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The Doctor Who Thread.....


Greg1138

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I forgot to mention how annoying the Amy Pond intro was after season 5. Sorry, not watching the newest ones. Anyway, I did some reading up on this because I was taken aback by it, but apparently the Amy Pond intro was only in America and Australia? Ridiculous. It makes it seem like it's a show about her. "Hi, I'm Amy and this is my imaginary friend, The Doctor! We go on adventures!" What's weird is that season 6 was Doctor-centric as fuck, making the Amy Show intro even more baffling.

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Selina is talking about the weird credits sequence BBC America added in front of the normal credits where Amy kind of explains the general concept of the show. It was an attempt to help bring new people into the show more gently.

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15 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Selina is talking about the weird credits sequence BBC America added in front of the normal credits where Amy kind of explains the general concept of the show. It was an attempt to help bring new people into the show more gently.

 

Ah! Thanks.

 

30 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

The Eleventh Hour! Brilliant introduction to a new Doctor!

 

Possibly Smith's best story.

Basically... run.

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Wasn't a fan of that episode. Felt like it combined bits of The Beast Below and Kill the Moon, but didn't seem to come together as a cohesive story.

 

The 'have you killed anyone' bit was was a nice touch though. The 'politician's' answer was funny, before he answered it.

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I'd like to see another 'meet an historical figure' episode a la Dickens, Queen Vic, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Van Gogh.  It's been quite a while hasn't it?  I guess it's difficult to come up with a fresh approach for those. The Van Gogh one was just superb.

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11 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

Wasn't a fan of that episode. Felt like it combined bits of The Beast Below and Kill the Moon, but didn't seem to come together as a cohesive story.

I liked the episode myself, but that's indeed a very accurate observation; it seemed surprisingly familiar....

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It felt like an unadulterated Doctor Who monster-of-the-week story, as the show has routinely been in the past. Lots of throwbacks to other episodes - The Beast Below, Kill The Moon - as mentioned above, but more apparent to me was the connection to The Fires of Pompeii and Donna's plight for the Doctor to save someone in the face of utter destruction.

 

Next time looks interesting I hope David Suchet isn't wasted on a shitty script.

 

Score was ok, some more plucking/ticking sounds from Deep Breath, nothing to write home about yet...

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14 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

I'd like to see another 'meet an historical figure' episode a la Dickens, Queen Vic, Shakespeare, Agatha Christie, Van Gogh.  It's been quite a while hasn't it?  I guess it's difficult to come up with a fresh approach for those. The Van Gogh one was just superb.


The 'historicals' during the show's Sixties infancy were partially intended as being educational for younger viewers.  

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I'm aware.

 

Anyway, I quite enjoyed "Thin Ice."  Bill and the Doctor got some nice relationship development.  The plot was standard Doctor Who, which is fine.  My one problem with the show at this point is that I seriously have a really hard time understanding Bill a lot of the time.  I watch on the Apple TV iPlayer app, which doesn't support subtitles, unfortunately.

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I really like the AV Club's review of "Thin Ice":

 

http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/doctor-who-hasnt-been-fun-agesor-serious-254510

 

I'm going to rewatch the episode at some point this week, I like it more and more as I think about it.  I was spending so much time just trying to understand the dialogue, I wasn't really immersing myself in the story.  Maybe I'll torrent the episode with a subtitle file.

 

Oh! And I can't believe I forgot to comment in my previous post about "Thin Ice" how exciting it was to hear four knocks on the vault door at the end of the episode ;) 

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I watch enough British TV that I'm usually ok, but there's something about the way she talks really fast in short bursts sometimes where it just flies right past me.  Her speech about the girl she made fat in "The Pilot" was basically completely unintelligible the first time I watched it.

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1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

I watch enough British TV that I'm usually ok, but there's something about the way she talks really fast in short bursts sometimes where it just flies right past me.  Her speech about the girl she made fat in "The Pilot" was basically completely unintelligible the first time I watched it.

 

I'm with you. Capaldi's mild Scottish accent is nothing in comparison. Bill is more on a David Tennant Broadchurch level of difficulty. I'd take it as a learning experience, but that would work better with subtitles. Sadly, British shows don't seem to come with captions even when they're labeled as web rips.

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I found the Capaldi Who to be a breath of fresh air after season 7, where they decided to make the Smith Who excessively dark and weird, with ugly cinematography and Hans Zimmer music. Just so many episodes where there was nothing really happening. You longed for earlier Smith Who, Tennant Who and especially Eccelston Who (which I watched last), where the writing was sharp and had you on the edge of your seat, and they turned the lights on.

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I thought the Clara half of Season 7 was pretty weak, but I did love "Cold War" and "Hide."

 

The first half (the Ponds' farewell) is all great for me though.

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It was better than "Smile," but definitely didn't topple "Thin Ice" as the best of the season so far for me.  I really enjoyed all the build-up and tension, but once it got to what was actually going on it started to lose me.  But still, it was quick, funny, scary, and emotional: all the ingredients of a solid Doctor Who adventure!  I like the Bill/Doctor combo more every episode.  I really like that she's the first main companion who doesn't seem obsessed with her adventures with the Doctor to the point of abandoning her life on Earth.

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1 hour ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Knock Knock - a deft blend of 'old dark house' chills and tragedy, probably the best episode of this series so far. David Suchet was (unsurprisingly) terrific. 

 

Definitely the best for me so far. I loved the first half, even thought it was reminiscent of The Haunting in that it derived all its terror from strange noises. Unfortunately, the second half was highly formulaic. Suchet (whom I didn't know before) was great.

 

I already miss Capaldi.

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This is all rather strange reading - this has to go down with series 6 as one of the worst seasons for me. The twist this week was effective in the moment, but it couldn't make up for an otherwise thoroughly predictable storyline. I need to be surprised and taken off guard.

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24 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I still think "Let's Kill Hitler" is brilliant fun, and I seem to remember that one being kind of divisive among fans?


It has its moments, but ultimately I found the plotting so convoluted it lost me. I still don't really understand it.  

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So I've been wary about starting the new season...I think I've reached my Doctor Who fatigue point. But is it any good?

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Well, if I may ... now freed of the Clara 'baggage' and given a spring in its step by both the hiatus and the new companion, what the new season has delivered so far is 4 solidly entertaining stand-alone episodes of sci-fi adventure. Capaldi is (still) brilliant, Pearl Mackie is a delight as Bill and Matt Lucas' Nardole amuses. 

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'Oxygen' was a brilliant episode - probably my favourite this season. The suspense and tension was high throughout the story, Bill and Nardole were great and funny, the writing was fast and witty and the production design was 100%.

 

Big ultimatum for The Doctor next time with 'Extremis' - the beginning of a three-part story.

 

A big thing I've noticed this season is how the score has taken a bit of a "backseat" approach, nothing that reaches out and grabs you. Bill's theme is there, but the score has become almost entirely synth...

 

 

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Fun episode. Lots of fun, actually. Easily the best of this series so far for me, without a weaker second half like last week. And I like how the series arc is slowly taking shape.

 

Yes, the score for the Capaldi era in general has taken an approach that's a mix of noble Zimmer heroism for the Doctor and less noticeable background music for the rest. S9 had a larger share of refreshing exceptions, as far as I remember (where's the CD release!?), but on the whole, I'm hoping for a fresher approach for Chibnall's first Doctor.

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This season goes from strength to strength, each episode bettering the last ... 'Oxygen' can sit proudly with Jamie Mathieson's 3 previous Who episodes.

Maybe the show should be re-named 'Doctor Who's There?' for as long as his temporary blindness lasts ... :lol:   

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