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

[Dr. Simon]

Originally Posted by LokeyITP

I think you need a few more, at least The Unicorn and the Wasp and/or/proabably-and the Sontaran 2 parter.

Those are good, I agree, but I try to limit it to two or three per category, and the others stood out more, in my opinion. Probably because they are a bit different in terms of their storytelling whereas Unicorn and Wasp is a typical "alien in historical period" story and Sontaran Strategem/Poison Sky is a typical "aliens invade Earth" story. Both done well, but not as original.

Mind you, Unicorn and the Wasp does contain one of my favourite exchanges:

Doctor: I need something salty.
Donna (searching through the kitchen): Salt?
Doctor: Too salty.

I don't know why that should tickle me so much, it's partly in the delivery.

[Xondoure]

Posting to mark this thread, and because the vanishing post is driving me nuts. Nuts I tell you!

[Dr. Simon]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Best Moment: In general I'm very impressed with how accurate the military scenes feel, but I have to give points to the last ten minutes or so when the Doctor and Frollo are conversing while the preparation to repel the invasion goes on. The tension is as high as the stakes, and the quietness adds a very sombre air to the scenes that is sometimes lacking in Nu Who where the score is occasionally overused to artificially tell us how to feel.

I have to agree with you here, one of my favourite parts of the whole story. Second Doctor is quite good at this kind of thing, appearing buffoonish at first but when he gets serious, you know he's serious. In this case Frollo makes a very good foil for him, and you can really feel the battle of wills going on.

[Thufir]

Just dropping in to post an amusing image I saw on facebook:

Spoiler

[Tanuki Tales]

Originally Posted by Thufir

...nah, that'd just be kinda stupid, imo.

I fail to see how. There's been plenty of fallout from the Time War that's changed the course of history from how it was and how The Doctor remembered it being.

It's not like the Cybermen would be immune, seeing as they're a lower species.

[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.

Classic Who (Doctors One to Eight)

Spoiler

First Doctor

Spoiler

Season One (1963-1964)
Season Two (1964-1965)
Season Three (1965-1966)
Season Four (1966-1967)

Second Doctor

Spoiler

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

Third Doctor

Spoiler

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

Fourth Doctor

Spoiler

Season Twelve (1974-1975)
Season Thirteen (1975-1976)
Season Fourteen (1976-1977)
Season Fifteen (1977-1978)
Season Sixteen (1978-1979)
Season Seventeen (1979-1980)
Season Eighteen (1980-1981)

Fifth Doctor

Spoiler

Season Nineteen (1981-1982)
Season Twenty (1983)
Season Twenty One (1984)

Sixth Doctor

Spoiler

Season Twenty Two (1985)
Season Twenty Three (1986)

Seventh Doctor

Spoiler

Season Twenty Four (1987)
Season Twenty Five (1988)
Season Twenty Six (1989)

Eighth Doctor

Spoiler

TV Movie (1996)

New Series (Doctors Nine to Eleven)

Ninth Doctor

Spoiler

Series One (2005)

Tenth Doctor

Spoiler

Series Two (2006)
Season Three (2007)
Series Four and Specials (2008-1010)

This is where it all started, really, for me. Over the years I'd seen bits of the series for Tom Baker onwards but, barring a couple of seasons of Peter Davison I'd never made much of a concerted effort to watch the show. When it was re-booted in 2004 I was living in a house with very poor TV reception and again I only ever saw random episodes or bits of episodes. Not generally being in early Saturday evening didn't help.

So hooray for BBC iPlayer. When this season started I thought I'd give it a go, with an hour to spare with no distractions I sat down and watched Eleventh Hour. And loved it. First I went back and watched all the New Who seasons, then even further back to the very beginning. And now we have come full circle.

For the record, I think Matt Smith gives probably my favourite interpretation of the Doctor. He has a manic energy and childish glee, but he lets slip the haunted or serious side from time to time. Unlike some incarnations he isn't arrogant towards his companions but is more like Five, encouraging them to work together and better themselves. It helps that, particularly in the first few stories of this season, the writers allow Amy to solve problems by thinking more in terms of emotion and humanity whereas the Doctor is trying to solve a problem with logic (I'm thinking specifically of Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks).

Mostly a good season, some stories less successful than others, but this is pretty much to be expected. I predict much disagreement with this one. Which is a long-winded way of saying:

Series Five (2011)
Eleventh Doctor/Amy/Rory

The Time Of Angels/Flesh And Stone – This story means business right from River Songs audacious escape at the beginning, borrows freely from Aliens for some gorgeous set pieces and genuinely creepy moments, ending with Amy cementing her place as the most forthrightly sexual of all the companions so far.

Amy’s Choice – Almost diametrically opposite in tone, this one focuses on the three central characters and their respective psyches, the threats being almost incidental to insights into the Doctor's personality and some fun moments. "We’re going to die dressed like a Peruvian folk band."

Honourable Mentions
Victory Of The Daleks – This one can again be filed under the (now massive) “silly but fun” pile. Some interesting parallels with Power Of The Daleks, the jammy dodger gambit, Amy solving a problem by being more human than the Doctor, Spitfires in Spaaaaace! If only there was some obvious point to the “new dalek paradigm”.

Vampires Of Venice – Another largely fun one, with some great lines from all involved. The Doctor’s very poor attempts to mollify Rory ("You’re a lucky man, she’s a great kisser") to his observations that “Who would have thought fish from space would be so… buxom”. Ending with eerie hints to the future.

Vincent And The Doctor – Ramps up the schmaltz at the end and, as with a lot of the Eleventh Doctor stories the alien menace is almost incidental to the human drama, but I just love the way various Van Gogh paintings are bought to life (particularly the Starry Night moment), the sweet note to Amy in the sunflowers and more auto-translation fun (apparently a Scottish accent means that you're speaking Dutch).

[Archonic Energy]

so, who's up for a livestream of the first 3 eps of the 9th doctor on sunday?

16:00 - 19:00 UTC+1

[CurlyKitGirl]

Originally Posted by Dr. Simon

I have to agree with you here, one of my favourite parts of the whole story. Second Doctor is quite good at this kind of thing, appearing buffoonish at first but when he gets serious, you know he's serious. In this case Frollo makes a very good foil for him, and you can really feel the battle of wills going on.

I think it'll be one of my favourite parts too, although I can't really say for the final part though as I just started watching it (friend with serious family bad things needing support). However, that confrontation shows what the Doctor's actually like when you really need to get down to business.
He's very nice and gentle and sweet and a bit of a klutz (and utterly smitten by a certain Companion), but when it comes down to it he's a centuries old man who can do almost anything he sets his mind to.
I am seeing so much Eleven in Two. Or Two in Eleven if you prefer. Kind of makes me want to call Eleven Two 2.0, but with extra bombast.

Originally Posted by Archonic Energy

So, who's up for a livestream of the first 3 eps of the 9th doctor on Sunday?

16:00 - 19:00 UTC+1

Yo.
Barring unforeseen events I'll be doing this.
However, Sunday dinner tends to be served up about six thirty ish, so probably won't be commenting all that much, if at all, on the third episode. Or I'll just be having a cold dinner, whichever.
And yes, I will be turning the chat into a liveblog type review (if everyone's okay with this), which'll be fun as I won't be able to stop the video if I really need to expand upon something. As such a fair chunk of my thoughts on these episodes will be in my episode round up bit.

So people come to the Playground TV Doctor Who showings! It'll be fun, and if nothing else you can watch me incoherently rage at the screen because THAT WOMAN is there.

Good Heaven's this'll be ramping up my review counter won't it?

[Sanguine]

Damn, I hate to miss out on live-action Curly, but do to the fact that I share my computer with a violent internet addict* being on for three hours straight is just not in the cards.

Make someone's life mildly unpleasant violent, not grievous bodily harm violent.

[Thufir]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

I am seeing so much Eleven in Two. Or Two in Eleven if you prefer. Kind of makes me want to call Eleven Two 2.0, but with extra bombast.

IIRC, Matt Smith did say at some point that after watching some of the old serials, Patrick Troughton was his favourite Doctor? And he may have consequently based his performance on him a little bit.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Originally Posted by Sanguine

Damn, I hate to miss out on live-action Curly, but do to the fact that I share my computer with a violent internet addict* being on for three hours straight is just not in the cards.

*Make someone's life mildly unpleasant violent, not grievous bodily harm violent.

Couldn't you arrange something beforehand with said internet addict? Or if nothing else just try to be online for a bit during said time slot?

I do have the feeling live action me would be amusing. My friends certainly think so.

Originally Posted by Thufir

IIRC, Matt Smith did say at some point that after watching some of the old serials, Patrick Troughton was his favourite Doctor? And he may have consequently based his performance on him a little bit.

Eh. Probably? I think it's too similar to be a complete coincidence.

[Sanguine]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Couldn't you arrange something beforehand with said internet addict? Or if nothing else just try to be online for a bit during said time slot?

I do have the feeling live action me would be amusing. My friends certainly think so.

I'll try to be on for a bit. As for the other thing, unlikely, but maybe I'll be lucky and she'll be out or sleeping at the time.

[Archonic Energy]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

So people come to the Playground TV Doctor Who showings! It'll be fun, and if nothing else you can watch me incoherently rage at the screen because THAT WOMAN is there.

Good Heaven's this'll be ramping up my review counter won't it?

... oh, and sorry about Rose...

FB group link: http://www.facebook.com/groups/154163098048383/
direct livestream link: http://www.livestream.com/archonic_energy

[CurlyKitGirl]

Koorly's Archive of Her Doctor Who Reviews:
Classic Who

Spoiler

Second Doctor

Spoiler

Series 6
'The Invasion' Part 1/8, Part 2/8, Part 3/8 part one, part two, Part 4/8 part one, part two, Part 5/8, Part 6/8, Part 7/8, Part 8/8

Fourth Doctor

Spoiler

Series 12
'Genesis of the Daleks' Part 1/6, Part 2/6

Nu Who

Spoiler

Season 1 - retrospective

Spoiler

Brief Whole Series Retrospective

Season 2 - retrospective

Spoiler

Brief Whole Series Retrospective

Season 3 - blind bar Moffat

Spoiler

Ep. 1: 'Smith and Jones' -missing.
Ep. 2: 'The Shakespeare Code'
Ep. 3: 'Gridlock'
Ep. 4: 'Daleks in Manhattan' (part 1/2)
Ep. 5: 'Evolution of the Daleks' (part 2/2)
Ep. 6: 'The Lazarus Experiment'
Ep. 7: '42'
Ep. 8: 'Human Nature' (part 1/2)
Ep. 9: 'The Family of Blood' (part 2/2)
Ep. 10: 'Blink'
Ep. 11: 'Utopia' (part 1/3)
Ep. 12: 'The Sound of the Drums' (part 2/3)
Ep. 13: 'The Last of the Time Lords' (part 3/3)

Children in Need 2007 episode: 'Time Crash'
2007 Christmas Episode: 'Voyage of the Damned'

Bits and Bobs About Season 3
Retrospective - to be written later
Why I Do Not Like Martha/Ten (This was written between my write ups of ep. 8 and ep 9)

Season Four blind bar Moffat

Spoiler

Ep. 1: 'Partners in Crime'
Ep. 2: 'The Fires of Pompeii'
Ep. 3: 'Planet of the Ood'
Ep. 4: 'The Sontaran Stratagem' Part 1/2
Ep. 5: ‘The Poison Sky‘ Part 2/2
Ep. 6: ‘The Doctor‘s Daughter‘ Posted in two parts.
Ep. 7: 'The Unicorn and the Wasp'

Season 5 - blind bar Moffat's Angels

Spoiler

Ep. 11: 'The Lodger'

Season 6

Spoiler

To to things this series was split in two, as such eps. 8 - Christmas episode will be liveblogged, and the first seven will be written with me having seen them before.

Ep. 8: 'Let's Kill Hitler'
Ep. 9: 'Night Terrors'
Ep. 10: 'The Girl Who Waited'
Ep. 11: 'The God Complex'
Ep. 12: 'Closing Time'
Ep. 13: Missing

2011 Christmas Special: 'The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe'

Odds and Sods

Spoiler

Things that don't really fit anywhere.

'Good As Gold' Second Blue Peter scriptrwriting competition for Doctor Who

And now, to boldly go where many have gone before. [*cue TOS theme (Such a classic introduction)*]

'The Invasion' Part 8/8

Spoiler

Previously on 'The Invasion': things have gone to Hell. Big time. Cybermen are prepping the CyberMegaton Bomb, Zoe helped asplode an entire invasion fleet, I think Frollo short-circuited, but he's insane either way! And Jamie got shot and the Doctor is being pretty amazing, same with the Brig. Oh, and Zoe's in a sparkly catsuit still. And best of all: Miss Legs is out of commission.

In short: CyberSparkles.

Although I must apologise for misleading you somewhat. It's not a CyberMegaton bomb. It's a CyberMEGATRON bomb. That's right, the Cybermen upgraded the leader of the Decepticons. And that's pretty damn impressive given he was already a robot.

But yeah, the Cybermen still want to destroy "every living being" on earth because . . . they're offended or something. And Frollo's still clutching at his neck like he's been savaged by das vampire, and mildly stoned too.

Oh no. The first piece of new footage for this episode is Miss Legs eagerly listening to the UNIT radio. As if an egotistical photographer is of any help in the current situation. Honestly. There goes my hope she was done for the serial, alas. I really have developed an unreasonable dislike for her haven't I?

Frollo's begging the Cybermen to not destroy the world. And all that wonderfully complex motivation he's displayed until now boils down to narcissism. And Frollo has always been such an intriguing villain (including his namesake). We get the typical response from the CyberRadio, one that is common to virtually every villain ever - you are of no further use to us etc. etc. The CyberInvasion must succeed, strength is irrelevant, resistance is futile, your culture will adapt to service ours. By dying. Fortunately, death is irrelevant anyway. And "the bomb will be delivered".

And Captain Jimmy Turner's working on some sideburns there! I think it's him, the way he and Miss Legs are leaning fairly close together does suggest that. It's also easy to tell that the radio they're working at is a prop because none of the dial doodads move at all. But that's irrelevant right now because they're about to explode a Decepticon over Earth and that's the kind of thing the Brigadier would want to know about. Especially if it means preventing those atrocious excuses for films being made.

And we cut from that tense moment to a party. Seriously. But it's a good kind of party because Sparkles managed to knock "every single one of [the CyberShips] right out of the sky", meaning this jocularity is okay because they assumed they'd stopped the Big Threat.

Well. Slowed it down.

It's a nice juxtaposition though because it shows the isolation of our four groups and how that isolation can be problematic in causing a relaxation of tension and attentiveness. For some reason I find it quite evocative of WWII films even though I've never really seen any. Ah. The calm before the storm. There we go.

