Depression, koogs.
― ailsa, Sunday, 6 June 2010 13:44 (fourteen years ago) link
the 'if you have been affected by the issues raised in this program' bit was odd
presumably the suicide and mental illness aspects. i guess they handled these quite well tho, for a family show.
― mdskltr (blueski), Sunday, 6 June 2010 13:44 (fourteen years ago) link
alium was unecessary, coldplay-alikes were even worse than Gold, Amy thinking time would have been rewritten drastically (even more than the plot did, ho ho) was crap. but I pretty much enjoyed it!
― Señor Communications Adviser (sic), Sunday, 6 June 2010 14:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Alium was OK (though lol yes chickenbear), except how many more lost-soul-last-of-their-kind-left-behind aliums can we get?
― ailsa, Sunday, 6 June 2010 15:06 (fourteen years ago) link
i prefer it to invading hordes. the alien chicken was hardly un-necessary considering it was the whole reason they were there. one wonders tho why the Doctor (or anyone else) was not aware of it before assuming the original version of the painting featured the monster - thought there was going to be some alt-dimension time-rewritten reasoning behind that before they went and changed the past/future themselves (never good - half expected the monster to fade out from the painting BTTF style).
― mdskltr (blueski), Sunday, 6 June 2010 15:10 (fourteen years ago) link
We're getting a lot more nods to previous doctors (the rear-view-mirror alium-recognising device throwing out pics of previous reincarnations), presume this is a Moffat history-acknowledgement thing rather than Rusty thinking Who began and would end with him?
― ailsa, Sunday, 6 June 2010 15:21 (fourteen years ago) link
was hardly un-necessary considering it was the whole reason they were there.
nonsense, if Amy was such a big van Gogh fan they could have bloody set the TARDIS to go visit him in the first place instead of just going to a bloody museum from her own time
one wonders tho why the Doctor (or anyone else) was not aware of it before assuming the original version of the painting featured the monster
yes exactly
― Señor Communications Adviser (sic), Sunday, 6 June 2010 15:23 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah they could've just gone and visited him randomly and we could've had a whole episode without any monster at all perhaps
― mdskltr (blueski), Sunday, 6 June 2010 15:35 (fourteen years ago) link
otm
― Señor Communications Adviser (sic), Sunday, 6 June 2010 15:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Amy thinking time would have been rewritten drastically
Was expecting a bit more time being rewritten drastically myself, actually. Thought they would take him up the stairs and find no Van Gogh room any more or something. Also was thinking that if Amy did get her extra 200 paintings they would all be sad-eyed dog hotel art or something.
Alien was a bit rubbish and unnecessary (though I liked the idea of an invisible monster and was glad that the gadget to see it was so unwieldy and not just the Dr upgrading the screwdriver or wearing a silly hat and being able to see him perfectly), not even sure why a man with a time machine thinks noticing an alien in a century-old painting is OH NO NEWSFLASH TALK FASTER WE MUST RUN, but overall I didn't mind the episode. Possibly because "Richard Curtis writes historical-figure episode" are such uninspiring words that I was expecting it to be the worst thing ever.
― atoms breaking heart (a passing spacecadet), Sunday, 6 June 2010 16:58 (fourteen years ago) link
you want a Who story without an enemy then xp
― mdskltr (blueski), Sunday, 6 June 2010 17:01 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah without an alien it would have just been them dicking round with Van Gogh, and considering the bit after the alien died was by far the worst bit of the episode it would have been terrible. The problem was that an alien no one can see is a decent idea and they could have made more of the tension and destruction and they didn't.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 6 June 2010 17:33 (fourteen years ago) link
LOTS of ginger dialogue in this ep, I expect more complaints are on their way to the BBC following the "Ultimate Ginge" final line if nothing else.
― Slumpman, Sunday, 6 June 2010 19:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Southern Lord have a lot of the hipper, heavier groups. Hydra Head and Translation Loss have a lot of the high-level post-metal type groups. Prosthetic has a lot of cool stuff, but they might be a little more brutal than you're looking for. --X-Wing fighter in hand, "Godzilla" cranked on the stereo (J3ff T.)
LOTS of ginger dialogue in this ep, I expect more complaints are on their way to the BBC following the "Ultimate Ginge" final line if nothing else. --Slumpman
Rusty fans think this is the best thing EVARR because it's an OBVIOUS reference to Donna and how GRATE she is btw. They also think Chickenbear is a reference to Tennant's haircut and how GRATE it is fwiw.
― BLOODY BOLLOCKS HELL! (aldo), Sunday, 6 June 2010 19:40 (fourteen years ago) link
They also think Chickenbear is a reference to Tennant's haircut and how GRATE it is fwiw.
hang on WHAT?
― ailsa, Sunday, 6 June 2010 19:46 (fourteen years ago) link
I just think it's incredibly lazy writing on Curtis' part. What would the "world's greatest ever painter" and his biggest admirer who is also a time traveller have a conversation about if they ever had the chance to meet? Well, you know they both have the same colour hair so that, probably.
