New Doctor Who Series Discussion *Spoilers*

[Zombie_61]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Something I haven't seen mentioned yet in all the discussions about the little girl in the space suit--she might be River's daughter.

Here's my rationale. Early in the first episode of this series Amy mentioned or acted as though she was momentarily nauseous, and later revealed she was pregnant. As soon as River and Rory entered the underground tunnels later in the same episode River also mentioned or acted as though she was nauseous. Now, River and The Doctor are both time travelers (though, as far as we know, River is not a Time Lord) and River has revealed their relationship will have a much more "romantic" nature in the future (of the show's current timeline), and the little girl's regeneration at the end of the second episode implies she's a Time Lord. So it's possible Amy's pregnancy/non-pregnancy is a "red herring", and that the little girl is the daughter of River Song and The Doctor.

Thoughts?

 

[E-Wan]

Agreed. This is some of the best Who I've seen.

 

[Birdie]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Horses for courses. I like my Who not to be riddled with missing plot points, continuity failiure, incomprenhensible time travel conundrums, fat i-daleks, disembodied kiddy or dead-guy voices in every other show-runner episode and seasons that are 3/4 meh.

For all RTD's faults, his hit/miss ratio is flattening Moffatt's at this point, imho, and Moffat is getting repetitive even quicker than Davies.

Doctor Who has always been episodic television. The whole 'arc' approach to TV sci-fi has to be skillfully handled so as not to alienate non hard-core fans. In this respect, Davies' 'memes' suit it far better than Moffatt's big all-consuming arcs taking over every story. I have very little clue what the hell the conclusion of the last series was all about.

FWIW, Ashes to Ashes implemented a similar but far superior conclusion to Lost's crashing bore of a final, with subtley, and without all the big lumbering mysteries that Lindhoff couldn't be bothered to figure out.

RTD had had his day, but Moffatt, judging by his appearances on Confidential, seems obsessed with throwing in anything that looks 'cool', without giving much thought to telling a coherent (or in the case of much of Series Five, interesting) story.

His dialogue's pretty good though.

PS: How, exactly, are The Silence manipulating humanity? Is this mystery another part of the 'arc' or are we just supposed to except it 'cos Moffat has The Doctor say so?

Can they impart massive technological advances and presumably military strategies and social structures in a few seconds of subliminal messaging? What a dull and time-consuming existence...

 

[MooMooEgg]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

I'm not sure if this was addressed earlier, but my biggest question is...

WHY WERE THE SILENCE WEARING SUITS? :lol

I thought it would have been nice to have them "naked" to tie them in with the traditional Greys that are so famous for alien abductions and whatnot. I mean, they somewhat look like the classic aliens, abducted Amy, could have possibly experimented on her, have the power to make you forget them to hide in plain sight, and said that they've been around since fire and the wheel and influenced all of human history.

Sounds like it could have been a good answer to the Grey legends. :cry

 

[phez]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Maybe they invented the suit and helped mankind with there business wear fashion lol:lol

 

[E-Wan]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Doctor Who has always been episodic television. The whole 'arc' approach to TV sci-fi has to be skillfully handled so as not to alienate non hard-core fans. In this respect, Davies' 'memes' suit it far better than Moffatt's big all-consuming arcs taking over every story. I have very little clue what the hell the conclusion of the last series was all about.

I'd have to disagree with this - classic Who was usually one story told over 4-6 episodes. Weekly cliffhangers are a huge part of what the show's always been about.

I found Davies memes, and subsequent reveals in the finale, dull and clumsy. I'd lump S5's cracks in with this too. Having more than one thread to follow from episode to episode makes for a far richer and rewarding viewing experience.

But again, different strokes for different folks. :thumbsup

 

[Kerr Avon]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

My take on this (and I could be wrong) was that the whole thing--The Doctor's imprisonment, chasing down Amy and Rory, etc.--was an elaborate ruse to get the prison built so they would have one place on Earth where they could make plans and talk openly without the Silence (or anyone else, for that matter) listening in.

What about the TARDIS? The Doctor is essentially GOD inside there. He determines who can enter and who can't. They already had a nice spot to talk. How'd the TARDIS get moved there though? And why would you give something clearly important to him in his own cell?

 

[Larry Young]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

WHY WERE THE SILENCE WEARING SUITS? :lol

I just figured it was a MiB nod.

 

[Larry Young]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

What about the TARDIS? The Doctor is essentially GOD inside there. He determines who can enter and who can't. They already had a nice spot to talk. How'd the TARDIS get moved there though? And why would you give something clearly important to him in his own cell?

Where did the nickname "Hurley" come from? Why do Locke's legs sometimes fail him, such as when he and Boone were on their way to find the Beechcraft? When some of the survivors went back to the island on the Ajira flight, why didn't Sun end up in the past? Why was she still on the plane? Why did Radzinsky go to such great pains to conceal the map on the blast door? :lol

 

[Risu]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Oh, it's the last season of LOST all over again. I loved the show, but hated the people complaining about loose ends or how it was too difficult for them to understand it. It's a show. Let Moffat get to the end before you complain about loose ends. If he doesn't explain some things feel free to complain then, but only do it for a week or two, because the rest of us are just fine with it.

 

[E-Wan]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Oh, it's the last season of LOST all over again. I loved the show, but hated the people complaining about loose ends or how it was too difficult for them to understand it. It's a show. Let Moffat get to the end before you complain about loose ends. If he doesn't explain some things feel free to complain then, but only do it for a week or two, because the rest of us are just fine with it.

Like. :thumbsup

 

[Larry Young]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Let Moffat get to the end before you complain about loose ends. If he doesn't explain some things feel free to complain then, but only do it for a week or two, because the rest of us are just fine with it.

Exactly.

 

[d_jedi1]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Pure speculation here but based loosely on minor spoilers that we've likely all seen.

What if the Doctor we saw die WAS a clone and the person in the spacesuit turns out to be the real Doctor? :love
Seems like the kind of misdirection they like to throw around here in Nu-Who.
edit: Wanted to say that our nephews and niece were oer the other night and wanted to watch the new Who.. once they saw what the Astronaut did, they were terrified and ran from the room out of fear that he would come back on.
Earlier tonight, we took one of them to TGIFridays with us and up high above the entrance to the restrooms, they have an Astronaut statue. Poor kid kept peeking out to make sure the astronaut wasn't coming for him. :lol

 

[MattMunson]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

What if the Doctor we saw die WAS a clone and the person in the spacesuit turns out to be the real Doctor? :love

In "confidential", SM says VERY precisely that it is indeed the real doctor, and he does indeed really die. And to drive this home, they even had the old dude in the episode say pretty much the exact same thing to help sell it to the viewers.

Now, OBVIOUSLY, the show is not going to end when this season concludes, so they will figure something out. But according to everything everyone has said, it was the real deal. How the are going to get out of that, I have no idea.

 

[Larry Young]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

"Time can be rewritten." Especially with a regenerating Lady Timelord running around.

 

[letmebestormy]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

"Time can be rewritten." Especially with a regenerating Lady Timelord running around.

When she turns 21 that's going to be quite a nifty bar trick.

 

[Birdie]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

I'd have to disagree with this - classic Who was usually one story told over 4-6 episodes. Weekly cliffhangers are a huge part of what the show's always been about

Those stories were like big episodes though, aside from the cliffhanger element, which is also utilised in the new series 2-parters. An arc that impacts on every episode (like Who series 5) is a very different beast.

I'm not against season arcs at all. Joss Whedon did it brilliantly and compellingly in Buffy. I don't think I've seen the 'Lost' model of answering one question while setting up a dozen more work well anywhere, look at the mess the X-Files ended up in. We end up with an awkward mass of exposition (X-Files) or countless unanswered questions (Lost, Galactica)

Risu, if you think Moffatt is going to go back and explain why Weeping Angels can look at each other now, good luck to you.

I'm now waiting to find out what blew up the Tardis, how River knew about Amy's wedding after the uber-confusing re-writing of time in Big Bang, as well as all the questions set up in these first two episodes. If he can pull that of without falling into the previously mentioned traps of this kind of writing, I will eat my words and declare him a genius.

 

[nickytea]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

I think any criticism of this episode's depiction of Americans as violent is rendered silent in light of the reaction I'm seeing to yesterday's news. (If facebook is any indication ... this is embarrassing.)

 

[Risu]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Yea, he didn't explain every little inconsequential detail, and I just DGAF. There are very few (maybe no) writers that can pull off a perfect story with twists and turns, at least not in the scale of a whole series as opposed to something like a movie. I have yet to see it. (which I know is opening me up to an attack about how I haven't watched enough of the quality programs you do) You know why I'm able to enjoy things? Because I don't get up in arms about every little thing. And before you call me out about my lack of complaints about his writing, you should probably know that I'm one of the most anti-Moffat members of this forum AFAIK. Last season was a steaming pile. I'm hoping this one will be better. So far it is.

 

[Birdie]

Re: Dr. Who New Season SPOILER

Not calling you out about anything, except for your passive agressive attitude.