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I was really expecting Doc Brown to be given more to do, the I remember how little they gave Bill Bailey and Mitchell and Webb.
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Nov 4, 2018 20:35
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My ecto-spleen!
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Nov 4, 2018 20:39
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The_Doctor posted:I really liked the antimatter speech. Yeah that was neat and (presumably) educational!
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Nov 4, 2018 20:40
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What a happy little baby monster 
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Nov 4, 2018 20:45
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Probably the weakest episode of the season so far, not bad but a lot of it required the characters (including the Doctor) to not figure out some pretty obvious stuff, like the Pting not being malicious, just hungry and wreaking havoc by accident in the process. Next week looks like it has potential though
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Nov 4, 2018 20:54
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We got some closure this time - even a proper epilogue. And once again the bad guy got away for those keeping score. Overall I was pretty happy with that, all except the guy giving birth which I could have fully done without. Edit: oh, and the sonic magically working again was weak. I forgive it, but it was another hack-job. "Oh no I wrote my magic deus ex machina plot device out of the show, oh well I'll just write that it magically starts magicking again." dsub fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Nov 4, 2018 |
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Nov 4, 2018 20:55
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I liked it more than last week’s, definitely. It did have an ending, so automatically it’s more of a complete story. Robot dude felt like something from some cheap CITV kids show.
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Nov 4, 2018 20:58
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That was... I dunno. Okay I think? Not great, but not bad. I dont have any real strong feelings about it. There were some good lines and moments but the plot was kind of flat overall. I have to wonder if the nibbler-esque baddy was designed to sell toys or something because it was really not intimidating. Script could have done with another once-over, and I feel like if you are going to set up "What if the TARDIS gets junked while we are away?" as the early impetus of the episode then we really should have seen them get back to the TARDIS at the end rather than make me assume its fine because the "next week on" doesnt mention it.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:00
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It goes to show how uninteresting Ryan and Yaz are that they can be offscreen or have no dialogue for good chunks of the episode and it didn't affect the plot. And they couldn't put a bit of make-up on the alien dude to make him stand out? I know 'these aliens just so happen to look like humans' is a big Doctor Who thing (cheaper that way!), but they couldn't like draw some squiggles on him to make him a bit more visually interesting? Pretty standard Doctor Who fare, but it's been a strong season otherwise so far.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:00
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I always find Dr Who better when the setting isn't on earth, so that was good. Pretty standard alien intruder gets fixed by the doctor story, lots of time spent on some weird sub plot about a pregnant alien which apparently had no relationship to the actual plot for some reason. It was OK. They've all been OK in their own way so far. I hope we get some better episodes soon.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:08
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It had a few nice moments (mainly the antimatter speech) but I found it a bit dull overall. Felt like filler. I didn't connect to the various dramas although the jokes generally hit. I ended up checking my phone in the last minute during the general's eulogy. I much prefered last week. The guy that played the android had some good dynamic poses when he was doing stuff in the background, the one who played the chief doctor was okay, the general's story felt like it needed more time to make me care, Ryan's arc was nice (because I already like Ryan as a character) but the space-dad and the 2nd-in-command doctor didn't really have anything outisde of "I don't believe in myself... Now I believe in myself". The Pting was obviously just a hungry animal from the second we saw it so there wasn't much tension in figuring that out. Next week looks like it could be pretty interesting though.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:12
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The plot was nonsense, but I'm an absolute sucker for aliens being weirded out by human biology. And the completely unhelpful space encyclopedia was a great bit of comedy.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:13
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So this was basically a Lilo & Stitch prequel, right?
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Nov 4, 2018 21:19
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I liked that they explicity said that they have other adventures that we don't see. What were they looking for on the junk planet? The little gremlin thing was cool, but rest of it was completely forgettable.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:22
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Nice set design, bog-standard run around plot though. Nice CG work on the nibbler-thing. The writing of the Doctor's wonder with mankind making that antimatter engine was a nice moment for her, but it completely stops the momentum and threat in its tracks. That would have been better placed when she was exploring the ship earlier, before the nibbler monster got onboard, IMO. Same again for Ryan and Yaz having their little chat - I didn't have a problem with the similar one in Rosa - heavy handed as that might have been, I'll glady take them hammering the point of "racism is still a thing, still affects people and is still bad" over "Backstory exposition." "Backstory exposition?" "Backstory exposition". You can feel the writer going "well this is the scene where the characters have to say this", and feels so inorganic. Inelegant and perfunctory is probably the best way I feel to describe the Chibnall's writing. Still, it was an okay episode, with some good Doctor moments, and some of the jokes made me laugh. I'm hoping the next episode with Yaz's Nan will bring Yaz into focus more - even the Arachnids in the UK was more interested in her mum and family than her - and give her something to do other than be a fourth wheel.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:27
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I'd have preferred if a creature that flies around the void of space eating energy was a little bit more interesting than a gremlin. I mean it used to be that they had to have two legs and two arms because it was a dude in a rubber suit but you'd have thought they could be a bit more creative with CG
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Nov 4, 2018 21:30
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CityMidnightJunky posted:Chris Chibnall really is an awful dialogue writer. The exposition is unbelievable in how lovely it is. My thoughts exactly. Both for this and for all the other episodes.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:31
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I liked it. I actually thought that initially it would turn out that it was some kind of an assassination scheme, between the VIP on the ship, the suspicious-acting android and the vessel being redirected from the normal route, with the Pting turning out to be an engineered weapon to destroy the ship, either by doing it itself or forcing the hospital to blow it up, but it being a non-malicious animal was a nice turn. The antimatter speech was a little bit out of place, but it took me back to that speech Tom gave back in The Ark In Space. The Doctor just being really excited about human progress is one of the most parts of the show.Also, yay, Yas is getting a focus episode! 
