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[Regulus Tera]

After watching this week's Confidential I gotta ask, was it seriously necessary to make a whole episode a Moffat jerking circle? I like the guy as much as everyone else, but really?

Also, I rewatched The Next Doctor. He does mention why nobody remembers the Cyberking in the future. I guess Moffat was seeding this series' arc even from then.

 

[Alphahawk]

Speaking of Confidential I'd like to remind American viewers that you can view entire Confidential episodes on BBC America's website. Though this needed a mention because the only advertisement for this is one of those graphis that appear during Doctor Who, if you weren't looking for it, you might think it was advertising the new Top Gear episode...

 

[I should be doing hw]

Matt Smith is terrible, I just watched the Churchill/Darlek episode. The writing and acting of every character sucks so bad, please tell me everyone in this thread knows that? Or did you think it's...good?
Not a huge fan to begin with, I liked Tennant's performance in the previous season but the writing and plots were still hackneyed garbage, buy hey, its Dr. Who as long as its kind of self aware and doesn't take itself too seriously I can deal with it. But after watching this current season that has aired in Aus I can safely say I'm done with it. Nothing redeeming whatsoever about this new season except for the fact that I don't have to look at Catherine Tate's hideous mug anymore.

 

[Alphahawk]

Matt Smith is terrible, I just watched the Churchill/Darlek episode. The writing and acting of every character sucks so bad, please tell me everyone in this thread knows that? Or did you think it's...good?
Not a huge fan to begin with, I liked Tennant's performance in the previous season but the writing and plots were still hackneyed garbage, buy hey, its Dr. Who as long as its kind of self aware and doesn't take itself too seriously I can deal with it. But after watching this current season that has aired in Aus I can safely say I'm done with it. Nothing redeeming whatsoever about this new season except for the fact that I don't have to look at Catherine Tate's hideous mug anymore.

Really? Hackeyed plots have you seen Blink? The Empty Child? Silence in the Library? There's some really good stuff going on in this series. Your loss I guess...

 

[Mr. Sam]

You should be doing homework.

Spoiler

I bet I'm the first to ever do that.

 

[I should be doing hw]

I'm pretty sure your the first to not just quote my name. (Y)
And yeah I've seen all of Tennant's stuff, fine 90% of the plots are bad but even then the writing within that 10% is still pretty bad. But really all I have to say is Sonic Screwdriver and any defense towards good writing or plot kinda falls short. But like I said, I could deal with that as long as they didn't take themselves too seriously and the acting was tolerable. Current season has nothing now its awful.

 

[Empty]

I really liked the story in this episode, but i do wish they had distanced the Weeping Angels from this episode with the one's in Blink, as they kinda ruined their brilliant mystique here by showing you too much. Maybe made out that these one's were special, or even used new 'weeping demons' or something monsters that were similar but applied by the new rules.

 

[Jex]

Matt Smith is terrible..

I didn't need to read past this.

 

[I should be doing hw]

I didn't need to read past this.

A fan of wooden, awkward performances are we?

 

[mclem]

This Troughton feller sucks, he's *completely* different to Hartnell. We're meant to believe this is the same man? Ridiculous.

 

[mclem]

So here's something incredibly minor but amusing I've had pointed out to me.

Spoiler

26/06/2010 being the date when everything goes horribly wrong...

When's the finale being broadcast?

Spoiler

It's also crossed my mind that this could even be something easily modified to be region-appropriate, I don't think it was ever audibly stated - except as 'Amy's time' - just shown in shots of screens that could be easily reshot.

 

[Clevinger]

A fan of wooden, awkward performances are we?

:lol Even if I didn't like his performance, wooden is a strange way to describe him. Also, you like Tennant and he's not all that different from him. Weird.

Sounds like Doctor Who just isn't for you if you thought even the best of episodes had shit writing.

