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  1. - Top - End - #571
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Sunken Valley View Post
    It was like all my sources, in DWM. And mistake, not "extraterrestrial threat" the word was "monster". Every Dr Who ep must have a "monster".
    What does DWM mean?
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

  2. - Top - End - #572
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    What does DWM mean?
    Doctor Who Magazine?
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    Quote Originally Posted by OverlordJ View Post
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  3. - Top - End - #573
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Kobold-Bard View Post
    Doctor Who Magazine?
    Thanks, K-B. That's much better than the definitions I found on the Internet!
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

  4. - Top - End - #574
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    I haven't posted a link in ages, this is not on.
    Matt Smith on Angels Take Manhattan.
    "Three blokes walk into a pub. One of them is a little bit stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability." - Bill Bailey
    Androgeus' 3 step guide to Doctor Who speculation:
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    1. Pick a random character
    2. State that person is The Rani
    3. goto 1

  5. - Top - End - #575
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Androgeus View Post
    I haven't posted a link in ages, this is not on.
    Matt Smith on Angels Take Manhattan.
    Do you have a link to a scientific theory as to how a creature could be rendered immobile by the mere act of looking at it?
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

  6. - Top - End - #576
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    Do you have a link to a scientific theory as to how a creature could be rendered immobile by the mere act of looking at it?
    erm how's this? (second paragraph of Powers & Abilities)
    "Three blokes walk into a pub. One of them is a little bit stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability." - Bill Bailey
    Androgeus' 3 step guide to Doctor Who speculation:
    Spoiler
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    1. Pick a random character
    2. State that person is The Rani
    3. goto 1

  7. - Top - End - #577
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Androgeus View Post
    erm how's this? (second paragraph of Powers & Abilities)
    It's not exactly scientific, but thanks.
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

  8. - Top - End - #578
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    It's not exactly scientific, but thanks.
    meh, they're an alien race. Techobabble (should that be biobabble?) is to be expected.
    "Three blokes walk into a pub. One of them is a little bit stupid, and the whole scene unfolds with a tedious inevitability." - Bill Bailey
    Androgeus' 3 step guide to Doctor Who speculation:
    Spoiler
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    1. Pick a random character
    2. State that person is The Rani
    3. goto 1

  9. - Top - End - #579
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Androgeus View Post
    meh, they're an alien race. Techobabble (should that be biobabble?) is to be expected.
    I wouldn't mind technobabble if it weren't something as utterly stupid as "I can't move when anyone looks at me."
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

  10. - Top - End - #580
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    I wouldn't mind technobabble if it weren't something as utterly stupid as "I can't move when anyone looks at me."
    It uses the word 'quantum' what more do you expect?
    At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of the trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise.
    -Camus, An Absurd Reasoning


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  11. - Top - End - #581
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Weezer View Post
    It uses the word 'quantum' what more do you expect?
    Well said, Weezer! indeed!

    I might have said it before, but I love your icon drawing or whatever we call them around here. Did you draw it yourself? Is Tom Baker your favorite Doctor?
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

  12. - Top - End - #582
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    Well said, Weezer! indeed!

    I might have said it before, but I love your icon drawing or whatever we call them around here. Did you draw it yourself? Is Tom Baker your favorite Doctor?
    Sadly I did not draw it myself, wish I were that talented, as my sig says Szilard was kind enough to draw it for me.

    He most certainly is! He wasn't my first (that would be Eccleston), but the second I saw Tom Baker in The City of Death, I fell in love. To me he is simply *the* Doctor and in my eyes exemplifies everything it means to be the Doctor, which is one reason I love Smith so much, they're very similar Doctors.
    Last edited by Weezer; 2012-09-27 at 08:49 PM.
    At the heart of all beauty lies something inhuman, and these hills, the softness of the sky, the outline of the trees at this very minute lose the illusory meaning with which we clothed them, henceforth more remote than a lost paradise.
    -Camus, An Absurd Reasoning


    Fourth Doctor avatar courtesy of Szilard

  13. - Top - End - #583
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    This week, on Doctor Who – mysterious objects fall from space, and the Doctor joins forces with UNIT to try and discover what they are (spoiler alert: it's aliens trying to destroy humanity).

