Topic: New Doctor Who (Read 59240 times)

Burrito Al Pastor · « **Reply #540 on:** July 27, 2011, 04:30:38 PM »

So apparently Matt Smith and Karen Gillan handed out official TARDIS burritos to some folks who were in a line.

The event seems to be virtually apocryphal, and I doubt I'll be able to buy one on ebay; it's a shame, because inquiring minds want to know what kind of burritos they were! and if they were good!

Thad · « **Reply #541 on:** August 09, 2011, 09:42:46 PM »

...poking through old posts in the thread; found this:

Quote from: Burrito Al Pastor on May 30, 2009, 01:45:29 AM

As it happens, I've only just watched "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead", and I couldn't help but noticing something...

The new companion is ginger. You know who else is ginger? River Song.

Steven Moffat wrote those two episodes. He's also the new lead writer.

I wonder.

Burrito wins.

Kayma · « **Reply #542 on:** August 09, 2011, 09:51:17 PM »

Wow. Way to go, Burrito. Or should I say, TARDIS Burrito? It's all adding up.

Lottel · « **Reply #543 on:** August 27, 2011, 04:11:53 PM »

Really controversial episode, apparently. Well, there's a lot of people saying best of Season 6 and a lot of people saying Worst Doctor Who Episode.

All I know is once again, Rory is my favourite bit the show.

Bal · « **Reply #544 on:** August 27, 2011, 05:49:53 PM »

Well that answered A LOT. I really enjoyed every reveal. Mels' being probably my favorite.

Lottel · « **Reply #545 on:** August 27, 2011, 06:34:26 PM »

I only liked her reveal because [spoiler]I thought introducing her character as a childhood friend and acting like she was important at the get go was extremely forced. Then she was River and it only felt kind of forced.![/spoiler]

Bal · « **Reply #546 on:** August 27, 2011, 06:59:15 PM »

[spoiler]I think it's pretty obvious that you're supposed to be like "Who the fuck is this person, and why should I care?" for her entire time on screen. That Rory and Amy have a childhood friend he doesn't know about isn't unbelievable, and a female friend with which a little girl shares everything isn't unbelievable either, but you still don't really know why you should care until she starts to regenerate. I think that feeling is entirely intentional to make the reveal more impactful, because the implications become immediately apparent. Where did little Melody go after her first regeneration in New York? To grow up with her Mom and Dad of course. Took her about 30 years, but she did it. I think an interesting question is whether she did it to meet her parents, to put herself in a position to inevitably meet the Doctor, her target, or both. I'm guessing both.[/spoiler]

Lottel · « **Reply #547 on:** August 27, 2011, 07:18:17 PM »

My biggest problem is [spoiler]she was a little girl! A wee thing. She either had to have fake parents or she was a little child that lived by herself. The former is a bit weird because that means she had to either manipulate a couple who wanted to adopt a child into moving here and there so she could be friends with Amy and Rory. The latter could make sense since she had to have had her entire knowledge of the Doctor and programming the entire time growing up so she was an adult in the body of a child. But that makes it complicated because people never met parents or needed papers signed or anything? This is why time travelers are adults!
Also, growing up along side your parents knowing they will be your parents in thirty years all the while being programmed to kill a man they both love? That's gotta fuck you up something fierce.[/spoiler]

But this I don't think is so much a problem with the writing as it is a personal problem of mine. If they would have answered my question, I'd've been blown away that they even thought of it. It's entirely unreasonable for them to put a solution to that problem considering time constraints and really who else cares?

Bal · « **Reply #548 on:** August 27, 2011, 10:25:06 PM »

[spoiler]Here's a noodler that I've been struggling with. The time-cops recognized River by profiling the TARDIS. This seems to imply that she will be the sole owner and pilot of the TARDIS during the time she kills the Doctor, since that's when she became the kind of criminal they track. Also like that killing the Doctor alone puts you on the level of Hitler, because of his potential to save lives.[/spoiler]

Thad · « **Reply #549 on:** August 28, 2011, 07:41:54 PM »

I thought it was pretty much perfect.

Quote from: Bal on August 27, 2011, 10:25:06 PM

[spoiler]Here's a noodler that I've been struggling with. The time-cops recognized River by profiling the TARDIS. This seems to imply that she will be the sole owner and pilot of the TARDIS during the time she kills the Doctor, since that's when she became the kind of criminal they track.[/spoiler]

Which brings us back to the question of where the TARDIS is when the Doctor shows up to get shot.

Also notable: [spoiler]seeing as she just leaves the Doctor there on the floor, we have absolutely no indication of how long she's in the TARDIS before she picks up Rory and Amy. It could have been minutes, or it could have been years.[/spoiler]

Quote from: Bal on August 27, 2011, 10:25:06 PM

[spoiler]Also like that killing the Doctor alone puts you on the level of Hitler, because of his potential to save lives.[/spoiler]

Also neat that until [spoiler]they said "she"[/spoiler] I thought it would have gone the other way -- that [spoiler]the Doctor HIMSELF is history's biggest war criminal[/spoiler]. I mean, he kinda is.

ADDING: I really quite like the villains in the piece, too; there's something wonderfully base and horribly relatable about the notion that [spoiler]it's not enough simply to stop bad people from doing bad things, not even enough that they DIE, but that justice requires that they also be made to suffer[/spoiler].

Which brings up the question, what exactly does it mean to [spoiler]put somebody through Hell?