 

[mrklaw]

I'm finding this series of Doctor Who to be must watch TV, starting to make space on a weekend to watch it so I'm ready to talk about it at work on Monday. Previous series I'd watch but were pretty much filler/enjoyable hokum. The quality of writing (especially the dialog between the Doctor and Amy) is unmissable IMO.

 

[Jex]

A fan of wooden, awkward performances are we?

Previous series I'd watch but were pretty much filler/enjoyable hokum. The quality of writing (especially the dialog between the Doctor and Amy) is unmissable IMO.

Pretty much!

 

[turk128]

Was I the only one who thought Father Octavian was giving off some serious Sean Bean vibes?

Moffat is really playing around with the audiences preconceive expectations of time travel and how the Doctor dealt with it in the past. He's tailoring the dialog with so many layers of meaning. Wish Moffat wrote all the episodes :\

 

[Jex]

Was I the only one who thought Father Octavian was giving off some serious Sean Bean vibes?

Octavian was awesome. Moffat wrote him as quite an under-played character and the acting fit the role to a T.

 

[StoOgE]

I'm only 3 episodes into this series (hooray BBC America for delaying the show two weeks for who knows what reason).. but I really am enjoying it.

Smith's take on the Doctor doesn't seem to far removed from what David Tennant was doing with the character which has made it a pretty easy transition.

Amy is fantastic and amazingly hot.

Also, having Russel T Davies far away from the series is great. He wrote some really good characters, but he had some completely shit endings to his episodes. It was almost Star Trek:TNG levels of Deus Ex Machina going on at the end of some of his.

I guess it worked if you wanted to see the doctor act super clever and not care about a coherent plot.

 

[turk128]

Octavian was awesome. Moffat wrote him as quite an under-played character and the acting fit the role to a T.

I checked the actor's IMDB and it seems he gets less recognition than even Bean does. At least he's going to be in Game of Thrones.

 

[StoOgE]

Really? Hackeyed plots have you seen Blink? The Empty Child? Silence in the Library? There's some really good stuff going on in this series. Your loss I guess...

I think the 10th doctor suffered greatly from really good one off episodes and really shit story arc.

 

[Diablos54]

Octavian was awesome. Moffat wrote him as quite an under-played character and the acting fit the role to a T.

I didn't like him in the first part, but he managed to win me round in the second part. Shame he had to die though.

And I'll take these if no one else wants them.

Thanks Ripclawe.

 

[Lard]

Matt Smith is terrible.

Fuck, don't tell me people from Gallifrey Base are starting to post here.

Go away twat.

And I'll take these if no one else wants them.

Dang I would have grabbed that one.

 

[Diablos54]

Dang I would have grabbed that one.

I would let you have it, but that was the one I was waiting for, sorry. :lol

 

[Android18a]

A few things:

Why would the WA's freeze if they saw each other? Maybe an early evolution of them had them freezing to every sight, but perhaps they evolved the defence system to only apply to "threats".

But if they needed such an extreme defence system, does that mean that when not frozen, they are extremely vulnerable? Otherwise, why turn to stone anyway?

It seems a bit odd that they would need to turn to stone, since they appear to be bulletproof even in the darkness.

 

[mrklaw]

Smith's take on the Doctor doesn't seem to far removed from what David Tennant was doing with the character which has made it a pretty easy transition.

I think he (along with the writing) brings a subtle but significant change to Tennant's Doctor. This one just feels a little more loose cannon, less fussed about humans, a bit more aggressive.

 

[gerg]

I think he (along with the writing) brings a subtle but significant change to Tennant's Doctor. This one just feels a little more loose cannon, less fussed about humans, a bit more aggressive.

I agree.

David Tennant just seemed outright silly at times - he was very energetic. Matt Smith seems more pensive.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Does this show have new writers or something? doctor who is normally the hammiest, overrated pile of shit on british television, But this series is pretty awesome...just checked it out on iplayer for the redhead and ended up watching all the episodes back to back

 

[Macarello]

Anyone checked out the new Matt Smith Sonic Screwdriver toy? Was thinking of getting one cos it's got a really cool design, but wondered if anyone had some impressions.

