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Doctor Who Series 2011 |OT| Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff

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bengraven

Member
They better not fucking kill one or both of Amy and Rory this season.

I'll accept Rory.

But you know that the number of times he's been "killed" that if anyone where to ever permanently die on the show, it's likely going to be Amy. Because that's more original.
 
Don't even get me started on the other Torchwood characters. Whoever planned the character arc that took Ianto from having his girlfriend shot by his work colleagues to starting a gay relationship with one of them three episodes later (with no foreshadowing at all) should be ashamed.

The issue is that they didn't seem to have any idea of what to do with Ianto, so his personality and purpose was changing all throughout the first season. They finally seemed to get a handle on him by Series 2, but some of that damage was done. The ignoring of everything with his girlfriend just made that stuff worse.

Torchwood Series 1 is a bit of a mess, where it doesn't really seem like the left hand knew what the right was doing (although there were a couple of very good episodes). The writing is all over the place.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
The issue is that they didn't seem to have any idea of what to do with Ianto, so his personality and purpose was changing all throughout the first season. They finally seemed to get a handle on him by Series 2, but some of that damage was done. The ignoring of everything with his girlfriend just made that stuff worse.

Torchwood Series 1 is a bit of a mess, where it doesn't really seem like the left hand knew what the right was doing (although there were a couple of very good episodes). The writing is all over the place.

I did like that episode where they spent the whole thing saying 'WHO COULD HAVE DONE THIS THE INHUMAN MONSTERS' and then it turned out it was just Welsh yokels.

[edit]Also, the silly stuff they started doing in Torchwood has completely wrecked the continuity with Who. I've basically got no idea how they could even begin to claim that Torchwood and Who are still set in the same universe.
 

bengraven

Member
Could they actually do that, though? The death of Adric is still talked about in hallowed tones.

I don't think Moffat gives a fuck as long as it's a good story. If he killed them both then he's basically the only writer who's ever killed every single one of his companions (see: Silence in the Library for the third).
 

BatDan

Bane? Get them on board, I'll call it in.
Also, the silly stuff they started doing in Torchwood has completely wrecked the continuity with Who. I've basically got no idea how they could even begin to claim that Torchwood and Who are still set in the same universe.

Children of Earth and Miracle Day are proof enough. Those were the types of disasters that would set off the Cloister Bell or something equally worse. But where's the Doctor? It doesn't make sense that these normal alien hunters can solve all this insane shit.

I don't think Moffat gives a fuck as long as it's a good story. If he killed them both then he's basically the only writer who's ever killed every single one of his companions (see: Silence in the Library for the third).

Funny how the writer that's all about "Everybody Lives" is so willing to kill companions.
 
I only watched the first season of Torchwood, didn't care for it enough to watch any more. It'd only be my desire for a threesome with Eve Myles' accent and John Barrowman that'd keep me into it.
 

maharg

idspispopd
Children of Earth and Miracle Day are proof enough. Those were the types of disasters that would set off the Cloister Bell or something equally worse. But where's the Doctor? It doesn't make sense that these normal alien hunters can solve all this insane shit.

Why would CoE set off the cloister bells? I'm not even sure why Miracle Day would, even. I don't think it's a leap to assume that sometimes the Doctor doesn't come, and thus sometimes humans take care of themselves.

Funny how the writer that's all about "Everybody Lives" is so willing to kill companions.

I know it was his first episode and all, but I don't think Everybody Lives is supposed to be his mantra or anything. His next story had the pseudocompanion die of old age with the Doctor helpless to stop it, and then obviously River.
 
BatDan said:
Funny how the writer that's all about "Everybody Lives" is so willing to kill companions.

Do you think you have a thing for not killing characters, or bringing characters back?

