Doctor Who thread II: "I should have a hat like that." [SPOILERS]

[ShortOne]

Attention Craig fans: James Corden plays the comic relief in the new Three Musketeers movie.

Also, apparently the hot blonde chick was one of the vampires in The Vampires of Venice.

Ahhhh CRAIG

He and the 6-Fingered Man make that movie almost desirable.

[Androgeus]

The new adventure game is out, if anyone was interested. It's free so I don't see why not.

[Tono]

So, just caught up, (Got busy) but when the doctor gave his age at lake Silencio he said 1103. Was he being serious that we missed ~200 years of the Doctor, or was he giving himself some lee-way to 'live' after he got 'killed'.
Or does this fall into the We-don't-know-yet/Not even the doctor actually knows his age categories?

[Weezer]

So, just caught up, (Got busy) but when the doctor gave his age at lake Silencio he said 1103. Was he being serious that we missed ~200 years of the Doctor, or was he giving himself some lee-way to 'live' after he got 'killed'.
Or does this fall into the We-don't-know-yet/Not even the doctor actually knows his age categories?

Yup, we missed 200 years of his life. It was strongly implied that between dropping Amy/Rory off at the end of God Complex and the beginning of Closing Time he spent a long time, around 200 years, doing a farewell tour, seeing all the things he needed to see before he died.

[Kato]

Nothing important but littleDoctor Who omage from Greg Dean. Kind of nice I guess.

[Tiki Snakes]

So, just caught up, (Got busy) but when the doctor gave his age at lake Silencio he said 1103. Was he being serious that we missed ~200 years of the Doctor, or was he giving himself some lee-way to 'live' after he got 'killed'.
Or does this fall into the We-don't-know-yet/Not even the doctor actually knows his age categories?

Rule no.1; The Doctor Lies.
We may never know for sure.

[Androgeus]

Rule no.1; The Doctor Lies.
We may never know for sure.

I was about to say he has no real reason to lie about his age, but then remembered he's doing that already.
Also it's not like the doctor hasn't had adventures and such we haven't seen before, end of time part 1 for instance.

[Thufir]

So a friend of mine just linked this on facebook.

[Tono]

Well, yes he has adventures we don't see, just by what he mentions on screen we should all know that, 200 years just seemed to be kind of a huge jump for this series. And, he didn't seem to age at all while other things in this series seem to age him. Just checking to see if I missed something that he said that would give a reason for him to lie.

[Sanguine]

Well, yes he has adventures we don't see, just by what he mentions on screen we should all know that, 200 years just seemed to be kind of a huge jump for this series. And, he didn't seem to age at all while other things in this series seem to age him. Just checking to see if I missed something that he said that would give a reason for him to lie.

He grows facial hair. That is the only visual sign of time passing that I can remember. It is also easily explained by shaving. Well there's also the First Doctor dying of old age, but that seems to be a quirk of the first incarnation.

[BRC]

Well, yes he has adventures we don't see, just by what he mentions on screen we should all know that, 200 years just seemed to be kind of a huge jump for this series. And, he didn't seem to age at all while other things in this series seem to age him. Just checking to see if I missed something that he said that would give a reason for him to lie.

It's also very convenient for him to spread that lie. If the point was to fake his death, he spreads the word that he spent "200 years" running around the Universe.

Now he can keep having adventures after Lake Silencio, and the Silence will think their trapped worked, assuming that his appearances took place during those 200 years (On his timeline).

[Thufir]

It's also very convenient for him to spread that lie. If the point was to fake his death, he spreads the word that he spent "200 years" running around the Universe.

Except at that point he still thought he was actually going to die, so I'm inclined to believe it was genuine.

[Dienekes]

So a friend of mine just linked this on facebook.

Well that was fun.

[Kato]

Except at that point he still thought he was actually going to die, so I'm inclined to believe it was genuine.

Hm... dunno, whar point was that? He knew it was the Tessalecta fairly early... form hi persepective, or that there would maybe be another way out... he's the Doctor after all.

[Weezer]

Hm... dunno, whar point was that? He knew it was the Tessalecta fairly early... form hi persepective, or that there would maybe be another way out... he's the Doctor after all.

