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[Suairyu]

They are. Often.

At least in the newer Who stories.

Really? Who? I'm yet to see it, aside for the shadow critters from 'Silence In The Library'.

 

[JonathanEx]

Really? Who? I'm yet to see it, aside for the shadow critters from 'Silence In The Library'.

The Doctor shouting to spaceships in Pandorica? The Daleks? Maybe not absolutely terrifying, but...


Also good ratings news following on from discussion earlier, despite the BBC doing everything they can to fuck the show up:
Saturday 23 April Offical Ratings
1...Britain's Got Talent - 10.03m (43.2%)
2...Doctor Who - 8.86m (43.3%)

And in context:
10.8m - Rose
10.1m - Eleventh Hour

9.1m - Partners In Crime
8.9m - The Impossible Astronaut
8.7m - Smith And Jones
8.6m - New Earth

First two are split as they are both 'new Doctors'.

Oh and this doesn't include iPlayer. So not the lowest season opener.

 

[Tranced Shadow]

The Doctor shouting to spaceships in Pandorica?

He did exactly what they all wanted him to do - they wanted him to think he was in control...

 

[JonathanEx]

He did exactly what they all wanted him to do - they wanted him to think he was in control...

Yeah, but there must be some... knowledge or inclination he might try that from record, for them to try that. Doctor would have to think they might be scared by that, probably from past experience, to try it, and thus be part of their plan.

 

[OMG Aero]

Aside: why are alien species never absolutely terrified of the Doctor? Either they've been around long enough as a species to know about the Time Lords so they should shit themselves at the mere mention of his existence, or if they don't know about the Time Lords they should realise how impossibly advanced his technology is compared to theirs and so should be afraid anyway.

That's how the first episode of series 5 was resolved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCCMg-rcCQk

 

[Jintor]

I wonder if memory-erasure works on, let's say, those Venetian vampire-fish things, or whatever the hell Prisoner Zero was

 

[Htown]

just look at Bad Wolf for example, or that episode with the Cybermen and the Daleks. the Doctor scares the shit out of the Daleks. Or the aliens in the Eleventh Hour, when they realized who they were talking to.

 

[jdogmoney]

SILENCE WILL FALL = super ambiguous. What do you guys think it means? Does it have something to do with the way they sleep?

Because Rome fell, yeah, but the Romans weren't going around saying it was going to happen to be scary...

 

[JonathanEx]

SILENCE WILL FALL = super ambiguous. What do you guys think it means? Does it have something to do with the way they sleep?

Because Rome fell, yeah, but the Romans weren't going around saying it was going to happen to be scary...

Could be that The Doctor, by ordering the death of The Silence (their fall), causes them to set up the explosion with the TARDIS. Thus, the cracks in time are a result of The Doctor. The fall of The Silence brings him with them.

Sounds suitably timey-wimey.

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

Also, Danny Cohen, anything he touches turns to shit. See: BBC Three, BBC One since late last year.

My evidence: yesterday's overnight figures for BBC One:
...

Just looked him up and holy shit his CV reads more like a rep sheet.

 

[bengraven]

Moffatt >>>> Davies


This is coming from a new fan who watched them mixed up on BBCA reruns. When I later found out who did what episodes, I found the Davies ones were more cheesy fun and the Moffatt ones were great stories with fantastic pacing/direction.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I wonder if memory-erasure works on, let's say, those Venetian vampire-fish things, or whatever the hell Prisoner Zero was

I'm curious what a weeping angel would think about it. "Hey... why the hell was I just standing there frozen, when I don't remember anyone looking at me?"

 

[Suairyu]

That's how the first episode of series 5 was resolved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCCMg-rcCQk

I had forgotten about that one, I must admit, but I'm not entirely sure it counts as he wasn't exactly able to demonstrate his superior technology.

I mean obviously, if every episode the aliens saw the technological capabilities of the Doctor and ran away it'd be very boring, but I would like to see species pause for thought a bit more. Really, I'm not complaining, it's just something odd.

