The Dr Who thread

F-ZeroOne · Post by **F-ZeroOne** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 10:24 pm 0

I enjoyed that a lot. And it reminded me very much of something SFX said once about Doctor Who.

Yes, you can pick it to pieces and theres no doubting that the moment you think about just about any aspect of that episode in detail all those pieces resemble an explosion in a jigsaw factory, but... like SFX said, Doctor Who is the king of the one-line premise.

"Witches meet Shakespeare."

"A hospital on the Moon."

"A motorway you can't get off."

And I loved the scene where the Doctor explains why he can't go home again...

Ollie · Post by **Ollie** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:27 pm 0

Darkflame wrote:Well, I know its a "dud" possibility, but given what was said could also mean he is indeed the last of his kind, but he is not alone in a different way.
eg. Someone or something has been traveling with him in the Tardis besides him and his companions.

That's what I'm hoping. Not necessarily that specific outcome but something other than what we all think we know he meant by it.

Istar · Post by **Istar** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:28 pm 0

kalmar wrote:
Istar wrote:Whilst not sinking to the depths of 'Fear Her', I have to say that this episode was something of a 'meh' for me.

Plot holes big enough to drive a hovervan through (like, why is there a jam when we keep seeing massive long shots of a huge tunnel, but everyone is trundling along in little lanes like drones despite no observed police presence for 26 years).
I thought that was quite well observed. It's what people do. Plus the motorway had some sort of automatic control that probably stops you from doing anything else.

Boe flatly contradicting himself in the space of a sentence.
Yeah, what was that about

Still, not 'Meh' for me, you just have to work quite hard to suspend disbelief sometimes

Yes, it was well-observed. I often make 'baa' noises when tootling around drone-barrier-lanes at airports and things. But there was an awful lot of freestyle flying going on with Marthas' hovervan - maybe their interlock had been disabled, so they were at liberty to make merry against the flow of the herd.

Working at suspension of disbelief is one thing. Having to work at it constantly is a pain. Yes, I know, it's Dr Who not 'hard-core' sci-fi, but I compare it against itself - the great episodes are great, and ones like this just show themselves up as pale shadows of what they should - could - be.

That said, this isn't going to bend my life into a downward spiral of bitter resentment. It's just TV.

Post by **Snakey** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:25 am 0

Jedburgh wrote:Everyone in Doctor Who having English accents? Wot is the world coming too i ask you.

HGFB wrote:They never did that in the classic series. Out with RTD!

This man did not sound English.

If it's really that hard to get something so simple right then just don't do it. They could have said this episode was set anywhere, it would have made no difference to the story. Not hard, is it?

It's all about suspension of disbelief, and when they can very easily improve it, they don't bother.

Like last week. Ooh, we need to invent a place where Martha comes from. I know, let's just use her real name, because obviously she's not really Martha, she's just a character in a show and the Doctor - no, sorry, Mr. Tennant, knows her real name. Yeah, nice. Very inventive. Couldn't have thought of something else?

None of it is a big deal, no, but it feels like nobody is taking it particularly seriously, and could so easily be done better. S'all I'm saying.

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:51 am 0

DW is obviously following the pattern of US programmes. Just about all of them make the stupid and unbelievably lazy mistake of giving New York residents North American accents instead of Yorkshire ones.

Van Statten was a native of USAmerica in our current century, not an alien planet millions of lightyears from Earth and billions of years in the future inhabited by numerous species descended from the old human stock.

Snakey wrote:Like last week. Ooh, we need to invent a place where Martha comes from. I know, let's just use her real name, because obviously she's not really Martha, she's just a character in a show and the Doctor - no, sorry, Mr. Tennant, knows her real name. Yeah, nice. Very inventive. Couldn't have thought of something else?

This is what is termed within the industry an 'in-joke', much like Christopher Eccleston saying, "Fantastic," in 'Heroes'. It is a minor detail which does not affect the stories in any way.

Post by **Snakey** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 12:52 am 0

Harlequin wrote:This is what is termed within the industry an 'in-joke'

No, it's just crap

Darkflame · Post by **Darkflame** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:59 am 0

Not subtle enough too be an injoke.

Not that that bothered me anyway.

I do agree though, in many case's Dr Who could be made so much better without much more effort.
Tis truely been fantastic at simple plot concepts.
Just the exacuation and pay-off could be better. Just tighter plots, less ghosts in machines, and a little bit more for the regular viewers.

Ironically enough, I find US shows seem to have the opposite problem.
They struggle more to come up with original episodes concepts, but those concepts they do have they pull off better.

Ollie · Post by **Ollie** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:58 am 0

I thought it was "Freedomia", as in freedom, rather than anything to do with the actress's name. I somewhat doubt that it was an intentional in-joke.

HGFB · Post by **HGFB** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:03 am 0

Ollie wrote:I thought it was "Freedomia", as in freedom, rather than anything to do with the actress's name. I somewhat doubt that it was an intentional in-joke.

That was the only way I read the line until Snakey came up with the in-joke. I'm with Ollie on this one.

kalmar · Post by **kalmar** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:28 am 0

It makes a reasonable amount of sense by itself ('Freedonia' being a plausible sounding name for a far away and little heard of kingdom - 'free' as in not exploited for slavery), and as an in-joke for those who know the actresses name. Those thoughts passed through my mind when I heard it.

Or it could have meant Fredonia, NY

Harlequin · Post by **Harlequin** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:32 am 0

I originally heard it as the country ruled by Groucho Marx in Duck Soup.

kalmar · Post by **kalmar** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:34 am 0

Harlequin wrote:I originally heard it as the country ruled by Groucho Marx in Duck Soup.

"in the 2007 Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code," the Doctor claims his companion Martha Jones is from Freedonia."

Heh, that settles it then

Kamineko · Post by **Kamineko** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:39 am 0

Plus the motorway had some sort of automatic control that probably stops you from doing anything else.

But the Fast Lane didn't?

Ok then, so why didnt Boe do it earlier?
Boe's supprosed too be a pretty inteligent being, probably moreso then the doc even.

'cause he's a big smug face.

(Okay, maybe the Doctor did something, but it was mostly Boe.)

Everyone in Doctor Who having English accents? Wot is the world coming too i ask you.

At least it's not Fable.

And if you didn't get 'Freedonia', then you've got a film to watch, lads.

kalmar · Post by **kalmar** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:42 am 0

Kamineko wrote:
Plus the motorway had some sort of automatic control that probably stops you from doing anything else.
But the Fast Lane didn't?

Given that all the vans that went down there were quickly munched by Makra, there would be no congestion noticed by the computer, so you could drive where you want (except for back up to the other lanes, which are full)?

Flabio · Post by **Flabio** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:45 am 0

Kamineko wrote:At least it's not Fable.

And what's that meant to mean?

Fable is set in a fantasy version of England called Albion. So nyer.