DOCTOR WHO (2007): Episode Reactions

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:03 pm

Well she does only have 17 DVD's. It's lucky she's not like me or the Doctor would have had to hide messages on 100's of the buggers.

Though it's hugely lucky they were all processed (if that's the word) by the same company.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:28 pm

Perhaps his grandmother warned him. "When you give her this letter, she will be angry, annoyed, and confused. If she seems to be getting too unreasonable, wait for an opportunity, and leave, because she'll want answers that I can't give you to give her."

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:02 pm

"And manke sure to act in as odd a way as possible throughout".

Honestly, if this weren't set before the rest of this years "Near future" episodes I'd be betting he'd show up as Saxon's Lackey.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 4:02 pm

"And manke sure to act in as odd a way as possible throughout".

Honestly, if this weren't set before the rest of this years "Near future" episodes I'd be betting he'd show up as Saxon's Lackey.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 7:01 pm

U
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Saw that coming a mile off.

Nice interplay between Tennant and Barrowman.

Simm looked to be having fun.

Take it we've just retconned away the Movie, then?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 7:05 pm

EDIT: Aww, screw youse, O'Con!

U

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Complete with spoilers the size of RTD's ego.

Back button now.

A very, very good episode to be fair. Sad that the only thing that let it down was an abysmal little performance from Simm, but hopefully by the next ep his take will have developed beyond parodying David Tennant. The Master back then, and brought back very well... let's hope that little joke about cliches won't be exposed over the next couple of weeks. Russ' writing is still variable, but at least now he's tying it together for the bigger episodes, and cutting down the crap jokes (I actually didn't mind chan-Do or whatever woman, it's nice to have someone put a bit of thought into alien speech patterns). A very nice episode, even if I had the Master thing sussed as soon as the conversation with the drums. The wanker's back now (and sadly not to be properly played by Jacobi... guess they both have to be young and "in" now to get the heat features, eh? I suppose we're lucky it wasn't Jimmy Carr, one of those ****s of Friday Night Project or Pete off Big Brother...), let's just hope next week's better tha the "OMG!!!! WOMD LOL NEWS 24"-fest the trailer made it look like.

The real pearl of the episode was having Jack back - he gave the show an energy which has generally been lacking this year, and it was nice to have a pair of leads who can carry scenes. Poor Makosi, reduced to gossiping with the other useless assistant and doing ****-all else that couldn't have been acheived by the old Tom Baker one about the Doctor explaining the plot to a cabbage on his shoulder... and then Jack comes back and steals the show, regardless of whatever old villain's hamming it up. Marvellous stuff.

Nice plot to go with the big reveals, too - though why the year 100 Trillion saw a comeback for London style C. 1860 I don't know. About the only other thing that bothered me was why the guards weren't shooting at the Futreheads (or whatever) - did I miss something there?

DrEvil · Post by **DrEvil** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 7:38 pm

One of the few I've watched the full way through. So I'll have to watch the next one now. I liked it except for one thing. The Darth Maul ripoff. May as well just called them Zabraks and slap some horns on his head.

Good to have the Master back though and him playing him seems a good choice. Life on Mars. Good stuff.

optimusskids · Post by **optimusskids** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 7:46 pm

Enjoyed the story . My only niggle was the Truck they used in the episode. Must have been hell of a good engineering job to survive from the 20th century to the year 100 trillion. Couldn't the art department made it look vaguely futuristy

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:22 am

Awesome! AWESOME! FUNKING AWESOME!

The best build up to an old character's return ever! The epsode was rife with tension (the direction was superb) and the character moments were all as good as the series has ever done with an outstanding cast.

I knew it was coming but that just made the episode all the more better because it became all became more tense.

And the Cliffhanger is possible the finest in the shows history. This series has been possibly the finest in the shows history, certainly the second half.

Master: Hello, anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I DON'T THINK!

Doctor: I'm asking you really properly to just stop, to think!

Master: Use my name!

Doctor (wispering): Master..... I'm sorry.

Master: TOUGH!

*Activates Tardis.*

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:10 am

Oh, wow.

Oh, wowohwowohwowohwowohwowohwow..............

I have to admit, the only other show I've seen RTD's work on is Torchwood, but mother of Primus...... I'm in awe. I'm in shock. I didn't think the man had it in him. The tension, the suspense, the sound of distant voices, the majesty, the glory....... The Master.