 

[Furret]

I had forgotten about that one, I must admit, but I'm not entirely sure it counts as he wasn't exactly able to demonstrate his superior technology.

I mean obviously, if every episode the aliens saw the technological capabilities of the Doctor and ran away it'd be very boring, but I would like to see species pause for thought a bit more. Really, I'm not complaining, it's just something odd.

The Doctor almost never uses the advanced technology of the Time Lords to resolve a problem, except for of course the TARDIS itself. The only one that springs to mind at the moment is that alien-identifying gadget from the Vincent Van Gough episodes.

Or perhaps the mind-numbingly stupid "anti-plastic" from the first RTD show.

You've been given multiple examples of how aliens are scared of The Doctor himself, and you've answered your own question of why he rarely uses advanced tech to solve a problem.

 

[Ivan A Nguyen]

I tried to read as much as I could about what people thought of this episode, but I am disappointed in their tastes. I loved this episode, and it has become one of my favorites. A few things:

- The first few minutes -

Spoiler

I must be a noob because I completely bought that each of the companions died in the first few minutes. The same trick worked on me for Venture Brothers, and they had already set an example during the first episode. I thought they would be saved via Time Travel, but I was pleasantly surprised that they were just faking.

- The end of the silence -

Spoiler

Before they showed the title card, the Doctor clearly states that he will need the boot of Neil Armstrong. He had a plan in place to beat them from the very start. It was probably what he spent the 3 months thinking about. It also plays off the idea that all Americans are violent, gun toting, revolutionaries.

- Sanctity of life -

Spoiler

This doctor took a giant wrench to a pacified Dalek and continued beating on him because he wanted all of his kind eradicated from the universe. He wiped out every weeping angel on a planet with out hesitation. I think if the threat is real enough, he will respond with lethal force. Clearly The Silence wanted them captured and they were using the FBI to do it. The former FBI guy was able to subvert the post hypnotic suggestion because his authority was present at the time of capture and fake kill them.

- Markings -

Spoiler

I've read some people not liking the use of markings on her face when she was in the orphanarium. I think it was a great idea. She made a recording to herself, saying that she had to leave the room because there were so many. She also knew that if she had her arm covered in markings then she would freak out when she forgot that they were there. By putting the number on her face, she keeps track, but does not allow herself to panic.

Now I think this episode was great because it did exactly what it set out to do. It gave us soul crushing bad guys in the form of The Silence. It did a good job of being creepy and suspenseful. It did have some lose ends, but thats part of the fun. The Doctor is able to grow an epic beard in just a few months time, and a time lord 5 o clock shadow has to be a mustache. Good WTF moments, and I can't wait to watch the rest of the season. Part of me wants to wait till all the episodes are out so I can just watch it in all one go.

 

[JonCha]

Just been thinking about when they were recording, and for example with Amy we heard the recording when she played it but we didn't actually hear her enunciate the recording. Was this intentional to demonstrate how you forget immediately after seeing The Silence?

 

[Hot Coldman]

A good justification for the Doctor being glad to take out all the Silence was that they told him to. He saw the message, just like everyone else. Of course, that doesn't explain why his initial plan would involve genocide, but there was very little other solution.

 

[Jintor]

Just been thinking about when they were recording, and for example with Amy we heard the recording when she played it but we didn't actually hear her enunciate the recording. Was this intentional to demonstrate how you forget immediately after seeing The Silence?

Yeah, same thing with marks just 'appearing' or the red light simply turning on

 

[Ivan A Nguyen]

Some great quotes from the episode:

"Yea. [Gunfire] Welcome to America." - Ex FBI Guy

"She can always hear me, Doctor. Always. Where ever she is, and she always knows that I am coming for her. Do you understand me? Always." - Rory

"Of course, you're not safe. There are about a billion other things out there waiting to burn your world, but if you want to pretend you're safe so you can sleep at night, "Ok you're safe." But you're not really. - The Doctor.

