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Capfalcon posted:So, wow. This was a great read while I was sick over the weekend. Kudos to Tox and Oxx! Not quite sick over the weekend, but agree that this is a great thread. I had a similar experience with Who as Toxxupation - though I was fine with genre TV, always had a negative impression of DW having rubber monsters. Which to be fair it does. A few years ago, a friend invited me over to his house to watch "Family of Blood", and while I'm still not sure if that was the best introduction to the show, it was a good way of showing that it could be well-written and maybe not as bad as I thought. Then next week I was alone and watched "Blink" at night. Yeah. I'm only a bit farther than Toxxupation is, a few episodes into the next season, so hopefully not many "spoilers  " from me.
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Feb 23, 2015 14:22
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MrL_JaKiri posted:That was Lyndon Johnson. Who was a huge hawk, and his first major bit of foreign policy was the Cuban missile crisis - where Kennedy had claimed to the world that the communists would back down if you put them under a little pressure (and kept the real deal, removing the Jupiter missiles from Turkey, secret from pretty much everyone) which therefore taught both him and McNamara that SHOW NO WEAKNESS was absolutely the tactic to use. Hence the ludicrous Vietnam escalation. (Plus they were both hugely arrogant, yadayada) Kennedy was a huge hawk himself and threw the US into a lot of poo poo - not just the Cuban Missile Crisis and the closest we've gotten to turning the planet into a cinderblock, but Kennedy's use of a "missile gap" in his Presidential campaign, ramping up Vietnam himself through sending NSA advisors, the Bay of Pigs (which started under Eisenhower but JFK gave the thumbs-up to), and then there's the whole Operation Mongoose aka "Let's Kill Castro" shitstorm. There's a reason that LBJ thought Castro was the one behind the JFK assassination. The man probably pushed back detente by another 20 years.
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Mar 19, 2015 10:20
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I remember not thinking much of the episode and finding it instantly forgettable, maybe a bit too much Gaiman and not enough Who - and I'd liked Gaiman long before finding Who. For those who say it's one of the best episodes - what am I missing?
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Mar 28, 2015 08:52
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mind the walrus posted:Gaiman doesn't resonate with you maybe? He's definitely not for everyone, and his schtick can wear thin if you've been over-exposed to it. That said: It could be overexposure - I was a devoted reader of his works (comic, prose) up until Anansi Boys, did not like the Coraline film, and haven't read anything he's written since. I even liked the BBC production of Neverwhere which had the production values and associated charm of old Who (what I've seen of the latter at least.)
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Mar 28, 2015 09:13
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mind the walrus posted:There really isn't any part of you that might be able to appreciate it on a raw production level? Collaborative creation is seriously hard work on any scale, and while "The Doctor's Wife" wears its derivative nature on its sleeve like all of Gaiman's work it also manages to land almost every emotion it seeks to evoke via its writing, sets, acting, editing, and camerawork while expanding a 50 year-old canon in new and unexpected directions. Sometimes playing a pretty good but overtly familiar song without missing any notes is greater than playing a virtuoso and wholly original song but screwing up the key because it's so drat difficult. I don't remember the production being anything better than other good episodes of new Who? The main cast was fine, but they've all done better. Also, I don't get why people like the guest actress, she seemed like she was just doing a Helena Bonham-Carter imitation.
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Mar 28, 2015 09:34
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mind the walrus posted:It's not about what they do, it's more about what they don't do, if that makes sense. Sometimes the best performances aren't the show-stoppers or the big attention-grabbing moments of intensity or deep emotion, it's the subtle recognition of how far to sell a moment in service of a greater whole, and this episode shows an extremely deft touch in that regard-- you could gladly see more of almost every character or concept they throw out but you're never left with so little as to feel cheated or unsatisfied. You are right that the guest actress was definitely channeling Helena Bonham-Carter, but remember what I said about how this episode wears its derivative nature on its sleeve? FINE I'll give it a rewatch. EDIT: Ok, upon a second viewing I liked it a little better, but - I disagree that it is a simple story told well; that "well-made stew" analogy is a bit reaching. I can't point to anything bad about the episode (outside of the actress - I wonder if somehow they managed to snag HBC for the previous series so Gaiman wrote the part for her, but scheduling prevented it for series 6); but I can't point to anything good about it either. The Doctor taking back the Tardis, the goodbye from not-HBC, it just wasn't powerful and it could, and should, have been. Yes the set design, etc. was well done but I've come to expect that from new Who, nothing special about it. I really disagree that this episode was one of the greats, it doesn't even crack the top 10 of new Who for me by a long shot (even up to this point, not including series 8.) And it shouldn't have won the Hugo when GoT was just starting up. Feel free to keep saying what you've been saying but it's not going to change my opinion. monster on a stick fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Mar 28, 2015 |
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Mar 28, 2015 15:18
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mind the walrus posted:Every time I hear someone trying to suck Ten's dick through the internet I think of scenes like the Olympics Torch, or Ten and Rose vamping to the Ghostbuster's theme, or the Scooby Doo Hallway. I don't remember the Scooby Doo Hallway. Do I want to?
