Would You Be My New Best Friends? (Doctor Who redux)

[oudeis]

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[Darth Ultron]

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[SuperPanda]

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[LeSwordfish]

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[Androgeus]

{Scrubbed}.

A rumour from The Mirror is not official.

I’d also feel I should point out that the rumour is that it is being moved to New Year’s Day. We already know they are/have(?) filmed a Christmas special.

Finally I have no friggin clue how you’ve conspiracied up that last sentence of yours.

Edit: forgot to point out that I find running out of ideas a lame excuse, seeing as RTD’s specials had nothing to do with Christmas except some superfluous tacked on stuff.

[Rodin]

Edit: forgot to point out that I find running out of ideas a lame excuse, seeing as RTD’s specials had nothing to do with Christmas except some superfluous tacked on stuff.

I mean, from what I understand this is basically why they moved it to New Year. If you have it at Christmas, people expect an actual Christmas episode instead of a regular episode with "oh btw it's Christmas" tacked on. Doing this allows them to shift gears to a different holiday with different stories and themes to explore, while still keeping the episode in the holiday season where people can watch with their families. New Year has a lot of rebirth symbology that would work very well as a Doctor Who episode. Plus all the ominous "countdown to end of the year" stuff and ancient monsters awakening after 1000 years, etc.

[factotum]

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[Darth Ultron]

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[Psyren]

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And boy howdy do I regret it.

This is the kind of monster of the week story I like. Self contained, interesting creature that will (hopefully) never be seen again, and a little bit in the spotlight for every character.

I'll agree with the "it's okay, not great" assessment but I don't expect every episode to blow me away, so I was content with it.

Yeah I definitely liked this one better than the spiders. But I'm still hoping there's an actual plot this season. Something that hits on the themes of change and revolution that they set up in the pilot, the race episode, and Rosa.

(race as in the one with the competition, not the other kind.)

[LeSwordfish]

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[Androgeus]

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[SuperPanda]

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If you skim over these leaps though the Sith Bot makes some valid criticsm of episodes like 4 which I was far too kind to on my first watch because the spiders gave me such heebie jeebies I couldn’t focus on the weak plot.

Back to the episode - am I the only one who thought the monster of the week was pretty much Stitch but not blue and not yet having been to Hawaii?

[Quiver]

My main complaint about this episode in hindsight is the ending. I like the... speech/prayer they give, I just don't like the visuals they went with; it made it feel like the ending is very abrupt.

Personally, I think I would have preferred if it started with the speech, then had it play as a voice-over as the Doctor and the companions got into the TARDI and fade away - make another connection between the Doctor and the General by using that song, and the part about traveling through this life and the next.

[Psyren]

What I found interesting is that

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the hospital tried to blow them up, didn't it? Hence the Pting getting a hearty antimatter bomb lunch. Even if they landed manually, shouldn't a hospital willing to do that have been trying to shoot them down?

Also, Graham continues to be great as the resident Deadpan Snarker, and Ryan looks all set to have a very nice and wholesome arc. Now it's just Yaz that needs Something To Do.

Also also, the pregnant dude as a catalyst for Ryan to come to grips with some of his own issues was pretty good.

Lastly - I wonder why the sonic mine affected the Doctor more strongly than the humans?

[dps]

Found the episode generally OK, not great, but not actively bad (mostly).

Specifics:

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I found the pregnant man subplot a bit silly and distracting, and ultimately pointless. To be clear, it would be a bit distracting and pointless if it was a pregnant woman instead, but not silly.

The monster was too cute for its threat level.

There was a bit too much technobabble; there's almost always a bit, but this was closer to ST:TNG levels than is typical of Doctor Who. The Doctor's explanation of the antimatter drive wasn't really technobabble, though--it was a reasonable if simplified explanation of how an anti-matter drive might work, given our current understanding of physics.

Astos says that there are other patients on the sip who urgently need to get to the base for treatment, but it appears that the only other patients are the general and the pregnant man. The pregnant man can (and does) deliver on the ship, and it's heavily implied that the general's condition can't really be treated beyond the adrenaline blockers she's already getting, so what's the urgency?

This is the second episode of 5 so far in which the Doctor and companions are picked up by ships that just happened to fortunately happened to be there. That's at least 1 time too many for a single series.

[LeSwordfish]

Lastly - I wonder why the sonic mine affected the Doctor more strongly than the humans?

It damaged her Ectospleen, which, and I admit I am not a doctor, I don't think humans have.

I liked it well enough but the series is settling in to "solid" rather than the "excellent" i was hoping for.

[Darth Ultron]

{Scrubbed}

Lastly - I wonder why the sonic mine affected the Doctor more strongly than the humans?

Sigh...because the Lady Doctor is pregnant with the TimeLess Child. Seems obvious.

It damaged her Ectospleen, which, and I admit I am not a doctor, I don't think humans have.

