Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sarah Jane Adventures...

[Peppermint_M]

I hope they fix Donna soon though. It was still heartbreaking what they did to her (even a lotto ticket isn't enough) and this episode was great. Had a chance to watch with friends so it was a fun time too.

[Sandy]

I always like these episodes where the overarching plot takes a step forward. Totally anticipating the next week's episode with the vampires (who of course turn out to be aliens like every other "mythical" creature appearing in Doctor Who).

Amy was great in this episode, letting her lunatic lusts for the Doctor to take over completely. I don't know whether to feel more sorry for Amy or for the Doctor about the situation!

River Song is one mystifying character, and that's what I love about her: she knows so much about the Doctor that it's overwhelming, yet she hides so much about herself as well that she feels refreshing every time.

Definitely looking forward to her next appearance with the Pandora thingamabob (assuming it's coming this season).

I have to admit, I was a tad worried she was going to drop into the crack with the angels, effectually retconning her existence from the series, but fortunately that didn't happen. It would've totally messed up everything in the series.

As for the Weeping Angels, it was odd that they now functioned totally different from their first appearance in Blink. Remember how the Doctor defeated them that time,

by making them look at each other

? Well, there was no trace of that weakness this time...

A great episode for a great series, in any case!

[Lord Arjay]

Now that I've thought about the episode some more a few things have popped up.

Firstly as already mentioned these angels were acting completely differant to before, but that didn't really detract from my enjoyment.

River Song took more of a back seat throughout a lot of this episode.

Happily she'll return in the series finale along with the Pandorica.

Finally did anyone notice the doctor's magic coat?

At first the angels grab it and the doctor is seen without it, then it suddenly re-appears (during his chat to Amy about remembering something) then it disappears again!

Plot error or intentionally there?

[CheeseyWob]

I think the episode looks very promising. I cant help thinking we have seen them before though. 7th Doctor era maybe?

Yeah, but they are different vampires.

I plucked up the courage and watched both episodes. Not as scary as 'Blink', but still creepy.

Was the Angel turning supposed to be how they look when they move, or something else?

EDIT: In the preview for the next episode the Doctor says the Vampires aren't Vampires. I was watching it with my dad and he said they are the Angels. Can any of you see any connection?

Teeth, and they are meant to look like that.

History can be rewritten. Don't forget that lads.

Amy Ponds is now my favourite companion ever.

Its Amy Pond.

River Song is one mystifying character, and that's what I love about her: she knows so much about the Doctor that it's overwhelming, yet she hides so much about herself as well that she feels refreshing every time.

Definitely looking forward to her next appearance with the Pandora thingamabob (assuming it's coming this season)

The Pandorica is in the finale, and it is a prison, guarded by the Atraxi, and River Song is locked up in it. It was filmed at stonehenge.

Edited May 3, 2010 by CheeseyWob

[Batbrick]

*snipped because of massive, wall-bangering inducing irritation.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread, unless in spoiler tags with a clear indication that you're revealing things yet to happen.

Anyway, a fantastic episode and brilliant follow up! Love that the arc is being addressed, and I'll elaborate on my thoughts later.

-Batbrick

[AwesomeStar]

Really enjoyed this episode, but I found the scene where the Angels all moved their heads a bit strange. It just doesn't seem Angel-enough, if you know what I mean.

Loved the bit at the end. Go on, Amy, getcha some!

~A.S.

[Batbrick]

It was better than RTD's "here are some words you won't notice OH SNAP TURNS OUT THEY'RE IMPORTANT".

Thank you SO much for this, I laughed so hard when I read it. And it's so true, the saddest part is the interviews with RTD where he talks about how good the arc is that season and I'm screaming at the screen "It's not an arc if all you're doing is words! Arrgh!"

I'd glad he didn't actually, the whole Rose and doctor 4eva in season 2 was ugh, and he spent most of season 3 whining about how he missed ruh-ruh-ruh rose

The worst part was she was quite a good companion in season 1, and then in season 2 they couldn't stop making herl augh and make jokes every time someone died, every. freakin. episode.

Is anything really too obvious for Doctor Who? Remember the Torchwood and Mr. Saxon story-arcs?

