Doctor Who

[sammy]

Am I the only one who thought it was a cracker? OK Tate was a bit annoying, but it was funny and scary in all the right places. I liked the way Rose was mentioned throughout, especially at the end. And the next season preview looked wicked.

[jonathanhoey]

Could have been worse.

[Garwoofoo]

I thought Tate was a revelation. I was dreading her appearance but she was great. Suited the character perfectly.

A top episode, and the fanboy in me got seriously excited when the Doctor said "Gallifrey".

[ryodi]

That was terrible.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

even forgetting about Tate, it was a shit episode.

I prefer Torchwood right now.

[michael]

...and it's over. Summary.

- Catherine Tate really is pretty talentless. Any number of better actresses could have played the part of Donna in a much more sympathetic style; it really did feel like she was shoe-horned in there because she's a big BBC name, and it'd get more people watching.

- Was it just me, or was the sound mix in that whole episode completely fucked? The music drowned out a load of dialogue in several scenes (most of them in the Tardis when The Doctor was trying to explain stuff, I think).

- I really miss Rose. Here's hoping Martha's as good.

- Right at then end... WOOOOOOOOOOO DALEK!

All in all: 6/10

Last three seconds: 10/10

[Commander Jameson]

I enjoyed it. Not too shabby for a RTD episode (although he did nick a line from Raiders).

[Paperboy]

It was pretty good, but Tate must have some amazing dirt on RTD. I can't see how she could get the job otherwise. I've seen better performances on Firefly.

[Jack]

It was pretty good, but Tate must have some amazing dirt on RTD. I can't see how she could get the job otherwise. I've seen better performances on Firefly.

Do you know, I really fucking hate it when my brother logs me out and I don't bother to check the username in the corner.

[DoctorK]

Next season FTW! Those clips were great at the end.

I'm with the majority so far, Tate, shite to begin with and then liked her by the end but they did indeed TOTALLY cock up with the sound mixing, Murray Gold turned all the way beyond 11 to 12 for the start, it seemed to get better as the episode went on.

The Rose touches were really nice too, David Tennant plays that character masterfully.

[Wickedkitten]

I thought Tate was a revelation. I was dreading her appearance but she was great. Suited the character perfectly.

A top episode, and the fanboy in me got seriously excited when the Doctor said "Gallifrey".

Indeed, at first it was like "oh great, catherine tate, here we go" but I can honestly say I really enjoyed it.

That and the look on the doctors face as the flooding was going on.

David Tennant is ridiculously sexy somehow.

[Ste_S]

Really enjoyed it.

Anyone see the Torchwood preview at the end ? Looks pretty good for series finale

[Mogster]

Tate veered from being annoying to being fun at varying points, but the episode as a whole was a great romp, for want of a better word. I wasn't expecting anything too heavy for a Christmas special, and I thought they mixed a good amount character stuff in between the woo wee wow. Also, I think that was the first time Gallifrey's ever been mentioned by name in the new series.

That trailer at the end was superb too. Martha looks to be something quite different from Rose, a doctor rather than a plucky "chav" (I hate calling Rose that) from an estate.

[AnimeExpert2003]

The first twenty minutes of Tate shouting was just horrible. It was great once she shut her stupid mouth though.

Christ, Catherine Tate, she really is a shit.

[Beta]

Well, that was pleasantly surprising. I thought Tate was pretty decent, a little annoying at times but sometimes that was more to do with the script she was given rather than her delivery. The only things that bugged me were the overuse of the sonic screwdriver and the tendency for the Doctor to just be able to *poof* out of dangerous situations way too easily, hopefully these will both be toned down in the next series.

Also the Torchwood references = nice but the Galifrey reference = awesome!!

[michael]

During the scene where they were having the reception, did anyone notice the waitress they focused on (very) briefly? I think it was Sarah Parrish darting about in a couple of the shots? She must have wanted to be seen out of the prosthetics but still incognito...

[FishyFish]

It was entertaining for what is was meant to be - Christmas day family viewing. The Empress of Racnoss was nicely realised, if not at all scary but, again, it shouldn't be at 7pm on Christmas night. Overall it was great Christmas telly.

Best part of the new series trailer - THAT Dalek sound effect.

That big giant thing in the Torchwood trailer looks pretty neat too. As was the Sarah Jane Smith trailer. Doctor Who overload!

[Nick R]

During the scene where they were having the reception, did anyone notice the waitress they focused on (very) briefly? I think it was Sarah Parrish darting about in a couple of the shots? She must have wanted to be seen out of the prosthetics but still incognito...

