Doctor Who Easter Special: 'Planet of the Dead' - 11th April 2009, 6:45pm BBC1

herobear

When a London bus takes a detour to an alien world, the Doctor must join forces with the extraordinary Lady Christina. But the mysterious planet holds terrifying secrets, hidden in the sand. And time is running out, as the deadly Swarm gets closer...

Written by:
Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts

Directed by:
James Strong

and also available in HD

Discuss the first special here.

(trying too withhold my excitement )

Doctor DooM

herobear wrote: »

When a London bus takes a detour to an alien world, the Doctor must join forces with the extraordinary Lady Christina. But the mysterious planet holds terrifying secrets, hidden in the sand. And time is running out, as the deadly Swarm gets closer...

Written by:
Russell T Davies and Gareth Roberts

Directed by:
James Strong

and also available in HD

Discuss the first special here.

(trying too withhold my excitement )

i have to say ms ryan is looking very well in the trailers. Podshock weren't holding much hope for the story though.

ixoy

Give Davies' track record on specials (and.. in general) I'm not holding out much hope for this (and Gareth Robert's output has tended towards the more juvenile). Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Stark

Seems very Langoliers-ish so far.

Sleepy

Just spotted this on as it's nearly over... anyone know if there's a repeat?

Stark

More than likely it will be repeated on BBC3.

Not the worst special. They toned down the running and the things randomly blowing up which is good.

bobbbb

Wasnt bad.
Very impressed by Michelle Ryan as the sidekick. Pity shes not staying.

pixelburp

Sleepy wrote: »

Just spotted this on as it's nearly over... anyone know if there's a repeat?

Probably on BBC3 sometime in the next couple of days I imagine.

It was enjoyable enough, if completely forgettable. If these are the last 4 Tennant stories then this one contributed nothing to that fact (bar the last 5 minutes).

It was pure Davies Who though; silliness turned up to 11, a smattering of darkness & "science" that stretches credulity. It felt like a mid-season story really, a once off filler episode, so in that sense it was disappointing.

Michelle Ryan is fit & great eye candy, but her character was a bit too much "attitude", if you know what I mean. She annoyed me more than Lee Evans, which says a lot. It was nice to see captain Majumbo (sp) return & of course Tennant was his usual effervescent self.

The trailer for the next adventure, "Waters of Mars", looks more interesting & possibly containing less overt daftness given as it seems to be a more sci-fi story.

ixoy

Not all that bad - little dull. Wasn't too over-the-top but the plot was a little weak so there wasn't too much to drive it. The humour was reasonable as were the cast, although the flying bus at the end reminded me of an old kid's show.

"Water of Mars" looks more interesting from the trailer.

pixelburp

My main gripe is that I'm left wondering what the point of it all was. It didn't set up the final arc story, didn't introduce a new returning character (I doubt we'll see Christina anytime soon) or villain so I'm kinda left wondering what the point was, bar a nice trip to Dubai.

The desert scenes did look amazing & would love to see a little more adventurous shooting from the Who team in future.

Oh and my first thought about "Water of Mars" was - a mix of "42" & "the Satan Pit"? Not a bad thing btw.

bobbbb

Sleepy wrote: »

Just spotted this on as it's nearly over... anyone know if there's a repeat?

Its on on Monday BBC1

alastair_doom

Pity UNIT didnt just drive a tank through the wormhole and shave about 45 minutes off the adventure.

Very disappointed myself. Bored the whole way through.

Spon Farmer

alastair_doom wrote: »

Pity UNIT didnt just drive a tank through the wormhole and shave about 45 minutes off the adventure.

yes. plus the wormhole shredded parts of the bus going in but not coming out. and the windows stayed intact.

Michelle Ryan sexy as hell though:D

atgate

Have to say I thought it was a bit poo. Even by Xmas special standards it was childish (which is ok when it works). The directing was really poor compared to other eps and judging by the cement mix edits they cut loads out (can only imagine how bad the bits that didn't make the final cut).

BuffyBot

Thought it was alright - better than some of the standard RTD fare. However it was very light on story..almost as if it was thrown together as an afterthought when the budget for a trip to Dubai was approved.