The most hilarious part was how the Torchwood arc word had hardly anything to do with the finale anyway. Everyone was gearing up for Earth tech versus the Doctor ala the Cadmus arc in JLu, but then they get killed in about two seconds.

Yes but that was RTD, who gave us such 'gems' as paving slab blowjobs, 'clap your hands if you believe in the doctor' ending to a really good 3 parter, like 90% of journeys end and the 'I have time to cheat on the lottery and attend a book signing before I regenerate' scene

NOTE: I love most of RTD's scripts and I owe him loads for bringing the show back, but he has written some terrible things.

Eh, I wish I could be that restrained. Don't get me wrong, Midnight was awesome and RTD deserves to be worshiped in his own temple for bringing back Doctor Who, but I find his great writing talents just disappear when writing sci-fi. I mean, farting aliens? A deus ex machina ending for every finale? Totally hypocritical Doctor? Daleks in three out of four finales? Paving slab blowjobs? The Doctor doing nothing at all in Journey's End (seriously, just watch it, he does practically nothing at all, so much so it doubles back onto hilarious)? Suddenly depressed Doctor from the beginning of Season 3 onwards? Total inability to write any finale at all without there being literally millions of enemies? Walking fat? Total extermination of Donna's character? Jesus paralells for the Doctor every damn episode? "Arcs" that make no sense and merely consist of repeated phrases with all the subtlety of an icepick repeatedly lodged in your face? EVERY SINGLE PART OF THE END OF TIME????

Yeah, I find holes in his writing. That said, the very reemergence of Doctor Who is enough to not make me dislike the guy.

As for the Weeping Angels, it was odd that they now functioned totally different from their first appearance in Blink. Remember how the Doctor defeated them that time,

by making them look at each other

? Well, there was no trace of that weakness this time...

I don't think they changed them at all, the Angels are clearly used to not being able to look at each other. It seems they arrange themselves in an easy configuration in which the ones at the back close their eyes allowing the ones on front to continue. They quite literally move via stop-motion animation of themselves, which is why they moved so slowly towards Amy.

Really enjoyed this episode, but I found the scene where the Angels all moved their heads a bit strange. It just doesn't seem Angel-enough, if you know what I mean.

I don't get what you mean, could you please elaborate?

[Professor Flitwick]

Sorry to trail the topic off course, but I was wondering, what is everyone least favourite/most hated episodes? Feel free to leave out The End Of Time! For me they are:

The Idiot's Lantern - It's a television that's controlled by an Alien... that can control all televisions around the world... that can suck peoples faces off... and the public don't feel the need to do anything. Also, how could the faceless people breathe?

Love & Monsters - Foolish L.I.N.D.A. Foolish alien, with a foolish name. Foolish story line. Foolish ending about blow-job giving paving slap.

Fear Her - A child Alien, that captures people away because it's lonely, because it isn't travelling around space with it's millions of siblings. Also, a weird scribble thing attack Rose? Also, love to the rescue again.

42 - A shorter, worse, less thrilling version of the Impossible Planet/Satan Pit, possible the greatest episodes of series 2 in my opinion. Both feature crew members dropping like flies, only less heroicly. Also features the least sly part of the Saxon arc.

[Orion123]

In response to Flitwick's post, I decided to post my own list.

Worst Episodes:

Boom Town- An overall pointless episode.

Fear Her- The girl's raspy voice when the alien was talking bothered me a lot. And the Alien looked to much like a dandelion.

42- I had no clue what was happening the entire time...

Turn Left- This episode was way to long and confusing. Since I haven't watched Sarah Jane's show yet, I had no idea who the Trickster was. They didn't explain who that woman was, what that beetle thing was, and what they wanted with Donna.

[AwesomeStar]

Batbrick, what I meant was that it didn't seem quite right. The angels can only move when you can't see them, and as such you don't actually see them move. While, of course, Amy didn't see them, as a viewer I felt that the whole movement of their heads was very smooth, where, if you were, stone, it should be almost robot like.

I understand if you don't get what I just said!

~A.S.

