Doctor Who : Fifty Years of Phone Box Travel

[Faraday]

I think it was Moffat who said something like that. Still I don't want a "fake" doctor back if you will + didn't really like that plot line at all. (Understating it maybe)

Anyway, off to watch more 3. Spearhead from space seems decent so far.

[polishgenius]

Well today's episode was... well, crap. Not that there was much particularly terrible about it, apart from the first scene, but neither was there anything very good, and

fuck off with the Power of Love saving the fucking day endings you fucking fucks! Even if this was slightly more tolerable in execution than most. Yeah, beating Soul-Galactus by giving it a leaf, wonderful.

On the plus side, the Doctor got another good speech.

[Poobah]

Yeah, very flimsy episode.

[williamjm]

I thought it was a reasonably good episode, I liked the setting with the assortment of alien species wandering around and the spectacular ring system although you're right that the resolution of the plot was weak (and I would have thought the star apparently disappearing might have been a bit of a problem). In terms of the structure the 'second' Clara episode was a bit reminiscent of the second Amy episode - Amy/Clara get taken to space for the first time, end up in a society where they're obviously outsiders, meet a young girl, try to hide from some ominous looking people and find a dark secret at the heart of the civilisation.

Although we learned more about Clara's background we didn't get to find out much about the mystery surrounding her, although I wonder why the Tardis apparently doesn't like her.

[polishgenius]

I thought it was a reasonably good episode, I liked the setting with the assortment of alien species wandering around and the spectacular ring system although you're right that the resolution of the plot was weak (and I would have thought the star apparently disappearing might have been a bit of a problem).

They seemed very undecided as to whether that was a star or a planet (and in terms of scale didn't seem remotely big enough to be either, but certainly closer to 'planet').

Although we learned more about Clara's background we didn't get to find out much about the mystery surrounding her, although I wonder why the Tardis apparently doesn't like her.

If it's anything, it may be something along the lines of how she also doesn't like Jack, although it might be a throwaway line- it's not as if the companions can normally get in the Tardis without a key anyway. Which begs the question of why the Doctor didn't just give her one, seeing as he did the previous Clara.

[Lady Octarina]

Silly episode, silly and something I can't quite define... I don't even know whether I liked it or not, but more inclined on the not, at the moment. The love saving everyone thing again is simply the laziest way they can find to solve a plot, and so overused these days. Unless the creature fed on rhetoric, not memories? This was like a mixture of The Satan Pit and The Beast Below that simply didn't work, and I felt extremely uncomfortable when those people were singing, and terrified for a moment that Matt Smith might join the chorus. The one good thing about the episode was Clara and the Doctor arriving on that planet, everything before she ran into Merry, no matter how ridiculous and repetitive it was, still nice to see them interact with a variety of aliens, even though I'm left wondering why the Tardis couldn't just translate non-humanoid speech this time (other than the fact that would make the jokes impossible).

Anyway, this episode makes me realize I prefer dalek!Clara and 19thcentury!Clara to the one we got.

[billy g.]

I loved the Doctor's speech!

And next week, Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) guest stars!

[Castel]

I skipped an episode didn't I? Why would the leaf matter? Wouldn't the same thing happen with anyone else?I'm lost. The most important leaf in history?

Matt Smith's acting was good though.

Even with my confusion this seemed like a sappy child's tale. For anyone above twelve it was cringe-inducing.

And next week, Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham) guest stars!

And Edmure and Brutus (Tobias Menzies)!

[Faraday]

Presumably the leaf is important because Clara is important - without the leaf we don't get clara. It was all a bit much, though. Hokey.

Still enjoyable, I guess? Loved the doctor's monologue and Matt smith's acting. This was literally a "the power of love" ending, too. Which was eh.

[Xanrn]

Well atleast we get a mother-fucking Ice Warrior next week.

It won't be beaten by some power of love bullshit.

Also interesting that Davos isn't even trying with the Russian accent.

[felice]

The love saving everyone thing again is simply the laziest way they can find to solve a plot, and so overused these days. Unless the creature fed on rhetoric, not memories?

