The Greatest Show In The Galaxy

[M j M]

1 hour ago, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

If you think its garbage , then that's your prerogative , but what was woke about this episode ? was it because there was a disabled woman in it? or was it because somebody was working in a food bank ? I'm just curious .

If there's anything other than an all-white, able bodied cast some people are going to be triggered by it. It's the way of the modern world unfortunately.

[Futtocks]

 

[graveyard johnny]

On 05/11/2021 at 16:36, M j M said:

If there's anything other than an all-white, able bodied cast some people are going to be triggered by it. It's the way of the modern world unfortunately.

nah- just somebody who can actually act and is picked on acting ability to act in the roles that are written would be fine 

[graveyard johnny]

just tried to give the latest one the benefit of the doubt - switched it off- seen better acting in the school play 

[Spidey]

14 hours ago, graveyard johnny said:

just tried to give the latest one the benefit of the doubt - switched it off- seen better acting in the school play 

Why join a show on part 4 of a story?

[graveyard johnny]

9 hours ago, Spidey said:

Why join a show on part 4 of a story?

who said  i did? while we are it at theres a 40 year old episode of minder on tv in the background as i reply -the casting - the character acting - the writing and the filming (not flicking from scene to scene every milli second ) is far superior in every way to these dr whos 

Edited November 29, 2021 by graveyard johnny

[John Drake]

23 minutes ago, graveyard johnny said:

who said  i did? while we are it at theres a 40 year old episode of minder on tv in the background as i reply -the casting - the character acting - the writing and the filming (not flicking from scene to scene every milli second ) is far superior in every way to these dr whos 

Well, you watched the first part and came on this thread to tell us all how awful you thought it was, so it’s reasonable for the rest of us to assume you wouldn’t carry on watching something you clearly don’t appreciate, just for the opportunity to keep moaning about it on here. 

Why not start a thread about 40 year old episodes of Minder instead? A show which, incidentally, was produced by a company set up by Verity Lambert, the original producer of Doctor Who back in 1963. But don’t let that put you off. 

[John Drake]

Back on topic. 

I think the current series of Doctor Who has been outstanding. 

The serialised format really works, allowing for more complex storytelling and greater character development. 
 

It does make it harder to dip in and out of for casual viewers (and those who just like to watch stuff to moan about it later) unlike the previous single episode structure, but I think this series will stand the test of time and repeated viewings when all six episodes are available. 

For me, so far, the standout episode has been part 4, featuring the Weeping Angels. Must admit, despite their pre-eminence as a fans favourite, apart from their debut in Blink, they’ve never really grabbed me, but in this episode, they were used brilliantly. Genuine tension and threat and a stunning cliffhanger. 

I’m looking forward to seeing how all the threads are pulled together in the final episode next week. 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

2 hours ago, John Drake said:

Back on topic. 

I think the current series of Doctor Who has been outstanding. 

The serialised format really works, allowing for more complex storytelling and greater character development. 
 

It does make it harder to dip in and out of for casual viewers (and those who just like to watch stuff to moan about it later) unlike the previous single episode structure, but I think this series will stand the test of time and repeated viewings when all six episodes are available. 

For me, so far, the standout episode has been part 4, featuring the Weeping Angels. Must admit, despite their pre-eminence as a fans favourite, apart from their debut in Blink, they’ve never really grabbed me, but in this episode, they were used brilliantly. Genuine tension and threat and a stunning cliffhanger. 

I’m looking forward to seeing how all the threads are pulled together in the final episode next week. 

Its been great so far , personally , I couldn't pick a favourite episode , with the exception of Once , Upon Time(which was a tad confusing , but not that bad) they've all been great . I must admit when I first saw the series trailer , I thought , doesn't that humanoid dog creature look a bit naff , but hasn't Karvanista been great , hasn't Swarm and Azure been great , in fact all the new characters have been really interesting , wasn't Craig Parkinson good last night , wasn't Jemma Redgrave good , wasn't their interaction great , I hope Osgood returns next week . Talking of UNIT , remember after the new years special , Resolution aired , how fans were up in arms because Chibnall had dismantled UNIT , well now we know why .

