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Maxwell Lord posted:The one issue I have with the blindness thing is- surely disability law would require that a lab not have a combination lock that ONLY works visually. ATMs all have to have Braille, after all. There's literally no way to read a pipette or anything if you're blind. You'd have to redesign hundreds of millions worth of equipment to make a blind person able to work in a biochem lab, and even then it would be tricky. Do disability laws still apply for places where blind people literally cannot work?
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May 28, 2017 09:29
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Vinylshadow posted:By putting the Doctor in the role of Trump and having everyone ignore his advice and die horribly? Ignoring his opinion only made sense when the Doctor was still a random space hobo. It's pretty amazing that the writers go out of their way to make the Doctor the most powerful man on earth, and then his advice still doesn't matter to anyone. Harness is such an awful writer. Every part of the story falls apart at the seams. He barely even seems to care whether the plot feels plausible as long as outrageous poo poo happens every few minutes. And More fucked around with this message at 09:39 on May 28, 2017 |
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May 28, 2017 09:36
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Carbon dioxide posted:There's literally no way to read a pipette or anything if you're blind. You'd have to redesign hundreds of millions worth of equipment to make a blind person able to work in a biochem lab, and even then it would be tricky. Yeah, disability laws are not there to ensure every job can be done by every person. Braille fork lift truck controls must be installed now! Wheelchair access for scaffolders. The story would have been much better if it turned out the aliens are actually here to help us, stop the disaster and move on. The Doctor was wrong all along about his assumptions, him being blind made him miss a crucial bit of info. There would be no need to stretch this out to a 3 parter. How long ago was it that they said they didn't like doing 2 parters any more?
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May 28, 2017 09:42
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Maxwell Lord posted:The one issue I have with the blindness thing is- surely disability law would require that a lab not have a combination lock that ONLY works visually. ATMs all have to have Braille, after all. Just accept that the lab made no drat sense. No element of the lab made sense. The layout of the lab had to be a comedy of errors. The airlock wasn't an airlock, because the lab didn't need an airlock, because they were working on improving crop yields not diseases. Then someone was all "Oi, this should have an airlocks, what if the killer tomatoes attack?" So they installed a half-assed non-functional airlock, an absurd lockdown procedure that protected nothing, and a filtration system that vented everything to the atmosphere every 30 minutes just so they could claim to have those safety features installed. Everyone who works there knows it is a joke. That's why they don't bother sealing their suits, and taking off your hood and drinking coffee inside the lab is no big deal. It's all just security theatre to look good to investors or NIMBYs touring the lab. Nothing dangerous was supposed to happen there.
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May 28, 2017 09:43
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The Pyramid at the End of the World gifs - click to view              
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May 28, 2017 09:52
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Facebook Aunt posted:The airlock wasn't an airlock, because the lab didn't need an airlock, because they were working on improving crop yields not diseases. Then someone was all "Oi, this should have an airlocks, what if the killer tomatoes attack?" So they installed a half-assed non-functional airlock, an absurd lockdown procedure that protected nothing, and a filtration system that vented everything to the atmosphere every 30 minutes just so they could claim to have those safety features installed. Everyone who works there knows it is a joke. That's why they don't bother sealing their suits, and taking off your hood and drinking coffee inside the lab is no big deal. It's all just security theatre to look good to investors or NIMBYs touring the lab. Nothing dangerous was supposed to happen there. I remember a bunch of infoposts in PYF from a while back where someone talked about crap British trains from the middle chunk of the 20th century,and this sort of thing you described is absolutely what happened in the automotive industry around that time so I could believe it. A working environment built entirely by somebody with no concept of what working there would require, then making a bunch of demands of how it's built to both counter imaginary problems and justify investment in other fields ("hey, listen, we need to keep our airlock manufacturers employed, so..."). ...This hypothetical story about the lab is way more fun than the actual stuff that happened in it. Cleretic fucked around with this message at 10:04 on May 28, 2017 |
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May 28, 2017 10:01
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Loads of this episode made no sense. It's a kids show, not a documentary  I thought it was fun.
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May 28, 2017 10:05
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Ofaloaf posted:I'm never quite sure if Who is supposed to take place in the present or in some near-future that's just far enough removed that we can pretend world leaders are people we haven't heard of yet. President-elect (so he was elected in the presidential election of either 2006 or 2007 but hasn't taken office yet) Winters is killed by the Master in 2007. Barack Obama is president in 2009 when the Master turns everyone into THE MASTER RACE. So presumably there was a presidential election in 2006 or 2007, then another one in 2008 which elected Obama and set history back on course. Or something like that. 
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May 28, 2017 10:28
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While I get that it didn't happen because that was where Harness and/or Moffat had decided they were gonna bring in the monks' deal... surely from past precedent the Doctor could've patched Bill through to the input feed from the specs (before it turns it all into whatever was going into his brain to simulate some semblance of vision) and had her be his eyes? Ah well, it was a fun enough romp, and as has been said, if this is the worst we're getting, then this is gonna be a great season. (And hopefully the final part will at least salvage this story as a whole.)
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May 28, 2017 10:53
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Didn't that only work because his other companion this season is a robot, literally reassembled, with a human head?
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May 28, 2017 10:56
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By the way, something is out of order. This episode, Nardole was told he has human lungs. In the space station episode, he seemed to be aware of this and wore a suit.
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May 28, 2017 11:00
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Carbon dioxide posted:By the way, something is out of order. I'm guessing the idea was that he while he still had his lungs, they're not necessarily human ones. I can't remember if Nardole is meant to be a human from the future or just an alien that happens to look exactly like a human, but I also could see a future human having a more robust system thanks to advances in medical science/genetic engineering etc.
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May 28, 2017 11:08
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There also seemed to be some pretty confused stuff about consent going on, as if the author was a bit baffled as to what consent actually is. Which wouldn't surprise me. Still better than Kill the Moon though.
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May 28, 2017 11:28
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I'm still enjoying this a lot, I love the monks' design (even if they are a bit Pyrovile), and I kinda want to see what they really look like since they're using the A Form You Are Comfortable With trope. I could see the 'GMOs are bad' Message looming over the horizon like some vast, predatory bird, and I'm glad they sidestepped that one in favour of 'you probably shouldn't come to work that hungover'. The simulation strands effect looked really cool, as did the dusting effect.
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May 28, 2017 11:34
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The_Doctor posted:I'm still enjoying this a lot, I love the monks' design (even if they are a bit Pyrovile), and I kinda want to see what they really look like since they're using the A Form You Are Comfortable With trope. The dusting was absolutely brutal in the way the flesh dusted off eeeeeever so slightly before the bones. Genuinely disturbing.
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May 28, 2017 11:38
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Jerusalem posted:I'm guessing the idea was that he while he still had his lungs, they're not necessarily human ones. I can't remember if Nardole is meant to be a human from the future or just an alien that happens to look exactly like a human, but I also could see a future human having a more robust system thanks to advances in medical science/genetic engineering etc. I'm pretty sure Nardole is meant to be humanoid but not human. Hence his 'there's a human in the TARDIS' comments from 'The Pilot'. If anyone has last weeks recorded the glasses might say what he is asking with his demographics.
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May 28, 2017 11:39
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Douglas the Idiot looked familiar but it wasn't until I looked it up that I found out he was Dan Miller from The Thick of It. The episode had far too much poo poo happening because the plot demanded it happen, like all of the lab stuff and the Doctor deducing that it was a superbacteria. First miss of the season.
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May 28, 2017 11:44
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Vinylshadow posted:By putting the Doctor in the role of Trump and having everyone ignore his advice and die horribly? No, I meant Bill saying "I wouldn't have even voted for him, he's.....orange"
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May 28, 2017 12:15
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Doctor Spaceman posted:Douglas the Idiot looked familiar but it wasn't until I looked it up that I found out he was Dan Miller from The Thick of It. I knew he was familiar. He is probably about the last character from that show I'd expect to cause the end of the world through sheer incompetence, mostly because everybody else were such gently caress-ups that they'd have gotten there ahead of him.
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May 28, 2017 12:36
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jivjov posted:No, I meant Bill saying "I wouldn't have even voted for him, he's.....orange" Granted, the Whoniverse seems to have its own bizarre alternate presidents, so who knows what's happening over in Eagleland Unkempt posted:There also seemed to be some pretty confused stuff about consent going on, as if the author was a bit baffled as to what consent actually is. Which wouldn't surprise me. Preview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUD_ORMupBg Fanshow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf_6jhkS-Y8 I've never bothered with the fan show because the hyperactive host irritates the heck out of me - is it worth watching for other information?
