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

New doctor, new decade...we can finally have a new thread (ropey title subject to regeneration).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnPUF8an-XE

I'm looking forward to it big time.

Matt Smith looks like The Doctor... of Anthropology. Its going to be a great series though, can't wait!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_XZS_Rs-9Wt4/Sz8wnFsUCMI/AAAAAAAABBE/UWyoxIDoM3Q/s400/dr+who+matt+karen.jpg

Karen Gillan tbh

is that standard uniform?

Not more converse ;_;

What shoes would you have the Doctor wear, ledge?

He's still wearing Tennant's outfit there.

from the waist down, anyway...

xxp Just different ones! New dr, new shoes. Plus converse + smart troos is so noughties.

i figure during the first episode he will explain the TARDIS having the ability to regenerate itself...for HIGH DEF

think his normal footwear will be black boots xpost

good choice

Richard Curtis has written an episode featuring Vincent Van Gogh "stabbing a yellow monster".

> 6 billion masters trying to triangulate the signal

the listen for the space station thing was terrible, right up there with Prof Farnworth's Smelloscope

Haha, posts from one thread are starting to seep thru to the other.

"the fabric of reality is melting, again, Doctor!"

Am I the only who finds Matt Smith kind of unattractive?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Amy_Pond_cropped.jpg

he's got kinda an ugly-hot thing going on, but better that than a teenybopper heartthrob IMO

While those swashbuckling vampire-like thingies in the trailer look pretty cool, haven't we reached vamp saturation point? Which made me think, perhaps they're not vampires at all, but haemovores, like in Curse of Fenric? The return of Fenric? That could be interesting...

Matt Smith is Easter Island on legs.

He's no McDreamy McGann, but he has a certain awkward Chess Club hotness about him.

That pic of them running makes it look like they're late for the Riverdance.

Spotted somewhere else, posted here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iUT3191g9k

Matt Smith is Easter Island on legs.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/3/3257014_f0e4c3f799.jpg

+

http://www.ticket2ride.it/imgs/lozfile.jpg

=

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/images/bank/programmes_tv/drama/doctorwho/11th_doctor/446doctor1.jpg

why are time lords' hairs so oddly gelled in recent years?

did shockwaves have an intergalactic outpost on gallifrey before the fall?

They're supposed to be Silurians I believe, although they look more like Sea Devils and they even have the Sea Devils' heat ray. And yes, they are vampires (in Venice, I think).

I do like in the clip the shocked look on his face when he punches the guy. I'm just hoping the leaked audio clip from a few months ago isn't typcal of his performance.

Silurians and Sea Monsters are cousins anyway so np.

Sea Devils even, jaysus.

The one thing Moffatt has consistently done better than any Dr Who writer is tapping into things that genuinely do scare children shitless. So anything involving vampires is good with me, especially in Venice (which means vampires wearing CARNIVAL MASKS dudes).

Pretty sure this season will be better than any nu-Who series with the possible exception of the first one. More historical shit and alien planets, fewer identikit industrial spaceships please. Also, needs more MYSTERY. It'd be great if the reason the finale was a Must Watch was because something massive was going to be revealed, rather than yer usual bombastic Davies ending.

Presumably Moffatt got Davies to drop in the Weeping Angels as imprisoned Timelords bit as something he's planning on developing in some way. Wonder if he's had something like that in mind since the start - it would make sense given that they can move people around in time and feed off the energy.

Given Moffatt, IIRC, was the first dude to write Tennant's Doctor as hormonal girl-snogging drunken tit in The Girl In The Fireplace, I'd say anyone looking for Matt Smith to be an old-skool sexless Doctor will be disappointed. Also, well, River Song. Moffatt is really good at doing emo anyway.

Matt Smith is going to do a lot of gurning, isn't he? I just hope there isn't a big public backlash due to him not being Tennant that scuppers this series.

Given Moffatt, IIRC, was the first dude to write Tennant's Doctor as hormonal girl-snogging drunken tit in The Girl In The Fireplace, I'd say anyone looking for Matt Smith to be an old-skool sexless Doctor will be disappointed. Also, well, River Song. Moffatt is really good at doing emo anyway.

Moffatt set this development up way earlier with Ecclescake and "The Doctor Dances". But yes I agree he will probably be better than RTD at emo/romance bits - one of my favourite "aw" parts was in Silence in the Library, at the end when Donna just misses out on meeting her virtual husband. He's good at writing these really simple but effective scenes. none of RTD's soppy soliloquys.

Every time I watch that season trailer I get more excitable. This is gonna rock bells fuiud.

Yeah Ecclestone's Doctor was more sheepish and embarassed geek than Tennant's full on drunken adolescent though - "Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete" etc.

oh of course, i just meant that Moffatt arguably started the whole "the Doctor isn't an asexual weirdo after all" on nu-Who.

Yeah, the difference is that Moffatt can do emotions and characters and stuff like that and Rusty...well, y'know...a fucking lottery ticket???????

which means vampires wearing CARNIVAL MASKS dudes

too similar to TGITF surely

just really interested to see how Moffat deals with the show outside his previous confines (writing the scary episode, not dealing with classic enemies) and how he'll do opening episodes and finales differently from RTD

THIS IS PRETTY SHIT NEWS, TBH:

The soundtrack website Music From The Movies has a new interview with Doctor Who composer Murray Gold, in which Gold confirms that he will be staying on to compose the music for the 2010 series of Doctor Who.

In the interview, Gold discusses composing and recording the scores for "The End of Time" and the other 2009 specials. He also mentions that he has already begun work on a new version of the Doctor Who theme for 2010, and that the forthcoming series will feature scripts by Mark Gatiss and Gareth Roberts.

Ew, yes.

Oh ffs I was sure that the terrible score for the last ep was a swan song.

Yeah, I was really hoping he'd go.

:( was also so so hopeful he wld be gone

tho just knock the score down to a quarter of the volume and it'll be okay tbh

I was vainly hoping for a score of eerie ambient electronic noises.

tho just knock the score down to a quarter of the volume and it'll be okay tbh

Yeah, it's the intrusiveness which bugs me, which is surely a failing of some sound editor, rather than Gold himself. THough I, too, would love a return to Radiophonic Workshop ambient weirdo stuff.

I suppose my problem is more with the mixing than the score itself, but my feelings towards Mr Gold were not greatly improved by that Doctor Who Prom they did (christ knows why I was watching this - that time of day where sitting mindlessly in front of someone else's telly choices is about all I can manage I suppose) mentioning Murray Gold's Amazing Wonderful Doctor Who Theme Tune approx 6000 times, Ron Grainer maybe once, Delia Derbyshire 0 times

i reckon if they're going to rip off windowlicker so badly, they might as well hand over the score-writing duties to mr richard d james - not like he's doing anything much else at the moment except hanging round the synth shed smoking weed

that would be a welcome return to weird radiophonic noises

I really don't know why Moffat would get rid of everything else from the RTD era, but decide that Murray Gold is a keeper.

think his normal footwear will be black boots

The boots are Prada.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5952/eleventhdoctorpromojanu.jpg

All a bit wibbly-wobbly torchy-worchy.

Looks like an old-school Doctor there, right enough

A dalek turned up in "better off ted" this week.

annoying gingers complaining about doctor who complaining about not-being-ginger giving the rest of us gingers a bad name:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6977818.ece

Awesome choice of picture there.

annoying gingers complaining about doctor who complaining about not-being-ginger giving the rest of us gingers a bad name:

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article6977818.ece

― Karen Tregaskin, Thursday, January 7, 2010 10:37 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

karen, i was on the fence about your whole steez, but this is the second lame anti-ginger comment in two days, so: get fucked, you highly annoying challops merchant/fake woman.

Hearsay and rumours that this series will contain Winston Churchill (could be awful) and Vincent Van Gogh (could be amazing).

http://www.denofgeek.com/television/393564/doctor_who_new_series_writers_lineup.html

That's a decent line-up of writers, especially given that both the Unicorn & The Wasp and School Reunion are underrated episodes.

Set pic from the Vincent Van Gogh episode - http://imgur.com/MpnPR.jpg

There's other ones with what's supposedly the new 'bad wolf' running theme shown, too.

Simon Nye?? o_O

Chibnall ;_;

dear mr. mayne: i AM ginger

this might be why i notice these kinds of things?

am i missing something here or isn't 'karen' pretty obviously masonic boom?

portmeirion :o

“I’ve still got legs. Arms, hands, lots of fingers, eyes, hair,” said Smith, 27, after completing his regeneration from David Tennant. Checking his new look, the eleventh actor to play the Doctor continued: “I’m not a doll. I’m still not ginger.”

what the fucking fuck he said "I'm not a GIRL" not "I'm not a doll" surely

whole show is ruined otherwise

the comment on that geek site linked to is rather wrong though - claims that the only historical personages the dr meets are writers?

since when was queen victoria a writer?

chibnall is doing the two-parter? argh

whilst Chris Chibnall (42) will pen a two-parter.

MEH. six Moffat eps tho, cup runneth over. question is who will be the new him and upstage the head writer?

blueski is correct.

Ward the obvious thing you're missing is that Masonic Boom isn't ginger!

Six episodes is pretty hefty! Rusty usually did, what, four?

he did 6 for s4. i guess it means Moffat will write the last 4 or 5, building up to big revelatory arc in similar way.

No Paul Cornell :(

Ward the obvious thing you're missing is that Masonic Boom isn't ginger!

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 7 January 2010 12:30 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

should i grow a beard?

Get this shit off our nice Doctor Who thread, thx.

word

As a ginger w/no sense of humour I might normally mind that there comment but chose to hear it as slightly funny dig at everyone (apparently every Who watcher ever except on ILX) who takes violent exception to Donna for being, ooh, a bit ginger and over 25, both pretty shocking for a woman who gets allowed to be on the telly

seriously everyone I talk to abt Doctor Who except on here moans endlessly about her being the worst companion ever, which is just a bit silly if you look at the competition, even the nu-Who competition

(xposts) Hm, I was scanning for Cornell too. It says "returnees include" so I don't know if it's completely ruled out or not.

Don't know whether to be excited or worried about new Weeping Angels, since I loved Blink but thought it was very neat as a one-off.

question is who will be the new him and upstage the head writer?

I'm guessing that would be Paul Cornell, but is he actually writing any?

I thought 42 was an okay, certainly non-terrible episode.

Just checked, Rusty wrote five episodes for each of his series.

don't know if this was addressed on the last thread or not as i walked in just as it was ending but donna is probably my favourite of the companions so far in nu-who not least for being a bit smarter, older, less in thrall to the doctor than rose or martha

didn't expect that at all as i don't rate catherine tate as an actor or a comedian

I second that post.

