Lupin the Third
Patti Mayonnaise
I'm sorry.....I love you. *boot to the head*--3rd most culpable in the jixing of NXT, D'oh!
Join the Dark Order....
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Post by Lupin the Third on Oct 12, 2012 20:07:09 GMT -5
I don't know if it would have made the ending of that episode as powerful as it was. Still, very touching.
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Post by BoilerRoomBrawler on Oct 12, 2012 22:40:36 GMT -5
I believe the first half of this season was misunderstood by many people.
First of all, did anyone get a vibe similar to the '09 specials? Just like them, every adventure stood alone, and instead of a steadily building arc, it was more about the eventual departure of a character(s) and the realization that the salad days are over. It has many parallels and I like that.
Second, I do believe that part of the intention of those episodes was to shift the focus from Amy and Rory to the Doctor and it is best demonstrated in The Power of Three. So many people complain about it being boring but I loved it because it is a very character-based episode. Everyone who thinks it was boring is exactly like the Doctor in that episode - they want to see him traveling around time and space righting wrongs and the like. I think that was intentional.
Third, I like the "blockbuster" ambition of Moffatt's. I will concede that it may be off to a somewhat rocky start, but I don't think any of the episodes were terrible by any stretch of the imagination. They just don't have a running subplot like the last two seasons heavily utilized, but I wouldn't be surprised if we get that with the second half - there are 8 episodes and a Xmas special after all. Why have such an uneven split otherwise?
Last, I really liked the pace of all five episodes. They had that same "mini-movie" quality of the '09 specials, which was about the only thing they got right IMO. None of them had that breakneck, "let's fit 60+ minutes of plot into 45 minutes," pace of the sixth season. They got to relax in a manner of speaking.
The last three seasons have definitely put Moffatt to the test and in my opinion have demonstrated that, while he is talented, he has his flaws too. At least he experiments with the show; he tries and I respect that (FAWA vets can probably attest to my exploits in being similarly experimental with managing it).
PS. It was nice to see Ben Browder get some more work.
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Post by BoilerRoomBrawler on Oct 12, 2012 22:57:39 GMT -5
Moving on, I have a couple of theories I'd like to share.
First, one of this season's themes is the Doctor erasing himself from people's memory. Second, it has been stated since the middle of season 6 that he will go down some dark paths. Third, it has been suggested that the Doctor needs a companion to reign him in, which was first explored in "Turn Left" back in season 4.
So, here's something I got to thinking: what if The Doctor himself established The Silence? It is an organization dedicated to wiping him out and seems to be a step ahead of him. Who is trying to do just that right now?
River Song claims that her timeline is backwards from his; when she first meets him, she will know nothing and he will know everything. Is she talking about the Alex Kingston incarnation? Or is she talking about being trained from a baby? When exactly has the Doctor been shown training her to use the TARDIS? Who could possibly have taught her how to make that astronaut suit and contact President Nixon? She does seem to be rather comfortable about the Doctor saving her backside with precise timing and reckless abandon.
Consider this too: she always seems to be one step ahead of the Doctor in spite of this whole "backwards timeline" thing. The Doctor still has never been ahead of her so far.
Last, consider first "The Waters of Mars" when we see a lone Doctor take it upon himself to change time to devastating consequences as time resists him. Then let's consider how there have been a number of times that the phrase "time can be rewritten" is uttered. Also, rule #1: the Doctor lies.
What if The Doctor created The Silence to systematically remove all knowledge of himself from the universe? What if he marshalled all of his enemies together to place himself into the Pandorica? What if he engineered the kidnapping of River Song and then raised her himself? What if the reason The Doctor has become hyper-competent at times because he is being aided by time itself to right the timeline?
All that said, there is more to consider: first, River Song debuted in the episode "Silence in the Library." That title and the people she was with carries new meaning as of this point to me. The Doctor told the Vashta Nerada to look him up. By this time, is there anything there? Consider this too: River whispers into the Doctor's ear - did she whisper his name, or did she pull the same move as the Doctor would in the season 6 finale?
Last but not least, come on: the symbol of The Silence looks like the Greek letter omega. There are headless monks. The Doctor locked away all of the Time Lords with The Moment, making him and The Master the last Time Lords in existence. Which would work if there wasn't a Time Lord in a completely different universe: Omega.
Next season could be huge.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Oct 12, 2012 23:03:09 GMT -5
I have a feeling some of the seemingly minor stuff that happened in the first half of this series will tie more together later on. In particular... {Spoiler} Stuff like the Doctor removing the traces of himself from history as mentioned in Angels in New York.
As well as Oswin removing all memory of the Doctor from the Daleks in Asylum.
Especially as the Daleks were asking "the question that must never be answered"
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Burst
El Dandy
*inarticulate squawking*
Posts: 8,482
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Post by Burst on Oct 13, 2012 0:06:29 GMT -5
Reading all this, I'm suddenly getting a rather strong Cartmel Master Plan vibe, and I like it. If there's one thing Moffat is good at, it's making little things add up over a very long period of time, and it does seem like a lot of chess pieces are suddenly preparing to explode together.
