The Doctor Who thread

Kurtis

darthed1981 said:

Well the good news is that TFB is still doing well on Google - as I just searched "doctor who snowmanning" to try and find where the reference was... and only found this thread!  

Just FYI, Google search results are very much based on your past activity.

Unless you switch off history. 

darthed1981

Kurtis said:

darthed1981 said:

Well the good news is that TFB is still doing well on Google - as I just searched "doctor who snowmanning" to try and find where the reference was... and only found this thread!  

Just FYI, Google search results are very much based on your past activity.

Unless you switch off history. 

Yes I do know that - but it was literally the only reference to it - so (more to the point) it likely hasn't caused 80% of viewers to switch off...

dazzajl

I really enjoyed ep 3 and after a more proper watch of the first two, I’d say it feels very much like the early RTD days 2005/6 

I think it’s a great response to all the cries of “just tell us a story” that started in the latter Moffat era when it was all trying to be a bit too clever. And so so nice to have Murray Gold back doing the score, that was definitely a missing part in the Chibnal times. 

RocknRollDave

I enjoyed episode three too.

english_bob

darthed1981 said:

Without something like that, the only real comments on faith in the episode are the Doctors statement "it stops you from thinking" and the duping of the soldiers.  Would make it just a bit too cynical.

I know better than to expect agreement from this place, but I thought putting such blatantly prejudiced, ignorant words in the mouth of a character who's meant to be wiser than us, and above this sort of petty human bigotry was disappointing.

darthed1981

english_bob said:

darthed1981 said:

Without something like that, the only real comments on faith in the episode are the Doctors statement "it stops you from thinking" and the duping of the soldiers.  Would make it just a bit too cynical.

I know better than to expect agreement from this place, but I thought putting such blatantly prejudiced, ignorant words in the mouth of a character who's meant to be wiser than us, and above this sort of petty human bigotry was disappointing.

I see your point, but I don't think the Doctor being "anti" religion is necessarily out-of-character.  Remember, he has the power to imprison an alien in a mirror for all eternity - he is likely dodging being treated as a god all the time, while he perceives himself as an idiot in a box.

The episode showing the positive side of faith as well, with the little girl's faith helping her with her terrible loss, seemed balanced to me, but YMMV.

darthed1981

Nobody got anything to say on episode 4...

OK, first totally classic episode since "The Doctor Falls" waaay back in Season 10, possibly even before that.

A folk-horror tale with elements of classic British ghost stories, it's also a showcase for Millie Gibson as Ruby, spending her life alone as she gradually realises her purpose and how she got into her situation, all steering her back to a certain conclusion.

Did RTD manage to out-Moffat Moffat this series as well?  This one, probably deliberately, makes you hark back to stone cold sci-fi classic "Blink" - and while it's not THAT good, it's one of the best ever "doctor lite" stories (a story they write in to give the Doctor a break from filming, we will get a "Ruby lite" one as well probably).

Top stuff.

TimmyO

I thought that was fab. Very entertaining. 

skullfunkerry

That was the best episode since the Matt Smith days, I reckon  

Offset

It was fucking dire. Seriously.

Jalfrezi

Offset said:

It was fucking dire. Seriously.

Agreed

dazzajl

Made absolutely no sense at all and the story was made mostly from loose ends but I really enjoyed the ride.

suspiciousminds

Absolutely crap.
Just watched it and i can honestly say i cant bear RTD’s stories at all.

darthed1981

Woah, well I've liked them all so far so naah

darthed1981

So anyway on the topic of...

There really is a twist at the end of every episode - "Susan Twist" has appeared in every episode since Ncuti debuted,

So fans are now expecting a "Susan Twist" - which strongly suggests two things to me...

1. Susan Twist is playing whoever it was who picked up the Master at the end of the Giggle, and she does really good nasty, she was the evil ambulance.

2. Brian May's Mrs is the Doctor's grand-daughter, Susan.

Right - after typing that twice lets hope I can post it this time.

JEM

dazzajl said:

Made absolutely no sense at all and the story was made mostly from loose ends but I really enjoyed the ride.

I stopped watching Doctor Who when my daughter lost interest (sometime around the end of the David Tennant era) but I watched this episode due to the earlier positive comments on here.

I thought it was well acted and there was some genuine tension at times but I agree with you, the story was nonsensical. It felt like a poor episode of Inside Number 9.

darthed1981

Millie was stuck in a pre determined time loop, a bit like the one in Donnie Darko?

JEM

darthed1981 said:

Millie was stuck in a pre determined time loop, a bit like the one in Donnie Darko?

Well yes, I get that but why? Because the Doctor stood on a bit of string and she opened an envelope!? What caused that? Why did the Doctor disappear? Why did everyone run away screaming in horror when they tried to speak to spooky future Ruby?

Ruby had to live an entire lifetime alone, shunned by her own family and haunted by a ghostly spectre so she could prevent an unrelated mad Welshman from causing Armageddon because the previously mentioned magic envelope was the only thing that had been preventing this from happening before. Then on her deathbed she could go back and stop the whole lot from happening in the first place.

Sorry, I just don't get it.

darthed1981

JEM said:

darthed1981 said:

Millie was stuck in a pre determined time loop, a bit like the one in Donnie Darko?

Well yes, I get that but why? Because the Doctor stood on a bit of string and she opened an envelope!? What caused that? Why did the Doctor disappear? Why did everyone run away screaming in horror when they tried to speak to spooky future Ruby?

Ruby had to live an entire lifetime alone, shunned by her own family and haunted by a ghostly spectre so she could prevent an unrelated mad Welshman from causing Armageddon because the previously mentioned magic envelope was the only thing that had been preventing this from happening before. Then on her deathbed she could go back and stop the whole lot from happening in the first place.

Sorry, I just don't get it.

The show is deliberately pivoting to make the supernatural more of a part of what it does, in the case of the witch circle, the Doctor treading on it imprisoned Ruby in the time loop, which she couldn't get out of until she stopped mad jack and told the doctor not to step, breaking the loop.  The Doctor didn't disappear, Ruby did...

What was said to everyone who tried to speak to old Ruby? I'd assume the truth, that they were all characters in the loop and not real people, and they were trapped in Ruby's spell... that would scare me.

But not everything needs explaining to the nth degree, it was a folk horror story.  They didn't explain much of anything in that film "Men", or in a lot of other folk horrors... it's just mess with the folk horror thingies, and bad shit goes down.

But YMMV, they didn't explain the monster in Midnight either...

JEM

darthed1981 said:

The show is deliberately pivoting to make the supernatural more of a part of what it does,

Yeah and I think that's what I struggled with. I've never really been that big a fan of the show. I was a Tom Baker kid and didn't really watch much of the later incarnations. I started watching again with my kids with the Chris Ecclestone reboot. 

I always saw it as science fiction albeit often taking liberties with the science bits (reverse the polarity, sonic screwdriver etc.). Supernatural stories have always been part of it but there was always a science-y explanation behind it, like a time travelling Scooby Doo.

I guess it's Russel T Davies' show and he can go where he wants with it. I probably won't bother watching any more episodes but I'm sure many fans are glad to see the back of the sci-fi aspect of the show.