Thread: [TV] Doctor Who

  1. #11781
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    pretty sure pting was "inspired"(ripped off) from Futuramas Nibbler

  2. #11782
    The Sonic Screwdriver is approaching MacGuffin status. I absolutely hate the Doctor's reliance on the thing, where she scans something and then just reads off the results, and that counts as "exposition." Too much adventure, not enough philosophizing. That's due in part to some of the things you pointed out about the large cast size and the "need" to do subplots for all of them, but come on.

  3. #11783
    Titan Gallahadd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by eschatological View Post
    The Sonic Screwdriver is approaching MacGuffin status.
    APPROACHING? Dude the Sonic has been a huge crutch for years now... I totally agree that it really needs to be addressed, but can we not act like it’s a new thing with Whittaker/Chibnall.
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  4. #11784
    I just kept thinking how a guy giving birth to something unplanned in a one week gestation period was so merry and calm, I would be freaking the fuck out
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  5. #11785
    I only remember the Sonic being a huge MacGuffin in The Day of the Doctor, and that, to me, was cool because 1) it wasn't done that the Sonic did much more than open doors before that, and 2) it tied the 3 Doctors together.

  6. #11786
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    Quote Originally Posted by Everything Nice View Post
    It's basically a wand at this point!
    Yeah, tbh the screwdriver thing is moot at the point. I think that’s why they mostly just call it “Sonic” these days, the screwdriver part is long gone. It’s basically a Sonic Plot Fixer at this point XD
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  7. #11787
    Im on the fence about the sonic screwdriver. It has the potential to be a stupid plot device to fix problems. On the other hand it is totally believable that a time traveler that is over 1000 years old would have a really powerful pocket wand that is almost magical. It would kinda feel stupid if he DIDNT have it.
    TO FIX WOW:1. smaller server sizes & server-only LFG awarding satchels, so elite players help others. 2. "helper builds" with loom powers - talent trees so elite players cast buffs on low level players XP gain, HP/mana, regen, damage, etc. 3. "helper ilvl" scoring how much you help others. 4. observer games like in SC to watch/chat (like twitch but with MORE DETAILS & inside the wow UI) 5. guild leagues to compete with rival guilds for progression (with observer mode).6. jackpot world mobs.

  8. #11788
    The Insane apepi's Avatar
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    I really liked Astos, why did they kill him.
    Time...line? Time isn't made out of lines. It is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round. ~ Caboose

  9. #11789
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    Quote Originally Posted by apepi View Post
    I feel like this could have been a good episode, besides the horrible writing for the politician character. He didn't start bad, but then with the Doctor's diatribe against him was horrible. She wanted the spider to just die from not having oxygen?
    I thought that too, surely it was better to put it out of it's misery than let it suffer.

    Quote Originally Posted by larix View Post
    pretty sure pting was "inspired"(ripped off) from Futuramas Nibbler
    I thought this, and also, Spiders in the UK felt like a ripoff of the Eight Legged Freaks film.
    Quote Originally Posted by Zarc View Post
    The Horde is the West, the Allies are the Soviets (kind of makes more sense the other way around, but I'm Horde and I didn't want to be the commies in this metaphor.. For the Horde!) and the Legion are the Nazis.
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    A person who is saying "You need a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun" sounds like someone who wants to sell 2 guns.

  10. #11790
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    Not surprised that no one is talking about last nights episodes...

    What an absolute shocker. I mean, holy shit, I’ve been trying to put a positive spin on this season so far, but Jesus Christ that was a stinker. Filled with plot holes, redundancies, ham fisted morality and basically everything that people have complained about in all the episodes leading up to this one.

    Not sure next week will be much better, but it will be really hard to be any worse.
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  11. #11791
    I haven't been as motivated to watch new episodes like I used to in the past. It's not the female doctor thing. I just don't feel any excitement in this seasons adventures. It's like a show trying to copy a Doctor Who season and not quite hitting the mark. Not sure why. Maybe it's the lack of an overarching plot, or that there are two many companions, or the stakes don't seem that threatening or memorable.

    Don't get me wrong, I love Doctor Who. But I have the spider episode sitting unwatched and I just don't feel compelled to hit play.

  12. #11792
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    Quote Originally Posted by Redwyrm View Post
    Don't get me wrong, I love Doctor Who. But I have the spider episode sitting unwatched and I just don't feel compelled to hit play.
    I’m not going to lie to you... that episode is pretty weak. On the plus side, it gets better the week after, when the Doctor tries to fight Niffler from Futurama.

    Sadly, the week after that it gets SO MUCH WORSE.

    It’s a shame, this season started off quite well. The first three episodes were strong... sadly, the three that followed have all been fair weak. I’m hoping that this is just a midseason slump, and they can pick up their game for the last four episodes.

    Also, I heard they’re not doing a Christmas special this year... wtf?
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  13. #11793
    The Unstoppable Force Kelimbror's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gallahadd View Post
    Also, I heard they’re not doing a Christmas special this year
    Cardinal Dr. Who sin. Now I'm convinced his mission is to just make everything as distanced as possible from old new Who, which is just a terrible concept.
    BAD WOLF

  14. #11794
    So, as a South Asian immigrant, this episode was weird to me. I appreciate a show trying to deal with the Partition of India, but I'm not sure it'll ever translate to something Western audiences can appreciate. And it's not so black and white. India is still home to the 3rd largest Muslim population in the world, despite them only being about 10% of the population, and I've known and loved many Pakistani and Indian Muslims. At the end of the day, I was an Indian Christian, so I can't really understand this conflict fully, tbh. One thing I do know is that the British were brilliant at dividing their colonies against each other, my family witnessed that in Zambia when we were there because the British pitted Africans against Indians living and working in British colonies in Africa, and vice versa. They did the same with Muslims and Hindus in India when they had lived together in relative peace for a thousand years beforehand.

    That said, as a Doctor Who episode:

    1) I don't like the idea of the Doctor crossing back across a companion's timeline. You'd think the Doctor would have learned from the mistake (s)he made when Eccleston took Rose to her dad's death.

    2) I also don't think the Doctor would abandon the no-interference thing so readily. "Hey, this isn't the grandfather she recognizes, and there are aliens here.......I guess aliens are the reason this thing didn't last?" should have been about the end of it.

    3) Again, the Doctor relying on the sonic, until it breaks, then does weird junk science that wouldn't do anything but can somehow analyze something that breaks the sonic from overstimulation.

    4) The aliens being witnesses after being called out as assassins was poorly done. Storywise, they don't need to be assassins, ever. You can just have a race of aliens who are witnesses. They can still be a threat in the beginning of the story when you don't know their purpose.

    5) I don't even understand the point of any of those transmat teleport things. What story function did this serve? To have a nice special effect? Literally the most confusing part.

    6) No explanation of why the dust of their destroyed planet was on the holy man. Do they sprinkle it on the dead they witness? Seems a bit excessive if that's all they have left of their planet.


    I disagree that the morality thing was hamfisted though. Well, I mean, it was hamfisted, I don't think it was bad though. Doctor Who is obviously trying to do an issues episode not only because of the nationalism resurgence in India with the BJP, but the resurgence of nationalism around the world.

  15. #11795
    with the shitstorm of people coming out of their crooks and crannies to defend the abomination this show has become laughable! i guarantee you if the 13th doctor was still a man, they wouldn't be defending the show as much as they're trying their hardest to do right now, in fact we would more than likely see them slating it as hard as they did wtih Capaldi's season.

  16. #11796
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    Yeah terrible episode.

    I also apparently need an overarching plot to keep me interested, this just feels like a doctor who spin off line class or Sarah Jane adventures rather than doctor who :s

    Also the companions are the worst yet since new who started... it's bad when i miss Clara for her personality...

  17. #11797
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frozenbeef View Post
    Yeah terrible episode.

    I also apparently need an overarching plot to keep me interested, this just feels like a doctor who spin off line class or Sarah Jane adventures rather than doctor who :s

    Also the companions are the worst yet since new who started... it's bad when i miss Clara for her personality...
    vs. the Tegan/Adric/Nyssa combo, which is worse?

    (insider secret - did you know the Doctor made Tegan miss her flight and get sacked from her job??)
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  18. #11798
    Quote Originally Posted by Deficineiron View Post
    vs. the Tegan/Adric/Nyssa combo, which is worse?

    (insider secret - did you know the Doctor made Tegan miss her flight and get sacked from her job??)
    Well, he did qualify his statement with "since new who started".

    I can imagine some pretty awful companions from old who.

  19. #11799
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kelimbror View Post
    Cardinal Dr. Who sin. Now I'm convinced his mission is to just make everything as distanced as possible from old new Who, which is just a terrible concept.
    Yeah, I’m really surprised and a little disappointed that they’ve done this... I swear this is the first year in quite a while that we’ve not had a Christmas special. Even when we didn’t have a SEASON, we had a special...
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  20. #11800
    Legendary! Deficineiron's Avatar
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    I have been trying to get through some 5th doctor episodes, and a recurrent issue I am running into is that, compared to any prior doctor (or Colin Baker), he has very little presence in most scenes he is in.

    I can try to put one of the other classic doctors in a given scene he is in (in my mind), and all of them seem to make more of an impression no matter how they varied in character and delivery.

    Some reviewers have suggested the actor was simply too young to pull off the presence needed as a lead role where his character's personality was a defining part of the show.

    Any thoughts on Peter Davison's episodes? Has there been discussion by those involved over how much leeway he was given with the role, how much JNT or others micromanaged, etc?

    (more generally, I have no idea what JNT thought he was doing with companion casting in his first years - Adric, Tegan (did you know she is going to get sacked because the doctor made her miss her flight?) Nyssa (intended to be Leela), Trolough, ugh. The first companion I can easily tolerate is Peri, and that may simply be a visual distraction trick.)

    edit - as an added issue, JNT seemed to want to give his doctor actors fake-ish 'uniform' clothes which (imo) trivialized their appearance. 1 wore older formal attire, 2 raggedy formal attire minus a few bits but they were real clothes, 3 a dandy but they were real clothes, 4 something people actually wore in the 70s, but 5-7???? just the color selection of 5 made him fade out, 6 was badly compromised by that clown suit, and 7 not much better (though by that time the actual acting seemed more pantomine-like so maybe it fit?)

    i can only imagine the uniform he might have originally proposed to Tom Baker for season 18. I would think Tom giving in on the question mark was the major concession, though. the 18th season clothing isn't silly.
    Last edited by Deficineiron; 2018-11-15 at 03:51 PM.
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