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Doctor Who Club

What? Midnight is one of the best things RTD has ever written :(

edit: also how is it possible for ANYONE to like the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter :((
 
I think Midnight is the most Marmitey episode of NewWho. I didn't like it much at all when I first watched it (possibly because I spent the entire time going "but where's Donna?"), but I really like it now, even though I don't usually like the "humanity sort of sucks" episodes (I'm looking at you, 42).

My least favourite episodes are probably Fear Her, Love and Monsters, The Long Game, The Christmas Invasion and the Daleks in Manhatten 2-parter.

I'm alone in absolutely loving The Unicorn and the Wasp, and I don't dislike The Doctor's Daughter as much as everyone else does.
 
My least favorite, damn I am such a fan I don't even know. If I had to say I would go with Dalek's In Manhatten 2 parter. I like Love and Monsters like maybe once or twice, but it's not an episode I would go 'ooooo I want to watch that again!'.

Midnight was one of my favorites! ROAST BEEF! BANANAS! THE MEDUSA CASCADE!.....BANG! ROSETYLERMARTHAJONESDONNANOBLETARDIS!.... Shamble bobble dibble dooble... I actually like the fact Donna wasn't in it really because, well, that was her character. Go on creepy bus to diamond cave thingy or relax and kick back and epic future resort.... yeah Donna has the right idea.
 
You are all crazy. Midnight makes no sense and I maintain that my assessment of it is correct. No hard feelings though, differences in opinion. ^_^
I second what opaltiger said! In no way are you alone in loving The Unicorn and the Wasp.
 
I liked Midnight :<

Also, The Unicorn and the Wasp was quite good too, from what I remember of it though! Creepy giant wasp was creepy, though.
 
Issue with The Unicorn and the Wasp for me is, BBCA played it sooo much, that or every time I happened to watch Doctor Who on the weekdays that would be the episode that was on, that and The Shakespeare Code... Happy though, BBCA just restarted with "Rose" on Thursday. Hello S1, haven't seen you in a while.


Other awesome episodes, New Earth, School Reunion, The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances (of course), Bad Wolf ("But you're unarmed! And naked!"), Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, Midnight, gah soooo many...


One episode I truly don't like, I mean it had it's funny bits but really, no, just, no.... Gridlock.

In other news, SQUEEEE!
Also why are they calling Torchwood: Miracle Day a Stars original series? Terrible! Just like Being Human was Syfy's "original series" even though the same show, of the same name already was on S3 on BBC and had a strong, booming fanbase? Change the names of a show and it's still NOT YOURS! If they muss up Torchwood I will feed them to Myfanwy
 
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Aaaah, no. Gridlock is one of my absolute favourite episodes. I was pretty indifferent to it when I first saw it, but I love it more and more every time I see it, and now it's comfortably one of my favourites. Aside from the Family of Blood two-parter, probably my favourite Martha story of all. Cat people! One of the scariest premises of any Who story ever! The Face of Boe! And it's so happy at the end! People are fundamentally good!

I can acknowledge that from one angle, School Reunion might not be particularly good - the actual plot is fairly terrible, but the sub-plot of the Doctor always leaving his companions behind and acknowledging the finite nature of relationships was absolutely brilliant and the only thing that could've made it better would be Anthony Head and Elisabeth Sladen. Oh wait! <3
(although, speaking of, he could mention his past companions a bit more. It'd be lovely to get some acknowledgement from Moff that non-Amy/River/Rory companions exist)

In the same way, I get that Unicorn and the Wasp is actually pretty terrble, plot-wise. It's one of the absolute funniest episodes of Who ever (the scene with the flashbacks is hilarious and the detoxing bit in the kitchen was glorious), but the whole wasp thing was ridiculous and could've been done much better, especially where they tried to overexplain it all (she loved him even when he was a giant wasp? The wasp thought the world was like a Christie novel because the woman was reading a book at the time? The wasp-man had never been angry before his 30th birthday?), but egregious Christie references all over the place make everything better! :D

The new Torchwood (trailer) looks really interesting, but... not Doctor Who-y at all. It's like Doctor Who's second cousin twice removed, and all those guns and explosions and the rocket launcher look really strange. I enjoy joking about what Doctor Who would look like if it were made in America - I guess I've got my answer. One of the things I really liked about Torchwood was, even though they were dealing with aliens and having gunfights and all sorts all the time, they were in Wales, which makes everything sort of charming, which I don't see as much in this show. Although the final line - oh, how I laughed XD
I hope it's good and, to be honest, I can't imagine it being worse than S1 of TW, so bring it on.
 
