[TV] Doctor Who

[DemoBytom]

I'm not sure if I like how completely opposite 12th is compared to 11th and 10th.. "it is protected!" and "I've put a lot of work into it" vs "it's not my planet it's not my moon it's not my business. How he lost all of his compassion, handling kids etc".. I just don't know, but on the other hand I'm very interested where it all goes to. What's the idea behind such alien and dark doctor, what do the creators want to tell us in the end.. Is it Waters on Mars span across whole season/12th regenartion lifespan about how he slowly turns evil?

[Solidito]

Surprised no one mentioned the annoying little girl yet, does my head in. Though i'll admit the giant chicken part made me laugh.

Decent episode overall.

[Gallahadd]

I liked it, I think the big problem with this episode was for me at least it was SUPER hyped... So really it could only be a let down. I'd read all this nonsense about "Doctor Who will never be the same after" "Not sure if the fans will accept something like this"

What we ACTUALLY got was the Doctor showing how much of an alien he really is and how distant he has become, taking a step back and saying "Fuck it, This ones up to you." Which I thought was excellent btw, really liked that he just stepped back and said "This isn't my call, you have to make it".

Overall I think it was a very good episode, I loved the Doctor's speech at the end about Humanity moving into the stars (Am I the only one who thought he didn't sound TOO pleased about that fact?) And I thought Clara's reaction was excellent, was her crowning point so far... Except of course you can't really accept her saying "I'm out, go away and stay away for a LONG time" When you know she's going to be away for... One episode, maybe? Although to be fair, I think this isn't an end in and of itself, but rather the small crack which will eventually be the end of Clara's relationship with the Doctor.

I thought Courtney was pretty funny tbh, I would be happy with her sticking around for a while, to fill in for Clara while she's off in a strop.

Next week looks... Interesting. A good premise but it's the one with Foxes in, so... Yeah.

[MatadorMedia]

I'll be so happy if the Doctor is solo on his next adventure. I could use a break from Clara. I actually half-expected the Doctor to pick up Danny in the TARDIS as his new companion at the end of the episode as a F U to Clara's dramatic breakdown, but I'm guessing that he'll eventually recruit Danny as a means to save Clara maybe? After something happens to her? Solo Doctor on the Orient Express please!

[Theangryone]

In regards to Danny if he does become a cyberman, I'd be surprised if he doesn't get called Handles at some point. As for Wilfred, I never took the woman appearing to him to be the Doctor's mother. I took her to be Donna, the Doctor did say she had been irrevocably changed by becoming "Doctor/Donna."

[Gallahadd]

I'll be so happy if the Doctor is solo on his next adventure. I could use a break from Clara. I actually half-expected the Doctor to pick up Danny in the TARDIS as his new companion at the end of the episode as a F U to Clara's dramatic breakdown, but I'm guessing that he'll eventually recruit Danny as a means to save Clara maybe? After something happens to her? Solo Doctor on the Orient Express please!

I'm pretty sure next week he's flying solo. It's the one with Frank Skinner and Foxes in and it looks like Frank Skinner is playing a "One off companion" type role.

Would be pretty lolworthy if he'd picked up Danny though, Clara goes home to have a cry on his shoulder and there's a note "Gone off with the Doctor, soz."

Makes me wonder though... This is clearly the begining of the end for Clara and the Doctor... Missy has worked pretty hard to keep them together up to this point, so why didn't she step in?

[Endus]

I'm not sure if I like how completely opposite 12th is compared to 11th and 10th.. "it is protected!" and "I've put a lot of work into it" vs "it's not my planet it's not my moon it's not my business. How he lost all of his compassion, handling kids etc".. I just don't know,

Two entirely different scenarios.

The Doctor's totally willing to step in to protect the Earth and humanity from outside forces. What he did in this episode is force humanity to make a moral choice about their own future. It's the Superman issue; Superman, due to his powers, can hear at least every single crime that occurs in Metropolis (and, arguably, the nation/world, depending on the writer), and he has the capacity to stop those crimes, and he actively chooses to ignore them and let them occur. Because choosing to act means he has become our patriarchal controlling god-king, and we are his slave-race, without agency to make our own choices. It's an issue that doesn't get dragged out nearly enough for Superman, but it applies here, too; if the Doctor made every important decision for humanity the "right" way, we'd be no more than his playthings. That isn't the relationship he wants.

He was concerned when he thought there was an external threat. When he realized it probably wasn't a threat, he handed off the decision. And he couldn't tell them it wasn't a threat, because that would affect their decision as thoroughly as if he made the choice himself. Could humanity fuck it up and cause themselves a lot of harm? Sure. That's the price of being an adult, and making your own choices; the risk of making the wrong ones.

The Doctor may be Space Dad, but he doesn't want to wipe our bottoms forever. He wants humanity to grow up.

but on the other hand I'm very interested where it all goes to. What's the idea behind such alien and dark doctor, what do the creators want to tell us in the end.. Is it Waters on Mars span across whole season/12th regenartion lifespan about how he slowly turns evil?