Ectospleen? Guess that is the spleen that makes the enzyme that lets the Doctor Eat Ghosts.

[Fyraltari]

To me the highlight of the episode was Astos. Competent, strongwilled enough to get the Doctor to listen to reason and good-natured enough to spend the last moment of his life (why did the pod explode again?) helping another. The actor did a really good job.

My major sticking points with the nuWho, as someone who didn't watch classic Who (and has only seen maybe half a dozen episodes of that Netflix put up since) was it felt like it was being written by Doctor Who mega-fans. They seemed utterly dedicated to blowing smoke up the protagonist's butt, from swelling operatic speeches about his significance to the companions who adore him beyond measure.

Yeah, I really liked that the Doctor was clearly in the wrong in the opening sequence. I'll take a protagonist who can admit to goofing up over an always-right one every day.

[SPOILER=Specific thoughts]
I felt they over-sold the threat level of the P'ting, especially given how cute and cuddly it looked. I don't think they needed to go all-out "there's absolutely 100% no way of killing this thing!", just making it clear that it's really hardy and there aren't any adequate weapons on the ship to deal with it would have been enough. I did chuckle when the general said a P'ting had destroyed an entire fleet - like, how??? If it gets on one ship just fly the rest away from it! Dive the affected ship into a black hole! [spoiler]

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Squadron, not fleet. My guess is that it got unto the ship-carrier and destroyed it, leaving the smaller ships stranded.

At least this monster didn't randomly have the power to destroy an entire planet like, say, the Eaters of Light.

Latest one was alright, but after five episodes I have to say: I can't understand Ryan's dialogue.

I am thankful for the subtitles.
{Scrubbed}

If you skim over these leaps though the Sith Bot makes some valid criticsm of episodes like 4 which I was far too kind to on my first watch because the spiders gave me such heebie jeebies I couldn’t focus on the weak plot.

If you say so but I don't have the resilience to go through his posts to get to the good stuff.

Back to the episode - am I the only one who thought the monster of the week was pretty much Stitch but not blue and not yet having been to Hawaii?

No, you are not.

What I found interesting is that

Spoiler

Show

the hospital tried to blow them up, didn't it? Hence the Pting getting a hearty antimatter bomb lunch. Even if they landed manually, shouldn't a hospital willing to do that have been trying to shoot them down?

Spoiler

Show

No the Doctor armed the bomb, not the hospital. You get three denial when the hospital is signalled something dangerous. Which must mean they blow you up on the fourth. They never received the fourth.

Also, Graham continues to be great as the resident Deadpan Snarker, and Ryan looks all set to have a very nice and wholesome arc. Now it's just Yaz that needs Something To Do.

Exactly.

Lastly - I wonder why the sonic mine affected the Doctor more strongly than the humans?

She was closer to it? Also different anatomy.

Found the episode generally OK, not great, but not actively bad (mostly).

Specifics:

Spoiler

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I found the pregnant man subplot a bit silly and distracting, and ultimately pointless. To be clear, it would be a bit distracting and pointless if it was a pregnant woman instead, but not silly.

Well, it really was about Ryan's own arc, so its usefullness should probably be judged on that, when the arc is complete.

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Astos says that there are other patients on the sip who urgently need to get to the base for treatment, but it appears that the only other patients are the general and the pregnant man. The pregnant man can (and does) deliver on the ship, and it's heavily implied that the general's condition can't really be treated beyond the adrenaline blockers she's already getting, so what's the urgency?

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The general hid her condition because it would stop her from doing her job and thus being a symbol, it probably is curable, or at least treatable like cancer or real-life heart conditions but she needed hospitalization as soon as possible.
Ronan had to threaten Mabli to get more adrenaline blockers, so they're probably not part of the treatment, at least not that much of them.

{Scrubbed}

Sigh...because the Lady Doctor is pregnant with the TimeLess Child. Seems obvious.

Yes, 'cause Time Lords have completely normal biology that doctors all over the universe are used to seeing.

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No, they don't.

Ectospleen? Guess that is the spleen that makes the enzyme that lets the Doctor Eat Ghosts.

I think it's the spleen that's between the right heart and the third brainstems, probably helps them rewrite their entire genetic make-up in a matter of hours to evade death too. It's almost like these aliens don't have the same organs as we do, how weird is that?

[Jeivar]

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[Psyren]

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Or if you're not going to do that, the least you can do is avoid actively feeding until the mods eventually arrive.

It damaged her Ectospleen, which, and I admit I am not a doctor, I don't think humans have.

She was closer to it? Also different anatomy.

Okay yeah, obviously it affected her differently because she's an alien. (Or to quote an alien I once heard: "Smart boy! Biology." )

I guess the question I really meant to ask was "do we think either that specific difference, or the damage she incurred, will come up later on as a plot point." Because other than limping in a few scenes it didn't really seem to have an effect on the story we saw, other than maybe making the Doctor a little bit headstrong/hasty so that Astos could shine by defying her. Specifically, what I got from it was that she has a weakness to sonic weaponry that we don't share, which a future villain may try to take advantage of and illustrate even more clearly the fundamental series point that The Doctor Needs A Companion (or three!)

