Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

It was a star. The Doctor calls it an alien sun at the start of the episode.

 

Ah, it sure didn't look like a star. That's stranger than the (probably made up even in-universe) "cold star."

 

Alien sun doesn't mean it's the only sun though....

 

That still wouldn't account for the sudden gravitational shift which would cause devastation to that solar system.

 

Time for this again:

 

The wiki doesn't help. It says it's both a planet and a sun.

 

OK, normally I am all for that, but there's difference in taking a magnifying glass to the logic of made up story devices like time travel and elementary school solar system understanding. It did occur to me instantly in this up that it really seemed like he'd just destroyed the sun that these 7 worlds were orbiting around. (Although actually my initial comment out loud was something along the lines of, "aaand then they all get pulled into a newly created black hole" )

You know I'm the last person to try to apply useless science logic to Who. But if you say in the episode that 7 world orbit this star, you are establishing your own world and rules of that world and you should maybe at least abide by them enough to even add in a throw-away line about how said worlds will be okay because of [made up DW thing]. Or just not have the whole thing implode when the parasite thing is killed It doesn't bother me that much, but it is a bit silly and lazy.

Anyway, I saw part of the episode again and I have to say, I at least do really like JLC and Matt just keeps getting better. They were nice. Even the backstory with Clara's parents was lovely. I just found the villain plot more than usually boring. And I don't require a ton from those because I watch the show for the characters. But for the sake of tension and excitement, it's at least nice if there are some twists and turns, some failed solutions to the problem, heightening the tension, upping the ante.... that's just writing. It's how dramas work. I don't expect originality all the time because that's pretty much impossible and it's overrated. But at least if you're going to repeat plot and story elements you should have tension and excitement.

 

I also forgot to squee over the Doctor dipping into some Lewis Carroll prose.

 

I looked at the beginning again and the Doctor is actually unclear as to whether it's a sun. He says Clara is feeling "light from an alien sun," but doesn't say that's what she's looking at (rather stupid to look directly at a star so close anyway). Her first adventure on an alien world and she has burned corneas as souvenirs.

 

Well if it was a sun she was staring at, the futuristic alien place she was at probably has futuristic technology to keep people's retinas from being burned by staring at it.

 

More Zombie Karen:

 

If it were a gas giant planet, then the Doctor's words would still be true, because it would reflect the light from its star. Just like our moonlight isn't really moonlight - it's sunlight reflected from the surface of the Moon.

Actually, if the star/planet/whatever was turned into a black hole, the gravity wouldn't be affected (because the black hole would still have the same mass as the original object). Sure, they'd no longer have the light, but the Seven worlds would continue to orbit as normal.

Why oh why people keep assuming that black holes are these magical vacuums in space? Heck, we have a supermassive black hole in the centre of our galaxy, and it isn't doing us any harm!

 

I liked A Town Called Mercy. What didn't you like about it?

 

Something tells me Clara could be this generation's Turlough.

 

Too long to go into here, but your general dislikes about the last episode seem to sum it up.

Short version - lazy writing, characters with no appeal, lead parts were out of character. Seemed like a poor piece of fanfiction.

 

Fair enough. I'm a fan of the Western genre so that might have something to do with it. Plus the week preceding it was Dinosaurs On A Spaceship, to me there was little that could fall below that.

 

Joint least-favourite Matt Smith episode ever.

The singing could have been cut at least three times shorter, or been relegated to the background while something interesting happened.

I hate it when people sing on shows like these - there they are, talking as normal, everyone sharing the same acoustic space - then someone starts singing and their voice suddenly has a different reverb effect on top of it, their lips don't sync and there's an invisible orchestra joining in. ****ing do it in the take or use a dry production, don't ****ing cut to the CD track!

This episode might be worse than the one with the ****ing flying fog sharks because it's so anticlimactic.

I'm not usually so negative about DW stories. Three ****s is quite a lot. ****, four now. That last **** was a different word, and this last one was just four stars next to each other.

 

I wasn't a massive fan of the whole 7.1 series anyway. It was like mini-movies, not a TV show. Too disjointed, and needlessly dragging out Amy and Rory's storyline. That's why I was glad The Snowmen was so good. It gave me renewed hope for the remainder of the series and currently it feels like I've got my TV show back. So whilst Rings might not have been the best episode, it's (for me) a lot better than the first 5 episodes.

But it would be dull if we all liked the same thing. So whilst I don't agree with your review, I must say it was a good read and well put together. Looking forward to more

 

Jemma Redgrave (Kate Stewart) to return for the 50th Anniversary!!!

 

She was better in The Buddha of Suburbia

 

It was OK, I preferred the previous episode.

This had too much padding I thought, the whole singing thing went on too long as did the Mummy thing which just led to nothing.

Ice Warrior on a submarine should be worth it though.

 

YES!!! Please pretty pretty please can we get some scenes with her with Tennant's Doctor or any other (hopefully!) previous Doctors that appear in the special?

 

Fixed.