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

[Androgeus]

New idea for 50th anniversary

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[legomaster00156]

Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels. Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels. Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels. Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels.

Are they trying to remove my ability to sleep?

[Thufir]

Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels. Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels. Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels. Vashta Nerada. Weeping Angels.

Are they trying to remove my ability to sleep?

If by 'they', you mean 'Steven Moffat', then yes. Yes he is.

[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

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Season One (1963-1964)
Season Two (1964-1965)
Season Three (1965-1966)

Second Doctor

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Season Three (1965-1966)
Season Four (1966-1967)
Season Five (1967-1968)
Season Six (1968-1969)

Third Doctor

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Season Seven (1970)
Season Eight (1971)
Season Nine (1972)
Season Ten (1972-1973)
Season Eleven (1973-1974)

Fourth Doctor

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Season Twelve (1974-1975)

The second season to feature Tom Baker is a pretty solid one, with the production team of Hinchcliffe and Holmes firing on all cylinders, and a strong acting team of Baker and Liz Sladen (Ian Marter as Harry drops out after the first story, which in some ways is a shame as he's a fun character but also probably for the best as I can see that the writers would have had a harder and harder time of giving him something worthwhile to do).

This season borrows liberally from the horror genre, particularly the gothic end of the pool, creating the kind of story that would come to characterise the Tom Baker era, and which Davies and Moffat would both draw upon heavily in the revived era.

Season Thirteen (1975-1976)
Fourth Doctor/Sarah-Jane/Harry

Terror Of The Zygons – Admittedly, the Skarasen isn’t a very convincing special effect, but I simply love the Zygon’s organic technology, where the controls are sphincters and suckered tentacles that are squeezed and caressed to operate them. That, alone, is worth the price of admission.

Pyramids of Mars – pretty archetypal of this era of Doctor Who. Gothic mansions, aliens and robots that imitate mythological beings, somewhat incomprehensible backstory; rightfully a classic.

Honourable Mentions
The Brain of Morbius – a fan favourite, but I thought it too obviously “borrowed” from James Whale’s Frankenstein movie (monster, castle, lightning, blind girl, mad scientist...). Also disappointing for obscure personal reasons – when I was small, me and my cousin found that if you put a boiled sweet on an open fire it would split open and release bubbling goo in a gruesome fashion. My cousin christened this effect “The Brain of Morbius”. When I finally watched this episode, I was hoping for a similar effect to happen. It didn’t. I must have words with my cousin.

Seeds of Doom – I like the “Antarctic” section which then segues back to England, and the slightly camp and creepy villain is a good role, but the ending is un-Who-like. The Doctor, give up and let the military handle things with an airstrike? I don’t think so.

[zingbat]

Also, as to the forest not being there if they opened the gift on christmas day as intended, I think people are missing the most obvious explanation. The Doctor didn't know about the acid rain.
I mean, come on, this is the Doctor we're talking about. He's haphazard about these things. When he first took Lily through he said "This is one of the safest planets I know! Nothing ever happens here!" Pretty sure the forest being destroyed by acid would have fallen into the category of something happening there.

As Rory so astutely suggested, "You should look in a history book once in awhile, see if there's an outbreak of plague or not!"

[Kato]

As Rory so astutely suggested, "You should look in a history book once in awhile, see if there's an outbreak of plague or not!"

Really, he can't memorize thousands of years of history on thousands of planets... and this was pretty much a harvest for humans...

[Weezer]

Really, he can't memorize thousands of years of history on thousands of planets... and this was pretty much a harvest for humans...

Exactly, I doubt that this would pop up in history books any more than logging does. It's not like the Doctor should know every agricultural endeavour throughout time and space.

[chiasaur11]

As Rory so astutely suggested, "You should look in a history book once in awhile, see if there's an outbreak of plague or not!"

He probably doesn't have history books anymore.

Threw them out for disagreeing with him.

[Weezer]

He probably doesn't have history books anymore.

Threw them out for disagreeing with him.

There certainly are precedents for this to happen, Baker on a few occasions threw out books for being "wrong".

[chiasaur11]

There certainly are precedents for this to happen, Baker on a few occasions threw out books for being "wrong".

Smith did it with the TARDIS instruction manual.

[NikitaDarkstar]

I'm probably a bit late in to comment on the christmas special, especially since I don't come to this thread nearly often enough, but I kind of want to vent a little.

