Doctor Who

[womblingfree]

The fight scene was possibly the worst fight choreography I've ever seen. Mostly because there wasn't any. It was all done in close up to avoid the need for anyone actually doing anything. Weirdly it kind of worked but it was pretty embarrassing. The occasional fizzing laser beams were rationed out like wartime chocolate bars made without sugar.

[dismembo]

The hair plucking felt Sherlock-y, and I don't want my Doctor Who Sherlock-y. (not that I've even watched that show since Series 2 anyway)

Funnily enough, Sherlock is more Who-y now. He has a laser scanning magnifying glass which is able to solve clues for him.

[NEG]

[Flub]

The hair plucking felt Sherlock-y, and I don't want my Doctor Who Sherlock-y. (not that I've even watched that show since Series 2 anyway)

Matt Smith did a similar thing in the Best Below using a glass of water to check for engine rumble. I like that episode.

[SqueakyG]

I had read the script when it leaked (but I thought watching the workprint would be a step too far).

I actually prefer the script to the completed episode. On the page, all the lines were clear and I could imagine what it would look like with an infinite budget. On the other hand, the filmed episode was full of muffled line deliveries, poor direction and budgetary constraints. Some of the dialogue made me laugh out loud in the script, but they were almost lost in the sound mix of the episode. Wheatley didn't even shoot the fight sequence near the end - just shot a bunch of closeups; and the off-screen burning dinosaur was a VFX shot they clearly couldn't afford.

There's also a kind of lower fidelity with the picture... it doesn't look as HD and filmic as Matt Smith's episodes. Different cameras? Or just all the blurry greenscreen work?

Script: 8/10, episode: 6/10

[Bacon Horsemeat]

A piss poor opener. He was OK, but the story was utter shit.

[kensei]

Really? There's been miles worse. As it is, it's mostly a vehicle for resetting The Doctor and Clara's relationship and allowing Capaldi to feel his way into the role. On that score, it was grand if a little uneven.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

[Guest]

Fell asleep. Missed it.

[Comrade]

Jesus fucking Christ Rudi. Did you type that into the browser window yourself, or just get one of the porters to transcribe it from the scrawling on your cell wall? You're right though, it is definitely time that Stephen Moffat paid in full for his crimes, which apparently amount to sort-of liking Britain.

That said, I would like to see a Rudi-penned episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor takes his companion on a whistle-stop tour of the Soviet Utopia, with a full explanation of why it was OK that all those people died.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I don't know why I bother.

[footle]

Jesus fucking Christ Rudi. Did you type that into the browser window yourself, or just get one of the porters to transcribe it from the scrawling on your cell wall? You're right though, it is definitely time that Stephen Moffat paid in full for his crimes, which apparently amount to sort-of liking Britain.

That said, I would like to see a Rudi-penned episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor takes his companion on a whistle-stop tour of the Soviet Utopia, with a full explanation of why it was OK that all those people died.

He's going to love the bit in the episode planned for the 20th September where The Doctor visits the poorer parts of the West Coast and discovers people sticking voodoo pins into a smug, responsibility evading local politician; before the whole cast and crew spontaneously burst into a rendition of God Save The Queen while waving flags and banners proclaiming "Keep the Pound", "What's Plan B Anyway?" and "This is a cultural export of BBC Wales..."

[George Clooney]

Speaking as someone who could barely be called a fan (I have some episodes from the last 2 Doctors, and probably seen most the ones considered good) it was......well, there were moments I liked in between some moments I thought were fucking terrible.

First, the director was terrible. The scene where he jumps off the roof and ends up getting on a horse was horrendously poorly done. The fight scene at the end, including the dramatic entrance, were also bad. The script was a mish-mash of garbage and decent, but never quite hit great. Some of the stuff at the start with the "confused" Doctor (or whatever) was just shit - if the were going for quirky/funny, they missed the mark by miles.