I’m not very good at killing people. I don’t like it! I didn’t even know that about myself until Russell pointed out that I’d written six episodes of Doctor Who for him and I hadn’t killed anybody. Literally hadn’t killed anybody. No one dies in ‘The Empty Child’, no one dies in ‘Girl in the Fireplace’ except the person who was dead already. I have killed a few but… I haven’t killed any main characters, I don’t think the doctors companions should die, I think that spoils the fairytale a bit. But that doesn’t mean that I wont of course!

http://www.universityobserver.ie/2012/02/22/steven-moffat-the-full-transcript/
 

isny

napkin dispenser
Didn't think they'd top Amy on the hotness scale, but that new companion definitely does it for me more than Amy.
 

DSN2K

Member
hmmm not bad

936full-jenna--louise-coleman.jpg
 

evilwart

Member
Children of Earth and Miracle Day are proof enough. Those were the types of disasters that would set off the Cloister Bell or something equally worse. But where's the Doctor? It doesn't make sense that these normal alien hunters can solve all this insane shit.

Since the problems of Children of Earth and Miracle Day were solved without the Doctor, why would he ever need to interfere in them? The Doctor wasn't needed and thus there was no reason for him to be there.
 
Since the problems of Children of Earth and Miracle Day were solved without the Doctor, why would he ever need to interfere in them? The Doctor wasn't needed and thus there was no reason for him to be there.
That shouldn't be a hindrance. In "The Big Bang", the universe was rebooted in a way such that the Doctor never existed. So it turns out the Earth got past all their pre-2010 crises without him.

In the RTD/Moffat Whoniverse, the Doctor is no longer important for the survival of Humanity (or, in fact, the universe). I find this an endlessly fascinating data nugget to mull over.
 
No, I don't think Canton knew, either. My point is that it's a narrative cheat to have a character say "no, it's not a duplicate, that's really him", and then have the big payoff 12 episodes later be "oh, it actually was a duplicate". I would be more accepting of the revelation if that line didn't exist at all.

I think the larger issue is that the whole "omg, the Doctor is really dead" plotline could never be resolved in any satisfying way that wasn't some sort of cheat. It would have to either be "The Doctor is magically revived", "Time can be rewritten", or "Oh, that wasn't actually him", and none of those are really satisfying conclusions to a 13 episode story arc.

Rule #1. The Doctor lies.
 
Well, many of those crises would no longer exist in that timeline either.

Well, some of them. For all of the crowing about the Doctor attracting danger, Batman-style, there's still been a hell of a lot of instances where aliens invade Earth and the Doctor accidentally happens upon it.

But whatever, it's a perfectly acceptable plot hole given that, well, it's Doctor Who.
 
Could they actually do that, though? The death of Adric is still talked about in hallowed tones.

In an adult show I'd say yes, but if the beeb want to avoid terminally upsetting kids, neither of them will die.

I can't believe I hadn't popped in the thread to comment on Jenna Louise...

as the Churchill dog says:

OH YES!
 

border

Member
Splitting a single season over two years? WTF? Why?

I didn't really even like it when they split Series 6 between spring and autumn. Moffat's justification was "Now Doctor Who fans will never have to wait more than a few months for new episodes!" So what now? Between the the Christmas Special and the Season 7 premiere it will have been probably 9-10 months.

I know that BBC viewers are probably used to shows with screwed up production/airing schedules, but I think this is really going to harm a lot of the show's momentum in the USA. I hope they can at least get things back on target and set up Season 8 for a Fall 2013 premiere.
 

border

Member
I guess I'm having trouble understanding why as the show gets even more successful and makes even more money, they seem to be having trouble outputting content on the same schedule as when budgets were probably much smaller. Remember that 2009 didn't even have a season at all -- just 4 specials, most of which aired at the end of the year.
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
That shouldn't be a hindrance. In "The Big Bang", the universe was rebooted in a way such that the Doctor never existed. So it turns out the Earth got past all their pre-2010 crises without him.

In the RTD/Moffat Whoniverse, the Doctor is no longer important for the survival of Humanity (or, in fact, the universe). I find this an endlessly fascinating data nugget to mull over.

Is that what actually happened? That doesn't seem to make sense. If the universe was rebooted but the doctor never existed then why does everyone still know who he is come 'A Good Man Goes to War' and why do the Silence fear him so much?
 

isny

napkin dispenser
I guess I'm having trouble understanding why as the show gets even more successful and makes even more money, they seem to be having trouble outputting content on the same schedule as when budgets were probably much smaller. Remember that 2009 didn't even have a season at all -- just 4 specials, most of which aired at the end of the year.

