Doctor Who Season 11 [ Spoilers ]

Lady Spangles · 11-10-2018 3:09pm

I thought it was a great opening episode and I instantly fell in love with Jodie as the Doctor. She nailed it. Before the show began airing, I was more worried about the Bradley Walsh casting. I was only aware of him being a game show host and not as an actual actor (I was wrong, I know). But yeah, even he was pretty good. Really looking forward to the rest of the season.

In the meantime, I'm re-watching the Capaldi era (it's all up on BBC iPlayer). Maybe time will be kinder to this era.

coffee_cake · 14-10-2018 9:54pm

jaysis lads. did ye see the tardis

Franz Von Peppercorn · 14-10-2018 10:15pm

The tardis was like something from Alien, with some buttons and levers.

Jodie’s good but not great yet. I’d like to see a bit more confidence although that’s maybe how it is written.

coffee_cake · 14-10-2018 10:20pm

i was a bit disappointed at the 'i've failed you all'. i must rack my brains and see did that come up before

SimonTemplar · 14-10-2018 10:33pm

Someone over at the Digital Spy forum made a comment that it feels more like a children's show than ever before. Funny, I was thinking the exact same thing while I was watching the episode and not in a good way. It is a pity because last weeks episode was grittier and more realistic than usual.

I'm still not entirely sold on Jodie but to be fair it is only her second episode and with a brand new showrunner too, so things are bound to have a few teething problems.

I'm not too keen on the new interior of the tardis. It is a bit dark and glum.

Next week's one should be good. Episodes set in the earth's past usually are. Episodes set in the future or on an alien planet tend to be the riskiest for me.

CastorTroy · 14-10-2018 10:40pm

Yeah, I don't think that episode sold me on her. To be honest, her voice sounded a bit annoying at times.
And I know it was said when Clara was the companion, but it seems the Doctor was a supporting character.

What did the flying rags say to her? Something about a time child?

And we have new season long villains?

As for the TARDIS, how does she even know how to work it. Also kinda disappointed that not one of the companions pointed out it was bigger on the inside.

Franz Von Peppercorn · 14-10-2018 10:55pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

Yeah, I don't think that episode sold me on her. To be honest, her voice sounded a bit annoying at times.
And I know it was said when Clara was the companion, but it seems the Doctor was a supporting character.

What did the flying rags say to her? Something about a time child?

And we have new season long villains?

As for the TARDIS, how does she even know how to work it. Also kinda disappointed that not one of the companions pointed out it was bigger on the inside.

They always know how to work any redesigned tardis. It’s standard that the tardis changes for each doctor.

The only thing missing from Jodie for me , since she has a lot of doctor type qualities: quirkiness, giddiness, feeling a bit alien, being a bit of a young fogey - is that sense of threat. Even Smith - the least threatening doctor of this incarnation - had that in the 11th hour. “Is this planet protected?”

Maybe they are trying to deliberately downplay the lonely God that Moffat created with a more down to earth figure. She seemed more worried than the usual doctor.

jasonb · 15-10-2018 9:29am

Preferred the first episode to the second, the second felt like it was trying to squeeze too much in (the rescue from space, the rally concept, the desolate planet, the water, the bandages, the robots, the flammable gas, the hints at a season villan and season mystery etc.

Interesting concept, but it just didn't flow as well as the first one. One thing I didn't understand, they kept talking about how dangerous the planet was, with the water and the 'toxic atmosphere', but I didn't see the atmosphere affecting them at all?

pixelburp · 16-10-2018 6:25pm

What does everyone think of the new titles & theme tune? Was surprised just how retro they went, and feels like a HD, upscaled version of the old 60s/70s versions. I quite like them both.

FunLover18 · 17-10-2018 10:32am

I was disappointed with the second episode. Having three companions may be too much especially when you have supporting one-off characters as well, I don't think we learned anything substantial about the new companions except that Ryan plays CoD. I didn't get any tension in this episode, the race seemed too easy and all that talk of the flesh eating water never led to anything. I'm still enjoying Jodie but I feel the writing is still trying to do the things that Moffat did eg the sunglasses which as I saw someone point out isn't possible given the clothes are from a charity shop and she hadn't been back to the TARDIS. Anyway it was a poor episode I thought, hopefully things will pick up next week.