Warning. Contains strong opinions and rants. Please don't read if you're easily offended.

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So my overall impression of this episode goes quite well with my impression of most of season six, "bland" and "boring" (with a couple of exceptions). The Doctor keeps getting dumber and dumber, the "plots" make less and less sense (I barely want to call this a plot anymore) and the humor is groan worthy at best.
As several others in here I suspend a lot of disbelief when watching Doctor Who, cause he it's Doctor Who so the surviving space thing doesn't bother me (fairly certain some episode somewhere pointed out that time lords can survive space for 20 minutes, so ok.) and the tardis has the uncanny ability to show up near the Doctor so I'm good with that. But still, falling to Earth from space? Space suit or not and velocity or not he should have bounced back out or burnt in the atmosphere, and yes that bugged me. Especially since the entire opening made no sense and had little to no connection to the rest of the episode, especially if you hadn't seen the prequel. It would have been better to just skip that part.

Also another thing that annoyed me was how and why the Doctor just randomly showed up at the mansion. While whimsical he usually has SOME reason for showing up somewhere around specific people, especially when traveling without a companion, and you usually get some sort of explanation, even if it's not about saving the universe. Add the whole "I know!" thing on top and I was ready to strangle someone. (Yes eleven is whimsical and childish, but this? No.)

So now we have a 1940's mom who's first reaction is to go "angel" when finding a man in a crater (wouldn't "nazi!" been more appropriate considering the time period and all the propaganda going around?), who apparently can't drive a car to save her life but always carries a gun with her (just in case?) that turns into wonder woman or something when her kids are in danger (granted people do crazy stuff for their kids) and learns to operate equipment that's 4 millennia into her future?

We also got a time and space traveling portal-gift-thing for some odd reason. Wouldn't it have been easier to just gift wrap the tardis than rewire it? And safer? (a portal can close at random but if you bring the tardis you at least have the tardis)

And for some reason the trees kept growing fruits even after the king was "born"? Why? And why make such a big deal out of the fruits growing super fast when someone brushes against the trees? It made me expect some sort of nasty infection/parasite/whatever that hunts stuff that lives in the forest. But nope, all trees grow shiny fruit to produce ONE king when someone touches a tree. Yhea that makes sense. About as much sense as trying to lure someone into a tower in the middle of nowhere in a completely uninhabited forest. Bonus points for that someone having to be female. If there's no one around there's no one to lure into a tower, get to walk all the way up to the top, get them to sit down and then accept a crown is there? Wouldn't it have been easier to just try a hostile take-over of the next harvesting ship and it's crew?

Oh and yhea trees have also completely at random learned how to grow time-machines now! Distant cousins to whatever plants the tardises grew from on Gallifrey I guess? Distant but obviously far more advanced since they dind't need and of that silly technology the time lords put in to the tardis! But why? Why would a forest that just wants to survive by escaping an acid rain grow a time-machine?

As for the dad surviving? I didn't like it, but it's a Christmas special for a show aimed at kids so it's not unexpected, Christmas miracles and all that.

But all in all it feels like Moffat doesn't really care anymore. It feels rushed, not very well thought through and when he does think things through he over thinks and builds towards massive climaxes that just ends up feeling a bit disappointing because they get to hyped up and he can't deliver as much as people expects. (honestly I don't think previous writers would have been able to either, but they mostly went for shorter arcs which felt like it worked better expectation wise) No he needs to focus on one of the shows he works for and let someone else take the other one over so we don't get more bland, half-hearted episodes like this one.

Also no matter what I said here I do love Doctor Who, I really do, I'm just getting a bit sick of the current setup for the show.

And on a lighter note I have wanted to throw manuals into supernovas on several occasions and if I had had the chance I would have. I mean come on how often are they helpful anyway? :p

[Dr. Simon]

There certainly are precedents for this to happen, Baker on a few occasions threw out books for being "wrong".

Notably Oolon Colluphid's "On the Origins of the Universe" which, apparently, is wrong from the first line (Destiny of the Daleks. Guess which script editor added that particular reference...)

[turkishproverb]

Smith did it with the TARDIS instruction manual.

One of the doctors did it. Smith just mentioned it.

[Terry576]

Going back on something, I think he does have thousands of years of history stored in his head. In the Water of Mars, the Doctor memorized every single date those people lived or died, and they changed at the end of the episode.