It's because of who's running the show. RTD Julie and Phil worked their asses off, can't say the same for the current team, they just don't have the same passion.
 
Well, many of those crises would no longer exist in that timeline either.

Some of them are guaranteed to. For example, the Earth should have been destroyed by deep drilling in the 1970s ("Inferno") or retaken by the Silurians angry at deep drilling in the 2000s ("The Hungry Earth"/"Cold Blood"). I can't see how the Doctor not being born would stop the Daleks or the Cybermen from coming into being. There's that spider-thing in the center of the Earth who probably should have devoured everyone several years ago. Scaroth (who must have existed, as he caused civilization on Earth as we know it to exist) probably would have still tried to travel back in time and undo the existence of Homo Sapiens. The Dæmons and their final judgement of Humanity would still have had to be dealt with. Omega's plan to negate the universe would still have needed to be dealt with.

There are a few problems which the Doctor's existence has caused to be (any time, for instance, that the Master has threatened life on Earth directly). Most of them he had no influence on the genesis of. However, there are two things we can say about this changed, Doctor-less universe:

A. If the Doctor never existed and the crises happened, then other people handled the situation successfully.

B. If the Doctor never existed and the crises happened, then he was somehow directly or indirectly responsible for those crises happening in the first place.

Either way, the Doctor's net effect on the universe is pretty much a zero sum. His biggest accomplishment is that he's basically come in and taken the credit for solving problems that could have been solved without him.


But whatever, it's a perfectly acceptable plot hole given that, well, it's Doctor Who.

There's that, too. I just like complaining. Time Lords, always comin' in to our country and takin' err jerbs....
 
Is that what actually happened? That doesn't seem to make sense. If the universe was rebooted but the doctor never existed then why does everyone still know who he is come 'A Good Man Goes to War' and why do the Silence fear him so much?

It was un-rebooted by the power of believing.

edit: Just to clarify, that's not actually a snarky joke. That was the resolution for the 2010 series. I'm not even sure what technically is considered to have actually happened in that season and what was unwritten. Surely, Amy now has a family, and the Tardis didn't explode anymore, right?

I think that's part of my problem with the series. Some stuff from previous series was unwritten by the cracks in space, and then the cracks ceased to exist (or probably never existed at all), and other stuff from that series was unwritten. But I no longer know what happened and what didn't. It's almost like they strived to make non-continuity canon in the Doctor Who universe.

I mean, did any of the alien invasions of the past seven tv years happen now?
 

twobear

sputum-flecked apoplexy
It was un-rebooted by the power of believing.

edit: Just to clarify, that's not actually a snarky joke. That was the resolution for the 2010 series. I'm not even sure what technically is considered to have actually happened in that season and what was unwritten. Surely, Amy now has a family, and the Tardis didn't explode anymore, right?

I think that's part of my problem with the series. Some stuff from previous series was unwritten by the cracks in space, and then the cracks ceased to exist (or probably never existed at all), and other stuff from that series was unwritten. But I no longer know what happened and what didn't. It's almost like they strived to make non-continuity canon in the Doctor Who universe.

I mean, did any of the alien invasions of the past seven tv years happen now?

Well, it would be paradoxical if the Doctor had never existed, because the TARDIS could never have exploded.
 
With the Daleks at least, the Doctor plays a key role in their history, most significantly in Genesis of the Daleks when the Time Lords send him to stop their creation.

I was thinking about that. But they initially came to existence without his influence. What he did as a result of his interference was to delay their rise by some number of centuries.
 
Well, some of them. For all of the crowing about the Doctor attracting danger, Batman-style, there's still been a hell of a lot of instances where aliens invade Earth and the Doctor accidentally happens upon it.
GameplayWhore said:
Some of them are guaranteed to.
I think I misunderstood--I was thinking about the version of things where there was only Earth in the universe, so there would be no threats from non-Earth-based life.

