The Doctor Who thread

thermionic

And that dragon thing flapping its wings and flying away - in space?

You know it's going to be a weak episode when they have to shoehorn in an explanation why the moon's gravity is as strong as the earth's in the first two minutes.

fatherjack

I didn't hate it, but it seems as if it was written purely to contribute towards Clara's decision to leave at the end of the season.

axisus

I thought it was an OK episode. I'm liking Peter C more every week, for me his is the best interpretation of the role .... possibly ever! I think they will lose some of the fanbase though, my wife prefers 'good looking' doctors and doesn't like the grumpy thing, and I fear that could be the same for a lot of incidental viewers. 

I'll be sorry to see Jenna go, she's my favourite eye candy these days!

ICBM

I agree that the actual story was poor, but at what point do you stop picking holes in the plot details of a children's sci-fi/fantasy series? OK, some things were just ridiculous… but the acting was still pretty good, and there was some attempt to make the audience think. I completely agree about Capaldi's grumpy Doctor being maybe the best ever - possibly even beating Christopher Ecclestone. The best ones have not been the cheerful hero who saves the day every time (usually with too much sonic screwdriver).

imalone

I thought there were some nice ideas as far as sci-fi goes, but as usual this series weird little things that they didn't have to include niggled. It's not so much picking holes as having a big circle drawn round the hole and a sign saying "look at this!" set in it.
Why keep saying the moon is 100MYo? Is it some piece of Who canon I don't know about? They could have had the right number (4.5 billion) and nothing would have been any different.
Courtney is floating, then falls immediately she takes hold of the yoyo. The explanation given (and you have to allow all the messing about with the mass of the moon, this being science fiction) means everything should have been floating (other characters included). It looks like they had that effect planned out and then changed their mind about the explanation.
@Fretwired points out the bit about the commercial space operation they are investigating, but no-one else has been going into space. It's one of those moments that leaves you going 'huh?' whenever your attention is drawn back to it.

I liked the monsters being single celled, because these things exist, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophyophore though it was just a way to let Courtney kill it with disinfectant.

EricTheWeary

I guess the 100myo thing is that the moon becomes a space dragon and leaves another egg every 100 million years, the people in 2045 were just the first generation of humans to be aware of it. The Dr knew that all along (?) and that was the clue he knew it? The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago ish so every 100 millionish there is huge climate change caused by the moons rebirth. Or it was just a bit of lazy writing....

digitalscream

EricTheWeary said:

I guess the 100myo thing is that the moon becomes a space dragon and leaves another egg every 100 million years, the people in 2045 were just the first generation of humans to be aware of it. The Dr knew that all along (?) and that was the clue he knew it? The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago ish so every 100 millionish there is huge climate change caused by the moons rebirth. Or it was just a bit of lazy writing....

Or it could be a setup for something later on...in another 100 million years.

John_P

I thought it was going to be good (I expected something a bit like water episode), but it didn't do a lot for me - Clara's rant at the end was just irritating.   

The trailer for next week looks very good though!

sinbaadi

Don't really like Who, watched this one for some reason. Clara is enchanting, but I remembered why I don't watch it pretty quickly. It's written badly, the basic premise is usually just really ill conceived, but I could excuse most of that if it didn't take itself soooo seriously. Every episode has an over-acted "this is proper drama" monologue which is just really off putting.

stickyfiddle

Shite. Lazy anti-abortion rhetoric and just boring TV. The whole season has been try-hard and dull. Give us something of the quality of Blink or Midnight or Vincent and the Doctor or The Doctor's Wife please.

I really miss 11 & Pond

frankus

Did people like the reference to Blink?

If a creature is unicellular - how does it have a mouth, teeth, legs, eyes and some sort of brain?

EricTheWeary

frankus;370930" said:

If a creature is unicellular - how does it have a mouth, teeth, legs, eyes and some sort of brain?

I did wonder that, although in the context of a silly episode it seemed a small issue.
I don't understand why dragon + fluid+ spiders are heavier than the moon as they are all made from the moon/what was there anyway.

Jalapeno

Meh, this whole series so far is weak, which is a shame - PC should be being awesome .....

ESchap

EricTheWeary said:

frankus;370930" said:

If a creature is unicellular - how does it have a mouth, teeth, legs, eyes and some sort of brain?

I did wonder that, although in the context of a silly episode it seemed a small issue.
I don't understand why dragon + fluid+ spiders are heavier than the moon as they are all made from the moon/what was there anyway.

Eggs actually get lighter as the embryo develops .... mainly through evaporation  B-)

mike_l

I'm not enjoying PC as the doctor. But I can't work out whether it's him or the scripts which are weak.

Clara/Jenna has lost her charm this series. She was a great assistant, but doesn't seem as good. Again it could be the writing.

fatherjack

20/20 hindsight I suppose, but why would the Doctor react how he did to Clara having a go at him?  He's alien, so why should he share her morality about testing and patronising?  Why didn't he defend his choice?

fretmeister

Anyone who ever enjoyed Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Matrix, or Star Wars doesn't get to moan about holes in the script or scientifically impossible events.

Or, come to think about it, acting. Keanu. Ahem.

It was a bit dull though.

Nice to see Hermione Norris again though, even if she always seems to be in her 'Spooks' persona.

imalone

EricTheWeary said:

frankus;370930" said:

If a creature is unicellular - how does it have a mouth, teeth, legs, eyes and some sort of brain?

I did wonder that, although in the context of a silly episode it seemed a small issue.
I don't understand why dragon + fluid+ spiders are heavier than the moon as they are all made from the moon/what was there anyway.

I'd let both of those go. Particularly the mass one, I did find myself thinking 'but it shouldn't get any more massive', but it's sort of within the rules they came up with. Science fiction is allowed to have some of the science be fiction, but maintaining self consistency for 45 minutes would be nice.
Protists have a mouth and legs! (If you stretch the definition.)

fretmeister said:

Anyone who ever enjoyed Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Matrix, or Star Wars doesn't get to moan about holes in the script or scientifically impossible events.

The thing is when it doesn't carry you along well enough to stop you thinking about the plot holes and telegraphs its inconsistencies instead.

frankus

I enjoyed those when I was 10, The Matrix I enjoyed for one fight scene (much like Taken).

I didn't sign anything at the time that waivered my right to shout "cmon!!!?!"

fretmeister

frankus said:

I enjoyed those when I was 10, The Matrix I enjoyed for one fight scene (much like Taken).

I didn't sign anything at the time that waivered my right to shout "cmon!!!?!"

Did you watch Indy 4?

The prosecution rests!