Doctor Who Series 11 Discussion

[JamesC]

A part of me was hoping that Ribbons would become a temporary companion.
I often think that about villains I like.

[Steve Green]

The other option is to go the other way, a puppet that Grace as a kid that she kept.

Someone posted a picture of Kiki from Hector's House on twitter - something like that would have worked, in a stay-puft way.

Or even Granny 5, some sweet old Time-lady in a last-ditch attempt to hook the doctor, like there's some desperate attempts to keep her there.

[TordelBack]

If we don't get to meet Granny 5 at some point I'm going to be very disappointed. Loved that bit.

Speaking of Grannies, I was surprised how much of an impact fake Grace had on me - the original was barely in the show,  and yet I deeply and personally resented this impostor. That's a strong character.

[Hawkmumbler]

Frog-On-Chair vs. The Myrka when?

[Steve Green]

If we don't get to meet Granny 5 at some point I'm going to be very disappointed. Loved that bit.

Speaking of Grannies, I was surprised how much of an impact fake Grace had on me - the original was barely in the show,  and yet I deeply and personally resented this impostor. That's a strong character.

Dead, brain implanted into a robot body, and a 2000 AD crossover called Graniac 5.

[Tiplodocus]

Enjoyed that especially how it morphed into such a mad high concept yet retained the theme of loss vs. abandonment.

Frog didn't bother me as much as Ryan being so useless. He got a hug but more for the "Aw, you lost your Gran" rather than doing anything positive.

Graham's sandwiches also good.

[Mattofthespurs]

Agreed. Decent episode that started poorly but was more than the sum of it's parts by the end.

We enjoyed it.

[BPP]

Bad - boring-Ryan, the most boring man in the universe.
Bad - yeah the frog. Why not try and hook the Doctor with something personal?
Bad - TALKING SO TALKILY ABOUT FEELINGS. At this stage it’s a bad joke, character and interactions not demonstrated in the script or acting through the plot but two characters relentlessly talking about their feelings.
Bad - the explaination of the parallel universe was tosh - something so powerful only manifesting now? And defeated so easily. Here’s an elemental force from the beginning of time, go stand beside it in pairs and it blows up.
Bad - the doctor does still seem pretty post-regen dumb. She needs her smarts and knowledge back.
Bad - the music was back trying to tell you SAD BIT HERE in an OTT way.

Good - the horror set up
Good - the mirror
Good - the doctor slightly more proactive
Good - ribbons ( bit Golum but defo gone too soon, his whole realm was interesting)
Good - the flesh-what-a-ya-call-ums and the red light
Good - the blind girls rejection of the alien.
Good - looked really nice (frog excepted)
Good - the shot of the doctor just before meeting the frog - strikingly framed.

Overall a really solid outing.

[IndigoPrime]

Some of it was messy. How did awful dad manage to find his way through the death moths so many times, in the dark? What was Ribbons doing there? It felt a bit like someone said "we need some peril and an alien", when the bridge could have just been spooky and with perilous drops or something. (Hello, again, need for a decent script editor.)

But I enjoyed its crazy nature, the way they dealt with the blind girl, The Doctor, and the overall bonkers nature of the script. As others have said, it was great not knowing what was going to happen, but also it wasn't Moffat-style "let's make this as convoluted as possible".

[von Boom]

This could have been a great Doctor cum Lovecraft episode, but ends up being a limping story of love conquering fear. Again.

The initial set up was quite good and very eerie. Very Jo Nesbo/Dunwich Horror type of vibe. Hannah was wonderful since she realises very early on that Ryan sucks. The whole conscious universe kicks them out line was weak. Hannah should have saved them all by leading them back through the tunnel by her sense of touch once they figured out they'd been trapped by Yog-Sothoth.

The Doctor seems to be an infodump device this series. Need to explain something? The Doctor suddenly remembers. At least when she's not running about claiming 'I don't know' all over the place.

Ryan finally had some redeeming value when he finally called Graham granddad. Now pin his mittens to his sleeves and send him on his way. Ryan's the worst. Except for Yas. She's the worst too.

Was anyone else hoping that Graham would punch Erik squarely on the nose? No. Just me then I guess.

Overall it was a messy, but good episode.

[athorist]

The Doctor seems to be an infodump device this series.

Which series are you watching, could you be more specific?

[wedgeski]

We thought the sheep moment would've been funnier if the Doctor had stared-down the mammal in question, and then refused to talk about it. Overall, a good and imaginative story with a lot of nonsense that should have been polished before production.

I liked the frog puppet, but the lip sync was very bad, almost as if they changed the dialogue after filming.

The last shot of the Doctor in the cast-off universe, blowing a kiss to the frog, was killer. It was a moment that truly belonged to JW's Doctor.

[shaolin_monkey]

The whole episode was as mad as a box of frog.

[Taryn Tailz]

(sigh)...Well, that was a Chibnall series finale, wasn't it?

I'd say I was underwhelmed, but my expectations were low to begin with. As it turned out, well...that was simply DREADFUL. Utterly lacking in imagination, completely insipid, almost entirely without emotion, and thoroughly uninvolving. That was almost like watching an episode of Doctor Who written by algorithim. I kept waiting for a plot twist to hit, or an interesting concept to rear it's head. Alas, I'm still waiting.

The main problem with bringing back the Stenza is that he wasn't remotely interesting the first time around. He's a generic killer with zero character. He's not the Weeping Angels, nor he is the Silence. He isn't even the Monks. My heart sank the second he was revealed as the bad guy.

The Stenza's plan involving the five planets was exactly the same...EXACTLY THE SAME...as the one employed by the villains of the Fourth Doctor story 'The Pirate Planet'. The big difference, however, is that 'The Pirate Planet' was written by Douglas Adams, whereas 'The Battle of Racoon Coal (or whatever)' was written by Chris Chibnall.

That episode had absolutely nothing to say. Doctor Who should never, ever, be boring. To be boring is the cardinal sin of Doctor Who. Sadly, we appear to be stuck with a showrunner who can only hit 'boring' at the height of his powers.

[Colin YNWA]

I thought it was pretty good and while Graham's arc 'Be the better man' is a cliche that reading superhero comics has taught me soooo many times Bradley Walsh's performance made it really work well. The rest was entertaining enough though it didn't stand up to close inspection.

Problems... well there are many. I too didn't give too hoots about the Stanza, though I was pretty certian it was coming back and its turn as a false God almost justified it, for a while it looked pretty frightening... until he was defeated... his terrible alien power, this vile scourge of the galaxy... by getting shot in the foot and then falling over. It was Milleresque!

The following false Gods and not yourself was pretty interesting, if at time dealt with a little in ya face... but until the faithful, these poor angels serving an evil master, torn between what was right in their hearts and what the unholy beast they'd be following for 3 1/3 thousand years told them to do. Their almost limitless loyality and devotion was enlighted ... by some stranger telling them they's met him down the pub on Divison Street or summit and pop illusion shattered.

Can't land his ending this Chibnall chap can he.

Oh and don't start me in those trooper bots or whatever they were called. They look really cool and menacing when they are marching purposely but in all other ways are bobbins.

Still somehow it sweep me along happily enough, looked great most the time and The Doc is really working  now. Looking forward to New Year's its the Daleks right? Ill informed speculation tabs there rather than spoilers.