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S1 wasn't that bad. I mean it did set up, I mean season one of a lot of shows sucked, but I think it was more character building. I just hope that America doesn't ruin Torchwood. That would make me feel bad. :C

Besides I thought Jack had a rocket launcher already.

The more Torchwood progressed the less Whovian it became. I think they are a show all their own now. Torchwood grew up. What I would love for Jack to meet Eleven, it would be hilarious and most likely would have a joke addressing that the Doctor was too young for Jack now. XD. But that would bring the fact that it is a spin off back into light.

You're right about past companions now. Even Ten mentioned Rose when she was gone, in fact a lot, well she was a plot point... But still, a little mention of, I don't know, Adric, Ace, Sarah Jane :'( , or even Polly for Rassilon's sake, would be nice. Hell even the new series characters, Marth or Donna, the Doctor is obviously over Rose... We need a Handy/Rose Tyler spinoff (Handy= Biological Metacrisis Doctor). I heard it mentioned there was one where they reffered to Handy as being the Valeyard I need to look into that.
 
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That Torchwod trailer looks alright actually! The best aprt is, of course,
"If you're the best England's got to offer then god help me."
"I'm Welsh. *Punch*"
But it looks generally okay besides that, too. Although creepy bloody exploded not-corpse is mildly disturbing.
 
Oooh, while I was driving through LA to get to Irvine, I saw a gigantic poster promoting Starz' run of Torchwood. :D It made my day. Unfortunately I can't discuss anything since I'm barely into Season 2 but so far, I'm trying to keep up the hope it'll get better.

It's also pretty much canon that 10.5 and Rose grew their own TARDIS, or at least, trying to, so there's a spin-off idea right there. And personally, I think Eleven or possibly Twelve will have a better chance of being the Valeyard. I hope that doesn't entail a Break the Cutie process because Eleven happens to be my favorite. ;_;

And speaking of episodes, all of them had their own merit, but Fear Her, The Unicorn and the Wasp, and the Curse of the Black Spot aren't the episodes I'd want to watch again. But I found Midnight brilliant, and I think it was the only episode that actually made me panic for the Doctor's safety. XD;;
 
YAAY MIRACLE DAY.

I think I'm gonna love this new series. To me, Torchwood has always been X-Files in Britain. Which doesn't work, considering the head writer also writes for the silliest character in the universe played by the silliest thespian in Scotland. I'd love to see how the folks from beyond the pond make this.
 
I enjoy the intelligence of Midnight, and the claustrophohic atmosphere of it, but I'm not going to lie - the characters of Jethro's parents are so infuriating they almost ruin parts of the episode. They're a reflection of a certain attitude the episode is trying to highlight, I know, but... they're annoying! 'I said it was her.'

Least favourite is probably Fear Her, but I can find things to like in it regardless. Like the edible ball bearings. And I suppose I have to come clean about liking Daleks in Manhatten. :v The pig and the showgirl, come onnnnn! And I like the idea of a Dalek in spats, what can you do.

They mention older past companions more often in SJA! :D ... That's kind of a given isn't it. But I do wish Moffat would bring the mention of their names into NuNuWho once in a while; I understand he wants to distance himself from the RTD era, but it's still the same show, and the same character (something that seems to have gone a bit wonky recently, all this Doctor-initiated violence is making me sad).