Raphael

I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say it was all that memorable.

The one thing I was very impressed with was the thingamies. I'm always really impressed by some of the monsters Dr. Who come up with, as they're interesting and clever. These things are right up there with the weeing angels in my file of unique monsters.

K-9

pixelburp wrote: »

Probably on BBC3 sometime in the next couple of days I imagine.

It was enjoyable enough, if completely forgettable. If these are the last 4 Tennant stories then this one contributed nothing to that fact (bar the last 5 minutes).

It was pure Davies Who though; silliness turned up to 11, a smattering of darkness & "science" that stretches credulity. It felt like a mid-season story really, a once off filler episode, so in that sense it was disappointing.

Have to agree there.

pixelburp wrote:

Michelle Ryan is fit & great eye candy, but her character was a bit too much "attitude", if you know what I mean. She annoyed me more than Lee Evans, which says a lot. It was nice to see captain Majumbo (sp) return & of course Tennant was his usual effervescent self.

She is fine and anybody who thinks Lee Evans is a good idea should be shot.

pixelburp wrote:

The one thing I was very impressed with was the thingamies. I'm always really impressed by some of the monsters Dr. Who come up with, as they're interesting and clever. These things are right up there with the weeing angels in my file of unique monsters.

Good point, they could have done another 10 minutes on that.

The next one looks class. Looks Scarey stuff. I heard November, can't be that long. Must be a Summer one?

darkestlord

Gotta agree with most of the comments on here. The story was a bit rushed , but as specials go it wasn't that bad. I liked Evans, did a grand job. But I'm not sure about Ryan, reminds me of Liz Hurley. She's far too fake. i hope she wont be in the next special's and the nextseries with the new doctor. I liked the ending, hinting at the Master's return and the doctor's obvious downfall. I think I need to get out, I watch too much Doctor who.:D

Jenroche

When the Doc said he was gonna call in some help I was bracing myself for Torchwood. But he called UNIT instead. Damn...:(

Jen ;->

pixelburp

On the story being rushed, I read a week or so ago that the episode wasn't actually finished yet & that the BBC had to cancel a preview screening for the press as a result. In fairness to them, their prop bus did get damaged in transit to Dubai (that wasn't "plot" damage to the bus, that was actual damage!), so I imagine that completely threw production into chaos, particularly for the FX team who had to make new "flying" bus scenes.

Oh and apparently

The master was spotted during filming so I guess that's who going to be knocking 4 times!

Manach

It was okay but I was wondering when Riddick/Vin Diesel was coming to save the day.

bobbbb

Manach wrote: »

It was okay but I was wondering when Riddick/Vin Diesel was coming to save the day.

Me too actually.

Doctor DooM

I am going to try something here and instead of doing my usual bullet point thing I am going to go through exactly what I was thinking as I was watching it.

SPOILERS if you haven't seen Planet of the Dead.

We'll see how it is, hopefully won't be a TL;DR.

The special opens, loads of people are running around with guns, and I have no idea what's going on. In this spoiler laden day and age this is great.

The shooty people all gather round a mcguffin, in a shiny security death cage.

So far so good, I still don't know what's going on and I am enjoying the experience.

Suddenly, a sequence ripped straight out of Mission Impossible occurs as an unknown ninja type silently abseils into the room, nicking the mcguffin.

I'm torn between shock at the lazyness of the direct rip off and nostalgic feelings for the times when everyone was ripping of Mission: Impossible and the Matrix (the fact that other people stopped this a decade ago rises in my mind).

The ninja makes an incredibly stupid move by replacing the mcguffin with something that makes noise, thus alerting the violent gun people to her presence and defeating the entire point of sneaking in.

My suspension of disbelief is completely shattered.

We get a little chase sequence. I note that the ninja's face is never shown. "Bet they're going to suprise us by playing on gender stereotypes that no longer exist by having a big reveal of her face" I think.

They attempt to suprise us by playing on gender stereotypes that no longer exist by having a big reveal of her face.

Wow she's hot. I mean really hot. Probably the hottest in new Who. I make a mental note to get revenge on all my female whovian friends who go on and on about how hot Tennant is.

