Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

I kinda like that we're constantly being kept out of the loop and having our expectations of knowing how the Doctor really is and just how he is supposed to act.

The show is called Doctor WHO after all. It really bugs me how those who dislike Capaldi but are a fan of the Smith and Tennant eras give grief because they can't stand the Doctor acting "out of character". I use those quotes VERY loosely because, really, after nearly 50 years and 13 regenerations, what IS the character of the Doctor? We have no idea, and frankly I'm happy for that, as it is one of those elements that keeps the show alive and always allows a fresh take on the character that is The Doctor.

 

I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to this show as it's just such a major joy for me to watch in just about every way. The last I show I loved to bits like this was Stargate SG-1/Atlantis.

 

Yep, I kept seeing variations on the "Doctor who..." headlines but never got one as good as that one. Great find.

 

He'll probably blame it on some soldiers he ran into.

Oh, by the way, I was checking on upcoming DVDs on Amazon. Before today, the box art shown for the upcoming Series 8 box set had one of Peter Capaldi's publicity shots. Apparently, the box art has been photoshopped to add Clara to the picture.

 

Tonight's episode got a pretty good write-up in the TV listings for the papers I read today.

 

Don't know why. It was a poor episode of Sarah Jane Adventures

KIDS AND DOCTOR WHO DON'T WORK!!!!!!!!!!

So ghastly child "actors", a nauseating "comedy" score, with an environmental message so ball-achingly blatent and patronising it makes the early episodes of TNG look good, and you've got the worst episode of the series by a long way.

Oh, and Clara is pregnant. That's why she will leave.

 

So therefore V-2 will love it

 

halibut No I found it really quite annoying too.

The science was the most irritating aspect. It's as if it was written by a young Earth creationist with Scientology leanings. E.g. the history of the Earth being a sequence of catastrophic events... There have been catastrophic events, trees have been involved, but trees don't magic themselves into being in order to flood the atmosphere with extra oxygen then **** off into their magic realm again. A magic layer of oxygen wouldn't be any protection from a CME. They also didn't help the dinosaurs much, did they?

Maybe it was magic oxygen with a force field.

Anyway I thought trees were, by and large, carbon neutral. When they magicked into existence did they also remove the greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere? When they magicked away did they return us to the status quo? Where did the energy for these changes come from?

I didn't feel the environmental message, if there was one there it was saying "everything will sort itself out without any intervention required". Irresponsible BS.

Oh, speaking of irresponsible BS, remember not to take your anti-psychotic medicine, kids.

The dialogue was pure crap, especially Clara's. The child actors weren't so bad, as child actors go. That's not saying they were tolerable, far from it. The girl playing the mentally ill girl was pretty good, I must admit. She at least had more than two levels of emotion.

The one part I enjoyed was the 'life's too short for Les Miserables' comment from 12.

Worst episode of the season by far.

 

I did like the Les Mis comment only because I love Les Mis!

The environmental message seemed pretty clear. Trees are cool. Stop chopping them down!

The main child as you say wasn't too bad. But it was just full of kids, all of which served to distract.

And Danny is just getting annoying now. 10 episodes in, and he's added nothing. Capaldi is being held back.

Was the Clara being pregnant thing obvious to you too? All the comments about Danny being good with kids, and the out of nowhere remark about babies from 12 complete with the cutaway to Clara looking 'ominous'?

 

No I didn't notice anything about her being pregnant, but ISTR in the last couple of episodes she and Danny had hinted that they'd like kids together.

This is the first time Danny seemed like a normal person and made me reconsider my theory that he's a trap... I'm still slightly more than half convinced he is, but maybe he's a less willing participant than I'd previously thought. I still think he's a manipulative creep, but maybe he's just a normal ex-military maths teacher after all.

 

I don't think he's a trap, but I think he's dull and adds nothing to the series.

 

Frank Cottrell Bryce wrote this ep BTW, if your looking for the writer to blame.

 

You mean this guy? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Cottrell_Boyce

Damn. I'd have given him the job too, with a c.v. like that. I don't see much science fiction in there, but you'd imagine he'd be a safe pair of hands.

 

Knew I was getting the name wrong somewhere.

 

I liked the episode, but it definitely was the weakest episode of this series. A calm episode before the storm.

 

Terrible episode. Even Capaldi struggled with the ghastly material. Otherwise I'm just sick of Clara. The show has been reduced to 'The Adventures and Private Life of Clara Oswald, featuring The Doctor'.

 

Pros: Better than Kill the Moon
Cons: Pretty much everything else.

If I can summon the ability to care I might list all the things that make this terrible but jeeze guys the series should be beyond this kind of **** by now.

 

You guys really feel strongly about this.

 

Yes. Well spotted.

 

How about that music in the preview for the next episode though? Sounded like James Bond, right?

 

Might be. I'm not familiar with his music.

 

Speaking of music, have they toned down the ghastliness of the opening credits, or am I moving from outrage hatred to resigned acceptance?

 

It was a pretty bad episode. They almost never know how to hire good child actors.

 

I was wondering about that. Have there been any good child actors? I thought the kid in Night Terrors did well.