Doctor Who S30E11 "Turn Left" (Spoilers)

[NecronLord]

The trailer for next time makes me want to weep!

[Bounty]

I missed it, the episode and the last half of the trailer. Can someone summarise?

[NecronLord]

A big time beetle slithers onto Donna's back, and influences her, along with a human minion, to change her past altering time. This causes Donna not to help the Doctor defeat the Racnoss queen, resulting in his death at that time (Incidentally, it appears the Master didn't supply special ammunition there. That web-star was just literally made of tissue paper). From this, an alternate timeline is spawned, where, among other things, the Titanic crashes into London, irradiating England and forcing millions of refugees up north. 60 million people in the US were killed by that Adipose woman (even though that's not really true to the original story at all) and Torchwood die blowing up Stahl's ship (WTF? Why would he not just gun those fuckers down long before they got on board?). Rose pops up, with the aid of UNIT, sends Donna back, who then changes time right again, and is dumped back where the time beetle dies and its minion flees.

Donna can remember bits of her alternate life slowly, and describes things to the Doctor. She comes out with 'Bad Wolf' which Rose told her, and the Doctor dashes outside - everything, even the labels on (though not inside) the TARDIS say 'Bad Wolf' (Cooincidentally, the translation circuit doesn't seem to be doing text today; the planet they were on had asian style text). They dash inside the TARDIS, where emergency lighting stains everything blood red, and the cloister bell is going. Donna asks what he means, and the Doctor says 'the end of the universe.'

[El Moose Monstero]

Time travelling space parasite forces Donna to make a decision about a job which means she never met the Doctor, we basically get a series of scenes about the major events of the series if the Doctor wasn't there, involving lots of armageddon type stuff, concentration camps, nuclear devastation from the Titanic crash, mass relocation from the south to the north etc.

Rose periodically appears, telling Donna to get out of town at the right moments, eventually taking her back to Unit after Donna and her dad watch the stars going out.

They send Donna back in time to remake the decision through her death, although the implication is that she'll die anyway.

Rose tells Donna to tell the doctor something and in what was probably the most tense scene of the episode, possibly the series, the words turn out to be Bad Wolf, which appears all over the place as it did in PotW. The Doctor runs into the tardis to hear the cloister bell ringing and declares it to be the end of the world.

Trailer showed all the major cast members of all 4 new series, Dalek saucers all over the bloody place, an 'evil dalek cackle', clear shot of the Red Dalek.

------------

I actually quite enjoyed most of the episode, I suspected that a lot of the scenarios might have worked out differently than they portrayed though, so there are probably some major plot holes. I got a bit sick of shrill shouting Donna all over the place.

The grandfather / concentration camp scene was excellent, as was the end reveal with the Doctor realising it was Rose and the totally unexpected (for me) reemergence of Bad Wolf.

[NecronLord]

I want that Italian guy as the next companion. Seriously. He'd be awesome.

Also, that trailer worries me because Why the hell are all those Dalek ships at Earth? It's not that important unless they're out to get the Doctor; and then, blowing the planet up would do better.

Oh, and for the record; the fanfic idea on similar alt.timeline lines I've been considering, not inspired by this episode. It'll make sense if I ever get around to writing it...

[Bounty]

Bad Wolf is back? What the hell?

[El Moose Monstero]

EDIT: Beaten to it. Curses. Also, edit for dad to granddad.

Whilst I enjoyed the episode as a whole, despite it being something of a reset button episode, like Necronlord I am now left with a very gloomy prognosis for the rest of the series. If they can unite all of the characters and things from all the episodes of the series, swarm the place with Daleks and not have it be a retread, and maintain a solid and entertaining plot, all power to them.

But I won't be holding my breath.

[NecronLord]

On the trailer... Personally, the only way I can possibly see the dalek thing working with 'all universes in danger' is if they have come to earth to seek the Doctor's help as opposed to being an antagonist.

[El Moose Monstero]

(Incidentally, it appears the Master didn't supply special ammunition there. That web-star was just literally made of tissue paper).

The master would never have turned up, it would have been Harriet Jones' replacement. Without the Doctor turning up at the end of the universe, the master is still sitting on that planet as the Professor.

[El Moose Monstero]

EDIT: Wait, I got the actual meaning of that on the second pass. I'm doing well tonight. You knew that already.

Another entertaining point for the episode was the fact that Donna basically comes across as self centered as hell. Although Stark hasn't actually elaborated recently on his Donna hate, I'm certainly getting a few ideas on it myself.

[NecronLord]

(Incidentally, it appears the Master didn't supply special ammunition there. That web-star was just literally made of tissue paper).

The master would never have turned up, it would have been Harriet Jones' replacement. Without the Doctor turning up at the end of the universe, the master is still sitting on that planet as the Professor.

Precisely my reasoning. The TARDIS was in that UNIT warehouse, consequently, it wasn't in the Master's possession, and the Racnoss Empress' ship is just stupendously fragile.

