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Best Producer/Showrunner? This poll is closed. |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Verity Lambert |
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49 | 7.04% |
| John Wiles |
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1 | 0.14% |
| Innes Lloyd |
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1 | 0.14% |
| Peter Bryant |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Derrick Sherwin |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Barry Letts |
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12 | 1.72% |
| Phillip Hinchcliffe |
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62 | 8.91% |
| Graham Williams |
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3 | 0.43% |
| John Nathan-Turner |
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15 | 2.16% |
| Philip Segal |
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3 | 0.43% |
| Russel T Davies |
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106 | 15.23% |
| Steven Moffat |
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114 | 16.38% |
| Son Goku |
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324 | 46.55% |
| Total: | 696 votes | ||
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Jerusalem posted:At least he left Borusa with a bit of a love life v 
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Mar 21, 2014 02:28
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I wonder if they're ever going to mention Pompei and Capaldi's character again with a passing gag like they did with the Torchwood girl who died in past Cardiff.
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Mar 21, 2014 03:02
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LividLiquid posted:I wonder if they're ever going to mention Pompei and Capaldi's character again with a passing gag like they did with the Torchwood girl who died in past Cardiff. I doubt it, as the Doctor never noticed that Amy had an ancestor in Pompeii. Gwen's just kinda fit because the original story was set in Cardiff.
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Mar 21, 2014 03:05
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Neddy Seagoon posted:I doubt it, as the Doctor never noticed that Amy had an ancestor in Pompeii. Gwen's just kinda fit because the original story was set in Cardiff. On the other hand... quote:"We are aware that Peter Capaldi’s played a part in Doctor Who before and we’re not going to ignore the fact", Moffat admitted. "I’ll let you in on this. I remember Russell told me he had a big old plan as to why there were two Peter Capaldis in the Who universe, one in Pompeii and one in Torchwood. When I cast Peter, [Russell] got in touch to say how pleased he was I said 'Okay, what was your theory and does it still work?' and he said 'Yes it does, here it is'. So I don’t know if we’ll get to it… we’ll play that one out over time. It’s actually quite neat".
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Mar 21, 2014 03:19
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Caecilius is the 12th Doctor in disguise and he's taking Amy for one last trip. There's also Martha's cousin. They probably didn't bother doing the same with Amy (besides it being silly) because she's hooded and in full face makeup, and doesn't have much non-group screen time beyond sneaking behind the Doctor. Her character doesn't have a unique name, and I'm not sure she has any solo dialog.
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Mar 21, 2014 09:50
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So, the BBC Who site has a Hitchhiker's-esque guide to the Zygons. In it, it has this image: 
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Mar 21, 2014 10:41
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Haha, holy poo poo what.
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Mar 21, 2014 12:21
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Sleep of Bronze posted:Haha, holy poo poo what. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01m3gk3
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Mar 21, 2014 12:49
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'Whose hide can withstand a nuclear attack' 'alloy toughened skeleton' 'cybernetic brain' 'and whose lactic fluids are used as a food source by it's [sic] masters' Right, sure.
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Mar 21, 2014 12:58
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The_Doctor posted:So, the BBC Who site has a Hitchhiker's-esque guide to the Zygons. In it, it has this image: Organic technology? Like the Zerg?
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Mar 21, 2014 14:37
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Have you guys not seen Terror of the Zygons?
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Mar 21, 2014 14:49
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The_Doctor posted:So, the BBC Who site has a Hitchhiker's-esque guide to the Zygons. In it, it has this image: The humans use living ORGANIC technology their MOTHERS whose lactic fluids are used as a FOOD SOURCE
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Mar 21, 2014 14:55
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BATTLE CATTLE
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Mar 21, 2014 15:58
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vegetables posted:The humans use living ORGANIC technology We don't have mothers strapped into milking machines like that.
