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The Doctor Who Thread.....


Greg1138

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Doing some catch-up after holiday.

 

The Lie of the Land: sort of ok. The fake regeneration I thought was bordering on insulting to fans, particularly as we know Capaldi is exiting. The 'reset' with Bill's Mum was touching, but felt stretched.

 

Watching The Empress of Mars now. Holy cow is this boring. 10 minutes to go and I'm just waiting for Nardole to reappear with the Tardis and save everyone.

 

I don't want to be overly negative, but the three leads aside (and a couple of good episodes), this has been by far the worst season of Who I've ever seen. The stories are struggling.

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The Caves Of Andozani.

 

The worst Doctor Who serial? Hard to say. Certainly one of the worst ive seen. Who okayed this script? Exposition galore. The Doctor and Peri run from one warring faction to another and back again. None of them worthy of interest and certainly noone to root for.

 

 

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You've stated your dislike of Caves before now, Steef ... rewatching in case you find something of merit this time round?

 

I recently watched The Reign Of Terror (Hartnell) and Planet Of Fire (Davison). Reign was a trial to finish ... plodding throughout its 6 episodes, unfortunately. By contrast, Planet's 4 episodes breezed by. 

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The format of the original series doesn't lend itself to excitement.

 

"Let's take a cool story and drag it out over many unnecessary episodes with forced cliffhangers at the end of each!"

 

nu-Who is a definite improvement, format-wise.

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3 hours ago, Stefancos said:

 

The Caves Of Andozani.

 

The worst Doctor Who serial? Hard to say. Certainly one of the worst ive seen. Who okayed this script? Exposition galore. The Doctor and Peri run from one warring faction to another and back again. None of them worthy of interest and certainly noone to root for.

 

 

 

 

What a stupid thing to say.

 

 

 

THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI is classic

"classic" Who, directed with flair by Grahame Harper, loaded with atmosphere, and boasting a fantastic central performance, by Davison. Now't wrong with it, at all. You're just not trying hard enough.

 

 

1 hour ago, Sweeping Strings said:

You've stated your dislike of Caves before now, Steef ... rewatching in case you find something of merit this time round?

 

I recently watched The Reign Of Terror (Hartnell) and Planet Of Fire (Davison). Reign was a trial to finish ... plodding throughout its 6 episodes, unfortunately. By contrast, Planet's 4 episodes breezed by. 

 

Ah! So you watched the transmitted version of PLANET OF FIRE, and not the SE, which is also good. Just two words...pink bikini :)

I agree about ROT.

As for COA; forget Steef. He'll never come round to the charms of classic Who. 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

"Let's take a cool story and imbue it with old school charm, atmosphere, subtle humour, and sastifying performances, while, at the same time, instilling a very good, central moral code".

 

Sorted :)

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19 hours ago, Richard said:

 

THE CAVES OF ANDROZANI is classic

"classic" Who, directed with flair by Grahame Harper, loaded with atmosphere, and boasting a fantastic central performance, by Davison. Now't wrong with it, at all. You're just not trying hard enough.

 

Davidson came across as a crashing bore, and something of a pompous twat. Tristan Farnon rather than The Doctor. I'm sorry.

Atmosphere sure...but an actual story that has the lead characters invested in the going's on rather than just running away? Classic Who has a hell of a lot of this. 

It's poor writing. If the main characters are just trying to escape, why should we care about the environment they find themselves in? 

 

The history of Who is actually filled with shoddy writing, slow, ponderous stories, revisiting old tropes for the sake of audience satisfaction etc etc...

 

I wager even at his worst Moffat still rates well above average.

 

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Just finished today's... wow. Easily the best episode of the season. After last week's utter snoozefest, the detail in the story for this one was astounding, and a great score by Gold.

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1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

Just finished today's... wow. Easily the best episode of the season. After last week's utter snoozefest, the detail in the story for this one was astounding, and a great score by Gold.

 

Soundtrack releases when already

augh

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As we haven't seen a season 9 release yet, I'm not holding my breath quite yet.

 

It was mentioned over at FSM, and there was a suggestion that Gold has been too busy to prepare a soundtrack, which would make sense with Silva's official line that it's 'not available to licence'.

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Good one (although I hated the "Doctor Who" banter at the beginning), with a suitably dramatic climax. Loved how Gold let the Master bits creep into the score in the finale.

Also, some very obvious emphasis on the Master having changed gender, and the Doctor not (curiously) remembering that he never has so far. More hints for a female Thirteen, or just a red herring?

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The Doctor Who shtick was funny but overlong. I'm kicking myself for not realizing who that Rasputiny guy really was immediately. The dashing smile makes it so obvious. 

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Very much enjoyed it ... 'timey-wimey' tricksiness, laughs, genuinely creepy 'n' dark stuff, the return of the first incarnation of the Doctor's second-oldest enemies AND of Simm's Master.   

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I haven't been a fan of Michelle Gomez's Missy before (well played but annoying), but (except for a few exaggerated bits of cheap humour here and there) I really like her in this series.

 

 

8 hours ago, Woj said:

I'm kicking myself for not realizing who that Rasputiny guy really was immediately. The dashing smile makes it so obvious. 

 

It was clear that he had to be someone, which makes me wonder why I didn't get it until he started giving hints.

