DOCTOR WHO: The Tenth Doctor episodes, 2006 season [spoilers]

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inflatable dalek
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Doctor Who And The Christmas Invasion!

Post by inflatable dalek »

[staff edit]

The 9th Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) thread can be found here:

http://tfarchive.com/community/showthre ... adid=31100

[/staff edit]

Yes, slightly early, but I couldn't see 2005 out without starting at least one of the Who episode discussion threads.

First of- Isn't it great to have Doctor Who on the front of the usually generic Santa adorned Radio Times? It really shows how much faith the beeb have this show, easily more than at any point since Pertwee was guarenteed the cover every year.

Tennant was on Breakfast yesterday, and worryingly refused to definately confirm he'd be doing a second year, the sort of thing Eccles was doing shortly before the news broke...
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Dunno about the publicity, but it's the one thing I'll be paying attention to on TV...
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Doctor Who Xmas Special

Post by Cliffjumper »

Well, that's RTD's best script to date... a bit slow getting going, and Harriet was once again as annoying as ****, but bloody hell, isn't David Tennant the best thing to happen to the show since Andrew Cartmel? ****ing awesome, shame he wasn't in it more. Great Doctor, great performance.

The storyline was a little bland, fairly routine alien invasion stuff. I seem to have gotten a bit better at tolerating Camille Potpourri and Noel Prick as well. Still, it was great to see Harriet get done over at the end, even if that was a pretty lame bit of Cartmel lite.

**** me, though, David Tennant. Who cares if he dresses like a student? Awesomeness :)
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Post by Lord Zarak »

I was impressed too.

I think, going off today, that it could top the previous series.

And, on a similar note, are the books any good? Not ones based on any already aired episodes, but original stories?
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Post by Denyer »

Ninth Doctor books? Dunno, haven't read any yet... I generally like Who fiction, though...

No second chances.

Hope this one stays around longer. The time for re-looming... well, looms... unless they come up with some kind of workaround. Hopefully this one will go investigating Time Lords, too.

Rose's character is getting rather repetitive.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Yeh, my one real problem with the episode was the first twenty minutes could have slotted into any of the RTD council estate episodes from last season... Minimal family scenes in itself would hugely improve the thing in a stroke.

Oh, and I so thought the Santas would be Autons :(
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Post by Jetfire »

Mostly excellent.

The negatives:

A bit to much wank over the abilities of the Doctor by most of the characters, e.g. Harriet's almost hysterical TV beg-a-thon for the Doc, a bit OTT considering she briefly met him once and hardly saw most of what he did in that incident.

Same with Rose. The crying about the Doctor was too OTT. And as Cliffy points out been done before. A bit too much of the episode was characters on the estate saying how they are useless without the Doc, minsters and military men say the exact same thing and then the chavs and politicians getting together to say the same thing again. Hammered it in far to much, but it does sound harsher than it should as it was a enjoyable episode.

The good stuff:

Well everything else. Nice CGI, better than ever before.

Nice fast paced story, very little of the Doctor-but that was the point.

Brilliant start with the TARDIS crashing.

The Doc was different but still made you feel he was the same character.

Nice alterations to the Doctor's character, the manic and funny tone but with the dark and brutal edge to it.

Tennent- Absolutely brilliant! The episode picked up brilliantly when he entered. He's got that vibe which says he could be made for this role and showed a good bit of chemistry with Piper. I can't wait till he starts using one of the shows better writers dialogue.

Brilliant ending. RTD's best ending by far in how the evil aliens were delt with and Doc's "6 words to bring you down" disposal of the PM.

Nice preview of the next series.

Oh and Merry Christmas everybody :)
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Re: Doctor Who And The Christmas Invasion!

Post by Jetfire »

Originally posted by inflatable dalek


Tennant was on Breakfast yesterday, and worryingly refused to definately confirm he'd be doing a second year, the sort of thing Eccles was doing shortly before the news broke...