What is this I don't think I've posted in this thread since before the series finale. Disgraceful. I enjoyed it; it had a cool cast, and felt more like the old 'ADVENTUUUURE' atmosphere since they were actually done with leading up to somthing and could crack on with it. It felt pretty open-ended, but I suppose that's the problem with a two-parter with a three month gap between halves. Oh, and that decidedly Valleys Sontaran was my favourite... person. Potato. Whatever. 'I'm not enjoying [death] as much as I had hoped. :|' Madam Lizard and Jenny* were excellent also.

I don't really get how Torchwood is going to be working now. Is Gwen going to leave Rhys bouncing their baby on his knee at the pub while she kills aliens and stuff in America or what...?

*There are lots of Who characters called Jenny. Aside from that one, there was Jennifer in the previous episode, Jenny-his-daughter, Jenny the other maid in the Family of Blood episodes, they're everywheeeere. I want to re-watch NuWho and play spot the Jenny.
 
Hiiiii Jason-Kun! :D

Kinova said:
They mention older past companions more often in SJA! :D ... That's kind of a given isn't it. But I do wish Moffat would bring the mention of their names into NuNuWho once in a while; I understand he wants to distance himself from the RTD era, but it's still the same show, and the same character (something that seems to have gone a bit wonky recently, all this Doctor-initiated violence is making me sad).
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Agreeing with everything Kinova said, but especially this, and oh god I wibbled so much at the end of Death of the Doctor when Sarah Jane says what all the past companions have been up to! It was perfect and aaaaahhh I'm going wibbly again just thinking about it~

(speaking of, BBC hurry up and release S4 on DVD already, I want to watch S4 properly! Although I guess they'll probably wait until they air the three episodes of S5 they completed and release them as a bonus? I certianly hope so ;;)
 
From what I've heard, SJA is just a lighter and fluffier Doctor Who, but that doesn't mean it's just for kids so I think it'd be great to watch it. :D

Also guys, I've seen the casting for Let's Kill Hitler and kid!Amy returns and there's even going to be a kid!Rory. This sounds pretty suspicious and probably focuses on Amy and Rory's childhood. Still, judging by the title, it doesn't sound very pretty... Especially considering both of them had a rocky childhood since Rory dressed up as the Raggedy Doctor. XD
 
Eclipse said:
From what I've heard, SJA is just a lighter and fluffier Doctor Who, but that doesn't mean it's just for kids so I think it'd be great to watch it. :D
Click to expand...

Basically this. If it helps, imagine if the Doctor was the awesomest 60-something woman in the world (who doesn't have a TARDIS, but doesn't even need one, dammit!) who collects kids in a non-creepy way and takes them out alien-hunting. These kids manage to be more emotionally mature than the entire cast of Torchwood, and while fewer people end up dead than in Who/TW, it doesn't shy away from issues like death and abandonment and mental illness like other "kids's shows" do.

(And, the first episode (while good) isn't brilliant, so don't let it cloud your judgement.)

And to properly reply to Kinova's post:

I enjoy the intelligence of Midnight, and the claustrophohic atmosphere of it, but I'm not going to lie - the characters of Jethro's parents are so infuriating they almost ruin parts of the episode. They're a reflection of a certain attitude the episode is trying to highlight, I know, but... they're annoying! 'I said it was her.'

Least favourite is probably Fear Her, but I can find things to like in it regardless. Like the edible ball bearings. And I suppose I have to come clean about liking Daleks in Manhatten. :v The pig and the showgirl, come onnnnn! And I like the idea of a Dalek in spats, what can you do.

They mention older past companions more often in SJA! :D ... That's kind of a given isn't it. But I do wish Moffat would bring the mention of their names into NuNuWho once in a while; I understand he wants to distance himself from the RTD era, but it's still the same show, and the same character (something that seems to have gone a bit wonky recently, all this Doctor-initiated violence is making me sad).

What is this I don't think I've posted in this thread since before the series finale. Disgraceful. I enjoyed it; it had a cool cast, and felt more like the old 'ADVENTUUUURE' atmosphere since they were actually done with leading up to somthing and could crack on with it. It felt pretty open-ended, but I suppose that's the problem with a two-parter with a three month gap between halves. Oh, and that decidedly Valleys Sontaran was my favourite... person. Potato. Whatever. 'I'm not enjoying [death] as much as I had hoped. :|' Madam Lizard and Jenny* were excellent also.