I liked it well enough but the series is settling in to "solid" rather than the "excellent" i was hoping for.

I'm kinda in the same boat. For me, Doctor Who's strength has always been its ability to be both a disconnected sci-fi anthology (think Twilight Zone/Outer Limits/Scary Door) while also having juicy continuity and overarching plots. So far, Jodie's run has plenty of the first but none of the second, or if there are hints at the season climax they've been really subtle up until now.

Anyway, episode minutiae:

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To me the highlight of the episode was Astos. Competent, strongwilled enough to get the Doctor to listen to reason and good-natured enough to spend the last moment of his life (why did the pod explode again?) helping another. The actor did a really good job.

Whatever it uses for power went critical due to all the other damage. It was just enough of a coincidence to keep us guessing about the MotW's motivations.

Yeah, I really liked that the Doctor was clearly in the wrong in the opening sequence. I'll take a protagonist who can admit to goofing up over an always-right one every day.

Same, and I'm always happy to have ready examples of the Doctor being fallible.

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No the Doctor armed the bomb, not the hospital. You get three denial when the hospital is signalled something dangerous. Which must mean they blow you up on the fourth. They never received the fourth.

Ah, my bad, missed that detail.

[LeSwordfish]

So far, Jodie's run has plenty of the first but none of the second, or if there are hints at the season climax they've been really subtle up until now.

At the time I hated Moffat's constant dripfeed of an overarching plot one fact at a time, but I find myself rather missing it. Something more like "Bad Wolf" would be really welcome, assuming there is an overarching thing to come back to. I hope they go back to double episodes soon: those always had so much more space to be grand and epic and cool in a way that has so far been entirely missing from this episode.

On the plus side, they've reset the clock entirely on the constant escalation that's ruined many long shows before, which means they can start raising the stakes impressively without the "save the world" "save the galaxy" "save the universe" "save all of time and space" that was really starting to jar.

[Spacewolf]

At the time I hated Moffat's constant dripfeed of an overarching plot one fact at a time, but I find myself rather missing it. Something more like "Bad Wolf" would be really welcome, assuming there is an overarching thing to come back to. I hope they go back to double episodes soon: those always had so much more space to be grand and epic and cool in a way that has so far been entirely missing from this episode.

On the plus side, they've reset the clock entirely on the constant escalation that's ruined many long shows before, which means they can start raising the stakes impressively without the "save the world" "save the galaxy" "save the universe" "save all of time and space" that was really starting to jar.

Wasn't the bad wolf stuff RTD, Moffats was more in your face and even more disappointing at the end.

[Psyren]

Bad Wolf was indeed RTD, and that's pretty much the kind of thing I miss. "The Sound of Drums" was also RTD.

I definitely get the idea of not wanting every season to end with world-ending stakes. But at some point she's going to be running from Daleks and Cybermen, and galactic genocide pretty much qualifies, so that shouldn't be a deterrent to a plot.

[Androgeus]

Wasn't the bad wolf stuff RTD, Moffats was more in your face and even more disappointing at the end.

Personally I prefer an arc that at least tries to do something rather than just be a repeated meme that adds nothing to the episodes it appears in or the finale it supports.

[Darth Ultron]

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Yes, 'cause Time Lords have completely normal biology that doctors all over the universe are used to seeing.

Mark this thread for when the Doctor gets pregnant. I'm sure we will get all sorts of wacky things: like 'time flashes' where she will teleport in people from all across time and space...like vikings or pirates or cyborg ninja aliens. And she will have cravings to eat....um...watches.

or if there are hints at the season climax they've been really subtle up until now.

The Doctor gets pregnant with the Timeless Child. You saw it here first.

Bad Wolf was indeed RTD, and that's pretty much the kind of thing I miss. "The Sound of Drums" was also RTD.

I so hated the dumb ''oh the Master is evil as he hears drums. The idea that someone can't just ''be evil" and HAS to have some silly reason in their past that ''forced" them to be evil is the worst kind of writing.

[Devonix]

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[dps]

The Doctor gets pregnant with the Timeless Child. You saw it here first.

Think I saw it somewhere else first.

[Kitten Champion]

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Just ignore it

As to dishing out background breadcrumbs for a grand finale, in general I wouldn't be opposed to it... but as I kind of expressed earlier I'm somewhat turned off by Doctor Who's overt need to prove the cleverness of the writers. I'm much more personally invested in seeing how the character arcs for the companions play out in the foreground than a bunch of Riddler-esque foreshadowing for... well, Daleks probably.

[thecentaur98]

I just assumed that the Doctor was the most injured by the sonic mine because she was stood right on top of it, whereas everyone else a bit further back

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[The Glyphstone]

Great Modthulhu: Closed for review.