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

I started Watching Who a year or two ago, but went through a long gap during season 2 where I stopped watching. Just started again recently, and am most of the way through season 3. So I will have not seen many of these episodes, but here I go...

It was a long time ago I saw the season 1 episodes. I don't really remember the Slitheen episodes being THAT bad...Okay, certainly not great, but eh...

Love and Monsters, I appreciated parts of it, but yeah, it was stupid.

It was a "Doctor-Lite" episode, like season 3's Blink (which I don't think we'll see on this list for a couple months

That said, I really don't hink I've ever HATED an episode of Who, and that's saying something.

Slimy!

 

God these episodes were so bad. I had to have support from friends familiar with the show so I wouldn't give up altogether.

 

82. Evolution of the Daleks

9.8/20

The Cult of Skaro's plan is in full force. Dalek Sec is reborn in a half-human form, and the Pig Slaves launch an enormous assault upon the Central Park Hooverville along with the remaining pure Daleks. The Doctor, Martha Jones, Solomon and the others must fight for their lives, while the future of humans and Daleks alike is being decided underneath the Empire State Building.

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Lowest score - 4
Highest score - 17



A big jump up in scoring. From 7.8 to 9.8. Already we're getting into the meat of the episodes now. And a big range in the voting as well. This is part of an odd pair of episodes (where the resolution seems to be weaker than the build up. A common trait in two-parters). I just don't "get" the episode. Doctor gets hit by lightning. Some Dalek-boobs on the Empire State Building. Where did the Daleks come from again? What's the point of the hybrid? And has been mentioned before, WHAT'S WITH THE PIGS?????? It's a mish-mash of poor ideas that just don't gel.

 

Yeah, that 17 was me, for both episodes because I did the same with all two-parters. Honestly I really liked this story when I first saw it, and still do. I saw what Sec was saying about how the supposedly supreme race always seems to fail, but how humans continue to survive- the latter being a theme that has been in NuWho the entire time. And of course I appreciated how The Doctor always has to give his enemies another chance- I mean, Nine was a bit iffy on that, but Ten, certainly. I went into the second half of the two-parteowing the attempt was surely doomed to fail, but that didn't make the ending any less poignant. And I liked the setting, New York during the Depression. I liked the character of Solomon, who tried to look out for everyone, and while his death was unsurprising and foolish on his part, ithis appeal was striking and made it all the more sad.

That said, it wasn't a perfect episode. As mentioned the pig thing came up again, and was as nonsensical as the first time it came up in Series 1. Tallulah and her boyfriend who's name I don't remember weren't horrible characters, but did grate from time to time. And Human!Sec's appearance and voice- especially his voice- were ridiculous. But these flaws weren't big enough to bring the score down too much, and in the end there were only eighteen episodes (Daleks in Manhattan included) that scored the same or higher, and the number was only that high because severa; of them were two parters, so really there were only eleven stories that equalled or surpassed this one.

 

Lazlo - and I only remember that cos there's always loads of the figures in the bargain bins!

 

Right, Lazlo. That was his name. Tallulah's voice was grating too.

 

It's spelled Laszlo (or, if you want to be super correct, László). That's Hungarian for you.

Also, lol @ "Sec's in the City". Nice pun.

 

See, I knew it should have been Laszlo, but I hadn't checked, and Halibut said he saw it labeled that way so I figured it was just spelled weirdly. The lesson I've taken from this is that I should never trust Halibut on anything ever again.

 

Happy to stand corrected

 

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can

 

You appreciated that? I'd say that was the beginning of the end of my interest in Ten. He was all about "no second chances" and yabbering on about how he used to have a great deal of mercy... and then we got this "lets make peace with the Daleks" crap. It was utterly out of character... and, what's worse, it increasingly informed how Ten was written from then on.

Urg.

 

Solomon's death was so stupid. He's giving this big speech and you KNOW the whole time it's going to end with "Exterminate! ZAP!" You're just waiting for it. And the Doctor must have known that too, but he just let him go on. Way to go, Ten!

Slimy!

 

I think 10ant was willing to give them a second chance here because he saw where the Daleks could go if they continued down that line. Dalek Sec was already "infected" with enough human to have feelings, and if 10ant could get them to continue down that evolutionary path, then it might ultimately lead to the end of the Daleks entirely.

There are several things I don't like about this episode--Tallulah especially--and it's completely unremarkable. A pretty weak episode of television in general.

 

The bottom 5 was, as a whole, my bottom 5. But EOTD doesn't belong anywhere near here. Not with all the over-acted Master episodes still to come.

 

I don't know if there was anyone happy with Love and Monsters, in the end.

Certainly not the little fellow who designed the monster. And for the Production Crew, I assume there is an extra delight in realising a young person's dream; certainly in the latest issues of the Doctor Who magazine that I have been getting, the principals seem to be quite happy with designing the Doctors Wife Tardis console from a child's design, and having the competition winners on set.

So, back to Love and Monsters - and I don't know if it has been recounted here in the thread already - the nine-year-old who crayoned the Abzorbaloff visits the set.

RTD - So how do you like seeing your monster in the show?

Disappointed boy - But, its supposed to be the size of a double-decker bus.

Stunned RTD - ...but...you did not say that, anywhere on your drawing...

It's a hard lesson to have to learn, at that tender age, but quite true, if you only draw the monster, with no buildings, lamp posts, buses, so we know the scale of the thing, eg Godzilla among the Tokyo skyscrapers, how are we supposed to know?


I loved the two Dalek episodes, and for a few weeks, really loved Martha's query upon seeing her first Dalek, steaming away. "What's wrong with Charlie Boy?"

Disappointed that I missed the voting, but my time on the Roleplaying Thread really does take up a whole lot of time.

 

Why would you not talk to the winner of your contest about his monster? They simply went entirely off of the drawing? Poor.

 

So...erm...we haven't had an update since Friday...it's now Sunday...



I am impatient and stuff.

 

See hal, I know for a fact that you didn't do anything today... so where's the next episode?

Huh?

 

I'll do it when I get back from Torchwood

 

Bloody Torchwood.

 

Always operating outside of the law.

 

81. The Idiot's Lantern

10/20

1953, the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - but there is something hiding in the televisions of the British people. Something hungry..

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Lowest score - 2
Highest score - 16



Season 2 continues to be the weakest with its 3rd entry so far. There is a lot wrong with this episode, the Doctor's hair being the chief culprit. Yet, I kinda like it. I love the idea of the Doctor on an antenna again, and it's a shame that his line referring back to the end of Tom Baker was cut. And I also have a guilty pleasure as one of the locations in this episode is so far my favourite one to visit.

But it's definitely a lot more watchable than the Slitheen trilogy. A score of 10/20 is fair.

 

Ha, that's the only Doctor Who episode my folks have seen. I was watching it on DVD when I came home one weekend, and that was the one I was on.

Slimy!

 

For the record, I predicted this yesterday.

 

I will give colours to anyone who correctly predicts the next one.