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Mar 21, 2014 16:20
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The_Doctor posted:We don't have mothers strapped into milking machines like that. The humans use living ORGANIC technology COWS whose lactic fluids are used as a FOOD SOURCE
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Mar 21, 2014 17:19
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Gaz-L posted:J-Ru is mostly right, but in as much as it is defined, yes, that's basically it. Time Lords are capable of actually feeling the flow of time and are immune or sensitive to the manipulation of same. Say, if the timeline changes around them, everyone else won't notice because things have always been that way, but the Doctor would notice. The Ninth Doctor made a sort-of reference to the Time Lord's abilities when it comes to time & suchlike when he said: "Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving? It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. he grabs her hand. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet spinning at a thousand miles an hour. And the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at 67,000 thousand miles an hour and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world and if we let go... drops her hand That's who I am."
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Mar 21, 2014 17:46
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Has anyone either read Just War (New Adventures) or listened to the Bernice Summerfield-only audio adaptation? The general plot sounds interesting, and I know it's one of the "darker" New Adventure stories but I can't find much detail on any of the usual wiki sources. Worth a read / listen? edit: The Discontinuity Guide posted:Memorable Moments: The Doctor's astounding final conversation with Joachim Wolff, in which he effectively talks the Nazi into committing suicide, is one of most memorable moments of the entire novel range. Master manipulator indeed. This is like the Happiness Patrol "shoot me" scene on steroids. I spoilered that after realizing it was probably the climax of the book. McGann fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Mar 21, 2014 |
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Mar 21, 2014 20:33
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The_Doctor posted:We don't have mothers strapped into milking machines like that. Shows what you know. 
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Mar 22, 2014 23:01
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Guys, guys.... I think I'm falling in love with Colin Baker. I mean, I've heard a fair bit of Big Finish, so I already loved him... but I think there's something special there now. I just listened to The Wrong Doctors. It turns out it's actually a multi-Doctor story... starring Colin Baker and COLIN MOTHERFUCKING BAKER in the lead roles. The sheer awesomeness of it nearly caused a road accident as I could barely maintain consciousness while subject to that unthinkable level of bombast and pomposity. I've been a huge fan of Matt Smith. He was inspired. His first season was a thing of beauty sure to go down as one of the best seasons in the entire series. He quickly became my favorite Doctor (supplanting Tom Baker). But around the time of the 50th I realized just how much more fun I've had listening to McGann when his little web bit felt so much more special and emotional than anything the 50th itself could offer. McGann still owns, but I feel I've had another similar epiphany about Colin Baker. He's just so god drat much fun. I hated Colin Baker, even before I ever saw his episodes. That stupid curly blond hair, that utterly obnoxious coat... he's about as far from my picture of the Doctor as you can get (incidentally, Matt Smith totally nailed it 100% when he started wearing longer darker coats). And then his stories... he follows up one of the best stories in all of Doctor Who with the biggest whiplash in tone and quality imaginable and he's just dreadful. It's all dreadful. But... looking back... even back then. From those first pompous words, staring into the camera past the fourth wall, "Change, my dear. And it seems not a moment too soon!" (which at the time I felt on one level as an insult to my recently departed friend) there was something there. Something beautiful. A being of pure ego and loquaciousness, who gives no shits for convention, who must do everything he humanly can to be the center of attention (chiefly this consists of being awesome). If the TV series was all that existed, I suppose he'd still only be that vague aching potential. But, thank god, it is not, and the vague deformed embryo of greatness has matured into the sublime verbal Adonis that is The Sixth Doctor. I... I love the 6th Doctor. He is the best the Doctor ever was. Of this I no longer have any doubt. The Wrong Doctors wasn't necessarily the greatest story (it was really good though- I loved the villain and his fantastic theme tune), but it was without a doubt the most Colin Baker of stories, and the one that made me stop denying my sincerest love for the magnificence of Colin Baker.
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Mar 23, 2014 00:17
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Eiba posted:Guys, guys.... I think I'm falling in love with Colin Baker. ONE OF US ONE OF US GOOBLE GOBBLE ONE OF US WE ACCEPT YOU WE ACCEPT YOU GOOBLE GOBBLE ONE OF US! 
