...must thank the BBC this time for not putting the trailer before the end credits this time, i switched of my video before they came on so this weeks part 2 wil be a complete surprise, cant wait...
This probably wins the award for strangest episode title of the series though...
...ive been thinking that, weve had some really good episode titles for this new series but nothing like the classic ones from the sixties and seventies, like 'return of..' 'seeds of..' etc etc, but they are better than most during John Nathan Turners stint, eg castrovalva, ghostlight, mindwarp etc etc...
Id agree - the series hs rarely reachd the heights of the old series, but it is finding its feet, and as you say, the importatn thing is its a mile away from the oddly insular thing it became in the 80s
Vomit-inducing ending sort of ruined the rest of it for me.
Bleugh!
I dunno, I don't mind a bit of soppiness, and this was within tolerance limits for me.
Great episode, the first two parter that's fully worked. Jolly exciting stuff I thought.
Time for my play-by-play, bit-by-bit analysis:
First 20-odd minutes: damnable good stuff. Liked your various spooky effects with the tape/typewriter and the like. "Go to your room" was a bit of brilliance.
From teleportation onwards, it starts to decline. I've always objected slightly to teleporters being used in shows like Dr Who, especially when it makes the Doc look like a bit of a technological chump.
As for the ending? What the fetid monkey droppings was all that about, then? Made me want to hurt things.
Did quite like the Doctor's elation that everybody got to live, though. Makes a nice change for him.
Trailer for next week - return of the Slitheen, looks like it'll be a fun one. But perhaps a bit early to bring back baddies who were in an earlier episode of the same series?
Nah, best to bring em back while people still remember them.
Well, it was slightly soppy, but worked well when compared to earlier episodes when the Doctor hadn't been able to help people as much as he'd wanted.
The dynamic between the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack was great & I'm looking forward to these three working together for the final three episodes. The casual way Jack's bisexuality was handled was nicely done, and not made into the kind of tiresome "aren't we *daring*!" element that it could have been.
Some more creepy and horrific moments - the point when the tape runs out and you realise exactly which room the Doctor sent the Empty Child to being a particularly good one.
Effects were great, and it looks like some of the dodgier moments in earlier episodes were flukes. The scenes with Jack's ship in deep space were fantastic, and really wouldn't have looked out of place in any recent movie.
The next episode looks like a fun bit of fluff, but I'm not too fussed to see the Slitheen back. Someone on another forum made the point that these are the first monsters that really belong to the kids seeing the show for the first time, so it's nice to see them being considered by the writers.
Great stuff!
Is it me, or are a lot of these new Dr Who episodes using a lot of the living dead? I count four different stories using zombies. That's rather a lot, don't you think?
Still liked this week's ep, though...
I've just got back from a shopping trip, so I missed it. Cockbiscuits. :(
Of course Slitheen just happens to be the family name of that perticular group. The race name is Raxacoricofallapatarian.
And as we saw in the preview they're returning to Cardiff to deal with the rift - which the Gelth used to enter our world back in the 1880's and Mickey is back as well.
I really injoyed this episode,and thought it worked well.
I like Captain Jack alot and hope they keep him around for the second series.I wonder if him having two years of his memory removed will have something to do with the last episode.
I liked it. Soppy ending and all. In fact, it was nice to see the Doctor so happy and to have everything work out just the way he wanted it to for a change.
And while, initally I wouldn't have minded if the Captain Jack was blown to pieces, I really can't help loving the character. His banter with the Doctor is pure class, especially the scenes with the sonic related items.. And of course the bananas.
Much as I found it a little cringeworthy at the time, I can't stop grinning like an idiot at the moment. It really has made my day, and I still have quite a buzz from it.
Best thing on TV. Hands down.
"Is it me, or are a lot of these new Dr Who episodes using a lot of the living dead? I count four different stories using zombies"
Huh?
Rose - Autons
The End of the World - Various aliens
The Unquiet Dead - The Gelth, aliens inhabiting the dead
Aliens of London / World War Three - The Slitheen, aliens posing as people
Dalek - Well, duh ;-)
The Long Game - One giant alien (the Jagrafess) and a group of dead human slaves
Father's Day - The Reapers
The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances - Empty People
Dunno what criteria you're using, but I can only see two stories there that really feature what you could call the "living dead" and one that could be said to at a push. If you *really* wanted to stretch it, the Autons could be described as pseudo-zombies, I suppose.
If the Slitheen are back... Does this mean all the fart jokes are in as well?
I thought it was great, and as it happens I was at the station where they filmed the bomb scenes today (went to see Thomas The Tank Engine at Barry Island - the look of amazement on my 2 yr olds face was fantastic, and I was a proper fan boy when they told us about the Who filming, and I got to touch 'rubber barbed-wire' used in the filming!!).
Rubber barbed wire? Gah! You've spoiled the magic of Doctor Who for me...
