Ye Olde Doctor Who Thread.

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
User avatar
Sades
Posts: 9483
Joined: Tue Jan 02, 2001 5:00 am
Location: I APOLOGISE IN ADVANCE

Post by Sades »

Sounds like one of them whacky Injun names.
This is my signature. My wasted space. My little corner. You can't have it. It's mine. I can write whatever I want. And I have!
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote: The Wedding of River Song is bobbins. When exactly in Amy's timeline is that meeting with River at the end? Wibbly wobbly distraction technobabble etc and so on.

BUT THE ONE IMPORTANT THING HERE is that we did actually find out the Doctor's name is in fact "Look into my eye". So that's nice, isn't it.
Plus, it's basically exactly the same "Someone sets an elaborate trap for the Doctor to stop the Universe going tits up that causes the Universe to go tits up" plot as the previous season finale. And almost the same as the next bar the Great Inteligence actually wanting things to go tits up...

Sneakily the BBC have now announced a blu ray for the Power of the Daleks animation in February (with a bonus colour version! Which I can skip but it's nice they're covering all bases, I'm surprised that's not the one BBC America is showing...). I think I can wait for that.

Tomorrow I'll be celebrating 50 years of Trout with Enemy and Web. Because it's still exciting to go "I think I'll watch Enemy of the World* and Web of Fear".



*Sounds like a Daily Mail headline from 2016...
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Jesus **** the back half of series 7 is a painful slog.

Okay Clara's ace (a fact it's easy to forget after she hung about at least a season too long), but in general this is just turgid and plodding.
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

I like the submarine one, and the Crimson Horror. That's awesome that is.
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

There's some decent stuff in there, but I think it's a direct byproduct of sitting through eight consecutive standalone episodes (not counting the Christmas special)... it just drags so much... Cliffhangers add emotional investment and help with pacing in a way you don't notice until they disappear.

"He's had some cowboys in here, ten complete rejigs"
Sounds like Neil Gaiman didn't get the memo about the War Doctor when writing the episode directly preceding his introduction.
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

Pretty much. The shooting script for Name of the Doctor doesn't have the Hurt coda but instead the implication the Tenth Doctor has turned up and jumped in his own timeline.

There's also apparently an outline for the 50th special that doesn't have the Doctor in it at all as a contingency when they weren't sure if Matt Smith would sign up after his contract had finished and had no guarantee of Tennant or Eccles (it would have been Clara dealing with the Absence of the Doctor or some such. More stock clips).

And a good chunk of the special was written with 9 in it (and with Andy Wildman storyboards!), up till the three Doctors get thrown in prison. I've seen claims you can tell the exact moment Moff knew Chris wasn't going to do it and wrote it for the War Doctor rather than just changing the names in the script because that's when you get the first references to him being an older actor. Not double checked that myself though.

So no, during Nightmare's filming no one had any concept of The War Doctor. Though considering how close it aired to Name they could have redubed that line! Or even hinted at the repression with a blank gap between 8 and 9 in the montage.

Basically a season chasing its own tail.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:And a good chunk of the special was written with 9 in it (and with Andy Wildman storyboards!), up till the three Doctors get thrown in prison. I've seen claims you can tell the exact moment Moff knew Chris wasn't going to do it and wrote it for the War Doctor rather than just changing the names in the script because that's when you get the first references to him being an older actor. Not double checked that myself though.
Well the first reference to him being older than the others is also the first moment he meets them, so that's pretty inconclusive. The intent for it to be Ecclescake makes sense in context, given the fact the whole story glosses over the fact he was somebody else in the interim.

"These are the people you'll become if you press that button, ignoring the fact that you're someone else for a bit as well but don't worry about that."

Really enjoyed Day. First time I've actually watched it since the cinema. Still not exactly clear on how they got into the painting (or escaped it, for that matter), and the digital composite work on that final shot is still shocking... but overall still a fun, emotionally satisfying ride. And how great is it when Tom pops up at the end? His manner of delivery is still absolute bobbins, but who the hell cares.

