Topic: Doctor Who (Read 134734 times)

Method of Madness · « **Reply #500 on:** 13 Sep 2015, 17:03 »

Yeah, I wasn't that annoyed about the River Song thing because whatever. It was the whole "oh hey, Amy and Rory are leaving in THIS PARTICULAR EPISODE" that they did weeks in advance because...well, certainly that wasn't supposed to have any impact at all. (It still did, but not nearly as much as it would have had I not known about it).

Gladstone · « **Reply #501 on:** 13 Sep 2015, 17:50 »

I think it would've had even more impact if they had left much sooner and Moffat hadn't kept them long past their welcome like he's currently doing with Clara. I like more frequent Companion turnovers. Keeps things interesting.

(Although keeping the Ponds around for those extra episodes in Series 7 did give us Rory's dad, who was great. Although he didn't get as much screen time as he deserved. I will probably never be satisfied with this show.)

Pilchard123 · « **Reply #502 on:** 14 Sep 2015, 00:09 »

[EYEBROWS INTENSIFY]

Lines · « **Reply #503 on:** 14 Sep 2015, 16:30 »

I like Capaldi as the Doctor. I like Missy. I like River, but not the idea of her in the current season. Everything else...eh.

I don't like anything else. I really enjoy that the Doctor is now very cranky and that he's dealing with the grey area of his "goodness", but... I got bored. I thought Danny Pink was a good thing, because he was a realistic anchor for Clara's non-time-traveling life and he would have been a great plot device to have the Doctor find a new companion. But no. They killed him off and now we're stuck with Clara for another season, which I'm not too crazy about.

I don't know. I feel like they're running out of ideas. I'm bored.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #504 on:** 14 Sep 2015, 16:40 »

How could they have had Danny without Clara, though?

Lines · « **Reply #505 on:** 14 Sep 2015, 20:03 »

Huh? They could have easily left the show together but they killed him and Clara is sticking around. I didn't say anything about keeping him, but not her...

Method of Madness · « **Reply #506 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 09:19 »

Sorry, when you said new companion I thought you meant Danny.

Stoon · « **Reply #507 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 19:23 »

Will they ever resolve the paradox of Danny Pink?

Don't like Capaldi.

Yes, Moffat definitely has run out of ideas. His misogyny is shining through as well.

Method of Madness · « **Reply #508 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 19:24 »

How so?

BenRG · « **Reply #509 on:** 15 Sep 2015, 23:18 »

So, hot off the press (and relevant to recent discussion on this thread) news about the Doctor's companion

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Lines · « **Reply #510 on:** 16 Sep 2015, 08:08 »

Good for her.

Quote from: Stoon on 15 Sep 2015, 19:23

Will they ever resolve the paradox of Danny Pink?

That also annoyed me. The time traveller that was related to Pink...his storyline kind of got thrown out the window. Which is sad, because that was actually a pretty interesting episode. (Until the end, anyways. I wish it had ended with an actual alien race that could not be seen and had to live under things.)

hedgie · « **Reply #511 on:** 19 Sep 2015, 13:17 »

So, having not watched the show for the past 2-3 years, I decided to catch the one airing today. Since a lot of people haven't seen it, I'm not going to spoil anything, but I do think it's better than a lot of the more recent episodes that I have seen. I actually didn't really notice the time passing until the end.

Thrillho · « **Reply #512 on:** 20 Sep 2015, 16:52 »

That was the best episode of Who I have seen since Ecclestone.

hedgie · « **Reply #513 on:** 20 Sep 2015, 17:54 »

Agreed.

Spoiler tags, for a good reason:

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I do have a question, though, for anyone else who watched it on the BBC iPlayer. Were the services slammed in the UK, or is it more likely to be an issue with my VPN or ISP? There were a couple of pauses for it to buffer.

BenRG · « **Reply #514 on:** 20 Oct 2015, 04:11 »

@Hedgie,

I find that all BBC streams (live and download) are ridiculously slow and glitchy. Despite the fact that we are repeatedly assured that they have Britain's best media website, the best way to deal with a download is to pause the player and let the buffer bar fill up to near to the end. There's no cure for the narrow live-stream bandwidth, though.

Thrillho · « **Reply #515 on:** 20 Oct 2015, 13:32 »

Watched the second two parter and despite some predictable moments, WOW.

hedgie · « **Reply #516 on:** 23 Oct 2015, 19:32 »

Quote from: BenRG on 20 Oct 2015, 04:11

@Hedgie,

I find that all BBC streams (live and download) are ridiculously slow and glitchy. Despite the fact that we are repeatedly assured that they have Britain's best media website, the best way to deal with a download is to pause the player and let the buffer bar fill up to near to the end. There's no cure for the narrow live-stream bandwidth, though.

That's good news. In fact, I had been hoping that it was just the BBC, especially since about a week after I posted that, I saw that they'd start cracking down on VPN use to bypass regional restrictions.