It's most likely that he has a timeline of events inside his mind, a chronological order of big events in time, and him not noticing the time where a planet had all the forests burned by acid rain is rather odd.

Now excuse me I just finished End of Time (Part 2) and now I need to go and cry quietly before sucking up and watching series five.

[Nightmarenny]

I'm probably a bit late in to comment on the christmas special, especially since I don't come to this thread nearly often enough, but I kind of want to vent a little.

Warning. Contains strong opinions and rants. Please don't read if you're easily offended.

Spoiler

Show

So my overall impression of this episode goes quite well with my impression of most of season six, "bland" and "boring" (with a couple of exceptions). The Doctor keeps getting dumber and dumber, the "plots" make less and less sense (I barely want to call this a plot anymore) and the humor is groan worthy at best.
As several others in here I suspend a lot of disbelief when watching Doctor Who, cause he it's Doctor Who so the surviving space thing doesn't bother me (fairly certain some episode somewhere pointed out that time lords can survive space for 20 minutes, so ok.) and the tardis has the uncanny ability to show up near the Doctor so I'm good with that. But still, falling to Earth from space? Space suit or not and velocity or not he should have bounced back out or burnt in the atmosphere, and yes that bugged me. Especially since the entire opening made no sense and had little to no connection to the rest of the episode, especially if you hadn't seen the prequel. It would have been better to just skip that part.

Also another thing that annoyed me was how and why the Doctor just randomly showed up at the mansion. While whimsical he usually has SOME reason for showing up somewhere around specific people, especially when traveling without a companion, and you usually get some sort of explanation, even if it's not about saving the universe. Add the whole "I know!" thing on top and I was ready to strangle someone. (Yes eleven is whimsical and childish, but this? No.)

So now we have a 1940's mom who's first reaction is to go "angel" when finding a man in a crater (wouldn't "nazi!" been more appropriate considering the time period and all the propaganda going around?), who apparently can't drive a car to save her life but always carries a gun with her (just in case?) that turns into wonder woman or something when her kids are in danger (granted people do crazy stuff for their kids) and learns to operate equipment that's 4 millennia into her future?

We also got a time and space traveling portal-gift-thing for some odd reason. Wouldn't it have been easier to just gift wrap the tardis than rewire it? And safer? (a portal can close at random but if you bring the tardis you at least have the tardis)

And for some reason the trees kept growing fruits even after the king was "born"? Why? And why make such a big deal out of the fruits growing super fast when someone brushes against the trees? It made me expect some sort of nasty infection/parasite/whatever that hunts stuff that lives in the forest. But nope, all trees grow shiny fruit to produce ONE king when someone touches a tree. Yhea that makes sense. About as much sense as trying to lure someone into a tower in the middle of nowhere in a completely uninhabited forest. Bonus points for that someone having to be female. If there's no one around there's no one to lure into a tower, get to walk all the way up to the top, get them to sit down and then accept a crown is there? Wouldn't it have been easier to just try a hostile take-over of the next harvesting ship and it's crew?

Oh and yhea trees have also completely at random learned how to grow time-machines now! Distant cousins to whatever plants the tardises grew from on Gallifrey I guess? Distant but obviously far more advanced since they dind't need and of that silly technology the time lords put in to the tardis! But why? Why would a forest that just wants to survive by escaping an acid rain grow a time-machine?

As for the dad surviving? I didn't like it, but it's a Christmas special for a show aimed at kids so it's not unexpected, Christmas miracles and all that.

But all in all it feels like Moffat doesn't really care anymore. It feels rushed, not very well thought through and when he does think things through he over thinks and builds towards massive climaxes that just ends up feeling a bit disappointing because they get to hyped up and he can't deliver as much as people expects. (honestly I don't think previous writers would have been able to either, but they mostly went for shorter arcs which felt like it worked better expectation wise) No he needs to focus on one of the shows he works for and let someone else take the other one over so we don't get more bland, half-hearted episodes like this one.

Also no matter what I said here I do love Doctor Who, I really do, I'm just getting a bit sick of the current setup for the show.

And on a lighter note I have wanted to throw manuals into supernovas on several occasions and if I had had the chance I would have. I mean come on how often are they helpful anyway? :p

I haven't seen the christmas special but I've heard it was pretty lackluster, I have to disagree about Season Six. I really loved it. Though I like River Song. I'd be interested to hear your evidence for the Doctor getting dumb.

