New Doctor Who (Possible Spoilers)

[Elomin Sha]

I liked the library card bit with the original Doctor's face on it.

[Lyinginbedmon]

Next episode is definitely looking good, and I enjoyed this one, despite some sizeable gripes (I mean, forgetting the lack of sunshine, the fish EXPLODED from a compact!)

[Ottoman]

Here we go again. . .

Does Black Guy not own any other shirts?

So the Doctor's carrying around his library card. Wow, he must not have been to a library in a while. 'Cause it still has his original face on it. Wait, why's he carrying that around?

Could these be for comedic effect?

Why did they need to sink Venice?[. . .]

So none of them are wearing clothes, right?[. . .]

So the plan is to sink Venice.[. . .]

I'm not sure about the pylons, but yes, all of that was pretty much nonsense. One point, though: the tidal wave was a side effect of the fish-people's actual plan, which was to their weather-control device to create torrential rain.

So the Doctor climbs up a thing in a scene that can only be influenced by Assassin's Creed 2. He stops the spinning thing from spinning. He's standing on a really tiny ledge. Not a lot of room to manoeuvre. But then afterwards he kinda leans over without holding anything. Seems kinda dangerous.

He's the Doctor; danger is his middle name. He can probably keep his balance.

So was Beardy a fish thing too? Or did he just know about the fish? And he was helping them because he hates Venice or something?

It doesn't matter.

So the Doctor's like "I have a policy about guns and explosions." But didn't he use a gun two episodes ago? That lead me to believe his policy about guns were related to killing people with them. I mean, it's good that he didn't use the gunpowder because it would've made a lot of noise and then the fish would've found them, but they weren't going to kill anyone with it.

In the last story, though, using the gun was the only way to save everyone. This time, there were other options; even if there hadn't been right away, he had time to think about it, and they weren't in immediate danger.

So Black Guy's like "the place is like a fortress and the only way we can get in is through the tunnel." Why didn't they just go in the same way the Doctor did before?

Because Black Guy had to be a distraction for the Doctor to get in. And presumably after the trouble he caused the first time around, it would be a bit better guarded.

So the sonic screwdriver can heal wounds now? O...kay. Well, I guess it's never really come up before in the serieses. I mean, except in "The Empty Child".

Those two instances are the only times so far that I thought the Screwdriver was abused by the writers, so it wasn't too bad.

So the fish guys explode in sunlight. But they walk around during the day a lot. So it's just direct sunlight that irritates them or what?

Apparently so.

So then this weird guy's like "you're in the dream world now. If you die here, you return to reality." And then the Doctor's like "this is gonna be a tough one." Is it? It just seems like you throw yourself off a building or something.

Context, context, context. The exact thing that they don't want you to have in teasers.

[Gordon Fearman]

Here we go again. . .

Does Black Guy not own any other shirts?

So the Doctor's carrying around his library card. Wow, he must not have been to a library in a while. 'Cause it still has his original face on it. Wait, why's he carrying that around?

Could these be for comedic effect?

That's what I said.

One point, though: the tidal wave was a side effect of the fish-people's actual plan, which was to their weather-control device to create torrential rain.

What would that do though? Wouldn't it be harder to flood Venice with rain than any other city? Because it would drain into the ocean and stuff?

So was Beardy a fish thing too? Or did he just know about the fish? And he was helping them because he hates Venice or something?

It doesn't matter.

Okay, you don't seem to get that I know it doesn't matter. It's still a question, though. Did you miss the last time when the first thing I said was that the music was weird?

So the sonic screwdriver can heal wounds now? O...kay. Well, I guess it's never really come up before in the serieses. I mean, except in "The Empty Child".

Those two instances are the only times so far that I thought the Screwdriver was abused by the writers, so it wasn't too bad.

What two times? I was saying there was never really an instance when the Doctor would need to heal small wounds except during "The Empty Child" when he burned his hand on the Tardis console.

[Ottoman]

What would that do though? Wouldn't it be harder to flood Venice with rain than any other city? Because it would drain into the ocean and stuff?

I didn't say that it was a good plan, just that it was the actual plan that was explained.

Okay, you don't seem to get that I know it doesn't matter. It's still a question, though. Did you miss the last time when the first thing I said was that the music was weird?

Argh, why do you care?

What two times? I was saying there was never really an instance when the Doctor would need to heal small wounds except during "The Empty Child" when he burned his hand on the Tardis console.

Oh. I though you were talking about the bit in that story when Rose fixes barbed wire with the Screwdriver. So I meant that that scene, as well as the healing-a-bite-wound one, were the only serious abuses of the Screwdriver so far in the new series.

Incidentally, I just watched The Empty Child / The Doctor Dances, and I don't remember the Doctor burning his hands. Could you elaborate?

[Gordon Fearman]

You can't really notice him burning his hands, but when he first enters Jack's ship in "The Doctor Dances" the nanogenes swarm his hands and then he says that he burned it on the console.

And I care about all these things because I noticed them.