He has also stated he is afraid of his reception, so thats probably why. He's been quoted as wanting to do this for a few years as he is a big who far.

Judging from todays show he's simply going to be brilliant so that should mean a few years with Tennant as The Doctor :)
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Post by Halfshell »

I loved it. Apart from the bits with Mickey and Rose's mum. It extols the virtues of tea, is positive about redheads and had plenty of songs by Elton John. No, wait... that's The Lion King.

David Tennant was brilliant.

Though I'm trying to remember where (if anywhere) I've heard the name of the bad guys before...
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Originally posted by Jetfire 2.1

Brilliant ending. RTD's best ending by far in how the evil aliens were delt with and Doc's "6 words to bring you down" disposal of the PM.


Hmm... it seemed a little too superficial to me... I get what RTD was trying to do (i.e. rip off the Prisoner ep "Hammer into Anvil"), but it just didn't come off to me. He only made one comment to one "person" (you knew he'd survive so he could translate), who didn't seem to hear, and we didn't see enough to convince about her downfall.

I did like that Tennent seems to have done a very original take on the character, without simply playing himself or totally changing it.
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Post by Denyer »

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
I get what RTD was trying to do (i.e. rip off the Prisoner ep "Hammer into Anvil"), but it just didn't come off to me. He only made one comment to one "person" (you knew he'd survive so he could translate), who didn't seem to hear, and we didn't see enough to convince about her downfall.
I wasn't expecting the TV bit... I was just expecting them to do the walk off, then a hint next season...

Liked the reference to Torchwood.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

The problem is that whenever Ver Doc does something like that (it usually just used to happen in the Virgin books whenever some right-on, champagne socialist C4-friendly prick like... oh, Russell T. Davies, got one) is it raises all these questions about why he leaves so much injustice on Earth - something made more explicict by the new series, which are very much set in our world. It makes little enough sense as it is that he's happy enough to swing out to Terra Alpha and topple Helen A, or nobble Varos, or the Borad or whatever, but he won't nip over and sort out Hussein or Bush (though for ****'s sake, don't give RTD any ideas...). What it really doesn't need is this being thrown up in the face of it all. Sure, Harriet makes a rather speciesist and ruthless move. But is she really the worst head of government in the world?
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Post by Denyer »

His main concern is contact between species, though, isn't it? With regard to the rest, he defaults to the Time Lords' non-intervention policy, or whatever "preserves" the timeline as it was recorded before his future.

edit:

This mean anything to you?
[The] Time Lords have a nonintervention policy. The Doctor explicitly rejects this policy, but the other time lords make a point of never violating it overtly. Not that they don't violate it, but one gets the impression that there would be a big scandal if folks back home found out.

I explain this so I can describe why I like what was done with this in the "Doctor Who: The New Adventures" novels.

One of these novels introduced The People, which are a blatant rip-off of Ian Banks' Culture. The nonintervention policy was retconned into part of a treaty between the People and the Time Lords -- essentially, the Time Lords agreed stay off the People's turf (the universe outside of Gallifrey), and the People agreed to not develop time travel.

The brilliant thing about this is that it turns it into a matter of compromise rather than a matter of principle. And, as such, it's completely natural that both sides are secretly cheating like mad.
For instance, are The People a future form of humanity?
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Post by Jetfire »

Originally posted by Denyer
His main concern is contact between species, though, isn't it? With regard to the rest, he defaults to the Time Lords' non-intervention policy, or whatever "preserves" the timeline as it


I agree there. Bush hasn't exactly threatened alien species in such a direct fashion. With earth now being in contact with alien races.

Besides I calculate the "present day" in the series is currently end of 2007 0r 2008. It started out in 2005 (and that looked like winter to me so credably it could be late 2005) Before Rose's first return a year had passed making it 2006 at least. More time probably passed when she got to cardiff (making that likely set in 2007) and bad wolf was yet more months in the future. As this was placed at least the next christmas on from the last series it would be Crimbo 2007/2008 so Bush would be pretty much gone or close to the end of his dictatorship.
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Post by Denyer »

I'd much rather the series stayed away from a contemporary setting and emphasised the time travel, personally...
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Was it me, or did nobody burp, fart, spit or piss the whole episode? There was minimum mention of shagging or man-on-man action too. It is the same Russell Davies, right?