We get a little sequence of her escaping onto a bus. Ten gets on too. He uses his psychic note paper to gain access to the vehicle. I wonder if it'd work on the Luas.

DT goes on a charming little technobablic rant and makes a reference to Easter, getting it out of the way.

In the background, I notice the characters from Voyage of the Damned seem to have been replicated. I'm starting to wonder if anything in this episode isn't going to remind me of something else.

The bus gets wormholed across the universe. We get a "we need back up" comment from the police on the scene. I am hoping for some tie in with children of earth-

Nope. We get whatsherface from Unit. Could be worse I guess. She's hardcore.

You can tell she's hardcore because she is a female in the military so of course she has to come off as a hard nosed bitch who'se had to work twice as hard as any man to get to the position she's at. She displays this by ignoring the intelligence of the head police officer on the scene. My eyes narrow as the characters by numbers is starting to grate.

We see Dubai of the dead. It's wonderfully shot and for the first time I am drawn into the narrative.

We get a bit of backstory on Lady Nicebottom. Turns out she's Lara Croft. Possibly crossed with Selena Kyle. I mean, it seems there is literally nothing more to her than that. Sum total. My eyes reconsider theit narrowing strategy and change to rolling.

Turns out one of the voyage of the damned people is also part Gywneth, so we can rely on her to provide us with some plot points.

Some aliens make clicky noises and point at Ten on a tv screen. Three times. I wonder why feel the need to do so repeatedly. Maybe they're discussing how by numbers the plot is.

We get the rules of the sci fi conceit around which the story will revolve. The Doctor and Cat Raider need to figure out how to get the bus through the wormhole or they all die.

Then we get the first character moment I enjoy: Little Miss Shades likens the bus problem to a Faraday cage. An intelligent person when dealing with an issue beyond their ken will relate it to something they comprehend. The Doom nods in approval.

DT creates a superphone and we see Lee Evans, being 20% less annoying than usual (which is about 80% more annoying than acceptable) and actually to be fair I have a feeling there's nothing could be done with the character. He is basically playing the worst stereotype of a scientist torn straight from some random Disney movie. I'm actually wondering how much RTD was paid to write this at this point. There's a nod to Quatermass, the proto-Who here, but it feels ham fisted, unlike in the Christmas Invasion.

Then it turns out we're on the planet from Pitch Black. Instead of everyone dying when it goes dark though, everyone is dying when the swarm hits.

We get introduced to the Tritovore. Turns out they're misunderstood animal looking aliens who are actually friendly and we, the viewers, hear their native language, not English.

Yeah, of all episodes, RTD is now riffing on the Doctors Daughter. It wasn't big or clever the first time dude. I mean these aliens are basically the Hath but with the genius move of replacing fish with flies.

I get my first laugh of the episode though, as Ten makes a comment about Captains not needing to go down with a ship when there's a bus due. I really, really wish RTD would stick to stuff like that more, he does it really well.

We get a bit of a mash of aliens, technobabble, part b of the episodes macguffin, friendly aliens fighting nasty aliens, some extremely hackneyed and rudimentary characterisation for Poshpants (oooooooh, being an aristocrats so boring, I need excitement!).

There's a nice moment where Ten reenforces the fact that the Tardis was stolen, not grown, by him.

In order to get the macguffii to work together, Lady StealyMcTheif has to sacrifice her ill gotten gains. For some reason I am reminded of a villian hanging off a cliff by one hand, with a swag bag in the other. The hero leans over the cliff, telling them to drop the gold, so he can pull them up. Yup, the script is THAT stripped of intelligence.

Bus starts flying, and at the time my mind didn't actually think of Harry Potter.

We get the most enjoyable scene in the whole thing where, once again, Unit finally gets to whale on some aliens. I get my second "RTD in good mode" moment when Sergeant Hardcore makes a quip about "finally, guns that work."

We get our "I work alone" moment from DT, well acted but seriously done to death post Rosegasm, and portenty lady gets her moment and for some reason I am thinking Master.

It all fits into a template 5 years old now... All the plot points even happen at the same time from episode to episode.