    I refer, of course, to the most recent of my reviews – Spearhead! From! Space! Part Three.

    (Apologies for the long delay – September was kind of crazy. Fortunately, it looks like October will be a bit calmer, so I should have time for more of these delightful reviews, assuming people enjoy them.)

    Previous Reviews:
    Spoiler
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    Spearhead From Space:
    Part One
    Part Two


    Spoiler
    Show
    PREVIOUSLY, ON DOCTOR WHO:

    The Doctor joins forces with Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and astrophysicist Liz Shaw in order to hunt down some evil alien meteors. Meanwhile, a mysterious plastics factory is making living mannequins, and some totally random dude is being menaced! Oh, and there's a shifty poacher, and a general, and really quite a large cast, honestly.

    Credits!

    The Inventor is busy studying alien tech, a mannequin sneaks up behind him, gun deploys from its hand, and the Inventor sees it – and runs. And running seems to be super effective, because the mannequin can't hit crap and Inventor gets out of the room and down the hall, and then escapes just as the general is approaching. Not wanting to get spotted, the mannequin retreats, allowing Inventor to escape.

    The General is duly impressed, and is on his way out – still talking about the 'wax' model supposedly being sent to the wax museum. Scene cut! Back in the factory, Boss and Big Boss discuss the Inventor, and Big Boss announces that he will “send an Auton”. Boss is not happy about this, as “it will kill him!” Big Boss explains that this is necessary, because Inventor knows too much. Boss goes all hypnosis-y and agrees.

    Scene cut! Inventor finds a soldier and passes out. Scene cut again! Shifty is chatting with his wife, who tells him that they found one of those mystery things and the guy who found it was killed. Shifty gets progressively more worried, and may slowly be realizing that he's in trouble.

    Scene cut! Back at the tents, the Inventor is being slowly brought around by two soldiers. He starts babbling, and they send him to HQ. Scene cut! The Doctor and Liz are running out of ideas to study the alien plastic. Liz is getting angry, but the Doctor is dismissive of Earth's scanning tech, so he's not too put out. He wants a 'lateral molecular rectifier', but there aren't any on Earth. He tries to convince Liz to let him into the TARDIS to get some scientific equipment. Liz thinks he's joking, but he explains that the TARDIS is 'dimensionally transcendental', and that there's a lab inside. But the Brig has the key, so he's stuck – unless Liz can persuade him to give it up...

    Scene cut! Shifty has arrived at the military tent, and is still angling for a reward. The soldier starts grilling him, and he gets defensive, but stumbles over his words a lot and is generally incredibly shifty.

    Scene cut! Back at the factory, the Bosses are discussing the Inventor problem. He is apparently beyond the Autons' range, and they're still missing one container – the Swarm Leader. But things are progressing, so Big Boss isn't too worried, and he doubts that anyone will believe Inventor.

    Scene cut, as the Inventor describes an Auton to the Brig, telling him everything. Liz interrupts him, and the Brig cuts her off to continue the interrogation, so Liz steals the TARDIS key and strolls away. Inventor thinks all the workers in the factory are gone, and the Brig is dubious, but willing to give it a shot. Suddenly, he realizes the key is gone.

    Scene cut! The Doctor takes the key and goes into the TARDIS. A moment later, the Brig reaches the lab, and he is angry. The Brig expresses his belief that the Doctor is planning to leave immediately – and he's right! But instead of the usual dematerializing, there's an explosion and a lot of smoke, and the Doctor steps out of the TARDIS looking shamefaced. Liz is annoyed, and he admits that he lied and tried to run away. But now he admits that it won't happen again, and that the TARDIS is sabotaged. He can't escape because the Time Lords have trapped him.

    Scene cut! Shifty's wife is looking for him, and goes to check on what he left in the chest.

    Scene cut! The Brig continues the interrogation, this time with the Doctor and Liz. The Inventor continues to explain the entire plot, since everyone's been busy ignoring things.

