OH MY GOD HE'S OOGLY: nu-Who season 8

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Just did not like the characterization of the Doctor this episode suggests. And since when could a TARDIS land on Gallifrey and not instantly draw guards to the scene within minutes? Even if Clara made it out before they got there, the Doctor would be like "oh yeah, that time I was scared in my bed and a TARDIS materialized in my bedroom and they never figured out who it was, let's just forget that happened, it couldn't be important."

And since when could a TARDIS land on Gallifrey and not instantly draw guards to the scene within minutes?

shabogans dude, no guards around

In retrospect, I like this a lot more than I did upon immediately watching it. I think Clara's monologue near the end brings it down but the chain of events linking Clara and Danny together being driven by the Doctor's irrational fear was kind of great.

She couldn't have given it to him again or he'd end up with two of them.

Right, and that would prove she's a time traveller. Alright she could just invite him into the tardis but using the soldier would be a nice & classic bit of paradoxical loop causality time travel shenanigans.

shabogans dude, no guards around

Shit, even if he was raised in a Shabogan household, it's not like they're gonna forget a TARDIS turning up in their house. They're Shabogans, not Outsiders. They know what a TARDIS sounds like.

I like these hints at the doctor's youth. They've never done this before on the series and it's the one outstanding missing part of his life; other than the scenes with him and the young master in The End of Time, I can't think of anything else.

No idea what a Shabogan is.

"I think Clara's monologue near the end brings it down"

This may depend on how much you like her but I thought that monologue was excellent.

I thought Clara on the date from hell and Clara interacting with young Rupert were done much, much better than Clara interacting with the child Doctor.

Also, I don't really need details on the Doctor's childhood. It mostly works in this case because it ended up being the engine driving the plot of the whole story (and it was intentionally vague and short) but unless it's directly informing/influencing a wider story, I don't need to see what the Doctor was like as a child.

I sort of hope that Clara's accidental rediscovery of Gallifrey means something later down the road, preferably in terms of her being the key to finding the planet again (you could make the argument that her foray through the Doctor's timeline intertwined her with Gallifrey and that she is now psychically-linked to the planet, but only through the Doctor's timeline) but if this never gets mentioned again, I'm cool with that.

I feel pretty strongly that his childhood and early life should remain a mystery and not ever be shown on screen. The Doctor should be the most frightening monster on the show, and his past is only as alien and terrifying as it is unseen.

The Doctor should be the most frightening monster on the show

This seems like a relatively recent reading, maybe dating from that Pandorica episode? I don't think it's something I would have associated with the classic era (speaking as a non-committed fan who's seen probably only a handful of classic era stories. And who doesn't normally think too much about recent episodes more than minutes after they're over.)

It's not so much that the Doctor is the most frightening monster on the show as it is that who the Doctor is isn't the most interesting part of the Doctor Who universe.

Yeah. Like the space jockey, not the most frightening part of the alien franchise, but one of the best mysteries. UNTIL YOU TRY TO EXPLAIN IT, RIDLEYHOF.

How do we know that that was the young Doctor? IM MAKING YOU THINK.

Serious question: are all Gallifreyans able to regenerate, or is that a trick reserved solely for Timelords?

oof that's a rabbit hole and a half

i'm not saying we need further or deep investiatigation into any of this, just that touching on it once in a while deepens the world and the character. But I liked the Cartmell stuff too.

there is literally no point in trying to pin that down, the series itself didn't even invent regeneration until 1974 - as with almost anything in Who there are no consistent "rules"

"the series itself didn't even invent regeneration until 1974 "

hartnell regenerated in 66!

They didn't really formalize the elements of regeneration until Planet of the Spiders in 1974 though. Before it was a pretty nebulous concept in canon.

pretty sure they didn't even call it regeneration until the change from 3 to 4?

that's what I'm saying

it wasn't until 1996 that the Doctor regenerated on his own, without the assistance of Time Lord technology or mysticism

It was filmed in Canada, which is the zero room of Earth countries.

Anybody give a shit about the re-appearance of the Sanctuary Base SB6 space suit? No. Good call

did it say SB6 on it? I didn't notice.

rewatched this tonight, think it's still excellent. only dangling plot hole being what was on Danny's bed.

that's not a plot hole.

it's unexplained

ambiguity is not error.

(it's another kid trying to scare Danny. unless maaaaaaaaybe it's not. but it probably is.)

This was right in my wheelhouse, uncanny shit, freaky stories, fearless storytelling, i.e. yes pufferfish aren't "perfect" but you know what he means, just roll with it. He's the doctor, he's a bit mad and often doesn't exactly make sense but he's got such tenacity at following his obsessions you can't help but follow.

I really liked this - even though they botched the ending a bit, at least it wasn't the "alien defeated by the power of human emotions" story I've come to expect from nu-Who.

It's time for a Horror of Fang Rock episode where 100% of the characters die by the end and Clara's eyes change color from an explosion.

I want them to bring back the Myrka

I had to look that up, but I recognized it when I saw the picture. IIRC that episode was pretty grim too.

It was! Honestly Warriors of the Deep is a strong sentimental favorite because it has such an absurdly high body count for something with as many unintentional full-on belly laughs in it.

Show seems to be much better than with Matt Smith - no mawk and no silly pirate episodes so far. Can't help wondering whether it will appeal to ten-year-olds though.

Yes, no silly pirate episodes, just your ultra-realistic Robin Hood ones.

Anyway, in the Kid Doctor scene, I thought it was interesting that his caretakers(?) were talking about his future in the army... Has this subject been touched in any old Dr. Who stories? Seems like they're going for the Freudian excuse for his hatred of soldiers, that he was supposed to become one (or maybe even was one?) before becoming the Doctor.

I assume so, yes; also note that she left the army man without the gun.

Has this subject been touched in any old Dr. Who stories?

Old Who canon is that he left Gallifrey because he was bored because Time Lords are basically college dons who sit around talking and never do anything. Time Lords renounced war after a giant war with vampires (see State of Decay) so they are pacifists or at least extreme isolationists. Of course despite his anti-violence stance one of the Doctor's best buds is the Brigadier, who shoots everything with uncontained glee.

The Doctor ends up shooting folks in the head with unrestrained glee far more than the Brig does (cf eg Day Of The Daleks)

It's time for a Horror of Fang Rock episode where 100% of the characters die by the end and Clara's eyes change color from an explosion.

― erry red flag (f. hazel), Tuesday, September 16, 2014 2:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

IT's funny that you bring that story up today. Wikipedia says that the story was based on a poem about an incident that I watched a programme on yesterday. Programme was The Missing Lighthousekeepers from a series called Vanishings that was on History Channel in the early 00s. I was thinking throughout it that this was presumably the story that the Dr Who thing was based on so wondered if they might mention it, no but they did mention the poem, Flannan Isle by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson and interviewed the poet. Incident happened in Scotland rather than the South coast of England but did resemble quite closely from what I remember.
I couldn't remember the story title so thanks for posting this today.

'why doesn't evolution select for things that hide'
Germs? Viral bacteria?
I liked this one anyway, good change in pace

Am digging that poem this stormy morning, thanks Stevolende!

enjoyed this ep, felt unpredictable and loopy in a good way

I will pretty much watch anything that involves visiting the End of Time

The Doctor ends up shooting folks in the head with unrestrained glee far more than the Brig does (cf eg Day Of The Daleks)

― Starland Vocal Gland (sic), Wednesday, 17 September 2014 08:18 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's true!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzmnPs64K74

last five seconds of that video made me LOL

Can't help wondering whether it will appeal to ten-year-olds though.

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Tuesday, September 16, 2014 5:07 PM (2 days ago)

I watched the last episode with my 6 year old niece. This is the first series she has watched. She is very vocal about what scares her and what doesn't so we didn't have too many concerns. Even as I realised that this was probably the scariest episode for a long while. She hid her face into my partner's arm a couple of times (the scene in the bedroom) but enjoyed it immensely and I am happy to report there were no nightmares after. I watched Dr Who at that age - hiding from it is part of growing up, right? Me and Mrs Kraudive def. enjoyed watching it with her.

My favourite comment from her, without any prompting, when the titles came up at the start and the end: "I really like this music a lot y'know." My kind of girl.

Only just caught up with this - I loved it, the thing on the bed scene was superb -- reminded me of Whistle and I'll Come to You a little bit. Agree that the end was a bit cloying and let it down, but not as much as some of the love-saves-the-day endings...

Did anybody else expect it to be about the Silence, though, seeing as it was called Listen and they explicitly mentioned "the silence at the end of the universe", and uh, I would say that making people forget you is a pretty perfect way of hiding?

Abslom Daak!