Doctor Who Thread

[Baron Canier]

dave said:

It was mentioned a lot in the trailer Faeros.

Not to mention the next episode is called 'Army Of Ghosts'.

If you mean those freaky white outlines, I was under the impression that those were the Cybermen breaking through the dimensional barrier or some such Sci-Fi jargin.

UNIT are a taskforce that often crosses paths with the Doctor.

[Ed]

charlesrb said:

Here's a question - there's all those ghosts appearing on Earth, the Cybermen are launching a direct invasion and potentially Daleks too, and basically there's a major emergency...

...so where's UNIT, who exist for the sole purpose of handling situations like this? Or are they supposed to be the soldier types being killed? In which case, why are they with Torchwood when UNIT is in favour of the Doctor and Torchwood isn't?

Killed in "Aliens of London"?

[Charles]

dave said:

Charles, who're UNIT?

United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, set up in 1968 to defend Earth against "extraterritorial threats" and often working with the Doctor. They last appeared in The Christmas Invasion.

[Lost Mercenary]

BRING ON THE NEXT EPISODE!!!!!!!!! HELL YAH!!!!

[Robert Frazer]

Killed in "Aliens of London"?

U.N.I.T. still exists - the facility contained beneath the Tower in The Christmas Invasion was one of their installations, as evidenced by the emblems on the doors.

While of course we haven't seen a great deal of Torchwood to give an authoritative comment, they certainly seem to be a more intriguing - and competent! - force than UNIT. Let's be honest - Lethbridge-Stewart's outfit served little more than cannon fodder to be heroically rescued by the Doctor and run about screaming that their puny human weapons were no match for superior alien technologies. That Torchwood keeps plenty of xenogen toys for itself, and that their controller seems to be of a much more assertive type, hopefully will mean that they actually stand a fighting chance against the latest batch of alien threats. However, if Army of Ghosts' Tardisode is anything to go by (an investigative journalist asks too many questions and is dragged to a mental asylum for his trouble), it seems that Torchwood is being cast as the villains of the forthcoming adventure, which is unfortunate really.

Also, there could be an interesting conflict of jurisdiction between Torchwood and UNIT itself - perhaps a "secret war" between the two organisations is in the offing? Vying for supremacy over the turf of alien investigation amidst grimy back-allies and steaming impact craters would be an interesting theme for the next series' story-arc, if the series is going to insist on remaining Earth-bound?

[Mecha HMS]

Would be cool if TORCHWOOD are the baddies could just imagine the doctor teaming up with the Daleks and Cybermen to kill all the human race......and then the Daleks turn against him and kill Rose which pisses the Doctor off to no end so he Sonic Screwdrivers there ass!

[Charles]

robertfrazer said:

While of course we haven't seen a great deal of Torchwood to give an authoritative comment, they certainly seem to be a more intriguing - and competent! - force than UNIT.

Bit of an unfair comparison - so far, Torchwood doesn't appear to have actively fought alien threats (with the exception of in Christmas Invasion, but at least Major Blake of UNIT appeared to have some involvement in the Beam of Doom). All Torchwood appears to be doing is getting hold of alien stuff and keeping it, and stopping guys like Mickey from doing it - that's much easier than trying to contain the Silurians and find an antidote to a fast-acting widespread plague.

Plus Torchwood's an organisation that nobody's meant to know about and is more or less autonomous; UNIT is public, and has to follow the law & whims of both the UN and the government of the host nation. Torchwood may be less restricted at what it can do, but UNIT never got a Tardisode showing them abducting a journalist and putting him in an insane asylum because he found out they existed.

Let's be honest - Lethbridge-Stewart's outfit served little more than cannon fodder to be heroically rescued by the Doctor and run about screaming that their puny human weapons were no match for superior alien technologies.

Well, that's not entirely fair and depends on the episode. UNIT did quite well against the Cybermen in The Invasion, contained and dealt with the Silurians in an ambigious way (and would have had the plague contained too if not for a few dumb moves on the part of non-UNIT staff), they occassionally handled themselves well in armed conflict with enemies (especially in Battlefield), had Liz Shaw among them working as a scientific advisor equal to the Doctor, and by the time of Battlefield had developed specialised ammunitions for handling known alien threats like Daleks, Yetis and the Cybes.

Plus in spin-off material, they thwarted three Nestene Consciousness incursions and prevented ICIS from overthrowing the government via widespread terrorist actions.

That Torchwood keeps plenty of xenogen toys for itself, and that their controller seems to be of a much more assertive type, hopefully will mean that they actually stand a fighting chance against the latest batch of alien threats.

Not based on the preview!

Also, there could be an interesting conflict of jurisdiction between Torchwood and UNIT itself - perhaps a "secret war" between the two organisations is in the offing?

