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Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

DoctorWhat posted:

The best thing about Unregenerate! is that, at its core, it's a conceptual remake of the good bits of Minuet in Hell.

Haha yes it totally is, and a far superior story in every aspect.

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Big Mean Jerk
Jan 27, 2009

Well, of course I know him.
He's me.

The_Doctor posted:

Soooo.. it's November now. Let's talk random gift giving to strangers for Christmas and gauging interest in the Secret Santa again this year. So, any takers? (this is just a preliminary check at this point before I run off a big official post).

I'm definitely interested.

McGann
May 19, 2003

Get up you son of a bitch! 'Cause Mickey loves you!

The_Doctor posted:

Soooo.. it's November now. Let's talk random gift giving to strangers for Christmas and gauging interest in the Secret Santa again this year. So, any takers? (this is just a preliminary check at this point before I run off a big official post).

I'm tentatively game - Just quit my main source of income and only relying on my evening teaching duties, so a bit strapped for cash at the moment. However, I think I could scrape together a little extra $$ pretty easily (Hey, my plasma isn't doing anything else for me right now, anyway..).

So put me down for a "Yes, unless some further financial roadblock appears in the next 30 days".

DoctorWhat
Nov 18, 2011

A little privacy, please?
goons itt literally shedding blood to give gifts to other goons

Big Mean Jerk
Jan 27, 2009

Well, of course I know him.
He's me.

DoctorWhat posted:

goons itt literally shedding blood to give gifts to other goons

that goon is a good goon

Mameluke
Aug 2, 2013

by Fluffdaddy
The Master is just so proud of herself in that last scene. You could read the "Oh I punked you so good this time, Doctor" from the Tate Modern.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

Mameluke posted:

The Master is just so proud of herself in that last scene. You could read the "Oh I punked you so good this time, Doctor" from the Tate Modern.

I absolutely love that look of anticipation on her face after she reveals who she is. She's so excited about seeing the penny drop for him, so keen to see him realize she's completely outsmarted/outplayed him. Capaldi does wonderfully in that scene too, because at first he seems confused but also somehow happy (another Time Lord survived! I'm not alone!) followed by dawning horror of,"Oh my God it's the loving Master and oh poo poo she's got Cybermen with her."

I've rewatched just that scene a number of times now because it just hits so well, can't wait for the final episode.

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!
Just realized Michelle Gomez is married to Jack Davenport.

That lucky, lucky woman.

Edit - and I have the best stepdaughter. I told her the Doctor and the Master have a swordfight and she demanded to watch that serial next weekend. As long as I promise there are no puppets in it.

CobiWann fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Nov 6, 2014

Senor Tron
May 26, 2006


Cleretic posted:

I was actually wondering a bit about the airtime thing. Can anyone tell me exactly why? All I noticed over here in Australia was that the simulcast on the ABC slowly drifted from 4:30 to 6:30, and daylight savings can't entirely account for that.

Daylight savings actually introduces two hours difference, because when Australian clocks go forwards UK clocks go back (and vice versa)

Irony Be My Shield posted:

I strongly suspect that the Cybermen won't actually attack anyone, at least for now. This is just The Master showing off her amazing new immortality machines.

Now I'm really hoping you're right and that they are going to go for some more horror with the Cybermen. There is no point in uploading peoples minds back into the Cybermen bodies if they are removing all individuality and memory. So what if they told Danny is true, and they just delete fear and pain. All the Cybermen walking around actually have their memories, are peoples missing loved ones, and just want nothing more than to help unconverted people by giving them the wonderful gift of conversion.

That would make them scary.

Pwnstar
Dec 9, 2007

Who wants some waffles?

I'm pretty sure the Master called herself Missy entirely for that chance to mess with the Doctor. That was the sole reasoning.

Ben Soosneb
Jun 18, 2009
There's been a bit of time, and I think I can put into words my problem with the episode.

You've got three plotty revealy things:

1) They skeletons in the tanks are actually cybermen, this is hinted at wonderfully, you can guess even if you haven't seen the "next time", it has fun moments like the swimming pool conversation. "Why?"

2) Missy = the master. Again. Works ok, Pretends to be Kryton from red dwarf and then turns out to be the boss, has a mad plan. Is the Master.