[simonjedi]

Eh, I wish I could be that restrained. Don't get me wrong, Midnight was awesome and RTD deserves to be worshiped in his own temple for bringing back Doctor Who, but I find his great writing talents just disappear when writing sci-fi. I mean, farting aliens? A deus ex machina ending for every finale? Totally hypocritical Doctor? Daleks in three out of four finales? Paving slab blowjobs? The Doctor doing nothing at all in Journey's End (seriously, just watch it, he does practically nothing at all, so much so it doubles back onto hilarious)? Suddenly depressed Doctor from the beginning of Season 3 onwards? Total inability to write any finale at all without there being literally millions of enemies? Walking fat? Total extermination of Donna's character? Jesus paralells for the Doctor every damn episode? "Arcs" that make no sense and merely consist of repeated phrases with all the subtlety of an icepick repeatedly lodged in your face? EVERY SINGLE PART OF THE END OF TIME????

In order:

The farting aliens was actually the choice of the director of the episodes (remember she doesn't fart during Boom Town.) The Deus ex machine for the Parting of the ways makes sense and was foreshadowed in boom town and Doomsday was plotted well. Agree 10 was an big behind. Agree, we almost got the Daleks in TEoT (see writers tale). Agree. Agree Rose's human doctor Sexdoll (ugh) did more than him. Agree. Agree. I liked the adipose. Ditto Donna's Fate. Agree. Agree. Disagree. TEoT had Bernard Cribbins.

Yeah, I find holes in his writing. That said, the very reemergence of Doctor Who is enough to not make me dislike the guy.

Read 'The Writer's tale' (the final chapter version) Its a very good book and it makes you like him a bit more. Plus you'll know things could have been a lot worse

but I was wondering, what is everyone least favourite/most hated episodes? Feel free to leave out The End Of Time!

This won't end well. I don't hate that many episodes, just bits of episodes. I'm only going to pick a couple or i'll be here all day.

New Earth

Cassandra back for some reason, 'hilarious' body swapping. MAGICAL POTION THAT IS LIKE EVERY OTHER POTION MIXED TOGETHER. ALSO IT'S SPREAD BY TOUCH.

Love and monsters

Good idea Badly executed, paving slab blowjobs.

Fear Her

I honestly can't remember anything that happens in this episode.

Army of ghosts

I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO GHOST otherwise good.

Dalek in New York 2 parter

Penis headed Dalek Sec, Time lord dna being transmitted to dalek experiments by lightning (or something idk it was stupid.)

42

It's not bad, but it's just a forgettable version of the satan pit. Plus 'hay guiz lets put a security system that relies on knowledge of 20th century pop culture on a spaceship in the 23rd(?) century'

Last 5 minutes of Last of the time lords.

"clap ur hands if u belive in the doctor."

NEXT time...

Series 4 and the specials ! I bet none of you can wait!

Edited May 6, 2010 by simonjedi

[Batbrick]

The farting aliens was actually the choice of the director of the episodes (remember she doesn't fart during Boom Town.)

Really? Well the episodes were still pretty rubbish and sensationalised anyway. But the farting was a grievous offense.

The Deus ex machine for the Parting of the ways makes sense and was foreshadowed in boom town and Doomsday was plotted well.

It's still Deus Ex Machina. Just because you mention God exists in Act 2 doesn't mean that when he swoops in and saves the protagonists in the climax it isn't Deus Ex Machina. Even worse in fact, the TARDIS Time Vortex was only given one ability (which was a deus ex machina in THAT episode) which was granting your deep desire, the Doctor even says to Rose "You didn't stare into the heart of the TARDIS that was the Time Vortex!" or something. Which means never before mentioned ability suddenly happens. As well as never again mentioned, which makes it really awkward in Journey's End when you start wondering if all of all creation is at stake why don't they try the same trick again.

I'll give you Doomsday though, but I'm still angry about it because it was basically 40 minutes of taking the Cybermen and trying to make them the most worthless foe of all time. Take the Daleks out of the plot and almost nothing changes, and the Cybermen come across as supremely badass. We also don't have to have the Pepperpots as the main villains in three out of four series.

Agree, we almost got the Daleks in TEoT (see writers tale)

Oh grief, really? Could you please elaborate on that if you can remember?

Agree Rose's human doctor Sexdoll (ugh) did more than him.