Question for budding mathematicians. Is "creating a chain reaction of explosives" really "quite simple"? And hardly requiring any calculation except "speed, angle of descent and relative positions of the spaceships"? Using only a radar screen thing and . . . telemetry? Somehow I don't think that kind of thing is basic, even for a genius.

Random Dude: "Can't we keep her on sir? She's much prettier than a computer!" Hooray sexism! And accidental pervertedness! Sparkles is only about fifteen after all. Even if she is really pretty in her tight sparkly catsuit. Actually now I think about it, these men at the base have to be on average ten years older than her, so this suggestion while most likely made entirely in jest takes on a rather awkward tone. Eh. The sixties were a more innocent time after all, I shouldn't be casting my eye over it too hard.

Oh, it was Sgt. Benton with Miss Legs, not Captain Jimmy Turner. And, yes, the Sergeant. is the party pooper. Hehe, poop. Oh, it's Corporal Benton. Could have sworn he was a Sergeant. I blame my parents.

I adore this little piece of slang: "What's the flap?" It's so . . .gossipy.

Unsurprisingly, the military don't like the idea of alien bombs blowing up the planet so everyone puts on their SRS BSNS face and skedaddles to do military things, with Major Someone being informed that all radio whatsits are on an open network so everyone knows what's happening in real time. Also the Major with his one army base and limited amount of rocket power is now responsible for pretty much stopping any CyberShips and CyberMegatron Bombs landing. And this time he's got no super-genius mathematician in a catsuit to help him.

Sparkles really does choose the most inappropriate outfits doesn't she? Bet she'd wear a sailor senshi uniform to a funeral. She's such a Sailor Mercury.

Bouncing back to Frollo's place we see that Frollo has gone totally mental in the most hammy way imaginable.

F: "But if you do, you'll destroy everything here. Even your own Cybermen!" Well, yeah. IT'S A BOMB. THEY KNOW WHAT BOMBS DO. And I love how the Doctor's just standing in the background looking particularly anxious. It's the hands.

CR: The sacrifice will be small."

F: "YOU CAN'T DO THIS. I WON'T LET YOU!"

CR: "You cannot stop us. No one can." The Doctor awkwardly dash-waddles forwards to Frollo's side and says,

"Now you're beginning to understand the Cybermen Vaughn. You can't make bargains with them!" The urgency and sincerity in his voice is bloody brilliant, you can feel the stakes and Frollo's increasing irrationality.

F: "I won't let them take over, I won't!" He grabs the CyberKill Machine, points it at the CyberRadio, and "You think you're indestructible. WELL, I CAN DESTROY ALL OF YOU!" I'm just waiting for the manic laughter now. And GOD is the CyberMurderer's noise whiny, it's fairly good actually in that you can imagine it 'killing' someone.

And I do find the flashing overexposure of the film to be such an endearing way of killing people, see, this is what all energy waves aside from visible light so. I completely ruined that science, but what the Hell.

CR: "Opposition is useless. The Cybermen will..." delete you? Upgrade you? Assimilate you? Destroy you? Triumph?

D: "Vaughn! Switch it off, you'll blow us all sky high!" And the thing is, even with the poor-for-now special effects, I believe him. I mean, yes the Doctor for some reason took about six steps back in order to make his rush to stop Frollo seem all the more dramatic, but the desperation evident in the Doctor's voice and body language actually makes me think this situation is dangerous.

F: "I'LL DESTROY THEM ALL, ALL!" Oh you delightful ham. If you try hard enough you might reach ham levels of 0.25 BRIAN BLESSEDs. Aaawww, and the way the camera struggles to auto-focus as it zooms in on Frollo's hand fiddling with various knobs (sorry, I had to)! Television production was so precious back then. It's adorable.

Then the CyberRadio asploded so hard it whited out the screen. Yep, Frollo twiddled the knob hard enough to make a radio vibrate itself to pieces. It's also very smoky and makes people cough.

The CyberRadio now a broken, crumbled mess Frollo says "It's dead. I killed it. I destroyed it." IT WAS A RADIO! I think. There's a script I'm consulting on and off when I remember they exist that calls the CyberRadio a Cyber-Planner. Hold on a sec. Apparently, they exist and are actual Cybermen and not radios. Eh, it's dead now, so it doesn't matter.

D: "That won't stop them. They're still out there in space preparing to destroy the world." Along with every other alien ever seen on a sci-fi show or film, with the exception of WALL-E and EVE. And scutters, but only because they're a bit mad.

Frollo meanwhile, seems to have recovered from his temporary bout of Ham and is more than a little stunned at the amount of scenery he's chewed "Five years, and in less than five seconds . . . " Yes, yes, what have I done, what have I done? How could I be so blind? All is lost, where was I? Spoiled all, spoiled all. Everything's gone all wrong. What have I done, what have I done? Find a deep cave to hide in, in a million years they'll find me, only dust, and a plaque, that reads 'Here lies poor old Jack'. But you did intend all this madness, truly. You're just cranky because you didn't take into account arrogance and the fact that you can't plan for everything unless you're Lord Vetinari.

But Frollo's well. Let's say when h got electrocuted I think something properly broke. Jut look at this exchange:

D: "Vaughn, listen to me. The Cybermen will deliver their bomb on the same radio beam they used for their invasion. You've got to turn it off, man, you've got to turn it off!"

F: "What?" He's very dazed, and more than a bit stunned. He's kind of hyperventilating a bit.

D: "We're both on the same side now, both fighting for our lives. You've got to turn the radio beam off!"

F: "The radio?"

D: "Yes! That's how they'll deliver their bomb!"

F: "The radio beam! Yes, yes, Packer must..." I am loving this relationship between Frollo and the Doctor as they enter an awkward alliance to solve an enemy mine problem. And their acting here is honestly just amazing, Frollo's in particular. That is a man who's plans have fallen to dust right in front of his eyes. Kevin Stoney does discombobulation so very well. It's a shame he's going to die. Oh don't look at me like that, I've not spoiler'd anything, but he's the villain in an alliance with the heroes so he's obviously going to die or do some redemptive sacrifice. I am a proud theoretician of narrative causality, and this is the most likely result!

As you may have expected, the Cybermen have killed everyone and everything around the radio, leaving only Packer alive to . . . be Packer. I don't know. He's the only mook who has a personality and is still alive. And I adore the jump scare (complete with scare chord!) when a Cyberman looms into view on those little circular telly screens. And there's yet another scare chord as a Cyberman drunkenly staggers into the office! This is marvellous.

Packer draws his gun, because that's worked so well before, unloads all six shots at the Cyberman whose chest proceeds to hum, emit a burst of white light and Packer falls down dead. Poor Packer, didn't even get to die of camera overexposure. Oh wait, there it is. After he's already dead. Natch, the Doctor kills the one Cyberman, and I'll be blessed if its costume doesn't look so adorable.

Aaaaand, Frollo's all down in the dumps again, "We can't fight them. They're too powerful, too many of them." Remember, this from a man who less than an hour ago was planning to double cross an entire invasion fleet. Talk about dramatic swerves. Oh, and the radio is back at the compound from way back in episode one.

The Doctor calls the Brig and UNIT in general to relay this news, as Frollo implements the traditional headdesk, and it leads me to wonder: are the Cybermen capable of monitoring earth transmissions? Apparently not because the Doctor informs the Brig they have two options: "We must either cut off the transmitter of the radio beam at the compound or destroy the Cyberman spaceship". (Oh, and we're at UNIT HQ again, and Miss Legs is still hanging around the war room like her ideas have lead to anything other than death) And as you may have gathered, they have until the bomb is prepped to do whatever they plan to do to unprep the bomb.

B: "We've heard from Captain Turner. The Russians are with us" [oh 1960s, height of the Cold War, and all it takes for a little cooperation is the invasion of the planet. Speaking of, wasn't this set AT THE START OF THE STAR WARS, and yet neither super-power on either side noticed all these UFOs hanging out over British airspace? I think that's the sort of thing that would be noticed] "but they say it'll take at least ten hours or more to get a missile that far."

Which, annoyingly enough is correct. No seriously. I looked it up. A conventional rocket has to travel 25 700 mph to achieve lunar orbit. The moon orbits at an average distance of 238 856 miles (rounded up). To be precise, with these figures it would take 9.3 hours (to one dp) for the rocket to reach lunar orbit. Take into account prep time to launch and allow for the rocket to orbit the moon and that's about right.

I can't decide who's nerdier: the writer's for checking the figures, or me for thinking 'are those figures right? I'll Google it and find out because I'm feeling suspicious and want to nitpick'. Either way, I'm impressed by the fact that these figures are so accurate in a television sci-fi show in the 1960s, because I don't think that would be common knowledge even if you do take into account the space travel fervour of the time.

You know, UNIT's radio is basically a short-hand for Scene Change, because after deciding that the ALIENS FROM OUTSIDE SPACE don't need ten hours to prep one bomb the Doctor asks Frollo in an aside if he'll help them. One cut to Frollo's office later and

"Help you? Why should I? . . . And if I survive, what future have I got? What will the world do with me?" Well, given the recent Avengers movie, put you in some sort of Hannibal Lecter face mask, hand you over to Thor and send you back to Asgard in order for justice to be served? Not as pretty as Loki is though.

And seriously, I think that electrocution thing damaged Frollo's CyberCircuits because he's slurring something bad. Got to admire his guts though: world doomed? WHAT ABOUT ME?! What about my fate? I deserve to be self-centred!

D: "Oh, for heaven's sake, stop thinking about yourself! Think of the millions of people on earth who are about to die!" Sadly this bitch slap isn't very effective as Frollo immediately ripostes,

"Appealing to my better nature... No. If I help you it'll be because I hate them. The Cybermen, "my allies". You think I'm mad, that all I want is power for its own sake. No, I have to have power. The world is weak, vulnerable, a mess of uncoordinated and impossible ideals. It needs a strong man, a single mind. A leader! . . . I'll help you to destroy them because I hate them. They... destroyed my dream..." Total enemy mine situation; 'I'll destroy you because you broke my plans'! Now, I don't know if it's because I saw Avengers for the fourth time this week (I blame my friends for never going out at the same time, whereas I'm always available), but I am so seeing Loki in this. Difference is: where I think Loki is an amazing and fun villain (and more than a little mad), and really want to just give Loki a hug until everything gets better, I think Frollo is a fun, cold-blooded chessmaster, and pretty damn awesome, but he is not sympathetic at all. And he doesn't regret a single thing he's done, or believe he's done anything wrong. He's only helping to screw over the people who betrayed him first. No hugs for Frollo.

Yes, I'm a Loki fangirl. However, I am really enjoying the 'bitch please' attitude both these villains share. Got to admire the unrepentant bastard as much as you want to hug the woobie. And besides, the pure vitriol Frollo's spouting is really magnetic, especially with the - oh my God Frollo's crying! - music tinkling ominously threateningly in the background. Still don't want to give him a hug though.

After that little moment of emotional drama our Boys (how cool is it that the big bad is now allied with the Doctor to such an extent I can use that and mean it?) grab the EmoticonEmitter and run up to the roof to catch a helicopter that UNIT sent to pick them up to take them to the base that houses the radio transmitter that summons the Cybermen that Jack built.

And since UNIT radio was used, we get another scene transition back to HQ. They're off to the compound. And Miss Legs says "Are we going to help the Doctor?" and the way the Brig says "Err, yes" to her is filled with such scorn that I can't but want to high-five him. He dislikes her as much as I do! Sparkles informs us that there's some two hundred Cybermen at the compound, and how she knows that I don't know - mathematics probably.

B: "I only wish we had more time to release more men from the Cyber-control. As it is we've only got a platoon!" Remember, in the British army a rifle platoon from an infantry company comprises twenty-seven men, so even discounting the fact that Cybermen are aliens from outside space who can kill from a distance and are mostly impervious to bullets UNIT is outnumbered ten to one.

Then Captain Jimmy Turner calls. The Russians "have fitted a warhead to the rocket now sir, a super-cooled hydrogen device. It's a solid fuel booster so it's nearly ready for liftoff". No idea what that means, but it'll take nine hours and twenty minutes to get there. UNIT HQ takes off. Cut to Henlow Downs and after more military chatter about sending the platoon etc. to the compund Random Optimistic Dude optimistically says "But you never know, [the Cybermen] could take time to get that bomb of theirs ready, and that Russian rocket might make it." To which the other Dude replies, "Yeah, it just might." And I can't tell if he honestly means it or not.

Than we see stock footage (I think) of a rocket being launched, and the camera following it until it disappears. And now we're back at UNIT HQ. Good Lord I'm getting dizzy with all these scene changes.

Because what's actually happening is that we're using UNIT HQ to have the Brig chat to the Doctor (because they can't afford to use an actual helicopter) and have the Doctor tell him "I'm sorry [we can't wait for backup] Brigadier. We must go in right away. Otherwise, we'll be too late."

B: "But that's madness. You don't stand a chance against the Cybermen without us." But this is the Doctor: he's like fire and ice and rage . . . and he's wonderful.

Besides, they have the machine. "It's proved to be very effective so far." On one Cyberman at a time. The transmitter controls are on the east side of the compound, and UNIT will arrive in ten minutes. God, I'm loving the military procedure here.

Sparkles: "Can we come with you?" Given that our Girls are between fifteen and twenty-five years old and are not combat trained the Brig dithers quite naturally. And then Miss Legs interrupts "It'll be the last chance I'll get to photograph the Cybermen. Please." FFFFFFUUUUUUU - and why does the Brig agree?!

Screw this.

Give me Jamie. I've not seen him barely at all in the last three episodes, and at the climax of the entire serial you're giving some bit-part tagalong girl who got multiple people killed more action than Jamie! Is this punishment for shipping Jamie/Two so hard I think some of the readers are sick of it? I bet it is!

At least this grudging agreement comes with a dismissive "At least I'll be able to keep an eye on you this time". In short: girl please, if you won't stay in the kitchen where you belong I'll have to babysit you to prevent you getting your pretty little heads blown up.

Time for some action! Frollo and the Doctor run down some lane, and just as Frollo is about to . . . sonic the Cyberman down the way to death the Doctor hauls him aside to remind him about the element of surprise being important.

So more running, less action. That said, the music makes for some tense creeping around. And then there's a Cyberman with a gun (why? Can't he just kill them to death with his chest pack?) and so the Cyberman is sonicked to death first. Screaming.

Surprise lost, we get to go roof jumping! After all, the Doctor's in what, his early forties I think, and Frollo looks to be a spry decade older than that. Well, one's a robot and the other can regenerate, no biggie. OH WAIT. What if they drop the one thing that can conclusively kill Cybermen? If that dies that's a big problem. A world ending problem.

