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Doctor Who [Spoilers]

My first thought wasn't of the Titanic but The Posiedon Adventure too. A blatant bit of silliness, even for Doctor Who, with characters barely realised dying with Star Trek Red Shirt frequency.





* Spoiler Alert *




A major thing that stuck in my craw wasn't that Astrid(? Kylie's character) died heroically but utterly needlessly. If she'd figured how to lift the forks of a forklift, she could figure out how to drop the miserable gobshite to a fiery death without going herself. I should know - I drive one too and it's easy.
 
So that was Christmas? Oh well, it wasn't a disastrous episode (no pun intended), but it was far from fantastic. More aliens who look, dress and speak exactly like people from 20th Century Earth, even though most of them have never heard of the place. Just one token "proper" alien, Taramasalata, or Bananarama, or whatever his name was.

It was a nice touch to have the utter arsehole survive and make money out of the whole episode - talking of money, Richard Bucket was left on Earth with a million-pound credit card, and the Doctor tells him he's rich. Talk about a credit crunch - wait 'til the poor bloke gets his first monthly bill!

Stormkhan said:
A major thing that stuck in my craw wasn't that Astrid(? Kylie's character) died heroically but utterly needlessly. If she'd figured how to lift the forks of a forklift, she could figure out how to drop the miserable gobshite to a fiery death without going herself. I should know - I drive one too and it's easy.
I think they tried to circumvent that by using the old "angel's halo slicing the brake-line" ploy, but as any fule gno, a forklift wouldn't have brake pipes cable-tied to the upper frame. What would be the point? The pedals are so close to the wheels, you don't need any exposed piping.

Anyway, couldn't she work out the forward tilt, or just stick the bleedin' thing in reverse? Or, I don't know, just get off before it plummeted?

I reckon RTD was so disappointed that he couldn't get Kylie for season 4, that he decided to kill off her character in a huff.

BTW, I have to put my hands up and admit that, in fairness to the Minoguester, she wasn't even slightly annoying, despite my reservations earlier. I am so not looking forward to a season of Catherine Tate...
 
Stormkhan said:
I should know - I drive one too and it's easy.

You don't look half as cute in the waitress uniform though. ;)
 
See, now this is what I love about this place. The concept of a nigh-immortal bloke with two hearts flying around in a phone box, saving a present-day Earth-orbiting Titanic-replica spaceship owned by a mad disembodied head protected by metal angels? No problem. But Kylie Minogue not really knowing what to do with a fork-lift truck? Outrage!
Pietro said:
I know the fact that they actually commissioned a new series of Torchwood does seem hard to believe, but I'm sure that it's nothing that some decent jokes couldn't fix. If only they could get Joss Whedon and some of the other Buffy scriptwriters into to write the series.
Looking back on it, this was my problem with Torchwood. It didn't know what is was. Doctor Who with shagging and swearing? A very dry comedy? Scooby Doo meets Queer as Folk (I think that's closest..)

It had good production values, well-drawn characters, one or two really good episodes, and a tip-top cast. What it lacked was an overall shape and direction: an identity, basically. Get that, and it'll be a can't-miss series.
 
Did anyone notice that Astrid is an anagram of Tardis? These things aren't thrown together!

No Doctor Who with Bernard Cribbins in it can be too bad. And it looks like he's back next year too.
 
gncxx said:
No Doctor Who with Bernard Cribbins in it can be too bad.
May I draw the jury's attention to "Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D."?

Not as bad as Colin Baker-era stuff, I agree, but there are limits.
 
stuneville said:
gncxx said:
No Doctor Who with Bernard Cribbins in it can be too bad.
May I draw the jury's attention to "Daleks: Invasion Earth 2150 A.D."?

Not as bad as Colin Baker-era stuff, I agree, but there are limits.