And then it goes wrong.

3) Is pretty incoherent. The dead are uploaded to the magic matrix timelord slice. We get some fun buzz words about ipads and deleteing personalities and feeling pain and is Danny Pink actually still Danny Pink and Seb was quite fun etc. But it never really links up with the first two above. And then we're told that the Doctor thinks it's all rubbish in the white noise bit. But then we are actually shown Clara talking to Danny.

It's one of the classic TV phrases. Show don't tell. But if you Show and Tell and contradict, then it's just a bit annoying.

Gordon Shumway
Jan 21, 2008

Ben Soosneb posted:

I find Craig Ferguson a bit weird, in that he's a British guy who's not at all famous in Britain. At all. Nothing. First I ever heard of him was the doctor who thing interview and song thing he did with Matt Smith.

:scotland:

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!


In the mysterious world of the Nethersphere, plans have been drawn. Missy is about to come face to face with the Doctor, and an impossible choice is looming...

'Death is not an end', promises the sinister organisation known only as 3W - but, as the Doctor and Clara discover, you might wish it was.

Peter Capaldi is the Doctor in Dark Water.

X X X X X

Cast
Peter Capaldi (The Doctor)
Jenna Coleman (Clara Oswald)
Samuel Anderson (Danny Pink)
Michelle Gomez (Missy)
Chris Addison (Seb)
Andrew Leung (Dr Chang)

Written by: Steven Moffat
Directed by: Rachel Talalay

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_HdeOXdBUo

Gifs by: J-Ru

X X X X X

It’s very difficult to judge the first episode of a two-parter.
 
I’m not speaking from the point of view of a reviewer, but from the point of view of a viewer.  The viewer knows the first episode primarily serves as the set-up for the second episode.   There are sure to be a few “cool” moments, a couple of “wow” occasions, and by the end, if the writer knows what they’re doing, a “oh my [BLEEP]ing God” cliffhanger or two.  But once the episode is over, everything about that episode for the following week is seen through the lens of “the second episode.”  “That happened, so what’s going to happen in the second episode?”  “That character wouldn’t make that decision, I’m sure there’s a hidden reason that will come out in the second episode.”  “Oh, that’s total BS, the second episode better fix it!” 
 
The viewer know there’s a whole story just waiting to be told (and judged), but until then, they’re just stuck with the first part, with either a nail biting cliffhanger or a “how badly are they going to screw THIS up” sense of dread.    And there’s various levels of this sense of apprehension.  The “holy crap, Daleks!” ending of Army of Ghosts led into the amazing Daleks vs. Cybermen smack talk of  Doomsday.  The “this is a bit boring” first two episodes turned into “oh my God, the Brig’s wearing an eyepatch!” amazement of Inferno.  And then, you have something like Warriors of the Deep, where one hopes, nay, PRAYS, something awesome is going to happen in the final episode to make up for the sheer HORRIBLENESS of the serial’s previous episodes.  And in a way, something awesome DOES happen…
 

 
Dark Water kicks off the finale of the Twelfth Doctor’s first season in grand style, with an unexpected death, an incredibly tense scene between Doctor and companion, a trip to a place the Doctor has never been, some absolutely horrifying concepts, and the return of not just one, but TWO longtime foes of the Doctor who have joined forces to battle against the Doctor.  Separated into individual parts, Dark Water is a standout.  Put together into one episode, however, it feels jarring and rushed, moving quickly from one plot point to another without a chance for anything to sink in (to let the viewer appreciate it more) or to be explained (which leads to viewers going “wait, that doesn’t make sense”).  It’s redeemed, however, by a throat-grabbing ending acted out by Peter Capaldi and Michelle Gomez.


