Actually, the Doctor remembers him, and he can prove his existence to Amy using the little red box which didn't disappear along with Rory. Just my thoughts on it.

"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

The monster in this one just looked like the designers did a scribble on a page then smoothed it out to make it look somewhat sensible. The plot was much better though - well above the previous episodes of the series (I practically cried when the monster died] and the end was quite touching. Also Bill Nighy gives the episode a hundred extra cool points.

James Corden next week!

Last episode was the best of the series so far. It reminded me heavily of 'The Girl in the Fireplace' - one of my all time favourites. They nailed the Van Gough side of the story, and the ending was nice (although its still a downer that he committed suicide. It would have been better if the episode was set the day he died and the alien wounded him, but before he died he was taken to look at his paintings in the gallery - kind of like when Lady Cassandra was taken to see herself before she died. Any historical Doctor Who pisses over the past no matter how hard it tries, so you could bend history a little to get a better ending)

But the Doctor Who side of it was gone. Oh, we have a giant mutant chicken which we have no idea where its come from, what its doing there, how it got there, and why Van Gough can see it and no one else can - there is a difference between seeing colours differently and seeing an invisible monster. The mutant chicken was just an excuse to visit Van Gough (though I was still really sad when it died)

And I hate it in Doctor Who when they go completely over the top with influencing historical figures. I face palmed every time the Doctor quoted Shakespeare in front of Shakespeare and Agatha Christie in front of Agatha Christie and I had the same reaction when Amy was all like 'YOU SHOULD PAINT SUNFLOWERS'. I wouldn't mind if this was a stray suggestion like at first, but she actually goes and buys hundreds of them. WE GET IT! Amy inspired the sunflower painting - we are capable of picking up strong hints without shoving it in our faces.

Still pretty darn good. And as Hazzat said, Bill Nighy makes anything cooler. He's like the Christopher Lee of Doctor Who....

-MRB

Just completed the game 'City of the Daleks'. Really, its dying to be on a console. I've always wanted either an RPG or a game similar to this.

Concept-wise, its brilliant. The fact that there is no kind of violence and you have to think like the Doctor is really refreshing. Although it is impossible to make the games storyline run like an episode (and its pretty weak even taking into account the poor writing the series has had so far) I like this 'interactive episode' concept. And it features the real voice actors (which I always want to see - although the actors are not quite as intense as they are in the show)

The reason why it should be on a console (at least as a download from XBOX Live, PSN, or even the Nintendo Store) is because of the lag. My Sony Laptop is almost two years old, but its usually capable of having graphics at high settings without too much lagging. However, even at the lowest possible setting the game can be reduced to a slower frame rate than a Lego Muuvvey. And this combined with the control can sometimes make the game unplayable. The worst came at the 'thrilling' climax where I had to manoeuvre the Doctor around blind, aimlessly shooting Daleks (yes, because when blinded in combat: shoot wildly!) The frame rate made it impossible to tell if you were in the direct firing line, and even if you could tell, the control made me suddenly turn directly into a ray of Dalek light (and no, you don't even get the really cool effect used in the RTD era where you briefly turn into a skeleton, you just fall down) To move, you move around the mouse and press the right mouse button to run. Never have I encountered this before, and it feels incredibly odd even at the end when you should have got used to it. You can use the arrow keys but then you cant turn, and since carefully tiptoeing around your enemies is 80% of the game play chances are your going to end up bumping right into a Dalek.

There is no excuse for the lag. The graphics are like an early PS2 game, and there are a few bugs. I got suck in a corner behind some debris somehow and couldn't get out - resulting in re-setting the game. I came across the common falling-through floor glitch twice and Amy kept getting stuck, and by the time she did untangle herself from mid air she blows our cover and gets EXTERMINATED. Seriously, I hate games where you have to watch out for useless women.

And there is virtually no replay value. You can go back to collect 'cards', which only serve the function of being able to look at them. They don't do anything to enhance the game play, and there is no need to replay the whole episode just to collect them. 

But, there was some fun to be had. And its free, so you cant really complain.

-MRB

Last edited by Max Butcher (June 11, 2010 (09:55am))

I agree. I thought when a person got shot by a Dalek, they turned into a skeleton like in the RTD era (I could watch that effect all day) And when you have Daleks, why do you need another monster? Are 'the Doctors greatest enemies' not enough? Also - did your game lag at any point, or is it just my computer? I still cant wait for the next 'Adventure' though...

Anyways, onto this weeks Episode:

The new series doesn't seem to mix things up a bit. We have Episode 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 - which sucked and completely missed their own point. Then we had Episode 6 and 7 which were good but simply filler - and had really anti-climatic and cheap endings. We have Episodes 8 and 9 which were getting better but SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN A TWO PARTER!! (I still don't get why you would chose this simple and bland concept over Daleks and a Dream/Reality world which could have easily been expanded on into something like 'The Family of Blood' from Series 3)

Now we have Episode 10 and 11. Both of which are the best so far, but both are NOTHING LIKE A DOCTOR WHO EPISODE. In the last episode I thought the BBC had somehow merged a Doctor Who Episode with a historical drama about Van Gough by accident during broadcasting. In this episode I think Matt Smith just walked onto the set for 'Gavin and Stacy' and everyone thought the cameras were off.

And what is our sorry excuse for a monster? A space ship. Where does it come from? And why is it that when the Doctor touches it the whole solar system goes kaphut? Does he have napalm in his blood? And why is it that when James Corden touches it and kisses the woman the ship blows up? Why is it that in Doctor Who the way to stop technology is love - an emotion that a machine cannot recognise and has no impact on whatsoever. If I pull apart the circuity in my laptop, stick my finger in it, and think about my true love will my laptop explode? No. I will simply get an electric shock and die (something I bet all of you are encouraging me to do). And why does it think the Doctor is definitely the right pilot when he's so obviously the wrong one? I thought the machine had somehow managed to see that the Doctor is a time lord.

And why is it that when a person gets fried, the world turns into a 'Black Eyed Peas' Music Video? Why would a machine (is it even a time machine?) be able to change the time-scale of the universe. And why doesn't it effect the Doctor? Is he just immune to everything now? I guess I can add "Immunity to Black Eyed Peas (something everyone wishes they had sometimes)' to the huge list of things that happens if you own a TARDIS. I thought that in the classic series it was just a time machine?

When the Doctor just gives Corden the-holy-head-bang-of-cheap-writing.....that was hilarious. But still cheap.

Oh, and way to spoil the next episode in the trailer! You may as well just show a screen of text giving the cliff notes of the season finale. Seriously, whoever edits these previews really needs to be sacked.

But it was still pretty good. Next episode looks to be more Doctor Who-ish. I still don't get why they chose to have two of these un-Doctor Who episodes in a row. Its just annoying and it exposes the last episode and makes it look worse than it is.

-MRB

Best episode yet. I cringed at the awkward moments, laughed when they wanted me to and was entirely thrilled. I laughed, I smiled, I hid inside my shirt. Perfect.

The crack is explained next week! Daleks, Cybermen (Sontarons?) and some awesome CGI, I can't wait.

Sontarans, Sycorax, judoon, they're all back...

Oh, Max stop over analysing and wait until the finale airs.

Whoa. Good episode.

But in confidential:

She looks very tired, bags?

There as well.

Thoughts?