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The Doctor Who Thread.....


Greg1138

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Doctor Who 2005-present would have you believe that every historical figure encountered aliens and robots. They were never as stupid as a guy dressed like a greaser trying to stop Rosa Parks, though.

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13 minutes ago, pixie_twinkle said:

I think 1982's Black Orchid was the only pure historical after 1960s Who. 


Yes, have seen it said that that story is highly unusual in Who because its only sci-fi elements are the Tardis and those travelling in same.

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This series is just so painful to sit through.  I'm sure Jodie Whitaker is a fine actress, but she does not fit at all.  It could be that the writing is just that horrible and she's doing the best she can with what she has.  There's just no presence there to the character.  All that she is doing is providing exposition, throwing her hands around and that's about it.

 

My son and I struggled to get around to watching the last episode for a few days and watched a few episodes of DS9 first until we got around to it.  It's like we are watching it out of obligation at this point.

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7 minutes ago, stewdog1 said:

This series is just so painful to sit through.  I'm sure Jodie Whitaker is a fine actress, but she does not fit at all.  It could be that the writing is just that horrible and she's doing the best she can with what she has.  There's just no presence there to the character.  All that she is doing is providing exposition, throwing her hands around and that's about it.

 

My son and I struggled to get around to watching the last episode for a few days and watched a few episodes of DS9 first until we got around to it.  It's like we are watching it out of obligation at this point.

 

Agreed. Like you said I'm sure it's not her fault, but Jodie just isn't the Doctor. She backs down when threatened, keeps apologising for everything and yeah has no presence whatsoever, which is just fundamentally not the character of the Doctor. The stories are also dull and they definitely have a villain problem (i.e. they're all either terrible or just plain boring). My plan is to try and get through the rest of series 11, but if there's no major improvement by the finale - I'm out.

 

Time to rewatch Tennant's era and reminisce about the good old days.

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That's really neat! And found a reaction video where the guy had totted up the runtime - 2 1/2 hours. Woah! I'd probably buy a standalone release of Rosa but this still looks good.

 

Plus this on Dec 11th. Maybe the new theme arrangement?

 

http://www.thegroovemerchants.com/Product/73757

 

Although it now means we get series 11 before 10. Not particularly complaining - I've enjoyed the music in this series way more than Gold's last few series.

 

 

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There's something going on with Murray Gold I think, that's why the soundtrack to series 9 took so long and why I would imagine we won't be getting series 10 for a while too. It's been a rumour for a while now, and the fact that we're getting the score to series 11 before series 10 sort of confirms it.

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Ah, well hopefully we'll get series 10 eventually then. It had a lot of good music!

 

Also, that link you posted earlier just got taken down, looks like somebody screwed up 😄 Would explain why Silva Screen have said nothing about the release.

 

Cat's out of the bag...

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Yes, I don't think there were any shenanigans between Gold and the BBC, just his busy life - his child, and scoring other shows. Season 10 was also his last season scoring the show, I'm sure he'll put something together to commemorate it.

 

My dream one day is that they'll do an expanded set for each season of Gold's work. There's so much that never made it onto the releases.

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9 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Doctor Who does 'Nordic noir' ... I quite enjoyed it. 

It was almost good, but still inane in parts 

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4 hours ago, Arpy said:

Yes, I don't think there were any shenanigans between Gold and the BBC, just his busy life - his child, and scoring other shows. Season 10 was also his last season scoring the show, I'm sure he'll put something together to commemorate it.

 

My dream one day is that they'll do an expanded set for each season of Gold's work. There's so much that never made it onto the releases.

 

Expanded releases would be amazing, I'd definitely buy seasons 1-4 (especially 4, there is a lot fantastic unreleased music there) and would heavily consider the rest.

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Kudos to them for putting the series 11 release together so quickly. It would have been nice to have series 10 released first though.

At least from an OCD standpoint *eye twitch* 

 

As far as expanded sets go...I only see them doing a 1 disc MAYBE 2 disc set for Gold's entire 10 series run. 

Wouldn't that be nail-biting? Praying they get most of the good bits at least.

