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Doctor Who Omnibus Thread

odessasteps

By odessasteps
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  • 2 weeks later...
Cliff Hanger

Cliff Hanger

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So after spending 17 years away from Whoville, the anniversary shenanigans have brought me back in a really big way (can you tell?)  I don't think I've binged on anything this hard since I first got into DC Comics after Zero Hour.  (Oddly, I've never actually READ ZH, but that goes in another topic altogether.) In the past four weeks or so I've gotten up through "Love and Monsters" (which was fun, but must have been utterly baffling and infuriating to a lot of people, especially the Victor Kennedy types, in its first airing), rewatched "Caves of Androzani" for the first time since I was 17, blown through the TNG crossover and most of Prisoners of Time in the comics, and this morning at work I listened to "Storm Warning" (the first Big Finish audioplay with the Eighth Doctor), which I loved.  Definitely going to buy the next couple of 8 plays and "Zagreus" (the crossover with 5-8) while the holiday sale is on.

 

It feels really nice to throw myself into a huge franchise like this again; I think the last time I was this excited about something was Macross Frontier, but of course at the time there wasn't nearly enough of it to go batshit on, just 25 TV eps and a PSP game.  (Hence the DC mention above).  I know I'm being a little annoying with it lately, I'm just having too damn much fun to stop.

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Cliff Hanger

Cliff Hanger

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Too late; because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get all 11 while the sale was on, I got the first two, Chimes of Midnight (since it was recommended), Invaders from Mars (or whatever it's called), Minuet of Hell (because those two sounded the most interesting) and Zagreus (because I wanted one more, saw all four Doctors and didn't realize all but McGann were playing other roles until I'd paid).  So far I've listened to "Storm Warning" (which, as above, I loved), "Sword of Orion" (which felt like a really good 80s Doctor Who episode) and "Minuet of Hell" (which had some really strong moments, but was just so tone deaf in its ideas about the Bible Belt that it totally derailed things for me.  I've lived in Texas for 3/4 of my life, I know how stupid people here can be in the name of their God, but calling a new state Malebolgia is just stupid, as are the idea of Dashwood getting to keep his televangelist shit going while running for governor and the awful, gutwrenching performance by the guy playing Pickering.  It didn't pass the Fridge Test for me, and so I almost didn't finish it.  Markosius was fun though.)

 

Think I'm gonna go back and buy the other five $3 Eight stories next payday if the sale's still on; after that I'll definitely have to slow down, but I think I'm pretty soundly on board with this.  How are the Four stories/the BBC Radio Eights?  Their higher price means I can't gorge on them like I can the old stuff, but that won't matter as much after the holiday sale anyway.  Any cheap 5/6/7 stories I should seek out?

 

Last thought: man, the art in the Eight chapter of "Prisoners of Time" is AWFUL.

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Cliff Hanger

Cliff Hanger

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How long do I have to wait before I can talk about five-year-old episodes, ten-year-old radio plays and other trivia again?

 

My "burn through 8 seasons of modern Who before the second half of S7 hits Amazon Prime" mission has brought me as far as Gridlocked.  I was rolling my eyes through most of the episode, expecting some message about urban congestion, pollution etc. but the final act redeemed it for me by going much weirder and being about something else entirely.  The last couple minutes were heartwrenching.

 

I quite like Martha; knowing from cultural osmosis that she only sticks around one season and eventually marries Mickey (who grew on me, but not THAT much) is a little disappointing.  I could watch fifty more seasons and always feel weird about female companions/assistants getting super infatuated with the Doctor though.

 

Dalek/Cyberman trash talk is maybe the best thing I ever saw.  THIS. IS. NOT. WAR. THIS. IS. PEST. CONTROL!

 

So, um, Donna gets more sympathetic when she comes back as a regular, right?  Right?

 

 

"Invaders from Mars" was silly, but also great fun.  I'm a little weirded out that Simon Pegg trying to sound like a 1930s American mob boss sounds suspiciously like Daws Butler, though.  How does that happen?  After five 8th Doctor episodes, "Sword of Orion" is far and away my favorite.  I ended up buying all 11 of the 8 shows that were $3, plus "Sirens of Time" (the first-ever BF audio play) and the three-part "Dalek Empire" arc since one of the later 8 stories is part four according to TVTropes.  I've more than got my money's worth from all of them so far, but I'm not sure I'll be able to justify paying $12 each for the later ones in my current financial state.  A dear friend (who dresses as Eight every year at Dragoncon) had been trying to get me to listen to these for a couple years, and Eight is her favorite specifically because of them.  I don't know that he'll ever overtake Four for me, but I can definitely understand why he captured her interest so effectively.  But Charley's going to get as crushy on him as Rose and Martha do on theirs, isn't she?

