2005 replies to this topic

[Scrambled Eggs]

Theres supposed to be a storyline which

Spoiler

involves the Doctor having a child

and that does rather suggest they might be scraping the barrel.

But:

I like the episodes where they give us something that really breaks away from the formula.

The daughter thing sounds fairly unformulaic to me. There was a novel which came out a few years in which the Doctor adopted a daughter (who I think was a Time Lady; I didn't read it) so it'll be interesting to see if it's related to that at all.

Fair enough. I did perhaps contradict myself a bit there. I was thinking specifically about those episodes where they've made something which could almost have been a stand alone, one off tv play, like "Blink" and that one featuring Peter Kay.
I'm not sure the daughter thing is particularly unformulaic. Obviously its not the typical running around corridors away from monsters thing but theres been a bit of "Doctor doing normal, real life stuff" before and I suppose its an extension of that.
I think what bugs me is that there are so many hints that this series'll be played for laughs a bit more and I hope theres plenty of creepy strangeness to balance that out a bit.

This is a bit unlike me as usually I wait to see something before I start having a pop at it. I suppose that like a lot of people I now have high expectations of Doctor Who.

[marktmurphy]

I think what bugs me is that there are so many hints that this series'll be played for laughs a bit more and I hope theres plenty of creepy strangeness to balance that out a bit.

Not sure why you think that- the climax looks set to be a proper tear-jearker, I get the feeling. A bit of a climax to the previous four years. And the Ood episode has just been classified a 12 certificate for its DVD release, so there's definitely some spookiness coming up. Even this weeks' looks a bit dramatic, with Donna questioning how the Doctor can choose to save some people and not others.

[DamnCoffee]

hYREDtQa5I8

I'm sorry... but I dont think this series will be 'played for laughs'... Especially 1 minute in.

[Scrambled Eggs]

I think what bugs me is that there are so many hints that this series'll be played for laughs a bit more and I hope theres plenty of creepy strangeness to balance that out a bit.

Not sure why you think that- the climax looks set to be a proper tear-jearker, I get the feeling. A bit of a climax to the previous four years. And the Ood episode has just been classified a 12 certificate for its DVD release, so there's definitely some spookiness coming up. Even this weeks' looks a bit dramatic, with Donna questioning how the Doctor can choose to save some people and not others.

Because of the presence of Miss Tate. I got the impression that she'd been shoehorned into a part meant for someone 15-20 years younger in order to inject a few more one liners. Also, the interview with RTD where the daughter thing was mentioned, to me it implied that we're intended to chuckle at the incongruity of it rather than it being something which adds to the Doctor's mystique.
I don't mean that I'm expecting them to totally camp it up and lose all the creepiness. Just that maybe there'll be more of an accent on the gags.
Of course, I haven't seen the rest of the series yet so its silly to comment.

A 12 classifcation sounds promising for people like me who want episodes that make kids wet themselves. But might it be a different edit to the one that'll go out at 6 o'clock on a saturday?

[DamnCoffee]

So I think whats basically being said is that Tennant is the Roger Moore of the franchise.

[marktmurphy]

I think what bugs me is that there are so many hints that this series'll be played for laughs a bit more and I hope theres plenty of creepy strangeness to balance that out a bit.

Not sure why you think that- the climax looks set to be a proper tear-jearker, I get the feeling. A bit of a climax to the previous four years. And the Ood episode has just been classified a 12 certificate for its DVD release, so there's definitely some spookiness coming up. Even this weeks' looks a bit dramatic, with Donna questioning how the Doctor can choose to save some people and not others.

Because of the presence of Miss Tate. I got the impression that she'd been shoehorned into a part meant for someone 15-20 years younger in order to inject a few more one liners.

Oh that's odd; perhaps they've misjudged that if that's what people are thinking. I think she's there more to be more of an equal to the Doctor- she's not in awe of him and certainly doesn't fancy him (which makes a nice change). Her being slightly older than the last couple of girls adds to that, and she is a bit of a better actress than Freema, although I liked her a lot. We should see that side her character this week when she starts questioning the Doctor's actions, I think. Personally I think the relationship has more potential to be interesting than with Martha, and Tate's funny too.

