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daveac
Registered: 04/12/06
Posts: 2636
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 Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 02:05 PM EDT |
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| [Quote by: That Neil Guy] And is anyone else uncomfortable with the Doctor's growing Spock-like powers? Mind melding with Renette and now Donna. Highly illogical. |
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Well as long as it only happens occasionally.
And it helped explain that he could hear the Ood song where Donna couldn't.
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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Magpie
Registered: 06/29/06
Posts: 519
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 02:10 PM EDT |
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| [Quote by: That Neil Guy] Think Dave needs some of that hair tonic? I'm sensing the cover up of a receding hairline issue here... |
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I don't know if it was that or just some bad styling. It was like, crispy hair and just a little too similar to the Leningrad Cowboys - in case you don't know who they are:
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If Worzel Gummidge and the Third Doctor had a fist fight - who would win?
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That Neil Guy
Registered: 01/02/06
Posts: 256
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 02:22 PM EDT |
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http://thatneilguy.blogspot.com
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DarthSkeptical
Registered: 03/11/06
Posts: 1129
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 02:29 PM EDT |
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| [Quote by: That Neil Guy] And is anyone else uncomfortable with the Doctor's growing Spock-like powers? Mind melding with Renette and now Donna. Highly illogical. |
| Nope, it's highly consistent with the original series. Dates back to that strangely, suddenly all-important episode, "The Sensorites". Time Lord telepathic powers are well-established, and broadly peppered throughout the series.
Here's a good-enough synopsis of Time Lord mental prowess. |
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"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ." JNT, 1986
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rocko
Registered: 07/21/06
Posts: 370
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 03:01 PM EDT |
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[Quote by: stjohnny] | [Quote by: DarthSkeptical] am I right in thinking there were zero uses of the sonic screwdriver in this one? If so, is that a record for the new series? |
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Yes he did use it... a LOT! |
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Darth, it may just seem like he didn't use it much, since it wasn't the key to getting out of their situation!  |
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Did you say "74,384,338 to 1 against"? That's my lucky number!
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lonelyangel10
Registered: 05/27/07
Posts: 79
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 03:16 PM EDT |
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All day I've been saying "doctordonnafriends doctordonnafriends." This interaction between the Ood, The Doctor, and Donna has not been lost on me.
I still cannot take the acting style of the material given to Catherine Tate. I welcome the character of Donna, though when she came to the conclusion that she'd like to go home, I was ready to go find the Tardis.
Well, at least Martha returns next week that should be welcome  |
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"WOT?...WOT?" "WOT??????!!!!!" OUT!OUT!OUT!
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mad4plaid
Registered: 02/02/06
Posts: 880
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 04:55 PM EDT |
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[Quote by: lonelyangel10] I still cannot take the acting style of the material given to Catherine Tate. I welcome the character of Donna, though when she came to the conclusion that she'd like to go home, I was ready to go find the Tardis.
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actually, it was Donna's need to go home when things became "tough" that ruined this episode for me. Not Catherine's fault - I blame the writers! She went through the Spider Queen crap, and having Lance turn out to be a turd of the highest order (then watching him die), and she didn't think it would be like this with the Doctor? nope. She knew there would be bad, she knew it would be tough, that's why she spent her time after the Runaway Bride opening up her eyes to what was really going on.... I'll stop my rant, sorry.
Still, I really think the writers really let us and the character of Donna down on this one.
Besides that, how did I enjoy the episode? um.. I'm disappointed that THIS is what they gave us for an off-world item ---
WHICH of course brings to mind the other rant: that we cannot go off world without having us humans ruining something that's going on! why is that? |
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supremacy is relative
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Mohan
Registered: 01/01/06
Posts: 195
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 08:51 PM EDT |
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I know it's early on in this series, but I would agree with my wife that the writing and the plots are getting a bit stretched and thin. I don't believe they're up to the first two seasons.
I know that it's like comparing apples and oranges, but I've been watching the last season of Battlestar Galactica and that series is rocking.
I just think that the writers are settling down into a comfortable level, writing what's safe. There was some great opportunities in this episode for the Doctor to really stand up but the episode had a classic outcome:
1. Doctor and companion find a strange planet with something weird going on.
2. Something chases after the Doctor (this time a crane hand: Yawn!)
3. Moral questions abound. Companion acts human and can't take it.
4. Bad guy revealed and everything all works out ok.
I think there were some great parts in the episode but the ending just didn't work for me.
I love my Doctor Who, but the last few episodes seem weak to me compared to previous series. |
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spoo
Registered: 11/25/05
Posts: 18
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 09:20 PM EDT |
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[Quote by: DarthSkeptical]
And, I've only watched it once, but am I right in thinking there were zero uses of the sonic screwdriver in this one? If so, is that a record for the new series? |
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no, he used it to lock a door shut |
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Sideburn Zombie
Registered: 01/20/08
Posts: 52
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| Sunday, April 20 2008 @ 09:50 PM EDT |
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A good episode. I was happy to be on a different planet. Well, not me but the episode.
It looks like the way the series is going that The Doctor and Donna are left in the people they save minds god like and worshiped. I mean they didn't kill the Addipose, they saved the family at the end of Pompei, and they save the Ood and in the end they are treated like some sort of god. Is this Season going in the same direction as the 7th doctors era? WHO knows?
It sounds like a regeneration might be coming soon too. The Ood saying his song won't live forever. I've read some rumors in the forums about this. Maybe?