8mv · 17-10-2018 1:35pm

Maybe it was the script but I felt the actors were not as comfortable in their roles as they were in the first episode - I wouldn't be surprised if this one was filmed before 'The Woman Who Fell To Earth'

flazio · 17-10-2018 6:49pm

I'm not panicking yet. Who remembers "The Beast Below"
Time has been kinder on that episode.

pixelburp · 17-10-2018 6:54pm

Yeah, Beast Below was pretty terrible, and those "first trip" stories are always touch and go anyway so I wasn't expecting much from this week's episode. Like the regeneration story they can feel very rote and a bit of a box ticking exercise. The trick will be making the three companions work, have enough depth but not overpowering the main character too much.

Lady Spangles · 17-10-2018 8:52pm

Love the new music, it's very reminiscent of classic Who. But the new TARDIS interior ..... not so much. I liked the actual console, with all the hands-on levers, hour glass and custard cream dispenser. That bit was okay. It's the walls and that big crystal thing I'm not so sold on. Plus it's quite dark. Maybe it will grow on me. The twelfth Doctor's TARDIS was fantastic.

flazio · 17-10-2018 9:06pm

Personally, I preferred Matt Smith's first console room. Now THAT was bigger on the inside.
I'm curious to know where the scanner screen is gone though.

FunLover18 · 17-10-2018 9:35pm

flazio wrote: »

I'm not panicking yet. Who remembers "The Beast Below"
Time has been kinder on that episode.

I really like The Beast Below :-(

Goodshape · 17-10-2018 10:53pm

Enjoyed episode two. Not as strong as the first though, and I agree the actors seemed almost a little less comfortable in their roles.

Still, decent enough.

I'm still just enjoying that everything seems properly new this season. Not just the obvious – new Doctor, new Tardis, new companion or three – but it does feel more like a new show than any of the previous regenerations did (since the revival). It's a welcome update.

coffee_cake · 17-10-2018 11:44pm

Was the beast below the one where they were torturing the sky whale. I don't have much memory of it but liked it

pixelburp · 17-10-2018 11:57pm

bluewolf wrote: »

Was the beast below the one where they were torturing the sky whale. I don't have much memory of it but liked it

Yup that's the one, set on the "UK in space" colony ship.

Virtanen · 18-10-2018 3:34pm

Lady Spangles wrote: »

Love the new music, it's very reminiscent of classic Who. But the new TARDIS interior ..... not so much. I liked the actual console, with all the hands-on levers, hour glass and custard cream dispenser. That bit was okay. It's the walls and that big crystal thing I'm not so sold on. Plus it's quite dark. Maybe it will grow on me. The twelfth Doctor's TARDIS was fantastic.

And what an amazing coincidence that Doc 13 made a home-brew Sonic Screwdriver and the Tardis just happens to fit in with that aesthetic...

TheValeyard · 21-10-2018 9:28am

pixelburp wrote: »

Yup that's the one, set on the "UK in space" colony ship.

Correction. English Colony ship

The Scots built their own! :P lol

corkie · 21-10-2018 8:01pm

Rosa Parks ~~~ History lesson episode!

Reminded me of Quantum Leap and a line from that program was used.

10 episodes that show how Quantum Leap set right what once went wrong

“The Color Of Truth” (season one, episode seven): Quickly recognizing that the show could be more than just a fun romp through America’s recent history, the creative team used the seventh episode of the show’s abbreviated first season to explore racism in ’50s Alabama when Sam leaps into the body of Jesse Tyler, the aging black chauffeur to the widow of a former governor. There’s a potentially patronizing subtext here in the idea that a well-meaning white man from the future has to control the body of a black man in order to effect social change, but the episode carefully works around this by never forgetting the larger social context, including an acknowledgment that Rosa Parks’ earth-shattering act of defiance will occur less than six months from when the episode is set. Sam is all for lecturing and haranguing people into change, and while his belief in people’s better angels is ultimately rewarded, the episode pointedly makes it clear that decades, even centuries of institutionalized racism won’t crumble just because of a few fiery speeches. The episode is most effective when Sam is confronted with all the simple things he takes for granted that are denied to him in this body, like being able to sit down for lunch at a diner or to drink from the nearest water fountain. As Al says, being a black man in ’50s Alabama is an inherently dangerous situation, and Sam can only begin to grasp that fact.

