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

tell me i couldn't write for this show

that john hurt is the doctor

so you're outraged in advance JUST IN CASE he's not going to follow through with a story about Hurt earning or redeeming or flashing back to losing the name?

no straw man, i merely don't trust moffat

I liked the finale mainly because I thought it had a lot of cool ideas -- something Moffat is good at, but also had satisfying resolution, something Moffat is usually pretty bad at.

The pre-credits part was incredible, and while there were a few things that didn't make much sense I liked the overall additions and callbacks to the Whoniverse canon... esp. referring to The Valeyard, what happens to a TARDIS as it dies, and the new (time war-era?) Doctor. I thought it was a great episode.

Lady Vastra's dream parlor with it's own upgradable 'desktop' was really cool too. I like how Nu-Who has embraced metaphysical concepts and given them its own unique sci-fi spin to them, such as "souls" and psychic abilities, etc.

But I also don't trust Moffat to deliver the goods, he's not batting zero but rarely does he knock the ball out of the parl, IMO. Not that any plausible future showrunners are much better. Gatiss episodes have been some of my least favorite and Chibnall seems little more than competent. At least Moffat has some moxie and vision even if his follow-through is somewhat lacking.

Maybe if Gaiman was willing to take over, that would be really awesome. Then we might see some *really* dark episodes...

Gaiman is not willing, and also has no experience as a TV showrunner.

Chibnall seems little more than competent

maybe on the strength of Broadchurch (haven't seen it), but on Who and Torchwood he's far below competent.

Also, I am really just hoping that if McGann is in the big 50th year special he gets a throwaway line where he explains that being half human was nothing more than a CLEVER LIE!!!

damn sic you're awesome. You should do a Dr. Who related podcast. I'd listen....

;_; not sure if being zung

bahahaha

i wonder are there really a significant number of nu-who fans that would be turned off by indulging the history? maybe i'm in a tiny minority but having watched very very very little pre-eleven doctor who i've never minded when it touched on a history i don't understand or am unfamiliar, quite the opposite in fact - i have the internet, i was aware that doctor who had this history, and while i'm sure that real doctor who fans got more out of the near cameos and appearances and more here it was still thrilling to me. i would imagine that signing on as a nu-whovian means acknowledging you might spend episodes out of yr depth, it would seem to be part of the appeal (it certainly was for me).

So Jenny dies twice in this episode -- Rory never quite managed that little feat, did he?

haha have to admit i actually bought her first death and was kinda pissed off

Like this episode a lot, but isn’t Clara’s secret basically Bad Wolf redux?

A lot of Moffat's run has involved fixing, or doing properly, RTD's tropes and excesses

Also can someone explain to me how River was there?

hologram, essentially

like a red dwarf type 'i am dead but i live on' type thing, except in/on/from that library planet

Ah, right, so she's somehow escaped the library computer, but won't reveal how she's done it yet (i.e the "spoiler" bit)?

A 'connection' to Clara from the seance apparently. Or something.

something something

wibbly wobbly floggy dead horsey

she's still in the library computer, as best we know. she's just skyping in.

That AV Club review was kind of dumb

Easily the best episode of this half of the season, even accounting for the "this is the Doctor's entire timeline but we're only showing things from the Doctor's past" hand wave

Moffat <3s AA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=20pd6JqdyVI

"this is the Doctor's entire timeline but we're only showing things from the Doctor's past" hand wave

This is excusable, as if Clara hadn't intervened and the Great Intellegence's plan had succeeded the Doctor would have died (probably?) and his timeline would've ended there.

Moffat <3s AA

he corrected me once (and i wasn't wrong)

Seeing some suggestions now that John Hurt might actually be a pre-Hartnoll Doctor. Would that make sense?

Hmm, that would be interesting.

verrrrry interesting

It would not perhaps work that well with the current Doctor's rage that being the Doctor is a PROMISE that Hurt BROKE - unless there were others before him?

Feels less likely to me, they've been dropping unresolved Time War references for 7 seasons, while they've made virtually no reference to his original life on Gallifrey beyond that one scene with him and the master as kids, so if they're going to go back to one of those as a big "IMPORTANT EPISODE FULL OF ANSWERS" it has to be the former, no?

"We call him The Other."

Wait maybe the 50th Special is going to be Lungbarrow.

missing regeneration was the smoke monster.

Wait maybe the 50th Special is going to be Lungbarrow.

YOU TAKE THAT BACK

"And now, settle in for a 12-hour-long special episode of Doctor Who"

^^^ LOL, even that wouldn't make the fanboys happy.

When John Hurt was first cast - before anyone had a hint he'd be playing some kind of riff on BAD DOCTOR - I thought they'd got him in to play John Dee, the alchemist. Good idea, but no dice. I think he will prove to be some kind of impostor. Too much numbered merchandising in DW for it to be any other way, really.

No need for an imposter - they've already written it so's not to disturb the numbering.

The whole question of "what if The Doctor regenerated into a completely different person" is semi-fascinating; what happens when his core personality changes so much that he isn't really The Doctor anymore? And, given that we're talking about a personality spectrum that includes several wildly dissimilar personalities (the juxtaposition between 2 and 6 in The Two Doctors being a great example of this), what type of person was this incarnation that he can't be considered "The Doctor"?

I am super excited for this like I haven't been in years.

hey maybe there's like 50 errant 'doctors' who aren't allowed to be called 'doctor' because the high council only hands down regenerations if oh wait they're all dead

hey maybe the seal of rassilon turns up at bad wolf bay and looks like this

http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000PribmXu7Q.Y/s/880/880/Hookers-Sea-Lion-on-the-beach.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_933OtERckvA/R_AGlvPI9VI/AAAAAAAAAOE/6wWUAQLsNZ4/S220/bh06.jpg

gah

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_933OtERckvA/R_AGlvPI9VI/AAAAAAAAAOE/6wWUAQLsNZ4/S220/bh06.jpg

If I haven't watched any other Colin Baker stories, can I still jump into Trial of a Timelord?

yes

but don't, it's terrible

lol so conflicted!

(I mean, go in with the least high of expectations)

it's great

If you just want to see where the word Valeyard comes from, then be it on your own head, but do allow yourself permission to bail out - it does not actually pay off in the end, as the original writer died halfway through, and then the followup writer quit, and the replacement writers a) literally had to make up a new ending from the penultimate script with neither of the previous writers' notes, and b) are the worst writers in the entire history of Who

If you just want to sample a Colin, Vengeance On Varos is the least awful TV story. But alternatively he is the best audio Doctor, and has been in some of the best Who stories ever, in that form.

Also "his" run in the comic was pretty great, including two Grant Morrison stories and lots of John Ridgway art and the best companion ever