Dismal Shadow

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #15, on April 25th, 2011, 04:43 PM »
I'm sure it's a fun show assuming I had to watch from the beginning of the season...it's what, season 6 now? :P

I'm a House fan mosty. :P
“I will stand on my ground as an atheist until your god shows up...If my irreligious bothers you much, and if you think everything I do is heresy to your god I don't care. Heresy is for those who believe, I don't. So, it isn't heresy at all!


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Aaron

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #16, on April 25th, 2011, 04:46 PM »
Quote from Neil Gaiman
There's a big blue box. It's bigger on the inside than the outside. It can go anywhere in space and time, sometimes where it is supposed to go. Something will go wrong, and there's some bloke called The Doctor who'll make it all right because he's awesome. Now sit down, shut up and watch Blink.
Good suggestion at the end of the quote, really. :P
"The entire British Empire was built on cups of tea … and if you think I'm going to war without one, mate, you're mistaken."

Arantor

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #17, on April 25th, 2011, 04:58 PM »
Technically, it's something like season 32, but season 6 is about right.

And honestly, the Doctor is far worse than House. @Aaron, if Blink doesn't get you into watching Dr Who, nothing will. It's easily one of the best *ever written* in my opinion.

Still, let's just recap some of the bad-ass moments from season 6's opener:

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"Don't play games with me. Don't ever, ever think you are capable of that."

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"I'm being extremely clever up here, and there's no one standing around looking impressed. What is the point of having you all?"

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"Fellas, the guns, really? I just walked into the highest security office in the United States and parked a big blue box on the rug. You think you can just shoot me?"

Going back a little further... more bad-ass moments from season 5:

The Doctor: Well, we are running into a dead end where I'm going to have a brilliant plan that basically involves not being in one.

The Doctor: Now the question of the hour is, "Who's got the Pandorica?" Answer: I do. Next question: Who's coming to take it from me? [Pause] Come on! Look at me! No plan, no back-up, no weapons worth a damn! Oh, and something else I don't have: Anything to lose! So, if you're sitting up there in your silly little spaceships, with all your silly little guns, and you've got any plans on taking the Pandorica tonight, just remember who's standing in your way! Remember every black day I ever stopped you! And then, AND THEN... do the smart thing: Let somebody else try first.

Alaya: I'm the last of my species.
The Doctor: No. You're really not. Because I'm the last of my species and I know how it sits in a heart. So don't insult me.

Angel Bob: Doctor? Excuse me, hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir.
The Doctor: Ah, there you are, Angel Bob. How's life? Sorry, bad subject.
Angel Bob: The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve.
The Doctor: Achieve? We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging, it's nice in here: consoles; comfy chairs; a forest... how's things with you?
Angel Bob: The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond.
The Doctor: Yeah, but we've got comfy chairs. Did I mention?
Angel Bob: We have no need for comfy chairs.
The Doctor: [amused] I made him say "comfy chairs".

The Doctor: [aiming gun at the ceiling] Didn't anyone ever tell you? There's one thing you never put in a trap if you're smart. If you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there's one thing you never, ever put in a trap.
Angel Bob: And what would that be, sir?
The Doctor: Me. [fires]


Dr House vs The Doctor... well, everybody dies.
When we unite against a common enemy that attacks our ethos, it nurtures group solidarity. Trolls are sensational, yes, but we keep everyone honest. | Game Memorial

Aaron

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #18, on April 25th, 2011, 05:33 PM »Last edited on April 25th, 2011, 06:06 PM by Aaron
Quote from Arantor on April 25th, 2011, 04:58 PM
And honestly, the Doctor is far worse than House. @Aaron, if Blink doesn't get you into watching Dr Who, nothing will. It's easily one of the best *ever written* in my opinion.
Indeed. I usually recommended both Blink (Doctor-lite) and The Girl In The Fireplace (full of him) to friends who want to pick up the series. :)

ETA: love the quotes! Oh, and in case you misinterpreted the smiley, I really do agree with Neil Gaiman on Blink. :)

Nao

  • Dadman with a boy
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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #19, on April 25th, 2011, 06:06 PM »
The only time I made someone discover Dr Who, I showed him Blink first... Not my favorite episode (in my tope 5 though), but I knew it'd be 'the' episode. He watched the whole show the following week ;) (And got me and Milady to get lost in London trying to find his dread Who Shop... When the same amount of goods were to be found the next day at Fantastic Planet. D'oh.)

