Doctor Who and Torchwood

[UberBeaver]

So Amy Pond = Win. I'm liking the new series so far. Think Matt Smith is doing a fine job, slipped right into the role.

I'm looking forward to Moffat's Big Picture. I'm wondering if The Doctor is going to take on some messianic sort of Legend, complete with prophets leaving signs of his presence (like the glass of water from the Beast Below.) Probably not...

I'm real excited for this season. River Song, Weeping Angles, more Daleks. w00t. Love this show.

 

[lazarus]

I've been DL'ing the episodes so far, and very good for the most part. Karen Gillan keeps getting better, already up there with the best companions EVER, easily the best of the DW Mark 2 lot.

The Daleks episode was the weakest so far, and the first half of the Moffat 2-parter with River Song was very good, but nowhere near the greatness of some of his others.
Gonna be hard to top Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. But Alex Kingston as River is SO good, I can't get enough of her.

My only complaint with Matt Smith remains that he's a bit too similar to Tennant for me, and I would have preferred a more drastic personality change, but he's very likable.

 

[melon]

The new series is very enjoyable, so far.

 

[Screwtape2]

I am very excited for the Weeping Angels tonight. Wish BBC America wasn't weeks behind though...

 

[lazarus]

Thank the maker for torrents.

 

[cathou_u2]

I stumbled upon "Blink" this summer and it was LOVE at first sight! Not yet finished with Ten, and I don't want tooo but from all the positive comments I've heard/read about 11, it's going to be good I'm sure!

But Ten with his beige & red Converse, brown pinstripe suit, specs and ALLONS-Y!, will remain MY Doctor!

 

[lazarus]

The Brigadier has joined the big U.N.I.T. up in the sky.

He will be missed.

The Doctor Who News Page: Nicholas Courtney 1929-2011

 

[mobvok]

Oh wow I just caught the S5 premiere and I'm very impressed. Moffat has a hell of a way with imagery- after Pond ran out of the 6th room in her house, somehow seeing just the Man and his Dog there was even more disconcerting/scary than the CGI tentacle. Reminds me a lot of the simplicity behind the Angels.

The "Imma Doctor, bitch. Run!" end felt a little pat but the rest of the episode was well-done enough to earn that.

Karen Gillan

 

[clarityat3am]

I'll be starting in on the rest of DW season five in the next few days. I really do need more Captain Jack in my life soon, though.

 

[mobvok]

The shots of the elderly zombies waving random garden equipment around, slowly moseying across the field were fantastic.

Moffat's doing a fantastic job script-wise and artistically making the show look higher budget then it really is.

 

[mobvok]

Spoiler

Rory would die trying to help a situation the Doctor already had covered.

Also, this is spoilered because I'm checking episode by episode reviews in the AV Club, and in the show summary they show the first few sentences of each review, and the FIRST FUCKING SENTENCE FOR THIS EP SAID RORY DIED. FUCK YOU. I wouldn't have minded if I had found out by people referring to it in this thread after the UK air date, but I was really trying on that site to avoid it.

Of course I'm now vaguely aware that Rory returns (?) at some point, so no one should be worried about referring to it if he does do so.

The Hungry Earth two parter left me feeling cold, following people whose motivations I couldn't really understand or relate to. Why on earth did the Indian woman follow the Doctor down? What possible value could she add to the process? And then Ambrose stands around for awhile doing her best WAAAAAALT? WAAAAAAAAALT? THEY TOOK MY BOY.

I understand Rory's role is sort of a Joe Average getting walloped by his fiancee being introduced to a hot time traveler so he doesn't need to be heroic, but a little less being wimpy or having blank stares maybe? A few more inside jokes between he and Amy? Maybe that's part of the characterization, though. Rory wanted to jump into the first serious relationship he had, and Amy was terrified/insecure that she didn't have a reputable job/security*, so that's how the wedding came together. Not suggesting they aren't right- I do like the "lovers meeting at the wrong time in their lives" theme of the dream episode- but the wedding most definitely is a poor idea.

But the particular twist on the ending was absolutely killer and probably was worth an extra letter or two if I were grading. I don't think I've been that upset by a smile before.

*The scene where Adult Amy and the Doctor met in The 11th Hour is wonderful. I love the symbolism of her fake outfit.

 

[Reggo]

Wait for The Pandorica Opens/Big Bang II.

 

[mobvok]

I've got those two torrented but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to start/finish it off. What's the relation of the Christmas episode to the series? It's a canon thing, I hope.

 

[lazarus]

Not a big Rory fan. It shows a lack of respect for Karen Gillan IMO, like she isn't enough on her own. And in my opinion she may be the best companion since Sarah Jane Smith. She's super hot and has perfect comic timing, and as the season wore on she showed she's capable of the dramatic stuff as well.

The Hungry Earth was not one of the high points of last season. That's okay because the finale is the best one since DW was rebooted. SO GOOD.

 

[mobvok]

Not a big Rory fan. It shows a lack of respect for Karen Gillan IMO, like she isn't enough on her own. And in my opinion she may be the best companion since Sarah Jane Smith. She's super hot and has perfect comic timing, and as the season wore on she showed she's capable of the dramatic stuff as well.

The Hungry Earth was not one of the high points of last season. That's okay because the finale is the best one since DW was rebooted. SO GOOD.

I'm just about to start, and you guys have got me seriously pumped.

 

[lazarus]

Also, the Christmas episode isn't mythology-heavy, but it's also fantastic.