And besides, less than a minute later they have to get off the roof into some building guarded by five whole Cybermen. Oh my word helicopter! This of course, is short hand for the arrival of the cavalry. And the Girls. Ugh. And worse yet? They#re some of the first to charge. ARMED WITH A CAMERA.

Back on the roof: Cybermen, the killing of, and running. Then ladders, the descending of. The the Brig and UNIT sees the Cybermen and goes to kill. Guns don't kill Cybermen, grenades do. Boom. AND CYBERMEN HAVE FLAMETHROWERS NOW WHAT.

And UNIT brings out a bazooka. Talk about bringing out the big guns. Aside from not exploding anywhere near as big as a bazooka does, it makes one of the Cybermen reverse itself until it dies. Complete with the rewinding noise you got back when DVDs and CDs didn't exist so you had to rewind all your tapes. Why does bazooka make Cyberman rewind?

I'm sorry if this is choppy, but it's an action scene with rapid cuts. So back with the Boys: running down another alley! And Frollo's really holding the Death Machine loosely for the only effective one-hit kill weapon. They hear bangs.

Cut to UNIT. Repeat some stock footage, more explosions that rewind Cybermen. All the Cybermen are dead so the Brig calls a stop and an advance, saying that there are still hundreds to go.

Another alley (surprised yet?) and our Boys are surprised to see no Cybermen (JUMP SCARE CHORD). It's a situation calling for General Ackbar. And then a trio of Cybermen (JUMP SCARE CHORD) pop out of a nearby door, only two of them (oddly enough the two at the back) die of Cerebro, and Frollo, surprise surprise, snuffs it at the hands of the last Cyberman.

And the Doctor? Runs! Skipping and leaping every time he dodges an explosion. I'd show you a screen cap, but I can't get a good one, so I won't. It is, however, veyr funny. If you're watching this online it starts about 15:10. I swear it's like someone set his coattails on fire.

Fortunately, UNIT show up and bazooka the Cyberman to death. I'd like to bazooka my across-the-hall neighbour and friends to death right about now, twenty past midnight and singing raucously. Some people have exams tomorrow! Not me, but still. And anyway, it's an hour past 'quiet time'. Why are they singing the national anthem?! Was there some sporting victory today that I've blissfully ignored?

After making sur the Doctor's okay the Brig and his men run off to the building to destroy themselves some radio transmitters. And Miss Legs? . . .

Decides this is the perfect time for a photo shoot. And the Doctor primps and preens as she takes pictures of them. That is pretty funny. End of the world? Photo shoot! Seriously, pictures solve everything.

Back at UNIT HQ we hear from that Brig announces that "For the moment the crisis is over. The radio transmitter's been destroyed, so they Cybermen can no longer deliver their bomb. But their spaceship is still sending out it's hypnotic signals. The world is still paralysed." On the one hand: we've saved the world from ending with a bang. On the other hand: the world is still ending with a quiet whimper. Now I just feel pretentious. (And now they're playing Land of Hope and Glory. And they know all the words. wot)

Meaning "we have to destroy the Cyberman spaceship". Good thing the Russians launched a nuke of some sort an hour or two ago then isn't it? So what are they going to fill the last seven odd minutes of the episode with? (And we're now in Henlow Downs - I told you the UNIT Radio makes scenes change) So while the Brig's informing everyone that the missile will impact in six hours or so a Random Dude whose name I probably should know announces there's "[s]omething on the screen, sir. Moving in fast. Look at the size of it!" Obligatory reference number one. Obligatory reference number two.

No surprises what it is, it's a really big spaceship. I wonder if 'The Two Doctors' stole that exchange from here? Now, what's interesting about this scene is that the Brig's still ding his strategic thing in the background, meaning if you can pay attention to two conversations at once, have subtitles, or know where to find the script you can actually find out the Brig's original intentions for dealing with the rest of the invasion force.

Well, if Major Dude didn't pick up the radio and say "Sorry to interrupt you sir, but we've picked up a large UFO approaching earth." But it still shows a flow of information and the way the military acts. This is something I didn't really see in Nu Who's 'The Sonataran Strategy'/'The Poison Sky' or 'The Doctor's Daughter' (Oh, there is drama going on now they've got the Porters all over here. Apparently the music can be heard in the Lodge. Halfway across the college!) because apparently correct military procedure is for dummies in Nu WHo. That or it's just more obvious here what with UNIT being introduced properly here and being so pivotal to the plot. I like sharing like that.

Anway the Radio of Scene Change takes us over to UNIT HQ where, upon finding out that the CyberShip's moved to 50 000 miles away Sparkles asks "Why?" Perhaps because they've got more than one weapon? Or because they discovered and plotted the trajectory of the Russian missile and moved to avoid it while still staying out of range of ordinary missiles? Because common sense is not to be found in a genius.

So now the Brig needs to chat with Captain Jimmy Turner. OH. AND THE BRIGADIER IN THE BRITISH MILITARY DOES NOT UNDERSTAND WHY A TARGET MOVES CLOSER TO THEIR TARGET AND OUT OF THE WAY OF A MISSILE!! Palm, meet face, head meet desk. Repeat.

And the Doctor isn't sure either!

You're hundreds of years old! You've been in (or passed by) wars! COMMON SENSE! It is a thing that happens. It is a thing that people have! Then he adds "possibly to avoid the Russian missile . . . or . . . " POSSIBLY?! More like a damned certainty!

And, of course, the Brig chips in with the deploy their bomb via other means idea, and the Doctor agrees, suggesting that their conventional missiles couldn't handle a larger distance. Sparkles then chips in, "But in moving in thirt... fifty thousand miles they've come into range of the Russian missiles! Well they can't be more than a few miles from them!" Hehe, somebody made a flub. And they've moved more than fifty thousand miles dear, they've moved one hundred and eighty thousand miles (as the Doctor assumes the ship was originally two hundred and thirty thousand miles away (again, correct numbers)), meaning that the super-genius who only needs thirty seconds to work out numbers to create a chain reaction of explosions cannot do simple subtraction.

D: "But it's going in the opposite direction!" I don't get it. What's moving in the opposite direction? The CyberShip presumably, but it's coming in closer, not moving away. Maybe it's just me being a bit thick, but this line doesn't make sense.

Oh, and then Captain Jimmy Turner tunes in and apparently you can remote control a missile in space after it's been launched and had coordinates set and everything? Eh, I'll roll with it, it seems plausible enough, and it's getting late. It'll take about twelve and a half minutes to reach the CyberShip's new position.

And I adore this piece of dialogue as it is in the script I'm using (name abbreviations remain mine).

B: "That's more than time enough for them to deliver their bomb, move out to safety, isn't it."

D: (in a muted voice) Yes Brigadier, I'm afraid it is.

(As everyone looks to the wall clock, the BRIGADIER displays his ability to state the perfectly obvious:)

B: "Yes, well this is going to be a long twelve minutes."

Whoever did this transcription is a pure genius. So to show time passing we look at a look (analogue) reading twenty past two, and then fade to it reading twenty-six minutes past two. Wouldn't a military base prefer digital clocks?

The personnel at Henlow Downs are just standing in a group staring grimly at a clock. I'd love it if that's how they have the rest of the episode pass, by having people stand around tensely for six minutes.

AND THEY DID! They actually had everyone stare at clocks for twelve in-universe minutes. So awesome. (And for those minutes we cut between Henlow Downs and the UNITplane. Fortunately that Dude at the radar in Henlow Downs spots the incoming Russian missile and then excrement hits the fan because coincidentally the CyberShip launches their CyberMegatron Bomb at the same time!

Cue some model shots and rockets being prepped, after all, they've got to wait thirty seconds for it to come in range. The Radio of Scene Change takes us back to the UNITplane where we're told by That Guy At Henlow Downs the ship is still in position and "[i]]f they don't shift soon, that Russian missile will hit it right on the button."

Back to Henlow Downs we have a countdown, various shots of missiles being launched, missing, other missiles being prepped and the word 'missile' has lost all meaning I've typed it so much in the last hour or so, and then the Henlow Downs missiles hit the CyberMegatron Bomb and blow it up! Oh, and the Russian missile hit the CyberShip (which in episode is actually the Cyber-spaceship, so I was close), and blows it up.

Wee bit anti-climactic really.

And we cut from the nuclear explosion to space to one of those lighting rigs used by photographers and . . . well . . . She is straddling two chair, legs scat abroad in her tight sparkly catsuit. And if that's not fanservicey/homoerotic enough, the dialogue "Tired?"

S: "No . . . exhausted."

ML: *giggles* "Okay, you can take a breather." certainly adds to the lesyay factor. And the camera is pointed right at Sparkle's crotch. I think these photographs are going to go in Miss Legs' In My Bunk Folder. And doesn't Sparkles look heartbroken (her eyes cast down in dismay) when she finds out Miss Legs has a contract with a publishing group after photographing Cybermen in action. She cannot bare the arriving separation! Also? Wendy Padbury? Damn pretty.

And how come Earth knows about the Cybermen now in the late 1960s, but are completely oblivious forty years later? The Time War: fixing all canon continuity problems since 2005!

The Captain Jimmy Turner comes in, there's some last bits of flirting between him and Miss Legs, and the Doctor's fixed all the circuits, so it really is time to go! And what about the Prof? I honestly don't know if he's still alive. And Jamie's "just having a check up at the hospital"

At the field from the first episode, "there's nothing here" (Captain Jimmy Turner). Because the TARDIS is invisible! AND JAMIE! :D. Cue some last minute farewells and Our Boys slip into the field to play hide and go seek with the TARDIS.

It's as funny as you think it is. And I finally got a nice ass shot, which is nice and fanservicey. And in a nice bit of continuity you can just about make out Jamie's bandage under his kilt as he walks. The special effect for the invisiTARDIS is giggleworthy, although possibly impressive for its time and budget. The split screen is marvellous. So the Doctor makes the TARDIS visible again, and everyone's off in the TARDIS just in time for the credits to run.

Scream Out!

Just before the credits end we do get THE BBC WISH TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE HELP GIVEN TO THE BY THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE IN THE MAKING OF THIS PROGRAMME, thus cementing the alliance between the MoD and Doctor Who for the next forty years or so.

Preview Thoughts: Next week, "The Krotons". Intriguing. And Wikipedia informs me it was the first serial written by Robert Holmes, so I'm interested.

Best Moment: The entire sequence with the Doctor and Frollo in Villain HQ. The tension between these two is undeniable, and I love how Frollo reacts to his betrayal.

Worst Moment: 'I want to take more pictures of Cybermen! Let me follow you into a battle zone while you and your extremely limited number of soldiers fight to save the world, forcing you to expend valuable resources protecting civilians who shouldn't even be there'! Also: no Jamie wot.

Best Actor: Tobias Vaughn.

Worst Actor: Miss Legs.

Best Special Effect: The model shots are still rather good.

Worst Special Effect: The very small explosions from bazookas and grenades and alien weaponry.

Most Punchable Character: Miss Legs

Death Count: Several thousand or more Cybermen, Packer, Frollo and probably some redshirts and mooks too.

Kink of the Episode: Sparkly catsuit.

Brief overall thoughts?
Eh, ending fatigue? While I did enjoy the military side of things, it gets a little dull, especially given this is meant to be a climax to a serial that was roughly three hours long. However, the beginning was fantastic, and I did like the overall impression that the Doctor was only one part of the machine that helped save the world. And the fact that really, UNIT was responsible for actually saving the world means that for their introductory serial this was a really solid showcasing of their abilities and connections.

Frollo is an amazing villain, and while I do think some of the secondary characters were irritating beyond belief this was still a good conclusion overall, if a little too wordy for me personally. And not having Jamie in it at all, aside from what, one minute at the end, is kind of upsetting, if realistic. Jamie deserved to be more involved.

Serial Roundup

Spoiler

Best Moment: This is actually really tricky, because there are a lot of things I could call Best Moment. The fangirl in me wants to say 'all the Jamie/Two touching', the fan of cheesy sci-fi wants to say 'the CyberSuits', and so on.

But overall it's a toss-up between the actual invasion of London by the Cybermen because it's so well shot and for the sound design; the other option would be the confrontation spanning eps. 7 and 8 between the Doctor and Frollo for just being well written, acted, shot and everything. The stakes felt real, and I think that, for the Doctor, this was the moment when he saved the day. By confronting and convincing Frollo he gained a good ally, the location of the radio transmitter and because these two were so diametrically opposed in morals, ideology and so on it shows just how serious things have gotten. Plus it's nice to see such an alliance also spawned out of that and narcissism, when you're mostly certain that the latter reason is the most important.

Worst Moment: Stupid Miss Legs running off as if she thinks she can actually do something other than get people killed and be a mcguffin girl.

Best Actor: Kevin Stoney! I love him and how he portrayed Frollo so very much.

Worst Actor: Miss Legs. Do I really need to elaborate? I'm sure she's not meant to be so annoying and punchable (spoilers!), and is meant to be endearing or something, but the way she's written and acted makes her nothing more than a burden to be borne unwillingly.

Best Special Effect: The CyberRadio - I mean, CyberPlanner.

Worst Special Effect: A fair few of the props in general: particularly that machine that drove one of the Cybermen insane. Stethoscopes . . .

Most Punchable Character: Miss Legs.

Death Count: Many thousands.

Kink of the Serial: Jamie/Two. All the way.

Overall thoughts?
Damn if this isn't a good introduction to the Second Doctor and his era. A quick look at Wikipedia tells me that this is one of the last serials of this period, and because of this, the flavour of this period is done well.

While the last two episodes are a bit of a drag (and I'm not certain if that's because I was watching so piecemeal and writing reviews at the same time), the pacing is done very well, the character are for the most part well-thought out and very realistic in motivation and reaction, and I do get a kick out of the accuracy here.

But by far and away the best parts of this serial are the Doctor and Frollo's interaction, whether it be face-to-face, by proxy or just watching them try to outwit each other. This one wild card utterly shreds Frollo's plans to pieces, and the downfall of the villain in the last couple of episodes (and before) is down so well, it's not a complete and utter meltdown (at first), but more a calmly desperate struggle to stay on top that actually succeeds initially.

And boy, is Frollo dark. Threatening rape that openly on what was originally intended to be a children's educational show (and still retained some of these aspects this early on in the show's history) is ballsy and really makes the villain more threatening than a simple CyberInvasion. This only makes the final fall all the more bittersweet, because in Frollo the Doctor actually met his match. While there was no doubt in Frollo's eventual fate, in my opinion, you come to care about his plans as much as the Doctor's because of how well he can out-think everyone else and has planned ahead. And youo got to admit: he's got balls.

On a fangirl note? The sheer subtext in this serial is overwhelming at time, and the pair are utterly adorable together. This does however, make it doubly frustrating when Jamie is kept out of the picture for such long stretches at a time. Out of the last quarter of the serial he was in perhaps six minutes of it, somewhat unbalancing the serial's general tone.