That's what I was referring to, m'lud. It's better than the first Peter Cushing film and damn good fun to boot.
 
gncxx said:
That's what I was referring to, m'lud. It's better than the first Peter Cushing film and damn good fun to boot.
Ah - I was mixing it up with the first one. You're quite right. Jury please note, any film which contains a line about "Daleks heading for Watford" has to be worth watching.
 
stuneville said:
See, now this is what I love about this place. The concept of a nigh-immortal bloke with two hearts flying around in a phone box, saving a present-day Earth-orbiting Titanic-replica spaceship owned by a mad disembodied head protected by metal angels? No problem. But Kylie Minogue not really knowing what to do with a fork-lift truck? Outrage!
I think that some of my own quibbles are more down to the lack of internal consistency than fantastic storylines. There are plenty of things with Who that are easy to ignore most of the time, but once I start to think about them, they really start to bug me.

Take the whole "Tardis as universal translator" palaver. Fine, if we accept that anyone within a certain distance of the Tardis will automatically have foreign/alien languages interpreted for them, then that saves the process of all the major characters having to learn each others' tongues before the action kicks off. So far, so good. Then the doctor starts to engage in witty wordplay with his companions. Surely the Tardis can't translate puns? Not to worry - most of the good Doctor's companions are English, and it's fair to assume that he has picked up English over the years, with all the time he spent on Earth.

BUT... that doesn't wash with the latest episode. The ship was named Titanic, crewed and populated by aliens from the planet Stow, yet the posters and viewscreens all had English text on them. Even the mock lifebelts had "Titanic" written on them. That's not the worst of it, though. The crewman on the deck was called Alonso, of all names, so the Doctor could finally cry "Allons-y, Alonso!", a joke which requires knowledge of French and Spanish, on a ship where no-one had heard of Earth until recently, shortly after the Tardis had jetted off to the planet below!
 
Quite right Ryn, take off your scientific correctness hat and enjoy the show. :)
 
BUT... that doesn't wash with the latest episode. The ship was named Titanic, crewed and populated by aliens from the planet Stow, yet the posters and viewscreens all had English text on them. Even the mock lifebelts had "Titanic" written on them. That's not the worst of it, though. The crewman on the deck was called Alonso, of all names, so the Doctor could finally cry "Allons-y, Alonso!", a joke which requires knowledge of French and Spanish, on a ship where no-one had heard of Earth until recently, shortly after the Tardis had jetted off to the planet below!

I know...I know. The trick with Who is to not so much suspend disbelief but haul it into the stratosphere, and hope it makes up for it with wit, inspiration and the occasional creepy bit. Alas, this year's Xmas special was ... not good. Sorry, but it just had too many 'jumping the shark' moments for me - as illustrated by the Queen waving to a giant alien spaceship modelled on the Titanic as it comes within a hair's breadth of colliding with Buck house. Didn't like it - wasn't funny, just cringeworthy (and much too close, for my liking, to that moment when the Bond franchise well and truly leapt the aquatic carnivore: namely at the end of one adventure - whose title escapes me - when Bond took a personal phone call from Maggie Thatcher, as played by Janet Brown in a pinny. Ugh!)

I hope it doesn't portend a downward spiral for the series, that's all I can say.
 
I find the whole Doctor As Messiah bit rather tedious actually. Not for any religious reasons or whatever; simply because it's a bit of a cop out. Get back to reversing polarities, I say. The end of the last series was a spot of shark jumping if ever I saw it.

This time, we just had the Hosts flying the Doctor in, Ascention-like.

It was good that he couldn't save everyone, but he started with six and ended with two - not good odds, that. And Mr. van Huff died in a particularly pointless way, I felt. Mrs. van Huff wasn't much better either.

All in all, a bit of a let down actually.

And Doctor Who Confidential - how many pairs of those boots were made for Kylie??? Why can't they just buy them from Dorothy Perkins or something????
 
Because, my dear Rave, the BBC won't take the risk of appearing to indulge in product placement. Dottie P.'s marketing department'd soon latch on to that. ;)
 
Ravenstone said:
It was good that he couldn't save everyone, but he started with six and ended with two - not good odds, that. And Mr. van Huff died in a particularly pointless way, I felt. Mrs. van Huff wasn't much better either.
I think that if you're going to bring in a "guest" actor from TittyBangBang, surely the least funny sketch show in history, and just about the biggest waste of licence payers money of all time, the least you can do is have their character die a stupid, pointless death. It's the rules.
 