I thought he didn't switch with the tesselecta until just before the events of Marriage of River Song? In that episode he's shown in a flashback to ask the tessalecta people for their help while wearing the stetson, thus placing it after the events o Closing Time. So it wasn't until that moment that he knew there was a way out of it.

[Androgeus]

I just remebered that we may actually see some of what the doctor was doing in the 200 year gap at the start of the series. All that waving from history stuff was ment to take place then. (the 1103/teselecta Doctor mentions it, but 907 doesn't).

[Nai_Calus]

So a friend of mine just linked this on facebook.

Just when I thought nothing could make me crack up more than the other one...

[Kato]

Oh, right, he said so in closing time... uhm... yeah, good question... maybe he did have some plan anyway? Okay, I don't know... or maybe he lied for the sake of it? Or he said the truth. Period. Man, I wish it was Christmas...

[Lord Raziere]

Just watched the Marriage of River Song

YES! I knew it! He found a way! Well done! It made me actually think he was going to die! Yet I KNEW it! Awesome.

[Suichimo]

This brings up the big question I have about next season. What hat is The Doctor going to wear?

At first I thought it would be something like a sombrero, but that's a little too close to the Stetson. My money is currently on a Bowler, but I'm personally hoping for one of those big furry Russian hats.

Oh, its gotta be a bowler after his appearance on LLS, actually a day after you posted this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_TVW7gw0e8

[Dr. Simon]

Continuing my plan to post what I think to be the highlights of every season of Doctor Who, old and new.

For each series I choose 2 or 3 of what I consider to be the best stories, and a selection of also-rans. "Stories" may comprise any number of actual episodes (somewhere between 1-14, typically 4 or 6). Older Who is nearly always episodic, with NuWho most episodes are self-contained. Feel free to expand on my brief comments, agree, disagree etc. This is, after all, purely subjective.

First Doctor

Spoiler

Show

Season One
Season Two
Season Three

Second Doctor

Spoiler

Show

Season Three
Season Four
Season Five
Season Six

Third Doctor

Spoiler

Show

Season Seven
Season Eight (1971)
Season Nine

Season Ten (1972-1973)
Third Doctor/Jo

Hard to believe by the time you get to this point that the series has already been running ten years, hence the inclusion of the Three Doctors special. After the dip of last season, things pick up again for Pertwee's Doctor, now into his fourth year in the role.

Carnival Of Monsters – a piece of whimsy, really, but no worse for that. Leslie Dwyer's cynical showman Vorg is the best turn, but all the guests turn in nice performances. Okay, the monsters (drashigs and plesiosaur) aren’t very convincing, but it is Doctor Who.

Frontier In Space – a good, solid bit of space opera with a pleasingly sprawling storyline and convincing aliens. As with most Pertwee six-parters it feels a bit padded by endless escapes, captures and Venusian karate, but there are some great moments such as the prison colony on the Moon and some nice interaction between the Doctor and Jo.

Honourable Mentions
The Three Doctors – good to see the Doctors interact, and some interesting Time Lord backstory, but it fails to fulfil its potential, coming across as a bit insubstantial (like Omega himself). Unusually for a Pertwee story, you wish this was a six-parter.

The Green Death – often cited as a fan favourite, and probably freaky if you don’t like maggots but for me there was never much sense of threat. Nice, for a change, though, to get a convincing build-up to a companion leaving.

[Fortuna]

AAARRGH!

Well. I have now seen the Wedding of River Song (cursed mutter mutter River Song), and I have to say that this is the first of the finales that I just didn't like. Honestly, the high point for me was live chess. I'm getting sick of the universe needing saving and time blowing up and the doctor being the centrepoint and yes he's dead and no he's not and AAAAARGGH!

I'm really, really glad that, going by the end of the episode, we'll be seeing a lower-profile doctor now, just to have less of that stuff. I'm significantly less glad that the Doctor is going to make reality blow up at least one more time, but hopefully we'll have some good, solid episodes between now and then. Maybe even more Craig! Craig is awesome. Shush, too, is awesome. The universe collapsing yet again? Boring and humdrum.

