...NEW DR WHO TONIGHT, 19/05/07, 7:15pm, '42'...

ARRISARRIS · 19 May, 2007, 10:27:21 AM

...and the answer to Life, the Universe and EVERYTHING is...

...oops wrong program...

The Monarch · 19 May, 2007, 08:04:10 PM

burn with me...

Mangamax · 19 May, 2007, 08:20:29 PM

What crap.
They're 5 minutes from falling into a sun, the heat shields are almost gone, the air hasn't vapourised, the escape pod doesn't incinertae once away from the ship, the Doctor looks straight at it, the windows are just windows and nothing untoward happens.
Its like the anti-Sunshine for logic.
In fact, there's an awful lot similar to that film, even down to the guy on the scooter.
Which was the chicken and which was the egg?

Trout · 19 May, 2007, 09:20:00 PM

Meh.

Buttonman · 20 May, 2007, 12:21:45 AM

In the mid of the 'watch again' on NTL - seems very derivative of an epusode from last season. Mining outfit nearing doom with nasty baddie closing in? No point in wasting a nice set!

Smiley · 20 May, 2007, 02:09:29 AM

I liked the daftness of it. All those emergency systems, were they designed by Darwinian sadists? Genius.

But, oy, all that shouting, already. They could have edited some of that.

Cthulouis · 20 May, 2007, 08:15:51 AM

In the previous episode, the "Next week" preview slot made the episode look really interesting. Now it seems they achieved this by taking clips from all the rest of the series, rather than just the next episode itself. Very disappointing.

Lobo Baggins · 20 May, 2007, 09:03:20 AM

Hmmm, unlikable and unrealistic characters standing around shouting at each other rather than trying advance the plot or save themselves.

Lots of stupid technobabble, sets and props that are very obviously made of left over sets and props from earlier in the series, monster that's a not-as-good ripoff of the Empty Child (bloke in gasmask with catchphrase), a 'real time' setting that looses six minutes and allows characters to move instantaniously from the engine room to the med bay, a cyrogenic chamber that doesn't have a door and an average sized person can't even get inside...

Still, the GCI was good.

Dudley · 20 May, 2007, 09:19:48 AM

Lots of stupid technobabble, sets and props that are very obviously made of left over sets and props from earlier in the series, monster that's a ripoff... a cyrogenic chamber that doesn't have a door...

Sounds like the old Doctor Who values are back at last!

Lobo Baggins · 20 May, 2007, 09:41:57 AM

Oh, and don't forget the magnetic retraction system, which the spaceship designer has carefully placed just out of reach on the outside of the ship, rather than inside in a convenient place. Must be the same bloke who placed the reset switch in 'The End of the World' on the other side of the Dramatic Whirling Blades of Death...

Smiley · 20 May, 2007, 02:12:02 PM

Hey, that was the best safety system. I love it when stuff just gets in the way for the sake of peril. "Where's the loo on this ship?" - "Oh, just beyond the room full of marbles, mousetraps and ironing boards."

rather than inside in a convenient place

You had to use the outer control because the inner control was knackered, which is fair enough. Doesn't explain why the inner control works like some game where the first one to throw a strop wins, mind. Maybe that outer control was designed to make life difficult for any space pirates who may have captured the ship and were looking forward to reeling you back in and buggering your corpse?

And if your ship's going kablooie what's to stop that magnetic thingy malfunctioning and dragging you back to your doom? Why have it anyway? In case of false alarm or practical jokes? Add the multiple door pub quiz of death and that ship should have been cubed by Health and Safety, never mind plummeting into a living sun.

The Amstor Computer · 20 May, 2007, 03:24:51 PM

Sounds like the old Doctor Who values are back at last!

Yeah, just a pity they couldn't bring back the writers, script editors and invention that the best of old Who enjoyed. Instead, we're stuck with shouting & mawkish bullshit from prats like Chris Chibnall, signed off on by people who should really know better.

Richard · 20 May, 2007, 03:38:01 PM

It looks like the BBC know that it's shit and are trying to get rid of it by showing it and different times every week, like they did in the '80s.

Steve Green · 20 May, 2007, 04:25:33 PM

I certainly don't think that's the case, it's just the nature of being shown on a Saturday evening, with live programmes likely to disrupt the schedule.

If it's still pulling in the viewers I don't expect much to change.

- Steve

Lobo Baggins · 20 May, 2007, 08:18:07 PM

It looks like the BBC know that it's shit and are trying to get rid of it by showing it and different times every week, like they did in the '80s.

No, it's doing the unthinkable occasionally and beating the odd episode of EastEnders (now with extra capital E!) so it's probably safe no matter how shit they think it is.

And it's still OK and watchable - I just don't like the fact that it doesn't make sense if you put any thought in to it at all. I started enjoying Primeval a lot more once I decided not to think about it too hard, for example, but I'd much rather watch something I do have to think about (such as Life on Mars, or... er, the better episodes of Lost).