Thrillho · « **Reply #517 on:** 08 Nov 2015, 03:09 »

Despite some creaky moments, this is by far my favourite season since Ecclestone. That last episode, the speech by Capaldi? Wow.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #518 on:** 08 Nov 2015, 04:25 »

Watching the pre-Moffat episodes right now and I genuinely fell in love with the Madame de Pompadour episode.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #519 on:** 08 Nov 2015, 09:58 »

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Masterpiece · « **Reply #520 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 10:33 »

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chaospersonified · « **Reply #521 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 16:54 »

Quote from: Masterpiece on 08 Nov 2015, 04:25

Watching the pre-Moffat episodes right now and I genuinely fell in love with the Madame de Pompadour episode.

Technically that's a Moffat episode, though I know what you mean. It is so confusing to me that he wrote easily the best episodes of the Russel T. Davies' years, yet when he was in charge of the show, he suddenly lost (most) of his skill. If you can't tell, I'm not a huge fan of Matt Smith, rather, I'm not a fan of the writing he was given during his last seasons. Love the guy, love the way he played the character, but somehow, still, did not enjoy much of his run as the Doctor.

He's done well enough with Capaldi, though, I'm loving the Twelfth Doctor so far. Not sure how much of that's the (in my opinion) better writing and how much of that's Capaldi's take on the character, but I don't especially care. I enjoy it.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #522 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 18:57 »

Weird. He's also written the Don't Blink episode, pretty good too.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #523 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 19:22 »

Fuck, the Empty Child is also by him. As is, unsurprisingly in hindsight, the episode introducing River Song. Huh.

chaospersonified · « **Reply #524 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 19:49 »

Quote from: Masterpiece on 12 Nov 2015, 19:22

Fuck, the Empty Child is also by him. As is, unsurprisingly in hindsight, the episode introducing River Song. Huh.

Like I said, all the greatest of RTD's run, written by Moffat, and then, when they put him in charge, the writing goes downhill. I wish I could understand why.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #525 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 19:58 »

Well, the more episodes I watch the more I realize I really enjoy this season so far.

chaospersonified · « **Reply #526 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 20:08 »

Quote from: Masterpiece on 12 Nov 2015, 19:58

Well, the more episodes I watch the more I realize I really enjoy this season so far.

I gotta say, though my favorite is Eccleston, my first doctor, Tennant knocked it out of the park. I have my issues with his run, too, I'm critical of all Doctors but my first, but he did an amazing job.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #527 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 20:25 »

Every time Tennant says "what?!" is a good time, although I can't get over the whole "let's drown the episode in incidental music" approach the BBC had back then. I really really love the DoctorDonna season. In terms of production quality, writing and special effects, the series did a huge jump forward that year (and I wasn't that fond of Martha Jones).

chaospersonified · « **Reply #528 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 20:33 »

Quote from: Masterpiece on 12 Nov 2015, 20:25

Every time Tennant says "what?!" is a good time, although I can't get over the whole "let's drown the episode in incidental music" approach the BBC had back then. I really really love the DoctorDonna season. In terms of production quality, writing and special effects, the series did a huge jump forward that year (and I wasn't that fond of Martha Jones).

You share my opinion in these matters. Donna was amazing, potentially better than Rose season 2, though Rose's out would be near-impossible to match for sheer level of emotion.

Martha herself, not so terrible. The way they played her character, underutilizing her skills and over-emphasizing her crush on the Doctor... yeah, that's where the problems entered. What she did when the Doctor was gone, if she'd been that character throughout the season, fuck yes, amazing, but they didn't do that, now did they? I was fine with Martha, let down by the writers' choices in using her.

J · « **Reply #529 on:** 12 Nov 2015, 23:57 »

i want to say how much i loved the resolution of the last story.

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it's one of my favorite scenes ever from the show.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #530 on:** 14 Nov 2015, 14:33 »

This post was sent from Tapatalk inside my phone!

Gladstone · « **Reply #531 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 00:01 »

So, I decided to skip this season because I've been getting sick of a certain character, but I just learned from a recap of tonight's episode that I can come back because

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Of course, this also means that

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Masterpiece · « **Reply #532 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 20:06 »

DAMNIT DON'T READ THAT SPOILER

J · « **Reply #533 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 23:03 »

i really don't get why so many people hate clara.

Gladstone · « **Reply #534 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 23:20 »

Quote from: Masterpiece on 22 Nov 2015, 20:06

DAMNIT DON'T READ THAT SPOILER

Well, it is a rather big spoiler about the most recent episode, so you gotta tread carefully. But I just put it inside a second spoiler tag just to keep you safe.

Quote from: J on 22 Nov 2015, 23:03

i really don't get why so many people hate
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clara.

