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

Also as an aside, it really makes sense to me that the dude who died every other episode would be the one most skeptical of the Doctor's motives.

I just watched the last episode from the previous series and was reminded that they still haven't solved the mystery of why the TARDIS blew up. How can they deal with that and all the unresolved stuff from this series in the episodes remaining? Has it been forgotten about?

I love that you think for even a second that the answer to that question isn't YES.

The title of Ep 13, which I have never posted for fear of Spoiler Police gives me the fear.

Isn't the TARDIS's destruction tied to The Silence, who are the coalition who stole Melody and turned her into an assassin?

Oh wait. No, shush sweetie, spoilers.

The title of Ep 13, which I have never posted for fear of Spoiler Police gives me the fear.

I got spoiled on this at w0rk a few weeks ago and had a sook about it

DJP:

this is almost exactly what the Doctor did to Sarah Jane at the end of The Hand of Fear, only this time the Doctor dumped his companions at a residence they could move into as opposed to on a street corner in entirely the wrong neighborhood of London (...) This Doctor definitely seems to be willing to stampede over the idea of free will

Most of the audience probably won't have picked up the Sarah Jane parallel but yeah, absolutely. It demonstrates that the Doctor has learnt from his mistakes (although in this episode his self-determined penance is a bit hard to swallow), while also reminding us that he really is a well-intentioned loner who just doesn't get other people.

Re the Doctor stamping out free will: it fits within the character of all the Doctors in that he regards himself as really the only person in the universe with any free will, and the few times that he reminds someone else of their own free will is really just him manipulating them for a greater end (e.g. imbuing Amy with that weird "you don't believe in me" minotaur-destroying nonsense).

If this show has any bearing on the motives of real human beings at all – especially mothers – this enforced domesticity would be the final straw with Amy, who should lose patience with all this bottled-up suppression and sort of burst forth as a hot-blooded maverick/warrior who wants her daughter (or at least some control over their relationship) and her space adventures, and will do anything to get them. That would be satisfying for the audience, and it would force the Doctor to regard humans with a new appreciation.

But Amy isn't even real, so fuck it I dunno. At least she doesn't get about pouting sexily anymore.

I got spoiled on this at w0rk a few weeks ago and had a sook about it

― robocop last year was a 'shop (sic), Monday, 19 September 2011 08:58 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Oh yeah, I saw it the other day. It's a spoiler in some ways and sort of blindingly obvious in others. Also, knowing how misleading/cryptic this show's end-of-series episode titles can be ('The Parting of the Ways', 'Journey's End', 'The Big Bang') I doubt there's much to worry about.

he really is a well-intentioned loner who just doesn't get other people.

And also, for all the time he's spent with them, he's NOT HUMAN

Yeah I think that's basically it. The doctor being a dick and seeing human relationships over-simplistically (humans who aren't with me live in houses and drive cars!) is the same thing he does with every other race or species (how often do we hear him say "on planet X everyone thinks Y and does Z"? Every week!). Too easy to ascribe that dickishness to the writer.

He's always done it but usually the characters and story are set up in such a way that it makes sense. In this episode it just doesn't imo, he just comes off looking a knob.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/sep/20/doctor-who-too-complicated

Really don't think it's too complicated. This is just CiF fodder.
Don't understand the objections of those who claim the writers are being arrogant in not catering to casual viewers. Why should they? What's wrong with asking a little of your audience?

Right, because those well-known flops, the Harry Potter movies, were so easy for the casual viewer to dip into. Double sarcasm, oh yeah.

"What's the deal with this Twin Peaks show, it doesn't make any sense!"

A: it's actually not that complicated
B: I wish more shows required brains being on to watch them

https://careers.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc02.asp?newms=jj&id=40162&newlang=

Someone here should apply (unless you hate the show and just turn up on the thread to vent your spleen about how terrible it is).

should I apply in Welsh

cer ati!

I bet I could write a better advert than that, for starters.

Surely the reason the Doctor left them behind is because he knows something very very bad is about to happen to him and doesn't want Amy and Rory anywhere near it?

