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I mostly object to the idea that the Doctor has been a romantic figure for decades because OH GOD THE TV MOVIE WAS HOW LONG AGO?
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Apr 17, 2025 20:11
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They did it to themselves by casting Paul McGann
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Apr 17, 2025 20:20
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Open Source Idiom posted:This conversation is making the thread very unchill. I don't think anyone is yelling at anyone or being mad or anything, it's okay to disagree. I do think that the Doctor being a thousand year old space wizard means that none of the romances really work, but since the can of worms was already open, it's probably best that there are some same-sex versions of "The Girl in the Fireplace." I don't think Rogue was particularly more clumsy than the Rose romance or whatever they were trying to do with Yaz in that last episode. The Yaz thing in particular fell flat for me because the whole Sarah Jane "You'll get old and die eventually and I don't want to be there for it" is among the worst ways to address it. The character hasn't grown enough that they can spend 60-ish years with someone because the companion is not going to be able to run down corridors forever? They're really incapable of dealing with grief at this point? "There's no point in being grown up if you can't act a little childish sometimes," sure, but even the non-romantic friendship between Twelve and Clara should have taught the Doctor that it's okay to commit to spending time with someone even if the way you spend time with them is going to change and may involve him having to take care of them a little. I dunno.
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Apr 17, 2025 20:55
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I just want more companions that aren't 1) young 2) contemporary 3) British 4) women - doesn't have to be a full sweep, just please let's stop hitting all four points. I had such expectations for 'the fam'... Like can we get 15 and Percule Hoirot or something (he's still not Public Domain in the UK, ugh, rare point for America here)
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Apr 17, 2025 21:07
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Slyphic posted:I just want more companions that aren't 1) young 2) contemporary 3) British 4) women - doesn't have to be a full sweep, just please let's stop hitting all four points. I had such expectations for 'the fam'... Like can we get 15 and Percule Hoirot or something (he's still not Public Domain in the UK, ugh, rare point for America here) Yeah, it'd be cool. Leela, Jamie and K-9 were all really fun and even the sort of throwaway ones like Nardole add something to the dynamic.
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Apr 17, 2025 21:16
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Slyphic posted:I just want more companions that aren't 1) young 2) contemporary 3) British 4) women - doesn't have to be a full sweep, just please let's stop hitting all four points. I had such expectations for 'the fam'... Like can we get 15 and Percule Hoirot or something (he's still not Public Domain in the UK, ugh, rare point for America here) The weirdest thing is that companions that met all four criteria were actually fairly rare in the classic series. Technically it was just Dodo, Polly, and Ace. Though Liz, Jo, Sarah Jane, and Mel were from near enough in the future that it didn’t make much difference most of the time. Edit: Liz was still pretty different from modern companions, though, because she was an exceptional scientific genius instead of being presented as an “ordinary person”. Silver2195 fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Apr 17, 2025 |
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Apr 17, 2025 22:14
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Silver2195 posted:The weirdest thing is that companions that met all four criteria were actually fairly rare in the classic series. Technically it was just Dodo, Polly, and Ace. Though Liz, Jo, Sarah Jane, and Mel were from near enough in the future that it didn’t make much difference most of the time. Flag on the play, trying to start a Unit timing derail right after the last derail.
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Apr 17, 2025 22:41
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We need more companions like Tegan and though it's only been one episode I have high hopes for Belinda in that regard. 
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Apr 18, 2025 00:34
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egon_beeblebrox posted:They did it to themselves by casting Paul McGann Yuuuup. Paul McGann is objectively one of the most attractive human beings in the world And that's not even getting into that voice
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Apr 18, 2025 00:35
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Barry Foster posted:Yuuuup. Paul McGann is objectively one of the most attractive human beings in the world And the fact he's aging better than anyone could hope. Funny that I made my username based off a character in Starlancer before I knew he'd be my Doctor (or even knew of Who)
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Apr 18, 2025 13:54
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Jerusalem posted:OR it could be as simple as there was a line in the script or filmed but not included where he specifically told her his ship was called a TARDIS and they later line was a reference back to that! Given the number of times over the years that a production "error" or weird, glossed over plot point/line/noise turns out to be relevant...it's probably not just a cut line But 
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Apr 18, 2025 15:36
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Apparently sloppy thing turning out to have been plot relevant all along works better when the entire episode doesn't also feel sloppy
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Apr 18, 2025 15:59
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Thranguy posted:Flag on the play, trying to start a Unit timing derail right after the last derail. lol. Re: Paul McGann, yeah, he has a great voice for the Doctor, and the tragedy of Doctor Who not becoming a powerhouse franchise is that we'll never get the Eighth Doctor Adventures spin-off. Hell, they could just do televised versions of half of his Big Finish adventures. I think he'd sign on.
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Apr 18, 2025 19:23
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The thing about watching a show that's 61 years old and covers material like time travel and alternate universes is that things like "What would a whole season of Paul McGann look like?' or "What would Gene Wilder be as the Doctor?" or "What would Eccleston have done with season 2?" are just floating out there. We can almost be grateful that most of us do not want to see the Fox/BBC idea of what a Doctor Who revival would look like, lol.
