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

Well that was better than it had any right to be.

Let's not get carried away.

Pretty goofy.

Goofy, yes, but RTD's been responsible for plenty, plenty worse.

Catherine Tate was definitely more likeable in this one. Bodes well, fun ep. The through-the-window screaming bit was pretty funny. I was a bit surprised they gave up the Rose reveal so early, but I guess realistically everybody knew about that by now.

(Rose wasn't a problem because their feelings were first platonic then reciprocal... while Martha kind of always had that puppy dog attraction from the start.)

It's pretty early to call but I have this feeling that this year might be it for Tennant, and this season perhaps wraps up the last three (it looks like everybody is back at some point) and there will be a mini-reboot whenever the show comes back.

Yeah, mini-reboot sounds on the cards. I reckon Tennant and Davies are off after this year.

Pretty goofy.

-- Gukbe, Sunday, 6 April 2008 16:37 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Goofy, yes, but RTD's been responsible for plenty, plenty worse.

-- Mikey Bidness, Sunday, 6 April 2008 16:49 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

It's a character introduction episode. No character introduction episode is ever going to be spectacular. It did its job and it did it well.

Can someone explain to this dense viewer why Catherine Tate was snooping around at the beginning, saying she was from health and safety, asking for a list of customers, pinching the pendant, basically acting like a detective?

RTD seems inordinately obsessed with pregnancy and children.

It's because, having turned down the Doctor on the first go, she changes her mind because her life is shit and goes looking for him in places where Weird Shit is happening in case he turns up there.

Oh yeah - she mouths through the window that she was looking for him! Man what a great scene.

I still like to think that she was going through all of that just so she could scam some free Adipose.

What IS the deal with all the annoying, overbearing mothers? Though both Mrs. Tyler and Jones did eventually get some character redemption (as I'm sure Mrs. Noble will eventually) they're all introduced as these obnoxious hens.

i hope we never see Donna's Mum again. i'm sure Cribbins will somehow end up saving the world tho.

I didn't mind the episode in itself, and there were some nice touches, but it just seemed a bit stuck together with old bits of nu-Who. A bit of the doctor running about for some reason as yet unexplained, a bit of aliens going about their evil business by exploiting modern mores (after bluetooth headsets and cheap TV sets and age-reversing technology), a bit of a woman persuading him to let her be his companion. You know.

Oh yeah, and the overbearing hen thing.

A friend has just asked me to participate in his fan fiction. PARTICIPATE. As of this moment I have nfi wtf he's talking about.

-- Autumn Almanac, Thursday, 3 April 2008 11:04 (3 days ago) Bookmark Link

Turns out it's a film he's making, and he wants me to play an old man. (a) I don't know what he is saying about my age and (b) I have been asked to ACT in a FAN FIC MOVIE. Is there a thread for people who have been asked to act in fan fic movies?

So, half the season until a Moffat ep?

Also, the bt was worth it, since Sci-Fi won't be airing the premiere for another 2 weeks. Not that I have cable anyway...

also, the wiki says this:

2009 and beyond

David Tennant is confirmed to star through to 2009. However, during the second half of 2008, Tennant is committed to a Royal Shakespeare Company production of Hamlet. After the 2008 Christmas Special, three Bank Holiday specials have been commissioned to air throughout 2009.[13][14] The programme will then return in 2010 with a fifth full series. Russell T Davies has suggested that the programme is expected to follow this pattern, of full series interspersed with occasional year-long breaks, for some time into the future.[15]

Pompeii episode looks gangsta. 'I Cladivs' meets the fruitier bits of BSG in the CGI bits of a Vesuvius doco.

i didn't expect to see Wose in the first episode

I much prefer the historical episodes when ignore the lure of big historical events and figures. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen very often.

"When they ignore," I mean.

when did that last happen? all recent historical stories have involved famous figures and events no?

Human Nature/The Family of Blood

I know it had the impending first world war as its backdrop, but it wasn't like "OMG LOL Lord Kitchener".

Er, World War I was a pretty famous event, I thought. YMMV, obviously, haha xpost

while Martha kind of always had that puppy dog attraction from the start

No, in her first ep she made a big song and dance about how she didn't do aliens etc, which makes me surprised that he fell for Donna saying the same thing.

Overbearing mothers = a reason to not feel bad for bailing on them (even though Rose frequently did, which was one of her more redeeming features and made her probably the most realistic companion - I'm figuring Bernard Cribbins may fulfil this role for Donna rather than Donna's mym though).

I'm guessing RTD may have some issues with his mother?

