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Noticed this report on Channel 4 news...

I've never read Spiderman but it sounds like a good idea to me, you can't go round having married Superheroes, it kills the whole 'outsider' thing (it's bad enough when sit-com characters get married).

ADE

Link: http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/arts_entertainment/film_tv/spiderman+cuts+his+ties/1361467" target="_blank">Stop the press: Attractive girl reads comic book..

Well said Paul.

Regardless of how much it may have got better some things are just too cynical and idea from the start to deserve another chance. Quite simply, Doctor Who was never about shagging, or bum-fun. The whole thing just gives me the creeps.

ADE

Policeman forgets to put 50p in the 'No Rabbit' meter.

(With thanks to Paul Merton)

ADE

"Well if you're a rabbit then I'm a pig..."

Spearritt's pants should come down (off the internet).

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Link: http://www.adrianbamforth.com/LemhirMatrix.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.adrianbamforth.com/LemhirMatrix.jpg

I watched most of it cautiously today havine carefully lowered my expectations. Actually, it's not anywhere near as bad as RTD's usual fare, actually having a decent idea to start with even if it doesn't bear closer inspection (Titanic replica spaceship) where earlier Christmas episodes had none (The Christmas Invasion). The worst thing for me is as usual the incessant music which barely ever stopped.

It was a stand-alone story with no assistant so that eliminated a lot of the soap, unconvincing and forced hero/assistant relationship stuff, poor quality earlier foes (Slitheen), references to earlier bad stories and ongoing themes that he does so badly ('Bad Wolf').

It would be better if they didn't bother with assistants at all as they never actually have a purpose (often in the past at least they were accidentally stuck together). But is it my imagination or did the Doctor tell the Keeping Up Appearances man "I always travel alone"? Since when has this been? What who were all those people we saw him with for 40 years? All the incessant moralising equal rights for robots (gays), then at the end he may just say "Well you could come along but you're old and a bloke, you don't have an arse like Kylie's and you're not close to school age."

"yeah I'd agree with both CreamTrumpet and Bico to some degree."

Admit it - that's not a sentence you ever thought you would use.

"If RTD wants to break his own toys, ie - something he created himself, like Torchwood, then I will happily not watch and be done with it."

For me that's being generous - however different it is, he's still tainting the brand by creating an atrocious spin-off.

I wouldn't mind at all if he stole concepts from Doctor Who to create a new programme, then it could be judged fairly and earn it's audience based on it's merits. The trouble is he's recieving gushing praise from people who should know better, not because the writing is good, but because he's made a success of the show. If the show were new it just wouldn't get away with it.

On bad Doctor Who plotting in the past: I find most old Who stories a mess though I suspect partly down to the budget restrictions - there's usually just a handful of sets and the writer can't do much else but have them running back and forth between them for flimsy reasons.

There was a script?

"Worse, IMHO - self-referential gag to previous Christmas Specials"

Also, I switched on for a bit before the persistant music drove me away and after a few minutes they started talking about the expense of TV phone-in competitions.  

"did he mope about Billie?"

Oh yeah, 16: The Doctor mopes about Billie.

How did it do on Russell T Davies bingo:

1. Set on future Earth, year squillion
2. Doctor falls in love
3. Events conveyed via TV news bulletin
4. Sonic screwdriver can do anything
5. Inappropriate sexual reference/gay agenda
6. Old foe appears at end
7. Deus ex machina get-out
8 Reference to current TV trend
9. Magic not science
10. Celebrity cameo
11. Doctor suddenly displays combat skills
12. Doctor shows little regard for family/friends of companion
13. Tardis seems to be alive or returns safe and sound
14. Doctor describes people as 'brilliant'.
15. Everyone loves The Doctor or he is a bit like Jesus