Doctor Who: Season 4

[Houndred]

I don't think Tennant and Tate have any chemistry, I mean it's nice for a companion not to be completely besotted with the dr. for a change, but these two lack any sort of connection, it's like they are coworkers who tolerate each other.

Tate is a good comedienne, too bad you don't really get a sense of that in dr who. Maybe it will turn out that she is really a cyborg or something.

And I third the ood brain in the hands bit making no sense on so many evolutionary levels.

[mormont]

[quote name='Houndred' post='1321790' date='Apr 20 2008, 21.11']Tate is a good comedienne, too bad you don't really get a sense of that in dr who.[/quote]

I didn't get any sense of it in her 'comedy' series either...

[Xanrn]

The Ood brain in their hands is some of the dumbest shit I have ever seen.

I mean really, if they had really evovled brains like that wouldn't have evolved a second pairs of hands or something.

Least the Invasion of the Potatoe Men looks good.

[Third Knight on the Left]

Eh i don't care about the hand brain thing. My issue is, what exactly did The Doctor and Donna do? It seemed to me they were completely just along for the ride and certainly did nothing for Ood to be all "we'll tell generations about you".

[williamjm]

[quote name='Third Knight on the Left' post='1324559' date='Apr 22 2008, 16.34']My issue is, what exactly did The Doctor and Donna do? It seemed to me they were completely just along for the ride and certainly did nothing for Ood to be all "we'll tell generations about you".[/quote]

I did wonder that as well. The Ood and the Free-Ood saboteur seemed to have things well under control and the only useful thing The Doctor really did was distracting the company owner long enough for him to be Oodified before setting the mines off.

[Sir Thursday]

I thought the Ood brain decided to act when it started hearing Donna and the Doctor yelling "The Circle Must Be Broken"? Wasn't paying much attention, but I have a vague recollection of something like that...


Sir Thursday

[williamjm]

[quote name='Sir Thursday' post='1325611' date='Apr 23 2008, 01.38']I thought the Ood brain decided to act when it started hearing Donna and the Doctor yelling "The Circle Must Be Broken"? Wasn't paying much attention, but I have a vague recollection of something like that...[/quote]

IIRC the Ood rebellion was well under way by that stage, so I don't see how they made any difference.

[DemonKing]

[quote name='williamjm' post='1325628' date='Apr 23 2008, 10.48']IIRC the Ood rebellion was well under way by that stage, so I don't see how they made any difference.[/quote]

Well I just watched Genesis of the Daleks again on DVD last night and the Doctor doesn't do much in that one to alter the eventual outcome of the story either...given that it's the Thaals who blow up the bunker and Davros who sets the nature of the daleks in place (ok - he did eventually destroy the dalek spawning pit).

I must admit after watching the end of Genesis I can't help but wish that they'd left Davros dead, as the ending of that story is perfect in a self-contained way. Apart from a few laughs in "Revelation" where he takes on "the Great Healer" persona I don't think his presence adds much to later dalek stories at all and is more confusing than anything (how does he go from being struck down by the Movellan virus on a ship that explodes with him seemingly immobile on board to being captured by a rival dalek faction to suddenly being the emperor of what appears to be his own dalek faction...huh?).

[potsherds]

Well, this week's episode was ok, I guess. I dunno, I wasn't too thrilled by it. :unsure:

[Lord Baelish]

It was all right. Not great, but probably the strongest episode of the series so far, though that really isn't saying much. Still can't stand Catherine Tate. Every time she opens her mouth I want to ram my fist down it. They should get rid of her and have Martha rejoin permanently.

[potsherds]

[quote name='Lord Baelish' post='1331462' date='Apr 27 2008, 22.48']It was all right. Not great, but probably the strongest episode of the series so far, though that really isn't saying much. Still can't stand Catherine Tate. Every time she opens her mouth I want to ram my fist down it. They should get rid of her and have Martha rejoin permanently.[/quote]
I don't actually prefer one over the other, at this point. They both gush over the Doctor and how amazing he is. It's extremely annoying to me. In some ways, I prefer Tate's friendliness and teasing the doctor, over Martha's puppy-dog-love, which is obviously still there, despite her being engaged. :rolleyes:

[Third Knight on the Left]

I rather liked the evil kid. I hope he doesn't die.