On an analytical note? The themes here are very well played, and it is ironic that Frollo's vision of a world where people work together in synchronicity is undone by that very thing: UNIT and Our Boys united against a common threat to save people's individuality by working as a group of like-minded people with a common cause. And of course, all the other themes (minus the homoeroticism) all play into this to make it tightly written and actually pretty deep.

Final verdict: highly recommend, one of the best serials/episodes in all of Doctor Who. So far.

Next up! 'Remembrance of the Daleks' Part 1/4

[Calemyr]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

...the EmoticonEmitter...

That evokes a beautiful image: a gun that shoots smileys.

[Dr. Simon]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Final verdict: highly recommend, one of the best serials/episodes in all of Doctor Who. So far.[/spoiler]

Next up! 'Remembrance of the Daleks' Part 1/4[/spoiler]

Gah! I already wrote a reply to this and got a Database backup in the face.

I'm glad that my recommendation was vindicated. Remembrance... that the Seventh Doctor? (I get confused between Resurrection, Revelation and Remembrance). If so, another good one. I will just say ... Time War. Nuff said.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Originally Posted by Calemyr

That evokes a beautiful image: a gun that shoots smileys.

That would be amazing. But really that's what the Cerebraton Mentor does: send emotions at people, and emoticons are shorthand emotions.

Originally Posted by Dr. Simon

Gah! I already wrote a reply to this and got a Database backup in the face.

I'm glad that my recommendation was vindicated. Remembrance... that the Seventh Doctor? (I get confused between Resurrection, Revelation and Remembrance). If so, another good one. I will just say ... Time War. Nuff said.

Don't you just hate it when the database eats your post, ever since that happened when I was typing up a massive post I've taken to c&pping all the long posts into word/open office etc. and it's a lot easier that way.

And your1 recommendation is most definitely seconded! I have a feeling it'll be one of my favourite Classic Who serials for a very long time, and one of my favourite Second Doctor ones.

'Remembrance' is Seventh yes. It's the one with Ace and the baseball bat. And yes, I will mention I saw this before I start reviewing it. It was a birthday present, and there was a meetup, so Doctor Who. Obviously.

Also: 1960s, and I remember in-jokes, so fun.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Koorly's Archive of Her Doctor Who Reviews:
Classic Who

Spoiler

Second Doctor

Spoiler

Series 6
'The Invasion' Part 1/8, Part 2/8, Part 3/8 part one, part two, Part 4/8 part one, part two, Part 5/8, Part 6/8, Part 7/8, Part 8/8

Fourth Doctor

Spoiler

Series 12
'Genesis of the Daleks' Part 1/6, Part 2/6
Seventh Doctor

Spoiler

Series 25
'Remembrance of the Daleks' Part 1/4, Part 2/4, Part 3/4, Part 4/4

Nu Who

Spoiler

Ninth Doctor
Season 1 - retrospective/liveblog

Spoiler

Brief Whole Series Retrospective
Ep. 1 'Rose'
Ep. 2 'The End of the World'
Ep. 3 'The Unquiet Dead'

Tenth Doctor

Spoiler

Season 2 - retrospective

Spoiler

Brief Whole Series Retrospective

Season 3 - blind bar Moffat

Spoiler

Ep. 1: 'Smith and Jones' -missing.
Ep. 2: 'The Shakespeare Code'
Ep. 3: 'Gridlock'
Ep. 4: 'Daleks in Manhattan' (part 1/2)
Ep. 5: 'Evolution of the Daleks' (part 2/2)
Ep. 6: 'The Lazarus Experiment'
Ep. 7: '42'
Ep. 8: 'Human Nature' (part 1/2)
Ep. 9: 'The Family of Blood' (part 2/2)
Ep. 10: 'Blink'
Ep. 11: 'Utopia' (part 1/3)
Ep. 12: 'The Sound of the Drums' (part 2/3)
Ep. 13: 'The Last of the Time Lords' (part 3/3)

Children in Need 2007 episode: 'Time Crash'
2007 Christmas Episode: 'Voyage of the Damned'

Bits and Bobs About Season 3
Retrospective - to be written later
Why I Do Not Like Martha/Ten (This was written between my write ups of ep. 8 and ep 9)

Season Four blind bar Moffat

Spoiler

Ep. 1: 'Partners in Crime'
Ep. 2: 'The Fires of Pompeii'
Ep. 3: 'Planet of the Ood'
Ep. 4: 'The Sontaran Stratagem' Part 1/2
Ep. 5: ‘The Poison Sky‘ Part 2/2
Ep. 6: ‘The Doctor‘s Daughter‘ Posted in two parts.
Ep. 7: 'The Unicorn and the Wasp'

Season 5 - blind bar Moffat's Angels

Spoiler

Ep. 11: 'The Lodger'

Season 6

Spoiler

To to things this series was split in two, as such eps. 8 - Christmas episode will be liveblogged, and the first seven will be written with me having seen them before.

Ep. 8: 'Let's Kill Hitler'
Ep. 9: 'Night Terrors'
Ep. 10: 'The Girl Who Waited'
Ep. 11: 'The God Complex'
Ep. 12: 'Closing Time'
Ep. 13: Missing

2011 Christmas Special: 'The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe'

Odds and Sods

Spoiler

Things that don't really fit anywhere.

'Good As Gold' Second Blue Peter scriptwriting competition for Doctor Who

[CurlyKitGirl]

And now, to boldly go where many have gone before. [*cue TNG theme (Such a marvellous introduction)*]

Okay, so eleven hours of travel yesterday meant this was done before 'Remembrance of the Daleks', sue me.
The only changes I've made are to separate the chat into three episodes, and add/elaborate on my best/worst/etc. at the end of each episode. Aside from that, everything is as is. Apologies in advance for being less coherent than normal.
Oh, and due to weirdness, I lost about the first ten minutes of the chat for the second episode.

Koorly = me
ae = Archonic_Energy
ralphpocketwatch = Thufir
Hammer Birchgrove = H Birchgrove

'Rose'/'The End of the World'/'The Unquiet Dead' (season 1, episodes 1 - 3)

