Amph The OFFICIAL Doctor Who Episode Countdown - Nos. 3 & 4

if you're not going to post the rest of the list can you at least tell us what number Midnight is. thanks

 

28. The Satan Pit

14.91/20



The Doctor faces off against an enemy that defies all his beliefs. Rose and what's left of the crew are trying to escape from the Beast's legion of possessed Ood. Can the Doctor stop an impossible enemy from escaping its prison and save the universe?


[image=http://www.eyeofhorus.org.uk/images/photo/10tennant/series-02/09-satan/the-satan-pit-doctor-beast2.jpg]
[image=http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091205172813/tardis/images/d/d8/Satanpitdevilandrose.jpg]

Lowest score - 8
Highest score - 18

Just as solid as the opening, and I love the Beast! Not seen this for a fair while so will need to rewatch

TRIVIA

Coincidentally, this episode was shown in the week of 6/6/06. It followed a wave of Devil-related stories in the media.


The closing scene in which the Doctor tells Rose that they're "the stuff of legend" was the final scene Billie Piper shot as a regular cast member on the series; her departure episode, Doomsday had been filmed months earlier.





27. Dalek

15.27/20



The Ninth Doctor and Rose arrive in 2012, to answer a distress signal and meet a collector of alien artefacts who has one living specimen. However, the Doctor is horrified to find out that the creature is a member of a race he thought was destroyed: A Dalek.

[image=http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100202212333/tardis/images/2/22/Doctorwhonewseriesdalek.jpg]
[image=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110422193149/tardis/images/0/04/Elevate_or_elevator.jpg]

Lowest score - 8
Highest score - 19

Great stuff! First time meeting the Dalek, and despite it being motionless for the first half, it's terribly menacing. I like the premise of the museum. The arrogant billionaire collector has been done to death, but it works here. Adam is annoying though.


TRIVIA

This is the first story of the new series not to feature the TARDIS interior.


This episode would be the only story in Russell T. Davies years on the show in which the Daleks would be involved in only a single story. All other Dalek storylines would be spread across 2 episodes in the future.



26. The God Complex

15.45/20



The Doctor, Amy and Rory investigate a hotel of horror where repeat business is low but the body count is high, where a mighty monster stalks the corridors and the rooms hold visions of angels, apes and creepy clowns. Who - or what - has brought them to this place? Can the Doctor solve the mystery before the residents check out in grisly style?


[image=http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111204165807/tardis/images/d/d3/God_Complex_Clown.jpg]
[image=http://media.avclub.com/images/articles/article/61/61730/doctor-who-the-god-complex-promo-pics-4_jpg_627x325_crop_upscale_q85.jpg]


Lowest score - 10
Highest score - 20

Yuck, how did this get so high? Load of nonsense, though the ventriloquist dummies are pretty scary. But this is an awful effort especially for series 6. Curse of the Black Spot was better, and that's saying something. However since writing that I have rewatched the episode and maybe it wasn't THAT bad, But still a low point in the series

TRIVIA

The Doctor fears that he will either get Rory and Amy killed or have to watch them die. These themes were also touched on in The Vampires of Venice and School Reunion respectively. Both episodes were also written by Toby Whithouse.


One of the girls from Howie's room mentions the Klingons.





25. The Wedding of River Song

15.73/20


The Doctor makes his final journey to the shores of Lake Silencio in Utah, knowing only one thing can keep the universe safe: his death. But has he reckoned without the love of a good woman?

[image=http://www.chud.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/The-Wedding-of-River-Song-1024x576.jpg]
[image=http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/image/article/119/1197684/the-wedding-of-river-song-20111002035808632.jpg]

Lowest score - 9
Highest score - 18

Love this episode. Great idea having all time happening instantaneously. Great dialogue between Amy and Rory. Great to see Amy's dark side for a change. C

 

Satan Pit was decent 2nd part and finished up the story well enough. Not wild about adding religion to Who, but faith seems to be important part of life for a lot of people.
I still like the Blake's7 definition. Faith: The capacity to believe that which you know cannot be true.

Dalek: decent enough episode. I liked the props in the museum, including the classic Cyberman head. Why don't we get to see that model in the new show?

The God Complex: well, it wasn't as bad or totally illogical as The Girl Who Waited, but still pretty bad. From the gutter end of Series 6--a series with few good stories.

Wedding of River Song: another finale story which made no sense whatsoever. What was with the cars with balloons tied to them? Was that some joking commentary on how everyone assumes there will be flying cars in the future, but there aren't? So we step backward to 18th century tech? Nice that they brought back Dickens... But why not anyone else? Like... Madamme du Pompadour? If ever there was a way to work her back into an episode, that was it. Oh well. Moffat shoe-horns River Song into another crucial climactic moment of The Doctor's life.
THE question. The one always in the background. Doctor WHO? UUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAARRRGH. It was bad enough when it was a cheesy joke in The Five Doctors.

