Doctor Who

[Commander Jameson]

Does the reset button mean that The Doctor doesn't know any more about Clara than before? What was the grenade thing?

[Sarlaccfood]

How is the doctor's name going to be anything other than a let-down?

UNLESS IT TURNS OUT TO BE RIVER SO-oh they did that already.

[HarMGM]

To Commander Jameson

The grenade thing was an EMP grenade thrown in by the brothers which damaged the TARDIS in the first place. The button on it deactivated the mechanism for setting it of. Hence the resulting reset because the TARDIS never got damaged by the EMP.

[Commander Jameson]

To Commander Jameson

The grenade thing was an EMP grenade thrown in by the brothers which damaged the TARDIS in the first place. The button on it deactivated the mechanism for setting it of. Hence the resulting reset because the TARDIS never got damaged by the EMP.

Ah cheers!

I couldn't see the connection between that blu magna-ray thing and the grenade.

[jonamok]

Back to the prevailing form of this series, then, after last week's upswing.

So not loving it this year. Flat spots, eye-rolls and cringey bits coming as fast as the plot points.

[Exidor]

To Commander Jameson

The grenade thing was an EMP grenade thrown in by the brothers which damaged the TARDIS in the first place. The button on it deactivated the mechanism for setting it of. Hence the resulting reset because the TARDIS never got damaged by the EMP.

Good answer, but largely wrong.

When the Doc first meets the salvage guys, he lifts it from the lead brother's pocket and says it's a remote control for a naughty magnetic grabber thing that's outlawed because it's bad. He then holds on to it. Events transpire. When he finally sees the message burned onto Clara's hand, he recognises that it's a reference to their earlier conversation, finds the time rift that very handily opens up onto that moment in time, and tosses the remote control in so that the earlier Doc can switch the naughty magnetic grabber thing off remotely and escape.

In a previous iteration of the time loop, he'd just tossed it through, it had burned Clara's hand, but the earlier Doc hadn't noticed and the Tardis engine still blew up. This time, he climbed half way through himself to make sure the message got through.

I only know that because the mrs made me watch it again and it starts to make sense when you know how it ends.

[sweetdaddyg]

time for mr moffat to step down I think

It was mildly enjoyable, but that was it. Going through the TARDIS should have a sense of epic grandeur, not just come off flat like this did.

The basic premise was good, perhaps if the scavenger guys could actually act it would have helped.

Also, they will NEVER reveal the doctors name, despie the title of the episode. It would be the biggest case of jumping the shark ever.

Who else hoped those wraiths in the tardis were the ghost images of dead timelords the doctor was keeping to try and resurrect them in some way? just me huh lol Probably would have been a better plot point than the yite they came up with.

[Fury4k]

That's what I was expecting them to be. Seemed like a few good concepts that completely failed to take off.

[sweetdaddyg]

That's what I was expecting them to be. Seemed like a few good concepts that completely failed to take off.

totally

Shame though. I think this series has been sort of half assed so they can concentrate on sherlock and the who 50th.

I have a feeling in my waters someone will announce they are leaving the show around the anniversary or shortly thereafter.

[kensei]

That was decent and any damaged Tardis story will envitably involve time mucking up.

Half dead Time Lords sounds shit.

[Fury4k]

Definitely feels like they've been holding beck until the anniversary event, let's just hope its worth it.

[Sprite Machine]

I think someone needs to draw a timeline diagram to explain this episode. It was like a time loop that didn't quite loop.

That aside, I enjoyed it a lot. The creatures were great and it was really nicely shot too.

----

In the meatime... GENESIS OF THE DALEKS

(Blog has pictures)

Even for a newcomer, 'Genesis of the Daleks' has a reputation that precedes it. However, this six-part serial has perhaps been hyped up too much over the years, and watching it for the first time, I'm left just a little bit underwhelmed by it. I think there's always going to be a problem when introducing a face to a villain whose main appeal is their facelessness. It happened to Star Trek when they introduced the Borg Queen too.

[Picture: For most of the story, the Daleks are simply the soldiers of Davros. I found this a little disappointing.]

That's not to say that Davros isn't a thoroughly entertaining villain - his travel machine, robotic eye and electronically-enhanced voice are an excellent precursor to the death machines he goes on to create. His feeble physicality is inversely proportional to his ambition, and yet, despite his hideous visage, he is still revered and trusted enough by his fellow Kaleds (I see what they did there) to pull the wool over their eyes, right up until the end.

[Picture: Crippled, mutated, injured? The origin of Davros himself is not explored in this story, it's left to the imagination. All I could think was "how did the actor see what he was doing?"]

It's probably his interactions with the Doctor that are most memorable here. In one scene, we have Davros almost frothing at the mouth at the prospect of holding the power of life and death over the Universe... while a later scene sees the Doctor struggling with the same moral dilemma, as he decides whether or not to destroy the Dalek embryos. It's a fantastic scene, one of the more thought-provoking in this whole series so far, and it serves as a good exploration of good and evil. But perhaps I just wanted more from the origins of the Daleks. A last minute betrayal adds a touch of tragedy to the tale, but otherwise it's as straightforward an origin as you could imagine, and one that was already alluded to well enough during their first appearance in 1963.

