Doctor Who Omnibus Thread

[Bustronaut]

I thought the special was the most RTD-esque of Moffat's tenure (maybe it was the estate setting?) whether you see that as good or bad is up to you.

[Matt D]

I've come to feel like Moffat gives us a ton of great ideas in every episode but does, yes, generally lack the emotional connectivity and big picture summation that Davies gave us. Davies on the other hand, had far poorer sci fi ideas. I think, ultimately, we're going to look back at this run (Eccelson, Tennant, Smith) and see that it was at its very best on the episodes they worked on together. 

[Craig H]

Doctor Who is one of the few shows I can shut my brain off for and just enjoy the ride EXCEPT when you get a season like the River Song one where you need a flow chart to figure stuff out.

[Territorial]

I really don't get the doom and gloom hand-wringing they've started doing each time the Doctor starts to regenerate.  The Smith and Tennant doctors have both given soliloquies as if the character was actually dying.  Which makes no sense since the changes seem to be mostly superficial.  As much as the show acts otherwise, regeneration mostly just gives the doctor a new face.  The character retains his memories from the previous incarnation, and generally has the same personality, values, intelligence, beliefs, skill set, emotional core (and emotional attachments), etc.  Even wacky sense of fashion stays pretty much the same.  The idea seems to be that each incarnation is different from the others, but they never write the character that way (probably because TV tends to work off a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.  Why risk the cash cow by changing the character?).  You could easily swap the Tennant version of the Doctor out for the Smith incarnation, and the stories would play out pretty much the same.

 

(We'll also overlook the logic of regeneration being a natural part of a time lord's life, so reacting to it as if it were something out of the norm just seems odd, given that the society would view it as perfectly normal as having two hearts).

 

At least Smith's "deathbed" scene wasn't as bad as Tennant's.  I really hated the maudlin, melodramatic walk down memory lane they wrote for Tennant in his last episode. 

 

They really need to do a Honest Trailer parody of Doctor Who.  Much like Rick from the Walking Dead, the Doctor is a man of peace true to his convictions.  Except for when he isn't.  Then he's a man of wiping out entire alien races for the heck of it.

[odessasteps]

I've come to feel like Moffat gives us a ton of great ideas in every episode but does, yes, generally lack the emotional connectivity and big picture summation that Davies gave us. Davies on the other hand, had far poorer sci fi ideas. I think, ultimately, we're going to look back at this run (Eccelson, Tennant, Smith) and see that it was at its very best on the episodes they worked on together.

And arguably the best new Who episode was an RTD episode written by Moffat that hardly has the Doctor in it.

[Bustronaut]

Is River Song in this episode?

       ______|_____

       |                     |

       |                     |

   Yes                  No

       |                     |

       |                     |

   Skip             Watch

[odessasteps]

Well, generally true, except for Silence in the Library and maybe the Weeping Angels two parter.

[Matt D]

I really don't get the doom and gloom hand-wringing they've started doing each time the Doctor starts to regenerate.  The Smith and Tennant doctors have both given soliloquies as if the character was actually dying.  Which makes no sense since the changes seem to be mostly superficial.  As much as the show acts otherwise, regeneration mostly just gives the doctor a new face.  The character retains his memories from the previous incarnation, and generally has the same personality, values, intelligence, beliefs, skill set, emotional core (and emotional attachments), etc.  Even wacky sense of fashion stays pretty much the same.  The idea seems to be that each incarnation is different from the others, but they never write the character that way (probably because TV tends to work off a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality.  Why risk the cash cow by changing the character?).  You could easily swap the Tennant version of the Doctor out for the Smith incarnation, and the stories would play out pretty much the same.

 

(We'll also overlook the logic of regeneration being a natural part of a time lord's life, so reacting to it as if it were something out of the norm just seems odd, given that the society would view it as perfectly normal as having two hearts).

 

At least Smith's "deathbed" scene wasn't as bad as Tennant's.  I really hated the maudlin, melodramatic walk down memory lane they wrote for Tennant in his last episode. 

 

They really need to do a Honest Trailer parody of Doctor Who.  Much like Rick from the Walking Dead, the Doctor is a man of peace true to his convictions.  Except for when he isn't.  Then he's a man of wiping out entire alien races for the heck of it.

