Doctor Who Series 5 - A Bloody Good Show

I think the new Dalek colour scheme is supposed to be a throwback to the old series. Not sure I like it, though. I was never really a fan of rainbow Daleks.

Winston Churchill made me smile, though, despite the fact that the actor looks absolutely nothing like Winston Churchill whatsoever.

According to Private Eye's TV critic, The new Dalek colour scheme was as a result of the BBC's commercial arm making millions off the previous Dalek toys, which are unlikely to sell more than once in each style, and wanted to see the line expanded. Given the reduced budget it makes sense!

Re: the Churchill actor - didn't look like him, but there were a few cases where the vocal inflection seemed spot on with the famous speeches.

Somebody in a comm I've seen is already working on a smut fic where Amy uses an altogeher different method to stop Bracewell exploding. Or at least, to make him explode in a different way. Which sounds like pure filth to me. :D

Dr. Professor Science wrote:

Winston Churchill made me smile, though, despite the fact that the actor looks absolutely nothing like Winston Churchill whatsoever.

It's all in the attitude.

Wow. Definitely not a fan of the IKEA Daleks. Still, nothing's perfect. Have to take the rough with the smooth... And otherwise, it was a really good episode.

EDIT: I've noticed something about those cracks, and maybe I should have spotted this last week. There's not just cracks everywhere, it's the same crack every time. The exact, same crack. So, either Amy is causing the crack somehow and bringing it with her everywhere she goes or something is following her around...maybe? Regardless, it's kind of creeping me out.

Am I watching Doctor Who or a new season of Power Rangers...?

I'm not too sure I like the new Dalek voice really. =/

I care not for any criticisms of this episode. SPITFIRES IN SPACE! SPITFIRES IN SPACE! It was so awesome, I don't think I mind about anything else. And I liked the colourful Daleks. Their voices were a bit scary.

Just saw the premiere last night. (We Yanks had to wait to see the first episode.) Let's see...

The Doctor: Quirky, random, still brilliant.
Amy Pond: Alpha female, a bit twisted

Oh yes...this will be a most enjoyable season. I think we have a winner here.

Though I am STILL waiting for the inevitable sick-minded joke regarding the sonic screwdriver...

What about the Time Rotor?

Azzandra wrote:

Dr. Professor Science wrote:

Winston Churchill made me smile, though, despite the fact that the actor looks absolutely nothing like Winston Churchill whatsoever.

It's all in the attitude.

Yeah, I was really skeptical when I saw him at the end of the last episode but he was really, really good.

I'm really enjoying Amy and how she's able to think for herself and come up with solutions the Doctor didn't. I can see it getting really really heavy handed, though, so they have to be careful about that.

I've loved this season so far. It's such a refreshing change after Davies' habit of giving the Doctor a (more literal than usual) messiah complex.

I also thought that Amy forgetting Canary Wharf was because of the Daleks changing something but at this point it's definitely got something to do with the crack. I really like these sorts of storylines. There was one that was handled really really well in some of the Big Finish audios with the eighth Doctor.

I'm enjoying the fact that we're not using spoiler tags as they were intended and instead just making the text white.

Can too, I'm on a laptop and can fool around with the brightness just by nodding.

Actually, there was one minor thing that nearly made me squick. I couldn't help thinking "Is the Doctor preggers?" when he ate the fish sticks and custard. I then had the sudden realization "Oh ye gods...the fanbrats are going to write Dr. Who mpreg now! NOOOOOO!!!"

Oh goodness. Just saw the first and second episodes.

And.

And.

...




I NEED EMOTICONS AND CAPS-LOCK TO PROPERLY CONVEY MY ABSOLUTE JOY.

They didn't fuck it up! The Doctor looked weird, but I'm SO GLAD he rocks it! And AMY MOTHERFUCKING POND. I might be dying my hair red again. NO REASON IS WHY.

I'm just so happy, guys.

Oh god Oh god Oh god Oh god!

I loved the CHURCH IN SPAAAAACE! Amy being mind controled, maybe sorta, although she didn't just break the screen I don't know. Oh and Poor Sacred Bob, I liked him.
River was good, Doctor was great I very much doubt Ten would have admitted to being all Grumpy face.

Spoiler:

Class episode! Want more!

I just finished watching the new episode as well, and yes, it was a good one. One problem was that the scene with Amy alone in the room was easily the scariest part, so everything afterwards wasn't quite as effective.

Somath Cegem wrote:

Amy being mind controled, maybe sorta, although she didn't just break the screen I don't know.

That's an issue I have with the Weeping Angels in general - why not just smash, blow up or otherwise destroy every statue you see? Unless they're not actually stone and their quantum lock makes them indestructible whenever anyone's looking at them (I haven't seen Blink so maybe this was explained better there).