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Yeah, I was totally taken in by the disguise.  I even thought to myself at one point, "I wonder who this actor is, he's really good."

 

Geez louise, I can't wait for part 2 next Saturday.  Sadly, I'm going to a wedding that evening so I probably won't be able to watch it until Sunday night!  I'll just have to avoid the internet during the day Sunday.

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Unfortunately I had spoiled the plot and reveals through a friend who shared some of the rumours that were floating around. Apart from knowing everything going in, it was still a great episode and one which really harkens back to the RTD era. The music was great, especially all the subtle and not-so subtle variations of the Master's theme (that literally says 'The MA-ster') and the 'This is Gallifrey'.

 

Even knowing Simm was Razer, the prosthetics were convincing and his character was comedy gold.

 

I haven't felt this excited for a finale since series 3!

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5 minutes ago, RPurton said:

 

 

I haven't felt this excited for a finale since series 3!

 

Really?  At the end of "Heaven Sent" I was so bowled over I wanted to see "Hell Bent" immediately.  My favorite two part finale of the series.

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I loved Heaven Sent, but back in 2007, I was 14 and the Utopia/Sound of Drums/Last of the TimeLords finale was spectacular. When Hell Bent aired I just wasn't feeling the same, probably because series 9 had been disappointing for me...

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One thing to clarify: when I mentioned 'last week's snoozefest' I was actually talking about The Empress of Mars. I realised just now that I missed out The Eaters of Light! Although it must be a standalone episode as I didn't notice anything.

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That was some fabulous television. The thought of losing Capaldi and Gomez after this year is unbearable. I hope Bill stays because I couldn't handle her leaving as well, she's quickly become my favourite companion since Donna. But that's what makes Who so fantastic, eleven years on from when I started watching and there's always new characters to love. I kinda wish we had a few more episodes with Missy involved in the story of the week, I adore her.

 

I've never been a huge fan of Simm's Master but I'm keen to see what Moffat does with him. Anything would be better than the half-baked "End of Time" (or even "Last of the Timelords", that was such a letdown after "The Sound of Drums"). I genuinely had no idea it was him under the prosthetics even though I knew he was coming. It was a delightful little twist and Simm was very good in the role.

 

 

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I also took far too long to realise that the 'hospital janitor' was Simm. Nice nod to Roger Delgado (Third Doctor-era Master) when he pulled off his disguise ... Delgado did that a lot. 

 

The Doctor using 'Venusian aikido' to take down the guy who shot Bill was a Third Doctor reference, too. 

 

 

 

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Have you guys seen this?

 

Includes several mostly SFX-less re-revordings of Doctor Who music:

"A Good Man" (season 8)

"Breaking the Wall" (season 9)

"Bill's Theme" (season 10)

"Doctor Who Theme" (extended arrangement I don't recall hearing before)

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I hope we get the music from World Enough and Time, especially the part where the Doctor is explaining the time dilation. Arghh, I'm so impatient!

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Wasn't that noticeable...

52 minutes ago, Richard said:

Ouch! Some ropey brass around the 36:40 mark, but otherwise, it's a solid performance.

 

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And now we STILL don't know who is going to be the next Doctor!!!

Evil, evil, evil.

Also: Holy crap! And is The Master going to appear again in any form in the future?

If so, how does that work...?

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The Doctor Falls

 

Well, that was rather brilliant, wasn't it? A thrilling, emotional finale with great performances by all the primary actors. Tons of great score bits, too - we desperately need new score releases.

 

And not only does it leave the next Doctor a mystery (will they be able to keep it a secret until the end of the year?), but it sets up what promises to be a really cool Christmas special. Now for a six month wait...

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Hmmm, I'll need a second watch to be entirely sure about it I think.

 

It's a little weird sometimes how the show both celebrates its past (Simm's Seventies/Eighties Master tribute goatee) and then sort-of subverts it (when he was seen applying 'guyliner').   

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58 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

It's a little weird sometimes how the show both celebrates its past (Simm's Seventies/Eighties Master tribute goatee) and then sort-of subverts it (when he was seen applying 'guyliner').   

 

I think that that really sums-up SM's tenure. He wanted to take it into unexplored territory, and to celebrate its history, but he had little real respect for the show. In the end, it became his plaything, something to occupy his time in between SHERLOCK. It became a parlour-game that he grew tired of, quickly. After that, he just gave up. The show deserved better. 

There have been many really good stories, in the last eight years, but, on the whole, he didn't do DW many favours.

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Don't have kittens, Genesis is going to work.

It's only one person's opinion :)

You can have your nu-Who, but you can't take it with you. I was here before most DW fans, and I'll be here when they've all gone the way of the dodo.

I don't hate nu-Who, like some people seem to believe {I own most of it, and VINCENT AND THE DOCTOR still reduces me to tears!), I just don't think that SM gave his best to the show, but then, I thought that about Graham Williams, but the was a bit hamstrung. Anyway, female Doctor or no, I'm looking forward to what CC does with the show. I do know that one thing is going to happen.

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Okay, BBC America and Xfinity, between the two of you, one of you fucking blows goats for requiring me to be on my home network to watch the season finale of Doctor Who. My money is the same no matter where my butt is parked so what difference does it make? 

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