'The Unquiet Dead' did the Historical Figure Hangin' Wit' The Doctor thing with some degree of subtlety, I think.

Didn't like that. Read somewhere that Mark Gatiss's original script got changed significantly.

Wikipedia comes to the rescue:

Mark Gatiss stated in the Radio Times that the original script was more bleak and frightening, but that he was advised by Davies to "make it more of a romp."

Fucking romps.

No, in her first ep she made a big song and dance about how she didn't do aliens etc, which makes me surprised that he fell for Donna saying the same thing.

It was a sheepish lie/joke on her part, after she was flirting ("You're the one who kissed me!"), and when he turns away she looks sadly down. Watch it again, it's pretty clear even from that point that she wanted him.

I do think the writers want to set up Donna as a non-romantic companion, just one who wants that thrill and adventure, but I'm afraid once all the others come in it's going to be a madhouse between all of them. Though you do have to wonder why with the exception of snap-pop-open-head guy from S1 all his companions want to sleep with the old Doctor. (Man, that dude was a random pickup.)

Overbearing mothers = a reason to not feel bad for bailing on them
Yeah, you're probably right about this. And wo yea, I think RTD's got some mommy issues.

I didn't know about the '08 X-Mas special/Bank Holiday stuff coming up, that's cool to hear.

Martha's intentions might be clear to the viewer, but it wasn't clear to him, so why believe Donna when she says the same thing?

(especially when she's been stalking him with all her clothes in the back of the car ready to move in)

Ok, that's a good point. I guess... Catherine Tate full-on snark power means no falling in love? I'm just gonna have to go with that.

Fucking romps.
LOL, romps with the Doctor.

Believe me, I *want* Donna not to fall in love with him and just be his "mate". I just don't get how he seems to believe it's not going to happen when all the evidence points to the opposite.

Because... the only other Time Lord is dead, he's just lost another companion and the Doctor is very, very lonely and will probably take anyone at this point? It's a shame cause I think she'd be more fun as an annoyingly pesky, non-romantic companion but yeaa I also think Donna will deffo fall for him.

I liked that opener though... No fireworks, just felt very familiar. Loved the mouthing-through-the-windows bit, hilarious.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7333321.stm

have discovered problem with earlier timeslot does not factor in going for a pint on the way home from the football. This doesn't matter though because I have means of watching it not at 6.20. Do the people who axe shows for shit ratings take into account that people are recording them/watching them on iPlayer?

(I realise I could google this info, but thought I'd ask the people worried about the timeslot on here)

What IS the deal with all the annoying, overbearing mothers?

RTD did say in the Confidential that one of his favourite things in drama is the bickering mother/daughter set up. He didn't say why exactly, though he did hint that he believes that that's just what mothers and daughters do.

The time slot didn't result in low ratings, as RTD and others feared. About 8.9 mill or something. The higest opener since "Rose", anyway.

8.4 according to the article I linked to above

You should maybe indicate what your links are if you want people to click on them.

OH MY GOD SOMEONE HAS ALREADY KNITTED AN ADIPOSE BABY

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3270/2391380337_87e3acd43c.jpg?v=0

GAHHR! It's so cute, I want one!

But I don't want the ones that are clinging to my bod. :(

omg
i thought they were all going to cling together and form the staypuff marshmallow man

What IS the deal with all the annoying, overbearing mothers? (re: russell t davies) haha the other question, pos related, is What is the deal with all the fatness?

at this point it's more of a rhetorical question

Adipose babies looked like pokemans.

http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/funny-pictures-cat-dr-who-bbc-budget.jpg

I thought it was kind of ropey - the plot felt really thrown together, Tennant didn't get a chance to shine, and there were several annoyingly protracted emo scenes. The silent shouting bit was funny, but again went on too long. Didn't help that I watched it with my girlfriend, who has enjoyed Who in the past, but was all like "What the fuck is this, why are we watching this shit".

Much as I'm anti Rose returning, her cameo did raise the old goosebumps a bit, I have to admit.

That moment was just too hair-raisingly awesome.

I'm curious to see how long Donna sticks around, and how they handle her character arc. I don't know if I can take her bellowy thing for an entire season.

Have finally caught up with the show(finished the new ep & kylie minogue christmas ep at 5 this morning).

Next week's ep looks proper.

The Adipose deserved better once they were out and all running about. That episode could have got away with being a lot more like Gremlins.

What's up with Rose just vanishing though? Surely that's a faux Rose of some kind? And she never used to be so slinky and sultry.