Derfel Cadarn Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Dr Who fans spitting the dummy out because thr new series will drop on streaming on midnight, about 19 hours before it’s broadcast on live BBC… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 We have the episode titles: Space Babies, written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Julie Anne Robinson The Devil's Chord, written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Ben Chessell Boom, written by Steven Moffat, directed by Julie Anne Robinson 73 Yards, written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Dylan Holmes Williams Dot and Bubble, written by Russell T. Davies, directed Dylan Holmes Williams Rogue, written by Kate Herron & Briony Redman directed by Ben Chessell The Legend of Ruby Sunday, written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Jamie Donoughue Empire of Death, written by Russell T. Davies, directed by Jamie Donoughgue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Was just gonna say, 'I will shatter this silly little battlefield' is so a Moffat line. IlyaP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted Friday at 11:18 PM Share Posted Friday at 11:18 PM Oh, fun - double premiere and we get it same time as the U.S does (on iPlayer). Will report back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted Saturday at 11:00 AM Share Posted Saturday at 11:00 AM (edited) Okay, I didn't hate Space Babies, but I feel like it's an odd choice to start off with because the constant toilet humour and uncanny valley babies mean a lot of people aren't going to like it, I suspect. Completely throwaway episode, at best, despite some rather jarring commentary on the treatment of refugees. The Devil's Chord, on the other hand, is excellent. Really leans into Jinkx Monsoon as the campy scenery-chewing villain, but hey, I enjoy those when it's done well, and it was here. This one's the one that's really showcasing where it seems Davies is going with this go round. Big, silly, musical, and not even trying to pretend it's SF anymore. Spoiler Also: the Doctor is Deadpool now?  Edited Saturday at 11:02 AM by polishgenius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted Saturday at 12:09 PM Author Share Posted Saturday at 12:09 PM I hadn't fully appreciated that Davies is basically writing or co-writing the whole season with only two exceptions, one being Moffat and the other being the team of Kate Herron (Loki Season 1) and Briony Redman (Questing Time). Davies seems to improve when he has other writers around him, so seeing him write most of the season is a bit meh. Interesting to see what Moffat can come up with next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
House Cambodia Posted Saturday at 03:04 PM Share Posted Saturday at 03:04 PM 4 hours ago, polishgenius said: Okay, I didn't hate Space Babies, but I feel like it's an odd choice to start off with because the constant toilet humour and uncanny valley babies mean a lot of people aren't going to like it, I suspect. Completely throwaway episode, at best, despite some rather jarring commentary on the treatment of refugees. The Devil's Chord, on the other hand, is excellent. Really leans into Jinkx Monsoon as the campy scenery-chewing villain, but hey, I enjoy those when it's done well, and it was here. This one's the one that's really showcasing where it seems Davies is going with this go round. Big, silly, musical, and not even trying to pretend it's SF anymore.  Reveal hidden contents Also: the Doctor is Deadpool now?  Only watched Space Babies so far. It wasn't for me, but I figured for a new audience with no history of DW, it kinda pressed the right buttons. I think the star-quality of the actor will pull many weak plots through, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted Saturday at 03:59 PM Share Posted Saturday at 03:59 PM Space Babies was fine as an intro episode I guess, moved quickly, low stakes, and a good set up of the chemistry between Doctor and Companion (I think Ncuti and Milly work really well together on that front) didn't love it but didn't hate it. Devil's Chord was much better though, loved Maestro as an OTT campy villain, Jinkx did a great job with the portrayal. And I think both episodes did a good job of teasing out the mystery around Ruby. We only have 8 episodes correct? So teasing it from the jump makes sense as long as it resolves by the end of the season, imo. Overall solid start, as a new Who watcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted Saturday at 10:37 PM Share Posted Saturday at 10:37 PM 6 hours ago, HexMachina said: Space Babies was fine as an intro episode I guess, moved quickly, low stakes, and a good set up of the chemistry between Doctor and Companion (I think Ncuti and Milly work really well together on that front) didn't love it but didn't hate it. I think the Doctor and Ruby were the highlight of the two episodes. Space Babies was fine as a lightweight episode but with only eight episodes feels like a bit of a waste of one of them. The Devil's Chord was a lot more fun and creative. The plot did conveniently mean that they could include the Beatles without having to license any of the Beatles music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mormont Posted yesterday at 08:39 AM Share Posted yesterday at 08:39 AM (edited) I think the Space Babies episode was a typical Davies episode elevated by excellent performances. Ncuti Gatwa has exactly the right energy for this, able to carry the story along with pure charisma, whether upbeat or more serious. Very much a family episode and a good starter episode. Devil's Chord was also elevated by a terrific performance from Jinkx Monsoon but it has the problem all TV about how incredible and powerful music is, which is that at some point you have to put some actual music in them, and that causes issues because actually, what creates that power is deeply specific as much as it is universal. And so we get an episode where every artist and musical style featured is exactly what a middle-aged white British man would consider to be significant and no other music gets a look-in. This is an episode about music with a black lead character, and not one black musician (or genre!) is even mentioned. The Beatles had lots of black influences! (I have some views about the notion of The Beatles as being these nonpareil musical geniuses anyway, but it makes sense to use them as such.) ETA - I do wish they'd cast people who looked even vaguely like The Beatles, by the way. Similarly, the original musical numbers were pretty pedestrian, for me, and failed to evoke what the story needed. But there's a lot of good stuff in the episode despite that: the scene where the Doctor talks about Susan, the Maestro's motivation, the scene where the Doctor uses the sonic to nullify sound. Overall it's both better and worse than Space Babies, I think. Edited yesterday at 08:40 AM by mormont HexMachina 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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