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

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The secondary control room set was improperly stored and didn't even survive to the next year (1977), far less still be around THIRTY-FIVE years later for The Doctor's Wife.

yeah it wasn't the set but I think he talked about it

I totally forgot that the swimming pool was something they'd actually shown before. what an obscure callback

That leaping Sontaran gif is oddly mesmerising

I thought tonights (Orient Express) was good but could really have done with just a bit more mystery, a bit more atmosphere, maybe like ten minutes longer episode time

i really dug this ep! the mummy resolve was a bit of a letdown for the buildup but it was a v atmospheric (?) ep

liked the doc/clara interplay again, really doing good stuff together

this one was fun! except for the tegan redux "doctor, I'm leaving, I'm really leaving this time, I mean it, I'm going, I am done, oh OK one more time"

lol otm

scariest bit was when I thought frank skinner might be staying.

Yeah, had exactly that reaction so glad he didn't. Felt quite paniced at the time.

I've advanced through the Baker era noticing the advent of expanded Tardis. Sarah Jane appears with items next to an archway a couple of times in Planet of Evil; in Victoria's old dress referring to the extensive wardrobe in Pyramids of Mars; but its Masque of Mandragora before they're actually in corridors. Then the only thing on show for a while is the wooden console room and clothing on Sarah Jane and then Leela. Oh & the items Sarah Jane is carrying when she leaves which include a pot plant which might indicate she hjad her own room but is probably just what every moving out person ever carries.

Just remembering she's also got a racquet of some kind which she pats a dog's head with right at the end. So what's that, tennis or squash courts too?

I liked the details of the mummy dragging its horrible feet, and the basic conceit where only you can see it tapped into the bad old well of playground ghost stories

right. the mummy itself was fantastic - and yes, the dragging feet thing was very effective.

couple of things bugged me mildly about this episode - the other 'experts' in the train, just standing round in white coats looking at computer screens and retorts or test tubes like lemons. not one of them said anything once. I know the doctor made that point, but, well, it felt a bit silly.

there were a couple of odd script moments as well - I had difficulty untangling the 'no point hating something you don't like' bit. Couldn't work out whether she hated him because she liked him, whether she didn't hate him because she didn't like him, hated him because she didn't like him, didn't hate him and did like him or had once or something or other.

there were another couple of lines later that didn't seem right but i can't remember what they were now.

I assume the stopwatch going down/backwards was intended as mundane unfamiliarity, but i did and have spent a very small amount of effort trying to work out whether it was intended.

nice that his psychic paper ended up getting him in a bit of a pickle (again, i like the way in this series they've examined his 'get out of jail' tools a bit).

but this was still very good, effective, well-constructed television (tho having bits of Clara and Maisie stuck in a room was a bit laborious). The pacing of this series has been outstanding as well - i think it's the space they give Capaldi and Clara has forced the action bits to be handled substantially differently, compressing them or formalising them in a way different to the constant running of previous series. Here the pulses of 60-second action were v effective.

Yeah the pacing has definitely improved this season. My gripe with new series (notwithstanding that they can't possibly go back to old Who pacing due to changes in technology and competition from video games etc) was always that they rushed everything and missed chances to make things really scary or really wondrous, but recently, they seem to have been getting it right without actually slowing it down.

This ruled. Clara as nu-Tegan is a-ok with me since Tegan ruled.

Glad I wasn't the only one reminded of Tegan - I was getting to the point of proposing "Towards a Taxonomy of Companion Exits" and starting a catalog

Excelsior!

why so little reaction from the astronauts when they discover the doctor et al on their ship??

That's pretty standard in general, and particularly so in this case I thought - We have a really shit decision to make, you look like someone who might make it for us!

Really fun and quite scary. Only two real duds this season for me so far (Robin Hood and the abort-o-moon), which may be the best hit rate on a series of Nu-Who yet, come to think of it.

On the other hand, there's yet to be straight-up classic.

This was tremendously fun

For those keeping count, the Bechdel test was passed easily - and they even referred to it, though not by name: "Come on, we're going to spend all night in this carriage together, don't tell me all we can talk about is some man"

Thought the monster was very Eddie-like

P.S. "Are you my mummy?"

i think it's the space they give Capaldi and Clara has forced the action bits to be handled substantially differently, compressing them or formalising them in a way different to the constant running of previous series

this is OTM

Yeah, the pacing and editing has been much calmer and more sober, a real change for the better.

but this was still very good, effective, well-constructed television (tho having bits of Clara and Maisie stuck in a room was a bit laborious).

