Sorry I was late with this thread, I've been obsessed with something else of late (check venting for why.) So, on to the episode.
So let's see what happens when you watch too much TV in 1950s Britain as Doctor Who goes back to London. Again.
On another completely different note. WHEN YOU RATE THIS EPISODE POST YOUR RATING IN THIS THREAD! We've had a bunch of sabotage ratings in the past and this is a way to try and get around it. If you do not post your rating I will not count your vote in the final tally. So, once again, POST WHAT YOU ARE RATING THE EPISODE WHEN YOU RATE IT.
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
Now, people might say I am high on crack, but here are my reasons:
- Costumes. I just love the look of the episode.
- Cast chemistry.
- side characters that felt real and acted as one would expect them to.
- dialogue. I just love the dialogue right from the start (Oh, your mother would be a cliff fan / the two of them trying to play "inspector")
- humour. Of every episode of Season 2, this is the one that makes me laugh about it most.
In retrospect, this is when the doctor gets domestic...only to loose it all at the end of the season. That is well done overall and just simply good television.
Sure, the main villain is quite retarded (though I love that they explain why the doctor survives - rubber soles), but at the same time, while watching the episode - I didn't care. I just love this episode for its authentic feel and the comedy it provides.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
I'm torn between a 3 and a 4. I can really see what they wanted to do here (a TV-based villain in the 50s as social commentary, lol!) but the 'main' plot doesn't really work. It's not a badly done episode and has some good stuff, but I feel it falls quite flat at the relatively high-concept thing it was going for.
Stark wrote:I'm torn between a 3 and a 4. I can really see what they wanted to do here (a TV-based villain in the 50s as social commentary, lol!) but the 'main' plot doesn't really work. It's not a badly done episode and has some good stuff, but I feel it falls quite flat at the relatively high-concept thing it was going for.
See, that's the thing. I never took it to be a social commentary or aiming for a high-concept. I just took it as a lighter, fluffy take on things after the cybermen episodes.
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
Hmm. My dislike for the main plot is pretty much centred on it's pulp, screeching nature contrasted with it's quite interesting 'evil television in the 50s' premise. The surrounding stuff is good - I just feel that an opportunity was missed, but it might not ever have crossed their minds so I'm just being unfair.
I think it was an okay fluff episode, much like "Love & Monsters" and "Fear Her", though it could have, like Stark said, been more with better execution. The concept was sound, it was just missing that something.
2. There' wasn't anything blatantly *wrong* with it, but neither was there anything that grabbed my attention in any way. It was boring, perfunctory and forgettable.
Admiral Valdemar wrote:I think it was an okay fluff episode, much like "Love & Monsters" and "Fear Her", though it could have, like Stark said, been more with better execution. The concept was sound, it was just missing that something.
And your vote, good Sir, was what exactly?
....Don't people read the OP?
Whoever says "education does not matter" can try ignorance
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A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! - Chief Judge Haywood
------------ My LPs
While this episode isn't utter awesome that some of the previous season 2 episodes have been, it's not complete crap either. For me, it was just a average episode.
Though I have to agree with Thanas - this episode shows the Doctor getting all domestic. Kinda sad considering what'll happen in a couple episodes.
XBL: Darek Silver | Wii Friend: 5602 6414 0598 0225 LibriumArcana - Roleplaying, Fiction, Irreverence Trekker (TOS, TNG/DS9-Era) | Warsie (semi-movie purist) | B5'er | TransFan Cult of Vin Diesel: While it is well known that James Earl Jones performed the voice of Darth Vader, it is less appreciated that Vin Diesel performs the voice of James Earl Jones.
I'm caught between a 2 and a 3. A 2 because I really did not enjoy the episode, but a 3 because there's nothing inherently horrific about it. The setting was fun, and the character drama with both the family and Rose was good. But the main villain was quite possibly the most annoying villain I have ever seen on Doctor Who, and the scenes where it was nothing but her screaming "HUNGRY!! HUNGRY!" made me want to go Van Gogh on my ears. Also, Tennant and Piper were spot on the entire episode except when the Doctor saw Rose after her face was removed, his rage felt so forced that it made the scene painful (along with the shoehorned in Torchwood reference.)
I'm going to ponder this a while.
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
Admiral Valdemar wrote:Whoops, was too busy thinking about Stark's response I forgot to finish mine.
A three, my man.
Good lord, and I haven't even voted yet! I'm still torn. I'll have to get into 'first watch, no S3&4' mode and see if I can give it a number... but it'll probably be quite a step down from the episodes so far.
And holy jesus, the Torchwood reference was so lame. Even the Doctor had never heard of them, they'd been deliberately hiding for a hundred years - but some random cop in the 50s knows all about them?
Stark wrote:
And holy jesus, the Torchwood reference was so lame. Even the Doctor had never heard of them, they'd been deliberately hiding for a hundred years - but some random cop in the 50s knows all about them?
Exactly. This was supposed to be a top secret institute that not even the prime minister was supposed to know about, yet they're operate openly with beat cops in the 50s? The only thing I thought was an improvement in season 4 was that they ditched the season keywords.
I think my main problem is, like Manus said, that the episode just couldn't catch my interest, and even when it was enjoyable the flaws ("HUUUNGRY!") were still more distracting.
2/5.
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
