It really seems like a bunch of you really don't like Doctor Who.
If you don't like it, why do you watch it?
I love it personally.

If you though RTD sucked at technobabble, at least he didn't COMPLETELY CHANGE THE LAWS OF TIME AND SPACE!!! 'Voyage of the Damned' is up there though - but I feel the problems are more nitpicks. The Not-Queen part was stupid, but...its England! And its Christmas! The BBC make specials that are either soppy and patriotic, or social satire. Really, none of the Christmas Specials are any good. The only good one was in Series 1 with Charles Dickens - and that wasn't supposed to be a Christmas Special!

Plus, the villains name is 'Max'. This would be awesome, if it wasn't for the fact he was a head placed within R2 D2's fat mother, had a gold tooth, and was killed BY A FORKLIFT!!!

She formed a translucent being - which was obviously solid enough to kiss - before scattering into atoms (for....some reason). But I agree with the rest of your complaints.

I thought Bad Wolf had a fair bit of inspiration - but I do think the '4 Knocks' thing was uninspired. He knocks...and the Doctor dies. So? At least 'Bad Wolf' was a message Rose sent to herself to tell her it is possible to open the heart of the TARDIS and return to defeat the Daleks.

I found the Daleks unnecessary in 'Daleks in Manhattan' - and looking back, that wasn't very good (gamma radiation = Lightning? NO IT DOESN'T!!). I also thought 'Journeys End' was like a re-hash of 'The Parting of the Ways' - just with more companions and Daleks. But it was OK, and in almost every Dalek Episode they have been built up to be a powerful enemy (with the exception of the power ranger Daleks, and 'Daleks in Manhattan' where they just appear).

I dont complain because I dont like it, I complain because I LOVE it. I want more than anything for Doctor Who to be good, and when it is good its pretty damn good. 'The Family of Blood' (my all time favourite two-parter), 'Blink', 'The Girl in the Fireplace' (my all time favourite episode), 'Age of Steel', 'Parting of the Ways', 'Doomsday' (just because of the Dalek/Cybermen banter), 'Turn Left', 'The Impossible Planet' (with FREAKING SATAN in it!!), 'The Empty Child' are all brilliant episodes from the reboot. And that's not getting into the classic Series...

Besides, this is the 'Doctor Who Discussion Thread' - not the 'Doctor Who Appreciation Thread'. If it was an appreciation, I would take my ranting elsewhere.

Last edited by Max Butcher (May 16, 2011 (02:03pm))

You're not the first to think that.

That was my first thought when I saw them.

LOVE it though, cos it makes MarbleHornets and all the pictures and stories part of Doctor Who without the creators even realising.

Just saw the most recent episode! It was confusing at the start but you understand through it.

Also, this is another episode that wasn't written by Moffat according to confidential.

I saw the last episode just now, I liked it. It was loads better than last week's.
At first I was confused, but then I really started to understand it. The ending was interesting, I look forward to next week's episode.

I wonder what's going to happen with that eyepatch lady? And the little girl at the end of the second episode who looked like she was regenerating? And how they are going to save the doctor, if they do? There's still a lot to be answered, which is why I like it.

Marooned Youtube Luminescence

Meh.

Everyone in this episode is an idiot. The Doctor idiotically puts his hand into the toxic unknown substance - which is basically the equivalent of pressing a big red button that says "DO NOT PRESS". Amy goes off to search for Rory straight after the Doctor says that the TARDIS will easily be able to find him. Rory AGAIN gets separated (if he 'dies' then I'm going to go nuts). The doppelgängers declare war on all of them because one person is a freaking idiot when the rest mean no harm whatsoever. And its NOT SCARY - which normally would not be a complaint, but in the trailer this episode looked terrifying (yeah, I know I shouldn't trust trailers - but after the last episode I was praying for something good)

Actually, the scene where the flesh grows a giant neck and floats out of the door had me in stitches. That was one of the funniest things I have seen. Wait...its supposed to be scary? Ooohhh, right....

And....a solar tsunami? And this causes the flesh to suddenly have a personality and independent thought? Uh...NO IT DOESN'T!! I love how a person actually said "But they cant function without a person controlling them" - and there is a silence. Its as though the writer suddenly knew he/she had written him/herself into a corner. It was the most glorious display of self-aware bad writing I have ever seen. There is an awkward pause in which you can still hear the echoes of the writer yelling "OH S**T!!", and then the woman goes "Lets find out". Yes, way to cover up your terrible writing.