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Mar 23, 2014 00:38
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Eiba posted:
I've had some pretty good arguments with my Doctor Who fan friends about Colin Baker. Any of them that watched the Classic series constantly talk smack about Six. Then I tell them how wrong they are and try to get them to listen to The Marian Conspiracy.
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Mar 23, 2014 01:12
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Finished Legend of the Cybermen today and it was one of the best Big Finish's I've ever heard! It wrapped up the Jamie/6 arc of interconnected stories and brought back Zoe. And Wendy Padbury was goddamned amazing! She's 66 years old and sounds like she's 20. It's uncanny. She really did an excellent job and of course Frazer Hines does his usual great work. The audio answered a lot of questions about the last couple adventures and their increasing ahistoricality and unreality with it turning out, you guessed it--it was the Land of Fiction. The whole concept was fascinating and really well executed. The direction and music were top notch, with all that was going on. And it was funny too! The incidental music cues as if they were from classic movies, cartoons, and stories, the part where Zoe starts reading a children's book ("turn the page when you hear this sound") and then Jamie is in a voiceover booth had me rolling! Alex Siddig was back as well as Nemo. All the supporting characters were great in fact, especially Alice. Another great point--Mondasian voice Cyberman! Nick Briggs should take note that as far as I'm concerned when the Cybermen show up and they have THOSE voices, any Cyberman audio is automatically 10x better. It was a fantastical and great story. Shame about Jamie not being real, and him and Zoe not getting their memories back. Though it makes sense with what we knew about Jamie from the Companion Chronicles. I'd noticed when he talked to Zoe about his life he never mentioned his family and was jonesin' for whiskey and a lass but in the Companion Chronicles we found out he was a family man. That had bothered me, til of course we find out this isn't the "real" Jamie and his memories of the last 30 years were imagined. This was a real tour de force on the part of Big Finish. I love how they really are getting better and better as I go through them. They just do some great things with the medium and Nick Briggs is a fantastic producer and director. This is one of his best. High concept and well executed.
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Mar 23, 2014 01:16
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Astroman posted:Finished Legend of the Cybermen today and it was one of the best Big Finish's I've ever heard! Still one of my favorites. I particularly love the epic poem segment and how it peters out.
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Mar 23, 2014 01:18
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Also when characters start narrating and then another calls them on it. 
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Mar 23, 2014 02:26
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Just saw an ad for that WWE Studios movie Oculus and it's weird hearing Karen Gillan speak without her native Scottish accent. I guess it shouldn't stand out as odd to me since a lot of actors like John Barrowman do it all the time.
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Mar 23, 2014 02:47
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Joining in on the Six lovefest - I spent the last week doing a fair amount of driving and burned through the Six/Charlie arc, which once again reminded me that Colin Baker wanted to play the doctor for longer than Tom Baker and clearly absolutely loves the part. McCoy is my doctor and always will be, but I think Colin's become my favourite. And like others have said, going back and watching his TV episodes again HE is brilliant, even though near enough everything else about them is pretty horrific.
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Mar 23, 2014 08:40
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AndyElusive posted:Just saw an ad for that WWE Studios movie Oculus and it's weird hearing Karen Gillan speak without her native Scottish accent. I'm looking forward to seeing her in Guardians of the Galaxy. Presumably she won't be using the accent there either.
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Mar 23, 2014 13:18
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My friend just sent this to me this morning for my birthday...
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Mar 23, 2014 15:09
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Funny we're having all this Colin Baker love, because I have been on a Big Finish Six run myself (the Charlie arc and the Jamie arc simultaneously...confusing, to be sure) and my plan for the morning was to check this thread and finish part 2 of Attack of the Cybermen. There's something in the Spring air that just screams for a technicolour dreamcoat.