Edited November 29, 2021 by Sidi Fidi Gold
Miss Spelling

[M j M]

A couple of observations now I've caught up with this series.

Am I alone in thinking there's slightly too much going on? Perhaps one set of baddies too many. I'm sure they'll resolve it all but at the moment it's a bit chaotic to follow.

I think the weeping angels are over-used. They seem to be come less threatening with every outing. An army of them just ended up seeming a bit ludicrous to me rather than sinister.

How come our dog is suddenly the head Lupari, monitoring and taking action when other ones break formation? I thought he was just a regular grunt rather than one of significance. An excuse to put him and Thaddea Graham in the same place no doubt.

The Doctor back story stuff is interesting - but more is sometimes less and I think the Doctor was best identified as a sort of rogue time lord rather than this galaxy-transcending figure she/they've become.

And perhaps I'm alone but I'm not a great fan of Mr and Mrs Richard O'Brien - although killing off Tecteun put them up in my estimation.

This is probably all rather negative but I will say it's quite engaging, the acting largely decent and the plots and scripts a huge step up from the weak stuff Whittaker had to deal with up to now in her time in the role.

One final niche complaint: repeatedly using their CGI representation of what looks like a trans-Atlantic liner from the 1930s (it appears to be a knock-off Queen Mary) in 1904 really grated to me. Getting from Nepal to the UK in that era right they'd be on something much smaller of the British India company, suited to tropical sailing and without the 1930s design features. Annoying!

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 04/12/2021 at 13:19, M j M said:

A couple of observations now I've caught up with this series.

Am I alone in thinking there's slightly too much going on? Perhaps one set of baddies too many. I'm sure they'll resolve it all but at the moment it's a bit chaotic to follow.

I think the weeping angels are over-used. They seem to be come less threatening with every outing. An army of them just ended up seeming a bit ludicrous to me rather than sinister.

How come our dog is suddenly the head Lupari, monitoring and taking action when other ones break formation? I thought he was just a regular grunt rather than one of significance. An excuse to put him and Thaddea Graham in the same place no doubt.

The Doctor back story stuff is interesting - but more is sometimes less and I think the Doctor was best identified as a sort of rogue time lord rather than this galaxy-transcending figure she/they've become.

And perhaps I'm alone but I'm not a great fan of Mr and Mrs Richard O'Brien - although killing off Tecteun put them up in my estimation.

This is probably all rather negative but I will say it's quite engaging, the acting largely decent and the plots and scripts a huge step up from the weak stuff Whittaker had to deal with up to now in her time in the role.

One final niche complaint: repeatedly using their CGI representation of what looks like a trans-Atlantic liner from the 1930s (it appears to be a knock-off Queen Mary) in 1904 really grated to me. Getting from Nepal to the UK in that era right they'd be on something much smaller of the British India company, suited to tropical sailing and without the 1930s design features. Annoying!

Quite a few people have mentioned that there are too many threads running through this story , personally , I don't mind it . I find a lot of the new characters engaging 

If you think the Weeping Angels are over used , what do you think of the Daleks and Cybermen  . This is only the 4th story that the WA are the main villain and the first one not written by Steven Moffat and while I admit that Blink was an iconic story and will take some topping , I've thoroughly enjoyed the other 3 .

As I said earlier , I've found most of the new characters engaging and Swarm and Azure are no exception 

I think series 12 was a big step up from series 11 and Series 13 is a step up from series 12 

Good point about the ship looking out of its time period , it never dawned on me , although I did think they navigated the globe rather quickly , from South America to the Himalayas to Liverpool .

In case you haven't noticed , I am enjoying this series , will you be watching the final instalment ?