Denyer: Hmmm, that sounds vaguely familiar, but I've not read too much of the Virgin stuff for years... sounds a bit like the Psi-Wars stuff, but I wouldn't swear to it...

I severely agree that they want to lose the kitchen sink stuff. It was sort of validated, if poor, last series when the "what happens to everyone else?" angle was covered (though many companions didn't leave anyone behind, or let lots of people know where they were off - only Ian, Barbara and Peri really legged it, OTOMH)... now it's just treading water. I mean, why rehire Noel Clarke? Surely they can just use stock footage of Mickey, and just change whichever government system is helpfully being ran from Geocities this week...

Oh, and they're still getting their money's worth out of that Gladiator music, aren't they?

And from a fanboy angle, sadly that was the one to have the Brig in, wasn't it? I suspect Torchwood will have the lion's share of collaboration duties now, and they could have easily slotted Nick in that one if they'd wanted to. Six out of ten, Lethbridge-Stewart :(

The interesting thing re: looming is that, unless I've got it right, the past three Doctors have never been numbered on screen... it could be argued that Lungbarrow is canonical, or any number of things. (inserts Tat Wood article he always does at this juncture). That said, when it comes, I bet Doctor 13 dies doing something awe-inspiringly heroic and is rewarded with a new regenerative cycle.
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Post by Jetfire »

I rewatched the episode and something stood out this time. The Doc's "No second chances this time" line. Doesn't it have a second meaning?
I mean most of the dialogue in this ep concerned his regeneration and the line was spoken quietly to himself.
It could refer to his more ruthless attitude this time or the aliens having to keep to their work. BUT I was thinking it could be reference to this regeneration being close to or at his last (in a normal timelord cycle) and the Doc doesn't have any chances left. I'm partly saying this because RTD said there would be "Bad wolf" like clues in this series about something.
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Post by Denyer »

We don't strictly speaking know how many regens he's got left... it could be a curve to have his cycle be basically over far sooner than fans expect, and a big event centering around that.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Yeh, it could well be something they want done and dusted ASAP... I'm actually wondering whether the whole "OH MY GOD I'VE GOT TO TIE THIS UP IN FIVE MINUTES AND HOLLYOAKS IS ON SOON!", a.k.a. the Heart of the TARDIS has something to do with it. Mind, theories as to this are practically infinite, ranging from random moments in the series (the Timelords flat-out offer The Master a new cycle of lives in "The Four Doctors plus that clip of Shada", plus the number of regenerations is established relatively late on in the series) to anything you care to make up - the destruction of Gallifrey has all sorts of possibilities. Come up with the idea of, say, the Matrix being installed in the TARDIS, and the Doctor can do what he likes.

There's all sorts of minor pieces of evidence that would seem to suggest there have been other Doctors, ranging from the explicict (the faces in "The Brain of Morbius". No, they weren't. He was having the **** kicked out of him, survived by pure fluke and Morbius' dialogue is difficult to ignore) to other minor clashes. Tat Wood wrote a great piece which postulates that the Davison Doctor was the end of the first cycle ("might regenerate, don't know..." "feels different this time..."), the Colin Baker was the first of a new cycle, hence his instability, and McCoy was the third - which is why he "is much more than a mere Time Lord". Of course, we'll just have to ignore the McGann film (sorry Paul), as being half-human would probably make him less than a Time Lord (thank God they've let that go, though), but there we go.

References to the Doctors as being numbered are rather few in the actual series... it usually only comes up in the "X Doctors" specials, and a handful of others.
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Post by Heinrad »

Just watching it now(let's hear it for CBC, WOOHOO!!!! Although they should show it without commercials.....), first commercial break, and combat Santas are after Rose.......
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