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Mar 23, 2014 15:54
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I just finished The Church and the Crown, which I was going to like almost no matter what. It does an okay job of stuffing a Doctor Who story into a d'Artagnan romance. I was kind of annoyed that Erinem spends so much of her time talking about how much she adores the Doctor, how he's the greatest person ever, but actually, together with Peri, the dynamic might work. It makes it even easier for Davison to be the eyerolling, put-upon dad (as per Cobiwann's gif at the top of this page) that he's supposed to be. Maybe I just liked it more than I would have because it's been such a long time since I heard a Five story. Next up I have the last of Sarah Jane's first season and then Bang Bang a Boom. Bicyclops fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Mar 23, 2014 |
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Mar 23, 2014 17:35
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McGann posted:Has anyone either read Just War (New Adventures) or listened to the Bernice Summerfield-only audio adaptation? The general plot sounds interesting, and I know it's one of the "darker" New Adventure stories but I can't find much detail on any of the usual wiki sources. Dude it's Lance loving Parkin, of course it is. Be forewarned though that Roz, Chris and The Doctor are entirely absent from the audio version of the story, and basically all of Roz's subplot is omitted. It's definitely one of the darker ones, but this TARDIS crew actually feels like it belongs in these stories. Ace always seemed weird because she was a very different character in the TV show so TV-Ace always felt out of place in these more "adult" adventures while NA-Ace didn't really feel like Ace at all.
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Mar 23, 2014 18:26
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McGann posted:Funny we're having all this Colin Baker love, because I have been on a Big Finish Six run myself (the Charlie arc and the Jamie arc simultaneously...confusing, to be sure) and my plan for the morning was to check this thread and finish part 2 of Attack of the Cybermen. Yeah I was doing that same run myself, just have a couple of the 6/Charlie ones. I have to figure out what order to do the next run of 6 in. Can someone do the needful and tell me what the best order for the Evelyn stories are? For Evelyn I heard everything up to Arrangements For War and Thicker Than Water but then there's the one with 7 and the Thomas Brewster stories...which also go across Doctors. So what order do I go in? Time travel...it's a tricky thing! I also did the next 5/Tegan/Turlough/Nyssa one, The Whispering Forest and it was pretty solid. Very classic story of a screwed up crashed ship civilization in the tradition of Leela or Jenny's people. The dynamic between the 4 of them is great and the writers are doing a great job of balancing out the larger TARDIS crew in a way the tv show writers often failed at. Turlough is starting to shine as an action guy with that Jack/Zoe/River "I'm from the future and spaceships and technology are something I'm comfortable with and can help the Doctor on" thing.
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Mar 23, 2014 23:54
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Astroman posted:Yeah I was doing that same run myself, just have a couple of the 6/Charlie ones. I have to figure out what order to do the next run of 6 in. Can someone do the needful and tell me what the best order for the Evelyn stories are? For Evelyn I heard everything up to Arrangements For War and Thicker Than Water but then there's the one with 7 and the Thomas Brewster stories...which also go across Doctors. So what order do I go in? Listen to the Evelyn story with Seven BEFORE the Brewster ones, that was the release order. And listen to the Five/Brewster stuff whenever, before OR after, it doesn't hurt to know Brewster's "deal" but I didn't going into the Six trilogy and I was fine.
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Mar 24, 2014 00:20
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DoctorWhat posted:Listen to the Evelyn story with Seven BEFORE the Brewster ones, that was the release order. And listen to the Five/Brewster stuff whenever, before OR after, it doesn't hurt to know Brewster's "deal" but I didn't going into the Six trilogy and I was fine. I did that entire Arc over a long, snowed in weekend and the take-away I had was that I really want to punch Brewster in the face at least three or four times EVERY STORY.
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Mar 24, 2014 00:43
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McGann posted:Funny we're having all this Colin Baker love, because I have been on a Big Finish Six run myself (the Charlie arc and the Jamie arc simultaneously...confusing, to be sure) and my plan for the morning was to check this thread and finish part 2 of Attack of the Cybermen. I do like the slightly self-indulgent addition by BabelColour of his colourised version of the blue coat.