The version after that, though, I thought what happened to the Doctor was much like everything else that had ended up sucked into that crack--they had still existed and the effects they caused were still in play, but no direct evidence remained of them. Just as Amy Pond could exist without Amy Pond's Parents, the effects of Doctor Saving the Day could happen without the Doctor seeming to be around. Admittedly, it's nearing two years since I watched the episode.
 

evilwart

Member
I was thinking about that. But they initially came to existence without his influence. What he did as a result of his interference was to delay their rise by some number of centuries.

Still, the Doctors part in the creation of the Daleks is sufficient to change things if he wasn't there. His failure is effectively the start of the Dalek-Time Lord conflict. If there was no Doctor, the Time Lords would have sent somebody else. There isn't enough disclosed about the no-Doctor universe to know how things would have gone without him. Somebody else, another Time Lord, could have stepped up and took his place.

Well, some of them. For all of the crowing about the Doctor attracting danger, Batman-style, there's still been a hell of a lot of instances where aliens invade Earth and the Doctor accidentally happens upon it.

Another way to look at it is that the TARDIS purposely takes him to where he's needed, rather than the Doctor accidentally happening upon situations.
 
The version after that, though, I thought what happened to the Doctor was much like everything else that had ended up sucked into that crack--they had still existed and the effects they caused were still in play, but no direct evidence remained of them. Just as Amy Pond could exist without Amy Pond's Parents, the effects of Doctor Saving the Day could happen without the Doctor seeming to be around. Admittedly, it's nearing two years since I watched the episode.

I think the crux of the problem is that I don't understand the bolded statement. It just doesn't make sense to me. The effects they caused are direct evidence. Basically, what's being implied is that everything that a now-"erased" person did happened and continued to have most effects, but certain very specific things which that person caused to be have been very selectively removed, those things been the specific chemicals in specific neurons of everybody's brain, any newsprint referencing the person or event, any specific reference in a book or on the Internet making mention thereof. But it still requires that people in history did the same things despite these words and memories no longer existing. Clive didn't obsess over the Doctor appearing all over history, but he still managed to do the same basic things and still died at the same exact time. Rassilon is (was, at that particular point) currently hanging around on Gallifrey, wondering why they're stuck in a time envelope and never got around to destroying the universe. Jenny and Susan are puttering around in their own home centuries, not actually wondering how they came to exist.

It just seems to require a massive suspension of disbelief several orders of magnitude greater than what this show (or almost any show in history that I can think of) typically has required in the past.
 
evilwart said:
Another way to look at it is that the TARDIS purposely takes him to where he's needed, rather than the Doctor accidentally happening upon situations.

They made this explicit in The Doctor's Wife.


The cracks never made any sense. They erased Amy parents, but Amy still exists? When those soldiers were erased, how come other soldiers weren't assigned to that unit? It seems they only erased peoples memories of a thing, rather than the thing's entire existence.
 
They made this explicit in The Doctor's Wife.

This was the best fanservice episode of anything ever. You have no idea how many pretty girls I've seen at conventions and steampunk events and other nerd gatherings who now wear what are, essentially, TARDISes. It's not even limited to that weirdly erotic corset that's been making the rounds!
 

isny

napkin dispenser
They made this explicit in The Doctor's Wife.


The cracks never made any sense. They erased Amy parents, but Amy still exists? When those soldiers were erased, how come other soldiers weren't assigned to that unit? It seems they only erased peoples memories of a thing, rather than the thing's entire existence.

Did they erase the Racknoss, Daleks at Canary Wharf, etc.? None of that was ever really resolved and it really bummed me out. AFAIK in the current Whoniverse no one has ever seen any sort of alien. Hopefully with the introduction of a new companion they'll go into this more, but who knows.
 
It's because of who's running the show. RTD Julie and Phil worked their asses off, can't say the same for the current team, they just don't have the same passion.

I really don't think this is true. Moffat's had a reduced budget, and he and the team have still managed to make the show look a million bucks.

Also, the gap year came on RTD's watch.
 
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