That's another point I wanted to make, Davies incredibly creepy assumption that as long as there's an alternate counterpart of your unavailable spouse that's somewhat similar, it's okay to treat them as the same person. First Martha to alternate rich Peter, then DonnaDoctor to Rose, who would therefore have a different personality.

I liked the adipose.

I didn't, but I'll admit I really liked the episode, it began the awesome of Donna, who because she brought some fun and lightheartedness to Doctor Who, which is a family show, just had to be mindraped and get sent back to anonymity by the Doctor by the end.

Disagree. TEoT had Bernard Cribbins.

Ah, I feel unclean for forgetting about him. He was very cool, as was John Simm. I still think the new Master post-Jacobi is trying too hard to be "modern" and has had his character retconned beyond belief, but John Simm takes some of the pain away.

Actually I'll add the new Master to my list of terriblenessnessness. Not so much the personality, just the absolutely diabolical retconning done to him with the drumming, childhood friendship, backstory, Teletubbies, laser firing, people eating, Skeletor looking and general sexual tension with the Doctor.

Read 'The Writer's tale' (the final chapter version) Its a very good book and it makes you like him a bit more. Plus you'll know things could have been a lot worse

I have no doubt he's a great writer, just certainly not fit for sci-fi. I read an excerpt someone posted on a forum where he writes about people criticising him for deus ex machinas and etcetera and how he feels it's a good thing to break such story conventions for Doctor Who. I'd agree with him, if he didn't just do the same damn thing every time. He's very Joss Whedon in that way, trying so hard to be different he creates his own even less tolerable cliches.

But like I said, I have no doubt out of sci-fi he is a great writer, and all the interviews I've seen of him he seems very nice.

42

You are all terrible people for naming this episode as the worst! Terrible! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!

I think maybe its because it was one of the first new episodes I saw of the new series, but I have a real sense of nostalgia for that one. Plus "BURN WITH ME" was creepy, especially with Tennant.

I'll add Aliens of London, World War III, The Long Game (Not even Simon Pegg and Tamsin Grieg could redeem it), Boom Town, New Earth, The Idiot's Lantern, Love and Monsters (And it had SO much potential!), Fear Her, The Penis Headed Dalek Two-Parter (Though it was quite a turn on.... ), The Lazarus Experiment (NOTHING WORKS THAT WAY! Though it does get some good points for not having an alien in it, I'd love to see another ep with weird human stuff), The Last of the Time Lords, The Doctor's Daughter (Another ham-handed anti-gun message? Really?), Journey's End (AKA In which the Titular Hero Does Nothing and then Lambastes those who do) and.........*breathes in* The End of Time, which unlike previous finales which were atleast fun and had great cool and fun factors on their sides, was depressing throughout and one of the single worst pieces of television writing I've ever seen.

When we're done with these, let's discuss the absolute favourites

Batbrick Away!

[simonjedi]

Oh grief, really? Could you please elaborate on that if you can remember?

To show how evil the Time Lords are, they are allied with the Daleks (Yeah) and the Daleks have their own 'War council.' This was thought of quite late so we already had most of TEoT stuff. They decided against it because it felt too 'RTD's Greatest hits.'

When we're done with these, let's discuss the absolute favourites

Not my favorites but what i can watch several times.

95% of Eccleston's season

All of Moffats.

All of Cornell's work.

90% of the Master 3 parter.

Fires of Pompeii.

Turn left.

The Stolen Earth.

Smith and Jones.

Shakespeare code

Christmas Invasion

Both CIN episodes.

School Reunion

Impossible planet 2 parter

Army of ghosts/Doomsday.

Runaway Bride (After seeing series 4)

Midnight.

As a bonus, here is a comparison shot between 11 and 10's screwdrivers.

Edited May 6, 2010 by simonjedi

[Lord Arjay]

You are all terrible people for naming this episode as the worst! Terrible! You should all be ashamed of yourselves!

I agree. I don't understand the hate towards it, to me it was a breath of relief after that horrid dalek two-parter and an average story about Lazarus.

