Dr Who - Season 4

[General Zod]

Even the Impossible Planet was just an Earth outpost, and there really wasn't much on it.

Still a sight better than "Cardiff", "New York" or "Future New York".

[Drooling Iguana]

Even the Impossible Planet was just an Earth outpost, and there really wasn't much on it.

Still a sight better than "Cardiff", "New York" or "Future New York".

Yes, but still not nearly what we should be able to expect from a show about a 1000-year-old (screw the 900 years bullshit. The Doctor was 953 at the beginning of his seventh incarnation, he must've passed the big 1000 by now) alien who can travel anywhere in space and time.

[Patrick Degan]

Even the Impossible Planet was just an Earth outpost, and there really wasn't much on it.

Still a sight better than "Cardiff", "New York" or "Future New York".

Yes, but still not nearly what we should be able to expect from a show about a 1000-year-old (screw the 900 years bullshit. The Doctor was 953 at the beginning of his seventh incarnation, he must've passed the big 1000 by now) alien who can travel anywhere in space and time.

He could even be somewhere in his 1100s at this point. Nine hundred years seems to be how long he's been traveling the universe. During the Key to Time series, Romana once quoted a figure of 523 years for how long the Doctor's been flying about in the TARDIS, at a point when he was 759. If we go by that reference, add two hundred years at least to the age he gave to Rose.

[Drooling Iguana]

The Master also said that he was 900 years old, but considering how he'd just finished getting turned into a cat, getting exterminated by the Daleks, getting sucked into the Eye of Harmony, living for decades as a human and then regenerating into a nutjob played by John Simm I think we can just assume he got his math wrong.

[Big Orange]

By your worthless standards, perhaps: they weren't even mentioned, instead we got a laughably ridiculous pile of shit about the end of the universe and pop psychology. Hmmmm, something from Utopia wasted? SHOCK!

You've got very thickle tastes and intensely dislike something; SHOCK!!! If you really, really dislike "Last of the Time Lords" then good for you Stark. I know that "Last of the Time Lords" was not a patch on "Doomsday" or "The Parting of the Ways" (full of more inconsistencies and plot holes than the other two RTD finals) but that didn't stop it from being a very enjoyable episode, despite "LOTTL" being the weak link in the otherwise great Master three parter with one more Deus-ex ending too many (the Master would've probably been handled better if he was more of a relatively lower key reoccurring villain that would hound the Doctor for another season accross the known Universe).

[Stark]

Big Orange
Dear me, you and your hilarious high horse. For all your bluster, LoTL really *did* waste it's setup, wasted piles of screentime, etc. It doesn't take someone with 'thickle' taste to decide 'pile of shit = lose' - at least some people actually LIKE what they did: you don't, but you like the episode anyway because you have no capacity for discrimination.

The Futurekind thing was hilarious: could have been relevant (and could have been great foreshadowing) but so little screentime was given to the Toclafane's identity (well, with characters with functioning brains, ie not Martha) that the obvious connection is never made. The Toclafane's identity was only relevant in two ways: incredibly ham-fisted preachy bullshit ('zomg they made teh jesus are they teh corruptzors now????? lol') and a built-in DEM and reset button.

I agree with you, though: if they'd used the Master as the Master and not a one-shot, self-cleaning World Destroying Villain, the buildup wouldn't have been wasted. Oh well, RTD has his huge boner for blowing up the Earth I guess. Sadly, I guess it was obvious they weren't going to bring back the Master/UNIT thing since they have a whole other show about NOT UNIT, but it would have been neat anyway. Now we've got the pathetically dead (oh wait but not lol) Master who will come back and we'll be expected to empathise with the Doctor some more about his love affair with a lunatic mass-murderer. Joy.

Afterwards, I might invite him in for tea.

[NecronLord]

Yes. Last of the Time Lords was shit. Even shitter than Parting of the Ways. As for alien worlds, they've said that on their budget, they'd have to spend several episodes on one to justify building sets and such, at least if they wanted to do it right.

Personally, I'm all in favour. If modern audiences can handle the three-part Master story, they can handle a four or five part story set on Entelis, during a Rutan invasion or where/whatever.

[Big Orange]

I'd say that "Doomsday" was by far the best final penned by RTD, but I would never say that "The Parting of the Ways" was nowhere near as bad as you made it out to be, NecronLord, even though Super-Rose rubbed out your favourite pepper pot aliens with a wave of a hand.

"Last of the Time Lord" was not as shite as Torchwood's final or "Evolution of the Daleks", it was still entertaining on most levels in a bubblegum kind of way, but really suffered from a overstretched RTD trying to do too much and awkwardly tying everything up with a lazy, cowardly ending.

When people complain about "Love & Monsters" (perhaps a better RTD story) they complain about the Doctor leaving a victim forever suspended in a paving slab, when that's an excellent example of a ending that is neither neat or tidy and not everybody lives...

[Dartzap]

Apparently, the Beeb is going to revealing the new and improved version of the Spuddies in the next week (probably due to the fact they will be shooting with them out and about soon.)

[Dartzap]

Uh, can I post the article in here? It has the above mentioned as well as anouther spoiler, but, alas, there be no spoiler warning on this thread........

[NecronLord]

I'd say that "Doomsday" was by far the best final penned by RTD, but I would never say that "The Parting of the Ways" was nowhere near as bad as you made it out to be, NecronLord, even though Super-Rose rubbed out your favourite pepper pot aliens with a wave of a hand.