Overall, good episode. 4 out of 5. Martha and the Sotarans (might be a misspelled that)next week. Good Doctor Fun. |
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Remember Me To Gallifrey!! Be sure to check Out the Phase Abandon Podcast on TalkShoe.com
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Gabriel Chase
Registered: 04/18/08
Posts: 97
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| Monday, April 21 2008 @ 04:41 AM EDT |
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A random prediction.
1) Tenant leaves this season
2) there is NOT a year off as we will have a new doctor by then..
3) the New Doctor will be played by a comedian (probably one not wildly known but one that has some acting experience)
at leaste 2 of these are very probable in my eyes |
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Somewhere the tea is getting cold
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daveac
Registered: 04/12/06
Posts: 2636
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| Monday, April 21 2008 @ 06:05 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: Gabriel Chase] A random prediction.
2) there is NOT a year off as we will have a new doctor by then..
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You might be right about David leaving - but I still think they will have the break in 2009 - as the BBC are committed to moving ALL new TV production to HD by 2010.
They will need this time to make the changeover - and maybe give the TARDIS a refit.
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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DarthSkeptical
Registered: 03/11/06
Posts: 1129
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| Monday, April 21 2008 @ 07:23 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: rocko] [Quote by: stjohnny] | [Quote by: DarthSkeptical] am I right in thinking there were zero uses of the sonic screwdriver in this one? If so, is that a record for the new series? |
| | Yes he did use it... a LOT! |
| | Darth, it may just seem like he didn't use it much, since it wasn't the key to getting out of their situation! |
| | Yeah, I've had a chance to re-watch now, and of course you're right. He does use it, but it's so quick, I just didn't catch it before. I'm a fan of the screwdriver, so I don't mind its so-called "overuse" in the new series, but its virtual absence this week was refreshing. |
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"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ." JNT, 1986
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DarthSkeptical
Registered: 03/11/06
Posts: 1129
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| Monday, April 21 2008 @ 07:54 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: mad4plaid] | [Quote by: lonelyangel10] I still cannot take the acting style of the material given to Catherine Tate. I welcome the character of Donna, though when she came to the conclusion that she'd like to go home, I was ready to go find the Tardis. |
| | Actually, it was Donna's need to go home when things became "tough" that ruined this episode for me. Not Catherine's fault - I blame the writers! She went through the Spider Queen crap, and having Lance turn out to be a turd of the highest order (then watching him die), and she didn't think it would be like this with the Doctor? nope. She knew there would be bad, she knew it would be tough, that's why she spent her time after the Runaway Bride opening up her eyes to what was really going on.... I'll stop my rant, sorry. |
| See, to me, that was one of the best moments of the script. She wasn't whining to go home; she was literally disgusted by the depravity of the situation. I found that reaction both real and quite in character for Donna as we've come to know her over the last four stories. One of the things that most intriguing about Donna is her dichotomy. On the one hand she knows that the Doctor's way of life is better, so she naturally struggles to be a part of that. On the other, she's weighed down by her essentially ordinary, rather lazy, decidedly suburban side.
What she experiences in this episode is clearly beyond the realm of any experience she's ever had, and tons worse than what she went through in "The Runaway Bride". That was, to her, essentially a personal attack. Yes the Queen's plans had implications for the whole world, but at its core, it was all about Donna. Her own life. Her future happiness. That was really all that mattered to Donna.
This was a much different kind of threat. An attack upon innocents whom she'd only just met. Following a tragic experience with the impossible-to-help citizens of Pompeii, she comes face to face with mass slavery, institutional lobotomization, and potential genocide. That's a bit more than just having her own wedding interrupted by a spider.
Where Donna (and writer Keith Temple) deserve massive amounts of credit is the way she bounces back immediately after she seems so defeated by the whole experience. Her dressing down of Tim McInnerny's character "You idiot. They're born with their brains in their hands. Don't you see? They're peaceful. They've got to be, cause a creature like that would have to trust anyone it meets." is one of the smartest, toughest things any companion has ever said to a villain. And the rest of the episode has her summoning her inner courage to help liberate an entire species.
Donna has been transformed in these last two episodes from a selfish suburbanite into a deeply empathetic character who is gainfully struggling to be a part of the big picture. With Rose, we got a little doubt in the first episode, a little pout in "The End of the World', and from then on out she was fully on board. With Donna, an older more set-in-her-ways character, we're getting a very realistic inner-struggle. One's not better than the other they both have their virtues but the writers aren't letting us down with Donna. They're giving us a woman in her late 30s.
Frankly, I'd be a little worried if Donna didn't ask to go home. |
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"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ." JNT, 1986
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Doctor Whoovie
Registered: 04/26/06
Posts: 794
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| Monday, April 21 2008 @ 08:38 AM EDT |
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[Quote by: Mohan] I know it's early on in this series, but I would agree with my wife that the writing and the plots are getting a bit stretched and thin. I don't believe they're up to the first two seasons.
I know that it's like comparing apples and oranges, but I've been watching the last season of Battlestar Galactica and that series is rocking.
I just think that the writers are settling down into a comfortable level, writing what's safe. There was some great opportunities in this episode for the Doctor to really stand up but the episode had a classic outcome:
1. Doctor and companion find a strange planet with something weird going on.
2. Something chases after the Doctor (this time a crane hand: Yawn!)
3. Moral questions abound. Companion acts human and can't take it.
4. Bad guy revealed and everything all works out ok.
I think there were some great parts in the episode but the ending just didn't work for me.
I love my Doctor Who, but the last few episodes seem weak to me compared to previous series. |
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Funny, I think the first three episodes this season are far stronger than the first three last year (I didn't enjoy much out of the first half of the season except Gridlocked and the Lazarus expt.) |
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In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed are Kings
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