Doctor Who Thread

[Alex]

teamsmithy said:

Dear god that was poor...

I'm going to pretend I live on a parallel earth where I never heard a silver ultimate Iron-man cry out for Gareth. Let us never speak of this deviation from form again starting...

now.





Next week looks good, Maureen Lipman stealing peoples faces and the Doctor with a quiff, quality stuff.

I thought it was great actually. Especially that bit. Honestly can't think of a bad point about the ep.

I also loved the fact that it was psuedo-revealed why alt-Mickey was called Rickey and how lame it was that Mickey would change his name to Rickey as some attempt to vanish off the radar. Classically Mickey really.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

I LIKED that bit! It reminded me of the scene in Life, The Universe And Everything where Marvin controls the robots and makes them all cry. And I'm glad Mickey managed to prove to everyone that he isn't a complete schmuck. Can't wait for next week.

[Charles]

teamsmithy said:

I'm going to pretend I live on a parallel earth where I never heard a silver ultimate Iron-man cry out for Gareth.

I found that scene slightly creepy. It's all about that lifeless monotone voice.

[Smithy]

charlesrb said:

teamsmithy said:

I'm going to pretend I live on a parallel earth where I never heard a silver ultimate Iron-man cry out for Gareth.

I found that scene slightly creepy. It's all about that lifeless monotone voice.

I could see what they were trying to do, but for me, well they failed...

With hilarious consequences, I really was laughing uncontrollably.



To sum up, poor dialog, mind numbingly over-obvious plot points, too much melodrama, a villain who left bite-marks in the scenery, Cybermen dancing in existential angst, the first really ropey CGI I've seen in this series (I had been very impressed with it up until this point), a villain falling from a rope ladder into an explosion, unconvincingly quick Jack Chickesque moral conversions, a complete lack of menace...

I didn't like it.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

Lack of menace? Even in the corridor with all the Cybermen? And how do you mean about 'Jack Chick-esque moral conversions'?

[Smithy]

kobrakai said:

Lack of menace? Even in the corridor with all the Cybermen?

Especially in the corridor with all those Cybermen.

And how do you mean about 'Jack Chick-esque moral conversions'?

"Quick lets kill those guards Mickey"
"But if you kill them you're as bad as they are"
"By jove you're right luckily I have this handy chemical that knocks people out on my person which would have made much more sense anyway"

[Ed]

teamsmithy said:

I could see what they were trying to do, but for me, well they failed...

With hilarious consequences, I really was laughing uncontrollably.



To sum up, poor dialog, mind numbingly over-obvious plot points, too much melodrama, a villain who left bite-marks in the scenery, Cybermen dancing in existential angst, the first really ropey CGI I've seen in this series (I had been very impressed with it up until this point), a villain falling from a rope ladder into an explosion, unconvincingly quick Jack Chickesque moral conversions, a complete lack of menace...

I didn't like it.

I'm going to ditto most of this, although I don't feel quite so vehement about it. I thought the CGI was pretty good this episode (no worse than other stuff this year, and better than was the norm last year).

But the script was flat and predictable, there wasn't really any interesting characterisation (apart from the brief aware-Cyberman scene which I liked). The Cyberman processing plants did have menace, but there wasn't really much momentum. Last year, "Dalek" showed us a lot about the character of the Doctor -- things we didn't know before, things we weren't expecting. This year, this double-sized episode just tells us the bleeding obvious about Mickey in a rather long-winded fashion.

I found the Cybermen voices really difficult to understand at some point. And I wasn't sure why the building started to explode randomly.

Like this year generally: good entertaining fluff and effects. But not much substance or emotionally resonant material.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

I like the series so far, but I have a feeling I'd go MAJORLY off it if I watched any of the older ones.

[Smithy]

ed2 said:

I thought the CGI was pretty good this episode (no worse than other stuff this year, and better than was the norm last year).

I think I was just spoiled by that awesome werewolf, that and one of the CGI scenes was a just a repeat of an earlier shot followed by a screaming reaction shot which didn't really match up, not good.


Just what exactly did the writer of such television entertainment stock as Sky One's Mile High and an episode of Mayo do to deserve an epic two parter revitalising a famous series villain with important consequences for a major character.

[JJ]

To be perfectly honest, I've thoroughly enjoyed this whole season so far. I think that they're finally living up to all the things that the first season came close to being. The new Doctor is better, the script is sharper, and the whole thing seems so much more epic.

Granted, I'm not a Who veteran, but I just can't find fault in this second season at all. Sitting down to watch it every Saturday has become an absolute joy, and it takes me back to a time with no bloody Big Brother, no Strictly Come Dancing or Fame Academy or awfully dull cookery shows. A time when the television would actually succeed in dragging me away from my games console of choice.

God Bless the Doctor.

[/rant]

[Chigs!]

Not one of my favorites, and much as it pains me to do this I agree with most of what Smithy is saying - but there you go - as has been said, next weeks' nooks like it could be a lot of fun

[homsar]

I liked this episode. True that it did get cliche in some places and the Cyber Commander ended up looking like a Metallix Emperor rip off, but it kept me on my seat. Next week looks interesting, with the evil tentacle TVs and faceless people.