So, yeah, guess my opinion is totally counter to the majority again.

 

The God Complex is an amazing episode, and why it's not higher, I will never know.

I loved it. The minotaur talking to the Doctor was amazing.

Koohii, all of time was running together. So you have the idea of hot air balloons mixing with cars and the early flight attempts of tying lots of balloons to something. That's not all that difficult to come up with.

And if you have every single historical callback eg Dickens, that intro would have been five minutes longer.

Doctor Who: As I've said before in this thread. The answer is Death.

 

Yeah, I got the whole everything happening at once. The thing is, if it was one or two, I could see it. But there were dozens. And where were the advanced futuristic space ships and jetpacks and stealth planes?
And if they did put in more historical figures... well, it isn't like the episode had much of a plot. The actor they have for Winston Churchill doesn't fit the role well. Or maybe it's the way the character is written. The result is (to me) unsatisfying.

The answer is Kevorkian?

 

The Satan Pit - I have a hard time differentiating between episodes of two-parters as I always just watch them together anyhow. As I said with The Impossible Planet, one of the things that makes this good in my book is that Rose is really useful. And here she proves even moreso in the end. I also really love the whole thing of the Doctor just falling into the pit to find out what's down there. There's something in my lizard brain that totally agrees with him on it being a compelling urge in humanity to do that.

Dalek - The first episode of NuWho that I felt was actually pretty good. When I get new people to watch the show, I always have them start here. If they want to watch the first 5 eps later on, they can, but I think a lot of people would never make it this far otherwise. I'd never seen the classic series before seeing NuWho, and not being British I had only a vague concept of the Daleks as part of the show. But it only took this episode to get it. Contrary to the previous ep on this list, though, I think Rose is at her dumbest here.

The God Complex - Evidently this is a really divisive episode judging by people's comments. Love it or hate it. Though judging by its place on this list, it was more of the former. Personally I love this episode. It's super creepy. And it's one of those time the Doctor promises people he'll save him but then totally lets them down. Rita was a really great character and someone I would have loved to see be a companion, so I was really saddened by her death. The Doctor's realizations at the end of this are fantastic. After spending time on his own as Ten, he opened himself back up to a little girl. But now he's remembering just how dangerous it can be with him. The ending is very sad but apt. I feel quite worried that Amy and Rory are now not going to have nearly so peaceful an ending, but we'll see.

I should also note that I think this episode has not one but two of Matt Smith's best scenes in the show to date (and therefore also some of the best dramatic scenes written for him, credit to Toby Whithouse). The first is the scene where he is convincing Amy to give up her belief in him. Because even though he's ostensibly deliberately trying to be blunt to save her, we know he's saying how he truly feels. The whole, "I'm not a hero. I really am just a mad man in a box" bit is so perfect. The second scene is when he drops Amy and Rory off. Particularly his conversation with Amy and his exit, down to the uncomfortable wave goodbye and his inability to quite look her in the eye there. Both of these scenes contained none of the kind of slightly forced drama of the beginning of series 5. They were epic because they were quiet and beautiful and told us a lot about the Doctor. We get to see that, though he's much less emotional than he was when he was Ten, he carries the same wounds he's had in all of NuWho.


The Wedding of River Song - I like this episode, I do think it's great fun. And I adore the ending, the wedding, that whole bit. I think my favorite part of the whole episode is when River chastises the Doctor for thinking that there aren't more people out there who are grateful to him than hate him. We've gotten so much of his own perspective on it in NuWho to this point that it's made me kind of feel as he does, that a lot of people hate him and are out to get him. That's a theme of the whole of series 6, really - that he's created a lot of people who are afraid of him. But being reminded that there are far more people who love him is great, particularly for him.

Also, is there a better moment in series 6 than, "And I'm his... Mother-in-Law" I'd been waiting for that realization to dawn on Amy since we knew for sure that River was their daughter. Since I watched this in a total and complete vacuum and all at once, I have to confess, I hadn't even thought of the Question. I was surprised by it, and kind of excited for what the future might hold in that direction. Of course, my brother and I both felt really stupid afterward that it had

 

Bumping up in hopes of an update...

 

lol

 

Join Abeloth.
It is the only way to save your account.
Do not let yourself be destroyed as The Ones did.
Join me and I will complete your absorption.
Together, we shall rule the galaxy as Abeloth and avatars.
Come with me.

 

Would it be possible to merge this post with the DW post on the temp boards or are we going to have to start discussing S7 from scratch here?