Conrad: The "Portmeirion" sign should be ignored. It's just a point of sale banner for Portmeirion pottery in the window of the shop at Cardiff Millennium Centre (for that's where that particular scene was filmed). The rest of said episode was filmed in Croatia.

But on topic, fuck a Crayons Chibnall two parter :(

:o

the planet Croatia i hope

The other thing to remember is that Rusty rewrote or got people to revise scripts to fit his view of how the series should be and presumably Moffatt will do the same. So a Chibnall script for Moffatt could end up quite different to a Chibnall script for Davies.

Looking forward to the Gatiss one, given that Rusty apparently trashed his original script for The Unquiet Dead and made him take out a lot of the darker bits.

there's still strong anti-donna sentiment out there? i knew there was circa "Runaway Bride" but i thought people had gotten over it during S4. anyway i loved her and apparently i've self-selected places on the internet to go where everyone else loves her too.

does this also mean that moffat written script w/o rusty looking over his shoulder could be different from the moffat we've grown to expect?

Rusty said he didn't change Moffatt's scripts at all, so maybe not.

half-serious point but presumably now there will be fewer gay references? the occasional background character notwithstanding. i just can't imagine anyone consciously inserting gayness into proceedings with half as much vigour as Rusty.

"inserting", "vigour"

ITS LIKE I'M HIM

If only Frankie Howerd had ever been offered the Doctor Who gig.

Worth bearing in mind Moffatt wrote the series' first gay ref in The Empty Child and also pretty much outed the Master in that mini Davison ep. So you never know… Plus Moffatt loves to troll the stuffier fans so I wouldn't put it past him to try and outdo Rusty for the lulz.

i think Moffat just writes better and more subtle innuendos generally tbh

Chibnall ;_;

I know :(

At least it isn't Helen Raynor. That's the only way it could be worse.

Example of said trolling - the series 5 trailer. He punches someone! He kisses a girl! He fires a gun! SM must have known how those three things would piss off a certain type.

yes, it was all to empthasise how this Doctor was different (apart from the kissing girls thing).

I had to look up the name of the dude who wrote "Fear Her", he'd be worse.

i think Moffat just writes better and more subtle innuendos generally tbh

― mdskltr (blueski), Thursday, January 7, 2010 1:18 PM (1 minute ago)

Fair point.

From the clip it looks like a girl kisses him and he's all like omg a gurl. xps

I had to look up the name of the dude who wrote "Fear Her", he'd be worse.

― Shart Habit to Break (Noodle Vague), Thursday, January 7, 2010 1:21 PM (11 seconds ago)

Matthew Graham, creator and writer of Life On Mars. Lousy episode, not helped by how he totally misjudged the tone of the show (and like Moffatt, Chibnall and Greenhorn had a "no rewrites by RTD" clause in his contract). Also, poor casting and Euros Lyn's "LETS DUTCH TILT EVERY SHOT" style made a 50p episode look even cheaper :(

It was like Brookside as filmed by the putz who did Battlefield Earth :(

i did like the big scribbly ball in Fear Her, but so much potential missed in that ep

The TARDIS gag at the beginning was cute too.

Still want them to bring Ben Aaronovitch back into the fold. Will never happen, though ;(

Bit of a pity the Gaiman rumours didn't come to pass.

I'd love someone to get Alan Moore to write one, but I imagine that'd be nigh-on impossible.

I reckon the Gaiman script will turn up for S6. They always overcommission and Gaimans got form for being late with TV scripts, or so I've heard.

Didn't AM nearly write for McCoy? Something like that anyway.

My guess is that the gun Matt Smith fires is a starter pistol rather than an actual gun.

I just watched Blink again and the Doctor says the Weeping Angels were "quite nice where they came from".

yeah starter pistol is pretty obvious but it still had loads of idjuts protesting

He's not pulling a "I am shooting a starting pistol" face there.

my God, Ben Aaronovitch would be fucking fantastic

big cheers for seeing Gatiss and Roberts, two of the more underrated authors from the Virgin book era

I think he's doing the live action Blake's 7 for Sky at the moment, though.

O_O

okay gotta see that, that's like a completely perfect pairing of sensibilities right there

Look - it's a ginger Matt Smith:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/07/ginger-fringe-doctor-who

wow, ginger Matt Smith looks like an anemic serial killer

too la roux

but if the Master could die his hair i don't see why the Doctor can't

The Doctor will never dye.

big cheers for seeing Gatiss and Roberts, two of the more underrated authors from the Virgin book era

The Idiot's Lantern was pretty terrible, though.

MILD SPOILER: isn't Gatiss writing the Churchill/Daleks one?

i do still want Moffat to write a Dalek story at some point. would be happy for Julian Bleach as Davros to return because he was so good last time but trying to make an interesting compelling story with them probably the biggest challenge. with The Master presumably ruled out for a while, i'd be surprised if the finale wasn't based around Davros. but would be brave and probably better to base the final NOT around classic enemies for the first time. don't really care about the Cybermen now.

xp: Oh yeah, that one. I try to pretend that episode doesn't exist (in fact, I still haven't seen several S2 episodes because "The Idiot Lantern" has made me so gunshy).

The good S2 eps are very good (the ending story is fantastic, plus "The Girl in the Fireplace" and Moffat's Doctorless episode) but it also easily has the worst nu-Who episodes in it; IMO nothing in seasons 1, 3 or 4 comes anywhere near the awfulness of "The Idiot Lantern".

yeah i agree, altho The Doctor's Daughter comes very close

i cut it some slack for actually bothering to be set on an alien planet

IMO nothing in seasons 1, 3 or 4 comes anywhere near the awfulness of "The Idiot Lantern".

The Idiot's Lantern and Fear Her are my two least favorite episodes, but the Daleks in Manhattan episodes run a close third.

The Daleks In Manhattan one isn't that bad as a whole but wow Tellulah is terrible in isolation.

Moffat's Doctorless episode

I assume you're referring to Love & Monsters, which was written by RTD.

oops

That seems to be one that most people online hate, but I enjoy it.

That was the episode that convinced me to actually watch season 2; I'd missed a bunch of episodes and came in on "The Idiot Lantern" which, well... I had decided I was done with the show until they got rid of Tennant basically, up until I wandered across "Love and Monsters" and "The Girl in the Fireplace".

I like Love and Monsters too.

Actual good RTD episodes:
The End of the World
L&M
Midnight
Turn Left

Smith & Jones and Gridlock are alright.

Oh, and all the series finales have a fair bit to enjoy, but they get progressively worse.

"Turn Left" cheats a little bit by relying so heavily on continuity set up in other stories but the execution is so great that it doesn't matter.

"Midnight" is the one where they're trapped on the bus, right? That was fucking excellent.

Yeah, that's the one. Best episode of S4.

i couldn't stand midnight it was so boring. nothing happened. no monsters no plot no special effects and a painted in background that a cybermat would have sneered at as cheap. no thank you. it was conceptually even more naff than 'fear her' though actually 'fear her' wasn't conceptually naff so much as poorly executed. in the hands of a better writer it would have been less schmaltzy and no olympics

but i didn't mind love & monsters and i liked turn left alot. cheaply done but effective what-if-ing & a good set up for a big she-bang double parter

mind you my fave of s4 was silence in the library. that's moffat at his creepy best

Silence In The Library was great up until the super schmaltzy ending of part two. Love love love the opening 10 or so
mins of part 1, such a great bit of world building with a nice bit of WTF built in. Also some genuinely creepy moments ("Ice Cream"/ Miss Evangelista's face reveal). Bit of a shame how obvious the "saved" angle was though.

I was kind of surprised by how much I liked "The Waters of Mars" after seeing some of the negative commentary here.

The Parting Of The Ways is still my favourite RTD one - the Rose Time Vortex thing never bothered me. Other good RTD eps tend to be so because the character performances are particularly great e.g. Jacobi in Utopia and under-rated Corduri in under-rated Army Of Ghosts/Doomsday.

just re-watched time crash after the 'master outing' comments here and i had to watch it twice before i caught it

can't believe i missed that before so thanks for the lol

Yeah the two-parter at the end of S1 is great but I agree they get progressively worse. Midnight is really great (daaaaark) and it's always good to see Tennant's Doctor lose control but I think Turn Left is the best Rusty episode by some distance. He's a lot better when he's working on a smaller scale.

That said, Gridlock is rubbish. The Doctor and Martha get stuck in a traffic jam. Amazing.

"Gridlock" was great! The Doctor and Martha carhopping over hungry Macra!

I reckon the Gaiman script will turn up for S6. They always overcommission and Gaimans got form for being late with TV scripts, or so I've heard.

his last one he wrote and directed and it was delivered well in advance - before that it's been 15 years since he did one, and lateness wasn't any of the top nine problems with that production

Didn't AM nearly write for McCoy? Something like that anyway.

never heard anything like this, but Moore did write some strips for the T. Baker era DWM.

The Doctor and Martha get stuck in a traffic jam. Amazing.

But it's a traffic jam enveloping an entire world! That's a cool set-up for me, with shades of Ballard/early 2000AD.

Gridlock may well be my favourite RTD ep. Adore it.

Yeah, I liked Gridlock. Had plenty of neat ideas in it, which is all I'm looking for in an hour-long bit of entertainment.

A delayed Christmas present my friends gave me tonight:

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/5528/iphone1267.jpg http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/iphone1267.jpg/1/w480.png

Gridlock is so fucking corny. Better on rewatch tho.

Quickly going back to the Alan Moore thing: apparently it only got as far as the BBC asking him if he'd be interested in writing a 25th anniversary episode and Moore politely declining.

I forget where I read about this but it's probably in one of those birthday/tribute books that came out for Moore's 50th a few years back.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/news/a194577/matt-smith-my-doctor-is-less-tolerant.html

I wonder if he means he'll be a cranky Doctor or an angry vengeful Doctor?

racist doctor

Homophobic agendar.

The would be really awful politically but kind of fascinating from a storytelling point of view; what happens when the person responsible for saving the world turns out to be a racist, homophobic dick? (most likely ans: ppl stop watching)

There are a few shades of Colin Baker there which, you know, could be a little dangerous.

Teabag party doctor

Hopefully he just means less of a whiny hippy than Tennant's Doctor.

The episode where the Doctor romances Sarah Palin is supposed to be good.

"you can put lipstick on a Sontaran..."

http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/2010/01/writers-tale-final-chapter-preview.html

Matt Smith looks totally high in this picture. I approve.

Amy really looking like a young Donna here

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KTJWhtuRLac/S0cca1YvR5I/AAAAAAAAJlg/tOjxDzqiYKw/filming20.jpg

in other news, Sally Sparrow is up for a BAFTA
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jan/08/an-education-leads-bafta-longlists

Would love it if this ends up with Tennant and RTD reuniting for Fox's Dr Who, US-style

I'd be cool with Torchwood if it's within the existing canon - the Adventures of Captain Jack in America kind of thing. As for Doctor Who itself, hands off yanks.