And there's no disputing taste. I think you're a moron. 'Hah hah hah, big laff.'

"Last of the Time Lord" was not as shite as Torchwood's final

That's not saying much.

or "Evolution of the Daleks", it was still entertaining on most levels in a bubblegum kind of way, but really suffered from a overstretched RTD trying to do too much and awkwardly tying everything up with a lazy, cowardly ending.

The Entire premise of the scatterbrained Doctor who one moment is 'harsh and judgemental' (see 'Family of Blood') and the next won't even try to stop the Master was a problem of the previous episode as well. Made worse by the fact that it could have easily been circumvented by the Master gunning down Captain Jack when they try to do something and saying 'Perception filters? Doctor... that's just pathetic.'

When people complain about "Love & Monsters" (perhaps a better RTD story) they complain about the Doctor leaving a victim forever suspended in a paving slab, when that's an excellent example of a ending that is neither neat or tidy and not everybody lives...

There have been very few episodes of Dr Who, since 1963 where everybody lives. I'm pretty sure the total comes to about five stories. I can only name three offhand.

They complain about it because it's silly, not because not everyone is saved. Which isn't to say there's grounds for that complaining, but still...

[NecronLord]

Uh, can I post the article in here? It has the above mentioned as well as anouther spoiler, but, alas, there be no spoiler warning on this thread........

Keep it shrunk.

[Dartzap]

Doctor faces Sontarans once again
A group of Doctor Who's enemies - the Sontarans - will be revived, 35 years after first appearing in the BBC drama.

The warriors will feature in an episode which will also mark the return of Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones.

She will run into the Doctor's new companion - Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate - for the first time.

Another plot for the new series will be a meeting between the Doctor and Agatha Christie, and guest stars will include Felicity Kendal and Sarah Lancashire.

There will also be appearances from Tim McInnerny, who played Percy in the first two series of Blackadder and Captain Darling in the fourth.

Peter Capaldi - a fierce spin doctor in political satire The Thick of It - and Phil Davis, who appeared in Quadrophenia and Bleak House, will also be seen on the show, the BBC has confirmed.

The series, once again starring David Tennant as the Doctor, is due to be seen in the UK next spring. Filming is under way in Cardiff.

The run will begin with Donna tracking down the Doctor during an alien emergency in modern-day London.

Martha will be back halfway through the series, once actress Agyeman has appeared in three episodes of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood.

"Martha Jones returns in a fantastic storyline and the fans will get to see her in a whole new light," Agyeman promised.

The Sontarans were first seen on The Time Warrior, an episode of the show in 1973, when Jon Pertwee was in the lead role.

Christopher Ryan, known as Mike in 1980s TV sitcom The Young Ones, will play the head Sontaran.

And the tentacle-faced Ood will return in an episode called Planet of the Ood.

Beeb click to see...something.

[Big Orange]

And there's no disputing taste. I think you're a moron. 'Hah hah hah, big laff.'

So you think that the people who awarded the BAFTA to Russell T. Davies, millions of viewers, and most British critics are morons as well? At least in "The Parting of the Ways" the ending was not a complete cheat and there was sufficient foreshadowing about the power of the somewhat intelligent TARDIS in "Boomtown" just two episodes before - it was no worse than the Deus-Ex ending in the Moffat penned episode "The Doctor Dances". I'd say it was overly grand storytelling constrained by 45 minutes (a serious flaw in Doctor Who in recent years, no matter who is penning the episode).

That's not saying much.

But that is saying alot about Torchwood's general shiteness...

The Entire premise of the scatterbrained Doctor who one moment is 'harsh and judgemental' (see 'Family of Blood') and the next won't even try to stop the Master was a problem of the previous episode as well. Made worse by the fact that it could have easily been circumvented by the Master gunning down Captain Jack when they try to do something and saying 'Perception filters? Doctor... that's just pathetic.'

I'd say it was ridiculous species biasness on the Doctor's part - the Master was a Gallifreyian as well, a sole survivor of a holocaust of the Doctor's own making, so the Doctor was bound to have ridiculous emotional baggage when dealing with the Master (as irredeemably psychopathic and megalomaniacal as he is).

[NecronLord]

So you think that the people who awarded the BAFTA to Russell T. Davies, millions of viewers, and most British critics are morons as well?

Strawman. I did not say that Dr Who had no merit as a drama series, nor that series one as a whole was crap, I said I did not find the single episode entitle The Parting of the Ways pleasing.

What's more, those awards were for the series as a whole, (Variously, best drama, best make up, leading man, leading lady, director, as I recall) not just for Parting of the Ways. I enjoyed 'Series 1' greatly. Parting of the Ways was poor, but it was exceptional. Doctor Who is still light years ahead of anything else in domestically produced British Television as far as I am concerned.

I'd say it was ridiculous species biasness on the Doctor's part - the Master was a Gallifreyian as well, a sole survivor of a holocaust of the Doctor's own making, so the Doctor was bound to have ridiculous emotional baggage when dealing with the Master (as irredeemably psychopathic and megalomaniacal as he is).

And it was not even adressed in the slightest as such. He was outright depicted as Jesus. The only people who dispute it with him are promptly depicted as immediately forgiving the Doctor.

[Stark]

I'm glad I'm not the only one under attack for not being sufficiently fanboyish.

Remember, there being no consequences for the Doctor's ridiculous behaviour in the S3 finale is totally fine. Invite him in for dinner, it was only a year of penal servitude after all!