Sea Devils And Die: GeroniMoffat's Doctor Who In The 2010s

Some good lines but a bit too much "why are they doing this dumb thing? oh look, a magic button"

(reception crapped out partway through so I may have missed an explanation of some of the dumb things)

Just occurred to me that the fish aliens had an almost identical motivation and back story to the big red spider lady in that xmas special.

more lols in this episode than any others so far - not bad for a alien refugee filler ep tho not as good as the Doc's last visit to Italy.

really intrigued by next week's.

Well that was a bit shat. Don't really like snarky self-regarding doctor striding around moodily - eccentric and irritable and fallible teacher is more my sort of speed. And the lolz seemed rather brittle. I'm assuming the aliens co-opted local watchmakers to construct the generator rather than do it with their fish fingers.

Heavily CGI landscapes always make me feel slightly indifferent as well, but I'm feeling under the weather so all the criticism might just be lack of pep. Perfectly fun I guess. I just didn't like Matt Smith much in this.

Next one looks amazing.

Doctor had some good lines in this one, and I enjoyed Isabella's father wearing the stag party shirt with his breeches. LOL. Amelia's fiance wotsisname reminds me of Topher in Dollhouse though useless to the power of 10. A bit Ricky the Tin Dog. Hope they give him some more personality or something, he's a bit of a handbag right now.
Episode as a whole felt a bit skipped over...vampires were good and scary for a bit, fish alien was good and creepy looking, but it didn't seem to go anywhere. Really hated the toggle switch on the clockwork. Naff. But the nightmarey parts were good and scary, in true Moff form. That green light was supercreepy looking.

Very excited for next week.

Rory is from the Nicholas Lyndhurst factory, right?

Seems that way doesn't it? Dynamic between Amy and Dr seems a bit screwed with him - turned into two pints packet of crisps lols. Sure it will right itself tho.

Keep wanting to call him Rhys, with the Torchwood-Gwen welsh pronounciation (rolled r's)

think Rory is great but he and Amy don't gel as a couple really (maybe that's the point)

Lyndhurst! Totally.

Not sure how R got his shirt back but all continuity errors are now cracky-wack in timey-wimey mysteries. Looking forward to possibly finding out what it's all about next week, judging by trailer, though who knows.

A wise person once said on these threads that the main plot point of any Who episode has always been finding some reason for doctor and companion to separate themselves within first 15 minutes, but reasons are no longer needed as the Doctor now strides off every 30 seconds for no apparent reason and this week's idea of a cunning plan was "you go and do exactly what that other girl did to get her mind stolen and then, errr, oh, let's not fuss over the details"

this was a romp. it also brought the lols. liked the no reflection explanation.

The plot was a mess but it didn't matter because it was very funny.

Think this was a filler episode despite occasional good parts. This may have been mentioned before, but Rory has a very 'The Fall' member from the 80's-90's vibe to him, though I can't decide on bassist or guitarist. I am super hyped for next Saturday though.

Whilst I can accept whatever hungarian castle they film robin hood in and some bad CGI matte standing in for Venice, the idea of an underground tunnel defies my suspension of disbelief.

that is a strange line to draw considering the episode was about fish from space who pretended to be vampires

underground tunnel in venice - has Indiana Jones been told?

Thought this was a good romp: no classic, but some fun dialogue and Rory is extremely likable.

Mostly, though, I felt like this was the first ep where Smith really sold himself as Matt Smith, rather than Matt Smith reading David Tennant.

the above point is exactly what i liked about the ep. i really really enjoy when MS gets growly and enunciates slowly – it's actually pretty menacing, and a great counterpoint to the falsely blasé chirpiness of DT that MS sometimes channels

"I've had enough running through corridors" or words to that effect - brilliant. Dialogue is noticeably improved this season.

Guy who wrote this ep also wrote Being Human, which is full of excellent dialogue.

I especially liked the bit with the Doctor ruining Rory's stag night.

