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This was actually pretty cool  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RPe6aNiotA
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Jan 17, 2020 03:55
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Where is the Doctor's coat? 
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Jan 17, 2020 04:27
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Yeah I found that surprisingly enjoyable  That said... Edward Mass posted:Where is the Doctor's coat?
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Jan 17, 2020 05:17
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Orphan 55 was one of the worst episodes of Modern Who. They threw a lot of ideas into the pot, but none of them were fully cooked. "The vacation is BAD." "She's my mother!' "IT'S EARTH!" Ither fucked around with this message at 09:06 on Jan 17, 2020 |
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Jan 17, 2020 09:00
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Ither posted:Orphan 55 was one of the worst episodes of Modern Who. Again, I'm not sure it is. Because while it's bad, there's a few different types of 'Bad New Who', and Orphan 55 kinda just lands at 'boring bad'; like Tooth and Claw or something like that. It's not doing anything egregiously bad, it's just got nothing good in it to make up for any of its stumblings. It doesn't have any really embarassing performances or ideas, like Fear Her or Love and Monsters. It's not offensive like Forest of the Night, or insulting to your intelligence like the Monk stories. It's just sorta 'meh'. I wouldn't dread this episode in a rewatch, but I'd also completely forget it was coming until it turned up.
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Jan 17, 2020 12:37
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I feel like they could have done a ‘this planet was used up super quick by human-caused climate change, because of its small size. Earth is also on that path right now.” instead of making it explicitly Earth.
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Jan 17, 2020 13:42
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Cleretic posted:It doesn't have any really embarassing performances or ideas, like Fear Her or Love and Monsters. Benni! Benni!! Oh, Benni! Where's my Benni? Yeah, I would definitely rate this among the worst of Doctor Who.
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Jan 17, 2020 14:03
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Ither posted:Orphan 55 was one of the worst episodes of Modern Who. It's head and shoulders above every single Chibnall-penned story, which given how much he's writing automatically puts it in the top half of the era. It's full of half-baked ideas, but it's got good dialogue (god how I have missed that) and the Doctor manages to not hand any PoC over to the Nazis, so that's a plus!
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Jan 17, 2020 14:19
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Gravastars posted:Benni! Benni!! Oh, Benni! Where's my Benni? Is she really down there with Chloe Webber, though? I mean, be honest, really?
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Jan 17, 2020 14:42
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Cleretic posted:Again, I'm not sure it is. Because while it's bad, there's a few different types of 'Bad New Who', and Orphan 55 kinda just lands at 'boring bad'; like Tooth and Claw or something like that. It's not doing anything egregiously bad, it's just got nothing good in it to make up for any of its stumblings. Interestingly, Tooth and Claw was the first episode of the show I ever saw and the one that got me hooked on it. I loved that it was a scifi show where the people seemed to be having fun instead of brooding, and the whole tone felt very Buffy (which was a show I enjoyed). So I will never speak badly of Tooth and Claw, that was my entrance into the show.
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Jan 17, 2020 15:43
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Ishamael posted:Interestingly, Tooth and Claw was the first episode of the show I ever saw and the one that got me hooked on it. I loved that it was a scifi show where the people seemed to be having fun instead of brooding, and the whole tone felt very Buffy (which was a show I enjoyed). So I will never speak badly of Tooth and Claw, that was my entrance into the show. Honestly, I'll speak very little bad about Tooth and Claw either, it's a solidly fun, like, high-C-grade episode that also manages to highlight what Doctor Who can do well that other sci-fi can't. Nothing special as far as Doctor Who goes, but it's everything Who special. I kinda just landed on it because I was trying to think of other 'boringly bad' episodes, the ones that aren't actively bad so much as completely lacking in good. And basically by nature none of those actually stand out enough to remember.
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Jan 17, 2020 16:04
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Cleretic posted:Is she really down there with Chloe Webber, though? I mean, be honest, really? Really absolutely she is.
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Jan 17, 2020 16:10
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Gravastars posted:Really absolutely she is. Absolutely not. The old lady's acting was completely ok, nothing wrong with it. None of that episode's problems were to do with any of the actors.