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Post by Apricots And A Pear Tree on Dec 25, 2012 16:25:23 GMT -5
Well It's that time of year again,Christmas special time.Discuss,discuss.
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FinalGwen
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Particularly fond of muffins.
Posts: 16,377
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Post by FinalGwen on Dec 25, 2012 16:34:06 GMT -5
Best Moffat-penned episode since The Time Of Angels. Strax is amusing. Mopey Doctor is mopey. The Web Of Fear is nicely foreshadowed. (Or is it backshadowed?)
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Legion
Fry's dog Seymour
Amy Pond's #1 fan
Hail Hydra!
Posts: 22,354
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Post by Legion on Dec 25, 2012 16:36:02 GMT -5
Yeah, just saw it here. Decent episode, quite a good story, fun characters and well acted but {Spoiler} Looks like after just getting rid of one Mary Sue style character who can cope with and deal with everything, we're getting another. Typical.
Also, the Snow Men looked cheap as hell and really were not scary.
Oh, and one can't help but think GRRM might want to consider suing considering what the ice zombie was shouting at the end.....!
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Post by Apricots And A Pear Tree on Dec 25, 2012 22:23:00 GMT -5
Yeah, just saw it here. Decent episode, quite a good story, fun characters and well acted but {Spoiler} Looks like after just getting rid of one Mary Sue style character who can cope with and deal with everything, we're getting another. Typical.
Also, the Snow Men looked cheap as hell and really were not scary.
Oh, and one can't help but think GRRM might want to consider suing considering what the ice zombie was shouting at the end.....! {Spoiler}Well Looking Cheap as hell is not a new thing for a Doctor Who monster.
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Post by Koda, Master Crunchyroller on Dec 25, 2012 22:31:33 GMT -5
Well......that was interesting. So what the hell is up with Clara? Is she a female Rory?
Also Strax was f***ing awesome. I love how his first response to nearly everything was grenades.
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Post by DSR on Dec 25, 2012 22:38:13 GMT -5
Well......that was interesting. So what the hell is up with Clara? Is she a female Rory? Also Strax was f***ing awesome. I love how his first response to nearly everything was grenades. I know it's basically tradition that The Doctor get a female companion, but I would love it if the series took on a buddy-cop-type format with The Doctor and Strax going on adventures.
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Post by Apricots And A Pear Tree on Dec 25, 2012 23:01:57 GMT -5
I think the thing controlling the Snowmen is supposed to be the same bad guy from the Second Doctor stories The Abominable Snowmen and The Web of Fear
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Knailsic From Now On
Dennis Stamp
Loneliest Number Since #1
Waiting with my red eyes and my stone heart
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Post by Knailsic From Now On on Dec 25, 2012 23:50:10 GMT -5
Family was being too loud during original airing sonI going to catch the repeat.
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Post by BoilerRoomBrawler on Dec 25, 2012 23:58:35 GMT -5
My favorite part: Matt Smith's mug in the new opening credits. Between that and the new TARDIS design, there's a couple nice old school influenced touches.
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Post by Zaq "That Guy" Buzzkill on Dec 26, 2012 0:29:08 GMT -5
New Tardis design made me mark, I love the new Star Trek-esq shiny look.
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Rave
El Dandy
Perpetually Bored
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Post by Rave on Dec 26, 2012 0:56:09 GMT -5
Family was being too loud during original airing sonI going to catch the repeat. You too? This always seems to happen to me during Doctor Who. This time, it was my ex-sister-in-law (who STILL can't grasp that there is a three hour time difference between here and California, despite having been out there long enough to figure it out) calling in the middle of it. The phone call proceeded to get loud enough to obliterate the dialogue during at least one part. ANNOYING.
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Post by G✇JI☈A on Dec 26, 2012 7:29:18 GMT -5
Funfact: Richard E Grant who played the villain, is probably best known for being in the cult classic British film 'Withnail & I'... His co-star from that movie: the Eighth Doctor Paul McGann.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone. Got away with it, this time.
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Post by Bo Rida on Dec 26, 2012 8:03:33 GMT -5
Did anybody think the intelligence (or whatever it was called) sounded like Bane from the latest Batman film?
Anyway that was a good Christmas episode which makes a nice change from some of the stinkers we've had in recent years.
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Post by Apricots And A Pear Tree on Dec 26, 2012 8:18:37 GMT -5
Did anybody think the intelligence (or whatever it was called) sounded like Bane from the latest Batman film? Sounded more like Magneto to me.
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FinalGwen
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Particularly fond of muffins.
Posts: 16,377
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Post by FinalGwen on Dec 26, 2012 8:53:02 GMT -5
Funfact: Richard E Grant who played the villain, is probably best known for being in the cult classic British film 'Withnail & I'... His co-star from that movie: the Eighth Doctor Paul McGann. Not to mention, he's been the Doctor twice, in The Curse Of Fatal Death and Scream Of The Shalka. Before the new series came along in 2005 and supplanted the animated series, he was the BBC's official Ninth Doctor!
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