    Scene cut! Shifty is super-worried, and the soldiers are grilling him. He panics and tries to leave, then tries to hold out for money, but Captain Munroe isn't having any of it.

    Scene cut! The wife opens the chest, and discovers the last evil plastic orb, which starts ringing softly. She is shocked. At the factory, the Bosses realize what's happening, and send Autons to collect the orb. They watch as the Auton discovers Shifty's house, and moves in.

    Scene cut! Back in the tent, Shifty has finally told the soldiers everything, and they're pissed. The Brig arrives with his entire posse, and is told everything – he decides to go get the orb before moving on to the factory, and grabs Shifty and Munroe to join him, leaving the Inventor with the soldiers. So it's the Brig, the Doctor, Liz, the Inventor, Captain Munroe and Shifty all finally in the same damned place. Maybe there won't be so many scene cuts now...

    Scene cut! The wife closes up the trunk. The dog's barking, and we all know what that means – except for the wife, who seems unworried until the dog suddenly stops barking, and then smashing sounds fill the house. She decides that the smart thing to do is to investigate, and heads into the house, discovering an Auton. She screams and tries to run away, grabbing a shotgun and very... gradually... loading it. The Auton arrives, and after a surprising amount of warning she fires, with basically no result.

    Back at the factory, the Bosses are giving orders. Back at the cottage, the wife is either unconscious or dead, and the Auton continues wrecking the place until he gets close enough to discover the last orb.

    A slow pan over the ruined house, while the Brig knocks on the door and then makes his way in just in time to spot the Auton. Their bullets can't hurt it, but the Bosses panic and tell the Auton to run, which it does. They now know that UNIT has the Swarm Leader. It's too soon for a major battle; UNIT has to be delayed... but the Inventor is back.

    Back at the cottage, the wife's not dead yet, and the Doctor studies the orb while Liz checks on her. Liz is worried that it will explode, but the Doctor's willing to risk it.

    Meanwhile, an Auton attacks the tent to kill the Inventor, tearing a hole in its back and sneaking in. Inventor is shot several times, and vaporized. Somehow, none of the soldiers outside hear any of this.

    Meanwhile, the Brig is ordering up a military cordon around the factory, and the Doctor warns him to be careful.

    Meanwhile, the Brig is back at the tent while everyone tries to figure out where the Inventor went. The sergeant on duty rather stupidly says that there was a guard on the front of the tent so there's no way the Inventor could have escaped, while the guards are busy studying the gaping hole in the back of the tent. The Brig is as unimpressed as I am, which saves it – but the Doctor explains that the canvas was ripped from outside, and that the Inventor has been taken by Autons.

    Scene cut! At the factory, everyone is having a good look around, but they don't find much. The Boss dismisses the Inventor's complaints as sour grapes after having been dismissed. The Doctor wonders what's been made, and the Boss explains they're working on display mannequins. So that's not suspicious in the slightest. The Doctor asks if the mannequins move, and the Boss laughs it up.

    Back at UNIT, the Brig says that he recognizes the Boss as the guy who raided the hospital, and wants the General's support in taking the factory down.

    And the things inside the globes are alive! What a twist!

    The Brig calls the General, who says the factory was totally normal. But when he hears about the raids, he says he'll come open, and reaches his front door just in time to see – a slightly plastic version of himself, who walks forwards as the episode ends and the General cries out...

    NEXT TIME: The last episode!

    BEST MOMENT: This one was kind of slow, honestly. But the 'fake General' was actually decently menacing, and as an ending it worked.

    WORST MOMENT: Seriously? Multiple gunfire from inside the tent and smoke everywhere and light and your guard doesn't notice a thing? Poor form, UNIT.

    NUMBER OF SCENE CUTS: 17, not counting cuts between the Bosses at the factory and things that they were watching. That's very nearly one new scene every minute. This is a very jumpy serial.
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  14. - Top - End - #584
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Weezer View Post
    He most certainly is! He wasn't my first (that would be Eccleston), but the second I saw Tom Baker in The City of Death, I fell in love. To me he is simply *the* Doctor and in my eyes exemplifies everything it means to be the Doctor, which is one reason I love Smith so much, they're very similar Doctors.
    Funnily enough, I think The City of Death was the template/inspiration for the modern Doctor Who series.