CastorTroy · 21-10-2018 10:48pm

Maybe I'll show ignorance by saying this but that was a boring episode. Maybe if it came later in the season after the 4 main characters have been developed more and more exciting episodes. I mean I think we know more about Ryan's nan than any of the onscreen characters.

I can't remember the last time any of the characters encountered any discrimination. With the previous companions, were any of the women discriminated against?

At least next week's looks like it might be more eventful. I hope so since it's pretty much 3 for 3 meh episodes, in my opinion.

flazio · 21-10-2018 10:54pm

CastorTroy wrote: »

I can't remember the last time any of the characters encountered any discrimination. With the previous companions, were any of the women discriminated against?

Martha in Human Nature (with hands that dark how do you know if the floor is clean) and Bill last year which the Doctor reacted to by punching the lights out of the offender.

matrim · 21-10-2018 11:06pm

I'm really surprised that the doctor didn't have a go at Ryan for sending the guy back in time. Especially after the gun thing in the last episode

Penn · 22-10-2018 5:23pm

matrim wrote: »

I'm really surprised that the doctor didn't have a go at Ryan for sending the guy back in time. Especially after the gun thing in the last episode

Yeah, me too. I get she couldn't really do much at the time because they were on the bus and it was all about to happen, but still felt like a missed opportunity. I also felt the bad guy's motivations were extremely weak and another missed opportunity. Just boiling it down to pure racism against black people, when he's from a time where travel and communication between entire alien races exists... just felt really odd. I mean he even knew what a Tardis was. And how he was gotten rid of was really weak. The use of a real song over Parks being removed from the bus felt strange too, can't remember them doing that before.

Still though, I thought it was a pretty good episode with some good moments. Still think they have one companion too many (and the actor who plays Ryan is terrible), but I'm liking the girl and Bradley Walsh, and Jodie Whittaker is doing a good job so far, but still hasn't had anything proper to really deal with yet, one of those moments that really show you who that version of the Doctor is.

matrim · 22-10-2018 5:42pm

Penn wrote: »

The use of a real song over Parks being removed from the bus felt strange too, can't remember them doing that before.

I didn't mind the song as part of the episode but it did kind of annoy me that they played it over the end credits.

Stark · 22-10-2018 10:33pm

Overall I loved it. The actress playing Rosa Parks was great and I did get a little teary at the end. Agreed the companion dynamic didn't feel great and the alien threat was a bit naff.

martingriff · 22-10-2018 10:51pm

Penn wrote: »

Yeah, me too. I get she couldn't really do much at the time because they were on the bus and it was all about to happen, but still felt like a missed opportunity. I also felt the bad guy's motivations were extremely weak and another missed opportunity. Just boiling it down to pure racism against black people, when he's from a time where travel and communication between entire alien races exists... just felt really odd. I mean he even knew what a Tardis was. And how he was gotten rid of was really weak. The use of a real song over Parks being removed from the bus felt strange too, can't remember them doing that before.

Still though, I thought it was a pretty good episode with some good moments. Still think they have one companion too many (and the actor who plays Ryan is terrible), but I'm liking the girl and Bradley Walsh, and Jodie Whittaker is doing a good job so far, but still hasn't had anything proper to really deal with yet, one of those moments that really show you who that version of the Doctor is.

Raceism happens all the time just because the universe gets bigger does not mean it can not exist. I mean the world is a lot smaller not with everyone been able to go everywhere yet it is still as much as a problem.

I wonder is this a set up for meeting the bad guy in future episodes to set up preserving the timeline. I say the reason for the episode was so early was to play in to Ryan's anger issues and him learning as the series progresses to maybe in the later episode if we do meet that villain or someone like him he will react calmer

jim-jam · 22-10-2018 11:18pm

Penn wrote: »

The use of a real song over Parks being removed from the bus felt strange too, can't remember them doing that before.

Found that incredibly jarring. I was enjoying the build up to her refusing to move, then that came on and I was taken right out of the moment.

Overall a bit of a meh episode with some good moments.

Doctor Who Season 11 [** Spoilers **]

Comments

Doctor Who Season 11 [ Spoilers ]