I don't really get how Torchwood is going to be working now. Is Gwen going to leave Rhys bouncing their baby on his knee at the pub while she kills aliens and stuff in America or what...?

*There are lots of Who characters called Jenny. Aside from that one, there was Jennifer in the previous episode, Jenny-his-daughter, Jenny the other maid in the Family of Blood episodes, they're everywheeeere. I want to re-watch NuWho and play spot the Jenny.
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One of the things I love about Midnight is how damn good the acting is. Someone repreating what you're saying is usually so annoying, but they make it so creepy, it's brilliant. And I adore Lesley Jones, Sky's actress - she's on an ITV murder mystery called Scott & Bailey at the moment and plays opposite Suranne Jones (Idris from The Doctor's Wife) and alongside Rupert Graves (Lestrade from Sherlock) and Amelia Bullmore (Alex's mum in Ashes to Ashes). It's not as good as it should be.

I totally love the edible ball bearings bit! I really, really love any time they mention someone completely random and everyday as being special to humanity. <3 See the Torchwood quote in my signature :D

Speaking of Torchwood, I don't get how it's going to work, either. Some of the stuff I've read seems to hint that they'll have massive UST (possible actual romance?) between Jack and Gwen, which I DO NOT WANT because Rhys is the loveliest person ever and now she's married with a kid, it just seems really wrong and OOC. But PC Andy's coming back, which makes me unreasonably happy, and RTD has confirmed that, despite the Americaness, it's going to remin true to its Welshness, with at least one episode being set there. Here's hoping!

And I don't get all the Jennys, either. Of all the names, they had to go with this one? From what I've seen, lots of people were confused when Jenny and Vastra appeared, thinking that a) Vastra was a Slurian we'd met before (and, let's face it, the fact she's played by the actress who played the other Slurians probably didn't help), and b) Jenny was a reincarnation of the Doctor's Daughter-Jenny. Just stick with calling everyone Smith and Jones, Who writers.

Oh, speaking of, I realised only recently that in The Doctor's Wife, the Doctor and Tardis are played by Matt Smith and Suranne Jones. So perfect <3
 
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I <3 edible ball bearings. I wish I could get some. :( Stupid US. Lucky I even know what ball bearings are... *grumblegrumblewhinetirade*

Heh, the thing with the Doctor and Sexy is perfect.
 
AND I AM HERE AND I HAVE WATCHED ALL OF NEW WHO AND CAN COMMENT NOW.

Ooookay. Favorite episodes. In general quality terms, Moffat's episodes are all unquestionably brilliant/scary/funny/etc. and kind of inevitably wind up very near the top. But in me-personally-being-personally-me terms, I would have to say Midnight, The Waters of Mars and The End of Time are my top three.

Midnight
is basically ridiculously intense and capitalizes on fear of the unknown like nobody's business. It takes a situation that seems really innocuous on paper ("Their bus crashes on an alien planet, and suddenly one of the passengers starts to repeat everything they say! Oh no!") and makes it so creepy I didn't properly recover for several minutes afterwards. The atmosphere gets increasingly claustrophobic, you have absolutely no idea what the hell this thing is or what it's trying to do or what's going to happen next, and the people on the bus are a scarily perfect representation of how real frightened people might act in a situation like this; of all Doctor Who episodes this one might have felt the most psychologically real. And the sheer effort that must have gone into the acting is ridiculous.

But most of all, I love David Tennant once he gets frozen and starts repeating, because somehow despite that he is frozen in place and can't speak except in droned repetitions of what everyone else is saying, you can still practically hear the Doctor screaming for help behind it.