It wasn't entirely clear, but my take on it was that Clara got it to try feeding on the infinity of possible futures that could have happened instead of on the much more limited memories of what had actually happened. Not really anything to do with love, and doesn't make any less sense than say the Weeping Angels feeding on sending people back in time.

Could have done with more involvement from the locals; sitting around doing nothing while aliens interfere with their most important ritual and then their god wakes up to eat them all wasn't very impressive.

[mormont]

I'm not sure how people could not get the significance of the leaf? Right at the beginning, we get the leaf being how Clara's parents meet: a speech from her dad about how it's the most important leaf in human history, if a single thing had gone differently they'd never have met, etc. Then a speech from the Doctor to Merry about how she (like everyone else) is incredible and unique, the culmination of a million different things, made of the stuff of the universe, and so on. So the leaf represented potential, the infinite number of different things that might have happened but didn't, the untold number of different futures and different stories. The message was not that Clara is special, but that everyone is, because we're the one of uncounted possible futures that actually happened (which has been something of a theme in New Who).

That aside... agreed that the inactivity of the aliens was odd. Also, the episode was paced quite badly, I thought, despite some nice ideas. And the Doctor spying on Clara as a child was a bit creepy, frankly. What's worse is how easily she accepts it. She should have gone totally nuts. I would have.

[Lord Toblerone]

Yeah, I'm just not buying what they're doing with Clara. This mystery around her is tiresome.

[Werthead]

I've spent the last two days reading this blog. It's essentially a Doctor Who rewatch thread, starting from An Unearthly Child back in 1963 and continuing through the entire classic series. They're pretty much done, with just two more stories (Survival, from 1989, and then the 1996 TV movie) to come.

The blog's twist is that the husband is rewatching the show (and in fact there's several stories he'd missed along the way) but the wife is pretty new to it. She's wached the new series, but only has vague memories of the original. The blog's best moments come from her takes on controversies amongst Who fandom (like the UNIT Dating Controversy and Season 6B), which are usually pretty withering. She's also quite funny (and a huge Game of Thrones fan as well, with amusing cross-comments on that show as well).

" I wanted you to believe that Doctor Who was gritty, complicated and action-packed." "In other words, you lied to me."

More fascinating is how the blog also comments - without really meaning to - on Who fandom's divided, angry nature (classic Who fandom is literally the worst fandom I have ever encountered for people going mental over the tiniest issues; it makes the darker recesses of Star Wars fandom look bright and welcoming in comparison), the 'old fans vs new fans' angle and even the 'pervy trolls' issue (at one point the couple's 25-year-old daughter bakes them a cake and they post a picture of her with the cake; the results are disturbingly predictable). More positively, one of the new Who writers sometimes shows up to comment on each entry, and the whole thing is hugely entertaining.

[williamjm]

If it's anything, it may be something along the lines of how she also doesn't like Jack, although it might be a throwaway line- it's not as if the companions can normally get in the Tardis without a key anyway.

I suspect it's meant to be foreshadowing, although that doesn't necessarily mean that they won't just forget to follow up on it. I think it's intended to more than just Clara not having the key, generally when people encounter a door that won't open they don't think it's because the door hates them.

Which begs the question of why the Doctor didn't just give her one, seeing as he did the previous Clara.

I think Clara is still a bit wary of him (although perhaps not as much as she should be, after he's been stalking her through her childhood), soit might be a bit soon.

Anyway, this episode makes me realize I prefer dalek!Clara and 19thcentury!Clara to the one we got.

I agree, it would have been more interesting with Victorian Clara, but they seem to think that companions have to come from the early 21st Century.

[DaveSumm]

Just got all geared up to watch OldWho on Netflix and look at that blog that Werthead posted about, sadly they're all gone. :(

I'm quite intrigued by the Clara mystery, Doctor Who has a pretty good record of delivering good answers to mysteries so hopefully this series (or half series) should be good. But as I seem to say about every episode, GOD I wish it made slightly more sense. What's so special about that leaf? It's special to Clara, sure. But every atom in the Universe might have gone on to do any number of things.......so this planet/star/God never considered this? Never encountered any object that had any bearing on anything before? And its destruction causes no gravitational repercussions for all the orbiting rocks? What are they orbiting now exactly?