 

Well, one thing that the 50th did (or this one did by counting Ten-too) is sort of made Tennant's leaving more meaningful, since he knew he was using up his last regeneration. It also adds a lot of pathos to Smith's entire run. In his first series he knows it's his last life which could color how he treats Amy and what not. In his second, though, it's all about a fixed point in time death, which he skillfully avoided, but then he got trapped into Trenzalore. I'm not sure it's a straight line as much as I'd like it to be but you can add subtext to the previous few seasons because of it.

[odessasteps]

For those wondering why Kaitlin Blackwood didn't appear as young Amy, this picture probably explains it.

@KarenGillan2: Merry Boxing Day @blackwood0 http://t.co/MZteRwmkfD

[Craig H]

Is River Song in this episode?

       ______|_____

       |                     |

       |                     |

   Yes                  No

       |                     |

       |                     |

   Skip             Watch

 

Fuuuuuuck. Where was this when I watched that season?

[Ace]

For those wondering why Kaitlin Blackwood didn't appear as young Amy, this picture probably explains it.

@KarenGillan2: Merry Boxing Day @blackwood0 http://t.co/MZteRwmkfD

 

Not surprising, as it has been a few years.

[Doubting El Dandy]

I loved it. Fantastic send off. Not as emotional as the Tennant finale but still really well done. 

I loved how simple they kept the plot, and it did feel like the most RTD style episode I've seen from the Moff, but that being said it always felt like he was continuing the RTD over arching story line forward when he took over to it all felt like quite a nice wrap up. 

 

And at least for a while some of the Moffat haters can choke on a bag of shit. It felt like everywhere I read about this show people were bitching that Moffat's ego is so big all he wants to do is be the guy to tell everyone what the Doctors real name is. I never thought for a second they would be so stupid as to think they could actually do that reveal and have it be great. I'm pretty sure they are aware that there is nothing any Doctor could say when revealing his name that wouldn't result in a let down. 

 

However I would make an exception if the new Doctor were to reveal his actual name as PETER FUCKING CAPALDI~! I would then make an exception.

[Ace]

Have some Strax.

[Craig H]

Regarding the regen episodes, I actually find myself liking them a lot because it's their way of saying goodbye to the fans. Yes, the Doctor himself is not dying, but that iteration of him is, and along with it, everything you knew and loved about him.

[Bustronaut]

One thing I don't really like about new Who is the "companion-as-second-job" thing that has cropped up since Rose left.  Clara doesn't even live in the TARDIS, for Rassilon's sake!

 

I would like a little more Sci-Fi in my Sci-Fi show.  A non-"now" companion would be fun.

[Ace]

Well, we did have Handles for around 500 years.

[TheVileOne]

I'm sorry but I didn't like this episode.  I generally preferred the 50th Anniversary.

 

Nothing about this story made any sense.  Way too many plot holes, more than usual for Doctor Who.  Some of the emotional moments were good individually, but overall the story was a clunky mess.  

 

I can kind of wrap my head around how the events on Trenzalore initiated the events of the previous seasons, the offshoot branch of the church that made River Song into who she is, the creation of the Silence, etc.  OK, so the Silence were really just trying to prevent people from remembering things so they don't go to Trenzalore and attack right?  

 

The other issue is Gallifrey.  So the cracks were sending a message for help to be freed from the pocket universe.  And the Doctor ignored this for 600 years just...because...?  He retired in Christmas which is stuck in perpetual isolation of sameness for 600 years or however and just fights Doctor Who monsters for that long to keep from doing what?  What was going on at that point?  The Doctor was there to help Gallifrey, and he didn't.  He wanted to help and he was staying there to help.  Gallifrey is asking for help, but he didn't help.  

 

To me the obvious answer is that Gallifrey can never return from its pocket universe than.  The Doctor wants to return home, but he can't.  The Doctor sent his home back to the Time War because it was just too dangerous.  He called it HELL itself.  OK, so in the pocket universe has all the Hell that Gallifrey unleashed suddenly stopped?  Have Rassilon and the Nightmare Child and the Travesties realizing they no longer have a war to fight gotten under control?  Will they even address or deal with these issues if they come up?  

 

Nothing about this episode made sense.  

 

I thought the regeneration sequence was a nice change of pace.  It does get me excited to see where they will go with Capaldi.

 

Now another part of me is curious to see if this will be a peak of popularity of sorts for the franchise.  It seems with the 50th anniversary it was kind of like the perfect storm for everything.  Now I wonder if after the highs of the Tennant and Smith years if its going to start to level off.