  15. - Top - End - #585
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Weezer View Post
    Sadly I did not draw it myself, wish I were that talented, as my sig says Szilard was kind enough to draw it for me.

    He most certainly is! He wasn't my first (that would be Eccleston), but the second I saw Tom Baker in The City of Death, I fell in love. To me he is simply *the* Doctor and in my eyes exemplifies everything it means to be the Doctor, which is one reason I love Smith so much, they're very similar Doctors.
    Sorry I didn't notice your signature line.

    I actually started watching Doctor Who during the Tom Baker years. In Denver, where I started watching, however, for some reason the local PBS station was showing the Jon Pertwee episodes, and it was a while before I realized that he wasn't the current Doctor and that American fans were ga-ga over Tom Baker. I had a friend who was an insane Tom Baker fan. Tom Baker was the Doctor when Doctor Who first came to America (not counting the two Doctor Who movies in the 1960s starring Peter Cushing), and he was the longest-running Doctor too, so many American fans started watching the show with no idea of the Doctor's history or about regeneration. Many of them, like my friend, revolted when the Doctor regenerated, and would never give Peter Davison a fair shake because he wasn't Tom Baker.

    I consider myself fortunate to have started watching with the Jon Pertwee episodes, one of the best of which was The Three Doctors, which clearly established that Pertwee wasn't the first Doctor but the third. That prepared me for seeing Tom Baker as the Doctor at the end of Planet of the Spiders, one of the best regeneration stories in Doctor Who history. Even though Jon Pertwee was my first and probably will always feel like "my" Doctor, I immediately took to Tom Baker, who in his early years reminded me of Harpo Marx. Oddly enough, my Doctor Who viewing skipped forward during the Tom Baker years from the season following Jon Pertwee to what was then the current Tom Baker years, with Lalla Ward as Romana, so I didn't see the earlier Mary Tamm Romana until some years later. Thus Lalla Ward is sort of "my" Romana. The Tom Baker Doctor though got much more serious later, although I still liked him. I think it happened gradually and it's more evident if you jump from his first season to his fifth or sixth.

    Matt Smith has never really reminded me of Tom Baker, but has reminded me a bit of Patrick Troughton. I liked Patrick Troughton from the time I saw him, in The Three Doctors, and I've welcomed every opportunity to see him again, whether in his original episodes or in The Five Doctors and the Two Doctors. (I love the William Hartnell Doctor's line upon seeing Pertwee's Doctor and Troughton's Doctor for the first time: "Ah, so you're my replacements; a dandy and a clown! ) I think Colin Baker was my least favorite Doctor of the original run, as he seemed pompous and gratuitously insulting to Peri (who was hot but a pretty weak companion). It wasn't until Mel showed up, with her irrepressible perkiness and cuteness that could always deflate the Colin Baker Doctor's pomposity, that I really started to like him. Silvester McCoy reminded me a great deal of Patrick Troughton, and I liked him immediately too.

    Paul McGann never grew on me, although perhaps he would have had he had more time, but I barely even think of him when I think of the Doctor. He's probably my least favorite. I had real trouble with Christopher Eccleston at first, because he looked like a neo-Nazi skinhead. I had trouble seeing him as the Doctor at all. By the end of his run, I had more or less come to see him as the Doctor, but wasn't too sorry to see him go. I liked Eccleston much better with more hair and about 30 more pounds, playing the irascible invisible man on Heroes. Of the current run of Doctors, I've liked David Tennant the most. To me he really seemed the most like the Doctor. When I first saw Matt Smith I felt disappointed, as he seemed too young and insubstantial to play the Doctor, but he's grown on me quite a bit, probably in part because his whimsy reminds me of Patrick Troughton.

    I just read that Jon Pertwee's son, Sean, was considered for the role of the 10th Doctor! Now that would have been interesting to see!

