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

[Androgeus]

on another topic.. does anybody know where to get a live streaming of the show? keep in mind I'n not in an english speaking part of the world..so..Iplayer doesn't do it for me.

Might be a tad late, but try myiplayer.eu. It's a site that live streams all uk tv channels.

Also 'tis almost on!

[Eldan]

Otherwise, there's entire torrents of other ways to watch tv shows.

[Aotrs Commander]

New episode:

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Well, that was a cracking way to start off. Definitely like Clara, she really holds her own again the Doctor. (It's also nice to have a really smart companion for a change as well, even if this time she had a bit of outside help...!)

Silly buggers, though. They really thought they were just going to be able to anything like that with the Doctor floating around. Hah!

Not doubt dodgy intelligence-thingy is gonna get his at some point. (I'm not quite familiar enough with Who lore to hazard much of a guess as to whether it's an old thing or a new one.)

Lots of title-dropping, dunno about everyone else, but I find that hysterical.

Also noted the author of the book was Amy Williams. Hah! Nice.

[factotum]

Enjoyed this one quite a bit. Guessing we possibly have a new recurring villain?

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Seems a bit of a waste of Richard E. Grant's talent if the blink-and-you'll-miss-it bit at the end is his only appearance...

[CoffeeIncluded]

For the UK, yes (here). For America, I'm don't think BBCA has any form of streaming service.

Actually you could also try myiplayer.eu, don't know how good it is mind.

Thanks, but it turns out that my friend does have a TV, so I'll be able to watch it live with her tonight!

[Forrestfire]

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I'm highly amused that Doctor Who is going to such lengths to make normal things scary.

First statues, then darkness, then forgetfulness, then wi-fi, of all things

[Hopeless]

Huh the doctor invented the Quadricycle...

Jammy Dodgers make an appearance!

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1207 or the thirteenth century is a heck of along way to go to reach a help line by phone!

Interesting I wonder if the doctor got his bike back?

Now I wonder what lady in the shop gave her that number?

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Now what was that quote from last year?

The only water in the forest is the river?

Well okay I'm guessing but who else would know?

[Sunken Valley]

I Live!

Bells of St John

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Overall

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Was Good episode, although it suffered from wasted potential

Stuff I liked

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The Concept of the Wi-fi traps was good. The people being trapped in there for eternity. Also the shady private organisation harvesting data.

Bells of St John...The TARDIS is a st John.

The Doctor's Xanatos Gambit with the Spoonhead.

Clara is shaping up to be a good companion.

The hacking of the webcams is a truism, as is people blabbing on facebook.

The true big bad: Great Intelligence. We know Richard E Grant is in ep 13, now we know which role.

Stuff I didn't like

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The excecution of the villains plan was stupid. The wi-fi is only truly a threat if you are long term exposed to it or if your stupid enough to click on it. Also, as the people were mind controlled, why did they put their workplace as shard. It means the villains actively had the people give themselves away.

How did UNIT know to just pop in? It's never explained, even though there's an obvious answer.

We are never fully shown how bad the wi-fi mind drain is. It would be better to see the experience from Clara's perspective.

"It's a woman on the phone. *makes holy sign*" Unesscesscary sexism (and s's). Also, the idea that women can't even log in and need help to use computers is sexist. As is the idea of protecting her. As if she were a piece of property/

The Doctor develops magic hacking skills, never seen.

Sherlock style wi-fi images and The man giving his warning seem to reminiscent of Moffat's past work. Repeating past glories.

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Years 16 and 23 are missing from Clara's book.

8/10

Edit: Looking at the "Rose is back" debate. How can you not have her back? She was the first companion of New Who, the only person from season 1 who is both big enough and willing to come back (Barrowman and Eccleston are unlikely to happen) and she was the most active and most popular RTD companion who would not take several hoops to bring back (Looking at you Donna). Plus we get Tennant!

Let's hope we get more Doctors.

[Dienekes]

Stuff I didn't like

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How did UNIT know to just pop in? It's never explained, even though there's an obvious answer.

We are never fully shown how bad the wi-fi mind drain is. It would be better to see the experience from Clara's perspective.

"It's a woman on the phone. *makes holy sign*" Unesscesscary sexism (and s's). Also, the idea that women can't even log in and need help to use computers is sexist. As is the idea of protecting her. As if she were a piece of property

Let's hope we get more Doctors.

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If it's obvious why would they need to explain it? They basically said they were the Doctor's friends, it's not hard to get 2+2=4.