 
Clara is ready to tell Danny everything.  The Foretold, the Boneless, everything.  She’s going to put it all out there.  No secrets.  No lies.  And no chance to tell him, as Danny is hit by a car, killed just as Clara is about to declare for him.   But, in an act of ultimate betrayal, Clara gives the Doctor an ultimatum.  Use the TARDIS to save Danny, or he will never see the inside of it again.  As always, the Doctor is one step ahead, and unwillingly to let his friend suffer, he takes the TARDIS to the one place he’s always meant to have a snoop around in; the afterlife.  As Danny finds himself in a bureaucratic and emotional hell, Clara and the Doctor find themselves in a mausoleum, run by the 3W Corporation.  And there to  greet them, and answer all of their questions, amidst tanks upon tanks of skeletons immersed in water, is the robotic guide known only as Missy…
 
Let’s break the episode down into its component chunks before diving headfirst into the entirety of Dark Water.  After Danny asks Clara in last week’s episode to just stop lying and come clean with him, Clara is prepared, down to the sticky notes on the wall to tell him everything.  It’s a very good directing choice to go from the “stranger picks up Danny’s phone” to “Clara running to the scene” to “scene becomes a memorial wall” to “Clara in the kitchen, calling the Doctor” as Jenna Coleman nails several of the stages of grief in those quick moments alone.  Going through the TARDIS as she casually chats with the Doctor about wanting to see a volcano, slyly picking up the extra TARDIS keys without the Doctor knowing, the viewer suspects that Clara is up to something.  It’s when she slaps the sleep patch on him (which I believe was last seen all the way back in the Tenth Doctor episode Gridlock) and the Doctor wakes up outside the TARDIS on the lip of an active volcano, with Clara holding all seven TARDIS keys in his hand, that things get absolutely astounding.



Jenna Coleman deserves praise for the sheer anger and desperation that Clara gives off as she demands the Doctor use his time machine to go back and save Danny.  We’ve seen just how clever Clara can be over the course of this season, and in this scene her cleverness collides head on with her ambition to rewind the hands of time.  And on the other side, Peter Capaldi shows just how in control the Doctor is, even when he’s not in control.  It’s always been a hallmark of the Doctor to take control of a situation, either quietly and passively or through sheer bombast and bravado.  Granted, the scene as a whole does lose something when one remembers this scene from Forest of the Dead…
 

 
…but it’s a testament to Coleman and Capaldi that I was on the edge of my seat just wondering how the standoff would resolve itself.  The look on the Doctor’s face and Clara’s breakdown when she realizes what she’s done after throwing away the last TARDIS key was the punctuation mark on a great scene between two great actors.  The denouement made perfect sense as well; the Doctor may not understand humans, but he knows them well enough to realize when something is amiss.  I was sitting there preparing myself for the Doctor to kick Clara out of the TARDIS for her betrayal as well, but Capaldi once again showed that the Doctor knows humans by admitting that one horrible act does not automatically ruin a friendship.  After all, the Doctor has had a companion tried to kill him before…
 

 
We cut from there to Danny Pink in the Afterlife/Heaven/the Promised Land/Office Purgatory.   A character not realizing they’re dead, but slowly coming to that realization, is a familiar concept in fiction, and Samuel Anderson deserves credit for his work here opposite Chris Addison.  While Anderson realizes what has happened to him, he bounces back and forth between confusion, anger, and, in a great touch, a general sense of awe as he looks around and takes in the concept of “the Afterlife.”  Addison, as the “yes, yes you’re dead, please fill out this form” paper pusher Seb, also moves between feigned sympathy and a sense of “can you just sign here so we can move on” in a darkly humorous manner.  I hope Death in Heaven gives Addison a chance to stand opposite his co-star from The Thick of It just so I can see the two of them play off each other once again.  Now, the scenes with Danny coming to grips with being dead were very well done, with comments such as “you didn’t state that you wanted to be cremated, did you” and “you’re feeling a bit cold, aren’t you?  It’s from being on the slab” adding to the tension.   The “cold” line definitely adds a unique twist to the final state of those in the “Afterlife” as well.  Sadly, these scenes are quickly ruined in about twenty seconds with the addition of quick cutaways to Danny’s time as a soldier.  We see him fighting in a desert town amidst the rubble and blown-out automobiles, being shot at by somebody inside a ruined house, and then we see him opening a door, blind firing into the house, and then seeing just who he shot, a look of horror dawning on his face.
 


And when Seb said “hey, there’s someone here in the Afterlife who’s asked to meet you” and a young child walked through the doorway, I had to stop myself from obtaining a passport, flying to England, purchasing a small knife, driving to Cardiff, and shanking Steven Moffat repeatedly.
 
