The Doctor Who thread

johnnyurq

Ooh you mucky minded bugger, keep up the good work.

Chuffola

Just caught up with the episode tonight.

What an absolute pile of steaming shite! 

Capaldi was excellent. Everything else was garbage. 

fatherjack

I liked that.

 Just like RTD, he just can't leave anything be, can he?

thermionic

That, my friends, was the best episode in recent years. Fantastic. 

Michelle Gomez was superbly menacing and believeable. The build-up to the appearance of the Cybermen was well-crafted (did you notice the 3W logo doubled up on the doors looked like Cybermen eyes?) Some cracking one-liners peppered throughout. This one was a cut above!

DiscoStu

Yeah, really enjoyed that one! The keys scene was great, I never thought much of the Clara character in previous series but the two of them played off each other brilliantly in the first half tonight. Some great gags (iPad...) and some mild Tucker lines too.

Why can't they do this all the time? It would be classic!

ICBM

Yes, the best so far. Some very clever scripting and leading you to reveals without realising you've been led - the 'dark water' only showing up organic material so it didn't show the [plot spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen it yet] being the best one. Even the cyberman eyes thing wasn't *that* obvious initially.

Best joke - 'we've got Steve Jobs'.

fatherjack

ICBM said:

Yes, the best so far. Some very clever scripting and leading you to reveals without realising you've been led - the 'dark water' only showing up organic material so it didn't show the [plot spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen it yet] being the best one. Even the cyberman eyes thing wasn't *that* obvious initially.

Best joke - 'we've got Steve Jobs'.

The thing is that the true identity of the bad guys (not Missy) was revealed so long ago and so extensively that it could ever come as much of a surprise, which weakened the effectiveness of the reveal. 

The lava scene only works (for the viewer, not Clara) if you forget Silence In the Library/The Forest of the Dead.

Fretwired

Not sure about this .. Missy as a female Master .. pants [this was leaked and I didn't believe it as it was so naff]. Feminists wanted a female Doctor so we have a female Master to placate them. Why not create a strong new female character? Why does Doctor Who always regress to old scripts characters and situations? The knowing nod to old episodes for the Doctor Who geeks [Cybermen in London - been done to death]. The show needs new characters, new monsters and new scripts. We don't need the Master, the clanking Cybermen or the Daleks or a rehash of scenes from Doctor Who's past. This was just lazy. And Danny Pink in Iraq/Afghanistan ... what was that about. The guy playing him can't act. As usual Capaldi was in a class of his own ....

The iPad/Jobs joke was in bad taste for Doctor Who.

frankus

wisdom for all except the Steve Jobs comment - that was a first class joke, Jobs might even have approved of a posthumous appearance in Who for all we know

Fretwired

frankus said:

wisdom for all except the Steve Jobs comment - that was a first class joke, Jobs might even have approved of a posthumous appearance in Who for all we know

I said bad tatse for Doctor Who .. as he's now a Cyberman .. :-)

frankus

I thought it was a good gag for Who ... like the one-liner about Daleks.

Fretwired

frankus said:

I thought it was a good gag for Who ... like the one-liner about Daleks.

It was a good gag .. Who doesn't usually do that sort of thing though ... the worms won't like it .. :-)

holnrew

I liked it, I wasn't expecting the cybermen. I don't see why The Master can't be a woman, it made it more of a surprise after all.

Clara's eyebrows were flawless.

EricTheWeary

I liked it. Yet more swirly noises with my headphones on.

fatherjack

Fretwired said:

Not sure about this .. Missy as a female Master .. pants [this was leaked and I didn't believe it as it was so naff]. Feminists wanted a female Doctor so we have a female Master to placate them. Why not create a strong new female character? Why does Doctor Who always regress to old scripts characters and situations? The knowing nod to old episodes for the Doctor Who geeks [Cybermen in London - been done to death]. The show needs new characters, new monsters and new scripts. We don't need the Master, the clanking Cybermen or the Daleks or a rehash of scenes from Doctor Who's past. This was just lazy. And Danny Pink in Iraq/Afghanistan ... what was that about. The guy playing him can't act. As usual Capaldi was in a class of his own ....

The iPad/Jobs joke was in bad taste for Doctor Who.

It goes to RTD's and Moffat's inability to let go of characters. The Weeping Angels were great in Blink and have got steadily less effective with each return. RTD couldn't just leave Rose in another dimension. 

There was no need for Missy to be The Master, she was perfectly good without that. 

I think the chap playing Danny Pink is OK - it's a fairly low-key role, a bit like Harry Sullivan.

DiscoStu

Danny Pink is a non-event for me. He can act but there's no passion.
I called the Missy/Master thing on her first appearance but still enjoyed that the Doctor didn't know.

The jokes tonight had me actually lolling and I can't remember that ever happening with Who before! The Steve Jobs line was incredible! Last thing I expected and it was edgy, possibly bad taste, but hilarious! Loved the 'shoe' quip too, a wee bit of Tucker and that should be encouraged!

Capaldi has nailed The Doctor. Episode 1 skeptics show yourselves! I am no Whovian and skipped most of Smith; I was only watching it for Karen Gillan but the stories were mostly pants and kid-centric. Yes Clara is gorgeous too but her acting has been far better this series and tonight there was genuine tension and emotion between her and The Doctor during the keys sequence.

Brilliant stuff. I can take or leave the Cybermen to be honest, they don't really intimidate the way that they should. They look like a dance troupe!

Keep the script/acting like tonight, keep it at a later time slot, and it's a total winner for me.

suspiciousminds

I enjoyed it - i was expecting the cybermen but not how this story panned out so i liked it - new monsters are great but i think the fans expect the "old favourites" too.
Danny pink as a character is a bit of a wet weekend and as dull as dishwater.
Capaldi as the doctor is getting better and better for me - i think he needs another companion with clara though and PC is a class actor so deserves far better scripts than the tosh they gave him in last weeks episode.
Roll on next season!

Fretwired

holnrew said:

I don't see why The Master can't be a woman, it made it more of a surprise after all.

That's the point ... it wasn't ... I think someone pointed it out in this thread .. it was too obvious. My gripe is not whether the Master is a woman but why have the Master at all. The premise of the episode, what happens when someone dies, is an interesting one which fell apart when we ended up with the Master in the dress and the Cybermen. The episode was crying out for new villains [I think the Missy character a good one - Michelle Gomez does evil very well] and something new and scary in the tanks of dark water.

Chuffola

It was great, wasn't it?  I love Michelle Gomez - hilarious in Green Wing.

I thought it was very dark for Doctor Who - the whole "Don't cremate me" thing would have had me up all night for weeks when i was a kid.  Not that that is a bad thing, though.

Excellent all round. Steve Jobs joke was brilliant and I think the only time I've ever laughed out loud in Doctor Who.

Thank God, really, after that rubbish last week. 

Capaldi is excellent and the development of him, and his relationship with Clara, has been done very well. Just a pity the stories haven't all lived up to the acting. 

Roll on next week!

axisus

I thought it was a superb episode, as already stated. This series has had probably 4 excellent episodes, a bunch of meh, and a few awful. Considering the money spent on production these days I seriously think they should spend more time weeding out poor scripts at an early stage. I fear that they commission writers and just run with what they are handed, no QC. Capaldi is a triumph though. I loved the scene at the volcano etc