Doctor Who: 2007

Books, comics, TV, music
101

While it bugged me as much as it did you, Doctor Who is technically a “family show.” I wouldn’t really call it sci fi for grownups. Still, if they’re going to make stuff up, they shouldn’t make it so obviously contrary to what everyone with a high school education knows isn’t possible, but it’s just something you have to forgive.

The episode was still terrible, though. That was the best evil plan the Daleks could come up with, and the Doctor just HAPPENS to show up the day before the event the Daleks needs to complete their plan in the 1930’s? Laaaazy.

102

If you’re going to complain about the Doctor always showing up just before <critical event>, you’re going to have complain about pretty much every Who episode ever.

103

How about we just complain about it when the episodes are terrible?

104

I liked it, it was a silly, over the top episode. People who expect hard adult science fiction from Who are watching the wrong show. Go back to whining about BSG. :P

105

The relative age of the target audience has no impact on what I’m unhappy with.

This is the same kind of sloppy storytelling that made Torchwood such crap, and that show was plenty “adult”.

106

Yeah, you’re right. I normally don’t think about it. I think I’m just underwhelmed with the Daleks this time after the scope of what they did during the last two season finales, but I don’t want to be sick of the Daleks, so I found all kinds of other things wrong with it that I normally don’t.

107

Not Who’s finest, but it was better than Enterprise.

I like the new Doctor Who because I like the underlying sadness of the Doctor and the moments where it shows through.

108

Did anyone actually buy him helping to create the new Daleks though? It was too easy and too pat.

109

The Doctor has always been a sucker for intellectual challenges.

110

I think it’s easier to accept if you look at it as he did, which is that Hybrid Sek was a chance to turn the ruthless persistence of the Dalek factor into a force for good.

You can find a similar reasoning in the Doctor’s comment to Sarah at the end of Genesis of the Daleks about why he’s not disappointed at failing to destroy the Daleks.

“I know that although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years. I know also, that out of their evil, must come something good.”

That said, I can see how the Doctor behaving as he did prior to the new series doesn’t follow the current path the character is on.

The Doctor was heavily involved in the destruction of the Daleks and the Timelords, as per the new series. The 2005 episode Dalek involves a Doctor who willingly tortures the last Dalek when given a chance and has to be stopped by Rose from shooting him down during the last standoff.

Then you have the 10th Doctor, who declares “No second chances, that’s the sort of man I am” when he sends the Sycorax leader to his death. The same Doctor who told the Racnoss queen that he no longer had mercy like he used to when he drowned her children.

The turnaround itself may be simply because the Doctor finds himself with his greatest enemy who has suddenly “seen the light”, in turn causing the Doctor himself to regain some of his lost hope.

If so, that would explain a bit of the end with him saving Laszlo. Really, after all the episodes before where he’s just told someone they’re going to die and there’s nothing he could do, I fully expected him to do the “I’m sorry … so, so sorry” thing he’s been doing through his run. Instead, a flash of hope seems to overtake him, giving him the energy to do the impossible, just like he used to before the Time War.

Still, on the whole, it wasn’t a good episode. It wasn’t Love & Monsters ending bad, but I’d put it right there with the first season Aliens of London - World War Three two parter.

There were some things I liked. The other three Daleks getting bold and pissed off at Dalek Sek, finally turning on him, I liked.

There were some things I hated. The pig-men were just silly. I know they’re trying for scary, but not too scary for kids, but I’d have preferred some variant of the Robomen or Ogrons.

Just don’t get me started on the crappy science of Timelord DNA transfers through lightning rods.

111

I will say that I’ve liked Doctor Who the most when it’s been closest to a serious “science” show – I loved Chris Bidman’s (sp?) stint as script editor in the last season of Tom Baker, when we got stuff like e-space and logopolis, and the Jon Pertwee/Barry Letts era which were largely played straight (and Davison, for the most part)…but that all said, it’s clearly never been a “hard sci-fi” show, and anyone expecting that is going to be disappointed.

But even with more realistic expectations, I think this show is in danger this season of going off the rails into Torchwood territory. This Dalek show and the New Earth episode were nonsensical and not even just “fun”. I liked the first couple episodes of the season, but that’s now 3 in a row that’ve been pretty awful. I really hope they get back on track for the rest of the season – need something like the “Doctor Dances/Empty child” or the Satan/Ood/Impossible planet episodes from the past couple of seasons to impress again. I do like the new companion though - she’s made it pretty easy to get over Rose - that’s the one positive note about this season so far, but I still think it’ll improve again.

112

Hope you’re right. I don’t have much hope for next week from the preview though.

Meanwhile, Dead Ringers do Torchwood.

113

I don’t want to spoil the series for myself, but I do want to konw… is Rose not in the series anymore? I really liked her and will be a bit sad if she’s gone.

114

There are a large number of fan videos based around the Time War on YouTube, such as this one.

I have to admit, it was a great idea as a backdrop to the new series, and by not showing it, has made it very inviting for fans.

115

She is not in the series anymore.

116

Since there’s probably not going to be much to discuss for a week, perhaps we should play everyone’s favorite Qt3 game: How I would have done it completely differently (and therefore better) even though I’m not a programmer/developer/writer.

The one thing I enjoyed the most out of this episode was the conspiratorial scene where the one Dalek asks the other if he has any doubts about the great plan and the other actually takes his time to look over his metal “shoulder”.

I’d like to have seen that expanded to the point where it was the big threat. Make the “Seks change” not occur at all during the first episode, but rather at the climax of the second episode. Have the plot revolve around the Doctor playing both sides, dropping little manipulative encouragements about “abominations” and “evolutions” while he races to save as many of the innocents trapped in the experimentation phase. Give us more of those scenes where the rest of the Daleks start plotting against Caesar.

Then at the very climax, have the Humadalek Sek emerge only to have the Doctor do his “six words to bring down a government” bit by saying something that sets both sides completely off on each other, the three “pure” Daleks vs Sek and his Robomen. The subway roof collapses, killing every pepperpot except for Martha and the Doctor, who sneak out just before it all falls down.

117

This sounds like a bad episode of 24.

118

That sucks :(

Is her replacement any good?

119

Surprisingly, she is. I think I’ll like her better than Rose before the show’s over, in fact.

120

Why was Rose (Billie Piper) cut? She quit or did they fire her?