. The only fixed point in time is that they eventually die and happen to be buried in a certain graveyard in a certain corner of New York...

Wish I had told myself that last night.

Perhaps the only bitter-sweet fact is that Amy outlives Rory by several years...

[Reply #336 on:]

There's a little something in my eye right now. I've never been so attached to fictional characters before; but god damn. I just lost it. When Rory and Amy jumped off Winter Quay I was just watching terrified with my eyes wide open and my jaw touching the floor. The only part of the episode I didn't like was the terrible song that played when Rory and Amy jumped.

Alex Kingston just blew me away in this episode too. I've always been a fan of River Song; and it was just great that she was Melody Malone. She looked amazing in that black sparkly dress; and her knowledge of the Doctor was once again displayed as she told Amy why you should never the Doctor aging or pain.

Overall; this episode was scary, extremely sad, brilliant, the best, and the worst. Moffat has quite a mind. And I know I shouldn't be praising a man who just ripped out my soul, but goddamn he's amazing!

Run along, ponds. Have a good life.

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[Reply #337 on:]

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I'm pretty sure that the Statue of Liberty is in fact an enormous Weeping Angel that the Doctor tricked into revealing itself in such a location that it would always be observed.

Well, I was half right.

I am pleased that the final emotional story between Amy and Rory was actually emotional. One of the best episodes, in my opinion.

[Reply #338 on:]

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'Sometimes I do worry about you though. I think once we're gone you won't be coming back here for a while and you will be alone, which you should never be. Don't be alone, Doctor.'

Why does she say "for a while" ?

[Reply #339 on:]

From a "Yarn Bombing" event in front of a yarn shop in Bellingham last night:

[Reply #340 on:]

The BBC has released a little bonus animated extra scene where Brian gets some closure...

[Reply #341 on:]

All in all though I think the way they handle the angels in the blinking regard has changed for the better. It works in a dramatic way and allows you to focus on other plots besides just 'blink and you're dead' - I personally don't want to watch Blink over and over in a different wrapper.

Well if they can't have good plots while keeping their rules with the Angels consistent, maybe they should just, I don't know, not be lazy and USE SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE ANGELS. I agree with Danny, nothing about what we've learned about how the Angels work seemed to make any difference whatsoever in this episode, it was like they threw it all out the window. But it wasn't even like they created new rules or anything...there didn't seem to be any rules at all. When Amy turns her back and disappears even though the Doctor and River could CLEARLY see it...what the fuck was that? And how the fuck did the Statue of Liberty Angel move at all without anyone seeing it? They were asking us to completely suspend our disbelief for a really cheap and useless gimmick. They ruined the whole concept of the Angels and everything that made them originally scary. They shouldn't have used them at all, it's not like they really needed to.

The whole episode seemed rushed and haphazardly put together. It felt like the drama of the episode didn't even start until we see old Rory die, but once that happened everything else major in the episode happened within like five minutes. There was no time to process or make sense of any of the plot points that were just thrown at us and were forced to accept. Half the things that happened seemed completely pointless. I really liked Amy and Rory, and there have been episodes involving them that made me emotional, but this one just made me angry. The part where they jumped off the building was pretty well done, but ruined by the dumb song and slow motion they used during the jump and then rendered totally moot by the sudden appearance of the Angel in the next scene, which was just lazy writing. The "sadness" displayed by Amy and the Doctor when Amy was choosing to get taken felt really forced and it was hard for me to feel anything at all. This was supposed to be their last episode and it was super lame in my opinion.

I'm surprised all of you liked it so much. I love the show and I loved Amy and Rory but I thought that was just total bollocks.

[Reply #342 on:]

All in all though I think the way they handle the angels in the blinking regard has changed for the better. It works in a dramatic way and allows you to focus on other plots besides just 'blink and you're dead' - I personally don't want to watch Blink over and over in a different wrapper.

Well if they can't have good plots while keeping their rules with the Angels consistent, maybe they should just, I don't know, not be lazy and USE SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE ANGELS. I agree with Danny, nothing about what we've learned about how the Angels work seemed to make any difference whatsoever in this episode, it was like they threw it all out the window. But it wasn't even like they created new rules or anything...there didn't seem to be any rules at all. When Amy turns her back and disappears even though the Doctor and River could CLEARLY see it...what the fuck was that? And how the fuck did the Statue of Liberty Angel move at all without anyone seeing it? They were asking us to completely suspend our disbelief for a really cheap and useless gimmick. They ruined the whole concept of the Angels and everything that made them originally scary. They shouldn't have used them at all, it's not like they really needed to.

Thank you, Josh, you beautiful, wonderful treas! I haven't seen any episodes of the new season, but I definitely agree that they should have just left the Weeping Angels alone with their one episode. References and nods to them alone would have been fine. 'Blink' was fantastic, deceptively simple, and genuinely creepy. I remember a Paul Jennings short story about a funhouse mirror that had the same premise, but 'Blink' executed it without the cheesiness. Then came the two-parter about the Angels, complete with brand-new unexplained powers that completely invalidated everything about 'Blink' that made it actually work - the writers were like children in the sandpit making up new superpowers to shoehorn in. I admit, it was also kind of creepy (they telegraphed the "statue-mausoleum actually being full of gradually-repowering Weeping Angels" too obviously, though - the Doctor's joke about the planet's former two-headed inhabitants was so incredibly corny that your attention is immediately drawn to the offending discongruity), but it would have worked a lot better with a completely different monster.