The only down side of The Master's comeback, for me, anyway, is his new body. But then, I don't know how Simm usually acts. And it would have been nice to see Jacobi's Master for a bit longer. He seemed to be having fun.

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 10:38 am

Indeed, in 5 minutes Jacobi utterly nailed The Master.

Jacobi acting as the Proffessor; the frustration, the seemingly gentle manner, his ultristic reasons for saving the human race and the confusion and sadness of the slow subconscience realisation that his life is coming to the end was awesome. Jacobi helped make it wll the more tragic and glorious when he finally reverts to the master. Amongst the finest acting I've ever seen in a Sci-fi.

The cast was uniformly excellent. Freema sold the important of the watch brilliantly, Barrowman as the time of his life as Captain Jack and he interacts with Tennant well. Tennant was super as well. His clear realisation of which other time Lord it was most likely to be, while having something more presing to do, the panic, tension and then urgency before his virtual begging was Tennant's Doctor 10 at it's finest.

I can't wait for next week.

My guess is

SPOILER! (select to read)
that they escape the end of time by one of 3 methods;

Capt Jacks broken time hopper gets enchanced by the Doctor somehow, The Doc searches for the Masters TARDIS which must be somewhere OR the time energy which made Jack not move in time and stay as a fixed point or whatever is used by the Doc somehow (maybe making Jack mortal again).

Exciting stuff

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 12:29 pm

SPOILER! (select to read)
My vote's for Jack's hopper. Why else would he still be wearing (not just keeping, wearing) a defunct piece of equipment, other than so it could be useful later in the day? the problem with the Master's TARDIS (leaving aside continuity... when was it actually last seen? Trial? Irrelevant, though, because the oroduction team will, quite rightly, do what they want and leave it for the fans to sort out) is where would it be? The 'Master' seems to have moved to that there planet while all befuddled... It could be something clever like a personal affect, but they'd be cheating a bit as we saw him leave with everything he had in the episode.

Whatever happened to the TARDIS being a dick to anyone belligerent who touchefd the thing, though? The Master blunders in, regenerates (I hope RTD's wibbling about that being a set pattern for regens is just Russ wibbling... It was alright just the once, but part of the fun of regenerations was the variations...), goes a bit Demon Headmaster, and the TARDIS bends over. Shocking.

Curious to know exactly what Freema did so well... anyone can flap and go "he's got a watch". Once again, poor girl wasn't helped by the characterisation - we can add "bringing back the Master" to Makosi's list of acheivments for the year, but she's not doing anything remotely special with what's been given to her (a lot of Sarah Jane's material throughout her stay is both terrible and lightweight - especially when Harry's onboard, or UNIT are around snapping up lines - but Sladen makes something of it).

Got to say I'm a bit annoyed with the far future looking pretty similar to now as well (cf. everyone in "The Long Game"/"That ****ty One That Killed Time With Gameshows So the Daleks Could Come In On A Cliffhanger" wearing stuff from Topshop)... I guess somewhere on that awful documentary series (no making of programme filmed around the time of production is worth anything) Russ has wibbled about how silly people look in spray-painted jumpsuits or something, but I've got to say people in stuff that you can buy anywhere is just as silly...

Good grief, though, while it revolved around the human population, that one wasn't set on Earth (Wales doen't count as Earth. Fact.). Wow!

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:20 pm

SPOILER! (select to read)
Travelling through the time vortex outside the TARDIS probably recharged Jack's plot device.

Got the impression that humanity had planet-hopped a couple of times. The Master's TARDIS may have been left behind.

Or maybe he hasn't got one. Seeing as he's dead.

Originally posted by DrEvil
The Darth Maul ripoff. May as well just called them Zabraks and slap some horns on his head.

Her.

Reminded me more of Scorpius' eye-plucking girlfriend off of Farscape.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 1:50 pm

SPOILER! (select to read)
To go continuity-nerd on the Master's TARDIS: -

- Last appearance was in Trial of a Time Lord... He eemingly got incarcerated on Gallifrey after this, but escaped. So he might have got the TARDIS back as well. There's no sign of it in Survival, but then he must've got to the planet somehow, and got back off again. But in Enemy Within (**** you, I'm calling it that, Philip Segal said I could ) he's clearly seperated from it for shipment to Gallifrey. I'd actually guess he lost it before that - it's plainly not onboard the Doctor's TARDIS (the Master would have made some reference to it, it's fair to say), and the Time Lords never would have allowed it to stay in the plungers of the Daleks... so either it was lost to him before that, or it'd have been sent on to Gallifrey by remote. My personal theory is that it was grabbed off him in Trial, and he just busked around after that.