The first time we see Danny, he’s running ROTC-esque drills for some of his students.  When someone asks him if he’s killed anyone, we see him shedding a quick tear.  When Clara makes a comment about shooting someone, he goes off on a tangent about all the good he did, drilling water wells for villages.  We see him showing incredible anger at the Doctor when he realizes the Doctor represents the “aristocracy” and calls him “an officer,” snapping off salutes.  We see him marching his students through the overnight forest quasi-military style.  And then, we see the one moment that haunts Danny Pink…and we see the child for less than 20 seconds on screen, total.  He wants to meet Danny, sits across a table from him, flinches in horror, and runs away.  I’m willing to bet it’s the machine that runs the Afterlife directly toying with Danny’s emotions to manipulate him, but it still comes off as incredible forced.   The buildup to the moment throughout the season is there, but the big moment was Danny going off on the Doctor as “officer vs. enlisted.”   Give me a scene of an officer screwing up royally and putting Danny in that situation, and the whole thing about have been much more believable and a lot less cliche.  It’s legitimate writing.  In some cases, it’s appropriate writing.  In a few cases, a mistake in the heat of combat could be a dramatic dagger through the emotional heart.  In this case, though, it’s LAZY writing meant to hit the easiest of emotional buttons. 
 
Using the same “mental link” connection seen in Listen, the Doctor and Clara land in the next location where she and Danny are supposed to meet again; a large mausoleum, run by the 3W institute, where the skeletons of the deceased are kept in large tanks filled with “dark water,” a clear liquid that hides inorganic materials such as the metal casing that keeps the skeleton together, allowing the deceased’s loved ones to view the remains directly.  It’s very creepy, it’s very eerie, and it’s in this scene that Missy finally meets the Doctor and Clara face to face…and it is a humdinger of a “hello you.”  Michelle Gomez, the prim, proper, all-together mysterious Missy, makes her entrance by snogging the HELL out of the Doctor.  I’m not talking “Rose kisses the Doctor in New Earth,” snogging, I’m talking “Jack kisses the Doctor like in that one fanfic my friend from college wrote” snogging.   



Gomez and Capaldi go all out as Jenna Coleman looks on, then away, in complete and utter confusion.  It’s a great introduction for Missy that catches the viewer completely off guard, distracting their minds from the mysterious liquid crypts for a moment.  From here, the head scientist for 3W, Dr. Chang, explains the purpose behind the facility.  A few years ago, a scientist discovered that white noise from television and radio signals held an underlying repeating phrase; three words said over and over again.  He believed the phrase was being spoken by the recently deceased (which leads to a great moment from the Doctor.  “Why?  Was he an idiot?”).   The scientist managed to isolate the voices (“So, an idiot then.”).  Whoever was speaking, the cacophony of voices from beyond the grave (“Can you hurry up, please?  Or I’ll hit you with my shoe.”)
 
“Don’t cremate me.”
 
It’s an absolutely horrifying and chilling moment.  The concept that the dead remain aware of what happens around them after they die, and that whatever happens to their body, they still feel.  Apparently, the idea that the departed souls of loves ones could feel themselves burning to ash was so disturbing, the BBC fields numerous phone calls and e-mails about it in the week after this episode’s broadcast.  It’s one of those moments that can smack a viewer between the eyes…but it’s never mentioned after the initial reveal.  The voices of the dead pleading not to be burned is mentioned once, to establish just why these skeletons have not been buried under the earth or burned in an oven, but instead placed in a preserving liquid to be kept safe and secure, with only the most gentle of sensation, for all eternity.  And then the episode moves right on as the Doctor goes back to the mausoleum to figure out what exactly he’s missing, and Clara, somehow, manages to connect using an iPad with Danny thanks to Dr. Chang.  After everything Clara had done to find Danny again, from risking the Doctor never being able to step inside the TARDIS again to following him as closely as she could into the Afterlife, after hearing Danny’s voice when she never thought she’d hear it again…Clara demands over and over that Danny prove that he’s really Danny.  It’s a very jarring emotional switch.  She risked everything, including the life she LIED to Danny about, and instead of clutching to a thin ray of hope that it’s actually Danny, who is telling her over and over again not to come find him, she refuses to believe its him.  The whole scene only serves to drive Danny to make the ultimate choice to possibly sever his personality, to forget the pain of his shooting of the young boy and of Clara turning away from  him…and all he has to do is hit one button.
 