[korri]

The writers have said before that the screwdriver was a bit of plot device and sometimes just does what it needs to... Also its new and green and everyone knows that they can heal

I like Rory, he's funny and I look forward to more adventures with him. Also, did anyone notice that he had a nice mullet pony tail going on in the teaser?

[AlexanderDitto]

Fast paced but not rushed, exciting and terrifying, with some bits that had me laughing in absolute delight. A great episode! I thought it was rather tightly woven, story wise, too!

And I like Rory! Yay Rory! Yay male companions!

And... I thought it was obvious that they chose Venice because it's a city that is actually sinkable? You know, since it's essentially built on wood beams on top of soft sand? All it would take is a nice big tidal wave....

Loved the library card and the psychic paper (I love the psychic paper!) and the Doctor popping out of cake. Delightful!

And next episode looks like it's going to scare the shit out of me. Goddamnit, Moffat.

[elvor]

I wasn't too impressed by this one. It started strongly, but towards the end got more rushed and silly. The evil plan didn't really make sense. Rory was good though.

Next week looks fucking awesome though. I am hugely excited about it. And Gordon, the point is that they don't know which world is the dream one, so killing themselves would be a huge gamble.

[Gordon Fearman]

Doesn't he say "this is the dream world"?

[elvor]

Nope. He just says that there are two worlds. Never specifies which one they're in.

Also, watching it again his final line implies that they have to choose a world. So I think the idea is that they actually do have to kill themselves in the dream world - once they work out which one that is.

[Gordon Fearman]

Oh. Okay then. I'm sorry.

[iamafish]

Well that was interesting.

I enjoyed it, but felt there was something missing. I love vamps (proper ones, not silly twilight ones), but the point is that they're all Gothic, dark and ever so slightly erotic. Ok so this episode had a bit of the erotic, but not enough dark and Gothic.

Anyway, in short, vamps are scary and sinister, big fat aliens are not. Remove the mystery and they stop being scary. Same thing with the Daleks in that episode; explain to quickly why they're offering tea and they stop being so damn scary.

So the key here is pacing. Why is dr who not an hour long? if it where an hour long they could spend more time at the start and then increase in pace, rather than the whole thing just being helter-skelter towards a slightly dull finale. There never seemed to be any real danger at any point. Oh noes! rain! save us. seriously? more scary: turn Amy into a vampire.

I think the episode tried to get though too much in too little time. Less complex plot, better pacing, more satisfying story. On this note: does everything have to threaten to destroy humanity? cant it just be slightly sinister and eat a few people? you dont need to have every story on a massive earth killing scale. It means things destroying earth and killing everyone gets a little old.

Also it looked a bit crap at times. What happened to the special effects budget? Did you guys spend it all on getting the Angels to move?

Next week looks sweet though. I hope it's as good as the trailer promises.

[korri]

Ummmm isn't doctor who an hour long? Sure, it's only 45 minutes without the commercials, but thats how all shows are

[Elomin Sha]

The first episode was including the specials but they're usually 45 minutes long.

[iamafish]

this is the BBC darling, we don't have Ad breaks.

Without them this was 50 minutes long, so actually slightly longer than usual.

With the plot they had they needed longer, it was too complex for 50 minutes. It felt rushed. They needed a more simply plot or a longer time slot.

[Keab42]

I think that's been the problem with this series as a whole. Moffat has some very grand ideas, but they lend themselves more to 2-parters than single episodes. Heck, with the involvement of the arc in a greater way in these episodes I wonder if maybe he's thinking more old-school again. Maybe season 6 will have more 2-parters, or maybe it'll be a couple of stories with 6 episodes each.

[epocalypse]

Doctor Who is officially capable of making better vampires out of fish than twilight can out of VAMPIRES!!

[Snowfire]

Doctor Who is officially capable of making better vampires out of fish than twilight can out of VAMPIRES!!

+ 1

[Digital Dolphin]

Is anyone else getting annoyed at how the end of the season has been shoved in our faces since episode 1? In previous seasons it was a lot more subtle, like Bad Wolf. This time they've thrown the whole "2 periods of time colliding that never should have touched, the silence in coming" thing right from the start.

It's gotten to the point where every time they make the crack centre screen and zoom in on it, just in case we're blind or just complete idiots, that I want to turn the show off and walk away. I HAVEN'T done this yet though.

But really, does the crack need to be the plot device in ALMOST EVERY EPISODE? :/

[iamafish]

It is slightly annoying.

I like the emphasis on the overarching storyline, but I do not like the way is it constantly shoved in our faces. Talk about the silence and the crack in reality and all that, fine, but you dont need to show us the crack, or provide us with silence at the end of every episode. Having the characters talk about it and foreshadow it is great, but you can have too much of a bad thing.

[Elomin Sha]

I think they keep mentioning it so stupid children who have no long term memory know what's going on.

[Theremin]

Doctor Hoo?

[AlexanderDitto]

Doctor Hoo?

Oh my goodness BEST THING EVER.

[theduckthief]

What's taking you weirdos so long? You know the internet exists, right?

This weirdo likes to take her time thank you very much.