There'd be no Who on TV save for RTD. I will forever be thankful for that. But this piece of Who is so generic, so played, that all I could think about during the whole thing was "where did I see this bit before." There was nothing, nothing, which suprised me.

I think it's a good thing there's fresh blood coming, because I don't think I could watch another entire series of Who by numbers. Compenent but only competent.

Spon Farmer

Raphael wrote: »

These things are right up there with the weeing angels in my file of unique monsters.

I assume you mean the weeping angels:D

pixelburp, regarding your spoiler, who is the actor?

Lobelia Overhill

I enjoyed it, aside from Lee Evens (not. funny. ever), couldn't the Brigadier have made an appearance?

repeat is Monday BBC1 at 5pm

pixelburp

Nice summary there As you say, RTD is just scripting by numbers now and clearly isn't bothering his arse anymore.

I lost count the number of times RTD used the Sonic Screwdriver / Psyhic Paper as a lazy device for ... well, pointlessness really. Oh look the paper lets him on the bus. Oh look the screwdriver tints glasses. And stops pulleys. And opens bus doors. And and and ...

pixelburp

Spon Farmer wrote: »

I assume you mean the weeping angels:D

pixelburp, regarding your spoiler, who is the actor?

John Simm of course, ie, the Master from series 3

herobear

Knock, Knock, Knock, Knock
Who's there ?

The Master

oh

(yes i blatently stole this from DS but )

ixoy

pixelburp wrote: »

I lost count the number of times RTD used the Sonic Screwdriver / Psyhic Paper as a lazy device for ... well, pointlessness really. Oh look the paper lets him on the bus. Oh look the screwdriver tints glasses. And stops pulleys. And opens bus doors. And and and ...

Exactly. I'm calling for the sonic screwdriver to be destroyed again - just as it was, and for the same reasons, in the original series. It's a poor man's writing device and I'll still not be able to look at it without thinking of Tom Baker turning to the camera, raising an eyebrow archly, and going "Even the sonic screwdriver won't get me out of this one".

Raphael

Spon Farmer wrote: »

I assume you mean the weeping angels:D

pixelburp, regarding your spoiler, who is the actor?

...wow, there's a typo. They would be much less threatening, wouldn't they?

pixelburp

ixoy wrote: »

Exactly. I'm calling for the sonic screwdriver to be destroyed again - just as it was, and for the same reasons, in the original series. It's a poor man's writing device and I'll still not be able to look at it without thinking of Tom Baker turning to the camera, raising an eyebrow archly, and going "Even the sonic screwdriver won't get me out of this one".

Ha, though wasn't that during the time when Baker pretty much lost the run of himself & was just ad-libbing whilst trying to get into Lalla Ward's knickers? IE, when the show had previously got tired and sloppy.

I'm just trying to think though (always a risky proposition); were Moffat's script much users of those two devices? Favoritism says he wasn't, but I hope like yourself that series 5 sees the thing ditched.

ixoy

pixelburp wrote: »

I'm just trying to think though (always a risky proposition); were Moffat's script much users of those two devices? Favoritism says he wasn't, but I hope like yourself that series 5 sees the thing ditched.

Well in "Silence in the Library" he had the Doctor take out the sonic screwdriver and realise it was ineffective because they were surrounded by wood. I take that as a good sign.

I'd really like to get rid of the psychic paper too - the Doctor used to get into places using a mixture of charm, tomfoolery, and generally disarming his opponents with his craziness. More of that please.

marie_85

Moffet did 'Empty Child' and 'Doctor Dances' as well, where Jack takes the p*** out of the Doctor for having a sonic screwdriver.

'Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks 'Ooh, this could be a little more sonic'?'

Raphael

I, personally, found it really jarring that the paper

worked to get him on the bus. I mean, it's supposedly slightly psychic, but by any stretch of the imagination, that shouldn't make the reader think it;s a smart card. Would have made much more sense for him to just flash it

pixelburp

I find it jarring that the Swiss Army Screwdriver can do anything beyond opening things. It's all part of an overall thread that I'm hating a LOT; RTD has written the Doctor into this quasi-mythical being of god-like proportions who has no limits or faults (that reminds me; the Doctors pronouncement he speaks all languages & repaired the alien's ship by twiddling one knob & kicking the console, that was another blatent example of lazy plotting).