Spoiler

Koorly: Argh, made it just in time then.
ralphpocketwatch: Mmm. Say what you will about the writing in this series, but I ****ing love this music.
ae: yay! people!
Hammer Birchgrove: hi
Hammer Birchgrove: New Dr Who, I presume?
ae: small problem with my new fibreoptic broadband has resulted in a slightly lower than average quality video
Hammer Birchgrove: aww :(
Koorly: Yep, Nu Who it is.
ae: i had better latency with Sky
ae: 1:30 remaining
Koorly: Where's this music coming from?
Koorly: Frick. I remember.
ae: the DVD
ae: :p
Koorly: You know what I mean, from the series! Meanie pants.
ae: heh
Koorly: It's Rose's theme isn't it? This always follows her around.
ae: i htink so
ae: in the words of a very dear vorlon:
ae: and so, it begins
Koorly: Can't even put the damn DVD on without being reminded of That Woman (not that one).
ae: oooo oooo ooooo
ralphpocketwatch: I think it's not so much Rose's theme as the Bad Wolf theme.
Koorly: Yay! Nine's theme. I miss this theme, think it's better than Eleven's, and much better than Ten's.
Koorly: @Thu: did you wiki that just to find out?
ralphpocketwatch: Nope.
ae: who gets up that early?
Koorly: Hi Earth! Look at this cold open just like in 'Remembrance'!
Koorly: COW!
Koorly: Now way is she nineteen stupid chavvy spoiled pink princess
Koorly: Nice views of London though.
ralphpocketwatch: Ah, Koorly's hurling abuse at the screen already.
Castaras: ***
Castaras: Goshdarnit
Castaras: Paynus
ralphpocketwatch: This will be a fun stream.
Koorly: Hi Cassie!
Koorly: Mickey, I like you!
ae: hi Dr nick
Hammer Birchgrove: 1st or 2nd season?
ae: 23rd
Koorly: (Although I got to admit Rose is more tolerable in the opening two minutes because she's HUMAN)
ae: :)
Castaras: She hasn't started talking yet
Hammer Birchgrove: I meant of the new series
Castaras: so I'm fine with watching a little longer
ae: bbom headshot
Koorly: Not so we can hear at least.
Castaras: but pretty much as soon as she talks I'm gonna be going back to might and magic again
Castaras: there we go.
Koorly: I don't get her eyebrows.
Castaras: annoying ***
Koorly: Aaaand she spoke.
Castaras: until later. :P
ralphpocketwatch: Eh, I don't mind Rose that much for this whole series.
Hammer Birchgrove: I thought she was cute
Koorly: And what's with her outift, I don't ever remember her not wearing it, 'cept in 'Unquiet Dead'.
ralphpocketwatch: It's series 2 she gets *really* annoying.
Hammer Birchgrove: She would play a hooker in another TV-series
Koorly: Nice atmosphere in this opening though. Sdmittedly a bit cliche, but it's Doctor Who.
Hammer Birchgrove: didn't follow that one
ralphpocketwatch: She wears the Union Flag top in Empty Child/Doctor Dances.
Koorly: Freakin' mannequins.
Koorly: @Birchgrove: but she's *hot* in that.
Hammer Birchgrove: Makes me think of Clayface
Koorly: Oh noes. Look. A locked door. Doesn't she know any horror cliches?
Hammer Birchgrove: In Batman comics
Koorly: And why don't she just *call* Wilson on her mobile?
Hammer Birchgrove: (the dolls, I mean)
ralphpocketwatch: They're in the basement.
ralphpocketwatch: Probably no reception.
Koorly: I like the autons here. Haven't seen the CLassic ones yet though.
ae: basically... Run.
Koorly: Sweetheart, there comes a time when denial is a bit stupid.
Hammer Birchgrove: didn't know there were classics of those
Koorly: This is not a joke. It's obvious.
Koorly: And she backed herself into a corner for kjarate chopping
ralphpocketwatch: Best entrance.
Koorly: HI NINE!
Koorly: Heh, five minutes and we have Running!
Hammer Birchgrove: pause?
Koorly: Then again. "Run for your life" *waves bomb*
ralphpocketwatch: I mean, I love Eleven, but I really do think that is the best entrance a Doctor has had in Nu Who thus far.
Koorly: What? *holds hands*, *grins* "Run!"
Koorly: Certainly encompasses everything Who in a nutshell.#
Hammer Birchgrove: I still love Bob Baker the most
ralphpocketwatch: Do you mean Tom Baker?
Hammer Birchgrove: ah yes
Hammer Birchgrove: sorry
ae: he's harmless
Koorly: How d'you mix those two names up?
Hammer Birchgrove: I dunno
Koorly: Did we miss something?
Koorly: Eh.
ae: back on-line
Koorly: "I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name?"
Koorly: "Rose"
Koorly: "Nice to meet you Rose, run for your life"
Koorly: Best entrance.
Koorly: Introduction even.
Koorly: It's the manic grin and Obvious Bomb that does it.
ae: i have a stoolen arm in my hands
Koorly: And there goes the special effects budget for the episode.
Koorly: Hi TARDIS!
Hammer Birchgrove: her mother
Hammer Birchgrove: uuuurgh
ae: slap
Koorly: Hey, anyone think that explosion got a bit awkward post 7/7?
Hammer Birchgrove: her boyfriend
Hammer Birchgrove: Blearg
Koorly: Pardon my language, but screw Jackie.
Koorly: This is such a chav family.
Koorly: And hello tea.
Hammer Birchgrove: a kid friendly chav family :p
Koorly: Just got nearly killed? Have tea, then try and drag girlfriend down pub.
Hammer Birchgrove: no knives
Koorly: I like Mickey. He's sweet. He makes Rose human.
ralphpocketwatch: Jackie and Mickey - masters of tact.
ralphpocketwatch: But yeah, Mickey's alright.
Koorly: OMINOUS CLOSE UP TO SHOW THIS IS FORESHADOWING EVIL.
ralphpocketwatch: So is Jackie to an extent.
ralphpocketwatch: More so later on though.
Hammer Birchgrove: I hate those alarm clocks
Koorly: Honestly. Pink?
Koorly: Her walls are a nice colour though.
Koorly: Racism and abuse of government monies. Yeah, this is the UK.
Koorly: Hello evil cat-like arm!
Koorly: Time to murder.
Koorly: Oh, it's only Nine.
ralphpocketwatch: Bonehead.
Koorly: Mit sonic screwdriver,
ae: heh
ae: screwdriver in my pocket
Hammer Birchgrove: MILF
Hammer Birchgrove: :p
Koorly: uurrrrrrrrrgh.
Koorly: Totally agree with Nine. Jackie's a . . . tart.
ralphpocketwatch: I like how he seemed to be oblivious of what Jackie was implying up to the end there.
Koorly: Oh! From that bit with the mirror we know that he only reccently regenerated!
ae: bad effect was bad
Koorly: Funny background event is funny.
Koorly: And was that a - oh god.
Koorly: Lampshading the stupidness of the effect and then making it happen. Genius. I don't know how, but it is.
Koorly: So. Bad. :D
ae: no i don't
Koorly: I love this long shot.
Hammer Birchgrove: annoying music
Koorly: Hate the background music though, honestly Murray Gold, what were you like?
Koorly: "Are you the police?"
Koorly: No. He's the Doctor.
ae: sort of yeah
ae: mmmmm chips
Koorly: *is having lag*
ralphpocketwatch: It's frozen up for me.
Koorly: Could go for some chips myself though.
ae: now?
Koorly: still froze.
ae: now?
Koorly: Nope.
Hammer Birchgrove: still
Koorly: For me at least it froze just after "Are you the police?"
ralphpocketwatch: Likewise.
ae: try re-loading the page... it always worked for me
ralphpocketwatch: Well, for me it was after "Are you the-" but basically the same.
ae: now?
ae: still saying "perfect streaming"
Koorly: Just F5'd, shot has clearly moved on, waiting for it to load though.
Koorly: There we go. Rose's theme.
Koorly: Doctor goes to TARDIS, Rose walks off, and hello vworp noise!
ralphpocketwatch: Oh man, I missed the speech about the Earth turning.
Koorly: There was a speech about that?
Koorly: Oh yes!
Hammer Birchgrove: I love the Tardis engine noise
Koorly: So military drumming mixed with Rose's theme? I call foreshadowing.
Koorly: Oh God. Thpse computers.
ae: everyone OK now/
Koorly: And she FakeGoogled the Doctor.
Koorly: Hi shout out!
ae: i've resized a bit so you can see the current time
Koorly: It's a VW Bug.
Koorly: Bring on the crappy bin effect.
Koorly: And pasltic!Mickey.
Koorly: plastic*
Koorly: Is it me, or is Clive familiar?
ae: he should be
Koorly: Do like that the conspiracy nutter is relatively normal. Bar the conspiracy bit.
Hammer Birchgrove: wifey is cool with him inviting young women
ralphpocketwatch: Well, of course his conspiracy theory is actually true.
Koorly: @AE: FINE. Is that actor who plays the Doctor familiar to anyone else?
Koorly: Also: hi obvious photoshopping.
ae: you mean eccleson [[Interrupting here to say, I am an idiot, and meant, 'the actor who played Clive'. My brain. Oddly, the actor is Mark Benton. And Cpl. Benton was in the last serial I reviewed. Coincidence? Or is it time to cue the X Files music?]]
Koorly: And when you consider that earlier the Doctor checked himself out in the mirror as he'd not seen himself properly before this is a plot hole.
ralphpocketwatch: Of course, this stuff kind of goes against the Doctor having only recently regenerated.
Hammer Birchgrove: "did you have nice sex with the cute chav girl?"
Koorly: That Woman is not cute.
Koorly: HERE COMES THE BIN!
Koorly: It's so awful.
ae: nomomomom
Hammer Birchgrove: he's a time traveller though
ralphpocketwatch: But I like to imagine he went off and did those things at the end of the episode before coming back to tell Rose the TARDIS travels in time.
Koorly: Bet there's someone behind pushing it along.
Koorly: Just outside of camera.
ae: he just hasn't seen a mirror in a while
Koorly: Here it comes . . .
ralphpocketwatch: Yeah, but if he did those things after this episode Rose would've been there as well.
Koorly: (Do like that Clive info-dumps the Doctor = danger)
Koorly: Hehehehhehehe
Koorly: Look at that effect.
Koorly: Just look at it.
Hammer Birchgrove: burp
Koorly: It's awful and then omnomnomnom*burp*
ae: don't i could do something better on photoshop
Koorly: Oh, Murray GOld did okay with the suspenseful music just then "I think he's immortal, I think he's an alien from another world"
Koorly: That bit was nice.
Hammer Birchgrove: Plastic Mickey
Koorly: Hello plastic!
ralphpocketwatch: "Your champagne."
Koorly: How *bad* a girfriend is That Woman if she can't tell something is right fricking wrong there.
Koorly: Hi Doctor!
ae: pop
ralphpocketwatch: I think she can tell something's wrong, but she doesn't know what.
Koorly: Oh God these plastic effects. I was righter than I knew when I joked they spent all the budget on the explosion from earlier.
Koorly: Pizza flipper hands go smash! very ineffectually.
ralphpocketwatch: Because people need to be *told* to run from the plastic axe-hand monster?
Koorly: Oii. COW, you saw the TARDIS vworp away earlier, use that miniscule brain you have.
Koorly: It's not *that hard*
Hammer Birchgrove: whoa
ralphpocketwatch: She didn't see it dematerialise though.
ralphpocketwatch: She saw it, and then it wasn't there.
Hammer Birchgrove: It's
Hammer Birchgrove: Bigger
Koorly: She saw the box was there, then vworp vworp and it was gone.
Hammer Birchgrove: In
Hammer Birchgrove: The
Koorly: Not hard to figure out.
ralphpocketwatch: It could, in theory, have just been moved.
Hammer Birchgrove: Inside!
Koorly: Then again, That WOman is a moron.
Koorly: @Tuf: by what?
Koorly: She didn't hear or see no cars nor planes nor nothing.
Koorly: *Thu
ralphpocketwatch: I'm not saying she's thought this through in detail.
Hammer Birchgrove: Stealth helicopters :p
Koorly: It's been a long time since I seen Nine's TARDIS interior.
Koorly: It's nice.
ralphpocketwatch: Alternatively, she just doesn't trust her own memory.
Koorly: Also, did she start crying when she found out that aliens were real.
ralphpocketwatch: (Last time I saw this TARDIS interior - The Doctor's Wife)
Koorly: And since then I seen Two's interior, Seven's interior and Eleven's interior.
Koorly: And Ten's.
ae: something big...
ae: and metal...
ralphpocketwatch: Ironically, Doctor says "The signal, it's fading" and then the stream goes black for me.
ae: are you back yet?
Koorly: I am.
Koorly: HELLO RTD'S POLLUTION AESOP!
Koorly: Da fu' is anti-plastic?
Koorly: Is it wood?
Koorly: I do like this bit.
ralphpocketwatch: Wait, there was a pollution thing in this episode as well?
Hammer Birchgrove: UV light :p
Koorly: This is the only time That Woman is subtle.
ae: heh
Koorly: And I love how they halo'd the Doctor with the Eye.
Koorly: Running!
ralphpocketwatch: Love that grin.
Koorly: Don't like this piece of music.
ralphpocketwatch: And the "Fantastic"
ae: that bus doesn't use that bridge
Hammer Birchgrove: he should play a Batman villain
Koorly: *kinda ships Rose/Nine because of the spontaneous hand holding*
ralphpocketwatch: Rose/Nine is acceptable shipping.
Koorly: Red and steamy? Must be Evil.
ralphpocketwatch: Of course.
Koorly: See also: The Impossible Planet/[something something]
ralphpocketwatch: Doctor Who villains are generally very considerate with their easily identifiable colour-scheme.
Koorly: D: "I'm not here to kill it, I've got to give it a chance"
ae: shadow proc.
Koorly: Also, is the Shadow Proclamation ever mentioned again?
ralphpocketwatch: Yes.
Koorly: In a SPOILER way?
ae: for you... yes
Koorly: I love how disdainful of That Woman the Doctor is.
Hammer Birchgrove: classy doctor
ralphpocketwatch: Well, it's not a big spoiler, but yes, it's in an episode you haven't watched yet.
Hammer Birchgrove: "keep the domestics outside"
Koorly: Hey, guys, this lava monster was done so much cooler in 'The Fires of Pompeii'.
ae: more money for the effects
Koorly: I prefered Eleven's IIIII AAAAMMMMM TAAAAALLLLLKKIIINNNNGGG
Hammer Birchgrove: Excuse me doc, we flew to the moon
Koorly: I hate this Goddamn ending.
Hammer Birchgrove: THE WAR
Koorly: And how did the autons finds and carry that TARDIS without no one seeing it?
Koorly: Also, hello Time War!
Koorly: All the sadness.
ae: kill them all
Hammer Birchgrove: late night shopping
Koorly: Love this: world ending? Call your daughter/mother1
Koorly: !*
Koorly: You know where I seen better lightning effects? Star Wars (original trilogy).
Koorly: And web review series.
ae: pew
Koorly: All things considered, the autons are actually pretty creepy for being nothing but mannequins.
ralphpocketwatch: Poor Clive.
Koorly: Aaaawwww, bye Clive. :(
Hammer Birchgrove: :(
Koorly: Also: how weak is the Doctor he can't even wrestle out of a mannequin's arms?
ae: memo: i'm probably a few seconds ahead of you
ralphpocketwatch: They're pretty strong mannequins.
Koorly: And I love too how the suton is POORLY HOLDING THE ONE THING THAT CAN KILL THEM ALL.
Hammer Birchgrove: piezo-electric plastics are actually 10 times stronger than human muscles
Koorly: (no, I'm slow typoing.commenting/thinking of things)
Koorly: *typing/commenting
Hammer Birchgrove: (actually real thing)
Koorly: Oh my God. Hands up shoulder heightand screaming.
Koorly: So 1950s.
ae: no, i KNOW i'm at least a second infront
Koorly: Doctor: you have legs, kick the auton into the nestene consciousness.
Koorly: Rose: "No A LEvels, no job, no future", and a bronze gymnastics medal.
ralphpocketwatch: She also almost let her mother die by waiting to make that speech before doing anything.
Koorly: That Woman is such a loser.
ae: she just committed genocide
ralphpocketwatch: Nah, there are other Nestene.
Koorly: And that is how mannequins have seizures.
Koorly: Plastic + anti-plastic = explosion.
Hammer Birchgrove: How can people forget that lots of peeps got killed by plastic robots?
Koorly: Somehow I'd thought it wuold cancel each other out.
Hammer Birchgrove: Like matter + anti-matter!
Koorly: Now comes the bit where I want to *murder* Rose.
ralphpocketwatch: N'awww.
ae: cowering in the corner
Koorly: GOD DAMN SON OF A *** *** SELF-OBSESSED NARCISSTIC COW WHY DO YOU EVEN HANG UP ON YOUR MOTHER AFTER AN ALIEN INVASION YOU FILTHY DISGUSTING HORRIBLE LITTLE ***!!!!!!!!!!
Hammer Birchgrove: D:
Koorly: HAAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEEEE!!!!!
Hammer Birchgrove: He's a thing!
Koorly: (B-itch; w-hore, b-itch in that order)
Hammer Birchgrove: aww Mickey
ae: if my girlfriend discribed me as a stupid lump i'd dump the ***!
Hammer Birchgrove: and people complain about Robin in Batman :p
Koorly: Seriously, wo, AFTER NEARLY DYING AND KNOWING YOUR MOTHER WAS IN THAT SELF-SAME POSITION WOULD HANG UP ON THEIR MOTHER?!?!?!?!?!?!
Koorly: Not even TALK TO HER TO LET HER KNOW YOU WERE OKAY?!?!
Koorly: D: "Did I mention, it also travels in time." Awesome.
Hammer Birchgrove: lulz
ralphpocketwatch: Is it bad I find Koorly's murderous desires cute?
Koorly: R: "Thanks."
Koorly: M: Thanks for what?"
Koorly: r: "eXACTLY"
Hammer Birchgrove: stupid doctor
Koorly: *** murder!
ralphpocketwatch: (Also, **** this laptop overheating on me)
Hammer Birchgrove: bringing with the load
Koorly: Preview thoughts: nice. Interesting, intriguing, lovely effects.
Koorly: (That last asterisked bit was [[rather rude]])
Hammer Birchgrove: :p
Koorly: Stream off for anyone else?
ralphpocketwatch: Also, I still like my theory that the Doctor went and did the stuff Clive had pictures of between asking Rose to come with him and coming back after realising he didn't tell her it travelled in time.
ralphpocketwatch: Yeah, it's off for me.
Koorly: Mkay then.
Koorly: I'm starving, but dinner's not for an hour. Sadfacetiem.
ralphpocketwatch: I don't actually know when dinner is for me.
ralphpocketwatch: Ah. Not for another two hours.
Hammer Birchgrove: Not too keen on season one
Koorly: *is editing through liveblog now to delete duplicated bits.
Koorly: Oh!
Hammer Birchgrove: aside from the Dalek episodes
Koorly: Best moment: Nine's introduction. It's fast-paced, energetic, and sums up the Doctor perfectly. Nice smile, save someone's life, running, polite and manic and, of course, more running just before blowing something up. What more do you need.
Hammer Birchgrove: I *love* The Last Dalek
ae: sorry about that
ralphpocketwatch: Dalek is good.
Koorly: Worst moment: the end. Way to show off your Companion by having her callously discard everyone who loves her. This is when I started to dislike Rose. Seriously, who does that to people?!
ralphpocketwatch: The Moffat episodes are good.
Koorly: Best actor: Ecclestone. Fantastic energy and verve.
Koorly: Worst actor: Whoever played Jackie.
ralphpocketwatch: Some of the others are alright.
Koorly: Or, if I'm feeling especially mean, Bilie Piper because the way she plays That Woman makes me want to strangle them.
ralphpocketwatch: TBH, I'm pretty OK with all of the first three episodes actually.
ae: is it back on for you now?
Koorly: best special effect: the explosion at the beginning.
Koorly: (YES!)
ralphpocketwatch: Yeah, it's back.
Koorly: Worst special effect: Omnomnom bin and plastic!Mickey.
Koorly: Kink of the episode: None.
ralphpocketwatch: Though that was hilariously bad.
Koorly: That everything I normally do?
Koorly: Yes.
Koorly: I think.

Thoughts overall?
A very solid first episode that revives and introduces a show with a forty year history. The action is solid, the acting is generally very good, and I can see what the direction was going for with Rose the 'every girl' even if (in my opinion) it went horribly wrong.
The effects aren't good now, and they weren't at the time, but aside from that the direction and atmosphere was usually very good. The music was shaky in comparison to the next episode or two, and Murray GOld can and will most definitely do better.

‘The End of the World’

[[And as you can see, I lost a fair bit of this, and I don't know why either. In short, I loved the special effects and the costumes for the various aliens.]]