Why didn't Liz the First just have those Zygon paintings burnt or something?

Also a bit uncertain as to how they all orbited Gallifrey to encase it without getting shot to bits by Daleks, but this is shit we're not meant to think about, isn't it?

And right there I'm back on the thing that aggravates me most about Moffat. It's all good and fun and cool and happy until you stop to think and actually ask questions. :(
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Fun (not actually fun) fact: if you discount charity specials and unaired stuff then series 8 episode 1 is also episode 801. I get bored.

What with the whole sunglasses and guitar bollocks from series 9 it's easy to forget what a storming start Capaldi got off to. Yeah there's some duds in there (The Moon's an egg! But it's okay because the thing inside it will lay another one! Magic trees to protect the planet from solar flares and then evaporate again straight away!), but the good stuff is really good.

And the heaven stuff makes a lot more sense watched not long after The Bells of St John, where the Great Intelligence was doing pretty much the same thing but with living minds.

And fair play to Moffat for using the Master's genderswap to distract us from the burning question of how he escaped being trapped on Gallifrey in The End of Time...

[EDIT] Oh, my bad, they do vaguely handwave address it without any actual explanation after all.
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

Day is amazingly good, especially considering the behind the scenes stuff (this was also the time of Moff's infamous "YOU WILL BE ERASED FROM DOCTOR WHO!" moment at Claire Skinner), maybe they should go into the making of all episodes with no real idea of what they're going to do?

I'm still amazed at the number of fans who dismiss it angrily for "Ignoring" the classic series ("9th anniversary special" style sneers). Which means they have to have missed the end shot, Tom Baker, Zygons, "Round Things", faithfully recreated Time Lord Guard costumes (more noticeably on the "Clean" version at the exhibition) and the opening shot requiring them to have Clara randomly become a teacher for no reason just so it can mirror the start to An Unearthly Child. Not to mention things like Mike Yates hanging out with Sara Kingdom in the UNIT picture archive...

Capaldi's first year actually is pretty damn good, I don't even mind the moon stuff!
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:I'm still amazed at the number of fans who dismiss it angrily for "Ignoring" the classic series ("9th anniversary special" style sneers). Which means they have to have missed the end shot, Tom Baker, Zygons, "Round Things", faithfully recreated Time Lord Guard costumes (more noticeably on the "Clean" version at the exhibition) and the opening shot requiring them to have Clara randomly become a teacher for no reason just so it can mirror the start to An Unearthly Child. Not to mention things like Mike Yates hanging out with Sara Kingdom in the UNIT picture archive...
Even more so if watched off the back of Name and Night. Bill stealing the TARDIS! Dragonfire! The Sisterhood of Karn! ACTUAL PAUL McGANN. And of course the bit in Day itself where they have all the Doctors videlinked to Gallifrey high command at the same ****ing time.

Wankers deciding not to like something and then manufacturing justification for it after the fact.

"Keepers of the flame of perpetual boredom"
"Eternal life"
"Yes, that's the one"
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

I love Day too. I've watched it a bunch of times and it doesn't get old and Night is aces, I'm still really pleased Moffat managed to get Paul McGann in to do that. I think that, more than anything, made me realise how well regarded and important DW is to the Beeb.

And there's always The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot, if you missed the old guys :P (Which is also ace). I do wish the BBC would re-release that silly box set of the 50th that had that on.

What with An Adventure In Time And Space, I think the BBC did the Doctor proud on his 50th.

Agree on Capaldi's first year too - I enjoyed the Forest one a lot more on repeat viewing. Even the silly Moon episode isn't as eye-gouginly awful as I remembered, although its a shame they threw all the SCIENCE! out of the window. And TBH, if it were more realistic, I reckons humanity would have voted to destroy the moon. We're that road out in this century, full of knee-jerk reactions without thinking things through.
User avatar
Denyer
Posts: 33033
Joined: Sun Sep 17, 2000 4:00 am
Location: Perfidious Albion
Contact:

Post by Denyer »

Wrong thread, but this Torchwood Kids thing (Class) is pretty decent from the first ep.
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Class is , well, class. Its properly good. I really like it.
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:Dragonfire!

