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A new character with the same actress as a dead character. Clever, BBC.

Doctor Who has a long tradition of re-using actors who played other characters in earlier episodes: The Brigadier, Harry Sullivan, the second Romana, and the sixth Doctor.

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That was pretty good, but not as good as Bad Wolf. I miss Billie Piper already. I finally recognized the new companion as the chick who just died in the second to last episode who was IMing her boyfriend while at work.

Pretty teary goodbye to Rose, but... I wonder where the show is going now. The entire cast except Tennant is totally gone now. Oh well, Torchwood in October!

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I liked it, but the plotting was uneven. The Daleks and Cyberman get all this build up and then just got brushed off. There's no real climax with their fight. Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways had great build up and tension.

Dalek is good and all, but it's still a pretty straightfoward "trapped in a sealed military installation with a monster" that we've seen in a jillion b-movies...

I definitely think the best thing this season has been School Reunion (not so much for the fan service, but because the Rose/Sarah Jane/Doctor triangle was awesome), Impossible Planet/Satan Pit (moody and cool), and Love & Monsters. I -really- liked Love & Monsters. Very offbeat and fun.

Overall I was happier with season 1 because of the stronger character writing, specifically between Rose & The Doctor. This season was much more episodic and didn't really build their relationship very much. Also better chemistry between Eccelston & Piper, but next season will be interesting. Maybe they can get that kind of chemstry going with the new companion.

Last season I loved Father's Day, too, soooo...

Edited by Ginrai
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I think what's great about Dalek, aside from the sheer nostalgia of it, is the interaction between the Doctor and the Dalek. We see a side of the Doctor we've never, ever seen before and likewise for the Dalek itself. The rampage through the facility was good just because we finally get to see how badass a Dalek really is, but that was only a small part of why I liked the episode.

I agree whole heartedly with you on Love and Monsters. It's sad that the episode seems to generate a lot of hate with the fans (especially when it's such a celebration of fandom).

Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways was good, but the ending seemed anti-climatic to me. The almost literal deus ex machina ending just didn't feel right. With Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, the climax was good, but I will admit that the post climax bit kind of drug. I think they could have shortened the goodbye part a bit. The smack talking scene was just plain awesome.

While I really like Eccleston, I've definitely become a convert to the Tennant Doctor. The only episodes this season that I felt were weak were New Earth and Fear Her (about the same as last season, I guess which had the Long Game and Boom Town).

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Like I say, I don't dislike Tennant, but he does not have the right chemistry with Piper. And for that one shining moment, the Tennant/Piper/Barrowman chemistry was, well, brilliant. If Tennant and the new companion hit it off and have great chemistry -and- they actually develop their relationship then I'll probably be happy again.

While I loved last season, it wasn't all perfect to me. I really, really did not like The Unquiet Dead. And the fart jokes in Aliens of London/WWIII annoyed the hell out of me. As did the burping trash can in Rose. But other than that, I pretty much loved last season. I thought Rose especially was a great reintroduction to the series that brought fun and excitement Doctor Who hasn't had since the 70's.

This season doesn't have as a good a record with me. New Earth was pretty bad, Tooth and Claw was pretty bad (ugh CG werewolf go away), and I was kind of unimpressed by Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel. I mean, it wasn't bad, but it was just kind of generic and been-there-done-that. Yawn, evil mad scientist creates cyborgs and tries to take over the world, his own creations turn on him, yadda yadda.

The Idiot's Lantern I thought was pretty creative, but the solution to stop The Wire was just gibberish to me. What? I didn't hate Fear Her, though it was alright. Certainly a unique monster, but the olympic torch thing at the end was pretty stupid.

Also, yo, RTD, what the hell happened to that Empire of the Wolf stuff you were hinting at?

One more thing, I'm also annoyed that Rose's dad is conveniently alive again by way of alternate reality. That's just kind of cheesy and takes some of the sting out of Father's Day. And that sting is part of why I loved it.

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One more thing, I'm also annoyed that Rose's dad is conveniently alive again by way of alternate reality. That's just kind of cheesy and takes some of the sting out of Father's Day. And that sting is part of why I loved it.

415270[/snapback]

You know, spoilers really don't bother me much, but please take kindly to the fact that there are those of us here who have not seen the 2nd series and would like to watch it unhindered. And don't bring up the "don't read the post if you don't want to know" thing, as the title of this thread says "The Doctor Who Thread", not "The Spoiler Laden Doctor Who Thread". I'm not just nitpicking on Ginrai, but there are a few others also.

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  • 3 months later...

Just a note, the Doctor Who spin-off series "Torchwood" aired last night in the UK. Its apparently had the highest non-sports viewer ratings for a UK satellite channel.

I'm still absorbing my initial impressions, but wow - they don't say "B*****ks!" on Doctor Who! :)

Also, the series is set in Wales. Note to the translators of Magister Negi Magi: thats NOT ENGLAND. ;)

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The CBC here in Canada funds part of the new Who series so we also get to see it here which is a good thing...but it's much too late, I've already seen most of them online.

They've only now begun to show the second series.

The only reason we got Eccleston's series on time was because of a labour lock-out in hockey so the CBC had to use Who to fill in empty timeslots.