 

The Doctor Who thread from the old boards has been upped, so I guess we just use that one. But this reminds me that I have to go back to nagging Hal about the countdown, so that's good! Hey, Hal! Post all of the already listed episodes and get cracking on the next one!

 

Lol remember when there was a countdown?

 

87 Fear Her
86 Love & Monsters
85 Aliens of London
84 World War Three
83 Boom Town
82 Evolution of the Daleks
81 The Idiot's Lantern
80 The Lazarus Experiment
79 Daleks in Manhattan
78 The Curse of the Black Spot
77 Night Terrors
76 The Doctor's Daughter
75 42
74 Planet of the Dead
73 The Poison Sky
72 The Sontaran Stratagem
71 The Unquiet Dead
70 Victory of the Daleks
69 Vampires In Venice
68 Voyage of the Damned
67 Partners in Crime
66 The Long Game
65 The Age of Steel
64 Rise of the Cybermen
63 Bad Wolf
62 The Next Doctor
61 Rose
60 The Hungry Earth
59 The End of the World
58 New Earth
57 The Runaway Bride
56 Army of Ghosts
55 Gridlock
54 Cold Blood
53 The Beast Below
52 The Unicorn and the Wasp
51 Journey's End
50 The Rebel Flesh
49 Last of the Time Lords
48 The Lodger
47 The Shakespeare Code
46 Planet of the Ood
45 The Christmas Invasion
44 The Stolen Earth
43 Smith and Jones
42 Doomsday
41 Closing Time
40 The End of Time Part 2
39 The Almost People
38 The End of Time Part 1
37 Father's Day
36 Tooth and Claw
35 The Waters of Mars
34 The Sound of Drums
33 School Reunion
32 Turn Left
31 The Parting of the Ways
30 The Fires of Pompeii
29 The Impossible Planet
28 The Satan Pit
27 Dalek
26 The God Complex
25 The Wedding of River Song
24 Amy's Choice
23 A Christmas Carol
22 Vincent and the Doctor
21 Midnight
20 Let's Kill Hitler
19 The Girl Who Waited
18 The Pandorica Opens
17 Utopia
16 The Time of Angels
15 A Good Man Goes to War
14 Flesh and Stone
13 The Big Bang
12 The Impossible Astronaut
11 Day of the Moon
10 The Eleventh Hour
9 Forest of the Dead


8. Silence in the Library

The Doctor and Donna enter a world of terror inside an abandoned library. They're given only one warning: "Count the shadows".

Score: 17.18
Lowest: 12
Highest: 20

Not a massive fan of these, though the 1st part is indeed better than the 2nd

TRIVIA

Russell T Davies feels this episode is more frightening than Steven Moffat's series 3 episode Blink, which rated a 5.5 out of 5 on the official Doctor Who website 'Fear Factor' feature.

Professor Song says to the Doctor, with astonishment, "you're so young!", which implies that she is used to an older version of the Doctor.

 

Professor Song says to the Doctor, with astonishment, "you're so young!", which implies that she is used to an older version of the Doctor.

Which promptly got jossed when Moffat went with the young Matt Smith as Eleven instead of the older actor type he originally said he was angling to cast.

 

She can see the youngness in his eyes, man!

(Seriously, in that "mad man with a box" speech at the end of Series 5, Matt Smith looks older than David Tennant ever did...)

 

I'll give you that. Matt does seemingly have this ability to project himself as looking/acting far older than he actually is. And those moments when Matt's able to project Eleven's true age serve as a wonderful counterbalance to Eleven's goofier moments.

Spoiler

Dinosaurs! On a Spaceship!

 

Matt's eyes have the ages within them.

 

Indeed.

 

Yep, exactly. That's what I love about Matt's Doctor - he can alternate so easily between a 900-year-old universe-weary alien, and an excited 5-year-old. Classic example: in A Christmas Carol when young Kazran is taking him to the hibernating people in boxes, because they need one quickly to save the shark, he stops in the hall and goes all "ooh, look, a Christmas tree!"

 

... and am I the only one who got momentarily confused by the presence of two Doctor Who threads?

 

No. I'd forgotten that the countdown was separate.

 

To me, River Song was just a copy of Bernice Summerfield. (Time-Travelling Archeologist who has sex with The Doctor? Hmmmmm) Maybe they somehow didn't have the rights to use that character?

 

I think everyone involved in production rightly tries to ignore everything remotely connected to the seventh Doctor, canon or otherwise.

 

But - but, Ace! And baseball bats to Daleks!

 

Seventh Doctor had great actors, but horrible scripts. And JNT was making a mess of everything by refusing to turn the show over to new people, but conversely making it very difficult for established writers familiar with the show to get in because he was insisting on fresh new writers.
Remembrance of the Daleks was a great story. Sad that nothing that followed came as close.