A button marked “DELETE.”
 
The three words of 3W?  They’re not “Don’t cremate me.”  They’re “We must survive.”


 
It’s a crying shame that the trailer for Dark Water spoiled just who the bad guys were in this story.  The Doctor puts two-and-two together just as the tanks begin to drain of the dark water, revealing the metal casing that’s been holding the skeletons together all this time. 
 
The metal casing of the Cybermen.
 
Even knowing they were going to be showing up, the reveal is very well done, as the exoskeletons of the Cybermen slowly “cover” the internal skeletons that rest inside the metal suit thanks to the removal of the dark water.  It would have been nice if, once the Cybermen step out of their “tombs” and out into Central London, emerging from St Paul’s Cathedral in the process, there would have been more than six Cybermen stomping about and the people in the back of shot had been running in terror instead of staring in idle curiosity.  It’s still a pretty solid moment, just one that could have been handled, and hidden, better.

Of course, the key moment of Dark Water is one very simple line that packs a massive punch behind it, thrown with picture perfect delivery by Michelle Gomez.

quote:

Short for "Mistress". [smirks] Well, couldn't very well keep calling myself "The Master", now could I?

It was easy money to predict that Missy would turn out to be the Master in some capacity (I admit, though, I was holding out for the Rani), and Gomez nails every single thing that makes the Master great. Disguise everyone BUT the Doctor can see through? Check. Smug sense of superiority? Check. Being absolutely bonkers? Check. Incredibly convoluted plan? Check. Gloating and mocking the Doctor in her moment of triumph? Check. The second it was obvious Missy was the Master, every single thing Gomez did was an homage to Delgado, Beevers, Ainley, Roberts, Jacobi, Simm, and McQueen, but with her own amazing spin on things. Even though the reveal was predictable, Gomez's delivery and Capaldi's slow realization and horrified reaction to the presence of Gallifreyan technology AND another Time Lord made it a great moment in the episode and the series. Capaldi coming to grips with what's about to happen, the graves of the Earth about to give birth, and his sense of both sheer and quiet panic is just the pre-finale capper on what's been a great debut season for his Doctor.



And if there's anyone out there who has a problem with the Master being a woman...in the immortal words of Don Henley, get over it. To avoid going off on a rant, I'll sum it up as thus – if there's anyone who would regenerate into a different sex to piss off the Doctor, it's the Master.

There were so many great moments throughout Dark Water. Sadly, when jammed together into a one hour episode, these moments don't have time to breathe, serving only to shock and awe the viewer instead of sticking with them long term. Clara throwing away the TARDIS keys should have been something that covered the entire episode as an act of the ultimate betrayal. “Don't cremate me” should have been given a chance to burrow into the viewers consciousness and take root. And I wish the Cybermen reveal had been a true surprise. This episode was the very definition of a Steven Moffat finale – all kinds of really cool ideas and concepts tossed together along with the kitchen sink. Each moment has the potential to deliver a wicked gut punch, but there's no follow-through on those moments because the story has moved to the next important moment. There's little to no narrative flow to the events of Dark Water other than the barest of plot threads. “The characters do this because the script demands it.” This has been one of my reoccurring complaints throughout this season. There have been plenty of moments that have had an impact by themselves, but they barely tie together to the overall story, if at all. It would have been nice it “don't cremate me” and the 3W Institute had been seen earlier in the season, to add to the horror, tension, and mystery. It would have been nice to see more of Clara's vicious side to go along with her clever side. It would have been nice to see how Danny's combat experience and the mistake he can't live with affected his life other than a single tear early in the season. Moffat does very well with setting up a big finale with great moments, but I wish he would learn to spread them out a little bit more throughout the season interwoven with the long-term, slow-building narrative.