[Sunken Valley]

I'm probably a bit late in to comment on the christmas special, especially since I don't come to this thread nearly often enough, but I kind of want to vent a little.

Warning. Contains strong opinions and rants. Please don't read if you're easily offended.

Spoiler

Show

So my overall impression of this episode goes quite well with my impression of most of season six, "bland" and "boring" (with a couple of exceptions). The Doctor keeps getting dumber and dumber, the "plots" make less and less sense (I barely want to call this a plot anymore) and the humor is groan worthy at best.
As several others in here I suspend a lot of disbelief when watching Doctor Who, cause he it's Doctor Who so the surviving space thing doesn't bother me (fairly certain some episode somewhere pointed out that time lords can survive space for 20 minutes, so ok.) and the tardis has the uncanny ability to show up near the Doctor so I'm good with that. But still, falling to Earth from space? Space suit or not and velocity or not he should have bounced back out or burnt in the atmosphere, and yes that bugged me. Especially since the entire opening made no sense and had little to no connection to the rest of the episode, especially if you hadn't seen the prequel. It would have been better to just skip that part.

Also another thing that annoyed me was how and why the Doctor just randomly showed up at the mansion. While whimsical he usually has SOME reason for showing up somewhere around specific people, especially when traveling without a companion, and you usually get some sort of explanation, even if it's not about saving the universe. Add the whole "I know!" thing on top and I was ready to strangle someone. (Yes eleven is whimsical and childish, but this? No.)

So now we have a 1940's mom who's first reaction is to go "angel" when finding a man in a crater (wouldn't "nazi!" been more appropriate considering the time period and all the propaganda going around?), who apparently can't drive a car to save her life but always carries a gun with her (just in case?) that turns into wonder woman or something when her kids are in danger (granted people do crazy stuff for their kids) and learns to operate equipment that's 4 millennia into her future?

We also got a time and space traveling portal-gift-thing for some odd reason. Wouldn't it have been easier to just gift wrap the tardis than rewire it? And safer? (a portal can close at random but if you bring the tardis you at least have the tardis)

And for some reason the trees kept growing fruits even after the king was "born"? Why? And why make such a big deal out of the fruits growing super fast when someone brushes against the trees? It made me expect some sort of nasty infection/parasite/whatever that hunts stuff that lives in the forest. But nope, all trees grow shiny fruit to produce ONE king when someone touches a tree. Yhea that makes sense. About as much sense as trying to lure someone into a tower in the middle of nowhere in a completely uninhabited forest. Bonus points for that someone having to be female. If there's no one around there's no one to lure into a tower, get to walk all the way up to the top, get them to sit down and then accept a crown is there? Wouldn't it have been easier to just try a hostile take-over of the next harvesting ship and it's crew?

Oh and yhea trees have also completely at random learned how to grow time-machines now! Distant cousins to whatever plants the tardises grew from on Gallifrey I guess? Distant but obviously far more advanced since they dind't need and of that silly technology the time lords put in to the tardis! But why? Why would a forest that just wants to survive by escaping an acid rain grow a time-machine?

As for the dad surviving? I didn't like it, but it's a Christmas special for a show aimed at kids so it's not unexpected, Christmas miracles and all that.

But all in all it feels like Moffat doesn't really care anymore. It feels rushed, not very well thought through and when he does think things through he over thinks and builds towards massive climaxes that just ends up feeling a bit disappointing because they get to hyped up and he can't deliver as much as people expects. (honestly I don't think previous writers would have been able to either, but they mostly went for shorter arcs which felt like it worked better expectation wise) No he needs to focus on one of the shows he works for and let someone else take the other one over so we don't get more bland, half-hearted episodes like this one.

Also no matter what I said here I do love Doctor Who, I really do, I'm just getting a bit sick of the current setup for the show.

And on a lighter note I have wanted to throw manuals into supernovas on several occasions and if I had had the chance I would have. I mean come on how often are they helpful anyway? :p

Clap Clap Clap. Goody, another supporter of the "Moffat's ruining it" club. Remember, I started it (at least in this thread).