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Jan 17, 2020 17:06
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Ishamael posted:Interestingly, Tooth and Claw was the first episode of the show I ever saw and the one that got me hooked on it. I loved that it was a scifi show where the people seemed to be having fun instead of brooding, and the whole tone felt very Buffy (which was a show I enjoyed). So I will never speak badly of Tooth and Claw, that was my entrance into the show. Funnily enough, while I first got into the show through the Eccleston years, I was turned off of it for a time because I ended up missing a bit and trying to binge-watch to catch up. But watching "The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth" back-to-back was a one-two punch of awfulness, and the beginning bits of "Tooth and Claw" finally killed my desire to watch anything else. I figured the lead actor switch had well and truly killed the series (ha!), and so I was out of it for a good year or two. It was only "Blink" and the ending stretch of season 3 that brought me back in, but it wasn't until Tennant left that I really re-committed and went back to the original series, which really cemented my fandom. So I'll always have a special place for "Tooth and Claw" too... as the episode that was nearly the death-knell of the show for me.
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Jan 17, 2020 17:47
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Mr Beens posted:Dregs.
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Jan 18, 2020 05:55
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The offical channel uploaded a HD clip from an episode featuring the Robots from Robots of Deat, but not that episode and for a second i thought it was a preview for the next episode. Then I realized it was a promo for the 14th season BRD set. Then I got upset thinking that if they had shown the robot, that would be a huge spoiler for the episode.
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Jan 18, 2020 08:08
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I hate this episode, it was bad.
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Jan 19, 2020 00:08
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Namtab posted:I hate this episode, it was bad. I was fine with it until the subtext moved up to plain text and then it was just... blech.
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Jan 19, 2020 00:19
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Nah I loved it. Big fan of that big nonsense. Best episode of the Chibnall era IMO.
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Jan 19, 2020 03:02
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Season 11, Episode 4: Arachnids in the UK Written by Chris Chibnall, Directed by Sallie Aprahamian Jack Robertson posted:This is what the world needs right now. With a title like this, I assumed we were in for a fun romp. Something akin to Dinosaurs on a Spaceship where it was all tongue-in-cheek nonsense, just hopefully without the sudden dark twist of the Doctor taunting the villain as they were murdered. The problem with this episode isn't that it ends up not being this, but that it ends up not really seeming to know WHAT it wants to be. Is it cornball over the top comedy as Chris Noth plays his Jack Robertson character? Is it a serious indictment of the out-of-sight/out-of-mind mentality of waste management? Is it a sad story about humanity's impact on nature and the unintended consequences it has on innocent creatures? Is it a heartbreaking exploration of the emptiness and loneliness that comes in the aftermath of grief? Well it's trying to be all of those, and as a result it never really nails any of them. What we end up with is an entertaining enough story that is carried by good character moments/development and the chemistry/talent of the main and supporting cast.  The episode opens with American hotel/business magnate Jack Robertson visiting the latest in his worldwide series of hotels, this one based in Sheffield. The place isn't open yet and he's using that as an excuse to hold a very important but very secret meeting with one of his "fixers", Frankie. She's the wife of one of his nieces, Robertson apparently runs on the mindset of hiring family to guarantee a loyalty to himself he clearly doesn't reciprocate. She's upset about something she fears can't be covered up and that could bring them all down, INCLUDING him. He dismisses these claims, but clearly he's troubled nonetheless as he is holding up his private plane, snapping at his bodyguard Kevin, and takes the chance to fire the hotel's manager - Najia - who showed up on a day-off to do MORE work and suffers the consequences for her work ethic. We'll soon find out the significance of this moment, as Najia turns out to be Yaz's mother. With the Doctor FINALLY getting her companions back to Sheffield (though a visually stunning new depiction of the Time Vortex, now shown as multiple, endless off-shoots instead of a single tunnel) only 30 minutes after they initially left, the stage is set for all the players to come together. Robertson is played by Chris Noth, perhaps best known as "Mr. Big" in Sex and the City. He clearly seems to be having a lot of fun with the role, but suffers from the same overall problems that the episode itself suffers. Chibnall tries to have his cake and eat it too by making Robertson an obvious Trump analogue, which is why he's simultaneously a buffoon/dangerous immoral capitalist overlord. But the comedy doesn't mix well with the darker moments, the same Robertson who insists on scheduled toilet