― Slumpman, Sunday, 6 June 2010 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
/They also think Chickenbear is a reference to Tennant's haircut and how GRATE it is fwiw./hang on WHAT? --ailsa
hang on WHAT? --ailsa
See? Now you know why I read Doctor Who Forums so you don't have to.
― BLOODY BOLLOCKS HELL! (aldo), Sunday, 6 June 2010 20:22 (fourteen years ago) link
btw my post a couple of hours ago might be considered a Zing Touch error.
― BLOODY BOLLOCKS HELL! (aldo), Sunday, 6 June 2010 21:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Also liked how the alien was a really small focus in the episode - mostly it was about Van Gogh and Amy.
Ditto. Must be turning into soppy old git, but was genuinely moved by Van Gogh in the gallery bit.
Also rather liked the glib explaining-away of his Scottish accent, in that to him Amy must have been talking in a Dutch accent.
And yes, liked the ungainly, 1950s-style device he needed to use to see the alien.
― Attention please, a child has been lost in the tunnel of goats. (James Morrison), Sunday, 6 June 2010 23:12 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean, I know it makes sense that a high-tech far-future time travelling alien would have some handy thing like the sonic screwdriver, but it's a boring and portable solve-everything. They need to blow it up again, as with the 5th Doctor, and have him rely more on his brain or on something less obviously useful--like a heavy, ungainly thing with a wing mirror.
― Attention please, a child has been lost in the tunnel of goats. (James Morrison), Sunday, 6 June 2010 23:14 (fourteen years ago) link
OK, saw this episode, which is the first Doctor Who I've watched since, ooh, Queen Victoria was in it.
Amy and Who is very John Steed and Emma Peel, I reckons. Karen Gillan does seem to have watched lots of Avenger episodes as 'source material', particularly.
― Mark G, Sunday, 6 June 2010 23:26 (fourteen years ago) link
― mdskltr, (7 hours ago)
Sherlockian deductive abilities to the fore, there
Rly rly sick of historicals that turn out to be about aliens instead of historicals, especially when they have real people in them who might have been quite interesting to make up a story about [...]― Señor Communications Adviser, (5 days ago)
Or what Dan said, that'd be more than fine too.
― Señor Communications Adviser (sic), Monday, 7 June 2010 00:36 (fourteen years ago) link
More with the yay- than nay-sayers on this one, though the latter have some valid points. Curtis gave the Doc some good lines, and I admit I got a little teary at Vincent in the gallery.
― rhythm fixated member (chap), Monday, 7 June 2010 00:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh, and I have an odd hunch that next week's might turn out to be surprisingly good.
― rhythm fixated member (chap), Monday, 7 June 2010 00:52 (fourteen years ago) link
I like the use of the screwdriver as a tricorder, which they seem to be doing a lot this year.
Appreciated the deliberate comedy bits of contrasting how gingerly the Doctor who treat each painting when Van Gogh himself would casually toss them around.
Also, one thing that i have noticed since really getting into the show is an appreciation of a sense of economy. All you need is just to shoot Matt Smith running around some cobblestone streets or in a cathedral to tell an interesting story.
Plus, the idea that Van Gogh wasn't completely mad, that he was dismayed at monsters that were actually there, is a good one. Didn't like the sense of "oh god we're going into music video mode" at the end, but whaddaya gunna do. The scene of the three of them lying in a field was excellent, if nothing else for the thematic joining of up of two people who had greatly different ideas of what the Universe actually was and how they saw it than most people, and both guys' perceptions greatly differed from each other.
― Don Homer (kingfish), Monday, 7 June 2010 02:15 (fourteen years ago) link
The Doctor and Nighy complimenting each other's bow-ties was cute.
― Daleks in NYC (Leee), Monday, 7 June 2010 03:52 (fourteen years ago) link
haaaaaate this
nb loved when he pulled a great big slingshot out of his inside pocket in Hungry Earth, great for the absurdity AND him having SOMETHING ELSE useful in his jacket instead of tricordering it with A SCREWDRIVER
rather loved the "only going to use this to screw in screws" in Vincent along these lines
― Señor Communications Adviser (sic), Monday, 7 June 2010 04:11 (fourteen years ago) link
i didn't really notice the music video mode at the end, but my sister HATED it. she pointed out that most (all?) of the time they've used contemporary songs in the past (Toxic, Voodoo Child, Mr. Blue Sky) it's because someone is actually playing the song in the episode.
― AGGGGGROOOOOO CRAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG (reddening), Monday, 7 June 2010 04:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah the sonic screwdriver has mostly been a bit rubbish and inadequate this series, which I quite like.
― Matt DC, Monday, 7 June 2010 08:04 (fourteen years ago) link
I really didn't feel the ending of this. A) wasn't it kind of out of character for the doctor? How would he know it wouldn't change (art) history)? II) it just seemed like a klutzy saccharine attempt to sweeten what was and is a real and heartbreaking tragedy; and 3) gah, the music, come back Murray Gold all is forgiven (not really).
― sent from my neural lace (ledge), Monday, 7 June 2010 09:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I didn't even really notice the music at the end because I was all swept up in the "aww, this isn't changing anything but it's lovely for Vincent to know he's not all underappreciated".