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May 28, 2017 12:37
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Doctor Spaceman posted:Douglas the Idiot looked familiar but it wasn't until I looked it up that I found out he was Dan Miller from The Thick of It. The cylinder combination lock was such an idiot contrivance. You can clearly see the gears at work in Peter Harness's head going "Why's it not a regular numberpad, oh right he'd still know where the numbers are, and he can hack digital touchscreen displays. What's left... uh....  "Also, why the gently caress do they keep letting Peter Harness write episodes when he keeps writing crap? At least he's not writing the next one, so it might actually turn out okay. Even if this is looking like another pointless episode to set up the next one. Again. The only lynchpin linking them all together is "The Doctor is blind" and you could pull that out by having Nardole actually fix his eyes at the end of Oxygen. For that matter, seriously, they're telling us the Doctor's just going to accept being blind for the rest of his incarnation instead of going [i]anywhere in space and time[/i] to go fix his eyesight? Nanites. Nigh-magical technology. 50th-Century Lasik surgery in the Andromeda Galaxy. Take your pick.
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May 28, 2017 12:38
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Neddy Seagoon posted:Also, why the gently caress do they keep letting Peter Harness write episodes when he keeps writing crap?  Probaby.
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May 28, 2017 12:43
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Neddy Seagoon posted:Also, why the gently caress do they keep letting Peter Harness write episodes when he keeps writing crap? At least he's not writing the next one, so it might actually turn out okay. Even if this is looking like another pointless episode to set up the next one. Again. The only lynchpin linking them all together is "The Doctor is blind" and you could pull that out by having Nardole actually fix his eyes at the end of Oxygen. In fairness, this next episode obviously does need that setup; judging by the preview the Monks kinda timefucked the Earth's history, you can't just jump right into that. Especially since they're new enemies, even if it were the Daleks or something that are known quantities we'd still be annoyed if we didn't get that leadup. quote:For that matter, seriously, they're telling us the Doctor's just going to accept being blind for the rest of his incarnation instead of going anywhere in space and time to go fix his eyesight? Nanites. Nigh-magical technology. 50th-Century Lasik surgery in the Andromeda Galaxy. Take your pick. Honestly, why you're saying that at all is a bit weird, given the Doctor clearly DID bang together a solution through the shades. Sure, they aren't perfect, but the Doctor's never been one for perfect solutions. Veritas showed pretty definitively (even if it wasn't the real Doctor) that he's making the best of what he's got, you can't just assume there's a better solution out there that he 'should' be taking. I actually really liked the Doctor being blind, it was an interesting wrinkle to things (even if actually giving him an insurmountable obstacle through that was... somehow beyond them), but it seems like we won't be facing it for long. He wasn't wearing the shades at any point in the preview, and I don't think the shades featured in any promo shots for upcoming episodes. On an unrelated note, now I'm thinking about it this story feels really weirdly placed. This is the sort of thing that made up a season finale two-parter in the Matt Smith days, yet this is basically the halfway point and we've got some pretty big hooks coming in the stories after it. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just a really weirdly structured ride. Cleretic fucked around with this message at 13:00 on May 28, 2017 |
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May 28, 2017 12:56
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Cleretic posted:Honestly, why you're saying that at all is a bit weird, given the Doctor clearly DID bang together a solution through the shades. Sure, they aren't perfect, but the Doctor's never been one for perfect solutions. Veritas showed pretty definitively (even if it wasn't the real Doctor) that he's making the best of what he's got, you can't just assume there's a better solution out there that he 'should' be taking. You can when you understand it's bad writing. The only thing wrong is with his eyes from basic exposure to vacuum. Fix'em with fancy future medicine/surgery, replace them with cloned ones or robot eyes. There's a shitload of basic sci-fi options beyond "Oh no, my eyesight is gone forever and ever, oh well". Cleretic posted:In fairness, this next episode obviously does need that setup; judging by the preview the Monks kinda timefucked the Earth's history, you can't just jump right into that. Especially since they're new enemies, even if it were the Daleks or something that are known quantities we'd still be annoyed if we didn't get that leadup. Sure, i can agree to that. Just not two whole episodes to set up "they have watched humanity through all its history and are now making their move". Hell, you might actually be able to sink the two episodes altogether with a two-minute cold open showing a world leader giving consent on global television, with the big friendly alien saviours for solving world hunger/poverty/pollution/global warming as some big event the Doctor's late to finding out (or outright missed) and get rolling from there.