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Apr 11, 2015 02:44
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Toxxupation posted:it's from love and monsters, and is good Thanks for reminding me of that terrible episode, why don't you give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?
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Apr 11, 2015 04:18
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Strax should be a companion. 
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Apr 14, 2015 05:05
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MikeJF posted:Ultimately, if Moffat wanted River to be the Pond's child, he should've used her birth as the event that forced the end of their run, as they leave to have her. It's substantially better a narrative than just forcing it in the middle of their run, having the baby abducted, and glossing over the trauma. They could have had the reveal and later on whenever Amy/Rory leave that say is due to her pregnancy and neither want to continue with being companions. Have the Doctor say "You are having a baby yeah  " and then he's  when he realizes that they're going to retire.Dave Brookshaw posted:Bearing his other work in mind, I think it's relatively obvious who Moffat's self-insert idealized persona is. 
monster on a stick fucked around with this message at 11:24 on Apr 17, 2015 |
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Apr 17, 2015 11:20
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Why don't they save the money used for location shoots and allocate it towards shooting non-first-drafts or something? And didn't they just leave the angel there?
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May 22, 2015 03:18
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The Statue of Liberty could have been handled equally as well by having the Doctor say "hey we should look out for any other angel statues" and then going  as they look at it, and just leaving whether it is an Angel or not up in the air. Enjoy your visit to New York City, kids!The whole "I can never see them again" is bad because if the actors ever wanted to make as cameo or something, it can't happen.
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May 22, 2015 20:21
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Burkion posted:It's also bad because he could literally just travel back to that time period but to, like, New Jersey, take a short trip, say hi, and then go back. I can understand not wanting to travel to New Jersey though, he'd get lost on the Turnpike or something and end up on the Tappan Zee which is way the gently caress out there.
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May 22, 2015 20:43
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An actual good Doctor Who Christmas special, glory be!
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May 26, 2015 06:01
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Toxxupation posted:So Lego Dimensions announced two of its licenses (Shaggy takes disguise of villain of the week) Fred, Velma, etc.: "The Master!?!?" The Master: "And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those drat kids and that mad man in a box!" 
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Jun 3, 2015 02:14
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Stink Terios posted:I watched a few episodes of Luther a year or two ago thanks to all the praise from the DW thread. Was it how all the cops were standing in the middle of a parking lot looking at obvious bait while they were hunting a guy with a rifle knocking off cops because that wasn't even dramatic, just funny.
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Jun 4, 2015 03:21
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The "gag" killed the episode for me, all sorts of reasons it made no sense even for a Doctor Who episode.
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Jun 6, 2015 05:14
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Angela Christine posted:You know those blacks, always trying to steal the copper wiring out of your spaceship. Is that a stereotype in Merry England?
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Jun 6, 2015 16:26
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Bicyclops posted:It's specifically for me that feels a little like the sci fi equivalent of stealing car parts. I took it as salvage, e.g. recycling so in a way they are fine. It's not like they knew someone was in the box when they pulled it on board, and I would wager any ship finding something way between stars that looks like a telephone box is probably space junk. The actual bad thing was what they did to the brother, and the show made that really clear.
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Jun 6, 2015 23:29
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Toxxupation posted:so now I'm reading the inspector spacetime tvtropes page The TV IV › T/Oxx's Reviews- This isn't fair. You've turned me onto tvtropes.
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Jun 9, 2015 08:17
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I didn't remember this episode at all. Then I read the setting, remembered watching the episode, but still didn't remember a drat thing about it. I like Gaiman but he is far from perfect. For all we know, though, he was given the obligatory Cybermen episode this season and had to work with what he had, but really they already have a recurring villain of the year with the Daleks, either go with another old villain from the show or make up a new one or anything. Kill it with fire please.
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Jun 13, 2015 14:24
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Bicyclops posted:Hahahahaha. Don't blame Gaiman too much. I'm sure some of the error was his, but he did indicate his script had been changed a lot, and that back when he'd written it, he'd thought it was Victorian governess Clara and her wards. I didn't hate this episode, but CobiWann pretty much nails it: True but it still would have been a Cybermen episode, Mary Poppins or no. Though Matt Smith would have played the part of Dick Van Dyke, which may have been entertaining (now that I think about it, some of Smith's physical comedy is similar to Van Dyke's.) EDIT: Van Dyke could have made a great Eleven in his prime. monster on a stick fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Jun 13, 2015 |
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Jun 13, 2015 16:42
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It was nice to get the obligatory bad Dalek episode out of the way.
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Jul 9, 2015 05:17
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