So the good. Capaldi showed some signs of promise, but was hampered by the afformentioned script/directing issues. The problem was that quite a lot of the time, what he was doing just didnt work, but when he was allowed to be "confident Doctor", I thought he was great and totally bought him in the role. The scene in the restaurant with Clara was really the first scene he got to do anything like that (though I did like part of his scene with the tramp, mainly the rant about his eyebrows) and that scene was great. Plus, there was actual chemistry between them I though, though obviously not romantic. I also really liked him in the confrontation at the end. I think with a better script/story he'll shine.

Other than that, it was a pretty poor episode. The story was not great, and while it set up some questions you know will be answered later in the series, they werent questions I really thought were that interesting. It didnt feel like a particularly strong way to introduce the Doctor, and felt like it spent more time making sly nods to the detractors of the casting of Capaldi than it did making a good episode. And while Capaldi was good, he didnt really get a moment to really stick in the minds of the fans, to really say "I'm the Doctor now, this is who I am", so to speak. I never watched the opening episode of Smiths run, but I've seen the clip where after the eye thingys are about to leave, he confronts them to make sure they stay gone, partly because it stuck with fans who though it was great. For me, the dialogue was occasionally cheesy (mainly the "Basically.....run" line), but Smith pretty much nailed it and both made the scene, and because of that the role. Capaldi didnt really get a scene that did that. I do think when he does, he'll absolutely nail it, but he should have had something in his introductory episode.

Personally, I would have made the episode more about Clara and the Doctor than it was. They worked well together, and they could have done more with it that some "oh, lets point out some of the stuff fans have been saying about Capaldi as the doctor using Clara" stuff.

[LyonJacques]

The three gadgets - Jenny's glove, Strax's diagnostic lenses, Vastra's hairpin carriage remote locking - were included as they were the winners of a Blue Peter design competition. Moffat himself picked the winners (there's a special new doctor BP episode on iplayer), so if they seemed gimmicky/superfluous/pointless blame... the adults who screwed up what was actually quite a nice idea.

[Sarlaccfood]

Jeez they could have found a better way to get them in! They really did stuck out like a sore thumb.

[Ravern]

Ah, here we are. Beneath the sarcasm there's the other side of the 'you say you don't like it but you still watch it' coin; the face that says 'you haven't watched it enough to properly judge it (every episode)'. Handy get-outs, both of them.

I stopped watching it because the show's flaws were overwhelming any enjoyment I could get from it and the four episodes I've seen since had the exact same flaws on display. These were Hide, as I'd heard that was a notably good one in a season of crap (it wasn't), the two specials with the War Doctor etc, and now this one. None of these have been good although this newest one was at least no worse than mediocre. The same things I came to dislike about Moffat's tenure are still on show though, and indeed many of these flaws are ones he shares with RTD. Both of them suffer from getting their own way for far too long as the series went on and becoming increasingly detached from actual stakes and drama and reliant on meaningless technobabble and predictabilities to carry each story forward, with a dependency on the sonic screwdriver as a cure-all magic wand.