I'll tell you something that's always pissed me off about Master stories - the stories always happen in the same order for both characters. I mean, you can forgive stuff like the Pertwee era (okay, you can't forgive the Pertwee era per se, what with it being crap, but you can forgive the Doctor and the Master's meetings staying in order as neither really time-trvaels much, though the big m does keep on trying to take over the world from directly under UNIT's nose, the tit), but something like Mark of the Rani, where both characters independantly travel to 1800-and-lickety-spit and it just happens that these two lunatics zipping up and down the timelines keep on running into each other in a linear order... theoretically, McCoy was just as likely to dump into Delgado or whatever. A bit difficult to explain, but I'm sure you know what i mean. Always thought that would be a good get-out whenever they ****ed up the character too much (e.g. Planet of Fire, Deadly Assassin) - just have an earlier incarnation charging around instead. Would actually have the potentia for a little pathos, with the Doctor trying to reason with the Master to recant evil as he sees what it's done to him.

SPOILER! (select to read)
Although, ****ing Hell, there's a thought! If things are worded properly (and seeing as we've yet to have onscreen confirmation that Tennat's Doctor 10, IIRC), Jacobi could have been an earlier Master, couldn't he? That'd mean anything which happened with Ainley/Roberts is null and void, yeh? If we take Pratt/Beevers as Master XIII, Ainley as XIIIa and Julia's Brother as XIIIb, then there's Only one of the previous 12 we've met (on TV... "First Frontier", IIRC, had a different Master in it, but let's keep this simple without bringing fanfic into it) is Delgado, so if we arbitrarily assign him as Master III, then there's no reason Jacobi and Simm can't be, say, Masters IV & V, is there? I mean, the Time Wars stuff's been so vague it can effectively be ignored as a stumbling block, and I can't see an infodump taking place to explain how the Master escaped from the Planet of the Cheetah People/Eye of Harmony (still not really here or there, is it, despite the picture of McGann...) taking place in the next couple of weeks...)

Christ, I've nerded off all over the place... Don't touch anything sticky, everyone...

Jetfire · Post by **Jetfire** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:37 pm

I had that similar thought that

SPOILER! (select to read)
this could be an eariler Master incarnation. Explains the regeneration unless The Time Lords I give him another regeneration cycle OR he could have stolen another Time Lords body

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 3:59 pm

Cliffy make good point.

I wish they'd just actually give us some vague explanation as to what the **** the time war entailed...

Bombshell · Post by **Bombshell** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:32 pm

Originally posted by Brendocon
I wish they'd just actually give us some vague explanation as to what the **** the time war entailed...

And have RTD piss away his only means of excusing pretty much anything from the previous series he doesn't like?

Yeah, like that'll ever happen.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sun Jun 17, 2007 4:52 pm

SPOILER! (select to read)
And if he's an earlier Master, it'd explain why he had so much dark knowledge to give to Goth in Deadly Assassin... I mean, what better information than telling him how Gallifrey dies?

Ahhh, fanboy glow... Kill me now.

Of course, some of Simm's random squealing could have included "Thank God I'm not Eric Roberts any more", and I guess having his own TARDIS up his arse would explain the acting, so this'll all be blown out the water soon...

EDIT: I dunno about everyone else, but I'm despoilering from the next post on... Anyone who's not seen it yet and going to has a page of white blocks to let them kknow there are spoilers...

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 1:51 am

After doing a little tooling around on the Wikipaedia(and not sure, therefore, if this needs a spoiler or not), suffice it to say that the movie might now well be canon. Kind of. In a sense.

RTD stated at some point that Rose's opening of the TARDIS console would have "unforseen consequences" down the road, of which this might be one. And for The Master to have pulled it off, he would have needed a TARDIS, so it's probably sitting not too terribly far from where he was found. Or the Time Lords did this to him as a particularly cruel form of exile.

This could also be the best way to retcon the movie out of canonicity. Keep Doctor #8, drop the story that introduced him.

Post by **Denyer** » Mon Jun 18, 2007 6:48 pm

Saw the previous two eps this morning in-between system reinstalls.

Rocked, the pair of 'em.

Er, that's about it really... I'm only familiar with the Master from books and the dodgy TV movie, in which he's everything from buffoon to pawn to real threat. Might wait to watch next week's until I get back in Sept with the rest, rather than leave just before part three.