EDIT: Looking back over what Moffat has written, I can't help but feel that he has deteriorated. The Empty Child was great, a serious contender for best of NuWho season 1. The Girl in the Fireplace was likewise brilliant. Blink? Marvellous. Time Crash was adorable. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead was alright, although it could have been better. The Eleventh Hour was a bit iffy, though good. But this last season... Let's Kill Hitler was, IMHO, far from spectacular, and my thoughts on the latest are above. A Good Man Goes to War I liked except for mutter mutter River Song (who admittedly probably colours my perception a bit), and The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon were neat, but that's a far higher miss ratio than ever before. So... yeah. I'm less convinced about Moffat than ever.

On an unrelated note, I want more of psychopath Melody. Psychopath Melody was awesome.

[comicshorse]

The Green Death – often cited as a fan favourite, and probably freaky if you don’t like maggots but for me there was never much sense of threat. Nice, for a change, though, to get a convincing build-up to a companion leaving.

The source of more than one childhood nightmare for me

[Weezer]

AAARRGH!

Well. I have now seen the Wedding of River Song (cursed mutter mutter River Song), and I have to say that this is the first of the finales that I just didn't like. Honestly, the high point for me was live chess. I'm getting sick of the universe needing saving and time blowing up and the doctor being the centrepoint and yes he's dead and no he's not and AAAAARGGH!

I'm really, really glad that, going by the end of the episode, we'll be seeing a lower-profile doctor now, just to have less of that stuff. I'm significantly less glad that the Doctor is going to make reality blow up at least one more time, but hopefully we'll have some good, solid episodes between now and then. Maybe even more Craig! Craig is awesome. Shush, too, is awesome. The universe collapsing yet again? Boring and humdrum.

EDIT: Looking back over what Moffat has written, I can't help but feel that he has deteriorated. The Empty Child was great, a serious contender for best of NuWho season 1. The Girl in the Fireplace was likewise brilliant. Blink? Marvellous. Time Crash was adorable. Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead was alright, although it could have been better. The Eleventh Hour was a bit iffy, though good. But this last season... Let's Kill Hitler was, IMHO, far from spectacular, and my thoughts on the latest are above. A Good Man Goes to War I liked except for mutter mutter River Song (who admittedly probably colours my perception a bit), and The Impossible Astronaut and Day of the Moon were neat, but that's a far higher miss ratio than ever before. So... yeah. I'm less convinced about Moffat than ever.

On an unrelated note, I want more of psychopath Melody. Psychopath Melody was awesome.

The thing I've noticed about Moffat (and this is a thread I've seen beyond his writing for Doctor Who, a lot in Jekyll and a little in Sherlock) is that he is really bad at resolution. He excels at building up a intricate plot that is revealed bit by bit to the audience and everything leading up to the climax leaves you wanting more, to know what is going on and why. However, when the reveal happens it tends to fall flat. This is very apparent in season 6 because in a sense the whole season is the reveal and climax of the River arch and it really emphasizes how bad Moffat is at this kind of thing. Even in his earlier two-parters this can be seen, it was the beginning and middle of Empty Child/Doctor Dances that was so great, the ending not so much (it wasn't bad per say, just not as good as the rest).

Despite all of this I think he is my second favorite TV scriptwriter (coming in a bit behind Sorkin and a little before Whedon), mostly because of his impeccable use of foreshadowing and how he treats his audience like intelligent adults. You don't have the trend of modern TV that avoids complexity because it is too confusing, Moffat embraces complexity and revels in laying a baffling network of red herrings, foreshadowing and false trails for the viewership to chew on.

[Kobold-Bard]

Looks like they're planning a Dr. Who film.

Just thought people should know.

[comicshorse]

I'm not sure wether to be horrified or elated

[Dienekes]

Looks like they're planning a Dr. Who film.

Just thought people should know.

Well let's see directed by the guy who did those Potter movies (remarkably average direction all told)
Without the official actors in the show
Without writers from the show

I'm leaning more toward horrified.

[dehro]

yeah...I've seen the american film...with eric roberts


I'm scared now.

[One Tin Soldier]

According to the Doctor Who magazine, the whole thing is just a rumor. Nothing to freak out about.

[Weezer]

This is the most worrying line of the whole thing:
'It needs quite a radical transformation to take it into the bigger arena.'


No, Doctor Who does not need a radical transformation. Not by any stretch of the imagination.