The first series made a conscious effort to give the Doctor some drama, backstory & make him seem vulnerable so a. the Doctor / Companion relationship was important and b. The Doctor himself didn't become Superman, thus rendering all threats impotent. RTD in recent stories has completely reversed this policy by making the Doctor, in effect, a god who can do anything with a flick of the wrist. To put it bluntly, that blows & the show's gone very stale as a result. The nadir of this has to be the Jesus template planted onto the Doctor's shoulders at the end of series 3 when RTD basically says "why yes, The Doctor is a god".

I'm actually beginning to warm to Matt Smith as the new Doctor simply on the basis that maybe Moffat will use the super-young Doctor to get rid of this type of uber-timelord. A bit younger, a bit more at odds against the universe perhaps. One can only hope because I'm ready to stop watching if it continues like this.

Doctor DooM

pixelburp wrote: »

I find it jarring that the Swiss Army Screwdriver can do anything beyond opening things. It's all part of an overall thread that I'm hating a LOT; RTD has written the Doctor into this quasi-mythical being of god-like proportions who has no limits or faults (that reminds me; the Doctors pronouncement he speaks all languages & repaired the alien's ship by twiddling one knob & kicking the console, that was another blatent example of lazy plotting).

The first series made a conscious effort to give the Doctor some drama, backstory & make him seem vulnerable so a. the Doctor / Companion relationship was important and b. The Doctor himself didn't become Superman, thus rendering all threats impotent. RTD in recent stories has completely reversed this policy by making the Doctor, in effect, a god who can do anything with a flick of the wrist. To put it bluntly, that blows & the show's gone very stale as a result. The nadir of this has to be the Jesus template planted onto the Doctor's shoulders at the end of series 3 when RTD basically says "why yes, The Doctor is a god".

I'm actually beginning to warm to Matt Smith as the new Doctor simply on the basis that maybe Moffat will use the super-young Doctor to get rid of this type of uber-timelord. A bit younger, a bit more at odds against the universe perhaps. One can only hope because I'm ready to stop watching if it continues like this.

You know I can actually go for the sonic screw driver doing alot of things... I can believe a concentrated blast of sound could jar open most locks if it is at the right frequency. I could also accept that it could communicate and perhaps over ride electronic systems as it could convey a bit stream in sound.

It's the use of the screw driver as a lazy plot resolution tool which gets my goat. If there was a consistent, logical use of it, which was clearly laid out, I wouldn't mind it at all.

I don't mind the "vengeful god" Doctor either. But it shouldn't be a literal god, with infinite power. Is it so hard to give him a set of rules which limit his powers, and drive the narrative, rather than get around them? Especially now his all powerful race is gone, he is no longer part of the most potent military force in the universe.

Daemos

K-9 wrote: »

The next one looks class. Looks Scarey stuff. I heard November, can't be that long. Must be a Summer one?

Sometime in Autumn, according to Julie Gardner in Doctor Who Confidential.

Spon Farmer

Raphael wrote: »

...wow, there's a typo. They would be much less threatening, wouldn't they?

no, weeing angels would scare me more

BlitzKrieg

hmmm not very impressed. Withe the limit being five *specials* and two of them being christmas (I'm not sure RTD would want to kill ten on christmas day) you'd think with the remaining 3 they would opt for a tight 3 part story arc.

EDIT: I just checked wikipedia. It seems the next one is going to be just before christmas and then the last 2 are a 2 parter starting at christmas but ending afterwards.

cliffhanger on christmas day, well that sucks.

Nope, this episode feels very much like a mid season 4 episode, a mix between midnight and planet of the ood.

Is RTD writing all five specials or do we at least get one written by Moffet, or is he being saved for next season?

Also I think it does suffer a bit if every episode will have a new companion *every episode* it will mean each one will have that deja vu *I'm the doctor are'nt we a wonderful team, SURPRISE I'm an Alien, howdy doody*

The next episode looks scary but its rubbing shoulders with the colonial space travellers episodes we have every season (you know the ones about humans in space with moderately advance technology like that one with the ship crashing into the sun (42) or the one with ood and the satan pit one etc) Problem with them is they are very hit and miss.