 

[Dark Knight]

One of my favorite moments of the night? The gathering of Team Tardis:

 

[Rustymonke]

Really? Moffat relying too much on the time-wimey stuff is one of my biggest issues with his era so far. I'm already sick of it and we've only had twelve stories under his watch. RTD wasn't perfect, but I feel like he wrote a much more mature version of Doctor Who. Moffat's Doctor Who has a lot of style, but not very much substance.

If you mean in "mature" in inverted commas, then yes. But going by your moody Kuwabara avatar and the fact that you think Chan-tho was a well developed character, I don't think we're going to see eye to eye on what mature means; tho.

Couple things as well I keep forgetting to mention.

First off, I'm missing commentaries. RTD was great to the "faithful viewer" and had a commentary for every episode I do believe, at least all the ones from the later seasons. (These could be downloaded by anyone from any region from the BBC website and were often different than the ones on the DVD's)

Yea, I miss those too.

 

[Jintor]

I really goddamn hope Canton comes back. He's great. And his voice!

 

[Furret]

A good justification for the Doctor being glad to take out all the Silence was that they told him to. He saw the message, just like everyone else. Of course, that doesn't explain why his initial plan would involve genocide, but there was very little other solution.

I'm confused as to why everyone keeps repeating this assumption. The Doctor clearly implies that he expects them to run and encourages them to do so as quickly as possible. Obviously he knows many will be killed during the initial reveal, but everything he says suggests that he expects them to make themselves scarce ASAP.

The other thing I don't understand about this discussion is that I haven't seen a single mention of the future woman talking through the hatch and describing Amy (or the girl?) as dreaming. Surely this was the most obvious breadcrumb for a future episode.

 

[Amir0x]

One of my favorite moments of the night? The gathering of Team Tardis:

i have to say i prefer beard Doctor more than any other Matt Smith Doctor.

Beards are cool, Doctor.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

I asked earlier, but does anyone have a pic or gif of The Doctor doing the shooting fingers gesture at Nixon (when he got rescued from NASA security) from this past episode?

 

[Amir0x]

the like "Say hello to David Frost for me" cracks me up both times

tee hee Doctor tee hee

 

[Mama Robotnik]

One of my favorite moments of the night? The gathering of Team Tardis:

Canton Everett Delaware III was massively competent and very likeable. Hope he's elevated to full companion status at some point.

 

[infiniteloop]

Also good ratings news following on from discussion earlier, despite the BBC doing everything they can to fuck the show up:
Saturday 23 April Offical Ratings
1...Britain's Got Talent - 10.03m (43.2%)
2...Doctor Who - 8.86m (43.3%)

And in context:
10.8m - Rose
10.1m - Eleventh Hour

9.1m - Partners In Crime
8.9m - The Impossible Astronaut
8.7m - Smith And Jones
8.6m - New Earth

First two are split as they are both 'new Doctors'.

Oh and this doesn't include iPlayer. So not the lowest season opener.

That's actually a great figure for Impossible Astronaut. Massive time shift. I hope Day of the moon ends up in the 7 mil.

 

[Hot Coldman]

I'm confused as to why everyone keeps repeating this assumption. The Doctor clearly implies that he expects them to run and encourages them to do so as quickly as possible. Obviously he knows many will be killed during the initial reveal, but everything he says suggests that he expects them to make themselves scarce ASAP.

Oh, OK, that's a fair point. They can definitely escape, I never even thought about that. It'd be very tricky, I imagine.

By the way: has anyone considered that the reason there was an abandoned spaceship of a roof of a normal house in 'The Lodger' was because someone saw and killed The Silence within? Possibly? Dunno why they would have landed, but the ship wasn't necessarily a new part of the house, it could have been there for years. Previous residents of the house might have murdered the Silence, forgot about it happening, and would have been blind to the spaceship for years. Of course, if that is why the ship was there, it doesn't explain why it suddenly began testing people around the time that the Doctor showed up. Maybe it sensed the Doctor, and had a protocol that forced any possible escape attempts when it sensed him?

Man, the possibilities for speculation are why I love Moffat's run so far.