In the meantime I have been watching Sherlock (which is written by Moffat, Gattis and the man who did the pirate episode) and I have come to a diagnosis. A diagnosis which shows why Doctor Who is waning in greatness and what distinguishes the "big three" (Doctor's Wife, God Complex and Girl Who Waited) from other eps. Find out...on tuesday.

[NikitaDarkstar]

I haven't seen the christmas special but I've heard it was pretty lackluster, I have to disagree about Season Six. I really loved it. Though I like River Song. I'd be interested to hear your evidence for the Doctor getting dumb.

Lets say it feels like he hit his head on something while regenerating into 11th.

The Doctor has had a family in the past (yes that's a fact), 10th seemed to have quite a way with women (weather he realized it or not.), 11th? Clueless. (Except appereantly with babies...)

The Doctor has had experience with the military before and coming up with at the very least decent strategies, 11th? Well while "a Good man goes to war" was an episode that certainly looked good it lacked a few things in planning.

Generally forgetting to check obvious things, especially when taking people on trips who normally aren't his companions. (Is this planet safe the day I want to take them there?) Yes the Doctor has always been a bit reckless, it's part of his charm. But 11th feels more like "oups, forgot that." rather than "well that would take the fun out of it!" when it comes down to it.

Forgets things that were established as fact and/or "common" knowledge (the Doctor thought it was anyway...) by his previous regenerations. Including his previous new!who regenerations. (Look I don't except them to keep track of everything that's happened in the past +40 years, that's absurd, but I don't think it's to much to ask that they keep track of things that's happened during the modern era of the show.)

Now sure he has some utterly amazing moments, I won't deny that. (I absolutely loved "the Doctors wife" myself.) And I admit that my burning hatred toward River Song has left me with a bad taste in my mouth after season 6, but there is something strange going on when all the best episodes of the season were NOT written by Moffat (not all the episodes I found best, all the episodes that's gotten the best reviews.) and his writing does end up making the Doctor look... well not nearly as clever as he thinks he is. I also think that part of the issue for me is that it seems like he's always outsmarted by River Song, something that doesn't sit well with me when the Doctor is known for being possibly one of the smartest people around, yet each and every time River Song outdoes him, making him look worse.

I don't mind Matt Smith as the Doctor, he's not a bad actor, and he's clearly not trying to fill David Tennants shoes, and he wouldn't have gotten the role if he didn't know what he was doing, but to me it feels like he doesn't get enough to work with to actually make it look good when Moffat is writing.

And yes these are obviously my own personal opinions and feelings, you may obviously not agree with me, and I might not have been able to elaborate nearly as well as I should have, or go back to look over old episodes to point out exactly what bothered me when and why, but, well school starts in 40 minutes :p . But if you absolutely want me to I an do so when I got a little bit more time on my hands.

[Terry576]

My main problem currently (Series 5, Episode 10), is that all the companions wear modern clothes everywhere.

Seriously. 13th Century Venice? EH MINISKIRT AND FISHNETS

Meeting Van Gogh? MINISKIRT AND FISHNETS ALL DAY ERRYDAY

I liked that Rose and Donna always got all dressed up and fancy for earlier time periods if the regular outfit wouldn't work. Why does Amy seem perfectly chill with her Miniskirt and Fishnets and modern clothing in like the twelfth century?


It's also really bothering me that the Doctor hasn't mentioned Rose or Donna, who were, respectively, someone he really, really loved and his 'best friend'. He's lost someone who was basically the love of his tenth regeneration, and memory-wiped his best friend, and he doesn't seem to care.

What really annoyed me a lot was that they don't do enough seriousness with Eleven. I've laughed a lot, but I laughed at lines that I know, with Nine and Ten, would have been dead serious.

"You're getting married in the morning!" Would have been a serious line with Ten. He would have grabbed Amy's shoulders, and they would have just shown his face as he said that line, and you would know. You would know he wouldn't do it, because he shouldn't do it.

The fact of the matter is, Moffat is trying to reboot the series in the middle of it. That doesn't fly when you start to ignore things that happened to the doctor three, four years ago. He doesn't seem sad at all about anything. He got over the Time War thanks to Rose, but he's far too chipper for someone who lost basically everything a year or two ago.

/rant

[KillianHawkeye]

It's also really bothering me that the Doctor hasn't mentioned Rose or Donna, who were, respectively, someone he really, really loved and his 'best friend'. He's lost someone who was basically the love of his tenth regeneration, and memory-wiped his best friend, and he doesn't seem to care.