Koorly: (In a moment)
Koorly: And isn't it paradoxical to tell someone you need permission to talk before they have eprmission to talk?
Koorly: Writer: Look at me and m,y anvils talking about the working class being the new servants.
ae: well... if you don't know then how do you find out
Koorly: ANVIIIILLLLLLL!
ralphpocketwatch: I like the blue plumber lady.
Koorly: Oh yeah, she's lovely.
ae: bye plumber lady!
Koorly: Incoming angst!
Koorly: Watch me cry. Ohwait. I don't like you and will relentlessly bash you against all reason!
Hammer Birchgrove: RUUUUUUN
Koorly: Naaawwww, whosa kyoot widdle spider fing.
Hammer Birchgrove: working class hero
Hammer Birchgrove: RUUUUUUN
Koorly: Oh, wook at you gonna eat her face, but you so kyoot, killin all dese servant plumber types and ripping her flesh off.
Hammer Birchgrove: :(
ralphpocketwatch: Red dots of doooooom.
Koorly: And R2D2 is canon with Doctor Who/.
Hammer Birchgrove: is he?
Koorly: Sounds like him.
Hammer Birchgrove: cross-over?
ralphpocketwatch: Didn't you hear the beeping?
Hammer Birchgrove: nope
ae: robospider kill...
ae: aw....
Koorly: R: "Talking to a twig" FML.
Koorly: Adorable midgets!
Koorly: Probably I shouldn't call them that should I?
ralphpocketwatch: You'd think the Doctor would've noticed the robo-spiders there.
Hammer Birchgrove: better than dwarves
Koorly: R: "They're just ao alien. The aliens, are so alien. Youi look at them, and they're alien."
Koorly: *has a Red Dwarf flashback*
Hammer Birchgrove: Deeeep
Koorly: Yay! Translator microbes!
Hammer Birchgrove: Bablefish
Koorly: Incoming *actual* angst I like!
Koorly: Isn't it kind of masochistic when, after destroying your own planet and people, you then go off and see your second home planet die.
ae: nokia
Koorly: Those phones are bricks now compared to today-phones.
ralphpocketwatch: I know someone who still has a phone like that one.
ae: indestructable nokia meme
Koorly: Rose calls mum, I have a flashback to '42'.
Koorly: No. My phone's black and a little thinner than hers thankyouverymuch.
ralphpocketwatch: I wasn't talking about you.
Koorly: Also: marvellous bit of redirection there Doctor, giving her a magic phone.
ralphpocketwatch: Our rehearsal pianist in NUGSS.
Koorly: @Thu: I was temped to reference my own phone so.
ralphpocketwatch: Has a really old phone.
Koorly: You know, having R2D2 as a computer makes it easy to exposit things doesn't it?
Koorly: That robo-spider is my favourite.
ralphpocketwatch: You'd think it would require more than one button push to kill yourself.
ralphpocketwatch: I mean, what if he just lost his balance and did it by accident?
Koorly: Spider: You see me? You see me? Well, see me push this one exact button I need to kill you! And I look so adorable doing it! No wonder you couldn't kill me when you had the chance!"
Koorly: Hey guys, you think RTD knew the Face of Boe was Jack even now?
ralphpocketwatch: Probably not.
Koorly: Rose got called a concubine and a prostitute!
ae: heh jackson
Koorly: *hugs for Lady Cheem*!
Koorly: Majel: "Earth death in fifteen minutes" Trans: episode end in eighteen minutes.
Koorly: Oh look, Titanic reference.
ae: heh "Majel"
Koorly: Also, the Doctor mustive; been the only person to be on the Titanic twice when it sank,
ae: boy?
Koorly: @AE: Yes. All computer voices are Majel now.
ralphpocketwatch: Even GLaDOS?
Koorly: Cassandra: "I am the last pure human." Hello supremacist!
ae: the Cardassian computer wasn't Majel
Koorly: And obvious parody of plastic surgery.
Koorly: @AE: Was the Cardassian computer male?
ae: TRAMPOPOLINE!
Koorly: That was a good line.
Koorly: It's amazing how no one's questioning the fact that a tree evolved into a humanoid.
Hammer Birchgrove: I thought it was the opposite
Koorly: But fridge logic later, we have Tiem Lords now.
Hammer Birchgrove: human evolved into trees?
ae: Judi M. Durand
Koorly: Cheem: "I know where you're from" Not creepy at all.
ae: tree lords?
Hammer Birchgrove: damn she's hot
Koorly: @Birchgrove: "My ancestors were trsnplanted from below [...] I'm a direct descendant of a tropical ranforest"
Hammer Birchgrove: I feel ashamed over being a book reader
ae: she'll be hotter in a bit...
Hammer Birchgrove: opps :p
Koorly: HELLO GALAXY QUEST REFERENCE!
Koorly: Or rather, I want to make one.
Hammer Birchgrove: *** SLAP
Koorly: @AE: *rolls 2d6 for pun damage*
Hammer Birchgrove: needs a tentacle lady for Galaxy Quest
Koorly: D: "Hey, nice liana"
ae: @ CKG : why would anyone put that there...
Koorly: C: "Thank you."
Koorly: And there's your tenacle lady Birchgrove.
ae: it makes no logical sense
Hammer Birchgrove: where?
Koorly: @AE: *grins*
Koorly: Liana. Tentacle.
ae: mmmmm bacon
Hammer Birchgrove: Britney Spears!
Koorly: I don';t know how to feel about Britney Spears being the background music now.
Koorly: It's . . . a bit obvious no?
ae: could be disco inofern
ae: *inferno
Koorly: Burn Rosey burn.
ae: here comes the summer sun
Koorly: Here comes summer (doo doo doo doo doo)
ralphpocketwatch: The sun filter is totally trolling the Doctor.
Koorly: Dammit, she's still alive.
Hammer Birchgrove: Ipswich!
ae: he's "toast"
Koorly: *giggles*
Koorly: C: "Talk to the face! Talk to the face!"
Koorly: 'Cos the hand can't ever know.
Koorly: Cassandra just rolled her eyes at the Doctor's pseudo-philosophical talk.
Koorly: D: "Five billion years and it still comes down to money".
Koorly: Cynical.
Hammer Birchgrove: I SEE THE BRAIN VAT
ae: swift kicking time
Koorly: I forgot disco inferno was in this serial.
ae: so did I
Koorly: O RLY? *dubious face*
Koorly: Did Cassandra just make aan orgasm joke?!
Koorly: She so did!
Hammer Birchgrove: ayup
ralphpocketwatch: Yep.
ae: so woodwoman come with me
Koorly: Doctor Who: For children!
Koorly: That's a good point actually, why he bring a woman made of wood into a VERY HOT PLACE INDEED?
ae: start running moron
ralphpocketwatch: Because he trusts her?
Hammer Birchgrove: for DRAMA
ae: no explain say thanks then run!
Koorly: Nearly two episodes in and we get a species drop!
ralphpocketwatch: And he didn't realise the switch would be so inconveniently situated.
Koorly: Is that a train whistle I just heard?
Koorly: For reals?
ae: keep running moron
Koorly: But if he runs then there is less drama!
ae: cooked blue dude
Koorly: If he ran there's a good chance Lady Cheem'd live!
Koorly: And then where would our semi-forced drama and tears be?!
Koorly: Did you think of that Archie? No!
ae: use timelord powers
Koorly: He could have sonicked the lever couldn't he? Or the blades?
Koorly: Screw you Rose's them!
Koorly: The way youi intercut between the two just then makes it seem as if the Doctor's doing this ONLY TO SAVE ROSE!
Koorly: \a;jhf\ad
Koorly: HE IS NOT!
ae: you see I'd be the supervillan who just shoots the spy rather than explining my plans to him
Koorly: Love these special effects.
Koorly: Wait.
ae: i need a new cricket bat
Hammer Birchgrove: she should have 3rd degree burns
Koorly: They put the Instantly Repair Everything Perfectly Button on the other side of a death trap walkway?
Hammer Birchgrove: and skin cancer
Koorly: Who is there builder?!
Koorly: their*
Koorly: Because they need to sue someone now.
Koorly: Rose: faced the undiluted rays of the sun and got slightly firzzy hair.
Koorly: Blue fat dude: faced the undiluted rays of the sun and turned into ashes.
Koorly: Lady Cheem: spontaneously combusted due to heat build up in order to save lives.
Koorly: Rosehatetiem.
Hammer Birchgrove: Rose is a mutant
ralphpocketwatch: Stream offline?
Hammer Birchgrove: That must be it
ae: back on
Hammer Birchgrove: still pic
ae: paused
Hammer Birchgrove: works
Koorly: Aaaand the slow slow death.
Koorly: I like this because we see just how ruthless he is.
Koorly: Effects of the time war and all that.
Hammer Birchgrove: but but but brain is still left
Koorly: First episode: offers mercy.
ae: the builder really needs to sue their contractors
Hammer Birchgrove: did her brain boil?
Koorly: Second episode: straight up cold-blooded murder.
ralphpocketwatch: Ten talks about how he's less merciful than he used to be, but Nine did it so much better.
ae: hardly murder
ae: just not helping
Hammer Birchgrove: More like Batman in Batman Begins
Hammer Birchgrove: "I won't kill you... but I won't help you"
Koorly: *still ships Nine/Rose*
Koorly: It's tender okay.
Koorly: God Rose's eyebrows are massive.
Koorly: *also loves this ending*
Hammer Birchgrove: is she fake blonde?
Hammer Birchgrove: her eye brows look dark
Koorly: Did the stream cut out in the middle of that speech?
Hammer Birchgrove: yeah
Koorly: It always cuts during Drama, I think it's allergic.
ae: back
Koorly: D: "I'm a Time Lord. The last of the TIme Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only surivivor" Until 'Utopia'.
ae: really need to speak to Virgin about this
Hammer Birchgrove: well if the Daleks could survive
Koorly: Also: I'm guessing that for Classic fans that line was a BIG game changer.
Hammer Birchgrove: yeah
Koorly: R: "What sort of date are you? Come on then [blurred] chips are on me."
Hammer Birchgrove: oooh
Koorly: Preview thoughts: Time for the Unquiet Dead!
Hammer Birchgrove: the Charles Dickens ep
Koorly: I'll do the bests etc. later.

It's later!
Best Moment: Ehm. It's less than two hours after watching, and I can't think of anything that wouldn't go under a different category. Ah! Rose nearly died! It was also tense and dramatic and stuff, but mainly this is me hating Rose.

A runner up would be the remarkable preservation of five billion year old earth object, especially the juke box. And I loved the songs they'd chosen even if they were a bit heavy handed.

Worst Moment: The Galaxy Quest walkway of death. It worked in Galaxy Quest because it was a comedy about classic science-fiction, most particularly Star Trek: TOS. It does not belong on a tourist viewpoint. Especially when the Repair Everything Perfectly button rests just on the other side of two whirling blades of death.

Best Actor: Ecclestone owns it all again! He has great chemistry with everyone he interacts with, and you can see his pain in his actions and expressions, and look. Eleven is mine, but Nine is just really good at the whole 'tormented man who had to destroy untold numbers of people and species in a war that wiped out his entire people, and is now desperately trying to regain some of his joie de vivre and happiness' thing. Also he's really charismatic when he flirts, and he is the only Doctor with whom I would ship Rose. And I hate her! That's how good he is at what he does, he actually makes me think Rose is a nice person at times.

Runner up to Cassandra for being made of pure ham.

Worst Actor: Eh, the steward. He was okay, but he didn't stand out.

Best Special Effect: the sun expanding. You could feel the heat, and it was so vivid. This show does suns and stars in general wonderfully. And the makeup for the tree people.

Worst Special Effect: The Repeated Meme group. It was probably deliberate, but it wasn't very good anyway.

Kink of the Episode: Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love'. I love that song.

Thoughts overall?
I do think that the eventual motivation for murder is money. But aside from that this episode isn't as strong as it could be, it's just that there are some ridiculous plot holes/concepts (see Worst Moment) found right alongside the honestly thought provoking ideas of cynical/optimistic views on the survival of humans; on transience and immortality in general. And though I find the Plastic Surgery Is Stupid anvil a bit heavy, it's also funny.

And I loved the Doctor's darker side coming out firmly on top, probably exacerbated by the whole 'torturing self by seeing his second home die' thing and Cassandra's self-centred nature. It shows how dangerous the Doctor can be, and I agree with Thufir that while Ten talks about being so dark and dangerous, Nine gives off the more serious attitude and is very believable in his quiet way. You get one warning, and then you're gone.

‘Unquiet Dead’

Hammer Birchgrove: the Charles Dickens ep
Koorly: I'll do the bests etc. later.
Hammer Birchgrove: I like this one
ae: who needs previews when you have the episode coming up in a sec
Koorly: I have a format.
Hammer Birchgrove: uh oh
Koorly: Hello ghost zombie person!
ae: boom
ae: headshot
Koorly: Totally commonplace in Cardiff these are.
ae: zombies...
Koorly: Heehehe, she's making stereotypical ghost noises.
ae: a agree, i've been to Cardiff
ralphpocketwatch: Oh, I forgot this was Mark Gatiss.
Koorly: I love Mark Gatiss
ralphpocketwatch: It's Gwen Cooper!
ralphpocketwatch: Only not really.
Koorly: He's such a Mycroft.
ae: i'm /telling/ you
Koorly: Loving the Welshness.
Hammer Birchgrove: "Who're you gonna call????"
ae: Torchwo... NVM
Hammer Birchgrove: ... Ghostbusters!
Hammer Birchgrove: :-P
Koorly: Blech. Just saw my liveblog for last episode. Lost the first . . . ten or so minutes of it. Solution: will c&p lots and lots and lots.
Koorly: Oh my word! Someone's actually dressing in period clothing!
Koorly: For once!
Hammer Birchgrove: yay!
Koorly: Does that ever happen again?!
ralphpocketwatch: Occasionally?
ralphpocketwatch: Maybe?
Hammer Birchgrove: technically, denim would be period dressing
Hammer Birchgrove: if you're an American gold digger :p
Koorly: Inexplicably psychic servant scries for zombies.
Koorly: And pulls a Charles Xavier.
Koorly: MUTTON COPS!
Hammer Birchgrove: Dickens
Koorly: Hello Simon Callow! I recognise you from somewhere.
Koorly: *CHOPS*
Koorly: Should totally have got her Dickens timeline just for this episode.
Koorly: . . .
Koorly: Look! I studied okay.
Koorly: Taliesin lodge?! Is this a shoutout to *that* Taliesin?!
Koorly: If it is that is so awesome I might even :D
Hammer Birchgrove: ???
Koorly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliesin
Hammer Birchgrove: thanks
Koorly: The Book of Taliesin is one of the first records we have for Arthurian myths and things./
Hammer Birchgrove: aha
Hammer Birchgrove: who-ho
ae: snow angel time!
Hammer Birchgrove: bewbs
Hammer Birchgrove: or, skin anyway
Koorly: Also: Taliesin wrote lots about Welsh history.
Hammer Birchgrove: cool guy
Koorly: Yay! Actual Victorian style readings
Hammer Birchgrove: mr T
ae: i pitty the fool
Koorly: And look at that Totally Not Obvious Death Glare being given by the zombie.
ralphpocketwatch: Ah, God rest ye merry gentlemen.
ralphpocketwatch: The Doctor Who carol.
ae: brains
Koorly: O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy.
Koorly: Irony? Yes.
ralphpocketwatch: As it has pretty much become.
Koorly: "It's not Naples."
Hammer Birchgrove: Cardiff!
ralphpocketwatch: 9 years out, in Cardiff.
Koorly: R: "I don't care."
Koorly: D: "It's Cardiff."
ralphpocketwatch: Thanks Sexy.
Koorly: R: " . . .right."
Hammer Birchgrove: Temporal G!PS malfunctioning
Koorly: Dat hat.
ralphpocketwatch: Ironically, this episode was filmed in Swansea.
Koorly: Second row back centre-left.
Hammer Birchgrove: damn keyboard is frakking up
Koorly: It's huge.
Hammer Birchgrove: ****e
Hammer Birchgrove: eeeeeeek!!!
Koorly: Ah, the Doctors all have the same reaction to weird things; they fall in love.
Koorly: Was that casual racism towrds the Irish I just saw?
ae: heh, chloroform
Hammer Birchgrove: or ether
Koorly: And then chloroforming and kidnapping.
Koorly: Doctor Who: For children!
Hammer Birchgrove: It's made of gas!