Of course, he could be the danger to the entire universe. He's done it before, that lunatic.

I'd rather it not be him, though. Something new would be nice. I was almost hoping, with the time-bug, for a return of the Racnoss. The actress they had for the Empress was cool.

[Dartzap]

A pretty decent ep, I felt, bit rushed in some places but such is life.

So, what did we see in the trailer? Judoon, Daleks, Torchwood, Sarah Janes Scoobies, Rose......uh.....anything else?

[Darth Nostril]

It was a good episode, as has been said a bit rushed but then they were trying to condense down all that's happened into a single episode along with the disaster aftermath

The best bit about the trailer ... I for one did not see any mention of Martha
They can bring back whoever they want, just as long as that talent vacuum doesn't get within a hundred miles of it

[Dartzap]

I for one did not see any mention of Martha
They can bring back whoever they want, just as long as that talent vacuum doesn't get within a hundred miles of it

6 seconds in, she is quite assuredly there

[Darth Nostril]

I for one did not see any mention of Martha
They can bring back whoever they want, just as long as that talent vacuum doesn't get within a hundred miles of it

6 seconds in, she is quite assuredly there

Oh fuck, there go my happy feelings

[Big Orange]

Another flat out 5/5, but next week looks utterly, utterly, utterly nuts.

It was a cross between "Love & Monsters" and Cloverfield with Martha seeing the London based events from a street level perspective. I find it darkly amusing that utter global ruin and WWII level casualties would stem from campy hokum like "VotD" and "PiC" if the Doctor wasn't there.

The only thing that bothered me is how the British military were imprisoning or even slaughtering the foreign population without UNIT stepping in. The Doctor dying did not bother me, since Time Lords have bodies that can recover but are not indestructable.

[Flakin]

OK, here's a ridiculous idea....

Any chance that Donna could be the Rani? All the bindings, coincidences, comments throughout the series that Donna is more than she appears or seems. "What will you be!?", for example, in this episode.

Chameleon Arch again, perhaps? RTD will go back to the well time and time again, as we know...

Meh, probably ridiculous.

[Crazy_Vasey]

The logic in the alternate world doesn't seem to hold together all the well to me - petrol shortages? Surely the North Sea oil would be more than adequate with the massive drop in demand that would accompany the destruction of the South of England - and I found the whole 'oh, hey, holocaust' bit to be deeply obnoxious. Still, I'll hold off judgement till I see the second part.

PS Rose's accent is hilarious.

[NecronLord]

Any chance that Donna could be the Rani? All the bindings, coincidences, comments throughout the series that Donna is more than she appears or seems. "What will you be!?", for example, in this episode.

This seems unlikely. Besides, the Rani wasn't that enduring a character anyway. Good for a cameo, not for a whole arc.

[Crazy_Vasey]

My suspicion, wild speculation really, would be that Donna's going to do a Rose and open the TARDIS and either not survive or trigger a surprise regeneration when the Doctor saves her as he did Rose (I'd love the second, just to see the tabloids caught flat-footed).

[NecronLord]

Surely the North Sea oil would be more than adequate with the massive drop in demand that would accompany the destruction of the South of England

After the entire south of england was destroyed, I'd think logistics would be up the spout, frankly. There might be plenty, but distributing it to refugees across the remainder of the nation would be a pain in the ass.

[Darth Nostril]

Any chance that Donna could be the Rani?

I always thought the Rani was the one who picked up the ring from the Masters funeral pyre near the end of "Last of the Time Lords"

[NecronLord]

The only thing that bothered me is how the British military were imprisoning or even slaughtering the foreign population without UNIT stepping in.

I would assume that they were going to an actual labour camp, not a death camp. And while the UN is powerful in Doctor Who, there are obviously repressive nations still. They're not that powerful.

The Doctor dying did not bother me, since Time Lords have bodies that can recover but are not indestructable.

It doesn't need to even be that special - all we saw was a tennant-esque man in the same outfit, under a sheet. For all we know, he was trapped underwater and went through his three remaining regenerations drowning over and over.

[Crazy_Vasey]

After the entire south of england was destroyed, I'd think logistics would be up the spout, frankly. There might be plenty, but distributing it to refugees across the remainder of the nation would be a pain in the ass.

There is that, certainly. I'd just have thought that maintaining the fuel supply would be a pretty high priority for an emergency government and that, hey, with demand dropped by a colossal amount due to massive economic depression (London alone is around 33% of the UK GDP, IIRC) they could earn some valuable cash by exporting the stuff as well.

Actually, I suppose the second would explain it. A government instituting a holocaust would probably care more about balancing the books with oil exports than making refugees' lives less miserable.

[NecronLord]

I always thought the Rani was the one who picked up the ring from the Masters funeral pyre near the end of "Last of the Time Lords"

While it's been jokingly reffered to as 'the Hand of the Rani' by the production staff, they claim to have no concrete intention as to who it might be.