 

[JonathanEx]

Anyone checked out the new Matt Smith Sonic Screwdriver toy? Was thinking of getting one cos it's got a really cool design, but wondered if anyone had some impressions.

I've got one, it's quite cool. And I keep sonic-ing random things.

 

[Macarello]

I've got one, it's quite cool. And I keep sonic-ing random things.

Has it got a decent weight to it? I'd love just flipping it around in my hand to pass time.

 

[JonathanEx]

Has it got a decent weight to it? I'd love just flipping it around in my hand to pass time.

Decent weight - not too light, feels sturdy enough. I tend to have mine lying around with me and occasionally flip it and Sonic random items in the kitchen.

Our kitchen ceiling was caving in thanks to the apartment upstairs the other day, there was a huge crack, and looking like Matt Smith, we decided the best solution was for me to Sonic it.

 

[Macarello]

Decent weight - not too light, feels sturdy enough. I tend to have mine lying around with me and occasionally flip it and Sonic random items in the kitchen.

Our kitchen ceiling was caving in thanks to the apartment upstairs the other day, there was a huge crack, and looking like Matt Smith, we decided the best solution was for me to Sonic it.

:lol Haha, very nice. Might check one out then, it does look a lot cooler than the Tennant Screwdriver.

 

[Regulus Tera]

Does this show have new writers or something? doctor who is normally the hammiest, overrated pile of shit on british television, But this series is pretty awesome...just checked it out on iplayer for the redhead and ended up watching all the episodes back to back

New head writer.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Does this show have new writers or something? doctor who is normally the hammiest, overrated pile of shit on british television, But this series is pretty awesome...just checked it out on iplayer for the redhead and ended up watching all the episodes back to back

It's more about amount of writer rather than something all new. Steven Moffat wrote some of the most-loved episodes of the Eccleston/Tennant years, but as the new showrunner he did 4 of the first 5 episodes of this series, and will have influence over the ones he isn't the main writer for.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Loved last night's episode. The ending was bizarre, that's the kind of thing I'd expect from RTD, not Moffat :lol

One thing I felt while watching it was how different Doctor Who feels now. It feels like a continous TV show, no longer happy with self-contained stories leading up to a referential finale, desperate to create a continuous, flowing story within all the episodes. RTD wouldn't have mentioned the cracks until at least the 11th episode- having them not only be touched upon in the first two-parter, but having them be a key plot point was fantastically refreshing.

Angels should never have moved like they did though.

 

[Blader]

Watching clips of the RTD years in Confidential, I don't think I've realized before what a huge leap in cinematography this year has been. Makes the Tennant episodes look really cheap by comparison.

 

[Dr Zhivago]

About the 'special' date:

Spoiler

The show usually has a week off for Eurovision S) so that date will most likely be the date of the first part of the 2-part finale.

 

[Adam Scott Aukerman]

One thing I felt while watching it was how different Doctor Who feels now. It feels like a continous TV show, no longer happy with self-contained stories leading up to a referential finale, desperate to create a continuous, flowing story within all the episodes. RTD wouldn't have mentioned the cracks until at least the 11th episode- having them not only be touched upon in the first two-parter, but having them be a key plot point was fantastically refreshing

Well it's really not all that different to the first RTD series with all the Bad Wolf guff peppered throughout it.

 

[maharg]

It is, really, because Bad Wolf was just 'there' in all the episodes but the finale where it was just referred to. The crack has been noticed by the characters and somewhat evolved as a plot point within the first 5 episodes. And the jacket thing demonstrates that the finale will somehow actually interact with the preceding episodes, not just refer to them.

This is far more clever than Bad Wolf, even if it looked originally like it was going to be dumber than it.