    I wonder if any other actor will portray the Doctor for even as long as Jon Pertwee (5 seasons) much less Tom Baker? If Matt Smith really stays on through 2014, I think he would tie Jon Pertwee.
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    I wouldn't mind technobabble if it weren't something as utterly stupid as "I can't move when anyone looks at me."
    clearly the term "terminally shy" should be used to describe them
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    Cursed zombies are more realistic.
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  17. - Top - End - #587
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by dehro View Post
    clearly the term "terminally shy" should be used to describe them
    LOL! Good one, dehro! Terminally shy mass-murderers!
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

  18. - Top - End - #588
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    I scored some 2-5 eps, but they're all mentioned on Simon's reviews as best of season or honorable mention.

    I see a lot of Baker in Smith too, but also a lot of Pertwee (Spearhead from Space also omigod what a great villian) in Eccleston: the silly moments and he's caring and approachable underneath the trauma. Tenant is tougher to pin down to a primary influence, but there wasn't much Davidson in the 5 Doctors. Of course I'd rather turn this topic over to someone like Simon who's seen the whole thing :)

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by LokeyITP View Post
    I scored some 2-5 eps, but they're all mentioned on Simon's reviews as best of season or honorable mention.

    I see a lot of Baker in Smith too, but also a lot of Pertwee (Spearhead from Space also omigod what a great villian) in Eccleston: the silly moments and he's caring and approachable underneath the trauma. Tenant is tougher to pin down to a primary influence, but there wasn't much Davidson in the 5 Doctors. Of course I'd rather turn this topic over to someone like Simon who's seen the whole thing :)
    The Autons were creepy. I was just remembering last week that Rory is an Auton.

    I can see early Tom Baker in Matt Smith now that people have mentioned it, but before that he didn't evoke Tom Baker for me so much as Patrick Troughton.

    Where did you score episodes, and who is Simon?
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

    The irony is that my favorite colors are black and red, and I almost always play chaotic good characters.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    Sorry I didn't notice your signature line.

    I actually started watching Doctor Who during the Tom Baker years. In Denver, where I started watching, however, for some reason the local PBS station was showing the Jon Pertwee episodes, and it was a while before I realized that he wasn't the current Doctor and that American fans were ga-ga over Tom Baker. I had a friend who was an insane Tom Baker fan. Tom Baker was the Doctor when Doctor Who first came to America (not counting the two Doctor Who movies in the 1960s starring Peter Cushing), and he was the longest-running Doctor too, so many American fans started watching the show with no idea of the Doctor's history or about regeneration. Many of them, like my friend, revolted when the Doctor regenerated, and would never give Peter Davison a fair shake because he wasn't Tom Baker.
    A lot of PBS stations were first showing Doctor Who episodes 2 or more years after they had first aired in the UK. That's why, I like you first started watching the show at the time Tom Baker was the current Doctor, but the episodes I was watching were Second Doctor episodes.

    I started losing interest after Tom Baker left, but in my case it wasn't because I wasn't aware of regeneration or didn't like Davison, but rather I got tired of the way my local PBS station presented the show. They started to use it a lot for their fundraising drives, and just chopped episodes all to pieces to do it. It was awful--they'd show 5 minutes or so of the show, then break away for a half hour or more of begging for people to phone in pledges, then go back to the show for another five minutes, then back to 30+ minutes of begging.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by dps View Post
    A lot of PBS stations were first showing Doctor Who episodes 2 or more years after they had first aired in the UK. That's why, I like you first started watching the show at the time Tom Baker was the current Doctor, but the episodes I was watching were Second Doctor episodes.

