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Covert Rain

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New season is good stuff. Agree with you Stout about Smith although he has grown on me this season. He still is no DT or TB.
 

Covert Rain

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Paul McGann returns! Even though for only this prequel webisode for the 50th anniversary special, he returns in the title role. It fills in the gap from when he played the Doctor to how we got to the current set of Doctors. All this leads into more detail about the time war. AWESOME!

 
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Awesome episode! Just one glaring plot problem...

One of the stated reasons for time locking Gallifrey was because the time war had changed the time lords. The Doctor was not just saving the universe from the time war, but also from the time lords who were threatening to wipe out all of reality to win the war.

Remember the End of Time - the farewell of Tennant - the entire 3 hour episode was predicated on how the Time Lords were poised to wipe the universe clean.

Assuming the search for Gallifrey will be pursued in the next season, this could create a plot problem for the series. It's an issue that Moffat will have to write himself out of.
 

Covert Rain

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Awesome episode! Just one glaring plot problem...

One of the stated reasons for time locking Gallifrey was because the time war had changed the time lords. The Doctor was not just saving the universe from the time war, but also from the time lords who were threatening to wipe out all of reality to win the war.

Remember the End of Time - the farewell of Tennant - the entire 3 hour episode was predicated on how the Time Lords were poised to wipe the universe clean.

Assuming the search for Gallifrey will be pursued in the next season, this could create a plot problem for the series. It's an issue that Moffat will have to write himself out of.

I see your point but they did sort of address that point. The device that was created allowed history to be changed even with "locked" points in time. It's the ultimate judgement device which took the "choice" out of the Time Lords hands.

I never liked the fact that they destroyed Gallifrey anyway. I thought the Doctor being viewed as a renegade time lord was much more interesting versus the last of his kind.
 

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I see your point but they did sort of address that point. The device that was created allowed history to be changed even with "locked" points in time. It's the ultimate judgement device which took the "choice" out of the Time Lords hands.

I never liked the fact that they destroyed Gallifrey anyway. I thought the Doctor being viewed as a renegade time lord was much more interesting versus the last of his kind.

It depends how they address it. If they use the "ultimate all powerful weapon that can change anything", then yeah, they hit the reset button and all is good.

But they could take the search for Gallifrey in more interesting ways that doesn't use that concept. We will see.

Next up: Trenzalore!

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This whole show is one big glorification of deux ex machina. From its very beginnings, the regeneration of the Doctor, to every major plot twist ever since, is the most convenient of resolutions. The cleverness of the show is in how in manages to put the burden of fallout of convenience on its hero. For every happy ending there is an even greater (massive) burden, and it's what plausibly drives the hero towards this neverending story.

Just watched the 50th Anniversary. What a glorious episode. I know it was contrived out of necessity, but the whole regeneration thing with each Doctor full of regret has become a magnificent metaphor for the many faces of a man's life. I know I feel like I've been many men in lifetime.

Rather than blather on about the metapysical genius of it all, I'll state the most obvious: Jenna Coleman is one of the most beautiful creatures to ever grace a screen of mine.

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Covert Rain

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I really loved the Matt Smith send off. I have stated this before I was a fan but he didn't hold a candle to David T. IMO but he was enjoyable anyway. I have to say the one nitpick I have about the special is the "let's give the Doctor another 12 regenerations through the crack and a "myst" of energy the Time Lords sent through was..ehhhh!

I mean if it was that easy to just send a Time Lord energy and he could simply regenerate indefinitely....wouldn't they all simply do that? My guess is that there will be a consequence for what they did or something down the line. At lease I hope so...cause if they don't...it's pretty weak IMO.

Again, just a nitpick in which was a very good episode. By the way, not too excited about the new Doctor but we shall see.
 

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I have to say the one nitpick I have about the special is the "let's give the Doctor another 12 regenerations through the crack and a "myst" of energy the Time Lords sent through was..ehhhh!

I mean if it was that easy to just send a Time Lord energy and he could simply regenerate indefinitely....wouldn't they all simply do that? My guess is that there will be a consequence for what they did or something down the line. At lease I hope so...cause if they don't...it's pretty weak IMO.

Again, just a nitpick in which was a very good episode. By the way, not too excited about the new Doctor but we shall see.

I'm kinda meh on Capaldi as well. We'll see how he turns out. We're supposed to see a full slate of episodes this year, so hopefully it will be good.

As for the regeneration work-around, I thought the mysterious mist was an interesting take. I thought they would either have gone the River Song regeneration reset route "Let's Kill Hitler", or would have used the Rule 1 explanation. This is a more permanent fix, but its a bit too easy.

I do think that the focus won't be the search for Gallifrey and the show has effectively stopped it from being a subject for now, unless they want to reintroduce the time war.
 

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So a bunch of guys from work talked me into watching this show. I'm glad they did. I'm 10 episodes in and I like it. Campy and cheesy but wholly entertaining.
 

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So a bunch of guys from work talked me into watching this show. I'm glad they did. I'm 10 episodes in and I like it. Campy and cheesy but wholly entertaining.

You've got lots of time to catch up. Season 8 doesn't air until the fall. They've just started shooting it.
 

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So a bunch of guys from work talked me into watching this show. I'm glad they did. I'm 10 episodes in and I like it. Campy and cheesy but wholly entertaining.

Where did you start?
 

Covert Rain

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I am probably not going to like this guy very much. I liked the flirting with Clara. Now he is more like a father figure which is kind of creepy to go from one to the other.
 

Covert Rain

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Yeah, but for what purpose? I kind of liked how Smith and Tennent took the Doctor down a less serious road.

Part of Doctor Who is the fun. DT and Smith had that in spades yet could be serious when need be. I hope they play him more like a crackpot old scientist because the tone of the show has changed too much to be taken to seriously. We shall see.
 

Gaddabout

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Yeah, but for what purpose? I kind of liked how Smith and Tennent took the Doctor down a less serious road.

I suppose to deal with the origins plotline. The original Dr. Who was camp, but it was more witty than silly. I guess others will have to carry their own weight when it comes to humor.
 
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I am probably not going to like this guy very much. I liked the flirting with Clara. Now he is more like a father figure which is kind of creepy to go from one to the other.

I like to think he'll be the crazy old scientist type. Either way, he has to be an improvement over Smith. He sucked so bad (which coincided with some spots of really bad writing) I almost stopped watching. I still think Eccleston was the best modern Doctor.
 

Covert Rain

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I like to think he'll be the crazy old scientist type. Either way, he has to be an improvement over Smith. He sucked so bad (which coincided with some spots of really bad writing) I almost stopped watching. I still think Eccleston was the best modern Doctor.

I liked Eccleston but his something always bugged me about him but I liked him in the part. Tennant was far and away my favorite modern Doctor. It was not even close for me. He is up there with Tom Baker for me. Smith started off bad IMO but grew on me and towards the end I enjoyed his portrayal.

I actually blame Moffat for most of the problems with the show. He is a brilliant writer for short arcs or episodes but I don't think he has a clue how to string along an entire series. It's no coincidence that once he took over the show the writing became uneven and schizophrenic. The finale is a perfect example. Let's conveniently tear a hole ask nicely for help and boom....more generations. I mean come on. That would not have happened under Davies.

Moffat has written some of my favorite episodes but so far I hate him as the show runner.
 

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My kids are now watching this show and we just finished the first episode of the second season of the current series (haven't watched the older ones).

I love it, and so do they. What I thought was awesome was how absolutely HARD they took Eccleston's transformation to Tennant and how they were sad to watch the first episode of season 2. After that episode was done, they were in love with DT saying "He's a GREAT Doctor!!" That is a huge testament to the show transforming super sadness to giddy joy, similar to how Rose experienced it as well. However, I think they are all going to have a hard time when Rose is no longer a companion...as am I. ;)
 

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