Doctor Who

[Lainie]

Or, somewhere in the entirety of time and space, a child that needs parents.

[Bill Door]

I'm going to be looking for Jenna Louise in the new episode.
This is my early prediction of this year's "Bad Wolf"

- Bill Door

[Beejtronic]

An interesting article someone linked on Twitter today:

Mr Moffat seems to have forgotten the “show, don’t tell” rule of drama. Shouldn’t viewers have the pleasure of deciding whether his characters have been clever or not, without them deciding for us? Besides, “Doctor Who” leaves you with the suspicion that the Doctor’s egomania extends behind the scenes: whenever he lauds his own ingenuity, the screenwriters are effectively lauding theirs.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prosp...w_ec/doctor_me

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Bill Door

I'm going to be looking for Jenna Louise in the new episode.
This is my early prediction of this year's "Bad Wolf"

- Bill Door

That was my first thought too.

[Dasla]

It starts tonigh! It starts tonight! Yay

[Twankydillo]

My first quick reactions to this episode (Dinosaurs on a Spaceship), as I've just finished watching it and made myself a cup of coffee.

There will be spoilers, so if you haven't seen it, look away now!

Liked:
David Bradley's acting was fantastic, he was genuinely despicable and not a campy villain (despite his robots), and he was very sinister.
Mark Williams as Brian. Another actor I'm very fond of, though more because I was a big fan of The Fast Show than anything. Still, I liked the character of Brian and the scene of him sitting at the door of the Tardis, watching the Earth, resonated with me. I loved Brian and Rory flying the ship.
The Mitchell and Webb bots. Silly, but fun.
Tricey was adorable and I did actually feel moved when it was killed.
There was lots of funny dialogue in this episode. Balls. Heh. Yet despite my expectation, it wasn't just a silly episode - as I said above, I was disturbed a little by Solomon and moved by other scenes.

Not sure about:
Nefertiti and Mr MacSexism should not have got together, that was just weird at best and a bit insulting at worse. I imagine they were thinking 'two dominant personalities!', but I just don't see why Who-world Nefertiti would admire him in any way. I'm worried it comes across a bit like "dominant women just want a dominant man to fight for them!", which is ghastly on so many levels to me.

Random thoughts:
The Doctor was doing significant pause sad-eyeballing left right and centre in this episode. Or, in plainer English, he kept looking sad at touching moments involving Amy. That makes me apprehensive!

I wasn't expecting the Doctor to just throw Solomon to the missiles like that. I can't see how he could not have done, and I would have done too (and felt happy about it), but it surprised me. I guess the Doctor doesn't always respond to pleas for mercy.

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Twankydillo

Not sure about:
Nefertiti and Mr MacSexism should not have got together, that was just weird at best and a bit insulting at worse. I imagine they were thinking 'two dominant personalities!', but I just don't see why Who-world Nefertiti would admire him in any way. I'm worried it comes across a bit like "dominant women just want a dominant man to fight for them!", which is ghastly on so many levels to me.

Agreed. And I was quite upset about Solomon using an implied threat of rape - especially in a family show.

Originally Posted by Twankydillo

I wasn't expecting the Doctor to just throw Solomon to the missiles like that. I can't see how he could not have done, and I would have done too (and felt happy about it), but it surprised me. I guess the Doctor doesn't always respond to pleas for mercy.

I didn't like that scene. The Doctor could have send Solomon's ship off with the crystal and taken Solomon off on the TARDIS to face justice somewhere else. The Doctor should not be letting people die except in dire circumstances.

[Beejtronic]

I really liked the new episode, much better than the last and with way less rage-induced head-banging. I thought the pacing in the first third or so was way off, and didn't really allow us to be introduced to the new characters properly, but otherwise the story was pretty solid. Just generally enjoyable, which is nice. I was annoyed, though not surprised, that the dissolution of Amy and Rory's marriage has been completely forgotten about since the last episode. Not that I wanted to dwell on that, but I think losing the plot point altogether would have been better than having it be a pointless drama moment for one episode which was completely resolved by the next week. We don't need no stinkin' character development!

Originally Posted by Twankydillo

David Bradley's acting was fantastic, he was genuinely despicable and not a campy villain (despite his robots), and he was very sinister.

For a second I wasn't sure who you were talking about because I keep calling him Argus Filch. (Even though I've seen him in loads of other things. He is great, isn't he?) I agree he was a great villain. Loved the weird sword-like crutch things.