[Ed]

jamiej said:

To be perfectly honest, I've thoroughly enjoyed this whole season so far. I think that they're finally living up to all the things that the first season came close to being. The new Doctor is better, the script is sharper, and the whole thing seems so much more epic.

Granted, I'm not a Who veteran, but I just can't find fault in this second season at all. Sitting down to watch it every Saturday has become an absolute joy, and it takes me back to a time with no bloody Big Brother, no Strictly Come Dancing or Fame Academy or awfully dull cookery shows. A time when the television would actually succeed in dragging me away from my games console of choice.

God Bless the Doctor.

[/rant]

I think the second season just feels a bit processed and glitzy. It's always good fun, but never truly magnificent yet. Individually, the stories are quite nice and have good graphics and a strong sense of tension and are bright and fun. But scratch the surface, and I'm not sure what's there. Last year, Rose went from shopgirl to God; the Doctor went from embittered genocidal loner to merciful and rescued by his friends; Mickey went from useless to coming through in a crunch. So far this year, the Doctor and Rose seem to be two sides of a love triangle most episodes, Mickey has gone from quietly heroic to loudly heroic and... well, that's it, really. I loved the scenes in "The End of the World" where nobody was around to watch the earth getting blown up and the Doctor and Rose go home and have chips. This year, it's all spectacle and glamour. It's a lot of fun in its own right, and many of the episodes are stronger than their counterparts last year in most respects, I just don't think as a character drama it's anywhere near as successful or interesting.

[Charles]

teamsmithy said:

Just what exactly did the writer of such television entertainment stock as Sky One's Mile High and an episode of Mayo do to deserve an epic two parter revitalising a famous series villain with important consequences for a major character.

That's a very good question. You'd have thought someone more established should've been given this script.

[Smithy]

charlesrb said:

You'd have thought someone more established should've been given this script.

Or y'know someone good...

Fair enough Steven Moffet was responsible for Gimme Gimme Gimme, but he proved his credentials with Coupling. What has MacRae done to prove he has the chops, nowt!



[/Internet sass]

[Devo DrakeFox]

I thought Mickey would die one of 4 deaths:-

1. Get shot
2. Get blown up
3. Get converted (not technically a death, but meh)
4. Get electrocuted

Okay, so Ricky got electrocuted, but it's a shame that Mickey didn't die too.
I liked seeing what happened to Lumic, being turned into the Cyber-Controller. And the way he died was CLASSIC! You don't see deaths that dramatic on TV often enough.
I'm also a little disappointed that Pete didn't go down with the Cyber-Controller. I would have liked to see how Rose would deal seeing her father die AGAIN (even though this one isn't her father).

[Baron Canier]

devo said:

I liked seeing what happened to Lumic, being turned into the Cyber-Controller. And the way he died was CLASSIC!

Died? When did he die? He fell two-hundred feet from a rope ladder into an exploding building; he's perfectly fine.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

Are you sure that was him? I thought Devo was referring to Lumic having his tubes ripped out and then being pushed into the converter thing by theCybermen.

[Robert Frazer]

Are you sure that was him? I thought Devo was referring to Lumic having his tubes ripped out and then being pushed into the converter thing by theCybermen.

It was. Lumic wasn't killed - as the "superior unit" he was cyberised into the Controller, then made a last-gasp effort to wrench our troublesome trio to their deaths from the rope ladder dangling from the Zeppelin.

Died? When did he die? He fell two-hundred feet from a rope ladder into an exploding building; he's perfectly fine.

I assume you're being sarcastic there - but a Cyberman should be quite able to survive that. While we can't vouch much for the durability of the new Cybermen beyond the fact that they can shrug off small-arms fire, the original Cybermen were almost invincible against all but a select number of vulnerabilities, gold in particular (which led unfortunately to the ridiculously-named "Glitter Gun" and mighty death machines being killed by having someone throw sovereigns at them with a child's slingshot). The new-money Cybermen seem to be fairly flimsier (being incapacitated by a home-made solenoid for one!), admittedly, but there's a decent chance that the Controller could drag himself from the wreckage. Indeed, I'd say that it's a narrative necessity that he/it does so - Micky wouldn't exactly have an opportunity to prove his new-found heroism if all he did was vandalise a few warehouses full of inert tin soldiers after all, would he?

[Baron Canier]

robertfrazer said:

the original Cybermen were almost invincible against all but a select number of vulnerabilities, gold in particular

And shovels. Can't forget shovels.

[Samface]

I thought the episode was brilliant, and thoroughly made up for last week's variable one.

So nyerrrrr.

Next week's looks intriguing, but it seems poor planning to have another ZOMG EVILS OF TECKNOLOJEE story straight away...

[Charles]

I doubt a television show will seriously tell us that television is evil.

[Smithy]

samface said:

So nyerrrrr.

Ah go nyerrrr youself...

[Lost Mercenary]

I loved this ep!

Seeing Trigger become a Cyberman had me in hysterics! lol

[Charles]

I'm rooting for Cyber-Controller Lumic to return FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE!