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

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!

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.

With you there, of course!

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/09/the-horrifying-truth-about-the-matt-smith-years-of-doctor-who

catching up 3&4, both excellent I thought. good-v good writing and capaldi superb. opening to Listen was fantastic, and I quite liked the end - soft and slow, stepping between the characters and the interrelations of time and fear. loved that so much was left unexplained round the edges of them.

haven't seen this evening's yet.

that's dumb

(xpost obv)

I thought this ep was the best of the season so far. The pacing was a bit too fast though, there were so many plot turns they didn't really much time for any breather moments, I think the episode would've benefitted from extra 10 or 15 minutes. But still, I really liked plot twists in the finale; it wasn't too hard to guess who the Architect is, but when they revealed the purposed of the heist, it was a really nice moment, the sort of thing Dr. Who (which is never really an engineer series but a humanist one) excels in. (Reminds me of The Invisibles too... "And now it's a rescue mission.")

SPOILERS!

One thing I didn't get though... The Doctor is a time traveller, and the Bank of Karabraxos was apparently the most famous bank in the universe, so wouldn't he have known it was destroyed in a solar storm?

fast pace felt right for the 'heist' thing. Ignoring the emotional theme was more or less exactly the same as that Quatermass-type one in the haunted house from a season or so ago this was *again* good, tho perhaps below the others for me - less room for Capaldi, and the look of the bank was a little dull (2, 3, and 4 have excelled at that sort of thing - especially the dalek episode).

Performances were good but it was very predictable - not least to anyone who's seen Paradise Towers...

I'm pretty sure the foyer of the bank, specifically when it shows people being killed by the solar storm, is the same matte as the Foyer of the library in Silence In The Library.

RED KANGS RED KANGS RED KANGS ARE BEST

so, wait, how did they get the cases and such in there again

This threatened to be the first real clunker of the series, but managed to be breezily silly enough that the nonsensical action didn't matter. Kind of a makeweight episode, though. Clara was given nothing.

The Doctor is a time traveller, and the Bank of Karabraxos was apparently the most famous bank in the universe, so wouldn't he have known

Every single Doctor Who story ever* falls apart if you posit this. The entire history of time and space is too much for anyone to know, especially someone who forgets his own age and writing a word on a blackboard - assume he hasn't heard (all of the details) of something unless the story tells you otherwise.

*except for half of S25 and S26 and lots of NAs**

(**actually Tuomas would probably like these a lot, on that principle)

also: they had to be amnesiac so that the thing that could read their minds ... wouldn't know they were going to save it?

Quite liked the look of this ep, some of the sets were v cool visually.

Lol'd at the magician line

so, wait, how did they get the cases and such in there again

Doctorin the Tardis

also: they had to be amnesiac so that the thing that could read their minds ... wouldn't know they were going to save it?

Thing was telepathically linked with security woman so if it knew she would know SORRY HANDS WAVING TOO FURIOUSLY TO DEAL WITH FUTURE OBJECTIONS