Incidentally, I didn't quite get the "OMG OMG Amy is the most gorgeous companion EVAR" furore, but as of this episode, I think I kind of do. I like the fact that even though she's ostensibly the "sex appeal" character, the series so far hasn't insisted on putting her in fanservicey outfits (except in the first episode). Giant baggy jumper FTW.

I liked it also. Yay, all good episodes so far, far as I am concerned.

I wonder if River Song's terrible secret is that she's not the real River Song? I also don't think it was as good as the original Weeping Angels episode which was totally kick ass.

I thought the bit where the Bishop told the Doctor he'd be explaining it to the soldiers' families after the Doctor 'flew away in his little blue box' was pretty awesome.

Random note: the BBC has stopped doing its Fear Factor reviews of the episodes where a bunch of children of different ages comment on them and vote on how scary it was. This makes me sad, I used to enjoy those.

Keith Fraser wrote:

That's an issue I have with the Weeping Angels in general - why not just smash, blow up or otherwise destroy every statue you see?

The Doctor says that it's the perfect defence mechanism, that they cease to exist, that they're 'quantum locked'... That all suggests that they can't be interacted with in any meaningful way while they're stone, though I do wonder what exact properties their forms have when they're like that.

What I was wondering was why nobody thought to reduce the number of hiding places. Yeah, I get the function of the place and why that would be an issue, but somebody could have at least tried to say something.

Knorg wrote:

I thought the bit where the Bishop told the Doctor he'd be explaining it to the soldiers' families after the Doctor 'flew away in his little blue box' was pretty awesome.

I missed the Doctor's previous line even though I had the subtitles on. What was it?

The Weeping Angels were a lot better last time, when it was a bunch of ordinary humans and the Doctor's only involvement was in the form of a prerecorded message. It's just not the same having a mysterious enemy when the Doctor's there to explain things as they happen.

Sutremaine wrote:

Knorg wrote:

I thought the bit where the Bishop told the Doctor he'd be explaining it to the soldiers' families after the Doctor 'flew away in his little blue box' was pretty awesome.

I missed the Doctor's previous line even though I had the subtitles on. What was it?

Basically that he was sorry he called the Bishop an idiot, and that there was nothing they could have done to save his men.

Oh wow, a two part-er. :D

I'm actually quite glad they've brought the Angels back. They're almost like a new breed of enemy on par with the Cybermen and the Daleks.

I do agree that this wasn't quite as good as Blink. It still kicked tons of ass, though.

Also, the sci-fi fan in me can't help but wonder how much of Cleric Bob is actually still around. The Angel is speaking with his voice, obviously, but retaining his mannerisms. Is that because it's been infected by him, or because that's the only way it knows how to communicate?

This episode wasn't scary for me at the time. It was later. When all those things about the image of an Angel and not looking them in the eyes kept coming back up in my head. Well, it wasn't scary except for the bit where Amy was trapped in the trailer with one of them.

I noticed about the statues having only one head a good minute before the Doctor did, though. I mean, why would a culture of two-headed people
make one-headed statues? I didn't figure they were Angels, though. I just thought it was weird.

And I completely the scene where Amy thought her hand was all stoney and the Doctor refused to leave her side. They were both being so heroic and BFF.

KelinciHutan wrote:

I noticed about the statues having only one head a good minute before the Doctor did, though. I mean, why would a culture of two-headed people
make one-headed statues? I didn't figure they were Angels, though. I just thought it was weird.

I noticed this too, but I assumed it was just a stupid goof, e.g. one writer (or one part of a writer's brain) going "Ooh! Maze full of statues for the Weeping Angel to hide in!" and another going "Ooh! Planet of two-headed people! I can make a gay marriage joke about that!". I was suitably floored when it turned out to be significant. I blame Russell T. Davies for lowering my expectations of writer intelligence.

Keith Fraser wrote:

KelinciHutan wrote:

I noticed about the statues having only one head a good minute before the Doctor did, though. I mean, why would a culture of two-headed people
make one-headed statues? I didn't figure they were Angels, though. I just thought it was weird.

I noticed this too, but I assumed it was just a stupid goof, e.g. one writer (or one part of a writer's brain) going "Ooh! Maze full of statues for the Weeping Angel to hide in!" and another going "Ooh! Planet of two-headed people! I can make a gay marriage joke about that!". I was suitably floored when it turned out to be significant. I blame Russell T. Davies for lowering my expectations of writer intelligence.

Now I feel stupid for not having noticed it at all.

"Maybe there's a perception filter around the statues. Or maybe we're just thick."

Azzandra wrote:

Now I feel stupid for not having noticed it at all.

"Maybe there's a perception filter around the statues. Or maybe we're just thick."

I got it backwards - I never really heard him say the two-headed thing, so at first I thought the statues were Angels. Then I got confused about the lock on them because it seemed strange they'd lose shape like that, so in the end I was surprised anyway, heh.