breaks and is made to look like a detached-from-reality idiot is also widely considered as having a strong shot at becoming US President, and argues passionately for crude, simplistic and aggressive "common sense" solutions. The messaging is about as subtle as Donald Trump himself, and things are further muddled by the fact that the characters lampshade this by expressly referencing Trump and the similarities between the two. It's a Homer Simpson "He's exactly as rich as, and looks identical to, Don King!" joke played straight. Where he works best is in his initial encounters with the Doctor, where she listens attentively but clearly utterly befuddled as he explains all the ways in which he is supposedly AN IMPORTANT PERSON, all the reasons for which she clearly finds completely alien (Whittaker absolutely nails her clear indifference/puzzlement at his egotistical self-promotion). A deeper exploration of their conflicting viewpoints might have been interesting, but Robertson's abrupt wrapping up of his part in the storyline and disappearance from the story leaves the whole thing feeling incomplete.  The absolute best part of this episode comes in the character interactions, particularly between the main cast. When the Doctor finally gets the others back to Sheffield, it's a bitter-sweet thing as everybody is happy to be home (and nobody any the wiser they were gone) but they all know this is it. She brought them home the long way, but they are home, and that means a parting of the ways. The Doctor in particular is clearly lonely, having only just made new friends they're going after only a few days (weeks?), so it's no surprise when she jumps at the chance to have tea at Yaz's. Ryan joins them as Graham wants some time alone to enter their house for the first time since Grace died, where we meet Yaz's family who are an enjoyable bunch of eccentrics. Yaz's younger sister is immediately interested on if Ryan is dating Yaz, primarily because SHE wants to date him. Yaz's dad just wants to make people pakora! It is a little odd that Yaz gets the call to pick up her mother and leaves the Doctor and Ryan with her family instead of taking them with her, but it does lead in to the Doctor's natural curiosity getting her next door where they have their first encounter with the titular arachnids. While Yaz's father and sister largely get abandoned after this point (there's a great scene where they sit alone with the pakora, waiting patiently for their guests to return), Najia comes to the fore and is an enjoyable temporary addition to the cast. She's somewhat stereotypical but it does make for an amusing running gag as she ponders whether the Doctor is dating Yaz (The Doctor doesn't know, she can't quite remember what dating actually entails ) but then IMMEDIATELY shifts over to asking the same about Ryan. She isn't judging her daughter's sexual preferences or looking down on any potential partners... she just wants her daughter to be dating SOMEBODY! Caught up inside the hotel, lead by the Doctor they slow uncover the secret behind the giant spiders (all but the one Graham finds in he and Grace's house has a logical explanation) despite Robertson's increasingly grumpy attempts to stop them. This is what marks this episode about giant spiders as, technically at least, a straight historical. There are no aliens, no Metebelis 3 psychic spiders etc. This is purely a man-made issue, the spiders were being studied at a lab and the waste materials of those studies were supposed to be securely processed by a company owned by Robertson... but instead were simply dumped along with other hazardous chemicals in a landfill beneath the new hotel. Robertson first declares ignorance and later defends this as "vertical integration", and there is some interesting politics involved in the situation. Robertson gets to buy former industrial land at a cheap price for "re-purposing" and turns it into expensive (and gaudy) hotels that up property values and make him a ton of money - a win-win for everybody but the people who can't afford to live where they used to work. The barest mention is made that this former industrial land was a coal mine, which explains the giant tunnels/pits beneath the surface but also reminds the viewer about how working class places like Sheffield were screwed over the very second they were no longer generating sufficient profit, and now the remains are continuing to make rich people MORE money while tucking actual problems under the rug. It is to the credit of the episode that the spiders, while obviously threatening, are never treated by anybody other than Robertson as evil. They're simply doing what comes naturally, but are confused by their unnatural size and how exactly to react to human beings. Yes a couple of people (surprisingly few) get killed and strung up, but it's purely due to the spiders following instinct the best they can. They're trying to live like they always do, but their usual prey is too tiny for them to really register, and their giant size makes their usual activities appear far more deliberate and... well, intelligent... than they actually are. They are, simply speaking, spiders. Just really big ones. This is really sold when the Doctor leads everybody to confront the biggest spider after trapping the others in Robertson's panic room (the unsettling implication here is that they're being left to starve to death in there) and they grasp that it's not a threat, in fact it's panicking as its own body betrays it. Spiders aren't meant to be that big, it can't get the air it needs to stay alive, and is desperately scrabbling to get out of a "lair" that