 

[Dark Knight]

I asked earlier, but does anyone have a pic or gif of The Doctor doing the shooting fingers gesture at Nixon (when he got rescued from NASA security) from this past episode?

Ask and tumblr shall give (I'll see if I can't find one that's not in black and white)

Also, bonus gif:

 

[B_Rik_Schitthaus]

Shut up and dance.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

Ask and tumblr shall give (I'll see if I can't find one that's not in black and white)

Thank you. A lil dark and fast, but still funny.

 

[Mr. Sam]

- The first few minutes - [soiler]I must be a noob because I completely bought that each of the companions died in the first few minutes. The same trick worked on me for Venture Brothers, and they had already set an example during the first episode. I thought they would be saved via Time Travel, but I was pleasantly surprised that they were just faking. [/spoiler]

- The end of the silence - [soiler] Before they showed the title card, the Doctor clearly states that he will need the boot of Neil Armstrong. He had a plan in place to beat them from the very start. It was probably what he spent the 3 months thinking about. It also plays off the idea that all Americans are violent, gun toting, revolutionaries. [/spoiler]

- Sanctity of life - [soiler] This doctor took a giant wrench to a pacified Dalek and continued beating on him because he wanted all of his kind eradicated from the universe. He wiped out every weeping angel on a planet with out hesitation. I think if the threat is real enough, he will respond with lethal force. Clearly The Silence wanted them captured and they were using the FBI to do it. The former FBI guy was able to subvert the post hypnotic suggestion because his authority was present at the time of capture and fake kill them.[/spoiler]

- Markings - [soiler] I've read some people not liking the use of markings on her face when she was in the orphanarium. I think it was a great idea. She made a recording to herself, saying that she had to leave the room because there were so many. She also knew that if she had her arm covered in markings then she would freak out when she forgot that they were there. By putting the number on her face, she keeps track, but does not allow herself to panic.[/spoiler]

Soiler tags must be eradicated!

I love Canton - probably my new favourite character. I'm certain he'll return by the end of this series; first half or second. The fact that he thought of homosexual marriage in the 60s as a possibility to the extent that he would (supposedly) attempt it does bother me though. I dunno - maybe he's just that much of a trail-blazing pioneer.

 

[Escape Goat]

So I am giving this show a try and I just don't get it. Why do British shows look like they're filmed using the family's handycam? Whats the deal with the spider egg/nest in space all about? It looks like some kind of Power Rangers villain Rita Repulsa would conjure up.

I'll give it a few more episodes but please tell me that red haired woman isn't a regular.

 

[JonathanEx]

Yea, I miss those too.

Worst bit is as well as scrapping them on the website, they scrapped 'per episode' commentaries on the DVDs, in favour of about 5 of them having 'in-vision commentary', the most pointless thing ever.

So I am giving this show a try and I just don't get it. Why do British shows look like they're filmed using the family's handycam? Whats the deal with the spider egg/nest in space all about? It looks like some kind of Power Rangers villain Rita Repulsa would conjure up.

I'll give it a few more episodes but please tell me that red haired woman isn't a regular.

What episode are you watching? From what I can tell... uhh... The Runaway Bride?

 

[DrForester]

I'll give it a few more episodes but please tell me that red haired woman isn't a regular.

You're good people.

 

[Hot Coldman]

So I am giving this show a try and I just don't get it. Why do British shows look like they're filmed using the family's handycam? Whats the deal with the spider egg/nest in space all about? It looks like some kind of Power Rangers villain Rita Repulsa would conjure up.

I'll give it a few more episodes but please tell me that red haired woman isn't a regular.

If you're going to have issues with the camerawork, start from Series 5.

 

[Escape Goat]

Worst bit is as well as scrapping them on the website, they scrapped 'per episode' commentaries on the DVDs, in favour of about 5 of them having 'in-vision commentary', the most pointless thing ever.


What episode are you watching? From what I can tell... uhh... The Runaway Bride?

The Runaway Bride, yeah. Robotic Santas were trying to kill her. LMAO.

 

[marrec]

Also, bonus gif:

This needs rave lights now.