Koorly: Ah, the Doctors all have the same reaction to weird things; they fall in love.
Koorly: Was that casual racism towrds the Irish I just saw?
ae: heh, chloroform
Hammer Birchgrove: or ether
Koorly: And then chloroforming and kidnapping.
Koorly: Doctor Who: For children!
Hammer Birchgrove: It's made of gas!
Koorly: And points for the accuracy regarding Dickens' scepticism.
Koorly: Fanboy tiem!
Koorly: The Doctor: Charles Dickens! You're brilliant you are! :D
Hammer Birchgrove: fan comes from fanatic
Hammer Birchgrove: and now he said it
Koorly: Oh yay, linguistics stuff!
Hammer Birchgrove: :-P
Koorly: Nineteen and no A Levels? Jesus Christ.
ae: gas her
Koorly: :D
Koorly: More mutton chops.
Koorly: On second thoughts, I like the Gelf noises.
Koorly: Veyr eerie.
ralphpocketwatch: Gelth.
Koorly: Close enough.
ralphpocketwatch: GELF's are from Red Dwarf.
ae: what the shakesphere
ae: heh
Koorly: Best curse ever.
Koorly: I have stolen it.
ralphpocketwatch: Wait, I didn't mean to put that apostrophe there.
Koorly: Rose: cannot tell the dead from the living.
Koorly: Because zombie films, whose seen them?
ae: not someone from 2005
Koorly: I do like the concept of gas aliens by the way.
ralphpocketwatch: Sadly, I don't think "What the Dickens" actually refers to Charles Dickens, so "What the Shakespeare makes less sense.
Hammer Birchgrove: I think Dickens come from **** :p
Koorly: Hello compulsive lying Gelths.
Hammer Birchgrove: oh she knows zombies now
ralphpocketwatch: And now you give me tea to make up for it! Naturally.
ralphpocketwatch: So British.
ae: attempting to re-connect
Koorly: It's a shame they didn't apportion the budget equally because the special effects really take a turn for the worse in aa few episodes.
ae: streaming is back
ralphpocketwatch: You mean the Slitheen?
ae: resuming
Koorly: Aye.
ralphpocketwatch: That's the next episode.
ralphpocketwatch: She read the Doctor's mind to know how he takes his tea?
Koorly: She's a servant: they make tea.
ae: she knew 2 shugars because she's a servernt
Koorly: Tch.This man buys a house knowing it's reputed to be haunted, and gets scared when scary things happen.
Koorly: Men.
ae: sugars servant
Koorly: Hello sceptic!Dickens!
Koorly: Watch you manhandle corpses shall we? Sure, after all, it was only worth decades in prison minimum getting caught defiling the dead.
Hammer Birchgrove: hey, defiling the death is a time honored tradition among Victorian scientists
Koorly: Yeah. WITH PERMISSION. And only with those hanged for crimes.
Hammer Birchgrove: I see
Koorly: Oh no. Classism time again.
Koorly: Watch the working class women bond over disparate cultural ideologies.
Hammer Birchgrove: but they don't mention Dicken's anti-semitism
Koorly: Oh frick. BadWolftiemnoaw.
Hammer Birchgrove: or how he hated Inuits
Koorly: @Birchgrove: that's because classim and sexism is a-okay!
Hammer Birchgrove: heh
Koorly: Racism on the other hand, no. So we'll clean up all our historical figures so the children don't get any bad ideas.
Koorly: You know, aside from that kidnapping and manhandling corpses and sniffing gas is fine.
Hammer Birchgrove: asnd
Koorly: Also, is the audio really quiet for anyone else?
Hammer Birchgrove: and bins eating people
Koorly: I can barely hear this chat they're having.
Hammer Birchgrove: I had to crank it up on the max
Koorly: I AM on max (my laptop has crappy audio)
ae: better?
Hammer Birchgrove: on my lappie and on my stereo
Koorly: Though I am distracted by Rose's shoulders.
ralphpocketwatch: It's quieter now I've taken my headphones out.
ae: better?
Koorly: halp. chat lag.
Hammer Birchgrove: both on my lappie and on my stereo
ralphpocketwatch: But that's a general thing.
Koorly: xcvbn
Hammer Birchgrove: can you see what I type
Hammer Birchgrove: I've watched too much porn
ae: better?
Koorly: That's better, thanks.
Hammer Birchgrove: oh dear
Hammer Birchgrove: Thanks
Koorly: And chatcaught up with itself.
Koorly: By the by, did they ever explain Gwyn's inexplicable psychic owers?
Hammer Birchgrove: was going to say: I keep expecting the ladies to start sexy time.
ae: you're lucky you didn't get deaffened because of the lag
Hammer Birchgrove: conference!
Koorly: I would very definitely not be opposed to lady sexytiem.
ae: invent the ouigi board
ralphpocketwatch: I think the psychic powers are because of the rift?
Koorly: Oh, and backtracking, I like how they breiefly touched on the Victorian fascination with sceances and the like.
Koorly: Shame Conan Doyle wasn't mentioned as a contemporary foil to Dickens' scepticism.
Hammer Birchgrove: ayup
ae: kill them all
Koorly: I've seen this special effect somewhere else.
ae: oops nine.
Koorly: OH LOOK. WE SHALL PLAY ON THE TIME LORD'S EXISTENCE GUILT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING.
ralphpocketwatch: It's a pretty good plan.
Koorly: Guilt is a powerful motivator.
Hammer Birchgrove: For once, Rose is right
ralphpocketwatch: Especially for the Doctor.
Koorly: Oooh yay! Values dissonance. 'It's a corpse, it's not needed any more'.
Koorly: 'But it's a corpse'!
ralphpocketwatch: Really? I'd say saving lives is more important than propriety.
Hammer Birchgrove: Lemme say that Rose is right for the wrong reasons
ae: ok... drop me off then
Koorly: R: "Those bodies were living people [...] We should respect them even in death!"
Koorly: D: [paraphrased] put up with it or go home.
Koorly: 'oh I'll put up wiht it then, my morals aren't important enough for me to stand by'.
Koorly: Of course it's the morgue.
Hammer Birchgrove: what did she say?
ralphpocketwatch: No! Don't tempt the gazebo!
Koorly: Why not make it the pantry.
Hammer Birchgrove: Zebra?
Hammer Birchgrove: oh
Koorly: Ha. Title drop. That's what? Five Dickens novels I've heard mentioned now?
ae: boom shake shake the room
Koorly: Thing is, if the Gelth weren't all psychokillers this would be a really good solution.
Hammer Birchgrove: The writers like to kill workers
Koorly: Hello special effect that will be repeated several time later on in the eries!
ralphpocketwatch: And they reveal their true nature through their evil colour scheme!
Koorly: And look at the colour symbolism. Good and blue and light and gentle.
Koorly: Then orange flames and pointy fangs and red eyes.
Koorly: EEEEvil!
Koorly: Hey, why didn't the Gelth even try to possess Dickens?
Koorly: Historical immunity?
Koorly: "We don't want your pity! We twant this world and its flesh!"
Koorly: Cowardly!Dickens is cowardly.
Koorly: Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff means you don't die before you're born.
ae: from your perspective you are already born
Koorly: Ladies and gentlemen: the proto-wibbly wobbly timey wimey ball of stuff!
ae: gas them...
Hammer Birchgrove: Tom Baker's Doctor wouldn't be this gullible :p
Koorly: D: "I;m gonna die in a dungeon!" *in disbelief adds "In Cardiff." It truly is a fate worse than normal death.
Hammer Birchgrove: awww
Koorly: More handholding! *ships*
Hammer Birchgrove: hand holding
ae: i'm going to leave you behind and run Rose...
Koorly: Love that it's the one-off Companion that solves everything.
Koorly: Because Charles Dickens is smarter than everyone else.
ralphpocketwatch: Same as with Shakespeare.
ralphpocketwatch: Kinda.
ralphpocketwatch: They do have one-off companions save the day a few times actually.
Koorly: Two females sacrifice their lives to save everything in back-to-back episodes.
Koorly: Someone doesn't like women. :p
ae: really do you think someone likes men more?
Koorly: I think I like the orange Gelth design more than the blue.
Koorly: @AE: Nah. Just odd that both times women go up in flames to save everything.
Koorly: And I don't know how to feel about the unexplained ghost.
ralphpocketwatch: Yay! Hamlet quote!
Hammer Birchgrove: servant girl
Koorly: From Horatio to be exact.
ralphpocketwatch: No, it's from Hamlet, *to* Horatio.
ralphpocketwatch: IIRC.
Koorly: Een more exact: I, v, l. 160ish
Koorly: Eh, close enough.
Koorly: Yay!
Koorly: Dickensian in-joke!
Hammer Birchgrove: aww
Hammer Birchgrove: Dickens could have become a SF author
Koorly: So many people have seen the TARDIS vworp away.
ae: no
ae: no they don't
ae: now sod off
Koorly: Dickens: "My books, do they last?"
Koorly: D: "Oh yes, forever."
Koorly: N'aaaaawwwwwww.
Koorly: Just like Agatha Christie's then.
Koorly: *still hasn't gotten around to finished that*
ae: take the hand brake off Dr.
ralphpocketwatch: I like that noise.
ralphpocketwatch: It's a brilliant noise.
Koorly: Look at Dickens getting the Scrooged treatment and being all happy and filled with joie de vivre.
ralphpocketwatch: Blech. Slitheen. Eugh.
Koorly: Preview thoughts: nice effects, shame about the Slitheen.
Koorly: Wish UNIT was in this.
ralphpocketwatch: Harriet Jones!
Koorly: Hello MP for Clydesdale North.
ae: so, next time we'll have ailens of london ww3 & daled
ralphpocketwatch: UNIT are in it, they just end up dead.
Koorly: Spoilers.
Hammer Birchgrove: I thought the Slitheen would be masked Cyber-Men
Hammer Birchgrove: derp
Koorly: Think I'll just post this as is.
Koorly: A three-in-one review.
Hammer Birchgrove: cool
ralphpocketwatch: Once you've done that, could you also stop by the meetup thread?
Koorly: Posting in a few minutes.
Koorly: Yes, yes.
Koorly: Wait, why?
ae: so, thnkss for coming and keep an eye o the FB group for the next
Koorly: Yessir AE sir.
Koorly: Dinner all, bye.
ralphpocketwatch: And say when you're planning on being here?

Best Moment: I'm going to cheat and say the Victoriana in general. Look, I studied this period in depth as far as literature goes, and I got the happies. Oh, and I really enjoyed the Doctor's inhuman (as in, literally, not human) stance on corpses and respect 'due' to them. It doesn't happen as often as it could, this kind of thing. It's a nice reminder though that the Doctor is a TIme Lord.

Runner up would be the Doctor fangirling over Charles Dickens. It's adorkable!

Worst Moment: Of course, the morgue. And Rose who doesn't know what a zombie is/looks like, and then a few minutes later starts talking about zombies.

Best Actor: Simon Callow is Charles Dickens! And he's acted with/been in the RSC!

Worst Actor: Gwyneth sounds just a little too Welsh, and just a little too eager. Which okay isn't fair considering the actress is Welsh, but she's too everything. TOo eager, too pure, too gentle, too deus ex machina; she just grated.

Best Special Effect: the Gelth look genuinely otherworldly, even if their colour palette is stereotypical.

Worst Special Effect: the zombie makeup is so zombie it hurts.

Kink of the Week: Gwyneth/Rose has potential and appeal.

Dickens References: I didn't keep a close count, but about half a dozen that I heard.

Thoughts overall?
Charles Dickens in a Christmas ghost story!

It was awesome.

And I gather from somewhere, that this episode sets up Torchwood and various things that are important to later seasons of Doctor Who. It was a fun episode, and quite dark in some ways, but still had a good Christmassy vibe - disillusioned man inspired by otherworldly events to take an interest in life again?

More Christmassy than expected isn't it?

Didn't like Rose though, the only reason she's not in Worst Actor is because she's so average, and I feel like I should at least make a pale attempt at being objective for these round up bits. Sometimes.

[Thufir]

OK, so I think I'll just add in a few extra details that I didn't feel I had time to type out during the stream because the action was moving on.

Spoiler

'Rose'

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: I mean, I love Eleven, but I really do think that is the best entrance a Doctor has had in Nu Who thus far.

Of course, this is partly because Nine gets to come in as his established self, rather than spending an episode dealing with the after-effects of regeneration, but still. I'm counting Eleven's entrance as when he sticks his head out of the TARDIS and meets Amelia, rather than straight after regenerating. I love that scene, but Nine still wins. "Run!"

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: Jackie and Mickey - masters of tact.
ralphpocketwatch: But yeah, Mickey's alright.
Koorly: OMINOUS CLOSE UP TO SHOW THIS IS FORESHADOWING EVIL.
ralphpocketwatch: So is Jackie to an extent.
ralphpocketwatch: More so later on though.

Specifically, once Rose has been gone a while and Jackie is aware that she's off with the Doctor, Jackie's role in things becomes primarily that of a concerned mother, which works pretty well. It really is a case of shifting roles - in this first episode Jackie and Mickey have been written to showcase the annoyances, trivialities and mundanities that Rose really wants to escape from by going with the Doctor. Whereas subsequently they become her ties to Earth, what keeps her more grounded and human, and the solid family who're always there for her when she needs them.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: Oh man, I missed the speech about the Earth turning.
Koorly: There was a speech about that?
Koorly: Oh yes!

Specifically, this speech:
"Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinnin' at 1,000 miles an hour and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go... That's who I am. Now forget me, Rose Tyler."
Love that speech. One of those fascinating little moments of trying to sum up the Doctor.
(That I wiki'd, for the precise wording at the beginning and the numbers)

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Koorly: And when you consider that earlier the Doctor checked himself out in the mirror as he'd not seen himself properly before this is a plot hole.
ralphpocketwatch: Of course, this stuff kind of goes against the Doctor having only recently regenerated.
*snip*
ralphpocketwatch: But I like to imagine he went off and did those things at the end of the episode before coming back to tell Rose the TARDIS travels in time.

I actually missed that Koorly made the same point I did just before me. I doubt RTD thought of the explanation I did, but it makes sense.
Oh, and yes, I know, wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey, he could've done those things later and Rose still heard about them at this point except that:

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: Yeah, but if he did those things after this episode Rose would've been there as well.

So yeah, I'm sticking to my idea.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: She didn't see it dematerialise though.
ralphpocketwatch: She saw it, and then it wasn't there.
*snip*
ralphpocketwatch: It could, in theory, have just been moved.
*snip*
ralphpocketwatch: I'm not saying she's thought this through in detail.
*snip*
ralphpocketwatch: Alternatively, she just doesn't trust her own memory.

Just to be clear, I'm not exactly saying Rose isn't being a bit stupid here, but I'm saying that it is kind of understandable if she just hasn't given it much detailed thought. She's seen a bunch of really weird stuff, she's kind of in shock about it, and she's trying to cling to the last few shreds of normalcy she can grasp.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Koorly: Now comes the bit where I want to *murder* Rose.
ralphpocketwatch: N'awww.
*snip*
ralphpocketwatch: Is it bad I find Koorly's murderous desires cute?

So, is it?
(Also, those should have been said together, but:

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: (Also, **** this laptop overheating on me)

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: Also, I still like my theory that the Doctor went and did the stuff Clive had pictures of between asking Rose to come with him and coming back after realising he didn't tell her it travelled in time.