[Plessiez]

[quote name='potsherds' post='1331516' date='Apr 28 2008, 01.06']They both gush over the Doctor and how amazing he is. It's extremely annoying to me.[/quote]
Sure, they both play ([i]extremely[/i]) annoying characters, but Tate is more frequently guilty of terrible acting, which tends to accentuate the annoyingness (though Agyeman gave her a run for her money this episode, I thought).

It would be nice if the writers tried their hands at episodes in which the Doctor occasionally [i]did[/i] incredible, heroic or amazing things, I feel. Perhaps then there wouldn't be such a need for him to seek out 'companions' with no function other than to gush about the virtues he so frequently fails to actually display on screen.

Meh. I think I'm done with this series. This week's episode was marginally less stupid than the last one (though the [i]repeated[/i] cases of "I'm pretty sure that this ATMOS thing is super-dangerous, but I'm going to happily drive around with it in my car anyway because otherwise the plot will break" were a bit much, as was the offensively silly "I can make this artifical intelligence's head explode (metaphorically) using the power of [i]logical paradoxes[/i] and the fact that in this universe 'ignore' means 'do the opposite of what I say' and not ... well, [url="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ignore"]ignore[/url]" :rolleyes: ). But it wasn't good, by any metric.

(And as far as the 'only serious fandom dislikes Tate' idea that was suggested earlier in this thread ... I've never seen more than ten minutes of the original Dr. Who, I've missed at least one episode from every season of the new version, and I've never considered it anything other than (very) casual viewing - and I can't stand her, or any of her attempts at comedy, on or off [i]Dr. Who[/i].)

Anyway, yeah, I'm done. There's "stupid, but fun" which is how I'd categorise most of the last three seasons (with a few terrible moments and a couple of genuinely good ones), and then there's just stupid

[potsherds]

[quote name='Plessiez' post='1331891' date='Apr 28 2008, 13.01']Sure, they both play ([i]extremely[/i]) annoying characters, but Tate is more frequently guilty of terrible acting, which tends to accentuate the annoyingness (though Agyeman gave her a run for her money this episode, I thought).

It would be nice if the writers tried their hands at episodes in which the Doctor occasionally [i]did[/i] incredible, heroic or amazing things, I feel. Perhaps then there wouldn't be such a need for him to seek out 'companions' with no function other than to gush about the virtues he so frequently fails to actually display on screen.

Meh. I think I'm done with this series. This week's episode was marginally less stupid than the last one (though the [i]repeated[/i] cases of "I'm pretty sure that this ATMOS thing is super-dangerous, but I'm going to happily drive around with it in my car anyway because otherwise the plot will break" were a bit much, as was the offensively silly "I can make this artifical intelligence's head explode (metaphorically) using the power of [i]logical paradoxes[/i] and the fact that in this universe 'ignore' means 'do the opposite of what I say' and not ... well, [url="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ignore"]ignore[/url]" :rolleyes: ). But it wasn't good, by any metric.

(And as far as the 'only serious fandom dislikes Tate' idea that was suggested earlier in this thread ... I've never seen more than ten minutes of the original Dr. Who, I've missed at least one episode from every season of the new version, and I've never considered it anything other than (very) casual viewing - and I can't stand her, or any of her attempts at comedy, on or off [i]Dr. Who[/i].)

Anyway, yeah, I'm done. There's "stupid, but fun" which is how I'd categorise most of the last three seasons (with a few terrible moments and a couple of genuinely good ones), and then there's just stupid[/quote]
Honestly, Pless, I kind of agree with you. Of course, I'll probably still watch this season, but if it continues to be this ridiculously stupid, and concentrate on un-funny comedy over drama, I'm out after this season. It's been a terrible season so far, I agree.



ETA: The one thing I really want to see, personally, is a return of that Time Lord scientist lady. I'd really like a strong female foil to the Doctor at this point, because the series is seriously lacking that, and it's beginning to annoy me on top of everything else.