The Waters of Mars
may be my absolute favorite for several reasons. For one, Adelaide Brooke is all kinds of epic; second, everyone is making heroic sacrifices and having families they leave behind and it's all awww depressing (I like that, okay), and finally and most importantly, the Doctor going through all the agony of not being able to save people and actually cracking under the pressure and deciding he'll save them anyway and having that intense little fit of megalomania when he seemingly succeeds at defying the laws he's always taken for granted and then it all goes horribly wrong and he's all psychologically tortured about it. :D

And The End of Time,
though things bug me about it (especially, as Dannichu mentioned, the bit where they randomly have Donna in it even though she ends up not doing anything), has Ten being ridiculously afraid of dying which is just the best thing ever. And he considers using a gun (I DON'T KNOW WHY I HAVE A THING FOR THE DOCTOR POINTING A GUN AT PEOPLE BUT FOR SOME NONSENSICAL REASON I DO). And he crashes through a class roof and gets all cut! And then just when he thinks he's survived he hears Wilfred knocking and launches into a completely adorable desperate I-don't-want-to-die rant but then does it anyway and is curled up in horrible pain and then says goodbye to everyone and goes to regenerate and still doesn't want to go and did I mention the part where it's the best thing ever?

I also love Gridlock because kitties and everyone is adorable and it's all heartwarming and hopeful and delightful. (I'm not always horribly morbid and depressing, shut up.)

If you couldn't tell I think I'm ever so slightly a Ten fangirl, largely because he's the one that's all terrified of dying and adorable, and he is my favorite Doctor. Eleven is amazing and hilarious but spends nearly all of his time in the same eccentric ultra-quirky mood which is wonderful but just doesn't press my fangirlbuttons. My feelings about Nine are kind of similar, but I actually really liked Nine in Dalek because the unnervingly murderous desperation with which he rants at the Dalek ("Why won't you just die?!") was pretty interesting. So right now I actually think Eleven is my least favorite Doctor but that kind of breaks my heart because he is adorable and hilarious and completely lovable and also has intriguing moments. I'm just still waiting for him to get an episode where he seems really compelling to me. Which I really want him to because his series has all sorts of awesome episodes and really interesting plot stuff and I want to be able to properly fangirl it as much as Ten's series, damn it.

I really don't know what my least favorite episodes are. Love & Monsters was really weird, but I didn't exactly hate it;
the main character was pretty adorable (and reminded me very amusingly of Billy in Doctor Horrible) and it had some genuinely funny moments and the idea of this geeky club gathering around the mystery of the Doctor that then just turns into a group of good friends is pretty much the most adorable heartwarming thing ever. But then it had the Absorbaloff which was just terribly silly and it was so pointlessly depressing (oh, hey, let's kill off all the adorable friends and leave one living as a face in a pavement slab without it properly raising the stakes or making any kind of point at all!) and everyone was acting so idiotically (let's not notice how everyone who stays behind with Mr. Obviously Evil mysteriously disappears!) and guh. I didn't dislike it so much as just puzzle over it.
Most of the other episodes mentioned in this thread as least favorites didn't strike me as that bad. Aliens of London/World War Three get several minus points just for the embarrassing amount of fart jokes, but then again Harriet Jones makes them totally worth it. The Long Game wasn't very interesting, I guess (I actually had to look it up on Wikipedia before I even remembered what it was about). The Idiot's Lantern didn't really captivate me either time I watched it. I actually didn't really mind the Daleks in Manhattan two-parter; it wasn't especially compelling and the Human Dalek looked kind of silly but I liked some of the ideas in it, and I'm still giggling at Andrew Garfield being in it. Planet of the Dead... is a pretty good candidate, actually; it had way too many plots running and none of them were very interesting.

So! Time for series six speculation.
I still think River was the Astronaut - a future River. Reason? Mainly, that I just rewatched The Impossible Astronaut and noticed River saying something like "There's a much worse day coming for me." She recognized herself somehow - perhaps by realizing the space suit was impervious to bullets when she was shooting at it, and thereby realizing it was her own funky alien space suit. I know this sounds completely crazy because she was imprisoned in the past and everything but I'm really convinced she killed him, Amy's daughter or not.

Finally, can I just say that I love Rory? If he weren't already married to Amy I would marry him. Through the fourth wall. (Shadey doesn't mind.)
 
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