Doctor Who - Season... Spring 2013

[Colin YNWA]

Hide: Metebelis Three, mentioned regularly by the third Doctor and visited twice, but never again.  Oddly, one of these visits was during the serial "The Green Death," when Jon Pertwee famously mispronounced the word "chitinous."  So I think that Matt Smith was directed to mispronounce it.  It's a cute Easter egg callback.

Wow so if you spotted that error, you're a really really big fan of of the old series BUT not a big enough fan to get it. They're playing with us!

[Grant Goggans]

Ha!  It's actually a pretty famous bit of fan lore.  Barry Letts, the producer of the five Pertwee seasons, talked about it all the time on the convention circuit, and shared it in one of those big Peter Haining books in the 1980s.  He got a letter from a viewer after the episode went out, and it just read,

Dear Barry Letts,
The reason I'm writin'
Is how to say "chitin."

It's alongside the "Yeti on the loo in Tooting Bec*" and "Everybody was wearing eyepatches" classic fan stories of the Pertwee years.  Moffat, fanboy that he was, is certainly aware of it.



*Before I understood very much British slang or knew that anything with a name as silly as "Tooting Bec" was a place, that anecdote was somewhat lost on me.

[Leigh S]

I think the reference to Metebelis 3 is more than enough of a Third Doctor reference without this theory... As far as I can tell, Matt SMith said it in enough of a way that I got that he was referring to Planet of the Spiders (though admittedly the crystal helped...!) and no one felt it worth making him say it ever so slightly differently - nothing else required to referred to each Doctor.  If you were going for a nod to this, you'd surely have him mispronounce chitinous?  I've heard of Yetis on loos and eyepatches, but this chitin thing is knew to me, so I wouldn't entirely put them on a par...

[von Boom]

Overall it was an enjoyable episode. Dougray Scott was excellent, but then he's a consistently good actor. I wouldn't mind seeing him again.

There were a couple too many gags for me and took away from some of the tension and can we keep the love plot lines to one per episode please. My wife enjoyed the professor/assistant line, but even the alien love was a step too far for her.

[shaolin_monkey]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. No-one cried!

I cannot wait for next weeks. We haven't had a good romp through the corridors of the TARDIS since Tom Baker!  I'm betting its going to be quite different this time round.

[Colin YNWA]

The latest offering from the quite brilliant Francesco Francavilla.

http://francesco-francavilla.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/doctor-who-hide-ep710.html

[Proudhuff]

actually liked the love story elements of it. It wasn't just a generic  "the power of love/tears/memory conquers all" but very specific love that tied the two story strands together.

Thought Dougray Scott was excellent - and had good potential for another guest spot.

Oh and I really liked the companion/assistant gag.

^This.

[Charlie boy]

I'm thinking I may have been a bit harsh with my dislike for the "aliens in love!" explanation. After a little thought I've realised a lot of children enjoy watching Dr who and so the "aliens in love!" route was probably better than the "these aliens are sexually frustrated and really just want to get down to some mating" talk.

[IndigoPrime]

I thought the alien thing was a nice twist, neatly also explaining why there was one scuttling about the house and also why the one in the pocket universe wasn't just devouring everything. And, man, they're going to have a hell of a time replacing Smith, aren't they?

[Link Prime]

they're going to have a hell of a time replacing Smith, aren't they?

I dunno...he's always been on the edge of just too jarringly manic for my taste, and it seems like he's been at the helm longer than Tennant was.
Like every Doctor, he has his pros & cons. I won't mind seeing him go though.

[Proudhuff]

they're going to have a hell of a time replacing Smith, aren't they?

I dunno...he's always been on the edge of just too jarringly manic for my taste, and it seems like he's been at the helm longer than Tennant was.
Like every Doctor, he has his pros & cons. I won't mind seeing him go though.

Noooo!  if previous regens are anything to go by he'll came back as a twelve year old

[WhizzBang]

Perhaps Justin Bieber could be the next Doctor then.

[IndigoPrime]

I dunno...he's always been on the edge of just too jarringly manic for my taste, and it seems like he's been at the helm longer than Tennant was.

I like him a lot. He has acting range, feels sufficiently alien, and manages to raise even an iffy episode a little. Far better than turning Tennant, for me, and of the 'new' Doctors more oddly alien than Eccleston.

I need to revisit some of the older shows, though. I'm currently trudging through some of the very earliest episodes, which it turns out (for me) isn't a whole lot of fun.

[Goaty]

I dunno...he's always been on the edge of just too jarringly manic for my taste, and it seems like he's been at the helm longer than Tennant was.

I like him a lot. He has acting range, feels sufficiently alien, and manages to raise even an iffy episode a little. Far better than turning Tennant, for me, and of the 'new' Doctors more oddly alien than Eccleston.

I need to revisit some of the older shows, though. I'm currently trudging through some of the very earliest episodes, which it turns out (for me) isn't a whole lot of fun.

THIS! I like Matt Smith's acting, feelings "alien".

[Hawkmumbler]

I adore Smith. He's really grown on me a lot and has become one of my favourites to hold the role. Sufficiently alien, odd and silly with a lot of character.

In other who news I just bought this for a princely £6.