Doctor Who: Christmas 2016 and through to the End of the Moff Thread.

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I thought Smile was quite good for three quarters of the length (despite being hamstrung by a precredits sequence that explained the mystery that was then very carefully explored) and had a nice spooky atmosphere. But it really felt like it fell apart at the end, from Ralph Little being an idiot (was he planning to shot the entire building?) to the Doctor suddenly being fine with unwilling mind wipes despite the end of last week and a really odd metaphor. The robots aren't the indigenous population, they're immigrants like the humans.

Also, in a forced attempt at continuity we get firmly told these aren't the last humans, but at the end everyone acts like these are the last humans.

Still, up till that ending it was really well done.
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Brendocon 2.0
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Have caught up on this series now (sorry, I have a life) and it's weird how it doesn't feel in the slightest bit Moffaty. Really weird.

Even though at the same time we've had not-quite-retreads-but-riffs-on The Lodger, the Happiness Patrol and the Beast Below.

And next week is Ghost Light/Fendahl/Hide/fun gothic horror.

Have enjoyed.
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Post by Heinrad »

Quite enjoying the series so far.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Me too! It feels a bit lighter, like someone's opened a window to let some fresh air in. The retreads haven't bothered me so much. The Smile one reminded me of the Hand-bots, but I liked that it made the point that technology isn't inherently evil. The humans waking up at the end wasn't necessary and Ralf Little was wasted. Enjoyed Thin Ice, some good dialogue and lines and a solid story. I like Bill very much and Pearl Mackie is ace.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Thin Ice was passable... Oxygen was really good! Supporting cast were great, and the stuff in Space at the start was very impressive. I liked the set design and whatnot on this one too.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Caught up!

Knock Knock felt a bit of waste of David Suchet, and the spooky haunted house feels very done by new Who.

Oxygen was very good, but again, space suits with corpses in is something Who has done already.

Saturday's at least looks like new territory for the show, though isn't it about a decade too late for a Dan Brown pisstake?
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

...I'd forgotten about the house one. I liked it, but everyone being magically alive after they'd been consumed was a bit rubbish.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

After a decent start, the 'Monks' 3-parter was a bit pointless. Like The Slients (Silence?), they had vague and unknowable motivations. I can't believe they'd go to all that effort of making an ENTIRE PLANET go yes please, we'd like to be ruled by your literally rotten features, that seems good, only for them to bugger off at the first sign of trouble. Did all the people working for them get TUPED back ?

On the plus side, Empress of Mars was pretty decent and I liked that. Especially turning the soldiers into horrible scrunched up balls. It was both comical and horrific. I approve! Plus: ALPHA CENTAURI!!! brilliant.
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Post by Denyer »

Definitely appreciating the retro. They're doing early era Cybermen at some point too, aren't they?
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

Yup. Whether that will involve The Master, I don't know...
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Post by Tetsuro »

Skyquake87 wrote:I can't believe they'd go to all that effort of making an ENTIRE PLANET go yes please, we'd like to be ruled by your literally rotten features
Just once I'd like that kind of a monster to look reasonable attractive, at least at first, similar to Claws of Axos. At least then I could buy everyone going along with them a little better.

Not to mention their reason for looking that way was a bit bollocks, too.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I can't even remember why they looked like that! ...nor do I care.

Eaters Of Light was a nice change of pace and a really enjoyable story. I liked that it felt a little more soulful, don't know if that's the word, but maybe it was just the pictish setting and all. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. Decent supporting cast, although some of them could have done with more to do. Only slight whiff of cheese was the business with the blackbirds.
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Post by Tetsuro »

The Doctor (or one of the characters, I can't remember anymore) asked them why they looked like corpses, and their answer was something in the lines of "because you are corpses, you are already dead" or something dumb like that.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

So I love how they put two absolutely superb would-be jaw-dropper twists into "World Enough and Time" and then included both of them in the "next time" package on the previous week's episode.

Great ****ing job guys.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

See, as Capaldi's first season cliffhanger I can see why they'd announce the Cybermen in advance considering that once you film on location on a street it's all over the papers anyway (though that begs the question why they write these scripts as a surprise when Moff must know he'd have no choice but to go with it), but John Simm doesn't seem to have done any filming where folk saw him, so why ruin that?

That said, the disguise completely fooled me even though I knew he was in the episode. It was only when he started talking to Missy and I realised we'd reached the end of episode cliffhanger point Simm should be showing up that it clicked.

I am an idiot.

Good, moody episode though. Goodness knows what more causal viewers who've had a decade of Cybusmen thought of them doing "The origin of the Cybermen" again though. "Wait, they're from an alternate dimension aren't they? What's a "Mondas"?" But then mostly this season seems to be about the Moff giving up on casual viewers and doing everything he can to get hardcore fans to love him again before he goes.

As for the inbetween episodes, having now caught up, after a strong start this season has been a bit of a slog. Especially the Angel season 4 remake (but not as good!) in the middle. It feels like it kind of deserves the low viewing figures to be honest (including beating Battlefield for lowest overnight rating. You could argue it's unfair not to include IPlayer and so on for that one, but then taped and second TV viewings weren't included for McCoy).

I liked the Ice Warriors one though. And the Tardis team is actually great. They just need better material.

Odds on Moff going even more out with the fanwank and the pre-credits flashforward turning out to be set at the same time and place as the first Doctor's regeneration?
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:See, as Capaldi's first season cliffhanger I can see why they'd announce the Cybermen in advance considering that once you film on location on a street it's all over the papers anyway (though that begs the question why they write these scripts as a surprise when Moff must know he'd have no choice but to go with it), but John Simm doesn't seem to have done any filming where folk saw him, so why ruin that?
Agree on the Cybermen, once it's common knowledge you may as well lean into it, but ruining both was just daft.

Good to see the Master hiding out under rubber masks again though, it must be said.
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I was a bit disappointed they'd ruined Simm's return by spoilering it on purpose in advance :( I wouldn't mind, but (somehow) I managed to miss all the press stuff about him being in Who the first time around, so to have the show just give up and spoil everything seems like they've just given up keeping things from the chatty world of the internet. boo.

Disguise totally had me too! And I really liked this with its slow build up and whatnot. Nice :)
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Post by Tetsuro »

inflatable dalek wrote:Goodness knows what more causal viewers who've had a decade of Cybusmen thought of them doing "The origin of the Cybermen" again though. "Wait, they're from an alternate dimension aren't they? What's a "Mondas"?"
That's something I've always been wondering about; have all the Cybermen in nu-Who been the alternate reality ones or have some of them actually been native to this universe and they just couldn't be bothered to come up with different designs for them to set them apart?
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

AFAIK, only the ones in Season 2 have been alternate reality ones. All their subsequent appearances are from 'our' universe, just using the same designs. I liked the sleeker Iron-Man looking ones we had since 2012 :)
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Post by Cyberstrike nTo »

Skyquake87 wrote:AFAIK, only the ones in Season 2 have been alternate reality ones. All their subsequent appearances are from 'our' universe, just using the same designs. I liked the sleeker Iron-Man looking ones we had since 2012 :)
I was always thought the two versions met and/or the original Cybermen found some of the remains from of Torchwood Tower and just took various aspects from the alternate universe Cybermen and used them as their own.
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