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merlin_mccarley
Registered: 07/30/06
Posts: 733
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 Saturday, April 07 2007 @ 08:56 PM EDT |
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Spoilers are certain to follow  .
Very nice, it even had time for a bit of character development. Interplay between the Doctor and our boy Will was quite humourous, but what's with J.K. Rowling getting all that cred?
Wait till you read Book 7, -exhale- I cried. |
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I'm a Time Traveler, I point and laugh at archaeologist.
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seanhuxter
Registered: 08/27/05
Posts: 825
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| Saturday, April 07 2007 @ 09:20 PM EDT |
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Not bad, not bad... not great. I expected the inevitable meeting of the Doctor and Shakespeare to be a bit more mind-blowing, but not bad...
Expelliarmus... that was funny. Good timing on the Rowling stuff.
Three witches, that's good, but they should have called themselves sisters, not mothers... the three from MacBeth were the three weird sisters, if I recall.
And what's with Queen Liz recognizing the Doctor? And why didn't this Doc mention his other run-ins with Shakespeare? Tom Baker did.
Again, Freema Agyeman is just stunningly beautiful, and can act. That's nice.
I thought it would have been nice to have used "The Rose" theater instead of "The Globe".
But still, it's all a bit derivative of "The Unquiet Dead"... the famous author, the theater, the portal for aliens to come through... are we sure this wasn't a Gattiss joint?
Still, it was a very very good episode, very exciting, very fun, lovely witch lady, not-so-lovely "mothers"...
I was surprised the theater wasn't actually hiding a pentagram, rather than a 14-sided structure. Perhaps five major struts or columns... still...
Was good. Very good. Perhaps even a little better than last year.
I called this line:
"Better be quiet or people will panic, think it was witchcraft."
"What was it?"
"...Witchcraft."
Sean.
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One solid hope is worth a cartload of uncertainties.
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daveac
Registered: 04/12/06
Posts: 2636
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| Saturday, April 07 2007 @ 09:20 PM EDT |
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[Quote by: merlin_mccarley] Spoilers are certain to follow .
Very nice, it even had time for a bit of character development. Interplay between the Doctor and our boy Will was quite humourous, but what's with J.K. Rowling getting all that cred?
Wait till you read Book 7, -exhale- I cried. |
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I watched the Confidential that followed and bits of the story looked a bit more scary in the making - I wonder if like merlin talks about above it might have been 'toned down' in the editing.
But overall I thought it was good.
'Which house or should that be witch house'
Cheers, daveac |
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daveac on blip.tv, TalkShoe, iTunes, LiveVideo, uStream, GE, Sci-Fi, DWO, DS & WTA, Dave C on WLP,
cooperda on AVF, dac100 on YouTube & PB, dac on Tiscali
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psibob
Registered: 02/18/06
Posts: 36
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 12:52 AM EDT |
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This was a great, fun episode for me. What's not to like? The beautiful visuals, the witty dialogue, references to Harry Potter. Back to the Future, and the Eternals.
And of course the acting. David and Freema are really gelling as a team and Dean Lennox Kelly was a riot as Shakespeare. I know it was a bit over the top sometimes, but I think that was in a good way. I even liked the way the witches were realized.
I was just swept along for the ride that was "The Shakespeare Code".
psibob |
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merlin_mccarley
Registered: 07/30/06
Posts: 733
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 03:39 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: seanhuxter] Not bad, not bad... not great. I expected the inevitable meeting of the Doctor and Shakespeare to be a bit more mind-blowing, but not bad...
... are we sure this wasn't a Gattiss joint?
Sean.
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I think you mean Spike Lee  ...
But seriously good points, is the Doctor destined to get on every English Monarch's naughty list? Will have to look it up, but I believe that T. Baker was not the only Doctor to drop the Bard's name in casual conversation. Uppon one occasion even going so far as to say he was a Terrible actor.
[Quote by: psibob]This was a great, fun episode for me. What's not to like? The beautiful visuals, the witty dialogue, references to Harry Potter. Back to the Future, and the Eternals.
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I found that particulary disturbing, the mention of the eternals that is. When the Time Lords fell did that take out a key element of the eternal's power as well? If so then history may well be unraveling at a faster pace than usual. Time will tell....