There was one handheld-looking shot which seemed to zoom in on someone, then quickly cut away. I briefly thought it might have been the Torchwood crew darting around in the background. I haven't really been following the spoilery news - are there any crossovers planned?

I didn't watch the Doctor Who Confidential thing earlier, as I assumed it would be a spoiler-filled Making Of shown even before the episode itself, as Sky One recently did with Hogfather. What did I miss in that?

I enjoyed it the special. I remember enjoying the couple of episodes I saw of Catherine Tate's first series, but her second became repetitive very quickly. I don't find her that annoying, just her characters - and here she played someone who was supposed to be annoying due to being quite understandably exasperated. She was fine.

The above post summed up the episode well:

It was entertaining for what is was meant to be - Christmas day family viewing. The Empress of Racnoss was nicely realised, if not at all scary but, again, it shouldn't be at 7pm on Christmas night. Overall it was great Christmas telly.

Overall, better than what I remember of last year's Christmas special - about the only bits of that I can recall are the swordfight and the Lion King joke.

[Mogster]

I didn't watch the Doctor Who Confidential thing earlier, as I assumed it would be a spoiler-filled Making Of shown even before the episode itself, as Sky One recently did with Hogfather. What did I miss in that?

It was all about the concert in Cardiff, showing a selection of music from it, along with relevant clip-reels of the last two series. It also had a few talking heads, mainly Murray Gold and the conductor guy, talking about the music. It was pretty good!

[AK Bell]

Tate can only do "Wha?!?! Repeat myself? Repeat myself! REPEAT MY...SELF!!!"

Otherwise, a very enjoyable episode. The spider-woman was underused, and I twigged him from 55 degrees north was a bad guy too because he had to put up with Tate, but yeah ...it was good.

Much better than last years crap special.

[Dr Derek Doctors]

You know, I was expecting Tate to be fucking awful but she wasn't bad at all. Not a turnaround on the level of Richard O'Brien in Dark City, but really didn't find her annoying once.

The racnoss, however... Fuck, I know it's panto season, but...

And those robots?

Ready...............................

Aim...................................

(puts cuppa' on)

FIRE!

[Matt Defis]

Really nice makeup, just about as good as anything seen on trek. Enjoyable but why Tate, she does my fucking nut in, even if she's good in something she's still shit just cos she annoys the tits off me.

[Beertiger]

Nice to see the Beeb serving up turkey on Christmas Day.

I was shocked that not even the kids were interested in it. These kids have got all the Dr Who comics, got the annual for Christmas, know all the alien names and what their motives are. Perhaps it was the lure of the Wii in the other room but the interest level was an all time though. A shame as I love watching Dr Who with kids and we all rushed around to get ready for it and sat down with snacks to end up drifting out of the room or playing with the dogs.

It was either a massive Christmas failure for Dr Who or just an uber Wii victory.

Thankfully I've got it on the Sky+ to watch later. I lost interest as soon as Catherine Tate opened her mouth and basically did the same act that all of her characters do in her awful show. In fact I blame her for ruining it.

[Hello Goaty ♥]

I also blame Tennant.

he's shit.

[mwaawm]

I flicked ont this, saw tates face and stuck on a DVD instead

[Jug McKenzie]

.

[CarloOos]

I thought it was really good. Yeah, Tate was annoying to begin with, but that was the character more than anything. Also the special effects are really improving, they were very consistant in this.

Being an hour long as opposed to 45 minutes was also far better, letting the story breathe a little. Did nobody else notice? Are they all going to be an hour long from now on or was it just this one? I'm hoping they are.

[Retroid]

Bad plot, bad enemy, the worst special effects I've ever seen, it bored me and an over insight into the Dr's personality by the bride. But it had some humorous moments and gave a slight look into the Dr's dark side. Still wasn't a good episode though.

And I really think Tennant is good, actually. Can't see how anyone could play the role better. He mixes weirdness, professionalism and darkness very well I thought.

[tiedtiger]

High production values, pacy acting, beautifully shot, awful script.

Same as ever.

[c-cat114]

Mostly I liked it, bar for the fact that it was too shouty and frenetic certainly in comparision to last years which was paced a little better. Although this could have been exacerbated by the fact that there were three generations/14 people in the same room watching it and the kids were somewhat noisey.

Anyhow, better than I hoped for, Tate was a good sidekick, effects were pretty good but please for the love of God will they make a rule and stick to it: I can't go back and change the timeline, unless it's in a different epidode in which case it's fine. For the purposes of this story then I can't go back, until I have to, in which case I may, but don't hold me to it.

So, having missed the ads at the end, is it the series end of Torchwood this week?