I'll add Aliens of London, World War III, The Long Game (Not even Simon Pegg and Tamsin Grieg could redeem it), Boom Town, New Earth, The Idiot's Lantern, Love and Monsters (And it had SO much potential!), Fear Her, The Penis Headed Dalek Two-Parter (Though it was quite a turn on.... ), The Lazarus Experiment (NOTHING WORKS THAT WAY! Though it does get some good points for not having an alien in it, I'd love to see another ep with weird human stuff), The Last of the Time Lords, The Doctor's Daughter (Another ham-handed anti-gun message? Really?), Journey's End (AKA In which the Titular Hero Does Nothing and then Lambastes those who do) and.........*breathes in* The End of Time, which unlike previous finales which were atleast fun and had great cool and fun factors on their sides, was depressing throughout and one of the single worst pieces of television writing I've ever seen.

Almost everything there I agree with but as I have already said The Lazarus Experiment wasn't too bad in my opinion, instead merely average.

I'd also put Journeys End as the worst finale ever (It was a big disappointment on so many levels, from the immediate resolution of all of the cliffhangers to rubbing out the torchwood team save a breif cameo at the end, or the terrible resolution involving spinning daleks and the tow truck tardis. I could go on but it would take a while.) then putting Last of the Time Lords second and finaly The End of Time. Add Voyage of the Dammned (which I feel is just a pointless run-around aiming for spectacle only) and the list is complete IMO.

On the subject of best stories I will get the ball rolling:

Dalek

If we must get daleks every series then this is what they should be like.

Blink

An amazing intro to my faviourite Doctor Who villians plus a well crafted story and a brilliant possible companion. Whats not to like?

Midnight

Mysterious monster and the Doctor is helpless to a bunch of paranoid humans. Genius!

There's definitely more but thats all I have for now.

[simonjedi]

I agree. I don't understand the hate towards it, to me it was a breath of relief after that horrid dalek two-parter and an average story about Lazarus.

I didn't hate it, it was just a pretty forgettable rehash of The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit but on a Spaceship, plus the already mentioned 'hay guiz lets put a security system that relies on knowledge of 20th century pop culture on a spaceship in the 23rd(?) century.' Although I did like the real time aspect of the episode and i rather watch that than the Planet of the Dead for example.

Plus I wished it was a Hitchhikers episode.

[Lord Arjay]

I didn't hate it, it was just a pretty forgettable rehash of The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit but on a Spaceship, plus the already mentioned 'hay guiz lets put a security system that relies on knowledge of 20th century pop culture on a spaceship in the 23rd(?) century.' Although I did like the real time aspect of the episode and i rather watch that than the Planet of the Dead for example.

I understand what you mean there. I think though that my main reason for enjoying it (already stated) was that it was way better than the episodes before it in my opinion.

[Professor Flitwick]

The Doctor's Daughter (Another ham-handed anti-gun message? Really?)

Bu- But Jenny wore a tight shirt and tight leather trousers. I liked Jenny.

[Batbrick]

To show how evil the Time Lords are, they are allied with the Daleks (Yeah) and the Daleks have their own 'War council.' This was thought of quite late so we already had most of TEoT stuff. They decided against it because it felt too 'RTD's Greatest hits.'

Woah, that's pretty damn awful. I've no problem with Daleks having some "War Council" though, I like that their hierarchy often changes. But thme allied wit the Time Lords would make no damn sense

95% of Eccleston's season

That's really strange because even though 9 is one of my favourite Doctors and was written much more consistently, I felt he got put in a few poor episodes, such as Aliens of London/World War III, The Long Game, Boomtown, but mostly just that thei weren't that many big standouts like in later seasons.

All of Moffats.

Agreed, the man writes one of my favuorite tropes ever: Earn Your Happy Ending, where as much struggle and pain that happened in the episode, the heroes still manage to win out at the end. Probably why I hate the RTD finales so much, the last four of them were all "We won! Hooray - Oh, bad stuff out of nowhere, now I'm depressed".

Add Voyage of the Dammned (which I feel is just a pointless run-around aiming for spectacle only) and the list is complete IMO.

I'll add this to my list of terriblenessnessness, mostly because it had almost no reason for existing. And I called Kylie's death minutes after her appearance knowing who wrote it. It's like seeing a really happy and chirpy character in a Joss Whedon show and just knowing they'll bite it soon.