Arantor

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #20, on April 25th, 2011, 07:29 PM »
Quote
That, and the Silence in the Library episodes, quite good ones.
Blink, Girl in the Fireplace, and the Library episodes were all written by Steven Moffat, the current lead writer ;)
Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #21, on April 30th, 2011, 11:37 PM »
OK, so S6E2 was on this evening, and it's even more WTF than before if that's possible.

But still, a few things to chew on.

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"You're building me a perfect prison and it still won't be enough."

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We're getting closer to the point where River's first meeting with the Doctor (and his last with her); they've had her last/his first kiss. Though I thought the whole 'out of order' thing was not quite so literal in the fact that they're headed in opposite directions.

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How is Amy both pregnant and not pregnant? Non human child? Part Time Lord, perhaps?

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More interestingly, who the hell is that (at least part) Time Lord child? The actress has played a young Alex Kingston in other things, so there's definitely a tick in the box for 'Young River Song'. Plus all the stuff with Amy seeing photos of herself with a child, so another tick goes in the 'Amy's Child' box. Perhaps that's the same box, but even that's too obvious for Moffat: Amy being River's mother? Bonus points for the conspiracy fans with Pond -> River at least.

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Still, we found the swimming pool in the TARDIS now!

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So, the Lodger's quasi-TARDIS is operated by the Silence. What, exactly, is it? Is it a TARDIS? Is it a stolen, bastardised attempt at a TARDIS? Or is it something else, that's just left to give us an uncomfortable familiarity?

Overall, it's answered a few questions for now, and left far more for the rest of the season - much like S5E1 did. Still many more questions to be answered, though.

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The most important question still to be resolved, is who exactly is River Song.

Nao

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #22, on April 30th, 2011, 11:42 PM »
I have the episode but can't watch it. Girlfriend too busy speaking with her friend. Ahhhhh >_<

Arantor

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #23, on April 30th, 2011, 11:45 PM »
Quote from Nao/Gilles on April 30th, 2011, 11:42 PM
I have the episode but can't watch it. Girlfriend too busy speaking with her friend. Ahhhhh >_<
I feel for you, I really do. Fortunately both of us wanted to watch, and we turned the phone off first.

Aaron

  • Posts: 356
Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #24, on May 1st, 2011, 12:42 AM »
It was brilliant though, wasn't it. Properly bonkers -- a great successor to the first part. This is going to be a superb series, isn't it? :D

Arantor

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #25, on May 1st, 2011, 12:44 AM »
Oh, completely bonkers, yes :D

I'm looking forward to next week...
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...on board the pirate ship!

In other news I acquired some 'Lego compatible' stuff today which features the Doctor, Amy, the TARDIS, the Dalek Progenitor Machine and the white Supreme Dalek.

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And since I already own a big-ass pirate ship of Lego... the TARDIS may just have to land on deck for a photo-op...

Nao

  • Dadman with a boy
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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #26, on May 1st, 2011, 01:14 AM »
Okay, I ended up watching the episode alone... And hated it.

Really, it's confusing from beginning to end. There was nothing enjoyable in this episode. The funny parts were few and far between. Matt Smith is starting to annoy me with his inability to relate to others (he seems *wicked* far too often for me), the story was too convoluted (and what was the problem with the Silence anyway? They seemed harmless to me...) and the story points at the end felt phony to me. I have absolutely no interest in that crap...

The only scenes that worked for me: last scene with River (what she said -- that's exactly what I thought when it happened), and the Rory paranoia at the end too. As for the rest... Well, I fear Moffat is overwhelmed by his work and he can't do everything properly. Hopefully that means he focused a lot more on Sherlock this year... :whistle:

Waiting for next week's episode, but frankly it looked cheap to me. Pirate ship... in the dog? Hello, studio shoot? I'm more interested in Neil Gaiman's episode... (Although the title now makes me fear we'll be getting even more nonsensical storylines.)