The Doctor's had a serious dark streak for decades. All of NuWho has been predicated on a post-Time-War Doctor, a man who deliberately committed genocide. NuWho hasn't been a story of a good man slowly turning evil, it's been a story of a man who's done terrible things, hoping to redeem himself.

9 was still shell-shocked, but trying to get past it.
10 was moralistic and black-and-white about things, trying to justify his past actions.
11 was retreating, trying to avoid dealing with anything, culminating in the events of the 50th, where he found he couldn't any more.
12 is starting to accept who he is. But he isn't sure what that means, for him.

It's practically the Stages of Grief in a character arc.

[Immitis]

hes not flying solo next episode. pretty sure the synopsis says something along the lines of "the doctor is at his most deadliest in this episode and clara decides its time to leave" also remember danny said to "tell him when you're calm"

so i think clara will be trying to decide whether or not to actually leave and then the doctor does something and she sees it really is time to go.

also man it feels like forever since ive been in this thread.

took me a really long time to watch the caretaker since other stuff ended up getting in the way alot longer than i wanted to.

i really liked caretaker.

really liked this episode too.

it was really weird watching this episode knowing it was made for matts doctor. i kept imagining matt doing the lines and you could kind of see a bit of 11 in the script, i agree with the writer that the episode suited capaldi a bit more but i still felt a good bit of 11 in the writing.

i also wish we couldve gotten a clearer view of the creature. at one point it looked a bit like a dragon and in another it looked a bit like a giant space moth butterfly thing.

i really like danny but something kind of feels off or stiff about the way hes been acting lately. i think he needs a go in the tardis. i have a feeling part of it is that hes just talking about shit from earth experiences which are insightful but i feel like would be a bit more backed up if he actually was out and about in space for atleast a little bit to see whats what.

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also while i agree with what the doctor did it feels a bit weird in comparison to (i forget the name but the second or so episode of series 5 where space london is on the last great space whale)

if it was just a regular old egg it wouldnt surprise me but the doctor specifically says along the lines "its probably the only one of its kind in the universe" or something like that. which is the main reason he wanted to save the space whale.

i dont know really exactly what that means, whether he cares less or whether he views them differently maybe because the space whale actively tried to help humanity only to be tortured while the egg thingy is just kind of there or because he trusts clara more to make the right choice.

idk but it was something that felt a little jarring.

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It’s time to reveal how you voted in our Time Heist themed polls last week. First of all we asked you to give the episode a score out of 10:
What would you rate Time Heist out of 10? (Poll Closed)
8/10 - Very good 28.61%

7/10 - Good 20.85%

9/10 - Great 20.64%

10/10 - The perfect crime! 14.65%

6/10 - Above average 6.17%

5/10 - Average 4.78%

4/10 - Below average 2.51%

3/10 - Poor 1.02%

2/10 - Very Poor 0.43%

1/10 - Crooked! 0.33%



Unsurprisingly voting was a little more mixed than the previous week leaving the episode with a final averaged score of 7.823. Therefore it’s currently ranking just above Robot of Sherwood.

So far the full 2014 placings are:

Listen – 8.918
Deep Breath – 8.282
Into the Dalek – 8.052
Time Heist - 7.823
Robot of Sherwood – 7.512

How will The Caretaker fare? We will find out next week.

Steve Thompson Face-Off

In our weekly Face-Off we pitted the Steve Thompson penned episodes against each other. As you can see Time Heist comfortably took the lead with a 68.65% share of the votes.
What is Steve Thompson's Best Episode? (Poll Closed)
"Time Heist" (Co-write) (2014) 68.65%

"Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" (2013) 25.83%

"The Curse of the Black Spot" (2011) 6%

honestly im not surprised black spot got so little votes.

its not that its a bad episode really but it was just really really really really average and very forgettable especially when put right after the big 2 part premier of series 6 which is in my and alot of peoples opinions one of the best series openers

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new interactive episode event thingy at the doctor who experience

[Sierra85]

Destroy the Moon suffered from incredibly poor writing.

The science behind it seemed ridiculous even for Doctor Who standards.
The little girl was annoying.
Clara vs. The Doctor seemed incredibly forced drama.
The giant alien laying a new moon off screen was dumb.
Spider creatures seemed a giant let down.

Probably the worst episode of the season TBH. Such a good idea, just executed incredibly weakly.

[Immitis]

i did think it was dumb that a baby creature could make a full sized moon in like a couple seconds.

i think it kind of wouldve been a little interesting for it to be a small egg and the doctor be like "oh well get used to it eventually it will be big again deal with it"

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i also think part of the reason it wasnt as well written is that it was for matts doctor and then the writer had to go back and add clara + danny stuff, the little girl stuff, and whatnot. which probably forced him to cut out some stuff for time.

[prwraith]

Just started the new episode like just now.

