Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

Oh wow. Where did you find that?

 

http://geek.cheezburger.com/doctorwho?ref=navbar

 

Interesting site.

 

Horns of Nimon is best enjoyed with the commentary on. Not a classic.

The God Complex is vastly superior. Certainly the best Nimon story.

 

Well, it might be relevant. We don't know for sure yet.

 

Well that's where the "likely" came in. I'm hoping they'll be relevant, it seems like a good steady plot point.

 

Ehh...Seasons of Fear is actually good, so...

 

*Looks it up...*

I have definitely heard it but I can't remember a single thing about it.

Frankly, most of the 8th Doctor audios have that effect on me... His performances seemed to lack enthusiasm in his first two or three seasons...He's picked up since, Scherzo and Light At The End stand out, but he still phones it in occasionally IMO.

 

You know what I think should be done?

Bring back the main characters of SJA, if just for a bit, to give proper closure for them. Heck this could also be ample time to give full closure to Sarah Jane herself too.

 

On the one hand, I agree, there should be some measure of closure for the SJA characters, on the other hand, I'm not sure I want 'full closure' to Sarah Jane's story yet. In my mind, the character of Sarah Jane Smith is still alive and still having tons of adventures, battling aliens and the like.

 

Agreed.

 

Then they can just do both. Have the likes of Clyde, Rani and Sky appear and give them sendoffs, while maintaining Sarah Jane is still around somewhere.

 

Huh...he always seemed to be giving pretty enthusiastic performances during the six-release Charley arc (I've seen peopl's definition of 'season' vary a bit) which I hought started to drop with the Divergent Universe arc, and then have picked back up since. (I've not yet heard his stories with Lucie, nor his trilogy with Mary. I'm on Time Works, but skipped ahead for Dark Eyes and Light at the End, which were fabulous.)

 

I adore this:

 

6.13: Closing Time

"You know when I was little like you I dreamt of the stars. Yeah. I think it's fair to say, in the language of your age, that I lived my dream. I owned the stage. Gave it a hundred and ten percent. I hope you have as much fun as I did, Alfie."

I suppose you could see this as Doctor Who's Hangover Part 2 in that it's an unnecessary comedy sequel that was less funny and didn't bring anything new to the characters. It was fun in parts but none of it ever holds a candle to what made The Lodger so special because the comedic moments from that were incidental to the scenario. Whereas with Closing Time the story seems to be written around the humorous situations because of how forced and crass they are such as the "kiss me" scene or the scene where the Doctor awkwardly describes Craig as his partner.

But we only get half the bargain we got in The Lodger because for the most part we're missing Sophie. She was a big part of the story from Series 5 because we wanted to see her and Craig realise the romance that was so evidently between them. It added to the humour and setting of the story in a way that was within context of the episode because it gave us a quality to the characters we can relate to. The development from The Lodger is hardly paid off here because instead of a continuity of the story, it's just driven by the situational comedy with an extremely weak story. It's by far the worst treatment of the Cybermen I've seen.

I enjoyed the surprise appearance by Amy and Rory despite only having "departed" recently while James Cordon's performance as Craig had all the charm and warmth of The Lodger. But despite a brilliant performance not even he was able to save what seemed to be a script that was churned out in a haste.

2 out of 5

 

Everything you wrote is poppycock.

One of the greatest episodes ever. Definitely in my top 5.

And yes, I'm serious.

 

Not quite as good as The Lodger, but still enjoyable. That being said, it could have been cut or restructured a bit to focus more on the overarching S6 arc.

 

I love a cockrill.

 

I love "The Lodger" but can't stand "Closing Time." And TryWhistlingThis has put my thoughts into words almost exactly--and far better than I could've expressed them!

 

I can't stand Cordon and I find both his stories fairly taxing. Matt Smith saves them from being too painful though. Could you imagine these episodes in the Tennant era?

 

So that War Doctor novel, Engines of War, just came out. Anyone get it yet?

Reviews for it are very favorable, many citing that it's this book that gives us the full definitive War Doctor, while still harkening to what the man used to be like before the Time War. They say that they can just imagine John Hurt speaking these words, and that the companion, Cinder, is all kinds of awesome.

Want to get the paperback but I have no idea when it'll be released.

 

I'm not into the non-TV stuff, but I can't imagine the War Doctor taking on a companion.

 

I might look for Engines of War in paperback. I recently read the Trenzalore book and enjoyed it.