Don't get me wrong, I love Who and I love Moffat even more. I just hated that double episode all in all, probably because it's so different compared to earlier Moffat episodes. I like my Doctor best when he's playful and doesn't get into huge conspiracies and stuff. Basically -- when it's not moving into "end of season" RTD territory.

Arantor

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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #27, on May 1st, 2011, 01:24 AM »
Confusing... I won't argue with that entirely; mostly because it doesn't answer enough questions. There's still a lot of stuff left unanswered, and it smacks of the one thing that irritated me a little in season 5: the crack in Amy's wall was there in Every Single Episode. Didn't matter what, it was there in some fashion, some shape or form, as though each episode wasn't just part of events, but it was all part of this mega huge scheme that it didn't need to be.

As for the problem with the Silence...
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They were the ones who drew the TARDIS to where it was at the end of Season 5, and as far as we know, the ones who caused it to blow up. The Pandorica trap was designed to snare the Doctor, but what none of the Alliance realised was that it wasn't the Doctor himself that caused the end of the Universe, but his TARDIS exploding, but it wasn't explained in the Big Bang why the TARDIS exploded.

The pirate episode...
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We've already had a spoiler of that; it's the scene that happens right at the start of S6E1 where the Doctor is hiding, I think you'll find. But I think it'll be more back to being playful.

As for Gaiman's episode... This is a spoiler, rather than opinion. Click at your peril.
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Gaiman's original draft called for very expensive effects, and even after 'shaking down and stealing the lunch money of other episodes', they decided they couldn't afford it. So they're using the Ood again, this time with green eyes. And a character called Idris, who by all speculation seems like it might be someone we already know. Moffat hasn't been against meta references to Old Who; since S5E1 we have seen the faces of the First Doctor three times, the Second Doctor twice, and all other Doctors at least once, plus the writing on the oldest cliff face in the Universe, where River writes 'Hello Sweetie', the first two characters on the second line were Theta Sigma, the Doctor's "nickname" when at school going way back. So, maybe there's more to this yet.

There is one more thing that should be noted.
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There is a mid-season break. We're basically 1/3 the way through this half the season already, and the consequences of what's happened are still going to be felt. We haven't seen the last of any of it yet. Not the Silence, not the you-know-what at the end of the episode. Not of the FBI dude. Not of any of it. The Doctor is going to rise high, and then fall further than he has ever fallen. That's still to come. And who River Song is.

Nao

  • Dadman with a boy
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Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #28, on May 1st, 2011, 08:30 AM »
I don't remember much (if anything) about season 5's Tardis stuff and Silence stuff. I remember the cracks but I can't even remember what they stood for.
I did, however, love Prisoner Zero from beginning to end. That was a flippin' fantastic episode. And it didn't require a doubled length (only a few extra minutes) to pack in all of the story, season arc presentation, AND character introductions, into the episode.

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6x01-6x02 waste time on stupid things like Mr. President Oh You're Gonna Love Your Future, they're not developed enough, should have been thrown out entirely and replaced with longer exposition scenes because really, they could have used those. Heck, even Canton could have been thrown out because in the end he's underused and has just become gimmicky by episode 2. I'd have loved to see better integration for him... But too many characters, I guess.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of rhythm in writing. This week I watched 'Source Code' and absolutely loved the script's fluidity. Still, it wasn't pre-chewed/pre-digested. Then I watched 'The Names of Love' (Allenesque French movie), another piece of great writing and excellent rhythm. For me to see Who less than an hour after that movie -- it made it too painfully obvious that Moffat was perhaps a bit over the top here. He's so great at Sherlock, I trust his writing so much -- but he completely blew it in these two episodes. Hopefully the rest of the season will be great enough to make me reconsider these -- just as I appreciated the Angels episodes a bit more in season 5 after watching The Big Bang.

I don't see where we could have had a reference to the pirate episode in 6x01...

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And even after a good night's sleep, I still don't give a freakin' damn that the doctor has a daughter. Sigh.
Re: Doctor Who
« Reply #29, on May 1st, 2011, 02:45 PM »
Apparently they pretty much said they were sorry for the colored Dalek fiasco. If we get any Daleks in this season (it won't be a Dalek-centric episode anyway), it'll be the old kind. (Phew.)