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1 hour ago, StarFox said:

Kudos to them for putting the series 11 release together so quickly. It would have been nice to have series 10 released first though.

At least from an OCD standpoint *eye twitch* 

 

As far as expanded sets go...I only see them doing a 1 disc MAYBE 2 disc set for Gold's entire 10 series run. 

Wouldn't that be nail-biting? Praying they get most of the good bits at least.

 

Yeah you're probably right, though at this point I'd be happy if we get any expanded releases at all 😃

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I've found that Gold's earlier releases were pretty good at including the major highlights, but as the number of discs increases, I think Gold saw it as a chance to include a wider range of scoring and not necessarily highlights.

 

I was very disappointed for example, when the prep montage with Ashildir's theme wasn't on the series 9 set. Instead we get a frankly rather crap sounding synth (?) rendition of her theme.

 

I'm very impressed with how quickly Akinola has gotten a release together, and even moreso that it's long enough for most episodes to get at least 15 minutes of music, and more in some cases.

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34 minutes ago, Richard Penna said:

I've found that Gold's earlier releases were pretty good at including the major highlights, but as the number of discs increases, I think Gold saw it as a chance to include a wider range of scoring and not necessarily highlights.

 

I was very disappointed for example, when the prep montage with Ashildir's theme wasn't on the series 9 set. Instead we get a frankly rather crap sounding synth (?) rendition of her theme.

 

I'm very impressed with how quickly Akinola has gotten a release together, and even moreso that it's long enough for most episodes to get at least 15 minutes of music, and more in some cases.

 

The major highlights yeah, but there was also a lot missing that I would love to get my hands on one day (particularly in the early seasons - for example that first heroic theme for the Tenth Doctor that appeared in the swordfight in The Christmas Invasion and the horse jumping through the mirror in The Girl In The Fireplace).

 

And yeah, 2 and a half hours of Akinola score is fantastic. I reckoned that it would come earlier for the new season but did not expect it to be this soon or indeed this comprehensive.

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I have enjoyed the last 4 episodes, but Chibnall is back on writing duties for the finale this weekend ... so we'll see. That said, the synopsis for it mentions '9 separate distress signals' and there have of course been 9 episodes up to the finale ... so maybe we'll get a more satisfactory ending for the likes of the villains from Rosa and Arachnids In The UK and Chibnall wasn't being 100% honest when he said this season had no arc? 
  

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8 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

I have enjoyed the last 4 episodes, but Chibnall is back on writing duties for the finale this weekend ... so we'll see. That said, the synopsis for it mentions '9 separate distress signals' and there have of course been 9 episodes up to the finale ... so maybe we'll get a more satisfactory ending for the likes of the villains from Rosa and Arachnids In The UK and Chibnall wasn't being 100% honest when he said this season had no arc? 
  

 

I hope so, the lack of story arc has been one of the more disappointing things this season.

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I'm fine with them if I have been able to follow them, but Moffat at times seemed to take an almost perverse delight in making things as complicated as possible. Doctor Who should never lose sight of its 'early-evening escapism' appeal, IMO.       

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Very true. I definitely preferred Davies' story arcs in this regard (the Master one in series 3 for example was fantastic) but some of Moffat's were very difficult to follow (like the finale to series 6, that was just bizarre). They shouldn't just do away with them altogether though, as when done well the arcs made the show a lot more interesting, at least for me.

 

I do feel that the reason the new series feels a bit emptier so far is this lack of structure. Hopefully things come together a bit more in the finale.

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28 minutes ago, Zanobard said:

 

awesome.gif


Quite possibly as fine a match of actor to part as Tom Baker was in the 70s. Not every actor was plays the Doctor was 'born to do it', but by GOD Tennant was.    

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15 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:


Quite possibly as fine a match of actor to part as Tom Baker was in the 70s. Not every actor was plays the Doctor was 'born to do it', but by GOD Tennant was.    

 

Couldn't agree more, Tennant is by far my favourite Doctor.

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He's my third favourite, but a fine Doctor, nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

 

9 hours ago, Zanobard said:

 

I hope so, the lack of story arc has been one of the more disappointing things this season.

