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

Harsh AA. That was an enjoyable episode.

* eccleston

also, before sic comes in and schools me about the history of doctor who, the specific problem i have with aliens talking to other aliens is that it's a reduced experience for the viewer watching two beings with inflexible prosthetic heads (strax and that lizard woman thing who i don't care what she is because i'm just annoyed now) share a scene when basically everything they can deliver has to happen through speech or smiles alone (and tbh this is a further example of my criticism of this year's scripts being so *verbal*), and so you're left with basically deep space nine type scenes

xp we're now two thirds through and we're both bored out of our minds

i mean there are clearly some great ideas in this episode, but it's all executed with the usual lack of light/shade in the production and scripts full of *words* and one-dimensional doctor (now 100% predictably) anger-bumbling his way to saving the universe

and of course the score telling us exactly what to feel at any given moment

see, right now the doctor's 7/8 theme is going so obv he has won

i also hate daft punk and comedy

old woman falls to her death, doctor pulls comedy face, says 'ouch'

i just

next week: base under siege again

fucking hell

we're supposed to care about who clara ~is~ but she's been in the show for like five minutes and doesn't even do anything half the time (and there's not even any doctor/companion chemistry to help that along)

if clara fell down a mine and died forever i would probably pull a comedy doctor comedy face and say 'ouch'

The lizard woman is a Silurian and therefore a native of Earth, not an alien, and directly tied to the history of the show going back to 1970.

okay, the prosthetic is where i was going

let's say 'not human', if that works

deep space nine is awesome fyi

the phantom menace would have been a better analogy except they manage to convey bugger-all emotion without prosthetic interference

The lizard woman is a Silurian and therefore a native of Earth, not an alien, and directly tied to the history of the show going back to 1970.

None of this actually makes a difference really.

lol of course it doesn't, don't you recognize sad old fan flexing when you see it?

I liked this one, for once. Nice to not have the doctor in it for the first bit.

and scripts full of *words*

lol

This was good for a laugh, I thought. I'm not usually keen on the 'funny' eps - and I'm not one who thinks the Victorian detective team deserve their own spin-off series - but this was breezy enough and had one or two great lines, and Diana Rigg was wonderful (good to see Rachel Stirling too). I liked the brutal ways the villains were killed off, as well as the fact that they were straightforwardly villainous - and not 'misunderstood' or lovelorn or whatever else. And for all of its knockabout frivolity - or, perhaps, because of it - it felt strangely like a Tom Baker era episode.

my fave episode this season (though i liked the tardis one and the ghost one), even though you knew it was coming the leech reveal was fantastic, laffed hard at 'she's a lizard', rigg was wonderful. less doctor would've been nice (would've been nice to see victorian interspecies lesbian detectives kicking ass instead of just popping up 'looking for this' and holding up giant bottle of v8) but still happy it wasn't a nearly doctorless episode like 'blink' or something.

the music emotion cues remain an abomination though and the way they've halfassed establishing clara and her relationship w/ the doctor (even though it's ostensibly the arc for this season or whatever) really prevents an episode like this from being what it could be.

Would replace Clara with Jenny Flint in a heartbeat. Won't happen but it would be nice to have a companion who wasn't from Earth in the present day.

Would replace Clara with Jenny Flint in a heartbeat. Won't happen but it would be nice to have a companion who wasn't from Earth in the present day.

I even would replace Clara with Ada, who was way more interesting and had more rapport with Doctor in one episode than Clara has had in all of her episodes up until now.

I'm pretty forgiving of Dr Who but that was ome of the stupidest TV I've seen in a long time. If the Lesbo lizard and killer potato show was Moffat's idea for a spinoff then the BBC still has some sense.

the Lesbo lizard and killer potato show

amazing

"Lesbo"?

I miss Rory personally.

If the Lesbo lizard and killer potato show was Moffat's idea for a spinoff then the BBC still has some sense.

Moffatt only brought them back at all due to audience reaction and has no interest in (or time to make!) a spin-off

rumor blog was saying that moffatt was mad b/c he wanted a spinoff (after all, RTD got to do it!) and network wouldn't give him one.

that is idiotic. dude is already flat-out running Who in the face of enormous scrutiny and perilous budget cuts, PLUS managing the production and writing of three feature-film-length Sherlocks a year-ish around the Who schedule and the availability of its two big movie stars, when he actually co-owns nu-Sherlock. even if he had the time, what benefit would he get from "creating" a show based on properties owned by other ppl? (Sontarans created by Holmes, estate was controlling them in the 90s; Silurians by Hulke, died '79 so who knows)

p sure ed was being facetious but k

Ed was whistleblowerblog? tight doxxing bro

Whistleblower blog must've been reading Private Eye, because that's where I saw the bit about SM's 'Ugandan discussions'.

still amazed that everyone just accepts the comedy sontaran

i'll admit that i don't care enough about silurians to comment on thing face but warrior potatoes are pretty strictly warrior potatoes (i can't imagine blzztk the lovable dalek having chummy adventures with idk a sensorite called simon)

'blzztk did you bring the key to lady phyllis pompington-smythe's country mansion'

'NO I LEFT IT ON THE SIDEBOARD SORRY'

i guess the comedy Sontaran kind of falls under "doctor who is after all a show for children" for me

like, some things happen in the show and are hugely irritating but one thinks, well, this is a marker by the showrunners to remind us that technically this show is for children.

(this is also how i resigned myself to the hackiness of the last scene: it is so some kids can take part in an adventure, this is after all a show for kids, i can accept this)

i mean, it's not just a marker to remind adults that the show is for children, it's also something they put in because they genuinely thought children would find it funny/scary/exciting/sympathetic/etc -- but to me it has the function of reminding me that the target audience is not only me and my concerns.

fair point

i suppose sontarans need to be interesting somehow, at all, ever

c# otm plus

i'll admit that i don't care enough about silurians to comment on thing face but warrior potatoes are pretty strictly warrior potatoes

a) the Sontarans were created by the second-funniest writer in old Who, and first appeared in a story chock-full of gags
b) kind of the main point of the character, since his first scene in AGMGTW, is that he is not a very good Sontaran

(i can't imagine blzztk the lovable dalek having chummy adventures with idk a sensorite called simon)

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110610023139/tardis/images/c/c3/DWGN5.jpg

I think the comedy Sontaran is quite funny.

"Horse! You have failed in your mission!"

I like the Sontaran too. The fact all of his plans involve weapon overkill and suicudal tactics reflect very much Bob Holmes' writing in that there were always more clones available so just throwing bodies at a conflict during their interminable war with the Rutans was probably enough to win the battle.

ah fair enough

I really liked the kids blackmailing Clara into a TARDIS trip. As far as I know there haven't been actual kids on the TARDIS aside from the Cushing movies so I'm interested to see how that plays out.

Total aside but in reading the AV Club comments bitching about this episode I encountered a devoted fan of The Idiot's Lantern, which kind of blew my mind and made me doubt everything I thought I knew about life, so maybe I didn't actually enjoy this and I'm actually a 28 year old white woman.

As far as I know there haven't been actual kids on the TARDIS aside from the Cushing movies

Adric, John & Gillian, Gareth Jenkins

ugh I guess I got used to doctor who being a more adult-skewed family show because all the more typical kids show stuff this season makes me cringe constantly. I don't outright hate it but it sure does make me miss the Donna days a lot.

also, Clara is so far pretty freakin boring for someone who's supposed to be such an unkillable mystery

Yeah I quite liked her at first but she's grating on me a bit now.

How young were Adric and Nyssa supposed to be? They always read to me as older than teenagers.