    I started losing interest after Tom Baker left, but in my case it wasn't because I wasn't aware of regeneration or didn't like Davison, but rather I got tired of the way my local PBS station presented the show. They started to use it a lot for their fundraising drives, and just chopped episodes all to pieces to do it. It was awful--they'd show 5 minutes or so of the show, then break away for a half hour or more of begging for people to phone in pledges, then go back to the show for another five minutes, then back to 30+ minutes of begging.
    Oh! I remember those old PBS fundraising drives. As I recall, however, the local station in Denver did it once or twice a year for about a week. I think that in addition to doing the fundraising between shows, they would take a break during Doctor Who, but I think only one break, and they would time it for a break in the show itself. I belonged to the local Denver-area Sherlock Holmes society, Doctor Watson's Neglected Patients, and many of them were "Whovians" as they used to say (I'm not sure if people still use that term for fans) and sometimes I would see them as volunteers manning the phones on TV. Many of the volunteers would dress up on Friday night (when they ran the science fiction shows) as the Tom Baker Doctor. I recall making a contribution at least once. (I moved to Denver in 1983, and oils prices collapsed to $8/barrel in 1984, turing Denver into virtually a ghost town, and I spent a lot of years marginally employed there.) I really didn't mind the fundraising. I mean I prefer the regular, brief commercial breaks on BBC America to a week-long fundraising campaign for hours, but it wasn't too bad in Denver.
    Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    Where did you score episodes, and who is Simon?
    Dr Simon's reviews, links in the first post. I think they're the bbc collection (they're subtitled the [actor] years).

    Anyway, that was the case in another ep in the pile: human adversary portrayed in some really creepy fashion and well.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by CelestialStick View Post
    Oh! I remember those old PBS fundraising drives. As I recall, however, the local station in Denver did it once or twice a year for about a week. I think that in addition to doing the fundraising between shows, they would take a break during Doctor Who, but I think only one break, and they would time it for a break in the show itself. I belonged to the local Denver-area Sherlock Holmes society, Doctor Watson's Neglected Patients, and many of them were "Whovians" as they used to say (I'm not sure if people still use that term for fans) and sometimes I would see them as volunteers manning the phones on TV. Many of the volunteers would dress up on Friday night (when they ran the science fiction shows) as the Tom Baker Doctor. I recall making a contribution at least once. (I moved to Denver in 1983, and oils prices collapsed to $8/barrel in 1984, turing Denver into virtually a ghost town, and I spent a lot of years marginally employed there.) I really didn't mind the fundraising. I mean I prefer the regular, brief commercial breaks on BBC America to a week-long fundraising campaign for hours, but it wasn't too bad in Denver.
    Yeah, my local PBS station normally only did the big fund-raising pledge drives a couple or so times a year, but sometime around 1980 apparantly they were getting good ratings with Doctor Who, so they decided that it would be a good program to use for fund-raising on a regular basis.

    It probably wasn't quite as bad as I've made it sound. I may not have the details exactly right--after all, it's been 30 years--but I think what was happening was that they were showing an episode of Doctor Who in the afternoons after school, and that episode wasn't interrupted by fund-raising except during their big pledge drives. But they were showing a big block of episodes all day Saturday, and started interrupting those for fund-raising all the time. The thing was, that happened about the same time I went away to college. I didn't get to see the episoded shown on weekday afternoons, but I usually came home on the weekends, so I would get to see the episoded shown on Saturdays, which were the ones being butchered. I gradually lost interest in watching them that way. I can't even remember exactly when I stopped watching, but it was sometime during Davison's run. I do remember watching a few episodes that had Turlough in them, including The Five Doctors, but I don't remember watching any with Peri (and as a straight college-age male, I certainly would have remembered Peri) so it guess it was sometime in 1984 (by that time, the local PBS station had caught up with current episodes--instead of being a couple of years behind, I think we were getting stories just a couple of months or so after the UK).

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    "The Angels take Manhattan"...Thoughts!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Strawberries View Post
    On one hand, River Song, that I don't particularly like. On the other hand, weeping Angels, that I don't particu... oh, well. I won't have high expectations, which means I can only be pleasantly surprised.
    Well, what do you know, I WAS pleasantly surprised. There are a few (okay, more than a few) plot holes, but I liked the episode. Even River turned into someone that I could stand...and by stand, I mean empathize with a little.

    A good farewell for the Ponds, too.
    Last edited by Strawberries; 2012-09-29 at 02:30 PM.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

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    Was not expecting a double suicide on Dr. Who. That caught me out.

    Sad to see them go because I loved the Ponds, but not an especially emotional ending, and a fairly average episode overall.

