Amph Doctor Who Discussion (Russell T. Davies returns)

Inhalers: ANY inhaler you should hold your breath for as long as possible without becoming uncomfortable, that's how the medicine deposits in your lungs. As soon as you exhale any of the medicine that hasn't already deposited goes away. I see people use them incorrectly all the time... I don't think people are taught very well, just handed an inhaler and told to use it. (Source: Respiratory Therapist) But that being said, in the realm of movies and TV messing up respiratory things that is so far down the list for me that I don't even care. They frequently do things that could be dangerous for the actor, that really bothers me.


A Town Called Mercy - Ugh... not a fan of that episode, except for the "His name is Susan" part. I really don't have anything to say other than that. Having watched it twice now, I think that's more than enough for me.

The Power of Three - This is an episode that I think could have gone really wrong but they managed to make a good episode. I also think it's a good set up episode to The Angels Take Manhattan.

 

Not really. I hated the Susan part

 

Well, a bunch of NuWho fans (and a bunch of older ones) refuse to accept that Susan is the Doctor's "granddaughter", so maybe that's part of it.

 

Come again, George?

 

Capaldi: "My Doctor is less user-friendly"

Favourite bit from the clip?

Spoiler

Doctor: This is Clara, not my assistant. Some other word.
Clara: I'm his carer.
Doctor: Yeah, she's my carer. She cares so I don't have to.

 

In a Q&A after the screening of ‘Deep Breath’, Capaldi was asked to sum up his Doctor in five words. He chose: “Funny, joyful, passionate, emphatic, fearless.”

Co-star Jenna Coleman also rose to the challenge, picking these five words: “Enigmatic, myterious, complex, warm, unmannered.”

Steven Moffat’s five words to describe Capaldi’s Doctor were: “More Scottish than last time.”

 

7.06: The Angels Take Manhattan

"That's what happened to Rory. That's what the Angels do, it's their preferred form of attack. They dump you back in time, let you live to death."

It seems to be a fitting farewell to Amy and Rory in that it also happens to be both the last truly classic and enjoyable episode of the Matt Smith era. From here on in there's sadly not a lot to salvage and what makes it worse is that the remaining episodes are grouped with the Anniversary year. But they at least get one of the farewell's right; this one. Much like The Girl Who Waited, Moffat's writing channels the RTD style of writing in that it's heavily emotionally charged and the Doctor's survival comes at a cost to remind the audience that there are dangers in traveling with the Doctor. But why I like this ending so much is being there's also an undercurrent of optimism; Amy and Rory spend their remaining years together and until death they certainly do not part.

It's also nice to see River Song tone down some of her more flamboyant antics which began to feel tired and repetitive. Thank goodness they also did away with the obligatory prison break scene, though this was explained as no longer happening since the Doctor's profile was written out of existence. Matt Smith's performance also follows suit where we see his Doctor properly invested in the scenario rather than some of the tomfoolery that we've been subjected to in previous episodes. It's a shame that the Directors of these episodes don't allow him to explore that potential more because that's where his Doctor really triumphs.

A lot of audiences seem to fault the ending to this episode where the Doctor doesn't return to New York in the 1940s again to save Amy and Rory. But this is clearly explained both in this episode and past episodes; if you go back to Father's Day, we've seen the consequences of the Doctor doing a double take on either his or another person's timeline. There's a risk of a paradox or a collapse of the Timeline. The Doctor very much explained it in these terms here too when Amy wanted to go back to save Rory. Even if there is the odd temporal quirk in this episode, the consequences are enough to at least portray the Doctor as having made a loss despite his best efforts but without entirely losing the closure or positive outcome of sorts for his companions. A very touching resolve to two of the Doctor's best ever companions. Sadly, it's downhill from here. Happy Anniversary!

5 out of 5

 

Ditto with it being my favorite line as well.

Also according to folks who were at the Cardiff premiere regarding the new OP sequence:

Spoiler

Except for the removal of the seal of Rassilon and the names of Capaldi and Coleman appearing later, the sequence is virtually identical to this, which they have used as inspiration for the new sequence:



The theme song itself is re-arranged again, this time to sound similar to that rendition used in The Trial of a Timelord.

 

Yeah, I can second this by pointing out that this fan video was directly called out in the translation scripts that leaked from BBC Worldwide. I'm assuming that was so it could be given the appropriate credit during the closing titles.

 

You wanna make things more screwy?

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The fact that the new re-arrangement is in the style of the one used in The Trial of a Timelord...who was in that specific arc that should be showing up some time soon, assuming they'll stick to their guns and actually bring him back?

 

That's not the right music

 

Spoiler

I wish they'd keep the Seal of Rassilon, if only because it looks like an 8 and using it for series 8 would amuse me.

 

If you're replying to my post, I've heard several retcons to the extent that Susan isn't his biological relative, but is someone who just refers to him as "grandfather" as a term of affection or respect. Or something like that.

By the way, now I'm waiting for some as-yet-unmade Eleven story where, after revealing that he speaks baby and horse, that also knows how to speak jive.

 

You can check out the new intro sequence here!

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

That music is absolutely awful

 

How can you even tell? It's a cell phone video and half the time people are yelling and clapping.

 

Yes, can we get a version without annoying English ****s talking over it? I wish I hadn't watched that.

 

Given his avatar picture, I can just imagine halibut's first reaction:



But in all seriousness, it was taken RAW with cheering and clapping. Maybe it would sound better if we see it ourselves on August 23 on our computers.

TBQH though I do like the new arrangement.