I would only support an American iteration of Doctor Who if they did it as "Fringe" crossed with "Chuck".

Torchwood is goofy enough that I could see it working as a Fox show. But a US version of Doctor Who would make me stabby.

http://blog.pennlive.com/poprocks/2007/10/Tony_Almeida_Seen_In_New_Season_7_Trailer.jpg

"U.N.I.T's on the way, Jack"

haha wait

I reckon the Gaiman script will turn up for S6.

^^^good call. EXCLUSIVE Neil Gaiman Confirms Doctor Who Episode

THIS IS SO WRONG

http://www.tonnerdoll.com/doctorwho.htm

The DT doll looks like a lesbian cockatoo.

The Martha doll looks like a man

The Torchwood dolls are lolarious as well.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article7026314.ece

February 14, 2010
Doctor Who in war with Planet Maggie

Sylvester McCoy, the actor who played Doctor Who for two years in the 1980s, has revealed that left-wing scriptwriters hired by the BBC wrote propaganda into the plots in an attempt to undermine Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.

His revelation will reinforce suspicions about antipathy within the corporation to Thatcher’s government. Norman Tebbit, then the Tory party chairman, claimed at the time that the BBC was in the hands of a “Marxist mafia”...

They point to "The Happiness Patrol" as an explicit example

Think they confused Thatcher with Bertie Bassett tbh.

Always thought it was common knowledge that "The Happiness Patrol" contained digs at Thatcher, no?

Nicole, that David Tennant doll looks like Jude Law.

Yes, like a lesbian cockatoo.

"PEOPLE HAVE OPINIONS, EXPRESS THEM"

So... new promo pic...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/2856584/Doctor-Whos-new-series-picture-promo.html

It kind of reminds me of this..

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/2/awebofsound.jpg

Larger version...

http://www.drwho-online.co.uk/news/images/series5-promo-2.jpg

(New trailer to be released this Saturday, too - looking at an early-April start)

she's kind of gorgeous

That picture is insane.

That poster's a bit Harry Potter isn't it?

Amy Pond is way hot.

...tasty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpbmMhNe6aA

well, I'm excited. Sea Devils, Daleks and the Angels from blink.

The new trailer did have an air of "Come to Thorpe Park, it's magical" about it though. That said, I'm loving Matt's general "Trougton-ness" and am qute taken by Amy's accent. Roll on the non specific start date of "Easter 2010 or summink".

far right, in the bubble?
http://www.synthtopia.com/interviews/images/KompressorKrushesBurger.jpg

feel like this trailer should've come before the original one which showed us loads of new stuff.

can't work out what the Dalek is saying at all.

"State your identity", apparently.

Easter Saturday start date, I'm hearing

Would make sense.

Did anyone else think that in the YT thumbnail, that was Tennant on the left and Matt Smith on the right?

No, but I see it now.

Don't mind if the swirly blue stuff is the new time vortex / title sequence but no Smith + companion floating around in it Matrix-style, please.

and the Angels from blink

actually really hoping they are literally the same angels from Blink because the original implication was that ANY kind of statue could be one of them but the hint in the Tennant finale was that they all take this weeping angel form. i just liked the idea that they could also be gargoyles, dragons, lions or whatever.

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/9419/76773spoilers122367lo.jpg

qute taken by Amy's accent

Can't tell from that if she's got her full-on proper Inverness accent, but I really hope she does. I think, from the way she says "flickering", that she does. Am very much looking forward to the idea of my accent on the telly.

http://gizmodo.com/5478205/synthesizer-used-to-create-doctor-who-theme-tune-being-flogged-on-ebay

nice descriptive url. it's an ems vcs3.

although, as someone points out, vcs3 = late 60s, who theme = early 60s

although although there is a Delaware version from 1972 or so that was never used. but i think a delaware is the big brother of a vcs3. yes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMS_Synthi_100

Whoa. Nice.

(Gizmodo does imply it was the original theme, but the actual ebay item description is very careful to point out that it was used by John Baker on an early 70s version of the theme. A few people seem to have queried this with the seller on the grounds that John Baker was never credited with doing the theme, but seeing as Delia Derbyshire was never listed on the credits either, uh...)

Interesting that it supposedly belonged to John Baker, who as far as I can remember doesn't even have playng credits on any of it (even Delaware was Paddy Kinsland and Brian Hodgson). He did a lot in incidental work on the show, but that's not exactoly the same thing. xpost

I don't know enough old Doctor Who to know what dvd is being complained about. Still funny, though.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Caves-Androzani-DVD/dp/B00005B2T7

Good thing she didn't look at the back of the Vengeance on Varios DVD box.

Oops, Varos I mean of course.

Except, of course, it's the Region 2 box in the joke which is unlikely to be up for rental in Canada...

http://www.amazon.ca/Doctor-Who-Caves-Androzani-Story/dp/B00005Y6XH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOTYwj40cq0

http://www.isitmofftiemnao.com/

three weeks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzcgssMucHE

My dreams of a Dalekless season have been dashed

Sad, but I think they're contractually committed to the Daleks appearing every season--when they resurrected the show in 2005, for a long time Terry Nation's estate was against the Daleks being in it. When they finally agreed, they made the BBC commit to including them every season (thus upping the income from Dalek-related collectibles to the Nation estate).

Dalek hating is challoping of the highest order, they're brilliant if they're written well. Trouble is that since the Ecclestone series they haven't been.

Also it looks like it's Daleks in the Blitz which could be tremendous.

new holy grail: good Dalek story NOT set on Earth and written by Moffat

http://www.isitmofftiemnao.com/

they're contractually committed to the Daleks appearing every season

Ah ok. I have no particular Dalek hate, it's just that the contortions they have to go through to get them to show up, especially after establishing that they were all gone, become less and less compelling. Really I just want them to pop up once in a while, rather than their appearances be routine. The nadir was that two-parter in the 30s with that hybrid and the pig-people.

would have been easier to have serial villains without rtd's incessant madcap "end of the daleks! the world! the universe! time itself! stake-raising.

Yeah I REALLY hope Moffatt has the good sense to avoid that shit.

I have no particular Dalek hate, it's just that the contortions they have to go through to get them to show up, especially after establishing that they were all gone, become less and less compelling. Really I just want them to pop up once in a while, rather than their appearances be routine.

I agree -- it's not that I hate them, it's just that they're overused and haven't had a decent storyline since Ecclestone.

season 2 Dalek vs Cybermen fight was pretty good, I thought

It seems like Moffat's a lot more interested in "small" i.e. specific stories, which will be great if it continues..

Yeah, I know the universe is always at stake in Who but I got so tired of RTD's MORE HUGER EVERYTHING MASSIVE BIG HUGELARGE

Me too.

I hope they do something more like "The Pyramids of Mars", where Sarah Jane argues that they can ignore Sutekh because clearly he didn't wipe out the world because she was still around, and the Doctor took her back to her time and showed her the Earth as a desolate desert and said "o rly"

That was one of the best things for me about Blink - because it actually did something with the idea of TIME TRAVEL, eg effects before causes, meeting before you know someone, etc etc.

also it was pretty tense bordering on terrifying, particularly for this series

Guardian interview, not giving much away
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/22/stephen-moffat-doctor-who

confirmed episode titles
The Eleventh Hour
The Beast Below
Victory of the Daleks
The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone
Vampires in Venice
TBA
TBA/TBA
Vincent and the Doctor
TBA
TBA/TBA

The Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone

More Blink! Awesome!

No Sally Sparrow = no cred

Somehow I think Carey Mulligan would rather be making Hollywood films than starring in episodes of Doctor Who.

no should would totally rather do Doctor Who

btw is UK L&O any good?

Not really. It's not terrible.

Yeah, I know the universe is always at stake in Who

this is rubbish, it's usually Local Politics On A Wee Planet or, for Pertwee, The Special School's Bus Of Aliens Are Attacking Slowly

for Pertwee, The Special School's Bus Of Aliens Are Attacking Slowly

For some reason, these are my favorites.

Sad, but I think they're contractually committed to the Daleks appearing every season

This was also the reason we all knew Davros was coming back as well.

would have been easier to have serial villains without rtd's incessant madcap "end of the daleks! the world! the universe! time itself! stake-raising.

I might have said this, and worse in previous years.

I have been avoiding posting here because of spoilers, btw. An awful, awful lot is out there about the series.

By which I mean I know a lot, and know you don't want to, so haven't risked exposing you to it.

That was one of the best things for me about Blink - because it actually did something with the idea of TIME TRAVEL

The Girl In The Fireplace did this as well. This could hopefully become a Moffatt thing. He plays a lot with the form of an episode in general - Silence In The Library had the world inside the computer programme, etc.

And Silence In The Library also played with time travel too, with River Song knowing the Doctor from the future, and all that jazz.

Yeah, I'm really, really trying to lower my expectations knowing that Moffatt actually has at least one entire season to play with these ideas (probably even longer) rather than just a single story. At the very least I hope we'll get better built season-long arcs than Bad Wolf.

Thanks for not spoiling btw - I do appreciate the attempt, especially knowing that the story and casting info for Who always seems to leak out really early, I don't know much about the upcoming season aside from a few hints that some elements of previous Moffatt stories will return.

By Ann Widdecombe

Dr Who has changed again and so has his assistant. Even the Tardis has acquired bells and whistles. What next? K9 metamorphosed into a cat?

I wish them every success in whatever worlds they travel but I have seen each Doctor and none has done it quite like Patrick Troughton did it.

He was a memorable Saint Paul as well and a convincing schoolmaster in Dr Finlay’s Casebook.

Sylvester McCoy, the actor who played Doctor Who for two years in the 1980s, has revealed that left-wing scriptwriters hired by the BBC wrote propaganda into the plots in an attempt to undermine Margaret Thatcher’s premiership.

Forgot to mention I saw him in a pub about a month ago

Egged him on did you? Plied him with drinks?

He looked a bit unsteady on his feet. Not the drink, I think his health's not great.

Is this why Widdecome has been rocking the troughton Doctor's hair do wig all these years?

hi dere new website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/dw/

Steven Moffat, speaking in 1995, on Doctor Who.

" …when I look back at Doctor Who now. I laugh at it, fondly. As a television professional, I think how did these guys get a paycheck every week? Dear god, it's bad! Nothing I've seen of the black and white stuff - with the exception of the pilot, the first episode - should have got out of the building. They should have been clubbing those guys to death! You've got an old guy in the lead who can't remember his lines; you've got Patrick Troughton, who was a good actor, but his companions - how did they get their Equity card? Explain that! They're unimaginably bad. Once you get to the colour stuff some of it's watchable, but it's laughable."