[Ligerbusa]

Can't really compare it to the 50th. The 50th was a huge event that would be incredibly hard to top and I think it's too early to predict doom and gloom. That being said, I didn't really care for this episode which is a shame because Smith may be my favorite Doctor. It didn't really feel like the end of an era and the enemies kind of seem useless recently. Was Handles the Cybermen head seen at U.N.I.T. HQ?

 

Still...

 

 

THE FEELS

[odessasteps]

FYI...

BigFinish is having a 12 days of Xmas sale, where a different storyis on sale for £2.99.

Today is the Davison story The Butcher of Brisbane.

[cool arrow]

One thing I don't really like about new Who is the "companion-as-second-job" thing that has cropped up since Rose left.  Clara doesn't even live in the TARDIS, for Rassilon's sake!

 

I'm still trying to figure out how we got from the end of Name to the beginning of Day.

[Ace]

The other issue is Gallifrey.  So the cracks were sending a message for help to be freed from the pocket universe.  And the Doctor ignored this for 600 years just...because...?

 

Because the Time War would have restarted right then and there, with even more participants.

[Territorial]

So the cracks were sending a message for help to be freed from the pocket universe.  And the Doctor ignored this for 600 years just...because...?  He retired in Christmas which is stuck in perpetual isolation of sameness for 600 years or however and just fights Doctor Who monsters for that long to keep from doing what? 

 

I thought he retired to Christmas to keep the people on the planet safe from the races massing overhead, not to keep from doing something else (they made it clear that trying to bring Gallifrey out of the Pocket Universe would restart the Time War)..  What I don't get is why he thought that would be a good idea.  The alien races had no way of knowing what the message was until he translated it for them.  And even after the message translated, the daleks and such only knew that it had something to do with the Doctor.  They couldn't have known about the crack, or what it was, or what was on the other side.  It was said early on that everyone came to find out what the signal was, then held back out of fear.  Since the planet was being protected by the church, it seems like a better way to protect the population would have been to relocate them somehow via the Tardis, find some way to deal with the crack, or simply go away.  Even if the daleks worked out what the crack is, they probably couldn't access the pocket universe without the doctor's real name, right?  If the doctor is the key, it seems like hanging around the planet guarantees that the planet stays under siege and that eventually the enemy force will be more than the doctor can deal with. 

 

I thought a better plan would have been to remove himself and/or somehow insure that his true name would never be revealed.  Didn't they already establish that he took steps to keep his true name from ever being revealed?  So the only way that knowledge would end up in dalek hand, for example, would be if they captured him and extracted it from him or Clara?  Which makes hanging around in the vicinity of the crack a really awful idea.

 

I still have no idea how the Doctor escaped from his own timeline (where he was stuck in the season finale).

[Mister Daddy Warlord]

 

I still have no idea how the Doctor escaped from his own timeline (where he was stuck in the season finale).

 

 

 

I think we should just assume he walked out, and be done with it. Before Moffat can write a 6 part series finale, where River saves the Doctor; by hiding a TARDIS withing a TARDIS, and pulling the universe inside out.

[Ace]

"Have you ever sneezed so hard, you turned into Peter Capaldi?"

[TheVileOne]

 

The other issue is Gallifrey.  So the cracks were sending a message for help to be freed from the pocket universe.  And the Doctor ignored this for 600 years just...because...?

 

Because the Time War would have restarted right then and there, with even more participants.

 

 

His goal is to go home and/or restore Gallifrey.  So he has to address this problem sooner or later.  He had hundreds of years and remained stuck in this weird stalemate.  

 

He loves Gallifrey so much, yet apparently they became almost as malevolent as the Daleks during the Time War.  So what is he going to do about that?  You think having all those centuries he could've come up with something.  Now Gallifrey is lost to him again, and based off recent events it should probably stay that w

 

As far as protecting Christmas, he did a terrible job.

 

The enemies also start a final front that then goes on to last for like aay.nother 300 years, they are still in the final battle.  How is Christmas not wiped out by that point?  Like Percival's great grandkid was still there worshipping the Doctor.

 

 

 

Can't really compare it to the 50th. The 50th was a huge event that would be incredibly hard to top and I think it's too early to predict doom and gloom. That being said, I didn't really care for this episode which is a shame because Smith may be my favorite Doctor. It didn't really feel like the end of an era and the enemies kind of seem useless recently. Was Handles the Cybermen head seen at U.N.I.T. HQ?

 

I'm not really saying doom and gloom so much as a bit of a leveling off for the franchise after they perhaps peaked here.  Sort of like how Pixar sorta peaked with Toy Story 3 but their later films are still pretty solid and successful.