has become its own tomb. This is the moment that Robertson finally decides to strike, as always the bully seeing a moment of weakness as a chance to be "courageous" and shooting it. The Doctor is outraged, though to be fair there's a case to be made that this was (even if not intended that way) a mercy killing for a creature that was already dying and in terrible pain and fear. Robertson's sneering reply that HE is the thing the world needs nowadays is devastating for the Doctor to hear, it's the complete opposite of her own philosophy and furthers the steadily clearer theme of the season that often the true "monster" is man. But that's where Robertson departs the story, all completely without any consequences to his action despite everybody knowing about his complicity in causing this situation (not to mention his bodyguard pulling a gun on a literal actual policewoman!).   But while the ultimate resolution left me feeling unsatisfied, it is at least effective at setting up what is about to be the new status quo. Because with the spiders dealt with and Robertson gone, the Doctor is left with the knowledge that this really is it, it is time for her to go on alone yet again. But Graham, Ryan and Yaz have told her they want to see her before she does, and it is there that they give her the gift she so desperately needs. After the depressing encounter with the spiders and hearing Robertson espouse a selfish ideology, she is reminded that her friends care about her and want to be with her. They're open about their own personal reasons as well: Graham needs time to deal with his grief, and can't be alone in a house that still feels full of Grace; Ryan hates working in the warehouse and wants to go on adventures; Yaz loves her family but they drive her mad, and she wants to see more of the universe. But it's not just selfish reasons, they like the Doctor and they clearly understand that she NEEDS them as much as they need her. Their final lines to her hammer that home, and are deeply touching to her: Yaz: You're like the best person I've ever met. Ryan: You're pretty awesome. Graham: You're all right, I suppose. Eager to accept but concerned about putting them at risk, she reminds them she can't guarantee their safety, and even if they come back they will never be the same again. They're all fine with that of course, and Graham drops his earlier humor to make that clear by pointing out that this is more than all right, it's a good thing. So the episode - uneven and tone-confused as it might have been - ends on a real high note. The Doctor has fulfilled her promise to get them home, but doesn't have to say goodbye just yet. They're still together, even if she still can't quite figure out what to call them ("Fam" or "Team TARDIS" etc), and she doesn't have to be alone like that poor spider that died in pain and fear, killed by a heartless rear end in a top hat who only cared about his own benefit. She saw the worst of humanity, they show her the best, and as she says as she invites them to join her in operating the TARDIS for their next journey... "I love this bit."  Index of Doctor Who Write-ups for Television Episodes/Big Finish Audio Stories.
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Jan 19, 2020 06:12
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While we're waiting, I made this last year in anticipation of Jodie starting, I think you'll probably like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=828rVOsSifg
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Jan 19, 2020 17:47
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I hope todays episode is good but the title doesn't fill me with confidence.
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Jan 19, 2020 17:53
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Buml0r posted:While we're waiting, I made this last year in anticipation of Jodie starting, I think you'll probably like it. ...You're the dude from the Theme from the Dark World. I didn't know you were a goon!
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Jan 19, 2020 18:12
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Friends, I didn't like that last episode but I'm still a Doctor Who fan. What's wrong with me?!
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Jan 19, 2020 18:23
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I'll watch all the episodes, but that doesn't mean I like or enjoy all of them, and will likely never watch them again, but it doesn't make me any more or less of a fan for doing so
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Jan 19, 2020 18:26
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How could you call yourself a real fan and not hate the episodes I'm gonna list and furthermore
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Jan 19, 2020 18:27
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Carbon dioxide posted:...You're the dude from the Theme from the Dark World. I didn't know you were a goon! Theme from the Dark World was made for a GBS thread 
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Jan 19, 2020 18:32
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"Always wanted to meet ya.... shame you're a big fat liar!" Edit: Silurians aren't aliens 
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Jan 19, 2020 20:18
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I know a little bit about tesla (I teach physics), and when my first thought in the episode is "Considering he didnt move to the US until he was in his 20s, thats a hell of an accent he doesnt have...", I am very worried I am going to be unable to stop nit-picking it.