He likes Davison though. But that's about it.

http://nzdwfc.tetrap.com/archive/tsv43/onediscussion.html

He's OTM though. Most of the first Hartnell season and the first Baker season, ie the bits I've watched all the way through, are largely terrible. Not because of the lack of bells and whistles or effects or whatever the fuck it is Rusty thinks he brought to the table, the plots just aren't very interesting and there's no tension and the ending to almost every story is awful. I'm including Genesis of the Daleks in this.

My nephew has seen Saturday's episode, the lucky wee sod. I'm not asking him what he thought, because he doesn't understand the concept of not blabbing everything and is too young to give subtle hints, so I'm just not going to talk to him until Sunday.

aww, I just watched Genesis and was pretty entertained. admittedly my standards for old Who are probably lower than I had even for most cartoons I watched during the 80s and 90s

My nephew has seen Saturday's episode, the lucky wee sod.

Someone in my office saw it in London a month or two ago but wouldn't tell us anything.

They did a thing up in Inverness for it, and because my nephew is in school with Karen Gillan's niece, his class got to go.

I am very much not stoked for the new series. Matt Smith is, let's face it, not David Tennant. In any way. I keep telling myself "b-b-but Steven Moffat", but it's not working. I may well not feel like this on Saturday night, I know.

Matt Smith is, let's face it, not David Tennant.

Bit early to judge that isn't it? He might be better. Weren't you the one going "I want Ecclestone back" for a series or so?

Yeah, but I am fickle. Hence disclaimer of probable reversal after an hour of watching him. I am basing this entirely on him being a boring bastard on Jonathan Ross the other night, btw.

I am excited about an Inverness accent on prime time telly though.

Also, I liked David Tennant plenty pre-Who, but didn't like him in the role. I just mean it's been a long time since there was a proper series. DT would give good press and get people (well, me) stoked. MS, well, doesn't.

long time - just over a year. I am so nu-Who boring popular culture kid it's actually embarrassing me reading back my own posts.

my girlfriend refuses to watch this w/o tennant

I feel Matt Smith may have residual cooties left over from his school days.

He caught them from childhood acquaintance Dom Passantino.

Never thought I could get into post-Dom ILX but here I am. Doesn't bode well for Smithy, does it.

I think I would refuse to watch this series if it was another with Tennant.

Doesn't bode well for Smithy, does it.

Oh thanks, you've just made me think of James Corden. In fact, he's in one, isn't he?

It probably took me a season and change for me to get used to Tennant, and I'm still not sure that I prefer him over Eccleston.

http://imgur.com/6KeAh.jpg

http://imgur.com/2MLWY.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY4c2aWIyL0

GMTV's top 10 companions list is some bullshit, but KG is... nice. Despite her awful posture.

Amy Pond, River Song, looks like Moffatt is gonna be working his Finnegans Wake this series.

"Amazing, interesting face."

PS I would call her posture "sassy" or "coy."

awww Lil Ailsa saying her prayers.

That was medium awesome

Wish he'd taken the 8 yr old version with him, she'd have been a fantastic companion.

Though to be fair I wouldn't have really really fancied her the way I do with the one he did take. Er, obviously.

He's playing it a bit close to tennant though, so far.

BEST DOCTOR EVER (just countering all the moaners)

the bit where the camera revealed the door had opened was classic Moffat, kinda wish they had stuck to keeping it on that smaller ghost story level instead of extending the threat to the whole planet. interesting that we never actually saw Amy's Aunt. was there one arc meme dropped ("silence will fall") or two (something about "Pandorum"?)? not enough sarcastic Olivia Coleman despite the extra episode length. but totally good enough.

Already said BEST DOCTOR EVER to the fam. I think the silence and the Pandoracle(?) were connected.

i forgot when it was happening so only joined it at the what-do-tiggers-like-best bit (although: 'you're scottish, aren't you? fry something!' heeeeeee) but oh oh that was so fun!

new graphics: good
new music: terrible, shocker (altho i do appreciate the attempt to re-introduce some synthetic sounds, a bit)

WILD SPECULATION: Amy's aunt is River Song. They've both got red hair, River could have been off adventuring in time and space instead of looking after Amy the night Amy met the Doctor, er River / Pond... *shuffles feet*

WILDER SPECULATION: Amy is the young River! OMGWTFBBQ etc

Anyway, I really enjoyed that, although Smith does seem to be playing a bit Tennant so far. Hopefully he'll do more to put his own stamp on the role. The Who Bingo cards upthread were disappointingly OTM in several places :(

Have considered the possibility that Amy will somehow become River at some point, yeah. But iirc Alex Kingston shd be on dis ting at some point during the series??

Considering Moffat's love of the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff I could see River and Amy being on screen together. Possibly without Amy (or the audience) realising River is her future self for maximum poignancy further down the line.

Does seem a bit predictable for Moffat's style, though...

Gotta say that if that rottweiler had spoken it would've pushed this episode even higher up the auspicious beginnings chart

Ha, the same thought occurred to me. I'll give S-Moff the benefit of the doubt and assume the budget didn't stretch to it.

I already regret "S-Moff", tbh.

also he wd probably have permanently scarred many, many children

More than this atrocity did?

http://www.doctorwhoworld.org.uk/Images/sitegraphics/kandyman.jpg

Shirley not!

ok amy growing up into river song would be an absolute fucking travesty? i mean not only for the sheer laziness - like the whole 'sally sparrow for new companion!!' tedium, why is it any time there's a charming female character dudes are like 'let's stop at this one'? But also, I can't put this all that clearly, but there is something fundamentally awesome in "girl has an imaginary friend at seven, and then he turns out to be real and they go on adventures" which would be smothered by "oh and she becomes his most trusted boon companion 51st century kickass archaeologist river song".

Hey, I did say it was wild speculation - and predictable. Moffat's a much smarter writer than that.

I like the setup for Amy's relationship with the Doctor a lot, even if it does have a bit of a hint of "The Girl In The Fireplace" about it. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Moffat does with this series.

There was some quite "Girl in the Fireplace"-y music playing during the slow reveal of the house after his first "brb" moment

oh no that probably means there's a whole bunch of nobs "predicting" that Amy is also Madame Pompadour then...

Like it. Like him - less in your face, less gurning. Like the time afforded for calm sections - the freneticism of RTD/David Tennant got wearing on the nerves. Like the fairy tale element. Like what perhaps were little references to the previous reign? (DT being made to have an English accent/Amelia Pond goes from English to Scottish + instead of the RTD tv news channels across the world thing, just tuning the radio).

Liked the early childhood scenes.

Music was terrible.

deliberately rendering the screwdriver and the TARDIS useless was the biggest nod to the previous regime I think

new Tardis possibly a wee bit Steampunk for my liking

Yep, good point about the screwdriver and tardis, it was good that bit. And less needless sudden grinning as well, that used to drive me spare about both Ecclestone and Tennant.

Wee! Loved! Enjoyed the 'corner of your eye' stuff...Moff's so good with the stuff-of-nightmares stuff. And the build up to fish custard was lovely. And Amelia Pond has a nice edge to her as well as being incredibly gorgeous. Got a faint hint of Donna shoutiness in her, which I hope comes out a bit more.

But all round exciting good fun. Ripping stuff!

I am very much not stoked for the new series. Matt Smith is, let's face it, not David Tennant. In any way. I keep telling myself "b-b-but Steven Moffat", but it's not working. I may well not feel like this on Saturday night, I know.

OMG how wrong was I? <3 Matt Smith already. Slightly driven to distraction by Amy's accent (which, as someone who left Inverness and only goes back into full-on accent in the presence of other Invernessians, is a rubbish and massively hypocritical criticism), but otherwise, great.

awww Lil Ailsa saying her prayers.

Yes, that was remarked upon here. How the hell do you know what I looked like when I was that age?

"You're Scottish - fry stuff" = top lolz.

Alex Kingston was in the "coming soon" trailer, btw. As was James Corden, Bill Nighy and Meera Syal, who are evidently less spoilertastic.

I dunno, James Corden spoiled it for me

lol

I suspect any Tennantisms in Matt Smith are down to - or could be plausibly attributed to - the Doctor being in a transitional phase. I think there was enough evidence that he will become less Tennanty as the series progresses.

Tell you what I really loved: no big regen crisis! (aside from a bit of a bellyache). First new doctor story we've had without some "he's amnesiac/asleep/insane/whatever" since...tom baker?

Yeah, I liked that too (though the pre-credits OMG-I-can't-control-the-TARDIS bit gave me the fear, thankfully wrongly).

New title sequence was horrible, btw.

real test when it comes down to the normal time. i know there was a lot of info to put into this one, but the episode had time to actually breathe, which was sorely missing in RTD days.

So, that bingo card: I make it yesses on:

Geronimo
secondary character spouts cryptic prophesy
Shadow Proclamation namechecked
Run!
Flashback or recap of regeneration (if show of doctors counts to that)
Amy gets tour of TARDIS
Alien invasion on the news (was it on the news or just on telly?)
Doctor admires his own reflection (nicely done!)
Shapeshifting alien is a dog (whoever did these cards has seen this, right?)
Aliens take over earth communications devices blah blah
swirly blue vortex in new title sequence O NO RLY?

So, not that many, but a good few. Some obvious ones not done. Yet.

btw, has the TARDIS always had a mezzanine floor?

err...

http://imgur.com/NOFTQ.jpg

http://imgur.com/4WONJ.jpg

So either the Tardis caused the cracks in time and space, or the thing making the cracks is also inside the Tardis?

Or that's two wobbly lines of different shapes?

I dunno, James Corden spoiled it for me

― Top Geir (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 4 April 2010 00:01 (34 minutes ago) Bookmark

maybe he dies? got to look on the bright side.

hopefully something prolonged and undignified

Tell you what I really loved: no big regen crisis!

The bit where Sophie Peep Show turned into him and he was all "WTF is that? Oh right, is that what I look like?" was nicely done. I did also really appreciate the lack of Tennant, making a clean break was really good (as a firm "OMG not going to be the same without him" Tennant stan, it seemed so much easier to put him behind me and get with Matt Smith).

Also the completely rubbish Patrick Moore cameo.

I wonder whether aldo hated it.

"Kiss-o-gram," eh??

Bingo also:
Nobody dies
TARDIS referred to as she (he called her sexy)

Is Patrick Moore the new Churchill-looking PM of the UK?

Slightly farther to the Right than Churchill iirc

dug Matt Smith, really good to have someone new in the role. loved Tennant but I hadn't realized just how annoying his angsty doctor had gotten towards the end.

only thing i hated was music and title sequence. which bums me out cause i really like the new logo.