But in the end, Dark Water is just the set-up for the season finale, Death in Heaven. It's a hell of a set-up, with a multitude of hard hitting moments and a great pair of revelations, but the episode would have been better served with some more time to expand upon those moments. Rumor has it that Death in Heaven will be a full 60 minutes, and hopefully that will be enough time for the Master to reveal the depth of her complex and diabolical scheme...



Next up - With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role...

Peter Capaldi is the Doctor in...Death in Heaven.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

CobiWann posted:

After everything Clara had done to find Danny again, from risking the Doctor never being able to step inside the TARDIS again to following him as closely as she could into the Afterlife, after hearing Danny’s voice when she never thought she’d hear it again…Clara demands over and over that Danny prove that he’s really Danny.  It’s a very jarring emotional switch.  She risked everything, including the life she LIED to Danny about, and instead of clutching to a thin ray of hope that it’s actually Danny, who is telling her over and over again not to come find him, she refuses to believe its him.

I think they did a pretty good job of demonstrating why she was acting that way though. The Doctor had hammered home to her that he needed her to be detached and logical because it was possible that whoever was behind 3W was attempting to manipulate her by seemingly providing her with the one thing that she most wanted in the world. She desperately wants to believe it is him, but she is forcing herself to hold back and be as clinical as she possibly can be. I also think that works because it follows her breakdown after she thought she'd destroyed the TARDIS keys, and it makes sense to me that having seen how far she would be willing to go and her immediate realization of the terrible thing she'd done (which she admits she would do again) she's now trying to control her grief and avoid making another mistake.

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!

Jerusalem posted:

I think they did a pretty good job of demonstrating why she was acting that way though. The Doctor had hammered home to her that he needed her to be detached and logical because it was possible that whoever was behind 3W was attempting to manipulate her by seemingly providing her with the one thing that she most wanted in the world. She desperately wants to believe it is him, but she is forcing herself to hold back and be as clinical as she possibly can be. I also think that works because it follows her breakdown after she thought she'd destroyed the TARDIS keys, and it makes sense to me that having seen how far she would be willing to go and her immediate realization of the terrible thing she'd done (which she admits she would do again) she's now trying to control her grief and avoid making another mistake.

I can see where you're coming from, but after everything she went through to GET to this point, to talk to her dead boyfriend...maybe it was the length of time they devoted to it (or lack thereof) that didn't click with me. Would there have been ANYTHING Danny could have said to prove who he was to Clara in that case?

Doctor Spaceman
Jul 6, 2010

"Everyone's entitled to their point of view, but that's seriously a weird one."
If they're at the point of being able to fake Danny by reading Clara's brainwaves, no, not really.

Jerusalem
May 20, 2004

Would you be my new best friends?

CobiWann posted:

Would there have been ANYTHING Danny could have said to prove who he was to Clara in that case?

She was desperately hoping for something and if he'd actually tried I don't doubt she would have grasped at that. But he didn't, because he thought it would be better for her to let go and move on so he very deliberately (with great anguish) continued to repeat "I love you" since it's both true and also designed to make her believe that he's not real.

Irony Be My Shield
Jul 29, 2012

Yeah Clara all but said she'd kill herself once she confirmed he was real, and Danny didn't want that.

MrL_JaKiri
Sep 23, 2003

A bracing glass of carrot juice!

CobiWann posted:

Just realized Michelle Gomez is married to Jack Davenport.

That lucky, lucky woman.

Edit - and I have the best stepdaughter. I told her the Doctor and the Master have a swordfight and she demanded to watch that serial next weekend. As long as I promise there are no puppets in it.

The Clangers are puppets :ssh:

Cleretic
Feb 3, 2010


Ignore my posts!
I'm aggressively wrong about everything!

Jerusalem posted:

But he didn't, because he thought it would be better for her to let go and move on so he very deliberately (with great anguish) continued to repeat "I love you" since it's both true and also designed to make her believe that he's not real.

I like this idea, because it means Danny might be the smartest person around. Dude's seen one alien robot in his entire life, has never left Earth enough to know of any other types of alien, only learned his actual situation probably less than an hour before, and could still figure out exactly what he could say that would convince his girlfriend that he was an alien robot pretending to be himself. I'm not even being sarcastic here, I love the idea that Danny could piece together that course of action without even a single TARDIS trip's worth of experience.