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Jan 19, 2020 20:21
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Yes please showcase what a gigantic rear end in a top hat Thomas Edison was.
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Jan 19, 2020 20:29
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I'm really digging this episode, I think it's really go...oh gently caress it's the Racnoss 
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Jan 19, 2020 20:37
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They look for things. Things to make us go.
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Jan 19, 2020 20:44
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Giant anthropomorphic laser scorpions is dumb even for this show.
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Jan 19, 2020 20:44
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This is that Hark! A vagrant comic about tesla (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=61) but with the ladies replaced with laser scorpions.
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Jan 19, 2020 20:46
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SiKboy posted:This is that Hark! A vagrant comic about tesla (http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=61) but with the ladies replaced with laser scorpions. I love this comic so much Also, seriously, gently caress Edison.
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Jan 19, 2020 20:51
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I really enjoyed everything about that episode EXCEPT for the Queen of the Shifra(sp?), who was absolutely awful. Everything else was a delight though. Edit: The scorpions looked fine and the concept was good - a spacefaring race that just steals poo poo to keep going and has no idea how anything actually works - but she looked like a refugee from the worst parts of the RTD years, and I absolutely loathe that physical style of acting which just removes any and all sense of possible menace. Very late Edit: Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror gifs - Click to view:            
Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Mar 2, 2020 |
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Jan 19, 2020 21:02
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I pretty much liked all of it, including the goofy Racnoss scorpions. The Doctor's stance on killing is still a bit strange though. Cold blooded murder is okay as long as it's not with a gun?
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Jan 19, 2020 21:05
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Jerusalem posted:I love this comic so much Yeah, when I talk about Edison and Tesla to classes one of the takeaways is that Edison is historically, a massive arsehole. Overall that was a fairly dumb fun episode. I enjoyed it, and it was easily leagues better than last week. Isnt going to crack my top ten doctor who episodes or anything, but absolutely good enough.
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Jan 19, 2020 21:07
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Gravastars posted:The Doctor's stance on killing is still a bit strange though. Cold blooded murder is okay as long as it's not with a gun? That bit I found very confusing, she was clearly intending to kill the Queen which in turn would leave the rest of the scorpions screwed (we already saw they were prone to fighting among themselves) but then when the ship gets blasted by the electricity it's made to look like they... fly away? The writer has been script editor on the show before and I felt like the story mostly had pretty good flow and the edit was fairly straightforward which has been an issue at times in the Chibnall era. I doubt this is an episode that is really going to stick strongly in my mind in the future, but it was a perfectly good and solid episode of Who and that's a bit of a relief after last week. SiKboy posted:Yeah, when I talk about Edison and Tesla to classes one of the takeaways is that Edison is historically, a massive arsehole. Nikola Tesla on the death of Edison posted:He had no hobby, cared for no sort of amusement of any kind and lived in utter disregard of the most elementary rules of hygiene ... His method was inefficient in the extreme, for an immense ground had to be covered to get anything at all unless blind chance intervened and, at first, I was almost a sorry witness of his doings, knowing that just a little theory and calculation would have saved him 90 percent of the labor. But he had a veritable contempt for book learning and mathematical knowledge, trusting himself entirely to his inventor's instinct and practical American sense Apparently this was the only negative section of Edison's obituary, and I can't say I blame Tesla for pulling no punches considering how Edison tanked AC in the public's mind.
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Jan 19, 2020 21:14
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It's weird that the Skithra seemed clearly related to the Racnoss, but the episode never made any nod to that. I'd also expected the Tesla episode to be the one with the cybermen. Overall, I'm in agreement with the rest of the thread: a perfectly solid bit of Doctor Who that mostly hit the right beats, but not one that'll particularly stick in my memory.
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Jan 19, 2020 21:40
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