Blink

An amazing intro to my faviourite Doctor Who villians plus a well crafted story and a brilliant possible companion. Whats not to like?

I'm of the mind that the Weeping Angels should definitely become the newest major recurring villains, joining the ranks of the Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians, The Master, Autons and Ice Warriors. There is simpyl so much that can be done with them. I'd love to see a finale based around a single Weeping Angel invading Earth simply through being captured on footage the world over, and the Doctor and co have to activate an EMP device or something while an army of not-quite-there Weeping Angels all from the single one's consciousness materialise everywhere.

Bu- But Jenny wore a tight shirt and tight leather trousers. I liked Jenny.

She was a great distraction yes.

Now my favuorites:

Dalek: A bit overpowered, but ultimately the best tale featuring the most famous villains return. My favourite part is just how it utterly deconstructs the Daleks psyche and shows us that while their creation is evil, they aren't, because they literally have no choice in what they do, no possible potential for good. They simply kill because they are programmed to believe what they are doing is right, and the existence of other beings is wrong. One of my favourite parts of the new series is showing the potential for Daleks that are altered to be good, such as this one, Dalek Sec and Dalek Caan. I'm still holding out for a Dalek to be a companion for a few episodes one day.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances: Great entrance for Jack, and a very creepy monster in the zombie child. Ultiamtely becomes the most heartwarming episodes. Oh, and the banana is great.

School Reunion: Sarah Jane! A very fun Principal villain, and I love that the villains actually are very respectful of the Doctor's superiority and ask him to be their leader. K-9 is back and fun. That's what the episode is really, fun, and also explores the old "missing companion" questions in a moving way.

The Girl in the Fireplace:Great to finally get some time travel related stuff in Doctor Who that goes beyond "plot device to get to location". It helps that the story is so moving and that Mickey finally gets a character upgrade.

The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit: This two-parter is on a level with Moffat's best and scariest in my opinion. It also represents something that is sorely lacking from the new series; things in the universe that the Doctor doesn't know about. The Doctor is just as scared as everyone else here and so are we. The Ood are some of the best new alien species in Who and I hope that we see them again. Satan himself is brilliant too and honselty one of the best versions in fiction I've seen. The idea of him being like Pandora's box, already everywhere in the world but about to be unleashed more powerfully was great, but even better the concept of him as an idea that becomes stronger the more you believe in it was simply chilling.

Human Nature/Family of Blood: Excellent exploration of the Doctor's character without being too mopey. This two-parter really shows off Tennant's acting and the guy playing "Son-of-Mine" is downright creepy.

Blink: I won't even bother explaining why this one is so great, I'll simply say; everything about it.

Utopia: Almost too good, it made the final episode downright disappointing. Derek Jacobi is masterful (eh? eh? ) and the YANA revelation is great. Too bad Jack hears "The Face of Boe" comment here and doesn't even flinch.

Time Crash: Peter Davison and Tennant interacting is hilarious and heartwarming, and I cracked up at "The size of...Belgium? That's a little anticlimactic!" "Belgium in thirty seconds!"

And...can't be bothered writing any more, I'll finish my list another time.

Batbrick Away!

[Lord Arjay]

Woah, that's pretty damn awful. I've no problem with Daleks having some "War Council" though, I like that their hierarchy often changes. But thme allied wit the Time Lords would make no damn sense

Wow I had no idea about that . It would have a disaster, Daleks allied with their greatest enemies during a massive war which leads to all of them being destroyed?

Probably why I hate the RTD finales so much, the last four of them were all "We won! Hooray - Oh, bad stuff out of nowhere, now I'm depressed".

That made me laugh. Though to be fair I really enjoyed The Waters of Mars it's just really annoying how RTD chose to completely forget about the time lord victorious dynamic he had set up at the end of the episode in TEoT.

I'm of the mind that the Weeping Angels should definitely become the newest major recurring villains, joining the ranks of the Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians, The Master, Autons and Ice Warriors. There is simpyl so much that can be done with them. I'd love to see a finale based around a single Weeping Angel invading Earth simply through being captured on footage the world over, and the Doctor and co have to activate an EMP device or something while an army of not-quite-there Weeping Angels all from the single one's consciousness materialise everywhere.