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The first episode of Torchwood was really good. I had a lot of fun watching it and the twists were excellent.

The second one was okay, but had too much of a gratuitous, "look how adult we can be" feel to it.

Anyone catch the almost, but not quite cameo of the Doctor?

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The first episode of Torchwood was really good. I had a lot of fun watching it and the twists were excellent.

The second one was okay, but had too much of a gratuitous, "look how adult we can be" feel to it.

Anyone catch the almost, but not quite cameo of the Doctor?

Yeah, I like Torchwood so far. I just wish there wasn't so much bi-sexual innuendo on this show, it's hard to show it to family when every character is bi. I can handle it though, I work in a really PC office environment, gotta be accepting of everything these days.

The cameo: I thought Captain Jack just really loves spare bodyparts until I thought about where it came from.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 2 months later...

We are now most of the way through the third season here in the UK, and I feel so far that this series is somewhat stronger than the second. David Tennant has settled in, and generally kicking alien menance posterior, and the new assistant has slotted in nicely as well.

So far, we've had the assistants introduction, a romp with Englands most famous playwright, a couple of "standard" Who stories (running down corridors in spaceships screaming... :) Note that I'm not saying that these episodes are bad, its just a capsule description... ) a fun but slightly flat return from an old enemy of the Doctor (and if you can't work out what that enemy is, welcome to Doctor Who. You're new here, aren't you? :) )...

...and, oh, three episodes that might just be some of the finest Who ever. One is a two-parter, which some people are speaking of in the same terms as the first series "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", and a standalone which some are comparing to "Dalek". A few might even think it was better... :ph34r:

And still a few episodes to go in the current season...!

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Speaking of two-part Dr. Who episodes, as my luck would have it, the only Dr. Who episode that I managed to catch last week while I was in London was the second part of a two-parter. Still, I guess it's better to not get to see any episode of the series while I was there!

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  • 9 months later...

Heads up: the latest, fourth season of the new Doctor Who begins this Saturday, 5th April, 18:20 GMT [1].

Also, David Tennant is everywhere at the moment, so downloaders might want to watch for this Fridays edition of the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show.

[1] Of course, "Time" is a big ball of wibbley-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff... :)

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Heads up: the latest, fourth season of the new Doctor Who begins this Saturday, 5th April, 18:20 GMT [1].

Also, David Tennant is everywhere at the moment, so downloaders might want to watch for this Fridays edition of the Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show.

[1] Of course, "Time" is a big ball of wibbley-wobbly timey-wimey... stuff... :)

Last weekend was the first time I had seen the "Blink" episode (on BBC America). I must have missed it when it originally came on the SciFi channel. That was really good and scary at times.

Edited by Effect
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"Blink" has basically been getting raves everywhere. Its just one of those spot-on perfect Who stories. What was even more incredible was that it was preceded by "Human Nature/Family of Blood" which were very nearly as perfect. The writer (not of Human Nature/Family of Blood), Stephen Moffat, also wrote "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances" and "The Girl in the Fireplace", which possibly makes him the Hayao Miyazaki of Doctor Who. :)

You may be excited by the fact that he has also written a two-parter for the new series as well...

Edited by F-ZeroOne
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"Blink" has basically been getting raves everywhere. Its just one of those spot-on perfect Who stories. What was even more incredible was that it was preceded by "Human Nature/Family of Blood" which were very nearly as perfect.

I think that the other incredible fact about the success of "Blink" was that it was the "Doctor-Lite" story of the season. Tough production demands means that David Tennant gets a bit of a break during one story each season. "Love and Monsters" had been the Doctor Lite story for the previous season and while the concept behind the story was an excellent one (The superfan spoiling the fun of other fans), the execution was poor, I thought.

But, Blink was brilliant and the Doctor Lite story for the upcoming season looks like it has potential as well.

Taksraven

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I think that the other incredible fact about the success of "Blink" was that it was the "Doctor-Lite" story of the season. Tough production demands means that David Tennant gets a bit of a break during one story each season. "Love and Monsters" had been the Doctor Lite story for the previous season and while the concept behind the story was an excellent one (The superfan spoiling the fun of other fans), the execution was poor, I thought.

But, Blink was brilliant and the Doctor Lite story for the upcoming season looks like it has potential as well.

Taksraven

What IS the Doctor-lite story for season 4?

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What IS the Doctor-lite story for season 4?

I am not sure which one it is. From what I heard though,

The Doctor is separated from the Tardis and his three companions, Martha, Rose and Donna have to manage to pilot the Tardis to save him.

This synopsis is old so I don't know how much it will resemble the final product.

You can see why I used the spoilerbox, enjoy....

Taksraven.

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I am not sure which one it is. From what I heard though,

The Doctor is separated from the Tardis and his three companions, Martha, Rose and Donna have to manage to pilot the Tardis to save him.

This synopsis is old so I don't know how much it will resemble the final product.

You can see why I used the spoilerbox, enjoy....

Taksraven.

Huh. IF that's still the plot of that episode it should be pretty interesting. Hopefully it will do something interesting with that particular set-up because that could easily be filled to the brim with very cliched situations.

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