I don't really hate

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hedgie · « **Reply #535 on:** 22 Nov 2015, 23:28 »

Quote from: Gladstone on 22 Nov 2015, 23:20

Quote from: Masterpiece on 22 Nov 2015, 20:06
DAMNIT DON'T READ THAT SPOILER

Well, it is a rather big spoiler about the most recent episode, so you gotta tread carefully. But I just put it inside a second spoiler tag just to keep you safe.

A double spoiler tag would probably make some people (myself included) *more* likely to take a look. It's kind of like having a sign saying "do not press the button" followed by another sign with "I mean it, do *not* press the button". Perfect bait for the insatiably curious.

BenRG · « **Reply #536 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 01:52 »

I want the next Companion to be male and for there to be absolutely zero romantic subtext with the Doctor. RTD overdid it with Rose Tyler and every attempt they've made to 'rediscover the magic' since Billie Piper left has only made it worse.

Masterpiece · « **Reply #537 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 04:51 »

See, my favorite companion was Donna. No romantic connection there whatsoever. Amy was a somewhat distant second, yet they really fucked up her arc towards the end.

J · « **Reply #538 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 06:34 »

personally, i think they could get a lot more mileage out of the whole part-time companion idea if he had several that they could alternate between for different episodes.

BenRG · « **Reply #539 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 06:53 »

Purely FWIW, I'd love for the Doctor to have a Companion that was totally anti-Doctor. Someone that he has decided to keep around because:

They really are brilliant or just have a lot of potential and he believes that they deserve more than the life they currently lead;
The Doctor is more than a little fascinated with them, despite himself (the last of their culture or something);
They're so fantastically dangerous that he really prefers to have them somewhere that he can keep an eye on them 24/7.

As an example? Look up Douglas Adams' original treatment of 'Doctor Who and the Krikkitmen'. They pretty much anticipate Terminators about 10 years before the James Cameron film - human-looking combat robots but that are true robots rather than androids ('synthetic men').⁽¹⁾

One idea I had for this never-completed mini-arc was for him to fiddle with the CPU on one of the Krikkitmen using his screwdriver to get its co-operation. Much to his shock, it slowly becomes fully sentient through the length of the arc. His morality prevents him from just destroying it at the adventure's end, so he brings it with him as a Companion, hoping to teach it a method of conflict resolution that doesn't summarise as 'Point gun at problem; pull trigger until problem is no longer there'.

Originally, this story was a Fourth Doctor story so Sarah Jane Smith was the default Companion. I guess I just liked the idea of having someone other than the Doctor on-hand to rescue her whenever she walked into the Monster of the Week.

FOOTNOTE
(1) - In classic sci-fi, androids tend to be more like Blade Runner Replicants than anything else - more biological than mechanical. True robots are those with non-organic 'brains', no matter how many biological components they have.

Gladstone · « **Reply #540 on:** 23 Nov 2015, 14:58 »

Quote from: BenRG on 23 Nov 2015, 01:52

I want the next Companion to be male and for there to be absolutely zero romantic subtext with the Doctor. RTD overdid it with Rose Tyler and every attempt they've made to 'rediscover the magic' since Billie Piper left has only made it worse.

I loved that scene in The Day of the Doctor when the War Doctor mistook Ten and Eleven for the Doctor's companions. Little glimpse into what the show could look like. Mind you, the TARDIS doesn't need to be a complete sausage-fest, but like you say, it would be great to have companions without romantic subtext.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #541 on:** 26 Nov 2015, 18:29 »

Finished watching the last episode...and man this season is a bummer

BenRG · « **Reply #542 on:** 26 Nov 2015, 23:26 »

It tells you a lot about the decision makers for Doctor Who that Steven Moffat recently justified Clara's death scene by saying that the show is ffrequently what teaches Children about death.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #543 on:** 27 Nov 2015, 16:31 »

I think I'll wait on a new show runner before I care about Doctor Who again

BenRG · « **Reply #544 on:** 28 Nov 2015, 13:16 »

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And...

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Finally...

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Next week's episode may be what The Day of the Doctor could have been but failed to be: Our final and absolute lesson in what The Doctor could be if he lost everything and became a monster.

Quote

"Rules? Good men don't need rules. This is a very bad day to find out why I need so many."
--The Eleventh Doctor
--Demon's Run

Zebediah · « **Reply #545 on:** 29 Nov 2015, 17:17 »

Damn, but "Heaven Sent" was a damned good episode. Also disturbing as hell, when you think about it.

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Thrillho · « **Reply #546 on:** 30 Nov 2015, 14:17 »

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This series has been hot shit.

By the way what was with the complete non-ending of the sandmen episode? Or was I not paying attention?

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #547 on:** 30 Nov 2015, 14:45 »

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Zebediah · « **Reply #548 on:** 01 Dec 2015, 09:09 »

You know, my wife asked that exact same question.

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Gladstone · « **Reply #549 on:** 06 Dec 2015, 11:42 »

Read a synopsis of "Hell Bent," and I am very glad I didn't bother watching this season.

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THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Doctor Who (Read 134734 times)