Anyway the actual meat of the story was curiously uninvolving and I'm kind of missing straight-up evil aliens that want to kill people rather than poor lost scared animals in space or whatever. I strangely enjoyed the introspective bit though because I like stories that revolve around the Doctor being a selfish arse.

Next week's is the start of a two-parter right? I sort of feel the rest of the series, while good, hasn't really matched up the opening story and I'm stoked to find out what happens.

Surely the reason the Doctor left them behind is because he knows something very very bad is about to happen to him and doesn't want Amy and Rory anywhere near it?

Yes, which is why I keep bringing up how he basically chucked Sarah Jane out on the door; it was for a similar reason. It does make a certain amount of narrative sense that the Doctor would at least try to leave his companions in a place where they could live this time around, particularly after re-encountering SJ in his previous incarnation and having her tear him a new one over her abandonment.

next week is the one before the finale, so it might cue that up - esp with all the links to the silence we saw in the last ep with Corden's character in it

afaik the last two are stand-alone episodes.

I would love to see them do a full-on "Dalek Masterplan" type extended story as long as they had enough action/plot to sustain it (we do not need "Miracle Day Pt 2")

We did not need Miracle Day Pt 1!

true, although my wife is now in love with Beloved Immortal Mekhi

Oh btw, my favourite miracle day theory was the the blessing's hole was caused by adric's cyber freighter going right through the earth, and that it wanted to make everyone in the world happy and have them love it back because it was the remains of adric's soul.

!

that... is fucking brilliant and hilarious

everybody get out your yellow tunics

Oh btw, my favourite miracle day theory was the the blessing's hole was caused by adric's cyber freighter going right through the earth, and that it wanted to make everyone in the world happy and have them love it back because it was the remains of adric's soul.

Okay, that theory almost makes the series worth it.

"... What is that?"
"It looks like... a gold-edged blue star..."

I am touching my badge for Mathematical Excellence in tribue.

i hope you're not within 500 yards of a school

You don't know how big my badge is.

This thread has taken a dark turn.

YOU LIKE IT THAT WAY.

(Personal xpost, gentle Friday-related bump)

Roger roger.

Next week's is the start of a two-parter right?

Self-contained, with gentle touches of continuity.

Well, that was shit.

Some cheesy moments - Amy the model etc - but a fun romp with some nice touches of humour. Nice light interlude before the whizz bang super scary finale.

It was *full* of cheese and mawk. And mostly boring. I really hope the finale lives up to its potential, because this section of the series has been incredibly patchy.

I did watch it with a 6 - nearly 7 - year old, which makes it all the more fun. He was very excited by the trailer for next week: "DINOSAURS in Doctor Who?! A PTERODACTYL!!!!!"

I'm a season behind in my viewing, but I've checked the thread every Saturday just to enjoy the traditional Declaration of the Episode Being Shit. <3 you guys

Amy was advertising petrichor perfume... so... crimson (bow tie?), eleven (11th Doctor?) petrichor (smell of dust after rain), delight (?)

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!

I wonder if this will be the magic riddle than undoes the Doctor's death... that would be a bit crap though, more Magic: The Gathering than Doctor Who.

shit and mawkish are kind of built-in w/cybermen >:(

shit bcz THE CYBERMEN HAVE BEEN SHIT SINCE PERTWEE = fact
mawkish BCZ cms are anti-emotion = it is anti-them -- wish they would unleash eg ENVY or PRIDE or ok not lust kiddies watching but GLUTTONY! use corden the way he's built, have him eat till he busts out of the cybershell

the minor characters were all pretty good; i didn't hate this, but it wasn't very involving ftb CYBERMEN, they are still actually worse than the fkn daleks

The cybermat was proper nasty. I prefer the way Moffat has used the Cybermen to RTD's armies. The one armed cyberman in the previous series was properly scary, but I don't think he's actually much a fan of them, seeing as they're basically cannon fodder in A Good Man and are all knackered and ineffectual here. They're such a familiar and uninteresting enemy that using them sparingly like this is much more effective.
I thought Matt Smith as toy department employee was lovely. Nice K9 reference too, with the robot dog not being much fun.

nurse gladys was in old who (as a fantastically camp pirate queen). what other minor roles in nu who have been actors who've previously appeared? crib bins any more?