But the opening line "an innocent life verses the future of all mankind"

How is that even a tough decision? Who in their right mind picks 1 person over untold billions if not trillions.

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Well that episode basically sucked so much that I skipped through it to the end.

On the plus side: the preview of the next episode had no clara, and she wants to not spend time with him anymore. So we're fucking golden, thank baby jesus. Which consequently means no more Mr. Pink (though he was pretty legit at the end of this episode)

[Frozenbeef]

I also thought the creature was going to hatch into a star whale from the beast below and that's the reason it came back to help in the future :S

[prwraith]

I know I've ranted about it before in this thread not long ago, but doesn't this feel like a theme overall for this season? Robin Hood episode also seemed to kind of insult our intelligence.


Also while it might've been a tough choice for the Doctor, why did the Kid and Clara jump on to defend the creature? A random creature they knew nothing about, over the future and survival of the human race? Really? They acted like the astronaut lady was being crazy wanting to destroy it to save earth. I'd imagine that'd been the default human sentiment

Like I said, I had a bad feeling in the first 5 minutes of the episode. Hey earth, howabout this 1 innocent creature OR the entirety of the the future of the billions / trillions of potential humans.

Like what in the actual fuck is going on in their writing staff meetings. I feel like this is the kind of amateur hour writing I shit out while binge drinking.

[Deleted]

Like I said, I had a bad feeling in the first 5 minutes of the episode. Hey earth, howabout this 1 innocent creature OR the entirety of the the future of the billions / trillions of potential humans.

Like what in the actual fuck is going on in their writing staff meetings. I feel like this is the kind of amateur hour writing I shit out while binge drinking.

I thought it was a fairly good dilemma. Do we kill off this beautiful, unique creature just so humans can have it easy - or do we let it live and face some difficulties that we'll probably survive anyway.

[Frozenbeef]

I thought it was a fairly good dilemma. Do we kill off this beautiful, unique creature just so humans can have it easy - or do we let it live and face some difficulties that we'll probably survive anyway.

All you needed were the smilers instead of the spiders and it was pretty much the beast below :S

[Deleted]

An incubating egg doesn't suddenly gain the mass of the baby shortly before hatching. The mass has always been there in the form of the yolk and white, it just changes from one form to another. The science of that episode was completely ridiculous, yes, even for Dr Who standards. Such a shame.

[Gallahadd]

hes not flying solo next episode. pretty sure the synopsis says something along the lines of "the doctor is at his most deadliest in this episode and clara decides its time to leave" also remember danny said to "tell him when you're calm"

so i think clara will be trying to decide whether or not to actually leave and then the doctor does something and she sees it really is time to go.

True, but to be fair, that could happen right at the end of the episode. He has his solo adventure on the Orient Express, goes to see her at the end, to see if she's calmed how and she has... But still gives him his marching orders.

[Wondercrab]

Like I said, I had a bad feeling in the first 5 minutes of the episode. Hey earth, howabout this 1 innocent creature OR the entirety of the the future of the billions / trillions of potential humans.

Like what in the actual fuck is going on in their writing staff meetings. I feel like this is the kind of amateur hour writing I shit out while binge drinking.

The whole point of the moral dilemma was that it wasn't as clear cut as that. It was a whole bundle of what ifs that nobody had a clear answer to. They didn't know if the moon-egg hatching would lead to anyone on earth being harmed, nor whether the creature inside would be hostile, helpful, or if it would just ignore them. It's a great conundrum because it hinges on the idea of "If you get it wrong, you've just committed murder, infanticide, and brought about the extinction of a unique species for little more than your own peace of mind".

[Endus]

Also while it might've been a tough choice for the Doctor, why did the Kid and Clara jump on to defend the creature? A random creature they knew nothing about, over the future and survival of the human race? Really? They acted like the astronaut lady was being crazy wanting to destroy it to save earth. I'd imagine that'd been the default human sentiment

"The survival of the human race" wasn't clearly at risk. The moon was gonna hatch. That was going to cause changes, but damage to the Earth was only a possibility, at best, and even then it wasn't remotely guaranteed to wipe out the Earth.

That's the whole point of the resolution. The question was never "this creature, or the human race". It was "do we kill this unknown thing out of fear solely because it's unknown, or do we take a risk and hope that it turns out okay".

An incubating egg doesn't suddenly gain the mass of the baby shortly before hatching. The mass has always been there in the form of the yolk and white, it just changes from one form to another. The science of that episode was completely ridiculous, yes, even for Dr Who standards. Such a shame.

Doctor Who has never made any pretensions about being "hard" science fiction.

That said, I definitely Prefer Who's "fuck it, story first" attitude over Star Trek's "let's obfuscate the stupidity with techbabble and pretend we aren't equally ridiculous" one.

[Elim Garak]

That said, I definitely Prefer Who's "fuck it, story first" attitude over Star Trek's "let's obfuscate the stupidity with techbabble and pretend we aren't equally ridiculous" one.

Star Trek was never about science either. But at least they tried to follow it.