    He could have at least blown up the Angel at the end, since it had just taken them away from him forever. Fury of a Time Lord and all that.

    The fact that River doesn't seem to be going to the Library any time soon is starting to drive me crazy. Her story is over, it's time to let her go Moffat. I don't care ho much you obsessively love your DMPC, it's time for her to have an actual conclusion

    I wonder how the Doctor will tell Rory's dad about what happened?


    Not the best but not the worst, both as an episode this season, and as a "finale".
    Last edited by Kobold-Bard; 2012-09-29 at 02:19 PM.
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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    So The Angels Take Manhattan...

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    Children terrified out of their minds and couldn't finish the episode? Check.

    Angels being scary? Check.

    Terrifying shenanigans in the dark and flickering lights? Check.

    Double companion fatalities? Check.

    While I'm still somewhat surprised at the Companion death count doubling in a single episode (forshadowing from 3 I suspect), I don't really see how else it could have ended.

    They did the 'saving the universe' thing twice with The Big Bang and The Wedding of River Song, so I suppose it was time for a more personal (but no less dramatic) end to a season.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

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    Well, that was depressing.

    But not as heart-wrenching as I was expecting, either. I'm not sure why. It was almost too... clinical. And think Rory (and Amy) have died so many times now, the last one lacked impact. I'm not sure whether or not I prefer that; it was sad but so heavily foreshadowed (and we flat-put knew that this was their last episode) that I was already at the acceptance stage, and it wasn't as difficult to watch as I'd feared. But on the other hand, as it also wasn't hard to watch, it didn't have as much impact.

    A merely moderate episode, otherwise, I think. Some good moments (River smacking the Doctor struck me as quite funny) and the temporal stuff was intelligently thought out, as usual. But I think, for me, it was a bit too organised about setting up for that last five minutes; there was a lot of characterisation... but not much story. And based on their appearances (aside from Blink, which I haven't seen), I am finding the Angels to be poor villains, merely monsters. At least in the two-parter, they interacted with the Doctor. And this, I think is the problem with noncommunative creatures, they almost always come across as just being monsters. And they were really not all that scary here, either. The two-parter who's name I forget at least gave a better sense of menance.

    Also, the statue-of-liberty angel was amusing, but you felt like they didn't really use it for anything.




    I was depressingly correct; the first episode was the highlight of the half-season, and the second episode was the next best.
    Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2012-09-29 at 02:22 PM.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

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    Quote Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander View Post
    Also, the statue-of-liberty angel was amusing, but you felt like they didn't really use it for anything.
    Not to mention, Rory and Amy stopped looking at it for ages and nothing happened....but I didn't care that much. I was afraid that this episode would end up wanting to be too epic for his own good, and it wasn't. As the rest of the season so far, it has been on a much more "personal" level. That's a good thing in my book.


    Also:

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    The Doctor can cure people using regeneration powers now? Since when?
    Last edited by Strawberries; 2012-09-29 at 02:29 PM.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Strawberries View Post
    [/SPOILER]

    Also:

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    The Doctor can cure people using regeneration powers now? Since when?
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    River Melody did the same to cure him, so why not :)

    Also, we understand that 1938 can't be reached by the Tardis, what is to stop the Doctor from going to 1939 or any other later year to see the Ponds?
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Linker View Post
    Soepvork? Bang freakin' on. A cookie must be doled out, though I fear its chocolate chip-deliciously-infected substance is far too lacking of grandeur to be a prize of the appropriate scale.

    So you get two cookies.

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    Default Re: Doctor Who Thread III: Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow

    Quote Originally Posted by Strawberries View Post
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    Not to mention, Rory and Amy stopped looking at it for ages and nothing happened....but I didn't care that much. I was afraid that this episode would end up wanting to be too epic for his own good, and it wasn't. As the rest of the season so far, it has been on a much more "personal" level. That's a good thing in my book.
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    That annoyed me. Throughout the episode, the angels kept just standing there when no characters could see them. When the one angel had River by the wrist she kept looking away from it, and then the Dr showed up and they just looked at each other but the angel just sat there and waited patiently for her to get away

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