Also, the interview with RTD where the daughter thing was mentioned, to me it implied that we're intended to chuckle at the incongruity of it rather than it being something which adds to the Doctor's mystique.

I'd be surprised- I would have thought it'll be a bit more of a character piece, but with action and laughs- you don't get a Who episode without those.
I think the Agatha Christie episode will be slanted towards comedy, but other than that I haven't heard that any others are heavier comedy. Steven Moffat (writer of Blink, Empty Child etc.) has done a two parter this year, which'll be sure to be super-scary and just generally fantastic, I'd imagine.

A 12 classifcation sounds promising for people like me who want episodes that make kids wet themselves. But might it be a different edit to the one that'll go out at 6 o'clock on a saturday?

No; they don't do that. I think a couple of other episodes were classfied 12 on release- Blink may have been one of them.

[DamnCoffee]

I caught the end of the Dalek episode on BBC Four, last night... I was very impressed... God, I love Doctor Who.

[DamnCoffee]

Just a reminder that 'The Fires of Pompeii' is to be broadcast in exactly 11 mins on BBC1.

[DamnCoffee]

Fairly good episode last night... not as good as the series premier though.

Planet Of The Ood Episode Synopsis
13 04 2008

The press release for episode 3 of Doctor Who Series 4 has now been released. This episode is entitled Planet Of The Ood and sees The Doctor meet up with the Ood once more. This particular press release can be seen below....

Spoiler

The Doctor takes Donna far into the future, to her first alien world. But on the planet Ood-Sphere, they discover terrible truths about the Human Race. As the enslaved Ood struggle for survival, a secret buried for 200 years threatens to rise up and engulf them all.

[sharpshooter]

The Ood are back are they? They are one of the more interesting new creatures of the series reboot. 'The Impossible Planet', the Ood debut episode, was quite good as well.

The episode will provide some backstory to the race. I hear that they live on an ice planet. I look forward to seeing it.

[DamnCoffee]

I've just found an interesting spoiler for a future season 4 episode - "Doctor-lite"

[spoiler]The Sun is reporting that the "Doctor-lite" episode of Series Four is going to be "Doctor-less". According to the article, Rose, Martha and Donna take the TARDIS controls after an accident leaves the Doctor lost in space during an alien invasion.

The article's source adds:

[sharpshooter]

That sounds great quite frankly. Even though 'Blink' featured the Doctor partly, it was still a great episode by itself. The episodes where they push the barriers usually turn out to be the best. It also builds up anticipation to see the Doctor again in the next episode.

[DamnCoffee]

I do also think this is a good idea but the series 2 episode, 'Love and Monsters' was horrible, and that rarely featured the Doctor.

[sharpshooter]

Indeed, that episode was not good at all. We will just have to wait and see what they do with this 'Doctor-lite' episode.

The ratings for 'The Fires of Pompeii' show that it achieved 8.1 million viewers with a 36.7% audience share. Series 4 is off to a solid start!

[DamnCoffee]

Indeed.

I bought quite a few old Doctor Who stories yesterday... these include:
Doctor Who: The Beggining
* An Unearthly Child
* The Daleks
* The Edge of Destruction

I also bought, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Seed of Death

[sharpshooter]

Nice.

I picked up the Doctor Who Visual Dictionary a while back. Pretty good book actually, I'd recommend it. DK usually put a good book together.

[Zorin Industries]

I think the first two episodes of Series Four have been stunningly good. I never feared Catherine Tate in the role and I have been proved right. She's an actress and the first real actress to be the assistant since Russell T Davies brought the series back.

I've heard some industry titbits regarding this new series...

Spoiler

I gather the Christmas Special this year features Cyberman in Victorian England.

Spoiler

Davies has slightly hinted (only slightly mind) that this series 'may' feature multiple Doctors. It certainly features the Doctor's Daughter (in a round about way), played ironically by Peter Davison's daughter).

[DamnCoffee]

Brilliant idea for the Christmas Special... afterall the Victorian era was the best time of live.