I'm worried it comes across a bit like "dominant women just want a dominant man to fight for them!", which is ghastly on so many levels to me.

But sexism is a hilarious personality quirk, not something to be taken seriously! Silly little woman!

[queen of the caramels]

" Any sign of mice" made me LOL.

[queen of the caramels]

as did "Daisy, Daisy"

Thinking next weeks has a whole Red Dwarf feel to it..

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by queen of the caramels

Thinking next weeks has a whole Red Dwarf feel to it..

The robot does a Kryten-esque vibe to it. Perhaps an unofficial bit of promotion for Red Dwarf X over on Dave?

[VeebleFetzer]

Originally Posted by BringTheNoise

The robot does a Kryten-esque vibe to it. Perhaps an unofficial bit of promotion for Red Dwarf X over on Dave?

Also, Mark Williams was in the first series of Red Dwarf.

I'd completely forgotten that, but I watched the first episode last night, and there he was, as Lister's mate Olaf Petersen.

[BringTheNoise]

And he even had the good sense not to come back for Series VIII!

[llewtrah]

I though Nefertiti & Riddell developed respect for each other. Don't forget that he was a product of his era and what our modern eyes see as sexism were the values of his time and culture. Nefertiti - and Amy - were totally outside of his experience and expectations. Both were strong, capable women and not the "pass the smelling slats, I'm having an attack of the vapours" type of woman he was probably accustomed to! I'm sure that sort of thing (capable women) would have been quite scary to most men of his era.

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by llewtrah

I though Nefertiti & Riddell developed respect for each other. Don't forget that he was a product of his era and what our modern eyes see as sexism were the values of his time and culture. Nefertiti - and Amy - were totally outside of his experience and expectations. Both were strong, capable women and not the "pass the smelling slats, I'm having an attack of the vapours" type of woman he was probably accustomed to! I'm sure that sort of thing (capable women) would have been quite scary to most men of his era.

Maybe, but they never showed ANY OF THAT, which is rather the point of television. He was still the Boys Own Adventure braying gitwizard right until the end, so there was no reason for Neffertiti to stay with him.

[Blatherskite]

Originally Posted by BringTheNoise

gitwizard

My new favourite insult! I'm in love!

Anyway, they started flirting even before he was supposed to have Learned His Lesson. I agree that he didn't, really. Even when he was fighting beside Amy he just looked like a man with a new toy.

[llewtrah]

Originally Posted by BringTheNoise

Maybe, but they never showed ANY OF THAT, which is rather the point of television. He was still the Boys Own Adventure braying gitwizard right until the end, so there was no reason for Neffertiti to stay with him.

Isn't television meant to leave some things unspoken for the viewer to deduce though?

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Blatherskite

My new favourite insult! I'm in love!

To give credit where it's due, that one is from Marcus Brigstocke (originally used to describe David Blaine).

Originally Posted by llewtrah

Isn't television meant to leave some things unspoken for the viewer to deduce though?

Only if there are clues for the audience to work from. As I said before, he didn't even BEGIN to change in the episode.

[Twankydillo]

Originally Posted by llewtrah

I though Nefertiti & Riddell developed respect for each other. Don't forget that he was a product of his era and what our modern eyes see as sexism were the values of his time and culture. Nefertiti - and Amy - were totally outside of his experience and expectations. Both were strong, capable women and not the "pass the smelling slats, I'm having an attack of the vapours" type of woman he was probably accustomed to! I'm sure that sort of thing (capable women) would have been quite scary to most men of his era.

Shouldn't this be true of any historical character we meet in Doctor Who? However, that type of woman wouldn't have been all he'd have been accustomed to - it might have been all he'd expected, but it would have been a stereotype of women to him, as much is it is to us when we imagine women of the past to have mostly been like that. But that's beside the point, and I agree he was meant to be shown as a product of his time.

However, being a product of his culture and society made him no less sexist. It still seems demeaning to me to make Nefertiti find that flirtatious - as she did very early on, before having cause to respect him. It came across more like bantering than insulting. Amy's grudging acceptance of his skillls while still being wary of his flawed views was a better form of developed respect.

I will say, though, they made Nefertiti act a little ... oddly, too. Is it becoming a trend for women to try to forceably rip the Doctors clothes off? Maybe they decided Nefetiti just found Riddell attractive and be damned his personality!

[Lainie]

Even Sherlock Holmes needed clues before he could deduce. If you come to a conclusion without clues/evidence, you're assuming, or guessing, not deducing.