The Angels should have been left like the Midnight Entity - absolutely nothing about it was explained, and the episode works brilliantly for it. It's very John Carpenter's The Thing-ish in how much it leaves to your own imagination.  Imagine if they brought it back, complete with the Doctor's usual quickly-ascertained backstory? Everything that made the original episode good (well, I thought it was - I have no idea what the professional fan's opinion is) would be retroactively cheapened. I assume that that wasn't a popular episode, though, or they probably would have brought it back. I loved the Midnight Entity.

Anyway, I think I'm going to catch up eventually.

[Reply #343 on:]

Finally watched the Xmas special. Pretty good episode and I like the set up for Oswin to come.

And I love the new, classic TARDIS layout. 'Bout time!

[Reply #344 on:]

Two weeks till new episodes! Can't wait!

[Reply #345 on:]

Oh, sweet, Dr. Who and Game of Thrones running at the same time.

[Reply #346 on:]

With the return of the Ice Warriors hopefully the series can get back to being great again

[Reply #347 on:]

Oh, sweet, Dr. Who and Game of Thrones running at the same time.

Definitely much more excited about the latter. Methinks Doctor Who may have run its course for me, I'm really not very invested at all these days, and I'm already bored of Matt Smith's antics. This will be the second half of his third series, which is how many Tenant had. I think after this they should do maybe a couple specials like they did with Tenant and then have another regeneration. Then I'll be interested, at least for a while to see how the new actor fares.

[Reply #348 on:]

Well there's a something that's definitely got me excited about this coming series:

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ZOMGRussians!!!

I know this because when I did my filming for the Christmas episode, I recognised what I thought were three guys in Russian naval uniform in the studio cafeteria, then from the teaser trailer I...was able to recognise from a two-second clip the shoulder boards of a Captain of 1st Rank... <_< >_>

I'm not in any of these episodes, so no other spoilers from me (), I'm as clueless as and...erm, possibly more excited than you lot are...

[Reply #349 on:]

Plus there are the 50th anniversary celebrations later in the year, hoping for a multi doctor story

[Reply #350 on:]

New Promos
BBC One Promo
BBC America Promo
I am hyped for the Cybermen episode.

[Reply #351 on:]

Not a bad start to Series 7 Part 2, not really any cringey moments (which DW suffers from way too often nowadays...) and the new companion isn't annoying as hell like Amy and (eventually) Rory, which is good. What in the fuck was up with the head of the wifi thing at the end, asking for her mum/dad and shit?

Also, all you Who fans probably already know, but David Tennant, Billie Piper and John Hurt have been confirmed to be involved in the 50th anniversary special thing.

[Reply #352 on:]

Good first episode I thought, what about anyone else?

[Reply #353 on:]

I thought it was a good episode although it is too soon to say whether Clara will be as good as Amy Pond was as a companion.

Danny; she was asking for her parents because she had been taken as a child and when she was no longer under the influence of her 'client' she went back to being a child in her mind... just as the other employees went back to being who they were at the moment they were taken.

[Reply #354 on:]

Thought it was a great episode. Not quite sure what to think of Clara, even yet, but I'm genuinely hooked on how the mystery surrounding her character will be played out. In other words, I'm looking forward to seeing where Mr Moffat is going with this.

[Reply #355 on:]

Yh, and with the news of David Tennant appearing for the special episode makes for an exciting year!

[Reply #356 on:]

Also, all you Who fans probably already know, but David Tennant, Billie Piper and John Hurt have been confirmed to be involved in the 50th anniversary special thing.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought we were finally done with her for good.

On the episode, I too am very curious to see where all this Clara stuff is going. Should be fun finding out.

[Reply #357 on:]

It has to be alternate universe Doctor and Rose, because even if he goes back in the timeline, she's trapped in that universe.

Rehashing the Bad Wolf stuff might be a bad idea, I'm interested to see where they go with that. Not looking forward to seeing Rose back again though. I hated her with a passion.

I really like Clara, so far, but the Doctor is kinda overly fond of her as of now... I know there's all this mystery surrounding her and whatnot and he loves a good mystery, but I really hope her character does it justice.

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Also, am I the only one who thinks that perchance maybe she could be a timelord? There's so much mystery with her dying and coming back, and I know Matt is set to leave in December (plus this is meant to be his last incarnation).

It's probably waaaaay off the mark, but it'd be interesting to see them do a female Doctor.

[Reply #358 on:]

Hmmm

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i don't think she's a timelord, and also there is no confirmation Matt is leaving in December just rumours

[Reply #359 on:]

(plus this is meant to be his last incarnation).

Didn't they break the limit on the number of times he can regenerate on The Sarah Jane Adventures or something? Also, I thought the original limit was 12 or 13, not 11?