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Yes Id agree with that. Its a mostly different feel to the last few seasons.

That said, for a 3 parter (sort of) the last epp indeed resolved way too easy.

I liked the first 15 minutes of the most recent episode. A lot. But following the twist, I felt it went downhill fast.

I think the way the ending worked was:

The monks made the pact through Love.
The maintain control through "love". As in, the people cheer the tyranny and believe that the monks are nurturing them.

However, Bill's memory of her mother creates a feeling of sincere love. And this feeling is broadcasted to the world. True love. Which makes the monk's love seem fake in comparison.

But I agree that I felt like things were a little letdown and easy after the twist. Maybe the plot would have been more interesting if The Doctor was trying to antagonise Bill into hating him, to sever the pact that was made. Love turn to hatred.

Empress of Mars felt old school the whole time, but getting Ysanne Churchman in to voice Alpha Centauri brought a serious smile to my face. Now I'm rewatching the Curse of Peladon.

I thought it was a little predictable at times, and honestly, I think it's the weakest of this season so far.

But yeah, Alpha Centauri with the original voice actress was an excellent nod. Loved that. And in a way, it provides a pretty great lead-in to Curse Of Peladon.
Although the timing probably works out that Peladon was a good few decades later, at least.

I looked it up, and it's about two thousand years later. It's about Peladon joining the Federation, which is the political entity that rose up when the First Great and Bountiful Human Empire disintegrated in the wake of the sun's solar flare problem. Curse of Peladon is roughly contemporary with The Beast Below.

I'm halfway through my Curse of Paladon rewatch. The Sarah Jane Peladon adventure's up next!

Ah. So I was a bit off with that. XD
Interesting, though.

Ah, cool. I wasn't such a fan of the second Peladon story, but I suppose it makes sense to give it a watch along with the classic first one.

I guess to do them justice I'll have to finish with the Sarah Jane Adventures story where Jo showed up and the two of them reminisced about Peladon. I agree that the Jo story was the better of the two originals.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
For all its faults, that spin-off did have some damn good episodes.

Loved this episode.

I knew about both twists, and I think I would have enjoyed it more without knowing in advance. However, the episode still kicked all kinds of ass, and I can't wait for next week.

As a side-note, the title of this episode was in the opening line of my favourite Rush song, and I'd never realised it was a line from a famous poem.

What you said in the spoiler text, 100%. This was a *solid* episode.

knowing John Simm was coming back, it only took me till his 2nd scene to twig it was him in disguise.
Didn't stop me enjoying it, don't think they did a particularly good job of emphasising just how long Bill had waited for.
Very interested to see what comes in the finale and Christmas special, which presumably will deal with the fallout from the finale. Hope Moffatt doesn't cock it up with yet another a surprise magic reset maguffin.

Not quite a magic reset button, but not far off it...
I'm guessing a Cyber-Master might be the next appearance of the Master in a couple years time.
I don't quite understand why Nardol & co didn't head right to the top of the ship in the elevator - he does know how to fly the Tardis after all and the Doctor was planning to sacrifice himself anyway.
All that said it was still very enjoyable, along with all the Missy/Master jibes.

Loved it. It was flawed, but great fun, tied up the loose ends nicely, and although I think last week's was a better episode, this was great fun, and really well acted. Can't wait for the Xmas special.

They might just say there were a few masters between Simm and Gomez, or they might just use the old "I escaped" excuse, or they could have the Time Lords revive the Master/Missy with a new regeneration cycle... There are a multitude of ways.
Nardole and co. couldn't go up the lift, because as they travelled up the lift, their travel time relative to the Cybermen downstairs would be vastly extended, and by the time they get to the top, there could be Cybermen coming out of the lifts within seconds, all of which are highly advanced, and have used the years to plan how to kill the people. You saw how far the Cybermen progressed in the couple of days the main characters spent on floor 507.

I really didn't like the fact Bill got to live after all, and got a happy ending. In isolation, I'd probably be fine with it, but Moffat's done that with every companion so far. In fact, it's almost exactly the same as Clara's ending.
I'm a little sad we probably won't see any more Nardole. He was one of the best things about this season, and I'd have loved to see him stay on.
I feel like they could have done more with Simm's Master, and honestly, I think the episode should have been about 10-15 minutes longer, but that last scene between the Master and Missy was perfect.

Holy crap, that ending scene. I didn't see that coming. This Christmas special could be really damn awesome.

It's a longstanding tradition that the Master is killed off "permanently" and then he just shows up again and it isn't explained. Admittedly New Who hasn't done as much of that, but there's still plenty of precedent. If they feel the need to explain it they could say that in addition to remembering to carry a dematerialization circuit she also remembered to protect her back against the Master's ray.

Is there consensus on how long we use spoiler tags after an episode airs?

I'd say a week or two is a safe margin.

Robo4900 wrote:Nardole and co. couldn't go up the lift, because as they travelled up the lift, their travel time relative to the Cybermen downstairs would be vastly extended, and by the time they get to the top, there could be Cybermen coming out of the lifts within seconds, all of which are highly advanced, and have used the years to plan how to kill the people. You saw how far the Cybermen progressed in the couple of days the main characters spent on floor 507.

Yeah I understood that bit, I just thought that with the Doctor blowing up all the cybermen on 507 at once would've given them the clear air to use the lift.

The very very end of the episode came as less of a surprise to me as I was watching a recording of the sunday evening, so had seen the promo photo for the christmas special on facebook already.
I have been thinking ever since An Adventure In Space And Time that it would be ludicrous not to use David Bradley on Who proper at the 1st Doctor eventually.

I guess it's time to rewatch The Tenth Planet, which is the Cyberman serial during which the first Doctor regenerates, and which takes place in Antarctica. This seems all rather relevant.

Overall pretty darn good imho. SG1 used the same concept at one point, incidentally.

So...errr....did the bad guys all win off-camera?

Good to know the modern tradition of massive swathes of fandom been given a fresh excuse to hatewatch has been happily continued.

Who'd've thought barely a minute of a blonde woman in a big coat walking in the woods would kick up such a fuss.

I'm unfamiliar with Jodie Whittaker's work, but I hope that Chris Chibnall gives her great scripts and that she's awesome.

(Why do I ever read the comments on announcement videos!?)

tbug wrote:I'm unfamiliar with Jodie Whittaker's work, but I hope that Chris Chibnall gives her great scripts and that she's awesome.

(Why do I ever read the comments on announcement videos!?)

Those comment though weeping for humanity.
[obligatory 'LRR did that' vid ]https://youtu.be/tU2aqt_BUV0

On a positive note, I am excited. She looks like she would give a fresh spin to the series. And even though I am indeed not familiar with her, the look she has in those last few seconds is very Doctor to me already But then, I am not a salty "fan"boy or an internet gatekeeper which helps.

I thought she was great in Attack The Block and Black Mirror - The Entire History of You.

I stopped watching Doctor Who a few series ago, because it was getting boring. One thing that is confusing me; they're calling Jodie the 13th Doctor, but shouldn't she should be the 14th (13th regeneration)? Am I missing something?