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Nov 4, 2018 21:42
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Chalks posted:I'd have preferred if a creature that flies around the void of space eating energy was a little bit more interesting than a gremlin. I mean it used to be that they had to have two legs and two arms because it was a dude in a rubber suit but you'd have thought they could be a bit more creative with CG I think the CG team charge by appendage.
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Nov 4, 2018 21:43
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The avocado joke is going to age just as badly as Trinny and Susannah in Bad Wolf.
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Nov 4, 2018 22:02
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SiKboy posted:This is going better than the last time the Doctor was taken to a hospital. Yeah, New Earth is terrible Jerusalem posted:Yeah that was neat and (presumably) educational! It was about as accurate as the info on spiders (viz: about half ok, two thirds if kind) but in a single infodump rather than spread throughout the episode.
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Nov 4, 2018 22:08
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Stabbatical posted:It had a few nice moments (mainly the antimatter speech) I thought that speech was good up to when Chibnall was given the keyboard back. "It's beautiful. Antimatter powering the movement of matter, bringing... positrons into existence to move other forms of life across space, I love it! Conceptually and actually." Antimatter doesn't bring positrons into existence, antimatter and positrons aren't a form of life, and I think "I love it! Conceptually and actually!" is something someone who doesn't give a poo poo but is very thankful they got a sentence from Brian Cox to put in their show would say. Edit: the part where Ryan is giving the dude a pep talk about being a dad was nicely done, though. Also that bit where Yaz said "like the red cross?" and that bit where Yaz said "like at CERN?" and that bit where Yaz said "like a posh version of my uniform camera?" etc. Glad she got to kick an alien but feeling sorry she's just there to understand things on behalf of the audience. dsub fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Nov 4, 2018 |
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Nov 4, 2018 22:09
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That was fun! An episode full of nice little character moments with an adorable monster of the week throughline that had a strong resolution. Here's hoping we get a proper Yaz episode soon!
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Nov 4, 2018 22:38
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I liked it better than the previous, too. I found something quite nice about the set design. It felt evocative of Classic Who, but without feeling cheap like Classic Who
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Nov 4, 2018 22:41
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Exposition, exposition, exposition. Chibnall is a terrible writer
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Nov 4, 2018 22:50
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dsub posted:I thought that speech was good up to when Chibnall was given the keyboard back. "It's beautiful. Antimatter powering the movement of matter, bringing... positrons into existence to move other forms of life across space, I love it! Conceptually and actually." I agree! That speech was by far the worst bit of the episode. For the most part it sounded like it was supposed to be scientifically accurate, and as Jerusalem said, maybe even educational. But the point of it was that they have an antimatter generator on board and then get energy from reacting the antimatter. But that idea breaches one of the base rules of physics: the law of conservation of energy. Creating antimatter uses up as much energy as reacting it does, and then there's always some overhead so in practice it'll use up more energy than it creates. So their "engine" is a net energy drain. It's like having a chemical plant in a car that creates gasoline that is then used as fuel by the car. It makes no sense! Stop trying to act educational/scientific if you're just going to explain it in a way that goes against basic science. They could've fixed it easily too. Just explain that the antimatter was created elsewhere or gathered from elsewhere and they're storing it in special magnetic fuel cells or something and use that to power the ship. You could make a neat story out of that and it would actually be scientifically accurate. In other news, was Avocado a subtle reference to the character Avocato in the fun little animated scifi series Final Space?
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Nov 4, 2018 23:00
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Chris Chibnall has written far too much for this season (half of all the episodes). I would really prefer him in a more distanced showrunner position because he can't write compelling science fiction. I'm at least looking forward to the next four episodes, which should (hopefully) feel like a breath of fresh air.
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Nov 4, 2018 23:02
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Loved it. I'll be interested to see if it stands up in a few years, it's not perfect, but that's the most I've enjoyed the show in ages and ages. People to give a poo poo about!
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Nov 4, 2018 23:07
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Whittaker owns so hard in this role, it hurts my soul that we're going to have to wait so long between Seasons...
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Nov 4, 2018 23:09
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CityMidnightJunky posted:Chris Chibnall really is an awful dialogue writer. The exposition is unbelievable in how lovely it is. Barry Foster posted:Exposition, exposition, exposition. This. This Info dump writing style is really boring to me.
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Nov 4, 2018 23:18
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Gaz-L posted:The avocado joke is going to age just as badly as Trinny and Susannah in Bad Wolf. I didn’t get it?