I saw one of the Who book writers on Outpost Gallifrey say that it could be all those beaurucrats gumming up UNIT's operations in the Pertwee stories were working for Torchwood, which would explain a lot. Torchwood would hardly want a semi-public international body getting involved in their work, and add in their friendliness to the Doctor...

There was also the book Who Killed Kennedy, which said that Lethbridge-Stewart originally went to the British government with the idea for UNIT but was rebuffed because of budget concerns. Lethbridge then went over his boss's heads and pitched his idea direct to the UN Security Council, and everyone voted in its favour - except Britain. Was this Torchwood trying (and failing) to prevent there being any rival organisations in Britain?

[SJ]

This weeks one was ok, last weeks was dreadful, the Devil ones were pretty good though.

[Devo DrakeFox]

Missed the previous episode, but I hear it's not great. No, the finale is what I'm looking forward to.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

Oh. My. G-d. I can't wait for the next episode.

SPOILER: Click to show

I'm going to miss Rose, though. I must admit I felt sad when she said it was the last story she would ever tell.

And yes, I want the Face of Boe to come back!

[Samface]

Good ep. The tarmac-laying fellow was utterly brilliant. He deserves to be in every scene from now on. Twice.

And Dave, you're not the only one who thought leaving the beacon-carrier to twitch on the ground was a bit harsh.

Next week - hot, or smoking?

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

Oh yes, I loved the bit where he got upset because Rose nicked his COUNCIL pickaxe from his COUNCIL van and proceeded to bash in the COUNCIL pavement, even though he threatened to grass her up to the COUNCIL.

[Lost Mercenary]

Since the Cybermen are back do you reckon that means Mickey will return as well?

[Pitt]

The last appearance of the Cybremen within the chronology of the show was the Fourth Doctor story Revenge of the Cybermen.

Despite their destruction in that particular adventure, it was implied that there are groups of them roaming about space, building up their strength to attack the Earth again (they had just lost the Cyber War you see). Maybe they have finally returned?

Probably not. The aforementioned story was set in the future, but Satudray's episode is set in 2006.

Hmm. This was a completely pointless post.

[Alex]

It's pretty clear they're the Cybus Industries Cybermen.

[Baron Canier]

As I said earlier, it'd be a nice plot twist if Mickey did return in the season finale...as the new Cyber-Controller. Obviously, there's slim chance of that happening, but it would certainly be interesting.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

lostmercenary said:

Since the Cybermen are back do you reckon that means Mickey will return as well?

SPOILER: Click to show

He's coming back. So is that terrorist guy played by the dude from Byker Grove.

[Charles]

shazam said:

Probably not. The aforementioned story was set in the future, but Satudray's episode is set in 2006.

The original Cybes launched several attacks on Earth in the 20th-22nd Centuries, this could be one of them.

And I hope it is, because the Cybusmen mean Pete Tyler is back, and then we'll probably get Jackie & Pete marrying and teh happy family ending and then I'll goddamn vomit on the TV.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

Somehow, I don't think it'll happen, what with the series getting darker and all. Thank G-d.
Anyway, Pete probably wouldn't recognise her, since his wife is posh and stuck-up and all. Oh, and a Cyberman.

[Alex]

Personally, I'd be surprised if a single Tyler survived these episodes.

[ashurathecomic]

I bet all the Tylers go off to Earth 2 with Mickey.

--Ray

[Dave]

kobrakai said:

Oh yes, I loved the bit where he got upset because Rose nicked his COUNCIL pickaxe from his COUNCIL van and proceeded to bash in the COUNCIL pavement, even though he threatened to grass her up to the COUNCIL.

"Hey! You can't go in there, that van belongs to the caaancil!"

"Hey! Put that back that's a caaancil axe!"


"Right! You're using a caaancil axe, stolen from a caaancil van, and you're digging up a caaancil road! I'm reporting you to the caaancil!"

[Charles]

kobrakai said:

Somehow, I don't think it'll happen

You reckon without Russell T. Davies and his obsession with scenes of total sappiness while Big Important Music plays to tell you how you should be feeling.

[The Tikal who had no Toes]

Hey, what if Pete meets Jackie from Rose's world AND Cyberman Jackie? HANDBAGS AT DAWN!

[Kittie Rose]

I think this series up as far as The Age of Steel was sheer brilliance, probably better than the first. Though it staretd to drop around the Cyberman story and recent episodes just haven't done it for me. The first part of the Impossible Planet two parter was a bit boring.

I think that the next episode is going to be brilliant though.

Are the "ghosts" the Cybermen phasing through, or something different? When I first heard the name, I thought it would be the ghsots of the Timelords.