 

 

 

[M j M]

Well i finally watched the season finale.

Dear God that was just awful.

[John Drake]

15 hours ago, M j M said:

Well i finally watched the season finale.

Dear God that was just awful.

I thought it wrapped things up pretty well, tbh, and was 'of a piece' with the previous 5 episodes. I enjoyed it.

I'm going to watch the whole series again over Christmas, before the New Year's Day special, as I'm sure there will have been plenty of things going on under the surface that I missed first time around.

[M j M]

55 minutes ago, John Drake said:

I thought it wrapped things up pretty well, tbh, and was 'of a piece' with the previous 5 episodes. I enjoyed it.

I'm going to watch the whole series again over Christmas, before the New Year's Day special, as I'm sure there will have been plenty of things going on under the surface that I missed first time around.

I was too tired to comment any further but -

It just felt like an hour of exposition, mostly the Doctor just constantly explaining stuff. On and on and on it went talking about what was going on. 

And then the idea that you can just easily get one over the Daleks and Cybermen without them smelling a rat or fighting back... really? Why use two of your major baddies as just easy-to-kill fodder? And, as I've just watched Genesis of the Daleks, are we to believe that this Doctor firstly just committed this amazing mass genocide and then just carried on as if nothing had happened?! And in the end the snake guy and the bald couple were just almost irrelevant and easily dismissed from the conclusion. What was the point?

Maybe they'll clear some of this up, particularly the genocide, in the next episodes, as well as the fact that the universe other than Earth appears to have been completely destroyed in the pursuit of this story line. Some timey-wimey stuff will fix it no doubt.

 

I know you have to discount reality for a while to watch Dr Who and with that in mind the first five epiodes were overall quite good. But there always seemed too many loose ends and complicated strands to comfortably tie up and, to me, so it wound up - this conclusion was just an absolute turkey for me.

Edited December 14, 2021 by M j M

[Jeff Stein]

Enjoyed it tonight. Good fun

[M j M]

2 hours ago, Jeff Stein said:

Enjoyed it tonight. Good fun

Yeah was quite good although I admit I fell asleep about two thirds in after about six or seven goes around so perhaps it sagged a bit in the middle as they kept repeating what they were doing. Was it just me who didnt understand why they could get out of the building in the end as I'm not sure it was specifically explained that it would be fine after midnight?

Return of the Sea Devils next looks awesome

But please God I don't want the Doctor to have a love interest with a companion and least of all do I want that relationship to be matchmade by a badly-acting John Bishop.

 

[John Drake]

On 01/01/2022 at 23:10, M j M said:

But please God I don't want the Doctor to have a love interest with a companion and least of all do I want that relationship to be matchmade by a badly-acting John Bishop.

It's not exactly a new concept.

Christopher Eccleston's only series and David Tennant's first were basically a love story between the Doctor and Rose, with a few sci fi adventures thrown in for good measure.

Tennant's second series was a tale of Martha's unrequited love for the Doctor.

Amy Pond was in love with Matt Smith's Doctor, to the extent that she nearly called off her wedding to future husband Rory.

Then there's the whole River Song affair, which ended (or began, depending on where you start with that time-wimey relationship) with her being married to Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi's Doctor.

Paul McGann's Doctor was the first to have an on screen kiss, with companion Grace in the TV movie.

And even in the classic series, Sarah Jane Smith was clearly in love with the Doctor, a storyline that was developed when she made a comeback in the new series in David Tennant's 'School Reunion' episode.

Beyond that, in the episode 'Human Nature' when the Doctor is disguised as a human schoolteacher John Smith, he falls in love with the school nurse, Joan, and there's even a call back to that in Tennant's final regeneration episode.

Tennant's Doctor even got to kiss Kylie Minogue in one Christmas episode!

I guess what I'm saying here, beyond the fact I'm obviously a tragic Who-nerd that needs to get out more, is that Doctor-companion relationships, implied or obvious, are part of the show and always will be.