Personally, I thought Danny was trying to say something that 'only he could say'. That was the last thing Clara said to him; that she'll never say 'I love you' to anyone else, so 'those words are his now'. Not his fault his girlfriend wasn't keeping track of her last words to him!

Namarrgon
Dec 23, 2008

Congratulations on not getting fit in 2011!
Huh? I thought it was pretty obvious that he 'messed up' on purpose and Clara was strongly hinting all that time to make him repeat something from her speech at the beginning of the episode.

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."
So, knowing what we know now (ie that the Master/Cybermen need actual bodies) why was the soldier who was vaporised in Into the Dalek greeted in "Heaven"?

And I may be misremembering but didn't she look pissed off that the Earth hadn't been subjected to a huge solar flare? Surely that would have scuppered the plan altogether?

And surely the Cybermen would prefer living bodies to augment/upgrade?

Annnnd Missy can't be 'the woman in the shop' because surely Clara would have recognised her when they met? Maybe the Master has had two female incarnations now?

Linear Zoetrope
Nov 28, 2011

A hero must cook

The_Doctor posted:

Annnnd Missy can't be 'the woman in the shop' because surely Clara would have recognised her when they met? Maybe the Master has had two female incarnations now?

Do you remember everybody you meet in a shop that gives you a tech support phone number?

Fil5000
Jun 23, 2003

HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS

The_Doctor posted:

So, knowing what we know now (ie that the Master/Cybermen need actual bodies) why was the soldier who was vaporised in Into the Dalek greeted in "Heaven"?


You could probably handwave that as some people don't hit the "Delete" button so won't be of use to pilot a Cyberman, so having a few minds without bodies kicking around to use as spares might be handy.

Sulphagnist
Oct 10, 2006

WARNING! INTRUDERS DETECTED

The_Doctor posted:

Annnnd Missy can't be 'the woman in the shop' because surely Clara would have recognised her when they met? Maybe the Master has had two female incarnations now?

That was months ago for her personal timeline. If she wore her hair differently and had different clothes she wouldn't remember her. I probably wouldn't remember her even if she were wearing a huge "I AM THE MASTER" sign around her neck.

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."

Antti posted:

That was months ago for her personal timeline. If she wore her hair differently and had different clothes she wouldn't remember her. I probably wouldn't remember her even if she were wearing a huge "I AM THE MASTER" sign around her neck.

Possibly. I might just watch Law & Order too much and expect everyone to have the memory of a barman. "Oh yeah, that guy? He was in here on a Tuesday night 7 months ago with his girlfriend. He had a different haircut at the time, and a scar on his right hand. He ordered a campari and soda which I thought was weird."

Ben Soosneb
Jun 18, 2009

Cry me a loch

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."

Ben Soosneb posted:

Cry me a loch

New companion Aria Loch confirmed.

vegetables
Mar 10, 2012

The_Doctor posted:

And I may be misremembering but didn't she look pissed off that the Earth hadn't been subjected to a huge solar flare? Surely that would have scuppered the plan altogether?

Making insanely complex plans to destroy a species that's about to be destroyed anyway is entirely in keeping with the Master's way of doing things. Wasn't that in 2016, whereas this plan is presumably taking place in 2014? Maybe the flare is why she's doing this now rather than later; maybe she only wanted to rule Cyberearth for two years; maybe she was going to replace all the trees with "cybertrees" and is now frustrated that she can't. There are lots of explanations for this that make as much sense as anything else in this show.

Small Strange Bird
Sep 22, 2006

Merci, chaton!

Gaz-L posted:

There's a very clear attempt to homage Pertwee's era over the last year or two. The Master being the main villain, the return of UNIT with a Lethbridge-Stewart in charge, Capaldi's overall look and approach. And the original seasons 7 and 8 pretty much WERE pitched at adults. They were going for the 20-somethings that were watching The Avengers and such.
I've started a rewatch of the Pertwee years - currently up to The Ambassadors... OF DEATH! (twang) - and bar the odd comedic bit (the post-regeneration stuff at the hospital, the TARDIS console making Three and Liz time-jump) everything's played completely straight and seriously in the same way as Doomwatch or something. It's actually quite refreshing!