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Mar 24, 2014 01:02
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So probably something like: Angel of the Scutari (the next 7/Ace/Hex one I have to listen to; I've already bought this one) Project Destiny (I've heard the other 2 Forge ones so I'm caught up here; this would get me current with 7/Ace/Hex to lead to Word Lord/Death in the Family) The Haunting of Thomas Brewster Time Reef The Word Lord (seems to be necessary for the next story) A Death in the Family The Crimes of Thomas Brewster The Feast of Axos Industrial Evolution right? This is probably the most convoluted arc I've ever seen in all of Big Finish, since it goes over 3 Doctors, several recurring side characters and enemies, all going back years!
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Mar 24, 2014 01:33
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You've got it about right. I'd listen to 45 sooner, myself, but sure! And yeah, it's convoluted, but it's worth it! /nine And you're unspoiled on Death I hope? Even if you're not, it still kicks butt, but it's better going in fresh. DoctorWhat fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Mar 24, 2014 |
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Mar 24, 2014 01:36
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The Impossible Planet is an excellent episode. The Satan Pit is a pretty good episode with moments of excellence. Overall taking the two of them together, I was left with a mild feeling of disappointment, which is unfair because I'm disappointed that the 2-parter was "only" quite good. But the first episode is so strong that it needed an equally good second episode to do it justice, and I feel like we didn't get that, that the writer failed to clear the final hurdle. Doctor Who has quite wisely steered clear of religion for the most part over the last 50 years (maybe Ace had sex with a randy Priest during the New Adventures books years or something, I don't know) but it isn't entirely unheard of to address potential sources for various mythologies. The Daemons springs immediately to mind, and of course there are the Nimon as well, and this story follows along similar lines - the Doctor encounters a seemingly immortal being of immense psychic power that turns out to (possibly) be the source for the the universe's various devil figures. The episode raises questions of faith in a rather restrained way, not really questioning any particular religious beliefs but pushing the idea of how faith makes us firmly believe in some things and deny others. The Doctor is as much subject to this as the other characters, as he muses to Ida about how quickly he dismissed The Beast's claim to have existed BEFORE the universe, before time. I was surprised at the apparent lack of offense these episodes seemed to generate, but given they aired around 6/6/06 the population was probably inundated with devil imagery and it didn't really stand out all that much.... Mary Whitehouse was probably spinning in her grave, but that's probably the case most of the time anyway. Putting aside the devil imagery, The Beast is a really fascinating concept - something locked away deep in an impossible place, it's horrible will stretching out across space for billions of years, its trapped mind wheedling away as best it can from its impossibly distant and unreachable prison... until one day some of those wonderfully inquisitive human beings show up and beginning digging down towards where it waits (shades of The Daemons once again). What makes the first part of the story so effective is how The Beast attempts to play the crew, taunting and wriggling its way through the cracks of their minds, using the Ood as a mouthpiece, creating an atmosphere or terror and dread that culminates perfectly with the closing line,"The Pit is open! And I am free!". This continues through the first part of the second episode as it taunts them all in turn with tantalizing glimpses at their deepest, darkest secrets. This really helps sell the notion of what The Beast claims it is, even if a lot of what it "knows" could just as easily come down to telepathy and guesswork ("your dead wife never forgave you" isn't something that can ever be proven, but it is something that Mr Jefferson has always feared) and adds to that sense of menace. Unfortunately they basically blow it by eventually showing The Beast, something that could have worked but in the end only serves to undermine the menace of the unknown built up to that point. While the CGI model is impressive (based on Simon Bisley art!) it is also kinda ludicrous, and watching a giant literal devil grunting and roarins and shaking about in chains while the Doctor rabbits on and figures out what is going on sucks the tension out of the story entirely. Yes The Beast is still effective, its mind occupying Toby and reveling in its coming freedom, but how much better would it have been to have left the physical manifestation of this impossibly old creature a mystery? To have the Doctor react to the sight but not show