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

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.

there was a post on tumblr today that said something like "i just realised that before on doctor who we saw the doctor through the eyes of the companion and now we're seeing the companion through the eyes of the doctor" and i feel like that's... not too far off? but in effect all that happens is that the character of Clara is super slight and you have no sense that she has an internal life. even the ~mystery~ about her is completely external.
(also, i feel like one doesn't watch doctor who through the eyes of the doctor because that would kind of ruin the show)

yes! and therefore we're watching the doctor through the eyes of an everyperson who isn't present, which is probably another reason he's really grating on me atm

he works because there's always an alice around to react to him, but this year there's clara

Adric was 14 or 15 - Nyssa in her late teens iirc, but mature in behaviour due to her courtly upbringing

(John & Gillian I think are both under 10, and Gareth Jenkins was 8, before being erased from history before our eyes, by a crack in the BBC)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/A_Fix_with_Sontarans.jpg

Clara's best outing to date has been the Ice Warrior story; that's the one that made her most feel like a distinct person from the other nu-Who companions

I like that, so far, the show has been diegetically telling the Doctor that he is wrong about Clara being mysterious and amazing -- as if it's scolding him / Moffatt for going so quickly, so repetitively, to the same well without actually earning it.

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

"Note: Clara died on her way back to her home planet"

Dan: There is a sizable number of fans who love The Idiot's Lantern but they all seem to be wacko Ten/Rose shippers.

I like comedy Sontaran, he's probably the thing I enjoyed most out of that episode. Also I am 5 years old.

I dunno, I just feel like of all the seasons so far this one is the most rudderless in terms of story. I mean, there's a handwavey nod to the 'conundrum of Clara' every now and then but it's like, every week new adventure without much of a thread running through anything at all really.

And I'm getting really bothered by how flirty the Doctor and Clara are now. Like it was a bit that way with Pond, but now it's just AGGGH would you STOP

it's like, every week new adventure without much of a thread running through anything at all really.

I don't have a problem with this. I wish the adventures were better though.

ordinarily it wouldn't bother me, I think I just am liking Clara and the doctor less and less as a pair so I'm almost to the point of not caring where they'll go next