The Dr Who thread

Tetra Elemental · Post by **Tetra Elemental** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:34 pm 0

goatboy wrote:
Tetra Elemental wrote:Probably the biggest load of shite I'll watch this year.
Nah, there's another England game to go in the group stages, yet.

I did say "probably".

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:38 pm 0

I liked it so much I needed a new avatar

Fil · Post by **Fil** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:40 pm 0

Driller wrote:
Fil wrote:My vote goes to Rick Wakeman
Pre or post Yes ?

Jongleurs era

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:12 pm 0

I rather enjoyed that... hands up who got the 'Linda' referance.

offyoutoddle · Post by **offyoutoddle** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:18 pm 0

goatboy wrote:
Tetra Elemental wrote:Probably the biggest load of shite I'll watch this year.
Nah, there's another England game to go in the group stages, yet.

I was about to agree with Tetra Elemental as it was so bloody awful an episode, then I read your post, and wet myself laughing!

Kronos · Post by **Kronos** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:27 pm 0

I don't even know sod all out of Torchwood let alone L.I.N.D.A.

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 9:29 pm 0

Nah, Linda comes from a program of years ago.

[Edit] And makes sense as at the time it was produced and directed by RTD himself

F-ZeroOne · Post by **F-ZeroOne** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:02 pm 0

People who hated it, over there, please ---->

People who liked it, over here, please <----

ROUND ONE - FIGHT!

KlaxonCow · Post by **KlaxonCow** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:03 pm 0

pogo wrote:That was excellent. A so-so baddie concept and plot, but told in such a way it raised the material to one of the best so far.

The baddie was invented by a 9 year old.

It was a Blue Peter competition: Invent a monster then meet the cast and watch it on TV as the prize.

Therefore, though I think this was a fairly poor episode in the grand scheme of things, due credit to RTD and Peter Kay for doing it in such a clever way to absorb the blow that - no offence to the kid, who's drawing and imagination was excellent - your baddie is total shit because a 9 year old invented it.

In a sense, by not including the Doctor and Rose until the end, RTD cleverly also makes it very easy for the "serious fans" to simply disregard it as "not really a real Doctor Who episode". Smart forward planning there.

Taking that context into consideration, it was genius to do it the way it was done to raise it to "average" by deflecting the blow and doing it in an unusual way, from the "total shit" it would have been if it was a "fight the baddie" kind of episode with a baddie this shit and totally unmenacing and completely without any threat or tension or anything else.

Well, 9 year olds don't think about "dramatic story-telling devices". They just think "big, green, horrible, eats people" and that's good enough for them.

Also, casting Peter Kay as the baddie? Another smart move. Because playing it for laughs is a way to excuse how shite and unmenacing and non-threatening this baddie is. Play it for laughs as comedy with Peter Kay and then no-one's expecting it to be serious or dramatic.

Taken in the context that they had to do this episode and use this baddie no more how shite he was because of the Blue Peter competition with the kids, then though I didn't like the episode so much, all due credit to RTD and Peter Kay and everyone for managing to pull it off without it being the absolute total and complete shit that it would have been, if they tried to play this 9 year old kid's monster serious as a standard episode.

If you just imagine what that would have been like for a second, then you realise this episode would have been an absolute total disaster.

Therefore, raising it to "so-so", "average", "a bit weak" by playing the whole thing in the unusual way it was played - centring it around this other guy and not really bothering much with Doctor nor, to be frank, there wasn't even much of Peter Kay either - was actually a work of minor genius on RTD's part.

Imagine you're a writer for this show and then someone dumps a 9 year old kid's drawing on your table and insists that you have to make that the baddie of the episode (because you can't disappoint the kid or suddenly cancel the Blue Peter competition: You've no choice but to use it, good or ill, to keep your promise).

I thought about that for two seconds then instantly appreciated how simultaneously clever and sneaky RTD was to write the episode the way he did.

It was actually exceedingly clever. In context.

Driller · Post by **Driller** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:04 pm 0

F-ZeroOne wrote:People who hated it, over there, please ---->

People who liked it, over here, please <----

ROUND ONE - FIGHT!

I have the Sash of Rassilon, the Key of Rassilon, the Coronet of Rassilon and the Scarf And Hat of Tom Baker.

Any takers ?

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:06 pm 0

KC. Russell Davies wrote the episode *and* picked the winner of the competition. Hardly dumped on the poor writer's desk

merman · Post by **merman** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:50 pm 0

Driller wrote:
F-ZeroOne wrote:People who hated it, over there, please ---->

People who liked it, over here, please <----

ROUND ONE - FIGHT!
I have the Sash of Rassilon, the Key of Rassilon, the Coronet of Rassilon and the Scarf And Hat of Tom Baker.

Any takers ?

I see your scarf and raise you a bag of Gallifreyan jelly babies...

Seriously, while I can understand people not liking it, I thought it worked well. It intertwined two ideas - what happens to people who meet the Doctor*, and those who are left behind - and the references to other episodes was well handled. While it wasn't the deepest or most thought-provoking thing Who has ever done, keeping the Doctor and Rose off-screen for so much of the episode was bold.

*One disappointment - Mark Benton's character could have been revived from the first episode of Eccleston's series. Would have made a stronger link in my opinion.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:31 pm 0

I liked it. Okay so the villain was a bit pantomine (then again so were some of the old ones in the 70s and 80s!), but the deeper meaning and underlying story exposed was entertaining to see. Especially seeing Jackie how she would normally be when we're watching The Doctor and Rose do their thing on-screen.

Btw just as well I didn't read TV Times before seeing the episode, it gives the game away completely in the picture they used

Anyone recognise the actress playing Ursula? I'm sure I know her from something else but struggling to recall.

The message at the end regarding what happens to those who touch The Doctor? Maybe that IS what we're expecting now THAT bit of news came out. Those that know will know what I'm getting at here.

Sir_LANs-a-lot · Post by **Sir_LANs-a-lot** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:32 pm 0

Mayhem wrote: Anyone recognise the actress playing Ursula? I'm sure I know her from something else but struggling to recall.

Is she the ghost in the toilets in the Harry Potter films?

betamax · Post by **betamax** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:37 pm 0

Sir_LANs-a-lot wrote:
Mayhem wrote: Anyone recognise the actress playing Ursula? I'm sure I know her from something else but struggling to recall.
Is she the ghost in the toilets in the Harry Potter films?

She resembles my first Girlfriend.