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FishyFish

By FishyFish
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kensei

kensei

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It was enjoyable fluff for Christmas. Not a patch on last year, but massively better than say the Titanic one.

Wah wah going off Moffatt Who because a few eps were short of mind blowing. Give over. Who has always been the most up and down show on the tee vee by a mile.

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El Pibe

El Pibe

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Just watched it - thought it was dire. The lead actress was terrible, where on earth did they find her?

I think I'm going off Moffat-era Who rapidly now. :(

This is a problem with Dr Who, for me, at the moment. They keep dumping in 'stars' as an extra pull, no matter whether they're the best for the role.

The Moffat era has many positives but they are just as many negatives, as well. I groaned when I saw Amy Pond and Rory and the Dr crying after it was telegraphed throughout the episode that he would was just awful. Thank GOD that River Fucking Song wasn't in the background cooking the turkey.

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BlinkyBear

BlinkyBear

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Before I go on it's probably worth mentioning that my enjoyment and appreciation for the series comes almost exclusively from the point which Moffatt took over and Matt Smith became the Doctor. Before this, I'd seen the odd Ecclestone episode and caught a few of the Tennant episodes, but the constant use of deus ex machina really grated, as did the 'crazy time-lord schtick' and as a result I hadn't got into the series and so my knowledge and appreciation of the 'modern' Dr. Who canon is severely limited. Essentially, I probably watch the programme in a slightly different way to many of the people in this thread and more likely with those who casually tune in on Christmas Day just because it's a tradition.

Also I was at the in-laws for Christmas Day this year, I didn't (wasn't allowed) to see any of the TV I wanted to watch and so had to catch up with this yesterday. I mention this is I really think context is key with the Dr. Who Christmas Day specials; watching this episode on fairly unspectacular Wednesday night doesn't quite carry the same emotional pull and contextual weight as watching on Christmas Day, surrounded by family and full of turkey and red wine. Why? Because it was written to be watched in such a context.

My criticism of the episode is fairly universal it seems-too many characters and too much plot for 1 hour, especially for an audience who will expect something fairly light and wholesome. Perhaps the Yellow Suit people were underused, perhaps the lack of real threat was an issue for some, maybe the last 10 minutes were very vague and underdeveloped (she got them home from where to when how?) and in a more grown-up version of the story

the Dad should have stayed 'dead'

but for me, none of that mattered. This was an episode of TV written for family viewing on Christmas Day. It was designed to be a modern fairy tale. It was supposed to be an obvious, sentimental and self-contained story for an audience who needed sign-posts, cliched endings and 'safe' casting and characters. In that respect I think it was successful. It conjured up themes and emotions that resonate with the festive period, it used obvious production design that evoked a festive feeling and the whole narrative was just the right balance to work as a one-hour piece. And quite frankly, anyone who didn't think the last 60 seconds

where the Doctor shed a tear

was emotional needs examining-it was such a lovely little touch that I assume the only people who didn't feel any sense of emotion were too drunk to notice.

A lot of the criticism I've read touches on various points but mostly reverts back to personal expectations of what a Dr. Who episode should be and how the story compares/compliments existing with other stories or issues in the Dr. Who canon. I appreciate many of the supposed faults from the episode and agree with some of them but as a one-off, Christmas Day special, I understand what Moffatt was trying to do and for the most part, think he was successful.

Of course, more Pond would have been nice.

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Space Gibbon

Space Gibbon

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All good points Blinky. But no festive excuses allowed - this was a horribly overcooked christmas turkey. The Moff has done much, much better.

Which is why we shouldn't go on about it when he does an episode that isn't 10/10. Can you imagine what it would be like for him, who is a frankly fucking fantastic writer, to look around forums like this and see how much schtick he gets for not being perfect all of the time, and from people who generally like his work but seem capable only of focusing on the negatives?

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PK

PK

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a frankly fucking fantastic writer

Really? Are you sure you don't mean "...compared to Russell T Davies"?

It's good fun to watch but the forced epicness is still very much there, as is the clumsy science fiction and unoriginal monsters/peril. And most of the episodes are still a fucking mess in terms of structure and pacing. He's better than the previous captain, but he's using the same shit map

"Are we sure it's not her cardigan" was quite a good line

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jonamok

jonamok

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Which is why we shouldn't go on about it when he does an episode that isn't 10/10. Can you imagine what it would be like for him, who is a frankly fucking fantastic writer, to look around forums like this and see how much schtick he gets for not being perfect all of the time, and from people who generally like his work but seem capable only of focusing on the negatives?

Fair enough - so one of my 2012 resolutions is to give generally great writers less of a hard time when they phone one in. :)

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BlinkyBear

BlinkyBear

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Fair enough - so one of my 2012 resolutions is to give generally great writers less of a hard time when they phone one in. :)

I actually think he did the opposite of phoning one in-he spent so long trying to send the outline by fax that he kept sending it and re-sending it but changed it every time he did and as a result the final script was a mess. It just happend to have all of the necessary ingredients in it.

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Hexx

Hexx

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http://www.doctorwho...nce-doctor.html

IDW Publishing have announced the first official cross-over between the Doctor Who and Star Trek franchises, with the publication of comic book Assimilation² in May.

The story, by Star Trek Infestation authors Scott and David Tipton with Doctor Who author Tony Lee, will feature the Next Generation crew meet up with the Eleventh Doctor as the universe is threatened by a Borg/Cyberman alliance.

The eight issue series has been produced in conjunction with BBC Worldwide Consumer Products (Americas) and CBS Consumer Products, with the latter's Executive Vice President and General Manager Liz Kalodner saying: "by joining these two sci-fi powerhouses, fans will be taken on the ultimate adventure through time and space."

Soumya Sriraman, Executive Vice President Home Entertainment and Licensing, said: "We are excited about this new adventure for the Doctor and the fact that he will be travelling with Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his iconic crew. This is a perfect partnership for not only Doctor Who’s incredible fans, but also for the brand. We have just celebrated our most successful year yet. Doctor Who’s latest season delivered record ratings for BBC AMERICA and it was most downloaded full TV seasons of 2011 in the U.S. on the iTunes Store."

The comic book will be illustrated by J.K. Woodward; a limited edition wraparound photo cover version will also be available.

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JohnC

JohnC

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But Rose called the Ninth Doctor "Spock" as a joke in The Empty Child which means the program Star Trek exists in the Whoniverse which means this doesn't make any sense. :quote:

That's possible in a crossover like this. It's two separate universes crossing over, so Star Trek can exist on TV in one and not in the other. They're not meant to be from different times in the same universe. The only one I'd read before was the Star Trek one with X-Men. They even made a thing about Picard looking remarkably like Xavier, years before the movies happened.

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