I'm only surprised it took so long for Yaz's affection for Jodie Whittaker's Doctor to be made as clear as it was in the New Year special (which, incidentally but not surprisingly, I loved).

Given that Jodie's only got two more episodes to go before regenerating, it's not likely to go very far (in screen time at least, I'm sure fan-fiction writers will have fun with it for years to come) and that would fit in with the way Jodie has played the character all along, being socially awkward around the emotions of her friends and companions, as previously evidenced by her somewhat cold reaction to the news that Bradley Walsh's character Graham was worried about his cancer returning.

I think, from a purely story-driven sense, that Yaz declaring her feelings towards the Doctor at this late stage in her character arc, when it has been obvious to viewers who have been paying attention for much longer anyway, is designed to give the audience a much greater emotional investment in the moment when she loses 'her' Doctor in the regeneration episode, which we all know is imminent, but Yaz doesn't.

Many Doctor Who writers, and Russell T Davies in particular, have often argued that we watch the Doctor's adventures from the human perspective of their companions. The modern day series seems to take the view, not unrealistically, that if you ever met a character like the Doctor and travelled on life-changing adventures with them, it would be pretty hard not to become emotionally attached to them, even if they are unlikely to return the compliment, because (as has been explored in previous episodes) the Doctor will always outlive any human they fall in love with, so why risk the constant pain of inevitable loss in the first place.

But if none of that floats your boat, there's always the brilliant Donna to fall back on, which to me just illustrates what is so great about this show: it can do absolutely anything it likes, take us anywhere, give us great drama, emotional highs and lows and then mock itself and make us laugh too.

 

[M j M]

1 hour ago, John Drake said:

But if none of that floats your boat, there's always the brilliant Donna to fall back on, which to me just illustrates what is so great about this show: it can do absolutely anything it likes, take us anywhere, give us great drama, emotional highs and lows and then mock itself and make us laugh too.

Despite my instinct I did just watch that video you linked. I saw David Tennant acting and Catherine Tate reading some lines. So I refer you to my thoughts of some months ago -

On 02/01/2021 at 17:20, M j M said:

As for John Bishop it's depressing news...

Last time they did something similar I found Catherine Tate's acting frankly awful to watch.

I'll concede the point on the historic love interest element of Doctor and Companions. However it's mostly been implied and, at most, involves just the two of them. This seems more overt and has Bishop there winding it up. Hopefully it doesn't become a major story line.

Even in such scenes in previous episodes they'd be the bits I'd cringe or fast forward through. It might just be me but I'm there for the Doctor, the TARDIS and the aliens, not a love story. 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

On 01/01/2022 at 23:10, M j M said:

Yeah was quite good although I admit I fell asleep about two thirds in after about six or seven goes around so perhaps it sagged a bit in the middle as they kept repeating what they were doing. Was it just me who didnt understand why they could get out of the building in the end as I'm not sure it was specifically explained that it would be fine after midnight?

Return of the Sea Devils next looks awesome

But please God I don't want the Doctor to have a love interest with a companion and least of all do I want that relationship to be matchmade by a badly-acting John Bishop.

 

The Sea Devils have been rumoured to be returning since the show was rebooted , apparently , Moffat wanted to do a Sea Devil v Silurian war episode but he didn't have enough budget left .

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

20 hours ago, M j M said:

Despite my instinct I did just watch that video you linked. I saw David Tennant acting and Catherine Tate reading some lines. So I refer you to my thoughts of some months ago -

I'll concede the point on the historic love interest element of Doctor and Companions. However it's mostly been implied and, at most, involves just the two of them. This seems more overt and has Bishop there winding it up. Hopefully it doesn't become a major story line.

Even in such scenes in previous episodes they'd be the bits I'd cringe or fast forward through. It might just be me but I'm there for the Doctor, the TARDIS and the aliens, not a love story. 