[Picture: The wires rigged to detonate the Dalek embryos - the fate of the Universe lies in the Doctor's hands.]

The ambiguity over the ending leaves the Daleks' fate up in the air, which is how I would prefer it. Was history changed, delayed or kept exactly the same? Clearly the Time Lords felt it was possible to alter history (despite the Doctor's previous insistence that it can't be done), and it was good to see them finally break their non-interference directive. It added to the epic scope of the story, and I enjoyed seeing the early conflicts of the Thals and the Kaleds played out on screen.

[Picture: The Doctor is interrogated for information on the Daleks' future defeats.]

Six parts was probably more than it needed, as evidenced again by the 'captured, escaped, recaptured' plotting early on, and some of the less memorable secondary characters. I could also be picky and argue the merits of the science behind this one: really, the Kaleds' natural evolution is one that relies on machines that haven't been built yet? How would anyone believe that? Moreover, in the original story, wasn't it supposed to be radiation that altered (and sustained) the Daleks, not genetic manipulation? And just where did their reliance on static electricity come from?

[Picture: Sarah's escape plan goes pointlessly wrong, but it does get Sevrin the mutant on her side. I say "mutant" but he appears to just have a limp.]

Still, nitpicks aside, this is the best Dalek story Terry Nation has written so far. He clearly loves his Dalek creations as much as Davros himself, so it's no surprise that he's gone back and written what was previously only imagined, more than ten years later. It wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but it had the feel of an epic adventure with the highest of stakes, while exploring the origins of Doctor Who's most famous villains and introducing a memorable new face to the lore. Tom Baker is also excellent in it, but I've come to expect that as standard now.

[Mogster]

Genesis is just a bit too long I think. You could snip out the terrifying attack of the clams episode entirely for a start, and it would actually elevate the story. It's still really good though, and to date the best use of Davros by far.

[sweetdaddyg]

That was decent and any damaged Tardis story will envitably involve time mucking up.

Half dead Time Lords sounds shit.

it would have been better than the shit they produced. I'm not warming to Clara either.

Moffat seems to be too distracted by Sherlock now.

[Nick R]

Did anyone else think that the TARDIS explosion in this episode was going to tie in to the TARDIS explosion that was the threat running through series five (aka Series Fnarg, aka Matt Smith's first series)?

I don't think that was ever properly explained, was it? Or was it definitively stated that it was the Silence who caused that explosion?

To be honest, the TARDIS/Crack/Silence/River mysteries in those two series got so convoluted that I can't remember which ones have been explained and which ones are still mysteries!

And if that particular one is still unresolved, I think it might have been left too long for us to expect an explanation now...

[HarMGM]

Rumour has it that the TARDIS exploding will be explained in the series 7 finale.

[El Pibe]

The Tardis spontaneously combusts upon seeing River Song's stupid face.

[Mr Cochese]

It's an insurance scam.

[JohnC]

The Doctor reveals his name, but the sound of the Tardis exploding drowns it out so nobody hears.

[Mr Cochese]

His name turns out to be "Hu", and then all the Daleks and Cybermans and Krotons and Silences stand around him barking "Doctor Hu!? Doctor Hu!? DOCTOR HU!?" in shrill voices until the credits roll.

[DirkCrisis]

I remember a time when Dr Who was a children's TV show without the enormous weight of expectation behind every episode to be something meaningful.

I think this is partly the BBC's fault for trying to make every episode an event although I understand that they need to compete with the commercial channels.

It's partly the fault of the writers and it's partly the expectations of the viewers who take it seriously.

It's been going on and off for 50 years. There are bound to be flat spots like Colin Baker.

[Mr Cochese]

The only way to get Doctor Who back to its glory days is to have Doctor Who look down a tube in the TARDIS and see One Direction performing their new single.

[NecroMorrius]

The Tardis looked an awful lot like a wobbly BBC set. Some things are best left unknown.

The Doctor reveals his name, but the sound of the Tardis exploding drowns it out so nobody hears.

He'll open his mouth and the Inception BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRMMMM noise will come out. Every movie, TV show and videogame trailer for the last three years has been nothing but the the earth crying for his help.

6/10

[AceAceBaby]

I remember a time when Dr Who was a children's TV show without the enormous weight of expectation behind every episode to be something meaningful.

I remember a time when Dr Who was the BBC's flagship science fiction drama serial.

The TARDIS is revealed to have a machine that can create any machine. I wonder if it can make a gun for Chekhov. OSWIN sounds more and more like an acronym to me. Guess for the big 50: The Doctor will regenerate as a woman.

[NEG]

Or Bruce Forsyth

[Mr Cochese]

They could do a topical Doctor Who where Doctor Who is accused of noncing teenagers in the 70s. A sort of Trial Of A Timelord 2.

[Lag]

I remember a time when Dr Who was the BBC's flagship science fiction drama serial.

Indeed!

[Lag]

I remember a time when Dr Who was the BBC's flagship science fiction drama serial.

Indeed!

[Gregory Wolfe]

They could do a topical Doctor Who where Doctor Who is accused of noncing teenagers in the 70s. A sort of Trial Of A Timelord 2.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/doctor-who-sex-scandal-producer-1783309

[Mr Cochese]

I thought it was pretty subtle.