But at least they have always been the scarier ones more often then not.

io9 think the master might be in the next one because the name makes up an anagram of *war of the masters* but personnally I dont think he will because it looks to me to fit too nicely into the series of episodes I named above and if the ood are showing up (according to wiki they are) then expect more *YOUR SONIG IS ENDING SOON!!!*


damn psychics get everywhere.

marie_85

Rusty and Phil Ford are writing the next one jointly. I don't know about the ones after that, but I do believe that RTD is writing or jointly writing them all.

TBH, not looking forward to the next one that much. Phil Ford's writing for Torchwood was distinctly average, between the episode and the tie-in novel he did. I haven't seen any of the Sarah Jane Adventures episodes he wrote, so maybe he's better than I realise.

Then again, I loved 'The Unicorn and the Wasp' which Gareth Roberts wrote, and didn't like 'Planet of the Dead', so that doesn't really tell me anything.

ixoy

pixelburp wrote: »

I find it jarring that the Swiss Army Screwdriver can do anything beyond opening things. It's all part of an overall thread that I'm hating a LOT; RTD has written the Doctor into this quasi-mythical being of god-like proportions who has no limits or faults (that reminds me; the Doctors pronouncement he speaks all languages & repaired the alien's ship by twiddling one knob & kicking the console, that was another blatent example of lazy plotting).

Hap-hazard repairs are part of the show - I seem to recall Baker ripping out a piece of the console before to fix it.

RTD in recent stories has completely reversed this policy by making the Doctor, in effect, a god who can do anything with a flick of the wrist. To put it bluntly, that blows & the show's gone very stale as a result. The nadir of this has to be the Jesus template planted onto the Doctor's shoulders at the end of series 3 when RTD basically says "why yes, The Doctor is a god".

True - it's normally "I'm the Doctor and I've come and judged ye" and then off he goes. With the musical score so unrestrained, I wouldn't be surprised if we started getting trumpet fanfares every time he reveals something.
Let's have a more layered approach or something a bit more disarming - take Troughton's scruffy genius angle or even Colin Baker's schizoid side. RTD has made the Doctor too straight-edged and too omnipotent.

Very will put. I can buy the Doctor as an almost God-like figure when done correctly - think of the dark vengeance wreaked by the Doctor in the "Human Nature" 2-parter. It worked a lot better (probably due to having its roots in the Machiavellian doctor that was planned for the original series in the Cartmel masterplan).

Instead with RTD it seems that the Doctor will spend a lot of them running, then pontificating, and then muttering a bit of techno-babble, exclaim "Of course!" and pull a few switches and hey presto! World saved! I'd like to see him challenged more and I believe Moffat will ground him more and is up to the challenge of actually being challenging.

I'm actually beginning to warm to Matt Smith as the new Doctor simply on the basis that maybe Moffat will use the super-young Doctor to get rid of this type of uber-timelord. A bit younger, a bit more at odds against the universe perhaps. One can only hope because I'm ready to stop watching if it continues like this.

Yeah I know a fair few people who have stopped watching because of the issues above and it's only because I've watched near 30 seasons of the show that I'm still around (yes, I even watch some of the reconstructions).

What we've seen of Moffat is promising - he's not afraid to go darker and maybe if he retains writing staff like Paul Cornell, we'll go to good places. We can make the show edgier without having to resort to teenage angst levels or putting off audiences - Moffat's work has shown this. Let's treat the audience with more intelligence, including the kids and let's make the Doctor more easy to relate to but still with that haunting alien quality. We've seen it before and we can see it again.

popebenny16

hello everyone.

on the plus side, it was not as bad as the Red Dwarf specials on Dave , but lads and lassies, that isnt saying much.

as usual, i waited to watch the repeat on bbc3 before commenting and i have to say that it was what we (as in the entire pb brood) expected of a special. it was crash bang wallop, it was fun, it was a laugh, it was what Feddie Mercury once decscribed as disposable pop. the ratings will be good, sure there was a use of lazy plot devices and yeah, it was as cliched as hell, but it was a laugh wasn't it?

nah, it wasn't a laugh, it was a rip off of so many films/adventure stories and, whilst i'm glad one of us referenced 1979/80 above, it also reminded me of those many doctor adventures wereby he actually didnt DO anything. ok, ok, fans such as i of the Sylvester McCoy doctor may say "sure he knew what was happening and he moulded things to fit in with his plan (with apologies to John Nathan Turner)" but if he hadnt had wandered off with Lara Croft lite he would have been eaten with the rest of them.