 

"Prisoners of Time" (the comic series designed to end IDW's run with the property, a 12-issue series with one issue starring each Doctor and one that finishes everything off) had some absolutely brilliant bits.  The reveal of the villain (which makes perfect sense), the Master's involvement, Thomas Huxley punching an ant the size of a horse.  (Atomic Robo would be briefly proud, before grabbing a Buick to throw.)  But the art in about a quarter of it is really unfortunate, and while the big reveal at the end of #6 staves off any arguments of deus ex machina in #12, they go back to that well like four times in twelve pages in the final issue.  At that point, "setting it up" doesn't feel like enough.  I definitely got my money's worth, but I also didn't pay four bucks an issue as it was shipping.  If I had, I might well be less enthused with it since so much repeats the same formula (Doctor gets involved in a story suited to that Doctor's quirks and overriding moral themes but with minor twists, companions get abducted at the end of it) over and over.

 

The "classic" episodes on Amazon and Netflix have a great deal of overlap, but a significant number are on one and not the other.  Hulu, meanwhile, has a shit ton that aren't on either of the others and seems to have everything they do too.  I need to watch "The Deadly Assassin" again (Hulu only), since that's where I came in.

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The Natural

The Natural

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Hope Matt Smith gets the sendoff he deserves in the Christmas Day episode. Smith had a hard act following David Tennant's Doctor, he's done a great job. Now Peter Capaldi has two hard acts to follow. Looking forward to seeing Capaldi's performance as The Doctor in this episode.

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Control

Control

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So when will this special be available on itunes? I see a deluxe edition, but it doesn't seem to include the episode itself, as far as I can tell. (Noob question, since I just got Apple TV and haven't used itunes for TV before).

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Cliff Hanger

Cliff Hanger

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After 24 episodes of Eight and Charley, I am now firmly of the unshakable opinion that Charley > Rose and this is not up for debate, dammit.

 

Chimes of Midnight was glorious.  I ended up listening to the Dalek Empire episodes of 7, 6 and 5 so that I could save it for a very slow Christmas Eve at work, and it was worth it.

 

My dad's in town for the holidays, and he actually watched "Partners in Crime" with me.  If I'd been thinking ahead, I would've shown him a different episode, but it was more "Do you mind if I watch a Doctor Who? I can use headphones if you'd like" and being surprised that he was in.  I don't think he's super keen on continuing, but he's never been a SF guy.  Sherlock is much more his speed (and we are now all caught up on that)

 

I will have to skip this thread for a few weeks; I'm only as far as that and don't want any more of the Moffat/Smith era spoiled than I've already had as I try to get caught up.  If the back half of S7 hasn't made it to Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime before I get there, I may actually pay the $3 an episode to get it on Amazon...

 

EDITED TO ADD: The one thing that still really bothers me about New Who is that all the standing companions have to be from "now-ish" Earth.  We really need a Jamie or a Leela (or, God help us, an Adric) to shake things up.

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Matt D

Matt D

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I am iffy on this special. Everything fit but it would have been so much better if we were given bits and pieces over the last year or two instead of everything all at once through throw away lines and what not. Also, after the really uplifting "victory through hope and cleverness and being THE DOCTOR and not THE WARRIOR" we get a very frustrating finale when it comes to that sort of thing. The Doctor gives up, waits for death (and the death of all of the people he was protecting) and gets saved by an outside force (albeit one that was SORT of inspired by him) only then to use the gift they gave him to DESTROY THINGS.

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Territorial

Territorial

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If I have any problem with Doctor Who, it's that the show infinitely contradicts itself.  Not necessarily the rules, but just all the philosophy and ideas like "I never would," Doctor being a pacifist, etc.

 

Well, Stavros - and by extension, the writers - called the Doctor out on that at the end of season 4 (the Catherine Tate season).  Stavros made the observation that the Doctor wouldn't carry a gun, regards himself as a man of peace, etc., but generally finds himself in conflicts where he more or less clings to his ideals while the people around him - his companions, the military, etc. - take up weapons and do the fighting.  The finale that season brought back all the previous nu-Who companions and made the point that the Doctor had basically groomed his own mini-army.

 

Finale was alright.  Not really that interested in seeing what comes next, but I'll give it a try.

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odessasteps

odessasteps

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If this was wrestling, we'd complain that Moffat had to get all his shit in before the finish.

This episode will be best remembered for a collection of moments than the whole thing.

---

If the space nun seemed sort of familiar, she was an occasional guest star on Fringe, playing mrs. Bishop.

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