Well done, you've successfully guessed the series finale plot! How did you know? In truth that would make for a brilliant series finale. Much more thrilling than the previous years "Ha last years finale was nothing, now the Daleks/Time lords have found a knew way to completely destroy everything even more!" way of thinking.

Now my favuorites:

Yep agree with everything you've placed there.

So tonights episode is Vampires of Venice, what does everyone think about it so far?

[The Crazy One]

Top 5 Favourite and worst episodes:

Favourite:

Blink:

What is there that isn't likeable in this episode? It scared my girlfriend so much, but I have to say it was just pure genius. The concept of the Angels is a real inovation in Doctor Who.

Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead (?):

Deffinatley one of my favourite episodes. Extremely clever with the library being controlled by a child. I have to say it worked suprisingly well.

Midnight:

Wow, this type of episode had never been seen before in Doctor Who. I have to say this was a really great episode.

The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances:

The first real episode where I fealt the new Doctor Who may actually be worth watching (This was before I had seen Dalek). A very clever, and rather repulsive idea of growing gas masks out of infected peoples faces.

Dalek:

I hope I am not the only one saying this, but this is the only good Dalek episode that has been written until series 5. Showing what daleks are really like.

And the worst:

Turn Left/The Stolen Earth/Journeys End:

All I can really say is oh dear. What a waste of a season finale. To much going on with ridiculous subplots like that stupid Earth destroying tactical nuke crap. ( Excuse my language )

The Specials:

All of them were awful. How could RTD live knowing that he had sent Tennant out with a whimper?

Love and Monsters:

Nice idea, poorly exicuted. Very poorly done.

The Idiots Lantern:

A TV that eats people faces. Need I say more?

Army Of Ghosts/Doomsday:

Okay, I liked these episodes sort of, just one thing. Torchwood put up a pitiful fight, like the Cybermen. What an insult, even if they were parrellel versions. Atleast we got rid of Rose.

Sorry, I fealt the need for that little rant. Apart from that, I have enjoyed most of the other episodes.

Can't wait for tonights episode. I have my mini Lego Matt Smith Doctor and Daleks ready for the action.

[Mr Spielbrick]

Ugh. Can this please, please, please be the last time there's uniting through RTD-hating? He deserves "so! much! more!" in my view. As a relatively differently opinionated person on the whole RTD era, I'll list some of the highs for me. The episodes per series I'd recommend people to see, if they'd want to watch just the highlights.

Series 1

Rose

Fine, clever (yes, I said clever) way of introducing the Doctor to an audience who know nothing about Doctor Who. Why clever? It starts with a normal person, in the normal world. Only gradually does the weirdness enter the picture. Very accessible. Compare that to the first scenes in The Movie (1996). Skaro, Time Lords, thirteen lives, the Master... what?! Whereas Rose takes you by the hand. Much smarter strategy to introduce new audiences to the phenomenon.

Dalek

Pretty much all of us on here agree about this one. Fantastic episode, very well-executed introduction to the Dalek(s).

Father's Day

The classic time travel story, but by way of Who. Hits the right emotional notes.

Series 2

School Reunion

Sarah Jane Smith and K9 make a fantastic return, which even people unfamiliar with Who can relate to. I should know, it was the first episode I ever saw. And it has Giles! Anyone else think the Skasis Paradigm should make another appearance? Interesting, threatening concept. I wish the sad, instrumental version of Song for Ten would've returned beyond this episode.

The Girl in the Fireplace

There's only one word for this perfect beauty: heartbreaking.

Series 3

The Shakespeare Code

Shakespeare in Love by way of Who. Pretty much the funniest episode ever, I think. Sort of a more academical version of an Indiana Jones story.

Gridlock

Epic. Total epic. Saving a planet more subtly than usual, in just a one-off episode, which also forms the bright centre of the Face of Boe storyline. Brannigan is probably my favourite non-returning guest character of the past years. Did I mention the fantastic music? Sweet last scene, too.

Blink

Oh, so many fans have drooled over this already. You know the drill. Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan as Sally Sparrow. The truly scary Weeping Angels. Clever storytelling. Poor D.I. Shipton. The darkest humour in Who so far: "It's not pretty when they blow." HA!