it to us? Or to show it but to REALLY leave it blank, an empty shell instead of the writhing, roaring, almost cartoonish image we got? Even a confused or terrified former host, or a tiny and unassuming physical body that belied the enormous mind and willpower that once possessed it? Basically, it's the same argument I've made before in the show - it's usually better to leave things up to the viewer's imagination, because whatever they can imagine will almost always be more effective and horrifying than anything the CGI team can come up with. A creature imprisoned in a sealed cavern buried 10 miles below the surface of an impossible planet orbiting a black hole..... and when we see it, it's a swoler version of Tim Curry in Legend. There are a number of interesting characters in the story, and I'd argue that the very superficial look we get at them is a very deliberate choice. These are pre-existing people who aren't just there to make up the numbers, they have backstories, prior relationships and character traits, but because of the situation we are in we only have time for the briefest glimpse into each of them. Unfortunately, this only works for about half the characters - some get enough screen time that you feel like you've gotten to know and care for them, but others feel like they're nothing more than shallow offerings with just the barest hint of paper-thin characterization. The "Captain" works because he's somebody thrust into a command he didn't want and doesn't feel ready for, and when the moment of pressure comes he steps up to the plate and makes the hard decisions (venting the air, restraining Rose etc). But Mr Jefferson's death lacks any real emotional impact because it doesn't feel earned, we're looking at essentially a watered down version of Gorman's suicide in Aliens, only Gorman had a backstory of failure under pressure and the guilt of his men's death to lend his death a certain sense of nobility, made all the clearer by Vasquez accepting/embracing him as a fellow soldier she can "insult", clutching his hand so they can die together as comrades-in-arms. Jefferson doesn't have that, his sacrifice falls flat as a paint-by-numbers "we need to thin out the numbers and show the danger" exercise - he might as well be one of the two unnamed characters who just kind of appear out of nowhere simply to be killed by the now possessed Ood without wasting any of the "named" characters too early. Most disappointing of all though is Ida, who is a character whose depth is tantalizingly hinted at before being completely passed over in favor of the Doctor. Ida is fascinated by the mysteries of the Impossible Planet, she has the scientific curiosity and urge to know more that the Doctor immediately recognizes and appreciates. She is more than willing to dive into the unknown, to unravel the mysteries of the universe and push herself forward in pursuit of knowledge... and yet every moment where she has a chance to take the lead or follow her instincts she is diverted or replaced by the Doctor. In the end, HE is the one who enters the pit and confronts The Beast, HE is the one who gets to make the decisions and do the exploration, and she is left behind as a glorified messenger of last resort. She doesn't even get to die on the precipice of the universe's greatest mystery, as the Doctor shows up to save her after she runs out of air and passes out. Her entire presence as a character is reduced to nothing more than a sounding board for the Doctor, who gets to experience all the things that she has desired to all her life, a once-in-a-universe thing that she ends up sitting on the edge of. These stories introduce The Ood, who are far from the first new "monster" introduced by the series but are probably the ones who have been the most successful at being accepted as a regular part of the series. Rose questions the morality of how they are treated (they're pretty much flat out slaves) which is treated as a quaint and unrealistic attitude by the crew. This is a rather unsettling thing for the show to do given that it could be coupled with the Doctor's chastisement of Rose's surprise over Jack's open bisexuality, and argued as somehow endorsing the notion that some races are just naturally meant to be slaves. The episodes never really further question the Oods' status, apart from a scene at the end of The Satan Pit which could be read either way, as the Captain makes a point of listing each individual Ood as a part of the crew fatalities. Instead, the Ood are primarily used for their rather horrifying appearance and as a way for The Beast to have a physical presence without giving away (to the humans) that Toby has been hollowed out and The Beast is simply using his memories to fake being "recovered". It won't be until season 4 that the troubling notion of the Oods' status as a "slave race" is openly questioned and we see the lie of Danny's insistence that the Ood "want" to be slaves. It takes the excellent Donna to take that extra step that Rose didn't, probably because she wasn't wrapped up in a doomed romantic obsession