[Pete]

[quote name='Mharkin007' post='861023' date='16 April 2008 - 10:56']I've just found an interesting spoiler for a future season 4 episode - "Doctor-lite"

[spoiler]The Sun is reporting that the "Doctor-lite" episode of Series Four is going to be "Doctor-less". According to the article, Rose, Martha and Donna take the TARDIS controls after an accident leaves the Doctor lost in space during an alien invasion.

The article's source adds:

[DamnCoffee]

Was the episode any good?

[Pete]

Was the episode any good?

Well I was about 6 when it was broadcast - but it was the build up to what became the Dalek Master Plan. If I remember it was part of the target book collection so the basic plot line is there somewhere.

If it had Daleks in the 60's it was bound to be good.

Edit http://en.wikipedia...._to_the_Unknown

It's here!

Edited by Pete, 16 April 2008 - 03:01 PM.

[marktmurphy]

Well there were quite a few Hartnell and maybe even a couple of Troughton episodes where the Doctor simply didn't appear that week- usually because he was on holiday. The Doctor would simply be offscreen e.g an episode of The Time Meddler where he's locked in a cell and we don't see him. His companions appeared, of course.

There's also a funny episode of The Mind Robber where the actor who played companion Jamie was too ill to appear and they thought up a very good sci-fi way of having another actor play him for that episode!

[DamnCoffee]

LOL! And still The Mind Robber is considered to be one of the best Doctor Who stories.

[marktmurphy]

Yeah it's good fun, and actually you might not even realise that they're covering up something when you see it- it does make good sense within the story.

Tomb of the Cybermen's a cracker, though- good choice. Troughton really is very good.

[DamnCoffee]

Yes, I didn't think I'd like Troughton but he is actually a brilliant Doctor. Tennants still my favorite though... followed by Hartnell and Pertwee.

[marktmurphy]

Fair enough- David is very good. Have you seen much Tom? He's a bit like Connery- you might have your favourite Bond (mine's Roger) but I'd have to say that Sean was the best.

My Doctor was probably Sylvester, and I'm still quite fond of him. Davison's great, too.

Here's a fun thing- they've just announced action figures! On sale in August, I think:

[DamnCoffee]

LOL! I love the fact that Tom Bakers got a changable head.

[Pete]

Yes, I didn't think I'd like Troughton but he is actually a brilliant Doctor. Tennants still my favorite though... followed by Hartnell and Pertwee.

Troughton was my favourite as he was the one I really grew up with. I can remember Hartnell, just, but Pat was my Doc. Sadly he died on my birthday.

I always felt that in the earlier series, wobbly sets etc. Tom Baker was the best Doctor, i felt he really nailed the part. I wasn't a great Pertwee fan to start with, but he did grow on me.

Although I was a fan I started to lose interest when Sarah Jane left but by then I was discovering girls and things so the dear old Doc lost out a bit.

Love the new series great to see it do what it had the potential to do all those years ago.

[Zorin Industries]

I must admit I am surprised to see both the direct comparisons of Bond and Doctor Who, as well as the tongue in cheek theory:

James Bond is Really a Time Lord

I posted very similarly here just a day or two before this thread started, all about how Niven was the first Bond who has since regenerated seven times.

Can I just ask whether anyone enjoyed last week's episode? Two of my friends said independently of each other 'That episode was the worst of all three series'. The thing is I really enjoyed it, and we usually share similar tastes, not to mention that I'm a pretty hard person to please. I missed the first scene, so perhaps something really awful happened in that that I missed, or maybe I was slipped some style of Prozac earlier on in the day. Answers on a postcard anyone?

It did have an iffy first five minutes, if you really want to be pedantic about it, but it then soared into one of the most successfully ambitious episodes they've done in this new reign. I'm getting really tired with blinkered fans and new fans saying that Catherine Tate is unwatchable. She's the first solid actress they have had since Davies took over and is perfect in my opinion. It's not her fault the audience has typecast her. She's done a hell of a lot of visible stuff than just her sketch show, which incidentally only works because she is a very competent and classically trained actress.

[marktmurphy]

I'm getting really tired with blinkered fans and new fans saying that Catherine Tate is unwatchable. She's the first solid actress they have had since Davies took over and is perfect in my opinion.

I think Tate's great, but I don't think she's the first top actress it's had since it came back- Billie Piper was pretty amazing, I'd say.