 

[Subliminal]

Spoiler

26th of june is also my birthday. I win

 

[Adam Scott Aukerman]

It is, really, because Bad Wolf was just 'there' in all the episodes but the finale where it was just referred to. The crack has been noticed by the characters and somewhat evolved as a plot point within the first 5 episodes. And the jacket thing demonstrates that the finale will somehow actually interact with the preceding episodes, not just refer to them.

This is far more clever than Bad Wolf, even if it looked originally like it was going to be dumber than it.

Yes clearly it's better integrated - RTD didn't even know where Bad Wolf was going when he started it - but it was still a continuing thread throughout the series leading to the finale.

 

[Blader]

What did Bad Wolf even lead to? I know Rose planted it herself, but I can't even remember what the purpose of that was.

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

In this episode - and the series in general - Steven Moffat is using a literary device (that's also used in film and TV) called Checkhov's gun:

Chekhov's gun is the literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story, but its significance does not become clear until later on. For example, a character may find a mysterious object that eventually becomes crucial to the plot, but at the time the object is found it does not seem to be important.

The difference between Moffat and RTD in regards to this device is where Moffat is an intelligent writer with a solid understanding of story structure and characterisation, RTD is a child with a crayon.

 

[Tedesco!]

I must have missed something... what is the talk regarding the Doctor's jacket and yesterday's ep?

 

[maharg]

Better if you just look for it for yourself. Rewatch from when the Doctor loses his jacket to the Angels to when they get to the transporters. It should stand out like a sore thumb once you know you're looking for it.

 

[Blader]

I must have missed something... what is the talk regarding the Doctor's jacket and yesterday's ep?

After the Doctor leaves Amy with the clerics, we see that he comes back and tells her to remember what he told her when she was 7, then kisses her on the forehead and leaves.

The issue is that when the Doctor first left Amy, he wasn't wearing his jacket (because one of the angels had snagged it). When the Doctor leaves, and then "returns" a second later, we can tell from his sleeve that's he wearing his jacket again.

So it was either a production error, or the second time the Doctor speaks to Amy is the Doctor from the future, and that little scene is a set-up for whatever may happen in the finale (which, personally, I think makes more sense, considering the whole "remember what I told you when you were 7" bit had pretty much no bearing on this episode).

 

[StoOgE]

What did Bad Wolf even lead to? I know Rose planted it herself, but I can't even remember what the purpose of that was.

Nowhere.

I mean, Rose was Bad Wolf? And she rewrote history to hide the message everywhere... but it never really accomplished anything other than a device to convince Rose to go back and save the doctor during the last Eccelstone episode. It was never really used very cleverly at all as being central to any plotline.

Although, the scene near the end of S4 where the doctor walked out and Bad Wolf was written everywhere was pretty fucking epic. Too bad the season finale was so fucking terrible that year.. look, everyone the doctor has ever hung out with is back.. including K-9 for no real reason :lol

 

[neojubei]

I agree the Angels kinda become throwaway in this episode to the

Spoiler

time crack thingy

. Like some of the posters observed, a bit messy - but that's the peril of being being the showrunner; re-writing so many other peoples episodes, writing your own...Moffat's days of fine tuning the scripts to perfection are over. Still light years ahead of anything else I've seen on British TV of late and I'm really digging Matt's Doctor. The Daily Fail are going to have a field day with slut amy.

OK I'm calling it. Amy'is really...

Spoiler

The Valeyard, being mindcontrolled by Davros and his army of Zygon slaves

Also loved the way he did a reset on RTD years. Lolz!

what why???

 

[Technosteve]

amy pond is a naughty girl, i like.

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

I like how this show feels like a continuous story with decisions that carry on to the next episode. It's how it should have always been.

 

[mclem]

About the 'special' date:

Spoiler

The show usually has a week off for Eurovision S) so that date will most likely be the date of the first part of the 2-part finale.

Spoiler

One thing people have been murmuring about with it creeping earlier in the night, is that it's now in a timeslot where it may well be able to safely air *before* Eurovision without needing to skip that week.