I loved the pre-credit gag of not going 'noes vampires SCREAM' mix into theme tune. But crossing instead to the stag and an eventual awkward pause being the teaser end in its place

That was an excellent awkward pause. Also, the first time this series I felt like the doctor was in actual physical danger (from being glassed).

Also, the first time this series I felt like the doctor was in actual physical danger (from being glassed).

So did I. I wonder what happened when he jumped out of the cake at the wrong party.

the bit at the beginning where he mouthed the word "diabetic" when he was describing the stripper was note perfect and gave me genuine lolz.

Tennant couldn't have got that right in 100 takes.....

Yeah I enjoyed this one, thought it had a bit more going for it than standard Nu-Who romp. Next week's looks really interesting though.

"Did you kiss her back?" "No I kissed her mouth" made me lol.

Really liked amy's duckface moment too, good lol but also seemed like a nice little character touch.

I liked the "oh I see what you did there" scene between Doctor and the vampy girls in the mirror, and the scenes between him and the fish queen were nice and intense without being too "come with us sexy doctor' kissyface corny.

"Did you kiss her back?" "No I kissed her mouth" made me lol.

ah, I thought he said "no, I closed my mouth," but the scene didn't read properly that way - thanks!

Really liked amy's duckface moment too, good lol but also seemed like a nice little character touch.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gJ3Aj467WpQ/S-YzZa0pJ7I/AAAAAAAAAY4/0S-IyBFsIQM/s400/amy-fish_face.jpg

lol good grab

Agreed with everyone above saying it was a passable filler episode, but a lot of good Smith moments for the character. Liked the meta bits ("I like the bit when someone says, 'it's bigger on the inside'", "not vampires - FISH FROM SPACE!"). And next week looks awesome!

Yeah, Matt Smith really uses his hands well.

I'm a bit surprised at the sudden love for Rory. Is he that much different from Mickey?

He's Mickey but much more boring and buffoonish. And he's a paternalistic killjoy, too. Can't wait for him to leave.

He's Mickey but without the risible panto acting and lack of personality of S1 Mickey

Don't get me wrong, I didn't like Mickey either. But Rory is worse for dragging down a so far great season (S1 had more than Mickey to drag it down).

I liked Mickey (eventually) though if I'm being honest I'm not sure how much more traction we can get out of the returning "pathetic ineffectual sexless boyfriend" theme - not sure if we needed a retread. Rory seems to be even blander (less whiny?) than Mickey started out. Neither of them are anywhere as good as Rhys.

Rory seems to be channelling Arthur Dent rather than Mickey, I thought. (More Martin Freeman than the original.)

Also, surprised no one's mentioned his rat-tail hair in the next ep. (Presumably hilarious explanation.)

There are a lot of Hitchhiker references in this series.

I quite like there being a group of them in the Tardis so happy to have Rory on board for a bit.

Had a lovely bit of foreshadowing when I walked past Toby Jones, wearing tweedy suit, in Lamb's Conduit Street this afternoon. HE TINY.

Rewatched this week's, noticed two things. 1) set in 1580 and Rory says "I'm getting married in 430 years"...so doesn't look like he and Amy are from the 90s after all. 2) It's a SCHOOL of FISH!

yeah, I noticed that Rory/430 years thing as well. But still, wibbly wobbly timey wimey blah.

I think when the Doctor's gadget told him the time the crack dated from it came up as 2010, but it was only onscreen for a splitsecond and I was kind of confused at that point so I may be mistaken.

according to tardis wiki the date is june 26th 2010 (season finale date)

Some good ideas not particularly well executed. It definitely fooled me into thinking Toby Jones was The Master, as I assume was the intention. It reminded me of the despair squid episode of Red Dwarf.

Wha? I absolutely loved that! Best episode since Midnight.

Jesus, I just checked who wrote it and now I feel really dirty for liking it.

I dunno, it just fell a bit flat to me. I thought the pensioner monsters were slightly pathetic.

Nah, making kids scared of granny is much better than making them scared of statues.

"And it was all a dream" used to get you marked down at school.