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May 28, 2017 13:07
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Can we talk about the one most brilliant thing about this ep? Not once was Erica's height ever mentioned.
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May 28, 2017 13:08
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The trouble is, it just feels like they're revisiting the 'Master takes over the earth' thing from Last of the Time Lords. Which, you know, wasn't great.
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May 28, 2017 13:11
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"The earth does not consent to your help, your presence or your conquest. Thank you for playing the big pyramid game, bye-bye, see you next week - hopefully not." Even in a Harness episode, Moffat manages to give us a few good lines - even a little fourth wall break
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May 28, 2017 13:12
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Davros1 posted:Can we talk about the one most brilliant thing about this ep? Not once was Erica's height ever mentioned. Absolutely agreed. I was afraid they had written a part specifically for the actress, and was pleased that that was not the case.
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May 28, 2017 13:15
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By the way, 21 years ago yesterday was also... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1x4YzkeQEI
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May 28, 2017 13:23
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The Eighth Doctor Time War set is now the first of an annual series of 4! https://www.bigfinish.com/news/v/the-big-finish-sunday-digest
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May 28, 2017 14:01
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jivjov posted:The Eighth Doctor Time War set is now the first of an annual series of 4! I wonder how many are adapted War Doctor stories, changed after the tragic news? 
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May 28, 2017 14:10
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Wouldn't the Monk's trick with changing every digital and physical clock to 11:57 pm significantly damage civilization in a super-Y2K scenario? GPS wouldn't work properly, many computer systems that rely on exact synchronous timing would freeze or fail, etc?
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May 28, 2017 14:25
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The_Doctor posted:I wonder how many are adapted War Doctor stories, changed after the tragic news? I actually just asked that over on Facebook. It's a tragic necessity...but it would be a good way to make use of those scripts and do what they can to pay respect. On another note, I listened to the trailer, and at the end there's a very modern-Who sounding sting of the pre-main theme music. Maybe these releases will use the Night of the Doctor version of the theme?
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May 28, 2017 14:25
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SimplyCosmic posted:Wouldn't the Monk's trick with changing every digital and physical clock to 11:57 pm significantly damage civilization in a super-Y2K scenario? GPS wouldn't work properly, many computer systems that rely on exact synchronous timing would freeze or fail, etc? Yes, yes it would.
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May 28, 2017 14:34
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SimplyCosmic posted:Wouldn't the Monk's trick with changing every digital and physical clock to 11:57 pm significantly damage civilization in a super-Y2K scenario? GPS wouldn't work properly, many computer systems that rely on exact synchronous timing would freeze or fail, etc? Given they're meant to be simulating the entire world, that one's a pretty easy handwave actually - you can just say they only changed the clocks that wouldn't accelerate the end of the world and they knew which ones were safe because, simulation.
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May 28, 2017 14:44
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Davros1 posted:Can we talk about the one most brilliant thing about this ep? Not once was Erica's height ever mentioned. You see, this is why Doctor Who is so great. They dont let the little details dwarf the overall story.
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May 28, 2017 14:52
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Maxwell Lord posted:The one issue I have with the blindness thing is- surely disability law would require that a lab not have a combination lock that ONLY works visually. ATMs all have to have Braille, after all. Disability law places a requirement for "reasonable adjustments" to be made to allow avoidance of a substantial disadvantage. The keyword in practice here is "reasonable". Additionally due to the health and safety at work act the counter argument they could use in the hypothetical lawsuit would be that due to the dangerous chemicals in the airlock there would not be a reasonable adjustment they could make that would satisfy their legal duty to ensure that the blind person is safe at work. It was a bad episode anyway. Namtab fucked around with this message at 14:57 on May 28, 2017 |
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May 28, 2017 14:54
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Boo! That was directed at the post above the one now above me.
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May 28, 2017 14:54
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SimplyCosmic posted:Wouldn't the Monk's trick with changing every digital and physical clock to 11:57 pm significantly damage civilization in a super-Y2K scenario? GPS wouldn't work properly, many computer systems that rely on exact synchronous timing would freeze or fail, etc? I wondered briefly if this was going to tie into the resolution, what with 30 minute gas venting timers and a countdown clock on the bomb, but it just kinda got forgotten about
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May 28, 2017 15:17
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bzmv3ScK50 Really? No spare psychic paper lying around you could have nicked from the TARDIS? Granted, we're missing context, so it's hard to judge what's going on
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May 28, 2017 16:04
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