[TV] The Doctor Who Thread

Shawn

Shawn

Wahad said:
It's a reference to the First Doctor, played by William Hartnell, whose companion was Susan, his granddaughter.

This episode was good. Matt Smith still terrifies me sometimes when he goes full-on old soul Doctor. The speech!:aaah:
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Huh. Ben Paddon, a local Doctor Who Trivia Celeb, posted that he really thought it was a poor episode.
My spoiler-free assessment of this week's Doctor Who, "The Rings of Akhaten": Pretty, but boring. It was dull, plodding, with an ending that had no sense of consequence or danger. Pity.
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But then again he's the same guy who claims that "Love and Monsters" is a completely underrated episode, mostly because it's misinterpreted as fact and not just the ramblings of some wacko's run-in with the doctor.

Sorry, Ben. Love and Monsters sucks. True story.

I haven't seen any of the newest half season episodes. I'm waiting for some birthday cash before I just purchase them on itunes.
 
mikerc

mikerc

Ravenpoe said:
So, uh.. what?

The Doctor says he's been there at the rings many years before, and that he brought his GRANDDAUGHTER there. Clara asks for clarification and he ignores her on to his next leap of thought.

I was expecting him to turn out to be the 'old god' that they worshiped, since they called it grandfather, but that wasn't it. WTF could that have meant?
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Not actually a spoiler Ravenpoe - waaaay back when Doctor Who first started his first companion was his granddaughter Susan. Course back then they hadn't even decided to make the Doctor an alien yet, so we hadn't heard of Time Lords, Gallifrey or regenerations.[DOUBLEPOST=1365351560][/DOUBLEPOST]Ninja'ed by Wahad on a new page .
 
Green_Lantern

Green_Lantern

Staff member
I was expecting they would bring up the comment about his granddaughter again by the end of the episode:

and he would have forgotten about her.

I liked this episode, but it felt too... unfinished, too rushed in the start and the end.

I am the only noticed that this episode features a fight with an god and a Carl Sagan quote?
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

So, um...

Did The Doctor just extinguish a culture's sun and then leave? Because that was my impression. It went from the sun darkening out and then suddenly, we're dropping Clara off on Earth.
 
Shawn

Shawn

My wife and I are two episodes into this 1/2 season and I gotta say... I'm very underwhelmed so far. The episodes have felt so mind-blowingly mediocre that it feels like Russell T. Davies got a hold of the show again. I had more faith in Moffat, even after a slightly disappointing 6th season. I mean it was pretty decent, but the finale was a little... awkward. The 7th season started out just fine. I especially enjoyed The Dalek Asylum and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, heck, even the poorly reviewed Slowest Invasion episode was still pretty clever to me. But now the episodes have been pretty much all misses so far. Starting with the Christmas episode which, for the life of me, I can't enjoy regardless how people try to convince me otherwise.
I blame the poor writing for the secondary characters. I felt like after A Good Man Goes to War those established characters deserved a better return. Instead they show up, kinda acting like they are well out of their league, and slightly more comical and incompetent than before. Essentially they pulled a MIB2 with them.
Then there's Clara. I feel like she's the main reason I'm disliking the season so far. She's this perky, spitfire, girl with a heart of gold. So she's like a much paler version of Amy. Except she's BORING. I honestly don't find her interesting at all. She's clearly got a backstory that's going to be revealed in the finale, but so far there is just nothing very special about her that previous companions haven't done before and better.
I could also blame the fact that she's no Rory Williams... but that's not fair. No one will ever be as good as Rory Williams.

The recent episodes also have this level of hokey-ness to them that reminds me a lot of the Russell T. Davies episodes from the first 4 seasons (hence my reference above). And it's not a good kind of hokey-ness like in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. It's not Daleks in Manhattan or Love and Monsters bad yet, but Rings of Akhatan definitely reminds me of the un-epic pacing that came with most of those terrible episodes.

I cross my fingers that the series picks up. I know there will never be a season quite like the 5th season again, but I still want to be impressed and excited after every episode.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

I think part of the reason I'm not enjoying Clara as much as I thought I would is...honestly, she's not the same character we saw in the Dalek asylum episode or the Christmas episode. She's not as fun and flirty as she was there. Still enjoyable, but she seems more emotionally broken and scared than the confident, flirty, spitfire girl we saw before. Which honestly, was a large part of why I enjoyed her before.

Now of course, that's whether the other Claras we met were even the same character at all or if there's some kind of strange reincarnation thing going on or whatever will be explained later on.

Personally, I've been enjoying the new episodes for the most part. Last week's Cold War episode was good, but nothing particularly memorable. I liked this week's episode a lot more. I love how we saw Tennant's old, orange spacesuit make a reappearance. "I think it brings out my eyes!" "I think it hurts my eyes."

At first, I thought the problem was "Well, she's not Amy....or The Man Who Waited," but I don't think that's it. It's that the Clara that I fell in love with isn't the same one that we got for his new companion. It's not that she's unlikeable. I still like her quite a lot.

