Doctor Who 2008: Sontarans cometh, RTD Ood 'ave 'im etc.

Who gives a shit, someone was bound to eventually answer a question that was asked 45 years ago. They should go the whole hog and bring back Susan for the season finale, played by, I dunno, Becca from Hollyoaks or something.

(Guess who hasn't watched Hollyoakes in 5 years, kids)

Actually, yeah, more interested in Susan than any other NEW family members.
Regarding the Sontarans, watched 'The Time Warrior' with my wife on the weekend, as she only knows new-Who and wanted to see where Sarah Jane first showed up, and it had the probic-vent-thing-meaning-Sontarans-must-always-face-the-enemy thing in it, so that was there from the start. Also, Sontarans are creepier when they keep sticking their tongue out slightly every few minutes, like a lizard or a B-movie sex criminal.

TBH the most OTM criticism of nu-Who is how cloying the emotional stuff actually is. There's nothing wrong with injecting a bit of emo into the format but I can think of just three instances where it's actually been done well (The Girl In The Fireplace, Father's Day and whatever the pre-WW1 two-parter in S3 was called) and two out of those three were written by Paul Cornell*.

*Who might be a better call for S5 main writer than Moffatt, over the course of a whole series.

Billie did show up on the screen, yes, mouthing what looked like the word "Doctor". Those two were OK, really, but dear God Freema Agyeman is a terrible actress. Still liking the total lack of love interest with Donna, the bit where he was all "ooh, here is a key to the tardis, this is a big moment for us" and she was all "er, yeah, can we do this later when we're not about to be killed please" was nice.

kungfu daughter next week looks beyond shite though.

I don't know about that it looks like a Brits in SPAAAAACE episode, and I think they have been good so far.

During the TARDIS-goes-haywire final scene there were a few shots of the hand-in-jar bubbling away. I WONDER IF THIS REMINDER IS SIGNIFICANT AT ALL?

Yeah, there is something that already grates about the alien-kicking, boy-snogging, acrobatic, self-satisfied Brit-Buffy posh-girl that is the Doctor's daughter. But... we'll see.

"Go with the Doctor and see the stars, and maybe bring a little piece back for me."

"lol here's your souvenir from early 21st century Cardiff/London Grandad!"

people dissing Agyeman in this episode do realise she was playing an emotionally stunted clone of Martha for most of it tho yeah?

Yes she was good at that, like Keanu Reeves is excellent in clueless asshole roles.

I'm enjoying this series on the whole, except when I read this thread and realise that I agree with most of the criticisms but I soon get over it when another daft/fun episode comes around.

^OTM

Mrs H was in bits at the "Are you my mummy?" line - because she's enjoying the show for what it is, and not getting het up in fanwankery like, erm, some peop... er, me. Oh go on, I laughed too.

I don't think any episode's been up to much this year, but I reckon the other three series have been much the same, i.e. they hit their stride in the second half. For what it's worth, this weekend's episode stirred the blood more than the preceding four.

"alien-kicking, boy-snogging, acrobatic, self-satisfied Brit-Buffy posh-girl"

This is a bad thing?!?!?

S2 actually got worse in the second half but yeah I reckon they're holding over the best stories for later in the series, especially the Moffatt two-parter.

Do we have writer details for the rest of the series? Incidentally, killing off all the Timelords seems like a stupider idea as nu-Who progresses.

Doctor's Daughter: Stephen Greenhorn
Unicorn & The Wasp: Gareth Roberts
Silence In The Library: Steven Moffatt
Forest Of The Dead: Steven Moffatt
Midnight: Rusty
Turn Left: Rusty
The Stolen Earth: Rusty
Journey's End: Rusty

Look! I have not even slagged it off! Despite one of the most ridiculous rumours imaginable being all but confirmed for the finale.

Ugh four Rusty's in a row. I do want to read this ridiculous rumour though - any chance of a link?

Mail me and I'll fill you in (although it will be later as I can't see the address linked to when I'm at work).

I actually think the first of Rusty's 4 sounds like the most Old-Who of maybe his entire era, but it's bound to feature AGELESS CREATURES FROM BEFORE THE DAWN OF TIME and EMO WUB NONCESENSE so it won't end up that way, I'm sure.

Man, I leave this thread for three weeks and everyone is twice as bitchy. Oh, ILE, how it goes...

I just watched the last 3 straight in a row, and I'm surprisingly... entertained? Especially Planet of the Ood, totally expected that to be terrible, but it wasn't. The effects were actually pretty decent for the the last Sontaran episode, as said up there. All of them felt like a good mix of old school/new school Who - real big on chases and action, with incredibly unsubtle themes on war and capitalism, but higher budget production.

I can't help it, I love Martha, but I keep feeling like the actress and (ESPECIALLY) the character are wasted half the time, especially her run in Torchwood. Donna is holding up as a companion much better than I expected, too. Almost fell out of my seat at the "Are you my mommy?" line. Classic. And I really have no problem whatsoever with the emotional family stuff, only the overdone harpy bitch mother trope, making Mrs. Noble #3 in this series. Other than that it's good, I like the actors.