Like I said. It'd fit more with the character of Eleven (And corresponding Moffat-style timey-wimey shenanigans), but it amuses me to think that the Doctor left, a bit disappointed, had some more adventures, and then suddenly remembered he didn't actually mention that it travelled in time and figured he'd go back to just after he left to bring up that detail and see if Rose changed her mind.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Koorly: Worst actor: Whoever played Jackie.

Camille Coduri, IIRC.


‘The End of the World’

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

[[And as you can see, I lost a fair bit of this, and I don't know why either. In short, I loved the special effects and the costumes for the various aliens.]]

Doctor/Rose flirting over time travel, they hand-waved the continents being in the same places, Doctor flirting with a tree. Those are the pertinent points which I remember.

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Koorly: That's a good point actually, why he bring a woman made of wood into a VERY HOT PLACE INDEED?

...I'm sure there's an innuendo to be made here, I just can't think of it...

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ralphpocketwatch: Ten talks about how he's less merciful than he used to be, but Nine did it so much better.
*snip*

And I loved the Doctor's darker side coming out firmly on top, probably exacerbated by the whole 'torturing self by seeing his second home die' thing and Cassandra's self-centred nature. It shows how dangerous the Doctor can be, and I agree with Thufir that while Ten talks about being so dark and dangerous, Nine gives off the more serious attitude and is very believable in his quiet way. You get one warning, and then you're gone.

To be specific, I am of course thinking of the scene with Ten and Mr. Finch in School Reunion: "I'm so old now. I used to have so much mercy... You get one warning: that was it."
While I love that scene, the fact is Ten is all about giving people second, third, twelfth, twentieth, etc chances. Nine is properly ruthless.
And actually, similarly, so is Eleven. We've kind of had this debate before, with me and others falling on the side that Nine and Eleven carry more weight with their different brands of quiet menace than Ten with his generally louder and more bombastic approach. But I digress.


‘Unquiet Dead’

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

Koorly: I would very definitely not be opposed to lady sexytiem.

Of course you wouldn't.
(Was going to say that at the time but things moved on)

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

And I gather from somewhere, that this episode sets up Torchwood and various things that are important to later seasons of Doctor Who.

Well, yes, the time rift underneath Cardiff is the reason Torchwood Three set up there, and also the Doctor uses it to refuel the TARDIS - which is also why Jack was waiting for him there in Utopia, as I'm sure you recall.

[LokeyITP]

I'll have to get my Slitheen ep apologies ready for next time then (I found tons to like about the episodes, though of course they're no Dalek or EC/DD).

[Archonic Energy]

Originally Posted by CurlyKitGirl

ae: you mean eccleson [[Interrupting here to say, I am an idiot, and meant, 'the actor who played Clive'. My brain. Oddly, the actor is Mark Benton. And Cpl. Benton was in the last serial I reviewed. Coincidence? Or is it time to cue the X Files music?]]

i'll admit i was aware of what you meant, i was just having fun with waht you said

I thought it was the guy from the IT Crowd but i was wrong.

again, i'm going to apologise for the drop in video quality and the intermittant problems I was having with my connection, hopefully i'll be able to sort it before this weekend.
Memo: must talk to Virgin... Diablo 3 has latency problems too.

[Dr. Simon]

Well, sorry I missed the view-a-thon, maybe I'l try to catch another in future if I have a quiet Sunday.

It's time for another set of recommendations, but rather than do Series Six, I'm going for something different. Normally I highlight the good stuff, this time it's the worst, for all of the Classic era Doctors. I've given a star rating - one star means that the story is mostly sound but falls short on a few counts, two stars means it's painful to watch.

If you like things that have kitsch value, some of these are worth watching but, be warned, some are simply dull.

Doctors One to Seven: The Low Points

One
The Romans* - This is mostly watchable, although it caused controversy at the time because it is the first historical episode to be played largely as farce. Although it includes pretty much every Roman cliché in the book (Ian becoming a galley slave – do you like movies about gladiators?) I only really put it here because, as an afficianado of all things Roman it annoys me that Nero is portrayed as a fat, balding middle-aged man when in reality he was tall and lanky with red hair and died in his 30s. Research, people! Otherwise, it's quite good fun but more A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum In The TARDIS.

The Space Museum* - A good idea underneath, where the TARDIS crew get a glimpse of their future and then events move inexorably towards it despite their best efforts, a worthy exploration of the nature of time. However, it is framed within the most feeble civil war ever filmed, with a supporting cast who look like they’ve come straight from the weakest members of a university drama club.

The Chase** - Fun and hijinks with those whacky daleks! The daleks have invented a time machine (Time War!) and are chasing the TARDIS crew through time and space. This involves a series of zany encounters throughout history and thick daleks who can’t do basic mathematics. The ending, in the city of the Mechanoids, is well done except for moments that bring to mind Monty Python and the Holy Grail (“It’s only a model!” “Ssh!”).

The Gunfighters** - The Doctor becomes embroiled in events surrounding the Gunfight at the OK Corral. A sound premise, marred by bad American accents, ludicrous shootouts where both sides stand in the open, fire hundreds of shots and miss everything, and the terribly annoying song that is used as incidental music over and over and over again.

The War Machines* - A typical insane computer tries to take over the world plot, tired but not in itself bad. I mark this one down because it is the only incidence of a character referring to the Doctor as “Doctor Who”. No! Bad! Research, people!

Two
The Underwater Menace** - Curly might like this one for Jamie spending most of the time in a wetsuit. Otherwise it’s a terrible B-movie with a hackneyed plot (mad scientist in Atlantis wants to Conquer The World). Worth watching, though, for the moment at the end of episode 2, or 3, where said mad scientist declares to the camera “Nothing in ze vorld can stop me now! Muahahaha!”

The Dominators* - Again, a pretty hackneyed plot. Evil Dominators come to a planet and bully the peaceful indigents into giving up their resources. Watchable, and worth it just for the ridiculous costumes. The tractor tyre shoulder pads of the Dominators are silly enough, wait until you see the pleated skirts that the local men have to wear.

The Krotons* - Another fairly well-worn plot, with shades of the minotaur myth – locals give up their best and brightest to the mysterious Krotons. The idea of the mineral-based Krotons is sound, but the costumes don’t convince. Otherwise just a bit slow-moving and dull.

Three
Inferno* - Some viewers found the evil counterparts to be daft, I think it works quite well and it’s not bad by all means. Being a Pertwee era story, though, it drags on for too many episodes, and it is the monsters, the devolved men, that just look like a cheap wolfman, that spoil it.

The Time Monster** - A plot that’s all over the place, with poor acting by most of the guest stars and the by-now tired device of the Master in disguise meddling with powers beyond his control. Really, really bad special effects for one of the appearances of Chronos, which is supposed to be an all-powerful being but looks like a man in a bird suit on a wire and can be stopped by a door with a glass panel in it. Add a trip to Atlantis (but a different version) and you’ve got a real mess.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs* - I know I included this as a recommendation, and the storyline is quite good but: those dinosaurs!

Planet of Spiders** - When Michael Grade appeared on Room 101, one of his choices was his old nemesis Doctor Who and they chose a clip from this series to illustrate it. You can see why. It could have worked, and it has a good moment at the end with the Doctor facing his fears, but the effects for the spiders are weak, the actors on the eponymous planet are all stilted, there’s some “yellowing-up” of Caucasian actors to appear Asian (when they had genuine Asian actors in Mind of Evil, why do this?) and one whole episode is a lengthy and pointless chase sequence. Another end-of-season mess.

Four
The Android Invasion* - A largely silly plot (alien race recreates an English village so that they can plan an invasion of the nearby military base) with some largely forgettable aliens, although this one probably caused a few childhood nightmares from the scene where fake robot Sarah-Jane’s face comes off.

The Invisible Enemy** - Another mess, somebody (well, Bob Baker and Dave Martin) attempted to mix Star Wars with The Fantastic Voyage and got some total nonsense. The story is an inept mash of “sci-fi” that is more about effects than concepts, and the effects don’t live up to the concepts. Add to that loads of logical inaccuracies, such as a man-sized virus, clones that magically get clothes as well and miniaturised versions of the Doctor and Leela taking a stroll in the Doctor's air-filled head and it’s another mess. For those interested, though, it’s K-9’s first appearance.

The Invasion of Time** - Probably Baker’s nadir. Some terrible glittery tin-foil aliens, revealed to be weedy Glaswegians in silver suits, make way for East London Sontarans in ill-fitting make-up, with an endless chase through TARDIS corridors that looks like behind the scenes at a municipal leisure centre. Tom Baker looks like he can’t be bothered, and who can blame him? Leela falls in love with a man she speaks about three words with. Painful.

The Power of Kroll* - Not as terrible as it’s reputation makes out, but another one where execution falls short of conception. The idea of a massive monsters miles across is good, but not something that the effects budget is able to convincingly portray, nor something that is really got across in the script, regardless of visuals. The green-painted “swampies” re-enacting King Kong don’t help.

The Creature From The Pit* - Another one that’s not quite as bad as reputation makes out, but it does fall in the midst of a largely weak season. The idea of a metal-poor world and the culture arising thereon are workable, it’s the eponymous Creature that lets everything down, like a green Mr Snuffleupagus. There’s that horribly suggestive scene where the Doctor blows in its, er, “trunk”.

Nightmare of Eden* - A messy plot that goes back and forth and doesn’t develop much, some forgettable extras and the comedy fight scene “Oh, my everything!”. Tom Baker is just phoning it in at this point.

Five
Time-Flight** - Another of The Master’s needlessly complex plots and a story that make no sense at all. The only purpose behind this story seems to be an excuse to use Concorde, because it was cool at the time.

Terminus* - This is the story notorious for Nyssa stripping off for no apparent reason, but it’s Liza Goddard’s supporting cast of space pirates that derails things with their dreadful over-acting. Goddard’s “Freeeeeze!” is embarrassing enough, but my favourite is the crewmember who screams “This is a leper ship! We’re all going to DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!” at the end of episode one that I like the best. I like to imagine him doing that, followed by an embarrassed silence as the other characters look a bit awkward. Finally one of them says “….yes….well…” and they get on with what they were doing. Sadly that doesn’t happen except in my own head.

Warriors of the Deep** - Silurians and Sea Devils team up to invade an underwater base, which looks like somebody borrowed some footage from Stingray. Minus continuity points for the Silurians using the terms “sea devils” and “silurians” – both of which are inaccurate human terms for the creatures, and for their hypnotic third eye now flashing in time with their speech, dalek-fashion. Worst of all is the pantomime-horse Myrka. Apparently shooting time was so tight the paint on the sets was still wet and this was the best they could do. However, if you have a rubbish monster suit, don’t, that is don’t, shoot it under bright lighting in full shot. Just… don’t.

Six
The Twin Dilemma** - It’s not the portrayal of the Doctor as unstable that is at fault here – personally I quite liked the change, nor is it the terrible costume that he is forced to wear (which I did not like). The plot is another B-movie reject of thuggish aliens against wimpy aliens, with a dreadful cross-eyed slug as the villain and some really weak acting by the eponymous twins.

The Two Doctors* - A waste of the Spanish location and of Patrick Troughton in a story that can’t decide if it is farce or horror. Not awful by any means; I think I rate this one low because of the disappointment factor.

Timelash** - Another story that seems utterly pointless (I can’t actually remember what the point of it was. I think the "timelash" was some kind of punishment, and there was a coup in silvery future-land). The timelash itself is a shoddy prop made with cardboard and tinsel, and all the supporting cast except Paul “Avon” Darrow are totally forgettable. And he’s not great.

Terror of the Vervoids** - Bonnie Bleedin’ Langford, for one thing. The vervoids, despite a disturbing similarity to, er, ladies’ parts, are a good invention (like an alien race designed by Georgia O'Keefe) but the plot wanders from red herring to red herring with tedious slowness and the lounge of a star liner somehow resembles the bar of the same leisure complex used in The Invasion of Time.

Seven
Time and the Rani** - The plot is cheesy sci-fi of the worst order, seemingly written by someone who has no more experience of SF than a few episodes of the Gil Gerard Buck Rogers. The Rani is wasted here as some kind of cackling megalomaniac building a huge brain to, I dunno, Conquer The Universe or something. For some reason she pretends to be Bonnie Langford, even though the Doctor can’t remember her. At this stage, Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor is a comedy character, but fortunately darkens as his tenure goes on. Oh, and it’s another story where a bunch of weedy aliens are threatened: note to would-be Who writers, we don’t care about what happens to weedy aliens, we want threat to main characters or to Earth, not weedy aliens who live in quarries and look like Kajagoogoo rejects.

[Archonic Energy]

Sorry about the late notice... i was busy this week.
hopefully Virgin have sorted the connection and i can go back to "normal" quality rather than "mobile" quality

http://www.livestream.com/​archonic_energy
Series one disc two
erm... which ever ones are there
26/06/2012 16:00 - 19:00 UTC +1

[Androgeus]

hmm, has the thread disappeared from the media discussions sub forum for anyone else? (edit: I think I fixed it)

Also I need update the main posts with the new stuff. Hmmm should I include the stream stuff under Curly or make a separate category? I guess seeing as Archonic Energy I could list them under his name.

edit: totally forgot to link some bad new

[Kato]

Hey there fellow Whovians (Well, I give myself too much credit calling me a Whovian, I guess)

Hu, you're doing live streams now, interesting... I guess I've really been away for far too long....
But I found a small something that got me all grinning happily and I thought I'd share in case anyone cares to see it: Dr Who RPG

[Archonic Energy]

Steven Moffat has confirmed that the adventure will feature every kind of Dalek ever faced by the Time Lord – including the legendary Special Weapons Dalek!

[Androgeus]

Radio 4 Extra is broadcasting some more of Big Finish's audio plays if anyone likes to listen to them. You can also get them on iPlayer.
The first story is a two parter, Orbis, involves Janet Keogh, an ex-companion of the Doctor being abducted, while the Doctor finds himself in need of a pair of tights and having to fend of the interests of a jellyfish.I can't believe I made a two pints reference, I feel kinda dirty

The second is also a two parter, The Beast With Two Backs of Orlok, which I haven't listened to yet and thus have no "amusing" remarks to make about it.

What I've listened to so far though doesn't beat Nazi moon base being invaded by sharks. I think that story arc may have spoiled me.

Edit:linked reviews in first post, Dr.Simon's series 4 & 5, the rest of Invasion and I put a link to the chat log under Archonic's name

[Hopeless]

Sorry but bought issue 1 of the Doctor Who meets the Next Generation of Star Trek and was wondering if you have already seen issue 2 yet?

So how will Moffatt resolve the age old question of which Dalek is best and what one to use?

[Finn Solomon]

The phrase 'The Fall of the Eleventh' scares me. I don't want Matt Smith to leave. :(