 

[mobvok]

Oh my.

 

[mobvok]

That was a really impressive mix of episodic and serial writing this season by Moffat and crew, particularly the explanation of the Doctor/Amy scene in the Angels two parter. Just fantastic. But I've soured on Rory, he's really kind of a wet noodle.

Amy Pond, Doctor Who fan surrogate:

Born in 1989, saw the Doctor for one night in 1996, and spent the rest of her life consumed by visions of an "imaginary" man.

 

[lazarus]

Haha, well-observed.

Moffat's usage of the "something old, something new..." line is one of the greatest moments in DW history.

 

[mobvok]

I'd love to take credit for that observation, but it was from one more astute than I.

Saw this link a while back, and helped prod me to see the whole season: How, exactly, do you film someone being stalked by a statue? : Lawyers, Guns & Money

It's a great breakdown of the Amy/Angel scene in Time of Angels.

 

[mobvok]

Well, that Christmas Special was charming. Michael Gambon's distaste at the Doctor's manipulation was spot-on as I was wondering the same thing during the Ghost of Christmas Past montage, but that impressive note was actually exceeded by the Doctor's Christmas Future trick.

They stole the random lens flares from Star Trek.

Moffat is intensely fascinated by flying marine life.

 

[mobvok]

The season starts April 23rd in the US and Britain.

 

[mobvok]

YouTube - Doctor Who: Time, Part One - Red Nose Day 2011 - BBC Comic Relief Night

YouTube - Doctor Who: Time, Part Two - Red Nose Day 2011 - BBC Comic Relief Night

The wibbley lever!

 

[lazarus]

Oh, to be under that glass floor...

 

[mobvok]

A few odds and ends I picked up:

New York Times:

Q. Is your story meant to be a loose nod to Dickens’s “Christmas Carol”?

A. Well, it’s called “A Christmas Carol.” It is “A Christmas Carol.”

Returning plot points from last year:

Spoiler

The season 6 trailer has the space ship from The Lodger, and a teaser quote: "Octavian wasn't lying".

I was impressed with how the season-long arc wove into each individual monster-of-the-week, and between these tidbits and the "silence" explanation, I'm getting pretty excited by the prospect of seeing how the multi-season narrative comes together.

More generally, over the last few days I started crawling backwards through The End of Time and The Waters of Mars, then as penance for cheating started over at the veeeery beginning with "Rose" and the 9th Doktor. Clearly the show's gotten more technically sophisticated over the last several decades, but even comparing season 1 and season 4/5 there are some pretty substantial strides forward. One good example is the high-key sitcom lighting in Rose that drove me crazy. Why is everyone glowing?!?

I'm starting to understand the complaints with Russell Davies a little more having seen the last two specials. Each included some questionable elements (Skeletor!). But both climaxes hit a satisfying thematic note: the disastrous escape from Mars and the unusual sense, watching the Doctor alternate between pointing a gun at the Master and Timothy Dalton, that he had been usurped in relative power, or that he was no longer unique. Not sure I explained that well, but it was a satisfying shift.

 

[mobvok]

The stray Welsh consonants confused and enraged me, but after watching the first episode of Torchwood I think I enjoyed it quite a bit. John Barrowman is....quite something.

My snobby lighting complaint from the first two episodes went away fairly quickly. I used your cheat sheet from the TV thread, laz, for the first season and by the time we got to The Doctor Dances it looks like Davies found his ideal footing visually (and qualitatively, with an assist from one Mr. Moffat). And skimming the Netflix episode descriptions is a little strange because I think I've picked up a surprising number of scenes/episodes near-subconsciously, yet never pieced it all together. From Season 2, I know I've already seen Rise of the Cybermen, Age of Steel, the end of Tooth and Claw, The Impossible Planet, The Satan Pit, and Fear Her.

That's stupid. I'm stupid.

 

[lazarus]

I think The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances is in the All-Time Top 10 DW stories. God, I love that. And as much as I like Torchwood, I'm bummed that Capt. Jack wasn't on DW proper for longer. He really made that show come alive.

Funny, those Season 2 episodes you've seen aren't even the better ones (with the exception of the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit two-parter that I thought was very well-done).

Torchwood is uneven but there are some very strong episodes in Season 1, including a really fantastic two-part finale that nicely ties back into DW Season "3". Season 2 IMO was a little stronger, and I felt that the episode called "Adrift" is up there with anything from New Who. Very powerful. And another great finale in the two episodes following it (all three written by show-runner Chris Chibnall).

In short, it's worth sticking with. And Eve Myles is HAWT.

 

[mobvok]

A fun subtext of watching Doctor Who and Torchwood so far has been the audio tour of Great Britain accents. Karen Gillan has the sweet Scottish accent, the Doctors sound almost "normal" to this American ear, and Eve Myles saying "hello" is.....well, Welsh sounds a little funny. Friggin' Wales.

 

[Reggo]

Semi-related: I just finished knitting a Fourth Doctor/Original Season 12 scarf. Managed to occupy a good five months of my time.

 

[mobvok]

It took a little dedication to persevere through Cyberwoman. The, uh, dinosaur/robot fight was cool, I guess.

To be fair it's not surprising that a 51st century con man wouldn't have especially well developed management skills in human resources, but I get the feeling that Jim-Bob from HR, while not immortal, might have done a better job of weeding out the serial killers, discovering the Cyberman hiding in the basement, and keeping alien dishwashing technology from being used off premises.