As good a debut as I could have hoped for! Really enjoyed it, Matt Smith was very Tennant-esque, but I think he'll get more room to stretch his legs very soon and he was nonetheless quite entertaining. Amy was really cute, trademark Moffatt lurking horror and time jump stuff being very cool and looking forward to more! (I am enthused.)

Gah I'm away for the weekend and can't watch this but there's total anticipation building now that seemingly everyone likes it.

That conference call/Jeff stuff was a bit sketchy tho. Actually it was baloney, but I think you can excuse that sort of thing if the tone was good.

Also not sure about the Johnny 5 Alive! 'what have I missed' bit on the village green.

I welcomed the use of a village setting, maybe because it feels more trad Who than the now over-used inner city London tower blocks of the nu-Who. It helps give the series a different feel. It's less trying to be 'relevant to the kids of today', which was always kind of hopeless.

Little Amelia was great, though I don't really agree she would've made a good companion, just for boring practical reasons I suppose. She would be too much of a burden in tight corners, too dependant on the Doctor.
Plus Amy is saucy.

As an opener it was typically flashy, and a touch hyperactive, but Matt Smith hit the ground running imo, and I'm looking forward to more of Moffat's dark fairytale take.

started groaning at the so-overdone 'all that amazing stuff that happened' and then proper lol'd at the 'that was two years ago!'.

James Corden, Bill Nighy and Meera Syal

guess this is the kind of shit that zerofies my interest in giving it another go

I like that the kiss-o-gram job showed that his failure to return forced her into sex work, in the mildest possible way.

The episode started as a nice nod to the start of the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which was nice. Good to start with the Tardis being unreliable, a good old who standby. Coma patients speaking is becoming a little hackneyed. Good fun though, and i look forward to the rest.

Only thing that tested my suspension of disbelief was the existence of a rural cottage hospital in brown's broken 21st century Britain.

I think I missed it, but who were the people that were introduced later in the episode, the elderly lady and her son or grandson - were they friends/neighbors of Amy's?

Yeah, friends/neighbours. Pretty weak and slightly confusing tho.

First DW I've really enjoyed in a *long* time. Completely convinced by Matt Smith by 5 mins in. Anyone know where it was set?

A fictional village of Leadworth - filmed as usual around Cardiff.

Really loved this, except for the music. I wish Murray Gold would have some sort of major life epiphany that makes him give up composing forever.

So good!

Loved it--Smith seemed just like the Doctor to me. A great start.

Guess which newspaper?

The revealing outfit prompted a flood of comments on online message boards, with a section of fans accusing producers of 'shamelessly sexing up' the long-running family show and labelling it 'slutty'.

Writing about Amy, one viewer in an online forum asked: 'Why did she dress up as a tarty policewoman? Surely that's not fitting for a family show.'

Another said: 'They've completely demeaned Doctor Who by replacing good episode stories with slutty girls.'

i liked the new title music, if only because they'd ditched the guitars and put synths back in.

the storm clouds and fire textures in the tunnels were too earthly though. it's science fiction, make it look fantastic, not everyday.

golly, this was swell. new tardis looked super cool, and preview of future eps was pretty jaw-dropping (daleks vs. fighter planes?). loved the character design of the aliens, espesh the snowflake-eye-ship.

Writing about Amy, one viewer in an online forum asked: 'Why did she dress up as a tarty policewoman? Surely that's not fitting for a family show.'

sooooo... been thinking about maybe giving this a watch?

aldo is not in the country so has not seen this yet.

aldo you will fucking love it BUT we keenly await another timeline update from you! :D

Coma patients speaking is becoming a little hackneyed

I read that scene as a homage to Seven Crystal Balls, but that might be over-nerding it. Although Moffat did write one half of the first Tintin movie, so maybe not.

Loved the fish custard business at the start, the rest didn't quite match up, but otherwise very promising. It seemed a lot smarter, like a BBC2 Doctor Who, if that makes sense.

was anyone else mis-stepped by the 'hit with a cricket bat, hits floor, cut to ambulance siren-blaring to hospital forecourt' = ok so doctor has been taken to the hospita... oh hang on.

other odd bits/echoes:
an alien fugitive being reclaimed by law-enforcing aliens, plus some hospital scenes. martha's 1st story
whisked away *before* a wedding.
very fanboyish continuity jokes/refs re swimming pool and other stuff (i forget)
lots of kid's dreamstuff in there (room you never noticed, childhood 'invisible' friend, corner of the eye/blink stuff)
lots of allusions to teh filthy stuff (as per moffat in gen)

A full 8-tentacle salute from here. Really liked the first episode a lot - wanted to see the next one immediately afterward...

Sold on Matt Smith during the "you know when parents tell you everything is going to be alright?" line (which Tennant would have made ridiculously overdramatic).

was anyone else mis-stepped by the 'hit with a cricket bat, hits floor, cut to ambulance siren-blaring to hospital forecourt' = ok so doctor has been taken to the hospita... oh hang on

yep

on rewatching there's definitely something in the scene the pic james posted comes from - the doctor turns the monitor off as if worried that amy will see the image of the crack on the screen

something odd about the end too with the raggedy-doctor dolls (is amy gonna go psycho-stalkey halfway thru the season?) all out and so close to the wedding dress

I loved this :) which was a happy surprise! Man i love doctor who so much

Before everyone gets carried away I don't think this was a much better opening episode than 'Rose', but then again Moffatt's got form so I have faith.

Matt Smith - terrific. I really like his occasional bursts of sarcastic zinginess, like when Amy asked him if the door would hold the aliens.

The whole ep - bit of a mess, I thought, too frantic and overstuffed, and the alien stuff raced past as if it wasn't really important (to be fair, in a scene-setting epsiode it isn't really). Could have done with having about three characters removed. Still, The End Of The World is getting a bit boring so nice of Moffatt to get it out of the way early.

The first 10mins - great. Moffatt is at his best when aiming directly at the younger kids, and this hit the nail on the head. He needs to do a story with household insects given alien powers. Spiders, maybe.

Amy - dunno, jury's out. Didn't really get much of a sense of her personality in this one, relative to Rose/Martha/Donna, and Karen Gillen's repertoire of wide-eyed terror expressions leads me to think she might not be a great actress.

Doctor being a dick to Amy's boyfriend - this is always classic, a nice throwback to the Ecclestone era. Amy having to be back the next morning for her wedding day is a good reason not to go back to present day Earth for the rest of the series as well.

You know.. what is the deal with Doctor Who Confidential? I think I give it a shot maybe once a season, but... why is it 45 minutes long when half of it is montages of scenes from the episode you just watched set to pop music? Also why do they seem to repeat the same factoids over and over again? I just watched the one for the first episode, and they explained how stop-motion filming works at least three times, how the Doctor REALLY becomes the Doctor when he finally gets a new wardrobe (you don't say) three times, and so on... damn my behind-the-scenes curiosity.

Finally saw this tonight, and showed it to a bar full of abotu 16-17 people there just to see it.

I enjoyed it. I really liked the fact that they worked cell phones in, and that the camera movements were very, VERY different from what we've seen before.

the Murray Gold stuff was bleah, but I figure that what we have to put up with until someone finally kneecaps him. I wish the opening theme didn't have quite so modern beats.

The new theme crowds out the bassline with these bombastic strings, and that's unforgiveable in my book.

Very much in agreement with everything Matt DC said. Felt like there was something slack about the direction, too. The panel-to-panel storytelling felt a bit confusing, too much going on at one moment, too little at the next. Maybe a reflection of the smaller budget?

What's up with the first ten seconds of the theme, btw? It took way too long to get to the melody.

has the budget been cut?

Agree that Moffat keeps packing too much stuff in, but would still rather this than the weak episodes we're likely to get from other writers. Comparisons to 'Rose' are probably pointless as that was largely carried by the overwhelming excitement/expectation and ended up being one of the weaker eps of that series. No opener has ever gone on to stand out as one of the series highlights which is fantastic given The Eleventh Hour's overall quality.

big grin at the doctor sending amy a message to "duck!" - possibly the only person capable of sending such a message would be a time traveler - and it is just too delicious to refrain from using TWICE

(by moffat i mean - that was straight outta "Blink" right?)

(and in Blink he actually adds "no seriously, duck!!")

Good to see "wibby-wobbly, timey-wimey" back as well.

In this one he is driving a fire engine towards the window of the hospital where they've told him they're standing tho? No major precog needed there. Although, yes, it seemed like a reference to Blink. xpost

Am I the only one that suspects the 'too much stuff packed in' was all being planted for later episodes? As I watched, I noticed that most of the 'extra stuff' were allusions to mystery that I imagine could/will be explored later: the identity of Amy Pond's parents, her mysterious never-seen aunt, the identity of the suitor, the old woman who says 'I've seen you somewhere before...' , the creepy raggedy doctor dolls, etc., etc., etc.

I have the faintest idea that all of it will matter.

Also, I loved loved love the use of the color red in the episode. There's a fire-engine red item in practically every shot.

I sort of get the feeling that Moffatt can't really arsed to have a whole family knocking about, Rusty-style. Still, Amy having obsessed over the Doctor as some kind of magical figure since childhood is going to lead to a much more interesting dynamic that "ooh I fancy him".

The crack in the universe is going to be a running thread throughout the series, isn't it? I hope they build it up into a proper mystery to be unveiled right at the end.

I guess what I really enjoy about the introduction of Amy is that she is nearly as much of a mystery and a free agent as the Doctor. She could end up being good, bad, crazy, capable, enfeebling, epic and continuing (a la Jack Harkness) or little more than a one-off, as opposed to Rose/Martha/Donna/Wilf who all arrive on the show as fully drawn figures.

Did Moffatt create Captain Jack himself or did he just write the first ep in which he appeared?

wiki sez he was a collab b/w barrowman, gardener, and davies

the old woman who says 'I've seen you somewhere before...' isn't a mystery, surely - the old woman thinks she's seen the doctor before because she's known Amy through her entire phase of raggedy doctor picture-drawing/doll-making/story-telling?

but idk i originally assumed the old lady was her aunt so what do i know

no she did indeed recognise him as the raggedy doctor

the whole 'cracks' thing is surely just more of the 'rift' issues that enabled both Cybermen returning, Torchwood etc. it would be daft to try and make it a separate thing but this did seem to be hinted at (the Doctor not knowing why...at least he didn't say "oh yeah, that whole darkness thing").

When he said, by the duck pond, "this is too soon, I'm not ready, I'm not done yet", that was him quoting Tennant from the Christmas specials, no? Rewatched it last night (with a transfixed five year old this time), and it did seem like a lot of the tennantisms were more intentional than I'd maybe first assumed.