At a guess: preserving the deceased's consciousness forever, in a virtual realm of eternal suffering.[/spoiler]

Going to assume everybody can see where I'm going with this.

Mothra · « **Reply #550 on:** August 29, 2011, 09:22:48 AM »

The way this show is shot and the sheer scatterbrained, frantic pace of it all still gets to me sometimes. Wish they could do something with the music too.

THAT SAID, loved the story on this one. Pretty big fan of the Time Cops coming back, too - weren't these the guys Jack was pretending to be when he first showed up?

Sharkey · « **Reply #551 on:** August 30, 2011, 02:51:00 PM »

I couldn't help liking that the whole Hitler thing was a complete red herring and after the first few minutes he spent the rest of the episode locked in a closet. Also, the villains took the whole killing Hitler thing to its logical extreme. Almost rational horribleness makes for great bad guys, and it even put the indolent, coprolitic Time Lords into a little bit of perspective. Inaction almost seems like the least of the evils when this sort of self righteous fuckassery is the alternative.

The only thing that's really bugging me about this one is that I've long since lost track of how many times each of the central characters has died and been brought back to life over the last season or so, and not just fucking Rory. I think Amy is at the bottom of the scoreboard with one death and resurrection, but at this point I'm grateful for any episode that doesn't have one of the usual four kicking off and coming back to life.

I'm also a little disappointed that in locking River down to those three incarnations and establishing this as their first meeting it kind of precludes the possibility of using her as a recurring antagonist through multiple regenerations. Oh well. I can also see how it could have gotten tired fast, but I think there might have been potential there.

And I'm not using spoiler tags on this shit. This whole topic has become a mass of black text and really, nobody should be clicking on the thing until they're caught up. Suck it.

Bal · « **Reply #552 on:** August 30, 2011, 05:23:08 PM »

Well, she has to die in that form, because she's already going to have done so.

I only use spoiler tags for the weekend it airs. After that it's on you that you aren't caught up yet.

Thad · « **Reply #553 on:** August 30, 2011, 05:35:33 PM »

Quote from: Sharkey on August 30, 2011, 02:51:00 PM

I couldn't help liking that the whole Hitler thing was a complete red herring and after the first few minutes he spent the rest of the episode locked in a closet. Also, the villains took the whole killing Hitler thing to its logical extreme. Almost rational horribleness makes for great bad guys, and it even put the indolent, coprolitic Time Lords into a little bit of perspective. Inaction almost seems like the least of the evils when this sort of self righteous fuckassery is the alternative.

Yes to all of this.

Quote from: Sharkey on August 30, 2011, 02:51:00 PM

I'm also a little disappointed that in locking River down to those three incarnations and establishing this as their first meeting it kind of precludes the possibility of using her as a recurring antagonist through multiple regenerations. Oh well. I can also see how it could have gotten tired fast, but I think there might have been potential there.

We don't know that she went straight from Little Girl to Mels. Or indeed that she went straight from Baby to Little Girl. Or, indeed, that it took her 30 years' linear time to catch up with Amy and Rory and that there was no time travel in-between.

I think it IS probably safe to assume that this is her first attempt to kill the Doctor, meaning it's the first time she's met him since her conditioning and known who he was. So you're right that that eliminates her as a recurring antagonist.

(Assuming a standard 12-regeneration cap, and that the phrase "all her remaining regenerations" means she had to have at least 3 left, she could still have up to seven more forms. But, more reasonably, given her line about being able to adjust her aging back and forth, Alex Kingston can just play the role forever, while leaving her "death" in Forest of the Dead intact. Or for that matter the other two actresses can.)

Thad · « **Reply #554 on:** September 02, 2011, 03:42:37 PM »

Doctor Who Theme (With Lyrics!), A Capella

Thad · « **Reply #555 on:** September 03, 2011, 09:52:21 PM »

Well, that was...a better version of Fear Her, I guess.

Always a little frustrating when you know the season's ticking down and there are inconsequential, not-great eps like this one. Written by Mark Gatiss, who is also responsible for not-great eps The Unquiet Dead, The Idiot's Lantern, and Victory of the Daleks. (And also, in his defense, the pretty-great finale of Sherlock.)

Had some great direction, though; some really neat lighting and camera angles. (Love the reflection of the TARDIS in a puddle in the beginning.)

Bal · « **Reply #556 on:** September 05, 2011, 04:36:09 AM »

Do not like the doll people one bit. I will tell you that right now.

Niku · « **Reply #557 on:** September 05, 2011, 06:14:52 AM »

Quote from: Thad on September 03, 2011, 09:52:21 PM

Well, that was...a better version of Fear Her, I guess.

Was it really?

The writing in this one was almost unforgivably sloppy. I'll take the Paper House homage any day when the alternative is the Doctor spending ten minutes talking about how MONSTERS ARE REAL HOLY SHIT THIS IS SOME SERIOUS FUCKING SH oh hey the kid's just an alien okay peace.

Lottel · « **Reply #558 on:** September 05, 2011, 06:21:53 AM »

Well, he's seen this thing before with his old, old eyes. Look at how old his eyes are!

Niku · « **Reply #559 on:** September 05, 2011, 06:25:09 AM »

Yeah, that said, I forgive a lot for the current cast, because they just about always work well with whatever material they're given.

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Author Topic: New Doctor Who (Read 59240 times)