Moffat's writing is safe for a peculiar value of safe - it taps into several hideous zeitgeists that make it enduringly if bemusingly popular, much like Sherlock. And this stuff has been in his writing all the way back to 2005 - for instance the flag-waving Britain-uber-alles stuff was there in The Doctor Dances in the form of a paean to Blitz spirit and how plucky little Britain could accomplish so much, but it was acceptable in context - as a way to buck up the spirits of 1940s British characters. It's far harder to accept when that sort of thing becomes the context and is the very fabric of the show and the stories it tells, and you end up with Starship UK and deifications of Churchill and all that nonsense. It's like the televisual equivalent of a Keep Calm And Carry On poster, to the extent that I'm surprised the new title sequence doesn't have all the text in that fucking font. Couple that with the increasing predilection of the Doctor for genocide to the point where it's no longer something to be remarked on or even a source of moral conflict for him (like Remembrance of the Daleks or even RTD's 2005 finale, Parting of the Ways), but his default method of dealing with alien threats to (almost exclusively) Earth. I've read about how significant numbers of Who fans consider the Jon Pertwee era to be that of the 'establishment Doctor' or even a 'Tory Doctor', since he spends almost all his episodes essentially running errands for the government or the army and at one point even convinces a minor functionary in Parliament that he's much more of a Tory than him without even a hint of irony. The Doctor under Moffat is an establishment Doctor once again, but he's not a Tory one. He's a New Labour one, a kind of deniable Toryism where flag-waving Britishness is the norm now and not to be remarked on, and mass-murder is just The Way Things Are, and everything political about the show is pretended otherwise. It's not political to include a jolly fat Churchill, it's just a bit of fun! It's definitely not political to have Elizabeth I in and to portray her in a very specifically sexist way that goes against what we actually know of her, it's definitely just fun because she was hundreds of years ago! I'm just a killjoy trying to see the political where it's not and this is a show for children and analysis is bad and wasn't the lesbian not-kiss daring and hooray for the British Empire! IT'S NOT POLITICAL THOUGH. NOT. POLITICAL.

There certainly are things that aren't political. Doctor Who isn't one of them, by deliberate design of its current showrunner. There are non-political aspects of it to criticise and I do, but aspects of its politics are really awful and to pretend that they somehow don't matter because ??? is very odd. And oh yes: no matter his protests to the contrary, Moffat's writing is very sexist, and I wish I'd never defended him against those accusations in the past because fuck me, I was just making excuses.

Wasn't it Mark Gatiss who wrote the major Churchill episode?

I agree with you on the other criticisms, but the focus on a perceived political aspect (and the claim that it constitutes the "very fabric of the show") is, I suspect, a issue stemming more from your own neuroses rather than the programme itself.

[joeplus]

I agree with you on the other criticisms, but the focus on a perceived political aspect (and the claim that it constitutes the "very fabric of the show") is, I suspect, a issue stemming more from your own neuroses rather than the programme itself.

Jesus Christ, this is pathetic.

[Dimahoo]

I really enjoyed it overall. The opening with the dinosaur was terrible, as was the putting to sleep scene, but as soon as they got to the bit about the Doctor showing his true face and Jenna Coleman got the opportunity to do some acting at last it was really solid. Plus the VFX for the half-face man were *really* excellent. Watched it at a cinema and they totally held up as convincing on the big screen. Plus the last scene with the phone-call was a lovely touch. Even if it did seem to exist primarily to placate the viewership, it still felt emotionally satisfying - which has been a rare thing in Dr Who in recent years.

Yeah i thought that. I shed a lil' tear when the Tardis come back although being emotionally responsive to music i figured that played more of a part.

I also liked the "don't breath" bit - i thought they likened that to don't blink (i don't watch any of the background stuff).

Not sure i'm happy about next week though. Theres still a small boy in me that says "i hope they're in it" and then i kinda think its too soon.

That base dalek faction since Dalek needs a new colour now. Or at least a new faction.

[NEG]

I can understand wanting better treatment of historical figures, if every history episode was as good as Vincent and The Doctor...

I don't remember Churchill being that bad in the WW2 Dalek episode, the brief reappearance in the already pretty barmy finale that season, eh, whatever. Elizabeth the First? Yeah, not so good.

It would be kind of funny to know that a show that's evidently proud of its Britishness (and why not?) treats it's history like a load of cobblers by the head writer.

Saying that, I care about plot and monsters more.

[joeplus]

I think I like Capaldi a lot - at the start of the episode I thought he was dreadful (it was like he was acting in a play, not a TV show) but by the end he'd won me over. I hope he gets a better foil than Clara though, she's just such a nothing character.