Liked the episode. Stupid question from probably not listening at the right moment: thought Amelia said she didn't have parents and lived with her aunt, but had a freshly carved apple from her mother?

(Got a bit tired of previous ongoing companion-family sagas, so quite like to think that the obligation to be back for "stuff" the next day means her own timeline will be avoided for the whole series, and then just whisk her back to get married in the last episode. While trying not to be 12 years late again, obv. Seems fairly unlikely, I realise...)

the whole 'cracks' thing is surely just more of the 'rift' issues that enabled both Cybermen returning, Torchwood etc. it would be daft to try and make it a separate thing but this did seem to be hinted at

I thought Moffatt wasn't going to include any of Rusty's stuff and focus on building his own universe, as it were?

xpost I think Amelia just said that was what her mother used to do because she didn't like apples either. Good line as well - 'I'll keep that for later', actually kept it for 12 years later, when he used it again.

On podcast with (ahem) Richard Bacon, Matt Smith alluded to a lot of setup in the first episode, so the overstuffage may well be part of that.

phwoaar

thought Amelia said she didn't have parents and lived with her aunt, but had a freshly carved apple from her mother?

think the implication was that she did have parents, we just don't know what happened to them yet. maybeeee they got zapped back into the past by weeping angels.

"Also, I loved loved love the use of the color red in the episode. There's a fire-engine red item in practically every shot."

That's interesting. Perhaps the director is a Powell & Pressburger fan? Scorcesee did the same thing in Mean Streets as a homage to P&P. In response Powell said, "I like it, but you've used too much red."

think the implication was that she did have parents, we just don't know what happened to them yet. maybeeee they got zapped back into the past by weeping angels.

This would be awesome, and she'd be able to bump into them at some point as well.

you know, it's possible that amy/amelia's first meeting with the doctor (via the blue box) was not actually the first -- it could explain why she was not at all scared of him.

er, then why didn't she recognise him?

in answer to steve, cos he just regenerated

however she wasn't afraid because santa sent her a policeman to save her from the crack.

Still, Amy having obsessed over the Doctor as some kind of magical figure since childhood is going to lead to a much more interesting dynamic that "ooh I fancy him".

Yeah, this is good. I had the sort of fear with Donna that the fact she admitted in "Partners in Crime" that she'd been carrying around her clothes in the back of her car and sort of stalking him by turning up where bad things happened meant that she had expectations beyond just hanging around doing stuff when she finally did catch up with him, but that never materialised. I hope they stay away from this with Amy as well.

oh, i don't. i hope she's batshit for him; plunges off the deep end halfway through the season. how often has that happened? a treacherous/unstable companion?

I thought there was a hint of a paternal Ecclestone-type attitude from the Doctor as well, can't remember when it was. Maybe when she mentioned she was a kissogram?

xpost Turlough mk2. never trust a ginger

oh huh btw someone mentioned this elsewhere i think but how on earth can she work as a kissogram when she
1. lives in a village where everyone knows her and
2, does not have a car?

does she take the bus?

You don't really care about things like that though, do you?

still loling at "kissogram". family friendly!

Bingo also:
Nobody dies

The (hospital) Doctor dies - offscreen tho. At least I assume she died. Maybe she was just wounded.

I loved this. I've missed a lot of episodes due to issues with Piper and then Tennant but thought these two were great - once I got used to the Dr. being about 16.

the old woman who says 'I've seen you somewhere before...' isn't a mystery, surely - the old woman thinks she's seen the doctor before because she's known Amy through her entire phase of raggedy doctor picture-drawing/doll-making/story-telling?

I initially assumed that she was part of Wilfred's Doctor-Seeking Geezer Expeditionary Brigade.

oh huh btw someone mentioned this elsewhere i think but how on earth can she work as a kissogram when she
1. lives in a village where everyone knows her and...

does she take the bus?

presumably she can walk.

what, she doesn't kiss where she eats, that's okay

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8607925.stm

Instant response would normally be a big groan, but Charles Cecil could make these great actually.

yeh cautiously optimistic. free too!

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/45516174.html#cutid1

http://i44.tinypic.com/nl5vub.jpg

Liked this quite a lot. As we've seen from Moffatt's other Who work, it re-uses a lot of his own ideas (the opening bit with the young Amy praying is much closer to the original Sally Sparrow story that he rewrote as part of Blink, for example) and seems to want to be closer to Coupling at times, but not really to any penalty. Colour me optimistic for the rest of the series, Gatiss' dalek story in particular.

Hated the music though, and the new title sequence.

I do have to comment on something Matt said upthread on Hartnell, but I have to nip out just now so it will come later (possibly after episode 2).

I thought the second one was terrific. Although I got a bit lost with some of the timey-wimey stuff - were the Queen's last 10 years in some sort of loop? And I don't get when Amy was meant to have recorded that message for the Doctor.

One thing that's already sticking out about this series is the use of children and riffs on children's stories. With the exception of School Reunion and a couple of the Moffatt stories, the Rusty era didn't really use kids at all, it felt very young-teen oriented. The first couple of episodes seem to have a much more fantastical feel to them - I'm thinking CS Lewis/Phillip Pullman style 'children disappear and magical things happen to them'.

Also Amy's character is classic childhood wish fulfillment. The idea of being swept away by an imaginary/secret friend and having loads of adventures over the course of one night is classic children's fiction, very Snowman/BFG. Especially as Amy spent the whole episode in a nightgown. If it carries on in this vein it might turn out to be a stroke of genius on Moffatt's part.

Matt Smith's bumbling professor Doctor is really taking off, he's distancing himself from Tennant already. I liked the bit when he flipped at Amy as well, a bit of an Ecclestone throwback there. Next episode looks like it might even do something interesting with the Daleks as well.

think Cockney Queen who goes "undercover" with a porcelain mask is probably the daftest thing Moff has come up with so far...

I liked Cockney Queen, although I thought they laid the Last of the Timelords stuff on a bit thick right at the end.

(I was challoping a bit with the Hartnell stuff Aldo, just getting tired of the constant "ah it were better when I were a lad" stuff on these threads).

were the Queen's last 10 years in some sort of loop?

yeah every ten years she has to choose whether to abdicate or forget. it makes sense for the plebs to remember they vote every five years, but she must have to forget she even had the choice.

agree with you about the children's story stuff, seems to be generally true about moffat that he's better when writing for a young audience. press gang>>>>>>>coupling and whatever the fuck else he's done.

Again, totally great I thought. No problem at all with the porcelain mask - goes back to that old literary/historical thing of the monarch wanting to see how his/her subjects really live. Love the way he ties up Ballardian urban images with fairy stories - completely agree with what Matt DC said about aiming for the younger audience with the fantastical (reminds me of that Robert Conquest poem defending science fiction Far Out - about seeing the galaxies in the button eyes of your rag doll).

Also so much happens which isn't simply running about. Love it.

The "forget" and "protest" buttons were brilliant.

I'm no Star Wars geek but there were a couple of things that seemed like little homages - interstellar royalty saying "Save us Doctor - you're our only hope" for instance. And of course suddenly realizing that there's a reason the cave you're in is so damp...

I feel like this Doctor is a bit of a softie so far. That hug! I imagine Tennant, and especially Eccles, kind of flinching if Amy had gone in like that. I like Smith, he has a kind of floppy scarecrow thing going on which is pretty great. Something Tennant had down cold was this kind of appreciation-for-humans-yet-at-a-remove look - a real warm kind of sympathy his eyes were capable of which still managed to convey that he would never belong to Earth, really. Maybe I'm projecting. But being so young is a special challenge for Smith I think. The Doctor is what, hundreds of years old?

And I don't get when Amy was meant to have recorded that message for the Doctor.

No, me neither (and was it even good advice? She didn't get him off the ship in the end, and it all turned out ok). I liked that this was such a sci-fi story, I just wish it had come later in the series. It would've been nice to see a bit more interaction between the new doc and amy, but this one was so plot heavy (maybe overly so, some bits felt pretty rushed) that there wasn't much time for that kind of character-based stuff.

Also why are they dumping the naughty kids in the monster pit to be eaten, if they already know it refuses to eat them? In fact why is it eating anyone, if it's basically there to help them all?

Cause it needs food?

They're not dumping the kids down there to be eaten, they're dumping them down there to weed out troublemakers and serve as a warning to others. I don't know exactly what happens to the kids, they seemed sort of zombified..

I figured she recorded it during the 20 minutes she ended up forgetting. By hitting the big "Record" button. No it wasn't good advice, but hey. What she'd seen on the tape scared her, she was convinced there was nothing positive they could do, but she also knew the Doctor would try to save the day, so she recorded a message to her future self to get him out of there before he messed up the nice little authoritarian regime the UK had going.

I guess some might say it's too obvious but I liked the metaphor of the star whale - the people who keep the engine of your country going could probably do a better job if you stopped exploiting them. But we'd rather forget.

Cause it needs food?

Ok, this isn't really solved by the Doctor's intervention then. But yeah, you're probably right about the rest of it. :)

Murray Gold needs to be horsewhipped.

Otherwise, I liked this episode.

Loved it. That Doctor/Amy hug at the end was a wonderful moment...the joy of the Doctor realizing that he's understood, possibly not alone...and after all of those years obsessing and imagining him, the joy of Amy being able show him how much she really knows...felt very genuine.

The story got a little elaborate in places, but overall a really vivid and engaging episode. Though Mr Veg and I lol'd at the last shot of Spaceship UK with the whale underneath..."You know if the Tardis had come in at a lower angle to start with they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble.."

Excited for ole Winny's Ironsides Daleks.

Wonder if the daleks will shoot any miners

Agree that this episode had a tone and payoff more suited to a later point in the season, because it felt oddly disengaged for me (could be my indigestion though) and the stakes seemed remote too.

^^ this for me too, when the doctor got mad it felt more mood-swingy than righteous fury. i could see how technically the plot called for fury, but i was like "oh w/e you're not going to really condemn Amy as being the worst person ever in episode 2."

but actually wasn't The Fires of Pompeii the second ep last season? there was a similar "doctor has to make a terrible choice, companion disagrees" situation and i thought it carried sufficient resonance at the time.

The bare bones of the plot were ok but I'm not really down with the style of 1940s retro-futuristic authoritarian broken britain in space, which I feel like has been done time and time again - e.g. Gridlock, which ok was NY not UK but still had the same air of ramshackle technology, everyone in power behaving like assholes. The Smilers, for example, were just a gimmick, "ooh let's have a scary face in there", there's no logic behind having everyone watched over by dummies in boxes.

Though Mr Veg and I lol'd at the last shot of Spaceship UK with the whale underneath...

I think I saw the crack along the side of the ship's saddle, or shell, or whatever it is, in this shot.