Let's save the future bitching until the episodes air, at least - remember, last season's finales were written by Davies too, and it was damn good stuff.

Well apart from all of the last episode, obviously. And a big chunk of the one before it. And the last 10 minutes of the one before that.

I am 100% amazed that so many people love the 'are you my mummy' line.

Well, me too. But I seem to be the strawman here so I didn't want to mention it for fear of weakening your argument.

We need to form an official clique and give it a memetastic name in order to confuse people.

FURTDAYCM Cru?

Fuck U (to be DOWN WIV DA KIDZ) RTD And Yr Cunty Mates

DWZC

Hahahaha if the last episode is as preposterous as what I've read then it really is preposterous. But still possibly less so than the ending of last year's.

preposterous vs boring

I really, really wish I hadn't emailed aldo for what happens at the end.

Hurts yr brane, doesn't it.

only the overdone harpy bitch mother trope, making Mrs. Noble #3 in this series

I could almost convince myself that RTD dragging this one out again and again for any mother character or anything resembling it (alien foster nurse from Adipose episode, hello) is kind of irresponsible for a family show.

I'm probably just being silly here, but still, there's young kids watching this, probably quite often with their mothers; it just seems a bit rude that RTD wants to cram in "this is what mothers are really like" every week.

(Let them decide that for themselves! They probably will as soon as they hit their teens anyway.)

The mum of the main child character in 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' is another mum from hell, too.

Don't kids see that as escapism, though? I doubt there's a whole new generation of burgeoning mum-haters because of this show.

Quite like to see the post-Rusty reboot do a series without a family, and without having to pop back to London in 2010 every few episodes. I'm sure the viewers won't run away and never return for lack of identification.

Although I generally think stories on Earth > stories on other planets > stories on fucking identikit industrial space stations with lots of high platforms and dry ice.

The high platforms and dry ice are getting ridiculous, yes.

Pulling away from earth and identifiable characters is just too great a risk to take for a show that relies on mass appeal in order to be made at all.

Also I'd like to see some stories in modern-day Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds etc.

Pulling away from earth and identifiable characters is just too great a risk to take for a show that relies on mass appeal in order to be made at all.

is this more of a problem now than it was in the 60s/70s/80s?

Surely the Angel of the North is going to come off its pedestal at some point?

They could get round the identifiable characters thing by having a larger entourage in the Tardis but yeah I see your point.

Dr Who is all about dry ice, especially where unit involved (good to see this last week). Quite frankly I'm always a little dissapointed when Dr Who doesn't look like this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2246/1880122176_327d9c73ae.jpg

They could get round the identifiable characters thing by having a larger entourage in the Tardis

But this is an inherent problem with OOH DOCTOR I WUB YOU :SADEYES: bollocks. For all this might improve things (Mickey's one real trip, the kid from the Pompeii episode would have been a companion in any other era of the show) it can't be allowed to happen because it would fundamentally alter Rusty's will-they-won't-they dynamic.

Lizo on CBBC has given tomorrow night's episode the lowest rating of any NuWho and even a couple of the most severe Rusty boosters on some other forums have agreed it's the 'least good' NuWho yet.

Oh you'll like this - "Freema gives her first duff performance in this episode. There's a scene with her and a Hath in a bog with is worse than the cliffhanger in Dragonfire."

Both of those seem pretty unbelievable. And this came from someone who still kind of liked the episode.

Freema gives her first duff performance in this episode

OK, this person has no clue.

Yeah, my point being if they thought the rest were good, and this was bad, how utterly terrible must it be?

Oh fuck. Please let this not be the case. I don't think I could handle another shit episode this year.

We both enjoyed this year's Torchwood far more than Doctor Who. (For perspective, we did not like Torchwood at all the first time round.)

I'm always wishing they'll pick up companions from other time periods, ie a Victorian adventuress, a pirate, an ancient Chinese scholar, whatever, rather than just modern-day folk. That's partly why companions like Jamie were groovy.

wtf, here at karaoke bar. why the fuck are there _8_ billie piper tracks in the songbook?! she didn't have any singles that charted in america, did she?!

We both enjoyed this year's Torchwood far more than Doctor Who. (For perspective, we did not like Torchwood at all the first time round.)

Here too.

Yeah.

Mothers' day tomorrow, so I won't see this one until the day after, and I could not care less.

Mothers' day tomorrow

This scared me more than anything in Dr Who. Bloody Americans.

Would be quite good if in a future episode the Dr was put on trial for killing off the world's entire bird population. Aside from emus, peacocks and penguins.

Also hopefully we get to see young Bernard Cribbins in the 1960s/1950s at some point.

and I could not care less.

And the fact that this is your 49857689th post on a Dr Who tread makes that clear.

It's a contrast to the past few years of counting down the minutes each week.

(Mothers' day tomorrow)

This scared me more than anything in Dr Who. Bloody Americans.

Um, huh?