The Dr Who thread

Alarm · Post by **Alarm** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:35 am 0

Great stuff. Jacobi was ace, hopefully Simm will be good. The Master is back!

mutopian · Post by **mutopian** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:39 am 0

fantastic run of episodes recently and last night was great. Nice to have Jack back where he belongs, making advances to practically anything that moves (no matter the species).

As soon as the watch appeared last night kinda guessed what was going to happen. Shame Derek Jacobi wasn't in that particular role any longer than he was.

Can't wait for the next couple of episodes

Ollie · Post by **Ollie** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:45 am 0

Sorry, though, two bits of RTD stupidity that it turns out I can't ignore, have to get them off my chest:

1) 100 trillion years into the future and the human race hasn't evolved even a teensy little bit? Really?

2) The Master being called YANA, as in You Are Not Alone - that was just stupid. I mean I can't think of any possible reason for it other than RTD thinking it was clever without thinking through how or why it could have happened.

A few other things that bugged me, that seemed to have RTD's stamp on them, but overall a great episode. Nice to see the Doctor being less than enthusiastic about Jack's return.

SimonB · Post by **SimonB** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:46 am 0

Ollie wrote: 1) 100 trillion years into the future and the human race hasn't evolved even a teensy little bit? Really?

Was there not a line about returning to the basic form over and over again after various mutations?

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 9:48 am 0

SimonB wrote:
Ollie wrote: 1) 100 trillion years into the future and the human race hasn't evolved even a teensy little bit? Really?
Was there not a line about returning to the basic form over and over again after various mutations?

Yes. I'm often surprised at how people don't seem to be able to listen to the words during an episode. There were a few people on the OG forums who mentioned the lack of evolution despite the Doctor's clear explanation for it.

Stuart B · Post by **Stuart B** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:00 am 0

Ollie wrote: 2) The Master being called YANA, as in You Are Not Alone - that was just stupid. I mean I can't think of any possible reason for it other than RTD thinking it was clever without thinking through how or why it could have happened.

Yana and watch were found on the Face of Boe's homeworld, as was mentioned in Confidential I don't think we're done with jarhead just yet...

Wibble · Post by **Wibble** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:05 am 0

SimonB wrote:And I also want that rocket with stowaway futurekind to turn up again not just be a plot device which conveniently gets forgotten.

That one got shot after sabotaging some electric bits.

PVB · Post by **PVB** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:06 am 0

SimonB wrote:And I also want that rocket with stowaway futurekind to turn up again not just be a plot device which conveniently gets forgotten.

The Futurekind infiltrator was shot by two men while still in the silo complex, after she'd smashed some of the tech up.

Edit: Beaten to it.

SimonB · Post by **SimonB** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:08 am 0

Oh yes, so she did.

Remembers one thing, forgets another!

Stuart B · Post by **Stuart B** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:13 am 0

Although, to be fair we only heard the shots, maybe they missed?

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:20 am 0

Hmmm, my vote:

Last 10 minutes = 4/5 (deduct one point for Simms' way over the top Tennant impersonation; should have kept Jacobi as the Master, he was far better)

First 35 minutes = 1/5 (cliched, almost zero plot, laughable 'bikers' with fangs, way too much irrelevant running around, awful music)

Still, I guess it was too much to expect that the excellence of the last three episodes would be maintained.

Meh.

xav · Post by **xav** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:35 am 0

IronGiant wrote: Last 10 minutes = 4/5 (deduct one point for Simms' way over the top Tennant impersonation; should have kept Jacobi as the Master, he was far better)

My thoughts too. I would have loved to see Jacobi in the role for longer - a wasted opportunity I think.

IronGiant wrote:First 35 minutes = 1/5

I disagree with this. I think 1 point is perhaps a little high - that's a full 20%, and personally I wouldn't give it more the 10. I thought most of the episode was awful after the incredibly high quality of last week's story, and the pretty high quality of the two weeks before. It was only redeemed by the last few minutes and even that wasted a great opportunity.

This should have been a bit earlier in the series, giving them the chance to use Jacobi as a recurring bad guy a few times before the regeneration into Simm.

I'm also less than convinced about the pocket watch. If it was The Doctor's watch, then fair enough - but how did The Master end up with it? If it's a different one, then what's the explanation for The Master's looking identical to The Doctor's?

Sir_LANs-a-lot · Post by **Sir_LANs-a-lot** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:38 am 0

Perhaps all the Timelords had one - It's a nice, convenient, easily transportable means to store his character in.

EDIT:
I agree that the start->mid part of the episode was cliched as hell, but it picked up and ended up fantastic, I think for the first time in a long time, I actually had goosebumps watching the ending.

Two other things that bugged the crap out of me though were:

Chan... .....D'OH!

and

The pointy-toothed stowaway in the shelter - How did she get in past the guards that were asking to see everyones teeth?

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:45 am 0

Sir_LANs-a-lot wrote: The pointy-toothed stowaway in the shelter - How did she get in past the guards that were asking to see everyones teeth?

You can't ask questions like that! This was penned by RTD, it's not supposed to make sense!

IronGiant · Post by **IronGiant** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:46 am 0

xav wrote:
I disagree with this. I think 1 point is perhaps a little high - that's a full 20%, and personally I wouldn't give it more the 10. I thought most of the episode was awful after the incredibly high quality of last week's story, and the pretty high quality of the two weeks before. It was only redeemed by the last few minutes and even that wasted a great opportunity.

Yeah, I guess 1/5 was a little high for the first 35 minutes, but I was trying to be kind.