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Nov 4, 2018 23:25
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I think the "worst" thing about this episode is that the new medic/doctor didn't really get any growth or development after the initial,"I'm new and nervous and not confident in my own abilities" bit. Although I also really didn't like the implied (though probably not intended) message of,"If you don't keep your baby, no matter how unprepared or capable you are, that is bad." The obvious intention was that the dad was more capable than he believed himself to be (in conjunction with the other doctor who didn't believe in herself) and just needed encouragement, but it was very clumsily handled. I really hope next week gives Yaz the development she has been missing so far. If nothing else it's covering a pretty fascinating period.
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Nov 4, 2018 23:34
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Carbon dioxide posted:I agree! That speech was by far the worst bit of the episode. For the most part it sounded like it was supposed to be scientifically accurate, and as Jerusalem said, maybe even educational. But the point of it was that they have an antimatter generator on board and then get energy from reacting the antimatter. But that idea breaches one of the base rules of physics: the law of conservation of energy. Creating antimatter uses up as much energy as reacting it does, and then there's always some overhead so in practice it'll use up more energy than it creates. So their "engine" is a net energy drain. It's like having a chemical plant in a car that creates gasoline that is then used as fuel by the car. It makes no sense! I'm literally a physics teacher and *I* want to shove you in a locker and steal your lunch money. They were reversing the polarity of the neutron flow. Doctor who has never really been "hard" sci fi, and really never will be, its a silly thing to criticize. C'mon now, the show ignores fundamental laws of physics in its central conceit. The future sci fi humans found a way to break conservation of energy at the same time they discovered how to go faster than light, have instantanious communication across star systems and create artificial gravity. This is a show where its notable if they get a science detail right (black hole time dilation), not when they get stuff wrong. It just needs to be sciencey enough to suspend the average persons disbelief, and that isnt terribly sciencey. And I think Avacado was a joke because its a fruit not a person, but the alien thought it was a person. But I may be reading too much into it. Jerusalem posted:I think the "worst" thing about this episode is that the new medic/doctor didn't really get any growth or development after the initial,"I'm new and nervous and not confident in my own abilities" bit. I agree on all 3 points I thought there was going to be more to it with the other medics "I believe in you, I always have!" message, like there was some secret she was hiding, she'd made a terrible mistake in the past, something. But no, nothing but low self esteem. The pregnant alien thing felt like an unintended message. Between this and the moon egg I reckon Who shoud maybe just steer clear of things being born full stop. And I'm looking forward to next week, because apart from anything else, its another historical episode not about white people in europe. Daily Mail readers are going to go apoplectic and I am all about that.
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Nov 5, 2018 00:05
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Jerusalem posted:I think the "worst" thing about this episode is that the new medic/doctor didn't really get any growth or development after the initial,"I'm new and nervous and not confident in my own abilities" bit. I hadn't even thought about it that way. It just seemed obvious he was going to keep the baby from the start to me. I didn't genuinely feel there was a tension there. Maybe because every bit from his introduction involving him had a joke or quip of some kind. He's clearly meant to be comic relief and that'd be a bit too serious for him, leaving aside how it dovetails for Ryan's and Graham's family backstory.
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Nov 5, 2018 00:17
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Jerusalem posted:Although I also really didn't like the implied (though probably not intended) message of,"If you don't keep your baby, no matter how unprepared or capable you are, that is bad." The obvious intention was that the dad was more capable than he believed himself to be (in conjunction with the other doctor who didn't believe in herself) and just needed encouragement, but it was very clumsily handled. Yeah, speaking as someone who was adopted, that little message could have really come off wrong. I got what they were going for...but it struck me quite a bit like the "hey kids don't take your meds" from a couple seasons back
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Nov 5, 2018 00:19
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Barry Foster posted:Exposition, exposition, exposition. Even single line of dialogue feels like the audience is being mansplained to. Every bloody line.
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Nov 5, 2018 00:36
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That Pting was so happy to have that explosion go off in its stomach and then get jettisoned into the coldness of space.  edit: also the music in this episode was real good. AndyElusive fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Nov 5, 2018 |
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Nov 5, 2018 01:11
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That was my favourite of the series so far. Not amazing, but a fun episode. I really enjoyed the music, maybe I just noticed it more because I used headphones this time. I laughed when Yaz spoke up about her police body cam and everyone ignored her. The plot was also very similar to a bit in the Expanse, spoilers for The Expanse I guess - luring the energy hungry creature out the ship with a bomb.
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Nov 5, 2018 01:23
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Episode was alright. Slight thing I do miss is book ending the episodes in the Tardis. Feels like the episodes end too abruptly. I dont think every episode needs to begin in the heart of the action either. Just a small personal thing.
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Nov 5, 2018 01:33
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marktheando posted:The plot was also very similar to a bit in the Expanse, spoilers for The Expanse I guess - luring the energy hungry creature out the ship with a bomb. I thought that too! When it happened in the Expanse I felt bad for the creature that might've ended up drifting aimlessly in space forever but pting seemed happy about it and can probably direct himself so that's all ok, I guess.
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Nov 5, 2018 02:03
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