Cheers,
Mike M. |
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I'm a Time Traveler, I point and laugh at archaeologist.
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lucas
Registered: 07/16/06
Posts: 198
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 05:22 AM EDT |
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Loved it. Two really strong, funny, exciting episodes in a row, and the trailer for next week looked great too. I feel more enthusiastic about the show than ever, third year in.
Martha is still awesome, one week on.
The thing that strikes me most about the show so far this year is that they seem to have found the right balance for Tennant's Doctor - he still goes from dotty to deadly serious, but it feels less over-the-top in both extremes than last year (though I feared for a moment we were about to go back to old habits this week when he started ranting after the witch named Rose. Rose is clearly not good for Doc 10's histrionics...)
Also felt this episode seemed to have much more in it, to put it crudely. Often the one episode stories feel a bit light-on for plot, and it feels like it's only in the two-parters that the stories get a chance to get really juicy. Tonight's felt like two episodes of story packed into the one, but at the same time didn't seem rushed at all.
Bravo. (Author, author!) Bring on the next 11 weeks! |
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lucas
Registered: 07/16/06
Posts: 198
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 05:24 AM EDT |
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Also interesting that for the second week in a row, we've touched on the concept of time being fluid - that people can meet each other out of their timestreams (last week with Martha's first run-in with Doctor on the street, and this week with Queen Elizabeth).
It's a distinct departure from the last two years, where time was treated in a very linear way (eg after the Daleks are apparently wiped out in Series 1, the production team seemed to feel the need to make an excuse in Series 2 re how the Daleks survived rather than saying these are Daleks who have travelled from an earlier time).
I wonder if that's just a coincidence, a change in "management philosophy", or whether this potential circularity of time is a plot device that might prove important later on in the year and so they're trying to set up the framework now... |
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stjohnny
Registered: 02/16/06
Posts: 326
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 05:44 AM EDT |
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I didn't love this episode, but I didn't hate it either. It sort of stopped flowing and became slightly predictable in the middle around the 'Witch House' bit, (stabbed in the heart, even though he's got two! etc). But seemed to speed up after that.
A very good episode generally. I liked the solution, the very person that summoned the witches was the same that banished them. I also like the whole bed scene, with the Doctor's 'no-one like Rose' thing going on. Even though Martha has a higher grasp on trivia and seems to be more switched on, it was obvious who the Doctor would rather have by his side, although, I think Martha's growing to become a suitable replacement.
And yes, being a hardcore Roald Dahl fan as a boy, I also agree that they did overkill J.K. a LOT, who i'm not a big fan of!
On another note, as soon as the queen was mentioned, I was half expecting to see a Miranda Richardson 'Queenie' walk in, flanked on each side by a crazy Nursie on one side, and a begrudged Stephen Fry playing Melchie on the other.
-"Who's Queen, Melchie?"
-"You are Ma'am"
-"Then the elephants were Orange"
LMAO!
After all, Eastenders AND Hitchiker's Guide are both Doctor Who canon right?
Also, next week's episode looks like a good'un. I do enjoy the whole 'Fifth Element' feel to it, oh and BO's face makes a return, should be good to hear his 'secret'. More cat people, good good!
What's with the American Gothic couple? Dont tell me Rocky Horror will also make an appearance?
And the Doctor seems to 'die' and get revived yet again in Ep.3. Is this some sort of running theme, because it's getting a bit old! |
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Drink
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Mohan
Registered: 01/01/06
Posts: 195
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 09:09 AM EDT |
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I enjoyed The Shakespeare Code but I wouldn't give it more than 3 out of 5 Tardis groans. I did like the references to J.K. Rowling and my wife burst out loud laughing with the "57 academics just punched their fists up into the air" comment--that was pretty funny stuff.
I would agree that the episodes are playing very similar to ones from earlier seasons, but it's still a lot of fun.
Martha's growing on me--what I did like is the Doctor's comments such as "oh, I hate having to start off from the beginning again" with a companion. I liked how the writers handled that.
Next week's preview looks interesting--I would agree that it's very Fifth Element-like. |
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BadWolf
Registered: 03/25/06
Posts: 316
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 10:48 AM EDT |
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I loved it!
I have the feeling that this will be the best series yet! |
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Forget the shooty dog thing!