The Doctor , the Tardis and Aliens seemed to work very well between 1963 and 1989 , but if they'd have kept the same format when the show was rebooted in 2005 , then the show probably wouldn't have lasted more than 1 series , I think one of the things that made the show a success was the emotional impact of the companions , whether it was Rose in Doomsday , Donna in Stolen Earth , the Ponds exit in Angels take Manhattan , Clara in Face the Raven/Heaven Sent/Hell Bent or Bill in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls .

[M j M]

4 minutes ago, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

The Doctor , the Tardis and Aliens seemed to work very well between 1963 and 1989 , but if they'd have kept the same format when the show was rebooted in 2005 , then the show probably wouldn't have lasted more than 1 series , I think one of the things that made the show a success was the emotional impact of the companions , whether it was Rose in Doomsday , Donna in Stolen Earth , the Ponds exit in Angels take Manhattan , Clara in Face the Raven/Heaven Sent/Hell Bent or Bill in World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls .

Yeah, totally agree. But emotional impact doesn't mean they fancy each other or progress it. The Doctor is an alien after all - if it's just going to be the Doctor awkwardly refusing advances I suppose that's fine. If it's something else, well God help us.

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

Just in case any body is interested , starting from today ( 1.25pm) Forces TV are showing some classic Doctor Who , todays story is the first 2 episodes of Spearhead From Space , which will be repeated in the evening , the following story will be The Daemons . Their plan is to show around 10 stories spanning from 1970 to the late 1980s .

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

2 hours ago, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

Just in case any body is interested , starting from today ( 1.25pm) Forces TV are showing some classic Doctor Who , todays story is the first 2 episodes of Spearhead From Space , which will be repeated in the evening , the following story will be The Daemons . Their plan is to show around 10 stories spanning from 1970 to the late 1980s .

The other stories they are showing are , Genesis of the daleks , Terror of the Zygons , The Robots of Death , City of Death , Logopolis , Kinda , Earthshock , The Caves of Androzani , Vengeance of Varos and Remembrance of the Daleks .

[HawkMan]

My own personal favourite top 10 from Pertwee to McCoy are , in no particular order. 

City of Death,  Ghostlight , Inferno, Genesis of the Daleks,  Warriors' Gate, Caves Of Androzani, Revelation of the Daleks,  Mawdryn Undead, Masque Of Mandragora and The Sea Devils. 

[John Drake]

That thing where you watch something on the telly and really enjoy it, then go online afterwards to discover a bunch of other people moaning about how ###### it was.

People who can't even compose an interesting tweet sitting in judgement on the professional writing of 45 minutes of modern television.

That's my experience of any new episode of Doctor Who nowadays.

It goes without saying that I will always enjoy a new episode of Doctor Who.

I sit down to watch it with that as my intention. Always have, always will. There isn't a single episode that I have seen, from the original series through to the modern day one, that doesn't have something to recommend it, in my view. That's why it is my favourite show.

It doesn't mean every episode is a stone cold classic, or that there aren't some I rewatch more than others, or that Genesis of the Daleks is on a par with Time and the Rani. But I genuinely appreciate every actor who has played the part, every writer who has written for it and every part of the production team that has put it on screen.

I feel sorry for those who watch something they claim to love, and then spend all their time pulling it to bits.

If the internet had existed in 1963. Doctor Who wouldn't have lasted longer than its original 13 episode run.

"Yeah, I liked the first one, quite good, but then three weeks of stone age men wittering on about fire and the lead actors fluffing their lines, no thanks, boring and amateurish, I gave up on it, the test card would be more thrilling..."

Meanwhile, nearly SIXTY (count 'em) years later, Doctor Who is still on air, still pushing boundaries, still throwing out glorious little surprises to those who have stuck with it, such as the trailer at the end of the latest episode heralding the return of two much loved characters (no spoilers) in the regeneration special marking the Beeb's 100th birthday later this year.

I can't wait to see what happens next!