Are you kidding me with the sexist thing? We see a minute earlier that a girl is using the internet fine, and several of those captured, as well as the leader of the evil computer organization where women. It's not sexist to have a character have a flaw. Also, the Doctor protects people. It's what he does. How do you go from, he's protecting an innocent to she's a piece of property?

Anyway what I thought? Good episode, nothing utterly fantastic. Spoonheads were actually kind of interesting. New recurring villain could be fun. I also enjoy the references to Amy's success as a writer. I like Clara, but sadly looks like they're going to go with the romantic angle again. Ahh well, not entirely unexpected.

I believe I remember reading that the guy playing Walder Frey/Filch/the villain as from Dinos on a Spaceship was cast as the First Doctor. Which could be interesting.

[Thufir]

I Live!

Bells of St John

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Also, as the people were mind controlled, why did they put their workplace as shard. It means the villains actively had the people give themselves away.

They weren't mind controlled, they were hacked. Ms. Kislet could alter some of their attributes (IQ, paranoia, etc), but she didn't directly control their every move.

Also, the idea that women can't even log in and need help to use computers is sexist. As is the idea of protecting her. As if she were a piece of property.

I don't even
How can you
Yeah, what Dienekes said.

The Doctor develops magic hacking skills, never seen.

Oh yeah, we've never had any indication that the Doctor, a genius from a hugely technologically advanced alien race, had any affinity for computers at all...
You know, except for like, any time he had to use a computer...

Edit: Looking at the "Rose is back" debate. How can you not have her back?

Very easily.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

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Am I the only one here who's confused as to why the spoonheads were effective at all at downloading people? When Clara and Villain Lady ran into a spoonhead, it stood there awkwardly, slooooooowly turned its head around to target them, waited ominously for a second or two, then started the download process...and all they could think to do was cower at it while that happened, and neither had the excuse that they didn't know what was going on, Villain Lady least of all.

Couldn't Clara just, I don't know, stand up and try to push it over or bash it with a chair or run away or something?

[Selrahc]

Really fun episode.

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Although the premise seems to strain under pressure the more you think about it. There was a lot of goalpost shifting from the initial cold opening "Wi-Fi is evil!" sting, until by the end the baddies basically just had a machine that could possess people at will and an army of robots to boot. There were quite a few of those logical holes (the newsreader was talking to him? So... what, everyone in the country saw that?, The wi-fi-bot-girl came from upstairs, so it was just hanging around in the attic or something? etc.) Ultimately though, the energy of the episode carried it nimbly through and it was a crackingly good opener.

The floating hacking text seemed very Sherlockesque.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Watching it with friends made this episode even more fun.

[Sunken Valley]

I believe I remember reading that the guy playing Walder Frey/Filch/the villain as from Dinos on a Spaceship was cast as the First Doctor. Which could be interesting.

Nope, he's not playing 1. He's playing William Hartnell in Adventures in Space and Time, a drama about the creation of Doctor Who written by Mark Gatiss. Big difference.

@PairofDice: Because they are women and need to be rescued? No that's too far, see my sig instead.

Fun Fact

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The book the girl is reading, which is eventually mimiced by Spoonheads is written by an Amelia Williams. Chapter 11 being the most heartbreaking.

[Hopeless]

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Am I the only one here who's confused as to why the spoonheads were effective at all at downloading people? When Clara and Villain Lady ran into a spoonhead, it stood there awkwardly, slooooooowly turned its head around to target them, waited ominously for a second or two, then started the download process...and all they could think to do was cower at it while that happened, and neither had the excuse that they didn't know what was going on, Villain Lady least of all.

Couldn't Clara just, I don't know, stand up and try to push it over or bash it with a chair or run away or something?

Oh Ace we miss you so!

[The_Admiral]

I applaud Clara's ability to keep that cup of tea from spilling.

I also ship, Clara/Tea, wait no that's redundant ain't it? She's British.

Also, Clara sounds like Amy when she's panicking.

[dehro]

Might be a tad late, but try myiplayer.eu. It's a site that live streams all uk tv channels.

Also 'tis almost on!

a bit late indeed, but a great find nonetheless, thanks!

[Eldan]

Well, those Spoonheads did look quite a bit less ridiculous than I thought they would.

The story was strange, really, and full of holes. But it was fast-paced and witty enough that I didn't really care.

[Minitroll]

AMERICANS! The Expat shield program can be free downloaded and is virus free. It changes your IP address to British, and you can get it straight off of BBC 1's website. Just search Dr. Who BBC 1 in the Expat shield bar, and you get the episode.