Also:
"I'm The Doctor."
"Doctor What?"
"If what like."

:D
 
Hylian

Hylian

I had been avoiding Doctor Who jut because I knew I would get hooked on it. I finally broke down and started watching it several weeks ago (I started at the 2005 reboot) and as I expected I was instantly hooked and I am now all caught up with the current season. As happy as I am to be caught up I am also saddened since i now actually have to wait for the next episodes instead of just plowing through them.
 
CrimsonSoul

CrimsonSoul

Hylian said:
I had been avoiding Doctor Who jut because I knew I would get hooked on it. I finally broke down and started watching it several weeks ago (I started at the 2005 reboot) and as I expected I was instantly hooked and I am now all caught up with the current season. As happy as I am to be caught up I am also saddened since i now actually have to wait for the next episodes instead of just plowing through them.
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Don't blink. Don't even blink.
 
CrimsonSoul

CrimsonSoul

Ravenpoe said:
This should change if you scroll away and then scroll back.
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I have that as my desktop from the one with the video camera in the ship. It's starts off as it in the corner eyes covered then it goes to right up to the screen teeth bared. Rotates every 20 minutes. It scares me sometimes lol
 
Eriol

Eriol

Hylian said:
I had been avoiding Doctor Who jut because I knew I would get hooked on it. I finally broke down and started watching it several weeks ago (I started at the 2005 reboot) and as I expected I was instantly hooked and I am now all caught up with the current season. As happy as I am to be caught up I am also saddened since i now actually have to wait for the next episodes instead of just plowing through them.
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My wife and I are exactly the same, except we started in December.
 
Dirona

Dirona

Eriol said:
My wife and I are exactly the same, except we started in December.
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Actually, it was late February to be precise.

And ya, I have mixed feelings about being up-to-date. The whole waiting a week for new material is brutal! Though, at least I don't need to avoid whole chunks of the Internet anymore for fear of spoilers.
 
Eriol

Eriol

Dirona said:
Actually, it was late February to be precise.
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Oh we were hooked when Space Channel was doing the marathon of Christmas specials, and that got me to actually pick up the DVDs from our friends, which then we tore through in late February.
 
Shawn

Shawn

My "Hooked by Doctor Who" story is actually kinda fun.

I was never a huge Doctor Who fan. I liked the concept when I was younger, but never saw an episode outside of one starring the Daleks that I actually watched all the way through. My dad watched a lot of Tom Baker episodes on PBS, so he was always what I figured was pretty standard for a Doctor Who episode. Cheap special effects and a quirky Doctor.
I was excited for the FOX TV movie. But since that came and went without anything coming of it there wasn't really much held excitement.
After the Reboot in 2005 I wanted to give it another chance. I bought the 1st season on DVD and started giving it a run through. Once again I was disappointed by the hype. The new Doctor wasn't what I expected, and Rose and Micky were just annoying the piss out of me. I stopped watching about half way through.

Skip ahead to 2010. I start dating a girl who LOVES the Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson. She wants to take me down to the CBS studios for a taping, so we go through the list of guests so we can go to the taping that we know we'll enjoy the most. Jeff Goldblum catches both our eyes so we get tickets a couple of weeks in advance. Just before the show taping she gets an email informing us that there has been a change in guests and that Matt Smith will be on the show, and they want certified Doctor Who fans in the audience. Those with advance tickets are given the chance to write them first with our opinion of Doctor Who. I honestly think she responded with "We've heard of it and seen a few episodes" although I know she herself had never seen a single one.
Surprisingly we got an email back saying we would be assured seats.

We show up for the taping and see a HUGE line of folks all dressed up and hoping to get in. We kinda felt a little bad when we were asked to come to the front of the line because we had VIP tickets due to booking well before Matt Smith was a guest.


Want proof I was there? Check 1:42 in the very lower right corner. You can see half my head.

Well let's just say this taping SECURED Doctor Who in both our hearts. After the taping we both got a DVD copy of the 5th season that we were excited to watch as soon as we got home. It ended up being an all-nighter because we could not stop watching. The new Doctor was gold. Amy and Rory were gold. River Song came out of nowhere for us and rocked our socks off. Even after we stopped dating we would get together for all the new episodes of Doctor Who. We even road tripped down to San Diego to see Matt Smith on the Chris Hardwick Show at Comic Con in 2011.

Matt Smith is and always will be OUR Doctor.

Oh. And that taping of Craig Ferguson also left behind something very special.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Nightmare in Silver

Really good episode, though not the mind-blowingly amazing episode we got last time from Neil Gaiman (who wrote this week's episode and The Doctor's Wife). Matt Smith continues to be the absolute best thing to ever happen to this show. I could've watched the whole episode with him just battling himself. I also liked the new, sleeker Cyberman designs.

Next week: The Name of The Doctor

We're all going to look very silly when it's revealed his name is Hugh. Turns out we've been pronouncing it wrong all this time.
 
Green_Lantern

Green_Lantern

Staff member
I think that Doctor's Wife was the greatest episode ever.