And, yes, I think next week will be good, the <SPOILER FOR ANYONE WHO DIDN'T WATCH THE TRAILER> "I'm your new lodger" <END SPOIILER> line sets up some Being Human type japes, and I'm fine with Corden being in it as an actor because he's not writing "I am Smithy, I am grate and funny" lines for himself or anything (see also every pre-Runaway Bride defence of Catherine Tate ever).
― ailsa, Monday, 7 June 2010 09:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Well, every episode has seen them fixing the problem that brought them to time X, but also creating another problem (crack/anomalous painting dedication/Rory etc) so I really don't see what the objections are to something that's clearly a THING this series.
― baby you can drive my kaur (suzy), Monday, 7 June 2010 09:41 (fourteen years ago) link
It was a highly ginger episode. I haven't seen too much of this series but haven't much enjoyed what I have seen. Thought this particular episode was mince, though the guy playing Vince was obv. born for the role! Yes, Amy is very cute and all that but she is just too annoying, her voice is even beginning to annoy me.
― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Monday, 7 June 2010 11:12 (fourteen years ago) link
... objected to the idea of Vincent Van Gogh being described as the greatest artist who ever lived, for starters!
― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Monday, 7 June 2010 11:16 (fourteen years ago) link
Thinking back on that episode it really did feel like Curtis's sole frame of reference was a handful of Rusty-era episodes on DVD. This series has been mercifully short on slush so far so hopefully this is just an aberration.
Still have total faith that the Moffatt-penned finale will be awesome.
― Matt DC, Monday, 7 June 2010 11:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh right, this was written by Richard Curtis, no wonder it blew
― Wenlock & Mandelson (Tom D.), Monday, 7 June 2010 11:19 (fourteen years ago) link
That explains Bill Nighy then.
― Mark G, Monday, 7 June 2010 11:21 (fourteen years ago) link
see if you can guess what my deductive abilities are telling me now
― mdskltr (blueski), Monday, 7 June 2010 11:22 (fourteen years ago) link
that you've been persuaded that a quiet classic-style historical would be a lovely change of pace?
Thinking back on that episode it really did feel like Curtis's sole frame of reference was a handful of Rusty-era episodes on DVD.
Was this a leftover from RTD-era, rewritten to squeeze in Moffarc continuity? Does feel a bit like it, though way way more relaxed than any Rusty 45 minutes. (It was nice having the rub alium resolved in half an hour and knowing the rest would be a gentler epilogue.)
Curtis commissioned and produced Moffat's first Who telly though, Curse Of Fatal Death.
― on some kinda serial killer ish (sic), Monday, 7 June 2010 11:42 (fourteen years ago) link
It started out ok - there were some cute lines and decent ideas - but it was just so schmaltzy. As soon as that foul Athlete song came on the episode was sunk beyond redemption. I thought bringing Vincent forward in time was really corny, and while the Starry Night bit could have been sweet, so much slush had been piled on I was completely put off. Nighy's speech about the greatness of Van Gogh sounded like something out of a exhibition catalogue or even a documentary - it didn't sound like real dialogue. It felt patronising, as if the viewer had to be told how great the art was and we weren't allowed to make our own mind up. Kids can tell Van Gogh is wonderful. Rubbish CGI turkey monster. And Tony Curran was ridiculously hammy. I quite liked his hamminess at times, but it felt incongruous, especially next to Matt Smith's nicely understated performance. I dunno what it is with Richard Curtis. Co-writes a classic sitcom then completely turns to shit. Did the Devil rescind Curtis and Elton's crossroads pact?
― Count Palmiro Vicarion (Stew), Monday, 7 June 2010 12:27 (fourteen years ago) link
Debate: Does Dr Who needs a 'no peril at all' episode?
― Jarlrmai, Monday, 7 June 2010 12:57 (fourteen years ago) link
The Timelord Buds Of May
― mdskltr (blueski), Monday, 7 June 2010 13:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Another reason for my disappointment was how poorly it compared to all the art shenanigans in City of Death...
― Count Palmiro Vicarion (Stew), Monday, 7 June 2010 13:04 (fourteen years ago) link
― Jarlrmai, Monday, 7 June 2010 13:57 (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
― mdskltr (blueski), Monday, 7 June 2010 14:02 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark
last of the summer time
― joe, Monday, 7 June 2010 13:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Last of the Summer Timey Wimey, surely.
― rhythm fixated member (chap), Monday, 7 June 2010 13:17 (fourteen years ago) link
(Two) Heartbeat
― ailsa, Monday, 7 June 2010 13:17 (fourteen years ago) link
December to May
― this skit is ba-na-nas (onimo), Monday, 7 June 2010 16:18 (fourteen years ago) link
The Vicar of Wibbley.
― ailsa, Monday, 7 June 2010 16:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Gallifrey and Juno
― Mark G, Monday, 7 June 2010 16:21 (fourteen years ago) link
George and Mild Dread
― ailsa, Monday, 7 June 2010 16:21 (fourteen years ago) link