Anyways, off we go to darker and better. Going by RTD's usual shedule we'll get hit with some tenious link to the christmas specials around the end of the next one. Yes, i know its a tired formula by now, but it has a comfy familiarity to it and I'm looking forward to it.

For example, had things gone according to plan, right now we should be discussing the jokey first story of the new season and how the new compamion gelled in ok and yeah it was a it throwaway, but next week is always set in the future and that one always has some massive peril but hey you have to do a future one as second and then the third is always set in the past and the fourth one is always really really good.

Sounds familier dont it??

Cannot wait.

pixelburp

ixoy wrote: »

Hap-hazard repairs are part of the show - I seem to recall Baker ripping out a piece of the console before to fix it.

Hap hazzard repairs are a part yes, but with RTD it's more a sense of the whole "with one bound he was free" mentality. It comes back to the sense that the Doctor is a living god so for him even a crashed spaceship can be put back online by stamping on a console. Against the overall pattern of Who script writing I think it's all part of the same problem.

ixoy wrote: »

True - it's normally "I'm the Doctor and I've come and judged ye" and then off he goes. With the musical score so unrestrained, I wouldn't be surprised if we started getting trumpet fanfares every time he reveals something.
Let's have a more layered approach or something a bit more disarming - take Troughton's scruffy genius angle or even Colin Baker's schizoid side. RTD has made the Doctor too straight-edged and too omnipotent.

Yup, though as RTD can be a bit sledge-hammer-esque in his writing, I wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't another "pride before a fall" arc.

ixoy wrote: »

Instead with RTD it seems that the Doctor will spend a lot of them running, then pontificating, and then muttering a bit of techno-babble, exclaim "Of course!" and pull a few switches and hey presto! World saved! I'd like to see him challenged more and I believe Moffat will ground him more and is up to the challenge of actually being challenging.

I suspect, reading between the lines of all these episodes, that RTD has been trying to write a certain "magic" or mysticism into the new series, and perhaps coming from someone who was applying the whole Arthur C Clarke line about advanced science being inseparable from magic; RTD is perhaps using this mentality as as carte blanche to write Sci-fi that doesn't need to explain or justify it's own internal logic because it's suitably sci-fi-ee. It's a nice idea in theory allright & I suppose it's a good way of emphasising the wonder of the universe, but it's getting a bit out of hand.

ixoy wrote: »

Yeah I know a fair few people who have stopped watching because of the issues above and it's only because I've watched near 30 seasons of the show that I'm still around (yes, I even watch some of the reconstructions).

What we've seen of Moffat is promising - he's not afraid to go darker and maybe if he retains writing staff like Paul Cornell, we'll go to good places. We can make the show edgier without having to resort to teenage angst levels or putting off audiences - Moffat's work has shown this. Let's treat the audience with more intelligence, including the kids and let's make the Doctor more easy to relate to but still with that haunting alien quality. We've seen it before and we can see it again.

Hey, I grew up just in time to catch McCoy(lucky me!) so given that was my introduction to the show, it's a wonder I took the time to source out the back catalogue of seasons (bar most of the 60s; it's a decade too far for my sensabilities). But yes, I agree that the show should treat the audience with a little more care & in the words of the great old-Who scriptwriter Robert Holmes, they should try to "scare the little buggers"

I suppose given there's only 3 more RTD eps to go & given that it's Tennants last episodes it's just cloud talk to suggest that I would stop watching, but the show has gone off the boil so much in the last few episodes it's frustrating!

murpho999

Well I'm not a fan of Dr Who but someone who can take or leave it, and having just seen the last episode, I can honestly leave it.

Lots of issues in it for me.