Ahhhhh, how could I forget my favourite bit of the year, the explanation of that nonsensical literal cliffhanger ("It was Richard E Grant being a dick")!
Wankers deciding not to like something and then manufacturing justification for it after the fact.
Yeah, obviously opinions can be subjective, but that's just plain objectively wrong.
"Keepers of the flame of perpetual boredom"
"Eternal life"
"Yes, that's the one"
Paul Mcgann got a better regeneration story than Matt Smith (and arguably any new series Doctor. Hell, arguably better than half the other Doctors...), how did that happen?

Though again, you have people complaining they didn't use him instead of Hurt (even though I think it's unlikely he'd have been up for doing more than a day's filming) or having him film a scene for the Doctor's in the Tardis bit at the end and the final group shot (ignoring they only had him for one day and the old Tardis set isn't at the studio but the exhibition. Plus, if you haven't got Eccles throwing new McGann and voiceovers from the other living ones would probably have made his stock footage more incongruous).
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Inserting Hurt into the sequence also meant that we got the full regeneration cycle closed off in year 50, which draws a nice little line tbh.

Prompted by mention of the whole Weeping Angel of Liberty bollocks from another thread...

How does the whole Weeping Angel thing actually work in the modern world anyway? How often is something completely unobserved, be it through CCTV or satellite coverage? And given the whole "the image of an Angel becomes an Angel" bollocks, surely everyone watching video surveillance that includes one should end up deaded to death?

It's almost like Moffat dazzles us with flashy concepts and technobabble to stop us from... oh, wait. Answered my own question.
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

I'd like to know how that one on Gallifrey got so close to the Matrix when Time Lords literally do watch everything as well.


Bought the lovely facsimile editions of the first three novelizations this week. Despite a poor cover (of all the internal illustrations to blow up, Dr Who looking a bit tired leaning against a wall was an odd choice) In An Exciting Adventure With the Daleks (and this reproductions clear up if that's the actual title or a tagline, it's called that in full on the "Also available" bits on the back of the other two!) is still a really good, very mature take on their first adventure.

I'd never spotted before what Ian is implying when he mentions not having considered the "Obvious" reason for Barbara being disheveled and in shock when he finds her on the Common. Bleak stuff.

It's also fun how Whitaker clearly has to do the "Origin"and make it roughly the same as the TV version only going to Daleks rather than Cavemen... but he doesn't want to split his fee with a third author by including anything Anthony Coburn wrote. So even scenes in the Tardis that are basically exactly the same as those as in An Unearthly Child all very carefully have different dialogue that still adds up to saying the same thing. It's quite a slight of hand.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
inflatable dalek
Posts: 24000
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Kidderminster UK

Post by inflatable dalek »

As I come so close to achieving my 2016 goal of working through all my unwatched TV blu rays (though sadly I think I'm going to just fall short on The X-Files), I've began the last Capaldi run.

Last Christmas was much, much better than I remembered. Or at least the Nick Frost Santa (every single joke there hit home) and some surprisingly deft and even emotional characterisation of the guest cast was. The stitched together from old episodes main plot and Clara not leaving less so.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Finally wrapped on season 9.

Some of it's good. Some of it isn't.

Like it's some kind of...

... hybrid?

JUST ONE MORE ****ING CHRISTMAS SPECIAL TO GET THROUGH AND OH MY GOD IT'S A RIVER EPISODE.

Nearly there...
User avatar
Brendocon 2.0
Posts: 1545
Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 9:06 pm
Location: UK

Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Good news everyone!

The BBC have announced another classic Who completed through the use of animation.

Unfortunately, it's Shada.

Which, like, really? Like, seriously? Why? Why would you do that? Just. Why?
User avatar
Skyquake87
Protoform
Posts: 3986
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:34 am

Post by Skyquake87 »

Haven't they done that many versions of that now that surely everyone must be beyond giving much of a toot?
Post Reply