Utopia

Derek Jacobi is endlessly awesome in this one. And the story so nicely plays into the last of the Time Lords plot thread and the fobwatch idea. The return of captain Jack! More like a proper introduction to his new self, even.

Series 4

Voyage of the Damned

That's right, I actually love this one. Brilliant score. Probably the best score ever in New Who, and that's saying something, 'cos the score in ALL of New Who is bloody amazing in my book. How can Murray Gold do such beautiful work for so many episodes a year, while many composers on major motion pictures fail to impress at all? He's a genius. Kylie is so cute. Mr Copper is so sweet. Bernard Cribbins is so funny. Almost trashing Buckingham Palace (!) with the Titanic (!) is sooo out there. I absolutely love it! "Only Britain is great." Best Christmas special so far, to me.

Planet of the Ood

Ood. Tim McInnerny. Song of Freedom. Gothic horror transformation. Cool!

Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead

Ah, when River Song was still sympathetically enigmatic. Spoilers! Great use of the time-twisting potential of Doctor Who.

Midnight

Wow. Barely any special effects shots, yet all the more impressive. Fantastic performances from David Tennant and Lesley Sharp (do check her out in Bob & Rose, a brilliant series). Brilliant idea by Russell T Davies.

The Stolen Earth / Journey's End

I personally adore this story. Two of the episodes I can watch over and over again. Nice character work, great music and the best scene ever shown on television anywhere: all the companions aboard the TARDIS, pulling planet Earth back home. Pure awesome. So joyful.

The Specials

The End of Time

Liked bits of Planet of the Dead, mostly disliked The Waters of Mars, loved The End of Time. Sure, there could've been MORE on the Time War, and a McGann cameo would've been super, but as it is... Timothy Dalton is such a great villain. The two old men, Wilf and the Doctor, have such sweet little scenes. And the last twenty minutes... Wow. What would you want to do when you know you're almost out of time? Visit all the people you love one last time. The Doctor asking whether Joan had been happy after he hurt her. Devastating. What he did to give Donna a wedding gift. Visiting Rose one last time. The Ood music. It's the perfect ending to the RTD / Tennant era, to me.

So yeah, that's 9 episodes penned by RTD and 4 by The Moff, out of the 18 I wrote about. I think both men are brilliant. They have very different styles and fortes, but they're both great writers and assets to the Doctor Who universe.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Mr Spielbrick

[Lord Arjay]

Ugh. Can this please, please, please be the last time there's uniting through RTD-hating? He deserves "so! much! more!" in my view. As a relatively differently opinionated person on the whole RTD era, I'll list some of the highs for me. The episodes per series I'd recommend people to see, if they'd want to watch just the highlights.

Oh by all means I do not hate RTD and I utterly respect him for bringing back Doctor Who. I also enjoy some of the episodes he wrote. But for me a lot of his episodes were also let-downs.

[The Crazy One]

Agreed. I do not hate him, and I respect the majority of his works, we are just pointing out his lesser works, which were pretty disasterouos.

EDIT: Thoughts on the new episode.

Well, I enjoyed it for the most part, but I thought it wasn't very well put together filming wise, and the story was a little weak. It could have been a lot better. It was nice seeing the Doctor having to go through the pressure of another race dyeing, but still could have been better.

But, the next episode looks extremely promising. The Dream Lord. I love those sorts of slightly spooky episodes with only the Doctor. I can't wait for that one.

Edited May 8, 2010 by The crazy one

[Lord Arjay]

I think that this was a rather good episode but I agree that the story was quite weak.

I'm much more excited about next weeks though it looks amazing.

I will post more thoughts later.

[Eskallon]

Just watched this weeks episode and it was only OK. Nothing big happened and it was all a bit of run here, run back, run here, run back, save Venice, be happy. It just didn't appeal to me. I also hate how they keep giving us these little sneak peaks of the crack/the silence. It should be a surprise people, somethings are better left untold and could they not even try to be more subtle about THE SILENCE.

Anyway I will still continue to watch it and although I don't like all these sneak peeks, I am still looking forward to next weeks episode.