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Mawdryn
Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 55
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 11:13 AM EDT |
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I enjoyed this episode and have liked the direction of the season so far. I'm glad that Martha's introduction to the Doctor & his travels aren't a carbon copy of how things went with Rose.
I thought the story was clever (the power of words) and there was a good reason why Shakespeare was important to the plot. David Tennant seems to be having a blast and as some earlier posts noted, he seems to have a better balance between the light and darker sides of the character.
Martha has been great so far and I'm looking forward to how her character develops.
It was great to see the Globe Theater featured in the episode. For those who don't know, it's a extremely detailed reproduction of the original Globe Theater. If my memory is correct, the driving force behind its creation was Sam Wannamaker, the father of actress Zoe Wannamaker... who Dr. Who fans may remember from her role as Cassandra. Small world!
Can't wait for next week. |
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Magpie
Registered: 06/29/06
Posts: 519
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 11:29 AM EDT |
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Only 3 out of 5 groans??? nonononono!! Wow this was FANTASTIC! I was grinning from ear to ear the whole episode - it was magic. Wow! And while I was watching it I was thinking "The sets are SO well dressed! The costumes! They really went all out for this one episode!" Well, of course, now we see that it probably won't just be one episode in this set which makes me even MORE elated cos I can't get enough of the Renaissance. (I only say probably because it is possible that this business with Queen Elizabeth could happen much earlier in her life, and maybe these sets won't be used again at all. But it looks like a lot of money went into this episode and I'd be surprised if they wouldn't maximize their use of it.)
I've trolled the Renaissance Faire's since I was in highschool & I own wench garb, so me liking this episode was always going to be a no-brainer. But it was SO much better than anticipated. Martha is fabulous. I am a huge fan of Rose (I cried like a baby in ep13!) but my heart went out to Martha every time the Doctor mentioned her. She's a woman after my own heart. And the echoes of series 1 episode 2 (havoc in a theater, famous historical character) is a bit bananas and custard. (((*EDIT* Sorry, episode 3 ))
What a treat! Bravo! And next week looks really exciting as well. I'm pleased about Ardal O'Hanlon a.k.a. Father Dougal McGuire making an appearance, some of his past non-Father Ted comedy roles haven't had the best scripts but he's in safe hands with Who. I do so love those Irish tones.
I'm giddy as a schoolgirl.
And isn't it nice to know The Doctor carries a spare toothbrush? |
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If Worzel Gummidge and the Third Doctor had a fist fight - who would win?
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lucas
Registered: 07/16/06
Posts: 198
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 12:02 PM EDT |
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Sure, the general set-up was similar to Unquiet Dead. For that matter, the constant dropping of Shakespeare quotes was reminiscent of Rose trying to get Queen Victoria to say "We are not amused" in Tooth & Claw.
But Shakespeare Code did both better than both of those earlier episodes, for mine, so I'm totally fine with it.  |
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tarashnat
Registered: 08/17/05
Posts: 3062
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 03:25 PM EDT |
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One thing we see here paralleled The Runaway Bride, we have a race from the dawn of the universe making a reappearance. There we see the Rachnoss trying to take over the Earth, here we have the Carrionites. I think this may be an arc in this series, ancient horrors rearing their heads again.
Taras |
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Daleks don't accept apologies! YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!
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Tardis-Knight
Registered: 02/11/07
Posts: 618
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| Sunday, April 08 2007 @ 04:21 PM EDT |
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I'm totally with Magpie.
I've just caught the BBC3 repeat (I was watching Portsmouth beat Man Utd last night, Ha!) and I've got to say I thought that was brilliant!
I'm actually a little surprised it hasn't been received with greater warmth; just reading through the thread there are a lot of "good, not great" verdicts. Horses for courses I guess!; because I thought it was fantastic.
I've taped it, and I can't wait to see it again.
I thought it was very witty, and in terms of it's historical presentation, it looked the part. The only mild criticism would be the witch riding off in the moonlight silhouette (bit naff).
& Martha is so cute. That little curtsy (is that how you spell curtsy?) at the end. Nice.
5/5 or 10/10. Whichever way you wanna mark it. Full house for me.
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Nothing dies of old age on Skaro!
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