What really annoyed me a lot was that they don't do enough seriousness with Eleven. I've laughed a lot, but I laughed at lines that I know, with Nine and Ten, would have been dead serious.

"You're getting married in the morning!" Would have been a serious line with Ten. He would have grabbed Amy's shoulders, and they would have just shown his face as he said that line, and you would know. You would know he wouldn't do it, because he shouldn't do it.

The fact of the matter is, Moffat is trying to reboot the series in the middle of it. That doesn't fly when you start to ignore things that happened to the doctor three, four years ago. He doesn't seem sad at all about anything. He got over the Time War thanks to Rose, but he's far too chipper for someone who lost basically everything a year or two ago.

/rant

I will say that they do get mentioned later on. If not in series 5, definitely in series 6.

I'll also say that you've hit on one of the defining personality traits of Eleven. He doesn't feel the same way about Rose and Donna because he is a different guy now. Or at least, he keeps those feelings hidden much better now. It's all in the past to Eleven, and not as fresh as it was to Ten who lived through it all. In general, Eleven doesn't get anywhere near as emotional as Ten did, about anything. He's too busy being a mad man with a box to look back and see all the terrible scars from his past lives.

[turkishproverb]

Now excuse me I just finished End of Time (Part 2) and now I need to go and cry quietly before sucking up and watching series five.

Really? that ending had me laughing. It was horrible. Still, to each his own.

[Terry576]

The part where Ten didn't want to go?

The part where he'd lived, and just for a second, a single hopeful second, I thought he would survive?

The part where Wilf knocked?

Pick one.

EDIT: I don't like how River Song Warfs the Doctor by being so 'amazing omg i am the bets'. It gets old fast.

River Song is becoming Wesley Crusher in my head. The writers think she is 'teh bets' and so do the characters but the audience thinks she is a terrible character and also she smells.

[Dr. Simon]

I haven't seen the christmas special but I've heard it was pretty lackluster.

Well... it felt fairly small-scale, but I think that's a critical difference between the Moffat Christmas specials, which so far have been much more about personal issues compared to RTD Christmas specials which were more about Alien Invasions. The level of external threat is quite slight, but that's been true of a large chunk of the Eleventh Doctor's sojourn, I'd say.

[Dr. Simon]

My main problem currently (Series 5, Episode 10), is that all the companions wear modern clothes everywhere.

That's hardly a new issue. Jo Grant was a prime offender for wearing inappropriate clothing, back in the Third Doctor's era. It seems to vary between companions. Ian and Barbara went native at the drop of a hat, and Donna was good at trying to blend in, whereas Romana (in both incarnations, but especially Lalla Ward's version) tended towards the eccentric and outre and Tegan kept her air hostess uniform on for an entire season (smelly!).

[Friv]

That's hardly a new issue. Jo Grant was a prime offender for wearing inappropriate clothing, back in the Third Doctor's era. It seems to vary between companions. Ian and Barbara went native at the drop of a hat, and Donna was good at trying to blend in, whereas Romana (in both incarnations, but especially Lalla Ward's version) tended towards the eccentric and outre and Tegan kept her air hostess uniform on for an entire season (smelly!).

I did really like when Ian put on a kimono (or the Chinese equivalent, but it looked pretty kimonoish, so I'm not sure if that was a research fail on their part or a clothing identification fail on mine) for the Marco Polo episode, and then continued to wear it for the entire Keys of Marinus series in sci-fi spaceland because hell, kimono, why not.

I'm going to resist the urge to launch into another angry rant about Ten's behaviour in End of Time. I will say only that I also cried, but it wasn't because the episode was tugging at my heartstrings, it was because of how awful a sendoff he got.

[Jaros]

The "big three" (Doctor's Wife, God Complex and Girl Who Waited)

You sir. You. I like you. I like the cut of your jib.

What really annoyed me a lot was that they don't do enough seriousness with Eleven. I've laughed a lot, but I laughed at lines that I know, with Nine and Ten, would have been dead serious

I completely agree. I really like Smith when he does serious, but they rarely ever give him the chance.

Actually, I should distinguish I mean serious with good writing: most of his stuff in the Weeping Angels two parter, him in the Doctor's Wife, him in The Girl Who Waited, stuff like that. (Director probably plays a good part in those too actually)

Actually, I think I prefer Smith serious to a good deal of Tenant serious, but perhaps that's because he had a bit too much serious by the end and a lot of the later stuff was kind of over the top and I couldn't get into it.

