Have we got a thread for the new series of Who? We have now.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:54 pm

Mini(mini)sode prequel series Pond Life available on the BBC website this week, episode a day at noon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wqr1 ... /pond-life

So, er. Yeah. That's nice.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:31 pm

Look at that guv lord marching...

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:50 pm

I'm pleased with the idea that every episode is going to be a mini-movie based around a Hollywood style pitch, as that suggests there won't be a convoluted story arc which winds up making no sense this time.

Plus, the fist episode has at least one thing in it that will have me dancing with joy.

Shame I'm at a wedding next Saturday. Why do people do that?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Aug 28, 2012 3:26 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:as that suggests there won't be a convoluted story arc which winds up making no sense this time.

Oh ye of little faith.

Darth Aux · Post by **Darth Aux** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 2:35 pm

Any way to watch Pond Life outside the UK? BBC i player won't work in The Netherlands.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 7:14 pm

ASYLUM OF TEH DALEX

Yay.

Saw the twist coming.

But can't wait to see more of Jenna. She lovely.

I also can't wait to see her in the series some more.

Fnarr.

Simple, straightforward, done in one. Nice. WHO.

Eggs.

Post by **Best First** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 8:10 pm

Stir.

er - Marinade?

Darth Aux · Post by **Darth Aux** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 7:58 pm

I really enjoyed that, can't wait for the next episode.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 2:26 pm

Probably the best Dalek story since Rose left the first time.

Stuff what I liked:

Acknowledgement the new Daleks look crap by shoving them at the back and painting them a different colour.

Special Weapons Dalek! If only it had remembered how powerful its gun was.

To all intents and purposes- Robomen!

Good performances all round.

I'd heard the new girl was going to be in it before watching, and was somewhat worried it would be an overdone "LOOK WHO IT IS!!!" style surprise apperance what would be meaningless to the vast bulk of the audience who don't follow news stories about Who and probably couldn't tell you the name of any of the lead actors bar Matt Smith. Instead, nicely low key intro as just a guest character.

Nick Briggs, as always, excelled at the Dalek voices. Shame though, considering Big Finish has shown he's very good at recreating any era of Dalek voice you might care to mention, I couldn't spot any voices to match the old cases (who wouldn't love a bit of Roy Skelton?).

Skaro! A surprisingly long time coming. On the small phone screen I was watching on I wasn't completely sure, but I'll bet the city was a faithful CGI recreation of the original model from their first story, yes? I'm not even going to question how the planet is back as the Time War chronology is a big mess now anyway (plus him calling it the original "Planet of the Daleks" suggests maybe they renamed one or more of their colony worlds Skaro, which could have been the one/s destroyed in Rememberance/Time War..).

The tweak to the logo so that bloody annoying DW thing (fine by itself, completely redundant in the full title) isn't stuck in the middle anymore. Apparently we're going to get slightly different titles every week as part of the "Movie" feel, but I hope this one sticks.

The Bad:

New Girl was written pretty much exactly the same way as the increasingly annoying River Song. Not necessarily a huge problem as I could easily see her coming back as her own Grandmother or twin sister and therefore might have a different character but as is so often the case with River I did have an overwhelming urge for someone to slap her during her almost Tenth Doctorish smug moments. I was certainly glad the fairly obvious twist came to pass.

Did I miss an explanation as to why the Daleks blew up the planet at the end despite starting the episode saying they'd never do that?

Shouldn't the fairly small room full of survivors from original series battles (most of which didn't have any survivors, but hey...) have had more of the old props in it?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sat Sep 08, 2012 7:35 pm

JURASSIC ARK

... so why did he decide his big game hunter friend might want to see it when he had no idea what it was?

Doctory anyway.

GOOD THING that Rory's dad accidentally got brought along wasn't it? Chibnall eh.

Still, wicky wicky wah wah west next week. From one Crichton to another.

Darth Aux · Post by **Darth Aux** » Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:48 pm

Brendocon wrote: Still, wicky wicky wah wah west next week. From one Crichton to another.

hehe I was thinking "Great Scott!" when I saw the preview for next week.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:30 pm

Haven't watched Dinosaurs on a Spaceship yet but had to share this....

http://www.etsy.com/listing/108995939/u ... gallery_29

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 10:47 am

A nice and harmless, if entirely throwaway episode. Best use of the new Sillurians as well, throw all the buggers out the airlock I say.

Thought maybe the baddy turning into a wannabe historical celebrity rapist at the end was a bit at odds with the frothy nature of the rest of it though.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:39 pm

Did anyone else think the Doctor's role in the bad guys demise was rather more direct than usual?

Seemed a bit severe to me, surely he could have teleported him out?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:55 pm

Genocidal lunatics usually get a bit more than a slapped wrist from him, but it was a bit of a surprise yeah.

Though a "no survivors" policy does follow on thematically from everybody thinking he's dead and that hot fictional chick making the Daleks forget him.

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 1:22 pm

He was killing off people and races pretty regularly in Classic Who. New Doctor, new morals.

They're putting the money on the screen for this new season, that's for sure. And we did a drinking game here during A Town Called Percy and got pretty blotted.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:05 am

They shamelessly stole the undertaker gag from Back to the Future 3.

And was it me or did the alarm on the egg sound like the alarm in the War Chief's base back in The War Games?

Another light throwaway episode that was a nice enough way to pass the time. The whole Rory and Amy going back and forth thing is getting silly now though, especially as they're still in every episode so them returning home every week has no effect on anything.

My mother's main comment was Ben Browder wasn't in it enough and was wearing too many clothes.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sat Sep 29, 2012 7:29 pm

I call so much ******** on the Angels of Manhattan that I have no idea where to start.

Still, enjoyable and sad though. BYE PONDS.

Darth Aux · Post by **Darth Aux** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 2:30 pm

I don't really like the Angels on one hand, find them a bit boring. However, on the other hand, they do have that whole lights on off and moving when you're not looking thing going on (creepy)

*SPOILERS*

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the episode though, loved the rooftop set with the Statue of Liberty looming in the background btw. (Was a bit obvious though, from the first shot of the statue "What if she was an Angel also?")

Really sad to see the Ponds *Williams* go though. But I was worried when David left the show and I find Matt a better Doctor (imo). So lets hope they have as good a choice for a new companion/s, because I doubt River will be staying too long (I like her spontinuity, won't be the same if she hangs around)

Really though, that was it? Such a small run of episodes, will the Christmas episode be the start of a new set or just a gap filler special until the next season?

Someone mentioned a peek at the next companion, I think in the Dalek episode. Did I miss something?

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 6:20 pm

The actreess who plays the new companion was in the Dalek episode, whether she's the same character or not remains to be seen...

The Power of 3:

Nice light little episode, completely throwaway but harmless. The Lethbridge Stewart revelation actually welled me up more than this weeks one did.

Angels Take Manhatten:

Yay for the shameless Ghostbusters 2 bit, even if it made no sense (surely there must be someone always looking at? How does no one notice the giant footprints?).

In fact the episode was full of things that don't stand up to much thought, like how the Angel's manage to run a hotel (or can the people they send back actually leave and go get their own food? A bit of a half arsed prison then).

That final Angel was a huge cheat when it came to the rules as well, it suddenly only needed the person it was going to attack to not be looking at it rather than everyone present. But then oddly didn't attack the Doctor when he had his little cry.

Lots of nice stuff, but the logic flaws let it down a bit, and once again the sad stuff was over done (especially the slow mo and OTT THIS IS SAD music on the roof fall).

And err, what's to stop the Doctor going back to 30's LA, getting a train to New York and going to pick the Williams up?

Darth Aux · Post by **Darth Aux** » Sun Sep 30, 2012 9:30 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:
Angels Take Manhatten:

Yay for the shameless Ghostbusters 2 bit, even if it made no sense (surely there must be someone always looking at? How does no one notice the giant footprints?).

That final Angel was a huge cheat when it came to the rules as well, it suddenly only needed the person it was going to attack to not be looking at it rather than everyone present.

And err, what's to stop the Doctor going back to 30's LA, getting a train to New York and going to pick the Williams up?

Agree

Agree

Money, they probably want to do other stuff ^^ oh yeah, agree.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 9:25 pm

inflatable dalek wrote: Yay for the shameless Ghostbusters 2 bit, even if it made no sense (surely there must be someone always looking at? How does no one notice the giant footprints?).

In fact the episode was full of things that don't stand up to much thought, like how the Angel's manage to run a hotel (or can the people they send back actually leave and go get their own food? A bit of a half arsed prison then).

That final Angel was a huge cheat when it came to the rules as well, it suddenly only needed the person it was going to attack to not be looking at it rather than everyone present. But then oddly didn't attack the Doctor when he had his little cry.

Lots of nice stuff, but the logic flaws let it down a bit, and once again the sad stuff was over done (especially the slow mo and OTT THIS IS SAD music on the roof fall).

Yes, see, THIS is the kind of "eh, kinda plotholey, doesn't make much sense, but oh what fun!" attitude we are looking for in Regeneration One discourse. :P

And err, what's to stop the Doctor going back to 30's LA, getting a train to New York and going to pick the Williams up?

Nothing except the Doctor saying he can't do that, I suppose.

Overall, I thought the episode was solid (although I have NEVER understood how the Angels are so scary. I mean, being lost in time sounds pretty painless to me). However...
- One show just wasn't enough time to ratchet up the tension/stakes enough to make it feel as weighty as Amy and Rory's last episode should.
- It also was a bit lacking in punch because we'd known they were leaving for so long. Do you usually know when companions are about to jump ship?

That being said, I was still teary eyed, more so at Amy's devotion to Rory and her goodbye to River than at the jumping from the building bit. Another thing: does the doctor usually get this bent out of shape over losing a companion? Again, all I have is the modern series to compare it against, and the impression I got was that the Doctor's overt affinity for Rose was ALREADY over the top, let alone what goes on here.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:12 am

Shanti418 wrote: Yes, see, THIS is the kind of "eh, kinda plotholey, doesn't make much sense, but oh what fun!" attitude we are looking for in Regeneration One discourse. :P

And as soon as Reg starts throwing in some fun bits to go with the stupidity that's what you'll get

I actually put TV Who at the same level as the Bay Transformers movies these days, their primary job is to be as populist as possible and keep the flame alive in kids.

As long as an episode is at least fun family Saturday night froth that can sit comfortably between Strictly and Total Wipeout I can be a bit more forgiving if the plot makes no sense (though you know, that would be nice as well).

I actually have developed a (possibly completely bollocks but hey, it me) theory on what Furman is actually trying to do with Reg that might explain why parts of it feel so odd as a Marvel continuation. He's actually trying for something far bigger than that on a scale that is, depending on where you fall, either grand or foolhardy. I keep meaning to write it down in a blog entry before issue 84 comes out so I can see how quickly I'm proven wrong...

Nothing except the Doctor saying he can't do that, I suppose.

The two people at work who think they're my friend because they also watch Doctor Who both independently made the point that the episode had already established River's vortex manipulator could travel back and forth across the time technobabble when the Tardis couldn't, so she could also have gone have fetched them...

Overall, I thought the episode was solid (although I have NEVER understood how the Angels are so scary. I mean, being lost in time sounds pretty painless to me). However...[/quote]

The odd thing about it is everyone the Angel's send back seems to know exactly what to do when caught in a time paradox and how to create a life for themselves in the past with no trouble. You'd think there'd be lots more of history threatening paradoxes from attempts to warn their younger selves or play the stock market.

In both episodes where this has been the Angel's main thing (the two parter, I think wisely, gave them some other gimmicks) only the policeman who got sent back actually had any help from the Doctor in setting up his new life and adjusting.

The oddest example is where the Grandson (?) of Sally Sparrow's friend did the Back to the Future 3 thing of turning up with the letter. He just hands it over and leaves without any curiosity or questions like a bad plot device. Is everyone so well versed in this type of story they know exactly what to do?