I've never watched Tittytittybangbang, so I bow to your superior knowledge. ;)

I object to my licence fee going on buying several pairs of boots for Madame Minogue. Let her buy her own. Or stick to one pair at least.
 
Ravenstone said:
I've never watched Tittytittybangbang, so I bow to your superior knowledge. ;)
I'm hardly an expert, I promise, but based on my tiny experience of it, the show is truly dire.

I object to my licence fee going on buying several pairs of boots for Madame Minogue. Let her buy her own. Or stick to one pair at least.
I agree entirely, but I wouldn't waste the budget at Dotty P's. Give her £50 and a taxi to Brantano!

I can't even remember much about the ruddy boots - were they anything special?
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
Did anyone else notice that this Chrimbo Special used almost the identical plot and scenario as New Series 1. Ep. 2: The End of the World?
No. We're not all nerds, you know. ;)
 
LOL! I bet there are some disappointed they don't do adult sizes.

you've read my mind - that was my exact thought when i saw it too.

looks like i need a better tinfoil hat! :D
 
Rrose_Selavy said:
CarlosTheDJ said:
Best...outfit...ever.

Look at his little face.

http://tinyurl.com/24ovoq

LOL! I bet there are some disappointed they don't do adult sizes.

One piece costume with attached metallic trims and removable tool.

How considerate.

The gun and the arm are on the wrong sides....(yes, it's sad that I spotted that).

There was a rather similar costume available in the 1960s, can't find a picture, but I'd sure someone will.
 
Well, what did you all think?

I thought hmmmm...........

Tate wasn't as bad as I expected. I thought the story was a bit old hat though. Yes the Lard Babies were cute but the 'bare bones' of the story have been done so many times. (Evil alien using humans for their own ends).

Curious thing with Rose.

It was a shame that the spaceship was a complete rip of of the one from Close Encounters.
 
It was quite lightweight, but the aim of the story was really just to reestablish the Donna character. I think the CE3K style spaceship was a deliberate joke. And the Rose thing I guess is going to be a setup for the season climax, where I suspect the parallel Earth and is going to start to leak back into the Whoniverse...
 
Where was the great big season four trailer? I was looking forward to that bit.

But yeah, average though not as bad as I'd feared, it looks like Ms Tate will be the Tegan of the comeback series. Who knows, maybe a more abrasive companion will shake things up a bit? And the presence of the Cribbins cannot be underestimated.
 
gncxx said:
Where was the great big season four trailer? I was looking forward to that bit.

But yeah, average though not as bad as I'd feared, it looks like Ms Tate will be the Tegan of the comeback series. Who knows, maybe a more abrasive companion will shake things up a bit? ...
Tegan, or a "Do I look bovvered?" version of Mel?
 
liveinabin1 said:
Well, what did you all think?

I thought hmmmm...........

Tate wasn't as bad as I expected.
You're right - she was worse. She just about failed to ruin the whole thing for me, and she only failed because Sarah Lancashire was even more annoying that Miss Tate.

OK, I'm being harsh. This wasn't the worst episode of Doctor Who ever - just the worst one this century (with the possible exception of "The Idiot's Lantern" with Maureen Lipman).

Good news is, it can only get better. Catherine Tate will have to tone down her stupid over-acting - I don't see she has a choice - and there are Sontarans on the way. Sod the Daleks, they've been done to death, but bring on the potato-heads!
 
I thought that Tate was just fine, and I'm not easily pleased ............

I'm not remotely looking forward to the Sontarans double episode - for starters, have you seen their new look? 'Comedic' would be a good description! Also, do you know who has written their two-parter - yes, none other than Helen Raynor, the 'writer' (I use the term loosely) responsible for the utterly dire Daleks two-parter in series 3 - 'Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks'.

I shudder to think how awful it will turn out.
 
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