[Maltaran]

[quote name='Third Knight on the Left' post='1331870' date='Apr 28 2008, 11.35']I rather liked the evil kid. I hope he doesn't die.[/quote]

Yeah, if he was actually the bad guy, rather than being merely the public face, it could have been a decent episode. Of course, you still have Martha blithely following the two hypnotised soldiers down a deserted corridor without being the slightest bit suspicious, plus the annoying Catherine Tate (although that was partially offset this week by the presence of Bernard Cribbins). Also, I kind of like the fact that the two Sontaran officers have got individual personalities, unlike the Daleks and Cybermen of the previous seasons.

[Lord Baelish]

I actually quite enjoyed this week's episode, though that may be because I could enjoy the good action they had and ignore the plot holes. For example, why do the Sontarans only have one weak spot, and yet they can be killed with shots to the chest? Seems to me their weak spot is ... their entire body. But apart from that, I enjoyed it. Good to see they haven't forgotten the Valiant (though five episodes and still no mention of Harold Saxon?). And I was also pleased that the Colonel managed to prove that he wasn't a complete moron by taking out the Sontarans in the factory.

Still had to endure Tate, of course, but her lack of screen time in this episode really strengthened it. She is more wooden than my computer desk. And next week we will meet the Doctor's daughter.

Finally, the "Are you my mummy?" reference made me laugh.

[williamjm]

I thought it was a reasonably entertaining two-parter, although inevitably we did have to ignore some fairly stupid plot points - such as the GPS ignore thing Pless mentioned and I'm still not sure how

SPOILER: The Sontaran Stratagem

setting the atmosphere on fire didn't hurt anyone.

The Sontarans make quite good villains, they have a little bit more personality than the Cybermen and Daleks, even if there's not much depth to their motivation.

[Maltaran]

Did anyone else notice the brief shot of Rose on the screen in the Tardis?

Also, the Brigadier is now Sir Alistair. Good for him.

[Sir Thursday]

[quote name='Maltaran' post='1340946' date='May 3 2008, 20.32']Did anyone else notice the brief shot of Rose on the screen in the Tardis?

Also, the Brigadier is now Sir Alistair. Good for him.[/quote]

Yeah, spotted that...or at least I assumed it was Rose at the time because all I saw was a splash of blonde hair. [s]But the 'next week' bit at the end makes me think maybe it was the Doctor's daughter...[/s]Just went and had a look on the iPlayer...it was definitely Rose. She's definitely the recurring theme, I think whoever mentioned the idea that realities are bleeding together was on the right track.

Thought this episode was easily the best of the season so far - was a little irked by how the atmosphere cleanser didn't kill everyone who'd breathed the gas in, and how easily the windshield on Bernard Cribbins' car broke, but there was enough action to allow me to overlook those flaws. Nice to see Martha tagging along for the ride, although Freema's acting is going to have to improve over what she showed in this double parter. Will take some of the attention off Tate, hopefully brushing her own acting problems under the carpet. Her crying scenes seem so incredibly fake, it's horrible to watch.


Sir Thursday

[potsherds]

[quote name='Maltaran' post='1340946' date='May 3 2008, 19.32']Did anyone else notice the brief shot of Rose on the screen in the Tardis?[/quote]
Yeah, I saw that it was Rose shouting "Docta!!!!" (British accent included in the word. :P)

It was definitely the best ep so far, but that's honestly not saying too much. Thursday makes a good point about everyone breathing that crap in not getting their lungs ashed as well. I'm gonna hand wave that away and ask instead: doesn't fire need oxygen to burn? Just how much of the Earth's oxygen supply would've been chemically altered into NOT O2 from burning that much gas? I'd think the entire planet would suffocate from lack of air after that (or lack of oxygen, really, most of the nitrogen would still be there). Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that.

Ok, I wanna know from the folks that've watched Doctor Who for decades...who the hell is the mother of his daughter? Or is she some sort of clone-type thing? Or is she from a future uh, pairing (Rose? she's got blonde hair...)? I'm struggling with whether or not this was really a good move, adding children of the Doctor into the show. Now, I know when it first started, the Doctor apparently had a grand-daughter, but I personally never figured out if this was true in actuality, or simply the story the two of them stuck to...in other words, was it later retconned? (Did I spell that right?)

C'mon folks. This ep was decent enough I want people posting in this thread and answering my questions! :pirate: