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Series "3" Doctor Who


BrandinsChick
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Sorry Greedo, it was rubbish !

 

Repeated "The Impossible Planet" in big chunks

Little or no humour

Michelle Collins

Pointless subplot of the guy wanting to see Martha again

Lots of poorly drawn characters that we couldn't care about (bad-guy fodder or not)

Laborious explanations of how D&M got there, and how the Tardis and Sonic Screwdriver were off limits

Same old CGI

Michelle Collins

"Oh my god we only have 42 minutes" - purrrlease ! Is there a bigger clique ?

The woman pre-titles who was "nearly trapped in area 27" couldn't act for toffee

Would have served better as a regeneration story (when it's needed) - wouldn't the doctor just have regenerated if it was killing him ?

The Mr Saxon thing is so clearly signposted and obvious, it has no appeal

Why was Martha's phone "doctored" differently to Rose's to be able to call home ?

Michelle Collins

Darth Vader rip off

Alien rip off

 

 

....... apart from that, it was fine !

 

Gridlock is still the best of series three so far !

Edited by dufresne
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I thought that 'Human Nature' was a wonderful episode. I just hope that the second part isn't a let-down.

This is Doctor Who at its best. Paul Cornell manages to deliver the goods yet again, nearly on a par with "Father's Day" its a toss up between him and Steven Moffatt as to who writes the best Who for me!

 

Loved the emotional investment in this episode. Hopefully the second part will shine brighty unlike some of the other episodes to date.

 

Andy

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Sorry Greedo, it was rubbish !

 

Repeated "The Impossible Planet" in big chunks

Little or no humour

Michelle Collins

Pointless subplot of the guy wanting to see Martha again

Lots of poorly drawn characters that we couldn't care about (bad-guy fodder or not)

Laborious explanations of how D&M got there, and how the Tardis and Sonic Screwdriver were off limits

Same old CGI

Michelle Collins

"Oh my god we only have 42 minutes" - purrrlease ! Is there a bigger clique ?

The woman pre-titles who was "nearly trapped in area 27" couldn't act for toffee

Would have served better as a regeneration story (when it's needed) - wouldn't the doctor just have regenerated if it was killing him ?

The Mr Saxon thing is so clearly signposted and obvious, it has no appeal

Why was Martha's phone "doctored" differently to Rose's to be able to call home ?

Michelle Collins

Darth Vader rip off

Alien rip off

 

....... apart from that, it was fine !

 

Gridlock is still the best of series three so far !

Disappointed in you, Dufresne - how come you didn't mention the ghastly Michelle Collins once in your post? :YAHOO::wub:

Edited by yeltz-lass
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The Family of Blood didn't disappoint. My favourite moment was something which may have been lost on many viewers. At one point there was a brief musical motif which echoed a similar scene in a Sylvester McCoy Dalek story, a lovely touch for long-term fans like me!

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Totally agree re The Family of Blood, nosfer2 - a wonderful two-parter with just about everything hitting the right notes. :YAHOO::wub: I cried buckets at the end, mind you... :blush:

 

And as for last night's ep... :eek: OMG! Back to hiding behind a cushion for me!! F*cking scary stuff - but I loved it! :YAHOO:

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I knew bits of what was happening in Utopia ie the last revealation about John Simm but I didnt expect any of what was to come in the time before that, i was sat on the edge of my seat throughout. Have to say that it was good to have Jack back the way he was before Torchwood, and tying up a lot of loose ends. The conversation in the radiation room was just amazing and emotional.

Also happy John Barrowman is finally recognised as an official companion by having his name in the opening credits.

 

Bring on the next two episodes

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Hmmmm, not sure about The Sound of Drums ...... Acting, and production were superb as usual, but what an awful script ! Cannabalised the Tardis ? Torchwood have gone on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas ? The drumbeat on the phones was cancelling out the Doctor "sensing" the Master ? Line after line of trying to explain away the plot holes. And as for the Master eating Jelly Babies ????

 

Why mention UNIT and not show them ? Why does Russell need to have a story arc over each series (referring back to Lazarus like series 1 & 2 did with Bad Wolf and Torchwood). Why can only he write for Jack ? What purpose does Jack even serve in these three episodes other than to iron out countless wrinkles in the Who / Torchwood crossover ?

 

I always said RTD was only in this comeback to establish his own spin-off, and with a mass walk-out planned after series 4, I am looking more and more right !

 

The non-RTD scripts of series three have been consistently some of the best of new Who, even if they don't quite top Father's Day and The Empty Child. But as a head writer, Russell just sucks !

 

Why shun Classic Doctors from the launch events (so Colin Baker says) and try to dis-own the undeniable cheesiness of the old show, but them crowbar in SJS, K9, Gallifrey, Autons, Macra, and obviously Cybermen and Daleks to attract old-school viewers ? Why not just create a new show from scratch and call it something else ?

 

RTD slagged the hell out of the Master as a character for years, but when it offers them the chance to get a high profile (and excellent) actor like John Simm into the show, he starts spouting Holmes / Moriarty cliques like there is no tomorrow, and telling us how integral and essential the character is to the show !

 

Simms is undeniably a superb actor, but he hates playing recurring characters and only took the part to impress his young son. To be honest though, his Master would have worked just as well as any off-the-shelf evil genius. Staying hopeful for episode thirteen though ......

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I really enjoyed this episode and can't wait until next week.

 

As for the Jelly babies, it was a nod to the classic series in particular the Tom Baker era same with the Teletubbies as there was a scene in the classic series of The Master watching The Clangers so it was all little nods to that.

I think UNIT will come into it more next week.

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I believe it was Tom Baker's Doctor, who carried jelly babies with him, so that was a nod to the classic series.

 

The other nod I picked up on was the flashback glimpse of The Master as he was, and believe it was Roger Delgado's Master they used. There was also the usage of the Gallifreyan clothing.

 

As for the episode itself, whilst in some ways, Jack was only used to fill the holes, I do think that by the end of the finale ep, he'll be changed in some way, maybe so that he can die or something.

 

There could be a very good explanation for cannabalising the Tardis into a Paradox machine, I'm not going to attempt to explain a paradox, but I think the paradox machine will bring back the timelords, hence the timelord warships quote a few weeks ago, and the paradox will be the master starts the time war. So out of the paradox, we could see the return of Gallifrey in some way.

 

John Simms was a good Master I thought.

Edited by gebes
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I get the jelly baby and tellytubbies references, I just think it's too much too late ! The 4th Doctor ate jelly babies, not the Master ! Russell has always wanted to be careful how much classic Who he put in, so as to not alienate newbies. But last night the references were thick, fast and dull - including, yes, the Timelord robes.

 

There was a Pertwee "reverse the polarity" reference in The Lazarus Experiment which worked well, or trying on the scarf in the Christmas Invasion. Sometimes the references work better than others. And last week (Utopia) when Jacobi was hearing voices, there was a soundbite of Delgado in there as well .....

Edited by dufresne
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Fair enough thats your opinion dufresne, but I think that you're being extremely overly critical of the episode, and I thought the same of your 'review' of 42, which has been my favourite ep of the season.

 

Picking out lines line 'the tardis has been cannibalised' and criticising it seems far too picky to me. The Master is a genius and knows the Tardis inside out, it stands to reason he could do whatever he likes to it.

 

And to say that 'the 4th doctor ate jelly babies, not the master!' seems, again, picky. The whole point which they were trying to get across in the show is that the Master is the equal of the Doctor, in terms of intellegence, humour, and yeah, even taste in sweets!

 

And the references to the old show being 'dull'?!?! From the start of this new show, what people have been wanting to see and hear about, is the Time Lords, as they are one of the only major parts of the old show that have remained a mystery in this new series. I consider myself to be a HUGE who fan, and always have been, and nothing brought a smile to my face more that when Gallifrey was shown, and the Time Lord robes(which actually made them look regal, unlike some previous storys to show them) and especially the robe that the young master was wearing, which was one of the robes only seen in the War Games back in '69.

 

It wasn't a completely perfect episode, but in my opinion it was a very good one, and I think it deserves more praise than criticism.

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Wasnt this weeks doctor who amazing - couldnt believe the scale of this little epic

such a good story, with good acting all round and overall brilliance that makes this the highlight of the series

altho there have been mixed reviews i really enjoyed this series and will be sad to see the last episode next week - but i cant wait either!

have to admit the ending will have to be special to match yesterdays awesome episode!

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Wasnt this weeks doctor who amazing - couldnt believe the scale of this little epic

such a good story, with good acting all round and overall brilliance that makes this the highlight of the series

altho there have been mixed reviews i really enjoyed this series and will be sad to see the last episode next week - but i cant wait either!

have to admit the ending will have to be special to match yesterdays awesome episode!

I agree absolutely!

 

It's always sad at this time of year when its coming up to the end, but its one of the most exciting times of the year!

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Kinda glad I'm not a long-term/'hardcore' Who fan as I'm pretty much able to enjoy the new episodes without nit-picking. I read a lot of forums and so much of it goes on that I think it gets in the way sometimes.

 

Sure, I can appreciate there are moments there for long-term Who fans that I just won't get, or won't be excited by, but it's all fresh and new to me so it's just fun.

 

I think Simms is doing a good job and works well in the role - he has an underlying creepyness and evilness amongst the humour, which is a mix that Doctor Who has always done well anyway. I like references to older Who stuff just because it helps to explain stuff a bit.

 

Still not sure about Martha and whether I like her or not. I mean she's not annoying really but I don't find her majorly 'likeable' as such. Jack's a better character I think.

 

'Voodoo Child' felt a bit out of place to be honest, and I'd have preferred them to stick with a dramatic score, but obviously they decided 'here come the drums' was too good a lyric to leave out ..

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So out of the paradox, we could see the return of Gallifrey in some way.

 

The cynic in me says that they wouldn't have gone to the time and expense of rendering Gallifrey and creating Timelord costumes unless they intended its return (not to say that would be a bad thing!). Everything is costed very precisely, hence the return of the old-age make-up for David Tennant in the most recent episode (as previously seen in The Family of Blood).

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I pretty much agree with everything you said there David.

 

Like I say, im a huge fan and always have been, but I always look at the show from an objective point of view. I think the show overall has been great at aiming at a whole new audience, while at the same time putting enough things into it to make a who veteran smile, and this season has done more than the last two in my opinion.

 

One thing I do hate is people who consider themselves to be harcore fans of the show, and then when the new series began, totally refused to accept change in the show. I still remember being at a convention in 2004 when they were in the middle of filming the 1st season, and hearing a woman in front of me in a queue saying that Christopher Eccleston was NOT the doctor because he wore a leather jacket!

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It's the same with any show and hardcore fans really - like Lost, which I love, but I honestly believe that some fans can get too into it and lose sight of what makes it an awesome show. All this nitpicking really does ruin shows for some fans I think. There's dedication, but you can take it too far.

 

I suppose Doctor Who is unique in that it gets to play on the same character in many different incarnations, through different generations and many different audiences. It's like Star Trek in that its arguably timeless, yet it has those core things that hardcore fans will expect - moreso from Who because of the EXACT same lead character, at least Trek had more freedom to shake things up - and I can imagine it's very hard to maintain a fine balance between catering for new AND old fans.

 

I've not really worked out what has attracted me to this series more than the others, and made me stick with it. While I've certainly not seen every single 'new' Who episode, the ones I have seen this season have been the best and have just seemed to have better stories, better writing, and just something more interesting. I've always found Who a bit odd really, and preferred other sci-fi shows, but I've not felt as alienated from it recently. I might figure it out one day!

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It's the same with any show and hardcore fans really - like Lost, which I love, but I honestly believe that some fans can get too into it and lose sight of what makes it an awesome show. All this nitpicking really does ruin shows for some fans I think. There's dedication, but you can take it too far.

 

I suppose Doctor Who is unique in that it gets to play on the same character in many different incarnations, through different generations and many different audiences. It's like Star Trek in that its arguably timeless, yet it has those core things that hardcore fans will expect - moreso from Who because of the EXACT same lead character, at least Trek had more freedom to shake things up - and I can imagine it's very hard to maintain a fine balance between catering for new AND old fans.

 

I've not really worked out what has attracted me to this series more than the others, and made me stick with it. While I've certainly not seen every single 'new' Who episode, the ones I have seen this season have been the best and have just seemed to have better stories, better writing, and just something more interesting. I've always found Who a bit odd really, and preferred other sci-fi shows, but I've not felt as alienated from it recently. I might figure it out one day!

It's cause its awesome :thumbup:

 

and british :D

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See I think that's probably half the problem - that it is British. When I look at all the sci-fi I've loved, I think only Red Dwarf infiltrates the predominantly US list: Trek, X-Files, V, 4400, etc.

 

(and likely because Dwarf was 90% comedy!)

 

What everyone seems to love about Who, I've always hated. I can't look at something like the Face of Boe without wanting to laugh at it, nor people looking like cats or whatever else. It's all too silly :D

 

But around 'Blink' or maybe the couple of episodes before that, things just weren't as cheesy or something lol

 

I can deal with realistic enemies, or CGI or something .. just not that dodgy makeup costume stuff :thumbup:

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