The Good

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Overall, this episode was amusing. I found the monk's 'it's a woman' reaction amusing, as it gave him a bit of character, perhaps a reason for becoming a monk. Plus, it was funny. The episode was fast paced, and seemed to only last 20 minutes, which is good. If I can lose track of time while watching a TV show, they have to be doing something right.

The Bad

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Despite the fact that it was amusing, the holes of some stuff annoyed me. The villain was too cocky. The Great Intelligence, has lost to the Doctor many times before- you'd think that the villain would know that the Doctor could be dangerous and taken maybe the fifty opportunities to destroy him. On the plane, for example, she took control of the plane through the wi-fi and knocked out everyone. If she just took control of their bodies, the Doctor and Clara would be trapped on the plane, and then die, with the people in an unfortunate crash. UNIT's showed up, and Clara theoretically got herself 'killed' twice- once she was about 70 percent dead, then they put her back. Then she was completely eaten, and they put her back. Finally, this episode just seemed like a re-run of The Idiot's Lantern. If you watch TV, this monster absorbs who you are, and you become it's slave. Sure, this was more subtle, but it's the same plot. Even the companion getting nabbed near the end. Tsk. Tsk.

Overall, about a 7.3/10

And the Speculation of The Great Intelligence (Excuse my spelling)

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At the end, we saw the face of Dr. Simeon. However, he was called The Great Intelligence, voiced by Ian McKellan in The Snowmen. When the Doctor bested the GI again, could he have taken over Dr. Simeon's body? The main question is if we're going to heart the epicosity that is Ian again, or if the GI is now trapped inside Dr. Simeon.

[The_Admiral]

Hmmm, who is this Grandfather?

From the glowy doc, I'm assuming Time Lord shenanigans. Grandfather Paradox mayhaps?

[BRC]

Standard Moffatian Fare. Lots of Wit, not much substance.

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The opening was great. I'm really not sure I understood the exact mechanics of the evil scheme though.

So you click on the mysterious Wi-Fi Network, then a Spoonhead shows up to upload you, then your brain is trapped in the Cloud, then your body goes into a coma.
Why use the Wi-Fi at all? If the Spoonheads do the downloading, why not just use them? And how does this let them use Wi-Fi to control people.

And if the minds are just sitting in the cloud until the Great Intelligence eats them, why were they adding 1337-H@XX()RZ 5K!115 to them. Are Hackerbrains tastier? And if people who have been "Uploaded" go into Comas, how are they hiding this? If they have control over all of London why are they using this Wi-Fi trick anyway, they can just have people line up to be uploaded.

Why can Hacker Clara hack everybody's Webcams, then run that through an apparently very quick and precise (and publicly accessible) facial recognition database, but that's easier than tracing their IP address or whatever. If they are all mind-pupepts of the Great Intelligence, why are they all on facebook and going on holiday.


But the episode itself was such a thrill-ride that I didn't notice.

Which is pretty standard for Moffat. It's entertaining, clever, and maybe even a bit intelligent, but logic or consistency takes a backseat.

[Mauve Shirt]

OW!!! Doctor Who, I hate it when you do that to my technology.
Who is the big guy on the screen?

[Kosmopolite]

Hmmm, who is this Grandfather?

From the glowy doc, I'm assuming Time Lord shenanigans. Grandfather Paradox mayhaps?

Grandfather?

[The_Admiral]

In the teaser for the next episode, I heard.

"Grandfather's awake"

[dps]

Grandfather?

I can't even figure out which post he was responding to.

[Kosmopolite]

In the teaser for the next episode, I heard.

"Grandfather's awake"

Oh, right. I thought you meant in The Bells of St. John. Yeah, I heard that. At a guess, it's some wibbly wobbly line of succession, like in The Best Below. The Moff does rather seem to be idea-recycling this year.

[Mauve Shirt]

I like Moffat episodes so much more than Davies episodes that I can forgive him some idea recycling. It's not like any episode is a carbon copy. Hopefully he is using the extra idea juice to make even better Sherlock episodes.

[The_Admiral]

Oh, right. I thought you meant in The Bells of St. John. Yeah, I heard that. At a guess, it's some wibbly wobbly line of succession, like in The Best Below. The Moff does rather seem to be idea-recycling this year.

I am personally hoping that Moffat is grabbing EU and the Grandfather Paradox.

[Androgeus]

I am personally hoping that Moffat is grabbing EU and the Grandfather Paradox.

I think the beeb prefer that people don't need to buy other products to get the story.

[Kosmopolite]

I think the beeb prefer that people don't need to buy other products to get the story.

I think most franchises are the same. That's why EUs and "hardcore fans" get apparently "ignored" so often.