with the Doctor. For the most part in these stories, Rose is again demonstrating some of the proactive attitude that she demonstrated in The Idiot's Lantern, but it is frequently punctuated by near hysterical obsession with the Doctor. She questions the morality of how the Ood are treated, and when the Doctor's rallying of the panicking crew is cut off by the power-cut, Rose is the one who finishes the job and gets the crew working to save themselves. But all her actions are predicated on the notion that it is being done so they can rescue the Doctor, as opposed to getting them hell off of this terrifying planet and away from the thing telling them it is the devil. This obsessed focus on the Doctor over and above far more pressing issues is a further example of her growing loss of a grounding in reality. Take the loss of the TARDIS, while she does muse on being stranded in the future and out of any possible contact with her mother, she quickly brightens as she eagerly and nervously suggests to the musing Doctor that maybe if he needs a house and a job he could.... maybe live with her maybe :bigtran:?. She's so wrapped up in the idea of the Doctor as an integral part of her life (even more than that, as herself as REQUIRING the Doctor to be a complete person) that she's even willing to grab the bolt gun and make an ineffectual threat to kill them if they don't go back for the Doctor (she never once mentions Ida). They call her bluff and she's still sensible enough to know that this is something she can't do, but we're seeing Rose losing her attachment to herself as a person and a human being. She can't imagine life or existence without the Doctor, the distance from her mother and the loss of Mickey (and Jack) has left her with an uncomfortable and unhealthy detachment, everything in her life now revolves entirely around the Doctor. He is like the black hole and she is the impossible planet caught in his orbit. This two-parter IS very good. I bring up all the negative aspects because the writer didn't quite pull off what could have been an all time classic, after setting things up so well in the first part he basically stumbles through part 2 with admirable effort but not hitting the prolonged heights of part one. Too often I felt like there were certain set points that he wanted to get to, and so he ignored what should have been naturally developing aspects of the story to get there. Though they're surprised and somewhat suspicious of how the Doctor and Rose got to the Impossible Planet, the crew quickly just accepts them as being there, and don't seem to suspect maybe their arrival coinciding with the strange things starting to happen might be related. The Doctor, a complete stranger, gets to do down the giant hole they dug in the planet instead of Toby the archaeologist. These things happen because they needed to happen for other major planned plot points, but they often feel like the writer (Matt Jones) was only interested in writing THOSE sections, and didn't care so much about the connections between them. I am surprised he hasn't written any more Doctor Who since then, he did work on Torchwood (the crew in these episodes work for "The Torchwood Archive") and also on the Dirk Gently series but, despite a prior working relationship with RTD, never did anything in season 3 or 4, and hasn't been involved in any of the Moffat era either. I would like to see him have another go at a Doctor Who episode, because "only" very good is not a bad baseline at all, and as The Impossible Planet demonstrated, he is capable of truly excellent work as well. The 2-parter doesn't live up to its potential, but it is still one of the real highlights of season 2. Next episode is one of my personal low-lights of the entire revival to date, and an episode I have only been able to bring myself to watch once before. I really hope time has been kinder to it than my memory, because I'm not looking forward to Love and Monsters at all.
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Mar 24, 2014 02:50
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Weren't "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" the episodes that were originally going to be written by Stephen Fry, or is my memory playing tricks on me? I'm almost certain he was supposed to write at least one script for season two but it fell through.
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Mar 24, 2014 10:33
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Metal Loaf posted:Weren't "The Impossible Planet" and "The Satan Pit" the episodes that were originally going to be written by Stephen Fry, or is my memory playing tricks on me? I'm almost certain he was supposed to write at least one script for season two but it fell through. No, the Stephen Fry episode was completely unfilmed, and had something to do with Sir Galahad if I recall. It was replaced by Fear Her, which I guess goes to explain a bit of why Fear Her is pretty crap.
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Mar 24, 2014 10:46
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