The Doctor Who thread

[griffin]

That trip to Japan was unusually long.

The Doctor being an existing well known actor is more forgivable to me, as that's the character who has to carry the show... so it is best to have someone who is known can act or attract ratings. I guess I just feel that the stories in Dr Who should be good enough to not need famous people in it, and if they have more than a quick cameo it is distracting (like the Christmas episode that had Kylie Minogue in a major role).

Billie Piper is a pop star? Must be just in the UK, as I've never heard of her from anything else.
I just had a look... she did quite well for what she released (even getting a few songs into the top ten in Australia), but then suddenly stopped in 2000 after just 3 years. I guess at the time of her role starting on Dr Who in 2005 she might have been best known for her singing, as her acting resume only really started in 2005.

As disappointed as I was in this episode, it was still better than the 2017 Power Rangers movie that was on last night as well. I'm glad I didn't pay money to watch that in a cinema....

[Burn]

It was a rather boring episode, but still better than a lot of Chibs-era stuff.

Jack's return reminded me that I didn't really miss Jack. This sudden infatuation and apparent long history with The Doctor? Not sure where that came from. Yeah it was there in the past but not to this extreme degree.

Yas continues to be useless and poorly written, but she's the one who sticks around. I always enjoyed the character of Graham, his other work aside (I'd never heard of him before DW), he seemed to get the most development of all three companions, genuinely liked him. Ryan had potential ... this episode had potential for Ryan to turn on The Doctor, he could see through her bullcrap, he pushed her to talk and open up, and he could see the dangers of being with her, that's why he got off the boat. A good twist would see something happen to Graham (much to my dismay) which in turn would lead to Ryan turning on The Doctor, but instead they took the happy end and attempted to ride off into the sunset armed with psychic paper.

I honestly don't think Jodie's been given a fair go at the role, she's been saddled with dodgy writing, and even without the hardcore "The Doctor can't be a woman!" fans, there's still far too many out there that don't approve of her, but BBC continues to turn a blind eye. This episode had the lowest overnight rating in the UK for a annual special. They can't keep ignoring the declining ratings.

[GoktimusPrime]

I liked this episode. Not mind-blowing awesome, but I didn't think it was terrible.

I loved the Doctor's line about hypocrisy of the Dalek's obsession for racial purity given that they are a race born from mutation. It's a good analogy about how the misconception of "racial purity" works in real life (i.e. it's rubbish). Trimming down the number of companions seems like a good move, although it was cool to see the Doctor running around with a group of companions which s/he hasn't done in a while. It will be interesting to see the Doctor and Yaz interacting in future stories.

[griffin]

Ryan had potential ... this episode had potential for Ryan to turn on The Doctor, he could see through her bullcrap, he pushed her to talk and open up, and he could see the dangers of being with her, that's why he got off the boat.

That was the other thing that annoyed me with the writing of this episode - there was this emphasis on the Doctor leaving his/her companions, as if he/her chooses to abandon them. It goes back to their characters being poorly written as suddenly being very self-centred in this episode, to not care about what the Doctor had just been enduring for months or years all on her own while her companions lived their lives with friends and family... to the extent of being angry about the possibility of her intentionally abandoning them one day, without a reason (like protecting them).
That being the excuse for Ryan and Yas turning on her, and Ryan and Graham leaving her, did not make sense, after they had just spent about a year or so travelling around as a family, and the Doctor risking her life to keep them safe a number of times. To suddenly turn on her, and not even care about her much worse situation, seemed really wrong.

[SMHFConvoy]

She'd been gone for 10 months at the time of the NY special, that's enough time for someone to move on, not "turn on" the Doctor. Ryan had moved on and Graham's decision to stay was in support of his grandson's decision.

[Seraphim Prime]

That was the other thing that annoyed me with the writing of this episode - there was this emphasis on the Doctor leaving his/her companions, as if he/her chooses to abandon them. It goes back to their characters being poorly written as suddenly being very self-centred in this episode, to not care about what the Doctor had just been enduring for months or years all on her own while her companions lived their lives with friends and family... to the extent of being angry about the possibility of her intentionally abandoning them one day, without a reason (like protecting them).
That being the excuse for Ryan and Yas turning on her, and Ryan and Graham leaving her, did not make sense, after they had just spent about a year or so travelling around as a family, and the Doctor risking her life to keep them safe a number of times. To suddenly turn on her, and not even care about her much worse situation, seemed really wrong.

When you're a 10,000 year old being 10 months seems like nothing. When you're a 20-something it can feel like forever. Particularly when you have nothing to compare against. The previous two seasons have had some gaps, but usually only a couple of weeks. I think Amy & Rory were probably the best written companions in this sense - they had a life outside the Doctor, knew he would pop in on their lives once in a while and enjoyed going on their adventures with him, but also knew that he wasn't always around.

I know from my own personal internal thoughts that you can get pretty resentful towards someone when their connection with you changes suddenly - even when you can create and understand reasons for their absence - that it's not impossible to still have underlying feelings of hurt and betrayal, even when you know that they've been through some pretty rubbish circumstances themselves.

[GoktimusPrime]

When you're a 10,000 year old being 10 months seems like nothing.

Which does make the Doctor quite unusual in forming close bonds with humans. Cos yeah, for someone like the Doctor to get super attached to a human being is kinda like a person getting attached a mayfly and becoming upset if the fly is lost or killed. A lot of other long-lived aliens in scifi, including Doctor Who, are generally shown as not being terribly attached to relatively short-lived species like humans, but objectively speaking it makes sense.

[griffin]

Saw a short teaser commercial for the final 6-episode season of Jodie Whittaker's run as the Doctor, coming November 1st.

[griffin]

I forgot all about this... and just saw it on the program guide for tonight, at 7.30pm on channel 22 (ABC Kids).

Ironically, it is on at the same time a different episode of Dr Who screening on channel 23 (currently playing Capaldi episodes)... and with a completely different episode on later in the evening on channel 22 (from the Matt Smith era), it's three different episodes from 3 different seasons on the one night.

[Autocon]

Not sure how I am liking this, fourth one tonight and feel a lil lost in the story