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Apr 18, 2025 19:40
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Yeah, a season of McGann in 1996 would have been appalling, if you see their writer's bible at the time. All Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey stuff, looking for his lost father Ulysses I hope they wouldn't do McGann dirty like that if he got a chance at a season nowadays
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Apr 18, 2025 19:45
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Let's not throw Joseph Campbell under the bus for the failures of that season, it was just a bunch of very green American writers who had seen Doctor Who on PBS and thought that they could do better.
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Apr 18, 2025 20:06
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As a reminder, please spoiler tag discussion of Lux until 8PM GDT tomorrow (3PM eastern).
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Apr 18, 2025 20:09
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Edward Mass posted:As a reminder, please spoiler tag discussion of Lux until 8PM GDT tomorrow (3PM eastern). Thank you for saving those of us on the US east cost who read from looking at World Time Buddy.
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Apr 18, 2025 20:11
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I'm just glad Doctor Who airs at 15 past the hour, making it easy to calculate!
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Apr 18, 2025 20:18
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Demons of the Punjab: A Lucarotti-style historical! Despite being one of the primary story types of Doctor Who back in its very first season, they’ve been rare ever since. (On television, at least; they’re much more common in spinoff material.) Usually when the Doctor and his companions visit the past, it’s either a comedy story, a pastiche of existing historically-set fiction rather than an actual attempt to represent the past, and/or a standard Doctor Who story type (e.g., a base under siege) where the time period is of secondary importance. But here we get a story that’s actually about a historical event (albeit more recent than the periods visited in Hartnell-era historicals), that takes it seriously and indeed tragically, and that presents the past as both dangerous and immutable. And while there are aliens other than the Tardis crew, they’re primarily bystanders. At the same time, this is a story that obviously couldn’t have been told in the Hartnell era. Not just because the Partition of India had happened less than 20 years ago at that point, but also because, of course, there were no South Asian companions in that era. Chibnall’s commitment to diversity has been accused of being somewhat surface-level, and maybe sometimes it is, but credit where credit is due here: it really did open up new possibilities for stories. A big part of what makes the story work is its willingness to violate the “always a twist at the end” principle. As soon as the true nature of the aliens is revealed about halfway through the story, it’s fairly obvious how the story will end, and that contributes to the story’s emotional force. (Father’s Day, which has elements of a Lucarotti-style historical but isn’t quite one, does something similar.) The only thing that really brings the story down is the dull bit where the characters make speeches at the wedding, but that sort of thing comes with the territory of the Lucarotti-style historical to an extent. Rating: 4/5. Minor observations:
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Apr 19, 2025 02:32
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OldMemes posted:Rogue seemed to have no substance aside from Davies thinking it would totally own the public by having the Doctor kiss a man RTD didn't write that episode. This has presumably come up by now, I'm still catching up, but that was one of only two episodes last season that RTD didn't write
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Apr 19, 2025 02:38
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2house2fly posted:RTD didn't write that episode. This has presumably come up by now, I'm still catching up, but that was one of only two episodes last season that RTD didn't write But RTD DID write the first episode where the Doctor kisses a man, way back in 2005.
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Apr 19, 2025 02:40
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Alrighty, I'm all caught up! Just watched the first episode, pretty dope, I like Belinda and I like time loops and I like cute robots bellowing, basically hit all the right notes. The opening was great, there was an improv comedy sketch I saw on youtube with the prompt "a date that's entirely red flags" and that opening scene reminded me of it, everything Alan said and did was just slightly nasty. I wasn't sure if that was Mrs Flood until she looked at the screen and said "you ain't seen me" They over-egged it a bit with the "every ninth word" thing. We already know that every now and then he's saying a word that's a non sequitur with special emphasis, we don't need a flashback showing which words were important. Also it never meaningfully comes up again. Also how would that work if two people are talking at once, or if someone is stammering- is "um" a word? Can they read every ninth word? Whatever, it was a fun gimmick for that one scene, no need to dwell on it. Might as well dwell on the fact that the same thing from the future has touched itself before and didn't cause a time explosion. The Doctor and the Master have both touched themselves, not like that. Although I mean why not, maybe like that, especially the Master. For all the on-the-nose obviousness of a lot of the dialogue ("planet of the incels") I felt like "if I'm part of the machine, maybe I can help" was a nicely understated line about selling out the rebels to power, especially as the power in question turns out to be, essentially, spiritually, JD Vance
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Apr 19, 2025 03:06
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If nothing else, I have to appreciate Demons of the Punjab for doing a story about the Partition which is really something that should be covered more. Ms. Marvel covered it as well but it unfortunately ended up being mostly overshadowed by the bad aliens plotline.2house2fly posted:Although I mean why not, maybe like that, especially the Master. Missy ripping into Simm-Master and then realizing that he's getting off on it did crack me up 
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Apr 19, 2025 03:16
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Yea i didn't notice there was a new episode until i loaded D+ to start a rewatch of Andor. I really liked it, and i was wondering why the actor looked familiar. More Belinda I say! Also the robots,  Made me think of this old alternative version of a Space Marine Terminator from Warhammer 40k 
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Apr 19, 2025 04:14
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I’d love to see more of those robots and that world. I just loved the design. I occasionally visit r/gallifrey as they sometimes have interesting discussions on there and it’s not so 'look at my drawing of The Doctor as an anime/look at my scarf’-filled as r/doctorwho. It’s devolved this past week into slapfights about why Doctor Who is terrible and cancelled and so on. Nobody is having any fun because everything's drowned out by doomer talk. Real depressing poo poo. Is this normal for sci-fi communities? Or is it a Doctor Who thing?