 

[O D I N]

That's how the first episode of series 5 was resolved.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCCMg-rcCQk

First comment:

The one dislike is the Giant Eye.

XD I lost it.

So I just got done watching the newest episode.

Sweet mother of baby tap dancing Jesus, that was good. This will most likely be the best season yet

Spoiler

I hope

.

Poor River. :[ Though she still needs to get a screwdriver, so I don't think that'll be the 'last time'. /speculation

AND what the eff with the kid?

Current theories my wife and I have (all theories of course)

Spoiler

1) Another Timelord.

2) The love child of Amy and the Doctor.

3) The child of Amy and Rory, but since Amy has been around the Tardis for awhile, altered the childs DNA or something?

4) Love child of River and the Doctor.

5) River

6) Another alien species who has learned to regenerate like a Timelord.

5 was my wifes idea. I'll talk about it with her more, as I don't wanna take her idea out of the wording she used for it. I suppose anything is possible, but I can't remember if she was listed AS human or not. I'm assuming she was.

 

[marrec]

So I am giving this show a try and I just don't get it. Why do British shows look like they're filmed using the family's handycam? Whats the deal with the spider egg/nest in space all about? It looks like some kind of Power Rangers villain Rita Repulsa would conjure up.

I'll give it a few more episodes but please tell me that red haired woman isn't a regular.

It's best not to talk ill of Donna, if that's who you mean. Give it more time yes, their effects budget is low but they work with what they got. And the campiness kind of grows on you until they hit you with some dark and creepy stuff that you total aren't expecting. Then it just all gets dark and creepy and suddenly it's not a kids show anymore.

 

[Escape Goat]

It's best not to talk ill of Donna, if that's who you mean. Give it more time yes, their effects budget is low but they work with what they got. And the campiness kind of grows on you until they hit you with some dark and creepy stuff that you total aren't expecting. Then it just all gets dark and creepy and suddenly it's not a kids show anymore.

I thought their effects were pretty good compared to most US shows. It wasn't like they were using rear projection or obvious green screen work. And spider-lady looked pretty neat. A lot of the flaws would have been hidden if they threw on a few camera filters.

 

[JonathanEx]

They were going for quite a brighter look in the 1 to 4 series, I think one of the comparisons was the show needed to be as lively and event feeling as uh, Pop Idol.

But with Donna - she doesn't return for a while, and she's different when she does, so don't worry about that. You've got a whole series with Martha and the worst finale ever to go before she's back.

 

[King of the Potato People]

The dancing silent would be canon if Russell T Davies was still writing it.

 

[Raydeen]

The Runaway Bride, yeah. Robotic Santas were trying to kill her. LMAO.

Dreadful episode. Why is it peoples first exposure to Who seems to be the very worst of RTD nonsense.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

They were going for quite a brighter look in the 1 to 4 series, I think one of the comparisons was the show needed to be as lively and event feeling as uh, Pop Idol.

But with Donna - she doesn't return for a while, and she's different when she does, so don't worry about that. You've got a whole series with Martha and the worst finale ever to go before she's back.

Not to mention the best episode of New Who is in series 3.

 

[JonathanEx]

Not to mention the best episode of New Who is in series 3.

The less said the better the surprise. We'll just wait for the conversion to Whovian.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Not to mention the best episode of New Who is in series 3.

The best run of good/great episode was in Series 3. 42, then the Family of Blood two-parter, then Blink, and then Utopia. My GOD that was great.

Until the almost unbroken run of awesome that was Series 5, that run of episodes was the best Who had to offer.

 

[PhoncipleBone]

The best run of good/great episode was in Series 3. 42, then the Family of Blood two-parter, then Blink, and then Utopia. My GOD that was great.

Until the almost unbroken run of awesome that was Series 5, that run of episodes was the best Who had to offer.

3 had some of my favorite Tennant episodes. There was a wonderful stretch of awesome there, all to be undone by the finale.

For series 2 I am partial to Impossible Planet/Satan Pit.

 

[King of the Potato People]

Honestly next week's episode looks totally passable.