I can't believe it was written by the same person that wrote Nightmare in Silver.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Green_Lantern said:
I think that Doctor's Wife was the greatest episode ever.

I can't believe it was written by the same person that wrote Nightmare in Silver.
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It was still a very good episode. And probably the best of this half of the season. It just wasn't mind-blowingly amazing like Doctor's Wife. And honestly, I don't think it's fair to Gaiman to expect it to be.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Doctor's Wife is certainly up there at the top of my list. There are some good ones though (all from Matt Smith era) that make it hard for me to choose my absolute favorite. 11th Hour, Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone, A Christmas Carol, Doctor's Wife, Amy's Choice, Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, The Girl Who Waited (I really tear up at the end there), Asylum of the Daleks, Dinosaurs in a Spaceship.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

The Name of The Doctor

Well, that was one hell of a finale, eh? I dug the hell out of it. More behind the spoilery stuff.


1) I was ready to murder-death-kill-destroy everyone at BBC if Jenny had been killed off for real.
2) Holy shit, seeing Strax suddenly going full Sontaran against Vastra was scary! I'd been so used to the awesome bumblingness of Strax that seeing him go bad because The Doctor never changed him was a scary, unexpected surprise. Seeing him get in a bar fight in Glasgow, though, was fucking awesome.
3) Loved all the cameo bits with the various Doctors of the past.
4) I get the feeling that's the last time we see River Song. A fitting ending, especially with "Goodbye, sweetie." I'm assuming from now on that The Doctor's name is actually Sweetie.
5) John Hurt?!!?

The going theory on Hurt right now is that he was a regeneration of the Doctor between 8 and 9. In other words, he was The Doctor involved in the entire Time War. That would make sense within the hints we were given about him. However, if this is true, then the other theory is that this makes Hurt The Doctor #9, Eccelston #10, Tennant #11, and Smith #12. I really hope they don't go and re-number the previous Doctors. Not only because it's how fans have discussed their favourite Doctors (outside of the actor's actual name), but Smith's run on the show especially has had all sorts of fun little jabs at him being #11, like the soccer jersey.

Of course, that brings up the OTHER theory about Hurt... They're going to call him The Valeyard, an old Doctor villain from times past, and was apparently a future regeneration; his thirteenth - and last - regeneration, in fact. this is all theories right now, but that'd be pretty awesome. Some more on The Valeyard here: http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/The_Valeyard

Overall, though, this hasn't been a great season in terms of one, overall storyarc. Moffat wanted each episode to be a great standalone episode - hence the movie poster style promotions for each episode - and I think on that, the season has been a success. The second half of the season has been hit and miss, but I think upon re-watching them, more will be appreciated.
 
klew

klew

If Clara was starting to remember things she should not, and one of those things was the Doctor's name, and River and Clara were mind-linked, could that be how River learned his name, and not the Doctor actually giving it to River?
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

JOHN FUCKING HURT!


So yeah, when I heard that they were going to have an anniversary special with all of the past doctors having to get together to stop some powerful threat, I immediately called that it was going to be The Valeyard. And it looks like he might be played by John Hurt! Oh, and ThatNickGuy, he can't be the 8th Doctor, as the 8th Doctor was shown, in a BBC special, regenerating into the 9th Doctor right after destroying Gallifrey and ending the time war. Granted, this was in a special that took place a few years before the official reboot, and Eccelston wasn't added until a re-edit after, but I think it's still canon.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Ravenpoe said:
JOHN FUCKING HURT!


So yeah, when I heard that they were going to have an anniversary special with all of the past doctors having to get together to stop some powerful threat, I immediately called that it was going to be The Valeyard. And it looks like he might be played by John Hurt! Oh, and ThatNickGuy, he can't be the 8th Doctor, as the 8th Doctor was shown, in a BBC special, regenerating into the 9th Doctor right after destroying Gallifrey and ending the time war. Granted, this was in a special that took place a few years before the official reboot, and Eccelston wasn't added until a re-edit after, but I think it's still canon.
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Which special are you referring to? I've never heard of it and I have some very Whovian friends who would have mentioned it to me in many of the conversations we've had concerning the 8th doctor, who, from what I have been informed, only appeared in the Fox tele-movie "Doctor Who". Are you referring to the radio dramas that have come out starring McGann who reprised his role as the 8th Doctor?
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Shawnacy said:
Which special are you referring to? I've never heard of it and I have some very Whovian friends who would have mentioned it to me in many of the conversations we've had concerning the 8th doctor, who, from what I have been informed, only appeared in the Fox tele-movie "Doctor Who". Are you referring to the radio dramas that have come out starring McGann who reprised his role as the 8th Doctor?
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Actually, my mistake, I just checked and it didn't actually show the regeneration.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Shawnacy said:
Did the 8th Doctor ever make more than 1 TV appearance? I am confused.
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Not that I know of. I was actually confusing an episode of the 7th doctor (I think, everything before the reboot is sketchy to me) and combining it with a fanmade video that attempted to fill in the gaps.
 
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