I kind of expected that this episode was going to have two narrative strands: the Doctorb doing one thing with all the scientists and experts, and then Maisie and Clara dodging in and out of tight spots. I was convinced that when Maisie was revealed as the next target and they were still trapped in that baggage compartment, that they'd be able to lure the mummy into the techno-sarcophagus and save the day, ta.

P.S. "Are you my mummy?"

The Doctor did mention wearing a gas mask!

Also the continued theme about soldiers and the Doctor pretending (or not pretending!) to be one.

This was a good episode, but I was a bit disappointed when, at the end, they showed the Doctor had saved the train's chief engineer (and presumably everyone else). It would've been better if they'd left it truly ambiguous whether he actually saved the folks on the train, or whether it was just a story he made up to make Clara feel better, as he himself suggested.

Also, if the whole "Clara being disappointed with the Doctor" plot was really resolved this easily, then it felt like they were trying to milk some extra drama out of nothing, so I'm hoping this theme will come back at some point. If/when Clara leaves, it'd be cool if she just decides she can't be arsed to travel with the Doctor anymore, that'd be a welcome change to all the sobby companion departures we've had previously.

Perkins was FANTASTIC, damn you for suggesting he should have died

is there any who community suggestion that skinner was in the running for the doctor at some point? turning the role down and saying, "it can change a man" was delivered in quite a knowing way, more than just a reference to the earlier accusations of arrogance and lack of mourning.

no

I assumed Perkins' "it can change a man" line was just a on what can happen to companions, since he refused to become one. Possibly also foreshadowing some future development with Clara?

"was just a comment on"

Though it was a bit weird, since Perkins didn't really interact with Clara, and therefore couldn't have made any deep analysis on the role of the companion... I guess he was just perceptive.

Perkins was FANTASTIC, damn you for suggesting he should have died

I didn't suggest that, the episode itself did... I just felt it could've maintained the ambiguity instead of showing he was definitely alive.

yep, I was overreading xpost. I just briefly envisaged an alternate universe where F Skinner was chosen instead of Capaldi, which didn't seem totally implausible as I watched the last episode. it seemed like he might have been *considered*.

not the worst of men, I suppose, but I find him quite tiring.

capaldi still superb tho, now my favourite doctor easily, overcoming the prejudice of childhood sentiment towards Tom Baker.

I don't mind Frank Skinner as a presenter/comedian, but I thought he was quite pants in this. No way would they let him be the Doctor.

Feel someone should mention how amazing Clara looked this episode.

i guess no one wanted to be That Guy but yes, i was wondering why she changed back into her Vargas girl outfit just minutes after having changed into vintage silk PJs and then i was like "oh, there is a pretty good non-diegetic reason for this"

is one way to put it

as in "a non-digetic reason for the dads"

I liked the pajamas. Wish the Doctor had also been wearing them while they solved the mystery.

What was he talking about, alone in his bed? 99%? 75%?

The percentage he was certain that nothing weird was going on.

Really enjoyed this episode -- I like Capaldi best when he hits the sweet spot between heroism and bastardliness (but staying closer to bastardliness).

And the offhandedness of the last scene was great - the almost anticlimactic "Oh yeah, and then we saved everyone" against that weird coloured sky.

Feel someone should mention how amazing Clara looked this episode

I could mention it, if you want.

does anyone else find the dialog mixed too low compared to the F/X and music? I always have to turn my TV way up to hear what everyone is saying, then I get deafened by the music.

Have you tried messing with the audio settings on your TV? Somehow I set mine so dialogue is fore-grounded.

There should definitely be a 'turn off Murray Gold' option on the red button.

And replace him with random snippets of Fourth Doctor incidental music.

yeah, I assume the problem is related to the show being broadcast in 5.1 and me having stereo, so the dialog on the center channel is lost/minimized. good idea suzy!

I rewound the part at the beginning where they're stepping into the train about 4 times cause I couldn't hear what they were saying. /old?

Gold completely smothered the first exchange with gran and daughter