What about this "timeless child" thing?

Will Graham's wife return?

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 11/26/2018 at 7:20 PM, pixie_twinkle said:

I think 1982's Black Orchid was the only pure historical after 1960s Who. 

I wish TIMEFLIGHT was history :(

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3 hours ago, Richard said:

Will Graham's wife return?

 

She did once and it was a terrible cheat. That was enough.

 

This doesn't feel the same as Rose's dad alive in an alternate timeline, or Rose herself eventually banished to the same universe. 

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8 hours ago, Richard said:

What about this "timeless child" thing?

 

As far as I can recall (could be wrong) it was only mentioned once, in The Ghost Monument episode. It might be the story arc, but it's not exactly been developed a lot.

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Ok, so, a bunch of thoughts.

 

The Woman Who Fell To Earth. I'd probably like this one more if I hadn't seen before, being called Rose or The Eleventh Hour or whatever. Maybe me expecting too much originality of an introductory episode is me being silly. I like that she gives theI am the Doctor speech and the alien doesn't care, but I probably liked the monsters more we I thought they were gonna beat the crap out of each other, Alien vs Predator style.

 

The Ghost Monument is a not particularly interesting romp that suffers because for some reason, we're still not allowed to have a full hour. I like the idea of having a full hour because you can plan it like a three episode serial and get more into the interesting stuff. The evil clothes I thought were boring.

 

Rosa is actually interesting. I keep wondering what it'd be like as a pure historical, but then it'd have a completely different plot, so I dunno. They downplay some things, minor and major (like the rain that should be there in the opening scene or the fact the bus situation was planned beforehand). The villain in here feels ridiculous but I do like when the Doctor just messes with him in that warehouse. I think the point of the villain is that they actually thought "we don't want to make it seems like the civil rights movement magically solved everything forever", but he still comes across as silly.

 

Arachnids in the UK. This is horribly boring and bad. The idea of spiders is totally overplayed and I don't care.

 

The Tsuranga Conundrum. There's a decent cold opening but the rest just feels like throwing random stuff one after another at the script until something sticks, and it's still also terribly boring and has endless and endless dialogue about things that could be exposed differently if you threw it away and started rewriting it from the ground up. Also I don't like that they set up the obvious like the creature eating the android and it never happens.

 

Demons in the Punjab. Finally another interesting one. I just like this one in general. Of course they'd ask the Doctor to go back and take a look about family issues, they've done this before. I don't actually mind the aliens here. The only thing I don't quite buy is some of the guest cast's performances, I don't know why.

 

Kerblam! It starts good and then it totally chickens out and goes the most boring possible route. Booooh.

 

The Witchfinders. This works fine up to just after the villain's explanation, where they give us an unnecesary boring alien that we don't need to see, a boring booming voice, and boring lines about being a warrior alien race that we don't need. The problem of "we don't have the full hour" comes back right here and so I hate, like, the final ten minutes. Alan Cumming is hilarious.

 

It Takes You Away. This is delightful. The only problem I see is unexplained details like "where do the moths go in the first act" or "why does the girl feel they aren't real". Again, maybe give us the fucking full hour even if you make some episodes like this one a bunch of minutes sort of the hour line. Nice music.

 

I don't care about the absence of an arc, but why only ten episodes? :(

 

And I hope they don't drag the three companions thing too much. Series 10 works wonderfully with two. I watching that one in paralel to this one.

 

1 hour ago, Richard said:

So...it's a :down:, for Season...whatever, guys?

 

It's a bit in line with the low points of the show (like for example series 7 and 8, when there were clearly things not working behind the show  because what a mess). But then again those had things like Flatline and Mummy.

 

The Moffat years in general feel so weird. I think the guy was overworked and suffered making arcs instead of single stories (unlike Davies, who simply resorted to having almost fake arcs and cheated his way out of the issue). Somehow the guy managed to encapsulate the best and the worst of it back to back with Heaven Sent and Hell Bent.

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10 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

Capaldi is my favorite

Awwww yeah! Nice to see Capaldi getting some love. 12 was a breath of fresh air for the series to me. His performance bridged the gap for me between the Classic and NuWho Doctors. The right balance.

doctorhome.png

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I love the guy in the role too. Apparently Chibnall wanted him to stay.