Firstly, the whole show looke very cheaply made and very dated. I can just imagine people laughing at the effects and cheap alien outfits in about 20 years time.

As for the aliens, why would they assume that large fly like creatures would have humanoid bodies?

The plot: Too many easy way out of problems: Getting the alien ship to work again.......getting mobile to work .......getting bus to levitate....all too easy with no logical explanation.

Script: Really terrible lines such as Lara Croft Mk 2 saying 'I have that effect' when told about raising room temperture. People just don't speak like that in times of crises.

Also, why did the monsters only appear to chase the bus just as the Dr had it in the air and ready to go through the plughole? They were just behind them as they got back to the bus but then left him with time to execute his plan.

Overall, I thought it was poorly written and badly played out. Appeared to me like a show that is full of itself and takes its audience for granted.

I will not be watching again.

See Ye

I was disappointed that the fly-boys were so disposable. They supplied all the necessary background intelligence and technology then got eaten ! I'd expected the Doctor to take them back to earth on the bus, then take them home in the TARDIS - it would have given him something to do before the next special.

This is a programme which can move me to tears yet this special ... total non-event. I've decided that it never happened.

Does anyone think that River Song will make an appearance again with Tennant ? I recall her saying she looked older than she'd seen him before but I can't remember if that was just something about the eyes of if it was the actual incarnation as a whole

Rowley Birkin QC

Damnit anyway, missed it by way of staring at my laptop trying to write my thesis.:mad::mad:

Anyone know of further repeats?

anotherlostie

Just watched it and not impressed, although I didn't find myself looking at my watch, which is probably a good sign. The whole notion of being on a bus just seemed odd given the Midnight episode, also set on the bus, and that was only one of many things copied from other genres, as others have pointed out. I did like the Teachers' school secretary playing the woman who foresaw things, and her message to Tennant at the end was well done - would have been much nicer had we not known he was leaving. Michelle Ryan was terribly posh; she's come a long way from shouting, "You ain't my muvva", in Albert Square.

Ziggy_1972

See Ye wrote: »

I was disappointed that the fly-boys were so disposable. They supplied all the necessary background intelligence and technology then got eaten ! I'd expected the Doctor to take them back to earth on the bus, then take them home in the TARDIS - it would have given him something to do before the next special.

Me too. They could even have worked in something about Unit wanting to hold them, or something.

Ziggy_1972

pixelburp wrote: »

Hey, I grew up just in time to catch McCoy(lucky me!) so given that was my introduction to the show, it's a wonder I took the time to source out the back catalogue of seasons (bar most of the 60s; it's a decade too far for my sensabilities).

I actually find it very difficult to watch the McCoy episodes now, because the production values had fallen so much. fighting cat-type creatures who look like rejects from a Loydd Webber musical, or geting on a spaceship which is just a tourbus.
They managed to keep costs low with CB by setting most of it in a courtroom.

popebenny16

i liked the mccoy times a lot and have made a point of collecting the dvds from that era. to focus on the costumes of Survival instead of the actual story itself and the ideas behind it is missng the point - who always had crap costumes we just ignore it because we know they didnt have the funds.

you will find that the RTD doctors are directly connected to the mccoy one in terms of his motivation and his ultimate "i really know whats going on" attitude.

i think to be fair you shouldnt mention a bus being a spaceship after what we just saw on Saturday :eek:

ixoy

popebenny16 wrote: »

you will find that the RTD doctors are directly connected to the mccoy one in terms of his motivation and his ultimate "i really know whats going on" attitude.

Yep. We always knew the Doctor knew more than he let on and that there was a darker side to him. It was explored a bit with Colin Baker, but it was McCoy where it was meant to go further with the Doctor to show his more powerful, side. We saw a bit of it in Cornell's 2-parter for the RTD Doctor (which was adapted from the McCoy era) but I do think it was here that tried for the more epic.

Now admittedly they didn't go where the original show was planning with the Other and the Doctor, essentially, being a reincarnation of one of the most powerful Time Lords of all time, up there with Borusa and Omega, but I still like this side of Time's Champion rather than just merely being the bumbling idiot or racing around the console to pull levers going "Of course!"