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Apr 19, 2025 07:43
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It's a nerd thing, full stop. Usenet was riddled with nerds slap fighting about their properties. In cave man days you better believe cave nerds were arguing about the decline and fall of their favourite cave paintings
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Apr 19, 2025 07:48
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I think Doctor Who is a bit more prone to it because it's been around so long that there are many strata of nerds of different era who are absolutley certain that the time it was good was when THEY started watching it. Except those who started watching during the Chibnall era, none of those people will insist it was better then.
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Apr 19, 2025 08:04
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drat spoons, 7 tried to warn us!
Somebody fucked around with this message at 17:09 on May 1, 2025 |
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Apr 19, 2025 08:04
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Tricking her into getting excited about time traveling!
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Apr 19, 2025 08:09
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Oh my God they literally ARE Scooby-Doo
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Apr 19, 2025 08:26
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Not even 3 minutes in and I already hate Mr Ring-a-ding
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Apr 19, 2025 08:26
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And now it's the Greatest Show in the Galaxy!
Somebody fucked around with this message at 17:08 on May 1, 2025 |
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Apr 19, 2025 08:30
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The acting in this last part is pretty ropey from the extras/supporting cast v v
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Apr 19, 2025 08:43
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That was fun even if it kind of fell apart at the end, I do like the recurring theme of the Gods showing up and the Doctor getting extremely scared to be anywhere near them.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 17:08 on May 1, 2025 |
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Apr 19, 2025 08:46
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The ‘Doctor meets Doctor Who fans’ thing was a little self indulgent. At least it wasn’t ‘real’ real. But of course they love the episode that he’s barely even in. Who fans are the worst.  Interesting that the second episodes of both ‘new’ series have involved a Pantheon god escaping a form of art, and had moments where they broke the fourth wall. They even had the same ‘run into the Tardis closet and emerge in period appropriate fashion’ sequence. Lux is essentially The Devil’s Chord Part 2. This episode makes me want to watch Duck Amuck. The director of Lux (and next week’s episode) is an Australian - Amanda Brotchie. I’m feeling a little patriotic pride right now.  Edit: r/Gallifrey users are angry, lol. Creature fucked around with this message at 09:33 on Apr 19, 2025 |
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Apr 19, 2025 09:23
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Some extraordinarily belated Joy to the World mp4s - click to view!                           https://i.imgur.com/quelguH.mp4 Closest thing to a Dalek in Gatwa's run we've had so far till the mug in Lux!
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Apr 19, 2025 09:23
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Really enjoyed the last few episodes compared to season 1 which was hit and miss for me. Was nice to see the diner from near my little rural home city featured.Jerusalem posted:The acting in this last part is pretty ropey from the extras/supporting cast v The young guy from the diner, his ropey American accent kept slipping a lot lol
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Apr 19, 2025 09:58
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Hunter Leopardson posted:Really enjoyed the last few episodes compared to season 1 which was hit and miss for me. Was nice to see the diner from near my little rural home city featured. Haha yeah, it was completely falling apart by the end  Loved the Doctor bitching about Lux's lovely continuity when he tried to fake them out of escaping the cartoon.
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Apr 19, 2025 10:13
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This was a major improvement on last week--and also a major improvement on The Devil's Chord on its use of metacommentary and its respective medium. I did NOT think the "meeting Doctor Who fans" thing would work--and I'm honestly still not sure if it does--but the fact that I'm even waffling over it deserves a clap. I thought the idea that the viewers had learned enough from the Doctor to figure out what's going on and accept their fate as fictional people genuinely touching. I also love the ongoing Davies/Moffat slapfight, keep poking fun at each other dudes. The only sort of misstep I think was having the middle instance of racism be technically fictional. It's a nitpick though, since it would have been easy enough to set this story in 1975 or something and completely brush over segregation whatsoever. It's admirable it was brought up enough as it was. And it's 1000% better than Rosa having racists be confused enough over an Indian woman to not be racist to her. They should have used the animation style they use for reconstructions for the Doctor and Belinda getting animated, but maybe that's a little too mean.
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Apr 19, 2025 12:20
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