Edit: Actually, I think Tenant's great at serious with decent writing/directing too, but I think I like him more generally. With Smith, there's usually just one moment or line that just gets me. Right there.

Examples: (not really spoilers, but spoilered anyway)

Spoiler

Show

Asking the Angels why they're doing this, and then his reaction to their line "for fun, sir."

Doctors Wife: "You want to be forgiven, don't you?"
"Doesn't everyone"

God Complex: "You're a muslim"

[Weezer]

That's hardly a new issue. Jo Grant was a prime offender for wearing inappropriate clothing, back in the Third Doctor's era. It seems to vary between companions. Ian and Barbara went native at the drop of a hat, and Donna was good at trying to blend in, whereas Romana (in both incarnations, but especially Lalla Ward's version) tended towards the eccentric and outre and Tegan kept her air hostess uniform on for an entire season (smelly!).

And don't forget Leela, what with wearing barbarian leathers for a good chunk (if not quite all) of her tenure as a companion. Sigh, now I'm nostalgic for companions that the Doctor needs to rein in, I miss her simple, let's just stab everyone solutions.

[Sunken Valley]

You sir. You. I like you. I like the cut of your jib

Say that again. Say that again but add my name to it. I guarantee immortallity if you do.

[Dr. Simon]

And don't forget Leela, what with wearing barbarian leathers for a good chunk (if not quite all) of her tenure as a companion. Sigh, now I'm nostalgic for companions that the Doctor needs to rein in, I miss her simple, let's just stab everyone solutions.

I'll have a few things to say about Leela when I get to those seasons in my Old Who Recommendations posts, but suffice to say I loved how they subverted the usual "assistant in peril" cliffhangers with her. Rather than scream as a monster approached, she'd throw a knife at it and try to tackle it

[Nightmarenny]

My main problem currently (Series 5, Episode 10), is that all the companions wear modern clothes everywhere.

Seriously. 13th Century Venice? EH MINISKIRT AND FISHNETS

Meeting Van Gogh? MINISKIRT AND FISHNETS ALL DAY ERRYDAY

I liked that Rose and Donna always got all dressed up and fancy for earlier time periods if the regular outfit wouldn't work. Why does Amy seem perfectly chill with her Miniskirt and Fishnets and modern clothing in like the twelfth century?


It's also really bothering me that the Doctor hasn't mentioned Rose or Donna, who were, respectively, someone he really, really loved and his 'best friend'. He's lost someone who was basically the love of his tenth regeneration, and memory-wiped his best friend, and he doesn't seem to care.

What really annoyed me a lot was that they don't do enough seriousness with Eleven. I've laughed a lot, but I laughed at lines that I know, with Nine and Ten, would have been dead serious.

"You're getting married in the morning!" Would have been a serious line with Ten. He would have grabbed Amy's shoulders, and they would have just shown his face as he said that line, and you would know. You would know he wouldn't do it, because he shouldn't do it.

The fact of the matter is, Moffat is trying to reboot the series in the middle of it. That doesn't fly when you start to ignore things that happened to the doctor three, four years ago. He doesn't seem sad at all about anything. He got over the Time War thanks to Rose, but he's far too chipper for someone who lost basically everything a year or two ago.

/rant

When the Doctor is dying in "lets kill Hilter" he has the Tardis create a hologram-thing to reassure him and relay information. The computer creates an image of Tenants three "main" companions to which each he screams "get it out, THE GUILT" he doesn't mention them because they are a wound he's trying to forget. That's also why he feels so close to Amy and Rory. They are a family for him. They make him forget.

Edit- I also think the ending of "End of Time" gave the doctor an amount of closure regarding those characters.

[LokeyITP]

Oooohhh meta, I love talking meta :)

Series 1 (9th) dropped into my lap again, so glancing through it.

First, the Moffat 2 parter commentary track: so some of the best scenes shot for tv ever were dashed off because it was a few minutes short and you had to hide from your wife and write them? Not sure whether to laugh or cry on that one, but it is a good anecdote.

And this isn't writing itself, so I'll have to return later to write about the things that I love about it, the things I really love about it, the things I have reservations on, etc