TA... OD!(t) was charmingly naive with its ideas that Britain would not only have its own manned space programme, but be landing astronauts on Mars, in 1970's very near future, though. Bless it.

Namarrgon
Dec 23, 2008

Congratulations on not getting fit in 2011!
I don't remember Missy being pissed that the Doctor didn't genocide the trees, just surprised.

Fil5000
Jun 23, 2003

HOLD ON GUYS I'M POSTING ABOUT INTERNET ROBOTS

Payndz posted:

I've started a rewatch of the Pertwee years - currently up to The Ambassadors... OF DEATH! (twang) - and bar the odd comedic bit (the post-regeneration stuff at the hospital, the TARDIS console making Three and Liz time-jump) everything's played completely straight and seriously in the same way as Doomwatch or something. It's actually quite refreshing!

TA... OD!(t) was charmingly naive with its ideas that Britain would not only have its own manned space programme, but be landing astronauts on Mars, in 1970's very near future, though. Bless it.

The first season of Pertwee feels pretty different to the rest, I think. You go from the Doomwatch/Quatermass type of feel into a sort of mix of that stuff and more familiar feeling Who stuff, and by season 11 it's all Sontarans and dinosaurs. I liked Pertwee's first season a lot, and I sort of wish it had continued in that vein with Liz Shaw as the companion, but I can understand why it didn't.

Mr Beens
Dec 2, 2006

vegetables posted:

Making insanely complex plans to destroy a species that's about to be destroyed anyway is entirely in keeping with the Master's way of doing things. Wasn't that in 2016, whereas this plan is presumably taking place in 2014? Maybe the flare is why she's doing this now rather than later; maybe she only wanted to rule Cyberearth for two years; maybe she was going to replace all the trees with "cybertrees" and is now frustrated that she can't. There are lots of explanations for this that make as much sense as anything else in this show.

Wait, where did you get that the forest episode was set in the future? It was clearly set in the "now" as in Clara's normal timestream.

DoctorWhat
Nov 18, 2011

A little privacy, please?

Mr Beens posted:

Wait, where did you get that the forest episode was set in the future? It was clearly set in the "now" as in Clara's normal timestream.

Look, between The Power of Three and Day of the Doctor we've got a second UNIT Dating Controversy going on, so the "now" is kind of hard to pin down.

The_Doctor
Mar 29, 2007

"The entire history of this incarnation is one of temporal orbits, retcons, paradoxes, parallel time lines, reiterations, and divergences. How anyone can make head or tail of all this chaos, I don't know."

Mr Beens posted:

Wait, where did you get that the forest episode was set in the future? It was clearly set in the "now" as in Clara's normal timestream.

It's just that the show's 'now' is 2016.

Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

The companion "now" is basically "the very near future, but near enough that everything is much the same as it is right now." One way to eliminate this problem a bit more permanently will be if the next companion decides to travel a bit more extensively with the Doctor instead of stopping off at home to live most of their lives. I kind of understand why they made the switch in the Amy/Rory years, but they don't seem to think about it enough to make it really work.

Mr Beens
Dec 2, 2006

The_Doctor posted:

It's just that the show's 'now' is 2016.

Yeah but in terms of Earth cronology everything that involves Danny and Clara's normal life is happening in order. Vegetables thinks this is happening before Forest of the Night.

Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

:lol: That Colin Baker does an uncredicted cameo in Gallifrey's third season as Maxil. He has maybe 3 seconds of speaking and he's an excellent sport for doing it for them.

CobiWann
Oct 21, 2009

Have fun!

Bicyclops posted:

:lol: That Colin Baker does an uncredicted cameo in Gallifrey's third season as Maxil. He has maybe 3 seconds of speaking and he's an excellent sport for doing it for them.

Great, now Big Finish is reusing actors? Capaldi really is killing the show.

(I’m going to have to listen to Gallifrey now, aren’t I?)

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Bicyclops
Aug 27, 2004

CobiWann posted:

Great, now Big Finish is reusing actors? Capaldi really is killing the show.

(I’m going to have to listen to Gallifrey now, aren’t I?)

I think the first season of it has a little bit of trouble finding its legs, but the second and third seasons really are quite good.

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