 

Actually I feel kinda robbed. Eccleston resigns, Tennant would have done four but he was doinfg theatre. Matt Smith, who was suffering with poor scripting, was going to stay one more season (and the plan was for him to get meaner), but between schedule changes and gap years we somehow got only three instead of four, and exactly the same with Peter Capaldi over again.

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There's something special with how they played Capaldi's Doctor, something that made him feel like he'd been the Doctor for longer than he was. I think he ought to have done another season or two, but I think scheduling, Moffat's departure etc. kind of screwed it up.

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Also he played off Jenna Coleman more easily than Matt Smith (I don't blame Matt because at that point for some reason Clara was barely a character), and I really really dig the Doctor+Bill+Nardole team. So I felt the need to come here to fangirl for a bit.

 

I also like Jodie. I like her outfit (I want the outfit!) and her enthusiasm and the take on the opening credits and a lot of the cinematography and the atmospheric music and so on. But they should allow themselves to explore Jodie's strengths, like when they notice Matt could do a shitton of words per minute and played to his "mad man" role. There's a moment in The Witchfinders, when the fucking Doctor has been accused of witchcraft, and she gives a pissed off look. And the shot is what, one second? The episode is well directed, but why not allow themselves to linger on the details and the performance? I remember in "Dalek" (my favourite Dalek story) when the Dalek said the epic "you would make a good Dalek" and the camera stayed of the Doctor, allowing the moment to sink it. We don't quite have that here, and the writing and directing shouldn't work to hinder Jodie like they kind of are doing occasionally.

 

By contrast, the scene where the Doctor breaks up with a frog is a good "let Jodie be Jodie" moment.

 

I have the headcanon that Thirteen is at least subconsciously influenced by Bill. I don't know if they've thought on that or if it's on purpose. I remember when Bill says she likes the Doctor but that she prefers, you know, women, and more of her age... and then Jodie. Bweheheh.

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1 hour ago, Arpy said:

There's something special with how they played Capaldi's Doctor, something that made him feel like he'd been the Doctor for longer than he was. I think he ought to have done another season or two, but I think scheduling, Moffat's departure etc. kind of screwed it up.

Capaldi was The Doctor who never let anyone in. He started by channelling Pertwee, and ended up channelling Hartnell. The pairing, in TWICE UPON A TIME, was inspired (even though I wanted a lot more Polly and Ben).

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The idea of the pairing was inspired, but One as companion is kind of... huh...

 

I do like the moment where he's like "who the hell do you think you are", and Peter does an hilarious dramatic pose and says "The Doctor!", and then the first Doctor says "I'm the Doctor, who you are I cannot begin to imagine". It's an interesting moment of metafiction.

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4 hours ago, Richard said:

So...it's a :down:, for Season...whatever, guys?

 

Quite the contrary. Earlier on in the series I was considering actually buying it on BD. Although part of that was the idea of extracting music, back when there was no reason to assume we'd get such a generous soundtrack release.

 

Of all the episodes so far, only Kerblam! and The Witchfinders were episodes that didn't live up to what I felt could be done with them. The former had an interesting social idea, but just executed with a really stupid antagonist. The latter had a really interesting historical basis but a villain that made no impact on me,

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44 minutes ago, Brónach said:

The idea of the pairing was inspired, but One as companion is kind of... huh...

One was no more of a companion, than Two and One were, in THE THREE DOCTORS, or Three, Two, and One (I don't count Four) were in THE FIVE DOCTORS, or Two was, in THE TWO DOCTORS, or Ten was, in TIMECRASH, or Ten, and War were, in DAY OF THE DOCTOR.

I really like how the Doctors relate to...himself :).

I love the idea of multiple Masters. If only you could Delgado up the whole concept...

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I liked that they used my favourite Cybermen design. I've never liked the ones that look like robots quite as much.

 

"I call it a genesis... a genesis of the Cybermen" * Brónach starts clapping as credits roll going woooooo*

 

Also, great music.

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