The story itself was kind of weak too, I've always liked the Victorian Lizard Crime Gang but there's only so many times you can feature their wacky capers without actually developing them at all. The bit at the end with "Missy" was the best part, I'm pretty glad that's obviously part of the series arc, something weird and intriguing to keep us going.

[Lorfarius]

I think I like Capaldi a lot - at the start of the episode I thought he was dreadful (it was like he was acting in a play, not a TV show) but by the end he'd won me over. I hope he gets a better foil than Clara though, she's just such a nothing character.

I think what he was meant to be doing was channeling Matt Smith and coming across as his Doctor, but it just didn't work well at all. Later on when he had settled on who he was supposed to be it was much better and more focused.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

I hope he gets a better foil than Clara though, she's just such a nothing character.

Well, there's another coming for the ride:

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-02-24/new-doctor-who-companion-samuel-anderson-unveiled

[joeplus]

Well, there's another coming for the ride:

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-02-24/new-doctor-who-companion-samuel-anderson-unveiled

That's good news, Matt Smith's best episodes were the ones with Rory. Although I hope this dude won't just be Clara's boyfriend and they'll do something interesting with him.

[Plissken]

It's definitely not political to have Elizabeth I in and to portray her in a very specifically sexist way that goes against what we actually know of her, it's definitely just fun because she was hundreds of years ago! I'm just a killjoy trying to see the political where it's not and this is a show for children and analysis is bad and wasn't the lesbian not-kiss daring and hooray for the British Empire! IT'S NOT POLITICAL THOUGH. NOT. POLITICAL.

Indeed. I much prefer this more famous and historically accurate portrayal of Elizabeth I, which in time has become a memorable touchstone for an entire generation.

[Liquid Myth]

Jesus fucking Christ Rudi. Did you type that into the browser window yourself, or just get one of the porters to transcribe it from the scrawling on your cell wall? You're right though, it is definitely time that Stephen Moffat paid in full for his crimes, which apparently amount to sort-of liking Britain.

That said, I would like to see a Rudi-penned episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor takes his companion on a whistle-stop tour of the Soviet Utopia, with a full explanation of why it was OK that all those people died.

I've never seen a more apt expression of someone whinging about having their toys taken off them, as though an attack on your favourite pastimes is by extension a direct attack on yourself. "M-m-my flimsily constructed existence!"

[Rudi von Starnberg]

I'm quite amazed at the lengths people will go to deny that anything could possibly be an expression of British nationalism. Have Spiderman swinging in front of an American flag and everyone nods their heads and goes 'such crass nationalism' but talk about British fetishisation in something and out come the accusations of mental illness. Nice, nice.

[dismembo]

Isn't the britishness part of Dr Who though? Used to create a unique atmosphere for the show and to help promote the UK internationally?

[footle]

Isn't the britishness part of Dr Who though? Used to create a unique atmosphere for the show and to help promote the UK internationally?

Yes? Moaning about a children's TV show's use of British stereotypes, Icons, and places, when that's basically the structure of the show, just comes across as pathetic nationalism.

I mean, at least he didn't say "oh, I'm northern british".

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Isn't the britishness part of Dr Who though? Used to create a unique atmosphere for the show and to help promote the UK internationally?

It is now. It didn't use to be.

And I've no idea what you're driving at with any of your posts here, footle.

[Liquid Myth]

Yes? Moaning about a children's TV show's use of British stereotypes, Icons, and places, when that's basically the structure of the show, just comes across as pathetic nationalism.

I mean, at least he didn't say "oh, I'm northern british".

I am reminded of a drama that the BBC have been advertising recently, some sort of quaint and idealised version of how Chester Zoo came to be, complete with obligatory rubbishing of working class stereotypes coupled with adversity and triumph bollocks. Basically this Mitchell and Webb sketch:

except totally sincere and without a hint of self-awareness.

The BBC has been doing this uncomfortably eery homogenised version of the UK for ages, I don't know why it's such a surprise to some people.