The Schlecter Wolf (http://www.unit.org.uk/press/bombs.shtml) bomb. That translates (roughly and probably badly) as a "Bad Wolf" bomb ;-)
is it just me, or does Piper look like a mouse in those adds on the phone boxes?
Excellent episode - really chilling aspects to it as well as genuinly funny moments - and the 'Go to your room!' get out clause was pure class!
Excellent couple of episodes, I thought - just the right mix of scary and funny. I got the 'Saturday Night Feeling' for the first time during the cliffhanger for 'The Empty Child'*...
Thankfully, it wasn't as deux ex machina as 'Father's Day', which I was worried might happen.
There were quite a lot of irritating anacronisms, in both episodes, though...
*Long time Doctor Who fans will understand this.
I missed the first instalment,but there was enough info to keep me watching this second part.
Captain Jack is already involved in the family of the Doc and Rose.
The deviciveness.The comment on sexuality with the butcher's "man" and a certain major.
Nice ship design for Captian Jack,more than an echo of Dan Dare there.Well the cap and the spaceship.A little nod to Stanley Kubriks film about the war.(forgot what its called but Slim Pickens rodayoing an atom bomb in it.)
The transformation got to me in the proper horror fashion.
It was nice to see a happy ending. Lets leave the cleansing to Slaine this week,eh?
Chris is a very good Doctor and has earned the wear of the boots.Its a pity hes not staying on.I dont want to start but why do not feel alone in this sad countdown of episodes.Im hurrying to get the dvds as soon as I can.
Yeah i really enjoyed the episode and the arrangement of them is working a treat.
"A little nod to Stanley Kubriks film about the war.(forgot what its called but Slim Pickens rodayoing an atom bomb in it.)"
Dr. Strangelove (or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb).
Although he also directed the excellent Paths of Glory as well.
I'm just back from the swimming pool, where I heard a child being reased with the line 'Are you my mummy?'
Fantasic!
Scary and upsetting in places, hilarious and uplifting in others, moderately logical if unoriginal SF plot, cracking dialogue and great (over)acting (that Nancy was terrific), plus the Secret Origin of the Sonic Screwdriver(sort of!), I'm happy to say that was the Best Dr Who Episoe since Tom Baker's tenure.
Even if the next season is utter tripe, this truly has been the undisputed King of TV for the past few months. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
"I heard a child being reased"
I have no idea what that means, and I'm not sure I want to either.
'Teased' Damn you you beared bastard!
O - and I was right about who 'Mummy' was!
I've just watched this, thanks to the wonderful invention VIDEO. Hope it catches on.
Really solid episode. Everything made sense within the story and I loved the doctor's "everyone lives" line as well.
Bolt-01
>Really solid episode. Everything made sense within the story and I loved the doctor's "everyone lives" line as well.
Yeah. I thought an alternative title for the episode could've been 'everyone lives', but it would've been a tad spoilery. Nicely ironic as well, what with it being in the middle of the flippin' blitz.
That badger haired chin one does have a point tho.L
ooking at the word
That badger haired chin one does have a point tho.
Looking at the word it does not have much maleability,Rac.
Looking at the keyboard,however...
balls so I made a mistake
balls so I made a mistake
that should do it
no, damn
Its not just me then ?
A possible but unlikely spoiler
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all of the Doctor who confidentials thus far have dealt with an issue in the episode it precedes (such as the science of doctor who following this weeks one)
However next weeks episode deals with death and in perticular major characters which makes me thinking is captain jack or mickey about to be killed off in boom town?
Spolier?
The actor who plays Captain Jack is listed to be in all the remaning episodes of series 1 (bar the Christmas special). So I doubt very much they're going to off him in Boom Town. Besides, if they were going to do that they might as well have just blown him up at the end of Doctor Dances.
If Mickey goes... Well, can't say I'd care too much. My main concern would be who would run the whoisdoctorwho? site.
POSSIBLE SPOILER
Read an interesting theory - that the bloke from Coronation Street (a genius with a hole in his forehead and 50 centuries of tech knowledge) turns out to be Davros (a genius with a hole in his forehead and 50 centuries of tech knowlege). After all, Corrie Bloke knows what a Dalek looks like...
That's a really terrible theory Mr X.
Actually, all these mad theories are just making me laugh - despite the fact the programme will probably end up with a story arc that has to be understandable to an 'ordinary' viewer and after years of feeding on itself, Who fandom now seems to continually update itself after each episode with new potential back stories - each one more ludicrous and convoluted than the last! I blame those New Adventures - too damn complicated for their own good ;)
Thats's "Dr" X, if you mind.
I didn't spend years at the School of Mad Science for nothing, you know.
That was **wonderful**, every bit as great as Doctor Who should be!!
--Grant
Hail, Bittorrent! I can now watch the second part. :)
...debate, debate, debate...