And this happens again later!  The Doctor and Amy are running off, and the Scottish guy follows yelling "But how are they doing that!?". AND THEN IT CUTS TO A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SCENE!! Hello!?! That was a completely legitimate question which the Doctor should have answered!!

And, if the doppelgänger's are meant to be confused, why is the woman able to perfectly blend in and pretend she is human? Why isn't she feeling sick and disturbed like the other girl? Why is she the ONLY ONE who IS sick and disturbed!?! Its a great character trait and would explain why they all decided to declare war on everyone...but all the others dont show this at all! In fact - the others are pretty much the monsters the real people think they are!

Which brings me to my next point: Why are they meant to be sympathetic and just like humans when in the end they decide to flat out declare war? It goes completely against the (rather interesting) sub-plot that they are just like humans and want to see their family? I would understand if they wanted to get rid of their duplicates...but why do they want to get rid of Amy, Rory, and the Doctor? What have they done wrong? In the end the doppelgängers become the monsters we spent the entire episode establishing that they are not! They just, because one person died because of one stupid person, go "EVERYONE MUST DIE!! WE ARE NOW THE MOST EVIL CREATURES TO WALK THE ENTIRE PLANET BECAUSE.....um.....because.....um....ah.......um.......because.................."

The story is sapped of all originality. The doppelgängers look like the demons from Evil Dead (when the woman grew that giant neck I expected Ash to cut it off with a chainsaw then shoot it in the face saying "Swallow this!"), the whole doppelgänger thing is off of John Carpenter's 'The Thing', and everything else was taken from 'Avatar'. Wow. You are actually ripping off the biggest rip-off movie of all time. Thats LOW man. LOW!

They missed a huge opportunity. At first I thought it would be like 'The Thing' where we wouldn't know who is real and who is fake. Too bad they really badly CG Animated their faces! I mean, if your ripping off 'The Thing', you might as well just rip it off outright. At least it would be scary...

The great news though is that Doctor Who seems to be returning to form. Despite ripping off several things, and with the exception of my holes, it is quite well written. . Sure, it looks like a masterpiece compared to the abomination that was 'The Doctors Wife', but there is still some way to go. As long as the next episode ties up all the threads nicely, then the series may win me over. Last episode nearly made me ditch Doctor Who completely - so this has recaptured my interest, and I have to admire it for that.

HOW DOES THAT WORK!?! If they give them their personality - then surely the real people dont have any personality? They are not clones - they are LINKED!! If the link is severed then they cannot function!! If part of them was left in the doppelgängers, then part of them is missing. What - was their personality magically duplicated by the power surge? ITS A POWER SURGE!! All its done is de-activate the Avatar-machines! The flesh should just turn back into milk since they cannot function unless controlled by a human!!

But...maybe I'm judging too quickly. OK then - I will say no more on this, and wait to see what the writers pull out of their asses in the next episode. And if they dont....oh boy....there will be murder in the BBC that night......

(ITS A JOKE!! I have never killed anyone....yet.....)

Last edited by Max Butcher (May 23, 2011 (11:11am))

Because Doctor Who is at an odd time I usually record it and watch later (9 times out of 10 I'm having my dinner and miss the first/last 10 mins), or watch it on iPlayer. I hardly ever get a chance to catch the confidential live, and dont really have enough time during the day to watch another hour of Doctor Who material. Besides, I'm not really interested in the confidential anyway.

Honestly, during Series 5 I found the confidential unnecessary - mostly because I didn't care for what its documenting. Back when I loved the show, I watched it whenever I could since I was interested to see something I enjoyed being made. But in the Series 5 confidentials we got interviews with incompetent writers (again, I dont think RTD was incompetent - despite producing 'Love and Monsters') and the actors/crew who must have been hypnotised into thinking the script was good. Maybe that's not the case for this series - but I'm not particularly interested in them any-more.

I'm already at the verge on giving up on Doctor Who. Its not like a bad movie where you get enjoyment complaining about it later - Its just pain watching a Series you love slip into mediocrity and often fall into bad. And I really dont want people to think I just watch this show to bash on it - but I'm worrying that its actually the only thing that's keeping me hanging on (aside from my love of the RTD era - which I will be the first to admit is flawed, but contains some incredible Sci-Fi in the mix)

Besides, why should I watch a 'behind the scenes' show on BBC3 to find out stuff that should have been explained in the actual episode? Its like whenever a DVD comes with a booklet explaining some of the plot-holes.....

Oh, and I lol'd at 'Toothpaste faces'.

Last edited by Max Butcher (May 24, 2011 (01:01pm))

Nope, I got your PM