Official Doctor Who Thread

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Not a fan of the Let's Kill Hitler title.

I actually can't wait to see what that episode's about. I personally think that that title's hilarious.

So I've just started season 6, and watched the first four episodes. The first episode was a bit mediocre to me, but the second episode more than made up for it (despite some tiny plot holes). Episode three and four were absolutely fantastic.

That was pretty underwhelming and disappointing...

I wasn't fond of it. It seemed scattered, and the title was a pretty transparent meaningless ploy to make sure audiences came back after the break. The plot device of the

Spoiler:
justice robot

Spoiler:
River's origins

I wasn't that big on it either. However, it seems to be going down very well on the fan forums.

Yeah, most of my friends that have seen it loved it. I complained about halfway through that I was very much not impressed so far and they all said that it'd pick up and was great.

...yeah, didn't happen.

Pretty badly done imo

For a moment there I thought they were hunting the Doctor.

So....now he knows

I'm a bit mixed on this story. I think its going to be referred back to alot, but it really wasn't the greatest.
What it did do was attempt to give us at least some answers. Like steve said, we now know that The Doctor knows about his death date. We know how River first met The Doctor, what her childhood was like, shy she can't regenerate.. etc. So lots packed in, but unfortunately not a top notch story.

Wasn't confused at all. Clearly it was Moffatt trying to clean up some continuity stuff. Misleading title, sure, and not plot-heavy, but a lot of that housecleaning was going to need to happen at some point. Maybe it'll pick up next episode.

The tuxedo and hat were cool.

A sloppy badly written episode. Worst episode so far, next week looks better and I hope it is.

I didn't think it was the worste or the best

Yeah, I'm not sure why this episode is so polarizing. Doesn't strike me as the type to be such. Or is it always like this on the forums? I'm new to Doctor Who KMC commentary, I always had to wait a while to see it.

Yeah, it's pretty normal for certain episodes to be very split along opinions. There are fans that simply thing everything is awesome (a few of my friends are that sort), there are fans that criticize everything, there are fans that like some things and don't like others, there are fans that simply love anything kind of kookie/wacky/off the wall...

So yeah. Not terribly unusual to get this sort of reaction.

Also, I think part of why reactions are so split for this ep is because 1) it was the first episode in months and 2) it explained something that's been teased at for years now. There were high expectations, and not only were they not met, but what we got was kind of a complete mess.

Years-long buildup is basically the recipe for disappointment though. There's almost no way to match it with reality. I did think it odd that they revealed pretty much everything that made the opening 2 episodes so enthralling. But I'm generally pretty forgiving of DW. If it made complete sense or was always appropriately dramatic, it probably wouldn't be DW, it would be one of the tightly scripted - but not nearly as entertaining - dramas we see all over TV.

It's like, if you can't just smile at "Oh shit, the universe is ending! Quick, crack some jokes, wear a sharp suit, pull the wibbly lever, Voila!" and sort of damn the rest, then you're doing it wrong imo.

Not trying to be uncritical. I've despised episodes before too. Just trying to put such opinions in perspective.

...

It could be acting too. Tennant was better at wringing out the drama imo. Smith is better at seeming spontaneous and funny. The show sometimes rises and falls on those strengths and weaknesses.

Anyone know the channel that airs Doctor who in the US because I'm going there this weekend and I'm there for 2 weeks and I don't wanna miss any episodes

So next week we have Mark Gatiss' latest attempt. For those who do not know, Mark Gatiss is a highly regarded writer (in nerd circles, at least) in the UK- he made his fame in dark-tinted comedy but has a sideline in horror and Victorian-era stuff. He's written some very successful comedy series,. some very good books and in fact he tried to get the rights to Doctor Who himself before RTD got the job back in '05. Gatiss might not have got the top job but he came right on board as a writer for the new series.

But Gatiss' Doctor Who efforts have not been as successful as many might have hoped. He started well enough with the third story 'The Unquiet Dead' (exactly his sort of era and style, that, though he himself had to be persuaded by RTD to put Dickens in it), which some regard as the first 'proper' Who story of the revived series, but since then... hmm.

We had The Idiot's Lantern- evocative name, interesting idea, but really did not work well and was not a popular story. He then starred as Lazarus in series 3 but got rather associated with the dodgy cgi in that episode. He then had a pitch for series 4 that RTD actively rejected (something to do with a museum and World War 2 I think).

Then Moffat brought him back for... Victory of the Daleks. Oh dear. And to make it worse, he kinda bet the house on that as beforehand he was saying it's the best story he had ever done. As we know, VOTD is not exactly the most popular story going (and even amongst those who do not hate the redesigned Daleks, not many people put it as a classic). The anticlimax after that story caused a large Gatiss backlash.

However, Gatiss still has that high reputation- and has recently collaborated with Moffat on the highly successful Sherlock series- again with that period style that is his trademark- and got a lot of kudos back for it. So whilst people's expectations are now wary, there's still the solid hope that this is going to be a good story. It is very Gatiss in style- dark shadows, creepy horror etc and the advance reviews are good.

(Though they were good for VOTD too...)

Victory of the Daleks.

😐

...the only episode that comes to mind when I try to think of episodes I genuinely dislike.

Still, w/e. Thanks for the info Ush.

Now, personally, I thought that was a perfectly acceptable episode- not a classic and a boring resolution but solid.

But so far the reaction on the fan forums are lurching towards the negative. Poor Mark! Well, I always give it 24 hours before I see where the fan mood has gone so we'll see.

I'm with you on this one, Ush. Not a classic by any means but a good standard episode.

The biggest problem with it, other than the utterly cliched end, was the fact that it took so long for what was going on to be made clear. But yeah, it was decent. Not great, but definitely not poor.