And like others, I was terrified Clara or The Doctor were going to start singing along and I'd throw up the first half of my dinner all over the second half.

Knowledgeable people: was his mention of his granddaughter a reference to the 60's DW? I remember something about him having a granddaughter, wasn't sure if it was a general reference to the era or whether maybe he specifically went there or mentioned going there in an old episode?

[Lady Octarina]

:agree:

And how could the Doctor not stop to think about the consequences of destroying a sun?! Was one life worth possibly dooming countless others? Sure, the theme of this episode is how every single person is a special snowflake, but we're also talking about the man who caused the destruction of Pompey, killing hundreds to save countless others by not messing up with a fixed point in time, so...

It wasn't entirely clear, but my take on it was that Clara got it to try feeding on the infinity of possible futures that could have happened instead of on the much more limited memories of what had actually happened. Not really anything to do with love, and doesn't make any less sense than say the Weeping Angels feeding on sending people back in time.

I know, but the thing is, technically, every memory or object related to a memory would carry in itself the infinite possibilities that never were, so any memory or story that parasite god fed on would carry those infinite possibilities. That he would be overfed by Clara's story, by her leaf, in particular, made it seem like that only happened because he realized that infinite potential, not because it would naturally kill him, which is why I said that it probably feed on rhetoric.

[Werthead]

The first half of the episode was pretty good. Even the singing was okay: an operatic take on Doctor Who would be quite interesting. Then it kind of went all weirdly random in the second half and the ending made no sense whatsoever. Pretty standard going for the new Who anyway.

Next week: Davos! Edmure!

An Ice Warrior! Although it looks like it's going to be a rampaging monster, which is the laziest use of them, considering many of them are also 'good'.

Knowledgeable people: was his mention of his granddaughter a reference to the 60's DW

Yes. The Doctor has a granddaughter called Susan, who travelled with him during the first year of the show. She remained behind on Earth 200 years in the future after the Doctor defeated a Dalek occupation of the planet. She came back in The Five Doctors 20th anniversary special in 1983. She's also going to be back in the docu-drama Adventures in Time and Space later this year (playing an older role - she's in her late sixties now - whilst a younger actress plays her) although not - as far as we know - the actual 50th anniversary special.

To get Who fans really going, just ask whether Susan is a Time Lord or not (my vote is not: the Doctor can sense other Time Lords wherever they are in time and space and can't sense any others at the moment, suggesting that Susan died in the Time War - an unpleasant thought - or is just a regular Gallifreyan, not a Time Lord).

And how could the Doctor not stop to think about the consequences of destroying a sun

Was it a sun? I may have missed that bit, I thought it was just a gas giant with rings?

[Lady Octarina]

Was it a sun? I may have missed that bit, I thought it was just a gas giant with rings?

I think it was specifically mentioned in the episode that seven planets orbit around it and consider it the origin of all life. But I'd have to rewatch it to be sure, and I kind of abhor that idea at the moment.

[polishgenius]

I think it was specifically mentioned in the episode that seven planets orbit around it and consider it the origin of all life. But I'd have to rewatch it to be sure, and I kind of abhor that idea at the moment.

It's never really clarified, it could go either way. When they first step out of the Tardis he says 'the light of an alien sun' in a way that implies that the planet is it, then a minute later he says that they believe that life in the universe originated on 'that planet' and waves, but it's impossible to tell whether he's referring to the big orange thing or the tiny one with the pyramid (the fact that said legend is never mentioned again and is really entirely irrelevant and unexplained doesn't help).

The way they talk about it 'spreading through the system' implies it's a planet, though.

I'm thinking, I did like the nice touch of the Doctor's speech to Merry about how atoms and stars and she's unique in the universe etcs with the obvious subtext that that's true of everyone ever except the obvious.