Xpost - yep, know what you mean about the Smilers - they had no structural point - but they were v sinister.

This felt like an old Peter Davison/Sylvester McCoy four-parter squashed into 40 mins tbh, but I don't really mind the overabundance of ideas. Can make some bits rather sketchy.

I didn't think the reveal and exposition bit really held together particularly well but maybe I need to watch it again. Moffatt has quite got the hang of pacing an episode at this point which is strange given he was pretty much the king of it during the Rusty era.

Umm, that was OK but not hugely better than that. As much like a 200AD story as Gridlock, but with the added spice of ripping off Pat Mills' 'Song of the Space Whale' (an unfinished 5th Doctor story, replaced with Mawdryn Undead) and was consistent with the Nerva Beacon trilogy. This series feels very much like the 5th Doctor in tone, which probably isn't a surprise given Moffatt's leanings that way. Still very hopeful, particularly for next week.

Matt, I can see why you'd want to challenge that, and I can see your point to a larger degree. There is barely a six-parter (or longer), for example, that isn't at least one episode too long - The War Games has one episode that achieves absolutely nothing, and ends with Jamie being captured just like the previous one did - and there are even plenty of four-parters that could do with judicious editing. And, of course, no Doctor is above criticism - I myself can't stand the McCoy era (Sylv's characterisation is perhaps the only thing that redeems any of it, although Remembrance is at least watchable in places) and don't really like the majority of Davison, while having rediscovered Colin Baker as only failing due to poor scripts - but picking on Hartnell dialogue stumbles when it was mainly deliberate acting (William Russell has confirmed this, and was used at least in part to cut down the amount of reshooting required as Hartnell's arteriosclerosis did affect his memory to a degree) is one of the tropes that always gets trotted out criticising the b&w era.

Anyway, I'm just starting maybe the worst Who box set yet released (The Time Monster, Underworld and Horns of Nimon, none of which are any good at all) so I may not return in any fit condition.

I think I saw the crack along the side of the ship's saddle, or shell, or whatever it is, in this shot.

yep. looks like people were right about the crack in the universe being a long running thing.

"You know if the Tardis had come in at a lower angle to start with they could have saved themselves a lot of trouble.."

a bit like if only the TARDIS had landed in front of the Madame Pompadour painting perhaps

Are the cracks connected with Amy is the question. Crack at her house, crack on the monitor when she enters the Tardis, crack at the end of this episode (i.e. after she's been there).

Didn't like ep2 as much as ep1 but am really impressed with Matt Smith. Too many loose ends (ha! - as if it that was a new development) and I didn't think the Smilers were sinister enough, they needed some weaponry.

First ten minutes would have had me totally spooked as a kid (8-year-old me found pierrot masks and the testcard - see screen in lift - horribly creepy, had recurring nightmares abt out-of-control lifts), so A+ for that

after that, some aspects of plot not really hanging together, but enough flashes of aceness that it didn't wind me up like an RTD cobbled-together plot

loved the Dalek WWII propaganda poster in the preview, if the Beeb (Terry Nation?) have their act together I suspect there is significant geek $$$ to be made in selling prints

feels a bit too soon for Daleks but i do quite like it when you get the next episode set up at the end of the current one

I don't like it when they basically show you all but the last ten minutes of the next episode in the trailer though. Turning off b4 that shit next time.

It is totally glib to say this (& dismissive cliché during the RTD era), but these first shows do feel like childrens TV, in the best possible way. "Giant Space Whale" and "Humungous Eyeball Ship" are as kid-imaginative as it comes, and the glut of ideas is part of a new style, i think, that i am like. it extends the universe outside of the teleology of the plot & individual episode, in sort of a novel way.

admittedly, there were some scattershot ends.

Dear God, the Time Monster is awful. The only saving graces are Ingrid Pitt and the Atlantean servant in ep 5 that looks like Darlene out of Roseanne (only he's a bloke).

Underworld isn't nearly as bad as I remember it being though. I'm almost enjoying it.

Only just had the chance to catch up with the first two eps, pretty fantastic all round. All the gloss and pace of the RTD era, but far less glib and lazy. I think I may prefer Smith to Tennant already - over-confident funny looking nerd is so much more fun than over-confident handsome capable dude.

This felt like an old Peter Davison/Sylvester McCoy four-parter squashed into 40 mins tbh, but I don't really mind the overabundance of ideas.

Yeah, there were easily enough ideas for a two-parter here. But bring it on, I say. Excited for the future of the show.

loved the Dalek WWII propaganda poster in the preview, if the Beeb (Terry Nation?) have their act together I suspect there is significant geek $$$ to be made in selling prints

As soon as I saw it I wanted one, so I think you're right.

I saw the last one, with the space whale, I thought it was pretty decent overall, although I wish they'd SLOW DOWN a bit, and I found the ending a bit abrupt & borderline nonsensical. I saw the trailer for the next ep & was like oh shit, not the daleks again, give it a rest at first, but I have to admit, the khaki ww2 daleks were funny & a cute conceit so I'm looking forward to it.

Really enjoyed the episodes, although in retrospect there were a lot of things that seemed "outside" the plot, but nevertheless it was very good. Matt Smith has officially won me over, he was much less Tennant-y in this ep versus the previous one, and he deadpanned a few lines while in the mouth that gave me genuine lols.

I wish they'd SLOW DOWN a bit

There were a few lines early on when things were being rapidly explained that I literally didn't understand even after rewinding a few times. This also happened with Tennant episodes but usually only when he was launching into one of his purposefully nonsensical tech explanations.

I may prefer Smith to Tennant already - over-confident funny looking nerd is so much more fun than over-confident handsome capable dude.

That's a good point.

Yeah, not bad. The episode's shortcomings are saved by the two leads, who I find really watchable, likeable, whatever.
The Smilers, like the scarecrows in the Family of Blood episode, didn't make much logical sense, but were a neat idea as something creepy to stick in the minds of children watching. They would've been creepier though, if they just had a manic grin as one fixed expression. A frown, even the demonic grimace, aren't as unsettling as a dead-eyed, malevolent smile on those kind of things.

while having rediscovered Colin Baker as only failing due to poor scripts

And with being a really really horrible actor?

I still got a few manic Tennanty vibes off Smith, but I'll agree that he had moments of quiet deadpan that would work as his Doctor Thing.

Properly freaked out when that one hoodie human's head turned around to reveal a Smiler.

Also complaining about the music is for losers. I'm a winner.

Just seen it, fucking excellent, fuiud

And with being a really really horrible actor?

I can see what you mean, but I don't agree with you at all. The utterly dislikeable Doctor has been done to a much lesser degree before and since (Hartnell, Ecclescake and Tennant in the Christmas Invasion) so IMHO the fact he does it overplayed in neither here nor there. The remainder is sub-Tom, sure, but has the same contemptuous tone , with maybe the boorishness and superiority of Hartnell. I can live with that.

Mel is still kind of shit, though.

Anyone else get a slight Buckaroo Banzai feel from Smith's outfit?

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/b/bukbanzi.jpg

Really enjoyed this, and yeah, the kid-oriented-but-with-stuff-for-adults things really works for me. (As for Colin Baker, at the time I assumed his being unlikable was a symptom of his regeneration going wrong and his personality never settling down, but rewatching them more recently this idea wasn't as strongly run with as I remember, so Maybe not).

What with the Magpie Electricals thing, Moffat's hardly pretending the RTDavies years never happened. He's just quietly outwriting all of Davies work.

yeah i wondered about the Magpie thing having not realised that the Doctor's new monitor as first seen in The Eleventh Hour also had a Magpie Electricals logo on it. Would expect to see one in the next ep too now esp. with it being by the Idiot Lantern writer and set in a nearby time.

aldo you will fucking love it BUT we keenly await another timeline update from you! :D

― one of the jones boys (sic), Monday, 5 April 2010 22:54 (1 week ago)

hmmmmmmmm

Hmmm indeed. I did find it a bit odd that nobody knew who the Doctor was in the 11th Hour. The 1990 date on the NHS card is interesting, but the smart phones and wi-fi don't exactly match up. Not sure what to make of this reading, but there's clearly some funny time-wimey-wibbly-wobbly stuff going on. It also raises the question, why did the Tardis go back in time during the regeneration? Perhaps the regeneration and the banishing of the Time Lords has caused some sort of crack in space in time...

There was also the weird blue line of mist across the pair of them in 11th Hour, is maybe also time crack? Gave myself lulz anagramming Amelia Pond - the best two I got were Opal Maiden and (groan) Oedipal Man.

The NHS card date thing has to be intentional because why show it at all/do they normally have issue dates on them? But what can it mean.

why did the Tardis go back in time during the regeneration?

could've gone into a parallel universe theoretically, where everything is the same but just a little bit different e.g. Blackberry Storms in 1994. Uh.

Yeah, what the hell was that blue mist?? I noticed it, too.

i assumed that was just a clunky directorial choice to emphasize the importance of the 'moment' where they really connect as doctor and companion.

Or maybe Rory is the crack in time... Or maybe he's slipped through the crack from 1990...

Midichlorians?

No, that's what that crap oooh-oooh music is for. It was a line of mist but I'm not going to nerd out and check for the 'crack' aspect by re-watching.

I am glad to have started a trend.

I noticed the blue thing too, but assumed the same as Gubke.

I did notice all the cars being older (specifically the fire engine), and wasn't sure whether the "how do you know it's a duck pond if there's no ducks?" line was a further pointer that not everything was right.

******************************************************************************
STUFF THAT FOLLOWS COULD BE CONSIDERED SPOILERY IF YOU CONSIDER TRAILERS BROADCAST ON TELEVISION OR INTERVIEWS WITH THE MOFF TO BE SPOILERY
******************************************************************************

The spoilery thing that Moffatt announced before the series started that the 'big bad' for this series was in every episode, plus the spoilery rumour (which I won't reveal) about who/what the 'big bad' actually is, makes a lot of sense based on what we've seen thus far.

One of the big problems I see that he has to write soon is the reappearance of River Song, or rather the event in the forthcoming episode. The easiest way out of it is a bit of handwaving that she sees The Doctor in a different way to everybody else, but it definitely doesn't seem 100% consistent with her first appearance.

Yeah I could never work out quite how River Song recognised Tennant in the last series, and why she didn't seem that thrown by his appearance.

Well it took her awhile to figure it out, didn't it? And once she did she was pretty overwhelmed with emotion IIRC!

(Leading to classic Tennant "Oh you adore me too, huh?" type behavior)

I would like to be directed to both those spoilery things, Aldo.

Well it took her awhile to figure it out, didn't it?

No she seemed to immediately know who he was and was on familiar terms, despite surely knowing that the Tennant Doctor had never met her?

I think "eccentric guy suddenly turns up in place he has no right to be with bemused companion in tow" wd probably be good enough clues for her.

Yeah it's also that it took her quite a while to twig that she'd brought him to the library too early in his life.

Even if Matt Smith is the first doctor she meets, it doesn't preclude her having met the Tennant doctor at a point we did not see on screen, after the library episode but before regeneration.

it was kinda like she'd met or seen Tennant's Doctor before but only briefly. maybe she just recognised him from an image she'd seen of the Doctor's previous incarnations, like the footage they've shown twice now of the Doctor's different faces.

^ which always bugs me in a fun way because WHO filmed those images of the Doctor etc. lol

Hmm, perhaps the jagged line is The Master... It was never quite clear what happened to him in End of Time. He wasn't necessarily sucked into oblivion with the rest of the Time Lords. Perhaps he's now existing in a rift in time and space and he's masterminding the whole thing. Quite an elaborate back up plan though...

xpost to myself - later in his life but earlier in her life. Oh, the problems of time travel. Though that can sometimes happen on the High Barnet branch of the Northern Line, too.

also the number 30 bus

Suzy, you have spoilery webmail.

They could have sold me this. Cheers BBC!

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/d11s01/d11s01e01_to_victory.pdf

^^^right next to the Keep Calm and Carry On poster, yes?

I like my spoilery webmail v much, Aldo. Thanks.

http://imgur.com/INdli.jpg

Some of this is awesome.

Finally watched the last episode - really liked it! So many ideas, plot moved kind of ridiculously fast! stuff like the "record" button explaining that Amy just recorded that message now, i mean, damn, I totally missed that. There was so much going on it made the flow of the episode a little off, but I'm with the rest of you who are really into the children's fantasy vibes these two eps have been going with.

All the Who universe callbacks are great, and this reminded me functionally a bit of Eccleston's second episode, the one where a bunch of aliens watch the Earth burn, which also went into explaining a bunch of the new incarnation of the Doctor, last of the Time Lords, fresh companion reactions, so on. That one I think also introduced the "cell phone outside of time".

The fact that it actually led directly into the next story was AWESOME, though I'm not sure exactly why, since it was totally unnecessary.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/josiahrowe/dalektea.jpg

<3 <3 <3

DON'T TELL HIM, PIKE

"would you care for some tea" lol

the orange dalek is my favourite

no matter what else, i love the colours

Nice merchandising guys.

Srsly tho, this series keeps getting better.

Yeah, liked that. Time is defintiely fucked though.

I'm pleased that Moffat is being a lot more explicit about the Grand Finale story arc, actively developing it each week rather than RTD's one cryptic reference and nowt else approach.

where was the crack?

new daleks are too big, too clean, too bright. i liked when they looked like landrovers, not mini coopers.

The colour palette on the Daleks was v. deliberately 50s UK design I thought.

There was a crack in the wall of the War Room, think it was there anyway.

River Song plus Weepy Angels next week I might have to take a sedative for.

The Dalek colour palette was actually very Italian Job.

Yeah, maybe 60s rather than 50s. But deliberately retro, yes.

They zoomed in on the glowing crack as the TARDIS disappeared at the end.

i must've looked away because, yes, it's obvious.

Hmm, maybe the FORGET button has been introduced (and used) before.

I thought the flag shown just before the glowing crack was also hanging in the shape of the crack, but maybe it is me on crack instead

wd not be surprised to learn there were other cracks earlier on too, though

Daleks reminded me of this:

http://www.uncrate.com/men/images/2006/06/toyota-fj-cruiser.jpg

2000s reinterpretation of a classic design. Whilst i like the idea of all new daleks the episode wasn't as good as the previous ones, can't put my finger on why yet.

I think (but can't remember where I read it) they're supposed to be daleks from DIoE.

episode feels kind of unconnected and weird, dalek "plan" incomprehensible to anyone but rewinders and the hardcore, churchill is basically irrelevant and repeats himself all the time.. only halfway through though because of teething crisis though, maybe it all ties up nicely

it's a gimme to set daleks among the nazi menace - they basically ARE the nazis of the universe right?

http://www.paracosms.dk/wp-content/uploads/EoD4-300x233.jpg

that parallel was none too subtly drawn for the umpteenth time

Rubbish new dalek design imo, basically just gave 'em a fat arse. Enjoyed star wars meets Who meets ww2 though, ludicrous though it was.

The new Daleks were basically about the voice change, I think. They've tried to make them more bad-ass and hence the new butched-up voices. The old skool Daleks can be pretty camp at times, especially when fetching cups of tea and pretending not to know who the Doctor was.

Not brilliant, but it sets up the daleks to just come back whenever, rather than needing to set up a new bunch of hokum every time to explain why.

Think these eps suffer from the opposite of old who, trying to cram too much story in a short time. The Q&A aboard dalek ship where the doctor gets them to explain their plan a dreadful violation of 'show not tell'.

(or just a crap way of telling)

I liked how Amy defused the bomb using Love, but i was hoping she was going to use her kissogram powers to kiss the robot into a human

Not only the Spitfires in space and the Dalek spaceship escaping into hyperspace, but Dr Scots McRobot got his left hand chopped off and replaced with a leather glove.

Chris Hardwicke & John Hodgman's twitter exchange:

Nerdist: Getting ready for small Doctor Who watching party and very happy about it.

Hodgman: @nerdist it may seem like a small party, but it's larger on
the inside.

Though in a way it's undercutting the more emotional moments and character development a little, I do kind of love how these episodes have been like the old Who stories, but sped up to an hour, so it's just non-stop THINGS HAPPENING NOW, NO TIME TO WASTE! Very entertaining, though often going so fast I miss lines or exposition even, need to pause and rewind to catch things. But perhaps better than too much exposition or hand-wringing?

Candy-coated Daleks with new voices, can't really complain. WOULD-YOU-LIKE-SOME-TEA was excellent! Surprised how serious the Doctor's reaction and FINALLY being able to get rid of them once and for all was - with the previous stories (minus the Eccleston "Dalek") it felt like he'd just accepted that they'll always come back again somehow. Wonder if his stressing out over it will come back down the line (and not just in the obvious "Daleks return for the season finale" type deal).

i thought jocular amy was rubbish - i.e. "paisley boy" - she seemed almost like a different character this time around, a gum-crackin back-talkin dame or something which frankly i don't think she pulls off nearly as well as just earnest, confused amy. do not want.

and oh yeah if anyone has the strength to explain to me the reasoning behind how they defused the man-bomb i'd be grateful. totally didn't get it - i thought bracewell was a robot? in that case how could anyone prove he's human in the first place? (obvious visual gag unexploited - low angle shot sees bracewell's crotch pitch a tent as amy leans over him.. the doctor's like "ah. done and dusted")

also, how do we feel about the doctor refusing to save several hundred thousand jewish, gypsy, gay and politically left-wing lives in the concentration camps?

eh, i'll handwave that away with the doctor mostly tries to fix the problems caused by aliens, not by mankind to themselves, and certain events are fixed mumbo jumbo (like when he couldn't stop the aliens causing Vesuvius to erupt)

wisecrackin' Amy made sense to me - since that "12 years!" bit in the premiere, I got the impression she was a bit of a screwball dame, and i wish to see more of it

defused man-bomb was totally silly, basically a parallel of the whole "let's defeat the robot by giving him a logic problem he can't solve!" trope, replacing it with the "if we can convince him he's human / has free will, he can override his PROGRAMMING!" trope. Am too surprised Amy didn't land in with that "kissogram"

oh yeah one last thing - starting to think all those Star Wars rips in the last couple of Tenant episodes were totally intentionally now, like the show's going for more of that kind of action in the fighter scene (i mean, literally WWII in space...)

the iceland volcano definitely seems like it's tied into an as-yet-unwritten doctor who episode

this episode really turned me off amy, i'm not sure why. i feel like she was called on to carry certain emotional aspects of the show, and to do a little comedy, and she mainly substituted facebook pout faces for it

not that i'm, on a certain level, complaining

Too much "Oh we can just happen to save the world" in this one: Bracewell converting Spitfires to fly in space in five minutes, when he's in the Cabinet war rooms, not at an airfield. The Doctor just realising he could appeal to the humanity in Bracewell to defuse the bomb. I know we're not getting realism, but this was just silly and slapdash, after the brilliant set-up.

The Jammie Dodger was a nice idea, to begin with...but man, how long was it dragged out? And why? All it did was buy time, and that time was just spent letting the daleks explain their plan and then execute it.

Yeah, pretty rub ep overall, I thought.

That was no Jammy Dodger.

i;ve been craving fox's jam rings ever since

when will the Daleks stop feeling like they have to tell the Doctor everything?

hoping that Amy's failure to remember the Daleks is entirely do with her and not some 'none of that ever actually happened' reset.

at the end was Bracewell off to become Dorabella's robot lover? ban this sick filth

Did Fox's Jam Rings exist in wartime Britain? Continuity error or alternate reality???

Dalek's are shit at this aren't they - every fucking time they go and spill the beans instead of going "oh look it's him again just fucking kill him! Don't even say EXTERMINATE!"

hoping that Amy's failure to remember the Daleks is entirely do with her and not some 'none of that ever actually happened' reset.

I think it's more Amy's not from when we originally thought and it hasn't happened yet on her timeline.

Or rather I think the thing that made her forget, or changed events for her, hasn't happened yet (classic Moffatt timey-wimeyness, in other words).

that's all covered in the Johnston link

another Star Wars ref: his blue glowing laser tube gets blown up and replaced with a green one.

I think it's more Amy's not from when we originally thought and it hasn't happened yet on her timeline.

remember how the doctor jumped '5 minutes' forward in the series -- only many years really elapsed? I wonder if he's right: if only 5 minutes did pass...

the cracks are losing some currency as cliff-hangers now. time to reveal a bit more than just another crack (tho now we've seen crack in present, crack in future and crack in past).

crackin 3 episodes

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/04/18/article-0-092EF776000005DC-205_468x490.jpg

remember how the doctor jumped '5 minutes' forward in the series -- only many years really elapsed? I wonder if he's right: if only 5 minutes did pass...

There's definitely something wonky, Churchill pointed out that The Doctor and Amy didn't turn up until a month after he called (yet he still managed to get back from the Dalek ship in linear time, I was fully expecting him to turn up in 1974 and wonder where Amy had gone or something)

me too. i explained it to myself that he wasn't using the time aspect of the tardis, just the space aspect. (as if the two were separable HA)

i thought it was a bit lame that the doctor waited until all but one of the british pilots were dead to realise that he could actually just hey, disable the daleks' shields.. and even then he had to be asked to do it by the last surviving pilot.

at least he could have been like woops sorry dude