The Dr Who Thread 3 3

[AJD]

More than "much better", I think. It was a powerful piece pretty much across the board. It looked great (they seem to have some real money to put into production) and the acting was good from all of the cast. And JW was terrific in her interactions with the alien villain.

 

[Ken Aldred]

21 minutes ago, AJD said:

 

More than "much better"

 

British understatement.  

Edited October 22, 2018 by Ken Aldred

[Comicopolis]

12 hours ago, AJD said:

More than "much better", I think. It was a powerful piece pretty much across the board. It looked great (they seem to have some real money to put into production) and the acting was good from all of the cast. And JW was terrific in her interactions with the alien villain.

 

She came alive with her dialogue in this episode, both the serious moments and the jokey ones.

[Batman]

On ‎10‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 12:11 AM, Comicopolis said:

Massive improvement across the board in episode three - --script, dialogue, acting, JW's performance. Chibnall had an input in the --script but I'm guessing it was minimal.

Onward and upwards now.

An improvement, although I'm not so optimistic about the rest of the series. Time travel and history saved this one. The next could easily be another disaster.

[The Voord]

I must confess to not being familiar with the Rosa Parks background story prior to watching episode three of the new Dr Who series.  As I'm from the UK, I don't profess to have a deep history of the American civil rights movement.  Upon doing a little bit of research prior to the episode being broadcast, I found myself quite intrigued by the backdrop story and thought to myself, "Y'know, this could be quite interesting".

After a promising pre-titles teaser sequence, I have to say in all honesty that I didn't much care for the story that followed . . . which was clumsily heavy-handed (overtly preachy, rather than let the viewers draw their own conclusions) and, as such, lacking in subtlety - with comedy elements that seemed grafted-on, rather than flowing naturally.  I would have preferred something that was more sensitively handled, as opposed to having a re-working of 'The Meddling Monk' (a semi-villain from the William Hartnell era) brought back as a (racist) plot device. 

I'm still not sold on Jodie Whittaker's performance (at present she seems to be taking her cue from David Tennant's interpretation of the Doctor, mimicking him a lot) and I neither care for any of the three companions.

Still not happy, sorry (and I've been watching the show since 1963 . .  who else would remember the Voord, eh?).

Edited October 23, 2018 by The Voord

[Ken Aldred]

I don’t mind a bit of crossover between episodes, but the other night a friend pointed out the opposite opinion, that many viewers, himself included, don’t want convoluted, series-long extended narratives, rather something over-and-done with in one go, and which requires no extensive recollection of decades’ worth of backstory, and there lies a polarising explanation as to why the series has suffered diminishing viewing figures.

I thought the last episode was much better, though hardly flawless.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Ken Aldred

[Comicopolis]

3 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

I don’t mind a bit of crossover between episodes, but the other night a friend pointed out the opposite opinion, that many viewers, himself included, don’t want convoluted, series-long extended narratives, rather something over-and-done with in one go, and which requires no extensive recollection of decades’ worth of backstory, and there lies a polarising explanation as to why the series has suffered diminishing viewing figures.

I thought the last episode was much better, though hardly flawless.

Nothing in life is flawless.

[The Voord]

'Arachnids in the UK' . . .

 

Not much of a story with a thinly-veiled bit of Trump-bashing.  Did I like it?  Not much.  Some improvements on characterizations of the Doctor and her companions but Chibnall continues to prove himself (at least to me) as someone incapable of scripting a half-decent teleplay.  I like good, interesting, thought-provoking ideas in a science-fiction show.  I'm not getting them here.

Edited October 29, 2018 by The Voord

[Batman]

Episode 4. Started with promise. Went down the pan as soon as the Doctor and her companions arrived on screen. What a waste of a good story. How can you go wrong with a mystery in a deserted hotel?! Toxic waste and mutant spiders, that's how.

I was surprised to see Bradley Walsh may have some acting chops, although I doubt we'll see much more than long, thoughtful stares just right of the camera...

[The Voord]

I'd like to say episode 5 was rubbish but, really, it wasn't that good . . .

Edited November 4, 2018 by The Voord

[Ken Aldred]

Couldn’t be much worse than a space Gremlin for unoriginality. 

Erased the episode from my PVR after 20 minutes.

Absolutely tedious.

[Ken Aldred]

8 hours ago, The Voord said:

I'd like to say episode 5 was rubbish but, really, it wasn't that good . . .

The way the episode started on a junk planet was almost like foreshadowing.

[AJD]

I've been quite enjoying the series so far, but I'm not going to try to defend episode 5. That was a train wreck.

[The Voord]

The Sun newspaper (UK) is a dreadful rag, and is rightly boycotted by millions in my country, but this link was sent to me by a friend and is worth a read:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7666311/doctor-who-ratings-fall-pc-plots/

Worth scrolling down to the bottom of the page to read the feedback to the article.

Edited November 7, 2018 by The Voord

[NewEnglandGothic]

Anybody buying the "complete" version of Shada?

I know I am going to.

Available at Wally-World for $19.99 in tax-free NH.

[NewEnglandGothic]

 

 

 

Edited November 7, 2018 by NewEnglandGothic

[Batman]

On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 10:19 AM, The Voord said:

The Sun newspaper (UK) is a dreadful rag, and is rightly boycotted by millions in my country, but this link was sent to me by a friend and is worth a read:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/7666311/doctor-who-ratings-fall-pc-plots/ 

Worth scrolling down to the bottom of the page to read the feedback to the article.

Interesting article; predictable comments. Too PC. People feeling patronized when they should be feeling patronised (it is a British show after all).

Sod that. It's just bloody terrible.

[The Voord]

7 hours ago, Batman said:

Interesting article; predictable comments. Too PC. People feeling patronized when they should be feeling patronised (it is a British show after all).

Sod that. It's just bloody terrible.

Social commentary and history have always featured in Dr Who storylines over the many years it's been aired.  Prior to this current season, such politically-inspired storylines have (mostly) been more subtle, allowing the viewer to reach his or her own conclusion after working out the underlying message for themselves.  I definitely think the aforementioned social messages in this season (so far) have been heavy-handed and overtly preachy . . . it's as if the production team wants to force-feed us their latest diatribe.  What should be an hour's worth of escapist entertainment has morphed into something else that leaves me a little cold.  I've been looking in on several different Dr Who FB groups in recent weeks and have noticed that there IS a lot of mixed reactions to this new direction the show has headed.  Lots of people still love the series and don't see the fuss (easily pleased?), though considerable numbers ARE recognizing that there is an underlying problem.

Edited November 10, 2018 by The Voord

[NewEnglandGothic]

On ‎11‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 4:43 PM, NewEnglandGothic said:

Anybody buying the "complete" version of Shada?

I know I am going to.

Available at Wally-World for $19.99 in tax-free NH.

Well...

Let's go back 39 years for a moment.

I finally watched "Shada."

This now completes my Tom Baker era after I started, way back in 1981.  Ever since "The Five Doctors," my expectations of this show had haunted me into wondering about this "lost episode" and if I would ever see it.

Despite some of the villain's wardrobe choices, including the one that he pranced around in Cambridge in, I really liked it.  Yet, I felt like a kid again, watching a new Tom Baker episode on the tube.

But, I felt the colorized animation was more intrusive, then the ones in "The Tenth Planet" and "The Power of the Daleks."  However, some of the effects are rather endearingly clunky.  I was glad they didn't enhance them too much.

The additional bonus features were pretty good too, giving you insight about the strike that halted production of this episode.

The real treat in this episode happens at the very end.  It's good to see old Tom back in the scarf again.

***1/2 out of ***** stars.

 

[The Voord]

Slight improvement with this week's episode.  Not as bad as I was expecting it to be and it was a refreshing change to have some deeper character interaction.  The 'writers' (I suspect Chibnall may have had an uncredited hand in the episode) are obviously familiar with Star Trek's 'City on the Edge of Forever', with a splash of the Soul Hunters from Babylon 5 thrown-in for good measure.  Not great, but watchable.